Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

all right welcome everyone welcome to city hall here in the city of hollywood today is september 16th 2026. we are here for what's called a regular city commission meeting but as i always say no meeting is ever regular in that sense of that word we always have important and exciting issues to take up on the city's agenda and today is no different let's all please arise for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Another important moment we take up here in the city of Hollywood is to recognize our veterans, active service personnel, and their families. So if you are a veteran of the US Armed Forces, an active service member perhaps, or a family member thereof, please rise. We'd like to recognize contributions. Thank you. I'm going to activate the microphones here for Roll call. City Clerk, go ahead.

Vice Mayor Kaleri? Here. Commissioner Gruber? Here. Commissioner Biederman?

Here.

Commissioner Quintana?

Here.

Commissioner Shuham? Here. Commissioner Hernandez? Here. Mayor Levy?

Here. All right, thank you so much. Let's go ahead and review the consent items today. These are items 5 through 12, items that don't usually require individual discussion. However, if there's a speaker card on any of the consent items or a request from the dais, we'll be happy to take it up later in the agenda individually. Pat, are there any speaker cards on 5 through 12?

No.

From the dais? Motion to approve. We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri and a second from Commissioner Quintana to approve items 5 through 12. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously. On to our 1 p.m. presentations, proclamations, and awards. Today we have two proclamations. Item 15 has been withdrawn because the recipient couldn't make it, and so we'll make that up at another time. But let's go ahead and proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Month, which, of course, just began yesterday, September 15th. And it runs through October 15th. I'd like to recognize Commissioner Hernandez to present the proclamation. Receiving and accepting the proclamation will be members of our Hispanic Affairs Committee. Please come on up, members. I see Jesse Hernandez, Cristina Monello. Well, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner Hernandez. Thank you for the proclamation. City of Hollywood, Florida, in recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th through October 15th, 2026. It is an honor for me to be able to read this proclamation. It's an honor for me to have my wife serving on the Hispanic Affairs Council as well. So whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the rich culture, heritage, and contribution of Hispanics American whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson established Hispanic Heritage Week, and the observance was expanded to a month in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. And whereas the city of Hollywood has been recognized by a national publication as the city of the future, exemplifying the population diversity in typical American city in the 21st century. And it is celebrated for its rich culture, diversity, and initiatives that promote community inclusiveness. And whereas the US Census Bureau estimate that as of July 1, 2025, approximately 43% of the Hollywood population, nearly 67,000 residents, are of Hispanic or Latino origin. Hispanic and Latino residents contribute to the community as local business owners, civic leaders, cultural organizations, and festival participants, as well as city employees serving the public. And whereas Hispanic Americans have had a profound and positive influence in the country through their strong commitment to family, faith, hard work, community service, they have enriched and shaped our national character with centuries-old traditions that reflect multi-ethnic and multicultural customs of their proud history. And whereas the National Hispanic Heritage Month theme for 2026 is Pioneers of Change, Shaping the Future Together, National Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the valuable contribution made by the residents of Hispanic descent to all aspects of American life, including leadership and public service, businesses, the arts, education, civil rights, and social growth of the United States. And whereas during Hispanic Heritage Month, the City of Hollywood invites all residents and visitors to attend the Hispanic Heritage Celebration on October 10, 2026, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Arts Park at Young Circle, Florida, featuring music, culture, performance, art, fellowship, as we honor the enriched traditions and contribution of the Hispanic community. Now, therefore, Josh Levy, Mayor of the City of Hollywood, Florida, and the Hollywood City Commission, hereby proclaim September 15 through October 15, 2026, as National Hispanic Heritage Month in the City of Hollywood, Florida. Congratulations. Congratulations.

Mayor, commissioners, it's an honor to receive this proclamation. Thank you so much. And we are very excited in all of the we are putting together. I hope you guys are going to attend and invite all the community and see the value of the Hispanic heritage that we have in the city of Hollywood.

CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN- October 10, yes? October 10. CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN- Cristina, tell us all about it.

She knows more.

Well, I think it's going to be amazing. There are going to be so many of the local schools and the children that will be representing their countries through the Parade of Nations. Yesterday, we went to another Hispanic Heritage celebration where we got to meet a bunch of the consulates from the different countries. So we got commitments from a bunch of them that are going to attend. We're going to have an art exhibit that is also going to be based on a Hispanic artist who is going to be led by Alejandra Palacios. And then the musical part is going to be very rich, because yes, there will be salsa, but that's not the main focus. We're going to have mariachi. We're going to have a very exciting international artist who's a young man he's 13 years old who plays vallenato so that's going to be super amazing and in honor of venezuela uh in colombia and everything that's happened we're going to have tambores venezolanos so it's really going to be totally different than anything that we've put together before and we have as the nmc nati rodriguez from iheart radio who agreed to to be our emcee. So we are super excited. And I tell you, this lady here has worked really, really hard. People see her coming, and I think they just opened their checkbook. I don't know how that happens. And so we have had a lot of community involvement, which is a point. La Casita Tropical, and Coffee Cult, and a lot of the businesses are also very excited about the initiative. so much so that they chose to be sponsors, even though they could have not done so. So we're very, very, very happy.

Thank you.

Thank you for the support, parks, liaison, for everything that everybody's doing. No one is doing this alone. We're all doing it together.

Well, just on behalf of the City Commission, I want to applaud the new Hispanic Affairs Council for all your hard work. We know it's a big commitment to put this heritage festival together. It's going to be Hollywood's first, definitely not the last. Our city's Hispanic population continues to grow, and the cultural contributions, the economic contributions of our Hispanic community have been tremendous. very significant to Hollywood and will continue only to grow in the future. So I'm looking forward to the energy and to celebrate Hispanic culture. We certainly, I think, even if we're not Hispanic, see and interact with Hispanic culture every day in Hollywood, and it's part of Hollywood's culture. It is Hollywood's culture, from the beach to State Road 7 and beyond. So couldn't be more proud and happy. Vamos a bailar. That means let's dance, you know? Vamos a bailar.

We will send a written invitation, but we were hoping to have you guys between 3 and 4.

And did you have something that you wanted to say, Major Royce?

Yeah, 3 and 4. We hope to see you all sessioning across the... We'll be there. Great. Thank you. All right.

Thank you so much. Let's come on up. Let's take a photo to help spread the word about the Hispanic Heritage Month.

Go ahead, Peter. Go ahead. One of the things that I'm looking forward to, Mayor and commissioners, is they're going to have folkloric dances for some of the countries that are participating as well. So it's not just their music, but their native folkloric.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Well, we'd love to see this cultural exhibition.

Looking forward to it.

Let's now go ahead to item 14, which is a proclamation recognizing World Alzheimer's Awareness Day, which is September 21st. How about John Strader? John, come on up. He's a member of the Alzheimer's Association. And is Eric Montalegre here? There he is, community educator and volunteer with Alzheimer's Association. Of course, we know this is near and dear to Commissioner Gruber's heart. And we, of course, will invite him to present you with the proclamation. Commissioner Gruber.

Thank you, Mayor. Honored to read this. Proclamation, City of Hollywood, in recognition of World Alzheimer's Awareness Day, September 21st, 2026. Whereas Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder, tragically robs individuals of their memories and leads to progressive mental and physical impairments. Alzheimer's is the seventh leading cause of death in America. And whereas over 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, an estimated 500,000 under the age of 65 are living with younger onset Alzheimer's disease. Included in this number are an estimated 580,000 individuals in the state of Florida, of which an estimated 47,800 reside in Broward County. And whereas in 2026, in the United States, nearly 13 million caregivers provided an estimated 19 billion hours of unpaid care valued at more than $413 billion. In Florida, over 877,000 caregivers provided over 1.4 billion hours of unpaid care valued at an estimated $30.3 billion. And whereas the human cost of Alzheimer's disease is immeasurable, affecting not only those living with the disease, but also their families, friends, and caregivers, while researchers and healthcare professionals continue their efforts to better understand the disease and find effective treatments and a cure. And whereas the State of Florida and the City of Hollywood recognize the efforts of the Alzheimer's Association to raise funds and promote awareness to fight Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, thereby improving the quality of human life for those living with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. And whereas the City of Hollywood is working on the establishment of the new Alzheimer's Day Care Center, which will be located at Oak Lake Park, 3190 North 56th Avenue, This is made possible through vital funding by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and the Area Agency on Aging of Broward County. This will expand access to specialized care, resources and support services for individuals living with Alzheimer's disease and their families, strengthening our community's commitment to compassionate health care. Now, therefore, Josh Levy, Mayor of the City of Hollywood, Florida, and the Hollywood City Commission do hereby proclaim September 21, 2026 as World Alzheimer's Awareness Day in the City of Hollywood, Florida.

Mr. Mayor and Commissioner Gruber and city commissioners, on behalf of the Alzheimer's Association here in Southeast Florida, we'd like to thank you very much for the proclamation. And I just want to say as a 30-year resident of Hollywood, excuse me, and a caregiver for my wife, Lisa, of 46 years, who is in the late stages of the disease, almost nothing has made me prouder to be a resident of the city of Hollywood than the efforts that this city is making to address the issues surrounding Alzheimer's and provide facilities that are much needed for the care of our Alzheimer's community. And respite care being an extremely important aspect of this because caregivers are often more impacted or as much impacted by the disease as the people they care for. And the city's efforts in developing the Oak Lake Center as a respite care center for people who are dealing with this is critically important. If more cities were as proactive as Hollywood, we would be in a less dire situation with regards to care than we are. So thank you so much. I'd like to introduce you to Eric Montalegre. He is one of our community educators. Eric is available to go around and speak with civic groups, church organizations, or anybody interested in learning more about the disease. So maybe Eric can speak a little bit about some of the promising aspects of diagnosis and therapies that are newly available.

Thank you, John, and thank you, mayor and commissioners. My father is a resident of the city of Hollywood, and he also has Alzheimer's. And I consider us lucky, because we had the opportunity to get a very, very early diagnosis. And with this disease, early diagnosis is the key. There's been a lot of activity over the last couple of years, from establishing a lifestyle protocol that help stop the progression to blood tests that can help identify the disease early, and also to some treatments that can help assault the progression of disease. But all of it relies on early detection. So I want to thank you for the awareness that you're increasing through this proclamation. I'm sure it'll help bring out more people, more people's understandings of the disease. And also, again, thank you for the work you're doing as a city to create the daycare that's going to really be impactful to the residents and to my father. So thank you.

Thank you all. Please come out for a photo.

Yeah, Commissioner Gruber just asked me to speak for a moment about the walk to end Alzheimer's, which is our largest opportunity to impact the community and help fundraise for research because the Alzheimer's Association funds an enormous number of research projects addressing various aspects of finding the cure or mitigating therapies that will help the disease. So our Walk to End Alzheimer's is here in Broward County, and I believe it's December 7th. December 7th, which is the first Saturday in December. And it's at the campus of Nova Southeast University in Plantation. And you're all invited. If you'd like to come, you can form a walk team. You can join an existing walk team. And we'd love to have you there. There would be about 3,000 of your friends and neighbors there that day. And it's really a joyous occasion. It's not what you think it might be. It's not a down and sad situation. It's really very, very uplifting. So we invite you all to come and join us.

Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you, Commissioner Gruber. Vice Mayor Kaleri, guys, before you go, Vice Mayor Kaleri would like to address you. Go ahead.

To address both, first of all, thank you for your advocacy and Commissioner Gruber for all your efforts. One out of 10 men will come down with Alzheimer's and two out of 10 women. will come down with it. So this is a huge step in trying to help it. But one thing that I want to add, I've been a proponent for seniors across the board, whether it's dementia, Alzheimer's, living, all of those important things. But I think what I've witnessed most recently is not just with Alzheimer's, but with any type of disability, cancer, you name it. caregiver fatigue and I think that that is something that we should also focus on by incorporating as we get this amazingness started we should also think about what we can do and hopefully staff can add or we can incorporate it into the program that's being started for caregiver fatigue and how to deal with them it goes along with the mental health illness issues because we don't realize how Terrible it is. And I see it more and more in my other professional world. And it's devastating to the families. And so if we can incorporate something into that, I would wholeheartedly support that as well.

Yes, caregiver support is a critical need. As many as 30% of caregivers will actually pre-decease the person that they're caring for because of the stresses of care.

Yes. So I think it's so important that we educate and learn and provide tools. So we are taking leaps and bounds of creating this program and whatever we can add to it to just benefit our senior population and their family members, I think, is so important because they leave such a great legacy and we just want to make sure everyone's taken care of so thank you so much for everything you guys are doing maybe we'll get the walk move to Hollywood we want it in Hollywood since we're making leaps and bounds not out of the question thank you thank you again thank you all

All right, Mr. Superintendent, welcome. We want to welcome our superintendent of Broward County Schools, Howard Hepburn, together with his chief of staff, John Sullivan. They're here to talk about the next generation referendum that's on the upcoming November 3rd ballot. Superintendent Hepburn, it's really great to have you here.

Thank you for having both of us. And first of all, mayor, commissioners, I just want to thank you for your ongoing support of all the schools within your city. When it's time to step up and support, it's just a phone call away. So we appreciate it. It truly takes a village. We can't work in isolation, and those partnerships are key to accomplish what we've accomplished so far. And first, I'm going to talk about some accomplishments. And then John Sullivan is going to come and talk more about the actual ballot language and what we've used the referendum for in the past, what we're going to currently use the referendum for based on current board vote. But to make my lawyers happy, you want to make sure I say this so that I'm here to educate and inform and not to advocate. As a superintendent, I can't advocate in my professional capacity. I always love to talk about our accomplishments first. We are a third consecutive year in a row are at a school district, no Ds and Fs, which is a huge accomplishment. And that hasn't happened since 1999, starting about three years ago. And as I was telling a group of principals earlier today, the state of Florida has probably the most robust accountability system. So it takes a lot of effort to really move student performance and to ensure

that you have no DNF schools.

And we're, I think, probably two of the large school districts in the state that can actually say that. Palm Beach County is the other. And Mr. Mike Burke, the superintendent there, I gave him a challenge last year. He stepped up to the plate. So we're doing awesome work. And that's thanks to our teachers, our administrators in our schools, our bus drivers, our custodial staff, hundreds of thousands of volunteers, our admin teams in the cubicles out in our admin offices, and all the partners that contribute day in and day out. It takes a village. Also, we have the highest graduation rate in 25 years as well, 97.5% for our district-operated schools. When you add in our alternative schools and the charter schools, it's 91.4%, but nonetheless still 25-year highest graduation rate. We're also number one in the state of Florida for AP, ACE, IB, industry certifications. What does that mean for the layman? We offer a lot of college courses at the high school level. And so we've opened up more access to our students to earn college credit through college courses and also courses that they can earn industry certification. As a result, our students are performing. And as a result of that performance, they actually garner funding for good outcomes on those actual assessments. And we're number one in the state of Florida for that. And also, we've been blessed to be Cambridge District over the year. Last year, there was only one large district in the whole entire country that has that designation. And that is us for all the work that we're doing in our high schools that equates to that number one funding for the state of Florida. Also, I always love to let people know what the scale of Broward County School is. Some people forget, because sometimes you're just in tune to the schools in your city. If you're a parent, you're in tune to the school that your kid goes to. But we're a very large urban school district. We have approximately 236,000 students, of which 180,000 are in our district-operated schools. The rest are in our charter schools. We have 325 schools, and about 86 of those schools are charter schools, and about 27,000 employees. Last year, the class of 2026, that graduating class, earned $617 million in scholarships. That's actually $200 million more than class of 2025. And that equates to all the wonderful things as far as exposing them to high, rigorous coursework, that college-level coursework. In the state of Florida, we're trying to educate parents on this. If your kid takes a series of ACE courses, a series of AP courses, they actually earn a bright future scholarship. They can go to any of the state universities, pretty much tuition and sometimes room and board paid for free. And a lot of out-of-state scholarships are tied to that accomplishment that those students meet. But we're a very diverse district. Every race, ethnicity, religion, you name it, we have it here. Our students speak over 200 plus languages. So we have it all. And we're proud of the diversity that we represent, which is more than a microcosm of the county that they live in. Also, as I mentioned before, back to back to back, 3PA rating. I started three years ago when I came in. We had our share of DNF schools and a large share of C schools. And for me, being a longtime career educator, not on my watch. It's about providing the best learning opportunities for our students and making sure they can excel. I'm a firm believer that many of our students, the only lever they can pull is a quality education to change their life trajectory, which in turn changes their family trajectory, impacts the community's trajectory and in turn will impact the whole entire county. And so I remind my principals all the time, you have economic impact in the communities that you serve. You are economic impact. It provides opportunities to recruit better businesses in the area and all the other domino effect that it impacts. But as a result of that, of prioritizing our students, making sure they have the right curriculum and instructional resources, and all the bells and whistles that they need to do the magic in the classroom, we've been able to reduce all of our DNF schools, as I said before, to zero. We reduced our C schools by 72%. And we've also increased our A schools by 130%. 87% of our schools are A and B schools. And so we're on a mission to actually increase the achievement at our C schools so we can be solely an A and B school district. It's going to be tougher this year because the state has moved the goal post back or raised the basketball course goal or made the track longer. So those challenges have gotten greater. But as I told people earlier this morning, I'm a very competitive guy, and I hate to lose. And so we're going to need to do what we need to do to support our educators and make sure they can make that magic happen in the classroom for all of our students. And then many of the schools here in the city of Hollywood are steadily achieving. Most of them are A and B schools, very few C schools. And we're providing lots of support to our C schools to make sure they continue to enhance those opportunities for our students. But nonetheless, a lot of positive momentum in the right direction for all the schools right here in your city. And so I'm going to invite Mr. Sullivan up. He's going to talk more about the ballot language, what we've been doing with the referendum in the past, and what we continue to do with it as we also approve that ballot measure for the next four years, and then some other details. And then we'll stay to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.

Of course, he leaves the tax for me. Well, thank you for the opportunity to not only brief the commission, but more importantly, your residents who will see this on the November 3 ballot. So historically, they've seen in this August primary ballot, but the legislature changed the law, so now it has to be in the general. So that's why you'll see it in November and not this August that passed. So again, this is a renewal of an existing property tax. It's not an increase. Or in addition, the residents are already paying this, so it's just a continuation of that. If it was successful, it's four years. So every four years, we do have to go out. The first one was in 2018. The last one was in 2022. So now we have to go back out. It does expire in 27-28 if the referendum was not successful. That's when our schools would feel that impact. It does generate about $358 million across Briarwood schools, and that does include charter schools. We know there's many charter schools in the city of Hollywood, so they would benefit from the referendum as they do now. The referendum funds three buckets. So our compensation, enhancement, supplements for our employees. So think about everyone that impacts our students from the teacher, bus driver, custodial worker, cafeteria worker, and our site leader. So really all our folks who have a huge impact on our system and our students more importantly. Our school safety personnel and our mental health personnel. Prior to, and this is mostly due to Adam's tough negotiating, prior to the referendum in 2018, the contribution rate for the cities was about $55,000. Through the continuation of the 2022 referendum, we've achieved $119,000 for contribution rates. We understand that the cities, including the city of Hollywood, still has a burden on the SRO program. So we're thankful for the partnership in keeping our schools safe. So if the referendum continues, we can continue to have those conversations of how to increase the school district's portion of the contribution. Again, not a new tax. It's a renewal. So these are the buckets or some of the items that are funded in the current referendum that we'll continue to fund. So about $173 million in those compensations for our employees. And that is really important because the neighbors to our south and north have similar referendums. If we weren't able to offer our teachers specifically who receive anywhere between $10,000 and $12,000 annually in supplements, we would lose to both Miami and Palm Beach schools because they would still have that ability if their referendums were successful and ours were not. And then over 393 safety personnel are funded out of the referendum and about 170, I'm sorry, 1.7 million in software. So we all have our panic buttons. That was funded out of the referendum. The crew show all our employees on our sites have this case in an emergency or an event in an emergency. They press it eight times, and law enforcement reacts immediately, saves times and saves lives. And then also 224 mental health personnel are funded out of this referendum. So I don't have to tell anyone in the room, but there's a difference between the bond and the referendum. The bond obviously has a lot of negative press. The superintendent and the current board has done a good job of closing out that program. But with that said, there's a lot of negative press on that. But the bond is separate from referendum. The bond is for facilities. Referendum is for people. So I just wanted to distinguish that for the residents. I won't read this, but this is the official ballot language that they'll see when they are deciding whether or not to support the referendum. And they'll see this on the November 3 ballot. The board has voted on the allocation if it was successful. About 90% would go towards those teachers supplements and eligible staff, and 10% would remain for mental health and school safety. The referendum is really the only mechanism that the board has to raise additional revenue that we do receive outside of the legislature. It's not unique to Broward schools. Many of the districts in the state of Florida do referendums for similar purposes. But the board has taken serious action on our general funds, realizing that we do have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Like many other districts, we are continuing to lose students in our system. This year alone, we lost 11,000. So with that said, the board has reduced, under the superintendent's a recommendation of 1,000 positions. And that was district level, so not school level, which generates about $54 million annual recurring, and then another $46 million for our health care plan that we restructured for our employees. And we've closed seven schools. All that has generated a little over $100 million in annual savings. But again, that really is to deal with the shortfall as it relates to the declining enrollment. So what does this mean for the average homeowner? Again, this is a continuation. So they would continue to pay for the average. It would be more or less if your house is worth more or less. But for the average, it's $418 a year, about $3,500 a month. Condominium owners, $230 a year, about $19 a month. And that investment generates $358 million across the district, including our charter schools. Again, if it's not renewed, we would lose access to those funds beginning the 27-28 school year. There is no way that the board can make this up in our general revenue. We're right at the required state requirement of 3%. If we go below that, there would be state intervention. So the board would have tough choices. There is no way we would be able to maintain the level of services in those three areas that I described that currently are funded in the referendum. So again, I know there's a lot of information, but we do have a website with a lot of information, everything we just said, with toolkits, presentations. And we're here for any questions, Mr. Mayor.

Well, thank you, Mr. Stone. Depending how tough it is, you'll answer. Superintendent Hepburn, I appreciate it. I know you all have a lot that you're undertaking, and obviously a lot also relies on this particular referendum as well. And so I'd like to recognize city commissioners who'd like to address you, beginning with Commissioner Biederman.

So I have a couple of questions. First of all, it was nice seeing you this morning at the ribbon cutting for the newest building at MacArthur High School. Can you go into the different line items and what they mean for our public? so they have a better understanding. There's so many different line items for the school district and where those dollars go. I think it's important that the public understands it.

Are you speaking specifically on the referendum?

No. On the tax bill, there's multiple different millage rates. If you could touch on that so that people understand that a little bit better.

Yeah, absolutely. So there's a specific millage rate that is required by the state, which we get a portion of that, but we don't get all of it. for lack of a better term, goes into a bucket and redistribute it to districts across the state. We do have some districts across the state that are in very rural areas, and they don't have the tax base to garner enough funding for their schools. And you have discretionary millage that the state actually allows, where the school district usually keeps that fixed or even reduces it slightly. That provides additional funds to equate to our FEFP formula. And then you have this specific millage rate as well, which is the only mechanism that the school board would have for additional local effort to be able to do the things that Mr. Sullivan described, additional compensation for teachers and eligible staff, safety and security, and mental health.

And that's what I thought was important that people understand. Now a hardball question, sorry, since you're here. It's been floated, and we had a community engagement meeting about the closure of Oak Ridge Elementary and Hollywood Park Elementary. One of the things that I brought up at that meeting was the possibility to consolidate the Quest Center into one of those schools, into multiple of those schools, or into the other schools that handle the same population in the county. Is there a possibility of doing that as opposed to closing a community school? Because the Quest Center is all transportation. It's not like kids walk there. And by closing one of the community schools, you are disrupting their friends that might go to a different school as they're split up. It might disrupt the community or the walkers. And once they have to get in a bus or a car to get to the school that they would be assigned to, They might just go to charter school. And it was mentioned at that meeting that parents would choose charter over being disrupted going to another school. So that's why I thought of the Quest Center might be an alternative solution, plus the Quest Center. If you're looking to create affordable housing, the Quest Center sits on about 50 residential parcels that could be turned into first-time homebuyers for teachers or for other hero housing.

Yeah, absolutely. Great question. So first of all, the board and myself got to make some tough decisions when it comes to right-sizing our facilities. We have over 60,000 open seats across the district. And just like any homeowner, if you had a five-bedroom house and they were all filled with kids and all of them are adults now and you're the only person in there, in normal circumstances, you downsize stuff so your budget matches your needs. And we're in the same predicament right now. All things are possible, right? That's why we're going out, talking to communities, having these discussions in these town halls to really garner additional feedback for ideas that we probably haven't thought about that we can bring back to the board. We've also hired our set of expertise, too. Since as a school district employees, we're at a certain threshold about possibilities as far as the expert realm. And we've had some experts to look at best use case scenarios for each one of the facilities that we're discussing. One thing that we do keep in mind, too, is the age of facilities. Oak Ridge is a facility that is past its useful age. I want to say that building is probably late 1950s, early 1960s. And we look at how much does it cost to continue to maintain? How much does it cost to renovate? And so we actually have a master planner that will be coming on board real soon through a solicitation that's out there that are actually going to give a holistic more approach to myself and the board about what should we do and consider for all of our facilities. But in a nutshell, all things are possible. We're collecting all of that feedback from the community conversations, from conversations with commissioners, city managers, and things like that. We bring that information to the board and look at the best use case scenarios, look at how we're doing this in a fiscally responsible way as well, but also with the least amount of disruption to our kids and to our families.

And then just to follow up on the Oak Ridge school, the suggestion of moving Oak Ridge kids to Colbert and Olsen, is that where? Am I right about that? OK. Some of those kids go to our aftercare program at MLK, and they would be disrupted in that process. So maybe they can go to Bethune or whatever else. I don't want to steal anybody else's thunder on that, but I was there and I was listening to what parents were saying. So I just wanted to throw that out there. We're looking at all possibilities. And just keep in mind at Hollywood Park Elementary, their kids go to the Boys and Girls Club next door. So that's another benefit to keeping that one open. Absolutely.

Thank you. Let's go to Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you, Mayor. So as a former public school teacher, once a teacher, always a teacher, I want to congratulate you for the achievements in improving the schools and really being able to point to that story of success. I hope that families will continue Hear what you said about for so many of our residents, education is the way that people can come out of poverty and make generational change. So telling the story over and over again about the successes you've had, and hopefully maybe some families will choose to send their kids to public school because schools are closing because you're under-enrolled. And so parents will see this as actually something they're already paying for, and why not? give a high-performing school an opportunity for your child to be educated there. So I just wanted to give you a word of support.

Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Thank you. Vice Mayor Coleri.

Hello. Thank you for being here. And I know your job is not easy, just like most of us. But I always have a saying, hate the game, not the player. So you are not hated. We appreciate all your efforts. If possible, can we go to slide 13? Slide 13.

Oh, we control that. OK, I was looking at it.

So just out of curiosity, I also attended the meeting last week at MacArthur. Very well orchestrated, a lot of attendance, a lot of emotions. And sometimes we know you have to put the emotions aside and get down to the business. But where it says recruit and retain, You just mentioned that you're going to be, I guess, cutting off at the top and recruiting teachers. But there was that big concern that was posed as to where are these teachers and principals going if these schools do close. So it kind of almost seems like a double negative. And could you answer that by any chance?

Absolutely. It's a great question. We always are in need of instructors. And so naturally, when we close a school and we have to move the kids to other schools, we need teachers for those students as well. So they're not just absorbed in a new class, and now that new class has a lot more students. The number of teachers that were at the school is normally needed for where the students go. So the teachers will always have a need for teachers. And we have probably about a 2% turnover rate for teachers, too. So we're always hiring teachers throughout the year, principals as well, and assistant principals. So we always have principals that are retiring in the system, moving on or moving out of the area and going to different places in the United States. So every last one of our principals last year, unless they retired or moved on to another system, all of them found a job somewhere else. So that's why I always want to talk about the scale. We are large. We're the sixth largest school district in the country and the second largest in the state. So we always have a need for school leadership and also school teachers especially.

OK. And then with the second question regarding the SROs. So, you know, that's near and dear to my heart as well. Advocacy for it for many years. And now we have the amazing Adam Reichbach, who's done an amazing job as well, along with the Broadleague of Cities. All of that involved. Right. Much love. um many discussions have been had as far as creating your own uh police force within the school board versus sros where are we at with that and where do you see the funding that's been uh set aside which i think is really a small amount compared to what aspirations have been expressed in the past where are we at yeah so we we've uh sunsetted that language and so we've had a couple of cities actually reach out for us to actually um

look at transitioning whatever officers, be it BSO or municipal officers, out of the schools and have us actually go in and police the schools. So we're not going out and seeking out these opportunities. Some of the cities are calling us and seeking it out. Because we're already paying a portion was it 119, about 120,000. We're already paying a portion to actually support the SRO program. So for those cities that have reached out, they no longer want to pay the gap. And so they've reached out and created a plan with our chief of safety and security to transition those officers out and transition our officers in. Hence, they don't have to pay that gap anymore for the SRO program specific to their city. We're not aggressively going out. We're not aggressively trying to expand our police department. It's going to be based on the needs and the ask of the actual city that wants additional support and want to exercise a different strategy to police the schools within their city.

So I'm sure that you could agree along with me and probably everyone that you encounter that safety is the most important thing along with education for our kids. And while this has been a continual battle, I'm hoping that at least we can find that common ground, continue with that common ground, and make sure that we provide nothing but the best for our children as far as safety goes. I think the 10% might be just a shy short, but just my opinion and then if you could go to 16 slide 16, please Actually if you could go back to One more your K through 8 versus your elementary schools. I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't write the right slide down. I Keep going. Let's see. Maybe we're at the end. Go back, back, back, back. It showed the schools that are, I guess, in Hollywood.

Okay, the school grades. There we go. Okay, gotcha.

Okay, go back one more. Forward one. Okay, let's see. So, of course, I have to speak about the school that's in my district that is affected the most, and that is Oak Ridge Elementary. Okay. And you weren't around, but I feel it's important to speak on the behalf of the students and the community. That community where that school lies was promised. God rest Pete Brewer. He fought really hard funding from the bond to improve that school, which never came to fruition. That wasn't on your watch. It wasn't on the school board's watch. But a promise made should be a promise kept. And here now they're faced again with the Expectation of closure You know we worked really hard the mayor myself prior to him becoming mayor worked with Hollywood Hills Civic Association to put together a K through 8 program and thinking that it would be the best to retain our students in the schools that are currently there. And that kind of got a poo-poo on it. And then it was resurrected with one school only, which was Hollywood Central and made into a K-8. Out of curiosity, you probably don't have the information now, but how many of those students from Oak Ridge possibly transferred over to Hollywood Central?

Yeah, I wouldn't have that information.

No, I know. But just food for thought.

Yep, for sure.

Spoke about, and I wasn't going to bring this up, but I just, you know, you have to go with your heart, right? And you spoke about... children who don't have everything and that education is their key to success and I think a lot of us up here feel that way and in this particular school It would behoove us not to invest in those children because they are a transient area. It is nonconforming to build any type of affordable housing or have any type of businesses come in. And these children are the ones that are at the most need from our public school system or charter school, however you think it is. But what unfortunately seems to happen is now that we have these options and these opportunities for children to go other ways, those who can will. And so they've left. And that leaves you with those who can't. And those are the ones who need the most support and the most investment into their education to help them rise above. And I think that because of the history of and the unkept promises and where it is today, it would behoove the school board to not invest in those students the best that they can. And I know Commissioner Biederman mentioned sending them to Bethune. There was a question we had put together, addicts, combining Bethune with addicts and making it a K through 12, or even looking at a K through 8. And with the opportunity for children to go everywhere, but those who can't go other ways because of walkability, because of financial demands, I think that that really should be, I'm asking that that should be something we focus on the most is ensuring that those students at Oak Ridge Elementary have the opportunity to strive and succeed. And the way to do that is invest in them within that area, because where else can they go? And it really bothers me that they'll have to transport.

No, absolutely. You bring up a great point. One of the things that we'll be working on in the future, too, because Oak Ridge is beyond renovation. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt, right? It is very old school. And to renovate that is going to cost more than rebuilding it. One of the things, it's a great opportunity to mention this to the commission and also to the board as far as declining enrollment. And so just to give you statistics on declining enrollment, there's many variables that are impacting us, my colleagues around the state and around the country. It's not a Broward County issue. It's a national issue and definitely a Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade County issue. Dade lost about 15,000, Palm Beach about 7,000 to 8,000, Orange County, Orlando area about the same, 7,000 to 8,000. There are several variables that are impacting us. Number one, declining birth rate. Largest decline in over a couple of decades in the United States, but definitely in the Tri-County area. Number two, immigration policies. We're a hotbed of diversity and immigrants. And they're just not coming here anymore, which is impacting the Tri-County area tremendously. Also affordability. The entry point for a young family with kids is very unaffordable to purchase your first house down here as a result of that. So for our system, we've been reduced by about 5% for the start of the school year, 11,000 kids. The charter schools actually went down about 4.5% too proportionally. They lost about 3,000 to 4,000 kids. Vouchers, the vouchers that families use to go to home school or private school, that has gone down 10%. And so what that's equating to is not that we're losing kids to choice options. We're losing kids out of the region. They're picking up and they're leaving the region because of affordability issues and immigration issues are the two biggest variables that are impacting us the most. And so when we think about this these tough decisions that we have to make to right-size our facilities, because all of my colleagues around the state are having these same conversations now. What does that look like for our county overall? What does that look like for our cities as well? Because these are partnerships and discussing, OK, if we can't keep this school open because the horizon looks like we're continuing to have a decline in school-age kids in the county and in the city period. I'm not even talking about Broward County Public Schools. I'm talking about school-aged kids, period, because it's impacting all of us. What does the future look like? How do we build replacement, state-of-the-art replacement facilities in specific areas so we can make sure kids who are still here that need walkability, that need that leverage point for quality education can actually access it at the same time? So those are all the things we're talking about, as I said earlier. every possibility is on the table right now. And so we don't have all the answers. Working with the community, working with commissions, working with experts that we're bringing in will help us come up with a great solution for this immediate challenge that we're facing right now. So we can't work in isolation on this. We have to depend on everybody to help support what that solution is going to look like.

Well, we are partners. You got me for about another 50-something days. I have no problem working hard for those students, but we have to also think about our community and the safety. So those are my two comments. Thank you so much for all your hard work. You know I love you guys. I'll be a huge supporter, but we've got to make sure we do the right thing every day.

Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thank you. Finally, Commissioner Shuham.

Thank you. Thank you both for coming. I want to just thank my colleagues who went to the event the other night. I heard it was very well attended and very well run, so thank you for that. I want to echo the words of Commissioner Quintana and congratulate you on those incredible upticks and success in our public schools. As a mom of three young adults who have graduated from Broward County Public Schools and all pay all of their own bills today, I'm a big supporter of public school and I am curious based on your talk and I think this again is along the lines of what Commissioner Quintana was referring to is what and this is something our amazing school board member Maura Bowman has talked about as well what are you doing to entice students to come to Broward County Public Schools

No, that's a great question. One thing that we mainly do, we always align ourselves with industry needs. We meet with the alliance. We work with a workshop. We meet with business partners to really understand the needs as far as industry within the community. I sit on the career source board with the mayor as well, really understanding what are our needs here. in the tri-county area, not just Broward County as well, and making sure we're always enhancing our programs, our magnet programs, our innovative programs, so that students can dive in and engage in industry standard and address industry needs now and in the future as well. And we're always providing opportunities different levels of resources, be it new technology, new tech resources in our classrooms, and also marketing to our families. We do have access to, I want to tell my secrets of how we get some of the information out to non-Broward County public school kids. But we do market to non-Broward County schools kids just to make sure they understand what we offer, how we offer it. And I always say, if you come and visit one of our schools and see the level of instruction, the tools and resources that students are actually engaged in, and the opportunities and exposure that they have of working with Junior Achievement, CareerSource, and all these other entities that provide internships, paid internships, so students can have exposure and experience, and providing opportunities for our instructors to actually get out and to real-world industry to understand how their concepts match with the experiences that they can bring back to their classrooms. And so that's what's led to that level of accomplishment, but also marketing that and getting that word out just to make sure our families understand that.

I mean, I think that's so important. Whenever I go to any of our public schools, I'm always struck by not only the level of technology, but the diverse things that the kids can get involved in, whether it's extracurricular or as part of their main program. I would just really encourage you to go down that road even further. People just simply do not know some of the crazy, amazing programs that we have in these schools. So I want to thank you for all you're doing. It's not an easy job. A lot of times we see stuff in the newspaper that's not great. So to hear this great news is wonderful. Thank you for coming.

Thank you so much, Superintendent and Chief of Staff. Certainly all the comments of the city commissioners reflect our joint mission and wanting to see the success of our schools. A city is not successful without successful public schools. So we're in this together in the hard times and the good times. When we participate in reading to the kids, which are career days, we know there's good times and great education happening across Broward County and certainly in Hollywood and our public schools. So thank you all so much. Looking forward to supporting you all and at the same time expecting due consideration for the issues that were brought up with regards to redefining schools and looking forward to continued discussion in that. Absolutely. Thank you all so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you all. That concludes our presentations, proclamations, and awards. Let's go ahead with a 130 times certain item, a resolution of the city commission, approving and authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute a loan agreement with Housing Trust Group LLC or an affiliated entity committing $1.95 million of city interlocal agreement funds for the acquisition of 1708 North Dixie Highway for the development of Mosaic Hollywood, an affordable housing development Generally speaking, for everyone's information, that's the corner of Taft Street and Dixie Highway. That's what it could potentially look like, Ryan. So please, this is from the Office of Housing and Community Development.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners, Ryan Coote, Housing and Community Development. At the July 7th Commission meeting, the Commission directed staff to continue working with HTG to identify a path forward for the proposed Mosaic Hollywood affordable housing development located at 1708 North Dixie Highway. The item before you today is a result of that direction. Staff is requesting approval of a $1.95 million ILA acquisition loan to assist HTG in acquiring the said property. Acquiring the property would make HTG much more competitive for their applications to the state, for the Housing Finance Corporation to be exact, for their 9% tax credits. The proposed development will transform a long-standing problem property into approximately 84 affordable housing units, including units serving households at 30%, 60%, 70%, and 80% of AMI, our most dire needs right now. Without further delay, I'd like to bring up Ariel, who's the project manager for this right now at HTG, who's going to discuss some more about the project. And I'm here, too, for any more questions.

Thank you. Ariel, welcome.

Good afternoon, commissioners, mayors, city staff. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you, Ryan. So as Ryan mentioned, this property was brought for you on the July commission meeting. We've been working with staff to come up with the creative structure the way we did with Village Ordana, which has been a a huge success where we purchased the land prior to receiving our funding and ultimately demolished the property, removed the existing structure that was on there, and ultimately got funding for that on the first go around. And we are approximately 40% complete, and the building's looking great. So a little background on the site. I know you guys are very familiar with it, but 1708 North Dixie Highway on the corner of Taft and Dixie, half an acre property. You all know what it looks like today. I drove by it yesterday.

It looks mosaic to me on the map.

Yeah. I drove by it yesterday. We've been in communication with the owner of the property and the representatives for him. And I will say he's made a little bit of progress, but I will use that term very gently. The current zoning allows for multifamily, allows for the height that we're permitting. The goal is using the acquisition loan funding to purchase this property right away, clean the property up right away, and get this property in a position where it's very competitive for the state funding. On July 4th, on July commission meeting, we're proposing 84 units. As of now, that's the target number that we're achieving in terms of the design and what we believe will be competitive for the 2027 cycle. As you can see, the investment of the acquisition loan funding and the LGAO goes a long way with bringing outside investment of $32 million. And Dixie Highway is prime. We've seen a lot of development that have happened along there that we've been fortunate to partner with the city on. And the site continues to be an AOL, which is an area of opportunity. And the goal would be to hopefully get the approval today for the acquisition loan and get drawings and engineering level documents done right away so we can position this site for the upcoming cycle to be shovel ready. It's a tight timeline, but I believe with the city's help and our skilled architects, engineers, and team, we can achieve that prior to next to middle of the RFA deadline. Ultimately, right now, this site's been blight. It's been an eyesore, and developing into a first-class community is a no-brainer. Here you have just a conceptual render, as the mayor mentioned. We have the ground level and amenity deck. I know Mayor Levy mentioned in the past that we did have a drive aisle that connected to the alleyway. It is still shown there. If that is something that planning does not want to see, we can absolutely close that off and create a dead end there and an ability for the cars to do a circle there access and egress through Taft Street. Ten-story building would have all the first-class amenities that you see on all the HD developments, all the high-end fixtures. Bar none, we'll take the same approach that you've seen on all our other developments. So amenity deck on the fourth floor, community room, library, fitness center, pool deck, so all the bells and whistles. Here you have just a breakdown of the AMIs and the unit mix, so heavy on the one bedrooms and a few two bedroom units. As I mentioned, this is in the conceptual stages. We're working with the architects and engineers right now to define the plan. It is a tight site, but we're having two of our architects working on it as we speak, the architect for Hudson Village and the architect for Villa Jordana. So we are very confident that the plan you see in front of you today is something that absolutely is viable. So from that perspective, I know we can get the job done in terms of the design, even though it is a tight site. And below, you see the income levels that we will be serving. And of course, that will go up year to year, depending on when the project gets funded. And lastly, this slide just shows the timeline for closing, ultimately submitting the application, and getting the project built. So right now, today is September 16th. The goal would be, hopefully with the approval of the acquisition loan funding, to close on this property. I don't see why not within the next 30 to 45 days. The second I get out of here, I would be working with the architects and engineers on the design, go through the DRC process, get our formal approvals with the county and the city. And if the application is the same as last year, where it was in August, ultimately we would submit this application in August of 2027 as a permit-ready AOL LGAO site, which is the highest possible competitive edge that many people will not have. So the goal is to position this site to give it the best competitive edge and use that ILA money for good cause and exactly what it's meant for.

uh thank you guys very much happy to answer any questions but really excited to start working on this project and clean it up it deserves it so thank you thank you ariel our city commissioners may have some questions uh let's go with commissioner hernandez thank you and thank you for continuing and and not giving up on the particular site even though we pick in a competitor to be able to give our money back in july But at the end of the day, I'd like to make a motion to approve. The ILA money is something that it's used for low to moderate income housing, even though we're looking to limit some of that in the district, because we figure the 441, it's also a good fit for this. But at the end of the day, it's a loan, that it actually comes back and perpetuates the purpose. So that's the reason why. And I love the project. There's a house right west of the alley of where you're at, which seems to have significant land. I don't know if you actually approached them to see if you can expand the project to be able to have a nicer sized project with a little more at ease when it comes to ingress and egress. And if you haven't, you may want to consider something like that as well, if it's something that you guys can bring into the mix. Those are basically my comments.

Thank you, Commissioner Hernandez. Actually, before we continue with commission comments, I did receive a late card from the clerk for public speaker. Let's go ahead and ask Ann Ralston to come on up, and then Ariel will get you back up here. Thank you.

No problem. Thank you.

Thank you. I was at that July 7th meeting. I don't remember. I'm asking for money. I brought up, I think it was Tracy and I that both wanted this project to go forward, not the one on 441. But Mr. Polykov seemed to sway you all to go with that one. I think this is a great project. The ALF that my brother's at, I have to drive by it every day. It's a disgusting piece of property. My problem is, how is this loan going to get paid back? I don't remember, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember when you were picking out of the three projects, I don't remember anyone asking for city money. It was to get a state grant of some kind. So I don't remember city money actually being involved. Now, because I guess Mr. Polyakov told you how they can keep working, how we can give them money, that's what it feels like. from a perspective of someone sitting out here. So please, this is my perspective only. But I watch this all day long. And I sit and listen to all these meetings. So if it wasn't asking for money back then, why are we trying to give money now? And we're paying $2.75 for another property. And this is 1.95. Is that the asking price? It's a junkyard. It should be depreciated, not 1.9. So I'd like to know how they're going to pay it back. And will I be alive by the time it gets paid back?

Thank you, Anne. Fair questions. I know Ryan is eager to help explain the evolution of this.

So this is the similar deal to what we did with Villa Jordana, which we've already received our money back for. What we're doing is proposing an acquisition deal. We'll be paid back at closing. Only $640,000 of this money will remain in the project. When we initially came to the commission back on July 7, we were going to award one of the three projects with $640,000 in local government area opportunity match money so they're more competitive for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. tax credit application. So there was always going to be $740,000 that was given to a project at some point. This loan will get paid back similar to the bill at Jordana, which we did with HTG, at construction closing.

Thank you. And basically, Annie, on July 7th, ALL OF THE PROJECTS WERE LOOKING FOR THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD MONEY TO PARTICIPATE, AND THAT WAS THEIR ADVANTAGE TO GO SEND TO THE STATE THAT THERE WAS PARTICIPATION. 640,000, CORRECT. BUT THAT WAS MY POINT IS THAT WE'RE ALL ASKING FOR MONEY, AND THIS ONE WE'RE ACTUALLY LOANING THE MONEY. WHEN THE CONSTRUCTION LOAN IS CLOSED, THEN WE GET OUR MONEY BACK. AND THE MONEY PERPETUATES. THANK YOU. THAT'S THE PURPOSE OF IT.

THANK YOU. LET'S GO TO VICE MAYOR COLERI. You seconded the motion to approve. Anything else? No. Thank you. Commissioner Quintana?

Thank you, Mayor. Ariel, I just wanted to say that I'm so glad that you and staff were able to work this out because I went home feeling guilty that this was such a beautiful project and 441 was going to get built and this one not. So I'm really glad that everybody wins by having this come back as an option. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

and the biggest win we need, which is at the state level. Let's go to Commissioner Biederman.

I forgot to ask this yesterday. Did the state announce the lottery picks?

There was no positive announcement.

Yeah, they did. And unfortunately, this is a lottery, and it's based on sort of the luck of the draw. And so we did not get any projects awarded in this particular funding cycle.

But that effort continues, right?

Yeah, we'll continue back at it.

That same effort, that same site will, I think, reapply and resubmit. That's OK. We've got to keep going, right?

Go ahead. Sorry. I don't have a problem with the acquisition loan. My problem is with the seller benefiting financially from our desire to create affordable housing, and them benefiting because we're coming in to save the day. And how much of the fines and all that are going to be forgiven, and when is that going to be forgiven?

So obviously, this is a property, a one of two, that has accrued a lot of fines. In this particular case, we are a long way from being able to resolve this issue without this particular solution. Our settlement would essentially be with Housing Trust Group. They are taking on the lien, and we would be working that out with them. The property owner is likely not going to, resolve this issue without some positive intervention. As we know, it's been a decade or more that we've been dealing with this. We're dealing with it on a similar property at Johnson Street, and we feel that this is the best path forward. Of course, obviously, at the end of the day, these are intractable issues, and we have to make a choice as to whether We try to solve it or allow it to continue, and we don't own the property. So all we can do is continue through a process of foreclosure that has gone for a very long time and doesn't have any guaranteed outcome for us.

So my question is, on July 7th, we were told there's a 90-day deadline. time clock on the seller cleaning it up. So does that mean October 7th, this place is going to be all cleaned up? Or October 8th, it's all going to be cleaned up?

So it was 90 days from the effective date of the contract. It's September 28th. So we're 16, so he still has a few more days.

And if not?

And if not, he's fined within the contract. So the purchase price is reduced by $100,000 off the top and then $1,000 every day thereafter until it's cleaned up and in code compliance.

Starting when?

And at that point, HGG also has the right to go in and clean up the property.

Starting when? October 28th?

September 28th. It was 90 days from the day we signed the contract with him.

And when was that?

90 days, so September.

Oh, so September 28th is the... September 28th right now is going to be the 90th day. 90th day. Okay, I'm fine.

Yeah, yeah. And at that point, the fines start accruing, and we have the right to go in and clean it up.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I know you'll find a metal recycler. Let's go to Commissioner Shuham.

Marielle, I just want to also thank HTG and you for your efforts to make this happen, and Ryan's department, Raelynn. I mean, all of us, I think, felt that day, as much as we loved the other project, that this was such an opportunity. So I personally am so grateful that it's actually happening. Just a couple of small points. I think all of us maybe see, I know I do out on social media, People talking about cities investing in these types of things. It's such a great investment for so many reasons But one is that we are creating tax revenue in the long run in almost all of these instances We're creating a better return and a great return on our investment So financially but also for the people of the city and so I just want to again raise a point that I raise often and that is to make sure that that those, because this is a city investment not subject to, as far as I know, legislation that precludes it, I want to make sure Hollywood residents get first dibs to the extent possible. And I also want to make sure that that screening that you're showing on the second story does not go away.

Because this doesn't- It wouldn't be called Mosaic without it, right?

I don't know. We've all seen it happen. We've even seen it happen on some HTG projects where we see these beautiful renderings.

I think it looks great. So do everything in our power to... to keep it within line of what you're seeing today. But as I mentioned, it's very conceptual. We got this site under contract very quickly, worked very hard to get it to the position it is now. And now with your guys' approval, we're going to own it, we're going to clean it, and we're going to start the design process formally. So I agree, the render looks great. And the goal is to make it look as much of that as possible, if not nicer. Correct.

OK. Then my last question is, in light of what's at that site, is there any concern about soil issues and all of that is something- 100 percent.

I'm already teeing up the phase one, the phase two to get out there as soon as possible. We've hired our engineers for that and we need to get started on that right away because Village Ordana did have a similar situation with a junkyard with cars. So we want to get ahead of that as soon as possible to avoid any delays with the state and our financing. So it's in the works.

And assuming it all goes through, congratulations to the legal department because they really are sick of dealing with this problem.

I can imagine.

Thank you. Last comment, Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. Ariel, the devil is in the detail. The question that I have is what you just mentioned, that after 90 days, $1,000 a day starts accruing, or you guys have the right to actually go in there and clean up the property? Both.

It's not either or.

I understand. One of the things, my point is, are you planning on going in there and cleaning up the property? or you guys are just going to be very nonchalant to accrue some thousand dollars. And the reason why is because that's the quagmire that the city has been in regarding the individual and the lawsuits and the foreclosure when it comes to this. It doesn't seem to be able to grasp the gentleman when it comes to the fines.

Peter, what would you like the request of HTG with regards to that?

I would like for them to start cleaning out the property as soon as the time lapses.

I would say 100%. We can agree to that and confirm that. And then secondly is, you know, thinking about Villa Jordana and how fast we were able to close on that property after the approval, thinking about it, if we close within the next 30, 45 days or so, I mean, we'll now have title and we'll own the property to be able to go in and clean it up and demolish everything and clean the site. Okay.

I just don't want the thing to continue to perpetuate when it comes to the legal issues because of the contract language. But my point is, if you have the ability after the 90 days to step in there and clean it up because you're under contract, and then that's what I'm really looking forward to. So I'm not sure if I need to condition it, but you're agreeing to what it is that we're asking for, correct?

It's already covered within the agreements that we have.

But just so there's not a broken telephone here, Ariel, you kind of nuanced that. You said once we have a closing, then you feel like on that day of closing, the next day you can go ahead and exercise your right to clean. Or do you plan on doing so during day 90, which seems to be about 30 days prior to closing?

Right now, day 90 is September 28. We have every intention to start working and hiring someone to start cleaning that property up. But if I were to tell you, I think we can close in two weeks, depending on how fast we get documents and all that, then is there really a need to clean it up or just wait until we close on the property?

No, and you also need to find out what's happening with the environmentals. At the end of the day, the environmentalists are going to tell the story whether you want to continue or whether you want to not continue. But we just wanted to know if we agreed and we are.

Immediately after closing? Correct. You know, from 90 days or immediately after closing?

Yeah, 100%, yeah.

Okay, we'll start fining you $1,000 a day. Okay.

It won't be on my bill, but yes. Yeah, yeah.

All right. Thank you.

Okay, sounds good. Understood.

Appreciate it, everybody. Thank you all.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. That will be a day of hallelujah for the city when that happens. All right. We have a 2 p.m. time certain item. It is just 30 minutes past 2 p.m. It's a resolution of the City Commission of City of Hollywood considering a request to review the Planning and Development Board's decision approving a variance to reduce the minimum off-street parking requirement from 12 spaces to one space for the adaptive reuse of an existing building located on 1980 Grand Street in accordance with our zoning and land development regulations. This is an item from... Department of Development Services and I will invite the city attorney to make any inquiries as regards to quasi judicial proceedings or with regards to this item. Go ahead, Damaris.

Thank you, Mayor. Florida courts have determined that there are certain types of matters, including item 18 on today's agenda, which are to be treated differently from other issues considered by the commission. Most decisions of the commission are legislative in nature, meaning that the commission is acting as a policymaking body. However, in quasi-judicial matters, the commission is applying existing rules and policies to a particular factual situation and is therefore acting like a judge or jury in the courtroom. In such cases, courts have determined that due process and fundamental fairness require that more formal procedures are followed. Therefore, in quasi-judicial matters, all witnesses are sworn in subject to cross-examination by the parties. In addition, the decision of the commission must be supported by competent and substantial evidence presented at the hearing. However, in Hollywood, we have adopted a rule that allows for the waiver of quasi-judicial formalities. Waiver can only occur if agreed to by staff the applicant, and any member of the public who is present. Therefore, at this time, I ask that the chair inquire as to whether there is anyone who objects to waiving quasi-judicial formalities.

All right. Does staff object to waiving?

Andrea Winget, Director of Development Services. Staff waives.

Applicant, just your name and if you waive.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Rachel Streifeld, 7275 Northwest First Court. On behalf of Brook and Sun LLC, we are not waiving.

All right. So we will continue in a quasi-judicial manner, in which case, as the city attorney had mentioned, the findings will have to be based on competent and substantial evidence to support the request for the variance. So at this time, let's go ahead and disclose any ex parte communications by any members of the city commission. I'll start. I received, I think, a phone call from council yesterday. We talked about this CRR procedure and about the general substance of the matter. With regards to the variance, I obviously spoke with staff, but I don't think that that's a required disclosure. I don't think I spoke with anybody else about this item since it was just brought up as a CRR request Commissioner Hernandez at that one city commission meeting. And so that's my only communication. Let me just go down the line. Commissioner.

Mayor, before you continue, I would just like to note that council for staff is running a little bit late today. I think that we can continue with the disclosures at this time. However, before we actually begin the proceedings, I would like hopefully to give her the opportunity to arrive.

Do we know how is she not on property or is it going to take a while? If that's the case, I'd rather reopen this later.

Hopefully she'll be here in about 15 minutes.

Yeah, so what would you like? I mean, we can continue or we would?

I think it's better to continue the item to time certain, perhaps 3 o'clock.

We have a 3 o'clock time certain. So Mayor, there are a couple of items on the regular agenda that you all may be able to go ahead and take on, beginning with item 24.

All right, so we did open the quasi-judicial hearing. Let's go ahead and just finish ex parte as the city attorney recommended, and then can we pick up where we left off later in the agenda? Yes, we'll continue the item, and that will continue where we are. Where we left off, okay. So Commissioner Shuham, go ahead with any ex parte?

No, only conversation with staff during agenda review, but my question is I don't see on the agenda that it's noted to be a quasi-item.

It has not been noted on the agenda, but it is a quasi-judicial proceeding because it is one that you are reviewing in your appellate capacity as the commission.

But is there no requirement to note it on the agenda as a quasi-item?

I would have to check, again, our particular procedures.

I mean, normally, unless I'm wrong, normally when we have something on here, it says that.

Normally, it would denote that. However, I believe that even if it's not been noted, that does not in any way take away from your responsibility to treat it in the quasi-judicial manner that it is.

OK. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's go ahead to Commissioner Hernandez for any conversations about this item.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, I did. I actually came to the prior board meeting, the P&D board meeting, and I spoke on the item, not necessarily of the merits of the item, but how upset I was from staff not bringing this issue to our level rather than anything else. And the reason that I was is because we have different tools

In order to be able to address those things. Any ex parte disclosure?

The ex parte communication that we had regarding that, I've spoken with staff. And I just, when we came here to sit in today, as the attorney addressed us and spoke to us here.

And no one else, no emails?

I believe I spoke with the members of the staff, one member of the staff.

All right. Thank you.

Commissioner Gruber? No, nothing. Just going over it with my agenda meeting on Monday.

Vice Mayor Kaleri? None. Commissioner Biederman?

A resident reached out to me.

His name?

Jamie Martis.

You could just tell us the general nature of the, I guess you used to talk about the variance, obviously? Yes. All right. Commissioner Quintana?

None.

All right. Then that concludes ex parte communication disclosures. So at the request of the city attorney, we'll go ahead and, is the proper word, table the item, and then bring it later?

Yes, it would be tabled to a time certain Or just continue to later in the meeting.

Yeah. All right. Let's do it at how about for now? We'll table it to 255 and then we'll see if we can well we can take it up as soon as he or she gets here And then we'll go ahead from there. All right Let's go ahead then city manager want to go ahead with 23 on down I

Sure, we could do that. This item 23 is an ordinance on first reading that is revising the city's chapter 38, which is largely our procurement codes. Each of you has met with our director of procurement and performance management, as well as special projects administrator Dave Keller, and gone over these changes thoroughly. Most of them are administrative in nature, but Steve Stewart is here should you have any questions.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commission and staff, Steve Stewart, Director of Procurement and Performance Management.

Steve, you had us at modernization, modernizing the procurement code, right? Yep, yep, yep. And everyone had the opportunity to go ahead one-on-one? Yes. All the members of the Commission? Yes. Thank you. We have. Thank you. Are there any speaker cards on item 23, Pat? All right, this is an ordinance on first reading. I'll just go ahead and read it into the record. An ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida amending Chapter 30 of the Code of Ordinances entitled City Policies, generally amending Chapter 38 of the Code of Ordinances entitled Finance to modify sections relating to budget, procurement, finance, and economic development, providing for a celebratory clause, repeal of provision, codification, and an effective date. This is from the Office of the City Manager, as was mentioned. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Any speaker cards? None. Public hearing is now closed. Any questions to staff or a motion, please?

Motion to approve.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri, a second from Commissioner Gruber, recognizing Commissioner Shuham.

Thanks. So I've spoken with staff about my concern on this, which is I think all of the updates, everything, the administrative changes is great. But there's an opportunity now under the new language for the commissioners to wave the cone of silence on particular procurements. And that, as far as I know, is very unusual. Our cities that are similarly situated just don't do this and what I think has been just a gift of being a Commissioner and I believe it will be the same in Broward County is that these procurements remain in a cone of silence and you can correct me if I'm wrong but And what that does is it prohibits us from discussing the procurement until it's brought to us publicly. And it's just great. I mean, it keeps the commission out of the procurement process. As I understand it, this idea came about because of maybe some complex procurements where there's multiple proposals and maybe some commissioners want to discuss it individually with vendors and I think that's much better handled in a workshop so while I have no issues with 99% of this I think it is not a good idea to give the City Commission an opportunity to remove the cono silence and so I would make an amendment to approve it subject to deleting the last sentence of 38 54 1 B

So let's just let Steve explain the staff perspective on why they felt that was an important provision either way.

Yeah, absolutely. So we added that language just to give the commission that option, right? You know, on a case-by-case basis, there may be upcoming procurements where the commission may want to, you know, cast that vote to remove themselves from the cone. So it really was given options, but we defer to, you know, guidance from the commission on how you guys would like to proceed.

And that would require a majority vote of the commission to actually enact the waiver. It's not just that one commissioner can decide for themselves that they're going to, on that particular procurement, waive the cone of silence.

Correct. It's a majority vote.

Give some protection and a discussion of the city commission to see if there's a majority that finds good reason. Correct. Yeah. I mean, the general spirit of what Commissioner Shum is saying is understandable. I've enjoyed also being hands off and not, you know, needing to get any phone calls about any procurement until it does come. This really just provides an option for the city commission to vote on. So let's go ahead to Commissioner Biederman and then Commissioner Quintana.

There is a request for an amendment, but go ahead. So honestly, I was fine with everything, including the waiver. I mean, I think that the cone of silence is more of a hindrance to our ability to do our job than anything else. And the way the cone of silence is now, it doesn't end until we vote to approve it, not just hearing it. So, I mean, I understand what you're saying, but This is one of those rules that was put in place because of one or two or three limited bad projects or bad actors. But as commissioners, we have a responsibility to do our due diligence and to have meetings with whoever it is so that we're prepared to make decisions when we're up here and not wait till we're up here to find out things and start to go back and forth. This is what makes four and five hour meetings.

So if you don't mind, I agree with you. I think it is up to us to be prepared, but I think a better way to do it is in a workshop where we can have all of those participating in the procurement in a public setting. My concern is that then we're going to get lobbied to break the cone of silence. We're going to get lobbied to allow lobbying.

Isn't this one of those rules that we could just By a super majority vote, waive anyway? Why does it have to be in the... We could waive anything in our code of ordinances at any time with enough commissioners voting. Why does it actually have to be in the...

Ordinance, I'm sorry. Just let me ask a clarifying question to the city attorney to Commissioner shoe hams Suggestion that a workshop could be held if the Commission so desired but without actually waving the cone of silence Having a procedure for that. How can we even have a workshop even if it's in the sunshine? It's generally speaking, you know outside the cone, right and

I think that that's accurate. I would need to look back at the cone language specifically, but it does seem that even having the meeting where all of the commissioners are speaking to a vendor.

We'd have to waive first and then have a workshop as an example. So let's just hear from Commissioner Quintana, and then we'll see if there's a second to the amendment, and then we'll move on. Go ahead, Commissioner Quintana.

I was just looking for clarification on whether it would be – automatically waive the cone of silence or if it's something that would have to come before us?

Correct, number two. So it would have to come before you guys to vote to remove or exclude you from the cone.

Otherwise, the cone of silence is in place.

Correct.

Yeah, so that, I mean, I totally understand what Commissioner Shuham said. I do not want people asking me to choose me, choose me for a contract. But if that is already, the code of silence is in place, unless we waive it, correct?

Correct.

Okay, then I'm all right with that.

All right, so it doesn't sound like there was a second to the amendment. So that fails for lack of second. Commissioner Shuham, did you not, go ahead.

Yeah, so I understood from our meeting that we could have a workshop. So how does that work? Let's just use an example of a P3. We receive all of these proposals, and we want to have a meeting with everybody. Can we have that while the cone is in place?

Correct. So you can have public meetings when you guys are all present. That's fine.

You can.

Right. But if you're having individual sessions and right.

And that's what we don't, for the most part, we don't want. But during the cone of silence, you can have a public discussion with your vendors.

Correct.

That's what I'm saying. It's like this is a solution without a problem, in my opinion. And we are creating a problem because I see people coming and saying, hey, Mayor, Can you break this? Can you get a group to...

Ask for a waiver.

Yeah. And right now, all we have to do is say to the city manager, give us a workshop.

Right.

So that's my... I just feel like we have a great thing and we shouldn't mess it up.

I got you.

All right. Well, let's hear from others.

So, again, I raise my motion.

We have conflicting, you know... Statements with regards to whether or not for example a workshop, you know about the procurement can nonetheless Break the cone of silence just because it's a publicly sunshine meeting But I mean the Maris do you wanna I Want to look at the cone language specifically to confirm before I give you advice as to that okay, so maybe we should table this but Commissioner Hernandez go ahead

Thank you, Mayor. My understanding of this is that procurement has given us the ability to be able to ask the commission to waive because we have questions regarding a particular contract. I don't think that that is contradicting in any way of what we currently have right now. It just gives it the ability for the public to realize that we're asking to be able to get some more information about a particular project or particular issue when it comes to the vendor. It has happened in the past where we have asked the participation of the commission and we have never had a problem. I don't foresee an issue when it comes to what it is what we're trying to pass.

I don't have a problem with having the waiver provision in there to enable the commission as a body in public to justify or discuss.

It actually makes it more open, the fact that we have a question and the people have the ability to ask as well. Right.

I got you.

And if I could add to it, Mayor, what we found is we did some research across other municipalities. And the top 10 largest municipalities in Florida nine of them have a cone in place. Now, they tend to kind of leave it silent. I did find a situation with Pembroke Pines where they voted to exclude the city manager from the cone in that case, but most of them don't state it. We just want to put something in right informally so that option is there in the event the commission chooses to kind of take that option.

Gotcha. Vice Mayor, any comments here right now?

So my only concern, and maybe you can, I guess, negate it or put it to bed. So whether we follow what's current or we change it up, there's this constant thought process that we're on the take or we're trying to make it easier or there's behind the scenes deals being made. How does this... prevent that narrative to continue, or does it strengthen it, or does it weaken it?

I mean, as it stands now, we do have a cone, right? This really just kind of puts that language there. If the commission would like to just be removed from the cone, now you have that option, right? So I think what we have and what we're proposing still protects the commission. It just gives you that option if the commission

It's exceptional enough to actually go there.

And prior to that, prior to becoming a P3 or a cone of silence, doesn't the lobbyists have an opportunity to meet with the commission and say, hey, I'm going to jump in and do this? So I mean, it just almost seems like it's a- Right.

Not unless the cone is removed, right? They can't have one-on-one individual meetings. They can have public meetings.

No, no, no. They could have one-on-ones prior to the P3 solicitation or whatever it is. They could have one-on-ones because literally that's part of the reason why we got ourselves into an issue is because a commissioner said, not going to happen, and then it's gone down a path of no return. They can still approach us before it becomes a contractual discussion, correct?

Well, if you can just clarify, just for the public's benefit, when does a cone of silence, for what type of procurement, does it even apply?

So for all types of competitive procurements, typical RFPs, invitation for bids, P3s, et cetera.

Once it gets into that competitive portion.

Right. Once we start to the point of putting this thing out publicly for bid, then the cone's put in place. And we tend to send some sort of notification that a cone is now effective. But that tends to happen at the time when we're putting this thing out there. Now, if it's preliminary, right.

I mean, I think that that's already been the case that it is. So I have no problem with it.

I also just wanted to weigh in on the question that had been asked prior. Looking at the new language that is suggested, nothing would prohibit the commission from communicating with the vendor during a duly noticed public meeting.

OK. All right. So is there a second to the amendment? My amendment fails for lack of second. Do we have a motion on the floor? Any motion? We do. Yeah. All right. All those in favor? Well, let's go ahead and read the ordinance and call the roll call vote then. Item 23.

An ordinance of the city of Hollywood, Florida, amending chapter 30 of the code of ordinances entitled city policies generally, amending chapter 38 of the code of ordinances entitled finance to modify sections relating to budget, procurement, finance, and economic development, providing for a severability clause, a repealer provision, and an effective date.

Vice Mayor Kaleri.

Yes.

Commissioner Gruber.

Yes.

Commissioner Biederman. Yes. Commissioner Quintana. Yes. Commissioner Shuham. No. Commissioner Hernandez. Yes. Mayor Levy.

Yes. All right let's show the ordinance passing 6 1 on first reading. On to the attorney here for the previous item. Not yet. All right, let's keep on going. Regular agenda. Resolution of the City Commission, item 24, approving and authorizing the city to execute an agreement with the state of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection, resilient Florida program grant, an amount of $2.9 million and change for the construction of tidal flooding mitigation and shoreline protection phase two projects. authorizing the required matching funds and the city to execute all applicable documents, et cetera, and amendments that are provided for in the agenda item. Are there any speaker cards on item 24?

Motion to approve. No cards.

We have a motion from Commissioner Shuham, a second from, hold on, let me clear the queue so in case someone, Commissioner Hernandez. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. Item 25, as well as resolution of the City Commission, City of Hollywood, approving and authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute a construction agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation for the construction of tidal flooding mitigation improvements for Site 21 of the Tidal Flooding Mitigation and Shoreline Protection Project. This is, of course, the general obligation bond project for the lake's seawalls. Are there any speaker cards on item 25?

No cards.

Motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri, second from Commissioner Shuham to approve item 25. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. Is the attorney here? No? All right. Let's go ahead then. We'll take it in order. So resolution of the City Commission, the City of Hollywood, adopting an update to the comprehensive schedule of fees. Adam, why don't you come up and just explain CPI nature of this.

Good afternoon. Adam Reichbach, deputy city manager. Every year, we update our comprehensive schedule fees to reflect all the fees for the city of Hollywood. This year, just a couple of administrative changes. Specifically, we've updated our water and sewer rates to match what was approved by the city commission previously. And we also matched our local business tax receipts also based on the action that was taken at the last meeting. There are several fees that are allowed to be increased by CPI. This year, CPI was 2.15%. And as far as a new fee, the only new fee that we've established this year are the fees associated with the new parking garage at University Station.

Thank you, Adam. Would you like to provide any more detail? We have two public speakers, and they might ask for more detail even though it's in the backup, right?

Sure. I will say that as far as for parks and recreation, we did, as I indicated, increase some select fees based on CPI. And also in parking, we updated some of the fees and eliminated the elimination of the access card for Van Buren and Radius garages. And parking also increased fees for parking permits and RV commercial storage. and co-compliance added administrative court fees for special magistrate. In police, we eliminated the specialized city equipment surcharge related to police motorcycles. And as I referenced before, we've also updated the Department of Public Utilities. We updated the fees associated with the water and sewer connections.

Thank you. I have two public speaker cards on this resolution. Why don't you come on up, Ann Ralston, followed by Michael Seltzer, if you'll be ready. This is schedule of fees, item 26. Yes.

He waves. If it's possible, I'd like to get a copy of all of that. I think I went through them, but my comment is, you just keep coming to the piggy bank, and we're out of money. So this residence, you keep raising our fees. And when we get hit with the water bill coming up and the sewer going up 25%, prescriptions don't go down, food costs have gone up, insurance is out of the roof. So any little fee that I may not use any of those. But for the public, I'm not just for myself. I live in a community. And a lot of people can't afford it. And so I'd like a copy of what those fees are and what really went up.

Thank you, Ann. I will say just, you know, I also don't like increasing any fees here. This is a CPI increase, and I just will say some of the lessons we've learned as elected officials and as city administration over the decades is that if the city doesn't incrementally follow CPI increases, one day it becomes a significant increase, and we'd rather know conform to gradual CPI I hate to say increases as as the CPI changes for us all even for the city operation rather than wake up 15 years later and say we haven't touched this in 15 years we now need to double it so that's that's what how I make sense of it everybody so we have item 26 is there a motion to approve We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri, second from Commissioner Biederman to approve. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. All right, we have one last item on the regular agenda. Let's go ahead and take it up, item 27, and then we'll get back to that CRR and then we'll get to the beach items let's go ahead with item 27 resolution the City Commission City of Hollywood approving and authorizing the city to execute a renewal of property and casualty insurance with Aon risk services for the 2026-2027 policy period including but not limited to excess liability excess workman's compensation pollution liability marine operators liability etc for all the coverages provided in the agenda item in an amount not to exceed $2.7 million in change in accordance with the procurement code. Thank you to Human Resources for doing such a great job managing our risk and our exposure and our policies for all of this. I know you do year-round work, Tammy, you and your team to get to this point and to really go to the market as often as needed to keep things competitive, prevent increases, and just to value engineer this, to use the term, as best as possible. Are there any speaker cards on item 27?

No cards.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Hernandez. Second from Vice Mayor Kaleri. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. All right. So we, aside from the ordinances for the beach items, everyone. We just have one more item to finish up, and hopefully it won't take too long to get through the discussion. I understand the attorney is here for item 18, so I'm going to go ahead and reopen the quasi-judicial hearing. Is that appropriate? Right.

We're going to untable the item since it was formally tabled.

All right, untabling the item. We left off with having completed, after introducing the item, completed ex parte communication sharing. And so in accordance with the quasi-judicial proceedings of the City of Hollywood, staff will have up to 30 minutes to present the application. And then the applicant, correct me if I'm wrong, will have up to 30 minutes, followed by an opportunity for cross-examination of any witnesses from either party. And at the same time, an opportunity to have a five-minute YOU KNOW, CLOSING ARGUMENTS AND THEN DELIBERATION BY THE CITY COMMISSION AND THEN A FINDING ACCORDING TO THE COMPETENT AND SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE PRESENTED.

I WOULD JUST LIKE AS ONE HOUSEKEEPING MATTER BEFORE WE BEGIN THIS PROCESS, THERE HAS BEEN A QUESTION ABOUT THE SUPPORT TO INITIALLY BRING THE CRR. HAVING REVIEWED THE RECORDING OF THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE PRIOR MEETING, It is what I saw was that Commissioner Hernandez had initially brought this item to ask that it be brought back for a CRR, and there were two other commissioners who did support, and that was Commissioner Kalari and Commissioner Biederman, both just voted, not voted, but did indicate their support for a CRR of this item.

Okay. And so I guess you had mentioned that the minutes of that meeting reflected myself as having been supported. So will that be a correction that is made just to correct the record, I guess?

A correction will need to be made, and we will bring back a resolution to correct those minutes that indicate currently that the mayor supported the CRR, which was not the case below. It was Commissioner Biederman.

I got you. Well, thank you. I guess you reviewed things and just wanted to write the record on that. All right, so let's go ahead. We have, what, speaker cards? Oh, let's go ahead and swear in witnesses. We haven't done this in a little bit. If anyone here is here to speak on item 18, go ahead and stand up. Pat Surdy, our city clerk, will ask you to raise your right hand, give you a sticker, and swear you in. I don't think council has to swear in, right? Council, you don't need to swear in. Everything you say is argument. I'll go ahead and recognize Commissioner Hernandez for any point of clarification.

Go ahead Thank You mayor I don't know what the confusion was, but you did say that you would support the whole thing coming back, but not in that particular issue.

Right, the broader issue.

The broader issue for it to come back. Having said that, I did speak with, now that Commissioner Biederman brought it up, with Jamie Martis, not regarding the crux of the matter, but just the fact that somebody was coming in. And I also spoke with one of the board members. From the Planning and Development Board. It's her name, Christine Corbo.

Christine Corbo. All right, so that helps to clarify the ex parte, if you will include that, please. All right, thank you for remembering that. Let's go ahead now to swearing in the witnesses. Stand up, please, witnesses that have a sticker on.

Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? So help me God. Please be seated.

Thank you all so much. All right, let's begin with staff's presentation. And enter anything you need into the record as evidence, please.

My apologies. I'm trying to figure out how to turn on this mic. But good afternoon. My name is Alicia Lewis. I'm with the law firm of Nason Yeager, and I serve as staff attorney. So first, I'd like to enter into the record the agenda and all backup materials, including any previous presentation that was submitted at the lower level. So on that note, we'll have Andrea come up. And Andrea, please state your name and your position for the record.

Good afternoon, Andrea Winget, director of development services.

And Andrea, how long have you been in this position?

I've been a director for the city for maybe three or four years.

So since you were two.

And I've been at the city for about 24 years in various planning positions.

OK, wonderful. And can you state if you have any degrees or specialties or certifications?

Yes, I have a two-year college degree in environmental science, a four-year degree in urban and regional planning, and a master's degree in management.

And lastly, do you have any corrections to the record or the agenda and backup materials that have been entered?

No, I do not. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon.

Andrea, was everything entered into the record? Yes.

Yes, everything has been entered in. Thank you very much for checking on that, Mayor. The request before you today is a variance to waive the required parking from 12 spaces to one spaces for a business at 1980 Grant Street. It is located just north of Johnson Street and just east of Dixie Highway. You can see the subject property here today is an existing building that is built with pretty much a zero foot setback on the majority of the property, except for along the alley. There is some space there between the alley and the building. The property is zoned what we call ND1, which is a north downtown low intensity multifamily district. But it does allow for some commercial uses in that transition area as well, and particularly fronting along 20th Avenue. Here's some of the surrounding property. It is a commercial warehouse industrial. As you do move further down the east along Grant Street, there is some residential down that street. The applicant originally came into the city to do adaptive reuse of an existing building. So the building has been existing today, and the applicant is looking to put in a coffee roasting business that will also have an education component to it as well. Based on their combination of uses, they were required 12 parking spaces. Because the site is existing with limited availability for parking, it was very challenging and has been challenging in order to reuse this property in some form or fashion. The portion of the building, you could see they have office space, commercial, their roasting area, and some warehouse space. And so just taking a look at all of the various uses, that is where we came to the requirement of 12 spaces. The only condition that is placed on this is that the applicant continue to work with staff through permitting to evaluate the availability of parking that could be provided on site. Right now, there are three legal non-conforming spaces at the rear. The applicant will have the choice of leaving those spaces or bringing those into conformity where they will only be able to fit one, perhaps two spaces there once they take a closer look at that through permitting. They did provide a traffic and parking impact statement for the surrounding area, where they indicated about there would be a 1% impact on the traffic in this surrounding area. And it was really de minimis in regards to this site and the community. The applicant has, while it's not before you today and we are not voting on what the building looks like, the applicant has previously indicated that they intend to do some work on the building as part of their renovations for their business. Staff analyzed the criteria for the variance before you and found variance criteria A, B, and C consistent. Criteria E, which talks about being self-imposed or economically based. We found inconclusive, but we did provide some supporting information within that criteria for the Commission to consider, and variance E is not applicable. As such, staff leaves the determination up to the Commission. This did go before the Planning and Development Board prior to recess. And at the time, the Planning and Development Board did approve the variance. The item before you today is a de novo item that you are hearing. And with that, I turn it over to the Commission.

Thank you, Andrea, for providing evidence on the part of staff with regards to the variance request. Let's go ahead to the applicant for any presentation, evidence, or argument.

Good afternoon again, Mr. Mayor, Madam Vice Mayor, members of the commission. Again, my name is Rachel Streitfeld. I've been retained by the owner, Brook and Son, LLC. They are a small business. There are three employees at the company. They have established operations in Miami Gardens, and they're very much looking forward to their Broward expansion right here in the great city of Hollywood. They did purchase this property. I heard at your June 17th meeting there was a mistake. You all were advised that they are tenants. They are not tenants. They are in fact owners of this property and they are looking to improve the and redevelop with a new use-ish, but not with a new site plan. And so the requirements for the city's application on this type of a variance are that you review the floor plan, or not you, rather, the Planning and Development Board. Review the floor plan. We did provide a statement, a traffic and parking statement from our engineer. The owner provided a very detailed operations plan that articulates the very, very low need for parking as it relates to the operations of our business and impacting neighboring properties. We also provided a supporting statement from our architect that essentially echoes what the owner outlined in his letter of intent. In both of those letters from the owner as well as from the architect, we address all of the city's variance criteria. And as staff points out, staff was found that we do meet the variance criteria. And your planning and development board also found that there's competent substantial evidence that we meet the variance criteria. And that's why they did grant us that variance. I did prepare a very brief presentation. It has an aerial of the floor plan. Andrea just showed that to you. It had a rendering of the exterior. Andrea just showed that to you. The only thing in my presentation that really differs from staff's is that I elaborated in more detail on staff's commentary, where we were found to be consistent with all criteria, especially that criteria number four, where staff said it was inconclusive. The commentary on criteria number four is actually very supportive of our variance, which is why ultimately the conclusion is that we are consistent with all criteria. I know that you all have a much bigger, badder item to get to this afternoon, so I want to be respectful of your time. I'm happy to answer any questions, but with that, I mean, I have a presentation, but I'm happy to waive the actual PowerPoint presentation and answer questions respectfully. We just ask you to go ahead and confirm the variance that was issued by the PDB.

Yeah, it's up to you to use your minutes as you wish to present, but it might instill some confidence in members of the body here if you were to expand on the variance justification somewhat.

Sure. Happy to, Madam Vice Mayor, Mr. Mayor. Next slide, please. So we do have three legal non-conforming parking spaces at the rear in the alley. The owner is very happy to continue working with staff through permitting to see if there's a way that we can legalize those three legal non-conforming spaces, which would allow us to park three cars in that alley. My clients only have three employees in their entire business, and two of them carpool. So we will not need three parking spaces for them to work at this office. Frankly, they're a coffee wholesale supplier. They're on the road 90% of the time anyway. This is a roasting facility as well as a warehouse. So it will mostly be those industrial types of uses. We also, as I've mentioned, submitted the floor plans, our proposed uses, the parking statement, our various letters, and your staff found that we're consistent. Next slide, please. And this is our floor plan. It shows the allocation of square footage. You see those three offices for our three employees. You see the warehouse space, the roasting space, and then there is a small commercial space right at the corner of 20th and Grant that will have signage and it will be open. And that's really how we're going to activate that corner of the block and hopefully be the bearers of some revitalization on that corner. Next slide, please. This is just an aerial of the site as it exists today. You see that the city right-of-way on Grant Street does have room for some on-street parking, as well as on 20th Avenue, there's a sidewalk and a swale. Obviously, the city commission has the ability as the legislative body to implement parking program to direct staff to explore on street parking in this particular area of the rack and anything that you all wanted to do as the legislative body to encourage more parking in this area you absolutely could do my clients just respectfully do not want to be held responsible for making that decision and necessarily making those improvements they purchased this property with the expectation that it could be adaptively reused and they are hoping to be able to operate with the parking that was approved by the Planning and Development Board next slide please this really goes through more of our application our cover letter next slide This is the traffic engineering statement. And I'll just say that our traffic engineer does point to the city's code itself when we're talking about the types of uses that are incentivized and encouraged in an adaptive reuse situation, particularly on 20th and particularly in the RAC. We have this encouragement to take existing buildings and to bring new life to those existing buildings. But there's nowhere really in the code that provides an applicant with a clear path to address a parking deficiency except for the variance procedures. And as you all know, variances are appropriately heard by the Planning and Development Board, and we did secure that variance. So let's move on to the next slide where we're going through the staff. Keep moving. I want to focus on criteria number four, if you could move down to that next one, Omar. Next one. This is the inconclusive portion. So I just want you all to understand, generally, this request is not economically based and better serves the intent of the applicable regulations for revitalization and redevelopment within the RAC. It's a proposed adaptive reuse of an existing legal non-conforming building, and the ZLDRs specifically contemplate commercial uses in this location along 20th Avenue in the context of adaptive reuse. The application of parking standards must be considered within the context of these special adaptive reuse provisions and the urban character of the corridor. Further, we're not intensifying the site beyond its reasonable operational capacity. Rather, the operational realities of our business model generate substantially lower parking ratios. And so the justification is there for you all. I'm happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you for your consideration and your time.

Thank you for your presentation. I believe, city attorneys, I don't have my notes for the quasi-proceedings right here, but the staff have an opportunity for a five-minute sort of rebuttal right now.

We should allow anyone who has any relevant information to submit or to go through their comments at this time.

So go ahead with the public comment. Yes. Thank you so much. Ms. Streifeld?

Mr. Mayor, if I may, just briefly before I take my leave, I would like to specifically request that correspondence that I prepared to your city attorney and hand-delivered to her would be incorporated into the record on this morning's hearing. It covers some really boring legal issues that I don't want to bother you guys with today.

Does the staff attorney object to including that? I don't know if the city attorney shared that with you. Go ahead and respond. If there is an objection, then whoever the trier of objections will decide whether or not that's permissible to submit as evidence, right?

Good afternoon again. From what I'm seeing, no, we don't have an objection to it.

All right, so let's go ahead and enter into the record as evidence. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, so public comment. I have one speaker card. Let's go ahead and hear from Anne Ralston.

Thank you. I'm just curious why we are so short of parking throughout this city. We would recommend to go down to one. Even if there's three employees and two of them carpool, that's two cars that I can see. And if they're asking for one and trying to get the legal non-conforming ones, that would be a total of four. Where are the trucks going to come in to unload, or if they have a product, and from that picture, it looked like they had almost a coffee shop in there. Then where would patrons park? So my concern is we don't have enough parking. And we spent hours on Washington Park in the industrial area on how they're blocking that. That same configuration on 20th is like that with those businesses in there. Some of them have parking lots and some of them don't. And they'll block traffic. And then there's a school. that comes off of Taft. And that traffic gets ridiculous back then. And that's off of that. They come up that way. So I don't understand why we're lowering for parking.

Thank you. That concludes public comments. I believe staff and the applicant both have five minutes now. And then we'll go ahead and open the floor for city commission questions and discussion. Andrea, please, on behalf of staff.

Good afternoon. In closing, the ND1 zoning district is called North Downtown Low Intensity Multifamily District. And some of the uses that are permitted in here include artesian maker, manufacturing, bed and breakfast, commercial food processing, multifamily, and a few other uses. And next to some of these uses, in particular the commercial and food processing, there is a footnote that says they are permitted for the adaptive reuse of existing buildings adjacent to 20th Avenue. Thank you.

Thank you. Applicant, any closing argument? Just into the microphone if you could just, if you wave.

I'm happy to reserve my time to answer questions from the commission. Thank you.

All right. So that concludes the presentation of evidence. Now we'll have an opportunity for the city commission to deliberate. And I'm happy to entertain, if it's permissible, questions to either staff or the applicant's attorney. Yes, it is permissible. All right. Thank you so much. Let's go ahead to, we have two commissioners right now in the queue. Commissioner Biederman, followed by Commissioner Hernandez. Commissioner Biederman.

You want to go first, Commissioner Hernandez? OK. So I have questions. Andrea? How did the code calculate 12 spaces for this particular operation?

The regional activity center has reduced parking requirements as compared to the rest of the city. So some of the uses were one per 1,000, and some of the others, I think, were three per 1,000. And that was how we came to the 12, just breaking out the uses.

So 12 is the reduced number? OK. type of business calculates part of what the parking is. In our code, we have a provision that allows the purchase of parking spaces.

Yeah, the city does have a parking in lieu or payment in lieu of parking, but that is only available within the CRAs, and this property is on the north side of Johnson Street, just outside of the CRA. So they would not be able today to be part of that program.

Well, there are license agreement programs.

The city does have license agreements where there are times where people come to the city and say, hey, I would like to have a license agreement to perhaps make improvements to the swale and maybe use it as parking. We have a small handful of them throughout the city where people have come to us. It's not very common. And then as we know, we know in some areas of the city, the city puts parking either on street or in areas as well.

OK. And does this area have any on street parking? And is it, this might be a Jevon question, but is it metered or is it just on street free parking?

In this area, there is no on street parking.

OK. There is no formal on-street parking, but there is parking in the swale all over the area.

Some people are parking in the swale, and some people are being cited for not parking properly within that area as well.

So I would love to see improvements to the concrete swale or the asphalt swale, I guess, to have on-street parking and maybe some landscaping. improvements in that area. I mean, I would benefit not just the property owner but the city as overall improvements.

And that's generally speaking for the area, not specifically on this variance request, but it goes to finding a solution.

Yes. And with a couple of license agreements that we have had, in those cases, the applicants have been the one to make the improvements to the swale, and then they pay us, the city, a monthly fee for use of the swale. And those license agreements are actually done administratively at this point, so that would be just working with staff.

Okay, I have a question for the applicant because I'm a little confused. And then I'll defer to the district commissioner. You had mentioned that this is a wholesale business, but there appears to be a walk-in coffee shop also. Can you enlighten us to the operation and why you don't feel that you need the 12 parking spaces. I mean, you touched on it originally, but enlighten us to why you don't need 12 parking spaces for employees that are going to be working in a warehouse or walk-up customers.

Thank you, Commissioner Biederman, for the question. We do have a floor plan that shows a commercial space where folks can come in and try our coffee. The combination of uses is warehouse, retail, office, as well as the roastery itself. So primarily, especially as they get off the ground, they're going to be using this facility as a warehouse and a roastery. And we only have three employees, two of whom carpool. So that is the justification on those two uses. As far as opening up a coffee shop, I know that my clients are looking forward to having a coffee shop open, and they're happy to continue working with the city if additional parking is needed in the area to find additional parking. We also want to be as flexible as possible. Small business owners have to be able to pivot at the drop of a hat. And so the reason that we've included that commercial space in the plan is, one, to show the city that we're committed to reactivating this site, to generating foot traffic, and to revitalizing the corner. But we also, I mean, I can't commit to you today that they're going to be prioritizing the coffee shop when they first open.

but we would like to have the flexibility to do that so yes there is a coffee shop contemplated the primary uses right now are the roastery and the warehouse okay thank you so I'm gonna defer to Commissioner Hernandez but sometime during this conversation I would like to know the If they were to switch from just wholesale coffee to a walk-in business of some sort, does that mean they have to come back for a different certificate of use? And at that time, can we require parking? Or is it now is the only opportunity we have to approve and then we're never going to see it again until it's a different owner or a different use? That would be...

I have to be... I have to be... Yeah, no, I want to be honest about my client's intent. We are not prepared to essentially... How do I put this?

Forego a permit of use?

Our floor plan contemplates all of the uses that we would get a certificate of use for. So my understanding is that once this variance is confirmed, we have approval for those uses, especially because those uses are consistent with the land use designation and the zoning code designation. As far as the parking need is concerned, We are more than happy again to on a continuous basis to continue exploring options for parking if that is needed. We would prefer as small business owners to have as much authority and flexibility on our parking as possible. Obviously, we want to open a successful business, and we certainly don't want to contribute to any nuisances or traffic obstructions in the city of Hollywood. So we will remain open to working with the city to identify additional parking. It seems that there is a recognition by this dais that you have a broader parking in this neighborhood issue, that you all have the tools as the legislative body to direct staff to explore and address, and we would be happy to support you in any way, shape, or form. If that's a complete streets grant or something else that the city is looking for to enhance the ability to fund improvements, landscaping, we're there to support you. But as small business owners, I would be a terrible attorney if I came up here and didn't represent their interests in getting this business open as

Quickly as possible and with the fewest amount of conditions on their parking configuration All right, but as a legislative body actually as a quasi judicial body at this point We have the obligation to make sure there's no impact to the neighborhood As we have in some other areas, you know that is like a historical thing and we need to make sure that Our decisions don't exasperate issues. We have to correct issues. I respect that. I'm going to end with this final note of how do we approve some type of variance contingent on the flexibility of future parking improvements as they be deemed necessary by our city staff. And that would be for Andrea. You can sit down. Thank you.

I mean, I think that that's a hard question to answer. Right now, the city has not contemplated putting in parking within this area. And this business would probably like to open sooner rather than later and not be at the behest of the city. It's not to say they couldn't find parking somewhere else. It doesn't have to be the city. I don't know what the applicant's appetite is for that. And the city, the swale in that area along 20th Ave we know is somewhere around eight feet, give or take. So we haven't done specific measurements and really looked at that area to see what the cost could be and how this could be achieved. Perhaps the commission would want to consider, if legal is OK, conditioning the variance specific to this business or a similar business. so that it's not just running with the land for anybody else to use in the future.

It's legal. Can we require a bond for future improvements to the additional parking spaces that could be added along 20th Avenue and Grant Street?

I would defer to staff's attorney to respond to that.

Good afternoon again. Just to clarify, your question is could you require a bond as part of this variance approval that if they make any changes to the use of the property, the configuration that's being shown to us now, that they would have to make improvements to the swale area or some specific area for parking?

So based on what the attorney already said, they intend to have retail operation. Right. So before they can have retail operation, they need to provide parking for that retail operation. How do we ensure that that's going to happen?

I would say it could be a condition of approval that just exactly what you said, it could be a condition.

How do we tie a financial obligation to that?

We would state exactly what you said, which is that in the future, if that configuration increases, then that is what they would have to do. I just want to make sure I'm responding.

Well, the configuration is already planned.

Right. So you're not agreeing to the variance. You would not be in support of the current parking scenario?

Not yet.

Okay, and the only way that you would be supportive is if they are required as part of this variance approval to do these things based on what you're seeing?

I think so.

Okay, then yes, that would be a condition of approval.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you.

Okay, you're welcome.

Commissioner Hernandez. Thank you, Mayor. I've spoken with staff and I've spoken with Javon regarding the parking. Could I please have the sketch of the, if you go through them, I'll tell you which one I would like to have. There's going to be a couple of them. It's easier to explain if you see the picture. Right here. Back up a little bit. Let's go by this one first. How many parking spaces is required for the internal office administrative spaces? The space that is there based on what's currently there. How many spaces?

Well, there's four spaces for the warehouse and office combined. That's required.

OK. So the storage warehouse and the office would need four spaces, correct? Correct. OK. What about for the commercial, the 1,420 feet?

The commercial combined with the retail was eight spaces.

Roasting plus commercial.

Yes, the roasting and commercial was eight.

No, no, just the commercial itself.

The commercial itself? About four?

No, no, it's more than that.

The commercial itself would be one space, right? Sorry, three spaces.

The commercial that's 1,420 square feet would require.

It's three per 1,000.

So 1,400. So that would be. Three per 1,000. So that would be four. 1.4. I don't understand, and please enlighten me. If you're going to talk to her, just put it on the record if you don't mind. How many parking spaces is a commercial, the 1,400? If it's three per 1,000, that would be at least three parking spaces. Is that not correct?

Correct.

Okay. So we can say, let's just say three. So now we've got seven.

Yep.

And then the roasting would be the remainder of that, which is five? The coffee roaster requires five parking spaces?

It would be three, four, five, yes.

Okay. I just wanted to know what the breakdown is. Okay. Let's go back to, I'm sorry?

Go ahead, Peter. Go ahead.

No, I didn't understand. Can we go to the aerial of the actual building? Right there. This is a good one right here. The red line is on Grant Street. The red line constitute the property line, correct? Correct. Okay. North of that, before the street paving starts, all of that area, it's currently paved, correct? Correct.

Okay.

But that's actually city-owned property?

Yes.

Okay. I've spoken with you briefly regarding some of this, and I've spoken with Jovan regarding the parking. That area between the edge of the street and the front of the building would be available for a lease, for a license agreement. Yes. Okay. Yes.

These are some of the tools that I was telling the commission that the Planning and Development

did not have, but we do. And this is something, this gives the applicant choices as to what they want to do. All along the gravel driveway on 20th Avenue that we see right there, currently, People were parking there because they had knocked down the no parking sign and the city actually put the no parking sign back up. I'd like to ask Javon if that's in fact what took place.

That's correct.

Okay. Because I remember one day there was a line of car and even the city manager went by and she experienced people actually parking there and walking towards Grand Street West to actually go to their business. Is that not correct? OK, so my point is how I'm trying to get, and I know that the applicant says that they don't want to commit to any leasing or anything else regarding business, but how many parking spaces could we actually generate on 20th Avenue along their business?

It's 132 feet, and you'd have to take out the corner cords. We haven't sketched it out, but three is conservative, maybe four.

Okay, three to four parking spaces. And in the back, they had the ability to actually do two parking spaces, but because of the radius, if I remember correctly, because of the radius of having the trucks come in and out of the warehouse, they preferred to have only one. Is that not correct?

The applicant can answer to their preference. If they wanted to legalize it, one, maybe two. If they grandfather in the three that are there, then they have the three that are there.

Okay, I would like to ask the applicant that question.

Thank you for the questions, Commissioner. We would like to continue working with staff in your engineering department to maximize those three spaces that we have in the alley to be consistent with our operational needs, as well as with, obviously, the number of three is better than one, I think, from everyone's perspective here.

But that would be... I'm asking you a question. You're not answering my question. We heard your preference. So my question is, in the back, how many legal parking spaces can you have?

That's a question for staff. I actually have a lawyer's position on what spaces are legal and what are not. So if you were to ask me, I think we have three legal parking spaces because they're legal non-conforming. And consistent with the commission's discussion on the vested rights of the Hollywood Beach Hotel, we had no intent and no prior owner had any intent to abandon those parking spaces. And they've always been used as parking spaces. So I would say that they are legal non-conforming.

You're not answering my question. Peter, are you referring to Grand Street, I'm trying to help, or the alley? I'm referring to the alley. I'm asking Peter.

I'm referring to the alley, which is there, which is actually, they have the ability to do two parking spaces, but because of the radius that they prefer to have for the truck, if you could see it, they prefer not to do that. Now, I'm not getting an answer from the applicant, and that's okay. You're trying to maximize the opportunity. I'm doing the best I can, Commissioner. Respectfully, I understand, but if you go back to what you just said you prefer to have, Three legal non-conforming. You only have two legal non-conforming that we can see there. And the third one will probably be up front, but it's not your property. But nonetheless, I just want to get to a point. You're not answering my question. I respect that. It's OK. You're being an attorney.

I believe we have three spaces in the rear, and that's how many we would like to have.

Would the third space block the entrance to your warehouse?

No.

Well, it could be a functional issue, but you could move the car and access the warehouse. I mean, you know, hypothetically.

We would address it operationally, of course.

Okay. I'd like to ask my staff, please. Thank you. Andrea?

I was speaking to my attorney just then, so if you want to just repeat the question.

How many parking spaces do you have in the back on this property?

They were originally proposing one, which was why the variance was for 12. If we recognize the legal non-conforming spaces, then it would reduce it to nine. I believe there are three.

OK. And that includes?

Based on the drawings submitted by the applicant.

Can we see that drawing?

We haven't seen that drawing. I do have a survey somewhere. If not, it's in your backup.

By the way, the evidence that came in, we'd love to be able to have it before you accept it because we have a body to be able to say yeah.

This is their survey, but I believe there might have been another drawing in your backup provided by the applicant.

Okay.

Well, my question is very simple, and that is we have the ability to license agreement for the front for one parking space. And, oh, my other question is for you as well. Does the Planning and Development Board or do we as a body have the ability to exempt an applicant from handicapped parking spaces?

The city does not have the ability to exempt someone. The building was built as it is. And my understanding in conversations with the city engineer and the city's building official is that they could make the decision, their engineer of record and the property owner, to maintain it how it is today.

to maintain for the use that it is today.

With regards to the handicap space, the property owner can decide to do that and the engineer of record.

But please answer my question, because I get a lot of, you're not an attorney, for the current use, not for the proposed use.

Are you saying of the, if I could help?

No, no, no, no, please don't, because I don't want to convolute things. I get what the engineer said, and so for the current use, you're allowed to exempt yourself as a property owner because you're maintaining the same use, which would be a legal non-conforming use. But for the proposed use, now, do we have the ability to exempt handicapped parking spaces?

The city does not have the ability to do any ADA exemptions.

Okay, for the proposed use?

For anybody, is my understanding.

Violating ADA. Correct. So my point is, if the use is being changed and what's being proposed is a change of use, They don't have the ability to exempt themselves from handicap.

Based on their improvements that they're making, their engineer or architect of record can maintain the site configuration as it is. That is their risk and their decision. And the city would accept that. But it's not a decision that the city is making.

Well, if we waive the parking requirements, we will be contributing to that decision.

If they're maintaining their legal non-conforming parking, they have their three spaces that are there today.

But they're not maintaining the same use. And for you to claim legal non-conforming, you have to maintain the same use.

They're looking to maintain the parking spaces as legal non-conforming, not the use.

You can't have your cake and eat it too sometimes. I mean, I get what you're saying. Understood. My point, the reason that I wanted to bring this back is because in the front of the building, you can see where the radius is. Thank you for bringing up this particular picture.

And there is a site plan drawn by the applicant in the backup after their parking analysis. I don't have it available for here. Okay. Sorry.

If you guys look at the top of the picture, you can see that there is Radius from the corner, and then you see the dotted line That area right there could be and that is city-owned property It's actually already paved and that city-owned property the only way that this Applicant can actually have that space reserved for them is through a license agreement through the parking department from the City of Hollywood otherwise the neighbor could park in front of them and they could move the car and Could Jovan please correct me if I'm wrong?

That's correct.

Okay. So I propose, number one, that we provide them with a license agreement for that particular space and designate that space a handicap parking space. So that this is actually to the front of the building where they will be accessible to them. And that's usually where handicap is actually prefer where there's the closest to the actual building. So that's just something for you guys to think about. Along 20th Avenue, I've spoken with Andrea and Clarissa at the time. The width of the gravel, currently the gravel swell is eight feet. They require... Parallel parking it's supposed to be eight feet six inches Some of the parking that we have in the downtown does not meet that but the width of 20th Avenue is 40 feet With the approval of the Commission of the Commission give directive to staff we could actually move the center line of 20th Avenue a little farther west and to be able to provide the legal width of the parking space for them to be able to have another three cars now you have one in the front you have three on the side you have four potentially five in the back that to me is realistic for the particular use that we have versus then to approve in a variance for only one parking space and then having a nightmare for everybody else Having them give the license agreement with the front and have them get a license agreement from the 20th Avenue swell area, it will provide them with at least minimum of five parking spaces and still have the configuration for them to be able to come in and out with the trucks on the side and the back through the alley without hindering anyone else. And this would be legal non-conforming and we'd be able to provide them with a license agreement from the parking department so that would be parking reserved for them rather than for them to have to fight with the neighbors to kick them out because they're parking where they're not supposed to.

So Peter, is that a motion?

That is what I propose and that is my motion to approve the variances of the parking.

So a motion to approve the variance subject to the applicant working with staff to maximize all available adjacent right-of-way or city-owned property. With a license agreement. Parking spaces through a license agreement with the city.

And that is correct. And the handicap in the front.

Including a handicap space.

Hold on Andrea I just want to make mention that no official measurements and dimensions and those things have been done So we are more than happy to work with them and evaluate and we want to maximize do that to maximize that But we're looking at least five parking spaces when it comes to this three on the side one in the front one in the back That's fire parking spaces right and that that to me is

It gives them the ability to control those spaces, and it gives the customers the ability to be there. It gives them the ability to get their deliveries there. We're just trying to make a better product.

Andrew, I see here on the survey that there's a five-foot sidewalk. Is a sidewalk allowed to be four feet to conform with whatever minimum sidewalk width is?

Yeah.

Because we can take, my point is, if it's legal, then the sidewalk there, which doesn't see many pedestrian traffic, if it can nonetheless be appropriate at a narrow width.

The city engineer said the sidewalk can be reduced to four feet and still comply with the requirements.

So there's some options here. There's some opportunities to cut the sidewalk. All right. Well, I like the motion. I like the motion. We have a second. We have a second from Vice Mayor Kaleri. I'm going to go down the queue. If there's any other discussion, I think we have a good favorable motion to balance all the interests here and get this continuing forward. Let's go ahead to Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you, Mayor. Just on the last point about making the sidewalk more narrow, my understanding is that what we were trying to do on the rack is to make it a more walkable, pedestrian-friendly place. And so if we're sacrificing pedestrian traffic to make room for cars, it kind of goes against what our idea was for this area. And I mean it seems to me like the description of the three family members who run the business the roastery That's not really a problem, and I you know I certainly think those were good suggestions Commissioner Hernandez Except I don't think it'd be a good idea to cut the sidewalk, but the the idea of the coffee shop without, I mean, even five parking spaces. I'm concerned that that wouldn't be enough. And I agree with what the mayor said at the last meeting. We have parking problems everywhere in our city. It's not just here. And we did spend a whole lot of time talking about the Washington Park industrial area, which is a nightmare that we don't want to repeat anywhere else. So I really do think we need to take a comprehensive look at alternative ways, the way we're using our roadways, that I think Commissioner Hernandez does experiment on 19th and 20th with one-way roadways to make room so that people can get through and there is enough parking and we're not eliminating swale space where we need the drainage. Really think that that's really what we need to think about beyond this particular situation These situations will are repeated over and over again. We it's a Systemic problem that we can't look at just one at a time so I thought those suggestions were good Commissioner Hernandez in a way to address the applicants immediate concerns given that they've already made this investment, but I really think it's not a It's really a Band-Aid on a much more serious issue.

Thank you. Commissioner Shuham.

I just had a question for Applicant's Council. It seems like a reasonable suggestion. Is there any concerns on the part of the applicant?

The applicant is very happy to continue in good faith working with the city to maximize parking either on the site or off the site on the city's right-of-way. We will continue working in good faith.

Okay. So is that a yes or is the question, and I have no idea on these licensing agreements, Andrea, is it a fee or is it a dollar a year? What is it?

The fees vary based on location and the applicants typically provide the improvement.

OK. And knowing that, I mean, is that a concern that you have?

Commissioner, thank you for the question. It is a very real concern. If the applicant is going to be expected to invest tens of thousands of dollars in drainage infrastructure, pavement, curb and gutter, and to create parking where there is no parking, that would put a real damper on his ability to open his business. And I just don't know if that's going to be possible. So I would just ask the commission to recognize that this is a regional activity center. We're encouraging multimodal. Look, I appreciate that there are parking issues in the city of Hollywood. I'm from Miami-Dade County. We have coffee shops that have revitalized neighborhoods, and the parking is a little bit flexible, similar to what you're describing here, where you have a concrete swale and people are parking sort of on and off the street. But the neighborhood is revitalized, and it's a really successful local business. We want to be good neighbors, and we will continue working with you to improve and maximize whatever parking is available. But we can only do that to the best of our ability. And we didn't know that there was a CRR until the end of July. I think you guys had your meeting on June 17. And we've been trying to get permits in. And we followed up pretty relentlessly. And we were only notified at the end of July that we had to come back before you. So we're eager to open our business. We're eager to submit our permits. But the cost of public improvements is going to be something that we have to seriously consider. So I just have a question.

It sounds like, and I definitely do not want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you're comfortable with five spaces. Is that where you ended up? OK. So I would just maybe modify it a little, because I'm thinking like in the back, you could do a double-decker parking. We have those in apartments. It's a lift. It doesn't work.

Our code right now requires those to be concealed from view. So it would create challenges.

And that leads to my next thought is you have a big wide open warehouse space. Maybe your client would decide just put garage doors on there and create interior parking for a few spaces. So my only thought, which I think you did a fabulous job, is to just condition the approval on a total of five spaces.

Not that they have to be on the side or the back or they have to be subject to a lease agreement or anything Just five spaces and they can figure it out with staff So the motion was to maximize the the envelope of the property For available parking on the right-of-way and on property and I think that is the same spirit of what we all want Is different than five Well, I'm not putting a number on it. I'm just saying that we're going to grant the variance as requested, subject to working with staff to maximize all available parking around the periphery. And I think that gives the flexibility.

Or inside.

I mean... Let's go ahead to... Well, the maker of the motion wants to speak. I'll recognize Commissioner Hernandez, and then we'll finish up with Commissioners Kaleri and Biederman. Commissioner Hernandez, please.

No, Vice Mayor wanted to say something. She's been more than patient, so I'm more than happy to... Vice Mayor Kaleri.

Thank you. So here's an opportunity we've been dealing with on the 7, the issues that we have in the industrial park. Here is a perfect opportunity of this area as well with the layout and what is in this area. And so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. My only question is, one, the sidewalk, is there a sidewalk on the west side of 20th currently?

If you could put the aerial back on, I think we'll be able to see it.

I've been by the site so many times, I don't recall that one.

There's not a sidewalk on the west side. No.

Yeah, there is. Look. Well, go to the next aerial. There's one that shows a street view. Keep going. There's one that shows the street view on the other side.

I just tried to pull it up. Sorry, we're both doing it at the same time. You could see it on the bottom left. There you go. Yeah, there is not. There is not. It's paved up until the tree islands slash swale.

OK, so two thought processes is one, the configuration of the streets. This is our opportunity, and it makes sense to maybe perhaps make it a one way. Number two is to, with our sidewalk grant funding that we have, implement a sidewalk on the west side of Grand Street so it addresses the walkability. It helps eliminate the car process. I'm sorry?

Keep going.

And then the third is where the parking is now, it's gravel, that mitigation has to fall on the building owner as far as drainage, because we've talked about parking on the swale a million times and how the compact does not allow the pervious drainage.

The turf block opportunity.

So this is a perfect example of working with the business owner to make sure that that is done properly. And it would not just affect PIPs and POPs and all those great grants that we have to allow funding since it was brought up. But when you're going to come into the city and provide a new service and maybe change You want to do the best that you can for the greater good of all. So while I understand it may be some type of a burden, there is some coordination that can be done with the city and the applicant. But it would be the responsibility of the lease and of the gravel area that it needs to be improved. And I would suggest, as the commissioner, that the sidewalk be placed on the west side and make that street one way. I don't know if that can be.

The city manager, you guys can look into all those options as the engineering helps create as much parking as possible as the motion was made.

Especially with the future of what this supposedly is bringing to the city. And we talked about just Miami putting a coffee shop. So now it's going to create walkability. It's going to create in this area around it may create this energy. So let's be prepared instead of saying, oh, my goodness, we had the opportunity and we missed it.

Thank you. Commissioner Biederman, any closing remarks?

Yes. So once we approve this, they could apply for building permits, and we could work in tandem to get all these things fixed. I also wrote down about the turf block. I think that if we're going to put parking, it should be turf block. I had this conversation with the city manager yesterday about using turf block in more areas. I don't agree with the handicapped spot because we're going to be defeating the purpose of having available parking because theoretically the handicapped spot could just be empty all the time if they don't have somebody that needs it. And the onus is on the property owner if they don't have a handicap and you have all these predatory lawyers out there looking to sue somebody for no handicap. That's on them. That's not on us. That being said, I saw Andrea going over to Joanne, and I already wrote it down on my notes. So theoretically, we have a POP program that could contribute financially to the outside signage or outside parking, turf block, whatever it may be. So I think that the applicant should contact Economic Development and how we can work together to improve that entire area with the owners investment and a city investment and creating some parking and bringing some vitality so I could support this I'm not real thrilled about the handicapped spot but I feel like we can make improvements with what we discussed but there's more parking space because in their diagram I pulled it up as Andrea said they're proposing three in the back Three on the side is six. One in the front is seven. I think that's the number that we should use.

Well, I think the idea is to maximize the available and the opportunity that might exist within, again.

We have to have a number in order to approve this. We can't just leave it arbitrary.

Peter, go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. I believe that my motion was minimum of five parking spaces, only because Andrea said that on the swell, there's the ability to have three to four parking spaces, one up front and one in the back, maybe two in the back. But at the end of the day, I really don't think we want to shortchange a handicap when it comes to that. There's enough room in the front. There's 13 feet wide, and there's 58 feet wide. So they have the ability to have a drop-off pickup, Uber, Lyft, and what have you in the front, as well as have the handicap. So I really would caution when it comes to that. And the swell area. I suggested that we actually move the center line of the street a few inches west rather than to play with a sidewalk, the five-foot sidewalk. It's something that it's amenable to the area. We don't have a sidewalk across the street. By just moving the center line, painting six to eight inches to the west, we capture everything that we're looking for. I think the ability to do this is... My suggestion is a minimum of five parking spaces, including the handicap. But I think that the applicant is concerned when it comes to cost. I think the city has the ability, through the fact that we want to re-up that area, to crunch the numbers to see if the city wants to be able to do the improvement so that the applicant doesn't have to go through the contracting nightmare, the permits and everything else. For the outside area, we're able to put in the turf block and then they can charge accordingly when it comes to the license agreement. My point is to be able to give the ability for them to be able to work that out on their own rather than to be dictated from here.

For the purposes of the motion, let's just remember that I don't think we can... We can choose a number of parking spaces that include off-site parking, I think, because the property is the property. So if we make it, just hear me out, if we make it three, because that's what they're saying, they have legal non-conforming on-site, conditioned on them working with the city staff.

Actually, we can. We can condition outside parking. It has to be in perpetuity. And if we're willing to give them a license agreement from the city to do that.

I'm happy to do it. I just don't know. Legally, can we require parking? You shall have five even though you don't control five?

That's what we've been discussing. So we can condition it, but it has to be based on an actual final number of parking spaces because the variance needs to specifically say that we can't. But we can't condition it on them having to get a license agreement or any parking that's not on their property.

Wait a minute. That is incorrect.

You're saying we need a number, but that number can't be already inclusive of off-site, that we can say number on property plus extra on the swale and on the right-of-way.

We both sat on the Planning and Development Board for many years. It is not the first time. And we have approved buildings here that actually have off-site parking agreements. And that's the same thing we're asking them to get. So why are you standing there and saying that we can't do that?

Because you're conditioning it on them paying another fee, and you're not conditioning it on them having a specific number of spaces because there may be other ways in which they can get those spaces. Thank you. I'm just asking to do that.

I was only trying to give them the ability to do it so that whenever they go to the parking department and says, hey, we want to get this license agreement, the parking department says, No, we don't have to give them to you. And then they will be forced to find parking somewhere else. But point well taken, my motion is for them to have at least five parking spaces, whether they're off-site or on-site. Actually, not inside because we can't verify those.

Including through a license agreement with the City of Hollywood. Including with a license agreement with the City of Hollywood. Yes.

Thank you. You're welcome.

And the city of Hollywood is obviously saying on the record that they're willing.

They're willing to do. I wanted to facilitate more, so I didn't want to hinder them. That was all.

All right. We have a motion and a second on the floor as clarified. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. Congratulations. Thank you for seeing this through. All for a good reason.

There were a lot of different drafts of this resolution. And I need to understand if we're being held to five spaces or if we're agreeing to maximize the property and to work with the city. to have as many parking spaces as possible.

You're held to five. That would include, say, three, for example, or whatever the legal on conforming is on property, plus at least two along the swale through a license agreement, either on Grant Street and 20th Avenue. That's really good. You should be very happy with that result, because otherwise the property is... It doesn't have parking. And we're offering you an opportunity to gain parking on city right-of-way.

But what you've done here is that your resolution conditions us to five spaces. So when I submit a building permit showing my site plan with the three legal non-conforming spaces, I can't get a building permit to move forward with opening my new business unless and until those additional two parking spaces are contemplated negotiated the license agreement is signed whatever is paid for is paid for and that parking has to exist so this meaningfully delays my client's ability to open his business i would say you guys are shaking your head no please educate me let me let me clarify right uh usually the parking has to be provided uh ray lynn or whoever at your your designation here

you would need those parking spaces to get a CO. It wouldn't delay the beginning of the construction. So the license agreement is a form agreement that the city has. It's not a long process. There is already paved area on Grant Street. You don't have to do substantial earthwork at all here, I don't think. So city manager, do you want to give the applicant some confidence that the process can work in tandem, license agreement and building permit submission and what have you?

Yes, so I mean, I think that you have heard that we are willing and staff has already been looking at possibilities for how we can accomplish this. So we are recognizing that these areas where we have a desire for adaptive reuse but insufficient parking, that we are going to need to come up with new solutions that don't currently exist. And we believe that this is feasible to help you achieve that.

And it will not hold up her building permit application, correct? She can still apply for all the construction?

It would be done simultaneously. Right. Okay.

So you're protected. Thank you. The decision has been made. I appreciate your time, Counselor, and thank you all so much. I think we achieved the best solution that could be for the property owner in this case. And I do think, I want to say, city manager, obviously the issues that the city commission has brought up here do, as you just acknowledged, you know, require us to be adaptive in our own right of way as well because some of these buildings were built, you know, a long time ago in the way without, you know, the number of parking spaces that today's codes require. And there's also, you know, an issue of obsolescence at some point when the city, you know, imposes requirements on existing buildings to the point where it renders the buildings unusable for specific uses.

We'll get into that another time. Thank you all.

All right, that concludes the item.

I know that from my Spanish teacher when I was a kid. I think it meant class quiet down.

Yeah, quiet, please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hispanic Heritage Month. I guess you all know a little bit of Spanish to know what that means. All right.

Does the commission wish to have a five-minute recess or you want to go on?

Five-minute recess before we go on to items 19, 20, 21, and 22 regarding the beach. Thank you all. Are you guys ready? All right. Thank you so much, everyone. Well, we have one, two, three, four items remaining on today's agenda. Of course, these are the 3 p.m. or soon thereafter time certain items. Thank you all for your patience as we had to complete the other agenda items. All right. Item 19. Let's go ahead, though, before I go ahead with item 19. We have three ordinances on second reading from the Department of Development Services. Obviously, we'll read them into the record. But the city attorney, I'd like to call on you to instruct us as to the order of these particular items.

Thank you, Mayor. These three ordinances concern the same proposed regulatory program and have been separately and properly noticed. Pursuant to sections 166.041 and 286.0114 of the Florida statutes, the commission will hear one consolidated staff presentation and conduct one combined public hearing. This is also in conformity with our policies and procedures. During that hearing, any member of the public may address one, two, or all three ordinances. The clerk will identify and read each ordinance as required, or I will. And following the combined hearing, the commission will consider and take the appropriate action on each ordinance separately.

All right, so what that means, everyone, in layman's terms, is that we have three ordinances on second reading. It's for the Tourism Incentive Density Entitlement Program, generally speaking, the hotel pool. Then there is the Transfer of Development Rights Program, and then the Flexibility Unit Program for the residential units. If you're here to talk about height of the overlay program and the different parameters of the overlay program, just so you're aware, even though you're entitled to speak both on the group of three ordinances, and I just want you to know you'll have an opportunity to speak on item 22, which will be second after these three are heard as one to speak about the overlay district and any of the particular parameters of the different six different precincts that allow for different height and opportunity as will be presented by staff for item 22. so um city attorney would you like me to read uh the ordinances into the record or I'm sorry. Let me just have the answer. Go ahead.

You may do so if you'd like.

Recognizing Commissioner Schuam for any point of question.

Thanks, Mayor. So two things. First, I want to clarify. So if a resident wanted to speak on 19, 20, and 21, can they do so? Yes. And will they have nine minutes?

No. Go ahead, City Attorney. Okay.

As it will be one presentation, they will have three minutes to speak on these ordinances. So in your example, 19, 20, and 21, they would have three minutes to address any of these three. As a combined single hearing.

And then three minutes on 22.

Correct. 22 is a separate item.

And then the second thing I want to talk about, which I'm honestly not sure if it should be now or before 22, but I'm going to bring it up now because I think 19, 20, and 21 really, it all goes hand in hand. So 19, 20, and 21 are being created to allow for some of the ideas in 22.

22 cannot proceed without 19, 20, and 21.

22 cannot proceed without 19, 20, and 21. I think that's fair. So... What I am asking for.

Go ahead, Raelynn.

Well, so I just, it's the converse of that as well. So 19, 20, and 21 are not effectuated without 22. Yeah. It goes both ways. You have to have the comprehensive plan amendments and then the zoning provisions.

These things change the comprehensive development agreement, the comprehensive plan, but the overlay is 22. We haven't gotten to the point of...

Well, it's fair to say that it's hand in hand. OK.

So with that, I think that it's important for all of us up here to just talk about the fact that we've never talked about any of this amongst ourselves. So we've had very general conversations about coming up with a bonus program on the beach, which I actually have always supported. My support for a bonus type program on the beach is based in large part on the FEMA changes that we've seen where owners can't take the first floor for living space or anything like that. So the overall idea of a bonus program we have discussed. But we have never amongst the seven of us talked about this overlay program ever.