City Commission Regular Meeting - workshop

Today is Monday, October 5th, 2026. It's 10 AM. We're in the City Chambers and I call the City Commission Workshop meeting to order. Commissioners present are Commissioner Duvall, Commissioner Stokes, Mayor Emmerich, and Vice Mayor Langdon. They are in the quorum present for this meeting. Also present are City Manager Fletcher, City Attorney Fawino, City Clerk Foss, Board Specialist Lindner, Police Chief Garrison, and Deputy Chief Hurley. I am requesting that all commissioners, public participants, and staff maintain order and decorum throughout this meeting. City Commission Policy 2021-03 sta

Okay, then read those and then we'll take a break.

We'll take a break for five, 10 minutes, five minutes to reboot the system.

All right, we're back at 10 to 15. Moving on to presentations. a presentation regarding sustainability strategies for parks and rec, including operational efficiencies and cost recovery initiatives. City Manager, this is your item, sir.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Great presentation, and I really applaud the efforts that the whole team has made in order to contain expenses. And I've always been impressed, particularly by the aquatics division. I just always felt that you guys had mastery over your costs and attendance and have been able to sort of guide when you're open and closed based on those times that are the highest demand. You're always in control of your data and I appreciate that. There's a lot here. I have specific reactions to certain kinds of things, but I'll just share some general thoughts and observations. I'm much

Thank you. Commissioner Stokes. Yeah, vice mayor really echoed a lot of my sentiments. I'm all for efficiencies and I'm all for finding ways to generate additional revenues, whether it's promoting more advertising in our playbook, special event fees. I like the idea of the efficiencies in house mowing services, but I have to tell you, Our parks and recs serve the portion of our community. Where folks really aren't afforded the opportunity that a lot of. The folks who live in the 70 some odd gated communities we have in this city have, you know, they don't have community pools. They don't have

Thank you, Mayor. I want to highlight just a few of my thoughts. You mentioned new revenue opportunities. Every time I visited a baseball field or a soccer field, I see the fences and I have suggested that we do advertising there and the answer has been, well, we leave that to the leagues to support. Well, let those leagues stand in front of the public like a lot of them do and get their money or sell cookies or something. I think that's an opportunity to explore for the city. On removal of discounts, the first thing that came to mind was Warm Mineral Springs. Warm Mineral Springs, We have a s

Yeah, very nice presentation. The one thing that that caught me was on your outdoor court resurfacing and stuff like that. If you were to cut that down or minimize it, wouldn't it be cost, not cost effective down the road? Because if you're not maintaining it, you're going to have to replace it. So if the constant maintenance isn't being done, then the cost is just going to be a lot higher down the road. And I don't think that's a very feasible approach, especially if people are, let's say you have a pickleball league. they got to have a nice surface to play on or they're not going to play on

I fully understand that. These are just suggestions that I'm seeing from your presentation that I don't really believe in as being a very good savings. To me, it's a hindrance moving forward as a department. Another thing was your bathroom cleanings at the different parks. I've seen that throughout the years and stuff, but maybe when you have your ballparks and your leagues out there, get some of your league members involved in it rather than jacking up their price. They can volunteer to have their kids go around and clean up some areas, this, that, and the other, and they keep a stable price.

Commissioner Stokes. I'll just be brief and make one general comment that, you know, when looking at for what in a city like ours where we have this diversity, we have a growing senior population. We also have a growing young population. And while on one side people say, well, why should I pay for services that I don't benefit from and that I don't use? And there is an argument for that as Commissioner Duvall said, it's a perspective and it's opinion. I, you know, all my life I have paid taxes for schools. I didn't have any kids of my own and I gladly paid it because I want each generation to

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to go along with the Mayor. That was a thought I had during the presentation and then forgot about it. About maintenance. Like with a vehicle. If you don't maintain a vehicle, you're going to end up paying in the cost of a new vehicle a lot quicker. So there is stretching out some maintenance schedules, but I wouldn't be cutting maintenance

Yes, I just wanted to point out to Commissioner Stokes that his comments were not quite as brief as we thought they were going to be. But I totally concur with what he said. We have a wonderful community and we should all support it in whatever way we can. And if volunteering can reduce city costs and keep user fees or anything else lower, then those are the kinds of things we ought to explore, because they do build community when we all have skin in the game. Don?

Thank you all very much. Thank you. Moving on to item B. Yes? Oh, you got public comment. Go ahead.

Thank you. Okay, moving on to item B26-20. 1230, presentation regarding proposed approaches for commission engagement on pending development applications. City Manager, this is your item.

Commissioner Stokes 1st question. Thank you very much for the presentation, Mike. Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, thank you very much for the presentation. Um, my question, what specific. Costs to a cell are there if administrative approvals were to run past commission? Why is it that it will cost us between 200 and 400,000 dollars?

Well, I said it changed to the flow, though. If we just simply inserted a meeting agenda item or a workshop where the project comes before the commission and the public.

So let me ask you, you know, I appreciate that. And I'd hate to have to spend tax dollars of that amount to modify the system. But at the same time, you know, Let me back up a little because obviously, 1st, and foremost is we obey the law and the reason for this administrative approval change that commission went ahead and agreed to. Back a ways ago was because if something complies with the comprehensive plan and the, then there's no legal reason to deny the applicant. Okay, that's the reality and we all have to obey the law, whether we like a project or whether we don't like a project. The p

City manager, you wanted to chime in, sir?

You know, it's not that anyone's trying to hide it. It's just that I think that there's nothing wrong and it's important that with all the changes going on in this city, and the concerns that so many people in this city have with all the changes, that there's nothing wrong with airing this, and there's a way to get around and make sure we don't violate 180 and Burr's-Harris. I would like to think there's ways to do this without incurring all this outrageous accele cost, but I don't have the skill set to be able to determine that. It just seems wrong. That you said we have how many, I mean, ton

Might come time for some city who has the backbone and the guts to stand up to the state on this. If there was ever an issue that the citizens might be willing to fund, that would be it. Because I have to tell you, I find it pretty outrageous. I really do and and, you know, I still say there's a way to make this happen. And if what we're talking about here is that every project, every developer can now simply bring in an outside consultant to turn around and get before us and say, well, this complies. So you'll just need to rubber stamp our deal. You know, politicians are funny people. They ar

Probably not surprisingly, I have a different point of view. I recall only too well my first four years or so as a commissioner We did review every single development project. It was quite common for us to have four, five, six quasi-judicial items on every single agenda. And the vast majority of them conformed to the law. There were no variances, no waivers. They went through. No one here to see or hear about the project, nobody. So just for a little look back in history, we went through a two-year and some folks a decade-long process of updating our ULDC. So for myself, it was two years of ba

We put ourselves in legal jeopardy. We create great frustration. We probably wind up having to approve that project anyway. It is just not a productive thing to have all of those to start coming to the Commission again for review and approval. I just, I can't support that. Now, yes, the data center all something I think and to have some type of airing of projects I think is a good thing so maybe option two I agree it shouldn't be 15 applications reviewed at a meeting I think we need to agree on what kinds of projects should be discussed openly for this commission and members of the community t

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I have a question about the Burt Harris Act. And, you know, I've been told this before that upzoning is okay, downzoning, you can't do it. What I heard this morning was that we have to get an individual property owner's okay to down zone. Now, using the example of Activities Center 6 and 10, where hundreds of properties were rezoned, in order to rezone any of those back to residential, do all of those property owners have to agree?

Okay, thank you. You know, it seems SB 180, you know, deadlines for FS 166. There's a lot going against us here. But all the costs associated with switching back the ULDC, I didn't see anyone concerned with those costs when the changes to the ULDC were made. And like the Vice Mayor was just talking about, the ULDC is a living document, and we have Not just the right, we have the duty to look at it and make adjustments. And like one adjustment. You know, we've had this recently. Changes were made to the ULDC and zoning on some of our major roads. Chamberlain is an example and now on North Chamb

I appreciate this is a bit tedious, Mayor, but it's kind of an You know, I appreciate this may be tedious to some, but, but it's actually, I think a pretty darn important conversation to have here if you ask me. So, you know, I appreciate your indulgence. Um, you know, vice mayor made comment about, you know. The value, I don't see the value and stuff coming before us and and, you know, I'm paraphrasing so don't. Don't pick on me for that, but education, education and awareness is what it's all about and. There's gotta be a way. without us having to approve every project, there's got to be a w

You're spot on. I think too makes sense, but not as it was presented in this presentation, which is there's going to be an aggregate group of them and it's going to be, you know, it. It needs to be broken down more in pieces and we need to staff needs to say. Here's some recommended criteria for which projects not every project, like vice mayor says, I agree with that. But, but dig down on 2 more, make it more open, more air it more and make it work better for us. You know. What I'm trying to say, I think a lot of people share that we just want education. We want understanding. We want that di

Thanks, Mayor. you're looking at, you know, possibly tweaking too. But here's another thing that I want everybody to think about too. This next year is going to be a very strenuous year going through the comp plan, going through ULDC because that can't even be touched till I think October of 27. and this now with the administrative approval. As you're working with all of this, you're going to come to a generalization on this is what we want in a comp plan, this is what we want with approvals for industry, commercial, and not include residential, you know, like everything that was brought in he

Yeah, just for clarity. I have not heard one person up here or one member of staff suggest that we should continue allowing administrative approvals with no oversight. So I don't know. I'm not quite sure where the emotion is coming behind that. No one up here is suggesting that. We're trying to come up with a way that will work that addresses the problem that doesn't require major investment. And if I understood it correctly, and I want to say it again, Ms. Elena, you laid out three options, only one, which was bringing everything back for commission approval, required any of those investments

Thank you, ma'am. City Manager, we're going to take a break or a lunch. What would you prefer? Lunch.

I believe you've got all the direction you need, sir. I have more than enough direction. I sort of figured that. Yeah, we'll break and we'll come back at 1 o'clock. That gives you 40 minutes for lunch.

We're back. It's 1 o'clock. Moving on to 26-1237, Discussion and Possible Direction Regarding Activity Centers 6 and 10, Infrastructure District, and Comprehensive Plan Visioning and Revisions. City Manager, this is your item.

What challenges would we find, you know, the idea of doing a, you know, that's a special district, a dependent district, and then an independent district out there in 6 and 10 was for the concept of MIDE that it would help us, it would give us some of the tools in the toolbox we needed to develop that area or to attract development. How would, if we were to back off of doing that, How, you know, what new challenges might that present for that area? And I sure get it. You know, the assessment process in that dependent district will create inequities, which will give us some brain damage. I get

Um, you know, in that, um. You don't have to sort of focus on the idea of of of a comp plan. Review, I think it's a great idea. I really do. We've talked about it in our 1 on 1 and I think I think that's a huge thing. I think it will really help us. Um. It's. my concern it's not really a concern but it's a consideration we're going to have to have is were we to go through this two-year process and find that we wanted to make revisions to our comp plan and then in turn have to modify our uldc to align itself We're going to run headlong into some of the state regulations that have clearly tied o

Yeah, thanks, Matt. Just a few thoughts, and they're not terribly well connected. So why activity centers 6 and 10? Just to kind of bring us back to conversations we had four and five years ago, we acknowledged as a team that increasing the commercial slash industrial, I'm gonna say commercial, but it encompasses all kinds of non-residential development. We acknowledged as a team that it was vitally important to the future fiscal health of this city, and as a result its residents, that we increased our commercial footprint. And I think a lot of residents, even though those that aren't wild abo

Yes, I would agree with that. All of those words to simply say, yes, I think we need to stay the course with our assessment plans out there.

And I have a quick question for you. In AC 6 and 10, in this assessment process, are there any current residential properties out there that would be assessed? Like current homeowners out there within that area that would be assessed as residential or is it primarily commercial or industrial or mixed use? Because, and the reason I ask this is, I would like to keep it to the commercial industrial and mixed use. And now assess the residential units that are out there currently. Because I know we can't build anymore, but you have people out there that may fall under that category and. And this is

And if I had a say in it down the road when this comes up again, which I won't, That would be my direction. And I would take all residential out of that equation, still work with the commercial, industrial, and move forward that way because I do see it as a need, but I don't want to see it as a hang-up for residents that are out there already because they didn't see this coming. And I don't want to burden them at all.

City Manager, just like Vice Mayor had stated, I'm all for keeping the status quo as long as that's in place, and I firmly believe that the comp plan definitely needs to be looked into, especially with multiple meetings, citizens input, you know, town halls, this, that, and the other. And yeah, it's a long process and hopefully you'll get more than just the regular crowd that shows up and it shows and I'm not saying anything bad about them. They come up with good ideas and great ideas, but I would like to see a lot more diversity in some of those ideas moving forward as well. Mr. Stokes.

Quick question, what would be the process for engaging and including the. Uh, landowners out there non residential landowners. Okay. In those activity centers, like, you know. We want to make sure, I mean, if we're moving forward on this, which, which makes a lot of sense, listening to vice mayor and as we've had previous discussions on, we do that is the place for our commercial industrial growth. We've got to do this or. we will end up making this an extremely unaffordable place for residential tax payers. We just can't continue being a completely residential bedroom community. We just can't

See, I, I hear you and my concern is this that even more so than in some of the residential areas of our city, where there were quarter acre. Plots sitting around that we resolved out there. God knows. Who owns some of that land? Well, maybe you guys do, but I sure don't. And where do they live? So we can hold all the public meetings and put all the local promotion on Facebook this that the other, but there could be God knows how many landowners that will never have a clue what we're doing. So I would just urge us to give lots of thought to how we take the time effort and if necessary, spend t

I wouldn't, I don't want to use the word mistakes, but yeah. You just did. I just did. So we just want to, you know, do this smarter.

Thank you. City Manager, we're past the Commissioner time. Commissioner, but I'll, no, I'll let you speak. I just got a question for City Manager. Are you comfortable with the direction that you've received from this Board today on moving forward or you need more precise direction?

Okay. I just wanted to get that out there first. Commissioner Duvall, you wanted to say something.

Thank you, Mayor. I apologize for not doing it when I was supposed to, but a thought occurred to me, a question for City Attorney. If out in Activity Center 10 in that area of, and I realize you haven't been here all that long, but more towards Port Charlotte, Price and Veterans, kind of like a V shape. It's south of North Yorkshire area. If there is a pod of say 40 to 50 homes, that those homes are already there and now they have been changed in zoning because of the Burt Harris Act Could we not take. You know, that section that pod and. Change them back to residential somewhere where it woul

Thank you. City Clerk, any final public comment? All right. It's 1.47, and this meeting is adjourned.