Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

You're on.

Good morning, welcome to our 05/05/2026 Board of County Commission meetings. We are delighted that you've joined us this morning. Please join us for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance, is going to be led by Mike Saunders, who is a former marine and also parks administrator.

Once a marine, always a marine.

First, we'll have a moment of silence. And mister Saunders.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation And

mister Saunders, please tell us a bit about your marine service.

Yeah. So I served in the marine corps from 2008 to 2012 as a combat engineer, and I was stationed in Camp Pendleton, California.

Excellent. Thank you very much. We do not have any presets today. Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

I'll move approval of the agenda.

Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. We'll now take up proclamations. The first proclamation is a proclamation declaring Florida Emancipation Day.

Good morning, commissioners. On 01/10/1861, Florida adopted an ordinance of secession and was the third state to withdraw from The United States to preserve slavery and object to the eighteen sixty election of president Abraham Lincoln. Martin County Black Heritage Initiatives Inch's honors Inc. Honors the Emancipation Proclamation as the foundation for civil rights that abolished slavery and all forms of servitude in The United States. The Florida legislature established May 20 as a day for statewide celebrations specific to Florida's history, marking the day in 1865 when union general Edward McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation aloud in Tallahassee officially ending slavery in Florida. And here to accept, have Lloyd Jones, who is president of the Martin County Black Heritage Initiatives Inc, along with Michael Circus.

Good morning, commissioners and staff, and good morning, Martin County.

Morning.

Oh, good morning. Good morning. For the record, my name is Lloyd Jones, president of the Martin County Black Heritage Initiatives Incorporation. To to the commissioners and to commissioner Heard, we are deeply grateful to the Florida Legislation for officially recognizing Emancipation Day in Florida in 1997. May 20 Emancipation Day has been celebrated in Florida since 1865, making a significant moment in our state's history and in the ongoing journey towards freedom and equality.

Commissioner Heard, our board members, we sincerely appreciate the Martin County Board of County commissioners and staff for honoring our request to acknowledge this important occasion. By presenting us with your official acknowledgement of the Emancipation Proclamation, you will have support the efforts of the Martin County Black Heritage Initiatives to bring together the Martin County Board of Commissioners, the city of Stewart Commissioners, and the village of Indian Town Council for a public reenactment for the reading of the demancipation proclamation. This special event will take place on Saturday, 05/16/2026 at Gazebo Park and Martin Arts Gallery. President Abraham Lincoln, general McCook reenactors will be present for greetings and photographs. This program would also include provide educational information about the profound impact Emancipation Proclamation and subsequent constitutional amendments have had on our laws, culture, and society.

This reenactment were proudly is so proudly supported by the Martin Arts Council, the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Tent 12, and the sons of union veterans of the civil war camp 3. Because of this historic preservation month, we hope to encourage our community to visit the historic Knott House Museum in Tallahassee to learn more about the important role the Knott House played on 05/20/1865 when emancipation was announced in Florida. We encourage you to visit the Martin Art Galleries and the Road to Victory Museum. Please, I ask you to accept our invitation to join the city of Steward and the village of Indiantown as we come together to acknowledge our collective freedoms and honor those who sacrificed and served to help secure them. Thank you.

This is historic preservation month in Martin County, and mister Jones was our preservationist of the year two years ago. The next proclamation is a proclamation declaring Stamp Out Hunger Day

in Martin County, Florida. Every year on the second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the country collect nonperishable food as part of the nation's largest one day food drive, distributing the donations to local food banks. And it's important to note that all food collected in our community stays in our community, providing a critical supply for House of Hope care for House of Hope, carriers' efforts to help those in need. In recognition of Stamp Out Hunger Day on May 9, the board recognizes all letter carriers and local pantry services for their hard work and commitment to their communities. And here to accept, we have House of Hope Chief Executive Officer, Rob Ranieri.

Award winning. Just won a big award and cash for his organization. Congratulations.

Thank you, commissioner. Good morning, commissioners. On behalf of the letter carriers and House of Hope, I wanna just say thank you for the proclamation today. Saturday is the big day for us, letter carriers food drive. You heard some of the stats from for us here in Martin County. This drive really helps to carry House of Hope and our clients through the summer months. We spike in the summertime. We see more people because of the seasonality in parts of our economy. Schools closed, so no free and reduced lunches and breakfast for kids. So our numbers go up June, July and August.

So the drive is an important piece for us to be stocked up and ready to handle the increase in need in our community, and that need continues to grow. So this drive every year has a great impact on our capacity to serve. The community always responds in significant fashion to help support our neighbors in need, we're certainly grateful for that. So I want to say thank you in advance. You should get a yellow bag in your mail this week.

If you, by any chance, don't, you can put the food in any bag, put it out by your box. The mail carriers will pick it up, bring it back to their stations, and then from there, we collect it all and bring it over to House of Hope. So again, has a huge impact. I want to thank the county for acknowledging it and thank our community for all their support all year long and especially now at the letter carriers drive time. Thank you.

Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring hurricane preparedness week in Martin County, Florida.

The twenty twenty six hurricane season begins on June 1, and as a coastal county, Martin County is extremely vulnerable to storm surge, tornadoes, flooding, and high winds. Whether hurricane forecasters have predicted an average, above average, or below average season, it takes only one storm to have a bad year. In recognition of Hurricane Preparedness Week, May third through the ninth, the Board urges the cooperation of municipalities, businesses, homeowners and condominium associations, hotel associations, and all media to help inform residents and visitors of appropriate awareness, preparedness, and safety measures related to hurricane season. And here to accept, we have Emergency Management Agency Director, Sally Waite.

Morning commissioners. After recognized hurricane preparedness week, May third through the ninth, it is important time for both the board of county commissioners and the residents in Martin County to focus on readiness ahead of the next storm. The twenty twenty four hurricane season underscored that early preparation is one of the most effective ways to protect lives and property. Martin County's emergency management team continues to strengthen response plans, build relationships, and ensure resources are in place to support the community before, during, and after a storm. At the same time, preparedness is a shared responsibility.

Every household and business is encouraged to take simple but critical steps, review evacuation routes, assemble emergency kits, and stay informed through official alerts. We also ask for the continued support of our county leadership in reinforcing these efforts by promoting preparedness initiatives and ensuring residents have access to the tools and information that they need. Investments in resilient infrastructure, public outreach and emergency response capabilities remain essential to safeguarding our community. By working together, can foster a culture of preparedness, resilience and rapid recovery positioning Martin County as a leader in hurricane readiness. Taking action today will help reduce risk and ensure we have we are stronger and better and prepared to whatever lies ahead. Thank you.

And our last proclamation is a proclamation declaring historic preservation month in Martin County, Florida.

Historic preservation is an effective tool for revitalizing neighborhoods, fostering local pride, and maintaining community character. Historic preservation plays an important role in our lives, helping to preserve the tangible aspects of the heritage that has shaped us as a people. The Martin County Historic Preservation Board has planned events throughout the month of May to increase awareness and public public participation in historic preservation in order to save our local treasures. In recognition of Historic Preservation Month, the Board calls upon the people of Martin County to join their fellow citizens across The United States in recognizing and participating in this special observance. And here is historic preservation board president Rob Steele to accept.

Congratulations. Thanks. Wonderful.

Good morning, commissioners. So good to see you all today. It's it's nice that I follow hurricane preparedness because for the first time in a very long time, I can safely say that the House Of Refuge, our most most treasured asset in in Martin County, is prepared for the next hurricane. It'll it'll withstand quite a bit in its new condition with the solid cement foundations that have been placed and and nobody here is more thrilled than I am, but there are a lot of great fans and followers of the house that enjoy that as well. The historic preservation board started about twenty years ago with promoting events for historic preservation month with about six events.

This year, everyone should have one of these schedules with about 24 events and we've added five or six events to that schedule. So there's something to do virtually every day in the county to celebrate our unique heritage that is part of the patchwork quilt that creates the character of our community. So thanks for everyone's time and attention keep things as they should be and preserve our historic heritage. The preservationists of the year will be recognized on the May 14, Bruce and Barbara Osborne, who appear as Captain Sewell and his wife in Sewell House, and they have done so for many years, be honoring them at that event, and we hope you can join us then. Thank you so much for your continued support of Historic Preservation in Martin County.

We are going to take agenda items out of order this morning. We're gonna take up okay. Well, we'll take public comment first. The first request to speak for forum I have is from John Tellem. Pardon me?

I was gonna we have it's election season, so

Please read that.

So, as you come up to make your comments today, it says, we are, now in election season. Politicking is prohibited, which is defined as advocating the election or defeat of a candidate for public office, either partisan or nonpartisan. This includes the words, dates, signs, props and or wearing apparel that convey a message of support for a person or group of persons. Thank you. Fair enough.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Don't know where to start. We were given some dock permits about five years ago. In the middle of replacing my dock after we received three separate permits, it was taken away. While I was putting pilings in the water, a county truck pulled up and told me that if I didn't cease immediately, that I was gonna be fine, and they were gonna put a lien on my property. It's been five years to this date. I have not received any answers of why that was done, and I'm gonna leave it at that.

Thank you. John Dial is next. Oh, I'm sorry. John Dial is next followed by Charles Bartholomew.

I

think he's on the same subject. Would you like to swap us around? I'm on boating safety.

It doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter? Alright. Good morning, commissioners. My name is John Dial. I'm with At the Helm Training.

We're a boating safety company, and I see you have on the agenda here to approve a national safe boating week and we surely hope you will do that because Martin County is doing really well in the numbers of accidents. We have 17,419 boats totally that are recreational, 18,168 that are total vessels, and reportable accidents, we only had four and we had zero fatalities. So we are number nine in the in the state of Florida as if you wanna compare it with Miami Dade, is number 28 and Monroe, which is number 62. And Monroe has almost same numbers within 5,000 boats that we do. Between myself, our company, which is a privately held company being at the helm training, and the Chapman School of Seedmanship, which is a five zero one(three) nonprofit, we train over 3,000 people a year.

Chapman's has a program for children in summer that they do over three sixty kids a summer. So I think we're seeing a real progress, and I don't know if you know or not, but Florida is the only state and the first state to offer the enhanced boating safety card, which means you take the online course, which we've got, and we've gotten that with Chapman as well. We own have our own white label, each one of our school courses. And then you have the on water part, which GEICO insurance has given a discount now. Somebody takes that.

So Florida's leading the way. California's following. But as usual, Florida's leading the way. And Martin County's leading the way, which we were not near these lower numbers three, four years ago. So commend you for making us the National Safe Boating Week, and I hope that we can continue to make the numbers drop.

Thank you. Charles Bartholomew is next followed by Lisa Copeland.

Morning, community. Morning. I'm Charlie. I've been in the marine business since 1968, back in the outrigger days. I'm speak speaking in behalf of the previous speaker, John Tellem.

Tellem. The the DEP has constantly in its history provided a privilege of any permit holder of a dock to rebuild the storm damaged dock. Mister Tullam is not been told why certain things have been going on within the process of what he is attempting to do to rebuild his dock damaged by numerous storms. As friends, John Burkhardt and Stuart Hatteritz and Steve Moynihan and HNY went about the process to, get things moving and get their docks, replaced, not altered, just replaced according to the window that DEP has on file. They enjoy the privilege of a general license as mister Tellem enjoys the privilege of a general license, which he which he basically got when he closed on the properties that were originally in given the general license, otherwise known as the Sailfish Lodge in 1951 pre comp plan, but this is the highest license that the DEP offers the applicant.

That is the license Mr. Tullam has. He was given three Martin County permits to go ahead and rebuild the dock. He closed on the dock in March 2021. He began the process.

He got the crane. He he removed the improper pilings, the the the poor wood as a first step to replacing the dock. At that point in time, he was notified by somebody from the building department that if he didn't cease and desist all construction on that dock, that he would be fined and a lien would be put on his house. Well, just for the history of it, there's been other misstatements coming from senior staff members such as, well, there's never been a permit issued on that property. I have pictures and documentation from DEP.

I have their full comments for the last four years, and they have greenlighted every exemption entitled to a general license for this applicant to rebuild his dock as specified in the survey and the window the DEP has on file. That's what the applicant seeks. That's it. He's not looking down the road. He's not looking down the CRA Road. I appreciate what the county is doing in the North End.

Sir, your time is up.

Yeah. Well, I I I think if if you let mister mister tell him rebuild his dock, it'll be a less Sir,

your

time is up. You. Pretty. Sir, your time is up. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Elder, would you please look into the matter of Mr. Johnson? We

have. It's a zoning and legal issue, and we'll continue to follow-up with their representation.

Okay. Thank you. Lisa Copeland is next, followed by Angela Harrison.

Good morning. Good morning. So I'm just following, I'm Lisa Copeland and I am following up with John and Charlie. Charlie was speaking on my behalf. I am the owner of the property with John for the dock issue.

So, originally, the property was very appealing to me because I like the history. The home has one of the only original cabins from the selfish lodge back in the day. Okay? The dock is a separate parcel, but it is connected, and we wanted to keep that history, not tear down the property. Just you know, it's very important to me.

I was issued a permit, no problem, with the building department to repair the dock. We started pulling there was a storm that came through. There was some pilings, and it was starting to fall in the water. So as soon as we removed all of the old things, I mean, it's quite pricey, you know, but I got the material, the pilings, to put the new ones in. They let me renew it three times.

I didn't have all of the material yet, so it was on the recommendation by someone in the building department for me to wait and renew the permit once I had the material. Okay? So I did that. As soon as I went in to the building department, they actually renewed it, took my money. Within minutes of me before I could even get out the door, Rachel came out and said, oh, hold on.

We have to take that back. Actually voided my receipt and said, I'm so sorry, but you're not only going to not be able to rebuild your dock, but you'll never be able to rebuild your dock. So my question that I cannot get answered is why was I issued the permit, let me renew it three times, and then when I finally have the material to get it rebuilt that it was voided and taken away.

Okay.

So I just I've never been given that answer. So if it was never to be issued in the first place, why was it issued to me three times? And now I have a pile of pilings and a half broken, you know, piece of a dock that, you know, I need to

Now your time is up.

To fix. And that's what we wanna do is make it beautiful, not halfway. Thank you.

Angela Harrison is next, followed by Derek Owl.

This is in reference to the homeless population that we have.

You have to speak into the mic. We nobody can hear you then.

Sorry. This is in reference to good morning, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. It's in reference to the situation that we're having in Martin County for the homeless. Martin County has some of the highest homeless unsheltered rates in the country.

We do not have any shelters for men and the couple that we do have our specific population are for battered women and single moms. Those places, are notorious for not having availability. As a person that volunteers at Tent City Helpers and trying to provide a bare minimum of shelter in a basic tent. We have had many unhoused folks come to us saying they have been giving a warning or actually trespassed, and the officer told him they they cannot take any of their belongings or their tent. We need to provide basic shelter for the most vulnerable vulnerable vulnerable thank you, in our Come Country county.

It is inhumane and callous to ignore the residents of our County. They have fallen into hard times. We serve families, seniors, and women that have found themselves left in the cold with no real help. People lucky enough to be living in their cars do not even have a safe place to park. We have had a family park in a church parking lot disturbed by police at 2AM, woken and flashlights in their faces told to move.

It seems the bare minimum would be to have a safe secure place for people living in their cars to park overnight. We know many people in Martin County are one accident, one sickness, one mental health event, one paycheck not earned away from being unhoused. As a caring and compassionate community, we beg you be the same and consider options in solving Martin County's homeless crisis. I volunteer on Mondays, every Mondays, and we serve 60 to 70 people. And as much as rewarding it is, it's heartbreaking to see these people.

I've been homeless as a child. When you don't have family, it's very, very hard. We're just looking to possibly make maybe the fairgrounds, turn it into a campground for them. We just wanna help. You know, we're doing what we can, and I enjoy what I do, but I know that we can do more for Martin County. I moved here from Miami, and I in 2008 just to give my daughters a better house, a better home, a better upbringing because I didn't have a good upbringing. And it would just I just love this county, and I know that we can do so much more for these people. I really, really appreciate having the opportunity to speak this morning. Thank you. Thank you. And apologize for my emotions.

Derek Powell is next. Following mister Powell is

Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. Finally getting comfortable coming up here. My name is Derek Powell. I'm on Cove Road. First and foremost, thank you, you know, for your efforts along with mister Jim Gordon. His efforts really helped out with that sidewalk to get it away from my driveway. I do appreciate that. My name is Derek Powell. I'm here again because the system that's supposed to protect residents like me isn't working the way it should.

What we're seeing right now is a pattern, and it's a broken one. Projects are being approved without thoughtful consideration of real life impact on the neighbors who already live here. Then once the construction starts and the problems become obvious, we're told, now we'll look at it. That's backwards. We shouldn't be scrambling to fix problems after approval. Those issues, safety, drainage access, quality of life, should be addressed thoroughly before anything's ever approved. That's what due diligence is supposed to be. Right now, it feels like the step is being skipped. At best, it's being rushed. And the proof is what's happening on Cove Road.

Monday through Friday, we have over 200 students traveling the roads, kids walking past construction zones with exposed rebar, uneven ground, makeshift sidewalks made of rock and debris, that's not a safe path. That's a liability. And that's at I won't even say the name of it. And not just inconvenient, it's dangerous. Once these developments are approved, the balance of power shifts.

It's no longer in your hands. Developers have the upper hand, and the residents are left trying to fight for basic fixes after the fact. At that point, accountability becomes unclear and solutions become slow, if they happen at all. And that's not how this should work. The process should protect the people first, not leaving them with reacting to the decisions that were already locked in.

And I keep hearing now that I have the attention of the board, but respectively, that's not something I should have to earn after the fact. I brought these concerns up before prior to the approval of this development. So the real question is, why does it take a problem, become real, visible, and dangerous before it gets your attention when it was clearly laid out in front of you? Because if attention only comes after approval, then approval isn't the end of the responsibility. It's where it should begin. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Victoria Blake is next, followed by Judith Weekend. Oh, I'm sorry. Good

morning. Good morning. I'm also with Tent City Helpers. Just wanna give you a little background, I mean, these people that we see every Monday, we go to six different locations, and a lot of them you can tell used to be executives. They used to be prominent. They're veterans. I used to make over $200,000 a year, and I almost was homeless two years ago. So this is like a real problem in Martin County. And the bill that governor DeSantis passed a few years ago said is unauthorized for people to camp in public areas. However, the second part of the bill states that it requires counties to establish specific standards and procedures relating to such property and authorizes to inspect property.

So there is nothing available for these homeless people. There's nowhere to go. The police and dogs are hunting them down in the woods and under bridges, and it's inhumane. It's horrible. Horrible. Martin County Fairgrounds sits there empty. I know somebody owns it. I know he doesn't wanna use it, but it's just sitting there, a gated area where all the homeless people could go and be safe, and people could come and contribute to them, tents and food like we do every Monday, and Lehigh and, you know, House of Hope, all that we do to help these. We need an area for them to live in. Thank you for listening, and I pray that you will take action to help these wonderful human beings. We're all equal in God's eyes. Amen.

Thank you. Miss and mister Cook, would you like to speak on DPQJ one or now?

I'd like to wait.

Okay. Okay. Excellent.

Justin Dukas?

No. We'll wait till the actual application. Good

morning.

Hello, commissioners.

Morning.

It's nice to see you guys again. Alright. So, my name is Justin Dukas. I am a Martin County resident and Martin County High School graduate. So, in the last episode, we, established a house bill, one three six five plus no shelter or designated camping area equals pretty much criminalizing homelessness.

And I believe that this is wrong on many levels, but that's, like, self explanatory. Now, on me doing some more research on house bill one three six five, I came across a speech that Ron DeSantis had at Miami Beach in 03/20/2024 in which he was talking about his intentions behind this bill. And he pretty much basically said that he didn't want Florida to become like San Francisco where there's, like, tents on the sidewalk and there's Skid Row and all the type and all of of those types of things. So, he was basically trying to centralize all of us in one place, so that it's not everywhere. So, in this same speech, he said that he had $30,000,000 from the state level to give to the local governments, meaning the counties, to establish a shelter or designated camping area.

And since we have the funding available as per what he says, and being that this is five eighty three consecutive nights, including tonight, that I would have had to risk my freedom in order to sleep. And since the funding is there, I was wondering how much nights more will I have to commit a crime in order to go to sleep. And I don't know how we can take some action on this. Like, I know that there were some suggestions and all of that, but I just wanna know, like like, can we put it on the agenda for this time, for next time, for, like, for next time? Like, can we talk about this in a formal setting?

Or you know what I'm saying? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dukas. Linda Smith is next, and Ms. Smith is the last request to speak form I have for public comment.

Good morning.

Linda Smith, Jupiter, Florida, representing Sierra Club members in Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, and Palm Beach Counties. Please consider revising data centers into two categories. Small data centers can remain as light industrial, but hyper or large data centers are truly heavy industrial due to heavy use of water, power, creation of low frequency noise, light pollution, and creation of additional heat. Data centers are coming.

Data centers are here. I wanna thank the residents that supported the voter approved funding for Martin County Forever program, and thank this board for securing the over 1,700 acre conservation easement at the Barbee Ranch, bringing the total protected area to over fifteen one hundred and fifteen thousand acres. I support today's CS CNST nine approval of the First Amendment to fund the agreement to remove the requirement that a portion of Hanley Creek parcel be used for commercial and allow this parcel to be used for conservation and recreation purposes. Out of order, I also support D DEPT seven, restoring the natural floodplain of the Cypress Creek is a wonderful step. And I support DEPT five, resolution accepting another acre to be reserved in perpetuity for conservation, environmental and stormwater purposes and support DEPT six, approval of the donation of 6.7 acres to be preserved in perpetuity for the conservation, environmental, and natural based passive recreation purposes.

All wonderful news. And if miss Lewis C. Yasser is here, I would like to thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this from the public? If not, Commissioners, if it's okay with you, can we take up Department five and six? Yes.

Good morning. Carla Segura, real property manager. Department item number five is for the adoption and approval of a resolution for the donation of three parcels in North River Shores. This request is for three parcels that total approximately one acre located in North River Shores along Southwest Spruce Drive. The property is being generously donated to the county by missus Louise C.

Yeiser and will be used for environmental conservation and stormwater purposes to aid in drainage for the community. Pursuant to the Martin County donation policy, real property and Environmental Resources Division of Public Works have completed their evaluation and support the acceptance of this donation subject to the legal department having final review of all closing documents. We ask that the board adopt a resolution approving and accepting the donation of these three parcels from missus Geiser and authorize the chair to execute all closing documents. Missus Geiser is here today to speak about this donation along with three additional projects that will be discussed in Department Number 6 by John Mayo. If there's any questions regarding this item, I'd be happy to answer.

Questions for miss Segura? Questions for Ms. Yasser? Would you like to join us?

I think we were planning to go through six and then all of the pomp and circumstance that follows.

So should let's take up department six, and then we'll approve the resolutions and take whatever action needs to be taken on five and six if it's okay with y'all.

Yes. It's Okay. Let's take up mister Mayhl.

So John Mayhl, environmental resource administrator. First of all, I wanna ask your pardon on the awkwardness of this agenda item and give you a little explanation for what we did with with department six. Several people asked me in the last week, what is a preliminary approval? I don't know. I made it up.

And the county attorney's office said said, yeah, I could do it. Basically, miss Weiser miss Weiser, Deb Parker, and Tyson Waters have been running around the county negotiating contracts to save really special properties and they've been working day and night at it. And our team internally has been trying to keep up. And we got to a place as we were preparing Department five where we realized we've got three more items coming up and just to recycle and bring her back again and again we thought it'd be more efficient to just try to do a preliminary approval for everything that she has under contract and intends to donate and so that we could do this all at once. So we're hoping that that's agreeable to you.

So if I could go over these properties with you briefly before we hear from miss Yaiser and her team. I think we have maps in here. Right?

And I'm gonna bring an item back on the next meeting in consent. Okay.

It'll With the resolution? Yes.

So you're gonna hear about in Department five, the North River Shores property was three parcels that had approval for 10 units per acre. It was kind of right at the confluence of several roads in that neighborhood and it's an area where public works had identified a need for some additional storm water level of service. Pairing all that together and with Ms. Schiezer's philanthropy, we were able to secure those properties to build in a small detention pond and that will probably look like some kind of wetlandpond and create a public open space for the neighbors to enjoy. That one is it was Department five, that's the one that's actually prepared and ready to be accepted today.

There's three more that coming. The first one that you see here is adjacent to the East Fork Creek Stormwater Treatment Area that we recently completed on US1. That property turned out to be a very beautiful feature on the landscape. It's high profile because you drive right by it on US 1, but there's really no way to access it or enjoy it. It's a really pleasant walk to walk around it, but there's no parking, there's no pull off, there's no really safe ingress or egress to the area.

The property just to the north, we were able to secure that through Ms. Yaiser, kind of it was really like a story of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. It was a failed rezoning attempt that went under contract again with someone else who wanted to apply for higher density. And they had really not done a lot of research on that process in Martin County and so they had a really short due diligence period. So when we reach out to them, was already a week under contract and it was to add, sorry that one's not going to work.

But as the individual who was purchasing it got into the mechanics rezoning here in Martin County, they went back to the seller and requested an extension to their due diligence. By that time, the seller knew we were interested and so they terminated that contract and Ms. Yasser was able to put it under an agreement. Our plan there is to develop a new park. So there'll be an opportunity for people to pull off in there to have like maybe a small cheeky hut, a trailhead and a trail system that enjoins the STA adjacent to it.

So we're getting some economy of scale by that acquisition. That's a really exciting one. It's right on U. 1 and we'll really be able to celebrate Ms. Yaiser's philanthropy there.

Last time we came to you, miss Yaiser's was donating this parcel right here on the north side of the entrance to Hopesound Scrub. Today, we're asking you to accept a donation of these parcels on the south side.

Accept it. I'm sorry.

And all of these parcels that are additionally adjacent to the Hopesound Scrub Preserve. They've got some great habitat, a bunch of scrub and T and E habitat and it will just secure an addition to already beautiful and super special piece of conservation land. All told Mrs. Yaiser contributed almost $10,000,000 in conservation land out of her own pocket.

Wow, wow, wow.

So we would ask the board for the opportunity to Ms. Geiser to come speak and additionally Ms. Deb Parker also would like to make a comment.

Please. What an incalculable benefit to Martin County, Ms. Geiser. Thank you so much.

Well, you. John, you messed up my whole talk.

It's what I do best.

But thank you for so you're going to hear some of this again, and thank you for giving me opportunity to speak today. When I was here in April and asked and was asked to say a few words, I had nothing prepared to read and therefore felt pretty flat footed. For this meeting, Chad GPT helped me to write a very elegant, formal, proper speech, which I have set aside for the most part to say what I really want to say. And this is what I really want to say. This is so cool for me.

I am so excited about being able to donate this land. What is so funny is that if I only had 1 dime for every time I heard someone say, I don't know, we've never done that before, I would have amassed a small fortune by now. I have heard this from you guys sitting up there. I have heard this from John Mayo. I've heard this from a realtor, a banker or two, and two or three attorneys.

And all of us would have been right. We had not done this before. There was no pathway established for this kind of gift, no precedent, no process, no proof that it could even be done. Well, so much for that because now it has. When the next person steps up and donates land to the county for preservation, hopefully tomorrow, the county will know what to do, how to process the gift, and how to proceed forward putting everything into place.

Jack GPT has made one excellent point that I really love, that the gift of land is different from any other gift. It cannot be replicated, it cannot be manufactured, it cannot be replaced, and once it is lost to development or perhaps overdevelopment, it is gone forever. When land is protected, it becomes something powerful, a refuge, a classroom, a legacy, a home for living creatures, trees, and plants, many of which are disappearing rapidly as their natural habitats vanish. Okay. Back to my own words.

I am absolutely delighted that I have the honor of being the first person to do this. I got to be the county's guinea pig as most of the time, as John said, we seem to be making it all up as we went along. But now, as I said before, Martin County knows exactly what to do. So I invite other people with resources to please step forward and do the same thing. Together, we can really make a big difference.

I think the best way to do this is go to the county first and find out what lands are available for sale that they've had their eye on but can't quite get their hands on for one reason or another. Sometimes a private buyer makes all the difference. How gratifying it is to know that the county would like to do some fabulous things with these properties. I've been hearing about trails, a little extra parking for the public, pavilion, picnic table, doggy bag dispensers with trash can, a pond to ease flooding and provide beauty, sidewalks, benches, and trees just to name some, and in some instances just leaving the land alone to flourish naturally. I have been told to please be patient as these things take time, but like many of us patience is not my best quality.

However, I promise to do my best. I want to thank Deborah Parker, who is here, the real estate broker who steered me in the right direction and made so many things happen. Real estate broker, Michael Dooley, who kept us moving in the right direction, but is out of town today. Commissioner Stacy Hetherington, our first liaison with the council. And John Mayhl, who as far as I can see does just about everything.

I also want to thank commissioner Blake Capps as well as commissioner Sarah Heard and Eileen Vargas for giving me their encouragement support. And I don't know if this person is here today, but I really want to thank naturalist Jeff Whitman whose enthusiasm and support are palpable. You are here. He's going to speak first. I'm so glad. Thank you all so very much. I really, really appreciate this opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you. From this day forward, whenever we receive a donation, we're gonna call it the Geiser effect or the Geiser the program.

Yeah. Good morning commissioners and thank you for having us. Is that better? Okay. My name is Deborah Parker.

I'm the broker earner of Realty One Group Engage here in Martin County and have been here for twenty six years. It's an honor to be with you today. I am truly grateful to witness and to have played a small role in a very generous and thoughtful act that reflects the best of the community. About a year ago, my friend and neighbor, Wheezy as we call her, her real name is Louise, shared stories about her family's long standing commitment to giving, donating in places like Michigan, Ohio, and Naples for preservation. They weren't just stories, they were a reflection of values, values rooted in stewardship, foresight, and deep respect for places we call home.

Weasy has had the same appreciation for Martin County. She cares deeply about protecting it from overdevelopment, preserving and what makes so special. With that in mind, she asked me to help her identify land that could help be donated that would truly make a difference for future generations and for Martin County. I admit it was a new process for me. I hadn't done that before.

But I wanted to understand where to begin, so I attended a Save Martin County event in Downtown Stuart last summer. It was eye opening and inspiring. As it often happens in this community, a meaningful connection followed. I ran into Stacy Hetherton, who pointed me in the right direction in introducing me to John Mayo. That moment set everything in motion, and now here we are one year later, we're at the finish line. I'm shaking. I am, like, so excited. It has truly been a team effort. As we all know, it takes a village. I want to extend my sincere thanks to John, Tyson, Carla from the county and Sebastian and for their guidance and support throughout this process.

I'm also grateful to my fellow real estate professionals, Michael Dooley, Michael Baker and Tom O'Lott for their collaboration in assembling these remarkable parcels for donation. But most importantly, I wanna recognize Weasy, not only for her generosity, but for her friendship, her vision, her commitment to preserving the character and beauty of this county. Her philanthropic spirit has made this moment possible. We're all fortunate to live in Martin County. And today, thanks to Weasy and to this commission for your time and consideration, I believe our county stands to become better, even stronger. I respectfully ask that you approve this donation.

Okay. I

have to read one more. That was from me. Michael Dooley. Michael Dooley, as you all know, is the the owner broker of Illustrated Properties and has been instrumental in helping. But, unfortunately, Michael wanted to be here, but he's in Greece.

So he asked me to read this in his behalf. On April 5, I stood before you to speak in favor of a motion to accept 1.28 acres of land from miss Louise Yeisser to increase the size of Hobes Sound Scrub Preserve. Now we have the opportunity to accept two more parcels from Mrs. Yeisser that will add to the preserve in total with the addition of these two parcels and increase the land by 15%. It is extremely rare that the people of Martin County have had such a generous gift offered to them.

I have seen many parcels of land offered to the county over the years, each time the offer was given with a quid pro quo, land for schools, parks, etcetera, all given exchange for certain development that was being presented for approval. I cannot remember one time in my forty plus years of service to the county that a person donated land without wanting something in return. It could be said that miss Weiser wants something too. She wants the land to remain in its natural state into perpetuity. I think we can all acknowledge that this is an ask we can agree to.

Miss Yaiser is a kind gentle soul who would not think of asking for anything, but I can. I asked if any improvement on these parcels such as pavilions, shaded seating areas, or any other improvement that would enhance the experience for the people who visit Hopesound Scrub Preserve occur, the Commission would consider naming that improvement, acknowledging Mrs. Yeisser's generous contribution to us all. Thank you, Louise. Thank you for setting an example what true altruistic giving is about. Thank you for choosing Martin County, and most selfishly, you for picking our little heaven on earth, Hovsound scrub preserve as a benefactor of your most generous gift. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Kemps.

I want to begin by also thanking a number of people involved in what is occurring here today, Environmental Resource Administrator, John Mayo, thank you. Real Property Manager, Carla Segura, Thank you. And other members and the public works staff, realtors, Deb Parker and Mike Dooley and my fellow commissioners who played a role in this, Commissioner Hetherington and progressed. And then thank you, Jeff Whitman, for being such an enthusiast for the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve environmental advocate. We appreciate you and your promptings to make some of this happen.

Dear Louise Yaiser, it is hard to put in words the feeling of appreciation we have in our hearts for your amazing generosity to your fellow Martin County residents. You seem to possess a strong awareness that we are all on this earth not to live for selfish gain, but rather to make a lasting difference with our decisions and actions. God has blessed all of us with gifts. Some have time, some have talent, and some have treasure. All of these are important, but in the course of human events, we often look back at unusual people who make an indelible impression on a community that reverberates for generations.

Ms. Geiser, you are one of those people. From the bottom of our hearts, we offer our sincerest thanks to you for purchasing and donating 13 parcels of land for the expansion of the Hodesound Scrub Preserve, for the purchase and donation of the beautiful scrub land just north of East Fork Creek on US1 in Hobesown, and also for the purchase and donation of the parcels in North River Shores. As we drink in the beauty of open spaces and the reminders of old Florida, While walking trails or just riding by natural lands, we will remember you for your big heart and open hands. Your example will remind us that we too are here to make a difference.

God bless you and God bless your family. And I would make a motion that we accept department five and department six.

Second.

Mr. Vargas. Yes. Miss Parker, as a fellow real estate broker, this is out of the ordinary. You know that, and I applaud you from the bottom of my heart. You're a hardworking lady. You're a successful lady. And usually people when they think of real estate brokers, it's going to be sold and developed, but you took a different tack. And I appreciate you giving the confidence to Weasy and of course, your fellow brokers that are not here today. Thank you so very much for having more foresight.

This is unusual. But I do want to make a couple of mentions. Ms. Segura, you're professional very much, very much. John Mayo, I don't know what else to say. I think it's all been said. You are a very, very easy person to deal with. You're very knowledgeable. And when you don't know something, you find out. So I really appreciate your humility. And of course, in the back there, there's Mr. Jeff Whitman, who just loves, loves, loves the outdoors, and I appreciate you taking me on personal journeys of Hope Sound. So easy. How are you? You look great today.

You are over generous. You are kindly. You are great hearted, not good, but great hearted. And thank you for sharing your bounty with Martin County. You have set the bar very high for others to follow in your footsteps by donating these extravagant gifts of the beautiful Florida nature, and we're expecting more wonderful gifts. Thank you so much for putting the challenge out there, and we can applaud you again. Thank you so very much.

Commissioner Hetherington.

Well, Ms. Yaiser, like you at the last meeting, I didn't prepare any notes today. But next time you come in, because I know you're going to come in again for future donations, I will read my chat GPT speech to you. But what I do want to say is wow, much of it's been said today. And thank you because your generous heart has not only benefited Marin County today, I think it's going inspire so many generations that will and people that will step up like you have in this process.

And I think we will call it the Yaiser process. And from the bottom of our heart, thank you so much. You're a woman of action. You're my kind of woman. You're really a feisty woman of action. I see the patience, how demonstrated that you don't want to wait. And you got this done quicker than I think any other land acquisition process that I've seen. So and I want to thank Deb Parker and John Mayle and Tyson and Carla for really working through this process and making it happen. We appreciate you so much. And we hopefully will see you back again in a few short months.

And Jeff Whitman, would you like to speak to us? Good morning.

Good morning, everybody. Jeff Whitman, Hope Sound. I am so happy. I haven't been this happy since we saved the Hamm property, the outparcels, a month ago. But I'm pretty happy. Jeff Whitman, Hope Sound. When this property first came before the commission, I guess it was exactly a year ago, it was for a land use change and a zoning change to allow for yet another huge storage facility. I'm talking about the the East Fork Creek property. Could have been up to a 100,000 square feet. Just terrible.

I suggested that the county just buy the property because unlike the five acres in Palm City, this 6.7 acres was all environmentally sensitive land. The back half is wetlands. The front half is coastal scrub habitat, which is considered rare and endangered. The commission made the right decision and denied the developer the changes. Commissioner Capps called me the next day and said that he went out with John Mayle to look at the property and said it was incredibly beautiful and that he would like to see it preserved.

Thank you. What makes this property so unique is that it's contiguous to the Eastport Creek Preserve. That's a 21 acre preserve with a 20 acre lake, but there's no way the people of Martin County could access it. You cannot park on the street or the adjacent church. This hidden gem, most people don't know where it is, is almost became a 100,000 square foot storage facility.

It's now preserved in perpetuity. Thanks to John Mayo, the county commission, especially commissioner Capps, and especially miss miss Yasser. I would like I would like it to be named the the Miss Yasser Preserve. I don't know.

It has a certain ring.

It does. It does. It does. We are so grateful to the additional land added to the Hamm property, a. K. A. The Hope Sound Scrub Preserve. Thank you, and God bless you. I've got a few more seconds here. I just wanted to talk about this other parcels on Hillside Circle.

I know that property very well. It was at one time part of the Hay Dam property. What makes that unique is that the north parcel where Blake Blake and I found, like, three gopher tortoises there, that was where the old Hope Sound School used to be, the wooden schoolhouse before the Apollo School. And I've been told that that school has been moved to the where the Bible College is. So I haven't been able to find it, but it's somewhere in the Bible College prior and that goes back to, like, 1915. May I have a few more seconds, seconds, please?

You do. 15 left. Yeah.

Okay. You're very generous. The other the other parcels around Hillside Circle, that was all part of the Ham property. And somehow it got yanked out, unfortunately. Now it's reunited back with the Hamm property, the Hopesown Square Preserve.

One more thing. Up in North Western North Carolina, Waynesville, where I'm from, we hold stone walls are sacred. And there's a stone wall on Hillside Circle that goes back to a 115 years old, and it's still there. And I was so afraid that a developer would come in and bulldoze it, but it's still there. And it's beautiful. It's it's cool. So like I said, there's so many gopher tortoises there. Scrub jay is there. Indigo snake is there. Four paw paw. Jeez. We're so grateful. Thank you. You. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Campy.

I'll keep mine very simple. Thank you very much. God bless you. We appreciate you so much.

And Mr. Donaldson.

At the conclusion, I think it would be appropriate to get a picture with the commissioners in the well with Ms. Weisley, if that's okay with everybody?

And also, Ms. Geiser, I want to assure you, I know that your goal here is preservation, and you also are concerned about that you don't have enough patience to endure this whole thing. I assure you that before we make any improvements to any of these parcels, we will first of all get your approval. We won't put anything on these sites that doesn't meet with your expectations. Commissioner Capps?

One more comment about Jeff Whitman. I mentioned at our last meeting that he really began the pursuit for us finding a solution to keep the first parcel at Hobesheim Scrub Preserve that was donated in the last meeting from development and it was about to become townhomes and he suggested that to me quite some time ago and we started thinking about it and so I want to re recognize him for that. But also, wanted to mention, it's always interesting to think about where ideas begin. And shortly after Eastport Creek decisions were made, he suggested at that time that we find a way to put that land into conservation and I began to start talking to John Mayell often about it and so those were early discussions about the future of that parcel as well that were inspired by Jeff Whitman. So thank you very much.

Separate motions for?

You can combine them since there's no changes to the recommended action or separate motions, whichever you prefer would be fine.

So we can do staff recommendations on both departments. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Okay. Oh, you can check out

some. Perfect.

There you go. Okay. Right into the lens. 123. We'll take a couple. 123. And last one. 123. Thank you so much.

It will

be so gratifying to see the improvements that we're going to make on this.

Have you guys ride in

the middle again? Jeff, what do

one with the staff. Come go this way.

Yeah. Keep

Jeff, one with the staff first. Jeff. Jeff. The one with just the staff. Perfect.

Yes. Yeah. Alright, everybody. One step to your right, please. One step to your right. Perfect. One step toward me. Just one step.

Carla, go in a little bit. Alright.

Yep. I already lose all of them.

No. I'm not for that.

No. You great. That's perfect. Standing on your donation, you're very

tall. One, two, three.

Don't be

afraid to smile. There you go.

One more. 123.

What a good looking group. Did you break that?

Yeah.

See, nowadays, when something's really well done,

Yes. That's correct. We'll do consent and commissioner comments. A break down. Sorry. It is Lily.

So I just came back from Tokyo. Right?

We will take up commissioner comments. Commissioner Vargas?

You know, I said what I had to say just momentarily ago. But human services, we've had two meetings now where people have talked about homeless ness. Would that be the department to be able to pick this up? Pardon me? The two people that spoke earlier this morning about homelessness. Have a a department for that, human services? Yes. Social services. What what can be done? I mean, can somebody address

them? We have a department that addresses those very things.

Alright. So are they gonna contact them? Or how how does this work?

Well, they do their jobs every day.

Stokes will

follow-up Madam with Chair, I already spoke with Ms. Michelle Miller, Director of Human Services. She was talking to the gentleman who spoke when he left the building or not left the building, but left the excuse me, before he left the building.

And then there are also the ladies that spoke too. She brought up the posters here too.

Yes. We've been we've we've been talked with 10 city helpers and been working with other not for profit communities as it relates to the Florida state statutes and overnight overnight camping as it relates to counties and what the counties can and cannot do.

Just to reiterate, it is a complicated subject for us to deal with, the state has making made it very difficult to address it in in simple terms. And so it's it's not simply a matter of of roping off an area and saying this is okay. It comes with an enormous burden in the law on what you have to do to do that. So it is complicated. Also, our zoning and how it fits in and still gives the opportunities of neighbors to sue you over how you do it.

So I appreciate the dynamic and the concern of that those that represent those folks, but it's it's it's very difficult for local governments to take it on to the degree that some of our public would like.

Yeah. I understand the responsibility that goes with that.

Commissioner Capsule.

On April 22, I along with staff attended the town of Jupiter Island commission meeting to discuss the new bathroom, canopy, and fire rescue buildings needed at Hobesound Beach. These buildings would be placed east of the current construction setback line, which basically runs through the parking lot and to the west of those current buildings. So we need a variance from this current construction setback line. And one of the commissioners raised the issue of whether the county intended to extend a sewer line to the site. Though we budgeted for this expense, SMRU thought that it would not be prudent to extend the line, so we decided to switch to a septic tank system instead.

The commissioners voted at this meeting to continue their decision until their next meeting and asked us to bring back a revised plan for a sewer line to the site. And I think it would be good if our county administrator could say at this next meeting that our board has granted him the authority to include a sewer line to the project if the town deems this necessary. So I will make that motion that we give, county administrator, Don Donaldson, that authority if if that sewer line is deemed to be necessary by the town. Any

further discussion? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Anything else?

I'm good.

On April 27, we had a ribbon cutting at Bob Graham Beach to celebrate the near completion of the Army Corps of Engineers shoreline protection project there. It's a beach project covering four miles. This is the seventh time this particular beach nourishment project has been done. The first one was thirty years ago, and Don Donaldson was our coastal engineer at the time, and that was one of his first assignments. So this project was fully funded by the Corps of Engineers at a cost of $15,000,000 It's been eight years since the last project occurred at this location.

One of the most inspiring consequences of healthy beaches, and we take an awful lot of pride in our unspoiled healthy beaches and our four story height limit on those beaches. So one of the most inspiring consequences of healthy beaches is healthy habitat for nesting sea turtles. Martin County beaches had 22,566 sea turtle nests last year. So as I contemplated the importance of our healthy beaches, considered some of the other critical components that combine to create our revered Martin County difference. One of these is our love of fishing and boating.

We need a navigable inlet in order to do both, and the Army Corps is our essential partner in keeping the inlet safe and shoal free. Another Martin County difference is water quality. The Indian River Lagoon is the most biodiverse estuary in North America. Its shallow depths, mixing of fresh and salty waters, shores lined with mangroves, its warm temperatures, and abundant seagrass beds combined to create a perfect nursery for the more than 4,400 species of plants and animals that live in the Indian River Lagoon. The lagoon's health is dangerously impaired from over a century of damaging discharges.

The Army Corps has spent hundreds of millions of dollars constructing projects in Martin County that will help restore the lagoon's health, and they will spend many more hundreds of millions of dollars completing more projects. We are forever grateful to the Army Corps of Engineers for being our partners. Because of them, we were able to maintain and restore the assets that define the Martin County difference, and we could not do that without the Corps' help each and every year. Commissioner Campe.

Thank you, madam chair. I've had a lot of residents over the last, I guess, months been reaching out for different reasons about things that are taking place in the waters just off of Penn Darvis Park in Palm City. A lot of it has to do with the fact that as we created mooring fields first in Jensen Beach, then in the Manatee pocket, and then the city of Stuart has theirs, this sort of band of folks that live in their in their in their vessels have moved around. And I don't believe that all of them are causing grief where they go, but a lot of them are. That's that's my soundtrack.

A lot of them are. And whether it's even though we have obviously just celebrated a

I'd rather listen to that.

Me too.

Wanna have that as my Absolutely.

That's my theme music. Thank you so much. $10. Some folks, even though we have our MS poop that would free would pump out people's boats for free, Sadly, people are still not using it. They are litter is washing up on all of the homes there and in the park.

Folks are digging through the mangroves to gain access to the uplands, the neighbors, and folks that are trying to utilize that park. It's turned into a real problem. Our sheriff's deputies have been at the park side. Our marine patrols, obviously similar to Jensen and Manatee, have a difficult time enforcing certain rules. The folks that are anchoring their know their know their rights and are perfectly willing to exercise them to the detriment of the locals.

So I would make a recommendation that we have staff look into a potential mooring field there. Not so much necessary that we have a mooring field there, but I know that the legal parameters and, you know, the area that can be patrolled is is based on where the mooring fields are. I think that as you head now past the city of Stuart One by the base of the Roosevelt Bridge, and you start heading out of that zone, it pushes into the Palm City area in the South Fork Of The St. Lucie by the Palm City Bridge and then North of the Palm City Bridge, but I think it'll just continue to push south in between the bridges. There's a lot of derelict boats there that we've been responsible for taking care of.

But sadly, some of the boats that you would think are derelict are not. They're liver boards, and it's turned into a big enough problem now that I don't think it's going to solve itself. Or the people were just transiently moving through that area. It's become a little more permanent. So I would ask that staff begin the process of looking to what's gonna be necessary for creating an additional mooring field there. I know that Pen Darvis Park is a year to year lease with the South Florida Water Management District. So legal, we'll probably have to get involved to see what South Florida Water Management District feels about it. But we can no longer allow our residents to be stuck dealing with this and our natural environment to be destroyed. Thanks.

I think that's a great idea.

Thank you.

Everybody else?

Yes. Good.

Yeah. Commissioner Hetherington.

I'll be brief, but I'll just bridge on to Commissioner Heard's comments on the Indian River Lagoon. And I know that one of your goals, I believe, this year was some of the muck dredging. And I think that we need to continue to prioritize that because with all of the great assets and funding all that we've put together, that's going to be a crucial part of the health of the Indian River Lagoon. And I know that certain sites for the muck displacement and even I think there's new technology that seems to be able to process and compress that kind of material. So I just want to reiterate my support for that priority of the dredging of the Indian River Lagoon.

And then on another note on the historic preservation month, all of these events that there's practically one a week or a couple times a week and I think it's important to acknowledge and remember we just celebrated our centennial last year at Martin County. There's so many events and I know there's a lot of newer residents to Martin County, but please get active engaged and check our website for these events and really learn about the Martin County history and many of the people that helped make Martin County special because Martin County difference is its environment and it's Martin County difference is the people in Martin County.

And also we attended a ribbon cutting for the restoration of Gilbert's Bar House Of Refuge this weekend. That is our oldest building in Martin County, and it is a 150 years old. So if you haven't visited the House of Refuge, it's been closed for renovations for quite some time. It's reopening or it will be reopening very soon and please visit. Mr. Donaldson.

I'm all good.

Thank you.

Miss Elder.

We had a new attorney start in

our office yesterday, so we're excited to have him. So I wanted to introduce him. His name is Joe Barron, and we are thrilled to have him.

So today is his second day, so he's just saying.

Would you like to come forward and introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your previous practices? Yes. Yeah.

Hi. Good morning. My name is Joseph Barron. My family relocated to Port St. Lucie after I graduated high school. After high school, I then went to the Virginia Military Institute. I served in the army. I was an infantry officer, Ranger tabbed. Everyone qualified. I ended up getting an ankle injury, and I used that as a segue to go into law. I went to into a Washington and Lee Law School, after that. Then I went to the University of Florida and got a tax LLM, and, now I'm here.

So Terrific. Thank you. Welcome.

Okay, everyone.

Let's take a ten minute break, please. Up public hearing number one, which is a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending general ordinances, Martin County code to require veterinarians to report microchips and eliminate submission of disaster plans. Mister Stokus.

Good, good morning, madam chair. George Stokus, assistant county minister. Before you is an ordinance. As you may know, all of our veterinarians here in Martin County are required to, provide our tax collector certificates of vaccination for animals, primarily cats and dogs that they provide, these vaccinations to. The proposed ordinance before you also requires, now requires microchips and the microchip numbers and the the tags that go along with them to also be submitted to the tax collector to create a database.

This is being done in an issue to try and return lost animals or potentially stolen animals back to their rightful owners in a very timely fashion. This proposed ordinance also does strike some requirements. The owners of five or more cats or dogs provide a disaster plan. There has been no one has actually ever done that in the past and our tax collector would like to see that removed for efficiency. This ordinance was also heard by the ACCOB and they voted in favor of this. And before I address any questions or comments, wanted to just thank Ms. Pietrich for doing all the hard work on this and allowing me to be able to summarize this in probably about the one hundred and twenty seconds. I'm more than happy to address any comments, concerns, or questions.

Questions for staff?

Okay. So if if you lose your animal, then isn't it normally scanned and you're notified? What what's the difference on this?

Right now, it you're it's scanned, but those microchip data, you would have to access different databases. We're in the process of centralizing all that information for our animal service officers to be able to access. And this is really the first step to making sure you have good accurate data that goes into that base.

Okay. So this is just for Martin County or

is this nationwide a plan? Well, the ordinance deals with Martin County only. However, databases, I think the database we are looking at would be a nationwide database through a third party provider. That will be coming probably before you at a later date when we get to the appropriate time for that contract.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, because that's important. I'm just like your child, so I totally get that. Okay.

Any further questions? This is a public hearing. Would anyone from the public like to address us on public hearing number one? Seeing none, back to the board. Is there a motion to accept staff's recommendation?

Make a motion.

Second it.

There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Andrew.

Before we moved on to public hearing I

said thank you, we heard your voice.

I did say something.

Before we move on to public hearing number two, is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

So moved.

Second.

There's a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda. All those in favor? Aye.

Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Public hearing number two is a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance on amending environmental controls, Article seven, nuisance abatement, general ordinances regarding notification of property owners of nuisances via notices to abate.

Morning, Commissioners. Good morning. Sebastian Poprowski, County Attorney's Office. Commissioners, a little bit of history. Back in 2023, we amended the preceding section. This is 67.201 to broaden and further define nuisances in our county. Section 67.202 which we are here before you today, references that proceeding Section two zero one. And we would ask that this amendment be passed so it can be consistent with the language in the proceeding Section two zero one. It's sort of an administrative ministerial task just to clean up the code even further.

Questions for Mr. Poprowski? Mr. Capps?

In the agenda item summary, there is talk of four nuisance categories. There are they are weeds, undergrowth, trash.

And brush and trees, commissioner. Brush and trees.

And, you know, I talked to our accounting attorney about how some people think and perhaps even in some counties, and I'm not advocating for this yet. I'm just just an idea. Some people think that, an additional nuisance could be the presence of exotic vegetation on property. And it would be worth looking into, like, to see what other cities and counties do, if any of them do such a thing. You know, I know that it would be very problematic and potentially really expensive for a lot of private landowners to have to clear the exotics off their property.

But I would be interested to know if there are any other counties or cities that do such a thing. And perhaps there could be ways to limit it so that, you know, you don't get some huge liability or, exposure. Perhaps just along the roadway part, something the the part that of a private property that is visible, from the roadway or or the front yard or whatever, something that made it reasonable. But it's it's worth looking into. And I'm not I'm not convinced yet that we should do it, but but have you ever heard of that being a nuisance category?

I have not, but I'll be happy to look into that for

It'd be interesting to to look at it because we are we are getting completely covered up with exotics in our county. Our county does a good job at keeping them back off the roadways, you know, and that's really the only place our that we are authorized to clear them. We we we can't get on private property to do it, but but on private property, it's a huge problem. And if you if you take the time to get educated about what exotic plants are, it will begin to bother you because you will see them everywhere. Maybe we could look into that.

Yes, commissioner.

This is a public hearing. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, go back.

If you're adding things to the nuisance category, please add e bikes and scooters. I'll look into that as well, Commissioner. Motion to accept staff's recommendation.

Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye.

Opposed? That Motion passes unanimously.

Do you

think we should have a

board item on e bikes and e scooters? Yes. I think

it would a great idea.

Yeah, think so too.

Now the sheriff is starting to crack down on that, but we need to bring this to the forefront.

Talk about nuisances and and destroying stuff.

It's dangerous too. You're driving nearly. Take them out.

We'll take up public hearing number three, which is a public hearing regarding permission to apply for the Federal Transit Administration FY '22 Section 5,307 Urbanized Formula Program Funding Grant. Mr. Beecher or maybe Mr. Fox, maybe both.

Ash is in the bathroom, and he will be here momentarily.

We'll take up

Thanks public hearing for that update.

Now is here. We'll take up public hearing number four instead.

They're gonna be scurrying.

That's a public hearing to consider gen twenty five zero one certified recovery residences

No. Come on

in. Ordinance amending chapter 21 part two article 28 reasonable accommodation procedures general ordinances Martin County code. Miss Offenbach.

Hello. Again, for the record, my name is Amy Offenbach, planner with the Martin County Growth Management Department. GEN 25 dash zero one is a proposed text amendment for certified recovery residences. The applicant here is the Board of County Commissioners and this is a legislative hearing and proof of public comment sorry, proof of legal notice has been turned into the clerk. This request is to amend the reasonable accommodation procedures found in the general ordinances of Martin County code to comply with Florida state statutes.

A reasonable accommodation is an exception to any county rules, policies, or procedures for persons with disabilities to use and enjoy property. Martin County provides reasonable accommodation procedures for all kinds of different requests, including but not limited to keeping emotional support animals or housing more than five unrelated persons in a single household. State has mandated that each governing body establish specific procedures for reasonable accommodations involving a certified recovery residence. Certified recovery residences are simply houses where persons in recovery live. There are no services provided at the property.

And so the proposed text amendments will update the current reasonable accommodation procedures and differentiate between separate procedures specifically for certified recovery residences versus all other requests. The reasonable accommodation request form, which is currently in the code, will be removed. And eventually, two separate applications will be posted on the county website and also made available at the growth management department. And a separate section will be added for procedures involving a certified recovery residence with specific time frames specific to that type of property. And so the Florida Association of Recovery Residences provides the certification for these types of properties, and they follow national standards.

And this, again, is required by state statutes, and so staff recommends approval of GEN 20 five-one. This concludes the presentation.

Questions for Ms. Offenbach? This is a public hearing. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, back to the board.

I'll move staff's recommendation for approval.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. You. Will now Thank you. Take number public hearing number three, which is a public hearing regarding permission to apply for the Federal Transit Administration FY22, Section 5,307 Urbanized formula program funding grant. Mister Beecher.

Good morning, commissioners. Ash Beecher, transit administrator for the record. So today, we have a public hearing for the transit system, Martin County's public transit system. Marty is partially funded by a Federal Transit Administration or FTA grant that must be applied for each year. The grant application requires Martin County Board of County Commissioners to conduct a public hearing that encourages public participation and opportunities for the community to comment on the program of projects for the filing of the fiscal year twenty twenty two Section 5,307 grant application.

So the program of projects includes operating assistance, capital assistance, and safety and security enhancements. A grant match is required and the fiscal year twenty twenty two state public transportation block grant as well as funds from the County General Fund is included in the Public Works Transit Division operating budget and will be used as match. So we use a grant to match for the other grant. And the recommendation is that the is to move that the Board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute and file the FY22 secondtion five thousand three hundred and seven urbanized area formula program funds application on behalf of the Martin County Board of County Commissioners with the Federal Transit Administration for federal assistance as authorized by U. S.

C. 49 Chapter 53 Title 23 and other federal statutes authorizing administered by the Federal Transit Administration. Thank you.

Questions for mister Beecher? Commissioner Capps.

Just thinking about something that was said about the Marty system in prior meetings. And what I remembered was that it's in real rough numbers, the the program is about a $4,000,000 program and about 2,000,000 comes from the federal government, about 1,000,000 comes from the state, and about 1,000,000 comes from the county. Is that is that readily true? Yep. Right.

Right. I thought that that's always something that's good to keep in mind. You know, a lot of people have some misconceptions about it. They think that, you know, the county's paying for nearly all of it or something, and and our portion of it is actually pretty small.

Correct. This is a public hearing. Would anyone from the public like to address this? Seeing none, back to the board. Is there a motion to approve staff's recommendation on public hearing number three?

Move approval.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Now take up DPQJ number one, which is a quasi judicial public hearing, a request for approval of a final site plan for Heritage Ridge planned unit development, Parcel C 4, Lot 2 B for the storage place, Hope Sound project. This is quasi judicial. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte disclosures?

If I have any, they've been filed.

Commissioner Capps?

If I have any, they have been filed.

If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy?

If I have any, they've been filed.

And commissioner Hetherington?

If any, they've been filed.

Excellent. Mister Sinott, have you turned over all of your relevant materials to the clerk?

Yes. I'm turning a copy of my work history and the agenda item to be filed as exhibit one.

Okay. I don't see an applicant here. If you will be providing sworn testimony in this agenda item, please stand up, raise your right hand and be sworn in. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Please proceed, Sunnett. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, commissioners. I'm John Sennett, Principal Planner with Growth Management. This is a request by McCarty and Associates Land Planning and Design on behalf of August for final site plan approval to construct a three story 64,260 square foot residential storage facility and associated infrastructure within Parcel C 4, Lot 2b Of The Heritage Ridge planned unit development.

The 1.5 acre undeveloped site is located on Southeast Constitution Boulevard approximately four forty feet northeast of the intersection of Southeast Federal Highway and Southeast Constitution Boulevard in Hobesound. Included is a request for a certificate of public facilities reservation. Here you can see the outline of the Heritage Ridge PUD in red. It encompasses just over 300 acres in Hobbes Sound located between US 1 and Dixie Highway. And in yellow at the bottom, can see the proposed development site is in the southern portion of the PUD.

The subject site consists of approximately 1.5 acres. It is adjacent to Southeast Constitution Boulevard. It's currently undeveloped. To the north across Southeast Constitution Boulevard is undeveloped land followed by the Hobes Sound Tennis Center. To the east is a drainage canal followed by residences.

To the south is that same drainage canal followed by the Broward Motorsports facility. And to the west of the subject site is the Dollar General. The property and the surrounding areas to the east, west, south, and north are within the Heritage Ridge PUD. To the north and south, in red, you can see the general commercial zoning district along US 1. The future land use designation of the subject site in the adjacent areas to the west and east is low density.

Across Constitution in the purple, you can see the general commercial and to the South, can also see the general commercial. The Heritage Ridge development regional impact and PUD zoning agreement were approved in October 1978 for residential units, recreational areas, golf course and open space, public service areas as well as commercial areas. The 1978 PUD agreement establishes that Parcel C 4 shall be developed as if zoned b one business district. The Heritage Ridge PUD was most recently modified via the ninth amendment in September 1989. The ninth amendment establishes that Parcel C 4 shall be developed as of zone general commercial according to the Martin County zoning regulations as amended from time to time.

The proposed development is within the allowable commercial square footage according to the ninth PUD amendment. The proposed development of Parcel C 4, Lot 2 B consists of a three story 64,260 square foot residential storage facility, also known as Storage Place Hope Sound and associated infrastructure. Ingress, egress will be provided via an existing easement through the Dollar General property to the west. There is no new access proposed off of Southeast Constitution. A parking rate adjustment is requested pursuant to section 4.625, Martin County land development regulations.

Nine parking spaces are proposed. This is the proposed site plan for Parcel C 4 Lot 2 B. You can see the building is situated in the southern portion of the site set back from Southeast Constitution Boulevard. To the north of the building is the existing access easement through the Dollar General property. There's a retention area between the parking area and Southeast Constitution Boulevard that will be planted.

The applicant is requesting alternative compliance from article four division 20, specifically the primary facade transparency fenestration criteria as well as the dumpster location. Staff recommend approval. The board of county commissioners is the final decision maker for this application. Here you can see the proposed architectural elevations. The top elevation is the front that would be facing Southeast Constitution Boulevard.

Pursuant to Martin County LBR table 10.5 f nine, review of this application is not required by the local planning agency. Development review staff have found the 8280 constitution application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the staff report. Staff recommendation is to move that the board receive and file the agenda item and attachments including the staff report as exhibit one and move that the board adopt the resolution approving the final site plan for the Heritage Ridge Parcel C 4 Lot 2 B project also known as Storage Place Hope Sound. That concludes my presentation.

Questions for mister Sinnott. Mister Sinnott, the future land use is low density residential?

That is correct.

Why wasn't that ever altered?

I'm not sure. The low density future land use appears to have been assigned in 1982. The PUD dates back to 1978, establishing the commercial zoning, if you will, for that parcel.

But it has been amended. Certainly, the PUD has been amended and since post comprehensive plan. So why isn't the land use why wasn't the land use amended?

I'm not sure why the land use was not amended as part of the previous.

Why is it proper to put general commercial on a low density land use parcel?

That is what the PUD states dating back to 1978 and again in 1989 with the Ninth Amendment. The Ninth Amendment indicated that Parcel C4 shall be developed as if zoned general commercial.

Okay. And what kind of density transition is being proposed between this project and the low density residences that are adjacent?

We would not apply density transition since this is not a residential use.

If you can go to page two fifteen of the agenda item. Tell me about the property that's in between the proposed development and the residential development. Is that a slough?

That is a drainage canal right of way.

John, if you could go to

the mountains. Considered wetland?

No. The canal is not a wetland.

Are there wetlands in there?

No, not on the property.

Turn on real property interest?

Commissioner Vargas?

Yeah, I was I think you asked a number of questions here about this property. Certainly, of course, we have some people here that wanna make comments also that live in the area. Are you referring to some inconsistencies with the zoning and the comp plan over time?

I'm concerned about consistencies, yes.

Sure. Okay. It's exactly what I was concerned about too.

Would the applicant like to make a presentation?

I would. Thank you. Good morning. Mike McCarty for the record with McCarty and Associates Land Playing and Design. Appreciate your time this morning.

The application before you is the Heritage Ridge PUD Parcel C 4 Lot 2 B PUD final site plan application, also known as Storage Place Of Hope Sound. Ownership entity is eight thousand two hundred eighty Constitution LLC. Before you, we are requesting approval of the 64,260 square feet three story storage facility. Without a request for parking rate adjustment to reduce the parking utilizing the Institute of Transportation Engineers, ITE manual, showing parking demand is much lower. ITE land use code one fifty two states the peak parking demand is approximately 0.1 spaces per thousand square feet as an industry standard.

Based on the industry standards and numerous projects previously approved by the county, precedent has been established in acknowledgment that county parking rate is not consistent with the industry standards. This is an infill development project intended to serve the local neighborhood and surrounding residents. This is a residential storage facility. Therefore, no vehicle or commercial or industrial storage or business uses will take place at a residential storage facility. A little history background, and thank you, staff, for for your background in that testimony.

Heritage Ridge is RPUD that was approved as a DRI back in nineteen seventy eight and seventy nine. Permitted uses consisted of residential, recreational areas, commercial, and public service. In '7 in September '89, the ninth amendment to the RPUD was approved whereby Parcel C 4 shall be developed as if zoned general commercial. Okay? Residential storage facilities are a by right use permitted in the general commercial zoning, therefore, by right today before you.

Existing conditions. Site contains exotic vegetation and some native tree species. We did provide the necessary tree surveys, environmental assessments, and, it was concluded that no habitat exists on the site. They're non native, exotic vegetation and trees, and we have preserved many of those trees within our landscape plan and design. This was all confirmed by Martin County environmental staff, who also conducted a site visit.

Most of the surrounding properties have been developed, as staff indicated in his presentation. You've got Dollar General, you have the Broward Power Sports, you've got the Heritage Ridge community to the north and east, and then obviously, Constitution Boulevard borders this property on the north. Efforts were made to preserve the native trees around the perimeter of the site, to buffer the surrounding properties, and take into consideration the residential uses to the east. Here before you use our site plan, you can see this is a one and a half acre site situated right next to the Dollar General. We have a shared access point off of Constitution Boulevard.

As staff indicated, there's this ditch, if you will, or canal that is on a radius along the northern and southern side, northeast, southern side of the site and wraps. Took a little bit of adjustment to design a building, but we did a great job designing a building with undulations, meeting the commercial design standards, and made the architectural very interesting. We have buffering around that edge of the site that is up against or closest to Heritage Ridge residents, along with the storm water system as well. You'll see here in this landscape plan, we packed this site with landscaping. We located the building as far away from Heritage Ridge as possible.

Again, you can see a very intricate and detailed planting design and scheme that meanders along the boundary. It's well vegetated. It's gonna look fantastic. This is a street view I wanna provide. This is if you're standing on Constitution Boulevard looking south down the canal.

So looking at this picture of this canal, you can see with the mowed top of bank, to the right of that top of bank, your right as you look at it, would be the storage facility site. And you can see this FP and L box here. This is on the corner of the site. This oak tree right here, this is to be preserved. To the left on the screen is the Heritage Ridge.

You could see this native buffer, and possibly even exotics as well. That is on the Heritage Ridge site. So they are screened, and then you can see on the far left of the screen how far the residences are back. So there's ample buffer, ample landscaping, trees, greenery, etcetera here. Again, the architectural elevations, these meet and comply with the county commercial design standards and the PUD.

Here is a excerpt from the staff report. This excerpt shows all of the different reviewing departments within the county and all of the individuals, and you can see on the right hand side of that shot, we are in compliance across the board with all reviewing departments internally to the county, not only with the LDRs, but the comp plan and the Heritage Ridge PUD and DRI. Public benefit. Though we're not required to have a public benefit because this is an existing PUD, and we are not before you today to request any modification to that PUD or an amendment thereof. This is a by right request.

We're still providing a public benefit. On the screen before you, you'll see a drainage easement that we are providing and dedicating to the county as a condition of approval. There is drainage pipe structures that cross over the property and are of which the outfall to the drainage system into the canal. We are willing and the applicant has agreed to dedicate those easements needed to benefit the county as a condition of the approval. Approval justification.

The proposed development is a by right use. The approval of this project will increase tax revenue to Martin County, aligns with the original intent of the Heritage Ridge RPUD, provides for improved water quality and treatment, provides for exotic vegetation removal. This is an infill development which should be promoted to utilize existing infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer, and other public services to prevent urban sprawl. The small compact infill development promotes vertical integration within a small building footprint. The proposed development meets the intent to provide for commercial uses to support the local neighborhood and surrounding area as envisioned in the 1979 Heritage Ridge approval.

Justification. The application has been deemed in compliance with Martin County Land Development Regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan and the Heritage Ridge DRI PUD. Staff confirms compliance. Staff recommends approval. And that's the conclusion of our presentation. Any questions?

Any questions? Commissioner Kapps.

Commissioner Heard brought up an issue, and I believe what summarizes the issue that she was concerned about is on page one seventy four. About two thirds of the way down, there's a paragraph that says, although the current maps show a land use designation of low density, the land use policies applicable to this partial should be construed to be those for the general commercial land use as set forth in the original PUD agreement executed prior to the adoption of the comprehensive plan. Does that summarize your issue that you brought up? Yes. So what I would like to ask the accounting attorney is do you have any concerns about this?

I mean like do we need to continue this item until you have more time to research this or?

So I'm going be honest, I did not look at the PUD agreements back to the original PUD, there might be an entitlement in there. I'm not sure if Sebastian Fox has looked at that issue since he's on this. No. So if the I

mean, may as well get it right. I mean, like if we need to continue this the next meeting or the next one and to give you time to research that and clear that up, we could do that.

I do not have a solid answer. So if the board wants me to provide one before they approve this, then I would need time to research it so I can look at the history. It was a DRI. I don't know if there was entitlement in the DRI. And this goes back to the seventies. So I don't have the answer to that.

And Madam Chair, the and I'm looking at the nineteen eighty nine ninth amendment to PUD agreement which states in one of the exhibits that all terms and conditions of the Heritage Ridge PUD agreement as originally approved on 10/31/1978, which are not specifically amended or revised by this eighth amendment shall remain in full force and effect. So without having done significant research, my understanding is that this contract entered into between the board and the developer has modified several times. Essentially, it does create a buy right situation. And despite the apparent inconsistency between the future land use and the zoning, this PUD agreement would control.

But would you be more comfortable with more time to research? Or do you feel like that's already that's a firm legal opinion in your judgment?

I'm gonna defer to miss older on that if we need to look at it further.

So for a firm legal opinion I would need to research this issue because I haven't looked at the PUD agreements or the DRI to see if there was an entitlement prior to the ninth amendment. So

I think that's smart move to do

may, as the applicant's representative, Dollar General was approved just a couple years ago on this very same tract fronting US Highway 1, no future land use map amendment was required. The the reason why there's an inconsistency between the future land use map is because this PUD and DRI predated the comp plan and the creation of the future land use map. It's quite simple. I think that's what the attorney's stating and and I

just didn't look at the original to see if there's an entitlement prior to the comp plan, that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying there's not, I'm just saying I didn't look at the original documents. So I couldn't definitively say that, but it appears that's what the case would be.

Correct. Thank you.

Madam Chair, if I may, John Sennett, Growth Management for the record. This is from the 1978 PUD agreement Exhibit F, Paragraph nine as recorded in OR book four sixty seven, Page nineteen thirty nine. Parcel C 4 shall be developed as if Zone b 1 business district as according to the Martin County, Florida zoning regulations article 34. And to give you a little more background, the eighth amendment was approved in 1987. 1987 that updated that paragraph in exhibit f to read parcel c four shall be developed as if zoned general commercial as as according to the Martin County Florida zoning regulations?

Well, I want our county attorney to be comfortable with with the process, and I don't think there's any great harm in pushing forward a little bit until the legal department is satisfied that they have fully researched the matter.

Are you making a motion?

You still feel that would be a good thing, County Attorney Elder?

I'm looking at B1 right now but if yeah I could try if you want to take a break I could do it right now or we could continue it to next time if the commission would prefer that.

But why don't we give you the opportunity

to look at carefully? Attorneys, you have to practice law in front of television cameras on on the fly. So I I make a motion we continue it until such time as the county attorney has had time to thoroughly research the matter and whenever she's comfortable putting it back on the agenda.

I'll make a second.

If I may, can we can we set a specific date and time?

Yeah. Want to do it today or no.

We could do the next meeting. I would be ready to do that.

Next meeting is fine.

So we need to say the date, the time, location. So it would be at the next County Commission meeting which is May twenty May nineteenth at Commission Chambers at 09:00 or soon after there may be heard.

Okay, I would make that motion.

I second. Also Mr. Sinnott, is there a difference between the height restrictions on low density residential and general commercial? Because we have those existing here also.

Right now, the height Because

the Dollar General is one story.

That's correct. Right now, the the height complies with the general commercial zoning district height, which is a maximum of 40 feet. The building is coming in

at 39

feet.

Does it comply with the low density land use?

I would have to look at the Okay. This

is a public hearing. Would Judith Weigand like to speak to us?

I think it's Weigand. Yes. I got it. Good

morning. Good morning. Thank you so much. I am Judith Wiegand, president of Heritage Ridge South Property Owners Association. We are a community a senior community of 501 homes.

All of them are one story homes. We are part of a much larger community, and some of you have heard of Heritage Ridge North that has all the condos and the townhouses and independent, living accommodations. Last Tuesday, and I apologize because I was unable to attend this, mister McCarty and the owner, the new owner of this property, was present at our clubhouse, of which there were about 45 residents opposing voicing opposition to this building. And you're gonna say, okay. This has been going on for two years.

Why was this suddenly happening now? I can give you a shed a little light. Ever since we learned of this application, our community requested information. We met John. I met John Sunoot, and a couple of our other members of the community met him also.

And after a year, we actually sat down and actually discuss our concerns. He also allowed us to provide them with our questions and concerns about the development of this building. This building behind Dollar General, a three story building, is suddenly out of it doesn't fit in a community when you have one story buildings all around you. And this three story building is stuffed into 1.5 acres. And you're gonna say, okay.

That should be enough for a three story building of 64,000 square feet. Not when you have a big ditch. We think of it as a creek because it's running water. There's a lot of wetland on that property. Environmental is not considering it wetland.

The folks who actually walk up and down that road can see how wet the property is all the time. Though so there will have to be a lot of fill going into this property. At last Tuesday's meeting oh, man. I'm off. They people were definitely opposed to this just because it's going to increase the number of cars on constitution. And you're gonna say, why are we concerned? Constitution is a county road. However And

your time is up.

I know. Constitution is also what we take care of. Have to pick up all the Your

time is up.

Thank you.

I sent all of you my presentation to the Commission email.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you. Lawrence Cook, would you like to address this?

So thank you all for listening to us today. You know, I'd just like to say I moved to Martin County. I own two residences in the Heritage Ridge Cambridge Association. And one thing I find very different about Florida in in, I should say, Hope Sound in general, is the lack of development. And I think it's why we all love to live here.

You know, this is so out of place. And I think, you know, laws are made for good reasons. Time a lot of time has elapsed since 1978, and somebody dropped the ball here. The three story thing is really insult to injury. Just a one story storage facility in our community.

This is not how storage facilities are situated. You go to remote areas and parking lot situations and so on, and that's where you see commercial self storage things. And I mean, how many do we need? I understand that there's an application or perhaps it's already been approved just a half a mile away on the Dixie and Osprey. Now that would be a lot more fitting of a situation, Dixie And Osprey. It's kinda like removed. There's no houses right there. Dixie is what the Dixie is. Everybody knows. This is in our community.

Does not belong. Wetlands? Certainly. I've seen I used to walk my dogs through there. It is a creek. I've seen every creature you could imagine from coyotes that not all of us like, but, you know, I'm out at three in the morning and they're there, and so are turtles and frogs and birds of every description. And it is not just a ditch. It is a wetland, and it also is connects up with the other wetlands in our community and into the golf course. It's all and the retention pond that they put into the adjacent area. This is so unfitting.

Unfitting. My last appeal would say that if there's nothing this commission can do because of laws to prevent this from happening, I would make an appeal to you, the owner, because there was a generous woman here before who has put up millions of dollars to preserve land. So anything you say about this not being a sensitive area is BS. And if it's just money you're interested in, I would love this commission to somehow collaborate with us and the owner to get him compensated for his designer, for his plans, for all of his time, and perhaps a million dollars on top of that because I'm a good negotiator. So and then take your money elsewhere because it doesn't belong here.

Okay? There you go. Perfect timing. And I these are letters that my my wife wrote. Can I I was instructed, you know, if you could give a copy to each of the commissioners, I would appreciate this? We started this process two years ago when we first saw a sign go up on that beautiful piece of land there. And and Dollar General was vehemently opposed, but

we couldn't stop that. Thank you.

We couldn't stop Dollar General. We'd like to not

add insult to injury. Your time is up.

Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address us? There is a motion and a second on the floor. Is it clear what the intent of the motion is and when the continuance will be?

I think so.

Are we clear? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you, commissioners. Thanks.

And we'll take up think our last let's see. Miss Morley, what is your agenda item? Do you know? Department one. Department one.

Department one is Office of Management and Budget Items, which Require Board Approval.

Good morning, Commissioner. Stephanie Merley, the Director of Office of Management and Budget here to present the OMB item today. Our first item is a permission to apply for the FY 2023 Federal Transit Administration section fifty three thirty nine bus and bus facilities formula grant program funds. Our public works department is requesting application of a $146,920 to assist in the purchase of a replacement light duty cutaway fixed route buses. There is no cash match required for this item.

Item number two is a permission to apply for the fiscal 2026 safe streets and roads for all supplemental planning grant for the Southeast Bridge Road corridor study and road safety audit. Our public works is requesting application of $280,000 for a supplemental planning activities that will result in a report that enhances and forms and complements the existing action plan specific to Southeast Bridge Road corridor and improves safety for vehicles, bicycle, pedestrian users and wildlife. There is a match of 20020% in the amount of 70,000, which is budgeted in the FY '27 Roads Capital Improvement Plan. Item number three is a permission to apply for the Florida nine one one state grant for call handling solution upgrade. The Martin County Sheriff's Office e nine one one division is requesting $3,644,729 for a proposed project that will replace aging on-site infrastructure with a resilient, scalable, and secure cloud based solution that enhances service reliability for our E911 and there is no match required on that one.

Item number four kind of goes along with that one. It's a permission to apply for the Florida nine one one state grant for additional ESI net circuits for the same call handling solution upgrade. The e nine one one division is requesting $261,175 for for these public safety answering point infrastructure equipment, and there's no cash match required on that one. Item number five is a permission to apply for the Bureau of Justice Assistance Adult Treatment Court Program grant. Our Human Services Division is requesting $1,000,000 to provide expanded supports and services to individual in the Martin County Mental Health Court Program.

These funds are used to provide expanded support services such as housing, transportation and treatment to the vulnerable population. There is no cash match required, but there is in kind match that is provided by our salaries and office space. And the last item is just adjustments to the fiscal year twenty twenty six budget. Our public works traffic engineering division is requesting funding from our urban road impact fee reserves. After collection of these impact fees, we have identified some projects for traffic signal and intersection improvements for Southeast Salerno Road resurfacing project.

We are requesting $978,000 to fund these various projects. And the last item is a request to allocate the unanticipated contribution from the Auto Ranch Hope Sound major final site plan. Martin County is in receipt of $53,120 from the Auto Ranch Hope Sound major final site plan, to provide, funding in lieu of constructing a sidewalk along Southeast Bridge Road, and OMB is requesting the adoption of a budget resolution to allocate that contribution. Questions for Ms. Merleigh?

Move approval.

There's a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Opposed, that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Merle. We'll now move on to Department two contracts that meet threshold for board approval of a million dollars or greater. Ms. Brotherton.

Morning. Christie Brotherton, your Chief Procurement Officer. I have four items for your consideration today. The first one is a contract award for the Martin County Airport, Wyltonfield Hold Bay Extension. And staff is requesting that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is C.

W. Roberts Contracting in the amount of $1,037,082 and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. Next up, we have a continuing services agreement. This is for invasive and nuisance vegetation management. This contract has a maximum not to exceed value of $5,500,000 with a maximum not to exceed term of five years.

And staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is Kerner LLC, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. Next, we have another continuing services agreement. This is for environmental consulting. And this contract has a maximum not to exceed value of $5,000,000 with a maximum not to exceed term of five years. And staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the three highest scoring firms listed in alphabetical order, which are Ecological Associates, RES, Florida Consulting, and Tetra Tech, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request.

And last but not least, we have a contract amendment. This is for the on road transit and support services, which is our Marty Bus system operation. The purpose of this amendment, as as I mentioned when we awarded this contract, we will be coming before you on an annual basis to increase the contracts not to exceed value. This is to take into consideration the annual grant funding allocations. So the amount of the increase is $3,771,563.

And staff is recommending that the board approve amendment number two to Martin County Transit to increase the total contract cumulative not to exceed amount to $5,797,982 and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute any and all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item.

Questions for Ms. Brotherton Brotherton? I'll move approval.

Second.

There's motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next up we have a department three, which is a national travel and tourism week presentation on explore natural Martin County. Good morning, Ms. Okieh.

Good morning, Commissioners. Nerissa Okieh, Tourism Director for the Record, and I am here with Emily Dark, who is our Eco Restoration and Eco Tourism Senior Project Manager. National Travel and Tourism Week has been celebrated since 1983 to really hone in on the importance of travel and tourism industry. Tourism is a huge driver, not only within The United States, with a $3,000,000,000,000 economic outlook supporting 15,000,000 jobs and representing 2.4% of America's GDP, but it's also a huge industry here in Martin County. Spending is last time, 2005, because we get the information from the Department of Revenue, was $729,500,000 in spending from visitors.

And when we talk about visitors, talk about people who are traveling outside of Florida coming into the area. Visit Florida gives us this information. So if we look at spending in Martin County, ours would be higher because we have a lot of visitation. Tourism supports a little over 8,000 jobs, and we generate $69,300,000 in state and local taxes. And we learn when we look at the state and local taxes and we divide that by the number of households, we get a benefit of $815 per household because of the tourism benefit of out of state visitors.

We really wanted to hone into the importance of outdoor recreation, which is huge. Outdoor recreation in Florida is 3.6% of Florida's GDP, 5,200,000 jobs are supported in The U. S, and it contributes more than $50,000,000,000 annually to Florida's tourism economic economy, excuse me. So when we look at tourism and the programs that we're developing, we know that there's a huge opportunity here and we wanted to make sure that we were doing everything we can to capitalize on this. So putting it together, the tourism information that was provided about the benefit and then the environmental benefit we have here in Martin County.

We wanted to really create a program that connects people with the outdoor, that it is sustainable, and that when we are inviting people to our environmentally sensitive lands, that we're doing properly. We wanted to showcase the unique Martin County experiences and support the local economy that connects the ecotourism businesses and events. And we really want to show this Donna, do I minimize here? What this really looks like.

So Maybe?

Welcome to Martin County, Florida. A little slice of paradise where nature's wonders come to light and adventures await around every corner. Here, visitors can explore more than 22 miles of uncrowded beaches and over 100,000 acres of parks and conservation land. From lakes and rivers to sprawling campgrounds and nature preserves, there's no shortage of spectacular sights to discover. Oh, no.

Where is Needless to say, this is a special place that deserves to be protected for generations to come. Yay. Which is why we have developed Explore Natural Martin. Our ecotourism program offers a gateway to unforgettable journeys throughout Martin County. Proudly developed in partnership with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics.

Our award winning program was designed in a way to promote responsible recreation and foster environmental stewardship in our own backyard. Built with the seven principles of Leave No Trace at heart, this program provides a diverse range of unique eco tours that demonstrate what makes Martin County such an ecologically distinct destination. Uncover stunning outdoor areas and lesser known hidden gems, while also learning how we can all better protect our paradise. We believe that mother nature belongs to everyone. Available to visitors and residents alike.

Simply register ahead of time at explorenaturalmartin.com to secure your spot. Whether you're seeking the tranquility of a guided nature walk, the thrill of a paddle excursion, or an educational birding expedition, our program offers something for outdoor enthusiasts of every age. So what are you waiting for? Join us in celebrating the beauty of our natural lands, the serenity of our waters, and the spirit of conservation that defines Martin County. You're sure to make memories that'll last far longer than tan lines. Learn more at explorenaturalmartin.com.

That's excellent.

Yes. Eight weeks of staff time

to get rid those videos. So we saw a lot

of retakes, a lot

of time spent in the woods, for sure.

Actually, yes. It was bought to staff. If you could see, we have the Parks Department, Public Works Department, the Tourism Department, the libraries. So administration. So we use a lot of local talent that keeps the costs down as well as we all work together on these programs, so we wanted to showcase them. So this program has done extremely well. I said 32 awards for tourism and innovation, that's 33 actually. We just got this one yesterday, and this one is for leadership and ethical and environmental responsibility. So we're extremely, extremely proud of this. We've been awarded the Destination Stewardship Award by the U.

S. Travel Association, Eco Friendly Sustainable Destination by Travel Weekly, the International Stevia Award for Sustainable Services of the Year, the Government Executive and Marketing University, Gaynor Award for Innovation, as well as Visit Florida Flagler on sustainable tourism. And we have also received the Association of Marketing and Communications Professional Excellence in Corporate and Social Responsibility. We knew it was vital if we're inviting people into our environmental lands that we're doing it correctly. So what are people saying when they go on these tours?

They're talking about thank you for showing us what this is about. Thank you to Martin County for taking the lead on this because this is a county led program. And we thought this was really important, going into it, that we're leading with leave no trace. These are comments from visitors and residents and that we're making sure that we're doing a difference. So explore Natural Martin before I hand all of the nitty gritty over to our fabulous Emily Dark.

It's a countywide program focused on environmental education, exploration, and stewardship. This program is free for visitors and residents. Unless we're working with a local outfitter and then if they have a charge, we would be partnering with them on that. It would just be led by us. Registration is required in advance, but these programs take place year round, which we thought was very important.

One thing we learned from tourism is we can promote the fact that we have over 115,000 acres of parks and conservation land, But going to a park on my own on your own or as myself is is nice, it's enjoyable, I do a nice hike. But if I have a subject matter expert that's leading that hike, I fall in love with the area. It becomes part of what I want to protect, and it's very important that we're doing that. So I'm going to turn this over for the nitty gritty to Emily, who's going to talk about some of the programs and examples and some upcoming exciting things.

Okay. Thank you, Narissa, and good morning. So here are some program examples. We do everything from birding series, birding programs. We just finished up our seasonal birding series, so we did a different ecosystem every month for five months. That was fun. And we had a different ornithologist for each month, so that was fun. Sea turtle ecology walks, looking at tracks, night hikes, mangrove walks, spring equinox. These are just some examples, but there's so many. Okay. So what does that look like? What do we actually do? So as Nursa mentioned, we do programming. So that is guided nature walks, so consistent programming on natural areas. We do the county preserves.

We partner with the state parks. And we make sure to vary the locations, times. I know we do some Saturday mornings, so just different nature walks. Outreach and volunteering programs, for example, the Fyre Fest at Jonathan Dickinson State Park will have a table and talk to the public there. Youth education, we partnered with parks to do summer camp activities. That was great. We also partnered with the aquatic reserves on that one. Resource management, trail maintenance, signs, kiosks, which I'll get into a little bit further down the presentation. Stewardship programming, directing people towards opportunities in the county for volunteering and stewardship. And then, of course, our own, incorporating stewardship into our programming with Leave No Trace.

And then innovative programming, Bark Ranger, if anyone has heard of that. That is a fun one that's originated in the national parks. But that is a great way to address responsible pet recreation. So BARC is actually an acronym, bag your waste, always on leash, respect wildlife, know where you can go. And when you read about it online, you kind of your pet or you makes the pledge to follow the rules of bark, and we educate why that's important in our ecosystems.

But then if your pet pledges to be a bark ranger, they get a bandana, which is really cute, and a little tag. And they're all custom made for Martin County. So again, it's a positive way to kind of share that information, how to help take care of nature while enjoying it with your dog. So that's just one example of a fun program. So participation, we do send out a survey. So we get some great information after our programs. And 98% of those folks that do the survey are really satisfied with their programs. We've had over 2,500 individual participants. We've done over 170 programs. And since this was May, we've had more.

And we love collaboration. We work with over 25 different partners. And here are some just examples there. I mentioned Florida Fish and Wildlife, the Hope Sound Nature Center, AllTrails. Those are just some examples. The Audubon Wildflower Foundation. So really trying to make this program robust with a lot of collaborators and partners. And some examples of collaborative programming, the City Nature Challenge, we just wrapped that up this past weekend. And as the video and Narissa mentioned, Leave No Trace, the gold standard program. Our Explore Natural Martin program is a gold standard program, which means that we use Leave No Trace.

We educate about it on a Leave No Trace trainer. You fit these different criteria, and we do.

We're also Tourism Partner of the Year with Leave No Trace, and which is really exciting here in Martin County. Leave No Trace started a gold standard program for hotels. And we have the first hotel on the East Coast, not East Coast Of Florida, but on the East Coast Of The United States that has been designated as a Leave No Trace Hotel gold standard partner, and that's the Comfort Inn. And that's for the innovation that they're doing, the education they're doing with their visitors when they check-in and being responsible. So that was very exciting. We announced that last week, I think. And we have two other hotels in the queue to become gold standard hotel programs partners.

And that is a really great collaboration because like Norissa said, the hotels are committed to not only talking about sustainability at their property, but how guests can practice sustainability and responsible recreation outside of the hotel. Also, aware of keeping in contact with us and being aware of what's going on, where the we're giving them information, they're taking it and using it. So that's a really great program. And then today I'm just going to focus briefly on the Florida Trails Trail Town program because of some new signage that folks might be seeing around town. So just a little background so we understand the larger picture.

The Florida Office of Greenways and Trails is housed within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. And they lead the planning, development, and promotion of statewide non motorized trail network. So this Office of Greenways and Trails supports regional trails, like the East Coast Greenway, and it does this through collaborative land acquisition, state designation for protection, and leveraging funding for multiuse infrastructure aiming to connect communities along these trails. So the state partners with local governments, nonprofits, like the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation and the East Coast Greenway Alliance, county governments, and to build and maintain these routes. So the Office of Greenway and Trails also promotes and supports trail systems through a program called Florida Trail Towns Program.

So what is a Florida Trail Town? It's a community located along or in proximity to one or more long distance non motorized recreational trail. And that's the key, you know, the proximity to a long distance recreational trail. Trail Town is a safe place where visitors and residents can walk, jog, bike, paddle, etcetera, and find the services they need, easy access from to the trail and in town. So a Trail Town is a locally vibrant community that provides services and unique heritage of the nearby community to trail users.

It is a community that values and promotes trails both regionally and locally. And just some examples of benefits of being a Florida trail town. It's an opportunity to showcase and support local businesses and your local economy. It helps prioritize trail connectivity and multimodal access. And then also, of course, inclusion in statewide marketing and trail promotion efforts like with Visit Florida.

And as you notice on that map, there's not a star yet on the East Coast, Southeast Coast. So currently, we at the Office of Tourism and Marketing are working collaboratively to get City Of Stewart and Port Salerno designated as Trail Town separately. And the reason for that, we have the long distance regional trail, the East Coast Greenway, running through both of them. So we are working with Martin County MPO, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, CRA, City of Stewart, and of course, the Office of Greenways and Trails, and the East Coast Greenway Alliance. So the East Coast Greenway Alliance actually came down and visited, and their director came out with us.

And we walked the whole sections of the route. We drove the whole route. We talked about where signs would go, and that was with MPO. And so it's been very collaborative. And we were very happy to have the director of the East Coast Greenway down here because the city of Jupiter was getting their sections designated to the head of party. So we'll be next soon. So again, very collaborative. And we are very close to submitting our materials for city of Stuart, and then right behind that was Port Salerno. Just working on finishing up some wayfinding signs. So just so you can see, the East Coast Greenway here is a developing 3,000 mile long trail that connects cities from Maine to Key West.

It links walking and biking routes along the East Coast. And where it is complete, it mostly off road multiuse paths, offering safe continuous corridor for recreation, transportation, and long distance travel. Not necessarily always completely off road, but that is the idea. So you can see the whole East Coast there and then zoomed into Florida. So the areas that are green are completed and fit the designation, and then the parts that are not would be parts that don't necessarily meet the criteria, but they are still part of the route.

So zooming in here to Martin County, you can see the East Coast Greenway does go directly through Downtown Stuart and Port Salerno. And both communities also have paddle trail sites as well. So that's what makes them great trail towns. Much of the greenway is on protected off road trails, but some portions are still connector sections. So they may be on road.

It may be sidewalk, bike lane, so it's still technically on road. And that's Okay. It's still East Coast Greenway linking the parts that are technically over 10 feet, maybe off road. But these existing or these connector sections, which you would see in red on the right there, they're considered interim solutions, not necessarily meeting the Greenway's preferred standards. But communities work to meet those standards, and that's the Sun Trail program.

So they often overlap. So where we're kind of developing Sun Trail multiuse trails ends up becoming East Coast Greenway, so they do overlap. So yes, we in Martin County are working on those different sections there, and they're in different stages of development. But you can see the green there, those are officially designated East Coast Greenway sections. So that is why when you see these signs out, because we have been marking the route here and there with these East Coast Greenway signs, that is why you see those.

And again, that has been very collaborative. And thanks to Public Works and Dennis and the sign department helped us go out there and look at the places, and they put the signs in, and again, with MPO. So it's been great. And just to add, we have also designed some custom wayfinding signage to put strategically in places where so for example, coming off the Blue Way Paddle Trail at Manatee Park where someone could say, Okay, town is this way, restaurants this way, things like that. And then we are working with an Eagle Scout on a kiosk for our most beautiful off road section of East Coast Greenway by Gomez Preserve.

And that'll be a kiosk with a East Coast Greenway And Trail sign with lots of information because lots of people use that section. And also, eventually, when we're designated as trail towns, we'll have some signs that talk about that, which is really special. So looking ahead, like I mentioned, we're almost ready to send in. Just finished some last touches here to get designated for Stuart and Port Salerno and continue our collaborative efforts. This is not just for the Trail Town designation, but it's a great effort to work together for trail connectivity and development in Martin County. So thank you very much.

We thought it was a good time to bring this up. Since these signs have been put up and you may be starting to see those, the tourism office paid for the ones that needed to be covered as part of this ecotourism program.

And in

case there were any questions as to how and why and what's going behind those, it's been a very collaborative effort. And I can't thank our ecotourism team enough who walked the sites numerous times. So that's National Travel and Tourism Week and just some information on Explore Natural Martin for you during this week.

Excellent.

Questions, comments, Commissioner Capps?

I would just like to encourage our residents to take the time to explore our local natural gems. You know, you can have the spirit of travel that is international or throughout The US or throughout the state, but you can take that same spirit of travel into your local world and make it a goal to walk on every single trail in Martin County and to explore and to see every single piece of the real estate we have here in our own county. It's it's really fun actually. And it's inexpensive entertainment. Also, I remember one time a couple of friends who live locally who used to live in Colorado and they said of Colorado that the really cool thing about living there is that there's so much entertainment that doesn't cost any money.

And the and the light bulb went on to me, and and I think that same thing applies here locally. If if you get into the spirit of it, it's it's really quite fun to do. So and then when you're doing it, think about what it means to leave no trace behind.

Any further comments? Thank you very much.

You. Great job.

Our next agenda item is Department four, which is approval of a sovereignty submerged lands fee waived renewal with trustees of the internal improvement trust fund for the Boardwalk and docks located at Indian Riverside Park in Jensen Beach.

Hi. Carlos DeGur, real property manager.

Did you get somebody to donate it or not?

No. Well, the state is.

This request is for the renewal of the sovereign submerged land lease at Indian Riverside Park in Jensen Beach. It's a nine slip docking facility used for temporary morning mooring of recreational vehicles for visitors that attend the park. Nothing within the sovereign submerged land lease has changed except for the renewal period. The new term runs from 09/26/2025 through 09/26/2030. There are no fees associated with this lease as it is a temporary visitor mooring.

And I also wanted to note, it was brought to my attention. One of the other things that didn't change within the item is they didn't change the signature page. So we'll have to swap that out for the correct one. We request that the board approve the sovereign submerged land lease fee waived renewal and authorize the chair to execute any and all documents associated with this transaction. If there's any questions, we'd be happy to answer.

Questions for Ms. Segura? I do. So where are the nine dock slips? Who can use them? How are they regulated? How long can people stay?

So it's just for like a day visit, like if you come to visit the park. It's on the dock that's directly behind the pavilion, the big the two story pavilion there. And it just goes straight out into the water. And there's nine spots for people to put their boats if they want to visit the park.

It's behind the Langford Pavilion, nine slips.

So can you show Page three zero seven, please? Okay, where are the slips? Who can use them? How long can they stay in the slips? Can they spend the night? Can they spend two nights? Who regulates it?

So the spots are at the end where it comes out and along the front side because there's a walkway for people to get off their boats and to get onto the dock. They cannot park overnight. It is just for a day visit. There's no time limit for the daytime, but they have to be gone by night.

Our parts department regulates it in terms of managing the site. But there's a ramp. They've had floating docks there in the past, but now it's, I think, fixed piers that they have where you can tie up right there at close to the L at the end. That's that you can see that silvery strip there, the nine slips are there.

Okay.

So staff recommendation is we motion to approve staff's recommendation?

So moved. Second.

There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you.

And

the last agenda item is Department seven, which is an approval of a memorandum of understanding with the Florida Division of Recreation and Parks for the Cypress Creek floodplain project and adoption of a resolution approving and accepting easements from the Division of State Lands. Mr. Bale.