Planning and Zoning Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody, to the City of Port St. Lucie Planning and Zoning Board meeting of Tuesday, July 7th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Harvey?

Here.

Mr. Rosen?

Here.

Mr. Rakenis?

Here.

Chair Norton?

Here.

Mr. Prevost?

Here.

Mr. Webb?

Here.

And please let the record reflect that Mr. Webb and Mr. Harvey are voting members for this meeting.

Great. And we do have a quorum. But before we do that, I take a point of personal privilege to wish a happy birthday to Gus Nadasi, who is our technology director. Happy birthday, Gus. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. May I obtain a motion to approve the minutes of June 2, 2026?

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting June 2, 2026.

Second. Okay. We motion to second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Nothing on the consent agenda. We'll move into item seven, which are public hearings. Before that, if anyone in the audience wishes to make a comment during the public hearings, please fill out a comment card and provide it to the city clerk. Okay. Okay, moving forward. Item 7A, open a public hearing. And we have staff making a presentation. Bethany.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, board members. Bethany Grubbs for the record with the planning department. The application before you tonight is a city-initiated zoning text amendment entitled Planned Industrial Park PIP. This city-initiated text amendment is to establish a new zoning district to be known as Planned Industrial Park Zoning District, and it will implement the PIP Future Land Use designation. The PIP Future Land Use designation is current and exists in code as it's written today. Currently, the only compatible zoning district with PIP is a PUD planned unit development zoning district. So this will give a second option with permitted and special exception uses. And this supports industrial logistics, research technology, and business park development. to do so. A minimum of 30 acre sites with a 300 foot width will be required if you wish to rezone your property to PIP. This request will update relevant sections to incorporate the district, which includes the wireless communication height limits, mobile food dispensing vehicles and temporary commercial kitchens, temporary sign size and setbacks, facade landscape requirements, and mobile food truck locations and standards. Basically, any time a new zoning district is established, you must have it in all relevant sections of code where other zoning districts are already listed. So where we regulate height for wireless communication towers, we must set a standard for this new district, and that's essentially what these ancillary changes are. As I previously said, the PUD zoning district is compatible with the PIP land use designation. The difference of this zoning district versus PUD is when you come forward with a PUD, everything's essentially site-specific. You have your own plan document. What this would be is straight zoning, which would be explicitly listed in code and just follow code standards. It's a more streamlined process. Proposed permitted uses include but are not limited to industrial, manufacturing, warehouse, logistics, distribution, research and development, technology-focused industries, office, hotel, multifamily dwellings. All of these are currently allowed under the PIP land use today with the PUD zoning district if it was applied for. Supplemental development standards that are incorporated into the proposed text and district are to require acoustic barriers where it is industry standard for noise attenuation. Architectural walls must have full landscape buffer and street-facing side on the street-facing side to provide the most aesthetic impact. Currently, we require the landscaping half inside, half out. This is to be fully on the outside for aesthetic purposes. And also dark sky compliant lighting required with photometric plans at residential property lines. This would be the only district to date that requires that as a standard. With the zoning district, there's options for access and administrative relief options at the staff level. And that would include multifamily developments must have main access from collector or arterial roadways and are prohibited from accessing industrial park driveways without design exception. And this is to prevent the multifamily development being constructed at the end of the industrial park where you would have to drive by all of the trucks to get to the access point. And I wanted to note that while it's not in here, the multifamily development per the comp plan, it's only allowed to be vertical multifamily, not what we call horizontal, where it's the duplex in the townhomes. It's more the apartments. The zoning administrator and public works director may approve limited technical adjusted adjustments regarding landscaping, parking, and access. And those are spelled out in the attachments. This implements comprehensive plan policy 1.1.4.3, which is the land use category for what is compatible with the land use. Establishes a predictable by right zoning option for the PIP land use and supports targeted industries and value added economic activity. Again, the intent is to create a streamlined process versus having to create a whole planned unit development document and regulation book and go through that process. And this enables development of master plan industrial employment centers, hence the 30 acre minimum sites. All right, so I won't go through each detailed line. If you have any questions, let me know. But everything underlined, because this is a brand new section, all the text is underlined, proposed to be added. We have the purpose of the planned industrial park, which is important. The purpose is to establish areas for the development and maintenance of technology, innovation, industrial, or business parks. And again, that's a goal of our strategic plan is to facilitate economic development And then we go into the proposed uses, which I previously stated. The only one I think I didn't touch on was telecommunication infrastructure, which is allowed under all of the other zoning districts subject to a 300 foot height limit.

That would be a cell tower, right?

Yes. So after the permanent use we have in the code, you have what we call principal uses. And the principal uses, permanent uses have to be fully enclosed. There's certain principal uses that do not need to be fully enclosed in a building or structure, and that's what we're spelling out here. And that's utility facilities, electric power generation, transmission, and distribution. solar generation stations and warehousing with open storage lots so long as they have an eight foot tall opaque fence or wall or even that they may need to be higher as long as it all that it's behind the wall is not visible. For the zoning district, special exception uses, we have wireless communication antennas and towers as set forth in 158.213. And that is standard throughout the code that they are special exceptions because they require additional review and documents for siting. And then accessory uses are allowed by right with a permitted use. And here we have non-potable reclaimed water systems, utility yards, fuel storage, standby energy generators, cooling towers with acoustic screening, heat rejection equipment with screening, and guardhouses. And guardhouses could be also security residences as long as they're... with the permanent use. For minimum lot size, again, 30 acres with a minimum width of 300 feet and more than one permanent or special exception use may be located on a lot. multifamily dwellings they shall be in accordance with the lot size requirements that are spelled out in the pip land use designation we're currently updating our comprehensive plan and that will be addressed through the comprehensive plan update and then that's and then we have the maximum building coverage again in accordance with the pip future land use designation which will come back before, I believe it was already before you. Okay, that's what I, and so it's going to council.

It's going to council. We approve the recommendation to council.

Okay, that's, I'm on track. It's been a while. The maximum building height, again, will be in compliance with the land use standards, except wireless communication towers, which the highest height limit is 300 feet. That's where all the other industrial facilities Zonings that's what they allow so we put it in with 300 feet Setbacks in landscaping the front setback shall have a front yard with a building setback line of 25 feet the side setback shall have two yards each having a 10-foot setback a building setback equal to the building height shall be maintained adjacent to any residential or open space future land use category or to a public right-of-way and So if your building is 75 feet, your setback is 75 feet. Rear setback, each lot shall have a rear yard with a building setback of 10 feet. Again, same applies. A building setback equal to the building height shall be maintained adjacent to residential open space or public right ways. The landscape and buffer requirements are subject to Chapter 154, which is our standard landscape code with the additional let's see here with the addition that all mechanical equipment shall be screened from properties owned residential and public rights away. This screening shall be designed as a both a visual barrier and a noise barrier. All open storage lots shall be screened from rights away or residentially zoned property. Said screening shall be opaque fencing or wall at least eight feet tall with no material placed as to be visible beyond the height of said wall or fence. When an architectural wall is required, the landscape buffer strip shall be planted entirely on the outside of the wall. The wall shall be set back from the right-of-way sufficient enough to accommodate the full landscape buffer. And where we talked about some administrative... DEVIATIONS AT THE STAFF LEVEL, THE ZONING ADMINISTRATOR SHALL HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO CONSIDER ADJUSTMENTS RELATED TO PLANT PLACEMENT, SPECIES SELECTION, SPACING, OR CONFIGURATION WITH SOME MODIFICATION WHEN SUCH MODIFICATIONS DO NOT DIMINISH THE INTENDED QUALITY, CHARACTER, OR PERFORMANCE STANDARDS OF CHAPTER 154 OF THE LANDSCAPE CODE. CURRENTLY, THERE'S DEVIATIONS For landscaping, you can omit trees and terminal landscape aisles in the warehouse industrial. And this just builds on that and allows an extra sense of deviation for quantities and placement and species that's not explicit in the code today. All exterior lighting shall be dark sky friendly, fully shielded and designed to prevent glare, sky glow, and light trespass. When abutting properties on residential and public rights way, a photometric plan demonstrating compliance with recognized dark sky principles and showing near zero full candle readings at the property line shall be submitted with any site plan or lighting plan. And the reason we're adding this is it's not in code today, but it is industry standard to have near zero at the property line. All non security lighting shall utilize automatic timers or motion activated controls to reduce illumination during non operational hours. No up lighting facade lighting or architectural lighting shall be permitted on building elevations facing or visible from residential zoning districts. Here we have our off street parking requirements. There is a provision for the site plan review committee to authorize and approve an alternative parking configurations ratios or layouts that maintain safe circulation and effective onsite operations upon submitting a plan of supporting justification. And this would be due to any sites, unique operational characteristics or site constraints or design intent. The development within the district, they would apply for such through their site plan, residential access management and multifamily development with frontage on an arterial collector roadway. SHALL NOT ESTABLISH THE MAIN VEHICULAR ENTRANCE OR PRIMARY ACCESS DRIVE OFF AN INDUSTRIAL PARK ROADWAY SERVICE DRIVE OR LOWER CLASSIFICATION LOCAL STREET UNLESS A SPECIFIC DESIGN EXCEPTION IS GRANTED BY THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR. THIS RESTRICTION PREVENTS CONFLICTS BETWEEN RESIDENTIAL AND INDUSTRIAL FREIGHT TRAFFIC. AND THEN SITE PLAN REVIEW. ALL PERMITTED AND SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS SHALL BE SUBJECT TO PROVISIONS OF SECTION 158.235 AND 158.245 All non-security lighting shall utilize automatic timers and motion-activated controls to reduce illumination during non-operational hours. No uplifting facade lighting or architectural lighting shall be permitted on building elevation spacing or visible from non-residential districts. And these are the ancillary sections where we're essentially adding the new PIP zoning districts into allowing residents them to have food trucks. We felt that with other industrial developments, it is a need. And so we added that in here. Let's see, wireless communication towers. Again, it's at the bottom here, underlined PIP, adding it in with the other zoning districts, a lot of special exception uses. And then we're adding PIP to the height, the maximum height of 300 feet with the other industrial zonings. And again, mobile food trucks, just adding it in for consistency. This, I believe, there's multiple sections for business tax, and I believe that may have been the one. Add in PIP in for signage. You have to address the new zoning districts for sign allowances because signs are based off your zoning district and frontage. And so we're adding PIP into the regulations for temporary signs here. and the facade landscape buffer strip. Our code requires the five foot strip, except for certain districts. And in this case, this one would not be required because it's consistent with the other industrial zoning districts. And this is the business tax section that allows PIP to be a zoning district, again, for mobile food trucks. And with that, the Planning and Zoning Department finds the proposed text amendment as depicted in Exhibit A to be consistent with the intent and direction of the City's comprehensive plan and recommends approval. Planning and Zoning Board action options are to motion to recommend approval to the City Council, motion to recommend approval to the City Council with conditions, or motion to recommend denial to the City Council. That concludes my presentation, and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Ms. Grubbs. And the city is also the applicant, correct? Correct. Okay. Members of the board have questions for Ms. Grubbs? No questions? Okay. This is a public hearing. Members of the public wish to speak on this item. Seeing none, I'm going to close the public hearing and entertain any final comments. Ms. Grubbs? No. No final comments? Okay. Entertain a motion to...

I'LL MOTION TO APPROVE ITEM P26-080.

RECOMMENDING APPROVAL TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

THANK YOU.

AND IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND. OKAY, WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, MR. RANKINS?

I was just wanting to make sure we get that item. Does the City of Port St. Lucie zoning text amendment, correct? Correct. I said 080.

Is it 080 or 030? 080. Is there something wrong with the... No, I stated it. I don't know what's... Yeah, I'm not sure.

Maybe I have it wrong.

Go to your first line. 080.

Okay.

My motion stands.

Yes, I second.

We got a second from Peter.

I'm just going to run back to the first slide. Almost there. There you go. Yes, it's 080. That is the type job. The scriveners are on this slide. Correct. Okay. Good catch. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Rosen. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, moving on to items 8A through 8E are quasi-judicial in nature. Again, I'm going to state if you have any comments from the public who wish to speak on any of those items, please fill out a comment card and give them to the clerk. Madam City Attorney, would you please now go over the procedures for the quasi-judicial items?

Yes, thank you, Chair. When a matter is quasi-judicial, the Board is applying existing rules, standards, and policies to a factual situation and is therefore acting in a judicial capacity rather than a legislative capacity. In deciding whether the application does or does not meet the standards, the board must base its decision on competent substantial evidence. Competent substantial evidence means legally relevant and sufficient evidence and that the evidence is in the purview of the knowledge of the person providing it, not based on speculation. The initial burden is on the applicant to prove its application meets the applicable standards by competent substantial evidence. And if that burden is met, that burden shifts to the opposing party to provide competent substantial evidence that it does not meet those standards. Before each quasi-judicial item, the board members must disclose any ex parte communication. Anyone that wishes to speak on any one of those items must be sworn in. I will now ask the city clerk to please administer the oath to all persons who intend to testify at this public hearing. Anyone who intends on speaking on any item found in Section 8 of the agenda, please stand and prepare to be sworn in.

Please raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm that the statements made today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Madam City Attorney. From left to right, any ex parte communication on this item?

No.

No.

No. None. None. None. None. Open public hearing, and we'll get going.

Good evening, Mr. Chair. Marissa Dabry, Alachman Planning and Zoning Department. I have been sworn in and the official file packet was provided to the clerk's office at least five days prior to this meeting. Madam Clerk, please enter the file into the record. The project before you tonight is... The First Amendment to the Sundance Port St. Lucie Master Sign Program, Pre-25001A1. The property owner is ACR Acquisitions. The applicant is Haley Ward. And the property is located east of Range Line Road and north of the C-23 Canal. And again, this is the request for the First Amendment. This is the property outlined. And here's an aerial photograph showing the existing uses, future land use, and zoning of the property. So the property is zoned MPUD. We have a range line road to the west and St. Lucie Agricultural as well. We have the C-23 canal, Martin County to the south. And then we have to the east vacant land, also zoned St. Lucie County Agricultural. So this is a project summary. The Sundance PSL Master Sign Program provides signage regulations for the entire development of Wilson Grove development of regional impact. The primary focus of the proposed amendment is to change the size and number of temporary signs, what we consider feather flags. And these will be located in open space tracks within the development. The existing MSP allows for 17 foot high temporary signs with a four square feet and that was changed to 20 foot high feather flags with a 50 square feet. This equates to about two and a half foot wide feather flags. Setbacks from public roadways and right of ways are proposed to be 10 feet and five feet from private roads within the development. The site plan review committee recommended approval of the master sign program at the May 27th, 2026 meeting, and staff finds the proposed master sign program amendment to be consistent with the requirements of section 15503H of the city sign codes and recommend approval. That's the end of the presentation. The applicant is here, but I was told they didn't have a presentation.

Okay, so thank you. Any questions for Marissa? Okay, and the applicant is here, though.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. For the record, Brad Curry with Haley Ward. Staff did an excellent job presenting. I have no further information to add and would be happy to answer any questions in chat.

Okay. Members of the board, any questions? Thank you. Okay, thank you. All right, this is a, any other questions for any staff? Nope. THIS IS A PUBLIC HEARING. ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISH TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM? SEEING NONE, CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING AND I'LL CALL FOR A MOTION AND DISCUSSION.

I'LL MOTION TO APPROVE ITEM P25-001-A1.

I'LL SECOND.

OKAY. WE HAVE A MOTION AND DISCUSSION. ANY DISCUSSION? ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? OKAY. WE'LL MOVE ON TO ITEM 8B. ANY MEMBERS OF THE BOARD HAVE ANY EX PARTE COMMUNICATION ON THIS ITEM? No. No. None. None. None. None. None. I'll open public hearing. Francis, Mr. Foreman.

Good evening, Board. For the record, Francis Foreman with the Planning and Zoning Division. I have been sworn in, and the official city file has been given to the city clerks five days prior to this meeting. Madam Clerk, if you could please enter that file into the record. The item before you is the Riverland West Sports and Recreation MPUD rezoning application. The owner of the property is the City of Port St. Lucie and Riverland Kennedy II LLC, with the applicant being Aslina Goldstein of the Riverland Kennedy II LLC. This site is located south of Southwest Discovery Way and on the east side of Southwest Sundance Vista Boulevard, which was previously known as North South A. The request before you is to rezone approximately 33.23 acres of land from the St. Lucie County Agricultural to the Riverland West Sports and Recreation MPUD. These two maps are the location and the overall area of the subject with the subject site being outlined here in yellow. The overall area does have a land use of NCD or new community development with the again with the overall area having a compatible zoning district to NCD as MPUD. The overall area is currently used as a single family residential as this is in the Riverland Kennedy DRI. the again the proposed mpud in front of you is also known as the riverland west sports and recreation mpud again it is approximately 33.23 acres and it is designating itself within it as a neighborhood village commercial designation so this designation allows for a mixture of non-residential and residential uses and these uses again can be commercial offices recreational areas anything that's needed within the adjoining neighborhood And any neighborhood village commercial area must contain two of those different uses. The Riverland West Sports and Recreation MPD is proposing currently 135 square feet of indoor recreational uses with 30,000 square feet of commercial areas and some outdoor RV and boat parking for the residences of the Riverland Kennedy DRI. This is the conceptual plan of the overall property. Again, this plan just outlines the border of where this MPD will be located. The subject property again is located within the Riverland Kennedy DRI as designated and is designated as a with a neighborhood village commercial sub-district as shown in map H of the Riverland Kennedy DRI and figure one five of the future land use element. Per policy 1224 of the comprehensive plan the neighborhood village commercial again just states that it must have out of all the uses that are listed within this policy that two of those uses at least must be part of this MPUD which is coming forward. THE SITE PLAN REVIEW COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED MPUD REGULATION BOOK AT THE JUNE 10TH SITE PLAN REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING AND THE PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT STAFF FINDS THE REQUEST TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE DIRECTION AND INTENT OF THE CITY'S LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS AND POLICIES OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. YOU AS A BOARD TONIGHT CAN RECOMMEND APPROVAL TO THE CITY COUNCIL. Condition with that approval or to deny this application or if you need further time and want to have this come back You can also table it to an additional meeting.

This concludes my presentation here I'm here to answer any questions you have for staff the applicant also does have an Presentation if you have any questions for them after any members of where other questions One one comment the city is only a an owner because of the park we own the park, correct and

Yes, sir. We own a portion of the property. A portion of that property is being handed over to Riverland, and they're leaving us a little more chunk of that. Okay.

All right. Thank you. And the applicant is here. Does the applicant wish to make a presentation? Skolstein, welcome.

GOOD EVENING, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD. MY NAME IS ISLENA GOLDSTEIN. I'M THE REPRESENTATIVE AND AGENT FOR G.L. HOMES IN THE CITY ON BEHALF OF OUR RIVERLAND WEST SPORTS AND RECREATION MPUD PROJECT NUMBER P26046. So as Francis did state in his great presentation, our request covers approximately 33.232 acres, and we seek rezoning to MPUD. And this is made jointly by Riverland Kennedy and the city as the landowners pursuant to our October 2022 parks agreement. And to kind of better understand exactly where our proposed project site is located, I have a couple of maps in the next SLIDES SO THAT WAY YOU CAN UNDERSTAND AND PROVIDE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTEXT. SO AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS SLIDE SHOWS THE REGIONAL CONTEXT. OUR PROJECT SITE IS WITHIN APPROXIMATELY 4,000 ACRES, KNOWN AS OUR RIVERLAND KENNEDY DRI PROPERTY, WHICH IS WITHIN THE SOUTHWEST ANNEXATION AREA OF THE CITY OF COURT ST. LUCIE. As you can see, our DRA property is shaped like an upside-down L and is bounded to the north by Discovery Way. To the south is the C23 Canal, and to the east is Community Boulevard, and to the west is Rangeland Road. Our actual project site before you is south of Discovery Way and east of Sundance Vista Boulevard, which is formerly known as NSA. And it is positioned between our existing active adult Riverland neighborhoods, Valencia Grove, which is parcel C, and our newest Valencia Vista neighborhood, which is parcel E, which actually just had its grand opening for sales last month. And as you can see, its location in relation to our other residential communities, which are Valencia K, parcel A, our Valencia Walk, which is parcel B, And our Valencia Park is our parcel D, as well as our Riverland Town Center. And so the neighborhood commercial development program that's being proposed for this project site is planned intentionally to serve our existing 6,000 plus residents who call Riverland home, our future residents, and the broader western area of the city. So as Francis also pulled up, here's our conceptual plan, which is exhibit 17 to our amputee. The site is designated as neighborhood village commercial consistent with our Riverland Kennedy DRI development order. Vehicular access will be provided from Sundance Vista Boulevard while pedestrian and golf cart access will provide additional connectivity for our Riverland residents through our Riverland Paseo Greenway, ensuring seamless movement. between our Riverland neighborhoods and the master amenities. So this multimodal approach is a hallmark of Riverland smart planning philosophy that supports an active lifestyle and community connectivity. The development program includes a non-residential mix of recreational and neighborhood serving uses. The MPUD, as Francis also mentioned, allows up to 135,000 square feet of indoor recreation, 30,000 square feet of retail, and approximately 450 RV boat storage spaces with a small leasing office. Outdoor amenities will include lap pools, pickleball courts, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, and golf-related uses. Additional uses include dog parks as well as open space. The program reflects the vibrant and recreation-rich lifestyle that our Riverland residents expect and deserve and enjoy. So we have a trip generation report for the MPD that was prepared by Brian Kelly from Simmons and White, and it was reviewed and approved by the city's public works department. The analysis confirms that the trips generated by our proposed project, combined with the cumulative trips from our parcels A through E, the Valencia communities that I previously mentioned, as well as Riverland Center, do not trigger any additional roadway improvements. and all traffic impacts remain within the threshold established by our DRI development order. So in closing, the Riverland West Sports and Recreation MPUD is fully consistent with the city's comprehensive plan and our Riverland Kennedy DRI development order. It delivers the needed recreational and neighborhood-serving uses, strengthens connectivity, and supports the quality of life for current and future residents of Riverland, as well as the surrounding areas. And so for these reasons, we respectfully request approval of this MPUD rezoning application. And thank you for your time, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ms. Goldstein. Any members of the... Mr... Harvey.

Thank you. I think it's a great idea. I just have a little bit of a concern or a question. It sounds like you're putting an awful lot of stuff into 33 acres. And I'm sure you've already done the full layout. I didn't see that in the package showing where all of the pieces and parts were going to go. And since this is going to be adjacent to a park,

the parking of the rvs the boats what is going to be the separation between the uses here and where the park is going to be thank you yes so we have built in the in our mpd document the necessary buffer as well and so all this is what will be allowed but there is significant buffer between however the city decides to develop its park property So we cannot kind of say exactly how it would be developed, but that's why we work in partnership with the city to ensure that there's a symbiotic relationship and it's compatible with our use as well as the city's anticipated use.

That's a good question, Mr. Harvey. And just for Mary, just to follow up on that, site plan, when it comes to site plan, that's where these items will be addressed, correct?

Correct.

Correct. The MPUD does have requirements for landscaping and buffering for different uses. And so that's pretty granular. We review that when they come in for their site plan. And also we are working together on this.

Because the park's there.

Because of the park. So I think that we don't have a specific layout of what's going to happen there yet, but we're confident that this is going to meet the needs of the city.

And again, good question, Mr. Harvey. Full disclosure, I live there. So don't hold that against them. But I'm sure there's going to be substantial coverage to ensure the aesthetic value continues to rise as opposed to goes down. Right, Ms. Goldstein?

Absolutely.

All right. That's our testimony. All right. Any other questions for the applicant? Mr.

Chair. Aslina, great presentation. Just to confirm, this is open to anyone or just Riverland residents?

It'll be a mix.

Okay so so on the 33 acres all that look can you go back a couple slides and just the park is what's going to be open to so in the in this triangle is is the city park is open to residents or parts of that triangle.

So in this triangle, pursuant to our parks agreement, the city will be reconveying 30 acres back to the city. So this MPUD covers a total of 33.232 acres. City Park 4 to the north is the actual going to remain as city park property. And then to north of that is the RO plant. And this MPD, you know, again, like it's all kind of up in the air. Nothing is set in stone. And it'll be for a site plan as we figure out exactly what our residents want, what the, you know, the neighboring surrounding areas would like. So that's why we created this MPD to allow us to figure that out. And then we'll come back with an actual site plan. So it will be a mix of, you know, resident only amenities, as well as those that are open to the public for the...

commercial services so is it safe to assume that anything that's in can you go back to the list again okay so like four lap pools that would be something only available to residents probably right correct if those are part of the development program that would be related to the riverland master amenities okay so so what on that list what's available what's potentially available to residents of the city

It could be potentially indoor recreation, outdoor recreation, golf course. It just depends. We're still working on it, so I can't say for sure.

But you're going to have a retail center there, correct?

Yes, because it's Neighborhood Village Commercial.

Because the retail center will be obvious that you want multiple city residents to be able to go to because Sundance is a public right-of-way.

Correct, Sundance Vista Boulevard, correct.

Right, so anyone can drive their golf cart or bicycle down the Paseo, access this property, and then whatever is open to city residents, they can use that?

Correct, just like how it is now with our Paseo, certain aspects are open to the public and some aspects are not. Like Riverland Paseo Park is, you know, a city park open to the public, but we have our Arts and Culture Center that is, you know, accessible for residents.

So we could look at... um the existing park and dog park that's by the paseo that's open to residents as an example of potentially what it might look like this new park correct right yeah yes it's all kind of i understand so it's it's early stages i'm just trying to to get an understanding for the public standpoint what you get a lot of stuff listed there what's available is it just the dog park Are some of the courts going to be available to people? You don't know yet?

We don't know yet. It's still in the mix.

So Mary, when does that, I mean, where, this is all well and good, and I can list lots of things there.

So typically the MPUD is the document that allows or authorizes the uses. And this is not unlike many other MPUDs that we have. There's a list of things that are allowed. So in this, it's neighborhood, village, commercial type uses. The list could be longer as Lena kept it nice and succinct. As the applicant moves forward and determines her development plan, she's going to come forward, but it has to be within these boundaries. She can't propose like an a general commercial thing in there. It's a neighborhood commercial. So you're setting the parameters. They still have to figure out what their exact program will be. We don't control that.

So this is the global universe of what's allowed.

This is what you can have. If you want to have a dog park, you can have a dog park. We can't force them, but they're allowed to.

Right, but there could be none of this.

Well, it has to be within these parameters.

Right. What I'm saying is this is a great list, but they could ultimately have none of it.

It's developer discretion.

Okay. So that's just good to know.

Just so you know, Pete, being there, they are selling all those amenities.

Well, no, I'm sure that there will be.

I'm sure, I'm confident most of those amenities will be put in.

Yeah, I'm sure of that. I lost my train of thought. I was going to ask something else.

Can we come back?

Yeah, let me come back.

Mr. Marcus? I've looked up the neighborhood commercial zoning code. It's a relatively restrictive zoning code. You can only do certain things. And so if I understand correctly, we're really not looking at specific amenities, but we're looking at just changing that general parcels, those parcels of land to give the developer the ability to put that type of development in that area. But the specific list, these are just ideas of what could potentially be in that on that piece of property at some point, if I understand correctly, right?

Right. So our DRI is in this parcel within our DRI is identified as a new community development NCD. And so as part of our map H for our DRI development order, it then further breaks it down and identifies it as neighborhood village commercial and we're rezoning it to MPUD. And so like other similar MPUDs for other DRIs, you kind of create the list of uses that you want to be allowed to put in there as principal uses, and then figure out the specifics of your development program as you go along. And to Mary's point, as she said, it's kind of like the global allowance of what you can do, and then as you kind of start to figure things out and develop it, when the site plan, it gets granular.

Thank you. I remembered. Mr. Privett. Mary, does this acreage count towards what we talked about two weeks ago at our special meeting as far as overall park acreage meeting the minimum with population?

No, it's not included in that.

It's not. So just the 17-acre city park would be north of it?

It would eventually, yes, but I don't think it's counted in yet.

This would not be.

I'd have to go back and check. I don't think it's accounted for.

Well, I'm just saying in general, I don't mean did you have it in your numbers, I meant in general, is this...

This would be a city park that would go towards that.

This acreage, this... THIS IS DEVELOPER ACREAGE, SO THIS DOESN'T COUNT TOWARDS CITY. IT'S ONLY THE STUFF ON ONLY THE PARCEL 17 ACRES. CORRECT. OKAY.

THAT WOULD BE A CITY PARK THAT WOULD GO IN THE COMP PLAN TO THE AMOUNT OF PUBLIC PARK ACREAGE.

GREAT.

OKAY. GOT IT. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR THE APPLICANT? ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, MS. COLSTY. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR ANY STAFF OR THE APPLICANT? OKAY. THIS IS A PUBLIC HEARING. ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO SHOULD SPEAK ON THE ITEM? Please come forward. Sir, did you fill out a comment card? I did not, sorry. Okay, come on forward. I can submit this in writing if you wish. No, come on forward, please. Come on forward. As you're coming forward, I'll again tell you, please state your name for the record, where you live, and then you'll fill out a comment card when you're complete. Good evening.

Commissioner, thank you very much. Chairman, board members, my name is Jim Reardon. My wife is Michelle. We live at 13484 River Rock. We live at the most southwestern plot of land that's affected by this right now. And there's a number of individuals along that berm that run back out north to Discovery. I'm here today really to find out, was hoping to find out more information about how they're going to build up the berm to basically mitigate the noises that have been coming from these new parks or whatever else. Currently the berm that exists that runs from the Paseo north to Discovery is three feet high. with a lot of foliage. A lot doesn't mean productive. A lot of it has died as a result of our freezes last winter. You could see through a lot of it. So if this went forward without seeing what exactly is going to mitigate any of the noise, and I see that it was mentioned five times in the first presentation about the PIP, But I haven't heard it at all from the presenter from GL or any of the documents that I've seen so far. And I'll claim my ignorance. Maybe I haven't seen everything. And maybe that can be provided to us or some type of presentation for that. I've looked in other areas around Port St. Lucie. If you look at Del Webb, Del Webb has five to six foot berms with, I think they're called noise reduction berms. walls that are another five feet. So they're at least 11 feet. If you're going to park RVs there, you should have something that should block the view from all the people who live in that area because that was one of the uses that they had listed on that. How many cars? How big is the parking lot? Is it 100 cars, 200 cars? Have you ever been around pickleball courts, 30 of them at one time? If you go to Riverland right now and go to the health center, you could walk across the road and you hear this, because there is no barrier to mitigate the sound. So we're actually asking, I support what they're doing 100%. I moved here for all this stuff. But in this case, it affects us, and we just want to know what they're going to do and how they're going to address that. And I believe that's really what your role is in protecting our rights as we move forward with this. So thank you very much, gentlemen.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. And please do fill out a comment card and provide it to the Clerk. Any other members of the public who should speak on this item? Hearing none, I'm going to close the public hearing. Just a point of personal privilege, Mayor. In our site plan, when we go to the site plan, the applicant must mitigate noise through landscape buffers that are probably additional to what the norm is.

Correct. There are requirements for landscape buffers. I don't know if the applicant wishes to provide any response to the customer's comments about that, but we don't know what uses will be located where. So I just wanted to still say that we'll be looking at buffers and noise mitigations at the time of site plan. I also would just like to make a point to clarify in case there's any confusion on the map. The area that is the MPUD is the land that's south of the city park.

Okay.

The city park and the RO plant are not part of this MPUD. The 33 acres are to the south of the city park. So I want to be clear, we're not changing the zoning of the city park.

But why is the city considered an owner?

Because we, as Lena can explain it to you, as part of the agreement, it goes back to our March 2022 agreement.

Chairman. In layman's terms. I'll let one of the attorneys speak to that since we have several here. In layman's terms, why is this combined city and riverland?

So in October 2022, we entered into a city parks agreement. And that was where the 13-acre park that is right by Parcel B, the Riverland Paseo Park, the city actually following its conveyance and listening to the desires of city council and the issues with needing more multi-use fields, we came in and offered to construct all of the improvements that you see there, which cost in excess of $6.3 million. And so as part of consideration for the developer constructing all the improvements because it wasn't something that was put in the city's capital improvement plan or there was not sufficient funding for that, we came in and, like I said, as partial consideration, the city agreed to reconvey part of city park number four to us and so part of city park number four is contained within this mpd area so this mpd process is being done pursuant to the terms of that agreement okay and you're developing it Correct.

At your cost?

Yes.

Okay. Not city cost?

Not city cost.

Just want to make sure that's clear to the public. So in addition, again, thank you. Mayor, in addition to the noise mitigation at the site plan as it moves forward, there will also be mitigation on any lighting aspects as well?

Correct, there's lighting standards and buffering standards, and the applicant typically is very sensitive when they place uses close to residential properties.

So again, the standards are there to protect the public from as much noise mitigation and as much light mitigation and nuisance as possible, correct?

So the standards are in the MPUD, and if they're not in the MPUD, it defaults back to city code.

Right, okay.

And you know again we go back to at the time we do a site plan approval then all those details will be done because again not all the uses that listed may come to fruition.

Right.

So you know once we get to that detail then we'll have all the detail to provide you know the person who made the comments and we are sensitive as Mary said to the concerns that are addressed.

Mr. Ricketts?

I just wanted to make sure that the citizens' concerns were addressed and make sure you had an opportunity to respond to that. That's all.

Do you have an idea of timing of when you want to start working on this? I'm just curious.

I'm not sure. Again, it just depends on how things go. It deals with sales. We build as we grow. So everything is just kind of whether it's two years or whatnot.

Yeah, that's fine. And to go to Mr. Prevost, because I because I know the area, they just opened up Valencia Vista, correct? Correct. And what they're telling the residents now is 12 to 14 to 16 months before they actually can move in. Is that correct? So I'm sure the timing would probably be somewhere longer than that.

Right. At any given time, we have, you know, 250 to 300 homes under construction and then plus working on this site too. So there's, there's a lot of things to kind of maneuver and juggle to figure out when is the right time to be able to serve it.

Okay. But again, you heard one of the residents concerns and you're prepared to WORK WITH THEM ON THAT. YES, SIR. GREAT.

AND I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAD THE GENTLEMEN THAT SPOKE TONIGHT, BUT DID WE GET ANY OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS? I DIDN'T, OKAY, THERE WAS NO OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT. OKAY. IS THERE A NOTIFICATION THAT GOES OUT FOR THIS? THERE IS. OKAY.

EVERYONE WITHIN 750 FEET IS A STANDARD. THAT'S IT. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR THE APPLICANT? OKAY. I'M GOING TO CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING AND ASK FOR A MOTION AND DISCUSSION.

I'm ready to make a motion if there's no further discussion. I'll make a motion to approve Riverland West Sports and Recreation and PUD Master Plan Unit Development Resending Application P26-046.

I'll second it. All right, we have a motion to second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, good luck. 8 C P 2 6 0 5 2. Any ex parte communications from members of the board? None. None. None. None. None. Okay. Open a public hearing. Francis.

Good evening again, board members. Again, for the record, Francis Orman with the planning and zoning division. I have been sworn in and the official packet has been given to the city clerk's five days prior to this meeting. Madam clerk, if you could please enter that into the record. The item before you now is the Remade Church Incorporated special exception use. The owner of the property is the Remade Church Incorporated with the applicant being Robert Brown of Remade Church Incorporated. The subject site is located on the southwest corner of Southwest Kimball Circle and Southwest Kentwood Road. The request before you is a special exception use to allow an enclosed assembly area over 3,000 square feet without any alcohol being served on premises. IN THE OPEN SPACE RECREATION ZONING DISTRICT PER SECTION 158-100C4 OF THIS CODE OF ORDINANCE. THIS IS AN AREAL OF THE OVERALL AREA WITH THE SUBJECT SITE BEING OUTLINED HERE IN YELLOW. THE OVERALL AREA DOES HAVE A FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF RL OR LOW RESIDENTIAL WITH COMPATIBLE ZONING DISTRICTS OF RS2 OR SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. Before you now is the conceptual site plan. This property does have an existing building that was currently serving this area. This is within the Whispering Pines area there. So this building was the clubhouse for that area. This has then since changed hands. And again, the conceptual plan is just coming forward. Again, no changes to the building are being proposed, only additional parking to meet the requirements of this special exception use. Per section 158, 260 of our city code, any SCU coming through does need to meet certain criteria in order to be heard or even brought forward, which these criterias do include adequate ingress and egress, adequate off-street parking, property located utilities, buffering, lighting, and just overall compatibility with the area. This proposal coming forward is proposed to meet all the criteria set forth here in the code, such as it does provide adequate parking or it does propose to provide adequate parking. It does have proper ingress egress as well as buffering and overall compatibility with the area. You as a board tonight can make a motion to recommend approval to the city council with the following conditions set forward by staff. And that condition states a site plan application with landscaping and construction plans shall be submitted and approved prior to issuance of any permits. The improvements shall be completed prior to the proposed church use initiating within the building. or if you wish you as a board can recommend any additional recommendations or conditions of approval or recommend denial or if you wish to have this motion tabled to a different meeting if you need additional information this concludes my presentation i'm here to answer any questions you have for staff the applicant is also here to answer any questions that you may have thanks any questions from members of the board mr rankis well if i remember correctly this is the

that we received a couple of comments on that We needed some legal clarification on.

Yes, thank you. So I did review the comments that were provided by a resident and the concerns that were raised about the transfer of ownership of the property is outside of the purview of the city and what the city would get involved in. It sounds of more of a civil matter and would not be something that would be considered within a special exception application.

So it shouldn't be considered as part of testimony? Correct. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Ragus.

I'm not done. So this is in Windmill Point, correct? No, sir. This is in the Whispering Pines community. Was this a deed-restricted community at some point when it was dissolved, or has this just always been a residential community without any type of organization?

This has always been a community with the property owners association. Again, it's not, it wasn't an MPUD or anything of that nature. It's just a property owners association there. And again, as far as that's concerned, I don't know about the ownership of hands changing. Again, that's as legal stated, that's out of our purview. But again, this has always been a POA.

Okay, I guess I'm finished.

So to clarify, the property owners association sold the property to the current owner. To our knowledge, yes, sir. Okay. And before, I know it's not the testimony, but if this came back to where that association's sale was not legal, is the city at any risk?

No, what the city's responsibility when we get an application is just to verify who the owner of the property is and that the person who is the property owner is the one making the application. Our staff does due diligence just to ensure that the person who's making the application is the property owner or is the agent for the property owner. That is as far as the city's responsibility would go in terms of vetting any legalities with property transfers. The facts, as you stated them, is what was conveyed by the resident as well, and that would be something that would be a civil matter between the POA and the residents if there is any concerns.

Mr. Rosen? Does the city have any requirement to consider the stance of the HOA on their opinion with this, or are we allowed to do this without getting their input?

I believe that the board can consider the HOAs or anyone who's coming to public hearings stance as it relates to the special exception, right? But not as it relates to any ancillary questions related to legality of the transfer of the property. That would be outside the scope of a special exception. But if there are any concerns raised specifically to the special exception and how that, if that would affect the substantial competent evidence related to this application, then yes, that could be considered.

Anything else? I don't fully understand that. It sounded beautiful. I'm sure it was said right. I think you're a little smarter than I am. Let me ask this a different way. I live in Bedford Park. I'm on the board. Can the city come in and grant a special use to anybody within my HOA without our board approving it or considering it?

I believe so because the city wouldn't get involved in HOA matters. That would be on, again, the purview of the HOA to decide whether or not there was a civil matter that had to go with that property owner who's making that application. That would not be within the city's scope of what the city does, and it would not be in the scope of our office to provide an opinion on whether or not there is any legality issues.

PERFECT I APPRECIATE IT THAT ONE I DID UNDERSTAND THANK YOU MY QUICK QUESTION IS THAT IS IS IS IS IT THE STAFF'S UH I'M ASSUMING THAT IT'S NOT BUT IF IT IS MAYBE IT IS IS IT THE STAFF'S RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THERE'S ANY IMPENDING LEGAL ISSUES WITH THIS PROPERTY BECAUSE IT JUST SEEMS LIKE THIS I MEAN I WOULD BE CONCERNED TO FIRE A RESIDENT IN THIS COMMUNITY AND THINGS MOVING FORWARD AND THE CITY JUST TOTALLY IGNORED what if there were some sort of things even though it's outside of our purview the concerned emails that we received makes me feel that makes me feel that there's something that that occurred that i'm just not i don't fully understand and if there's some sort of legal matter going on do we have a business in uh

Voting on this agenda item if that's Of course it would depend on what the legal issue is but in terms of legalities related to transfer of ownership of properties Unless the city is a property owner That really is that would be one outside of the scope of what the city deals with but that would also be out the side the scope of the special exception application because regardless of who the applicant is coming forward and asking for a special exception. And if there is any legal issues related to the owners, that would be worked out outside of this application.

Okay. Good. Mr. Brown?

You want to go? Mr. Harvey? Go ahead. Can you bring up the map again of where the property is located? Okay. right there and it's zoned open space recreation oh yes sir right there so uh i because i just i i'm looking at on google maps and i search for remade church and it's it's it's a different location so i i don't i'm just trying to understand this says remade church and it has an address they're not currently open yet again the special exception use is to allow them to go into the building to then

begin the work to actually opening the use. So the use isn't currently there. Right now, the only thing that's existing is the building. The use itself is not in it.

I'm showing the property was sold March 12, 2026 for $265,000, with Windmill Point being the grantor. So it looks like a piece of property with a clubhouse and a pool.

Right.

Am I wrong about that? Is there a pool on the property? Yes, sir. Yep. Yeah. So it's a good-sized piece of property.

Okay. Okay. The property is now currently owned by Remade. Yes, sir. Okay. That's what we're addressing today.

Mr. Harvey? Thank you. That's kind of where my question was going is with what you just brought up. With this currently being zoned as open space recreational, and I like the staff recommendation, so I hope, you know, if there is a motion made that I hope that that gets included in Because I think that there might be something going on even a little bit deeper as this moves forward. Can you have an assembly occupancy, a church, in open space recreational so that would be allowed in the OSR? Yes. Because I think there's going to be a change of occupancy on the building. Most likely right now it's classified as a business. And if it moves into assembly, that's going to be... quite a bit on both building and fire to make sure the review. So I do like the condition. Mr. Mary.

So that's a great question. So the applicant is here to get the SEU approval for the use. SEUs include a conceptual site plan. All SEUs, as you know, then actually have to have a full site plan done with a landscape plan. So that condition is just saying you have to follow the process that we already have. Now relative, this was a POA building. It was used for... I guess POA, neighborhood functions, whatever, relative to any change of use or implications for building department or fire department or those codes, that's not the purview of the SEU. And furthermore, that's not even the purview of the planning department. If this gets approved, if the site plan gets approved, then ultimately they'll need building permits and they'll have to go through that with those authorities. but that's several steps down the line and not pertinent to this.

Great. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Can I just make one quick clarification in regards to ownership? If there were any issues regarding ownership, meaning there was anything that was preventing the city from confirming that the applicant for an application has the authority to apply on behalf, that is when it would come into the purview of the city, right? Yes. Without any ancillary documents that are showing that there's any concerns, as long as we are able to verify that the person making the application is the owner of record, that's really as far as the city can go in terms of who the owner of the property is. And as of now, I think it was verified that the applicant for this is the property owner, and so that is what the city's due diligence would be.

Great, okay. Any other questions for... Mr. Foreman. Okay. The applicant is here. Please come forward. You state your name for the record.

Yep. Robert Brown with Remade Church. Um, I think you guys may have received an email or a message that had some not accurate information in it. Just so if I can speak to some of the questions you have, the POA is dissolving the property. We, we knocked every door, 300 neighbors to get permission to buy this property. We have 160 signatures. Our attorney said that was plenty to meet the recommendations or the needed things. So again, it's not your, Purview. That's the word for this board. But to just clarify, we've done our due diligence here. So if you guys have any questions, I'd love to answer anything you might have. Any questions for the app, Mr. Reyes?

I just wondered, does Remade Church have another location at this time?

We do. We're currently renting a space.

Where is that?

Parks Edge Community.

parks edge community yes right across right around the corner from where we produce this property okay so in the same area then yes sir and um are you in the middle of a residential neighborhood we are in that particular location yeah what's your current um attendance average 100 to 120 people okay including kids And what's the square footage of the space that you're in right now?

It's a replica. These are two community centers that were together. At one point, they're replicas of each other. 4,100 square feet.

So is this an expansion play, or is this you're looking to grow?

I'm very tired of setting up and tearing down every Sunday. I'm ready to be in a spot where we can lay down roots and really have an impact in a community where we can do it day in and day out. Thank you.

You're welcome. God willing. That's right.

Any other questions? So if you do a search, it shows Remade Church of probably where you're renting now, where your existing location is. Correct. AND THEN JUST, I DON'T KNOW, NORTHEAST OF THERE IS WHERE THE NEW LOCATION IS. OKAY. GREAT. THANK YOU.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

ANYTHING ELSE, MR. BROWN? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? OKAY. WARD, ANY MEMBERS OF STAFF OR THE APPLICANT? OKAY. IT'S A PUBLIC HEARING. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK ON THE ITEM, PLEASE COME FORWARD. HAVE YOU FILED OUT A COMMENT CARD? JUST COME ON FORWARD. TAKE YOUR NAME FOR THE RECORD, WHERE YOU LIVE. And then please, afterwards, fill out a comment card. Have you been sworn in?

I have not.

Please be sworn in.

Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the statements made today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do so swear.

Thank you.

My name is Valerie Slack-LaVenture, and I am the architect and owner of Native Design Architecture, and we are working with Remade Church. I just wanted to assure you that we are preparing to go forward with a site planning process and building plans to go through the permitting process to make sure that everything is fully compliant with the Florida Building Code and the Land Development Code for Port St. Lucie. And if you have any further questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Thank you. Any other members of public wish to speak on this item? Seeing none, close the public hearing. And members of the board, any motion or discussion? If you are going to make a motion to approve recommending to the council, please make sure you make approval with conditions.

I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE REMADE CHURCH INCORPORATED SPECIAL EXCEPTION USE P26-052 WITH CONDITIONS.

WE HAVE A MOTION. IS THERE A SECOND? I'LL SECOND. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? JUST A QUICK DISCUSSION.

THE RECOMMENDATION WOULD BE FOR THE INCLUSION OF THE STAFF COMMENTS THAT WERE PROVIDED TO US DURING THE MEETING.

ONE SECOND. MARY, THE APPROVAL WITH CONDITIONS IS WITH YOUR COMMENTS AND CONDITIONS, CORRECT?

THE CONDITION AS PRESENTED RIGHT THERE. A SITE PLAN APPLICATION WITH LANDSCAPE AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS SHALL BE SUBMITTED AND APPROVED PRIOR TO ISSUANCE OF ANY PERMITS. THE IMPROVEMENT SHALL BE COMPLETED PRIOR TO PROPOSED CHURCH USE INITIATING WITHIN THE BUILDING.

MR. RANKES.

I JUST WANT TO MAKE A COMMENT THAT ALTHOUGH I'VE made a motion to approve the agenda item with conditions. Just looking at the map, I do have a little bit of an idea of the history of this particular POA. And my only concern with this is that it seems to be in the heart of a residential neighborhood. But I don't know that that limits our ability to restrict or deny the motion, which is why I'm recommending approval. But I just wanted to make my, just in case anybody else on the board had concerns similar to that, they're turning an old POA clubhouse into a church, which I love churches, but in the middle of the residential neighborhood, I'm a little concerned, that's all.

Mr. Rosen, discussion? I assume the answer is yes, but I just want to make sure that the applicant is okay with the condition if approved.

Mr. Brown, can you come forward? Mr. Brown, correct? Yes, sir. Are you okay with the condition that staff is recommending? Because that's part of the...

It was a part of what we expected anyway. Okay. That's part of the motion. We wouldn't be able to get a certificate of occupancy until everything was done.

All right. You good? All right. Any other discussion? Thank you, sir.

We have a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Godspeed. Okay. Item 8D, P26054, Southern Grove. And will any ex parte communication, members of this board, left or right? No. No. No. None. None. None. Okay. We'll open a public hearing and city planner.

Yes.

Bridget. Okay.

Let me just go back one. Bridget Keene with the Planning and Zoning Department. I have been sworn in. The file was sent to the city clerk's office five days before and I am requesting the file get entered into the record. Okay. So this is the third amendment to the Legacy Park North at Southern Grove MPUD. It's a request to amend the MPUD, and the applicant agent is Brad Wester. He's with Driver, McAvee, Hawthorne, and Debenow, PLLC, and I hope I pronounced all of those correctly. The applicant is the Costco Wholesale Corporation, and the property owners are Costco Wholesale Corporation, the Port St. Lucie Governmental Finance Corporation, and the Tradition Entertainment District No. 2, LLC. So the Legacy Park North MPUD, it's the zoning district for 355 acres of property. It's west of I-95, east of Village Parkway, and it's between Marshall Parkway and Hagner Drive. That PUD, it is divided into two areas. It has a business park area and then a mixed commercial area. The business park area is off of Sansone Boulevard. And the mixed commercial is the area that's off of Southwest Village Parkway. And this is the area that does include the Costco Depot, and that is located within the business park. There is a vacant 32 or almost 33-acre parcel that's owned by the Port St. Lucie Governmental Finance Corporation. That's off of the – basically in the – southeast quadrant of Marshall Parkway and Southwest Village Parkway. There's also 19 acres or 19.5 acres that's a little further to the south that's owned by the Tradition Entertainment District. And they are both in the mixed commercial area. And then approximately 22 or 23 acres of the GFC property, the 33 acre GFC property is under contract right now or it's subject to a purchase and sale agreement between the GFC and Costco Wholesale Corporation. So this is the location map. The area I'm talking about is the area that's in the green. Again, this is it right here. That's Legacy Park North MPUD. So the purpose of this amendment is really just to add a new use to the mixed commercial area, and then that new use is to address for a member-based wholesale warehouse retail store that's 100,000 square feet, or greater, and then it just lists the various uses that would be located in the mixed, I mean, in a member-based wholesale warehouse store, as well as the ability for some outside storage. So it's a little bit different than what would just be allowed for a smaller retail. And also there's going to be tire changing and tire repair within the facility. Additional changes also just add a minimum building size and minimum living area of 1,200 square feet. That's consistent with city code. It just wasn't included in the MPUD previously. Some other changes are changes to the maximum allowable mounting height for all outdoor lighting fixtures. And then in the mixed commercial area, that's gonna go from 25 feet to 40 feet above grade or pavement. And then in the mixed business park, that's gonna go from 35 feet to 40 feet again above grade or pavement also a minor change to the requirements for parking standards costco has a little bit of a different parking standard than the city's standard 9.5 width and then a depth of 18 feet they prefer a 10 foot long parking stall and um 25 i believe it's a 20 foot long uh or 20 foot depth and then their uh driveway distances are 24 feet wide code is normally in the city 26 feet but this is the same amount of distance so or or width so we were okay with it and then with just some minor changes to the concept plan about the location of driveways and here's the updated concept plan and this is the location for the area that I was talking about that's under contract to the Costco Wholesale Corporation. And then this larger piece is the entire Costco warehouse, the depot, because they separate their warehouse from their depot. SO WE REVIEWED THIS FOR CONSISTENCY WITH THE CITY CODE AS WELL AS CONSISTENCY WITH THE SOUTHERN GROVE DRI. IT IS IN A REGIONAL BUSINESS CENTER SUBDISTRICT AS DEPICTED ON MAP H AND THEN A REGIONAL BUSINESS CENTER SUBDISTRICT. IT DOES REQUIRE A MINIMUM OF A MILLION SQUARE FEET OF NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THEN IT INCLUDES THE INDUSTRIAL USES, WAREHOUSE USES, MANUFACTURING AND THEN ALSO SOME MIXED COMMERCIAL. YOU CAN ALSO HAVE RETAIL commercial and office uses. And the amendment does add an additional retail use to the MPUD for a membership box based box retail warehouse club and that's to allow again for specific uses including the some outdoor storage and repair of tires that distinguishes it from general retail. So it's a little bit different use. That's why for the larger big box type retail, we add special uses to the MPUDs when it's applicable. Again, the increase in the maximum height for all outdoor lighting fixtures can be accommodated because, again, the code already requires that you can't have light falling on properties away from your parcel and everything has to be designed to shield public streets and highways and all adjacent parcels from direct glare or hazardous interference of any kind. site plan review committee did recommend approval on may 13th of 2026 at the site plan review committee meeting uh planning and zoning department staff we do find the request to be consistent with the direction intent of the city's code and do recommend approval happy to answer any questions and we do have an app the applicant for costco here to also provide a presentation if you wish any members of the board have questions miss keen hi um um so how so what

This is specific to the MPUD because we have BJ's and Sam's Club. So can you talk a little bit about what we do?

What we do that's a little different and the same thing for the Lowe's out in Southern Grove. It's just for the areas where you have just a Home Depot in a CG zoning. It's always been kind of a problem because they have different uses like outdoor storage that technically isn't permitted by code. If you know code everything's supposed to be indoors, so they are allowed their worst changes to where the BJ is going. That is a use in a PUD that was also provides for a BJ type use. Those in Southern Grove has specific language in that MPUD to accommodate what Lowe's has, and that's why for the Costco, proposed Costco, we're doing the same thing. It's a little different where you have those existing ones, but we do try to accommodate them with outdoor storage, but again, it's not always consistent with code, so with the PUDs, we try to address that.

Right, so in order to accommodate these retailers that come in, we have to make some changes to the code.

Right, especially the big box, because you just have retail. You don't really specify a difference in sizes, and we do now. We're trying to do that in sign codes as well, master sign programs.

The reference to the Costco requires slightly larger spaces.

Right.

So the accommodation there is because that would have less spaces than what we might require?

No, it doesn't change the amount of parking in there here. They can explain why, but it's just that they like a 20-foot long stall, 10 feet wide, whereas our code is 9.5. And then our code driveway requirement is you then have a 26-foot driveway width. They prefer they do the longer stall with a 24 driveway width. So it's still the same distance.

Got it.

But it's just, and they'll explain it. It has to do with the fact that people buy a lot of packages and take a lot of space. Yes, yes. But I prefer to let them probably give you that explanation. Thank you. Okay.

Mr. Rosen. I just wanted to disclose I had expert take communications. There was one comment that was sent in on this from a Tim Donovan. I called him. It was a courtesy call just to make sure he felt heard. We didn't really talk about anything other than what was in his comment. That was it. Okay.

Any other members of the board have any questions for Ms. Keene? Thank you, Ms. Keene. The applicant is here.

Hello. Brad Wester, driver McAfee, Hawthorne and Debenhau. One independent drive, Suite 1200, Jacksonville, Florida.

Oh, great, thank you.

Okay, thanks. Okay, I will attempt to use this mouse. P26054, Legacy Park North, Southern Grove, MPD, Third Amendment. Happy to be here. My purpose for this presentation is to kind of spatially put this into a site plan. Ultimately, everything we're asking for in this MPUD text amendment really dovetails into the site plan. So I'm going to get a little specific in these roughly eight slides. I do have my full team here, including representative from Costco. Brad Wester got the civil here, architect, traffic, survey, environmental. So if there's any questions, if I can't answer it, I have an expert here that hopefully will be able to. You see here the location. Everybody's pretty familiar with that. This is a larger parcel here. As you see in these two images with the subject property, we are going through a replant right now on this property. So what is outlined in red there is actually the subject property for the Costco facility. You see there's two. I think this has a laser pointer on it.

Mm-hmm.

OK, so you see there's two parcels here that are still will be owners out parcel there then another parcel there that will be owned separate from this request. Here's a very detailed site plan. I apologize, it looks very busy, but it has a lot of infrastructure elements on this site plan. We are concurrently going through our site plan review process, both with the city and tradition right now. So they have everything from us, obviously running that at risk because the first course of action is to seek the approval of this MPUD amendment. So you see this really shows the orientation of the Costco facility itself with the parking and the gas facility. I will highlight the gas facility, which is up in this top northern corner up there called a gas pod. So you see the various entrances to the roadways in the surrounding area. And again, the subject property itself there outland and red showing the other demised areas that will remain out parcels owned by the public entity. This is a landscape plan. So you can see here the landscape plan in detail, split between two images roughly, but really focusing on that edge that is adjacent to the Dell web community. That will meet, we're not asking for any waivers, deviations and whatnot from the code itself. And as Bridget mentioned, this request for more parking spaces is vital to the continuity of the business for Costco itself. We do require larger spaces. If you've ever been to a Costco, you know that the spaces are very accommodating for wider swing for the doors to get your packages in and out. So they're really nice. That takes up more room, but we do accommodate. We roughly the sweet spot is roughly 900 spaces for Costco. And we're sitting right around that with this overall site plan. We do have an FPL easement. that is sitting in this area here, that we have a number of spaces just in that, within that FP&L easement as well. And we've got permission from FP&L for that, for the purposes of that. This next image shows the photometric plan. The point of this is we are one of the amendment requests is a light pole height increase. The reason behind that is Costco has a very specific standard for lighting safety, obviously. And that lighting safety also comes with the when you reduce the height of the pole itself, the light pole itself, you inherently need more poles. Increasing it to 36 1⁄2 feet, or in this case, the request is to up to 40 feet, allows for less poles on the property. But what we have done in this is show that we meet and exceed the lighting standard at the property edge all the way around, specifically along the edge closest to the Del Webb community. We are at 0.0 and 0.1 in some small areas right along that property edge. It is 0.0 when it gets to the middle center line of that pavement of that roadway there. So I just wanted to show that. We have a photometric plan that goes with this, obviously showing that lighting standard because there is a light pole height increase. These are some of the elevations that we show. Very standard. Costco really doesn't have a lot of pole signs, monument signs. The building architecture and the signage on the building itself is the advertisement for the Costco facility. And then of course the canopy that goes along with the gas facility. This next image is obviously put all that into a perspective rendering, showing it in the context of its environment. You can see the out parcel there in the foreground with the gas, gas canopy, the store itself. It's roughly 158,000 square feet. And then all the parking spots and then the landscaping. And then, of course, paying homage to the del web community across the street that's also in this frame too so um again all my experts are here including myself to answer any questions that you might have we ask for your recommendation uh for approval in this mpud amendment request thank you mr western any members of the board have questions for mr wester mr rosen no i do mr president um just curious the out parcels are there standard companies costco works with that takes those That's a great question, and I would defer to the city. Those are going to be remain city owned. Oh, so those will be however that is working out in the future for now. Co-tenancy co-development certainly will be sensitive to the Costco brand. What is going there? But we have accommodated interconnectivity points. So we've got two on that northern one and then one on the south there as well. So we have worked closely with staff on that with our engineering team to provide the necessary curb cuts, if you will, or interconnectivity to those out parcels. So those are already prepped and ready for the city to utilize in the future, whatever they deem to go there. We don't know what it is, though.

Got it. Is there, I think when this was approved or the sale of the property, there was a projection of 365 days or something like that. Do you have any idea of when it might be completed?

We keep getting questions. When are you going to open it?

We love those questions.

Remember, you're on the record.

Yes. Oh, wow. OK, great. So as I mentioned under testimony, we are running a parallel course very quickly with all of our review. So essentially, this will be shovel ready if the PUD amendment is approved and then the tradition review comes through and then all the site plan and the replat and everything is approved as well. It would be shovel ready. Typically, I don't want to add too much to this, but we are working very, very quickly to get this off the ground. I don't know if Mr. Alvarado wants to comment, but We are working hard to get this through. It doesn't look like he wants to comment. Well, because we know how it is in the paper. You said it was going to be up on a certain date. So as you know, Costco does this very, very well, very, very quickly, roughly 10 to 12 months of construction time frame, and then the doors open. So it's as quick as we can get all of our shovel-ready permits in play. We do have all of our... obviously planning and zoning board, but of our other first and second reading of city council, they are in July. And so we are working with the tradition folks as well and the city, and they've been fantastic to work with. We have an ongoing call with staff to vet all of our site planning needs and zoning needs and everything through the team's medium and share all the site planning elements and comments. So staff has been great to work with. And our team has been very diligently working through all the site planning and zoning needs and whatnot to get this through. And here we are. I wish I could give you a date. Thank you. But it will be, you know, clearly it will be in the 2027.

There you go. That's good enough.

Any other questions, members of the board? No? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wester. And any other questions for staff?

I have a couple questions for staff. Thank you, by the way. I appreciate that, sir. Great presentation. Does the city have any concerns with the higher lighting affecting nearby residential?

No. It's both for the depot that they have. As he said, that's their standard lighting. So it's also to accommodate the lighting in the depot as well as in the warehouse. But as I say, we already have requirements that the light has to be shielded.

only can you know focus down so beautiful on their property okay and then my second question is the the plan there had a lot of beautiful interior landscaping the trees and everything in the parking spaces once done are they required to maintain that yes everyone is required to me any any commercial development is required to maintain their landscaping all right great presentation thank you thank you very much appreciate it

Any other questions, members of the board? This is a public hearing. I'll open a public hearing. Anybody, members of the public, wish to speak on this item? Seeing none, close the public hearing. I'll entertain a motion and discussion.

We'll make a motion to approve Legacy Park North at Southern Grove and PUD Amendment Number 3, Master Plan Unit Development Major Amendment Application P26-054.

I'll second it. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? OK. The clock's ticking. The clock's ticking. I asked. All right. We're moving on to item 8E, P26-025, Darwin Square. OK. Any members of the boards have any ex parte communication left or right, Pete? No.

No.

None? None. None. None. OK. This is public hearing. Open public hearing.

Daniel? Good evening, Mr. Chair, board members. My name is Cody Sisk, and I'm with the Planning and Zoning Department. I've been sworn in, and the official file has been submitted at least five days before today's hearing. Madam Clerk, please enter that into the record. Today's application is for Darwin Square polio tropical. It's for a special exception use. The polio tropical came before you guys with the variants, I believe it was last month.

Mm-hmm.

The applicant is with PSL Darwin LLC. The agent is with Corporate Property Services. This is located at 3201 Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard. And the request is for a special exception use to allow a restaurant with drive-through service lanes in the General Commercial Zoning District. The subject property is in yellow. It is just east of Port St. Lucie Boulevard and south of Darwin. The future land use in the area is general commercial as well as a zoning district. And the uses to the north is a McDonald's. The commercial uses to the south and to the east are commercial uses. And then across the street, Port St. Lucie Boulevard to the west is a gas station. This is the proposed conceptual plan. They have the drive-through lanes to the south wrapping around on the east side with all the parking on the west. This is the proposed landscape plan, whereas meeting all the requirements for landscape code. The elevations are shown here for the north and the east side. And the elevations shown here are for the south and the west side. All special exception use criteria has to meet requirements of section 158.260, letters A through J. The site has adequate ingress and egress for automotive and pedestrian safety, associated crosswalks, and traffic control devices which allow for adequate internal circulation and traffic flow. Again, this had a prior variance that was approved, which reduced the required parking to allow 20 parking spaces on site. Again, the screening and buffering will be required to comply with the city's landscape code. All exterior lighting shall be in conformance with section 158.221 and the signage shall be in accordance with chapter 155. And the site is adjacent to commercial properties surrounding the area. The proposed use for this development is compatible with the permitted uses of adjacent properties per code. The proposed project will designated to comply with the city's land development code and citywide design standards you as a board have the following options to make recommendations to the city council you can make a recommendation for approval to the city council amend the recommendation and recommend approval to the city council recommend denial or make a motion to table to a different meeting or if you need more time to make a determination That concludes my presentation. I'm here to answer any questions. Our applicant's here, and we also have staff here.

Thanks, Cody. Any questions, members of the board? Just one question. This is in a shopping center, correct?

In Darwin Square. Darwin Square. Darwin Plaza. Darwin Square.

Okay. Great.

Thanks. All right.

The applicant is here.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, Planning Board members, Craig McDonald, Corporate Property Services on behalf of Puyo Tropical. We're here for the vacant, it's a vacant bank today at 3201 Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard. We're here to request special exception use approval for a 2,841 square foot Puyo Tropical restaurant with a drive-thru. Yeah, this is part of the shopping center, as you can see. To the north of us is McDonald's. To kind of the northeast, east is the emergency hospital, emergency room. And then down to the south and the southeast is the shopping center itself. This is the site plan, as you can see. The parking is on the front side, adjacent to Port St. Lucie Boulevard. The only area you don't see landscaping on is the north side, but that's an access easement that ties back into the shop and center, so we're not able to do it. But you can see we've landscaped every inch of the property other than where the building, the drive-through is. We have access, an ADA access connected to the public sidewalk. The dumpsters back in the southeast corner screen heavily by landscaping. There's a pedestrian path from the building for employees to access that. And then you've got our drive-thru, which from the pickup window back, we've got 12 cars. I know there were questions at the hearing last for the parking variance. And then we've got one car after the drive-thru window because people usually stop, check their bags, make sure they've got everything. So we added that in. We did our due diligence and our homework for you guys. We visited three other Poetropicals, one here in Port St. Lucie, one in Stewart, and one in Troubadour. And I'll run you through that real quick. So, as I said, we've got 12 stacking vehicles from the drive-thru window, pickup window, back, one after the window. As I said, Cuban study was performed by Kimley Horn. Stephanie Kinlan with Kimley Horn is here if you have any questions for her. The queuing counts were performed from 11 a.m. to 1.55, which is the peak hour for lunch, and then again from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., which is the dinner hour. The maximum number of vehicles observed in the drive-thru during this period of time was nine vehicles. The proposed 12 vehicles provides enough stacking to adequately handle the maximum observed queuing demand for the restaurant. There's just the renderings of the site. You can see this is the north and the west elevations from the rendering. And then you see the drive through the north and the east elevation there. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions with request approval. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McDonald. Any questions from members of the board? Seeing none, thank you for your presentation. Any other questions for staff? OK. This is a public hearing. Any members of the public? Wish to comment on this item or ask on this item? Seeing none, close public hearing, and I'll entertain a motion and discussion.

I'll make a motion to approve Darwin Square, Puyo Tropical Drive-Thru, special exception use P26-025.

I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. motion passes chicken on the grill okay we have now going to new business the fun part should I recess for a break or is this gonna be how long will this be I don't think it'll be very long okay

We've heard this before, haven't we? Yeah.

Yeah, that one. Thank you. It's an oldie but goodie. All right.

It's very important.

How frequently do we do this?

Wait, where's my pillow? Where's my pillow? What's that? Is this once a year? Once a year.

We review this annually.

Or did we mess up and you got it?

No. So we do review this annually. Carly Fabian with the city attorney's office. I provide the same presentation to every board. And what I realized is that the presentation that I provide to this board in particular was a little bit flawed in that I never covered quasi-judicial hearings because no other board deals with it. I don't give this presentation to city council. They have their own trainings. And so every other board doesn't have to deal with quasi-judicial.

Did we just skip that?

I'm going to go through everything very, very quickly until I get to quasi-judicial. However, if it does bring up any questions that you might have had between, I think it was January the last time I gave this presentation to now, feel free to interrupt. If not, I will go through everything very quickly and then just really try to focus on the quasi-judicial part.

Thank you.

Yeah. So again, sunshine law, uh, this is just a constitutional and statutory right, uh, for the meetings to be, uh, both open access, um, and for right to anybody to attend. And so a meeting is any time two members of a board are together discussing anything which can foreseeably come before the board, and those need to be in the sunshine. So again, you have to have proper notice and open access to the public. The common one, attending a social event, Most likely not. Right. Need to be in the sunshine unless, of course, you're discussing something which can forcibly come before the board. Always important to keep that in mind. So if you are meeting with somebody outside of here for some sort of social setting or you run into them, you know, you see them at you see them at Pollo Tropical. As long as you're not discussing anything which could forcibly come before the board, you would not be violating sunshine. And again, we bring this up because there are some steep penalties to violating this. If it's a knowing violation, so you met up with a member of the board purposefully to discuss outside of the sunshine, it is a second-degree misdemeanor, and it can be punishable by fines or 60 days in jail. And if it's done inadvertently, so again, you see someone at Pollo Tropical, you start talking, you bring up something not thinking that it could forcibly come before the board, somebody overheard you, it gets challenged. Um, you could again be removed from your position and there could still be fines. And then of course the city would be vulnerable to attorneys fees and it can nullify any of those actions, right? So if that, if that item that was discussed comes before the board, uh, that whatever decision was made could be nullified, it would have to go back in front of the board. Public records law, very simple. This is also a statutory and constitutional right to access municipal records. This is any materials made or received by the city in connection with official business used to perpetuate, communicate, or formalize knowledge of some type. Florida is very favorable to the public when it comes to public records law. It's very transparent. Anything is a public record. The real question is whether or not we have to retain it and whether or not it's exempt from public record. So again, even your notes you take during these meetings could be public record, right? So just keep that in mind when you're Keeping, right, you're the custodian of those records, keep those notes, keep those records, and then if there is ever a public records request, just be able to provide them. If you're using the city's email, the city backs that up, so you don't have to worry about that. If you are using your personal email, you are the custodian of those records, and if we receive a public records request, it would be up to you to turn them over. Same with text. And again, whether or not you're using your personal devices, that doesn't matter if it's about city business, then it's public record. Same goes for any social media as well.

Or podcasts.

Or podcasts, yes. We're in an age of social media, right? And so social media is an interesting one because we're going to see it evolve a lot more. Actually, the same with AI. So this was not something I don't think I was discussing back in January. But if you're using ChatGBT or Copilot or Gemini or any of these AI, right, depending on the way that you use it, that could also, your prompts, right, your input and output in AI could be public record. So if you say, you know, should I recommend approval for this variance? And you put in all the information. Well, now AI is helping you formalize, right? Your knowledge of a situation and it could be public record. So we live in a world where technology is growing so fast. Uh, so my rule of thumb is just keep everything right. Um, be very careful with the documents you create or the possible records you create. And if there is a public records request, be prepared to turn it over.

I might be the only one, maybe. No, no, there's no way I'm not the only one. There's no way I'm the only one that has not used AI. OK. I might be the only one. I know, it's really presumptuous. Sorry. It is presumptuous that I'm the only one that has a used AI. But do these programs keep the prompts?

No. So it really depends on what type of program you're using and also what type of service you have. So for example, if I were to just bring up, we'll use ChatGBT. I think it's the most commonly known. If I bring up ChatGBT, I do not have a ChatGBT login. I also don't like using AI very much. So if I bring up ChatGBT, it's not keeping my personal information because I don't have a login. So most likely, if I look something up and I exit out of that browser and I bring it back up, it's gone. Now someone who has a login, it actually has an account with ChatGBT. I don't actually know if it retains it. It might. right it can um for co-pilot for example that's what the city uses uh there is a retention uh that we can have the i don't know what format that retention is i don't know if it's in a easily readable format i don't know if it comes out in more of a code right well you just ask ai to get it for you exactly prompt ai to get your prompt yeah exactly so um again this is something that we're going to see evolving more because i don't know right now that Because AI is everywhere, right? And not every state has the same level of public records law. So we're going to start to see AI sort of, I think, shift to be able to align with our laws here in Florida as well.

AI is moving so much faster than our government can possibly move. Yes. But would it be a recommendation to use... Well, since we have an Outlook account with the city and Microsoft's AI is... Copilot. Copilot, that's it. Would it be recommended that if we were to use, if we decided to use AI for any reason whatsoever as it pertains to anything to the city, should we use Microsoft's Copilot?

Yes, I believe that that is actually our AI policy here with the city is that Copilot is the AI software that we use as a city, right? Again, if you're using it outside of here, then that's up to your own discretion. But I think if you are using it, we would prefer that you use Copilot. And again, that's also because we know then which program is getting the information from the city somebody better make sure to make sure pete peter is aware in the we can we can always talk about this again this is a it's an interesting one i'm sure we will and and again the law hasn't actually uh explicitly stated that ai there is a retention schedule for public records for ai information but again these are just some things to think about as we move into this digital age See, that was a great question. I knew we were going to come up with something. Okay, so who must comply with public records? Everyone, right? So members of city council, city officials, all city employees, members of city boards, even volunteers. Again, if it's something that the city does not already have a retention program in place, such as Outlook, right, or Teams or something like that, then you are the custodian of those records. And only the city clerk's office is permitted to destroy records. So even if a retention schedule says that it can be destroyed as soon as it's obsolete, nobody should be destroying records. Only the city clerk can do that. And then again, how do we respond? If we receive a public records request, we have to, per statute, provide receipt within 48 hours. And then the city compiles a request, which might involve having to reach out to individuals to ask for something. And then sometimes our office has to review for any confidential or exempt information. The way in which we receive a public records request through GovQA, which is our program. People can come into City Hall, people can call, people can do by email, but people can also approach, right? And so if you are, if you're leaving here and a resident approaches you, they can make a public records request that way. If you're out in the community, someone may make a public records request that way as well. Uh, it is a public service. Um, so again, I always joke, I would probably not wear this to like sprouts when I leave here because I wouldn't want somebody to come up to me and make a public request while I'm grocery shopping. But as a public servant, I would take that information. I might not do anything with it that night, but the next day I would make sure that I give it to our clerk's office so they can fulfill it.

Is there a maximum amount of time that you have to respond? Like it says you have to notify them that you received your request within 48 hours, but depending on what the backup is, is it a month? Is it six months?

I mean, Nope. So there's no set statutory time. It's a reasonable amount of time. So it depends. Right. And sometimes we'll have a request where it's one document and sometimes we have things where it's 20,000 emails. So it is based off of a reasonable amount of time it's going to take to both compile and then ensure there's no confidential or exempt information.

Do we have a financial obligation on the required requesting parties part?

Uh, what do you mean?

Do we charge them per page or per time?

Yes. So per 119, we are allowed to charge per copies if we're giving physical documents, right? Don't quote me, but I believe it's 15 cents per page. But then we are also – we can do a – if there's extensive resources going into it. So for example, that 20,000 emails, right? If that's going to take excessive staff time to review it to ensure that there is no confidential or exempt information, we are able to charge, we can provide a cost estimate of how much it would charge for that request. The way we do that is we take the lowest salary of the most qualified person to do it. So meaning, if it's just having to look through 20,000 emails to ensure they're all responsive, and someone from maybe Public Works is doing that, then we would take a staff from there. If now you're getting into potential confidential or exempt information that requires our office, then we would take that salary from our office.

It could be thousands and thousands of dollars that are estimated as the cost, which may deter someone from saying, give me 20,000 emails.

Sure, and sometimes what it comes down to, too, is sometimes people... When somebody makes a request, they're not really sure exactly what their request is going to give, right? And so sometimes that will lead to a clarification of, well, I don't want to read 20,000 emails. Let me clarify. I want emails between this person and this person. That oftentimes will narrow the scope.

Great. Thank you.

There's lots of exemptions and confidential information. Normal exemptions, of course, are the addresses and date of births and personal phone numbers of police officers, the name of their spouses, the name of their children. Same goes for judges, state attorneys, public defenders. firefighters, those types of positions. And this is also a good time to state that for the city, if you work for the city, our HR department handles if you fit under one of those categories. For example, our entire police department, right? However, if you live within the city and you fall into one of those categories, you do have to fill out a notarized form with the city and provide it to the clerk's office or we cannot honor that exemption. Um, and that is per one 19 that's per statute. It's a, it's a newer addition to the law. Um, but again, if someone is a police officer, let's say in Stewart, but they live in the city of port St. Lucy. And so their information is going to be on a building permit or any document, right? They would need to fill that out in order for the exemption to be honored. If there is a public records request. Yep. And again, similar with the sunshine, a knowing violation is a first degree misdemeanor. There can be jail time, but even inadvertently destroying records can be punishable by fines. And it leaves the city vulnerable to civil litigation and a warning of attorney's fees. And our office does deal with public records lawsuits. So this is something that does happen. And so we ask everyone to just be very aware. Ethics. So there are several legal restrictions and reporting requirements. One was the financial disclosure, which everyone should have filled out unless you started at the beginning of this year. I know that was a question that came up. So if you started at the beginning of this year, then you're filling out the next summer, so July of 2027. So again, laws pertaining to prohibited or restricted conduct, misuse of public position, conflicts of interest, nepotism, voting conflicts, laws pertaining to bribes, gifts, again, the transparency. And this applies to any person elected or appointed to hold office in an agency, and this includes any advisory body, which would include this board. So public officers cannot solicit or accept anything of value, including a gift, loan, reward, promise of future employment, or vote based off of that, of being influenced, acting in official capacity, directly or indirectly, purchase, rent, or lease any realty goods or services for his or her own agency from any business entity of which the officer or director or spouse or child is a director or has a material interest, or accept any compensation or payment to influence a vote. uh, cripple user attempt to use their position to secure special privilege, have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or reoccurring conflict. Um, and again, there will be some times that there are conflicts on this board. It's just at you, you work and live in the community, but this would be if it's every single month, you have to recuse yourself for several items because of something, you know, something that's going on. You probably would not be a good fit for this board, but if it happens every once in a while, that's okay. And again, hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity which is a subject to the regulation or is doing business with the agency of which he or she is an officer or employee, or use information not disclosed to the public for personal gain. A big thing with, I'm just gonna go back really quick. A big thing with a lot of the ethics too is the perception, right? And so sometimes it's taking an extra step. It's not just whether or not these things are being done or whether somebody should know that something is being done for that purpose. Meaning, you know, somebody says, hey, you know, I listen, I want to take you out for dinner. I want to take you to the golf course or, and you know, that person has an application coming in front of this board and you say to yourself, well, this person is, they have good morals. They would never do something like that. Well, reasonable person, right? Would look at that and think that that's why it's being done. And so you always want to just make sure that you're looking at it from an outside perspective as it relates to your position on this board and knowing if there's someone with an application coming forward or could have an application coming forward. So again, a municipal officer shall vote a capacity upon any measure which would inure him to a special privilege. And if there is a conflict, you must state it to the assembly, the nature of the conflict, and then just file the memorandum with the clerk. Robert's Rules of Order. I don't think I really have to go over this. But of course, this is just to keep decorum. And the chairperson just can't make a motion or close the debate before every person has had a chance to be heard. Our resolution, that's just our own internal rules. Quorum is a majority of the board sides, regardless of vacant seats. An alternate member shall be contacted and substitute for absent members on a rotating basis. For this particular board, and this is a little bit different from some of the other boards, because some of the other boards sit, let's say, like up in the... room up in 366 or down the hall where it's kind of a table and everyone's just sitting around. For that one, alternate members might be kind of immersed in. For this particular board, because you do sit up on the dais, the only people who should be sitting on the dais are those who are current voting members. However, alternate members are encouraged to come to every meeting and can speak, but they would be speaking almost as public to be heard on an item. And that's just to not confuse the record, especially because we do have quasi-judicial items. If you wish to resign, you have to do it by written notice. Alternate members may be elevated to voting members, but that's at the discretion of the city and the mayor's appointment. A member may only serve as chair for one consecutive year. However, if you serve for one year, someone else in the next year, you could be the year after that. Okay, so any questions about any of that before I move on to quasi-judicial? Okay. So you hear me say it over and over again, when a matter is quasi-judicial, the board is applying rules, standards, and policies to a factual situation and is acting in a judicial capacity, right, the judge, rather than a legislative or a rule-creating capacity. So the standard of review for a quasi-judicial item is competent substantial evidence. And so that initial burden is on the applicant to show that there's competent substantial evidence. We want to ensure that competent substantial evidence is coming from the testimony, right? and from the information being provided on the record. That is actually why it's important to provide if you have any ex parte communication, because that ex parte communication should be provided to the entire board. Everyone should be privy to the same information when deciding whether or not there is competent substantial evidence. Again, that burden is on the applicant. And once they have met that, then it would shift to an opposing party who wants to say that they don't have it. or they cannot show confidence in substantial evidence. So any evidence, again, this is the testimony of the applicant, but this is also any witnesses, right? So this would be the public to be heard. This would be staff who could be speaking, anyone who is speaking on any item that now becomes evidence. One thing that's important for this is if we have public to be heard and they're speaking, right, and then they... So we have two scenarios here. The first scenario is, let's say it's a very contentious item, an item where a lot of residents want to speak on what's being in front of the board, and they speak during the item for their three minutes, right? Well, let's say the person feels as if they have not spoken enough, so now at the end of the meeting, they want to speak at public to be heard, which is typically reserved for non-agenda items. We do not... necessary police what people are speaking about right when they come up to this podium they have their three minutes to speak however we would want to be really careful that if somebody is speaking outside of the record right then it's likely not going to be considered as part of that record and you have to be really careful to not consider that one if the item has already been voted on it's done or two if something's been tabled right and so that's where we have to be careful especially if something's been tabled if something has been tabled right um and so there's two things right we want to one be sure that the board is not being influenced by testimony that's being provided outside of that item because now it is no longer part of that competent substantial evidence but also that the resident or the person who is speaking knows that they are now speaking outside of the record and what they're saying won't be considered for the competent substantial evidence because if somebody's speaking they probably want it to be considered And so that's just something to keep in mind when some of these items come up.

In that situation, we usually say something, letting them know. Yes.

Yeah. Normally we would want to say, again, one of two things. Hey, listen, that item is finished. Again, if it's already been voted on, that's a little bit easier because it's already done, it's been voted on. However, if it is a situation where an item has been tabled, that would let the resident know that this is not being considered as part of the record.

And normally I would stop them there and tell them that and say, look, I need you, you want to speak on this item, that item is tabled, come back to the next meeting when this item is going to be heard, and we'll listen to your comments.

What if it's brought up the month before?

That again, that would still not, it wouldn't be considered part of the record because it's not part of the quasi judicial items. Somebody hasn't been sworn in, especially if it's a month before. Cause now they haven't been sworn in because they're most likely weren't speaking during an actual quasi judicial item. Did you have a question?

I do not.

Oh, OK. And that's also why it's important. And I think we say this a lot here is discussing things that are not part of the application. Right. That ancillary information. And that it's really not because we never do that.

Thank you for keeping me on track.

No, and really, you know, questions, a lot of times the questions that are asked are relevant in the sense that they're going to be part of another application, right? They're going to be part of a site plan or something else, and so these are natural thought process that a lot of people would have. The problem with the quasi-judicial items is we don't want it considered part of the record because now you're considering things that are not relevant to the application in front of you, and that's why we often redirect.

A lot of the public comments are public. We term it as public sentiment as opposed to factual information. This is going to hurt my property value. This is going to keep me up at night. They never told me this when I bought that. Unless somebody brings something in writing that can be validated, it's basically validating public sentiment it's it's it's a personal not not that it's not important right and we'll listen but that's not for us to decide we decide is a part of the code yes is a part of the use and then we ask them come back to the city council. who will listen to your concerns, and they're the ones that are going to make the final decision.

Well, so it would still be, for City Council, a lot of times it's still quasi-judicial, but to your point, right, there's, I think this is why quasi-judicial hearings are so important to discuss, because there's two things going on. One, again, that public service aspect of it is that we are here to listen. right and to hear that's why we allow public to be heard and that's why uh even though it might not be part of the record right or even though it might be something you can't consider we still want to give people their chance to speak right but it is up to the board to know when to say okay i heard what they said but it's not actually competent substantial evidence because it is speculation right or it's not it's just not relevant to the application in front of us right

Am I correct in saying that in quasi-judicial, if I don't personally like it for any reason, but it still fits city code, that my vote should be yes? Let's move forward with this thing.

You know, I always refrain from saying yes because I'm an attorney, so it depends. And I think it was said earlier today, right, of I have my concerns, but this fits, right, all of the guidelines and the standards within our code, and so the appropriate decision is to approve it. Right, because we are basing it off of concrete guidelines that we can sort of look and compare it to.

Right.

So if I can just piggyback on that, two comments. One is, you know, under a quasi, if someone gets up and says, I'm really concerned, this building, the lights are going to be shining into my house, and that's a problem. If there's a landscaping plan on the record that you can look at, you know, if the customer gets up and says, yeah, you're showing one tree every 30 feet, that's not really shielding me, you know, that's testimony on the record. That's the person saying more than just, oh, it's going to bother me. It's this, what they've proposed is not going to do what they're saying it's going to do. And that's when sometimes you guys say, oh, staff, what do you recommend? Right, right. Should we put a row of shrubs? Right.

Or certain conditions.

There's some things. Sometimes staff will address that and bring forward conditions. But sometimes there is testimony in the record that if someone raises a concern, you know, you can ask the applicant, oh, show us how you've addressed that. Is this mitigated? That's one thing. Also, you have some items like SEUs or variances. The code has criteria that you need to look at. So when you have an SEU come or a variance in your packet, you'll have a list of what the criteria are, and it's in the code as well, and then typically the customer will provide a narrative of, this is how I need all of these things. Staff will provide a factual kind of, this is what there is. But ultimately, it's up to you, the board, to decide, is the ingress-egress adequate? Right? Based on what they're proposing. Or do I have questions? Is this use compatible here? Or do I have questions about the compatibility? So that's where like those two things, it's really helpful. I know that you guys review everything in great detail before the meetings. But those items are the things where if you have questions about any of those criteria, you can raise them, ask. Now staff won't sit here and defend it. You have to ask the customer, the applicant. So you do have an opportunity. You have to lean into the code and the parameters of the code. So if you just don't like something, know that that's not in the code. But you need to look at the code and what criteria you're basing your decision on. And if you think, no, the egress is not appropriate, this, I don't agree with that, I have concerns, you can request more information and table. You can ask questions of the applicant. So it's not just one way. You just have to be guided by the code.

If you guys as planners or legal have concerns about any of these, will you always present your concerns to us or do you sometimes hold back and let us make our own decisions up here?

So staff tries to write a good staff report, but ultimately we also try to stay in our lane. What I would tell you is that it's for you to review the variance criteria and make your decision. We may have an opinion, it's not our role, it's your role.

Right, I mean, I look at, especially with variances and I look at the staff report because I'm not a fan of variances and if it says it will confer special conditions or special privileges to the applicant. I mean, I, I'm a believer of the staff and I believe the board does a great job of challenging things and asking questions, but. I look at my vote as a sanity check on what the staff did. You guys are the experts. You're looking at everything. You're working with the applicants. You're giving us the recommendations. We can question it and so forth, but I tend to look at the report, especially on a variance, and if all of these things are conferring special privileges, I'm typically not going to approve it. I don't know.

And I, uh, thank you, Mary. And I think another point to that is, is some of the questions, you know, the, the role of legal is to ensure that there's a clear record as it relates to quasi judicial items. So sometimes the questions that you're asking might not be relevant and not fit. However, we don't want to deter anyone from asking questions because a lot of times they do fit, right? And sometimes you might just not, you might be thinking of it in a different way and it's taking, you know, legal who's sitting outside and not the decision makers, right, to say, well, actually, that's not really relevant to this application. But that's just to say, I know that we often will say, you know, that's not relevant or that's not within the scope, but we're not saying that in, hey, don't ask your questions. We're just here to keep a clear record. So keep asking questions if you feel like they are relevant to you. your decision making.

I think to perception of the public, especially of this board, we really take into consideration public comment yeah right and and i think it's important and we we do ask questions that might be ancillary and not really related but i think it's demonstrating to the the residents that hey these folks care we're definitely not a rubber stamp for anything because we don't always agree on on all of the applications and um but all the questions are good but we put harder conditions Yeah, no, we've done that many times.

I heard your jokes last week.

But I think you being consistent and mentioning to us, hey, this is outside, that's fine. And you're saying you're going to allow us to ask the questions, but you're going to make sure that we're aware and the public is aware that this is really not relevant to this. Right. So I think that's important.

Right. And at the end of the day, you all are public servants. Right. And so I think that is also important. And that's where it comes down to. There's just different positions and different roles where a staff has their role. You have a role. Eagle has a role. And the residents have a role as well.

And that's why we're well compensated.

I think there was a slide about that. I don't know.

I always have to throw that in. I always have to throw that in.

You got a shirt.

That's true. We have lots of... We have lots of gear.

We do get compensated that way, so we're very thankful.

um okay so yeah so like public to be heard that's that's a big one and then any documents as well so sometimes let's say mary brought up a good point someone comes and their the resident is coming to speak on it and they might have documentation um that's why we always provide it to the clerk so they can enter into the record so that again it's not just one person looking at it but it's part of that record so um we can look back at it once a decision is made And then again, ex parte communication, that's why it's so important. And so it's any substantive information between or about a pending or formal proceeding between a board or the council and any party to the decision. So again, that would be applicant, any witnesses, any residents, any opposing parties. Bless you. Bless you. This is a little bit different. Ex parte communication is also relevant in the truly judicial system, like with a judge. The difference here is there's not a presumption of prejudice that someone is speaking to someone. So you are speaking to a resident. You did speak to the applicant. However, That presumption of prejudice is not there only if the communication is disclosed and there's details about that communication. So I spoke with so-and-so about this. This is how our discussion was. And then make that part of the record. Disclosure is preferred. So if you don't know if something is ex parte, just disclose it. I mean, there's no harm in disclosing it. There is harm in not disclosing it. So that's just the caution that I give. And that is it. So that is quasi-judicial. And again, I apologize because when I make this, it's for every board. But I realize how important this is to the role that you have and how quasi-judicial, again, it is a little bit different because of that standard of review as well as that record that we need to keep.

How many boards do we have in the city?

I would have to count, but yes, we have quite a bit. We have other sunshine boards, right? So we have public art. We have citizens advisory committee. We have the surtax. We have just naming a few. And then we even have the youth council, which is a fact-finding board. They are not under sunshine.

Okay, cool. Thank you for all your support.

Mr. Riggis has something to say.

Yeah, I was going to beat me to it. I just wanted to say thank you guys for keeping me on track. Thank you for staying on top of us and making sure we're staying in our lane.

Of course, that is our goal.

I also appreciate you for responding to my questions. I think you were the one that called me when I had a question.

Thank you for that.

Yes, of course. It's a full-time job, man. And if you ever have any questions, and you all have been reaching out to us, which we really do like, if you ever have a question, please do not hesitate to reach out. Again, you can see there was a memo that was sent out a couple weeks ago. If there's ever a question, we try to generalize it so that we're not giving individualized advice. However, a lot of times if someone has a question, it's going to come up. Even if it doesn't come up again with this sport, it's going to come up again in the future. And so having that memo to reference is really important. So continue asking questions.

Great. Anything else? I don't feel like that memo was directed at me at all. However, as far as disclosing ex parte communication, there have been times when I've had text messages with concerned citizens who are aware of agenda items. And I've sat here on the dais, moved, sent the text messages to legal. I don't know that that's the correct way to handle things. And so in the future, protocol for you know, disclosing ex parte communication, which is text, could be text messages, could be emails, could be smoke signals, could be all kinds of stuff. Proper protocol for disclosing such.

You would want to disclose it during that item when the chair asks if there is any ex parte communication.

Should a physical document be presented?

I would say that's a good practice, right? Because there's several pieces of this wanting to become part of the record, right? And then you don't have to rely on your recall of what the conversation was because now there's something that everyone can just read. And two, it also helps clear up if there's ever a public records request, now it's part of the record and we can easily pull it.

So I did take screenshots of the text conversation, emojis and all. And so, but that was during the course of the meeting, I guess, would have a better protocol would have been to maybe send that to legal prior to the meeting?

You can send it to the clerk because it would become part of the record and they're the ones that keep the record. I think the way you did it was fine, but I think if you do it beforehand, it probably just, it's going to become part of the record regardless. But if you're able to think of it at that time, because I know sometimes it's not until you're sitting up here and you say, hey, has anybody had an ex parte that you think, oh, actually, yeah. But if you think about it beforehand, I don't think it hurts to just send it to the clerk.

So if I send it to the clerk and I disclose I had ex parte communication, at what point do I say, I said, okay, I have text messages. I have forwarded them to the clerk and you guys will enter those into the record.

Um, so I would still during the item, I would still say that's when I asked you, is there any expert communication to say yes. And here's what it is. And I've given it to the clerk. Okay. Great.

And then the clerk has made a part of the record.

Yep. All right, any other questions?

Great. Is this when we have Gus's birthday cake?

Yeah, where's Gus?

Yeah, where's Gus? Gus!

Happy birthday to you.

Oh, no. You know we're still on TV. Happy birthday to you. You didn't adjourn yet. Happy birthday, dear Gus.

Happy birthday to you. Nice try. All right. Enter that into the record, please. Any members of the public wish to speak? Seeing none. All right.

Great job, Mr. Chair.