City Commission - Regular Meeting

of St. Pete Beach to order. It is 6 o'clock on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. Would you please rise and and say the pledge of allegiance with us? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh, city clerk, would you please provide the roll call? Commissioner Marriott, here. Vice Mayor Robinson, here. Commissioner Cy here. Commissioner Maldonado here and Mayor Tate here. We have a quorum.

Wonderful. Thank you. Before we start the agenda, I know uh we've got a number of people in here. I just want you to remind you if you're going to be speaking uh we have rules of decorum on the back. I just ask you to look at those and please be mindful of them. U so uh first I'll ask uh of the of the group. Is there any proposed changes to the agenda? Mayor, I have a prop a proposed change. Okay. I would like to add the proclamation for the library's 75th birthday as item 2C and move item 2C, the capital improvement plan discussion to capital, I'm sorry, 2D. Okay. Right. 2C becomes library 75th birthday. Capital improvements becomes 2C or 2D. Got you. I have an item of discussion.

Okay. Thank you. And that would be uh code enforcement. others. Commissioner. Okay. Thank you. Uh, is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? I move to approve the agenda as amended. I second. City clerk, please. I'm sorry. Who was the second? I second. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cay, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Mayor Tate, yes.

The motion carries.

Okay. Uh, thank you. Uh, I think we have a number of presentations and the first one is a presentation of the St. Pete Beach after school program good citizen award. Mayor, commissioners, city clerk, etc. Folks, thank you very much for welcoming us um to the meeting so I can present the St. Pete Beach Explorers Club good citizens of the year. We run a capacity at 75 children in our childare program. And this year it was very easy for us to single out and home in on these two charmers. Um we recognize two outstanding children every year and bring awareness to the stellar children we have in our outstanding child care program. These children are chosen by displaying positive attitudes, willingness to help, going above and beyond to help the other kids and the coaches, and being good stewards of our equipment and our materials. We use this to spread goodwill to the kids and their families and shine a light on our superstars, to the commissioners, the mayor, and and the rest of our community. The recipients for this school year are Vivian Clark and Jeremiah Neil. They're both in fourth grade. So without further ado, please let me introduce our first good citizen, Vivian Clark. Vivian, come up. If it weren't for Vivian forgetting her sweatshirt every single day and me returning her sweatshirt to her every single day, I would think this girl was flawless. Uh it's comforting to know

she's human. Uh we have been fortunate enough to know Viv since she was in kindergarten when her big brother then a second grader was my first good citizen recipient. The Clarks are clearly doing something right. Viven is a happy, positive child in this group. She gets along with everyone. When we ask for assistance from the kids with anything, Viv's hand is the first to go up and volunteer. She does whatever task we put in front of her, and some are really weird. Um, and she does it with a smile and without hesitation. She's a very busy girl going between Explorers Club, piano, swim, you name it, myriad other things. Um, and her parents, her grandparents, and I have gotten this down to a science getting her where she needs to go. We've done this pretty well. Anyway, Vivian always is available also to let us know how to do a better way of doing things. We appreciate that quite a bit. She isn't afraid to ask questions. She spreads her kindness and her steady calming energy and her infectious smile to those of us in her presence every single day. Viv, thank you for your willingness to help, your great suggestions for improvement, uh your engaging smile, your happy dis disposition, and your ever calming energy. It's absolutely a delight to be in your presence. Congratulations and thank you for being one of our good citizens.

Wait, we're not done. Got a lot here, girl. Guess your skin. All right. Here. And if it weren't for the sweatshirt, your skin looks dangerous. Hang on, Mark. Please, if you'll hang up on you don't mind.

Congratulations Jeremiah Neil is the other of the two recipients this year. St. Pete Beach Explorers Club good citizen award. Jer

Germ Jeremiah I lovingly call him Germ. Uh came to our program as a kindergartener. He was a quiet, shy, almost timid boy and he and I forged a wonderful relationship. He would talk to me incessantly while I was driving the school bus, bringing the kids back to the rec center and I would know all about his day, his weekend, his family, whatever was going on. Jeremiah did not hesitate to talk to me about it and he and I became like this. It has been my favorite thing. Uh then Jeremiah found taekwond do and his passion. Jeremiah gained not only his black belt,

but also strength and the quiet confidence he carries within himself at all times. Jeremiah will simply find things that need doing, such as picking up trash after the littles, moving tables around, pushing in chairs, picking up sporting equipment, returning it where it goes. He does this with little to no asking from any of us coaches. And he does it because he sees it not it needs doing. He doesn't do it for beach bucks, which is our little our uh what's it called? Money. Currency. Yes. Thanks. Yes. This is why I have them.

Uh he doesn't do it for recognition. He does it because he knows it's the right thing to do. Germ, we love having you in Explorers Club. We're grateful for your help and your calm, cool demeanor. and thank you for being a wonderful asset to our program and for being this year's good citizen. He does not need to hand him his sweatshirt every day. Congratulations.

Thank you again very much for having us. Thank you.

Thank you very much. That was uh extremely heartwarming and uh congratulations Vivian and Jeremy. Jeremiah, good job. Jeremiah Germ, we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you for all your good work. Okay, thank you. Uh, our next presentation is a recognition of the employee of the second quarter.

Thank you, Mayor and City Commission. I have the pleasure tonight to introduce uh five of our superstars within the city who go above and beyond every day they come to work to serve this community. As I call your name, if you don't mind coming up, I'm just going to say a few brief words about you and then if you can stand up here together and the mayor and I will come down to present your uh certificates. So, first um Ken Cosbab. Ken consistently demonstrates a positive attitude, strong work ethic, and a willingness to go above and beyond. He has taken ownership of the fog inspector program. That's fats, oils, and greases in case any of you are wondering. Proactively addressing issues, maintaining compliance standards, and supporting both staff and the community with professionalism and reliability. Second from the fire department, we have firefighter paramedic Autumn Kelso. Firefighter paramedic Kelso was lead paramedic on a cardiac arrest call. Her fast actions when arriving on scene set the patient up for a positive outcome. She also was instrumental in the successful rescue of a victim while working in the role of rescue swimmer on LM22. She has shown herself to be a valuable asset to the fire department as well as the community residents and visitors. Next from community to

I'm so sorry. She might. Yeah. Next up from community development um comments from duty calls. Thank you. Thank you for your service.

When when I look at St. Pete Beats St. Pete Beach's 10 team commitments. I see Kristen Comman in all of them. Her high performance and accountability is perpetually visible and undeniable. She collaborates across teams to solve problems on a daily basis. Her knowledge is broad and she shares it readily. Our next winner is Angela Petric from resident services the library. Um Angela played a pivotal role in the recent library reorganization taking on the bulk of the heavy lifting and physical labor required to make the transformation successful. She demonstrated both her organizational skills and her strong work ethic. In our general admin group finance, we have Michelle Curtis who started at St. Pete Beach as a volunteer during the storm recovery and later applied and was selected to be a critical player on the finance team as the finance technician too. Michelle has been instrumental in implementing the new software uh finance software troubleshooting issues, creating standard operating procedures, and training employees on the system. Her commitment to accuracy and continuous improvement not only keeps things running seamlessly, it elevates the experience for everyone who works with her. Yeah.

Come on. I know. I'll take a picture of Yeah.

Congratulations. I'm do what? I'm going

uh thank you again and congratulations to the employees of the second quarter. Uh my understanding is the the new agenda contains library 75th birthday. Thank you. Oh, sorry, city clerk should have given you a moment. Okay. So you'll library 75th birthday. That's Yes. Yes. Mayor, if you would like to read the proclamation and then we can invite the um director and her staff up to receive it. Oh, just just our director. Okay. Uh the entire proclamation. Make sure. Okay. All right. It's a little mouthful, so y'all just bear with me, please.

Uh so the proclamation is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the St. Pete Beach Public Library and uh it's fairly lengthy so bear with me here. Uh whereas the St. Pete Beach Public Library was founded in 1951 by the St. Petersburg Beach Community Club and for 75 years has served the community by providing free and equitable access to the joy of reading education and lifelong learning. And whereas since becoming a municipal library in 1957, the library has grown alongside the city and has served generations of residents, expanding beyond its traditional role to offer programs, electronic resources, and services that support cultural enrichment, civic engagement, and community well-being for residents of all ages. And whereas the library's 8,200 square f foot building constructed in 1969 and later refurbished has remained a welcoming community space continuing to serve patrons even during its temporary relocation for renovations in 2020 and 2021. And whereas as a member of the Penllis Public Library Cooperative since 1989, the library provides access to a wide range of shared resources across Penllis County. And whereas the library staff, volunteers, and supporters have demonstrated continued dedication to public service and to strengthening the quality of life in St. Pete Beach. Now, therefore, the city commission of St. of the City of St. Pete Beach does hereby recognize and celebrate 75 years of outstanding service, dedication to lifelong learning, and meaningful contributions to the community by the St. Pete Beach Public Library. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you. Sign this is right. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Let me sign quick. Thank you so much. And city clerk should stay with me or does it go with the librarian? Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

Oh yes. Okay, thank you. Um, so our next agenda item or our next presentation item is a capital improvement plan public dashboard demo I assume by Camden. Welcome, sir. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Uh for the record, my name is Camden Mills, public services director. I appreciate the opportunity uh this evening to give an update on the public dashboard demo that we've been working on the last several months um to be able to showcase our capital improvement plan and provide more transparency into the the status of the projects that the city is working on. Um before I get into that dashboard demo, I wanted to give a brief update on where we stand on our capital improvement plan through quarter two of this year. So that's January through March 2026. Um right now you'll see a bulk of our projects are in the design or procurement phase. Um but we are starting to move more of those into the active uh implementation construction phase. Um currently we have about 11 projects that are in that active implementation um phase and since last quarter we have been able to close or complete four of our projects. Um that includes our wastewater lift stations pumps overhaul, the shuffleboard clubhouse demolition, uh residing at Egan Park, and then a sewer pipe at Uppam Beach. Um it is important to note we have one project that's on hold here currently. That was our 45th Avenue drainage project. Um we submitted some grant applications for that and we were

waiting on feedback for those grants before we progress the design. Um so that's a project that we plan on moving forward in into this next quarter. And then we have one project that is um at risk for and is being delayed. That is our 36th Avenue seaw wall replacement project. Um with that project we are waiting u Duke Energy to do their electrical line relocation before the city follows with their work. And right now Duke Energy is coordinating with the Florida Department of Transportation to get the permits in hand um so they can complete that. Um but overall um our our goal as we mentioned last quarter is is to move projects out of design into construction then ultimately into completion. And then I wanted to give some updates on some of our higher priority projects um that are underway here in the city. Uh first of which is our wastewater pump station one on the north side of the island. This is the sanitary sewer uh lift station that conveys all of the waste water off of the island and over to the city of St. Petersburg. Um currently we are in the major phase of construction here with the pumps um underground systems, the electrical and in the odor control. Um those in that area would have noticed that the the the lift station has been on bypass and a lot of the major equipment has been decommissioned as of February and that'll be in place until about mid June um when we'll be able to fire up our our new equipment and get the lift station running again. Um our our schedule right now is to have substantial completion this summer in July and then from there um the last bits of of the work will be uh the generator delivery that's scheduled for October. Um, so our plan is to have this this project completely wrapped up by the end of the calendar year. Next is our wastewater system cleaning and inspection project. Um, as you can see here, these are some of the um, updates on where we're at through through that quarter, too. So, as far as our our pipe cleaning and camera inspection, we're about 85% complete with that throughout the city. For our

manhole structures, we're about 72% through cleaning and inspecting those. And then our lateral lines that tie into the main were about 7% um complete with inspecting those. Um I would note um the the images that you see here on the screen here at on the left hand side, this is a cast iron pipe and what you see on the outside here, this is a tuberculation. Um so that's iron um oxide and rust that that forms um in that pipe over time. So our goal here would and and as you can see that would limit capacity in the pipe. So, we'd want to clean out that tur tuberculation and then come through later with a pipe lining as as our repair for that. Um, that's just an example of some of the type of footage that that we review and see as we're going through and and cameraing and inspecting these pipes. On the right hand side, um, this is a map um, showing the areas that have been inspected to date. And what we're creating here is a risk assessment map so we can ultimately provide a condition rating on each of our our pipes and manholes that we're checking. There is an industry standard in and formula to calculate what that condition rating is. Um, and at the end of this project, we'll have a published report um that outlines all of the infrastructure wastewater and assigns a priority level and recommendations to either repair or or replace. Um, this image that you see on this hasn't been fully reviewed and and vetted yet, but that that will be something that that's a final deliverable of this project. And then accompanying that is our wastewater collection system improvements. Um so as I mentioned, you know, after that cleaning project, we'll have a good um asset inventory and collection that will guide our CIP program moving forward. But as we're identifying some higher emergency type items that that um need to be addressed in the short term, we're making those in repairs and replacements as well. Um, so currently we have about $500,000 in purchase orders issued uh to our contractor Roland to do various point repairs and manhole rehab uh throughout the city. Um, some of these images that

you can see on on this slide here is some of the pipes um pipe work and point repairs that they've been doing. And then that manhole on the right, that was the manhole down um on Fourth Avenue in and Pass Grill that was recently replaced. Um, I'd also like to note that we have a wastewater system repairs contract um that that was out to bid. It just recently closed. And then tomorrow staff will be evaluating the proposals received for that contract. That will include um structural point repairs um for the pipes, uh manhole rehabilitation, and also pipelining. Um so right now we do have have contracts for the point repairs and the manhole, but the pipe lining we don't have an active contract for. Um, so this will allow us to have all three of these services covered um for a three-year period uh with options to extend for two additional um one-year periods. And I would like to note we did receive 15 different uh proposals uh for contractors for this contract. Um so I think that shows pretty good progress in being attracting um firms to come and and bid on our projects in here within the city. Next, I'm jumping over to our storm water system um cleaning and inspection projects. So, similar effort to the wastewater where we're cleaning the system, inspecting it with a camera, and then doing a condition assessment um report that will guide our CIP long term. Um the metrics that you see on here as far as progress, again, this is through March of this year. And I' I'd like to note that we are making um some some pretty good progress of here, especially over the last month. As far as pipe cleaning, um we've increased that um from from the end of March through the end of April from 23% to 38%. For our CCTV camera inspections, um we've increased that in the last month from 13% to 21%. And then our citywide structures, uh we've gone from about 8% up to 19%. Um originally, we were estimating to have this project completed in November, um based based on our contract terms. Um but seeing the progress that we've we've had the last couple months, we're estimating completion around the August time frame of this year.

Some of the key issues that we've ran into um with with this project is is some of the tides and and requiring um to plug the outfalls um which just makes some effort extra efforts there to to pump the water out of the system before we can go through and and clean and inspect it. Um and then also the extensive barnacle removals at at all of our outfalls. Uh we do have some ongoing efforts here again as as we're identifying repairs um or identifying the needs, we're we're scheduling repairs. We have about $200,000 issued right now for for various collection system repairs throughout the city. Uh we had a commercial diving services um request for proposal out that just recently closed. Uh we had 11 contractors submit proposals for that. And then we had a civil on call construction uh request for proposal. Um that'll be used for a lot of roadway work and storm water improvements into the future. And we received five proposals on that bid. And then next I'd like to get into to the public dashboard and and show you guys an update on where we're at there. Um so first this is our our internal viewer map. Um so as you can see we have different dashboards that we track. On the right hand side is all of our various projects. If you click on a project it kind of narrows down the focus of that. Um we have an editor view um which just shows shows the map and this is where we can edit the different project boundaries um that'll that'll show up on the public dashboard. We have our table view um so this is where all the hard data is entered. Um and we try to update this at least on a weekly basis but but sometimes even daily. Um so this includes a lot of the project description, the funding, the timeline, um the status and then finally our Gant chart. Um this is the overall project schedule. um so we can track and and make sure we're on time with with what we had planned. Um so this is what we see um city staff internally and and the inputs that we input um for to publish this this dashboard. Next I'll

show how we access um the public dashboard. So, you go on to the city's website and at the government tab at the top of the page um for the departments, go down to public services, click on that and then on our capital projects um subpage, we'll have a hyperlink there um where people can can get on and access the map. Currently, we have our adopted fiscal year um budget shown on this page. Um but like I said, by the end of the week, uh we plan on having that hyperlink added there, and that'll be the location that you can access this public dashboard. And then finally I'd like to to show what the the public's view of this will be. Um so when when this dashboard is accessed. So on the left hand side uh we have various different filters um such as project status um strategic plan alignment for our strategic pillars as well as funding source. And then we have a list of all the 53 um projects going on in in the city's CIP. And then we have a map view. Um this is similar to like a Google maps um type view. You can toggle it be to be between this view or an an aerial image. And then on the far right hand side, that's where we have the more refined details for each of our projects. We'll include the project name, description, um funding, and whatnot. If you zoom in on the map, it'll it'll um filter out and sort those projects by just the viewable area that's shown. Um so it helps you filter u by location. And then when you select those different um tabs on the far left hand side, you can filter projects by the status um what strategic pillar they're in um or even the funding source. Um so in this scenario um if you wanted to see what waste products that we had um that are in design or procurement, that will filter it down to just those eight projects that that fit that category. And then if you want to um zoom into more refined details on a project, you just simply click on it on the map um or um over to the lefth hand side and it'll zoom in on that project location and then show uh more refined details on the right hand side. Um, so

this is a living living breathing um um platform that that we'll continually update. And as I mentioned, we plan to publish this at the end of this week um so people can start accessing in that and submitting their feedback so we can continue to make improvements to make sure that we're showing the information um that that people uh would like to see. And with that, I'll open it up to to any comments or questions. Commissioner Robinson. So is that for uh the CIP year per year? Yes, it's just for just per year. Um, so that's all the active projects within fiscal year 26. I'm assuming you have one internally that expands past that. Not in the dashboard, um, view yet. Um, but you will event I would assume

that could be something that that we build out eventually. And then, um, I had a question in regards to, uh, the risk assessment. Um, is there a way to do anything on the uh storm drains as far as showing what has been done and where? Yes. Yes, we can we can show the map for that. That would be great. That would be helpful because um and then I had a question. The 23% or it increased to 38%. The number you're showing me is the is that 23%. That of 90,000 correct? Right. Yep. 90,000 linear feet. Yep. So, so yeah, through through March, we were about 23% complete and now as of um yesterday, we're about 38% complete.

Good, good to hear that because that's a little again concerning for the fact that we are just what a month away or soon to be just a month away from hurricane season again and we're only 38% done. Um it would be great if we can speed that up in any form or fashion. Great. Um and I think that was all the questions I had on that. I do believe. Thank you. Other commissioners, Commissioner Maldonado.

Yeah, just uh many many thanks uh to Mr. Mills and the team uh for coming up and getting this thing up and operational. It won't be perfect. So, uh expect a lot of feedback, but thank you for your efforts thus far and I I appreciate that comment and um that it won't be perfect. You know, we plan on continually make updates and and we have that ability to, but I would be remiss, you know, I'm just the one delivering this presentation tonight, but our IT team has really taken bulk of the leg work to create this. Our our GIS analyst in house has done the coding to create this whole dashboard himself. So, I think it was it was a pretty cool effort um in house and then collaborating with our project manager um in in public services. It was a good team effort.

Thank you. Really good work. I have another question for you, please. You happened to, as you were demonstrating, you went into the force main one and I noticed it went on to St. Petersburg through what I assume is Yach Club Estates and the line went pretty far out there. Are we are we managing that piece of it or just getting it off island in that particular project? Are we managing it all the way through the Yach Club Estates or just off island? Um the that that what was shown on that map here, that's the existing pipe as it stands now. So, if we were to replicate that same route, we would go through the Yach Club Estates up to um that I believe it's 75th Avenue. Okay. Or 79th Avenue there. Um if we were to go a different route, you know, that that would look a little bit different. But what's shown on that map now is the existing force main.

But to be clear, our work includes going in whatever it takes to get, you know, in this in this in the current scenario through Yach Club Estates, that's our work to do. Is that what I'm That would be our our work to do. Yep. Okay. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Cam. I appreciate your time this evening and again, very good work. I echo that.

Okay. Uh thank you. Uh I believe our next uh segment is audience comments. Uh city clerk, are there their there general comments? Lauren Mones. Just as a reminder to all, please state your name and uh and address for the record, please. As you come up,

Lauren from Pass Girl. Uh so, two weeks ago, I had two detectives show up at my home. They said John Maldonado sent them. They wanted to chill my free speech at these public meetings. Here's the police report. You claimed, John, that my husband saying people will get what they deserve was a threat directed at you. If you really felt fear for your life, then why did you report it 3 days later? I would think if you really felt fearful and if it was a true threat, you would have reported it that night. And also, why didn't anyone else feel like that was a threat to them? And on the harassment side, you told the deputy that you field approximately 66 phone calls per week from me and Ron. 66 phone calls per week and about two to three times per day to deescalate things and to tell us to be reasonable. That's what the police report says. First, why the number 66? It's super random. Um, I pulled my call logs from Verizon from June of last year when you became commissioner to March 24th of this year, which was my last phone call to you. And there was a total of 25 phone calls from me and none from my husband. And this is within 10 months of time. That is very different than 66 calls per week. And I'm pretty sure that false allegations to law enforcement is a crime. But maybe it's different for you and for others since you all are commissioners and and you're retired law enforcement. There could be some favoritism or selective enforcement and maybe a conflict of interest here. At your meeting, Cookies with Commissioner, you claimed that I was verbally abusive towards you. The video that a resident

took with her phone showed zero verbal abuse. It also did not show the part when you charged at Ron with your chest puffed up and got in his face and said, "Are you threatening me, Ron?" Somehow, that didn't make it to the video. And what happened to that part of the video? Was it edited out for some reason? And by the way, nothing we are doing is even close to criminal. So having a threat management team watching my husband and I is harassment and abuse of power under the color of law. On April 14th and April 20th, deputies wrote in the police report that they were specifically at those meetings for us, for me and Ron, watching to see if we were going to show up there. To the sheriff department, go get a real job. Stop using my tax money to intimidate me. It's absurd. and quite frankly not legal. If there is no crime being committed, find the real criminals. It's not me or my husband. Life is easy. Tell the truth and if you make a mistake, fix it with honesty and correct the legisl legislative record.

Thank you for your comments,

Ron Vigno. Ronald vignril. All right. So, um I'd like to be inspired by my local government, but I I'm not. And there's reason for it. This is absolutely uh disgusting what happened to us after just expressing herself. And yes, we got upset, but it's normal to be upset. We spent $20,000 of our own money to help you guys protect us. And John, we we were friendly. He came to our house. We we hang out. We worked on that together. And it was Vley and Lisa, too. um and other people that are gone. We work together on this and we were all align with each other. It's why we spend the money. It's why we help our own city with $20,000 of our own money because we felt that was the right thing to do for all of us, including you guys. You live here. I know Ralph, you don't live here and you don't care about this city, you know, and this is something also that should be that should be addressed. The lawyer of a city should live in St. in St. Pete Beach because he would have a very different view on things. Now, I want to show you I'm going to show the the audience. This is an email that John wrote and it says in it, you can read it. We're going to see it. Okay. So, there's a lie there. You said, "I looked at you and I said, John, you'll get what you deserve." You all know I never said that. It's on the video. You can look it up. You can go back and look it up. I've

never said that. That's a lie that went to Ralph and other city officials. It's a blend lie. So, if we are not able to touch each other blendly and be grown-ups and discuss things, you know, it's going to be a hardship. You know, I don't want to come here and make these type of speech. I want to be inspired by you guys. I want to work with you and we really need to reopen the dialogue. You know, it's not fair. We are taxpayers and we pay a lot of tax more than a lot of people here. You know, it's not fair to send the cops to our house, isolate us on something that was so clear. That motion, for everyone that doesn't know, John passed a motion and four people voted for it. Lisa was voted for it. Betty voted for it and also uh I forget uh the mayor the mayor the previous mayor voted for it. It was very clear what John wanted to do. It was a 40 ft setback that it was mandatory. It's written in tons of email that I've showed here. It was very clear and Ralph overrides that. So Ralph is not the boss of the city. You guys are the boss. You guys got elected because we care about you and we want you to represent us but we don't feel represented. We feel like misled and Ralph has to be investigated on this.

Thank you. Thank you,

John Kursman. Zoom in. They don't need to see my keyboard. Like really zoom in. Um John Kursman uh he under way and I'm speaking personally not as a beach steward. Um so just just just some information mothballs are used by bird scientists to protect nests not to harm birds. So here's something from University of Southern Florida that mothballs are are also used to discourage mamalian predators. They're usually scattered within 2 meters of the nest. This is the practice that was used by bird people, bird scientists. So before that they used to use kerosene and mustard oil. These are environmentalists, but they used to use kerosene and mustard oil to protect the nests. Then they found out that actually attracted the foxes. So they stopped that. But just it's important because you know you've got to understand why people do something. Also, do you think that the people would use the mothballs around the perimeter if they thought that throwing them right at them and having them where they actually lived that would have been worse. And um you know country music we just heard will make them leave. And that nest is 8.8 8 miles away, which at 85 dB, which would which was what the tradewinds event would have been, it would have been office level there. So, if office level communication, you know, scares away the birds, why go to the length of using an illegal substance? Um, and uh there's a few other things in here, but you know, the question is now that you understand this, you know, people don't do bad

things deliberately. They have to feel justified. they have to feel that it's worth risking humans because they're really doing a higher cause of protecting the birds. So, I mean, just have to think about that. Um, I just also want to say that being pro, you know, the the event of prayed winds does not mean you're any wildlife. And I'm saying this because I said some of this in social media and it's very important that it's in the public record clearly. So, you know, if you know the birds of prey are like seagulls. seagulls and crows and bald eagles eat the baby turtles. So, are you we're going to accuse everybody who ever, you know, helps a bald eagle or or or the seagulls. Um and and u you know, well, I don't have time to go into that. And uh the beach ordinance, this is the most important thing to mention. At the earlier city commission meetings, we had said that or the city commission had said that the process would be that after it goes to review of the committees that there would be workshops and given the large number of things that are being changed in that ordinance, I have to I have to you know remind or suggest that it be again considered that this go to comment because in three minutes one could not address all sorts of things like taking away the the commission's ability to ever approve fireworks. Flashlights have to be purchased turtle friendly even in any time of year. The list goes on. So thank you.

Thanks sir. I have no further general comment. Okay. Uh thank you very much. Uh okay. Uh next we move on to the consent agenda. Um any commissioner that would wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? I have a couple questions slashc comments I believe. Um so why don't we remove that item if your questions are on there? Yeah, I can go to action afterwards right afterwards. Um item B. Item B. Don't

other consent agenda suggestions? Okay. Uh, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda, removing item B and making that an action item post? I move to approve the consent agenda as amended. I second. City clerk, please. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cosy, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Mayor Tate, yes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. So, onto the consent agenda. Um, item B.

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? Oh, we just did, didn't we? Yeah. Thank you. I'm sorry. All the way through. Okay. So, now we're on to item B. Um, and this item is now up for discussion, which is to authorize the city manager to execute a service agreement for professional engineering services with WSPUSA, Inc. for the Donsesar and Bokea area resiliency ad adaptation capital improvement projects in an amount not to exceed $800,000. Mayor, I request Camden um Mills public services director to come up and provide any overview or questions you may have.

Thank you. Yes, please. Thank you again, Mr. Mills, Mr. Robinson,

it's a large amount. And again, I'm kind of known for bringing out the large amounts and discussing them in more of an open format, especially for folks that um haven't been inclined maybe to read the full agenda, but just wanted to bring up and bring out that this is basically to save a a area of our community here um from storm water intrusion and and uh flooding that they they get. Um, in the overall for the uh for the project, my understanding is the overall project, I mean, this is $800,000 we're looking at. What is the cost of the overall project or or for that for those two areas?

So, um, the the project that that we're referencing here, the Donsesar and Bokea area, um, that area was identified in in a prior study that was done in in the 2021. Um so that includes all the donses our neighborhood uh the bokea is neighborhood as well as the Bell bea Vista neighborhood. Um in total that's about 13 different um subbasins of of drainage. Um out of that 20 2021 study um the recommendations from that for those 13 different basin areas in in those four neighborhoods um was about $123 million. um that was based on on a high service level of a 100redyear um 24-hour storm event as as well as assuming um Noah tide elevation of five foot um elevation. So what this project is going to do is is advance um some of those concepts that were identified in that prior planning study and move it move it into the design. Uh but with this as well is is we're going to look at various different alternatives u model those and then vet those through the community so ultimately we can get buy in on what that um desired level of service is uh what that anticipated storm wall storm um event we should be planning for as as well as tide event planning for. Um, so just based on those old 2021 numbers, it's about $123 million worth of improvements um in in these neighborhoods, which would include um road elevations, um more storm water pipes and inlets, upsizing the pipes that are in place, um or um installing different pump stations.

I I just want everybody to realize the amount, even though this amount sounds big, that the overall amount is huge, 123 million. And and we're hoping um you know, we're prioritizing this area first. um just because it it is one of the lower line in in the city. Um but we're hoping that this type of framework can be used as a blueprint um for future projects um in different neighborhoods throughout the city where we start with a planning level concept um get that into the design, run different scenarios and models, vet that through the community, get the buyin and then ultimately progress that in into construction

and hopefully help other communities in the same situation as well which would be ideal. Um, I just wanted to bring that that up because um that it is a big number and it's something to discuss and let everybody know this is only a small fraction of this. This is really just the design portion of it um in effect and this will get us to um I believe I've been told shuffle ready.

This this will get us for um all of the 13 bases. They'll do a high level analysis. So collecting exa existing data survey um environmental constraints. They'll they'll identify what permitting uh create a permitting roadmap of what's needed there as well as a funding roadmap. Um should we be targeting federal dollars, state dollars or or local um dollars to make these initiatives happen. Um so

that was that was another point to be made. I want I want everybody to realize too. We're looking at you know um what kind of funding we can get to assist with this. So, not something we're looking at doing necessarily alone, but looking at funding and that's part of the monies is there's a section of that that that uh allocates towards what other resources, how can we achieve the funding for this? Um, and that's really what I wanted to talk about because I just wanted people to be aware, the residents to be aware that uh this is just the start of our resiliency and trying to um stop our flooding, uh find solutions for that. that can enhance the whole city, not just particular areas.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. With with that in mind, um is there a motion to approve uh still item 4B, consent agenda? Yes. I make a motion to authorize the city manager to execute a service agreement for professional engineering services with WSPUSA Inc. for the Donsor and Boca area resil resiliency adaptation capital improvement project and amount not to exceed $800,000. Second. Commissioner CSY. Yes. Commissioner Maldonado. Yes. Commissioner Marriott. Yes. Vice Mayor Robinson. Yes.

Mayor Tate. Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. Uh next we're on to ordinances. Uh first ordinance. Um city attorney, will you please read the ordinance title? This is emergency ordinance 2026-10. Sorry, I'm sorry. Did I have the wrong one? The police want to police me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me p me pension police officer Charman

thank you this is ordinance 2026-08 final reading amending chapter 66 of the police officers retirement system is an ordinance of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida. Amending Chapter 66, Pensions and Retirement. Article 3, Police Officers Retirement System. Amending section 66230 share plan providing for codification, conflicts, severability, construction, publication, and an effective date. Is there a staff report?

No staff report. If you have any questions, we do have the finance director here. Otherwise, we'll just take a motion and a vote. I'll make a motion to u to adopt ordinance 20268. Second. City clerk, please. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cay, yes. Mayor Tate, yes. Motion carries. Okay. City Attorney, please read the ordinance uh 5B, which I believe is the emergency ordinance this time. Yes. Yes.

This is the emergency ordinance 2026-10, an emergency ordinance of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida. adopted in accordance with section 3.11 of the city's charter amending the land development code relating to signs by creating section 26.14 W to prohibit signs posts and poles within 50 ft landward of the mean high water line of the Gulf providing for recital and finding of emergency codification conflict severability correction of scrivener's errors construction publication and effective date and an expiration today. Okay. Thank you. Uh

thank you, city staff report.

Yes, sir. Mayor and city commission. Um I just have a brief verbal report tonight and we have uh senior planner Brandon Barry for any technical answers related to questions on historical use or um relationship this has to the land development code. the you also have an ordinance in front of you uh that has two modifications that I'll go over, but to just lay the foundation for the presentation, I want to make sure the public is aware that this is a very narrow ordinance written only to address one issue on the beach, which is single pole signs and other signs that are um l 50 feet landward of the sea of the mean high water line. any other issues that you are interested in discussing or would like to be included in any sort of beach ordinance. You have a full um review of two very important segments of the beach ordinance that will be presented to the commission in late May or early June. So, I just wanted to help you keep um focused on the item that we are discussing tonight.

Okay, hang on one second. Sorry, just lost my screen.

Thank you very much. And and and sorry, please. Um, so this, let me just give you a little bit of background that most structures are prohibited on the beach and St. Pete Beach per land development code division 27 and all structures except dune walkovers with FT authorization are prohibited in the dunes where they exist. The city does not have permission for placement of permanent signs for the preservation district which is the designation of all land water of the coastal construction control line. Permanent signs like monument or pole signs with multiple supports are prohibited on the beach. The Florida Department of Environ environmental protection prohibits structures on the beach. However, single post signs are not considered prohibited structures on the beach to the state per our code enforcement. Warning signs are regulated differently from other sign types and are allowed without limitation in number provided they do not exceed four square feet in the sign area based on the St. Pete Beach sign code and the Florida Department Environmental Protection standards. Warning signs could be allowed on the beach provided they meet dimensional standards and do not conflict with other standards such as being placed to restrict movement of protected species. Um, mean high water line surveys show the water line over an 18.6ear span and rarely are directly in line with the actual point of the water on any given day. On one recent survey where the shoreline was shown, the shoreline was 8 feet landward of the mean high water line. So in other words, land in the water at high tide can still be considered landward of the mean high water line. So tonight we have a consideration for you on an emergency ordinance. We have received significant

concern from the community over the um various uh poles being erected within the sand close to the water line in the beach. Um we do have concerns that is pre presenting some safety issues that we've identified in the ordinance as the uh reasonable justification for your consideration tonight. If you um do approve and pass the emergency ordinance as written or with amendments, you also have item 5C, which would provide for a first reading of the similar language. We'd ask that you make the same motion. And then we have 60 days until we need to bring back the final reading, which also would give us some adequate time to work with the community and see exactly how this ordinance may or may not be working. Um the two changes you have identified in front of you today based on feedback that we did receive after notification of the emergency ordinance was to uh modify uh excuse me we would be uh mod allowing entities in partnership with or otherwise serving a permitted public public function to place signs in lie of government agencies. Some examples are the turtle trackers who actually put up the um protection areas for the turtle nests. And then um we have linked a a provision to our current sign ordinance which provides that existing beachfront watercraft operators are allowed a one a one a-frame sign within 40 ft of the visible water line. And if directed, we would acknowledge this in the in this emergency and fi and final ordinance that that super that

that provision in the other ordinance would supersede this 50-foot setback as we have not heard any concerns about the operation of sports facil sports businesses on the beach using this setback and they they are required to put them out in the morning and remove them in the evening. So they do not stay out overnight. And that is the end of my report. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. City manager. Um, city clerk, are there audience comments? Yes, we do have audience comments. Dominic Iscro.

Good evening, Mayor Tate and commissioners. Um, I wanted to take a few moments to uh address the emergency ordinances tonight. First and foremost, thank you very much for the prompt initiative you've taken to address this issue and private encroachments on public beach. Uh I have two quick comments and and one quick request. Uh the city manager sort of stole my thunder a little bit. Um thank you because you narrowed the issues quite a bit. Uh we all know that you can't give an attorney a list of anything and not have them want to add 30 things to it. I was going to propose to you that you may want to consider adding a few things to that list of pro items, but in light of the city manager's comments, I'll move on from that. The second comment I have the city manager also touched on and that that is what is the mean high water line and where is it? Seems to be a lot of confusion over this issue. Uh my brief comments on this I just urge you to to look very carefully at as I'm sure you have. It's defined in the chapter 177 Florida statutes. As the city manager said, it's a 19-year average. The legal significance of it is it's a boundary between stateowned land and land that can be privately owned upland. And the survey standards are derived from Florida Administrative Code 5J17 and 62B33. This is not something as the city manager correctly pointed out that is a matter of of observing where the surf happens to be at a given hour and a given day. It is not determined by private property owner surveys, especially surveys done by coastal property owners wishing to uh modify their own boundaries. It's a title datam based boundary that's determined according to state law surveys and administrative rules. Obviously, that's very important because the effectiveness of the ordinance depends on where that that mean high water line is. So, I urge you to to carefully look at that. Uh, one quick

note on where I think it is because I've been digging on this and talking to the property appraisers office to try and get an answer. Um, according to Penelis County Properties appraisers office, it's roughly at the western edge of the dunes currently. That's where their maps have it, the little highlighted area you can see here, mean MHW, mean high water. that line at least on the current maps that the property appraiser has available to the public uh coincides with the western boundaries of most of the co coastal properties on St. Pete Beach. And so if that's where it is uh you know that that obviously impacts how the ordinance applied. Last thing, um I would urge you to consider in light of uh the recent passage of Senate Bill 1622 that became effective June of 25, enacting an ordinance to establish customary use in St. Pete Beach. This is the long-term solution to the issue that has prompted uh I believe the enactment of the emergency ordinance that's been read tonight. With that, I'll end my comments. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments, sir. Jack Martino.

Good evening. Uh my name is Jack Marty now, 3848 Gulf Boulevard. So today my concern today is regarding enforcement and clarity. I would like to know what what the city is planning to is to distinguish and identify where the 50-foot setback from the mean high water line will be. For everyone to comply with this ordinance and avoid confusion or inconsistent enforcement, it is important that the boundary be clearly defined. In addition, I would like to ask the city to consider educating the public on difference between public beach areas and private beachfront properties. maybe through outreach, maps, or designated markers that clearly distinguish these areas so enforcement can be fair and consistent for everyone. Many of the signs currently in place are not intended to create clutter, but to identify private property boundaries and help avoid confusion. We have been encouraged by Panelis County Sheriff's Office to clearly mark our property boundaries so deputies can better assist with enforcement when trespassing or other issues arise. As an owner and operator of a family oriented motel, my goal is to provide a safe, calm, and welcoming environment for guests and staff, I simply ask for clarity and support from the city and law enforcement so that boundaries are respected and a safe, peaceful environment can be maintained. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thanks, sir. Alisa Gagnon. Hello. Good evening. Hope everyone's well this evening. Um my name is Alyssa Gagnen. I'm a practicing attorney at Weber Crab and Wen at 5453 Central A. And I'm just here to speak a little bit about the constitutionality of ordinance 202611. got some pretty big concerns. As written, this ordinance uh implicates some serious constitutional concerns under both the first and the fifth amendment. At its core, the ordin the ordinance is just plainly viewpoint discriminatory. It's justified on the basis on the premise that signs can pose a risk to public safety and health. Yet, it creates an exception for government signs without explaining why government signs would be any safer or any less risky to a sign that wasn't done by a governmental entity. That distinction is not neutral. It allows the government to speak in a space when it restricts everybody else to speak in that space. The First Amendment simply does not permit that kind of imbalance. If a sign creates a safety concern, it does so regardless of who puts it up. Treating speakers differently in this way is exactly the type of regulation that courts are going to be reluctant to strike down. It's unlikely to withstand a legal challenge. The ordinance also sweeps much too broadly as it's written. I think the language is applies to any temporary portable or permanent sign which is so expansive that this would include handheld signs. That's a protest. that's a community event that a 5K on a beach that has been permitted and allowable. So even if the intent was to address an abandoned or an unattended sign, the actual reach goes so much further into

this and actually encroaches onto court protected speech. I also anticipate independent conflicts with Florida law. The state regulates, and I believe the city manager alluded to this, they regulate trespass and require that notice be given before trespass can be enforced. One of the key tools to doing this is to putting signs up. No trespassing. We all see the signs everywhere we are. This ordinance as written, you cannot put that sign up if it's within the parameters. That's a serious fifth amendment concern. Practically real world real world enforcement. And I believe somebody also just touched on this. Beachfront property owners do not have a clear visual boundary like a typical yard where you've got a front yard or a backyard with some green grass. the beachfront property line, the mean high or the meanh high water line in this case, it's often invisible. Beachfront property owners already face a plethora of challenges enforcing any sort of trespass onto their property. This ordinance would require enforcement based on measuring of 50 feet from an unmarked and invisible line. That's just really hard for the course code enforcement officials that's going out there and trying to implement this. I don't want to sign them up for that. When you pull it all together, the ordinance is just completely vulnerable to a bunch of constitutional attacks. It's likely preempted by state law and just plainly difficult to enforce in practice. I would plead for the commission to pause and think about rewriting this before a challenge. Thank you.

Thank you. Quite interesting.

Robert Saison. Robert Sison is on 45506 G Boulevard. That was actually very well said. Um my point exactly is exactly what she was going to mention. You need a point of reference from a point to a point to be able to measure 50 ft. If I ask you to measure from this podium to that sign, we can have a measurement from here to the TV or from here to the back door. We can actually get an exact measurement. The mean high water line is an invisible line. The only person actually had a line or actually a post in the water was my property at the Plaza Beach Hotel where we had a rebar in there put in by the property surveyor and measured out the property mean high water line. That property line is not just an imaginary line that he chose out there. We reached out the state of Florida to FD. MD gave us exact coordinates, latitude, longitude coordinates that are exactly where the rebar went into. The city asked us to remove the rebar and put a 4x4 post in there, which we did. And three days later, it was miraculously stolen by somebody. So, not sure if there's anybody in this room, but I can tell you it was stolen by someone that did not like the post on our property. So, unfortunately, we don't have a post. I do have pictures of what it looked like to show the audience so they can see what we did there because I want to be as transparent as we can. That is our property line that we actually put down with cones so people can see. There's a post right there. And there was another post a little bit further in. So sometimes the post is in the water, sometime the post is not in the water depending on when it is. That's uh there's another picture of it right there. That's way away from the water because like I said, the m mean high water line moves. So how is the sheriff's department going to measure 50 ft if there's no point? So that's going to be the biggest issue. So I don't know how you guys are planning on passing this. It makes absolutely no sense. This is my backyard. So just like everybody has a front yard, everybody has a rear neighbors or side neighbors, everybody

has a rear backyard. This is my backyard. So my front yard is G Boulevard boulevard. My neighbors on each side. I got the golf and my backyard luckily backs up to the ocean. Everyone's backyard backard, everyone's backyard backs up either to another neighbor or to the inter coastal. Mine happens to back up to the beach. And my deed says I own to the mean high water line. Clear as day. It's nonisputable. It's it's crystal clear. So we now have surveys. We have exact coordinates that'll show that. So, what we need to do is work with the city to come up with a way to distinguish that for the residents so the residents can know where the public beaches are, where the private beaches are. I know not everybody likes these posts. An idea I had as well is that maybe we make something fun where we do little signs on the post like this where you kind of see that makes it more kind of Key West, more tropical. So, there are some ideas that we can work with together with the city to make sure that the residents and the visitors know where the private beaches are and where the public beaches are. But trust me when I tell you there are private beaches here. The surveys don't lie. The state of Florida is not lying to you guys. It is true. My deed has been around since the 50s. It is them. So, I urge you guys to work with us first before passing any ordinances, especially ordinances that the sheriff and anybody else can't enforce. You can't enforce this at all. Thank you.

Thank you. John Kurszman

may take me six minutes. I'll have to wait till the next session. Can you uh zoom in uh again? Thank you. John Kursman, Beyond Way South. So, first off, I I also share some of the concerns that 50 feet landward. Well, first off, why is it only 50t landward? Why isn't it 50 feet waterward? because you're not supposed to put stuff in the water either, are you? And then why tide of the mean high water line, which is something that moves daily. It's based on the last 18.6 years. Um, and I I want to clarify because I've looked at some of the deeds. a fact of the of what I believe according to the the um tax assessor's website who has the deeds. Some of these hotels are original government lots and and I have the map and it does not show that they go to the mean high water line and surveys are not even the the valid document. I've spent days in searcher vaults. They don't even keep surveys because surveys are irrelevant. It's deeds that matter because deeds have the actual information about the exceptions for public use and the other things that are in there. Um so um the the the MHL if the deed is not to the MHLWL it's not even part of the discussion and if it is to the MWL you need to consider the prescriptive easements the customer use the rights of the public all these other things. But I forgot. Um, let let me go let me go back. Um, can we all put signs and post signs in the middle of our own yards? No. We have restrictions in our own ordinances. So, what would make someone think that they could go into a preservation zone, the P zone, which is the beach, including the dunes or right past the dunes, and start putting signs there? I we can't do it. So, where's this exception carved out? Um the the city commission in 19 2019 said the beach is probably will always

be public. Um you need to consider when you look at MHWL accretion, evulsion, erosion where the if it was nourished. Uh or you could take the caddy's approach which is that where the sand came from could be relevant or didn't come from. So a lot of these beaches I believe came from evulsion which means a storm and which means it's public. It's only if it was gradual, not from a storm, that when the sand moves one way, it becomes the rights of the uh the private property owner. There's statutes on our on our side to clarify some of these things. I'm not making this up. Here's the accretion and the evulsion information, but here are some of the signs. And then here's some of the property maps. And if you divide their acreage by their frontage, you know how far out into the from Gulf Boulevard these properties go. They stop at the dunes. According to the tax assessor and according to some of these deeds, here's a deed. It was it was a warranty deed when when one of the properties discussed, I believe. Uh now, I didn't do an exhaustive search. There may be other deeds out there. So, please I I'm not I'm just saying that at face value of what's on the assessor site, the beach is separate from the lots. Thanks very much. Thank you.

I have no further comments on this issue. It's quite interesting. Um, okay. Um, other questions or comments from the commission?

Commissioner Cy. Well, I would first like to in highlight for the commission that um I've had a lot of outreach in the last four weeks during spring break from beach property owners struggling with issues that you know wouldn't necessarily thought would have been a big factors like beach parking but it it really is um a huge impact. And then uh there's the law enforcement policy with the sheriff's department comes into play. There's our code enforcement. There's um the whole question of private property which we've heard mentioned here. And there's property boundaries and how do you mark them and where are they? It's um very complicated issue and I don't think that um I think I would like to highlight that we definitely need to clarify this if we want to have a a good place for our residents and for our visitors and our property owners along the beach. And secondly, I think we need a workshop and we need possibly a number of workshops where our stakeholders are going to be a part of this because you can tell from the comments tonight that there's a lot of different viewpoints still. So, I just want to highlight that this has been a big concern for me over the last four weeks and um people in district three as a start.

Thank you. Other comments, Mr. President? Well, I'll stop there for now. Okay, Commissioner Marriott. Sure. I just have two questions. Um, if we were to pass this ordinance, do we have a simple method for determining enforcement? Do we I mean is this is this going to lead to just a lot of arguments about where the mean high water line is and where a sign is or do we have a do we have a method for enforcing what 50 feet from the mean high water line is?

So we've chose 50 feet from the mean high water line because it is a measurable point. Um, it's may be difficult if you were at 47 or 51 or 52, but the problems that we're trying to address are the the rebar in the water and the post that's in the water um that the property owners say is at their mean high water line per their survey. Um, so I think those that makes it easier to enforce the ones that are the clear violations that we're trying to address. We wanted to go up the beach a little bit. The point we chose was 50. Um, many places you can go 75. Some most places you can go 200. But this is just carving out this area between 50 feet of the water line and focusing the enforcement on those posts that are actually at the mean high water line, which as the slides show are sometimes out of the water and sometimes in the water, but they're never more than 50 feet from the water. And I mean, I guess and my my question is more a a practical one of if there's a complaint and a code enforcement officer or sheriff shows up out there, are they just going to go, well, if a sign's in the water, clearly we think it's closer than 50 ft and if it's not in the water, who knows? So, we're going to let it go. I mean, what's the what does the do we do? We have an idea of what the enforcement looks like.

I'd like to comment just from a practical matter because we have been having challenges with trespassing. And so to me, if the if the answer is we can never measure the water, then you have to approach it practically. And so you have these ranges and and the sheriff has has said and stated for the record that if it's a very obvious trespass, they will assist with the trespassing. So I think you're going to see the same standard here. If it's a very obvious pole in the water and we don't have to go get the coordinates from the state and bring a surveyor in to measure it, we would first seek compliance. So we would say, "Hey, we have a rule. It says you shouldn't put poles in the sand within 50 feet." And then if the person wants to argue about 50 feet, then we would have to go down a formal code enforcement route, which this would give us the ability to actually hire a surveyor and do our own measurements, which would be costly, but we have a mechanism now to enforce and get removal. But the idea behind this is to have everyone generally know what the expectations are, knowing that we're all not going to be out there with tape measures every day. The sheriff's not out there with tape measures. We're just trying to get it. And when we when people ask for clarity, it is hard because the water is moving every day. So, I can't give you a black Sharpie line and say every day I'm going to come out here and if you pass this Sharpie line, we're going to do something. So, that's kind of what we're seeking. And I would tell you practically that's the way I would be guiding staff to enforce. Um, but it does give you the ability just like it gives a land owner now the ability to go get exact coordinate measurements and if we have those and we have all the information there is a different level of ability to enforce than if the other examples we had where we don't have that we have a deed that doesn't that stops at the dunes and now we've got this measurement issue. But so they're all very different and I think

if we all just kind of practically thought about application that's the way it would go. Okay. Thank you. And then a question for the city attorney. Do you um do you do you feel like this is a defensible, constitutionally acceptable ordinance? I mean, are are you do you I mean I'm I'm assuming you do or you wouldn't have. But

um first of all we have in section five the a super severability clause and that says if any sentence section clause phrase is found to be unconstitutional then that phrase can be removed. So the argument that was put forth today under um Reed versus Gilbert the sign ordinance case that says all signs have to be contentneutral. The argument is that because we have an exemption for government signs to protect sea turtles and shore shore nesting shorebirds um that serve a public safety, law enforcement, emergency management, regulatory navigation, beach access management, environmental or natural resource protection purpose. If they're placed as a governmental sign, I think that can be upheld. There's some cases that talk about uniform traffic control signs can be be created as an exemption or as a sign ordinance. When you for example when you're um writing a sign ordinance, you can write in there except for traffic control signs or in this case marine turtle post signs that are protecting a turtle. Those may be exceptions that I think that we can defend in court, in federal court. If we lose, then those exceptions come out and we don't have any post signs. We don't have any marine turtle signs. We don't have any shorebird signs, which isn't the end of the world either if you don't want signs in that area. Um, I can tell you that the sea turtles, they they move through this area. So, it's important not to have signs and posts and poles. um rebar in the water. What staff is worried about is people walking at night or people putting sailboats in and out or children playing football in the shoreline

um in the shallow water running with frisbes not seeing it running into it and becoming impaled. Um, so the even the wooden signs though are still there and if you have low tide at night and someone's walking along the beach at night without a flashlight and without a light on these signs, you could walk into them. Um, and encouraging every property owner to place signs in the water at each one of these property boundaries could result in proliferation of these signs, which would make um make it even more dangerous. So, we were trying to um address that through this ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Robinson. I had a question in regards to I was contacted by Silver Sands and in 2018 there was a settlement on their delineation where they can put their their signs and I just want to confirm that this doesn't infringe on that.

Um I would have to take a look at that settlement agreement. it might grandfather them in. Um, we do have in here a a mortitization period or a time reasonable time in a staff's view was seven days to pull the rebar signs out, to pull the wooden post signs out. Um some of them um the undertoe ones we we think were based on eyewitness testimony they were piled um with a ladder um and may take time to remove and may require someone to come out to remove them and they can't can't be removed by hand easily. So we gave seven days to do that. Okay. Well

during that 7-day period we can we can look at the silver sand settlement agreement see where their signs are placed. Are there signs within 50 feet of the mean high water line? They're they're much further up, but they had concerns that they just want those that are further up can remain are not right. Not even addressed by that's how I read this as well. I just wanted on the record they did ask this doesn't address all beach signs. It's just those that are within 50 ft of the mean water line which we don't have very many of those now. Right.

Once in a while they pop up. Um, we were able to work with Undertoe and we met with six sheriff's deputies and the Undertoe and their attorneys and uh by agreement they removed those those signs and the sheriff's agreed that they could enforce trespass even without those signs.

And then I also did get a a text message from Lisa Reich at Coastal Wildlife Advocacy Group. Just wanted to put it on the record. She said, "Hi, I can't make the commission meeting tonight, but I see that the sign ordinance is on the agenda. Not only is it a city issue ordinance issue, but it is also an FD issue. Property owners cannot put anything permanent cword of the CCL. This is regardless of ownership rights. Just wanted to give my two cents. That wasn't my two cents. It was her two cents. I was just reading it for the record. Sir,

it's our understanding based on talking with the D attorneys that if you have a unipole um just one

um they they will not require or prohibit them um because they don't have two that turtles can't get stuck in between them. Um and they also do not allow signs seawword of the mean high water line. So anything seawward of there that's owned by the state of Florida, you have to get a special permit for those. And you may see some of those signs in the water when you're navigating that might say slow speed zone. There's a state process where the state FWC and FT and even a local government can petition for a slow speed zone, but you have to do a pretty in-depth application and you're subject to a formal administrative hearing to justify those speed zones whether they're based on safety or on manities. So there's a whole area of sign regulation that occurs seawward to the mean high water line that the state handles. That's why we're going from the mean high water line 50 ft.

That was all I had. Thank you, Commissioner Robbins. Commissioner Cy.

Uh yeah. So, I still am not convinced that we're going to solve any problems trying to figure out where the mean high water line is. And the whole point of this is for safety and safety specifically near the water. So, if the water is going to move, I believe what we're trying to do is is not have any hazards near the water. So, I think the ordinance, if we're going to infringe on private property rights in the name of safety, I think basically we should just be saying there shouldn't be any obstructions within 50 ft of the water. So, you know, we have a general range of where the water goes on a annual basis and on a daily basis. So, it it would be up to the property owner to figure out, okay, where do I keep my cabanas? Where do I where is the area that I can uh get the sheriff to enforce? Well, it would be any given time it would be obvious it would be within 50 ft of the water. Point being is nobody's going to be walking along the beach. And regarding common use, we're not really trying to get there. I think that's a workshop item. But I do think it's common use obviously that people expect to be able to walk along the beach along the water uh at some reasonable distance of the water and even if it is private property. Um so that's just an opinion at this point. But I I get the safety part of this. Uh, I do think that it's um reasonable to not have any kind of post or signs near the water and I would just I I don't get the the I don't get using a reference that we really don't have any idea where it is. With regard to that, you could say in the ordinance to

accommodate that within 50 feet landward of the mean high water line or waters of the Gulf and what would be the point of the mean high water line? Is is there some reason to have that in it at all rather than just the water? I think if you have both and one is stricken

and the other one upholds the purpose of the meanh high water line is to have accurate point of certainty that can be surveyed whereas you mentioned the waters is ambulatory it moves up and down with each tide a couple times a day but also every day's tide is different and we have king tides um which are further but we could do or waters and that that would be um probably encompass a bigger area than just 50 ft from the mean high water line. Well, I would get rid of the mean high water line

and unless there's a reason to have it and I don't get the reason yet. So, I'm open to to being explained about that. But to me, the whole point is not to have an obstruction in the place where people are hanging out around the beach. And that changes every single hour. If you were to take out meanh high water line and just say exist within 50 feet landward of the waters of the Gulf that would um that would be um ambiguous I guess is the right word. It would be but it would need to be I would feel in order to accomplish the safety function here.

This argument that a lawyer would bring for for someone that was placing there that it would be vague and that the ordinance would be void for vagueness. So there is a doctrine that says ordinances can be void for vagueness if you can't tell whether you're in violation or not in violation where you put the sign in or if you put the sign in legally and then high tide comes in and now it's illegal then that could could create vagueness that a court could strike. But if high tide comes in and now that post is actually in the water then it's unsafe even though it's legal. I guess I was thinking about it from the other perspective that if you put the post in while the water's here and it's legal now the tide comes up and then the post that you had placed legal now becomes illegal.

Um and then the next day it's legal again legal again. The tide rolls back out. Sorry. And then they you're coming in and out of compliance as the day goes by. So in the morning you're in compliance. When high tide comes, you're out of compliance. Code enforcement writes you a ticket. So you must bring your beach into compliance within 24 hours. Tide goes back out again in 12 hours. Now you're in compliance. So we can never establish a code violation. That's why I wouldn't have the mean high water line involved. I would I would just the measurement would always be from the water at any given time.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Marion. Maldonado, I'm sorry. Too many. I apologize. I apologize.

No, no worries. No worries. Uh, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Um, so I just want to clarify a couple things and and first of all, I want to acknowledge the uh the comments made by the uh residents and guests that are here tonight. Some very interesting points uh that were brought about both um in support and then also contrary to. So I want to clarify that we're not intending to deprive anyone of their property. Okay. So that's one of the biggest things here um is that as Commissioner Kaz was saying safety is paramount. The other thing is that uh it is an aesthetic thing. You know having a beach riddled with signs is unattractive and it could impact tourism. Our hotel ears are here tonight and part of that is to safeguard and protect their property rights and I'm all for that. We need to be cognizant of distinguishing between private property and public property. So I do think that we need to work with our sheriff partners and our hotelers to ensure that we are protecting people's rights. Um all that to say that I disagree respectfully that we should not have the mean high water line included. I think that it does give us a point of measure but I would also like to add water. I think that balances out the shifting and constantly changing line, the invisible line as someone referred to. And uh we have our work it out for us. I do think that there will be questions uh regarding the first amendment. Uh again, thank you for pointing that out. We want to be as transparent and as supportive of that as possible, but I do think that safety trumps signs in this case. So, I'm very supportive of this. Uh, and then I have one question. It says that they will be removed within seven days.

Is that business days or calendar days? You could choose either or you could choose less or more. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. I don't know who's first. I I just have one really quick question and that is um the uh could the city manager remind me when we pass an emergency ordinance, how long is that in effect for 60 days? 60. Okay. So, the emergency ordinance would be good for 60 days. If we don't do anything else, it expires at the end of 60 days. Okay. Thank you,

Commissioner Robinson. I like uh uh Commissioner Maldonado um agree with uh adding keeping the mean height water line. It's a standard and then I'd like adding or waters um to that as well. And I'm I'm for this ordinance simply for the safety and for of the community. I mean rebarb in the water in salt water. I've never heard of anything so crazy. lived in Florida all my life and I know what salt does and I know what salt does up in for cars up in up north too. So, you know, I I don't want anybody getting hurt. We've have enough um issues with uh Gulf Boulevard. We don't need them on the beach as well on the other side. So, I would be for uh this ordinance and uh making those two changes or keeping that one and adding the or waters to that. Thank you, Commissioner Cing. I think she I think uh Commissioner Marriott was had her green light on it for me. Maybe

this is this is very brief. I I was just going to say that I am very much in support of passing the emergency ordinance tonight exactly as written with the mean high water line and that gives us an ability to immediately or within seven days solve the problem of um uh of the safety issue or the perceived safety issue or the real safety issue, whatever it is, the the issue of the signs on the beach very close to the water. And then that gives us a little bit of time to see if we need to do anything different to get it right when we when we go to first reading for a more permanent ordinance. And so, um, I would very much be in support tonight of passing the emergency ordinance exactly as written and let's give it a chance to to to see how it works, see what the response is, see if we can get some, you know, agreement amongst the property owners to to figure out what works best. But it gives us the ability to immediately solve the safety issue.

Very good. Commissioner Cy.

Well, I still would like to be convinced that using this reference line that nobody really knows where it is and most property owners haven't had a survey done. So, how would they even know where this point is? uh how and as I mentioned earlier when the high higher high tides come in this mean high water line is actually in the water. So if a property owner chose to put a sign in 50 ft from that line and the tide comes in it might still have a piece of rebar or a sign in the water the way this is written currently. So if the point is to never have a sign in the water, you've got to measure from the water. And the practical standpoint here is people who own the property know where the water comes to generally. So if they want to have a sign, then they'll know where to put the sign where it's not going to be a problem for them. So I I don't think it's practical having the reference line. I I I if if there was a practical way for each property owner to know where this point is on their property then and it would be great if that point was never in the water. But if that point is in the water then it's useless from a a safety standpoint. I can't imagine that there's a spot that's 50 feet from the mean high water line that is ever in the water. But I think we don't know that for for certain. But we also absolutely know that if you put something even if you put something 50 feet from a typical

high tide, we can have an extra high tide where the sign is then in the water. So, so I think I don't I don't know that we solve our enforcement problem with with picking the waterline in the in the case of extreme highs or lows. Feel like that, if you'll permit me, Commissioner Robertson, I feel like this she's responding to uh Commissioner Cosy, so I'll I'll let you

Oh, okay. I appreciate that. Um, yeah, I think that we have to separate this out into safety versus enforcement of the private property. Safety says we're not going to have any obstructions in near the water and enforcement is okay. How am I where can I put a sign?

Mr. Robinson. My concern is that you're chasing that with the or waters, but I I still agree with putting that in there. The mean high high water line is a standard and it's a it is measurable, not easily measurable, but it is still measurable. And having that measurable and the or waters, you're covering both the bases. As the attorney said, if it gets stricken, it can get stricken. But again, um at least we have something going for it. I just don't want to see anybody else get hurt on this beach. Sure.

We've had enough issues on Gulard. We don't need them on the beach as well. And I've had issues from or or comments from residents talking about walking on the beach and almost running into these poles. I I don't want any more accidents out here. Um, we have a zero tolerance on Golf Boulevard. We should have a zero tolerance on the beach as well, or we should try to. And this is an effort at that. And I um I just know that the mean height water line is a standard. It's in Florida statute. It is measurable. And I again like the idea of waters to cover the in the meantime a little bit of the of the um fluctuation, but I think 50 ft is pretty is pretty fair for for what we're talking about up and down the beach. We're not very close on a lot of the beaches. Not even now with upam with the uh with the renourishment and through the years as Mr. Kursman had mentioned through the years with storms every time we renourish up them it tends to pull that towards the middle of the beach and everybody out there's gotten a little bit more land and a little bit more beach on those hotels and for some reason they all have seaw walls. It's amazing. What were those seaw walls for?

So they have gotten acrruel of of sand over the years. Thank you. So they're they're fortunate to have the mean high water line as as as this. Okay. Um I would like to go back around, you know, one more time at most so that we can start making a motion to move the evening. But uh Commissioner Maldonado, sir, please.

Uh thank you, sir. So yeah, if we can agree with uh seven calendar days and I do agree with um after hearing both sides with Commissioner Marriott uh as written strike the or waters for now since this is a 60-day emergency ordinance I think that seven calendar days makes sense and then I'd be prepared to make a motion after hearing the rest of my commissioners. Mr. Cosy,

um I would like for um our city attorney to talk about would we be what would be the difference between the mean high water line or 50 ft versus and 50 ft from what that would mean? Is it would that be a difference if we're going to be 50 feet from the mean high water line and 50 feet from the water or or I'm I'm literally just trying to keep a signpost out of the water. And another question I've got is um for the city manager, do we know where the mean high water line is in the water the farthest along the beach? I don't

Well, it's not at the western edge of the sand dunes as was shown earlier. That's not where the mean high water. That might be a different line. And sometimes the property appraisers data will just say where they're taxing property from. So, I think that's where they may tax property from. Other times, you'll see on surveys, it might come before you for conditional use approximate mean high water line. Um that again is an approximate mean a mean high water line unless it says mean high water line. When they do a mean high waterline survey those surveys are turned into the state of Florida D and they're registered and kept in a database and they they accept them. They don't review them. They don't double check them. Um they they re they accept them and put them in a database. So if there is a meanwhile high waterline survey conducted along the beach in St. Pete Beach and it goes to D, they have a record of them all. Um, in terms of your first question, um, I think you were asking

Yeah. 50 feet of the M high water line versus 50 ft from the water. Uh, yeah, it's the andor part of this thing. Um, so if you have the um mean high waterline reference in there,

how would that work with also trying to measure from the water at any given time is so I think it's said or water that would extend the area of prohibition further landward because the mean is a mean high water But a high water is going to be more than the mean. So you're going to be pushing this line further landward.

So in either case, we're going to be out there, the sheriff's going to be out there with a tape measure to measure 50 ft. Is that the what we're doing? I think as the city manager explained, we are really looking to enforce the ones that are in the water or in the dry sand that's created when the water goes to low tide. We're not really there looking out too far in that 50 foot range. We're focusing our enforcement efforts on the area that's clearly in violation. So, thank you. water line.

Typically, um, a rule of thumb, and again, this is not law, but a rule of thumb is that the mean high water line is somewhere in the wet sand area. And the public trust doctrine allows people to walk below or at the mean high water line. So, if you're typically if you're walking in the wet sand area, the sheriff's will not enforce trespass against you if you're in the wet sand area. Um, so you might if you want don't want to do the 50 feet of from the water, you might say 50 feet land of the mean high water line or uh or within the wet sands to encompass a little bit more area than just the mean high water line. But you sheriff could go to see where the sand becomes wet and measure from that wet sand line which is ambulatory too that changes during the day. Mhm.

Um, city attorney, I I uh just have a question or two for you as well. Um, trying to my head. I know that at least the mean high water line is some GPS coordinates that's measurable and quantifiable and I can come off 50 ft from that. As Commissioner Causy's pointed out, you know, the water line is going to be moving. I wouldn't want us to say arbitrarily 50 feet from the water line because literally two hours later that's a different 50 feet than it was. And so um I'm sympathetic. I'll tell you this. Here's here's my my take on this. Um certainly, you know, I echo the other commissioners here. This is this is a liability concern either for the city or for the property owners. And I think this is not something that we want to encourage uh and certainly I think we want to discourage these kind of things out in the waters of our Gulf. And uh and uh and so I think for me uh I think in my head this is uh this is an emergency ordinance at least initially to uh kind of clean up some of the current safety issues that we have right now. Uh make sure that we can resolve that within 7 days as it stands you know from tonight I assume. Uh, I think we've got a follow-up ordinance that's theoretically within 60 days of this, otherwise this one will expire. Uh, I would I think ultimately, you know, my goal would be to uh, you know, some of the concerns that I have is we how how does the public know where that line is? How does the property owner maybe the property owner knows because it's their property and they have a sense of it, but how does the public know? I don't think that they'll know. Um, so I I I think ultimately in these 60 days, I would I would like to uh I would like us to consider a uh uh you know, passing this emergency ordinance to make sure that we clean up the current kind of liability and risk issues to the city. Uh we've this will give us 60 days uh to contemplate whether we have a follow-up ordinance. I

suspect um I also think there was some really interesting commentary on both sides of this this evening and I I appreciate all the all the the public commentary. Um I would like us to consider um ultimately, you know, we want to be good neighbors. Uh the good neighbors between the property owners, the visitors, the residents, we want to be good neighbors ultimately. I like the concept that somebody mentioned earlier of a workshop. I'd like to see if we can't organize a workshop. city city manager if you're amunable to that uh well we can meet with uh the hotel years and kind of understand why what's what's the rationale you know for each of them as to why they want to put this uh this this sign out there in the first place I can tell you the residents and and many up on this commission have have echoed the liabilities and the and the and the risk of of u harm and I think we we need to balance that and so what this emergency ordinance gives us this evening is the way to kind of solve the immediate u liability risk risk that we've got out there gives us 60 days to have workshops if we're immunable to it and uh and try and find a more permanent solution that is based on a lot of this but I think incorporate some of the feedback we've heard this evening and uh and maybe gets us to a better place within 60 days so we've got u something we can feel more comfortable moving forward more permanently.

Yeah. So, with that,

I'll make a motion uh to adopt ordinance 20268 um with the language. Oh, sorry. Good grief. Thank you. Get it get it wrong right off the bat. I'll make a motion to approve emergency ordinance 2026-10 with the language. How how specific do I need to be, Ralph? I want the language presented tonight by the staff for the that protects the the that allows the signs for turtle trackers and that sort of thing. I want the language that allows the A-frame signs that are already allowed for water sports businesses. And I want the seven days to be seven John, did you say calendar days or business days? Seven calendar days. So, the the enforcement to be seven calendar days from passage.

Well, to be super clear, let me read it then with those with those changes just so we don't get into mixups. Um,

section 26.14 prohibited signs. The following sign and sign types are prohibited within the city limits. And we have um a number of prohibited signs. It goes all the way down to W. So this will be a new section W. any temporary comma portable comma or permanent sign or any post or pole regardless of whether it contains a sign that is installed, placed or otherwise caused or allowed to exist within 50 ft landward of the mean high water line parentheses MHWL and parenthesis of the Gulf as measured at a 90° angular 90° angle perpendicular to the MWHL. L unless the sign is an official sign installed and required by the state of Florida, the United States, or another government entity having jurisdiction, or installed by a marine turtle permit holder, a nesting shorebird permit holder, or an individual group or agency acting in partnership with or authorized to act on behalf of a government agency with jurisdiction. where such sign serves a public safety, law enforcement, emergency management, regulatory, navigation, beach access management, or environmental or natural resource protection purpose. Period. Existing beachfront watercraft operators are allowed one portable A-frame sign within 40T of the visible water line if placed after dawn and removed at sunset. Period. Any signed poster pole in conflict with this prohibition must be removed within seven calendar days of adoption of ordinance 2026-10. Period. This requirement is cumulative of and not in lie of all other

applicable provisions of this code. Period. To the extent of a conflict, this requirement controls for property within the area within 50 ft of the mean high water line. Period. Yes. That I move that we approve emergency ordinance 2026-10 with the language that was just read by the city attorney. I second. City clerk, please. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cosy, no. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Mayor Tate, yes.

The motion carries. Next we have Yep. Thanks, sir.

Ordinance 2026-11. Um, this is the same thing. This would get the ball rolling on a first reading. It would not adopt this next ordinance. It would just be a first reading, teeing it up for a second reading. This is an ordinance of the city of St. V Beach, Florida, amending the land development code relating to signs by creating section 26.14W to prohibit signs, posts, and poles within 50 ft landward of the mean high water line of the Gulf providing for recital, codification, conflicts, severability, correction of scrivener's errors, construction, publication, and an effective date. So we could adopt the same language that we read earlier as a first reading either today or you could continue this first reading until our next meeting and then have that first reading and then have our second reading um in June.

Can we do it 60 days or any time? But we do state 60 days for the first and second reading to occur. So between now and 60 days you have enough time to do this first reading and a second reading. But since we were talking about it tonight and we've already discussed it, we thought let's get the first reading out of the way. It won't become effective until whenever the second reading is, the second reading will be published in the newspaper prior to second reading. And hypothetically, if if the 60 days passes before a second reading comes, the the whole ordinance dies, right?

So from a process perspective, you're better to approve the first reading tonight. Keep us moving. Otherwise, I've got to bring another first reading, right? Which will take up um more more time to get you to the second reading within 60 days. And to be clear, the first first reading won't ever be binding. It's always the second that's binding in this scenario. Right. So, it's just keeping the keeping our options open to uh continue with the second reading. Um I I don't know if there's other commentary. I feel like this is the same topic we just discussed. I mean I I personally think um you know first reading should include exactly what we just did on the emergency reading visv the seven days the you know the kind of things that seven calendar days calendar days is the only

those exact same things that we just alluded to um and and I do think you know again as I mentioned on the on the emergency side of this um I would like to see us do a workshop and really see if we can't find a I think there's flaws in this frankly and I think we need to close those out and I think city-led workshop to uh to kind of uh hopefully find some good neighbor policies between all of the parties involved uh would be a good step in the next 60 days with the with the second reading theoretically to this group being if we can't get that solved we're that much closer with just a second reading kind of going forward

and just for clarification mayor um there are specific meetings for workshops here in St. Pete Beach versus what I characterize as a community meeting. A workshop here is defined as a one-way conversation with no public comment. And don't want that. But I thought so. I'm I would plan to move forward with a community meeting. Okay. And that is a much informal much more informal um dialogue with the community. Yeah. No speaker cards. We just sit around and talk and staff presents and gives you some baseline to kick off from.

I like that. I think we try and be good neighbors and try and work something out. I think there's valid points on all side and we just need to kind of find a way to uh to negotiate something that's amanable to everybody. So, yep. Thank you. Uh I don't know and I I realize I kind of interjected with my comments first with other comments from the group. prepared to make a motion. I do have one public comment. Oh, thank you. John Kersman. Uh, last three minutes. It is

ju just some food for thought. Um, are these fences? I mean, watching the the presentation we saw before, it looked almost like fences that were being laid in the sand. Can we build fences in our properties? Could I go and and and just stick a post on my property line up the street? Can I can I build a fence? I I know people are hung up in permitting for long periods of time trying to get their surveys supplied and all sorts of things to get a permit to build a fence. Why does it change in the preservation zone? Um and you know the these are the guidelines just as I got from a quick search just now in the meeting. So I apologize it's not the actual ordinances but it has a lot of good points and it even mentioned certain areas may have additional regulations due to proximity coastal zones or historical districts. Um, and this is the analysis of the St. Pete ordinances by, you know, Google. Um, but the other thing is, you know, we can't do it ourselves. We can't, you know, if if the Gulf Boulevard is your front yard and the and the beach is your backyard, you can't do these things in your front yard. You can't you can't just go put stuff in your front yard. Why could you do it in your backyard? And in some cases, it's not the the the be it's not the Gulf that's in your backyard. your your your backyard is actually the dune line. So when I thought about it in those terms, why don't we do it in terms of not the MHWL? I mean, great for the emergency, but why not think about doing it in the coastal construction line relative to that? If you're past or if you're past the dune line or the taxation line, if if if the tax assessor shows and they they show clearly where your land is and where your dune is. If it's past the dunes, what are you doing? You're not even paying taxes there. Why are you putting posts in the in the water or in the sand? So, um you need a BTR for the beach chairs and maybe that's caused people to think that now they can treat the whole property like it's theirs, but it's for the beach chairs and and and they didn't have to prove that they own the land to get those beach chairs

because typically if you just own the adjoining land, it was good. But that doesn't mean that then you start pushing the MHWL argument because you don't may not even own that land. So my suggestion is to focus on the u like a line that that stays still because the the main high water line changes every day. It's a rolling average over the last 18.6 years. So all of a sudden tomorrow it moved. So it it's really it's not a stable thing to stick to. Thank you very much. Oh and I apologize. I did use the wrong ter term before. I think it was a community meeting not a workshop even for the other topic. All right. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Ker. All right. Thank you though. Quite interesting. I'll say that. Uh

All right. I think we're on to our action items. Is that correct? We need a motion. We need a motion. Motion. Sorry. I apologize. We need a motion. Thank you. Okay. I make the motion to approve first reading of ordinance 2026-11 amending land development code division 26 signs with the change of seven calendar days with the change of seven calendar days and all other wording that was just read for the emergency ordinance and all other or wording previously read under the emergency ordinance. Okay, thank you for the clarification. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second. City clerk, please. Vice Mayor Robinson,

yes. Commissioner CY, no. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Mayor Tate, yes. Motion carries.

Okay. Uh, now I do believe we're on the action items. Uh,

we have a resolution 2026-10 conditional use permit 25127 at 955 Blind Pass Road and adjacent submerged land. There's also a companion uh agenda item which is a variance 26046 which Brandon I think we wanted to hear these together but vote separately. So I'll read both headers. a resolution of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida, authorizing a conditional use permit for the playing of outdoor music in an outdoor dining and drinking area pursuant to land development code section 15.4N 4N and for the reconstruction of a commercial dock facility containing marina uses and class A transient slips pursuant to code section 154M and R at property with an address of 9555 Blind Pass Road and adjacent submerged land incorporating the conditions outlined herein providing for correction of scrivener's error and an effective date. We'll also hear variance number 26046 also at 955 Blind Pass Road and adjacent submerged land. This is a companion to the conditional use permit 25127 seeking an unnecessary and undue hardship variance, actually four variances to allow for a commercial dock facility reconstruction to exceed the maximum width, length, and and to encroach into required setbacks as will be explained in the detailed staff report.

So before you start, Brandon, I just wanted to do a process clarification for the commission. So Brandon will provide a staff report. Um he has 15 minutes. I would ask that you hold your questions until you hear the developers presentation and uh staff is here to answer technical questions as they relate to the city codes and the developer is here to answer questions related to the project.

And before we get started, this is a quasi judicial application as opposed to legislative. Legislative is when you're adopting changes to the code like you did on the last two items. And then quasi judicial is when you're taking an application, putting on the left side of the table and comparing it to the code criteria on the right side of the table and deciding does this application meet the requirements of the code. That makes it quasi judicial. The main difference there is that we put all witnesses under oath and then we ask each of you to disclose any exparte communications which means have you talked to anyone about the application if so who' you talk to what they say and then have you done a site visit are you familiar with the site itself if you've gone to the site to see it typically you'll say I've and I have done a site visit or I have no communications but I but I have done a site visit The clerk will administer the oath right now to anyone that might be speaking on this, including the public.

Anyone who will be speaking or testifying before the commission needs to be sworn in. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So sworn. And then if we could do the exparte disclosure, starting with Commissioner Marriott.

Sure. So, um I have uh uh received a couple of emails about it that I've read. I've visited um the site a couple of times. I've viewed the site from the neighboring um building at the Yacht and Tennis Club from the eighth floor, which is a fantastic view, excellent view of the site. Um I've spoken to um gosh, maybe a dozen uh residents of the neighboring uh uh condo complex. Um, and I've spoken to the applicant and their attorneys on the site regarding their plans as well.

I'd also wanted then to say the emails that we got through the clerk's office or the city commission emails are all been put in as part of the public record and I think the clerk has one that she's going to possibly read later or it's going to be in the record. We had a handwritten one dropped off today, too. Yeah, I think that was emailed to all of us. Do I need to say that? Do I need to also state all of that or that what you said is good? I think that applies to everybody that we have all the written exparte communications and they're part of the record. Okay.

Um I have not talked to anybody on this um project. I have read the the letters. I I went over the um what we've given in our packet as well as uh reviewed some of our codes. Um, and I'm familiar with the area and I do know somebody who actually works at the rentals.

Uh, thank you. Uh, I have not talked to anybody directly about the project. I have read the correspondents, the various emails and even the handwritten correspondents uh that are on record. Um, I have uh reviewed the packet that was provided to us and the materials there. While I was doing that, I did use Google Maps and other avenues to kind of kind of look at, you know, what's around the area and kind of uh do a little research there. Uh and uh I am familiar with the property just having lived in the area and visited the prior uh restaurant that was there. Uh I have had no contact and I have done a site visit.

Okay. have uh reviewed the uh material provided to include the uh public comments uh those written in and provided to us via email. I have not spoken with anyone directly about the project.

Okay, Brandon, you may begin. Thank you. Brandon Barry, planner with the city. So, this is a two-part conditional use permit request as well as four variances related to one of the two requests. It's conditional use permit number 25127 associated with resolution 202610. The variances are under the cover of 26046. Property address is 9555 Blind Pass Road and includes the adjacent submerged land where the dock facilities are proposed. Brian Junks Jr. and Clay Gilman of McFarland, Ferguson, and McMullen, PA, for the owner, Pingpong Partners LLC, request a conditional use permit to construct an eating and drinking establishment that will offer outdoor music. The outdoor music is specifically what requires the conditional use permit, subject to land development code section 15.4N, and redevelop a commercial dock facility offering marina services, including liabs and class A commercial eating and drinking establishment slips. That request is made pursuant to land development code section 15.4 MNR. That is the second part of the conditional use permit request. There are four variances. They're all dimensional variances related to the redevelopment of the dock. I'll get into a little bit more detail in the upcoming slide on what those entail. Here's an aerial of the property. It includes uh the land that is known as the Blind Pass Marina as well as adjacent submerged land that is leased land from the state of Florida where the existing dock facilities are located. The portion of the property where the restaurant is proposed and adjacent to the submerged land is zoned CG1. That is a commercial zoning district. It is one of the few remaining commercial zoning districts that is not within the city's community redevelopment district. So they're not subject to certain standards that those properties along Gulf Boulevard and most of the southern areas of Blind Pass Road are subject to. The

east side of the property is transportation utility. There is no permanent development, any permanent structures located on that site that are under consideration today. Based on the site plan, it appears that will be additional parking. And then there is no zoning for the submerged land that is being discussed tonight. However, our land development code does require that dock facilities be consistent with the upland zoning district. In this case, the CG1 allows both class A, which are restaurant and hotel adjacent facilities. In this case, they they are they are restaurant slips that are proposed. It also allows marina uses, which are inclusive of the liverboards that the applicant is seeking to retain. The conditional use permit request number one is for the outdoor music associated with the outdoor restaurant area. You can see the site plan on the screen, leaving out the docks, which I'll discuss in a moment. The applicant is requesting to reconstruct the largely currently enclosed restaurant on the CG1 portion of the property as an outdoor restaurant concept. The outdoor restaurant use is a permitted use under the code. if that was the only request that they were seeking, they would be able to proceed with the onland development without needing to come forward to the city commission for a public hearing. However, because they are offering outdoor music, that is the portion of this request that requires city commission approval. That is both for recorded music and any live music area. And you can see the live music area, that smaller box in the screen, that is where they are proposing that location to be. Um, as I mentioned before, this is a largely open concept. They function as deck covers. There will be a bar and seating underneath the deck covers. Along the east side, there will be containers and trailers that provide somewhat of a buffer from the property to the east and potentially to the north as well. However, it is largely an open concept unlike the building that is currently on the site. Conditional use permit request number two is for the redevelopment of the

commercial docks. As mentioned before, they are considered two different slip types under our land development code. There's the marina facilities which include the liverboards, the uh more residential operational uh facilities at the waterfront as well as the ability to uh temporarily store vessels including for those who are using it for dining facilities. When these docks were originally constructed in the 80s and 90s, the most recent um significant modification to the docks, I believe, occurred to the northernmost dock. It about doubled in length in the mid 90s. Um during that construction, they were regulated by the county. The city did not have a land development code that regulated commercial docks. As of 2003, that is the city's current land development code. Commercial docks are considered conditional uses and they are also subject to dimensional standards that were not in place in the 1990s when they were most recently amended. There are four hardship associated variances um that deal with the footprint of the redeveloped dock structure. There are standards currently in the land development code as I mentioned before that were not in place when these docks were originally developed. So as they are coming in for a full redevelopment rather than simply a repair of the facilities that exist in the submerged land adjacent to site, they are subject to those standards and they are seeking variances to those standards. The requirement for width and length of the facility under the current code is that it not exceeds 75% of the property's width at the waterfront. That is a width and length that is less than 231.8 ft. They are proposing a width of 290 ft against an existing width of 309 ft. And I should say this is measured at the walkway adjacent to the seaw wall at the waterfront. The length they are proposing 290 ft 295 ft against an existing 300.3 feet. The side setbacks particularly on the south side are required to be greater than 10% of the

property width of the waterfront. That was that would be greater than 30.9 ft. They are proposing 16.1 on the north side 1 ft on the south side where the existing is zero respectively. And again that is the walkway at the seaw wall not necessarily the facilities that extend out into the water. There's also a greater residential setback. So that would apply specifically to the north side. There's a required setback of 102.9 ft. They are proposing 16.1 ft on the north side with an existing setback of zero feet. In terms of the actual practical differences in the walkouts, you can see the northern what is the the tan decks. Those are the or docks. Those are the docks that are proposed for construction on the north and on the south side. Uh the outline is the existing facility on the north side. They are eliminating the dock slips that face toward the northern property. They're making those all face interior. There are transient slips that are proposed in that parallel location adjacent to the submerged land lease line on the north side. On the south side, as I mentioned before, the setback is approximately the same. There's a 1T difference. However, adjacent to the bridge on the south side of the waterfront, uh the dock walk walk out is uh getting much closer to the bridge. So just to summarize the first request, staff finds that the redevelopment of the site is supported by the comprehensive plan objectives and policies that include future land use objective 1.1, policy 1.1.12 that promotes parcel assembly, including that transportation utility parcel and the redevelopment of the site, which eliminates a potential future curb cut along Blind Pass Road. We also promote rehabilitation of commercial uses through future land use policy 1.4.1. However, this is an open development. Um, as I mentioned before, there are trailers and storage areas proposed on the east side of the deck covers that should provide some buffering. However, this is a much more open development

than what is currently present on the site. You can see some photos of the existing building. This is the top photo is looking north toward the condominiums. This is the west side of the building. And then at the southwest side, that's the bottom photo showing those limited outdoor uh seating areas. There's also an open outdoor seating area just south of where that photo was taken. Due to the openness, um staff does find that there must be conditions assigned to avoid nuisance impact to surrounding existing development and mitigate potential disruption to residential quality. These are supported by future land use policies 1.1.4 and 1.3.2. We did ask the applicant for some testimony which they have agreed to provide in their presentation and these were also provided in the staff report regarding the request for the commercial dock. Um staff finds that the request is supported by the same comprehensive plan policies and objectives as the first request. They have provided some separation between the live board and on land commercial uses which supports future land use policy 1.3.1. The footprint changes made are largely beneficial to the residential property to the north. They are reducing the waterfront intensity of this use. There are fewer slips. Um there also that the move the elimination of those slips that face out toward the northern property. They don't currently overlap the submerged land lease line that's set about 40 feet for the northern property from the edge of this property's submerged land lease, but it does just move that intensity to a little bit more interior to the site. We do want the applicant to address any expected water quality issues from reconstruction. That's in support of coastal and conservation policy 1.8.5. We also recommend that the applicant maintain education to alert visitors to surrounding low-speed zones promoting coastal and conservation policy 1.4.7. 4.7. You can see some faded signs at the back of the restaurant referring to um what what we're talking about here. The land, the submerged land immediately adjacent to their site is not within a low speed zone, but the inter coastal

is. And we do expect that a lot of the visiting um vessels will will take the inter coastal into and out of this site. So, we did also ask the applicant for some testimony. This again was in the staff report but there are various items that um we have discussed and that they will provide through their presentation. One of the major ones related to the dock reconstruction is whether the Florida Department of Environmental Trans sorry Florida Department of Transportation District 7 has been consulted about the walkout encroachment toward the bridge compared with existing conditions and if so if any comments may result in modification of its footprint or location. I believe that is a floating dock that's proposed on the south side. um but they can speak to the the consultation they've had with them. Should the applicant provide adequate testimony to support these requests, staff recommends the following conditions to protect the health, safety, and welfare, and mitigate potential future nuisance impacts to surrounding land uses pertaining to the outdoor music request. We ask that artists and bands be restricted to playing only within the southern deck cover as reflected on the site plan. All speakers, whether live or recorded music, shall be oriented interior to the space and away from residential spaces. There shall be no outdoor music of any kind between 10 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. daily. As I mentioned before, we do not currently regulate the hours for outdoor restaurant uses or restaurant uses in general. There are liquor um hour restrictions, but this is a restriction specifically on the outdoor music at the property. Any speakers and associated equipment shall be permanent. There shall not be any temporary or visiting musician equipment that is used. Equipment shall be tied into a sound governor accessible only to management. This is similar to a condition that we've applied to other conditional use permits for outdoor music. It seems to be working well for those uses that have been approved. Music is limited to both 65 del uh dBA at the property line and 50 dBA within a residential unit. The sound test may be required prior to

operation. And this is intended to work with condition two to ensure that in the future there should not be any violation of the decibel standards that the city sets through its codes. We are also recommending that any two substantiated noise violations within a one-year period shall automatically return this request to the city commission for consideration. This does not necessarily mean that there have been fines assessed. This is calibrated equipment being used by our sheriff's office or our code enforcement staff who were trained to use these devices finding that there is a substantion no substantiated noise violation based on condition 4. For the commercial dock facility conditions, we ask that the owner maintain educational signage related to the existence of nearby slow speed zones. Vessels docked or morted in the facility shall also be subject to the noise ordinance. any music played or any nuisance activity from the vessels would also be cited to the property owner as well as potentially to the vessels. Item eight, that there must be an operational associated onland use prior to operation of the reconstructed commercial docks. For the property development conditions, we ask that trailers be secured to constitute permanent structures. Mobile food trucks shall not be operated at the property. These should be operated as a as a permanent restaurant use at the at the property. Any kind of outdoor dry storage shall not be permitted without amendment of the conditional use permit other than the areas shown on plans that are provided in accordance with the accessory structure provisions. The applicant is maintaining jet skis and a few other facilities located toward the southwest portion of the site. Those uses do exist today, but any kind of outdoor dry long-term storage of vessels would need to be approved only through amendment of this conditional use permit. Similarly, there are a lot of different uses that fall under the marina use category in our land development code. Any kind of boat sales and repair, additional commercial watercraft, fueling stations, these can all be allowable uses under the subcategory of marinas. That's not something that the applicant has

proposed. It's something that if they were to offer in the future, including an expansion on the number of watercraft that they're operating commercially at the facility, they would also need to come back for an amendment of this conditional use permit based on that proposed condition 11. And then we have our boilerplate conditions. These are generally the the last conditions under any conditional use permit that any violation of the conditions will allow the city commission to uh review this and potentially resend or modify the conditional use permit. So, this is in addition to the earlier criteria that would allow for the specific standards for the outdoor music request. In item 13, the city commission may review the conditional use permit periodically to determine whether it complies with the terms and conditions. For potential future uh action that is taken by the commission tonight, we ask that separate action be taken on the conditional use permit. That is conditional use permit 25127 through resolution 202610. We ask that you approve approve with conditions deny or if you need additional information that we cannot provide tonight that you continue it to a specified date certain the same action be taken separately for the variances that are requested tonight. We do have the applicant and their agent present um a number of the owner's representatives and I will turn it over to them for their presentation.

Thank you Brandon. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Uh, thank you, Brandon, mayor, commissioners. Brian, 625 Court Street here on behalf of the applicant and the property owner, Ping Pong Partners. We have Chaz Brook and Steve Jian Philippo here with us. We also have Anthony Padala from Foster Consulting who previously worked with FD for over a decade uh on dock uh design and management. This is an owner operated application, an owner operated project. This property is not under contract. There's been a significant amount of investment and planning put into this by this team and this is the team that's behind the armature works on Riverwalk in Tampa. Uh they are highquality developers. They are familyfriendly developers. They want this to be a crown jewel in their portfolio where they can take their own families. Uh they are very very uh concerned about uh being good neighbors and we have met with the leadership, the board and the property management uh of the yacht and tennis club have had great dialogue. They have uh the cell phone numbers uh and emails of the owners already. Uh and so we're looking forward to being a substantial and significant improvement over what's there and even over what was there in the past. uh and being good neighbors and good property owners while also redeveloping and revitalizing a blighted eyesore of a property that was substantially damaged during the hurricanes. Uh as you can see, this is the existing footprint. All of the use is retained within the submerged land lease. None of the use is going outside of the submerged land lease that has already been uh in place for decades. And as Mr. Barry uh pointed out, we're actually reducing the intensity of the project. We're going from 106 slips to 70. So, we're reducing the number of slips

by 36. Uh we are also reducing the length of the dock by 5T. We're reducing the width of the dock by almost 20 ft. And we're actually increasing the setbacks to the northern property line and to the southern property line. Uh the variance is based upon the hurricane and the substantial damage that was caused by the hurricane. As Mr. Barry pointed out in the staff report, similar variances have been granted uh in the past um for other similarly affected properties and even uh property in 2023. So, this is not uncommon for previously approved marinas, particularly marinas who've provided a benefit to the Blind Pass Marina area and marinas that have provided a benefit and a boating atmosphere for this community to be redeveloped and reconstructed when they've been damaged or when their useful life is done within their existing footprint. And again, our proposal is to reduce the intensity and to also uh reduce the um increase the setbacks and reduce the length of the docks. You can see the substantial damage. I'm sure most of you drive by this property on a regular basis. Uh it was substantially damaged. Uh it is an eyes sore and what we're proposing also increases the size of the slips which is going to increase the quality of the boats and of the tenants which is going to support uh a a high quality use of the marina uh and of the property. So there's two things before you today uh as Mr. Barry pointed out. First is the conditional use for the upland. We what we're trying to do there is reestablish a restaurant use which has been a restaurant use for decades. And again, we're going to make it a more highquality, family-friendly use, which will be owner operated, not leased out to a tenant, not like the Sea Hag. Uh, and my clients are actually responsible for moving that tenant on prior to the hurricanes. Um, so again, this is a wellthoughtout uh and and going to be a well-managed uh project. Uh so the conditional use uh the only conditional

use that's that's available or that's applicable for you is the live music which is governed by your code and as Mr. Barry pointed out we have agreed to all of the conditions of approval including a noise governor. So we're going to have a noise governor on the KR speakers which will be house speakers. They will be no outside speakers. There'll be no outside equipment that will be allowed and those KR speakers are going to be limited by the uh sound pressure which limit limits the decibel and they'll be uh uh decel uh counting equipment uh that will be able to identify what is the allowable decibb. Also all of these speakers which I think there's going to be two two or two to four are oriented away from the property lines. pointed out towards the water and only the southern area of the property which is by where the rentals are now, where those jet ski rentals are now by the bridge. That's the only area where there'll be uh performers, live performers according to the conditions of approval. And so we think that that all takes into consideration and mitigates for the noise concerns. Finally, you retain ultimate control over the conditional use and you contain strict control over it and we're totally fine with that because we want to trust but verify. So if there's two substantiated violations of the of the decibb within a year, we can come right back here and you can say, "Mr. Ens, you told us that you were going to be good neighbors and you've had three violations and we're going to no more live music." that's within your discretion and that's again the ultimate um uh trust but verify that you have before you today. Uh add additionally as Mr. Barry pointed out any violation of the conditions of approval can come back to you to remove the conditional use. Um so in terms of the live music there has been significant work done with the staff and also with the leadership. We haven't talked to everybody at at Yach and Tennis Club. is obviously a very uh very large community. Um but we have talked to the leadership, we've

exchanged emails, we've exchanged phone numbers, we've talked to the property management, and I think we've satisfied quite a few folks that are concerned about the intent and the quality of this development. So, this is the site plan that shows the upland, the parking, and then it shows a portion of the marina. You can see here, and I don't know if I have a pointer on here or not, do I? Yeah. Okay, there's a pointer, but you guys can't see what I'm pointing at. So the southern area here by where it says landscape north of the of the jet ski rental that is a site visibility triangle kind of showing you where this speaker will be oriented out towards the water and away from the property line. That is the southern portion. That's the only portion on the conditions of approval that's allowed to have live performances. That's hundreds of feet away from the northern property line. And there there will be buildings I mean there are substantial buildings and improvements that will mitigate any noise from traveling directly north to that property line. And again you can see here the property um the by the time you get to the northern property line I'm sorry I was going the wrong direction. By the time you get to the northern property line it's it's pretty substantially set back. Uh anyway, and there's additional um structures and things that that are barriers and and walls opa an opaque wall that is on the site uh that will be improved to again mitigate uh noise issues. But those sound governors that's really that really those work and we've talked to the city staff, we've talked to Mr. Barry and we've confirmed that other sites that have been approved for outdoor music for conditional uses that use sound governors have worked. They have worked. They haven't had to come back to you to pull those conditional uses. So, we think that um we've met the competence substantial evidence uh through the staff report, through the application, and through the testimony of Mr. Fidala here in a moment that that we do meet the code criteria for the conditional use. Mr. Barry identified 12 goals, policies, and objectives of the St. Petersburg Beach uh St. Pete Beach

land development code and comprehensive plan that are supported by this variance application and this conditional use application. And primarily it is to revitalize a blighted area that has existed for decades and to improve it uh beyond what it has been uh in the past. So as you know these are the specific four variances that we're requesting uh to redevelop the dock. I've gone through that uh and then I'm going to ask Mr. Padala to come and explain the marina layout. And again the outline you're seeing in black and white that's existing. So we existing have a number of slips that are backing out and hanging over the yacht and tennis clubs repairarian line. We're getting rid of that. So the only thing that will be allowed to be happen in this parallel area here on this on the colored area that's showing the brown that's a floating dock, the center is the permanent dock and the southern is a floating dock. And Mr. Pidal will get into that. But what we're doing is we're moving those those slips that are backout slips over the repairarian lane. We're getting rid of those and the only thing that will be allowed on that side of the property line will be transient which means only for use of the restaurant. People that are coming and going from the restaurant, not overnight stays, not permanent stays, not mooring, but transient use uh to allow access to the restaurant that will be parallel parked in those space. So Mr. Mr. Padal, if you could come up and address um the design and then um also some of the testimony that Mr. Barry asked for and I might direct you a little bit if we need to on the testimony.

Okay. Uh good evening. My name is Anthony Badala. I'm with J Foster Consulting. We're a marine structural engineering firm that was hired to assist with the design and permitting of the dock rebuild project. I work as an environmental consultant for Jay Foster. Prior to Jay Foster, I worked with the FD in the environmental resource permitting and sovereign submerged lands program for about 11 years. So, some of what I'm going to say is just going to be echoing what Brian kind of already mentioned, but as you can see, the dock design is in substantially the same footprint as what's been existing out there with some forward thinking ideas. One that Brian just mentioned is reducing some of the the potential for issue they had on the northern end with the the perpendicular slips and the extra space required to cut for ingress and eress out of there whereas now it's just going to be parallel mooring and just temporary mooring there. Um those are no not overnight slips Brian alluded to. Um, also we're going to maintain one fixed dock segment there in the middle so that anyone who wants to have boat lifts can install boat lifts, but we're going with floating docks for the others as they they tend to be a little bit more resilient in storm conditions. Uh on that the the docks are designed rated for to withstand hurricane category one conditions fully loaded meaning all slips occupied by vessels tied off to the dock or a category 5 hurricane unloaded um when it comes to setbacks. So this project has been reviewed by the FD and normally when you have a project on sovereign submerged lands for any new structures that the state requires a 25- ft setback for repairing lines. However, they reviewed the project and because we are keeping everything within their

authorized submerged land lease boundary, they're not requiring us to proactively get letters of no objection from adjacent property owners to the north and south. I will mention that there should be a lease no public noticing process in which those folks including the DOT would have an opportunity to comment if they want to but as of right now the the state D has reviewed it for the setbacks and they don't have an issue with it and that's specifically regarding the southern setback uh closer to the bridge correct both I mean both setbacks yes but yes

okay and Anthony um there was a question about the material of the dock and what that'll be made of. Can you address that? So, yeah, again, the the dock there in the middle in the brown is going to be timber, wood, all fixed so that they can implement boat lifts as needed in those slips whereas the rest is going to be floating concrete. And the uh liaborts, what was your research how what did your research indicate about the history of liaborts and how that'll be regulated in terms of sanitation and facilities and pumpout?

Sure. So, you know, going back, you can see these docks have been out there in their their current, I mean, now damaged uh configuration for over 30 years. The oldest uh submerged land lease document I found on record with the state was from 1987. That lease designated with liverboards and it referenced a deer permit which was before the D there was the DER. It was from 1975. Those records were incomplete, but I I presume that it was authorized in that permit as well. And liboards have been authorized in every subsequent renewed submerged land lease since 1987.

Thank you, Anthony. He he'll be here to answer your questions. Um, so again, Anthony, thank you. Liverboards I know has been a question. Those have been existing on site since 1987. And again, we're reducing the number of total slips. So the available slips for liverboards will be 32. And we're greatly increasing the size of the individual slips which will increase the quality of the vessel and will again contribute to a high quality redevelopment project that will be supportive of a family-friendly environment uh and atmosphere. Additionally, in every lease that we have uh which is standard for anyone who's done leases before, all of our tenants have to comply with every law, ordinance uh and code applicable to their occupancy, which would include a noise ordinance. So any violations of the noise ordinance by a LI aboard would would certainly be grounds for eviction and our clients have demonstrated through their ownership of the property that they are committed to making sure that the property functions within the law and follows the rules and that's what we're here to do and that's why we are agreeable to all of those conditions of approval. Um there will be this at the top you see where it says building that is an existing building or will be redeveloped and that is going to be clubhouse. So that will have the sanitation facilities. All of those things are required by FDP for liverboards, so the Upland uh sanitation facilities. And then the pumpout will either be redeveloped or it'll be an off-site company that comes in and does the pump out. We haven't figured that out yet, but the current pumpout has been decommissioned. It's been damaged. It doesn't work. So, we'll either do a new pump out or we'll have an off-site company that comes in to manage the pumpout. Um, so again, I think I've gone through um the requests, the specific requests and the variance requests. Obviously, the hardship is that there was a hurricane that substantially damaged the property. Uh, as it relates to the docks, the docks could not be repaired. Uh, they were very, very, very damaged. And, um, we want to fortify those and make them more resilient. We want them to be resilient for, you know,

any future storms that we have, which is something that, uh, Mr. Bedala uh, addressed. The outdoor music again is strictly regulated. It is allowable per code. It's strictly regulated. It will have noise governors. It will be limited to live performances on the southern side of the property, which is several hundred feet away from the northern property line. And there will also be significant improvements that will mitigate any of that. And it's oriented towards the water. And again, we're agreeing to no live music after or no amplified music after 10 p.m. on any day of the week. um which I believe is is a very um you know appropriate uh and and good condition uh for the property to ensure that it stays within compliance. And I believe and we've heard and you saw one email uh from a member of the yacht and tennis club that says they're looking forward to this improvement. It's an eyesore. They've had to look at it now for two years, you know, waiting for it to be redeveloped and finally we have the right developer and the right property owner who's committed to St. P Beach committed to be a good property owner and um will absolutely be accountable and responsible for this development. So again, we believe we've provided qu competent substantial evidence in this quasi judicial proceeding through both the testimony of Mr. Barry, the the very thorough staff report of Mr. Barry, finding that the variance and the uh the conditional use application meet or exceed 12 different goals, policies, and objectives of your comprehensive plan are supportable and also that it is consistent. Not that this creates a precedent because it doesn't. Each variance case stands on its own merits. But that it is consistent and does not uh comply any special benefit on the property owner because it is very similar to other variances that have been granted uh by the commission for other uh existing marinas that were non-conforming that were developed under the standards of uh of the Penllis County code back in the 80s and 90s. And that would include the Warf Restaurant in Pasigril uh and also the Passagril Marina. And those were the two that were um specifically mentioned

by Mr. Barry. Again, we're happy to answer any questions that you have. I know it's been a long night. Thank you so much for your attention and your consideration. We've greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you uh both city staff and uh for the development team. Um are there questions from the commissioners? I do have public comment. You have public comment. Yes. Okay. Michael Bloom.

Thank you to the mayor and the commissioners. Uh my name is Michael Bloom. I live at 9425 Blind Pass Road. I listened to the presentation, but I heard nothing about Blind Pass Road at Gulf Boulevard. So, is there going to be It's a stateowned road, I imagine. Is there going to be a study done, a traffic study done, uh truck, crosswalk, pedestrian trafficking, exit and entrance into the property? You mentioned 180 parking lots. You mentioned uh 70 boat slips and a restaurant. That's going to add more congestion to Blind Pass Road. I want to know if there will be a traffic study. Yes, sir. Anyway,

manager. So, so process-wise, take public comment. That gives you an opportunity to an ask the questions of the public to the applicant. Understood. And staff. Thank you. Thanks, sir. So, we will get an answer for you. William Webster.

Thank you, gentlemen and ladies. Um, where did I put this? All right. Good evening. And it is evening now. And uh uh it's a privilege to be here and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, can I can I please get your name, your address? I know it's William. Would you please give me your address, please? Sorry. Your address, please, sir. Address.

I'm right. I'm William Mustin. I live at 9525 Bind Pass Road 101 in Courageous Building that is overlooking directly the uh the developmental project. And I've seen a lot of things in my 38 years of citizen of St. Pete Beach and uh Yacht and Tennis Club. Thanks, sir. Thank you.

And u my concern is kind of simple. It's more of a traffic thing, not road traffic. But if you look at uh what I put up, you see, we've been living with this problem of all these boats encroaching our waterway. And if you notice our 30-foot slips are not occupied by 30-foot boats. You cannot navigate. I had a boat slip at the end and you cannot navigate this waterway with all these boats protruding. Now, this plan is for a 16.1 foot uh dock or whatever. And the the the aspiration is for for bigger yachts to dock there. We have at least three boats I know in our marina that are over 20t wide. One is 24 foot wide. My friend Glenn back here, his boat is 13 foot wide almost and it's only 39 foot long. So when you dock on this and you put out your fenders and whatnot, you're going to be sticking out again and it's going to make it difficult to navigate this. Now I I really applaud the the development and getting ready of this eyesore and uh just a simple solution would be just just do away with the transient dock on the on the north side and that would free up the waterway for navigation. It would, you know, increase our ability to navigate in and out. And especially this current and understand this current, if you if you look at at a mile is 5,280 feet. One mile an hour current is divide that by 60 and you get 88 feet per minute, which divide that by 60 and you get one and a half feet per second. One and a half feet. One Mississippi that's at one mile an hour and it's going to one and a half. That current is ripping and it's really difficult to to dock your boat. my boat, especially sideways. If you're going headed in or

sternwise in, it's not so bad. But if you're sideways to this current, it's going to be quite interesting. And and it's entertaining for us. We've seen all kind of things. Boat sinking, uh boats on fire, boat railing up. We've seen the forensic people gathering evidence. We've seen bodies taken off boats. Uh it's just been quite entertaining and I I guess it's going to continue. But thank you for your indulgence. Thank you, sir. Less Lloyd Aaron Zions.

Members of the city council, my name is Aaron Zans. I'm president of Courageous Association. I reside at 9525 Blind Pass Road, unit number 607. And I'm also the vice president of the YTC, which represents the five buildings with inside the YTC um of St. Pete Beach. Um we met with Ping Pong Enterprises. I was one of the people. There's several of us there. Um we were and district uh Councilman Marriott um had a very good meeting with the seven items that you've put on there are the things that we discussed. Um the central sound system being with directional speakers and now they've said there will be a governor on it. Um the the active we discussed active management so that there will always be somebody there to pro uh check the property so you don't have this going on and off. Um pro premise the transient docks um would not impede the fairway. There is a solution to that. Um that no boat larger than a 14t beam be put on that and no um grafting up in that area would would solve that problem as well. Um the we did discuss something that's not here tonight that hasn't been discussed so far that the center dock would be used um or have some Airbnb uh town homes put there in our discussion. They said they would not go over two stories. Seems reasonable. I would hope that that would be incorporated into the requirements or or uh with the inclusion of a deck on top of the two-story town um house boats as they call it or as one of the people in our area call it the uh house townhouse barges. Um that the new grading of the property not have any water intrusion into our

property. um that the uh parking lot have a 30% uh pvious um uh land use similar to ours over in the in the condos to help dissipate some of the water instead of the 10% that's now also cheaper for them to put in shell than to put in uh tar tar and block that off. Um that the access to the gate not be blocked. There's a um a a gate for utilities and access to our southside there. It's that the city controls. You have keys to it. Um the Airbnb is a different use than uh somebody who is living in the housebo. Okay. No. So, finally, before my time runs out, um because we did not have the um previous meeting, the meeting for the board of adjustment, we didn't get to vet this. So, I didn't get to bring it to our people and say, "Hey, as a board, this is what we decide." So, I can only speak tonight as a unit owner. If all of these items that I just went over are addressed, I don't see a problem in there along with the um traffic. So, unfortunately, I can't speak as president or vice president of the YTC board, but I do think that this is a good opportunity to work with a a a proven um landlord or proven businessman. Thank you.

Thank you,

Steve Bono. I am Steve Bono, 9525 Blind Pass Road, 10:07 St. Pete Beach. We've been working with Karen uh on this project and uh we met with the owners uh two weeks ago. It was only two weeks ago. We all met, had great conversations, and we're real happy about this project in many ways, but we also are a little cautious. We want to be sure that the noise, you know, being an outdoor venue, um, Sea Dogs has been a great, uh, neighbor of ours across the water. Um, they shut down at 10:00. You know, it's we've got good neighbors there and, uh, we just hope that we can continue that with these gentlemen and and have a great neighborhood. We like to eat a lot. got uh 700 people there and we go out two or three times a week to eat. So, you might have a line out the door, Steve. Um and maybe Door Dash and Uber Eats can come in too and uh just deliver right to our front door. All right. No, we we really are. We a few concerns is the noise and I think the Airbnb thing, you know, a lot of communities now are worried about Airbnbs coming into their neighborhoods. And as long as they can, you know, keep an eye on the noise and we don't want any frat houses coming in and uh staying up all night, that wouldn't be a lot of fun. But other than that, I'm pretty excited about the project. And uh we like to be uh the the number one thing we said we're all looking for good neighbors and I think that's what we want to accomplish. Thank you.

Thank you Karen Drachowski. Karen Strakowski and I live at 9495 Blind Pass Road in the Intrepid building. Um, a lot of things that um have been mentioned before um before me. I some of the same concerns I have. I think the biggest concern is because typically something does go through the planning board or the board of adjustments and I felt like the notice we got that there was a hearing was pretty quick too. Legal but pretty quick. Um, I am concerned about no traffic study because I'd like to know what the minimum u requirement is for the sighteline on northbound and southbound bl southbound blind pass. It's very difficult even with the pedestrian crosswalk there to get across. And when I think of cars coming out um left and right there as well as getting in and out of our um complex, it I think it's going to be more difficult. So I I really do feel that a traffic study would be an important thing um to do. Um I I did notice in the material that the submerged land lease had expired. So I would like to make sure that there is a valid submerged land lease. And I do have a question because in the past several years there have been a couple of um meetings with previous District 1 commissioners about potential development and we were told that most backed out because of potential for environmental contamination um with the fuel tanks there. So I hope that has been checked out and addressed as well. Um, and I think Erin mentioned that we or somebody mentioned that we need the continued access to the yacht and tennis club through that uh parking lot there over on the uh southside or west side. Um, and artisan bands. I think we were told that um or they we were told at our recent um yacht and tennis club meeting that with the smaller group meeting that they talked

about it wouldn't be bands who could bring their own equipment. It would be more like solo artists. But yet in the presentation tonight I saw artists and bands. So, the noise is a a um consideration. Um and I do have one person who asked me today, can we find out what will happen to that osprey nest that's out there? So, that's it. Thank you. Ronnie Tobin.

Ronnie Tobin. Is that it? That's all that I have. Okay. Thank you. Listen, uh, first I wanted to thank the again the public for their comments uh on both for and against. It was it was uh very interesting to hear both and I was inclined to to jump in, but I was told to hold my questions. So, we'll uh we'll save those for the presenters and for the city staff. Um, I'll open it up to questions from and discussion from the commissioners, please. Commissioner Marriott.

Sure, I'll jump in. Um, thanks again, Brandon, and the staff for for your thorough report and to the applicant. Um, and also thanks to the the neighbors there at Yach and Tennis Club for um proactively reaching out to me and um uh allowing me to meet with you guys and the applicant to to to try to make this a relatively smooth process. And and uh um I just want to say I'm very excited about this project. I am super excited to have a a a higherend better kind of experience dining establishment up there on the north end of the beach. Most of the people that I speak to in my neighborhood, of course, I'm in the the the residential neighborhood a bit south of there, but most of my neighbors that I've seen walking around in the neighborhood are are super excited about it. And so, uh um so I think this has the potential to be a really great project. Um I do have a couple of questions. Um and let me start with uh a couple of questions for staff. So, if Brandon or Kristen are available, um I did want to clarify um that uh storm water storm water management um on the site uh is that something that gets um evaluated and and handled at the time of site plan when when there's permits applied for?

That's correct. And that would apply regardless of whether a conditional use permits issued. We have the same standards. The standard is that for any new development, they be held to the development as if it were an unimproved site. So, we will make sure that there is adequate retention or detention, whether it's underground. We we see a lot of underground vaults, but um that that will be addressed if if this development moves forward. And the goal of our storm water requirements is that all storm water is handled on the site, right? So, the goal is to not have storm water running off onto neighboring properties. is that that's correct. Um with the FDOT facilities there, we'll have to coordinate with them with with Swift Mud as well, but we will work together with them on that on the site plan.

Okay. And then could you clarify for me when our code requires a traffic study?

So the recommendation or the discretion usually starts at 50 peak hour trips. Um based on my estimate which is really just a reading of the IT manual looking at the pre and post development the international uh transportation engineer manual 11th edition we would expect that based on the restaurant size increase and that's the absolute size that is including the storage areas the the trailer and so on this could be just over that threshold for a weekend day. Um at a peak hour we could see up to about 54 additional trips. So, we could um we we will definitely work with FDOT through their access permit system. If this moves on to the site plan stage, that'll be something that the applicant needs to undertake. I believe they're closing one of their two curb cuts, the one closer to the bridge. Um and then so they will need to work with FDOT on that. We can require a traffic study. Um Blind Pass Road, this segment is a substantially lower volume to capacity ratio than we have for other state roadways. It's it's 044 where one is usually failure. Um for reference, Gulf Boulevard is about a 78 currently. Um but we can we can require that and we can work with the state on addressing these sighteline issues at that stage.

All right, perfect. Um and I think that's it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Cosy.

Yeah. For the applicant, I was wondering if they could give us more information uh looking towards the environment, what the issue is with the pumpout like the pumpout plan is that why isn't that already resolved? Like is is whether it's going to be um transient pumpout or a permanent facility. So, to my understanding, the plan is to reinstate a pumpout system. It's required if they want to accommodate live aboard vessels at the marina. The previous fixed pumpout system that was on site, I guess, was decommissioned some time ago, and they're not sure. I the I think that in discussions, the plan is likely to use a third party mobile unit that will come service people's vessels at the marina. Um but I don't think that's set in stone yet. They they can implement something on site uh a pumpout system or they can they can go that route where they have a mobile service company.

Right. The D I mean that's one of the requirements if you're going to have liboards. Uh the D requires you have upland facilities you know washroom restroom facilities and that they will have access to and then you have to have some sort of pumpout system pumpout plan. Commissioner Kazy, if I might also add just to get clarity on the on the process. So, we're at the very beginning of the permitting process because we have to get a variance before we can move on to Penllis County Water and Navigation. Penelis County Water and Navigation is the body that actually issues the permit to construct marinas and docks. And so, that will go through an extensive process that also requires FD approval as well. Um, so all of those things will be uh addressed through that process. Um, and if anything changes in terms of the variances required or requested, it'll come back to you uh for you to look at it again. Um, and so that's kind of where we're at that it's not that we haven't done our homework. It's just that we can't even apply to Penelis County Water and Nav for a permit until we get the local sign off from St. Pete Beach that says yes, this is allowed.

Yeah. I was just trying to understand why there wasn't a plan right now between the two. Yeah. Commission Maldonado.

Thank you uh Mr. Mayor and thank you uh Mr. Ans. That was a very detailed briefing. You answered several of my questions regarded to the liver boards the noise governors and then the active management uh piece. All that to say that I do think that this is a great opportunity to revitalize a blighted area. I'm happy uh if this goes through for district one. I think that this is long overdue. I think that most of the support that I saw from the residents was very favorable. There were some concerns that I do think that need to be addressed. Uh you know if not traffic studies possibly later on some traffic calming and things that are going to happen with occupancy. Uh overall it looks great. I would say that this is a high quality potential. I am familiar with the armature works. Uh great stuff going on with that and I commend you for bringing in a high value, high partner. Uh I will say the parking situation uh is favorable. There's only 106 spaces required. It looks like so far 167 are depicted. I understand the uh concern with the transitory boat slips, but navigating on the water is never easy. So common sense and you know rideway and things like that will will dictate uh that. So, um, yeah. No, I think that this is a great great opportunity. So, so far I'm very supportive. Thank you.

Thank you, uh, Commissioner Robinson. I'm glad to see this area being developed or or looking at being developed. It's been um needing some revitalization for a while now. Um, I do have some questions. Um, like I guess maybe I'll start with staff. Thanks, Brandon. On the CG1, um, yes, what is what is the the Airbnb rules for that?

It's my understanding with live aboards. Um, use using Airbnbs casually. I believe the state land lease unless it's changed since the last time it was renewed for this property it's a minimum of five days and they actually for live aboards to my understanding they don't allow for length of stay to exceed six months because that would be demonstration of of permanent residency within a vessel. So I believe the range is five days to six months. The applicant could could verify that though.

Okay. and for the warf and the Passagril Marina. Um what uh what explain a little bit more about about what we did there for for their variance.

So with the warf they they received a variance to setbacks as well. Um they had gone through a reconstruction of their dock facilities a couple of years ago and they had come to this commission at the time for those requests for the marina. I know that several years ago they had added vessels to commercially operated vessels to their marina. Um I I believe they had made some repairs post storm but I don't remember that one going for a variance. That was that was the warf I believe that obtained a variance through the conditional use permit process. So the only one was was the wararf and not pasil marina.

I I don't remember the pastor grillil marina. I can I can take a look to see if we've issued one in the last several years, but it's it was the warf that I recall from 2023. And And what type of area? I mean, like how many feet, what percentage, what did we give them? I can get those numbers for you. I can pull the staff report back up, but I I don't I don't have them off hand. So,

well, I'm just trying to figure out similar if it is similar, if it is not similar. Just trying to get consistency. I mean my my concern with asking that is just you know what we would do for a resident versus what we would do you know for a business as well you know coming in on something that's substantially damaged and what we allowed to be built back or what we allowed to be reconstructed and in in that regards with the warf I know that there there were encroachments toward the extended raparian lines on the side I believe they did

get very close um in terms of overall length it's a much smaller facility and they of course have the building that extends over the water. That's a special circumstance that doesn't apply elsewhere in the city. Um I don't believe they went out as far as this facility. Um but I can I can get the numbers for you. Okay. I I would be curious to know what the what what percentage or what how much we gave them as far as footage. I mean, we're looking at for a rebuild what uh 231. We're asking for um you know, another 60 59 feet. Um, so just we've looked at less than that. So just

I I'll get those numbers for you. Okay. Um, let's see what other one um that one. I think that's all I have right now for the for um staff. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Is there a valid submerged land lease?

So my understanding is that the submerged land lease is under renewal, but I don't have firsthand knowledge, but I suspect just from my time working in the D with leases, we have a modification to the lease application inhouse right now that's being processed. And typically at a renewal is the best time to apply for a modification because it's the same fee. You only pay it once. And so I'm not they may be issuing the renewed lease. It may be in processing and it may be forthcoming or they may be waiting until they just process our modified lease that we've applied for. I'm not sure. I'd have to do a little I'd have to inquire with the division of state lands on So what what I can tell you commissioner from speaking with the property owner is they paid the renewal fee three months ago and they're just waiting on the renewal. So obviously even if you approved this tonight it would be contingent upon that summer land being renewed which again goes through the multi-step process.

So it sounds like the renewal is either the renewed lease is either forthcoming or they're going to wait and wait until they see the modified. Okay. And then um the fixed docks are in the middle and floating docks on both sides. And on the northern side, are all of those floating docks transient or just the parallel?

No, the inside, the interior slips, those 19, those will accommodate overnight moing. Those are more like permanent slips. The transient is only on the outer northern side that are more parallel. That's just touchand go temporary patrons of the restaurant want to come up get a bite to eat and they're out. That that's we're not not intended to allow overnight mooring on the outside there. Okay. So you're looking at then um liverboards as well or what is on the um south side? What is on the south side? Yeah. What is that? Um we've got liverboards what in the middle. We've got liverboards on the north and parallel. So, what is on the docks on the on the uh south side?

I think those are just standard permanent slips that can be leased. Okay. My understanding is there's 38 wet slips and 32 livabboard slips. Okay. And that's that's what's in the staff report. Uh and I did want to just mention the Livboards. So, the Livboards, as I think you all know, they have to be registered vessels. there. The intent is not for the property owner to build permanent structures that are two stories high and advertise them for Airbnb or whatever. I've not heard the applicant talk about Airbnb or Verbbo or anything like that. This is, you know, your traditional owner occupied vessel for minimum of 5 days, no longer than six months, uh, as permitted by FD. So,

what are the restaurant hours of operation? Those haven't been established, but they will be similar to, you know, Sea Dogs and your your normal restaurant uh operation. Uh like I said, we've we've committed to no live music or amplified music after 10 on any night, but we haven't gotten to what the hours of operation will be. Just I'm just saying a concern for noise being that those uh transient are on the closest to the residential side and overwater noise just travels. I mean, if we haven't learned that over here, I don't know who has. I mean,

we're getting hit with that from all sides. So, I'm just concerned about that. Um, hence, if it's a 2 a.m. scenario that your restaurant's going to stay open, is it restaurant or restaurant bar? What is it? Yeah.

Chaz, um, it it's going to be a restaurant. We all know that Sea Dog closes at 10. We know the beach isn't busy after 10 11 o'clock at night. Um, it's going to be a restaurant. It's it's it's not obviously if we can't have live music or music after 10 o'clock. We're not going to be open re really, you know, who who who's going to hang out for in in silence. It's it's not the type of business we operate. Um, you know, that's that's the gist. But I did that answer your question? Close. Yes.

Okay. And I guess the only other thing I I could just say and reiterate is that any violation of the noise ordinance, whether it's from amplified music or from a transient boat, is grounds for to come back uh on the conditional use for right. I did see in here that transient boats to as well and that would also be the lease along with the boat rentals if they're violating that restaurant. They won't be. Yeah. I I think I saw in here that not only will they be responsible for any fines or whatever as well as the owners will be. Correct. Yes. Yeah.

Just right. Um, let's see.

Oops. It's closed down. I'll let somebody else go. I know I'll have more. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Marriott, please. Sure. Um, I've got another question for you, Brandon. Um, the um the uh gate that's been mentioned um between the two properties um I don't that's notated on the site plan anywhere. I'm assuming that that is also something that would be dealt with at the time of site plan approval when they are coming for permits.

Yes. So that looks to intersect that utility easement that was pointed out. I think that was put in place back in the 60s. Um we received a boundary in a topographic survey for the submitt which is sufficient at this stage but when we move on to the site plan stage they are required to file a title survey. So those items that aren't immediately evident are usually picked up in that um we will have the fire marshall and the fire department involved. So if there's any access requirements we we would definitely address it at that stage as well. So

okay perfect. Thank you. And then um do I have a question for the applicant? I guess and you you might know this question or the applicant might know this question, but the um the floating dock that's on the north side where there would be transient slips on the north side of that floating dock. Um do we know what the distance is from that dock to the the neighboring dock at Yach and Tennis Club? When I scaled it off, the submerged land area starts at about 60 feet away, 60 to 65 feet away. I don't know the actual distance to the dock, but that that is the distance to the submerged land area basically.

Okay. So, the the from the from the yacht and tennis club dock to the edge of the submerged land lease is about 60 ft. From the edge of this proposed dock to the submerged land lease. Oh, okay. I understand. Okay. From the edge of this dock to the edge of the submerged land lease. Okay. is 60 feet approximately. Okay.

And Commissioner Robinson, I did get those numbers for you. On the warftock, they had requested a width of 87% where 75% is the standard that's allowed. This applicant is seeking a 94% of the width of the property at the waterfront. The warf's width is only 100 feet at the waterfront. So, they have a substantially different standard than uh in terms of absolute or linear number of feet. They uh the warf was granted a 93% length. Uh so 93 feet against a property width of 100 feet at the waterfront. Uh this property owner is requesting 95.5 so 2.5% more. And they had asked for a zero foot southside setback. So a 100% variance to the 10 10% standard. Uh this applicant is seeking effectively the same.

Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Cosy, I am very excited to have you guys be a part of the city. So, I'm I'm really looking forward to that. I think it's going to be great and something that's well needed and in our city. Um I don't um I guess the talking about the variance what is the have you you guys told us what the hardship is that's associated with this variance on the south side what is it that requires that variance for the for the southside for the south side

Anthony you want to address that I mean the hardship in and of itself is the substantial damage from the hurricane but I guess your question is why is it moving closer to the southside than it is now to the highway? Yeah. One of the answers is to move it farther away from the northern property line. But Anthony, if you want to address that. You're talking about that the the pier on the southern end. The reason it's shifting south is because we calculated the necessary fairway width between that dock and the center dock in terms for to have adequate turnaround ingress egress for the boats to get in and out of these slips and get out of there. for navigability.

And keep in mind we're reducing the number of slips as you know from 106 to 70. So it it the boats are getting larger but the slips are less less number of boats higher quality vessels. Yeah. So it does look like those are the larger slips along the highway side and of the entire facility. Yeah. So they needed a little bit more fairway width in between there for just adequate.

Oh, you mean vessels? Yeah. Well, you can see with the the change in design before vessels could tuck in under the south side of that dock kind of underneath the bridge there. I'm not sure what kind of issues that could create, but this is closing everything in, keeping everything within the confines of their lease footprint, marina footprint. Okay, thank you. That answered my question, Commissioner Robinson.

Um, I'm just back back to the hardship. I I'm trying to figure out um you're allowed to if you redevelop or you're substantially damaged. Um uh then you must become compliant. I mean that's what our code says that you must become compliant with this. So so with what we require. Um so sell me on the hardship again because I'm not sure I'm getting it. It's still the same footprint. Sell me on the hardship.

Madam Commissioner, I u I I really kind of want to defer to staff on that because they're agreeing with us that there is a hardship and I'm not trying to be um smart about that. Um but the issue is that you have goals, policies, and objectives in your comprehensive plan that promote redeveloping marina uses and these types of uses. St. Pete Beach, I think, prides itself on being a familyoriented uh boating oriented community. And what we're trying to do is maintain um an existing marina that was non-conforming prior to the hurricane um and improve it substantially and significantly as a benefit to the community while maintaining that boating culture and that boating lifestyle um that's so important to life in a beach community like St. Pete Beach. Um, so the hardship is that it was non-conforming. It was destroyed. Uh, and we're and we're actually reducing the nonconformity that existed prior. Um, while also in reducing the intensity of it. Um, so that would be uh our position on the hardship. You also have a provision of your code as it relates to density, which doesn't apply to a marina, but as it relates to density that says if you have non-conforming density that's substantially damaged by a hurricane, you can rebuild that non-conforming density in the existing square footage of what you had before. Um, and so there is a precedent in the code and public policy that supports, I think, what we're asking for here. Um and again I think the staff has agreed with that and their own independent expert analysis which is sufficient enough without us making a presentation to support the application in our opinion. Thank you.

I believe that was density though but not the expansion on the other. I mean that's what requires the variance. Okay.

Okay. This is uh one of the benefits of of uh being the mayor. you get to listen to all the questions and kind of tick them off. I did had a bunch of questions on here. I do have some more that are left over though, but I've ticked off a lot of my questions. Uh let me see is uh let me just see if I've got questions for uh let me I think most of these so far seem to be for the applicant. Let me just make sure. I don't have one for Brandon uh because I think most of those have been answered. Uh so sorry I just had a bunch of questions here. All right, so applicant questions please. Um, I I realize you're just asking for a dock and outside music, right? Um, but I think some of the some of the concerns we heard from the residency is noise and impacts. Um, I know you showed me kind of an overhead view of what this facility will look like. Um, I know it's got a rooftop kind of deck that'll have some music on it. Um, what I couldn't see is a is a you know, a front elevation of it. Are we talking a one-story building, you know, that's just got a rooftop deck? We're not talking a six-story building. just on a one-story building that uh you know

there there is no rooftop deck. It's there's no rooftop deck. It's it's a canopy uh structure. Think of uh Utiki and Jupiter if you've seen that. Sorry. No, just as a reference. Open air place kitchen in the back. All right. So, not on the rooftop. You're you're still on the ground floor on the restaurant. They're going to be a thatch roof look. Okay. It'll be a canopy style that will drape down over the sides, right? And uh have like a vated ceiling. Okay. Um the seaw wall is also getting raised 30 in. Um so that will that will bring the the side up as well and it'll match the the seaw wall to the north of us that was just put in by the condos. Okay. Um so now I'm on the ground floor

and uh and I presume there's some kind of wall structure possibly between me and the the neighboring we're leaving the existing northern building that's shown next to the green space on the northern line. that will be the clubhouse for the for the for the dock. So that will be your your restrooms and your showers etc. So the existing building will be staying that's a one-story structure that will be the northern barrier. And we've also increased as you can see the green you've increased the buffer already than what's currently there along the northern edge of the property. Okay. Um

and your your limiters that you that you're provid the the decibel limiters, right? uh they're going to guarantee the decibels leaving the property. Um and I know that the concerns we heard were from St. P Beach residents who are directly adjacent. I just want to make sure you've thought about good neighbors to our our good neighbors in Treasure Island who are just across the water from us. Right. We heard that uh Sea Dog's been a very good neighbor to the residents here. I just want to make sure that as you think about your decimals, I know we said we're we're pointing it out into the water, but now you're pointing it at our at our neighbors over in Treasure Island. Um, I just want to think that we're we're being good neighbors to them as well.

You know, I think I think we've been longtime operators. I've operated restaurants in Tampa since 2009. We have multiple outdoor venues in Tampa. Uh, no issues. Okay. So, I think that speaks to, you know, who we are. Uh, we're we're trying to do this as a long-term operation. We're not trying to So, yeah. I mean, the neighbors are our customers, so we want them to come. Understood. Uh, okay. Um, I believe I heard the dock material on the the center was wood, I believe. Is that the decking itself or is that the pilot? But the the decking material, the composite decking, like a track kind of thing. Like a tracking. Exactly. Okay, good. I was I think it would last longer and look better.

Okay. And the only reason why we can't do concrete in the middle is because I want the ability to put some bliss in. Um I I think there's a void of of people renting bliss and goes up on a lift and we want to have that optionality. I don't think they're all going to be that, but I want to have the optionality to put them there. Okay. Reason why they want concrete.

Understood. Um, all right. Now, my my my next topics are about the liverboards. Uh, and most of them been answered. Uh, but I I assume I'm imagining I'm I'm living aboard and I've got my boat here and uh uh you know, I don't know if everybody's got the perfect sanitary shower situation. You mentioned a facility at the north end of your property uh where I theoretically could shower and have facilities. Um you know, I know at some point the restaurant's going to close and uh and I know we're counting on our our live aboard tenants to be good tenants. U you know, how do we how do we mitigate, you know, do they become noise ordinance issues if they're too loud after the restaurant closes at at midnight and there's a loud uh loud liverboard? within within our leases, we'll be able to regulate that. Um, you know, obviously we're going to be interviewing and putting the people there that we want there. Um,

okay. You know, you know, that's part of managing things. It's just like anywhere. It's just like at the motel, if you have a noisy resident, you know, you just have to deal with it,

right? And it and it's a quality of life issue for the other tenants. And so that's why it's such an important management issue and just like why we wouldn't be blasting our own boat tenants with crazy loud music either, you know. So, um I think what uh Chaz is saying is that uh any violation will be first and foremost dealt with by the owner and the operator who's going to be active before it even gets to the city. And any noise ordinance violation, whether it's from music or a noisy tenant, is still subject to your ultimate revocation of the approval. Understood.

And and I think that's part of upgrading the marina. Um it's not going to be the our boats that are currently there are no longer going to be there.

Understood. Um, one interesting question maybe a question about the I I heard uh hurricane survivability fully loaded category one unloaded category five. I hope everything we get is is one or less but hypothetically we got a category 3, four, five coming in here um and and this structure won't survive. Do you do you contemplate uh I mean is this so we ask the the the liverboards to vacate you know as this storm's approaching? What do we do in those scenarios? In an emergency situation, we've got a storm coming bigger than your doc can handle. What do we do in those situations?

Yeah, I I believe Penelis County Water and NAV is going to require that they have a hurricane preparedness plan and it's going to need to include how how that process how they're going to dictate and manage that process in terms of moving those vessels and making sure people take responsibility for their vessels. Um, it could be somewhat of an internal policy, but we're not going to have any boats that aren't able to be moved. I think that was part partially what happened in the last hurricane. There's boats that weren't able to be moved in those boats. And your policy will be that they will move. They will vacate theoretically your property. Is that whatever we're guided to do, but again, I don't want my marina to get destroyed either.

Understood. U So,

yeah. I just thinking about all sides of this emergency management kind of thing and make sure we've got a plan for it. I want to know what's I want to know what's going to go on and I know that we're not having a conversation 3 days before trying to figure out what we're going to do. So, I want to know you got a plan for whatever, you know, the the the various agencies tell us that we understand it and that we know how uh we're going to respond and I'm not worried about finding somebody to tell me how you're going to react 3 days before the storm because I think we'll be dealing with other issues internally. All right. Thank you. Uh, let me see. I might have a few more, but let me just let me just double check. Uh, I did hear a resident comment about the transient dock to the north. So, it's parallel uh, docking, I guess, would be the term. uh and and uh one of the neighboring uh residents who has the docks just north of us was talking about uh we kind of squeeze uh we kind of squeeze their ability to egress out of their out of their docks if we get too wide of a boat on that transient side. And so is there a way to mitigate I I you know I can tell you personally on my dock I've got I've got some things that are actually off the dock just another post that theoretically it limits the the width of a boat that could get into that to get into that spot. So, is there a mechanism to make sure that we get too wide of a boat that would hinder the egress of uh of the boats coming out of our northern neighbors? Uh, theoretically, I I don't know the answer here. I'm suggesting possibly some post in the water that are of a certain distance out that would make sure that that you know that you'd have to do it strategically so where you're not entrapping boats in there by putting a row of pilings. Um there is a 16 ft swat there between the edge of the dock and their lease boundary. So that's the corridor they have to work with. So that's a pretty wide boat. But I think I think we're already kind of mitigating what's currently a worse issue which is

with the boats more perpendicular is much more encroachment you know just more and then with having ingress and eress and all that we're doing what we can to kind of alleviate that a little bit and it could be I'm sorry if you look at at at this image here can you see that?

Yes I can. So this is the current layout and you're seeing that there are do boats that kind of go over the property line and then you're also seeing that there is a 60oot separation from uh that from where we're proposing to put that northern dock as Mr. Barry pointed out approximately 60 ft between uh that dock and the submerged land lease for the yacht and tennis club. So, there is a significant amount of room there. And when we're talking about a parallel parked uh vessel, it's certainly not going to hang out wider or longer than a a perpendicular park vessel. Um, and remember, keeping in mind again, navigability is going to be looked at very very very very closely by Penelis County Water Navigation. They might come back and say you can't have transient slips there. I mean, I don't know what they're going to say. We don't know that part yet. Um, so I do think it's improving the current situation. and I think it's manageable and I think there's sufficient space there to to make it work.

Just wanted to hear the answer. Thank you. Um last question I believe. Uh so we so I I heard you know I'm thinking of the questions I heard from the residents or the concerns I heard noise uh impacts on ingress and egress in their in their neighborhoods uh and their docking. And then the last one was a traffic study and I know that that will come later in the process. I assume you're amunable to the traffic study and and all of the impacts or associated adjustments that may come from that.

Yes, sir. Not a problem. I I would be surprised if it does hit the more than 50 peak hour uh even on the weekends. And um as Commissioner Maldonado pointed out, we have ample parking. People don't come places for parking spots. Parking spots give them a place to to get off the road. Um so the parking spots themselves are not going to attract people. The use is going to attract people. Um and I understand the restaurant use is technically increasing in size, but it's also becoming an outdoor restaurant, which is really meant to serve as a marina, which is reducing the number of slips by 30 slips. So, I think uh all things considered, it's going to be a very similar traffic situation to what previously existed. Okay. Uh thank you. I think that's the last of my questions. Thank you.

If no one else has anything to say, I'd like to make a motion to approve uh or I have some.

Oh, you have. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Go ahead. Before we go that route, I just want to talk about a couple things with the cup with the conditional use permit as far as making that with the business, not with the property because we've made that mistake in the past. So, make sure that the cup goes with the business and not the property. and also ask the question, do we want to discuss um what reviewed periodically means? There's no definition on the periodically and that's one of our general conditions. Just to comment on the periodically from a staff perspective, we'd probably prefer to keep that because it gives us maximum flexibility instead of putting us into a regular review that maybe for 80% of them not necessary. The complexity isn't there and so just create work for the sake of work. So, I think it's better to keep it broad that we can see if it's working, if it's if we're having issues, we contact the um owner and try to work it out. And if we can't, then we move more into a formal process.

Sounds like periodically gives us some flexibility on what periodically means, right? And that's kind of Okay, understood. Okay. Yeah. Or as needed. Yes. Yes. Either one. And I imagine that applies to all Yeah. Commissioning, right? It's everything. So maybe we we revisit that uh as part of anything going forward theoretically if it's an as needed or either way. I think that's a discussion we can take offline. I'll leave that. Um Mr. Robins, another question.

The only one would be that the conditional use permit goes with the business. Um, well, I think Brandon, you could come up, but I think right now this would go with the property, but you could add a condition that a change of owner or operator shall require city council approval. If that's something you wanted to do, I agree with that. Unless it's stated otherwise. Typically, they do run with the land. Um, so if there was any stipulation for a particular part of this that were to go with the operator, that would need to be added as a condition.

Brandon, can you educate on why we would want to go that route, one route versus the other?

Um, typically staff's recommendation is to look at the use in general, not necessarily based on the particular operator. if there are conditions, even if it's something they're committing to now, if it's something that you want to make sure that they provide into the future regardless of ownership, that's something you would typically make as a condition. Um, if you feel that all the conditions have been captured, even if there were to be a new owner in 5, 10, 15 years, um, what's been drafted or amended, um, is is sufficient. But if you feel that there is something that really ties it to a particular operator that you would need to reassess, for example, what we've done with prior conditional uses for lodging development is that we would bring them back for one very particular criteria that any future operator can prove that they can continue to operate the facility. Um, so that could be one option, but you would we would have to specify exactly to what extent it's tied to an operator. Would those situations be covered under periodic review as we as we surmised earlier?

You could do that. Yeah. So, we have kind of a you could call for periodic review if you have a change in operator and the management is not meeting the criteria or somehow inferior to what we have now. But, as I understand it, periodic review allows us generally that's just uh at the discretion of the of the commission or the city. Yes, it is. If you were to get complaints about a new owner operator, you could call out for periodic review. Okay. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Marin, I think you were

Yes. Um, I would like to uh make a motion to approve resolution 2026-10, the conditional use permit number 25127, 955 Blindpass Road and adjacent submerged land. Second.

Commissioner Cy, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Mayor Tate, yes. The motion carries. And I believe there's a companion variance or is that already included with Have to do that separate. So, I'll make a motion to um approve variance number 26046 955 Blind Pass Road and adjacent submerged land. Second. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cosy, yes. Mayor Tate, yes. The motion carries. Thank you all very much.

Thank you. Thanks. Good luck with your venture.

Okay, I believe we have uh one more action item. Resolution 2026-11. Excuse me, please. Please, please just be quiet, please, as you head out. Thank you. This is a resolution of the city commission of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida, amending the city's comprehensive parking schedule. Excuse me. Okay, please take your conversations outside. Thank you. I think we need to close the door. Holding it open,

I think so. Yeah, almost there, Deon. Sorry. It's okay. This is resolution 2026-11 amending the parking fee schedule to include electrical vehicle charging fees of the city of um a resolution of the city commission of the city of St. Beach, Florida, amending the city's comprehensive parking fee schedule to include electric vehicle charging fees, providing for an updated exhibit A, providing for repeal of conflicting provisions, and providing for an effective date.

Good evening, Mayor and Commission. Devin Schmidt, uh, finance director. Um, just taking you through this evening, um, our electric vehicle charging station fees. Um, the initiative falls under our broader strategic roadmap under operational excellence. So the current state as of today we have four EV charging stations installed across city locations at the community center as well as the library and pasil. Currently these charging stations are available to the public at no cost which means the city is absorbing all electricity maintenance expenses and replacement. it's not financially sustainable for the long term and we're recommending that we transition to a feebased model that covers um not only our operational costs but also um our cost for u maintenance and replacement of the charging stations. So we did some analysis we calculated the cost of electricity by looking at the actual usage of data for our charging stations um for the community center. We took the combined cost of both chargers and operating over eight months and averaged that um to get a monthly figure. For the library, the charger was only operational for three months. So, we use that um shorter window to estimate the annual average. When we total everything up, the cost of electricity for all of the charging stations over the 12 months period comes to around $7,838. In terms of energy consume consumed, it's approximately 30,797 kilowatt hours across the four chargers. Um, it's worth noting that the library charger was only operational from March uh 2025 through February of 25. Um, and the community center charger was only running for eight out of those 12 months. So, those numbers are actually representative of a conservative estimate um that we were looking at. So, when we're looking at our total cost, um this slide breaks down the total annual cost um to operate the EV charging program. So, as you can see, the average yearly cost includes both

direct electricity expenses and the service fee we pay for our charging network provider charge up. Combined, we're looking at a total operational cost of approximately $1,500 79 uh $79 per year. So, the real and the recurring expenses that only grow as usage increases. Um, implementing a fee structure now would ensure that we're able to get ahead of any rising cost and also have a self-sustaining program um moving forward. So, here's the proposed EV charging rates um for the city. We're recommending a tiered approach pricing structure designed to be fair and encourage turnover at the stations. Um, for the first four hours of charging, we propose a rate of 47 cents per kilowatt hour. This is competitive with our other public charging networks in the region. After 4 hours, the rate would increase to 94 cents per kilowatt hour. And the purpose of this higher rate is to discourage vehicles from occupying a charging station um longer than necessary. So, we want to make sure that the charging stations remain available um throughout the day for many of the users. Um this dual rate approach gives us uh the ability um for everyday EV chargers um with also the practical need to keep um those parking spaces turning. In addition um the fee structure that we're proposing for parking limitations would ensure proper use of the charging station. So first any non-electric vehicles parked in a designated EV charging spot would be subject to ticket or potential towing. Um, these spaces need to be remain available for their intended purpose. And second, electric vehicles that are plugged in but not actively charging, meaning there's no activity registering on the meter, those would also be ticketed. And the reason for the rate increase after the four hours, again, as I mentioned, is um for our enforcement measures so we can keep the turnover moving at these spaces. So to support enforcement and um transparency for the users of these um

stations, we would have signage at each location. The signage would clearly display the cost for pill per kilowatt hour um meter rates so that the drivers know exactly what they'll be charged. It also include any information about a parking parking enforcement policy specifically any consequences for non-EV vehicles occupying a charging space for electric vehicles that are plugged in longer but no longer actively charging. Um this is important because we want to set those clear expectations up front. And so finally, as we're looking at some of our revenue forecast, so based on our proposed rate and the projected uses, we estimate the total annual revenue of approximately um se $17,253. Um this breaks down to about $11,696 from the standard rate charging for four hours and $5,57 for the higher rate applied after the four hours. On the expense side, we're projecting the $3,741 for charge up service fees and the $7,830 for electricity, bringing our total expenditures to approximately $11,579. Um, that leaves us with a net surplus of around $5,674, which would go directly towards our maintenance and future infrastructure improvements. Um,

we're going to your time. Okay, thank you. This is my last slide. I know it's late. So, um anyway, the we have had to replace these in the past, which was around $6,000. So, we would be bringing in in enough revenue um to do a replacement on those uh if needed. So, um with that, I'll take any questions. The replacement is 6,000 each. Yes. Okay. Y just to be clear. And we don't have to replace those every year. Um, it's can lipan um gosh, I would have to ask Camden what the lifespan was on that, but we had to replace some with the storms. Um, but I think typically the lifespan is

Did we replace any prior to the storms? Okay. And we've had them since pre 2019, I believe. So, because I think we kind of put those in for that and us with the fleet, right? Okay. Okay. Other questions with commissioners? Okay. Um I have a few of them please. Um these spots are 24/7 365 reserved for EVs, right? Correct.

Okay. Um can I ask the slide I'm looking at? Um I when I read it I I just assumed it was a clerical error, but I could be wrong and that's why I want to clarify. When you say kilowatt hours greater than four at 47 cents, I assume it's less than four hours at 47 cents. Or am I missing what the four implies? No, you're right. That's a clear. Okay. And then the one below it is great. So the one above it is less than and the one above it is greater than. Yep. Thank you. Okay. No, I just want to make sure I didn't want to misinterpret it. Yep. Thank you.

Um Okay. Um you mentioned the cost to replace was I think you said $6,000 to replace one of these units. Can they be repaired? I believe they can. Um I think Adam's coming up here. All right. Knows a little bit more about parking than I do. I'm on the rate side of things. Hate to think that they're like whatever it is that the things you used to repair that you just throw away now and buy a new one, like a washing machine or something like that. That uh yeah, that uh $6,000 was actually repairs from the hurricane. So, it wasn't one particular unit. We had a couple that were damaged from flood water. So, uh with that $6,000, we were able to restore all of them back to use. So, okay. But that's not an individual replacement,

including repairing several. I think I read through the packet that we're already down. Yes, that that's what that's $6,000.

All right. So, theoretically, the ongoing maintenance per machine is less than $6,000 for sure. Yeah. So, prior to the uh hurricane, we we didn't really have any issues. I'll tell you when these were implemented, in fact, if you search on our website, you'd find that we actually do charge, although we don't charge. So, it actually got put on our website. It never got implemented. So, um, certainly I think this was the plan to do eventually and then, you know, as Devon showed, we're trying to, uh, you know, basically have a amount of money that we can utilize should we need to repair them in the future. But again, we're we're looking at this similar to all of our parking fees that they're a little bit more flexible. So, if we if we find a need to, you know, uh save more money for future repairs or replacements like you mentioned, uh certainly we we'd bring that back to you to make sure we're not uh expending tax money on this.

Thank you. Uh one more question. Not sure for who. Uh so with uh for example, the freebie, right? I know that their electrical ve their electric vehicle, are they using these particular spots or they have their own separate dedicated spots? They have their own own spots down at the Warren Webster building that they're utilizing

and and and depending upon the long-term future of them or another vendor possibly to provide services that may or may not need. So, hypothetically, another vendor comes in, they've got they've got electric spots available to them if they choose. Alternatively, uh that theoretically frees up electric spots to be used in these situations or what would the city do in those situations with with the and and maybe that can be handled under a different topic of our of our long-term microtransit, but uh I'm just trying to tie it all together, right? No,

it's a good it's a great question. Uh theoretically, yes, it would it would open up some spots on Warren Webster. I'll tell you, um, Freeby's plan was actually to install new chargers at city hall and move their operations to city hall. Um, with with their contract coming towards expiration and and we bringing it back to you all for consideration, I didn't think it was a good idea for them to to invest in that infrastructure at our city hall complex until we made a decision on the future. Um, so certainly they do have plans to upgrade their infrastructure, which would in turn likely free up some infrastructure in other areas of the city. So that's a good point. Thank you, Mr. Robinson,

Devon. What is the high and low rates averaging for kilowatts per hour? Um, are we just looking at our electric bill? So, we got the data from charge up um so that we would know exactly. So, that's how we estimated that on average they're spending about an hour and 47 minutes um charging. And so when we were looking at that um that's where we came up with our recommendation around four hours um to do the 47 cents and then 94 cents and looking at some comparison communities.

What what are what are other communities charging for their charging services for per hour. Um so this is right in line with some of the other communities that we looked at. I'd have to get you the data on what um those were. One of my staff members looked at that. Um, and I don't know if Adam recalls off the top of your head.

I don't. Um, I know we looked at a range. Um, these are a little bit challenging because, um, when you look at a lot of charging stations, sometimes they're based on demand. So, for example, if there's two chargers, if both of them are full, it may charge you it may charge more per kilowatt hour than if there was only one. So, a lot of them are demand based. So, it's really hard to kind of find that exact number. I I would tell you we looked to make sure that we weren't overpricing it, but at the same time, we are trying to make sure that we save enough money so that we can repair the infrastructure if we need. And again, we're not using Avalorum tax money to to support this program. Copy. Thank you. I just don't have an EV, so I don't have any idea.

My wife has one, so I'm a little bit. Commissioner Maldonado, is insurance covered in the charge up yearly current cost that we're absorbing the 3741 for repairs? Are you saying do do we pay insurance costs for these? Yeah. Do we pay or is that included in the um the NOVA charge? Uh I for our separate property and casualty these are not covered. So I would have to check to see if we pay charge up additional. I don't believe so because I I know I know they didn't they didn't replace volunteer to certain we didn't volunteer to I'm sure we did. I I've pushed insurance pretty hard on everything so I'm sure we uh looked into that.

Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. Uh do we have a motion? Well, even even before that I just want to You're good. Thank you, Deb. To publicly thank No, no. I'd like to publicly thank and acknowledge uh Rich Lawrenson who brought this to my attention over a year ago and uh the city manager for just being open and receiving that from a resident now. So, it's it's about time that we had this discussion. So, thank you for bringing it to the uh forum.

Yeah. Thank you. I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2026-11. Second. Commissioner Marriott, yes. Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Cosy, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. And Mayor Tate, yes. Motion carries.

Okay. Thank you. Uh I believe we've got uh items for discussion and uh unless there's a late edition, I think our topic was code enforcement. Yes. Um I I've brought this up quite a few times and I just want to bring it again because it keeps coming back to me. I keep getting calls. I keep getting um um emails, things to that effect that I don't know if the rest of you get. Um and I have the concerns with that, especially being we're doing cups for outdoor life music. and it just seems that uh something that could be simple doesn't actually happen as as well as we would like. Um, as far as the data that we're getting, I have concerns that the data that we're getting is just not really accurate on what we're saying as far as violations or nonviolations, whether they were over the limit, whether they weren't from a from a decimal meter count, because there's not really always decimal meter counts. We've got maybe 60% of them being done, but we're using the data of it as it is being done and saying that I I mean, I don't care if it's the residents that are wrong or if it's the business that's wrong. I just want the data to support which way this is going. And if we don't have either officers or code enforcement on staff actually doing what our procedures are, what our SOP is, meaning somebody calls up and they they voice a complaint, they give their address, the whole bit, and the officer doesn't go to their house to do a meter reading. He goes to the business and just tells them to turn it down.

Therefore, there's no there's no registration of whether they were compliant or non-compliant. There's no history of anything and nothing happens. And and that is an actual complaint that never gets logged one way or the other whether it was compliant or non-compliant because there's no reading on it. I've also been involved with the fact that I I've got um sheriff's officers that say they don't know how to how to read the meter or use a meter and we have nobody from our own code enforcement on staff to to to be on call. I work in a business where we have people on call all the time. I mean, minimally you have people on call to be able to guide them through on how to operate or use it or where it is or any of that. And I just have concerns that we're going to continue to get more and more, which we are. And tonight was a perfect example of outdoor music requests becoming outdoor venues. And we need to make sure that we have this tool or what we're saying as far as what our code is that that we h we have some sort of of process down that we're following and not just halfhazardly. I just don't want businesses to get blamed if they're not at fault and I don't want residents to get blamed if they're not at fault. And the only way to prove that is to actually have real and accurate data records. And I I don't see us getting that because I've been in involved in one too many that have had no records of them.

Can I clarify? Are you are you specifically talking about noise enforcement or or all enforcement? I'm talking noise enforcement primarily.

Okay. So that begs to ask the question is do we put or have a code enforcement officer um after hours? And do we charge for that service for folks getting cups or is it in the fee of of if there is a a fine levied that that goes to the bucket of covering the expense of having somebody on staff and again I'll go back to minimally having somebody on call a phone call away. I've worked in many businesses that we've had 24hour What are the hours that our code enforcement covers?

They they vary. So, talk noise specifically. I guess that's the topic right now, just to be clear.

Yeah. So, again, there there are times when, you know, we we bring them in at again our code enforcement staff is is three members and a manager. So, it's not we we don't really have a robust uh code enforcement staff. We do utilize the support uh of our sheriff deputy partners as well. But um so it's hard to answer that question exactly. Typically they're here till 600 7:00 at night, but um there are times when we do special enforcement when they're here on Thursday nights or Friday nights or or things of that nature. We're coming into turtle season. So they're here uh after dark a lot more often during t turtle season because they're evaluating that. So, um, you know, just to to answer some of your questions, I'm I'm happy to address uh any that you'd like me to address. Um, as far as the noise meters, so again, we do utilize the Penelis County Sheriff's Department after hours. Uh, they've been fantastic partners in this. Uh, pretty much every time we uh bring another concern to them, they they do figure out a way to address those. Um, and also they've been doing a lot of proactive work for us as well where we've been going out uh they'll go out with us and meet neighbors uh that have had issues. Um, and and again they'll they'll do basically a two two week kind of a canvas of an area and uh they'll go out and they'll they'll do decibel readings just to see what they are. I'll tell you decibel readings are a little bit complicated for you know we've talked about substantiated claims uh in that cup that that's very challenging from a noise perspective because you have to have a reading of what it is without the music right so is a decel reading 20 before they they started the music so um you know I would I look at it very similar to the the beach ordinance that we talked about um you know things that are obvious they can they can address things that are kind of on the cusp they they typically um you know aren't going to do a citation. However, um they do look for compliance, right? So that is why a lot of times they go to the business and say, "Hey, it you know it it's you know 42 on the decibel reader, but we're

getting multiple complaints. Would you mind turning it down?" Things like that. So they do utilize that a lot um from a compliance perspective just to try to to make everybody happy, right? So um you know, a couple things I did look at a couple of those ones that I know uh Commissioner Robinson and I talked about. you know, there there's some one-offs. Uh, you know, there there's a lot going on, especially during spring break. Our noise, uh, you know, complaints obviously go up significantly. I'll tell you, a majority of them are not typically music related. They're loud cars. There people doing construction late at night, things like that. It's it's a pretty wide variety. But, um, you know, when it's that busy, the sheriff deputies a lot of times are getting pulled in from, you know, other areas that that they may not be familiar with the fact that that we do have a um device here that they can pick up and utilize. Sometimes it it's just a priority basis where a noise call comes in. You know, one that I'm thinking of, we had a a vehicle crash uh out on the boulevard that someone fled. All the sheriff deputies were were looking for that individual. A noise complaint comes in. By the time they get to it, it's after 10:00, the music's off, so the the complaint's done, right? So, there's a lot of one-offs um involved with this as well, but uh certainly it's something we can look at. As far as if we could put someone on call, there's obviously budget concerns with that. So that that's something that we'd need to address like you know maybe through the budget process. Um as far as can the fines supplement the code enforcement you know in a perfect world our fines would be zero every year right because we wouldn't have any noise complaints. We wouldn't have any code enforcement issues. Compliance is our number one goal. We don't really look at it as a revenue stream. Um you know I will tell you from a cup perspective what you all did tonight with the sound governor. I wish every business had that because it would make our lives a lot easier. So, I'm very appreciative uh for you all and for the owner to uh uh to to to do that because I think that will certainly keep down uh the issues that that we'll deal with. So, you know, I think that's our best course of action to to try to manage this. But I I'm happy to answer

anything else that you have. Hopefully, I question I think it's open to all.

Yeah. For Commissioner Robinson. So, I've had four noise complaints voiced to me uh in the last four weeks from one, two, three, I guess three businesses or condominiums. Yeah. So, um, and now it's my understanding that our deputies have the the sound meter in the vehicle always. And I understand what you're saying if it's someone who's come in who's not normal, like an extra hand that shows up, but maybe I don't Why wouldn't one of the vehicles that has a sound meter always respond to a sound complaint? So, I don't I don't know of any deputies vehicles that that have those in them. They actually use ours. So, we we have one that's available 24 hours. Um, you know, I reached out to them and would it be beneficial if I bought them a second one and kept in the office. Um, the deputies that are familiar with it all know where it's at. They're able to get it. Um, they were going to do a little bit more communication because like I said, sometimes deputies come in from out of the area, but they were going to add some notes to ensure that that they know where that device is and and the ability to get it to utilize it. So, um, that's what they utilize out here is actually our equipment.

So, if there's a noise complaint, we would always expect them to come here, get the device, go measure the sound, and t So, again, noise complaints are very, it's wide, right? So, you know, music based ones, um, typically that is their their procedure is they come and get that because they're they're going to take a decibel reading. You know, obviously we have a limit on that. So, I'm just thinking about music because that's the only complaints I've gotten. Music. Yeah, that Yeah, it would be my expectation that they would utilize it for music. Is there a way to have the data that recorded that? That is that does that happen at all?

So, we we could look at the reports. Like I said, some some reports I've looked at have it. um you know when they've done it again and I'm happy to share all the proactive uh enforcement that that the the PCSO has done for us and they do track all the decibel readings. I mean they they're fantastic. They uh they track the notes if there was a band playing if there wasn't a band playing you know what they did. So um you I'm happy to share all that. I probably have shared all that data with you but I'm happy to do that. Yeah it's just uh new to me and I'm trying to get up to speed. So, yeah, there's three property owners complaining about two other businesses kind of in the same region.

Sure. And and what I tell all the business owners, I'm sorry, all the the residents, you know, if you have an issue of noise, the only way to track it is to call that number, call the non-emergency number, the PCSO, get it recorded, get a deputy out there. As far as going to make contact, um when the when the call taker takes the call, they will ask the um caller if they would like a deputy to make contact with them. Um if they say yes and the deputy will make contact with them. Uh a lot of times they say no because they don't they don't want to be uh you know seen as the person that made the complaint. So in that case the deputy would not make contact with that caller.

If I may, it is 10 o'clock and we will need a motion to continue. Well, I don't have any further questions on that. I'll make a motion to continue till a quarter after. I second. Uh, Vice Mayor Robinson, yes. Commissioner Kayy, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Commissioner Marriott, no. Mayor Tate, yes. The motion carries.

Okay. Um I I I I don't know if we've closed that out. I don't know if there's a next steps. I you know, I'll say this. I I know you presented me some data recently. Um and so my understanding is that that when uh the officers go out there, they do collect data. They do take pretty good notes as you alluded to and that data is available for us to analyze and and determine if we need to take additional action beyond that. And I think that would be upon us to contemplate if we want to do that going forward. But I know the data is there. And so I I think that's sufficient for me at this time. Uh until we analyze the data and figure out there's a a problem to be solved. Yeah. As long as the data is there, I think that's good.

The problem I'm having is the data is not accurate. It doesn't accurately reflect what's going on. So that would be why why is that the question? Yeah. Are you suggesting that the process isn't being followed or Yes, I that's exactly so I then I think we can you know just uh I don't know if we can just follow the process

verify that we're following the process. Right. If not then let's tell us why. And I I I I don't know without the data. I don't know without these incidents. I don't know that there's something we can solve right here. I I I I agree with you. If there's a concern, we should we should have the discussion and we should analyze it with city staff and figure out if there's uh something that we need to uh to uh revisit. You know, are we following our process? Do we have all the right processes in place? Is the data accurate sufficient enough for us to make adjustments to it?

We could also do that in the context of the budget as uh assistant city manager suggested. So maybe we look at what that looks like and whether you want to put more um resources towards this. And then second, I think it's we've been very effective in let me say very we've been effective in some cases where if you share with us the business that you're having an issue with, staff will work with that business and we have been able to get them in compliance. So versus waiting and having frustration build if you can get us the specific businesses that um anyone's having, you know, an issue with, that would be helpful.

Okay. Um given the interest of time, I'd like to see if we have any uh any any city clerk uh reports, please. Yes. Just very briefly, I am still seeking applications for vacancies on the board of adjustment and the police pension board. Thank you very much. Uh, city manager, please.

Going to shorten my report. Um, just a brief reminder, turtle neester, turtle nesting season starts May 1st. Um, code enforcement will be proactively out there before May 1st to find out. They'll be doing basically an audit to see if there's compliance and then doing outreach to help people get compliant and then they'll be back out during turtle season um, issuing citations. So, our goal is to come out proactive and then once turtle season hits, we go reactive. So, um if you can help any of our beachfront properties uh get in compliance with turtle lighting and um just a reminder to those visiting us, if you can remove chairs, umbrellas, sand buckets, toys, all those things after you use the visa would be helpful for our preservation efforts. Thank you.

Thank you, city attorney. Um, just like to introduce Khloe Bryman who's here today from the Vos Law Firm. Um, some of you have not met her yet. She sits with the historic preservation board and on occasion board of adjustment and planning board. And she'll be here on May 12th to help you with a periodic review of a conditional use. And she wanted to sit through this one and see how the conditional use process was handled here at council. Thank you and welcome. Nice to meet all of you. Thank you. Nice to meet you, too. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. from out on auto. Nothing for the group. Well, Commissioner Cy, I've got nothing to add. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Robinson,

just want to remind everybody for um at the library that they do a tech help um by appointment on Saturdays and Mondays there's walk-ins and it's a great service to to take them up on. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Marriott. Nothing to report.

Okay. So for me um just a a matter of policy I I do get emails I do get uh you know comments from the community and I want to make sure just at least my my my policy going forward is to make sure that each of the commissioners are involved in those dialogues. I don't want to be trying to solve something that maybe you're already aware of in solving. So generally when I get an email uh I will make sure that I forward it um and and just acknowledge the uh the the relevant uh district uh commissioner and uh and also city staff uh that I think is most important many times Francis it goes to you and so I just wanted to acknowledge that uh that I'm I'm trying to make sure that there's nothing that I'm seeing that the commissioners themselves aren't seeing that are that are relevant to that district and uh and at least we've got transparency all the way u through through the process. Um, separately, I'm also uh I'm spending a lot of my uh available time looking uh at other communities. So, I'm I'm uh meeting with the mayors and the other communities uh north of us and south of us and inland of us and uh and just trying to build some of those u those u opportunities for for looking for improvements uh between our city and how we can share best practices. So, I'm looking uh beyond our city and those avenues as well. So um I will continue to keep everybody informed as we progress in those areas. Thank you. That was it for me. Uh with that I believe we are officially journed. Thank you. Eight minutes.