City Commission - Regular Meeting

On May 26, 2026 at 5.30 PM to order. Suzanne, could you call the roll? Mayor Reed? Here.

Commissioner Clark? Here. Commissioner Jobe? Here. And Commissioner Rich?

Here.

And then we have invocation by Pastor James Brocious from Stuart Alliance Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let's pray.

Oh, Father in heaven, again, thank you for your great, great love to us. Thank you that you allow us to live in this beautiful area. Thank you for your kindness to us in so many ways. I thank you for these men and women and those that they represent that work together for our city to plan and develop how we pray for wisdom, how we pray for a willingness to understand each other and to grow together and to grow our city. in ways that would bring glory to you. We pray your health and strength upon each of us, and Lord, that we together would make this area a place that would honor you. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty

Next, we have a presentation from our development department. Lee, if you could read what the presentation is about.

pursuant to 11.01.02 of the city's land development code upon approval of a major development plan by the development director, which would be approved administratively. The development director is to provide a presentation to the city commission at a subsequent commission meeting on the application and approval. The subject major development plan proposes a construction of a two-story restaurant with up to 275 seats, along with 1,442 square foot ship store and marina located on the ground floor. The marina will consist of 158 boat slips, including 10 slips designated for a boat club, and will accommodate vessels ranging from 25 feet to 150 feet in length. The subject parcels are zoned urban waterfront and carry a future land use designation of downtown. The parcels are located within the community redevelopment area. Vehicular access will continue to be provided via the existing ingress and egress point on Northwest Dixie Highway. The project includes two pedestrian access points along Northwest Dixie Highway where the sidewalk will be widened to eight feet to enhance walkability. A total of 141 onsite parking spaces including ADA compliant spaces are proposed.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. For the record, my name is Michelle Arbizal, planner two with the Development Department. I'm presenting item number one, a public presentation of the Capri Harbor Steward Project. Section 11.1.02 of the City of Stewart Land Development Code, and as amended by ordinance number 2544-2025, explicitly removes the requirement for a quasi-judicial public hearing for major development project, and replaces it with a public presentation to the City Commission, with no commission action required, as long as the project meets all code requirements. due to the potential impacts on the public and on the surrounding waterways the development director has determined that the application shall be elevated from a minor development plan application to a major development plan application for the purpose of providing public notice IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED UNDER SECTION 11.02.05 OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, THE APPLICANT MAILED LETTERS TO ADJACENT PROPERTY OWNERS LOCATED WITHIN 300 FEET OF THE SUBJECT PARCEL PROVIDING DETAILS OF THE REQUESTED DEVELOPMENT AND THE DATE AND TIME OF TONIGHT'S PRESENTATION. ADDITIONALLY, ONE SIGN WAS POSTED ON THE PROPERTY ALONG NORTHWEST DIXIE HIGHWAY WITH THE SAME INFORMATION. WE DID RECEIVE A PUBLIC COMMENT BY MR. CHASE BUCHAMP. HIS CONCERNS WILL BE ADDRESSED DURING THIS PRESENTATION. THE TWO PARCELS OUTLINED IN RED ON THE SCREEN COMBINE A TOTAL OF 7.29 ACRES. THEY ARE LOCATED ON THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF THE OLD ROSEVILLE BRIDGE ALONG NORTH DIXIE HIGHWAY. The parcels are situated within the community redevelopment area. The parcel to the north is 0.49 acres. The parcel to the south is 6.80 acres. The subject parcels are zoned urban waterfront. The parcel to the east has the same urban waterfront designation. The parcel across North Dixie Highway east of the train tracks has a zoning designation of industrial. The subject parcels are designated by the downtown future land use. Parcels to the east have public, downtown, and marine industrial future land uses. The downtown land use is applied to properties within the CRA and generally allows for low density residential, multifamily residential, office, commercial, recreation, lodging, public facilities, conservation, and mixed use developments. Shown on the screen is the site plan. The proposed project will meet the requirements of the city's land development code, and I will go through the sections. The application requests a proposal to construct a 158 boat slip marina along with a two-story restaurant to seat 275. The restaurant will have 5,626 square feet interior and 7,641 square feet of outdoor seating. 1,202 square feet of retail and 240 square feet of office. The ship's store and marina will be located on the ground floor. A total of 141 on-site parking spaces, including ADA compliant spaces, are proposed. The site provides parking for all its uses in compliance with the code. A traffic impact study was provided and approved. It is anticipated that the proposed trip generation potential for the site is as follows. 141, that's 76 entering and 65 exiting in the a.m. peak hour trips, and 162, 97 entering and 65 exiting in the p.m. peak hour trips. The analysis included an assessment of the proposed trip generation, roadway analysis, and driveway analysis. The total site area is 156,876 square feet. The impervious surface coverage is 46% with open space of 54%. According with the drainage report provided by CAPTEC Engineering, approximately .57 acres of the upland area will remain undeveloped. A stormwater management system will be constructed to serve the upland portion of the project. The City of Sewer Utilities will provide water and wastewater services for both the upland and marine portion of the project. The applicant will be providing a marina management plan that identifies all pump out stations and specify whether each station is metered. This document will be reviewed by the city's environmental attorney. The image on the screen shows the location of each use. The upland area, which is the parcel to the north, will remain undeveloped. The restaurant, right here is the upland that will remain undeveloped. The restaurant and ship store is located on the southwest side of the parcel, and the covered outdoor dining area is on the water. The marina, of course, is on the west side of the parcel. The eight foot, and it's probably really tiny, but you'll see it later on. The eight foot elevated, eight foot wide, elevated boardwalk will connect to the sidewalk to provide pedestrian connection to the downtown Stewart area. The landscaping will include a minimum 10 feet landscape buffer along the front, which is the Northwest Dixie Highway, and the site will include many trees, some of which are the green and silver buttonwood, eagleston holly, cabbage palms, coconut palms, silver bismarck palm, firwood, Brazilian beauty leaf, wild date palm, and foxtail palm. Four existing trees will remain on site and 31 palm trees and 41 trees will be planted. The code requires 27 native trees for this site. 41 native trees will be provided. The covered corridor, which is this area right here, system but this cover corridor will have a vista to show the water on the other side it will be raised planters and shaded seating area as well as the public art installation in the courtyard which is centrally located within the drop-off aisle This is the proposed building elevation facing North Dixie Highway. The building will have glass railings at the elevated terraces and balconies to preserve views across the marina and intercoastal waterways, while still providing the railing element required by the urban code. Stucco with float finish is the main material that will be used throughout the building. The project incorporates at least four of the building design standards listed under Section 3.01.04.A.2 of the Land Development Code, one being broad overhangs that will provide shade for the outdoor seating, and another is the large display windows featured around the building. ornamental and structural architectural details such as the sail-inspired overhangs, vertical battens, lower light shade, the brow projections, architecturally treated emergency stairs. And on the northwest elevation, it shows the aluminum and glass railings on the stairs, shade slats, decorative lower screen again, and storefront windows. The west elevation showcased a large overhang and display windows on the west elevation. On the southwest elevation, the glass railings and storefront windows as well as a decorative lower screen and shade slats . The fourth building design incorporated are the decorative landscape planters, the shade seating areas, and the green wall. The power pit will comply with the city's land development code, section 3.01.04.R, which states a power pit wall shall not exceed 24 inches in height. Provided, however, a greater height of up to 10 feet may be permitted by the city development director, if necessary, to conceal rooftop utilities, such as stairway and elevated bulkheads and other roof equipment, or to achieve architectural enhancement. No height of greater than 24 inches shall be permitted for more than 40% of any facade of a building. A power pit wall shall be designed to be consistent and compatible with the design and treatment of the facade of the structure. The applicant revised the plan to show the roof at 31 feet and top of the power pit at 33 feet. The floating bar will be permitted through the army corps of engineers well as deep dp the design includes decorative lower screen and smooth stucco finish the image shown in it is that of the east and west elevation. On the north and south of the floating bar the design continues with the smooth stucco finish with decorative lovers screen and round columns. This ends my presentation.

Thank you, staff, for the presentation. And for clarification, Jody, this is how we changed it in the zip. So if it meets the land development code, there's no vote from the board, no action taken, correct?

Mayor, that is correct.

Any other commissioners have any comments for staff? Yes, Commissioner Jobe.

Hi, I just wanted to double check that there are requirements now for dump, you know, for clean out of the boats that are there. It's a mandatory thing now.

Commissioner Giobbe, yes, they do have pump out stations.

Okay, great.

And they also prepare a management marina plan that when they go to submit that our attorney will look at, our environmental attorney will look at it as well. Great, thank you so much.

Commissioner Clark.

Yeah, I just saw Mr. Houston come in. Was it done with Mr. Houston? He had prepared it. Yeah, I just want to make, you know, I think the landscape, and I saw the trees and everything, but more detail will come in later. And then the other thing was about the architectural. I know that members of the public had had some questions, and I think that those, again, will, we're meeting all the guidelines, but if anything changes, then we can always be, you know, There'll be an opportunity. Yeah, because I know that we had somebody who was concerned.

Commissioner Clark, yes, we did have an inquiry request. They met all the elements. One of their concerns was it is more of a modern-looking building as opposed to our typical traditional buildings within downtown. But it does meet all the arches and the VISTA requirements that is per the code.

Thank you.

Any other comments from commissioners for staff at all? Seeing none. Jody, and fire had no issue getting a fire truck in there?

Mayor Reed, no, we do have a fire truck radius that they have to do, and they have presented that in detail, and they have approved that.

Okay, and then for clarification, going back to it, when we do the presentations like this, they've already met all the land development code, it just comes down to Florida Building Code and their DEP permits, and they move on to the building?

Yes, sir.

Okay. All right, any comments from the public on this presentation? Seeing none, we're gonna move on, I guess, to comments by city commissioners. Commissioner Rich.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just two items. For the first time, I was voluntold by Mr. Joe Flanagan to participate in Project Graduation, which was a fun event. It's great to see those kids on graduation day. I did county, the county kids, as well as Commissioner Giobi was there. It's up at, I forget what it's called. It's that huge new game center at the mall. I'd just like to warn people, if you've never worked with Mr. Flanagan, there's no lollygagging. He keeps you moving and working. He did a terrific job in providing a great safe space for these children on graduation night. Job well done. I was at the memorial ceremony that was yesterday for Memorial Day. And just to give people an update, this is an event that is in transition with the city. And many strong opinions were provided to me. And so it was put on by, is Jim here? It was put on by the Veterans Council, correct? Yeah, the city accommodates them and provides the essential elements. But if you do have questions or concerns or constructive comments, please reach out to the Veterans Council to work with them so that we can create an event that we all feel has the correct solemnity and appropriate ceremony for Memorial Day. Just to give you context, when I grew up, Memorial Day was a very solemn event. It was not a glorious celebration with a loud parade, because this was back in the late 50s. I mean, World War II in Korea was still very present, and many of those people there and many families had just recently lost their, you know, children or husbands. So, you know, we're trying to thread this needle here. The joyous celebration is Veterans Day in November, and that is a parade and a great celebration of those who choose to serve. But, you know, we're trying to figure out what's appropriate for Memorial Day. I thought it was a very nice ceremony and a very proper tone. So thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Yes, I was also at the Memorial Day event over the weekend, and I do agree with Commissioner Rich. The ceremony was beautiful. It was moving, and it was an opportunity for everyone to honor the men and women whose lives were lost in defense of freedom for this country. So I think that we did, all of the agencies involved did a beautiful job, and I think so going forward also when i was growing up it was a solemn occasion it was not a joyous event so i think that it was done beautifully and i think that we honored our um veterans who's lost their lives I think we honored them properly the other day and I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and hopefully you came to Memorial Park if not you really need to attend next year it was really a lovely ceremony I have some questions that I don't know if they can be answered but I two weeks ago on this dais there was a motion that died but during that discussion there was I believe it was Clark who mentioned the possibility of getting more information regarding the the parks the restriction of the future long-term lease and possible sale of ballparks in Stewart This would have accomplished a protected long-term, no lease greater than 10 years or sale of property without going out for a vote by the constituents of the city, who it is their right to make that decision to sell that kind of property. There was lots of talk that evening about reaching out to Jim Kowalski, reaching out to the county, reaching out to staff. I was just wondering if any of that has taken place over the last two weeks. Because I think that the long-term goal was to possibly get this on the referendum in November to be on the ballot.

Commissioner, what we've done is- The item two weeks ago ended where it ended. However, staff has made a commitment to not only we took notes and we are going to address each one of the items that we took notes on and any others that come up. to answer any of those questions. And what I would say is the history and to know exactly how those parcels came to the city and then any linkage as Commissioner Clark had handed me with coordination with the county on parks and other lands that we should coordinate with the city on that's mandated that we can coordinate. And then any recommendations that would come out of that study or any other findings that we would come out of that. We didn't put a timeline to it, but we should be ready to present something if asked on that very topic.

Okay, thank you so much. What I'd like to get is a consensus of the board to be able to ask the city manager and the staff to put that together and have it on an agenda some future date, keeping in mind that if we want it to be on the November ballot, we'd have to probably get it to the Board of Elections probably sometime in end of September, beginning of October, I'm guessing. Thank you, Lee.

I don't know the deadline for the November election. We only had in mind the August election, which was in June. I think June 12th is the deadline with the supervisor of elections. So I don't know the exact deadline for the November election, but it would probably be a couple months prior to September.

And since I think it will be a discussion maybe over the course of two commission meetings that we get to the point where we're doing that and we're not at the last minute, push up against a date that we can't comply with. And now we're looking at the next year. So can I get a consensus of the board for that?

Commissioner Rich, Commissioner Clark, I'm not against it. All right, we got Commissioner Clark, Commissioner Rich.

I think you would, I mean, the motion failed. You need to make a motion to put it back on the agenda.

Is that a consensus if you have three and one person not wanting it to come back and leave?

Well, I guess there's questions I have. Commissioner Jobe talked about this white paper and some information about the ball fields, whereas there's also an issue of whether or not it has to come back. It's an ordinance that failed in the last meeting. So we have to have a first reading and a second reading of an ordinance. So are you asking to bring back the ordinance or are you asking to

Bring back a white paper on stuff that Right, what I would like to do is before we get to a first reading which then gets shot down, I'd like to be able to do get it first on a D&D. Let's discuss it, let's have all the information in front of us and move forward from there and be able to add it to maybe the next agenda after that. But I'd like to have everything available when we do the deliberation and discussion. I'm gonna, you know, this way everyone's prepared. The white paper, I look at it as being something really simple, the pros and the cons, so that the community knows what are the pros of doing this versus what are the downside of not doing this. So I think that's what needs to be communicated to the community. The fact that I remember you mentioned that up until 1980, there was protection for these ball fields, which no longer exists today. And I think that's important for everyone to know that, that basically a majority of commissioners could choose to sell that ball field, or they can choose to lease it for 50 or 60 years to someone. And I agree with the mayor, that's something that the residents, the constituents in the city should decide, not whoever is on the commission at that period of time.

Does that conclude your commission comments?

Not really, I'm sorry.

Commissioner Clark had a question, I believe. No, no, just go.

Okay, so the wheels do move slowly, except when it comes to, I guess, slinging mud at people. So I'm going to read an email that came to our city attorney from Ike Crumpler. And this is not the first time that Mr. Crumpler has basically accused me of something. And this was last year. I let it slide, but I'm not going to let it slide this time. He says, good afternoon, Mr. Baggett. I'm sure you saw the public record request earlier from Joe, which I suggested. It should also include any such records related to the topic to and from Commissioner Jobe, the new city manager, and yourself. Thank you. This goes on to what he says to Joe. Hi, Joe. What do you think of the CPAC sending a public records to request to the city? We're getting good leads on something shady going on behind the proposed referendum read the ball fields, which Reed and Joby are pressuring Euler and Campbell to go along with. I think the public could use more insight. Number one, it's everyone's right to ask for a public request records. Go and do it. Go at it. That's what they're there for. Why there has to be an accusatory situation in asking for that record is beyond my comprehension. And I don't know, we have the commissioners here. Commissioner Clark, was I pressuring you? I was just asking questions. Be honest if you feel I was pressuring you.

Please.

Well, that's not an answer. I'm going to really, you know.

I mean, you do whatever questions. I didn't know that you were pushing me. Thank you very much. You did whatever you did.

Point of order, Mr. Mayor. You cannot quiz your fellow commissioners on the dice. You simply cannot do it. Robert's Rules of Order specifically prohibits that. You may make your comments.

Well, you may have mentioned two weeks ago that I was doing pooling.

Lee, are you able to answer Commissioner Rich's statement on questioning other board members?

I would say that Commissioner Clark was inquiring whether the accusation that she had pressured was feeling pressured by Commissioner Giobbe at the last meeting. We're doing it publicly. I don't feel that there's anything wrong with that, but I think Commissioner Clark had a right to answer it or not answer it at this point.

And I was accused of polling last week, which I was not. That's something that's done in the shade, and what I did was in the sunshine. So I'm finished, thank you.

And going back to the consensus, could you clarify for Lee as well on what you were looking for?

I'm looking for consensus from the other commissioners to have this D&D take place over the ball fields with a complete white paper that shows the pros and the cons to this proposal, what it actually means to the citizens in the ballpark. Okay, so all the information that needs to be available to have a discussion here, to have people aware that there'll be a discussion, for them to come and ask questions, so that we hopefully, within a proper amount of time, could get a proposal back on the agenda so that we can have a first and second reading and vote on it.

I see that there's no issue with having a discussion deliberation on Discussing the ball fields in the history of it and pros and cons to doing what was proposed in the referendum At this point when you're not asking to bring back the ordinance to be reread for the first time so I don't see that there's any issue and I feel like the That the three had agreed to do something if you guys want to get a consensus again based on its clarification?

I mean, I think that if we have an opportunity with all the information to discuss it, then we can ask if there's a consensus to put the referendum back on the agenda.

michelle clark thank you i just want to be sure not that i'm trying to put words into mission to his mouth but i just want to be sure that uh... yes yes yes but if we're if we're going to be she said something about doing the pros and cons i just want to make sure that we're going to be following the comprehensive plan based on the objectives at least six point oh four and The contents thereof and seven, whatever it is that I gave, just that we follow the comprehensive plan. Not just pros and cons, but we follow the comprehensive plan based on the intergovernmental coordination, the inventory, and all the other factors that are required.

Okay, so I'll add to that request for the D&D is that it will follow the comprehensive plan and all of those issues will be in line with that.

Commissioner Rich, did you have a comment?

No, that's fine. As long as we agree that in the D&D it will include any obligations we have to comply with the comp plan.

Okay. And then City Manager Mike, you had a statement?

To Commissioner Clark's point, with respect to the analysis, if I may, the idea of pros and cons could be subjective. So we will stick to the facts, we will stick to the numbers, utilization of ball fields who is utilizing, et cetera, how these things are scheduled, those kind of things, and then let others determine what the pros and cons are. If staff has an obvious pro, an obvious con, then we will bring that up. But we'll stick to the facts and do our analysis. And that's what I would choose to bring to you and the public.

Thank you, sir. Does that help you with the consensus on where to go?

Well, as long as, there's been clarification, so you might want to go through the commissioners again to see if there was consensus on it.

Commissioner Rich, do we have a consensus from you, yay or nay, on it coming back as a D&D?

I think if we want to have a more comprehensive and well-prepared D&D on this issue, I am not opposed to it at this point in time.

Okay, Commissioner Giobbe? Yes, that will be fine. Commissioner Clark? Yes. Okay, yes.

Should we set a reasonable time? Do you need a reasonable time by the end of July?

I'll look at Jim.

End of July. Thank you.

Thanks, Jim. Thank you, Jim.

All right. Moving on with Commission comments. Commissioner Clark. Commissioner Clark.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

So since the last meeting was on the 11th, on the 12th, we had an event in East Stewart for the – and this was the mayor's first official meeting. I think, thank you so much. It was a great event. We had a plaque on the street for the historic dedication for the Stuart Training School formerly and now Spectrum Academy. And that was a great event. Historic Preservation Month is still on. There's a big activity end out this Sunday at the Flagler Center with Stuart Main Street and others. And I think there's another one on Thursday. And then there's also a Main Street on Thursday morning. So please check the historic preservation activities on the historic preservation website for Martin County or on the city or through Stuart Main Street. That is a good thing. With regard to Memorial Day, I attended the Memorial Day services at the National Cemetery, South Florida National Cemetery. in Lake Worth and that was definitely a solemn and somber occasion and the families really appreciate the service and the way the service is conducted. Of course, it's on a bigger plane. One of the things that really inspired me, and I'm sorry that Mary Kendall is not here today, because the person who sang the national anthem and another song was the city clerk from Gulfstream, so there's more to be aspired to, but it was very good. They had all their communities participating down there, and it was a very good thing, and I'm so glad that for the work that Joe Flanagan, Mr. Reardon, and others in the past in the years have done. And I'm looking forward to us really utilizing our Memorial Park and getting our community to come out for a very, very somber Memorial Day event each year as we move forward. I just want to say that we've had Gertrude Walden children here from time to time. But I don't even know if anybody knows or maybe has visited, but if you ever have the time, go by, visit, read to the children. And Ms. Thelma Washington, who's been there for over 20 years now, at least maybe 25 years, just needs to be highly commended for the work that she does for these young students starting out early. And I just want to give her just a commendation the things that she does in the community and how she inspires these young children. And that's it for my comments so far. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Comments by city manager?

Thank you, Mayor. It's been noted that there have been several events over the course of my tenure, and I've been very proud to have attended those events with commissioners, and it has been spectacular to see, but I did want to note, not but, I want to note the tremendous effort, and I know that it's been noted up here, but I'm gonna say it again. The staff of this city has done so much to support these events. I'll just name a few. The Florida Emancipation Day, A lot of work put in, not only on the physical plant side, but also putting together other things and making that happen, of course, in support of that event. Historical marker unveiling at 227 Southeast Ocean. Again, it takes time, it takes effort, even traffic We had a little traffic over there, so it was great that we had protection for those of us who were part of that unveiling from some of the traffic that built up. So that needs to be noted. Of course, Memorial Day, yes, Martin County Veterans Council put that on, but I know it was supported by city staff, and that needs to be recognized, and it will continue to be supported by city staff. So, and I'm very, unfortunately I couldn't be there, but I'm very happy to hear that it was an occasion appropriate of the day. So I wanted to note those efforts and those are only a few things that this city staff does day in and day out in support of the community and also being there as the commissioners are there, the commission is there recognizing all of these wonderful things about Stuart and I've had the pleasure to attend with you all. So thank you to the staff. I attended the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast lunch luncheon. Also there were representatives from the county, so it was an opportunity for me to interact with some of my counterparts in the county as well as private sector. individuals who put so much effort into our waterways and the marine industry. I have much to learn, but thankfully as a Navy guy who ran a Navy base, I've been exposed to a lot of these issues and I look forward to working with everyone on these issues to improve the marine industry environment. And lastly, speaking of hard work that the staff does, it is budget season and the staff is working very hard in putting that budget together so that we present the budget to the commission and the community for everyone to see and what we are doing and what we plan to do. and I look forward to that process. And also hurricane season coming upon us, reviewing emergency management procedures, not only for myself, but the staff and the emergency action plan and looking at those processes. Again, well-versed in this area, but always eager to learn more and especially about how we do it here and how we can make it better here. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. I don't have much, just one. I get the same public record request, but there's no nefarious activity. I spoke to Ike. We actually agreed on all three issues that he brought up, but it's just part of the job. So moving on, looking for a motion for approval of agenda.

Move approval of the agenda. I was wondering if I should pull item number five. Oh, it's going to be discussed anyway.

It's commission action, yes.

Move approval of the agenda as published.

Second.

We have a motion to approve the agenda from Commissioner Clark, seconded by Commissioner Rich. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes unanimously. comments from the public on non agenda items just a reminder it's three minutes as well no rush at all welcome

I'm Lynn Jensen, honorary regent of Hale-Patioke Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and co-chairman of the America 250 Committee. We've been working for eight years toward a celebration of that we are going to be having in Stuart. This is our home port, Stuart. And it's going to be celebrating historic preservation. and dedicating a bronze Patriots marker honoring the men and women who achieved American independence 250 years ago. And it's going to be near the gazebo in Memorial Park, free and open to the public. And it's time to celebrate.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you so much for your comments.

Next, I have Joe Flanagan.

Welcome, Joe.

First of all, I'd like to thank, I'm sorry, Joe Flanagan, Stewart, Florida. I'd like to thank the two commissioners that came and volunteered for Project Graduation. Ms. Clark, I understand you were out of town. At a medical school graduation. Yes, you were. But it was a good time. But I'm here also in support of the Memorial Day celebration, or sorry, the ceremony. As you may know, I was in charge of the Veterans Day Parade, Martin Luther King Parade, and Memorial Day parade for about three, four, five years. And I let them know back in November that I was no longer gonna do that. And I awaited somebody from the Veterans Council, who's a great group of people, very dedicated to what they do, to reach out to say, what are we gonna do for Memorial Day? And I recommended since day one that it should not be a parade, a celebration, it should be a sovereign event. And I am very glad and supportive of this city and what they did, but also, Six months from now is the Veterans Day parade in November. When I was in charge of it, I said to save the date out like months ahead of time and did a lot of that. So I just want to remind, or shouldn't remind you guys, you already know, but that the Veterans Council in their bylaws is responsible for organizing and doing everything for those parades. So during my tenure, they did not call me. I met with them one time and they said, you're doing a great job, just keep doing it. So, and that's fine. But my concern this year was about three weeks, maybe four, before the Memorial Day was here, they were saying, who's gonna do it? They first went to the county and said, you guys should do it. And they went, not us. So then they came to the city and said, you're gonna do it. And they're like, not us. So it ended up being exactly what it needed to be. And thank you guys for supporting that one. But please remind the Veterans Council, a great group organized, that they've got about six months to be ready for the Veterans Day Parade. All right, thank you. Oh, and Manager, welcome aboard. And feel free. I've got a lot of nonprofit events. I'll take you down a rabbit hole with you. Commissioners will verify that.

Thank you, Joe.

Thanks, Joe.

Careful, Mr. City Manager. Yeah.

Janine Alexander.

Were these the same ones that were emailed to us? Or these are?

It's a smaller version. I didn't attach all of the attachments to this, just the memo and the comments. All right, thank you. Thank you for addressing that.

Thank you.

I think what you were referring to, Sean, was these.

Yes, thank you.

Yeah, I didn't disseminate those. My name's Janine Alexander, and I appreciate the honor to present under the First Amendment Freedom of Speech. Have you ever had your suspicions confirmed? I'm here this evening to address the authenticity of a memo presented to the Commission in public forum on January 26th. After the December 8th commission meeting, Lee Baguette was assigned the task of reporting and updating the commission about cases and events regarding my citizen's complaint of February 18th, 2018, emailed to Michael Mortel. As a result, Michael Mortel assigned Roz Johnson the task of writing an investigative summary report. The only evidence obtained by Officer Vo is a 55 second video clip edited from a seven minute video, skip. In an email of July 18th, 2018, Michael Martel states, too bad we will never know what was on the other six minutes of the tape. In an INOI investigation, Gallus and Vo changed their story, constituting perjury. The city of Stewart, by and through Chief Diaz, not only violated their own policies, but suborned perjury of Gallus and Vaux to cover up violations of policy 27 and 28. I do not take these accusations lightly. ross johnson's report denies violations of policy twenty seven which happens to be the domestic violence policy no corrective action was taken in recent events january twenty second mister mister began identified a memo claimed to be from dave ross former city manager i recently confirmed with date ross that he was not involved in the complaint process nor did he offer the memo as represented by the gap Ross, on personal leave prior to his termination, did not know of me or of the citizen's complaint. I assert this memo of April 19, 2018, was constructed recently to conceal Michael Martel's involvement in review, assignment of investigation, denial of an SIRB hearing, and covering up these events in an effort to politically promote David Diaz to city manager in May of 2018. In 2023, upon the resignation of Diaz, Mortel became the city manager. The memo of January 26, 2026 marks a whole new timeline of deception. These claims are in addition to my prior notice of claim in accordance with Florida Statute 768.28, a waiver of sovereign immunity that was served on Baguette in 2023. An ongoing pattern of behavior of Michael Martel, the attempt to cover up Martel's role in the citizen's complaint, and his ongoing concealment of policy violations by police creates a new wave of liability for the city of Stewart. This seems to be a pattern of behavior as the recent identification of a scam which occurred under Diaz's leadership in 2021-2023 was also concealed and held from public to prevent filing of liability claims with Relations Insurance. Thank you for your time. Do I have any questions from the Commission?

I have one for clarification. Can we stop that thing? Have all your public record requests that you've put in been fulfilled?

No. I have one outstanding, and that was of Louis Biglioli. Initially, I asked for his full point.

So I was just trying to find out if you had one. So I'll get with the city manager. He'll follow up with that and just make sure it gets fulfilled.

I hope you all have seen the method to my madness. I think it would be best suited.

So my job is just, I wanted to make sure that your stuff's being fulfilled. I have another question for legal. Lee, is there currently any litigation with Ms. Alexander and the City of Stewart currently?

Her most recent lawsuit had been dismissed, and then I believe she's in the process of appealing it. I filed a notice of appeal. And we have outside counsel representing the city.

okay those were mine so thank you for clarifying and city manager will follow up to make sure your public record requests are fulfilled uh commissioner clark you had a question i'm glad that you i asked for that clarification because miss um alexander approached me and i was aware that possibly we had something but it might have been cleared up i wasn't completely 100 sure but her only question today was right before the meeting as to how best to get uh... information from the from the city and you know i'd i'd just explain to her that if it's something from the courts gets from the court if she's put in a public records request like you said then it should it's going to be worked on and somebody will that wasn't actually my question can i clarify One second.

Commissioner Clark, did you have any questions for clarification from Ms. Alexander?

No, I just wanted to, because if there was no lawsuit, if there was a lawsuit pending, I just wanted to be sure that I just responded to her. She wanted to know why the, what was your question, Ms.? I actually used the word clemency.

I'm not trying to go back and forth, Ms. Alexander. I know, I understand. Just so we're not going back and forth with questions, unless you had questions for clarification.

I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure that, I hope I responded to her.

I've actually requested to be put on an agenda so that I could rebut the 19-minute comments that were made in January. I haven't heard back.

Okay. Thank you, Ms. Alexander. I appreciate it. You're welcome.

Next, I have Joe Giglio.

Welcome, Joe.

Hey, Joe.

Commissioners and Mayor. I'm Joe Giglio. I am the head of Lake Okeechobee Restoration Initiative, which is also interested in the St. Lucie River. Your environmental attorney did an excellent job in writing to the Corps of Engineers regarding what's called the Restore Base Map. What that simply means is this. The Corps of Engineers is, as far as I know, unless they've changed it, are going to look at the St. Lucie River as it is now, as the new normal. And therefore, if they do any improvement by taking out some of the muck, they can say we've done a great job. They were the ones that actually caused the problem 50, 60 years ago and have been doing it since. The reason why this is important, in my opinion, is that the river, under new technologies, especially nanobubble technology, can be improved. Literally, nanotechnology means that you are adding oxygen with tiny, tiny bubbles that stay in the water column so that the bacteria that's already out there in the river will eat up the muck and eventually three, four years you will be able to get down to your base white sand that used to be here 50, 60 years ago. So therefore, my suggestion would be, or recommendation to the board, would be to basically build up what Ruth Holmes has already done. It's past the public entity, but I'm going to be sending it anyway, and the more reinforcement she has is to your benefit to clean up the river. The river can be cleaned up. If the Corps says... they can't, then we're hurting the city. It can't be done. And Mr. Manager, since I also came from Corona and I know a lot about lakes, if someday you and I could get together and I could bring you up to speed on the river if you're interested. Thank you.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you.

Commissioner Clark, did you have your light or is this an old one?

We have no more, Mayor.

Seeing no further public comments, can we get a motion for the approval of the consent calendar?

Approval of the consent calendar. I'll second the motion.

We have a motion from Commissioner Clark for the consent calendar, seconded by Commissioner Giobbe. Suze, could you do the roll call?

Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Mayor Reed?

Yes, but I forgot the public comment on the motion, so yeah. So do we have any public comment on approval of the consent calendar? Seeing none, do we have to retake the vote then, Lee? What would you like to see?

I think we can, what's that?

Retake it.

Yeah, let's retake it. I don't think that changed anything, but let's repass.

Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Mayor Reed?

Yes.

And Commissioner Jovi?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to commission action, agenda item five, Lee.

So this is resolution number 40-2026, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Stuart, Florida, providing for ballot language for a referendum under city charter section 9.05, seeking voter approval to rescind the November 8 2011 election ballot referendum requirement to lease an undeveloped 1.97-acre commercial parcel fronting US 1 opposite North River Shores Boulevard that was to fund the maintenance of the Haney Creek Preserve so that the 1.97-acre parcel may be converted to conservation and added to the Haney Creek Preserve, providing for an effective date and for other purposes. This is my agenda item, so I'll give a little bit of a summary. on a background in 2006 section 9.05 was added to the city charter wherein any conveyance or long-term lease in excess of 10 years of any interest in city-owned property which has or any contiguous parcel has frontage on a tidal creek of the st lucie river requires approval by public referendum And then moving forward five years later in 2011, Martin County and the city co-purchased a 49.3 acre parcel known as Harbor Walk Commercial Plan Unit Development Parcel at Wright Boulevard and North US 1 for the purpose of conserving the land and making it contiguous, contiguously part of the larger 165 acre Haney Creek Watershed Preserve, which includes a tidal creek. In addition, the city acquired the 1.97 acre commercial zoned CPD parcel fronting US-1 opposite North River Shores, which adjoins the Haney Creek Preserve. And then pursuant to section 905, which was adopted five years earlier, the city commission requested the voters to vote on whether to lease the 1.97 acre commercial parcel on a long-term basis for the purposes of creating revenue to defray the cost of maintaining the Haney Creek Preserve, as well as other expenditures. On November 8th, the voters of the City of Stewart approved a referendum authorizing the city to seek a long-term commercial lease for the 1.97-acre parcel in order to generate revenue to fund the perpetual maintenance of the Haney Creek Preserve. Since that time, the city has not leased the 1.97-acre parcel, and it remains undeveloped. I believe there were a couple projects that were kind of proposed to some degree, but they all fell apart, and they never came to fruition. During this period of time, the city has used alternate means of funding the maintenance of the preserve, and I think the main one when speaking to staff was an electronic billboard on US 1 that the city owns. We've used the revenue from that to help pay for the maintenance of the part of the preserve. Earlier this year, the city commission instructed city staff to move forward with converting this 1.97 acre into conservation and adding that parcel into the Haney Creek Preserve. In the original 2011 funding agreement that we had between the city and the county, we agreed to carve out that almost two acre parcel to fund the maintenance. So the first thing that we had to do was we had to amend the interlocal agreement, this funding agreement with the county so that we could move forward with a referendum. And so in resolution number 20-2026 earlier this year, you approved the first amendment to this funding agreement with the county. We subsequently gave it to the county, and then on May 5th, 2026, the county also approved this first amendment to the 2011 funding agreement. But this amendment to the funding agreement was subject to passing on a referendum in the near future. So if it doesn't pass referendum, then there is no amendment to the funding agreement, and we'll go back to the way it was. By approving the language that we have in this proposed resolution, we have it in time where it could be placed on the August 18th, 2026 primary election ballot. I want it not to be confused because we just did this last week with the ball fields. But in the ball fields, we were starting at ground zero. We had to do an ordinance with two readings. We were having to add it to the charter. But this was already added for waterfront property owned by the city back in 2006. So all we have to do for... This issue to go out on referendum is we just have to do it by resolution. So this is a one-shot deal here today, unless you guys want to continue it to a future meeting. But in order to meet the August, the deadline with the supervisor of elections, we've got to have this done by no later than the next meeting. So the language is proposed in this resolution. I'm happy to go through it. And why don't I go ahead and do that anyway? So under the statute, for the title, you're limited to 15 words. And the referendum language itself, you're limited to 75 words. you have very limited means of what you need to get across. So the title is Resend Prior Referendum Requiring Commercial Leasing of Parcel Adjoining City Property Fronting Titally Influenced Waters. And then that was the title and this is the question for the voters. Shall the city rescind the November 8th, 2011 election ballot referendum requirement to lease an undeveloped 1.97 acre commercial parcel fronting US 1 opposite North River Shores Boulevard. That was to fund the maintenance of Haney Creek Preserve so that the 1.97 acre parcel may be converted to conservation and added to the Haney Creek Preserve. Yes for approval and no for rejection. That's all I have to say about it. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them for you. But again, I just want to remind you, this is a resolution, so it's a one-shot. There will be no second reading on this.

Commissioner Giobbe. I'd like to make a motion to accept Resolution 40-2026, a resolution of the City Commission for the City of Stewart, Florida, providing for the ballot language for a referendum on the City Charter Section 9.05, seeking voter approval to rescind the November 8, 2011, election ballot referendum requirement to lease an undeveloped 1.9 acres of commercial parcel fronting US 1 opposite North River Shores Boulevard that was to fund the maintenance of the Haney Creek Preserve. So that the 1.97 acre parcel may be converted to conservative and added to the Haney Creek Preserve, providing for an effective date and other purposes.

I have a question for Lee as well on this. When we have a motion, we need a motion in order to even have a discussion on an agenda item, correct? And I know in the past we've gone back and forth on that.

Yeah, I guess it would depend. And this, I would say we would need to have a motion to move forward with the discussion on it. And again, just because you do a motion in a second and it brings it to the floor doesn't mean...

if you're the one who moves it doesn't mean you have to vote for it you're just bringing it it was my understanding that we had to approve you know so that we can discuss it and that we could have public comment i just seconded the motion for discussion okay so we have a motion for resolution number 40 2026 by commissioner giobi and seconded by commissioner clark are there any public comment on this motion mayor i have none Mayor, any public comment on this motion? Is this a good use of the half-cent sales tax? Not to put you on the spot, but I figured you'd know best.

Mayor Matheson, City of Stewart, for the record, I would just say, commissioners, take a step back, look at the 75-word language in the referendums. It should be pretty easy to get consensus. It's already at this point of where you want it. 98, 99% of the voters are going to read that and know about it for the first time sitting in the ballot box. Step back in your mind. How are you going to interpret that if you know nothing and you read that 75-word language? I'll be honest. I looked at the agenda today coming here. I didn't read that language to formulate an honest opinion about it. The two referendums I've worked on, I tried to remove, no offense, Mr. Baggett, but the legalese from it so that it would hit the average voter. I didn't hear the word conservation land pop out at me or to preserve that parcel in perpetuity. It might help to review it with someone who does more marketing. because none of you up there can advocate one way or another for this language, and the city staff can't. And there's not a team that I know of that's gonna advocate one way or another. So I'd really think about the language because the voter's gonna read it, most of them, for the first time in that ballot box. Thank you.

Thank you, Merritt. Thank you. Commissioner Clark.

Thank you. So I have three things. Number 1, I seconded what you said that we could have it for discussion and I think what you said. You said conservative, so it should be conservation since you were reading it into the record. So we're sure that it's, it's conservation. So it says conservation and added to the Haney Creek preserve. So that's fine. Then number 2, I'm glad that, um. Mr. Matheson, former Commissioner Matheson, came up and said something because before I comment on what he said, I go to number three, is that when we had new commissioners come on, at least after me, I think everybody has always ran on the idea of transparency and people want to know and want to be able to communicate with the public. And so I agree with what you're saying, Mr. Matheson, and that we, I think that anything to do with any of these referendums and the way that our commission is now, right now we have four of us. I think we probably need to take some time and study and work with the public and let the public know exactly what we're putting on these ballots and what these referendums are. There's no rush with this stuff. I think this is i don't know if it's a quick sell or easy sell or whatever but people just need to know and i think if we're going to do one thing possibly leaning towards november we should consider looking at all of these three um... referendum ideas and put them in november and we'll hopefully we'll have a full commission one way or another we'll have a full commission in in august And unless we do any changes before then. But I think that we just, I agree with that. We need to do that bridge with the public and let others know what's gonna happen. I know that when, I think if anybody, if commissioner, if our former mayor was here today, he spent a lot of times when we were working through the zip, we went through the zip twice. six months, six months, another 90 days, another 30 days. And this is important that when we have these things and we're bringing referendum to the public that we spend the time to get the information out there and to let people know, especially when it's not going to be something that's, it's not anything that's pressing on us now, but it's important that when we do it that we're sure that we have the information to the public so that when they come to the ballot they know what What's going on?

Okay. I don't think this had anything to do with the zip. My question would be, what is the cost to the city? What do we spend on a yearly basis to maintain this property? Because that was the purpose when it was originally bought with the county.

Milton? Milton, if you can come up and help answer that question. I don't know what...

He's been up so over the edge.

The cost of maintaining Haney Creek Preserve on the city is... I remember having a conversation with Joe Lee before he left that we were using the proceeds from the billboard, electronic billboard on US-1 to help fund it. But I never discussed finance, the actual figure and number with him.

Milton Leggett, Public Works Director. I didn't bring the numbers with me and stuff. What we do, we have a couple different things going on as far as that property goes, as far as... How would I say it now? The... Trainage?

Yeah, like what does the city do for the property currently on a monthly basis?

Well, we have to maintain the signage out there also with the Lamar site, and that's every year.

As far as like the landscape?

The landscape and everything, right. And you can only trim by so much because of...

But other than that, it's not like the city employees are walking this parcel on a monthly basis, quarterly basis?

Well, we maintain it. If you like the A-Rent's property on the back side of that, we're in that area a lot. We do have, I don't have the numbers, like I said, in front of me, but we do maintain it.

Okay. I was just trying to find out to determine if it was a financial burden on the city or not. And it doesn't necessarily sound like it costs the city a whole lot to maintain it then.

No, I'll get those numbers to Leah this week. That way you have them.

Okay. Any comments from board members? Commissioner Rich?

Yeah. You know, we're really being hard on the taxpayer. I don't get it here. I mean, essentially this property is in preserve because we're not able to lease it currently. So if you look at all the property we have in preserve within the city, actually Haney Creek's 157 acres, Poppleton Creek is 40 acres. I'm gonna add the Kiplinger property because it's adjacent to the city and everybody treats it like it's in the city. That's 164 acres. We're gonna add 20 acres in Avonlea that we're considering. So that's 381 acres. Yes, all parks and preserves have costs for municipalities. It can range from, if you annualize it, $100 to $500 an acre. Maintaining is different than enhancing, and I wish we could enhance these. We have a gas station that's in the county at the corner of Baker Road and US 1. They offered to pay to build a trailhead there. We turned them down. I don't know why we did that. We could have taken that cost off the taxpayers. We have no interest in doing that. We have not obtained grants in the past two years. We've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants due to a variety of reasons that we used to get on a regular basis. We have no current idea how much bigger our deficit is. And it's going to be substantial. We're going to be in deficit this year. And I don't see the value of adding less than one half of 1% of preserved property on the single busiest stretch of road in the city to not allow the taxpayers to have the ability to earn over a 10-year period. It's not unreasonable. That could generate a million dollars. And I am not turning my back on $1 million for the taxpayers. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. there's more we don't know about the budget now. And I will add, I was just at a Florida League of City meeting, there will be something on the ballot to reduce property tax. So we're facing that dilemma. And so we were all talking about, so what happens when municipalities face budget shortfalls? Ironically, the first things that are cut are park maintenance. And so... I agree with Commissioner Clark that we should move cautiously here. Again, no one's beating the door down to lease it, unfortunately. But boy, I like for the taxpayers to have choices. and I just don't see the need for this tiny, tiny parcel percentage of our total preserved land. It'd be so nice to have that money to spend, and what I like about it is that the money has to be spent on the park. That Haney Creek Preserve, 157 acres, could be fabulous, and I think that's what we should work towards, getting that leased spending that money.

Does that conclude your comments Commissioner Rich? Does that conclude your comments, Commissioner? Yes, it does. Thank you. Thank you. I guess I can address one. It's not currently in preservation right now, and I think there's no greater way to give the power to the residents that I represent by supporting a referendum. I understand with the public comment, with the language, I think that's everything. And like was stated, I think that's something that can be looked into. But those are my comments. This is not a new agenda item, by the way. This has been an agenda item since I got elected in August of 2024. We actually had one-on-one meetings as well with my predecessor, Christopher Collins, where it was stated then. It's not anything new, by the way. It's been in discussion for quite a while. I don't believe it to be a financial burden on taxpayers, as stated by Milton. This does not cost the city hardly anything, and I don't think the number would be astronomical. But anyway, moving on, Commissioner Chiobi, you had a comment.

I did, I'm not adverse that it has been on the agenda quite often. Maybe I think that Mr. Matheson's suggestion is good that we educate the constituents. It's always a good idea for them to know, especially before they see a referendum on the ballot. So again, like with the other referendum we're looking to put on the ballot, maybe we put together. then put it back again on the agenda, but do an education piece. Maybe we do them together, maybe we do them in a workshop. And everyone is then offered the ability to come, listen to what is there, okay? And everyone has an opportunity to ask questions. I will say that the property, if I'm correct, The property has been basically for sale over 10 years.

Not for sale. For lease. For lease, I'm sorry.

And no one has come forward to lease it. There are a few, but it's not.

Since I've been here, nobody has. But I had conversations with Mr. Mortel in the past, and I believe a couple different projects kind of came forward, but kind of fell off, didn't come to fruition. And I think one of the main reasons and I'm going off what Mr. Mortel told me, so I have no direct knowledge of this, but I think that there would be a requirement to build anything there, you're gonna have to have a long turning lane under FDOTS, and it was like several hundred thousands of dollars to just do a turning lane.

750,000 if I remember correctly.

Right, and that was 10 years ago. That probably is a higher number now. So that was a deterrent, and also there was a large amount of fill that would need to be brought in to be able to develop that parcel. And those were the two things that stand out in my brain as far as memory of what Mr. Mortel told me that the developers who came forward, they kind of lost interest because of that.

It was not cost effective for them.

And it's still undeveloped. So it's still in its undeveloped state currently. But I've been here almost three years and nothing's come forward since I've been here.

So could I have a consensus from the commissioners to see if we could do this same D&D for this so that we could have some time to educate the public? Maybe, like I said, we do it in a workshop where both items are presented. Gives everybody an opportunity to come and listen to what's gonna be on the referendum. I don't know if anybody has thoughts on that. Do you think one workshop would do it, or should we have two?

So currently, yes, currently there's a motion on the floor. That's what we're discussing. And we have just commissioned comments regarding it. We had public comment. There was one, but I don't know if that concludes.

Can I just ask one question of Mr. Baggett?

Yes.

Mr. Baggett, do you have the results of the original referendum? I believe it was 70-30.

I don't know if I attached it to this. I have it, I just don't have it attached to this agenda item.

You don't have it handy. Okay.

Yeah, I do not have it handy, but I could get my hands on it in a few minutes. I would just need to get on my computer and look. That's okay. That's fine. It's okay. Is that your? No, that was my only question. I think it was a large, you know. Yes. In favor, yes.

But many things have changed over the last 10 years. Traffic on federal highways changed. It's just easier when you hit the switch.

I'm sorry. Sorry, it just makes my job easy. Commissioner Clark?

Thanks. So I seconded Commissioner Giobbe's motion. Is she withdrawing her motion and then asking for a consensus to do some study and more research on this? Are you withdrawing your motion? I'm going to withdraw my motion.

Okay, okay, moving on, hopefully.

I withdrew the motion, but we didn't have a consensus of what to do now that the motion has been withdrawn. We still have to go forward. I don't want it sitting on the calendar for six months. We missed the referendum in November. We need to move forward as we do with the other referendum. So the consensus is- Same time frame. Yeah, same time frame.

Commissioner Rich, how do you feel about that?

Same time frame, that's fine.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Sure, I support it. The public's seeing firsthand, though, a lot of stalling, I guess, on passing potential agenda items. This authorizes it for the public to vote on their own destiny, though, whether I'm here representing you or not. All right. whether my fellow board members are are Hopefully we can stop the stalling on Controversial agenda items that you may or may not support But allowing the public to decide their own destiny I think is a fair statement to make but moving on To ordinance second reading agenda item six if you could read it Lee I

Ordinance number 2551-2026, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Stewart, Florida, approving a major amendment to the Walmart Commercial Plan Unit Development, providing for an amendment to the adopted resolution number 28-2011 to authorize modifications to the approved Unified Signage Plan, install a new canopy and paint the exterior of the building, providing for conditions of approval, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for an effective date and for other purposes.

Good evening, Chair and Commissioners. For the record, my name is Michelle Arbozow, Planner 2 in the Development Department. I am presenting agenda item number six, a request from Walmart Stores East LP seeking to amend the CPUD ordinance number 1915-03 and the previously approved resolution number 28-2011, development conditions.

I just, yeah, I just wanted to, on the yellow card, we had to do the ex parte, so do any of the commissioners have any ex parte communications to disclose? I have none. I have none with regard to this matter. I'll go on order. Commissioner, yeah, Commissioner Rich, you have none? With regard to this matter. Commissioner Giovi?

I have, I had a discussion with Brittany. Unfortunately, I was looking up to see what her last name was, who is with Walmart, and I had a discussion with her on Friday.

Commissioner Clark I had a discussion with a miss McAllister I'm not sure from Tallahassee Walmart I had discussion with Jody Coogler staff just with regard to some very fast-moving changes since last Wednesday or Thursday

Does that conclude yours, Commissioner?

Yes, thanks.

I also spoke to Bethany as well. I know she was very concerned because it was a holiday weekend. I let her know we'll be back on Tuesday. I had someone email me as well. I believe I might have posted it on Facebook with the entire agenda, but there wasn't any comments. Let's see, directs the city attorney to place any potential witnesses under oath.

All people rise and raise your right hand who may or intend to provide evidence in this matter. Do you affirm that the testimony that you're about to provide will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So help you God. Okay, you may be seated.

Will the development department please provide a brief summary of the agenda item, including the location, size of the property, current zoning, zoning requested, and list the applicant's request to deviate from the land use development regulations, if any.

Hey, again, I'm Michelle Arbizow, Planner 2 with the Development Department. The major amendment to the CPUD is going to amend the CPUD ordinance, originally the 1915-03, and a resolution number 28-2011, condition number 4, to allow modifications to approve the unified signage plan. on may 9th 2026 notification letters were mailed out to property owners located within 300 feet of the proposed petition two public notification signs detailing the city commission public hearing was were posted on the premises The subject property outlined in red total approximately 33.7 acres. The site is located at 4001 Southeast Federal Highway and is situated northeast corner of Southeast Federal Highway and Southeast Marketplace. The subject parcel is zoned commercial plan unit development, CPUD. Most of the surrounding properties have the same zoning designation, except for the residential PUD to the north and the industrial PUD to the south. The current future land use designation is commercial and almost all of the surrounding properties are designated the same except for the multifamily residential to the north and the industrial designation to the southeast. The applicant is seeking approval from the City Commission to amend the PUD. Since the LPA hearing on March 12, it came to the attention to the applicant that signs were not reflected on the existing signage schedule, so they modified those and changed the schedule. removal of 642.14 square feet of existing wall mounted signage, which equals 19 individual signs, and installation of 493.42 square feet of the new wall mounted signage, which equals 27 individual signs. Phase changes to the four existing monuments sign, construction of a new canopy on the previously approved expansion, and then the repainting of the exterior building. The proposed amendment reflected on the signage schedule tables that are shown on the screen shows an existing six hundred and forty two point fourteen square feet of wall mounted signs totaling 19 to be removed and proposing of four hundred and ninety three point four two square feet of wall mounted signs totaling twenty seven twenty seven to be installed. There was a modification from the first hearing. The Walmart and Spark that was not visible due to the landscaping will be removed. So that is why that number that will be installed is lower than before. Upon approval, the applicant will be required to comply with all applicable conditions and requirements outlined in the PUD agreement and the Florida building code. the signs on the screen there are two auto care signs the eight numerals one pickup four oil change sign one outdoor sign the address numbers four tire sign one wine and spirits the one walmart sign to include the spark one grocery and one home and fashion sign the applicant is requesting face changes to the four existing monument sign on site for the rebranding of the store The applicant is requesting approval for the installation of a seven by 20 feet canopy at the entrance of the store online pickup and delivery operations, the expansion that was previously approved. Colors were modified with input from the first hearing. The colors proposed that were modified is lighter white, medium brown, and light tan. The applicant is requesting to repaint the store utilizing the colors on the legend. The colors were modified with input from the first commission hearing. The colors you see are black-white, cedar-white, duranotic bronze, medium brown, light tan, dark bronze, true blue, and sky blue according to the color legend. per section 6.05.07.c of the city's land development code exterior colors for a commercial building shall be restricted to muted pastel or earth tone shades the section goes on to state that the use of black or fluorescent colors are prohibited as predominant exterior building color the image on the screen is taken from the plans to reflect the change in paint colors You can see the sky blue colors on the, I can probably bring this in. There was a new request after the first hearing, and what's shown on the top part is the new request. However, just this afternoon, we submittal for a change was submitted. The applicant submitted another option this afternoon, which is shown on the screen and stated they are prepared to walk through the updated plans to help determine if it better reflects the city's vision. the existing colors are reflected in the image on the screen there was a site visit done on april 17 2026 staff did notice that painting has started without an approval the ed agent with hfa aeltd was contacted and the painting was stopped according to hfa there were miscommunications that had occurred with the contractor In the LPA recommendation, they approved the canopy installation, the monument sign changes, and the LPA Board did not recommend the pickup banner on an existing light pole. That was pulled by the applicant, did not recommend the original color scheme, and made recommendations to the application to change the color scheme to be lighter shades that meet the steward code requirement. For example, different shades for the trim and shutter awnings to show the architectural features of the building. The wall signage were recommended for approval with the condition that the sign stays within the 607.58 square feet. In this case, with the modifications, that's a lot lower, which came into like 400 and change. at the city commission public hearing that we did in april on april thirteenth it was discussed and concerns were raised regarding the dark colors being proposed an example of the jupiter walmart with the coastal blue and other pastel art tone colors were shown and the consensus was made that the applicant submit rendering of those colors instead of the darker tones it was discussed by the project representative that the proposed colors reflected in the pictures are not a true rendition of how the building would look the city commission asked then for an accurate digital rendering of the colors of the building and a member of the public spoke in that hearing stated that they were in agreement with the pastel blue and would like for the applicant to paint the gazebo as well with the same color staff recommend approval of the wall signs canopy and monument signs and all of it that are required to be permitted and follow the florida building code in regards to the paint color the applicant submitted lighter or tones on some of the coastal blues that were recommended by the commission The colors comply with Section 6.05.07.C of the Land Development Code. However, based upon public comment and recommendations from the Commission, the coastal blue is not the predominant color. It was mentioned to be based upon the Walmart that is in Jupiter. So staff is looking for direction from our board. And this ends my presentation. The applicant and staff are here to answer any questions.

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you. So yields the floor to the petitioner to present its request to the city commission. Welcome.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Hey.

My name is Brittany Lewis. I work with HFA out of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Hi, my name is Paul Perez. I'm the market manager here.

so how are you guys feeling just off the bat with the one that was presented the first time is that enough blue do we need more blue um this one that is the last option we got and i'll tell you why because i know it was requested that we had the board like the hardy board type panels the shiplap for better work like jupiter jupiter was built with shiplap it is designed and constructed to Can you speak a little bit more into the microphone? It's designed to be on the building, so it'll stay on there in a hurricane. This store is not. This store was built for EFIS. So we will have to completely remove the surface, reinforce the back, and then install the shiplap. So that's why it's last case. We are willing to do that if that's what the board wants. Not ideal for anybody involved.

Was that the presentation that you had for us?

No, it was more, did you see the actual paint chips on the last page? That's the newest proposed color scheme. I just want to get a feel for if this is what you're looking for, if this is the muted, creamier colors that are nicer. Are we okay with this pastel blue?

Yeah, we'll get to that with the commissioner comments if they have questions for the staff or the applicant. So, Commissioner Clark? I didn't know if you had anything to present, that's what I was asking. Just this. Okay, just for clarification back and forth with us and staff then. Okay, thank you. So Commissioner Clark.

So with just this, where it says home and fashion, and you have the blue above that, is that the medium brown?

No, ma'am, above the blue is the either white.

No. So what's that thing, the cornice type? No, it's not Ida White, it's... Yeah, well what's this? Is that the color or is that not the color?

She's talking about if you go below the peak, whether it's over grocery or home and fashion, there's shutters. It looks like they're black painted shutters.

Those are also Eider white. They're painted white. It's hard to see because the glass is a blue color in the rendering.

With how they printed it, it's supposed to be. It looks black.

It's because it's a 2D image, and every one of those little... Shutters is a lot.

Okay, so that's blue then. Okay, because I was wondering what's with the, well, whatever it is. It's white, yeah. Okay, so I'm wondering why is that?

That's a better, that's a rendering, it's a little squished up, but that gives you a better idea of what it would more look like in person.

So that's not paint, that's a window.

Correct. It's a faux window, but it is a window.

Those roofs are...

actual colors those are going to be bronze they're the color and the bottom right of the well not far bottom the third depth third down on the right okay and the rest of it is just um shading lighting or whatever that is so we're proposing underneath the awnings to be the medium brown and that's just for visual contrast and also for keeping it clean I'm sure you guys are aware power washing is a thing, but it's a lot less necessary if there's a slightly darker color over there.

And that blue in auto care, that section is going to be like that, just like it shows on there?

That is, if it was the true blue, the Walmart blue, that's where the prototypical line would have stopped. If you guys want, we can push that all the way to the end of the wall and make the whole wall blue. I've gotten permission to do that.

So how it's presented, it's split. That's what's being proposed.

That's what's proposed. If you don't like it, then we can table this and tell us what we want, and we will make that happen.

And those doors will be that white door.

They are the little bitty white ship. Okay. Okay.

Can I ask something that's not on here, but I don't know if it's going to go up in the future, but when you present this color scheme, I do see you have like a red and a brighter yellow, but that's for something else. You mentioned that the part about the what is it, that pickup flag and so on, since that pickup flag, even if it comes back in the future, it seems like it's always an orange or orangey-red or something. Is that something that is always going to be like that, so if it comes back, we can't ask for it to be a certain color that's the color that you have it?

The current color of that picket flag that we're not proposing anymore is actually true blue.

Okay, good, because I thought that it had to be orange or something, and I was sure. Okay, fine.

Right now, no. Give me a year, and they might change their mind.

Okay, so if it comes back. All right, I think that's all my questions with regard to color. Color is fine. I can see that. But in terms of... the actual square footage and the changes. I know that there was a question about the lettering, whether there was black lettering and if that was to regard in signs that were way signs, way... fairing signs, signs that would show where to come to the Walmart, but that's not in this plan, but you can use black lettering. The city allows you to use black lettering for that.

Yeah, and we did clarify that with Michelle, but the signs we're proposing on the store, the darker colored signs, are actually going to be this bronze that's at the bottom, the geronotic bronze.

Bronze, not black bronze. So... But this Walmart and the blue and the gold is going to be that white Walmart.

It would be the white Walmart with the standard, just like the store has on it right now. It would look almost identical. The blue is slightly darker than the one that's on the store. It's a little bit more fluorescent currently.

Where would the bronze be, like with auto care or something?

Correct. Everything that's on too light of a color to be visible. It's for ADA. If you can't see the sign, you can't see it. Okay. Yeah, anything that's on a lighter color would be the bronze.

That's interesting with regard to ADA and visibility.

It's more for the Walmart sign that it matters, but the others, because it is a product that we offer, a service that we offer, we'd like it to be visible.

Did you have any more questions, Commissioner Clark? Not right now.

It looks like they're taking care of everything on this staff line something. I think it was up to us to be happy.

Okay. Commissioner Rich?

Mr. Baggett. Does the code allow us to require them to redo the exterior of their structure?

Oh, that's expensive. What is being proposed is the painting as far as you're asking for additional stuff like you saw in Jupiter? No. Is that what you're asking?

No, no.

So?

We asked them, correct me if I'm wrong, to add Party board? She said so they would have to strip the stucco. They essentially would have to redo the exterior of their building. They simply want to repaint their business. And we're saying, oh, no, we want you to redo the exterior surface to a great degree. I mean, it's not an inexpensive.

Just the vestibules.

What?

It doesn't seem that the applicant is objecting to it, but I would say that This is a PUD, so you can put conditions. I don't know that that's a far enough stretch unless they're claiming that it's a burden on them to make these changes. I'm not sure that it would rise to that level. As part of the PUD process, we're giving them a custom zoning so that we could put on conditions that we would like. For instance, the paint and other things in our code like Most Walmarts you go by, you see the Walmart building. You don't see our Walmart building. I went by it this weekend because we've mandated they put trees all around it. So there are conditions in a PUD that we can put on them.

But their current exterior surface is approved. What's that? The current exterior surface conforms to code.

Correct, but they're coming in for a change. They want to update it. They want to paint it. And the signs.

They want to paint it.

Correct.

I mean, I have no, you know, this is your business. As long as you conform to our code, I think the changes you've made to the color are nice, and they are sufficient in my mind. You don't want to have an ugly building. And Mr. Baggett makes a good point. This is invisible from the road. So if you're turning into Walmart, then you'll see it. But you want to go to Walmart.

Does that conclude your comments? Thank you, yes. You're welcome. Commissioner Giobbi?

I just wanted to confirm that it's my understanding when you open up a PUD, it's for both sides of the party, as the attorney Baggett said, that there are conditions that we could then request once the PUD is opened up, which Walmart has asked to do that. And I'm not sure if you saw the presentation from the previous meeting, and of course this was the, but we've been named the best coastal town, I can't tell you how many times, and that is a coastal town. Look.

Right. And we're able to do it with a lot of effort. It is going to take stripping the facade and completely redoing the structure.

And this is a lighter color. I mean, the blue is fine, but this is not dark. So you have blue on, this seems to me just to be dark.

It's because it's a 2D image. It won't, so you're seeing a whole lot of black lines because we have to show you the articulation changes.

Okay.

But in real life, it'll just be a color transition and you'll see shadows are obviously where the articulation is, but you won't see a dark line.

Okay, so is it the light tan or is it the medium brown?

The majority of the building is the light tan.

It is the light tan, okay.

The stripes that kind of go across it, and then above the blue on the vestibules is the white, and then under the canopies or under the walkways is where they're going to want to do the medium brown, just to give it a little visual contrast. And the medium brown is up around the Walmart blue that's kind of sort of already there.

If it's too light, it shows dirt.

very sensible for commercial enterprise well it was done in jupiter and i'm sure that's lighter than most of their well actually jupiter has stone at the bottom okay yes i yeah it's very nice so jupiter is in a c2 zone with an overlay so they had to have that at the get-go so it was built with that design in mind yes sheriff clark

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, question for staff, staff, staff, if this goes forward with your recommendation with the, uh. Changes or the, the, um. information submitted by Walmart. Is there sufficient information and understanding of the colors and how they appear and how they should be both applied and installed to make sure that we can monitor this and have compliance monitored without any Questions?

Yes, so the modifications that were made does comply with the City of Stewart Land Development Code Section 6.05.07.C. When building permits are pulled, there are final inspections that are done, and there's pass and fail for those, depending on if it meets the code or not.

Thank you. Just real quick. When they do a final inspection, we can add that clarification that staff will go out to verify the colors once it's painted as an inspection process.

And can I ask another question of staff?

Yeah.

How long, other than the fact that we had the last meeting, how long did it take for us to find out that the painting had started and it was the wrong color and there were all kinds of issues going on?

So when I go out to the different projects that I'm reviewing, and on a site visit, I noticed that signs were down and the paint were already starting. And so I came back to the office and just stated and give the applicant a call saying, hey, what's going on? We see painting started. There was no approval. That was in April, I believe, on the 17th, 2026.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, probably the last question.

You're recognized. Thank you.

I just want to be sure that if we do. move ahead with this, and this is for legal, that we have, and I think Ms. Giobbe asks this question all the time, is there a consensus? This won't even be consensus, we'll be voting on something. But that we'll be sure that, well, we'll be sure that, you're making me lose my train of thought. Okay, that's okay. We'll be absolutely sure that We are working with Walmart and our intention is not to penalize or to go back and try to create some type of penalty for the issue that came up that brought this to our attention.

Commissioner Clark. When Walmart was notified, they had been working diligently with staff and almost on a daily basis on some of the phone calls and working through trying to come up with renderings that would satisfy the comments about the blue and the lighter colors. So I commend Walmart for working with us very well. Thank you, Walmart.

Yeah, and I want to add too, you know, just transparently, this is a major gap of communication, you know, from the construction team, operations side as well. So, you know, we're committed. We want this to be the best Walmart in the area. And, you know, we're excited for the remodel to add new products, the new digital expansion, and the new products that we're going to add into the building. So we're excited to provide that for the community and have it really represent what Stewart stands for. So thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Do the commissioners have any questions? Commissioner Giobbi.

Yes, I have a question for staff. Because you can't see it here, and it was my understanding that there were, I don't know what you call them, not epilepsy, but things that would make it appear to be a Walmart in a coastal town. I mean, it's the field we're going for. on the building because you can't see it. You had mentioned they had.

Yes, I was as I was on the site visit. I noticed like there were little pineapples at the top of the. the roof airline, but it was painted the same color as the rest of the building. So you can see that little architectural feature, if that's what you meant.

I like those. And so the question is, if they were painted a different color, you would notice them versus them blending into the background.

I would say so.

I think some of the things also, you have to look at the towers where they're going in and out. They have a cupola on the top. They also have some, the Bahama shutters with the faux windows in the front. So they do already have the architectural features. They're highlighting those with the different colors now. So you'll be able to see them more. If you see in the last, the previous painting, it was just really like a sand painting. and they weren't even embellishing the architectural features they already have on the property now.

I have a question for staff. So this, Jody, we were handed this, and then we have this submitted this afternoon. So this is what it's currently painted and being proposed.

That's the, if we need to have the shiplap, that newest one is the option with the shiplap.

Yeah, because that's what was confusing me. You're talking the shiplap here that's blue, correct?

Right. So it was the renderings that you received last Thursday that were emailed to you.

so that would be yes so this is what the board asked for that walmart submitted and then this is was a backup plan that's the current proposal i have a secondary proposal that actually paints the columns on the building blue as well and then our third option is the shiplap which we have to destroy the facade to recreate

So is this a third option?

That's the first option. That's the one we're proposing now.

That's the first one, okay.

The second one I have in my bag, if you'd like to see it. It just paints the columns around the building the same coastal blue.

That's this. No, we don't have it yet. She has it with her.

Can we see it?

Can we see it? I mean, it might just make it pop because right now it just looks kind of dull.

Well, the current motion and second is for the first version.

We didn't know that you had other options. No, I'm just saying.

I'm just trying to keep it straight. Oh, boy. You are huge.

I am so sorry.

Thank you. It's bigger than that, even.

This option that you're unwrapping, it's the rendering you saw, but with the additional blue on the columns.

Is this one, two, or three in my hand? Two.

You don't have a thumb drive. I do.

Yeah, so this is just a bigger rendering of every elevation instead of just the front elevation. That's nice. Yeah, thumb drive might be a lot easier.

Oh, man.

This also is two tones. It's the same color scheme with the addition of the blue on the column.

I like to

Yes, this looks.

And the fact that we could really see it better than it was up on there. Correct, I agree with you.

It's the same color scheme that the pink one started. So those are the colors.

So the motion would have to clarify that in fact it's version two.

Correct, when we get there.

Mr. Baggett, correct? I'm sorry, repeat the question. The motion would have to clarify that. It would need to clarify which option you guys are gonna go with.

It has a job number and a date on it.

let's not get too in the weeds so if you can see on the um the long portion of the building on the rear elevation or the right elevation you can see the columns now are painted blue instead of just a uh that is in fact p panettone 220e correct

Correct. I had to look.

And what colors did you guys currently start painting it ahead of time?

It's currently dungeon gray.

I'm just making that call, but it's gray.

It's very dark. So it wasn't even any of the colors that we... No, it was the very first proposal.

It was on our construction set, and there was a miscommunication about don't paint yet, and so they did. About 90% of the front is painted, so we told them to stop.

Okay.

I have a question.

Commissioner Clark. Do we get to keep this?

Yeah, that's yours. Put it in your bathroom. Hang it on the wall. I don't care.

I was going to say, can we give this one to staff?

I have more. Commissioner Jovia, it's just tough. I'm trying to go off the lighted system. Commissioner Clark.

Thank you. so if you're going to submit this i want to be sure that all these p's and x's whatever the legend is and if it has a color a color if you could attach a color legend to this there is this is the same color it's the same thing yes ma'am okay and it's all written on there as well i know it's written but i didn't okay it's the same thing yes ma'am okay so the district if we do this

And then the only difference is you submitted this just showing the hardy plank at the front.

Yeah, because that was what the commission had asked for. I just needed to bring it as an option in case it was still adamantly required. We can do it. It is just going to take a lot of effort.

Okay. Do any other commissioners have any questions for staff or the applicant? Does the petitioner wish to offer any additional information before concluding its presentation?

Yes. There is something I saw that was wrong. So the wine and spirit sign is showing white on the blue. It needs to be bronze as well.

It was rendered incorrectly.

I just want you to be able to see the sign on the blue. That was the only thing I saw. Okay.

Lee, I got a question. How does this work if Commissioner Clark has a question? Because we're on step 10 where I'm going to announce the hearing has ended.

Well, it hasn't ended yet.

It hasn't ended yet, so Commissioner Clark?

I want to be sure that if you're going to be submitting this, if this break with the auto care half blue and half red, if that is it, or if you were going to extend it.

That is it, unless you want me to extend it across, and you can make that a stipulation, and I can totally do that if that's how you do it, or you can have us come back to the next meeting and make that happen. It's up to you.

I like that.

Halfway is proposed, but I have permission from Walmart's head to go all the way to the end of that wall, so it's in a little alcove situation, and it can go to the end.

Thank you.

Does that conclude your question? Commissioner Giobbi?

Just a question. Visually, I'm just, and it's just me, having a problem that it's like that. Is there any reason that you couldn't put also auto care on the other side? So you'd have auto care here and here.

The only reason is because it's in the alcove and you won't see it. It's when you drive up past the front of the store to the highway entrance. That's the only time you'll be able to visibly see it from the end of that building.

I'm not opposed to the hardy plank. I get it. It is a financial cost to definitely upgrade.

It's more of a we want to make sure we're not propelling objects into the wind accidentally.

What do you mean?

Like we need to make sure it's attached because it's a hurricane zone. We need to make sure it's attached properly and not going to make it erectile.

Yeah, that'd come down to Florida Building Code, but I get where you're coming from. Commissioner Clark?

So the Jupiter situation was a part of their beginning plan, a part of their code, plus it's along that Walmart is probably more visible from the highway. It is. But you did mention that if you did do some heart implant that you could do it, you said, in the vestibular?

so the vestibule is the area with the doors in it so that's where we were proposing it is just we were trying to mimic the jupiter store so over the vestibule doors and then to bring more of that down so it wasn't just those few areas um our our manager did tell it walmart manager to tell us to put it underneath the walkways but that would be on cmu so instead of doing the entire facade yeah

Do any other commissioners have any questions for staff or the applicant? Nope. So the presentation of evidence has ended and the hearing is closed. Does any member of the public wish to make a comment? Public comment is limited to three minutes. Mayor, I have no... We do have one public comment.

No, I have none. Make sure you come to the mic, please.

Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Okay. Gwendolyn Hall, Brinkley 814, Top Line Avenue. I just wanted to say, I was here when they first made the proposal and Commissioner Collins made this big ordeal about the building being . My only statement is this. I'm not a Walmart shopper, but I'm not a shopper at all anyway. I prefer to shop at home in my bed on my phone and do my shopping. I don't like going in stores. But I don't see Walmart losing any money whether that building is gray, sky blue, or midnight black. It's not losing any money. I don't think shoppers care. What color the story is when they go to spend their money. And I think that it's just been too much emphasis put on it being blue. I know y'all want to keep the little coastal town color code and all that stuff.

But I'm over it.

I'm over it. Just let it be what it is to me, because people are going to spend their money where they want to spend their money, and they could care less if it's sky blue or midnight black.

Thank you for your public comment. The party shall be provided with equal time to present the board with closing remarks, new evidence, or testimony on what direction to go in.

I make a motion that we accept version two, which is represented by what we were handed last with regard to the Walmart exterior rebrand major commercial PUD agreement ordinance number 2551-2026. Commissioner Giobbe, you had your light on?

I did, but he's already gotcha.

Okay, so we have a motion by Commissioner rich regarding the second option presented There's no second Okay, I second the motion All right, so we have a motion by Commissioner Rich for ordinance number 2551-2026 and seconded by Commissioner Giobbe. Are there any public comments on this motion? How does this work?

Hang on one second.

How does this work, Lee?

If she's going to be providing more evidence, we would have to reopen. We would have to do a sub-motion to reopen it.

It's not more. It was just to clarify the sign color that was wrong on your exhibit. I just want to make sure that bronze sign is on there.

Okay. We can fix that with the motion. Any comments from the public on the motion? Any comments or deliberation from the commissioners?

Can I make a comment now? Absolutely, you can. Now's the time. The comment was really for staff. There was a, I forget, there was one that you didn't approve of. And was that in the motion?

That was changed with the modification with the square footage. So with this approval, it's to approve all of those items. Thank you.

Lee, do you need any clarification on the motion as far as the color on the lettering being bronze where it was not rendered correctly?

If that is what Commissioner Rich would like to add to his motion, he can clarify it. Because as it is proposed, it's white, I guess.

Could you provide me with that specific language if I'm required to include it?

Well, the problem is we're attaching proposals.

This is not sufficient in detail?

She was indicating that the color of the color, is it the home and fashion or the beer and wine spirits is the wrong color on that. It would be bronze and not white.

Okay, I will amend my motion to include the correction provided during the testimony phase by the applicant that the color on the beer and spirit sign will be as provided to staff immediately following this meeting.

Is that sufficient?

Yes. Okay. I'll second the motion, thank you.

Okay.

I'm going to restate the motion.

Yes. Yes. OK. So we have amended motion from Commissioner Rich regarding the color of the beer and wine to match with bronze colors and to take the second rendering that was presented to us. And the motion is seconded by Commissioner Giobbi. All right, Suzanne. We're ready. Go call.

Mayor Reed?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark. Yes. Commissioner Rich. Yes. Commissioner Jobe. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations. Moving on to ordinance first reading. If you could read it for the Marina Cove. Thanks, Lee.

Ordinance number 2554-2026, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Stewart, Florida, providing for the abandonment of certain public right-of-way within the city, being that certain 20-foot right-of-way as set forth on the plat of Riverside Park as recorded in plat book four, page 25, St. Lucie County, now Markton County, Florida public records running north to south described in exhibit A attached here to and depicted in exhibit B attached here to. Providing for payment of a privilege fee, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for an effective date and for other purposes. And the development director, Jody, will be presenting on this, but I wanted to just give a couple of introduction comments on the law. So our charter section 9.01 of our city charter, it says whenever it may deem necessary, the commission may cause a right of way to be vacated. And in the next section, section 902 of the city charter, vacation slash abandonment of a right of way shall be subject to the procedures, terms, costs, charges, which shall be provided by our ordinance. And then if you move on to our ordinance section 36-3, the vacation of any public right of way shall be accomplished by adoption of an ordinance by the city commission. However, the city commission must first pass a resolution declaring its intent of vacating the right of way before moving forward with the ordinance. And then also pursuant to Section 36 of our Code of Ordinances, the applicant would be required to pay a privilege fee. And Jody will go over with you on how that has been calculated for this piece of the right-of-way. So again, this is also the first reading, so we will be looking for a motion to transmit to the second reading. And I'll pass it on to Miss Jody over there.

Good evening, Mayor and Vice Mayor and Commissioners. Oh, sorry, no Vice Mayor, sorry.

You're okay.

For the record, my name is Jody Coogler, the Development Director for the City of Stewart. Tonight I'm presenting agenda item number seven. The applicant Marina Cove at Riverside LLC has filed a petition for the abandonment of a portion of the public right-of-way in accordance with Chapter 36 of the City's Code of Ordinance. The request has been reviewed pursuant to the applicable provisions relating to the abandonment of public property. This abandonment will facilitate access to the proposed townhomes and single family residents along Northwest Dixie Highway. 26, the city commission approved resolution number 23-2026, the intention of the the intention of the city commission to abandon a portion of the public right-of-way and to set public hearings before the city commission at its regular meeting in the city commission chambers to consider the abandonment of the subject property. The 20-foot public right-of-way is outlined in red. The city's public works department has determined that the use of the right-of-way is no longer in a public best interest and does not object to the abandonment of the city's right-of-way. This shows the original plat, as you can see outlined in red and a little bit of highlight of the yellow. This is the 1925 recorded plat, which identifies the 20-foot right-of-way. As outlined in the yellow, the adjacent right-of-ways have already been previously abandoned by the city. Again, if you move forward with the abandonment, they have done the appraisal process, which was part of your packet. The privilege fee is determined and fixed by computing 100% of the value added to the adjoining real estate of the petitioner. The value added is determined by the appraisal of a qualified registered real estate appraiser who practices in the county and is paid by the petitioner in addition to the privilege fee. Based on the appraisal report prepared by Callaway and Price Incorporated, real estate appraisers and consultants dated December 17, 2024, the estimated privilege fee to be paid to the City of Stewart is $32,600. The application was submitted prior to the adoption of ordinance number 2020, of ordinance 2539-2025, which is the zip amendments, and is therefore subject to the regulations in effect at the time of the submittal. The proposed development encompasses approximately 2.19 acres, the applicant is proposing two buildings consisting of 22 town homes along with five individual single homes fronting Northwest Dixie Highway. Based on the density and regulations and effort at the time of the submittal, the maximum allowable density is 15 units per acre without the urban code conditional use permit. While the site could be accommodated up to 32 units at the maximum density, the applicant is proposing a total of 27 units. Staff is recommending transmitting the first reading to the ordinance to the second reading scheduled to be held on June 22nd, 2026 for advertisement purposes. And this concludes staff's presentation.

We have a motion. Do we have a motion to transmit it to second reading and then we can ask staff questions if we have any?

Yes, I'll make a motion to transmit to the second reading.

Second.

So we have a motion by Commissioner Rich to transmit ordinance number 2554-2026 to second reading and seconded by Commissioner Clark. Now we can ask away. Any public comment on this motion to transmit to second reading? Seeing none, any comments from the commissioners for staff? Or the applicant? Hi, George. Seeing none, Suzette, roll call.

Commissioner Giobbe?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Commissioner Rich? Yes. And Mayor Reed?

No. Do you guys want to take a 10-minute break, or do you want me to move on to, yeah, 10-minute break, five-minute break, or do you want me to move on? Five-minute break. We'll take a five-minute break before we move on to agenda item eight.

Thank you. Thank you.

We're gonna resume the regular City Commission meeting, thank you Lee if you could read the discussion and deliberation agenda item 8 for us So its summary is pursuant to section 709 Well, actually this is

Filling a vacancy. So it would be 710. I believe what is at issue today is filling the vacancy of the vice mayor. And also the vacancy for the vacant seat that commissioner Collins had left when he left. So if I recall in the last meeting, you guys. there was a couple of motions to nominate a vice mayor. And that one, I don't think, there was two different motions that never got a second. And so you wanted to bring those back so you could raise the issue again of nominating someone for vice mayor. And then also the empty spot, you're not required under our code to replace Commissioner Collins due to the number of days left before the next election. So it is optional, but you would need to nominate somebody, and at least three of you vote in the affirmative for such a person to finish out the remainder of Commissioner Collins' term until this upcoming election.

Okay, so we'll do it in two different discussions, then we'll discuss Vice Mayor first, and then we'll move on. Commissioner Clark?

Okay, I would probably like to do it in one discussion. So with either one of those things, with the Vice Mayor first, I think the Vice Mayor is at reorganization. when we come up in December, and our code doesn't cover that, it just says immediate ascendancy of the mayor, and that's why we have to deal with this vice mayor issue. I think that again, because of the timeframe that we have, I think that if there's anything at all, we can usually, I think that it does go to like, Was it senior, I forgot. You didn't give us the language, but I've looked at the language. I just can't remember it right now. But I think that we can, I just think that we can wait until we have full reorganization, when we have a full commission, and if we have an emergency that needs somebody to be in charge of the meeting, we can all agree to have somebody in charge of the meeting if that's the case. We only have three of us up here, and I don't think that we need to decide on a vice mayor right now. That's my...

You know an important part of the role of mayor is ceremonial and I

That's a challenge for our current mayor because he works in his family business and is busy. For example, he was unable to attend the event at the White House, which was just, you know, it's not of import, but People really appreciate when either the mayor or the vice mayor are there to acknowledge the event and the importance. And during my term as mayor, I really understood that it was valuable. uh to do that and i'm disappointed that commissioner clark said that because there would be no better vice mayor than commissioner clark uh she's very very good in those in those positions and recognizing the value and importance of the ceremony and the situation so i would I would like to nominate her to perform, function in that role. What do we have, six more, five more, it's only five more meetings after this. But if you don't wanna do it, Commissioner Clark, there's certainly no need to make the nomination.

Are you making a motion, Commissioner Rich, or are you still telling me how to do my job?

No. Did I provide instruction to you?

Well, you're letting me know that I guess it's ceremonial and that maybe I didn't attend an event. I'm not sure where you're going with it.

No, no, I'm just saying. You have a job, I understand.

I have a full-time job, yes. Right. Multiple tasks.

I'm recognizing.

I felt like it was an attack towards me. not at all that's how i felt so i apologize if that's not what it was but yes i will i do my best to try to attend uh events when i do have time um or if they're important events to me so thank you were you making a motion though for of Commissioner Clark.

Sure, I'll make a motion that Commissioner Clark serve in the capacity as vice mayor until what would be the meeting after the 18th of August election.

Could you clarify the motion? It wouldn't go into effect right away or she would?

No, no, it would go in effect right away.

And she would be vice mayor until board reorganization then in December. How would that work, Lee?

Well, his motion was until the week after election day, but you are correct, the next reorganization would be December. So it would probably be better to have someone nominated as vice mayor until December at the next reorg.

The only reason I was asking for clarification is because depending on, you know, you could rescind it then. Couldn't you in August, potentially, or not?

Well, if his motion is that the person, Commissioner Clark in this instance, be nominated, his motion was until the day after the election with the incoming commissioner or commissioners. Or he can do it until the reorg, but that was his motion.

Okay, so I didn't know if you wanted to keep it at that or amend your motion to board reorganization?

No, we can do it until reorg.

Okay, so that would be the first meeting in December then. So we have a motion. Is there a second? Seeing none, Commissioner Jobe, you had a comment, and then Commissioner Clark, you were next.

Okay, the comment is that number one, I don't think your job is just ceremonial, so that's another issue. But I think that there's three commissioners besides the mayor here that can fill in on the days that the mayor is busy at his job. I know that Eula has filled in on many occasions. I filled in at the dedication of the White House. So I think that between the three of us, we can do this. I think it's more important to put another member

on the dais rather than a vice mayor commissioner clark you had a comment yeah that was basically the same thing yeah i don't i don't necessarily my comment will be as far as the vice mayor selection i don't think it's necessary we didn't do it um from the last election when the current mayor was there um it just stayed like that and then we i remember there was one where the When you were mayor, Mayor Rich, at the time, I think there was a meeting, yes, and then we took a consensus like we did at the school board and stuff. So I think we can be cordial and hopefully be professional when it comes to that if you get to that point. Yeah. So I don't think there's any more discussion from us on vice mayor selection. Is there any discussion on potentially fulfilling the empty seat that we currently have or taking the stand and waiting till August? So any comments from the Commissioner Clark?

I made this suggestion before and now that this has been brought up and that's why when you brought up the vice mayor thing, I thought I'd try to do two things, but I'll break it apart since you asked to break it apart and that's taken care of now. But I and I've discussed this with the city manager and i didn't talk to mister bag it about it but maybe this would be this gives us an opportunity to look at the language that we have now there's a couple languages that i'm concerned about coming up with the elections and one of them has nothing to do with the mayor thing but it just has to be do with potential changes that we may want to look at for qualification it's you know with regard to a candidate being qualified like up to the time of election, and there's a reason for me to bring this up. So it counts, hold on, it counts up to the day because of election. Just let me, just let me. No, no, no, because I'm just talking about election and days and counting up to election days. So we are counting, the charter now counts us up to election days for that qualification. It also counts us up to election time for If somebody, if there's a vacant seat open for the, is it 110 days, Lee?

So the charter in Section 710 says that you are required to, you are required to have a special election or appoint someone within 120 days of the vacancy. But there were less than 120 days of vacancy from the date that Commissioner Collins resigned until the next election. So you don't need to do a special election. It would be optional if you wanted to appoint somebody.

Okay, and so I've looked at other communities where they have set a certain time frame that once a seat is vacant, this is what happens, whether you have a special election, whether you accept applications from people and review those, or whether it goes to the governor. They have all kinds of different steps. And the one in particular that I looked at was the city of Tallahassee, which was actually old because it was supposed to be renewed every five years. And I saw something that was prior to the past five years, but apparently that's still their rule, but I didn't see any updated ones. But so what this brings up is that we probably need to use this opportunity to look at our guidelines and see if we want to change our charter that again would probably be something in November to see if this 110 days is a satisfactory thing or if we have somebody die or something happens and there's a vacancy for whatever reasons that do we wait this extended time or do we Do it within a tighter time period and I think that's something that we need to explore Among ourselves more and with the public and that's why I think that we need to wait on this whole thing let the elections let people speak at the elections this time and Let's just, I know that we say that it's hard to make votes with the four of us up here, but I think that's why we have discourses and that's why we try to gather information and make the best decision on these matters that we have in front of us.

I'm not necessarily opposed to not picking someone. It's so close to the election. As far as changing the charter, we can't even get two referendums to the ballot, so I don't think we're going to be discussing any referendums for the voters to even change the charter this election year. But I get where you're coming from. We're not past, you know, we're so close to August and the whole 120-day rule. I think it'd be, you know... I don't know, that's my comment.

If we gave 10 days or 20 days for people to submit resumes to us.

Is that what direction?

No, even if we did that, it would still, the time would be not until July.

Yeah, because we didn't do anything at the last one. Yeah, yeah. Because nobody wanted to discuss it, so we're here again. Yeah. Did any other board members have comments on this, Commissioner Rich?

Since I am running for re-election, I've been knocking a lot of doors. I'm surprised how many people are aware of it. What?

I'm just saying, what they're saying is just let the voters decide in August.

He can comment on what his constituents are telling him.

But you can state that you're running for re-election and stuff like that while you're sitting on the dais?

You're not supposed to be campaigning, but I don't know that that's what he was doing.

I'm not saying you're campaigning. I just want a clarification if you can make statements like that while we're sitting up here in the election season.

If you're asking my opinion, my opinion is he was just commenting on what constituents are telling him.

Correct, but can you make a statement that you're running for re-election is what I'm stating.

I don't know that he made a statement that he was running for reelection. I think he made the statement that he was out campaigning and he heard from constituents tell him that.

That he's up for reelection. Those were his verbatim words then. I just, I'm not trying to like throw shade or anything at you, Commissioner Rich. And I know you didn't do it in ill harm, but I wanted clarification from legal if we're allowed to state that we're up for reelection or running for reelection or any statements along that.

Our rules prohibit campaign materials in the chambers here, and I don't think that crossed the line.

Okay, that's all I wanted. Thanks, Commissioner Rich. Any other discussion regarding the seat and the empty? Commissioner Giobbi.

Okay, so two weeks ago, we could not get a consensus to even look at the one applicant I did bring in. There's been a lot of talk of we should do this, put it out to the community. And again, the same talk. Well, if we did it now, but that would be another two weeks. So there's obviously no desire here to do this. And I do have an objection to when you said the voters will decide. They're going to decide then anyway. This was a temporary situation. It was not filling the seat permanently. It was to fill the seat until the election. So there's no desire to do that, and I really have nothing else to say about it.

Thank you. Is there any public comment regarding this D&D item at all? Welcome. Three minutes, please.

Congratulations, Mayor. Mayor Reed. Put me in coach, I'm ready to play. Well, that went over good. If there are no pressing issues in the next month or two that are coming up, it's no big deal to go 2-2 on everything, unless there's something really pressing that's gonna be coming before you all. Yeah, it's not an issue to get a fifth person up here right now. All right, thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Any other public comment? Seeing no further public comment or discussion or unfinished business, I'm going to close the meeting.

Thank you for your service.