Council Agenda - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. It is Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, 530. I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order and ask the mayor to lead us in a prayer and pledge.

Can you hear me? Please bow with me. Lord, thank you once again for the wonderful city that we live in. Thank you for the citizens that make this a wonderful place and our staff that keeps it clean and neat and moving ahead. And thank you for the first responders. We ask that you watch over them and protect them as they do their job and protect us and watch over their families as they take care of the first responders. As tonight, we honor cancer issues, which is an issue with many, many people in our community. But we have people that take care of the people that are hurting. And we ask that you watch over and lay your healing hands on everyone that you can. We ask that all we do in your name, Jesus Christ.

I pledge allegiance to the flag.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Kathy, could you call the roll?

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here. Thank you. If anybody wants to talk about anything that is not on the agenda today, please see Clerk Haley. She'll give you a form to fill out, and we'll get to you later in the meeting. Moving on to the Mayor's report.

Well, really the only community report that I have is with Garden Week last week. We had 40 different events that were put together that TDC had organized and did a really good job. And I got a lot of comments from it that it was pretty active. And for being the first year, it was pretty phenomenal for what they had to put together. So really, if you think Garden Week, what do you think? I got to go hold the garden. But there were so many different events that went on and had so many – of our citizens and merchants put together things that really, it was really a cool idea. So what a good day. The other thing I have is a proclamation and I'm going to go up here and I'd ask if I could have hope come up please.

And Kristi. She's here since day one.

We are going to do a proclamation for cancer and prevention of cancer, and we appreciate all that Diane has done. She's developed the Naughty Girl events and organization. And on October 3rd, we light the circle pink and have a big event on that day, so everybody's welcome to come to that. But here's the proclamation for it. Whereas breast cancer affects individuals of all ages, genders, backgrounds, and walks of life, impacting families, friends, caregivers, and communities throughout our nation and our local community. And whereas early detection, education, and access to screening continue to save lives and improve outcomes for those diagnosed with breast cancer. And whereas survivors, caregivers, health care professionals, volunteers, and advocates play an important role in providing hope, support, and encouragement to those affected by breast cancer. And whereas Naughty Girl Loves Inc., a Highlands County-based nonprofit organization founded by a breast cancer survivor, Diane Albright. is dedicated to promoting breast cancer awareness, education, and early detection through community outreach and advocacy. And whereas Naughty Girl Loves Inc. will host a third annual Light the Circle Pink event on October 3rd, 2026 in historic downtown Sebring, bringing together residents, businesses, healthcare organizations, survivors, and supporters to raise awareness and encourage proactive health screenings. And whereas the Light the Circle Pink event embraces the organization's mission of racing to educate and save lives while fostering unity and hope and support throughout our community. Now, therefore, I, John Shoup, Mayor of the City of Sebring, Florida, do hereby proclaim October 26th as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and further recognize October 3rd as Light the Circle Pink Day in the City of Sebring and encourage all residents to support breast cancer awareness, promote early detection, honor survivors, remember those we have lost, and participate in activities that strengthen the health and well-being of the community. In witness thereof, I here to set my hand and cause with great zeal the city of Sebring, Florida, this 15th day of September, in the year of our Lord, 2026. Thank you.

Actually, this is the debut of Hope. She will be a part of the Naughty Girl team. Naughty Girl is actually an educator. She's a visual representation. You have to look it up, K-N-O-T-T-Y girl, but if you see the visual representation, it will teach you about early detection and what to find. We promote mammograms. We promote, you know, knowing your body. We also, we, men, one in a thousand men are being diagnosed. One in eight women, younger and younger. Women typically do not get mammograms until they're 40. So there's a lot of young women in this room right now And I am speaking to you because I was 40 years old when I felt something. And so I'm 40% of the women out there that have saved my own life. I will say that was 24 years ago and the mammogram did not see or detect it. So if I didn't feel it, I wouldn't be here today. And so with that's why she's called the naughty girl. And again, she's a visual representation of what a knot can feel like and see like. And so We also are a nonprofit that we feel like we want to inspire and give you hope. And I recently have lost my brother this last year to cancer. And it was something that I was grieving, kind of struggling with. And I said, You know, we all hope that there's a cure for all cancers, you know, maybe there could be some kind of vaccine. I don't understand. And so anyway, I decided that from that. I was going to design a mascot and I was going to call her hope and her name was going to be butterfly and she's going to be a part of everything that we do. And she is. right now i just smile because i know that sometimes i'm around people and they're not smiling and i know when she walks in a room she will bring hope and you will smile and that's helping through my grieving um because there's all kinds of cancer but i just thank you i know you all came to several of you tonight to be with me and support me I thank you all. I think we've been like maybe eight, nine years, Christy. The banners, the city council always approved for that. And in the last three years we came with the idea, Christy and I, can we just like light it up even more with an event? And so you've always supported us and we thank you for all my big ideas and my passion. And she's also Sebring High School art teacher. But 14 years ago, she came to my office. I told her what I wanted, and she came back within a couple weeks. She put it in front of me, and I said, that's exactly what I want. So she's been with me since day one for 14 years, and I thank you.

All right.

Yeah, so we'll see you all October 3rd, downtown Sebring, like the Circle Pink. We have a lot of things planned from the Strut Around the Circle car and truck show. We have a parade. I mean, there's just a lot of things. You'll have to go check it out, like thecirclepink.com.

Thank you.

All I have, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Moving on to the council members' concerns, comments, and liaison reports. Start with Councilman Stewart.

No report.

No report.

I got nothing. All right, moving on to the consent agenda. Do we have a motion or do we have any discussion on the consent agenda? Motion we approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. Motion to second. Anybody from the public who wants to speak about anything on the consent agenda?

Comments here?

Kathy? Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. There is no old business, so moving on to new business with 10A with a public hearing. So, Spursa. Yep, and this is a public hearing, so I'm going to go ahead and open this up.

And I'll read the title of the proposed ordinance. It is an ordinance of the City of Sebring, Florida, amending the City of Sebring land development code by amending Chapter 17, sign Section 17-10.2, non-residential zone district to address signage for locations with multiple businesses, providing for severability, providing for conflict, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Bob.

Good evening. For the record, Marissa Barnaby with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Next slide. Tonight we are here for first reading for a city initiated amendment to the sign code to address non-residential signage. Next slide. So There's different types of signage, as we all know. One of the categories for non-residential is strip malls, and strip malls, like what you see here, is a bunch of stores all put together, and so there's signage requirements for what they can do, including they get, you know, all those businesses get one sign on the front, you know, freestanding sign. Next slide. Then you get a shopping center, which is a bigger type of use where, again, you get the one big sign on the front and then all the people are in the back. Next slide. What we are not clearly addressing in our code at this time is the type of uses where my business is in the back, you know, like Publix is in the back or the big stores in the back. And then we have out parcels up front because our code typically measures the signage you can have based on how much frontage you have along that road. So under this scenario, next slide. Oh, it's coming up. Anyway, so what you're finding, sorry, go back one more. I'm sorry. So right now our signs, what you are allowed, you can have a freestanding sign. So that's either a pole sign. You can have monument sign. Those are the signs that are by the side of the front or by the road type signs, next side. Or you can have signs that are actually on your building. So it's affixed to your wall. Right now, our code says you get one free standing sign for each road frontage for your building. If you are a single business and you are an intersection, you can have one for each. road frontage that it says if you are multiple businesses sharing a single building you get one permanent freestanding sign for all the building or facility per road frontage not to exceed two uh freestanding signs and that they cannot be larger than one square foot of area for each lineal front of the premises measured upon the street with no sign to exceed 300 square feet So there's kind of that example of that. So this again becomes our issue. These big businesses here, if you've got these out parcels on the front, how do you measure against that frontage for signing for those businesses? So, we have some proposed text amendments. 1st, we would be adding some definitions. We would be adding a definition for big box retailer, which is a single use building or connected series of buildings typically with floor area of 75,000 square feet or more. And often comprised of distinct areas devoted to special functions. Or types of merchandise. These stores are often part of national or regional chains and generally include large surface parking areas and a warehouse-style layout. Examples include home improvement stores, warehouse clubs, department stores, and general merchandise retailers. We're adding a definition for development complex, which includes two or more separate primary commercial uses or buildings on a single lot or on two or more contiguous lots, including out parcels. served by a common road or driveway shared parking and or shared stormwater facilities and then a definition for master site plan which is a formal city approved document that sets the rules and design standards for all signage on specific property multi-tenant building or development So under section 17, 4-1, it tells you all the things you have to come in with when you apply for a sign permit. We want to add consistency with the approved master sign plan as applicable because there would be times when you would have a master site plan. So we want to make sure we're being consistent with it. Here under freestanding signs, you can see we renumbered. because what was number three now moves down next slide this was number three and more it's now becoming number eight and we're calling it multi-businesses single building or facility we're not changing the language here this is what's in your code today um and it says you get your one permanent freestanding sign for the building or facility per road frontage not to exceed the total freestanding sign so again this is That strip shopping mall we're talking about it's 1 building with all the different things and you get your 1 freestanding sign at the road for it. What we are adding is. Development complex, so we have that definition again. So it's it's. The complex, we have shared parking, we have shared stormwater. You can have out parcels in it. We're 1 big development complex. Typically, the developer comes in with the plan that staff reviews and goes through when it identifies. Here's the out parcels. Here's how all the parking and the stormwater and all that would go. We then say the development complex would be entitled to a development complex sign. one per street frontage at the maximum size permitted for freestanding signs, which is 300 square feet of area. No single tenant freestanding signs shall be permitted within a development that has a development complex sign except for out parcels. So similar to what we have in the one above, we get one for the development complex. If my store is in there, I don't get mine up front as well. Then it would And I apologize, there was language that was supposed to come off of this that I didn't click the right slide for. Development complex signs typically identify the complex and identified by name and or logo only. Each primary commercial use in the complex, there's supposed to be a period there that, however, was supposed to come off. So I apologize, I didn't take that off the slide here. And then the development complex sign shall be located on property contained as part of the complex. Next slide. So this is an example of what we're talking about. This is an example, you can see it's the development complex. We've got our big, big primary buildings. You've got some out parcel or buildings on the front and where the red star is, is where, you know, on that entrance out, you would put your development complex sign. Next slide. Again, this is kind of that example of what that is. So you can see you have your out parcels, the building in the back, they have shared parking, they're sharing their stormwater functions. Next slide. And here's what that would look like. This is The signage for the development complex there that says Pembroke Lakes Mall lists the, you know, anchor stores at that mall. It's in that road frontage, which is development complex property. In this example, the Olive Garden, which is the out parcel, also has their little sign there. Next slide. So then we have a language added in for out parcels and out parcels within a development complex may have monument signage as long as the building does not share a common wall with another building or structure on an adjacent parcel. The monument sign is at least 50 linear feet from any development complex sign or any other monument sign. Monument signage is intended to be directed at ground level view and provide enhanced wayfinding. Monument signs shall not exceed five feet in height, measured from the crown of the closest roadway frontage or average adjacent grade, whichever is higher, and 12 feet in length. Monument signs may be double faced. Minimum setback is five feet from the rights of way. And the base of the footer of the monument sign does not count towards the sign area as long as it does not have content or exceed three feet in height from the average adjacent grade. Next slide. Then we have the language in for the master sign plan. And the master sign plan is supposed to be developed at time of site plan or subdivision plan to identify where the signage would happen, what type of signage is out there. If the developer wants to have signed standards on there, that would be included in that. Well, that would be adopted in whatever plans they have with whomever is buying the property from them. But at a minimum, we would have them show the boundaries of the parcels, the parking lot layout and drive aisles, entrance and exits, and the current and proposed signage. next slide um then our section goes into wall and fascia signs so this is what's put on the building itself this is what's in there for your single use buildings and it has the language saying you get one um on businesses that front on a public street and walls that are visible from the streets um and they can't exceed more than one square foot of area for each lineal front foot of the premises measured upon the street with the total not to exceed 300 square feet of area. Next slide. We are adding Right now your code has shopping centers and multi use buildings and we want to add big bucks retail to that. So we have a statement added in here to say if the establishment of boats, two or more streets, the city administrator or their designee shall determine which road the building faces. And that well, my next slide has that picture. So in here, we're adding big bucks retail. And we are this is the provision has the amount that they're allowed, they're allowed if they have more than two acres on a site they're allowed one and a half square foot of sign area for each lineal front foot of the building frontage that faces the street that serves the shopping center that's what's in your code today what we're adding is to say you can put your signage on the front side or rear of the building but individual signs shall not exceed the 300 square feet and the reason for that is Sorry, let me finish this and I'll show that on the next slide anyway. So, and then again, if you're in a development complex, you would have this all of this approved as your master site plan. Consistent with that section we just saw this next section said, if you were more than 40,000 square feet or a multi use building with more than 5 users. We took that piece out. It's kind of confusing with the language that's above it. So this now says wall signage for anchor stores or uses with more than 40,000 square feet in shopping centers or multi-use buildings with more than five users or big box retail having more than two acres with access to an arterial or collector can be increased by 200 square feet when the building is set back 200 feet from the public right away. And the reason for these changes is Right now, your code says if you're more than five users, if you're a big box retail, you can be, might be my next slide. Go to the next slide. Well, Target's a good example. So Target, you go up, they have the big Target sign. They have CVS in there. CVS gets their own side. Next slide. This is an example, Ace Hardware. So Ace Hardware wants to advertise, they do lumber, they do hardware, they do paint, they do plumbing, they have these different services. And that's what we're seeing with a lot of our bigger box retail. You get in a store, know such as as target even or bigger stores and they have a vision center and they may have a tire center and they may have these different things so they want to be able to advertise their different uses even though they're technically not different businesses so that's why we have that language written that way so that there's that opportunity to do that and we're saying you get bait and the signage is based on the size of your building and the reason that's important um there's sometimes you'll see examples where If it's just based on the sign, you'll get a teeny tiny little business with a sign that's as big as it is. And then the lows, for example, have the same size sign and it looks swallowed up on the frontage of that huge building. So having it based on the size of the building allows for signage that fits the building. And then that provision, which is in your code today, is if I'm 200 feet back from the road, I get to have a little extra sign because we're recognizing we're further steps back from the road. Next slide. So that's my example here. This is, again, it's the target. So where are we figuring out what frontage are we doing? So this is where the applicant would sit down with the city manager or designee to decide, are we measuring it from the red star, the gold star, or the blue star? And that's similar for when we're doing setbacks on property. Sometimes that's how that works. You go, okay, well, which ones are frontage and what are we doing? And that allows... you know this technically has a road here 14th avenue 14th avenue is a tiny little road it's not the primary road you're advertising to so if it's the service to the target would be the 14th avenue they obviously want to be serviced off of the bigger road and that's what they would want to be measured off of and that's that's what they would work with the city staff on doing that and ensuring that the signage is compatible with the type of road furniture they're on and the size So then what we are adding right now, your code allows for rear signs. We wanted to expand that to allow for signs on the side. And right now it says you can have a sign on the rear wall, which abuts either a street other than providing primary public access or an alley. So we're adding out parcels or buildings with adjoining parking lots used in connection with such buildings shall be permitted to have rear or sidewall signs facing over such parking lots. And then the square footage requirements instead of just rear, it's rear inside. Next slide. So this is an example of Mellow Mushroom. It's actually in Lakeland. And you drive on Lakeland Highlands and you can see this is this side. This side here with that sign, that's their entrance to the parking lot. Next slide. then this is the view from the parking lot and they've got their signage there as well so that's what this language is trying to do is to allow for development here or signage here that addresses the three faces that people are actually interacting with so i didn't include a picture of it but the back side here where their dumpster is there's no sign on that side but um next slide This is another example. So this is inside the parking lot looking at the front. This is obviously the primary entrance is all that with the signage there. Next slide. And then this is you're driving down the main road, seeing the back where you can go, oh, look, there's the bike store. I'm going to stop at the bike store on my way home from work today. So there allows for some signage facing that road on the back. planning and zoning board did have a meeting on this on September 8th and voted to recommend approval with changes those changes have been incorporated into your packet they did also have two workshops on this on this language prior to their hearing so this language has been vetted with them and your motions are here I'm happy to stand for any questions or comments you may have thank you very much anybody any from the public have any questions please

I'm going to adjourn the public hearing. Moving on to council's questions, comments.

Fully educated on science.

And I have none either, so that being said, I'll entertain a motion.

Make a motion that we approve Ordinance on First Reading and Schedule Second and Final Reading for October 6th, 2026. Second.

Motion to get second. Any final comments from the audience? comments here kathy yes yes yes yes thank you very much presentation as always all right uh any business from the audience i don't see any moving on to city attorney's business nothing okay city administrator

The project report is attached. There were only a couple of changes to the project report. One of them was with DOT. They do have recommended language that was formulated by District 1, and they forwarded that to the

the social district we're still investigating potential legislate thank you scott kathy you're up so moved sorry anybody have any questions about the bills

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. That is it. We are adjourned.