City Council - Regular Meeting

Alright. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. If I can get everyone to quiet down for me.

Nice and quiet.

Mhmm. A

lot of public servants in the room. It's like a reunion. There we go. A little shh. So peaceful and calming. Alright. I'm gonna call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk, if we could start with a roll call, please.

Mister Engelke. Here. Missus Frank. Here. Mister Howard.

Here.

Mister Smith.

Here.

Mister Weed.

Here.

Vice Mayor Bold.

Here.

Mayor Pachota.

Here. We will stand for the invocation and then today's pledge will be led by miss Frank.

Our father, we thank you for another full day of opportunity as well as responsibility. It It is is with with gratefulness gratefulness that that we we accept accept the the task task before before us. Us. We ask you to bestow your blessings on all who live in or visit our beautiful city. Amen. Amen.

Allegiance to the flag Alright. We got a very fun morning full of recognition. So we're gonna start with our swearing ins for firefighter paramedic. If I can get Tyler Bailey, Giovanni Santiago, and David Cunningham along with fire admin.

Good morning, good morning mayor, good morning council, good morning our citizens. Wanna kinda start off just a little bit by giving what the oath is actually meant for. It serves several purposes. You have your official oath, your ethical responsibility, your legal aspects of the the process. When it comes to public safety, particularly for the fire chief and the police chief, it's an oath between the officers, the employees, it's an oath between you, your ethical responsibility to our citizens.

It's a symbolism of trust amongst our elected officials, and it's a duty to act that you're taking and you're swearing to solemnly perform these duties to our citizens. So it's something that is deep rooted in tradition with police and fire particularly, so it's something that's very special and disembarked your career here with us. We'll go through each individual oath. If you would please put your right hand on the bible, raise your left hand, and repeat after me.

Otherwise, raise my hand.

Okay. That's good. First first Either

one of them. Just here we go. I, state your name.

I, David Cunningham.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect and defend.

That I will support, defend, protect, and defend

The constitution and government of The United States

The constitution and the government of The United States

And of the state of Florida

And of the state of Florida.

That I am duly qualified to hold my position

That I am duly qualified to hold my position.

Under the constitution of the state.

Under the constitution of the state.

And that I will well and faithfully.

And I will well and faithfully.

Perform the duties of firefighter paramedic.

Perform the duties of firefighter firefighter paramedic.

On which I am now about to enter

On which now I'm about to enter.

So help me God.

So help me God.

Congratulations. Thank you. Alright.

In your left hand, right

hand up. Yep. There you go.

I, state your name.

I, Giovanni Santiago.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect and defend.

That I will support, protect and defend.

The constitution and government of The United States.

The constitution and the government of The United States.

And of the state of Florida.

And of the state of Florida.

That I am duly qualified to hold my position.

And that I am duly qualified to uphold my position

Under the constitution of the state

Under the constitution of the state.

And that I will well and faithfully

And that I will well and faithfully

perform the duties of firefighter paramedic

perform the duties firefighter paramedic

on which I am now about to enter

of which I am now about to enter.

So help me god.

So help me god. Congratulations. Thank you.

I. I. State your name.

Tyler Bailey.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect and defend.

That I will support, protect and defend.

The constitution and government of The United States.

The constitution and government of The United States

and of the state of Florida

and the state of Florida

that I am duly qualified to hold my position

that I'm duly qualified to hold my position

under the constitution of the state

the constitution of the state

and that I will well and faithfully

I will well and faithfully

perform the duties of firefighter paramedic

perform the duties of firefighter paramedic

on which I am now about to enter

in which I am now about to enter.

So help me guide.

So help me guide.

Congratulations. Part of the traditional ceremony too is is having the family members, loved ones, friends come up and do the official pinning. So at this time, if I could invite the families, friends of those who will be doing the actual pinning,

It's okay.

Again, congratulations. Thank you very much.

There's a lot of paramedics if you stab them. Okay, take your time.

I hope somebody else has been hard at times.

They did, you just you didn't have to watch it. It's okay.

So our next group that we'll be calling up is our firefighter EMTs. Repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Adam Kuzanowski. Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect, and defend.

That I support, protect, and defend.

The constitution and government of The United States.

The constitution and government of The United States.

And of the state of Florida.

And of state of Florida.

That I am duly qualified to hold my position

That I'm duly qualified to hold my position

Under the constitution of the state

Under the constitution of the state

And that I will well and faithfully

And that I well and faithfully

perform the duties of firefighter EMT

Perform the duties of firefighter EMT.

On which I am now about tender.

On which I am now about tender.

So help me God.

So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you,

Dave. I,

state your name. I, Gavin Hornberger. Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect and defend.

That I will support, protect and defend.

The constitution and government of The United States.

Constitution and government of The United States.

And of the state of Florida.

And of the state of Florida.

That I am duly qualified to hold my position

I'm duly qualified to hold my position

under the constitution of the state

under the constitution of the state

and that I will well and faithfully

that I will well and faithfully

perform the duties of firefighter EMT on which I am now about to enter. So help me God.

So help me God. Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

Family members that are doing the pinning, please come up.

Alright, Pastor Tom Hodge, if you would come up We're We're that. To

Alright. You gotta scoot towards the center. Fill in the space here. It's my honor here to recognize pastor Tom Hodge as he retires from his role as chaplain from the Venice Police Department and also as pastor from First Baptist Church. Pastor Tom has served us in a volunteer position, which I emphasize volunteer because he gives up his time freely for the past twelve years.

He served First Baptist Church for the past thirty three years and has been a pastor for, believe it or not, the past fifty one years. So please give him a round of applause for that. Well deserved. And I have some prepared remarks here, so please bear with me. Pastor Tom Hodge has faithfully served as volunteer chaplain for the Venice Police Department since 2012, and his impact on the department has been significant.

Over the years, he has given his time, his presence, and his heart to the people of this agency. He has served our officers and our staff and our leadership with compassion, humility, and quiet strength. What made pastor Hodge so special in this role is that he truly wanted to understand the people he was serving. He did not remain on the sidelines. He went on ride alongs with our officers, so he could personally see what they encountered and better appreciate the realities they face.

That willingness to step into our world, to listen, and to walk alongside our people says a great deal about his character. In a profession that can be heavy at times, pastor Hodge has been a source of comfort and encouragement. He's been there during moments of loss, difficulty, and uncertainty. He's also been there in the ordinary moments that matter just as much, simply checking in or offering support, reminding people that they were not carrying the burden alone. His care for this department has been genuine, steady, and deeply appreciated.

And on a personal note, pastor Hodge and I have shared a kind of a running joke over the years. He's often reminded me with a smile that my only real fault was being a Methodist instead of a Baptist, so And I've always told him that, you know, I'm doing my best, but I'll admit, if everyone represented their faith the way you do, pastor Hodge, that you made a pretty strong case. That is because his faith was never just something he spoke about, it was something he lived. He lived it through kindness, through service, through humility, and through the way he cared for others. That is what made his presence so meaningful to this department, and that's why he will be missed.

Pastor Hodge, on behalf of the Venice Police Department, thank you for the years you've given to this agency. Thank you for standing beside our people, for caring for them, and for serving this department with such grace and sincerity. You've made a made a lasting difference and we're truly grateful. So we wish you and your family the best of luck in your retirement. And we have your badge in this nice shadow box on behalf of the police department and lodge fifty seven of the FOP.

Would you like to say a few words? It

has truly been our honor to be a chaplain of this unbelievable police department. I've had the honor of serving through four chiefs and it has been an experience to see men and women of tremendous integrity, honor, devotion, caring for the community. We've had the joy of watching these men in a routine patrol or doing death notifications or being together when someone was going through a struggle or taking care had some ride alongs with the when we had the K nine department, that was interesting. So it is it's just been a great honor. And I tell you the city of Venice, and I live two blocks away from here, we are most blessed and honored to have the Venice Police Department and the Venice Fire Department serving you.

Until you've been in close contact with them, it's very difficult to see how much they really care about their badge that they wear, the pride and the honor of their department, the integrity that they bring to the department, it's just been incredible. So it has truly been my honor, our honor, because Tassie gives up my time and privilege to be a part of such a tremendous department as our Venice Police Department. So thank you for allowing me, Andy, the pleasure of serving.

Thank you. And don't

go away because we have some more here.

We're not done yet. Marty Diaz, Jorge Lopez, Alex Peterson and Jeff Petrosky if you guys are here.

Come

on down gentlemen.

While they're coming down, not necessarily something that pastor Tom was aware of but Circle the pastor. I've known pastor Tom now for quite some time. He and his wife, miss Tassie, are have been pillars of the community, particularly of you know, with faith based organizations. I've known pastor Tom, like I said, for for for many years now. As a matter of fact, he baptized my son at an early age too, so always in-depth.

One of the things that our firefighters and paramedics, EMTs, they they're constantly responding to calls every day, particularly cardiac, respiratory calls. We don't give out certain awards unless it really warrants warrants so. And this particular case, and I I won't tell another man's story, but in February, and I don't know if this was just coincidental or divine intervention, but our paramedics and EMTs here on rescue fifty one and engine fifty one in February responded to a chest pain here on the island. And long story short, turns out to be a full blown cardiac arrest and the person that was in cardiac arrest just happened to be the gentleman to my left here. And our training from our firefighters, our EMTs, our paramedics just automatically kicked in.

And without going too far in-depth with it, today we are presenting these four in your honor with the life saving award for their honestly, what they did. So religious or not, you know, in my opinion, I think God did have four angels show up that day. So but so very honored to be here with you. And with that being said, we would like to give out the life saving award to these four individuals for their heroic actions. Part of being in Venice, again we talk about tradition and we talk about family.

It's very difficult to actually and probably unheard of in a lot of bigger departments, to actually join the two together that actually I know it's been hard scheduling, getting schedules on pace to where they could actually meet, so I think this is actually the first time you've actually got to meet each other. So pastor Tom, here's the gentleman.

I wanna take just a brief moment, but I was doing a bit of work in my front yard on Sunday afternoon, February 15. I got a slight pain in my right shoulder, scale of one to 10, about a two. And I'm using a blower, so no big deal. Then I got a bit of pain in my chest, again, scale of one to 10 to two, again, I've been out working in the yard, no big deal. Finished, go inside, sit down, try to find a comfortable place in my shoulder, can't find it.

Went on chat GPT, right shoulder, chest, I was a medic in service, I'm going, it's supposed to be the left side if you're having problems, was probably not a problem. So well, if you're sweating, nausea, or dizzy, you need to go to the emergency room, I wasn't. Within about five minutes, I started perspiring a little bit and I told my wife, I said, let's take me to the ER, which was a grave era. And it's like God spoke into my spirit and said, call 911. So I was at the door ready to leave and I came back, dead on the sofa, test to call 911.

I mean, I literally lived two blocks away from here. So the guys responded within two minutes, came in, asked me what I'm doing, told them what's going on, I feel fine. I said, you walk out to the you can't I don't have a sidewalk. Can you walk out to the sidewalk? Sure.

So these guys help me, I walk out, I get on the gurney, they load me in the ambulance, I hear them talking, they're taking off my shirt, doing all this stuff, and I don't remember anything else. One time, remember one of the medic, I don't know who it was, saying, stay with me mister Hodge. Later, learned that my heart stopped twice and they had to shock me twice. They also had to do chest compressions because for three weeks, I could hardly breathe because of what had been done. Ended up with a stent in my heart and if it's not for these guys, I died.

If my wife had taken me to the emergency room, I'd have gotten about, she'd have gotten about to the bridge and I would have died. My heart completely stopped. So when you say somebody saved your life, these four men saved my life. And how do you say thank you except I'll try to live my life to make it worthy of going past February 15. Thank you guys.

Alright, we'll take a quick five minute break, come back at thirty after for the proclamations. That was fun. Alright. Let's move on with some proclamations. If I could get officer Courtney Chaco, Captain Hill, Autumn Ropolo, and anybody else that I didn't call?

I'll do the proclamation and then you can speak. I'll let you hold on to that Okay. This is crime Victims Rights Week. Whereas crime in America has a devastating impact on victims and survivors and tears at the social fabric of our society as a whole and whereas no victim or survivor should have to endure the trauma of victimization and its impact, physical, financial, emotional, spiritual and social alone and whereas the community of crime victims and survivors, those who serve them and countless allies work together to ensure the victims' needs are identified and met with quality, collaborative and comprehensive services and whereas there are more than 12,000 system and community based victim services programs across the nation that help crime survivors and promote community safety and over 32,000 laws that define and protect victims' rights and whereas during twenty twenty six National Crime Victims' Rights Week, we recommit our efforts to promote and strengthen the extensive community that supports and serves victims and survivors of crime. Now therefore, I, Nick Pashoda, Mayor of the City Of Venice, on behalf of the Venice City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of April 19 to 04/25/2026 as Crime Victims' Rights Week and reaffirms our dedication to building connections, standing in kinship with survivors and creating a future where healing and hope are within reach for everyone.

I think one of the key words there in that proclamation was comprehensive and it really is that a lot of times everyone assumes that the involvement or the case ends, moment of arrest is made or it goes to trial. There's so much more that goes into it leading up to it, support that our victims need throughout the entire process and it is, you know, individuals like Autumn here with the victim's advocate department from the sheriff's department as well as all our other partnerships that really does give that holistic assistance to our victims because they deserve it. They really do. Thank you.

Next, I'd like to bring up Mirna Garcia and we'll keep Officer Chaco and Captain Hill up here. And this is sexual assault awareness month. Whereas Sexual Assault Awareness Month is intended to draw attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and has public health implications for every community member of the City Of Venice. And whereas rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment impact our community as seen by statistics indicated that forty one point eight percent of women and twenty point four percent of men have been sexually assaulted and then one in one women will be raped in the State of Florida and whereas we must work together to educate our community about what can be done to prevent sexual assault and how to support survivors and whereas with leadership dedication and encouragement, there is compelling evidence that we can be successful in reducing sexual violence through prevention education, increased awareness and holding perpetrators who commit acts of violence responsible for their actions. And whereas Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center, Spark, provides free services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children in Sarasota and DeSoto Counties, seeks to stop the crime of sexual violence through awareness and education and whereas Spark encourages every citizen to actively engage in public and private efforts, including conversations about what sexual violence is, how to prevent it, how to help survivors connect with services and how every segment of our society can work together to better address domestic violence.

Now therefore, I, Nick Pashoda, Mayor of the City Of Venice, on behalf of the Venice City Council, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the City Of Venice and urge all citizens of this city to observe this month of special importance by becoming aware of the tragedy of sexual assault, supporting those who are working toward its end and participating in community efforts.

Spark is another fantastic organization that we partner with to assist our survivors through these terrible events and they do occur here just like they do anywhere in America and it's important that we provide our survivors with what they need to get through these very traumatic events in their life. And Mirina here is a fantastic representative for Spark for us to continue that ongoing relationship. Thank you for being here.

Good morning, Well, thank you so much commissioners. Thank you so much. And, thanks to law enforcement. There is a big difference. Without them, Spark, honestly, we really need their help. And, we always work with them together to help those victims. And, those survivors, thank thanks God they made it. And, there are others outside that they really need help, but we are there for them. We are active in the community. I'm sure also 20 fourseven. I say we because we are a team, correct? So, we are there for them. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

Okay. And with that, we will break another five minutes. We'll come back at forty five after.

Okay.

We are back and we are on to the audience participation portion of the agenda. Speakers are not to address council members individually. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks or who becomes disorderly may be barred from the meeting. This is an opportunity to provide the city council with your comments. City council will not respond to any questions or comments during this time per the city code. A member of city staff will follow-up with you if it's appropriate. And any documents shown during audience participation, or part of the meeting should be given to the city clerk's office for the official record. Madam clerk, you have anybody signed up to speak?

We have one individual, Susan Horton. Are you here?

Susan Horton. Okay. Then we will move on from the general audience participation to the consent section. All matters listed under the consent section are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless an item is removed by a council member. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired by a council member, the item or items will be considered and voted upon at the end of the consent section. I have any members of council that would like to pull anything from consent? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move to approve items in the consent section.

Seconded by Mr. Engelke. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Passes unanimously. Anybody opposed? Yeah. Passes unanimously. All right. We will go ahead and move on to ordinance's first reading. Ordinance two zero two six dash one three. Public hearing is now open. Madam clerk if you could read this, ordinance by title only please.

An ordinance of the City Of Venice, Florida amending the City Of Venice comprehensive plan future land use map and associated pages pursuant to petition number 20 five-63CP to change the future land use designation for specific real properties generally located at 490 Substation Road from high density residential to industrial providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict here with providing for several building and providing an effective date.

And then Madam Clerk do we have any written communication?

No.

All right then we will start with our staff presentation.

Mr. Mayor before we do the staff presentation since we have two related items I'd like to inquire about conflicts of interest at this point for both of them. So if any council member has a potential conflict of interest please raise your hand. Mr. Weed.

Thank you. I do not believe I have a conflict of interest but in openness I did want to communicate and make part of the public record that I have worked as an employee and as an officer for the Corporation Southern Spring and Stamping which is directly across the street from this property. Although I've been an employee and an officer of the corporation and of several different corporations there and also have served as a president of the Substation Road maintenance association for several years. I do not and have never had any financial interest in any of the properties. Therefore I do not believe I have a conflict of interest and have been advised by counsel as such.

That being said, when it comes to the portion concerning the ex parte communications, I have had approximately 46,500 drive bys of this property, So I am intimately familiar with it.

Thank you and to confirm we did discuss potential conflict of interest and confirmed that he does not have a conflict of interest and can participate today. I just ask you Mr. Lloyd if you can remain fair and impartial and make your decision on both of these items just based on the evidence presented to you.

Yes I will.

Thank you. I don't see any others so we can proceed.

We will start with the staff presentation.

Okay good morning. For the record Nicole Tremblay, Senior Planner for the City of Venice. And first we are looking at 2,563 CP for Triton Industrial. This property is located at 490 Substation Road and the request is to change the future land use from high density residential to industrial. It's owned by Triton Holdings and Development.

There are two parcels involved and they total about two acres. So as I mentioned the current future land use is high density residential and the zoning is residential multifamily one. It's in the Gateway neighborhood of the comprehensive plan and there is an associated zoning map amendment petition. So the intent of this comp plan and zoning map amendment is to develop multi tenant light industrial buildings. Currently there's a single family residence on-site but my understanding is that it is being used for a light industrial and this came to us through a code enforcement action.

So as I mentioned it's concurrent with a zoning map amendment petition for the implementing zoning district of industrial. Here's the aerial map. You can see it's to the south side of Substation Road next to Turbine Weld and the Knights of Columbus Hall. So for existing conditions I'll show you some site photographs, the maps and the surrounding land uses. Here are some photographs of the site taken shortly before the Planning Commission hearing.

You can see Turbine Weld to the west, you can see there's a single family home and a couple of vehicles but not much else on the lot. Here's the existing future land use map. It has the high density residential land use and it is surrounded by other high density residential as well as as industrial. And here's the proposal to change to industrial. And then here's the existing zoning map.

So currently RMF one with various RMF designations around it and then other industrial designations adjacent as well. So to the north there is Southern Spring And Stamping as well as a residential property, so that's industrial and RMF four high density residential. To the South is some vacant residential land, RMF one and high density residential. To the East is the Knights of Columbus Hall which also has residential designations. And then to the West is Turbine Weld which is industrial.

For the planning analysis we'll look at the comprehensive plan, the land development code and the Florida statutes. So the comprehensive plan has two relevant strategies, one is in the land use element for industrial, supports industrial uses on individual lots or industrial parks, this would be individual. Manufacturing, storage and warehouse distribution uses including those with outdoor storage and agricultural and supporting uses are all permitted under this future land use designation. In the Gateway neighborhood there's also a land use strategy about redevelopment which talks about various aspects that would come up at the site plan like multimodal connections to the island, pedestrian realm features and underground utilities but it also mentions encouraging retail service office limited light industrial and residential. So this is currently residential proposed for limited light industrial both of those fall under that strategy.

So conclusions related to the Conference of Plan analysis has been provided to determine consistency with land use element strategies with the Gateway neighborhood and other plan elements and this should be taken into consideration upon determining consistency. For the land development code, for our comprehensive plan amendment we pretty much just have the decision criteria to focus on. A, the impact to adopted level of service standards, B, the compatibility matrix and subsequent impact on possible zoning, and whether it's in compliance with all other elements of the comprehensive plan and state statute. So this petition has been processed with procedural requirements to consider a comprehensive plan amendment. It's been reviewed by the TRC and no issues have been identified.

And then we come to the Florida statutes. So when we're looking at a comprehensive plan or future land use map amendment, this statute 160 three-three 177 applies about discouraging the proliferation of urban sprawl. There are several considerations here that are in your staff report and we've got a very thorough analysis in there but I just want to give you a brief summary here as well touching on some of those items that they mentioned in the statutes. So the property is already in the city and there are public services available. A site and development plan would require review of the code including the sidewalk, environmental studies, all those technical features that come in with the site plan.

It's not currently used for agriculture or open space which is one of the considerations for preventing sprawl and another is whether it provides a balance of non residential uses to support the demand and this is a non residential use. Another thing to note, the existing future land use is high density residential. We only have point 012% of all our land in the city designated as high density residential, that's a very small amount. But industrial is also only point zero four seven. So these are both important use that we need to have in the city and one way or another this would be one of those very minute uses that we don't have a lot of.

So there's no implication of wrong or right, it's just an informational statement about we don't have much of either one of these. And this would be as I said kind of an uncommon use and contributes to economic diversity for the needs of the residential population. So before I conclude, I'm sure many of you watched the Planning Commission meeting and may have noticed that some of the Planning Commissioners voted six zero for this petition and then four two for the next one for the rezoning. So I just want to be clear that if this property was assigned an industrial future land use, there is only one option for an implementing zoning according to our comprehensive plan and that would be the industrial zoning. So if you do have reservations about the use and potential development as industrial, and I'm not saying you should or should not, but if you do, this would be the time where you have control over that rather than at the zoning.

So just wanted to make that clear so that you know where to express any concerns if you have them. And so upon review of the petition and associated documents, conference of plan, land development code, Florida statutes, staff report and analysis, and testimony provided, we believe there is sufficient information on the record for City Council to take action on this future land use map amendment. Are there any questions for me?

Any questions from Council? I will ask the clerk to reorder my name to the end and we'll let Mr. Weed go first.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do have a question for you concerning the site photographs.

Sure.

I believe you said these were taken when were these taken?

They were taken the week before the planning commission hearing.

I challenge that. I noticed that the addition to the turbine wall building is not in these photographs and that has been accompanied over the last year. Driving across from this property, I have seen this property looking a whole lot more cluttered like is shown in the applicant's presentation, in this presentation. I just like the record to know that these are not photographs that represent the current condition of the property or the condition of the property slightly prior to the planning Commission meeting and I just don't want the council to be misled by these photographs because these I'll are not

grant that you see it all the time but I took these myself and I took them the week before the Planning Commission hearing so I can speak to the date. But I know you have knowledge of it because you drive by every day.

How do you explain the missing addition to the building that's been there for a year? That is I'm confused. I don't want to trust or challenge you but I don't see a building and that building has been there for almost a year.

Just Well you can see the Planning Commission hearing sign right there. So that is posted and then comes in when the hearing is over. I'm not really sure what else you would expect to see, but I can speak to when they were taken.

Thank you. My question was going to be more specific to I know the city has taken great efforts to make sure that septic tanks are not being added and are being removed. So I wanted to see if we could talk about that real quick and if you could tell me what our plans were as far as utilities and making sure that we don't have the addition of more septic field and tanks.

I cannot, but I know the Utilities Director is here, so I unfortunately don't have that information but our assistant utilities director is

coming up to tell you.

Wonderful.

Alright, good morning. Patience Anastagio, Assistant Utilities Director. So I am happy to tell you that the city is coordinating with the applicant as well as Family Promise which is developing immediately to the south and the neighboring property owners to extend the city sewer system to these properties. While sanitary service is not considered available to Triton yet, it will be available once Family Promise develops and extends the wastewater system to them. So, we all had a meeting including Family Promise, the Triton owners, engineers, attorneys, and the assistant city attorney David Jackson where we all agreed to cooperate on a utility participation agreement to bring sewer to the substation road area.

I am confident in the commitment of the applicant and the other people that were at the meeting. The agreement is currently being drafted by the applicant's attorney and the assistant city attorney and once this agreement and this construction takes place we will eliminate seven septic tanks immediately with the participants and up to 12 in the future.

So my follow-up is more for the attorney then. Do I need to request a stipulation that the agreement be signed prior to any development or what's the recommendation on this? Is that since the agreement is being drafted and we expect that it's going to happen, do we need a stipulation?

Yes. So what our code has right now is if you don't have the availability of sewer, the definition of availability, then you are allowed to use septic. But as soon as sewer is available, then you must switch over to the available septic or the available sewer. So obviously financially it makes sense to not put in something that you're immediately gonna have to to take out. I think it would be fine if you wanted probably more at the rezone than this comprehensive plan level if you wanted to clarify that you were seeking to have the sewer the agreement that there would be sewer in place before there was development so we don't even have the situation of again, it wouldn't be financially makes sense but to have septic go in at all.

Ms. Frank, you're next.

Thank you. Does the comprehensive plan speak at all to infrastructure requirements related to future development? I'm just thinking about that road. I'm sure my colleague, Mr. Wee, could speak more to it given his frequent utilization of that street. But I'm just curious on how what some might consider the poor condition of that road and access if our comp plan speaks to that before we make potential land use change.

About the road specifically? We do not. I know the city has no intention of taking over the road. It is privately owned and we don't necessarily have a requirement that they change that or do anything with that. I don't believe the conference of plan speaks to it.

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Vice Mayor?

That's a private road, Yes. Thank you.

And then Mr. Weed.

A question concerning traffic, what would be considered the higher traffic usage on that, RMS development or industrial? So I think in the industrial it's probably actually less.

Right. I believe multifamily would be a higher trip generator.

All right. Thank you. Okay.

So that looks like all the questions for staff. So we will go ahead and move on to the applicant's presentation.

Good morning, mayor and council. I have a PowerPoint presentation. I'll go ahead and Thank you. Whoops. I took this out and I realized I probably shouldn't do that because there's multiple.

I'll put it back. Sorry. Okay. Thank you all for your patience. Good morning again.

My name is for the record, my name is Annie Boone. I'm the agent for the applicant and I am an attorney with the Boone Law Firm. The applicant Triton Holdings. We have the representative here in attendance Mr. Simon Beemsterboer and also in attendance we have Jim Collins who is an in house land planner for the Boone law firm and Jeff Boone a senior partner.

You all heard a very thorough presentation from Nicole so we will try to not be too repetitive but just provide you again with the details of why this proposal merits your approval today. All right so as you're aware the property it's located at the address of 490 Substation Road. It's actually 2 parcels and Substation Road is a private road accessed from The US 41 Bypass. Substation Road and particularly the west end here is a historically light industrial area in the city of Venice. Zooming in a little bit more, you see the property is approximately two acres and the current zoning designation is RMF one, current future land use designation is high density residential and the property is located in the comprehensive plan Gateway neighborhood.

Include Turbine Weld here to the West. Across the street these two parcels here are Southern Spring And Stamping excuse me, Turbine Weld that is an industrial property. Southern Spring and Stamping here, this also is industrial. Southern Spring and Stamping also owns this parcel here across the street a little further to the east. In between the Southern Spring And Stamping industrial parcels is a residentially zoned parcel.

And then coming back across the street immediately to the east of the property is the Knights of Columbus property. This is zoned residential however it is used commercially. And then to the south of the property is the family promise property, this is residentially owned property and as I will touch on a little bit later, our client has been working with Family Promise and their engineers specifically on utilities. And so they are aware of each other's developments and mutually cooperating with each other and supportive. Zooming in even more, this shows you the two parcels comprising the property and the existing conditions and operations on-site.

It's used by the applicant in connection with his commercial contracting business which is an industrial use. His business is seawall and dock construction and repair. And then also on-site is the office administrative business use which is accessory to the primary light industrial use. So I know we're addressing just the comprehensive plan amendment right now however it's hard to separate the comprehensive plan amendment from the rezone because both proposals together are why we are here today because the applicant is proposing to change the future land use and zoning designations so that the property can be improved and developed. That is his intention if these are approved today and approving the comprehensive plan amendment and rezone would bring the property into compliance with its existing and historical use as well as the existing land use pattern in this area.

Moving specifically to the comprehensive plan amendment, again the proposal it's very straightforward. It is to change the current future land use designation from high density residential to industrial. This is a small scale comprehensive plan amendment and the reasons why this proposal is consistent with the comprehensive plan intent and strategies includes the future land use designation. It is compatible as I said it supports the existing use and complements the adjacent uses and land use pattern in the area. And as the staff noted in the report and presentation, the Gateway neighborhood is supportive of redevelopment and its strategy LU GW1.1.1 and in that strategy it specifically lists light industrial use as one of those uses it supports.

In addition to that strategy, there's also LU 1.3.7 under the comprehensive plan which addresses infill development compatibility and this proposal is also consistent with that strategy. And so in addition, would be compatible with the surrounding properties and with the historic uses in this area and the existing industrial uses. As I noted Southern Spring And Stamping actually, my dad informed me, is one of the perhaps longest standing light industrial uses in the city of Venice. To show you how or to tell you just how historic that is, it was actually in operation even when my dad was growing up here in Venice and he's not a spring chicken anymore. One other very important reason why this proposal is compatible and would be beneficial for the property owner and the city, You are all very well aware that there is a lack of and need for industrial properties in the city.

In particular, those light industrial uses that are currently located in Seaboard which the city is hoping to transition and develop in alignment with its vision and its master plan that's currently in the works. For those uses to relocate and move out there has to be found appropriate properties and this is one of those properties in the city that it is currently being used as industrial. Historically this area has been home to light industrial uses and this would be a logical and appropriate place for industrial uses to continue. Also to support this comprehensive plan amendment, the transportation analysis that was performed as a part of this application. It was prepared by the applicant's licensed engineer.

It was reviewed by the city and the city's consultant and no issues concerns were identified. And as Mr. Reed brought up, the industrial use would generate fewer trips than the residential use permitted under the future land use designation that is currently in place. So in summary this application satisfies the Florida statutes specifically section 163.3177. Our responses have been provided with the application and as staff noted there was a thorough analysis and they did not note any issues.

This proposal is consistent with all applicable elements of the comprehensive plan specifically future land use compatibility, strategy LU 1.3.7, strategy LU GW 1.1.1 and it also complies with all relevant LDR sections specifically 1.5.2 and 1.5.3. And so based upon the competent substantial evidence in the record and their presentation, we respectfully request your vote of approval and we are happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for the applicant? Mr. Weed?

Surprise, surprise. This is a little historical note otherwise, Southern Spring and Stamping existed before Mr. Jeff Boone was born. His father incorporated that company for the grand fee of $45 and someday I've got to get him a copy of that invoice. So anyway, you referred to the existing use of this or historical use of this property memory serves, this property was used strictly for residential purposes until the current owner took over the property.

And for the last nine years, there have been code violations against this property for its inappropriate use and code violations for residential property. Can we take a picture of your fifth slide please, the close-up overhead aerial view? And thank you for this very representative picture because I do agree this is very representative of the current use. Keeping in mind that this is a residentially zoned property, I think it would take some time to point out the current violations. Would agree that there are literally dozens of violations on this property at this current point in time?

I would disagree.

Okay.

What I can tell you is our client when he purchased the property in 2020, the previous owner had been using it for industrial uses and so our client was surprised to learn that his use and the previous use was not consistent with the zoning and land use designation. And so when our client was made aware of that and did receive receive a notice of violation, he has been working with the city to bring the property into compliance which is what every property owner should do and that's why one of the reasons why we're here before you all today. And as you know, it's not an easy or inexpensive process to file these applications, hire consultants, go through the proper and appropriate process to bring the property into full compliance. So our client has been working with the city, he's been doing everything that is required and he intends if the approvals are granted today to redevelop and improve the property and make it a first class industrial site. And so I can speak for what has been shared with us through our client that his intention is to certainly improve the conditions of the property and make it a really nice site and property for that substation road.

So I mean I'm aware that your client was aware when he bought this property of the zoning. I cannot imagine someone would not buy property without knowing the current zoning on it, that it was in fact residential property when he purchased it, correct? Zoning has not changed since he purchased it?

The zoning has not changed but he was not aware and sometimes people don't have the same amount of information as all of us do. Again, since being made aware and receiving a notice of violation has been working with the city to bring it into compliance.

Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at this aerial photograph which is very accurate. I mean, you see all kinds of, you see unpermitted buildings in the back, dozens and dozens of parking of both industrial equipment and passenger vehicles. So I just yeah, I just I I did speak with the zoning department and they told me that rezoning is a way to bring non compliant properties into compliance and I just said this rubs me the wrong way. That in order to make a violation corrected, we changed the rules.

You know what mean, the way to deal with all crime is to make everything legal. So I just am concerned that the city is considering this change and granting this change to the owner when the owner has flagrantly and repeatedly and consistently and currently operated this property in a way that violates city codes. I have a little difficulty in projecting into the future that all of a sudden it will all be rule abiding and staying within the rules of our fine city. So that is my concern when see multiple flagrant violations that we grant them the permission to use it. Thank you.

I appreciate your comments and respectfully disagree. Again Allstate our client has since being made aware, been working with the city, hired consultants, hired attorneys, filed applications, gone through a very lengthy and expensive process to comply with the city code.

Any other questions for the applicant? Okay, we will move on to public comment. Madam Clerk, have anybody signed up to speak?

We have one gentleman, however I believe he wants to speak during the quasi judicial hearing the next matter on the same topic.

So nothing for this particular part of the Correct. Okay. Then with that I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move that ordinance number twenty twenty six-thirteen be approved on first reading and scheduled for a final reading.

I will second.

Seconded by Mr. Engelke. Any counsel discussion? Mr. Smith.

Mayor, I'm concerned about the frequency and ease with which we grant requests to change our comprehensive plan. It's ironic and I think sad that we consider this change on the same day that we adopt a revised strategic plan later on our agenda and this strategic plan includes six so called pillars or core strategies and I want to read you one of them. Preserve the Venice quality of life through proper planning. Goal one, ensure adherence to the comprehensive plan when reviewing land development applications. Unbelievably, this would be the twenty fourth change to our comprehensive plan since 2023.

When does it stop And how about now? I intend to vote against this change to the comprehensive plan. Thank you.

Mr. Weed.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. I would just first of I know this city has a dire shortage of industrial properties and I can I can sympathize with that need that it's definitely a strong need and this is definitely a neighborhood in which I career wise live in? I do want to be aware that as was stated at the Planning Commission meeting that there are two good purposes for this property, the high density residential or industrial, both of which the city is in dire need of. It is my anecdotal understanding that the family promise, in addition to having the property directly to the south, there is also negotiations to eventually acquire the Knights of Columbus property which would increase the consistent usage of that property as residential.

So this would just be the last kind of corner square there. So I see either use as being a good and valid use. I do continue to have a problem with the improper use of this property and granting this change when it is a residential property. And so based on the knowledge and the other development going on there and the abuses of the current code, I kind of failed to see where changing this from RMF to industrial is going to be a good thing for the city and again as my colleague has stated, one of many, many changes of our comp plan. Thank you.

Mr. Ingokey? Thank you. I might be in disagreement with two of my colleagues, it won't be the first time but we're all friends up here. I look at it as the city does need a little bit more industrial.

This is in what I'm going to call an industrial neighborhood especially with the businesses across the street, the existing and then Southern Spring. We're in that area. I do understand the need for high density housing, but I'm not so sure this is exactly the spot for it. And I am a little distressed that the to learn that the applicant has kind of violated some codes, but I will take it at the face value that they have been working to correct this. I'd be exceedingly disappointed if they were not.

So I'm going with the idea that they are trying to correct it and this is just one step. I know we're going to be talking about the road a little bit. The road is a private road. I think we've already established that residential will increase the traffic on the road. I realize that's probably not what we're talking about right now, but I don't see it as being incompatible.

I am just a little disappointed that the applicant has continued to operate the way he has. But again, taking it at face value, he's trying to change it. And in terms of changes in the comprehensive plan, that's a lot. But on the other hand, the comprehensive plan is a guide. It's not set in stone.

And I think if it were set in stone, we'd probably none of us would be up here talking about a lot of these land use, changes. And that's one of the reasons why they're brought to the council to talk about changes that could affect, the whole city. And this is one where we need the industrial especially if we're going to be, taking away, seaboard. Have an area here. It's not like we're plopping this down in the middle of the island or in the middle of one of the other neighborhoods. So that's kind of where I stand, thanks.

Mr. Vice Mayor?

Thank you. To me this looks like a little pocket of industrial, I appreciate the fact that Family Promise has a piece of property behind. We have the Knights of Columbus or someone to one side but we have industrial on the other two sides and we do need that. This is something to me where it's on a private road, we're willing to extend utilities, we're doing all these great things to try to help this out. I'm not sure exactly where we're supposed to go with some of these light industrials and the like.

And if you look at the numbers that Nicole shared with us of what our city is, less than 0.05 was a number that stuck with me of industrial in the city. It's something that has to happen and unfortunately there's very few places where it can happen And this just happens to be a spot where I think it could be beneficial, it could be useful. I know there are people on the road that are residential, they're against it but the reality is that if we put it there, it's going to save your road for a lot longer. And that's an expensive proposition as we all know up here to start looking at redoing roads. So while I appreciate what's been said about the changes to the comprehensive plan, I agree with Mr.

Engelke. The comprehensive plan is a guide for us. There are so many individual situations that we need to deal with that take us outside of the parameters of the comprehensive plan. If it were easy, we wouldn't be up here doing it. So in this particular case, I just personally feel like this is a good spot for a little light industrial. Thank you.

Mr. Smith, for your second bite of the apple.

Thank you, Mayor. I couldn't stand further apart from two of my colleagues here on what the importance of the comprehensive plan is. The comprehensive plan should not be changed simply to benefit a single parcel owner who asked to override our vision of a well planned city. And I have to agree with Councilmember Weed that the way to fix violations of our codes is not to change the rules so that it's now okay. I want to go back to what I think Nicole has given us a little warning of how the events unfolded at the Planning Commission and at that meeting, then Vice Chair, now Chair, Bill Wilson said he would need a really good reason to change the zoning from what the commission recommended in the land development regulations adopted in 2022 and he hasn't been given a good reason.

The chairman then, our retired Schneider, then tried to negotiate or request some stipulations to be made on what uses would be made of this property if the zoning was changed and he was told no, they were not willing to make any such stipulations. So what's important here is that what Nicole has told us is this is the vote on which we still have control. If we approve this change in the comprehensive plan, then everything else unfolds naturally. It's something that I'm always concerned about. When someone wants to make a change in zoning, first they change our comprehensive plan so that when the zoning comes up, they can say the zoning is in compliance with the comprehensive plan.

It's backwards. We need to uphold our comprehensive plan and I ask you to vote this down, this is really your last opportunity to control what happens on this property. Thank you.

Okay. Anyone else? Alright. Seeing none, then Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote.

Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. And it passes passes five to two. Yeah. Hold on there. Got it? Okay. Passes five to two. Alright, we will move on to Ordinance number twenty twenty six-fourteen. This is a quasi judicial procedure. Public hearing is now open. Madam clerk, you can read this ordinance by title only please.

An ordinance amending the official zoning atlas of the City Of Venice, Florida pursuant to zoning map amendment petition number 20 to change the zoning designation for the property generally located at 490 Substation Road from residential multi family one to industrial providing for appeal of all ordinances in conflict here with providing for severability and providing an effective date.

Okay. If there's anybody that wishes to speak please go to the kiosk in the back of the room and complete the check-in process through the kiosk. There is a staff member back there if anyone needs assistance through that process. Madam Attorney, you could inquire as to any conflicts of interest or ex parte communications?

We've covered conflicts of interest. So if you've had any ex parte communications that are not already disclosed in the record please indicate those at this time. We'll start with Mr. Engelke.

I have watched the Planning Commission meeting twice and I've been back there looking at the property and I do like the pictures from the applicants presentation a little bit better than the staff. I think it's more representative. Thanks.

I made a site visit and also watched the Planning Commission meeting.

Was at the Planning Commission meeting.

Site visit?

Viewed Planning Commission.

Site visit and I serve on the nonprofit board of Family Promise. So we've discussed the potential development of this neighboring property.

I attended the Planning Commission and as I said it before, I have various officer positions on these properties, on the joining properties and have made countless trips past.

Madam Clerk, do you have any written communication?

No.

We'll move to the staff presentation.

Thank you. For the record Nicole Tremblay, Senior Planner for the City of Venice. So we are looking at 2564RZ. The request is to change the zoning district from residential multifamily one to industrial IND. So again the intent is to develop multi tenant light industrial buildings instead of the current single family residence on-site.

Here is the aerial map again showing you the South Of Substation Road and the existing conditions did not change. Although I did get a chance to confirm, this is the addition to the building that was recently built. So it is visible in these photos and they were taken on the date that I stated. This is the existing future land use map. This is the proposed with the previous petition.

Here's the existing zoning map showing RMF 1 and the proposed showing the change to IND. Surrounding land uses are the same as the previous. So for planning analysis we'll look at the conference of plan, land development code and statutes again. The strategies did not change from the previous petition. I did want to just confirm I didn't get a chance to come back up before the hearing was closed but Ms.

Francois did look at the transportation element again and confirmed that there was nothing specific to the development of a private road. So analysis has been provided to determine consistency with land use element strategies, gateway neighborhood and other plan elements which should be taken into consideration. So for the land development code here's a comparison of the existing and the proposed districts. Uses primarily in RMF 1 would be single family attached, paired villas, multi family and various forms of group living. For industrial, there are many warehouse, distribution, light industrial, manufacturing, research and development, storage, vehicles, commercial parking lots, tattoo parlors, fortune tellers and taxidermists, appliance repair, vehicle sales, microbreweries, distilleries, universities, and major services.

For RMF one there is a maximum density that would be 18 units per acre. For industrial of course no density is permitted because no residential is permitted but the future land use does allow an intensity at two point zero floor area ratio. The minimum lot area and lot width is kind of irrelevant because the lots already exist but for the yards the sub x are somewhat similar twenty, twelve and ten or fifteen, fifteen and fifteen. Maximum height in RMF one would be 35 feet with 10 for understory parking, you could request up to 46 with a height exception. For industrial you get 46 by right, you could request up to 75% or 75 feet with a height exception.

And then building coverage from residential to industrial is probably the largest change, 35% to 80% allowable lot coverage. So these are your decision criteria for a zoning map amendment, whether it's compatible with the existing development pattern and zoning, changes in land use or conditions upon which the original was based, consistency with the comprehensive plan, conflicts with existing or planned public improvements, availability of public facilities and a consideration of the impact on traffic, impact on population density or intensity such that the demand for public services are affected, and again impact on currently planned and funded public facilities. Number six would be the effect on health, safety and welfare, conformance with all applicable requirements of the LDR, and then findings of any environmental assessment report. So conclusions related to the Land Development Code, the subject petition has been processed with requirements to consider a zoning map amendment. In addition, it has been reviewed by the Technical Review Committee and no issues regarding compliance were identified.

Upon review of the petition and associated documents, conference of plan, Land Development Code, Florida Statutes, staff report analysis and testimony provided during the hearing. There is sufficient information on the record to take action on this zoning map amendment petition. Do you have any questions for me?

Any questions for staff? Mr. Ingeleking?

I think it's a simple one but it's going to be a hard one to answer. What is the anticipated or accepted definition of light industrial and advanced manufacturing?

I can give that to you. We have used definitions for all of our uses in the codes. If you give me just one minute I'll pull it up for you. Okay, so we've got characteristics involved firms involved in light manufacturing or repair of industrial or consumer equipment, manufacturing from previously prepared materials of finished products or contractor companies that perform services off-site but store equipment and materials on-site. Accessory uses could be a showroom, indoor storage, office, cafeteria, parking, repair facilities or residential unit for security purposes.

So some examples we have would be building contractor firms, light manufacturing, machine shop, welding shop or woodworking. And then there's one special use standard which relates to outdoor storage no closer than 25 feet to a public street and outdoor storage yards enclosed by a fence or wall and no junkyards. So this being a boat ramp and pier kind of manufacturing would fall under that category dock, sorry, not ramp.

We're We're going go ahead and stop there and take a five minute recess.

Oh, sorry.

Okay. We are back. And, Ms. Trembley, I'm just going to ask you if you could just repeat your repeat the question that Mr. Engelke asked you and your answer to that question.

Yes, absolutely. So the question was what is our definition of light industrial and advanced manufacturing and we do have a written definition in the code. So it includes characteristics, firms involved in the light manufacturing or repair of industrial or consumer equipment, manufacturing from previously prepared materials, and contractor companies that perform services off-site but store materials on-site. Examples of accessory uses could be a showroom, indoor storage, an office, cafeteria, parking, on-site repair, and a residence for security purposes. Examples of these types of firms would be building contractors, light manufacturing, machine shops, welding shops, and woodworking.

And then there are some use standards related to outdoor storage location and screening. And we would say that my understanding of this company being construction and repair of docks, piers and seawalls would fall under this definition.

And then Mr. Engelke if you had a follow-up question.

Yes, so I guess what it is not, it's not heavy, dirty manufacturing and certainly not an oil refinery or factory that would be churning out dirty products type of thing.

Correct. It's not meant to be something that has a heavy environmental impact or nuisance to surrounding properties in that way. We have a different definition for heavy industrial.

Any other questions of staff? Okay, then we will move on to the applicant's presentation. Thank you Ms. Trembley, appreciate your time. And again, the applicant's presentation is limited to twenty five minutes and then we'll move to counsel questions.

Okay. It'll pop right up. Thank you. Alright. Hello again for the record Annie Boone agent for the applicant.

I'm not going to repeat all the background and factual information provided in my presentation for the comprehensive plan amendment and in the interest of time I would just like to incorporate all of the comments and points submitted in the previous presentation. I would like for all that to be incorporated into this presentation so I'm not repeating myself unnecessarily. So the rezone proposal is also straightforward. It's just to change the current zoning designation from RMF one to industrial. And this proposal it is consistent with the comprehensive plan and it complies with the city's land development regulations.

The comprehensive plan it's consistent with all applicable elements. This includes the Gateway Neighborhood Strategy LUGW 1.1.1 which we did previously note and the staff noted as well. The redevelopment vision for the Gateway neighborhood does include light industrial uses and so this proposal would support that specific strategy. It's also consistent with the strategy land use strategy concerning infill development compatibility and the zoning that the industrial zoning designation is an implementing zoning district for the industrial future land use designation. As for the land development regulations, this proposal complies with all relevant sections.

Section 1.2 C eight, the land use compatibility analysis. Nicole reminded you of those various considerations. We provided our responses as part of the application. Staff reviewed those, incorporated them into their presentation and report. No issues are found there and they have said that this proposal can be found consistent.

Also Section 1.7.2, we have met all of the application requirements and as for Section 1.7.4, the decision criteria, again we provided all of our responses as part of the application materials and staff reviewed no issues were noted. Your vote of approval can be found to be consistent with this proposal. So in summary, the proposed zoning designation, The proposal to change the zoning designation from RMF one to industrial is consistent with the comprehensive plan. It complies with all the land development regulations and all other applicable portions of the city's code. And so just in summary, this property it's located in a long standing in an existing and light industrial area of the city.

The city has a lack of property that's well suited for industrial uses. This property and this designation change would support the city's interest It is appropriate and well suited for light industrial use. Existing land development pattern and surrounding property uses in the area support this zoning designation change and are compatible with light industrial use. This proposal, this change is requested is only asking for these designations to be made consistent with the existing use. This proposal is logical, compatible and it can be found to be in the best interest of both the City and the property owner.

In the event there's further concerns or comments relating to code enforcement and violation of the existing current zoning designation, Again we respect everyone's views but our client has been working with the city and in this instance he's here just trying to do the right thing. So with all the competent substantial evidence submitted into the record through the application materials and presentation, we respectfully request your vote of approval.

Any questions for the applicant? Mr. Smith?

Thank you, Mayor. Ms. Boone, at the Planning Commission meeting, Chairman Schneider said that the industrial zoning allows a lot of uses and he said he couldn't support the zoning change unless the applicant would limit them. And at that time you said that the applicant would not agree to limitations. Is that still the position of the applicant?

Are there concerns with the permitted uses under the industrial zoning designation?

Yes.

What are those concerns?

No, it's that it's so widely available and the question is what if he knows what he wants to do with the property, is he willing to limit his use to that use?

I think it would probably depend on what limitations you are seeking to impose. I think we would need some more information before my client would agree to restrict his use of the property. So if you have specific concerns, we would be pleased to hear those.

Okay, I think that might require a separate meeting and maybe delaying this vote today. Thank you.

Any other questions for the applicant? Okay. Seeing none, then we will move on to public comment. Madam Clerk, you have anybody up to speak?

Yes.

Okay. Let's start with our first speaker.

Tom Broccoli.

And then I'll just remind the speakers when you come up if you'd state your name for the record and where you reside in the city.

Good morning, my name is Tom Broccoli. I live in Villa La Grande, which is right along Substation Road. I support economic development but growth requires a sound infrastructure. And it only takes one trip down Substation Road, dodging potholes and cracks to realize that it doesn't sustain the current level of activity that we put on the road. So our plan in Villa LaGrant is to assemble the stakeholders, the businesses and residential areas along Substation Road to see if we can develop a plan to improve it, resurface it and pay for it and maintain it going forward down the road.

But as it stands now, a vote to add industrial activity along Substation Road will only exacerbate a problem. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Madam Clerk, next speaker?

That was the last one.

Okay. So then we'll move into staff rebuttal or final comments. None from staff, okay. And then the applicant, your rebuttal or final comments. And you'll have up to ten minutes.

Yes. To address the comments made about understand that the condition of the road is a present issue for all property owners. However, the zoning designation change or sorry, issue concerning the condition of the road would be present regardless of whether the zoning designation remains the same or is changed. However, the zoning designation change from residential RMF one to industrial, the industrial use would reduce the number of trips generated and therefore would have less of an impact on substation road. In addition to that, I just will say our client, He has been and remains willing to work with the property owners, he has contributed to the improvement of the road in the past and is willing to do so in the future moving forward and certainly should he be able to redevelop his property.

And I'm just going ask the matter of attorney before we close the public hearing. We've had this come up prior in some other developments that we've done as it relates to the conditions of the road that the city is not responsible for. What in these circumstances can we do as local government to enforce the maintenance of the road and ensure there are stakeholders willing to maintain that road?

Well since it's not a since it's a private road there are limited opportunities. Clearly when a like a site plan comes forward and there's an actual development proposal there are standards have to be met for access of fire trucks and etcetera. So that provides the city an opportunity. But the actual ongoing maintenance of the road is really left when it's a private road is left to those who are users of that road and part of the maintenance entity.

Thank you for your response. Okay. Then with that I will close the public hearing. And I will entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor.

Based on the evidence in the record, I move that ordinance twenty twenty six dash one four be approved on first reading and scheduled for final reading.

I'll second.

Seconded by Mr. Engelke. And council discussion? No council discussion. Okay. Then we will move forward for an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. And it passes six to one.

Alright. We are on to ordinances final reading. This is ordinance number two zero two six dash zero eight. The public hearing is now open. And I'll ask madam clerk when you're ready if you could go ahead and read this ordinance, by title only please.

An ordinance of the city of Venice, Florida annexing certain lands lying contiguous to the city limits pursuant to petition number twenty five dash one nine a n by iHeartMedia and Entertainment Inc into the corporate limits of the city of Venice, Florida and redefining the boundary lines of the city to include said addition providing for repeal of all ordinances and conflict herewith providing for severability and providing effective date.

And the madam clerk have you received any written communication since last hearing?

No.

Alright. And is there an update from staff since last hearing? No update from staff. How about an update from the applicant? No update from the applicant. And is there anybody signed up to speak? No. Okay. Then with that, I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion.

Mister mayor. Mister vice mayor, I move that order in December '88 be approved and adopted.

Second.

Second by miss Frank. Any council discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, if you'll ready us for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, can indicate your vote. And madam clerk, you can tally and display the vote, please. Passes unanimously. And we are on to ordinance two zero two six dash zero nine. Public hearing is now open. Madam clerk, when you're ready, you can go ahead and read this ordinance by title only please.

An ordinance of the City Of Venice, Florida amending the City Of Venice comprehensive plan future land use map and associated pages pursuant to petition number 25 Dash 20 c p to change the future land use designation for a portion of specific real property generally located at 282 North Auburn Road from Sarasota County, moderate density residential to City Of Venice mixed use residential providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict herewith providing for severability and providing an effective date.

And have you received any written communication since last hearing? No. Is there an update from staff? No. Update from the applicant? No. Any public comment?

No.

Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Engelke.

I move that ordinance number 22,609 be approved and adopted.

Second. Second by mister Howard. Any council discussion? Seeing none, we will go ahead and move on to the electronic vote. Madam clerk, if you can make us ready for the vote. Council members, you can indicate your vote when your light is flashing. And Madam clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. We're now on to ordinance number two zero two six dash one zero. This is a quasi judicial procedure, and the public hearing is now open. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, you can go ahead and read this ordinance by title only, please.

An ordinance amending the official zoning atlas of the City Of Venice, Florida pursuant to zoning map amendment petition number 25Dash21RZ to change the zoning designation for a portion of the property generally located at 282 North Auburn Road from Sarasota County open use estate to City Of Venice plan unit development providing for appeal of all ordinances with providing for severability and providing an effective date.

And if anybody wishes to speak please indicate your request to speak at the kiosk in the back of the room. Staff is available at the back of the room to help if anyone needs assistance with that process. Madam Attorney, if you could go ahead and inquire as to conflicts of interest or ex parte communication.

Yes, if anybody has had any ex parte communication since the first reading, please indicate that at this time and ask Mr. Weed to indicate any of his ex parte communications since he was not present at the first hearing. Why don't we start with Mr. Weed?

I've had no ex parte communications. I did after the fact view the entire council meeting including the quasi judicial hearing that is before us now. None.

None.

None. None. None. None. Alright.

With that we will move on to written communication. Madam Clerk, have you had any written communication since the last hearing? No. Staff update? Applicant update? Any questions of either? Okay, none. Madam Clerk, do have anybody signed up to speak? No. Closing on behalf of either? Alright. Public hearing is now closed.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Vice Mayor.

Based on the evidence in the record, I move that ordinance number twenty twenty six-ten be approved and adopted.

Seconded by Mr. Engelke. Any counsel discussion? Mr. Smith?

Mr. Mayor, I just want to repeat my concern and the reason why I will vote against this is that our current planned unit development codes would allow some commercial use on this property and although the applicants indicated no intention of that, I don't believe we want to create an opportunity for it. So I will vote no.

Alright. Seeing nobody else, then we will move on to the electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can go ahead and make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk you can tally and display the vote. And it passes six to one. We are on to ordinance number twenty twenty six-twelve. Public hearing is now open. Madam clerk when you're ready you can go ahead and read this ordinance by title only please.

An ordinance of the city of Venice, Florida establishing the Nokomis Grove Community Development District pursuant to chapter one ninety of statutes providing for the district's external boundaries providing for functions and powers of the district providing for initial board of supervisors for the district addressing corrections of scrip nurse heirs providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict here with providing for severability and providing an effective date.

Have there been any written communication since the last hearing?

Yes, provided to you in advance.

Perfect, thank you. And then do we have an update from staff since last hearing? Okay, no update from staff. How about the applicant? Nothing from the applicant. Okay, then we will move on to public comment. Madam Clerk, do have anybody signed up to speak?

Yes.

Okay. Let's start with our first speaker.

David Kemmerer, and he has two minutes.

Okay. Mr. Kemmerer, you will have two minutes. Good morning and welcome still.

Good day. My name is David Kemmer for the record. I would like to start by saying that we are not against Grand Oaks Venice land right to establish a CDD. We do reject the naming of the district after our family business name that four generations of family owned and operated in Nokomis. We do have some family members also here besides myself. The CD the CDD will be in North Venice at Grand Oaks Venice,

not in

Nokomis, or will it be a citrus grove? Okay. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I should be in sight for you.

The property was purchased in the late, the property we're discussing was purchased in the late seventies by Jean and Nadine Henderson and was named the Boar's Head Grove for a wild boar skull found on the land. Okay. This was the third grove established in Nokomis for the family business. In the early 60s, Jean and Nadine purchased the Hayes Grove from Nadine's parents and changed the name to Nokomis Groves. So we've been that name since the 60s.

This location on Albiform Road was where the citrus packing house and retail store operated since 1948. Our family business is in our family business is in Nokomis Nokomis, Grove with three different parcels of land owned and operated by three generations in Nokomis. So we have quite a history. We sold this property knowing that it would be developed but we did not sell our family business or its name.

That concludes your time, sir.

Mayor, could I ask the council to extend the gentleman's time by three minutes?

I'll take a vote of the council if we want to vote in favor of amending the time limit to an additional three minutes. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Okay. Madam Clerk, if you can adjust the time and add an additional three minutes, please.

Thank you. I won't take all three minutes. Go for We respectfully ask that you have the petition the petitioner to amend this document with a new name of their choosing. Just please don't use the name Nokomis Groves. We have a like to submit a letter for each of you, from the from family member here just showing a little bit and this is a board that we had at our business for when all the school children in the area would come to see what an agricultural citrus grove situation, how it operated and represented all the generations of the family.

The last comment I will say with this too is that we have also been involved in our history before Nokomis Groves in the citrus. The grandparents of my family members operated Stone Grove here on the Island of Venice. They lived in the house that you have across the street that's now a coffee shop. Okay. So and then when they left that, they went and established their own business in Nokomis, which was Hayes Grove and then became Nokomis Grove.

So we have a long history in our community and we would dislike our name removed from this development. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Madam Clerk, you have anybody else signed up to speak? No. Okay. Madam Attorney, I'm going go out of order here then and ask if I'm permitted to ask the applicant if they were willing to consider a name change.

Yes, you can ask that.

So if the applicant could come up. So my question to you sir would be, would you consider changing the name?

Yes, good morning. My name is Patrick Collins on behalf of the law firm Klinsky Van Wyk representing the petitioner. Yes, we are open to a name change. The only thing I would ask is we would like to avoid coming back or continuing the hearing. If the council would be open to it, we'd happy to propose a name change right now if the ordinance could be adopted as revised to reflect the updated name.

Madam Attorney?

My preference would be if there is going to be a change in the documents even if it's just a change in the name that happens in various portions of it, I would ask that we would continue this so the updated documents could be provided, make sure everything is acceptable and have it formally adopted by counsel if that's the direction we're going go. It's not just like changing one provision.

If we gave you more time today would you guys be able to come up with something?

Yes, yes. I could get you an updated copy today.

So Madam Attorney, what we moved on to finish the rest of the agenda and came back to this item?

Yes.

Okay. So if that's okay with counsel then, I'd like to move to continue this until the end of the council meeting. Seconded by Mr. Howard. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Okay. So we are going to continue this to the end of the meeting, if you could work on that for us, and then I will make sure that we bring you back up when we get to the end of the meeting. Thank you. Okay. So I'm going to move on to Ordinance number 2,020 six-fifteen. And we'll go ahead and open that public hearing. And madam clerk, I'm gonna ask you to read that ordinance by title only, when you're ready.

An ordinance of the city of Venice, Florida amending the code of ordinances chapter two administration article four finance division three travel by amending section two-two 40 in general section two-two 41 prepaid travel expenses section two-two 42 expenses approved for reimbursement and section two-two four three submission requirements providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict or with providing for severability and providing an effective date.

Madam Clerk, do you have any written communications since the last hearing?

Nope. Okay.

Any update from staff since the last hearing? Not seeing anything. Madam Clerk, anybody signed up to speak? Nope. All right. Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Engelke.

I move that Ordinance number twenty twenty six-fifteen be approved and adopted.

Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? Mr. Vice Mayor?

Just a matter of information and public record. There is a portion of this where the Vice Mayor has to review the Mayor's expenses. And while originally, I do consider it somewhat of a clerical situation, I just want to put it on record that this is no easy task. There are some really well defined situations within our whatever we want to call it, within our documents here. So it's very, very interesting that we go to such lengths to make sure that everything is right.

And I was very impressed when I sat with the clerk and got the information to realize that, we, all of us, if we travel, are very closely looked at when we put our expenses in. So just wanted to get that on the record. Thank you.

All right. And we'll move to the electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for that. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can go ahead and indicate your vote. Ms. Frank Hughes didn't register. Okay. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. Alright.

We'll move on to, new business ordinances, twenty twenty six-seventeen. And Madam Clerk you can read this ordinance by title only when you're ready.

An ordinance of the city Of Florida amending chapter 50 personnel article three pensions and retirement division two municipal firefighters pension trust fund adding new section 50 dash one one zero to four deferred retirement option plan provided for codification, providing for severability of provisions, repealing all ordinances in conflict here with them providing for an effective date.

Anyone signed up to speak? Nope. I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move to approve ordinance number twenty twenty six-seventeen on first reading and schedule it for final reading.

Second. Seconded by Mr. Howard. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you're ready us for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate that vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. And we will move on to resolutions, resolution number twenty twenty six-eight and Madam Clerk if you want to go ahead and read this resolution by title only when you are ready.

A resolution of the City Of Florida modifying irrigation restrictions superseding resolution number 2007Dash21 and providing an effective date.

Is there anyone signed up to speak? Nope. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Howard. Move resolution twenty twenty six-eight be approved and adopted.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolton. Any council discussion? Ms. Frank?

I was just curious on what the communication plan was so that our city residents are going to be properly informed about this change?

Mr. City Manager? Thank

you, Mayor. I would like to invite up our Utilities Director to speak to that as they have a robust communications plan put together.

Mr. Vargas, come on down.

Good morning. For the record, Javier Vargas, Utility Director. In an effort to communicate and educate our public, we did a few things. Number one, last Friday we sent a total of three fifty letters to our customers that actually are served with portable water for irrigation purposes. In addition to that, we posted the new restrictions online. And tomorrow, we're going to advertise, I guess I said most of the changes on the paper.

All right. Thank you Mr. Vargas. And with that we'll move to an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you'll tally on display, please, passes unanimously. We're on to Resolution twenty twenty six-nine. Madam Clerk, when you're ready if you'll read this resolution by title only please.

Resolution of the City of Venice, Florida adopting a revised schedule of violations of penalties consistent with Section two-three 33 of the City Code of Ordinances superseding resolution number twenty twenty four-seven and provide an effective date.

Anyone signed up to speak? Nope. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Engelke.

I move that resolution number twenty twenty six-nine be approved and adopted.

Second. Seconded by Mr. Howard. Any council discussion? Mr. Weed? Mr. Mayor, is

it possible to have a display or a sheet showing with these new scheduled violations present to the meeting so it becomes part of the public record from this meeting? Do we have any kind of a sheet or a visual that can be presented to become part of the record?

Mr. Clinch?

Yes, it is included as part of the resolution on Page three and four, correct clerk that will be part of the record?

Yes, of course. Did you want it displayed? We can pull up if you give me a minute. Go

ahead and display it for us.

And I appreciate the effort, I just like to have things clear, easy to find for people so they can click a reference.

And Mayor, I'll just clarify while she's pulling that up. The only change because it's not highlighted on the table just so everybody's aware is Section 7,448, the violation of water use restrictions has been added to the table as a Class one violation.

All right, it should be presented for everyone. Mr. Weed, is that sufficient for your

Yes, it is. Thank you very much. I appreciate that effort. Vice Mayor Bolt?

Just a quick question. I certainly don't disagree with any of these, but how do we go about doing this? Obviously the building department and the city manager?

So, this citation table is for use by our code enforcement officers. So it'd be all of our community resource officers of which there are eight housed in the police department are able to issue these citations. Now they do get certainly communication from all other staff in the city who are around and if they notice a violation they would report it to our community resource officers.

No, I understand that part. I'm curious about, who was involved in deciding what these fines were because some of them have gone up fairly significantly.

You want speak to that, Kelly?

Again, I don't disagree with them but I'm just curious.

The fine chart itself has not changed. What was done is assigning this new addition for watering restriction violations to a Class one. So the fine amounts have not changed.

I'm We're just sorry I misread it, because your first is your civil penalty and then subsequent offense. Yes.

Yes, gotcha. Okay. Then with that we will move to an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, when you're ready you can go ahead and make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display this vote. Passes unanimously. And we are on to resolution twenty twenty six-ten and this resolution is in reference tomorrow. I everyone knows we're doing a big event at Centennial Park so this is the rededication of Centennial Park in honor of the City Of Venice's Centennial. Madam Clerk, if you could read the resolution by title only please.

A resolution of the City of Florida rededicating Central Centennial Park in honor of the City Of Venice's Centennial and providing an effective date.

Anyone signed up to speak?

No.

I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move that resolution number twenty twenty six-ten be approved and adopted.

Second. Seconded by Mr. Howard. Any council discussion? I'll just say thank you all for that motion and second, and we can move on to an electronic vote. When the clerk is ready and your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. Alright. We're gonna take a quick break.

We'll come back at forty five after. 11:45, return. Okay. We're back. And in the interest of saving the parties involved time, I'm gonna go back to ordinance two zero two six dash one two, which is the Nokomis Grove CDD.

And after further discussion with the attorneys involved, it sounds like we won't be able to make this change effectively today. So I would propose that we continue this item until the next meeting. I will say with that, they do have a timeline because they already have some, meetings scheduled, immediately following that meeting. So I just want to make everybody aware for transparency purposes, they are being very gracious in allowing us to continue this with no objection. Madam Attorney, do you need that in a formal motion?

Yes, if you could please continue it to our April 28 meeting.

I move that ordinance number two zero two six one two be continued until our April 28 meeting. So moved. Seconded by I heard Mr. Howard on my right, I'm gonna go with seconded by Mr. Howard.

And then we can do an all in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Okay, that's a unanimous approval Okay, so now I'm going to take and I will say thank you to the applicant for that willingness to work with us Okay. I'm going to move forward then to Council action and discussion twenty six-five seventy two And, this is the approved the Venice strategic plan for fiscal year ending 09/30/2027. And I will give the city manager a few minutes to, open up on this item.

Thank you, Mayor. I felt we had a very productive strategic planning this year and thank you all for your participation, contributions and constructive discussions. This is our first draft at a new strategic plan for the next fiscal year. It will be included and adopted as part of your budget in September. A lot of changes to note.

Hopefully, you all received our highlighted version, which I sent over the weekend just to kind of help draw attention to the new items that we put in there. With a new format this year, and it was thank you to our staff in the PIO's office for updating the format. It can be a little difficult to compare it to last year. So we wanted to just make it a little easier to read for everybody. But the bulk of the information in there is identical to last year.

So a lot of it carried over and what we tried to do is take all the notes in the consensus direction that came out of the annual meeting and insert that where appropriate into the plan. A couple of other notable items that were adjusted, we switched the order of the vision and the mission, really the vision should come before the mission, mission being more specific. We changed some nomenclature from goal, overall strategic pillar for our six topics that unite and hold up the city's strategic purpose. And then we changed the goals to the strategic goals under those pillars to accomplish that align with those different pillars. All in all, hope that you find that we included all those items that were discussed, but we are very open to discuss any changes you would like or if there's anything that we overlooked that should be included.

Thank you.

I will yield to Ms. Frank first and then I've got a few myself. Your buttons pushed in case

you Yes. Okay.

Okay. I have two things I'd like my colleagues to weigh in on that I noticed that I would advocate we make some tweaks to. On Page 18, under quality of life through planning, under goal two on Page 18, we're talking about developing opportunities to promote and incentivize mixed use development including affordable workforce and market rate housing. The fourth bullet point under Goal two on Page 18, we're talking about evaluating former Fire Station fifty two for expansion of the Venice Housing Authority and then the second sentence says, Explore options to provide. And I would advocate that we strike the words in kind non financial and instead we just say explore options to provide support for the development of additional affordable housing units while maintaining perpetual access to the joining Union Missionary Baptist Church and obviously that's just to keep our options open.

I understand you know we may have concerns down the road on what type of cash or non cash contribution the city can make but considering historically the city has made financial contributions to Venice Housing Authority, I'd just like to leave that option on the table and so I don't want the strategic plan to preclude the City Council from considering that option down the road.

So your proposal is to strike provide in kind non financial from that sentence?

Yes and to just say explore options to provide support.

Okay.

And then my second thing I'd like to raise is on page 12 under fiscal sustainability. We are talking in goal one in the second bullet point. It says pursue strategies to reduce the city's reliance on residential ad valorem taxes including evaluation of fees for services, EMS funding and other options. Since it's new, I could not remember from our conversations why this bullet point was brought up or included and since it's alluding to the fact that the city would be pursuing new fees or higher fees that always raises the hair on the back of my neck. So I just wanted to maybe have someone remind me if anyone of my colleagues remembered on why this was included under fiscal sustainability.

I love the first bullet point, but I was concerned about the second.

Mr. Klinch, if you'd like to comment on that?

Sure. The original discussion was related to trying to reduce reliance on the general fund. So reducing reliance on ad valorem taxes. We also discussed as part of the finance presentation several other potential streams of revenue that may have to be explored depending on what happens on the state level with property taxes. So kind of two separate items, I mean certainly open to any changes you have, but that was the discussion there was we need to move away from reliance on the general fund when possible and then exploring other sources of revenue that may be available.

Okay.

I'm okay with leaving it in there, I just would say maybe it's a little premature

don't want to jump my turn or anything but I look at this document as a much more broad view versus us getting so granular. So to me, if you were to suggest editing this to just say strategies to reduce the city's reliance on residential ad valorem tax period.

Period.

I'm okay with that because to me this is supposed to be a long term kind of planning, it's our goals, getting so granular and some of the suggestions I'm going to make in a few are specifically that, that we're a little too granular on things that I don't think counsel needs to be so granular on.

Yes. I think if we remove the second part of that sentence I'd be much more comfortable with it and agree. And then the last thing I noticed is still on that page, page 12, under Goal two, I know our police pension plan is doing just fine but I didn't know if there was a threat for that in the future to ever not be in such a healthy position that we needed to include. You know they're just noticeably left off here obviously because they're doing great and there's work to do on the fire pension plan. I just didn't know if something about maintaining its healthy funding level should be included.

So real quick, just for clarity, on goal one you're saying pursue strategies to reduce the city's reliance on residential ad valorean taxes period.

Yes.

And then on the third you're adding, you want to add something Okay, to can you tell us what you want to add?

Yes, I'm open to staff suggestion but something like maintain I don't know if we want put a percentage in there but maintain police pension funding levels at 95% or above or 90% of above I think would be.

Mr. Clinch, would you need a specific number from us or can we just say maintaining the funding of police and fire pensions?

I think I have plenty to work with here and depending on how many comments we get here, it will determine whether you all are comfortable approving today with the changes or if you want me to happy to bring it back in the next meeting as well. Thank you. I have the I definitely have the direction direction on that. Ms. Frank, anything else?

No.

Okay, and we will move on to Mr. Smith next.

Thank you, Mayor. First, thank you to the City Manager for all the work that went into this document. I think there is quite a few changes and obviously numerous places where we continued language we have had for years. But I think it does accurately, the changes accurately reflect the conversation that we had on our workshop and I am very, very pleased with that. I have no objections to the suggested changes that Ms.

Frank made. They all clarify, simplify by truncating some of those sentences. So I don't have any problem with that. The only other thing I wanted to comment on was with regard to I guess it would be on Page 19 and that's the joint planning agreement. And I think that to a certain extent, this does reflect our conversations that we were going to explore and fully investigate the impacts of targeted lands if we and what's important to me is that phrase, if we were to add and consider adding and have the county's cooperation in adding nine sixty acres to the potential city limits, then what's important to me is that we not go forward with any annexation that would exceed our current water and sewer capacities.

We did talk about that during the meeting and it doesn't say that here specifically, but to the extent that it says we'd fully investigate and evaluate the impact on our infrastructure, then perhaps it can be read to mean that. I rely on our utility director's assurances that using the current city limits and all future anticipated growth within those limits, we have enough water and sewer capacity already. And what I was concerned with was if we add acreage that we still have enough water and sewer capacity for it and not a need for another major expansion of water and sewer services. And so do you think, Mr. City Manager, that we have that covered in saying that we'll fully investigate and evaluate the impact on the infrastructure?

Certainly, the way I would interpret that is as part of that consideration and evaluation process is being sure that we have sufficient capacity and infrastructure before any of these we got to kind of step back. If we're successful in these discussions with the county as we talked about, the first step will be an amendment to the JPA, which will then lead to subsequent steps of actual areas being considered for future annexation. So as part of that process, there has to be extensive infrastructure analysis before any of that could be considered. Happy to be more specific if you all would desire, but I'm not sure that it's necessary. It would definitely be part of that process.

That's the assurance that I want and I thank you for that. Thank you.

Mr. Weed?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My first comment has to do with gateways. I noticed that the gateways is noted on Page two under the heading charming. On Page four, Pillar one, G2, entrance gateways to Venice, fiscal sustainability, G3 I'm sorry, wrong place.

Pillar five, G2 gateway areas. My question I'm sorry, then it goes on further to Page six. We reference entrance gateways, commercial entrance corridors and our goal to prioritize primary gateways in the city including East Venice Avenue, Business 41 and Circus Bridge and municipal airport. I am wondering if it would be possible for clarity that some place in here we have a map that has highlighted on that map where these areas are. So that when we're talking as a board, we're talking to our citizen, we're making plans that is very clearly defined what these different types of gateways are exactly, what the area encompasses because it seems to be a term that is thrown around kind of loosely and I would just like to see a graphic presentation of that.

So certainly, I remember the discussion from strategic planning, it's hard to define what a gateway is, right? There's many different ways from both land, air and sea to enter into our city. And our boundaries are constantly being adjusted, so those gateways do change. We also have different ideas of what we would consider a gateway depending on what your entrance to the city is and where you typically go. We tried to define it a little more clearly in here by mentioning some gateways that were important in our conversations.

But I think it would be challenging to put a map together network is. So get able a

reflective in here. And This is the highest

of level of planning that you all do. And then when we get into the actual budget itself, the capital improvement program, the operating budget, you're going to see more specific projects that are intended to meet these these different goals. Redefining our gateways, coming up with a schematic and and kind of walking through where we wanna prioritize and focus our resources would be a great exercise to do. I'm not sure it would be appropriate to put it in your strategic plan because I think you want to keep that at a higher level in nature. So my suggestion would be that maybe we separate those two.

And if we want more clarity on gateways, be as kind of a separate exercise that we go through.

Okay. Thank you. I mean, because one of the things I see missing from here is to me when you get off the interstate, you've entered the Gateway to Venice. The Sarasota Memorial Hospital facility to me is a gateway area to Venice and that's not mentioned any place in here. And so I was just trying to get a better graphic idea but thank you for that, for your comments.

My second and final point, on page four under pillar three, G3, I'm about to get there for a second. The words ensuring the maintenance of service and seems out of place here. It seems like that should read protect the city from fiscal crisis by maintaining a strong credit rating through sound conservative financial decision making. I'm just not really sure where the ensuring the maintenance of service comes into the discussion of fiscal crisis. So I would just my my suggestion is to remove the words ensuring the maintenance of service and.

That's all I have.

Mr. Engelke? Okay, thank you.

Overall, I like this Very, very professionally done, very, very well done, very, very well laid out. And I'm really just going to comment on some of my colleagues' comments. In terms of the economic, I forget what page it was, for the other fees and so forth, don't have problem with that. In terms of the, housing, I'm struggling with taking out the words in kind.

I

forget what page, that was page 18. Would be goal number two evaluate basically one, two, three, four paragraph commenting on Ms. Frank's comments. I don't have any problem, with that, but instead of taking out the words providing in kind and non financial support, I don't want to get into a position where we are now going to dictate on the CIP that we're going to be, putting in other funding sources. So I would kind of I don't have any problem with the concept, but I'd like to kind of tighten that up a little bit and and and not preclude in kind.

You know, so that's that's kind of where I am on that. And then finally, in terms of the gateway, the gateways is something I had brought up, very specifically. And I was thinking not just the island, but to comment on Mr. Weed's comment out by the hospital, other gateways. And perhaps, and I don't know the way about doing this, perhaps that could be a CAB function. Know, have them come back and determine how they feel about this because I see that as being more community involvement and maybe working with them for recommendations. But I was the one who brought up the other gateways, not just the island but to use the other example, the hospital. Thank you.

All right. And then I'm up next and just while it's fresh, the only thing I really liked about when you were talking on Page 18, removing those words is that I think that it's also it's inclusive. So we're not saying don't pursue in kind non financial, it's just we're trying to keep it as broad as we can, so just explore options to provide support. So I think that keeps it broad in my perspective. But I'm trying to look at this document and be as broad as I can be to not get too granular.

That's fair. Could accept that.

Okay. So I'll say on my first change, it's on Page 10. The only thing I wanted to ensure was, we get into a lot of discussion as it relates to, community outreach, public input, all that kind of stuff, which I I absolutely agree is important. But I wanna make sure that it's clear the council needs to have, involvement and approval. So my only suggestion would be maybe a third bullet point that says adopt and then council approval.

The only thing I really want to make sure that we solidify is that council needs to be a huge part of this process and should have the final approval on any changing of our brand. I think that's kind of what got us into some trouble in the past and I want to avoid us getting into the 20 logo situation. And then, for me on Page 16, again, this kind of addresses my granularity comment. We talk about implementing a City of Business Liaison role. I don't think this document should be specific to staff positions.

So I would just suggest that maybe we back out of that a little bit and change the wording so that engaging in regular collaboration with local businesses is kind of the goal, the direction. I think that we do that without specifying operational tasks in here because I don't want to get us in a place where we're starting to manage the manager through this document. It's not, in my opinion, meant for that. Those were the two biggest ones I had. So when we get to the end of this, I probably will propose that we bring this back to the council because we've given you so many changes that I'd probably like one more view at it before we say, we're good today.

I do have one other two other speakers, so before we go too much further past that, I want to let them speak as well. But if you had something you want to say on that suggestion?

Yes, I just wanted to say that would actually be my recommendation as well. Since we've got about a dozen tweaks here, I want to make sure we get everything that you're looking for.

I'm glad you and I agree. So, okay, Mr. Howard.

Thanks, Mayor. I like the session. I like the presentation. I've listened to all of my colleagues. It reminds me of mission vision sessions where you're trying to take a word and I think the term was used, make the word not quite so fuzzy, more clear and succinct. But with any strategic plan, economic drivers, environmental drivers, it's going to change, right? So I think that your summary earlier or your statement that this is more high level and we're on

a trail or on

a trip to destination A, somewhere along the way it could derail and driven by whether it's economic factors or what's going on with real estate and taxes. I mean there's a lot of moving parts throughout the year that we're probably going to travel through or over or around. So I think overall, some great points have been brought up by colleagues. I have no objections to any of those edits that they've pointed out, but again I think we're just we're getting too granular and the document may have led some of that because some of it is pretty granular like the mayor just said and some of it was kind of vague or fuzzy. So but overall I really appreciate the session and I really respect the document that was generated. Thank you.

Mr. Smith?

I'm just looking at what you were suggesting we change on page 16 and I don't have any problem with what you're after. You didn't want to really be introducing a new city position in this document. But maybe that sentence under Goal one where it says implement could just be truncated and start with the word provide because we do want to provide direct support and guidance for local businesses and all of that and just get rid of the mention of the particular individual that we're going to be adding or have just recently added. Just a thought accomplishing what you want there with the words.

I appreciate the input. All right, anybody else? Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak? Okay, then with that, I'm going to move that Venice strategic plan for fiscal year ending 09/30/2027 be brought back to council for further review and adoption. So moved. Moved by seconded by Mr. Howard. Any council discussion? All right. Then with that, Madam Clerk, if you can ready us for an electronic vote, please.

Italian display passes unanimously. And then the last item on today's agenda is going to be two six dash zero five seven three. This is a letter of support designating the Myakka River as a component of the National Wild and Scenic River system. Myself and city manager clinch went out with a nonprofit and a member of congressman Stubbe's office. They're proposing some legislation to do this and they've been asking for letters of support in our region.

We are a stakeholder considering we do have a park on the Myakka River and the benefit of this is that it will open up avenues for funding. There's already a state designation that allows for some good enforcement by FWC and our agency shares responsibilities in mutual aid. So I think that a lot of what's been done is good and this is a very good path for us to continue down but I don't get to write letters independently of the council so I'm asking for your support in writing this letter that's been requested by Congressman Stubbe's office. Alright, Madam Clerk, have anybody signed up to speak? No.

Okay, then I move to allow the Mayor to write a letter of support to Congressman Stubbe as it relates to the Myakka River National Wild And Scenic River System bill that he's filing.

I would second that motion.

Seconded by Mr. Smith. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. On to council member reports, Madam Attorney.

Charter officer, but thank you. I have nothing today.

You had something but anyway, all right on to the charter officer Madam Clerk.