e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hate using that thing good morning everyone we're going to call the meeting to order today is Monday June 17th it is 9:01 all council members are present Town manager Town attorney town clerk if you please rise for the invation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance we thank you for this time and for this beautiful day we ask to be blessed with wisdom as we discuss our strengths and our weaknesses help us to work as a unified team as we listen politely to others points of view celebrate our diversity despite our differences and boldly Steward Fort Meers Beach towards a bright and Healthy Future as we work together on our shared Mission amen amen aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all it's a full house thank you everyone please just a friendly reminder if you haven't done so already silence your phone it's got a pretty packed agenda to want to make sure we can keep everybody focused as possible although Joe you got that green shirt on again Monday Monday Monday uh next is the approval of the final agenda is there a motion to approve the final agenda Mr Mayor I'd like to pull B from the consent agenda please for further explanation okay I would uh Mr Mayor like to pull a just so we can highlight that for the public okay any other changes to the agenda and is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended so moved and a motion by councelor King second second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none the motion carries unanimously next is public comment um just a reminder to if you've if you're going to be speaking on any one of the public hearings and you want your comments to be part of the record save those comments for the public hearing uh or if you want to talk twice you're welcome to do that as well but just wanted to give everyone a heads up so Madam clerk first up I have Becky Weber and following Miss Weber will be Susan bun Figley Becky good morning good morning I'm a  so here we go my name is Becky Weber uh I live at 266 C streight and uh I'm here I had a meeting this morning with the engineer from tetr uh regarding uh the flooding on Kuru and Egret streets uh because our houses have flooded uh it'll be now three times since Ian we have storm water issues and detr Tech um Bob Ferguson has been uh great to work with and he's been speaking with Mark um and it looks like that they may be requesting of coun that additional monies be set aside cuz more work than I believe was budgeted um maybe may be needed for curu and for Egret streets um our current storm drainage is not adequate we have one um they going to be adding a duck belt it hasn't been there but um all the water just flows into the streets and up the driveways and into the houses um and they're recommending some additional work so I'm here to ask um city council for that comes through for approval on that actually I'm AKA begging that it does um I really can't deal with flooding yet again um I also wanted to mention that we had some water line done work done by the city right before the storm um of course um that crossed um our easement that we use as a driveway for three homes and that whole thing has Sun and we can barely get out of the easement and we're asking that someone from the city can come by and um fill that in because we don't want to break a water line and I wanted to say thank you all for all the great work you're doing thank you thank you Becky um Susan Buon Figley after Miss bun Figley is Robin capella I I'd like to withhold to the public hearing you got it Robin after Robin will be Mike Miller this is my first time I have notes cuz I was told you guys are intimidating make sure you say your name for the record I'm Robin capella and I live on Bay Beach Lane 4223 um uh mayor told me that if I really cared I should get involved so this is my first getting involved so I have a bunch of questions and a bunch of pleas my first questions are does the council any of the council or all the council know how many people this Island could have accommodated before in and then do you know how many people it can accommodate if everybody builds what their right to build without any amendments without any asking for anything extra and what is the vision what is each of your Visions for that because I don't see where we're like okay we can have 40,000 people that can sleep here at night we're I don't see that I'd like to know from all of you what those Visions are and how many people do you are you making decisions with Statistics or are you just making decisions cuz something looks pretty I I don't know how many people this place can accommodate so that's kind of my question so what statistics are you using and how are you making those decisions um my next question is the developers well especially London Bay seems to threaten us with well if you don't let me build then you're not going to be built for 10 years my question is so what everybody keeps saying you won't survive if we don't start building I want to know what bad thing happens if we don't get all these big units I see all these big beautiful homes going up more than happy to help people get back in their homes I think they're great and that's what I thought we were trying so why are we rushing to do all these amendments for this overc capacity stuff I I just I don't understand 60 I think it's about 60% I did it back of the envelope it's probably more than that if our condos aren't back yet we don't know what this Island's going to look like yet we couldn't have we couldn't do traffic this year what are we going to do next year when if the 60% of those come back so I'm trying to figure out why we're in such a big hurry to approve these things that are way over capacity um so I'd kind of like to wait I I think one more season wouldn't hurt us before we approve any overc capacity amendments um I have a plea for you vice mayor please don't give away any of our town assets I heard on the last one that you might be willing to give some away for getting doctors or lawyers I I'm not sure the rest of us agree with that so please do that I know the council councelor Woodson is trying to help with the with the traffic issues um whether that'll help or not but I don't understand why we want to help with the traffic issues but we're voting to overc capacit things so I'm a little I'm a little confused by all that anyway thank you for letting me speak thank you rob Mike Miller after Mr Miller is Angela Amos morning Mike morning Council everyone how are how's everyone this morning favorite part of the Cloudy yeah better I tell you uh couple little things real quick one I want talk about London Bay in a second but uh uh we someone had just talked about over on kururu all all the flooding uh we had just happened we just had our flapp R valve near our house replaced and it doesn't work also the new drainage that they just installed does not drain um we had well over two two and a half ft of water in at the end of our driveway and um we couldn't get out for at least a day and Mike Mike just for the record you're on B via yes I'm on Bia um C is just uh right next to us um okay um the reason I'm here today is because I want to talk about London Bay I had already done it last time but there was no audio for like the YouTube and things like that so I'm going to go ahead and just reiterate uh do some Cliff Notes on uh what I had spoke uh last time I was in front of um Council uh London Bay intends to bring 20 to 30 people a day down a narrow Canal which is 29 to 30 ft wide it's a residential canal and it is not made for commercial traffic they want to take it from their Resorts uh on Mainland to to um the old Charlie Boat House Grill of which they don't even know what they want to quote do with it um they want to do this about every 30 minutes to an hour depending on the time of year and you know the canal just cannot support commercial traffic you know uh London Bay uh is going to take everyone to their property with no benefit from this town uh for the town or the local businesses you know we have a solution here they acquire a dock at the fishtail Marina fishtail Marina has a 90ft to 13 foot wide commercial canal and all they have to do is shuttle a few hundred yards down the street in an open air shuttle or you know golf carts or whatever it is to London Bay and you know and how are they going to do this they're going to do it right in front of Santini Plaza Santini Plaza is going to be loaded with local businesses of restaurants bars shops you know flip-flop places t-shirts trinket shops it where people are going to notice that there's something on the mainland other than just um London Bay when they come here and it's only going to support the community and and and help local businesses if you don't do that then what's going to happen is they're going to they're just going to hoard the people in and hoard them right out without anyone knowing what's going on then once these people find out what's going on they may not even want to go to London Bay they might cruise that come by a boat and hit Santini Plaza um check out the um uh you know use use dinner shops and may even rent some golf carts and go Cruise the island because they don't have to worry about parking paid for parking what they're going to be doing know all of this is going to support local businesses there'll be no traffic on the island from that point of view of them coming over by boat and again this is all about supporting local businesses you know I just feel London Bay needs to come in to play here and figure out how to support the local businesses and not just themselves that's it thank you Mike have a good day you as well see you soon Angela Amos I have no doubt sign up for voting Angela Amos I'll vote theend okay that's all I have signed up okay is there anyone else that would like to speak in public comment that hasn't already signed up wait a minute Angela wants to speak about short-term rentals which is not a public hearing okay Angela there's no there's no agenda item for short-term rentals okay well there is well for for public hearing anyway so this would be your only opportunity to speak on yeah thank Madam clerk she's the one I just just what you want to talk about good morning uh my name is Angela Amos I live at um 4841 dolphin Lane which is right in the middle of the island and um I know that there's discussion about allowing um short-term rentals into the residential area areas and I'd just like to remind everybody the whole reason why we put those rules into place it was to preserve the residents I live in up in a in a very fortunate part where we are all full-term residents we have very few people who just come down seasonally and after the hurricane we've had quite a few homes that have turned over to developers and now we have a new one right across the street from us that has turned into a short-term rental well it's turned into a rental and I don't think it's official um but almost every weekend there are new renters who are coming in they are unaware of the rules they are unaware of The Quiet times they're unaware or willfully ignorant of the capacity that is supposed to be housed in that building um we've had to call the sheriff for noise complaints and it's just constant and so I would just like to remind you guys that you know when you're making these decisions you're I understand we want to go bigger we want to be better we want to be uh an attractor for more tourism but you also want to make sure that you're taking care of the people who live here and um by allowing short-term rentals in these residential areas you're impacting our quality of life and that's something that needs to be taken into consideration as well as you know what we can bring in as tourist dollars so that's all I'd like to say is just consider why we have those rules why they were put into place in the first place and um when you start making these decisions look at where the property is that's why we had the rules instead of just having a blanket one one size fits all there were zones because this was not a commercial area or these neighborhoods were not commercial areas but now with more and more of these houses being purchased and turned over into these airbnbs or vrbos you're losing the quality of life for the residents who live here thank you thank you is there anyone else you have no more card more signed up okay is there anyone else that' like to speak if not we'll close public comment next is local achievements and recognitions uh councelor king um I'll start with uh thanks to beach talk radio for their U Hub call over the weekend it was all to benefit the fort Meers Beach Community Foundation uh I think they' raised about 3,000 I think they're keeping the um till open until they're doing on Facebook now to try and reach 5,000 so good luck with that and thank you also congratulations and best wishes to Megan and mayor allers on what will be their fifth wedding anniversary this week and um congratulations last week to uh vice mayor and his wife Brenda for their wedding anniversary very nice thank you VI May thank you uh councelor King I uh checks in the mail right a couple couple of weeks ago a couple Sundays ago Bren and I had a chance to attend the uh the inaugural uh uh uh grand opening of the beach Baptist Church where they put some trailers together uh and uh and had their first air conditioned Service uh in a long time since the storm and a lot of volunteers helped to put that together it's beautiful service uh their services are at 10:30 on Sunday uh and they're just off Connecticut and Aero Boulevard I want to just commend them for their and and recognize them for all the all the volunteers and hard work and all the struggles that they've gone through and and obviously uh all the folks that they've helped in the process um this past Sunday Bren and I were invited to attend the St Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church at 37051 Estero Boulevard and had a beautiful service at 9:00 a.m. they are open in their parking lot uh under a tent uh they're currently rebuilding the existing Church uh they have very graciously accepted refugees from chap Chapel By the Sea and the beach United Methodist Church and so saw lots of folks there from both of those churches as well as the Lutheran Church uh that's located uh at that location as well just again beautiful Services there they're again out in the tent in the parking lot at 9:00 again go just to see these folks uh the resilience to see them keep at it and uh their commitment their faith it's it's just quite an encouragement so I wanted to rec recognize them as well that's all I've got thank you Mr Mayor thank you Council Woodson yes so I want to recognize the town staff I don't know if you noticed or not when you drove in this morning but the um Fitness courts are open right along a sterile Boulevard big bright blue pad and and people were actually there this morning using it I think this is the first morning that it's been open I know it was installed through all the rain and everything else um but great job we've been talking about this Fitness court for I think about three years now so if not longer yeah if not longer it's finally in um and I just wanted say congratulations to myself and my husband Mark for 24 years today congratulations you should have let my personal assistant know that wow all the same week congratulations yeah coner saff we can go on with my my granddaughter's birthday my grandson's birthday this week it's a big week wow congratulations going on um I want to give a shout out to the the team at Waste Management I mean Thursday was absolutely crazy with with the water there were recycle bins garbage cans floating everywhere and these guys were just out there it it was amazing I mean I most most of us wouldn't even go outside and these guys were working their tails off and I they never get thanks but I I really want to give them thanks Thursday was amazing yeah it's no it's not a very fun job especially in the ring no anything else no sir well all mine have been covered except for one so I do have one that you guys do not I'd like to take a second to recognize and thank council member Safford he completed the uh Institute for elected Municipal officials held in Palm Beach Gardens from June 7th to to June 8th they sent me this certificate which is a hard copy in here I have not opened although I'm guessing that's what's in here so congratulations Scott that's a very beneficial class thank you can you get the top C the wall with all the sloth Awards that's right back all right next we have advisory committees items reports and appointments we have the tier one project update from Andrew's site work are they here coming around Chad get that paper copy back morning uh so uh my name is Chad Baker with Andrew work and I am the project manager overseeing the tier one side street project um just kind of a little summary the tier one Sid Street project is uh includes 21,000 linear feet of 8in potable water M um over 500 Residential Water Services 40 new fire hydrants 14,000 ft of new storm drain 230 drainage structures and over 34,000 ft of sale improvements um our notice receed was uh issued for February 19th of 2024 and we have a uh contract completion date of May 3rd 2028 um it's a little over 1,400 calendar days total contract time and uh today's contract date is 120 um to date we have 25% completion and uh we've used a little over 8% of the uh contract time um it is a four-phase project broken out uh phasee a b c and d um currently uh phase a is a uh 3600 linear fet of 8inch water main 3500 ft of storm drain and uh 7,000 ft of sale improvements uh in Phase a we are 47% complete uh phase B uh which is fair can you is there any way that you can include in there what streets are included in Phase a phase B yes um actually hold on a sec hold on the numbers are are great but no no no I have a whole breakdown okay I got it up there maybe I don't know if that's being seen by everybody but it should be okay probably pretty hard to see though it's little it's hard to tell what street I mean if you live on the street you know what it is but [Music] hey Chad before you get into specifics on I just wanted to go back and a and ask a question about some statistics you cited you said I thought you I heard you said that you're 25% complete overall completion yes utilizing 8% of contracted time correct does that mean you're we're ahead of SCH you're ahead of schedule yes all right very good continue on um so up there on the TV those are the streets right now those are the project limits for phase a b c and d um a has the largest area um with the main improvements being Williams Drive uh you have um let me see here you have Williams Drive um beaa and estr drive those are your main improvements um the remaining streets they do have uh drainage improvements but it's minor improvements um compared to the AU ual uh scope for each phase um phase B which is fair viiew Isles that has all drainage and water main improvements on it um phase C with shell Mount Madison Court Andre Mar sorry to interrupt again but can you go just a little deeper into it like when do you expect completion of phase a phase B so phase a um we anticipate November 2024 being complete so we are at uh today's contract day 120 and we are at 47% complete and we are projecting in a final completion for phase a by November 2024 okay and uh phase B um currently we are at 32% complete and we are projecting a final completion of March 2025 uh phase C currently we are at 12% complete and we are anticipating a completion date of February 2026 uh phase D we are uh 22% complete we are projecting a final completion for October 2025 so the goal is to have the uh tier one project complete by February of 26 so basically taking out half of the contract time uh from a four-year project to a two-year project sh that's that those are impressive numbers you you heard this morning some unique challenges and I'm sure there's other streets that have unique challenges but we heard this morning about Kuru EIT and Bia via do you have any comments on those based upon your experience with the uh significant rain all we've had it the rain does not help us especially when we get that much rain in a short amount of time you know um over a week we I know our rain gauge all over 8 in um off of uh Chapel Street so um the duck bills will they will help um the drainage structures they are larger so they be able they're able to hold more volume of water um and the storm improvements are we're basically upsizing so we're seeing right now that the existing storm is 12 Ines and we're installing 24 inch so we're doubling that size of the storm right now so it it'll be able to hold a lot more water be able to transfer a lot more water and um yeah so um but there there there is you know drainage issues and um we don't think that maybe the plans captured you know all the improvements that maybe should have been captured um not to any fault to anybody but um you know we we are working with the town you know on a street by Street basis to kind of capture and fix those you know the issues and drainage issues for I think we heard this morning that that there there may be a need to sort of Infuse some additional resources to the kurlo Egret is that something that the town is working with Chad on or we we were aware that when tetratech developed this plan a few years back that there there may be areas these areas that we referencing the seminal the the curu areas like that they're either at or slightly below sea level so trying to push 8 in of rain out of anywhere is almost going to be nearly impossible unless you're hydraulically doing it um what we're doing as far as what Chad mentioned is increasing the volume that's almost taking it almost 1,000% carry through those through those pipes um under normal conditions when everything is hooked up and the system is running you are going to see a vast Improvement as far as water being carried uh to your point vice mayor as far as adding additional structures I know we've talked with Mark and and we've mentioned to Chad and the folks um Eric Fay at tetr that we are going to have to go back and maybe uh add additional drainage uh in areas there but those are things that you come to once you get to that point um again this was an extraordinary four set days of rainfall you're going to get that during a tropical storm you're going to get that during uh a rainy season you know with a good download so we are aware of that and we are currently trying to pinpoint those areas that are pinching if folks have concerns like we heard this morning procedurally what's the best Avenue for them should they reach out to mark yourself we do we we have limited people out in the field and and Chad and his staff are actively going I would just appreciate if they would just reach out to me and and we can get that to the appropriate party that way okay thank you Chen continue on so um but so that's pretty much um you know as far as status and the progress um our milestones we we have received dep Department of Health approval for Williams Drive beava Sterling AV and seminal AV so we can proceed with tying in those water Ms and getting the uh the residents connected to the new water main and then once the uh connections happen we can begin the storm improvements um so that's a pretty big milestone for this project right now um we are currently working on um the phase c and d uh water main and once we get uh the Water installed there we will begin the storm improvements so right now we've had to uh start the water first because the the storm the proposed storm is in the same trench as the existing water so we've had to put in the new water line first get it cleared connected and then we can begin the storm improvements so that's kind of the sequence for all four faces of the project I'm sorry just one more Jad did I hear you say that this was originally the timeline was originally four years and you expect to be finished in two years that's correct yes and and is that just because you guys are great or are you are things going better than normal what what's how do you what do you attribute that to so we've uh we've had Crews available so we've kind of just half the project um all hands on deck uh to start and we've gotten ahead of the schedule and so now we're kind of at the point now where we're kind of following back going to get up a restoration complete and then we'll uh you know we'll have the crews back on site and we'll we'll keep chugging along that's very good news for the island thank you Mr vice mayor to that point it is because they are that good they're one of the best around um and and it shows um but to Chad's point that he mentioned the waterline service on bavia when we're putting these pable water and storm soures what you've seen the work on for the last month or so they've been basically digging those trenches to put those water lines in get them ready to go to hook up to the mains we have yet to come back in a lot of these cases and actually do the storm water uh portion of that so it's not just doing everything all at once that has to be done in stages the water obviously takes a number of days to get that approved through the health department so like Chad just mentioned once that's done they can go back now on some of these streets and really button up the storm water portion of it as well John questions for Chad none but thank you for your hard work and efforts uh counc W so yeah I do I'm confused so is it safe to say that I I'm beia and ceru and all of those streets that are flooding terribly still that it's not done it's in process and that that is correct so like uh beavia we are not done with the storm improvements okay um the storm improvements don't really capture the entire beava uh limits um you you kind of have at the Estero Boulevard and then it's kind of in between you know the middle of beavia so it doesn't really capture the whole thing but what we'll what we're hoping is that we can capture the you know the improvements with some of the paving and allow you know build the road elevation up a little bit to kind of promote you know positive drainage you know to allow that water to run off into the sale instead of sitting on the road and building up cuz I just got an alert this morning that we're expected to have the same kind of rain coming this weekend because of some other system that's out in the Atlantic so I'm I'm hoping that um you know we did take delivery of uh 30 duck bills um you know backf flow devices so last week wasn't really the best week for us to kind of work so um we're we're trying to capture that this week and you know get ahead of you know that so that way you know maybe this next rainstorm you know we'll be able to see a difference and you know hopefully so you said you've got 30 back duck bills that you have now in hand that you can install sir can you let us know let the public know where you plan on installing those it sounds like Baha is one for sure Baha is one um phase a so basically um all of phase a it's a variety of streets but it it covers all of phase a essentially and when you expect to have the The Final Storm Water Hookup done on beia Via and the duck bills installed so right now beava we are only do the only thing left to do is the seaw wall improvements so the drainage right now is done at London Bay's site um right you know kind of up by Sarah Boulevard and then we've gotten the cross drain done kind of halfway on beava so the the only drainage improvements left now are to do the seaw wall improvements with the outfall and you know okay so and do you have a time frame roughly that you think it would be completed weather permitting by Wednesday um rain starts Thursday the the improvements are will not take long so I would say I Would by the end of the month um drainage will be done but as far as the seaw wall work that is kind of what the lengthy process CU you got to allow the concrete to cure which has you know extend you be able to install the outfall with the duck bill and work around it with yeah right now beavia the first one up by stero Boulevard London Bay site that outfall is in so the water is able to leave beava um um it's unfortunately the elevations of the road kind of so you the positive drainage right now is at stero Boulevard in beava kind of by London Bay site anything else Karen no Scott I think Karen uh asked all my questions I I just want to say we we have a duck bill on Sable it's working great so thank you yeah they're great they you know they work they work so just all right so all right thanks thank you thanks next we've got a stero Island lighting project update all of our favorite subject uh Ivy Davis is here via Zoom it looks like good morning you hear me we can hear you barely but can you guys hear him out there they're all kind of try to work on this right what about now we canar good deal good I want to uh first apologize for not being there in person my schedule wouldn't allow me to make it over there this morning um but first I would like to uh thank the mayor and the staff for working with our team um particularly Andy Frankie and and Mark um helping our team Identify two staging areas um on the island to help um you know store our materials um with that said all materials for the project has been ordered in fact uh the underground materials are on site uh uh right now uh I want to say in the last two weeks we resubmitted permits uh addressing uh initial comments from the county so we do believe we'll get a resolution on the permit uh situation by the end of the month uh at which point we will set up a pre-construction meeting with all stakeholders involved um prior to commencing on uh construction right now we have a tenative ETA of uh commen on the 15th of July with a compl completion date within 15 months um now what we will you know with a little luck uh from weather as well as developing some efficiencies um in uh work we believe we may be able to pull that in a month or two um to minimize impact to the local area we decided to commence the project on the south side of the island um on at estera and estr drive and work north um again uh right now we have it estimated from July 15th through about September 12 2025 with a completion um we also are going to wait to post uh hurricane season to actually put up the light so we'll commence putting the PO in around uh August and uh sometime after the uh hurricane season we'll go back and put the lights up uh with that said is there I'll open up to the floor and address any additional questions councelor King none b m uh thank you for being with us this morning just to just to prepare the public for what's coming obviously FNL has has uh lights and power power poles there now or power lines and and and polls what what should the public expect in terms of all these new Street uh uh lamps and poles that are coming up how many how many are there where will how how far apart will they be just give people a little sense of what's coming um one second all so I can tell you off top um of my head that it'll be close to 730 likes um on the stero Boulevard as well as the side streets and um I guess in the U Town Center as well um we have a few uh Hall of Fame Amber fixtures going up down there as well so about 405 on the stereo Boulevard another 300 or so on the side streets and then like 30 downtown um as far as um uh space between the poles I don't have that information on top of my head but I I can get that to you but I believe it's about uh somewhere around a 100 100 feet between poles but just just that just just so folks understand these are 400 on a stero Boulevard for example this is 45 five new polls that don't currently exist is that is that a fair characterization correct we are not allow uh correct go ahead and explain why you you're going to explain why they're new polls uh well it's more or less to uh to address the um um what is it the uh foot per candle foot uh for the the county uh for because of a DOT road and as well on the DOT road we to have Breakaway uh poles so we're addressing that it's important that people when they think of new poles it's not the big concrete poles that we see out there that are holding the power lines they will be similar to the ones that are on the corner of crescent and a sterile there are 20 foot or 22t light poles that can leave over onto the street is that correct they're more of a decorative pole they're not just that straight up concrete pole like we see on a stero Boulevard cor also to your point sir um the intersections through DOT regulations the intersections or crosswalks have to be engaged so that was part of the the county side of this on Aero and this just again for further clarification the 405 new poles on a stero the existing lighting system whatever there is left on a stero that goes away is that is that a fair characterization that is the plan at this point so we'll have 405 new new polls replacing do you have a a a sense as to what's currently there so just people get a sense of the dramatic difference there'll be not off top of my head but I can get that information yeah I want to say it was like 178 something like that yeah it was quite a bit less we'll be doubling in a minimum will'll be doubling the amount of Street lamps street lights on Fort my or on on a stero Boulevard is that is that fair yes okay yes that is fair um we again we we our tasked with meeting the uh DOD standard of a one foot candle and in order to do that we need the additional light and on the side streets are these brand new street lights are they replacing existing ones are they are they going to be street lights on streets that never had them before uh so what we the the lights on the side street will be in addition to what's already there so um so we'll be adding lights to the side street but all the lights on the side streets will be the same lights yes yes that'll be okay thank you anything else no thanks okay Karen no I'm good thank you Scott so what's going to happen to the light fixtures are they going to be removed or just turned off the old ones uh I either or but I I I think what we're going to try to do is get them uh taken down okay thank you yeah and and just for some clarification Ivy the one foot candle um plan that you had referred to that meets the dot standards for Public Safety and that it's going to be from sidewalk the back edge of the sidewalk to the back edge of the sidewalk correct correct could you do us a favor if you haven't already can you provide us with the the plan of where the lights are going to go on what sides of the street they're going to go so that we could push that out to the public so they can get a better understanding of you know when the polls start going in someone's front yard we're probably going to start seeing some emails so I would just as soon get it out there ahead of time and let them know what's coming um might be just easier for all of us I know that you had sent us one in the past but there's probably been some changes through the the County permitting to to set these up because I know you were waiting on their plan as well so if you could send that over to staff so they can get that out for everybody to see that'd be great any other questions for Ivy just if I could just to repeat once again I the uh there's 405 new polls going on a stero Boulevard and the total including the side streets is how many poles did you say uh 700 700 total oh no that's total for stero and the side right if memory serves me it's 440 poles on a stero and 268 is on side streets okay he's just just just just so he can be clear I think he said 405 on a sterile you say 440 yes well it could have changed but yeah 400 the number right now is 405 and 295 on the side streets 295 on the side streets all right thank you that's how much changed since the last time we all right thank you ivy for your input and uh keep us posted on one that July 15th if we're still going to make that with the County's uh permitting how that goes we'll do all right thanks sir thank you next is the approval I'm sorry Mr just just so so we can get a sense of just the in a in a 10,000 foot level we're going to be doubling the number of street lights on a stero Boulevard the 295 on the side streets uh the the new street lights that are going in on the side streets will that what is what is the existing number on the side streets do we have any idea in other words will we is it safe to say we'll be doubling the number of of lights on the side streets as well easily yes yeah we we lost especially on the south side of the island excuse me the east side of the island we lost a tremendous amount of of coverage there because of Ian yeah all right thank you okay anything else all right next we have the approval of minutes we have the Town Council minutes from June 2024 and the management planning session from June 6th of 202024 is there a motion to approve so move mayor got a motion by councelor King second second by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously next is the consent agenda all of those items were pulled so we will move on to the items removed from the consent agenda item a special event was pulled by Jim I just very briefly I I don't I don't see Linda here is Linda here this morning she sent an email couldn't make it today so I just wanted to just for for folks who are listening at home who may not have an agenda in front of them this is to approve uh the farmers market to go back into Santini Plaza which is exciting from November 5th 2004 to April 4th 2005 and Time Square from September 9th 2004 to May 2025 so great to see santin Santini Plaza back and obviously the Time Square uh in addition to that I just wanted again since folks watching sometimes don't have an agenda in front of them just want to let people know that the farmers Market's coming back to Santini Plaza as well as Time Square and with that I would move the approval of special events Farmers Market item a on the consent agenda okay got a motion by vice mayor adhal second second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none that carries unanimously next is resolution 24130 town hall trailer contract am minute John uh it looks like uh I just would like an explanation we've gone over uh the contract and had to increase the amount by over $15,000 that is correct um we had to get these trailers hooked up originally the contract was just to do some of the the work at at the the um rec center and some of the work in session stands then we added this to it and anytime you go over a contracted amount uh that we do uh we got the work done under the emergency order and now this is just you know going to approve that so we can move on keep the lights on thank you any other questions May I'll move 24- 130 all right is there a second a second got a motion by councelor King second by councelor Safford uh any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed hearing none that carries unanimously next is our public hearings do we want to swear everyone in even though the first one is not quas do you just or do you want to um it's if you want for efficiency purposes yes that may be beneficial okay so do you want to go through the sheet first and then or do you want to just swear people in and then we'll um we can go ahead um mayor if it's if it's easier let's go ahead and and run through our routine uh standards and then we'll just note for the record that the first item is legislative in nature rather than quasi judicial okay uh see where I'm at are the next eight with the exception of the very first one item a items on our agenda are public hearings for review of various land use requests for the benefit of the public Please be aware that these items are quasa judicial in nature our attorney will further explain thank you Mr Mayor so zoning revision special exceptions and variances these are all quasi judicial in nature which requires our public hearings to comply with procedural requirements established in Florida law and in our Land Development code quasa judicial proceedings are less formal than proceedings before circuit court but are more formal than the remainder of our meeting and will follow the basic standards of due process requiring that certain notices be provided the application of the correct standards and decisions to be made on competent substantial evidence that have been presented to the Town Council either in written documents or through oral testimony the Town Council will evaluate the testimony and the information for each item and draw a conclusion regarding whether the criteria in the Land Development code the comprehensive plan or state law as may be applicable has been satisfied pure speculation or mere opinion not based on competent facts cannot legally be considered by the Town Council and evaluating the agenda item testimony by professionals who are qualified as experts in a particular area has been considered to be competent substantial evidence by the Florida courts as well as testimony by neighbors and residents who have fact-based information such as minutes surveys engineering reports or testimony that's based on their current uh personal knowledge so if you intend to speak please keep these matters in mind when you come forward please state your name clearly for the record whether or not you've been sworn in your qualifications if you are an expert um or your interest in the matter so for purposes of efficiency um we need to go ahead and dispose of a few housekeeping items my first question will be to the town clerk have all agenda items been properly noticed pursuant to Our Land Development Cod yes they have been next we will go into a disclosure of any conflicts of interest at this time does any council member have a conflict of interest that would prohibit them from voting on any of the eight items and if so please dis disclose this for the record at this time so we can assure that we have a quorum present for each item John none Vice May none I have two with item e and item f for the Pink Shell Resort um I have a business cont contct with them for our golf carts so I will be filling out form eight I believe it is with town clerk Karen none uh Scott none so in view of the mayor's disclosure we still have a quorum present and we can proceed so at this time we would like to go ahead and swear in anyone who will be providing testimony on any of the seven quasi judicial items and that includes public comment that's a all right do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth right all parties have been sworn okay the first item is the first re is ordinance 24 -17 amending advisory committee requirements this is the first reading and public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida amending section 2- 94 qualifications and appointments of members and section 2- 96 removal of agency board committee or commission members of division 2 procedures for the establishment of boards committees and commissions of article 4 boards commissions committees and other agencies of chapter 2 administration of the code or of ordinances of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida removing residency as a qualification requirement for the town's agency board or committee or commission members eliminating duplicative language providing for codification severability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date I'll now open the public hearing U just a few comments um this ordinance is brought to you on first reading at the request of council member king um uh identifying some inconsistencies uh in in the code it does take out the requirement for um having a Committee Member reside within the jurisdiction or own property um at this point your rules that you recently amended will be in conflict with this so when we bring this back for second reading we will bring your rules back to make the two documents consistent okay questions for Nancy John no questions but just thank you and Becky for your hard work on this uh because it it was very glaring the inconsistencies in in that and um we do have people that do not reside in the town um proper um area but they do serve on committee so it allow them to continue to serve this community so thank you matter just a question for Nancy the uh procedurally if if we have two equally qualified candidates and one happens to be a resident of the island and one is not are we allowed then this doesn't prevent us from using that as a as a factor in in our in our consideration to for them to serve on a border commission correct it it's not a requirement um it would be similar to you have one applicant that has 10 years of experience and one applicant that has five you determine which one is most qualified so the answer is yes we could we could we could use as at a consideration if we had two equally qualified candidates as a consideration just like exper erience yeah very good thank you okay Council won I'm good Council Stafford uh two questions U number one it is it residency or owning property is there a distinguished meant between the two or is one or the other I'm not certain hold on because I've I've had some people approach me you know on the LPA and a committee saying hey I own property but I'm not AAL resident the removal is is no longer a registered voter within the town's jurisdiction or a property owner within the town's jurisdiction but that's different for the LPA correct yes because the LPA is governed by state law and the audit committee correct yes so they have to be residents they owning property is not sufficient is that correct correct okay and then I'm not sure because we just put a person on there that is a property owner on the LPA but I don't believe they're a resident so we'll have to look further into that they have a home here though I think they're rebuilding it my understanding is they live in a sto but own here yeah so they wouldn't be a resident here we can take that um under advisement and bring it back to you with a correct answer um I thought it was the opposite I thought they have a residency here but they own a home in a sterile no am my backwards on that I think you are so it would depend on where their Homestead is so we'll we'll look further into that specific instance get craer with a homestead exemption too or no well that would settle where you reside right but if your homesteaded here then you would reside here right hopefully I'm still clear it's clear as mud right now yeah we will analyze that specific case this item before you today however is to straighten out your ordinance on first reading I wonder uh Nancy if under the emergency declaration we could wave that for someone who was displaced as a result of the storm um I think you're making an assumption that he was displaced though to make I think you're making an assumption okay I thought he was but I'm not sure either I don't know yeah all right we'll look at that particular case um but again this is before you for first reading and then my second item was page 67 under council member requirements says we have to file the form six and I think there's been an injunction on that do we want to change the wording to file proper forms we can I believe you are in your procedural rules and we'll be bringing those back to you um on second reading of this ordinance so we can um change the language to whatever the state requires yeah compliance with Florida law would work okay good point anything I don't have anything is there any public comment is there anyone that would like to speak Ellen you want to speak when in doubt uh Ellen vond resident of 75 00 Estero Boulevard and I'm just I'm troubled by uh the possibility of removing any deep association with the island being part of a decision-making group that is presenting rules given the upheaval after Ian there's a distinct possibility that someone with only a financial interest in the island not the best interest of the community could wind up having significant influence over decisions that are brought forward and that just makes me very nervous thank you thank you Helen anyone else with public comment long time no see Paula Kiker 6035 a ster Boulevard um I've been a resident off and on for 30 years this summer currently I'm not a resident but I own a commercial building on Fort Myers Beach I have a vested interest and I have a love of this town in this ordinance it appears to me that in the past anytime an ordinance is put in place it affects the incoming people not the current membership of any committee so if you want to look into that I think that's the appropriate answer and there will not be any issues for singular people or singular uh committees in that member if that helps she's suggesting that it be prospective rather than it's a grandfather provision yeah that's a good idea thank you Paula anyone else okay we'll close public comment bring it back for discussion or a motion mayor I'll move ordinance 24-17 got a motion by councelor King uh is there a second uh okay vice mayor adhal will second any further discussion with amendments or with talking points or we just moving it forward for the following reading I think we can do that at the second reading can't we the clarification it's just for clarification this is just to move it to the second reading okay great any further discussion uh roll call vote John all Vice mayle I may all I councelor King Woodson I there he goes again I know we look the same I know it's twins councelor Safford I our motion carries unanimously next is Item B ordinance 24-6 16 amending schedule of uses Sandy Bottoms this is the second reading and public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Mars Beach Florida amending and restating ordinance number 22-06 to amend the schedule of uses for the commercial plan development Zoning for the property located at 2301 2307 and 2311 Estero Boulevard and 111 and 121 Mango Street jary identified as strap numbers 21946 d24 dw30 1 1 0.0010 and night1 9-46 d24 dw3 d0120 e.1 0 and 1 19- 46-24 d43 d0120 e. 0020 and 1 9- 46-24 W3 d0120 e. z304 for Meers Beach amending the master concept plan for the restaurant uses providing for revisions to conditions of approval and deviations and other clarification as necessary providing for repeal conflicts of loss scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date if the town council member has any expar communication to disclose please let us know the subject discuss and the identity of the person group and entity with whom the communication took place and correspondence that you received or obos observations made of the site John none that I recall since the first reading okay uh Vice edal yes none none since the first reading I have not read received any since the first reading as well councelor Woodson none since the first reading councelor Safford uh me as well none since the first reading okay Jason SMY has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on his education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Meers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time that haven't already all right seeing none has a property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff they are nodding their head yes go ahead Jason good morning uh my name is Jason SMY I'm with your planning and zoning department uh as was mentioned by the mayor this is in reference to uh properties located generally at 2301 2307 esto Boulevard including the um adjacent properties uh as the as the short title has uh has mentioned so the request today uh is the generally the same request that we heard on the first uh reading of this this is for redevelopment of a restaurant and bar uh there was an existing uh CPD and master concept plan so what's being asked uh for today are some changes to uh conditions of approval for deviations and to switch out the master concept plan for the current proposal uh as as broad Strokes they are asking to add approximately a 2750 square foot uh Tiki Hut which would cover the front portion of the existing lawn of the of the lot uh that area would be used for service um included in this uh these ch changes are some minor changes that are minor tweaks from what existed previously under the existing CPD for the business that was known as tuck away uh the the numbers come out to uh where previously there was 11 deviations 11 uh conditions of approval we're talking about uh today nine deviations 12 conditions of approval uh in general these changes include uh slight reductions to the setbacks uh the T Hut will now be attached structurally to the building and so the setbacks from stero and fair weather will need to be changed to accommodate uh the placement of the proposed Tiki uh included in in the requests uh also are reductions of parking uh as we mentioned during the last meeting uh staff staff um is showing that they are requesting in total a 38% reduction of the parking that would be required on this site keep an in mind that under the previous CPD they were uh given a 30% reduction so on balance here we're talking about a request today of an additional 8% of parking reduction uh that number comes out to them providing 33 spaces of the 53 spaces that would be required on this site uh also included in this uh in the deviations is a request to reduce the visibility triangle that would would be apparent if you were on fair weather or on a stero looking to go onto Fair weather uh their request as was mentioned um ex extensively in the first meeting would reduce the 10 foot visibility triangle down to a minimum of 3 foot and would allow for a small number of posts to keep the tiki hut elevated within that area uh I would like to point out that during the last meeting they had the applicant had agreed that they were going to either physically or as part of their their General business model not allow for any of the seats to be within the um the visibility triangle area so what we're talking about today as far as uh things in the visibility would just be the posts of the Tiki Hut um the uh on your desk was a clarification of their schedule of uses and a clarification of the timing um so the clarification of the uh schedule of uses was to include a um a discussion point I believe from uh councelor Safford whether or not they would have a bar structure outside so they are clarifying for their Master concept plan that they would they would allow for physically the bar to be underneath the tiki hut outside secondly there was a discussion about their um their changes to hours what uh what the clarification was about was to um make it aware that the while the business would be open from 700 a.m. to 12 to 12 a.m. or could feasibly be open from 7 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. that the outdoor service portion would be limited until 10: p.m. along with the music so Amplified and outdoor music uh would be allowed up to 10 p.m. along with service out in the outside area after 1 p.m. service and the outdoor entertainment and Amplified music uh would be disallowed although the restaurant could continue until 12:00 a.m. and while service would not be allowed outside uh their customers would under the current uh language be allowed to be underneath the tiki area so they wouldn't be served but they would still be allowed to be out there uh the applicants are here if you have questions or concerns and staff is here for any clarifications questions or concerns that you may have all right questions for Jason Scott no not this time Council Woodson not yet uh Vice May no Johan none currently just one question the The View triangle that you were talking about is it something that needs to be or should be codified in the ordinance that they would I know they said they were going to try not to let people in there and you can only can control what you can control but does it make sense to have that in there as part of so as part as part of the conditions of approval uh the Recently Added numbers 11 and 12 they have shown that they will be posting restricted uh use areas in that if it pleases the council you could offer a requirement uh for physical uh separation or some other method but their proposal is to essentially um let their customers know and their staff know that things will not be happening inside of those areas and I'm fine with that that I did I missed that sorry no problem all right thanks Jason welcome will the applicant please proceed with a presentation on this item good morning good morning how's everybody doing good uh for the record Ken Gander with the neighborhood company uh here on behalf of the applicant um really uh Jason did a job of outlining The Proposal uh again um we are uh excited about this opportunity uh to bring this uh development back uh let me just move through uh again as we mentioned reopening the restaurant expanding the outdoor seating and entertainment area uh site improvements the Vehicle Management improved access for the refu removal uh again that interim food truck idea uh just and we acknowledged that that was going to be up until I believe operations of the restaurant um again our Master concept plan and I want to know I'm going to move back to our um where did it go that also on the master concept plan which is incorp operated as part of the ordinance also identifies that specific area that would limit the ability for those chairs and whatnot to be and that's that area that's outlined uh within the uh hatch hatch area and further identified with that uh the yellow circle there uh also to go over uh we are wanting to and agreeing to that which may include a barrier which was part of the testimony at the prior hearing that may include a bar area underneath that Tiki Hut area and the condition six is also provided for you with the handout uh the restaurant uh operations from 7:00 a.m. to midnight and for the outdoor seating area that's limited to 10 p.m. so with that we're full in agreement with uh this staff report we appreciate uh and thankful for the uh unanimous approval on first reading and be happy to answer any questions that you may have all right questions for Ken John none Vice matter H nothing Council Woodson no it I just want to clarify it looks to me that the things that were in question on the first reading with the hours of operation and those have been addressed music for the outside has been addressed to 1 p.m. that's correct so all the things that we brought up are now in the update as that is our understanding as well yeah okay yes thank you m Safford um this might be a question for the Millers but temporarily until it's open did did they get everything squared away with the Neptune across the street for parking because I know that's been issue looking at conversing with the mill make sure confirming that yes okay fantastic okay all right thank you thanks Ken next we'll open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak on ordinance 24-16 yeah come on up good morning my name is Susan Von Figley I live at 2434 Cottage Avenue my husband and I reside on Cottage Avenue just across Estero Boulevard from Sandy Bottoms initially I was enthusiastic about Sandy Bottoms opening as a restaurant but now it appears their focus is on becoming an entertainment venue and bar operating well beyond typical dinner hours they actively promote monthly musician schedules to attract patrons during their grand opening on Memorial Day weekend I was surprised to find that they were operating with a special events permit we knew nothing of it the music was so loud that we couldn't enjoy our Seaside deck and even indoors my couch vibrated along with the floor beneath my feet we had to increase our TV volume just to watch the Evening News since returning from a much needed vacation and with good weather permitting we find ourselves constantly subjected to Sandy Bottom's live music on more than one occasion I liken the microphone usage to that of a Carnival Barker musicians have encouraged patrons to make noise exasperating the disturbance I find myself at the mercy of Sandy Bottoms with poor weather they won't be playing music but I can neither enjoy our Our Deck or pool with good weather we are guaranteed unwelcome music and noises coming from Sandy Bottoms thereby reducing our outdoor enjoyment again should their musicians play with a base beat we can feel it inside our roadside bedrooms this is not how I Envision living in my own home as a neighbor within 500 ft of the property I received a notice from the town about the LPA meeting I'll be arriving a day after the meeting I played the online recording and noted Sandy Bottom's desire to emulate leaky Tiki setup which included open air sides Sandy Bottoms also proposed halting outdoor music by 10 p.m. and excluding drums from their music musical lineups I have fond memories of leaky Tiki though I empathized with neighbors during the noise enduring the noise presently Sandy Bottom seeks operational hours from 7:00 a.m. to midnight potentially including ampli music that would irreversibly impact Our Lives even a quiet AC acoustic guitar strummed before 10:00 a.m. yesterday resonated through my home disrupting my peace I respectfully urge denial of their Amplified music request should an open Frontage lack sufficient sound containment indoor music should likewise be restricted music and guest interactions should be minimized to ensure our household Tranquility I expect Sandy Bottom's music to to remain confined to their premises with patrons conversing at normal levels loud music leads to louder conversations all of which disturb our home life with repaired and newly rebuilt homes soon to be occupied nearby I implore you not to subject us to this disturbance I also voice concerns about um a proposed food truck park nearby fearing further disruption a kin to a carnival our neighborhood is our Sanctuary not a venue for such commercial activities the Neptune another neighbor has assured family oriented atmosphere with subdued music should Sandy Bottoms be approved I anticipate Nune making a similar request single and dual musicians have proven surprisingly noisy as scene with Cabanas under Diamond Head on occasion I can hear their musicians at our Cottage Avenue Home far more than 500 ft away Susan I need you to wrap it up for us please okay if you find such disturbances acceptable I invite these businesses to your doorstep to the Millers I urge reconsideration of your venues nature a restaurant with modest on premises music is welcome but patrons should enjoy it without infringing on our dailying lives your business cannot dictate our home's enjoyment or Tranquility thank you thank you is there anyone else that would like to speak and public comment if not I'll close public comment are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant go ahead hi again Ken Lander for the record we can certainly appreciate uh the comments that we just heard uh I believe Mike would like to make some comments about that but again what we're proposing does have a a structural element to it it's not the open tent that we're experiencing but we can understand uh the aspects of being good neighbors uh we have also identified on our Master concept plan where that duo or the uh solo artist are uh restricted to perform which are intended to be oriented away from uh the residential neighbors [Music] Mike hello everyone uh Michael Miller again and I want to just uh hand out a few things here you don't mind uh you know I do understand her concerns 110% uh what I've we've also done under our tent is we've put a decel monitor that is visible so not only do we go around and check the deel levels but we right now that inside the tent shows um was at 81.7 dcel levels okay now bear in mind the town of Fort Myers Beach is 72 but that's at the property lines okay now that is under our tent with with uh the uh musicians are facing that decibel level so usually it's a little under sometimes it might be a little higher at 85 and what that does is we've also gone around and checked decible levels regarding and one of the things I want to um um just mention um and this is just for reference only um and when the cottage was up for their LPA meeting um uh the LPA had stated this when in front of the they were in front of the LPA meeting Anita stated asking them Cottage to having that uh be completely enclosed area eliminates the idea of being the cottage bar Jane mentioned as I'm asking them to be responsible for their noise an said and that would be their responsibility period and Jim added and there and there are decel requirements Anita said agreed now I'm just bringing this up as reference okay has nothing to do with the cottage bar or what they're coming up to next okay and the reason is is we are well under your codes okay and as you can see the decimal levels on there reflect that and you know on the uh edges of our property is anywhere from 45 to 60 uh we're I'm just use again I'm using this the cottage as just as a reference okay has nothing to do with what they're doing I 100% support the cottage and I hope they get a unanimous approval today um you know you know residences condo owners Hotel guests they have all rights just as she does right there 110% okay all we're doing is we're following the rules and regulations that the town put in place and we're actually doing it well under what you guys have put in place and um that and that's pretty much it Mike one of our concerns was that you're going to be operating as a bar at at the first hearing can you reiterate what you said as far as the requirements for being a restaurant versus a bar and how that relates to your food sales yes um well I want to jump back uh uh one real quick um the whale is a bar restaurant okay the cottage is a bar restaurant okay they're on the North End of the island or we're on the North End too like Sandy Bottoms is but Sandy Bottoms is a restaurant bar it is a place that's going to be serving food and also liquor obviously but we are we don't we're not here to have bands playing loud or anything else you know what attracts people um to a restaurant is number one a tiki hut okay that is very very big for um people literally get attracted to Tiki Huts uh also people don't want to go and just listen to um music on a radio they want to hear they everyone comes to this island for live entertainment and with live entertainment there's always going to be uh sound protruding out but we are primarily a restaurant that's going to serve alcohol does that help any further questions for Mike no thanks sir no thank you see you guys soon you have a t-shirt made I'm sure of that one day thanks Ken thank you all right I will now close the public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain any further discussion or a motion no discussion no discussion someone like to make a motion I'll move ordinance 24-18 I think it's 18 should I have my readers on conditions the conditions that are in the uh St report yeah right okay got a motion by councelor King second secondly by councelor Woodson any further discussion uh councelor K hi councelor Woodson i al Safford I vice mayor adhal I mayor allers is an i motion carries unanimously all right does anyone like to take a brief Comfort break before we get into the next one please all right we'll take a 10-minute brief break e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hate using that thing all right we're going to call the meeting back to order it is 1033 the next item is item C it's ordinance 24-15 dcii 202 30246 125 131 through 151 School Street and 2661 through 2681 Estero Boulevard myerside this is the second reading and public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions or denying the commercial plan development CPD Zoning for the property located at 125 and 131 through 151 School Street and 2661 through 2681 Aero Boulevard generally identified as strap numbers 191 9-46 D2 24- w320 c. 02301 9- 46-24 w320 c. 0270 1 9-46 d24 w320 c029 Fort Meers Beach to allow a mixed use development including lodging live work units retail a restaurant and restaurant uses providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for the conflicts of law scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date if any Town council member has had any expart communication to disclose please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group of or entity with whom the communication took place and correspondence that you received or observations made of the site John I've received some pro and con emails regarding this okay since the first reading I to have received both pro and con emails handful on both pro and con uh since first reading and I've also had a conversation with the applicant and the neighborhood uh group okay neighborhood company I have also received uh emails both for support and against the project since the first reading counc Woodson I too have received the same emails seford same as vice mayor uh received emails for and against and had brief conver ation with the applicant and the neighborhood company okay Sarah pro has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on her education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Meers Beach are there any other individual who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time that have not already been all right has the property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup material from staff they're all nodding their head yes go ahead Sarah good morning Sarah propes with Community Development the neighborhood company on behalf of cottages at myerside LLC owner of 125 and 131 through 151 School Street and 2661 through 2 2681 Estero Boulevard has applied for a commercial plan development rezoning the property is currently Zone CPD and in the boulevard future land use District the applicant is requesting a CPD for with seven deviations to allow a mixed use development including four live work units 45 lodging units and 9,000 square feet of commercial space the proposed list of uses within the commercial space is attached is attachment a in the ordinance in your packet the request includes the following deviation requests from the Land Development code a deviation from uh LDC section 10- 285 table 10-1 which for connection separation to to allow uh access to be less than um the required 125 ft uh separation to allow a 76t separation between Oak Street and the entrance uh a deviation from LDC Section 3 or 10- 416 uh to allow a lands an alternative landscape betterment plan as opposed to meeting the requirements uh contained specifically within the Land Development code uh a deviation from section 34-1 1804a and section 34-22 which regulates parking uh for um residential and non-residential uh uses this deviation would allow a 30% reduction and I believe uh we're going to be discuss discussing an additional increase in that percentage requests to 31% reduction in the parking um and a deviation from LDC division 4 table 34-3 from the CR zoning District which limits height to 30 feet and three stories to allow a maximum of 37 feet and 4 stories a deviation from division 4 table 34-3 for the CR zoning District which requires setbacks of 10 ft to instead allow a build to line of 5 to 10 ft along along a stero Boulevard and School Street um a deviation from 34-1 1803 A1 which allows the conversion of dwelling units to hotel motel guest units uh per established equivalency factors to increase the equivalency factor from a maximum of 2.5 up to a maximum of 5.6 to allow a maximum intensity of 45 guest units rather than what would be allowed by wri which is 20 units based on the subdivision of these Parcels 12 units would be allowed they are utilizing four of these units as live work so we would divide the total proposed 45 Spaces by the remaining eight um and that's where we get the uh equivalency factor of 5.6 um the proposed development uh as they're proposing it today they are asking for an additional deviation from the CR zoning District to allow a floor area ratio of 1.3 and that increase would be to allow um larger live work units uh that was part of the discussion at the last Town Council hearing where they talked about providing larger units and in order to do that they would be increasing their floor area ratio so there's that additional deviation uh which we received rather late so um I you may have that emailed to you you may have copies of it um what you emailing yeah have copies okay great um so you have copies in front of view of that um this is within the the allowable maximum F of 1.5 for the future land use District of Boulevard so um they're increasing above the Allowed by right commercial Resort 1.2 but they're within the allowed future land use of 1.5 um at the Town Council hearing on June 3rd Council discussed a variety of concerns but there were no additional uh conditions proposed or request Ed however the applicant has provided some additional conditions um that they think meets the um conversation intent of the council uh we you should have received a copy of um amended deviations an amended Master concept plan and an amended schedule of uses I believe um this morning from Amy staff is available for any questions you may have and the applicant is also here okay questions for Sarah John N VI hle not at this time uh Council Woodson not at this time counc Stafford not at this time uh not at this time okay thank you all right good morning good morning Mr Mayor vice mayor counsel good to see you all again no Davies on behalf of the applicant for this item with the law firm of Davies Duke uh Beverly and Roland are here today uh as you see um and also their professional planners uh Ken Gander and Patrick vaness with the neighborhood company I wanted to reiterate that the subject application is not a comprehensive plan Amendment this is a rezoning CPD to CPD as you heard from Miss propest and we are consistent with the policies and objectives of the existing Boulevard future land use designation excuse me future land use designation uh we do believe that the evidence that you've heard to date uh and that that's what's in the record for this matter as well as any additional evidence presented today uh meets the legal standard uh and meets your resoning criteria and does so in a way uh that's supported by the requisite competence substantial evidence and again that's evidence and testimony from the applicants experts as well as as the towns and with that I'm going to turn it over to Mr Gander I will be here for any questions throughout uh and would respectfully reserve the right to uh rebuttal thank Mr Mayor thank you [Applause] thanks no uh again Ken Gander for the record with the neighborhood company a certified professional planner uh uh again uh I think this is a a key day uh here for the town of Fort Meers um thank you Sarah for your work and uh outlining the project for us uh just to be moving forward uh you know Beverly and Roland uh worked on this Vision uh after the storm and it's been a long process uh it's been a excellent process to go through uh our pre-application meeting with staff in March of 2023 and then moving forward with a community meeting that garnered a great input garnered a lot of support uh back in August of 2023 uh we formerly submitted in November of 2023 and here we are uh about 7 months later uh at this uh key juncture uh and we certainly appreciate the majority uh approval at first reading um don't necessarily need to go through uh the mixed use development again but Sarah identified that we're seeking that 45 unit uh Boutique Hotel the 9,000 ft of neighborhood commercial and the four live work units sorry I'm going to move through but I think a key item that we discussed and put on the testimony prior uh at the first reading was our public benefits and I failed to mention that as part of the prior project uh the applicants as a request of the town to provide $122,000 towards uh sidewalk improvements and that has been uh presented to the town and that is to help with that public benefit of increasing and enhancing that public realm and making that pedestrian friendly environment so we just wanted to make sure that that is noted um Ken wasn't is that actually a condition on the free previous CPD not this one that is correct but so you're just carrying Skins are carrying over so to speak yeah we believe that's appropriate to it's it's part of uh the effort for this Redevelopment in this part of the heart of the island um as Sarah pointed out uh some items to address and I would like to provide these handouts um that outlines thank you I'm sorry yeah so uh staff's condition seven and we already got it yeah okay I think it's probably very similar to what you had before but I just wanted to make sure uh we're all on the same page uh staff's conditions seven and eight uh focus on uh the parking and that was a legitimate discussion that we had at first reading and what we've proposed as just a combination of just utilizing condition seven staff's language uh is carried forward in our proposed condition uh encouraging visitors and staff to uh arrive without an automobile uh the proposed parking exceeds the on-site provided the applicant shall uh provide valet and or coordinate with adjacent property owners and or consider other parking options and those are consistent with your policies and within your comprehensive plan encouraging those alternative ways to address uh onsite required parking so we feel that that's an appropriate condition but along the lines of uh condition 8 and the discussions that we had uh the opportunities to work with the town for a shared agreement with the Bay Oaks uh campus and the bay Oak Center uh and what our condition specifically refers to is those opportunities for those health and wellness we have those listed medical clinics Urgent Care dentist Pharmacy rehab medical spa Chiropractic meage uh massage therapist and that would be those parking spaces that would be leased would be up to 15 uh I believe the condition that's uh that staff proposed is pretty open-ended but we feel that we understood the discussion is uh 15 would be that appropriate maximum for traffic mitigation uh that was a another discussion that we felt that needed to be formly addressed and this isn't a existing condition but uh on page two for traffic mitigation uh these are outlined uh items that the applicant wants to uh focus on on uh such as marketing initiatives uh supporting and encouraging the guests to use alternative modes of transportation rather than driving their vehicle utilizing their website and marketing materials uh to do that effort of helping encouraging uh not driving uh information on the walkability of the area those business of Interest the bicycle rental uh utilizing the beach is uh Le Tran trolley and the seasonal Trans Service making sure that those schedules and maps are Rel readily available uh public and uh delivery of food uh options uh free Resort fees restaurant discounts and discounts on Future Days um additionally establishing Partnerships with businesses on the island especially those in this heart of the Island area uh to provide incentives and discounts for the guests uh it's for those guests that do not drive onto the island uh will receive monetary discounts or vouchers for future stays and or with participating local businesses such as restaurants bike rentals and tour tourism operators and then participate in what we feel is an initiative that the town is moving towards with is looking at this uh comprehensively uh traffic mitig ation uh such as off Island parking opportunities uh Transportation initiatives uh there's been discussions for the water Ferry uh taxi which again is an element that's identified in your comprehensive plan that is desired to uh focus on in the future uh off-site parking availability identification systems there's Technologies to use and information that can help uh visitors and those in the area know where parking is no where availability of those Park vacant parking spots are and then obviously working with your uh Partners at lran to try and evaluate and improve the the transit opportunities uh and just understanding uh what a proprietor is dealing with in terms of they want to use Transit but is it functioning and as efficient as they want it to be uh so with that um we are in agreement with the staff recommendations of approval uh and the conditions that we've proposed here uh we again had the unanimous recommendation of approval by the local planning agency uh approval uh to move this to Second reading by Town Council and we certainly respect uh respectfully request the Town Council approve this on second reading and we can uh move forward with the the next steps to uh get this uh uh highly uh appropriate mixed use development in your heart of your uh heart of the town so be happy to answer any questions again we have our full team here and uh again thank you for the opportunity to present before you all right thanks again uh John questions not at this time vicle uh can just this first time I've seen this language uh couple questions uh on conditions seven this this concept of uh one of the one of our residents during public comments said that we're giving away or against giving away parking spots there's no intention of giving away any parking spots uh this would be a shared parking spot uh between the town and and this uh and Meers side if certain criteria are reached in the medical Arena and and and you've got you you've got a list here that's a little different than what we discussed on first reading and I see you've got Medical Clinic Urgent Care I would just want to include language that requires that that either one of those entities would include an MD physicians's assistant or nurse practitioner we need somebody there that can write a script and if we're going to offer parkings a shared parking spot or five spots uh dentist Pharmacy's great um Rehabilitation Clinic I would also like to require that that involve a licensed physical therapist I don't know what a medical spa is but I'm I'm not hipped all the trends so maybe you could tell me what that is uh well sometimes these Spas have a component to specifically addressing uh health issues that the potential or the client is experiencing so they're just focused more on a uh uh uh more acute uh therapy session uh for that I've I uh I have no issues with the this development encouraging that but I don't I don't think that would be something that we would want to uh exchange or share parking spots for and and the last item chiropractor massage therapist again massage therapist is wonderful hope you have one there but I think that's going to be difficult to to do a reciprocal parking arrangement for I'm comfortable keeping chiropractor on there if that's right so that's how I would tweak that particular section so yes sir we're agreement we agree with those edits right that's all I have for now great okay councelor Woodson well I just wonder I'm I'm back at the list of uses and I I know where you're going with this vice mayor but I'm just wondering if there's any kind of you know or other um Public Services you know cuz we don't have you know Barbers or beauty salons or anything like that listed here but could that be included as part of this list of of possibilities what I'd hope to do would would I'd hope to have language inserted in here that it would allow the applicant to come in later and petition if if if if they're unable to be successful in these critical medical areas but there's still other needs for the island I would allow the applicant to come in and petition the council for exceptions that you're talking about about if we don't get a a hair salon or a place where you get your haircut on the island in the inum and there's still a tremendous need and they want to make that pitch to the council in a public setting I think that's appropriate we can have that conversation I just thought we prioritize the medical stuff first and if we can and then later give them that that Avenue through a process where they could ask for that additional use because I'm I'm not opposed to that I just I want to keep the focus where we can uh in the medical in the medical space but that that's just my opinion but I'm open to any thoughts if I may um and you know again apologies working through our week and the timing to get this to you the last statement on our condition seven the property made petition the Town Council to accept alternative personal services providers other than those preferred health and wellness providers listed below so we're trying to acknowledge that we want to keep that door open and we need to get uh the Town Council involved to help us make that I'm sorry I think I missed that did you see that Karen is that is that give you any comfort yeah okay yeah it does thank you great and just just for just for the record the whole purpose of this colloquy is based upon the premise of the applicant from day one that they want to make this a health and wellness type of an entity yes we wouldn't otherwise be having this conversation and that's that's that's part of the public benefit pitch and I I I don't mean that as a pejorative but that's part of the part of the broader public benefit uh uh offering if you will for this development is that fair that that is a fair statement uh at our community meeting it was again that going back in time uh it was part of the vision part of how what is the heart of the island like what is potentially for this uh Community campus potential uh and that was just uh it was a logical offering and discussion at the community meeting and that's carried forward through this whole process very good thank you that's all I have at this time coun Woodson anything else no I'm good thank you thank you counc Safford um I this might be a question for Bon Roland um I rewatched the LPA meeting because I was a little confused as how it passed unanimously but there were still some concerns and I noticed during during in the uh during the LPA meeting um that you guys had mentioned something about buying passes for for Bay Oaks I don't know what that number was I don't want to make it a condition but I thought that was a great public benefit is that still on the table Beverly can speak to more of those details hi Beverly Milligan for the record um yeah before Ian uh when we were myerside and operating every single unit had a membership to Bay Oaks and uh post Ian uh in the new build every single unit will have a membership to Bay Oaks we don't sure it's a public benefit but it's the right thing to do we're doing it uh we did it before we've set that precedent we think it should be we think every every new hotel room on the island should do it quite frankly it's good for the community it's good for Bay Oaks and therefore it's good for the community again Circle and it's good for um for everybody to to do that so we didn't put it in as a condition because we're doing it uh if you want it there it's fine with us cuz we'll be doing it I just want to know where I mean it it really works and it's fantastic okay and it helps it helps everybody I think it's a great addition thank you thanks B no further questions at this time okay I have a couple okay um so I'm I'm looking at your conditions here and I guess I'm trying to look at it from the other Spectrum or from the other side and I guess I could argue that it made me think about it because I unfortunately I now have to go to physical therapy for the first time in my life I had to go get some KNE work done but but what I noticed is the parking lot was full because there was a lot of people using that facility and when I look at all of these things to me although I I love the idea of Health and Wellness to me this promotes nothing more but more traffic because people that are going to see these people aren't going to walk there they're not going to bike there they're not they're either going to be driven or they're going to drive there and our solution at least what I'm seeing is that the town now gives up some of its taxpayer property to offset the increase to me this is like a catch 22 it's something I think is needed on the island but if the behest of taxpayers is now giving up even more for a CPD that's being proposed by an applicant to help offset their problem they're asking for the conditions they're asking for the deviations and this to me is the town solving that for you not you coming to us so at the last meeting I asked a question about why the change from 42 to 45 units from what was presented to the public and I really didn't get an answer and now today we find out this morning that you're asking for even more intensity and you're asking for Less parking so you're asking for more but I haven't heard any discussion from the applicant or anyone up there in the last two meetings as to something to give back you know you're allowed we we'll say 30 units by right there's been no discussion or no answers at least given to me unless I've missed it somewhere that the applicant is willing to work with the town so far it's what can the town do to make what I want to do work not the other way around and and it's giving me pause because although this is this is a step in the right direction I appreciate that you guys obviously listened to some of the comments and most of the comments the the count the the council had and you tried to propose something but there's nothing this to me there's nothing here there's no teeth there's May will could should there's nothing here to say other than if we get a doctor in there the town's going to give us spaces to lease am I makeing sense so I guess I'm just looking for an answer of why every time there's a me the ask gets more significant than the previous meeting I to start with that comment I don't believe we've identified a more of an Ask here this have been a discussion routinely through the LPA and through your first reading uh that this was an idea that the town had an opportunity for us to utilize under your policies to do shared parking and and we are wanting to do that to help reduce that impact of parking on site potentially reducing that traffic impact by not requiring as much parking we've had that discussion I think we've all acknowledged that as a component of the impact on Estero Boulevard is to provide more parking more cars etc etc so regarding our 42 to 45 that was pre-application that was before we even even got into our formal application with the town was the 42 we evaluated our project we evaluated the needs and we evaluated what we needed to ask and then we're asking for that 45 with the appropriate we didn't know how many uh commercial space we needed that was an effort of us being our experts and our professionals evaluating what would be the best project for This Heart of the island in terms of a mixed use development with regards to asking for the increase in Flor air ratio that is based on a conversation that we've had in this public setting of these live work units they it makes sense to make them bigger and we need to provide for that square footage in comprehensively to make sure we're consistent with your Land Development code and comprehensive plan so really point my point it's you want to increase but you're not willing to decrease anything and and when you look at that's where I'm getting hung up is because it's you we heard you if you can make a bigger Workforce unit or employee housing however you want to word it if you can make those bigger we that would be great but it's it's making the problem worse in my opinion not better because now you you need more from the town but you're other than making the the place bigger for the people that are going to live in it what other benefit to the community is there really for that and and that's where I'm kind of struggling so I'm trying to get some answers for that I appreciate I appreciate it please no I'm not I'm not trying to beat you up I'm literally trying to just ask questions that I've been asked which I feel are very legitimate questions uh good morning for the record Patrick vaness uh certified planner with the neighborhood company um I hear the question and I'm confused I'm confused because we were all here last meeting and we presented live work units at at 500 ft we were asked by Council to possibly increase those to 1200 sare ft so everything you're seeing today is a reflection of what we've been asked to do we've also said previously that if those live work units are going to ding Us in any way and are going to be perceived negatively we are more than happy to remove those but we believe there was a public benefit and so did the rest of the Council so I'm very confused today right now the other thing when it comes to parking we have multiple options that we've identified we have the opportunity to get a shared parking agreement with the library with the church we can do Valley parking on site and we were asked we it was proposed by Council and it was an offer that if we provided these medical providers we could have parking at Bay Oaks again we did not request that it came from Council so again very confused as to why this is portrayed as if we are making that request well I guess I'm a little confused as well and what I've been what I believe I've heard from all the other council members is having medical professionals on on this island is a benit it is desired so the fact that it is portrayed as we are asking for more I think we've all established that there's a belief by a lot of people that this is a benefit and we've proposed a list that was slightly longer than what was discussed originally again for you to review for you to edit as you please but we tried to take the comments we received put them in writing and then present them back to you and I I can appreciate that but maybe you're maybe you're not understanding how I'm saying it yes you did listen to the council and you tried to make some changes in here that alleviated some of the council members questions but again it was at the behest of the taxpayers the taxpayers now have to give up parking to offset which I don't disagree and I'll say it again I don't disagree that some of these things are needed on the island and they are public benefit but you're asking if we're going to give you a public benefit you're going to pay for it you're going to give us more you are the ones here asking for a significant amount of increase over what you can do by right we're not asking you you're asking us and and the solution that I'm seeing in front of me is we'll do that but you have to now give us even more and I don't know how that's confusing but and maybe I'm the only that sees it this way but you're you're adding more you want to significantly increase your intensity and density and your solution at least again the way I'm reading it is in order for us to accommodate what you feel is a public benefit we need you to give up public benefit to make that a reality not we can get rid of three units not we can get rid of five units not we can do this not we can do that it's we need you as the community to give us back more to make your public benefit that you want a reality okay um I don't think we asked for those parking units at b o so I don't see it as the town is giving up anything for us um I think it was uh suggested as an incentive uh moreover like I said we have multiple options as to how we can address our parking and I think we it's been discussed that businesses want to provide sufficient parking to make them himself successful uh again uh these folks are not in business to lose money and to have something that goes bankrupt uh they're trying to be successful uh with regards to the parking again it's a shared parking agreement there is overc capacity and it's a revenue source for the beach there is a precedent Myers side used to lease was it three or four parking spaces already four so there is a present there that was a source of Revenue to the town so um again I'm I I still remain confused as to uh how this is something that we've requested uh again it was provided to us as a potential incentive we Embrace that incentive it is consistent with what we've expressed all along that we want to create a health and Wellness theme and I think there's a lot of support for having those service providers on this island okay let's leave all these conditions out of it do you feel the way that your proposal is being proposed to the council today that the commercial space with the parking limitations that you're faced with now if nobody else helps you if nobody gives you anything do you think that 9,000 ft of commercial space can survive and 45 units with the parking that you're that you're asking for we feel that we've got options as to how we resolve that do you have those options and agreements here for us to review are there any agreements in place for parking to well there there is one that's been proposed by one of your council members is there anything here that that we should we can do uh Valley parking on site and gain extra tense bases sure uh we have a letter by the library saying are open to the to having a shared parking agreement and we also have a letter of support from the church group I feel I feel pretty I I do feel pretty confident that any parking shortcomings that we may have will be able to address yes I do but as of right now you don't have any agreements with anyone on paper that you get this many spots or you get this much or you have nothing that we should consider today I think I've expressed pretty clearly I think I think Council understands what I'm saying I think I've addressed the issue fair enough and I think I've made my points as well but so let's move on to to the other thing the height as you as you had said before Patrick which rightfully so 35 versus 37 one of the deviations is saying they're going from 30 to 37 wouldn't that because you're you're proposing a step back solution to the building that then through code allows you to have that additional five feet so is it really seven feet they're asking for or is it just two feet because the way I look at it is it would only be 2 feet not 5 feet we have to ask a deviation from the CR District when we ask for a mixed use project like this so the CR district is 30 ft however there are other Provisions in the code to allow people to go to 35 ft and an extra story so our deviation is indeed 7 ft from the CR District M however for clarification I was pointing out that average homeowner anybody can request that extra 5 feet and that extra story if they meet code requirements and I'm just trying to help the public understand that what you're asking for is essentially really 2 feet above what you could do based on the way we look at it not that's I see it the same way I'm trying to help people understand that we're not talking about a huge number we're talking about two when it comes to height yeah the other question I have that I I have not been able to find in here maybe I missed it what are the size of the rooms that are going to be in this development um it was part of our application um and it was part of our our parking calculation that was provided to staff um I don't readily have that but uh we I think Ken is looking for it right now uh there would be a range of of smaller uh traditional hotel rooms to bigger suites that would be kind of a top level Penthouse um just I mean rough idea all let can't answer this in our documentation we uh identified approximately 25 of less than 450 Square ft okay and about 20 of greater than so there's going to be that mix because you will have some sweets and you'll have uh those kind of that are available okay for by the desired market and and this maybe is a question for Sarah if I'm reading the code and the comp plan correctly if you have units that are 450 sare ft or less you can use a multiplier of up to 2.5 however if you go over 450 Square ft only a multiplier of two so how does that relate into mixed sized units I mean they're requesting 5.6 over the 2.5 how does that get applied to the overall structure if if they're all under 450 ft my understanding would be it would be a 2.5 multipli they could ask for up to if it's less than or more than 450 sque the more they most they could ask for by right would be or at all according to the comp plan would be a two multiplier they're asking for a 5.6 multiplier so I'm just trying to understand how we're getting from what the comp plan says to double what's being asked um through the deviation process which which is allowed through the Land Development code so um it's what we'd included as a maximum of 2.5 um but you are correct there's a range in there depending on the room size um so that's why I mean we're just asking for the multiplier of 5.6 so we could say we you know rather than having the deviation say from uh two or you know 1.5 or two or 2.5 to 5.6 um but by asking for the 5.6 they have accommodated their request and is it your interpretation of the compl that they can ask for 5.6 yes and many uh developments have asked for 5.6 they've they've asked for a whole range of numbers throughout the years that that I've been here and prior to my my being here okay um but I did want to speak to the question regarding height um so they may be eligible for the five additional feat but they are so you know it could be um an increase of only two feet that they're asking for but in order to receive the additional story they would need to have below flood unenclosed um other than a maximum of 300 Square ft so they don't receive the uh additional story without the request that makes sense okay thanks for clarifying that no problem Sarah before you leave um can you clarify in your staff report um I think it's on page 242 it is regarding um the deviation number six deviation to 34-1 18-03 A1 which allows the conversion of dwelling units Motel guest units per established equivalency factors there's a comment that's made at the very end um concerning the comp plan uh where it says now I lost it hold on um the staff comment the request would increase the density multiplier from two or 2.5 up to 5.6 however staff notes proposed development meets the far allowed in this District by right while the current comprehensive plan utilizes the multiplier the new comprehensive plan that is been transmitted to the state for approval applies only far to commercial uses per the not yet fully adopted comprehensive plan this request would be appropriate so it's a little confusing to me but is it your testimony that it is compliant with the current comprehensive plan not the one to be adopted yes um it is compliant by them requesting the multiplier uh which was the way it was done previously and according to conversations that we had at the last meeting that may be a change that we're looking to ensure that we keep that multiplier I'm I'm not sure that'll be something to be sorted out in the future but um I believe that what they've requested is appropriate um I do note that the deviation that we received today for the 1.3 it is still within the floor area ratio Allowed by the future land use District but they still need the deviation because of the zoning um so they would still have to ask for that increase so that's something that's not discussed in this staff report because it wasn't information that we had at the time the staff report was written so um but I I do agree that it's appropriate that the way they asked for it they asked for the multiplier and now they've also asked for the deviation for the floor area ratio so they've they've covered their bases on that thank you that that clarifies there was a timing issue that came up and I really appre appreciate you putting that on the record okay yes I guess the reason I was asking I was going back through the previous CPD which I disagree with staff at the time on that one in bold letters it said under no circumstances can an applicant request more than what the 2.5 multiplier stated in the comp plan that was in bold writing in a in a staff in the staff report now you're from what I'm hearing you're saying that that was not true I don't believe that that was true because it's been asked for and approved by multiple developments so I'm I'm not sure I'm not sure why that was determined at that time because it has been found to be appropriate and a a request that can be put in um because I believe that the comprehensive plan actually refers it back to the Land Development code for you know how this should be sorted out um I would have to reread the the comprehensive plan to make sure that but I'm I'm fairly certain that that is the case that it refers you back to the Land Development code to sort out the details of it but if if you want I can sit down and and take a look at that and make sure no I I just it caught my attention because it it seemed different than what was being applied here C and the fact that it was in bold lettering is what really caught my attention and again like I said I disagreed with you guys then so you guys well all different people well just all all but my point is it was it was the request on the last CPD was to deny it yeah and and it didn't understand but so you're saying nothing's changed it was just an interpretation of the comp plan I believe so but I will you know when I sit down I'll I'll sort through it and make sure that I am correct on that but that was my interpretation and I did reread it for this okay I know I got a lot of questions but no no you're fine I I appreciate it I I'll hold the rest of my questions that I have for after public comment sounds good thank you pck if I may just like to clarify that we um 100% believe that uh we are consistent with the count plan and that the equivalency ratio section of the uh Land Development code allows us for to ask for more lodging units uh also uh just as an example here that everybody will understand and everybody will remember Margaritaville was approved for more lodging units through that same mechanism they did not ask for a comp plan amendment to get additional lodging units they use that equivalency ratio and the ability to ask for a higher multiplier through public benefit we are requesting the same I did go back after our last hearing I believe I had stated in there that uh they had gotten an equivalency ratio of plus or minus 12 um I stand corrected that was their initial request and as part of the review and approval process they obtained uh a little less units than what they had requested but they did obtain 9.5 as an equivalency ratio and again we are much lower than that so Patrick before you run off just one more question is it is it your ask that because you used Margaritaville again you used it at the first one you're using it at this one is is it is your ask that that we follow the precedent that was set with Margaritaville to to justify you asking for what you're asking for no I'm not asking for a precedent I'm not you I use that as an example the question was this equivalency ratio is that consistent with the comp plan can we approve additional lodging units based on this equivalency ratio all I'm saying is yes you can and the perfect example of where it's been used before is Margaritaville but there also have been other projects but I'm just pointing it out because that's the latest big project that was approved using that mechanism we're asking for the same mechanism again we're we're not saying that you should prove density based on another project we're just saying this is the process it's been used before and this process applies to us also all right thank you mayor one more item um I I guess you guys are kind of close to your conclusion of your presentation um I'd like to ask Mr Davies if you have any questions of counsel there were multiple disclosures made at the onset of our hearing um regarding emails that were received I don't know if you want to ask any specific questions or you probably have been provided a copy of of the emails again for the record no Davies applicants attorney appreciate the opportunity Nancy we don't have any specific questions with respect to that okay thank you thank you thank you all right all right now we will open it up for public comment or is there anyone that would like to speak on well she's got a stack got a stack um first up is Bill vich and following bill will be Paula Kiker hi everybody Bill Beach for the record um I I I I feel for Beverly and and Roland here because they're kind of the first ones but would that I would consider have a big ask and the big ask is all these additional um resid units that the um that is if there if there's any kind of public benefit it should be to me um proportional to the to the the benefit they're getting this is this is millions of dollars of benefits for all these additional units um the now some of the history you talked about the previous CPD when the town staff did not recommend approval this one is asking for more and now they're asking they're recommending approval that to me sounds a little bit odd I don't know what changed with the with the staff or with their opinions but it seems like it's h it's it's changed over the course of from their second CPD to this third one um when they're talking to public benefit I led the I read through the list in the packet and there wasn't really a lot here that I saw as being anything of a commitment at all because like the one where this a commitment to try to establish a centralized Health and Wellness Center it says try you put try in something it kind of removes the legal weight entirely it means they have to make an effort it doesn't mean they have to actually have to achieve anything with that um the other thing is that so part of the when they said they're going to try to have this medical theme facility um that is a public benefit for getting these additional units and now to say we want additional something from the town to make that happen including the parking I think to me is is is going to double dipping in that um now if if they didn't have these extra units would they need would they have sufficient parking would they be able to do this without requiring to to um extend their project into other people's properties um and the other thing is is and I've heard it said when I went through their um you know their their list of public benefits you know a lot of them are just like following the law you know to build resilient and hardened sites that's Florida building code that is isn't a necessarily a benefit for the town that's something they obligated to do um you know you don't get you don't get benefits from following the law except for not being fined and things like that um another thing is that you know they they've also mentioned that they need these other units to make the project economically feasible um that you know that that that that need versus greed kind of is something that you can't determine because you don't know all the numbers and you don't know whether that's really the case or whether they just want more um the other thing is that when we did a survey after after Ian in one of our events uh one of the resilient Lee events like one in seven people thought that um that Financial viability was a reason to Grant additional density so it's not a popular thing in the town um they're the first ones out of the out of the gate with something that I consider to be a big ask and I really think that this that that this is just too big of an ask and I'll just also say that you know if there's a real need to get things moving along and to get some retail on the island you can also fix the CB zoning District that's been there for a while I know it's coming through the LPA and that's a way to be able to encourage mixed use but within the amount of resal unit that they're allowed with their District thanks Bill thanks Pa Paula after Paula is Ron [Music] Fleming good morning speech is intact then good morning good morning mayor vice mayor council members and staff paa Kiker 6035 AER Boulevard I am here this morning to speak in favor of the myerside resort project today is Monumental for most of us Monumental because today is the day that the First new resort development since Ian comes before us today is the day that with your favorable vote to approve Pro moves us forward to the next chapter of Fort Meers Beach becoming a vibrant town again your decision will divide most of us some of us in our opinions whether the allowances or deviations should be allowed or not but at the end of the day that decision Falls in your very capable hands we're going to be a different town and that's okay we are going to be okay we must rebuild rebuild wisely and rebuild quickly Fort Meers beach has always been and will always be a tourist town we will always have traffic we will always have a two-lane road we will always have a divide between commercial businesses and residents wants and needs we will always be that small town with that tourist town Vibe because of its people not how small or tall a building is this project is Boutique gem for the island but is a huge financial investment and in order for this project and many others that are going to come before you is the financial piece doesn't work we will remain a wasteland of parcels of dust and weeds and on another note just a very very big thank you for everything you have all done to bring our town back your time your dedication your knowledge your strength and your love for Fort Meers Beach is so very much appreciated beyond words thank you very much thank you Paula Ron Fleming and after Mr Fleming is Robbie Robinson oh okay after Ron Fleming will be Ellen vaugh okay thank you I'm Ron flaming I live in delmare where the Shamrock you uh count counil Mayors staff thank you for the opportunity to address you I don't know how Paul did it but uh she stole my speech so I'll be brief uh I'm wholly in favor of this uh as Paul stated you have so many difficult decisions this is just one uh I again thank you for the island looks great I mean we have some places that need to be cleaned up on a stero Boulevard but it's coming I think the myerside resort I liked what they were doing before of course the storm changed everything uh I know there are some people that said well we don't want this because I remember back in the day that that was where I grew up and it was wonderful well I remember when Myers side had people literally living in the tree trees I know a retired Deputy now this is here sa but it's true he told me at night we never go in there unless there's two of us well they bought that property they cleaned it up they're your neighbor I mean they're my neighbor I live very nearby uh there the Chang is coming but this is a good change uh I wish the storm never happened but that's beyond us we have to move on I encourage you to approve this project thank you thank you Ron Ellen vau that's all I have signed up after okay always the most colorful person in the room of course Ellen vaugh uh resident of 7500 Estero Boulevard and I too when to speak in favor of myerside and Paula said it so eloquently and I won't repeat any of the things that she said but I agree with them all whole wholeheartedly and to Echo what Ron was was was indicating R Beverly and Roland have a track record on this island they came here more than a decade ago and established a wonderful business where there had been blight and I think we are to give them that that that should be count taken into account when we are looking at propo approving that you are looking at approving their proposal they are asking for more than they are at to build by right um every developer coming before you was going to make that same request and they have a track record you know that they really stand behind what they do in addition to offering um use of Bay Oaks they also provided all of their all of their guests access to the Mount house and many of them came by and visited and said they were staying at Meers side and they had given them tickets to come to the Mount house so with all of those things said I just encourage you to vote uh in favor of this project and I too was reminded of what we went through when it was TPI and at that time we used to use the phrase five decide well we now recognize three decide so I hope three of you can vote in support of this thank you thank you alen you have no other that's all I have signed up is there anyone else that would like to speak come on up oh there's the hand went up behind you no come on up hi my name is T toell I live on Bay Beach Lane and uh my my big issue with all of it I'm a couple of issues one uh know the island is not going to shrivel up and die if we don't hurry up and rebuild as fast as we can blindly uh and and and frankly overpopulate the island uh we already know it's already been established and everybody has a hard time remembering or or keeping track of the fact that if everybody on the island does only what they're allow allowed to do it would double the the load on the island double the number of people on the island and you know when when the proposal first came out I saw the pretty pictures and I was like yeah that's that's cool but then you start peeling off the layers and going oh wait a minute now they need this and now they need that and I'm not seeing a lot of public benefit um I I understand that you may think that having dentists and doctors and things like that on the island is a public benefit and maybe it is but also stop to think about wait a minute you know one doctor on the island how many people is is that one doctor in network and how many people on the island are going to even be able to use that one doctor um so you know and there's just too many it's way above what they're allowed to ask and that's why there's multiple aspects of the F and the density and the height and that that's why there are multiple metrics that you have to stay within in order to to to meet what the island and this and the town and and the residents and the voters uh are are willing to accept and this breaks a lot of those rules it's not like it breaks one or two it breaks a lot of them uh so you know I I'm I have to say I'm totally in support of Mayor allers and and his questions uh that that he brought up and uh I I think the rest the council needs to to give that a awful lot more thought thank you thank you all thank you Bara we'll get to you next Steve she had her hand up first she was quick it's still morning good morning uh mayor vice mayor counsel and staff uh my name is Barbara Hill I live on 340 Madison Court um I believe mayor allers is correct I am so um thrilled to hear uh your comments today which further um identifies my thoughts as well I first loved the um myerside Resort I loved the design of it I am definitely for mixed use development but the seven deviations that they're asking for is more than I can approve uh I don't like the idea that they're doing more density than a loud this is not reasonable the setback fronting Estero Boulevard is also not acceptable um the uh leasing of the ground floor with regard to public benefit uh that's really based on supply and demand they're saying that yes they would allow um health and wellness activities and businesses however that's all based on whether that's even viable if for example they have three clothing shops that want to rent that space and they are available and they're willing to pay that rent are they going to say no to those businesses simply because they're reserving those for only health and wellness I would say that um the development would never allow that to happen uh business is business so if the clothing shop is going to go into that space that's what's going to go into that space regardless of what they or Council would like so I uh don't like the idea of parking uh they're not compliant with the 90 parking spaces that are excuse is uh required and so that's an issue for me so um while I thought the design was lovely at first I can't um approve of this and I'm hoping you all vote no thank you very much thank you Barbara Steve [Music] good morning Steve Johnson uh seminal way full-time resident of Fort Myers Beach um I think Mr dander maybe said it said it best it's a key day for for Fort Meers Beach and the reason I say that is because it uh essentially opens Pandora's Box um whereas I would prefer to be a faceless developer since Roland and Beverly have been outstanding really citizens of the community um I have to I have to contribute that I think just the project is just much too intense and what it does is it opens door to um to more intensity although I've uh come and spoken before for different projects um one thing I've always heard is that each project stands alone that nothing creates president uh precedent through the LPA or even Town Council but that's all we hear is that for parking um variances uh the whale got to do that I mean it's just it's builds even today we heard well if Margarita got this then we get this um I think as we move forward um the recommendation would be to stay as close to our comp plan as possible now I find out that there is a new comp plan that's been submitted apparently to the state but where where the shrs where have the shrs been where's the community input as to this comp uh the the comprehensive plan I mean it's been literally done in a vacuum um the future of this this rebuild is a real big deal for the town and as elected officials you can give variances as it's brought up constantly that you have this right it's written into the LDC you can't ask for this that doesn't mean you have to Grant it I mean you've all been elected maybe except for Scott you've been appointed but the point is is that you are elected officials and you can make these decisions for the town but I would just ask that you be fair about it and try to include the town in this decision and what the future of this this community is going to be um so again uh unfortunately it was uh um our friends Roland Beverly but it does to me represent Pandora's Box in just how self-interests will drive the commercial self-interests of this uh town will drive our future and I'd hope that you uh would open your ears and minds and uh use independent thought critical thinking as to what really this community needs and include the uh the community members in those decisions so thank you thank you sir is there anyone else that would like to speak come on up good morning mayor council and staff my name is Chris smutz with blondon Bay Development Group and we're the owners at the Outrigger parcel at 6200 Estero Boulevard as Fort Meers Beach property owners we would encourage you to consider the islandwide economic impact of the myerside project during today's public hearing this project and others like it not only have the obvious economic impact related to permit and impact fees but will also increase property values and property tax revenue generate additional sales taxes and tourism taxes lead to job and wage Creations as well as have cascading economic impact on this community this carefully planned blend of Hotel live work retail and restaurant uses is a testament to the owner's commitment to providing the island with the mix of commercial offerings and corresponding public benefits approving this project today sends the message that Fort Meers Beach Town Council is committed to rebuilding the island for the future Generations thank you for your time and dedication to Fort Myers Beach thank you Chris is there anyone else that would like to speak come on up get to hear me again Robin F uh Robin capella 4223 Bay Beach Lane um I'm sure he's going to say that London Bay and they want to rebuild but I want to reiterate again and I really appreciated her barbar's elegant speech and I think it was really good but I took Umbridge to the fact that we're a wasteland we are not things look a lot better we can slow down and think about things we don't have to give 5.6 over they can give up a little I've I've been a financial VP for years they can give up a little and and I'm with Dan what have they given up there is no public $112,000 for a sidewalk come on guys and I disagree with you vice mayor we are giving up parking spots we are giving them away I mixed you know anytime we let somebody else use them that we're giving him away please rethink this let him go back to the drawing board and give us something back please thank you thank you is there anyone else that would like to speak can't see around the poll I don't see anything no okay with that we will close the public comment are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant thank you Mr Mayor Again Noble Davies on behalf of the applicant um just want to reiterate what you've heard uh a number of times now since we're at second hearing but you have testimony and evidence before you uh from not only the applicants expert planners uh but also the towns um the comprehensive plan has been analyzed um as I mentioned in the opening we are consistent with your comprehensive plan uh that's accurate that is supported by substantial competent evidence uh from experts both from the town and the applicant um and for those reasons uh it's appropriate it's lawful and it's correct to approve this project and we're respectfully asking that you do that thank you all right thank you Bev come on up welcome back thank you B Milligan for the record um I just want to mirror first of all the um what Ken started the presentation with and he started the presentation with the uh you know that we we started this project in March of 2023 if we can just go back there for a time it was a really really difficult time for the entire community and quite frankly we're pretty proud of ourselves that we're standing here today um it's taken this long to be standing here and uh um you know we we in August we had a an event at Diamond Head and invited the public and we have been very very public and open with this and because we participate so heavily in the community we've met with many of the people in the room and many of the people that are listening and uh talked uh about and with um uh about the project and I I I just really really want to thank everybody for their support this has been such a long journey and I don't know that we would have made it without Town staff um and and walking hand inand with this community um they got us here and uh I just really want to thank them I want to thank our neighbors I want to thank the LPA for their unanimous vote and especially did I say staff because um it was a journey um before when we uh before Ian and uh they've just been very very supportive and um and thank you to you for your consideration allowing me to me and my husband to get this far so thank you thanks B anyone else Patrick Roland no okay then I will close the I'll will not close the public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain U I'll start with Scott you want to discussion yeah so I I've got a question about you know two things number one Mr Mayor you talked about you know you're you're going to rehab now and and you think you're going to physical ther Physical Therapy Physical Therapy it's not what I heard but okay for for the record he's got a physical therapy so I rehabbing my knee rehabbing your knee so I can I already see the news calls uhhuh so I I had my HTI couple years ago and you you had said that if if they have a chiropractor there or rehab facility Physical Therapy facility that it would create traffic now where I went where I used to go is Island fit and they used to be on the island and now they're over the bridge so I I just don't understand the argument that it it will create traffic I I think it'll actually reduce traffic because you're not having to go over the bridge can you imagine having a 10:00 appointment during spring break you'd never get you'd never get get back here so I I I I'm trying to understand so I'm not I just want to have this this discussion I apprciate I think we we're creating our own traffic because because we don't have the necessary goods and services on the island and I I think every day you go over that over that bridge and back it's it that's creating traffic I think if if something's local you're not going over now I understand you have to you have to drive M but I don't think that's causing traffic I think not having the service on the island is causing the traffic I guess my point Scott was both create traffic correct because if it's on the island or off the island you're still the only way you're getting there is via a sterile Boulevard whether you're on the island or you're off the island you're still taking a seral Boulevard to get there you're if you've got a bum knee or you got a bum shoulder you're not riding your bike you're not walking you're getting in your car and you're driving there when Island fit was on the south then did you get on your bike and ride down there for therapy drove down there but I wasn't going over the bridge we all Point all my point was is it was traffic on a stero Boulevard okay and and if if that's the number one quality of life issue that we've all been told at nauseum that this this island is facing with my only point was I appreciate that those are being here and I'm not disagreeing that that it's important that they are on the island I'm just simply saying don't use it as it's a saving traffic because it's not you're still driving to that location on a stero Boulevard which directly impacts the quality of life of the residents of the island that was my point okay but I I just just to have a rebuttal here I I think when people talk about traffic they're talking about getting onto the island and getting off the island and I think a business Mid Island is not going to create that it's going to actually help so and and then you know with with with the parking um you know I I'll reiterate it again I I I don't know why the government is involved in telling somebody how many parking spots they need to have their investors the people building their building they're they're going to require them to have so many spots ada8 requirements going require them that they have so so many handicap spots but I I don't think it's government's job to dictate how much paring they have the market to start with but once they a going concern the Market's going to dictate how much parking they need the market if it's it's impossible to park and it's a pain in the butt people aren't going to support their businesses and they're going to lose tenants but I I think the Market's going to dictate what happens with their parking um that's just my two cents and I can appreciate that my my point was I get some up on words like if or may or try and and but to me it appear there's been no there's been no there's been no to to barbar to Barbara's Point um you know she said if a clothing shop wants to get in there yeah they but we can't we can't make them have a doctor we can't make them have a chiropractor I think what Jim Jim came up with was was the old the carrot hey if if if you do have that then we'll help you out and I don't think I I think again we we've we live in a freemarket society the Market's going to dictate what is going to be be there I just don't think you know we we can't tell them that they have to have it that's why there's all those those subjunctive verbs in there may try that that's that's why that's why I feel that those are in there well I I guess I'll disagree with that comment we we can make them because that's why they're here asking for the deviation you can't make them have a doctor's office no no I'm talking about the parking the parking Department technically you can but my my point was you you're a hotel you you what would be a complaint that you would so I asked the question if they thought if the applicant thought it would be successful with the parking that they're requiring I didn't hear yes so I didn't hear I'll give I'll give you my example Dan and and you know you you you know what we went through with our our hotel kind of same story um you know what I only had four units and in the gift shop so this is let's just say nine times bigger okay the only time I had a parking issue was Christmas week Easter week at the height of season and but I figured it out I mean I I rent you know I asked beach bar if I could park there you know I paid they're going to figure out the Market's going to figure it out and and maybe some people didn't come to my gift shop because they there wasn't parking it was it was always a challenge I mean parking's the CH Challenge on the island but if we want to reduce traffic why do we keep making parking requirements it's count it's just counterintuitive and I get I get the fact that you know if you're if you're going to physical therapy you're going to need a a parking thing but we want to encourage businesses um you know to promote bicycle to promote different things other than cars but we keep having this getting stuck on this parking issue and it's like park park park well that means I've got a car car car so I I think again the free Market's going to figure this out I okay let's you you had four units is it safe to say if you had eight that you would need more parking to accommodate those eight people I don't or those extra four people would you need parking well I would have had a I would have had a bigger lot but you would have you would have needed to have parking for your guest right back in the day yeah probably but is is it safe to say but is it safe to say that if you have four and you're going to eight that you are increasing the amount of people that are driving onto the island to take advantage of your hotel if not how are they getting here well that's the whole thing is now nowadays people are ubering people are which is still a trap still a car coming on I'm only trying to make the point that if you're increasing the amount of people that you're inviting to your property you're you're inherently increasing the amount of traffic that's going to come to your property that's all I'm trying to say and I don't know that anybody can with the straight phase say that if you're going to have four units and you go to eight that you're not going to you're not promoting increasing traffic to the island because you're promoting four more people to come and stay at your hotel that's the only argument I'm trying to make okay what else you got uh for right now that's all I have I want to hear uh everybody else what everybody else thinks Okay C wion so I'm not going to go into detail about how much I agree with Scott on this um but I will also say that I truly believe that Myers side the neighborhood company they we asked for things in this last meeting and they addressed every one of them you talk about the parking you know they have a whole traffic mitigation plan that came to us as a result of that conversation um talking about using trolleys walkability areas um giving benefits to people who don't don't drive here but use public transportation um looking at off Island parking taxi discounts water fairies it's all in here um you know I too believe you cannot demand that they have medical renters per se but they are going to give a nod to those people that do and I know for a fact um based on what was told to us last time they have gone out and promoted that they have talked to people they have talked to the dentists and the um doctors and Urgent Care people that were on this island you know unfortunately it's been a long time and these other people have had to go and explore other places for their businesses they've kept it close but maybe not close enough to the island and maybe they will do satellite offices but I I truly believe that they have come back to us with everything we asked for and have a plan for that and so I I want to compliment you on a job well done vice mayor yeah I just I don't want to belabor a lot of these points but I I just this is such a great conversation and and it's going to foreshadow a lot of conversations we're going to have in the future and I think it's healthy and I appreciate the civility on both sides as I know folks are very passionate about this issue uh for me uh essential goods and services are a key part of our quality of place here in Fort Myers Beach and I don't want to overr dramatize this because this is a small piece in a in a much bigger puzzle here at myerside um but quality of place and this essential service piece is something critical to me uh having a grocery again Pharmacy gas on the island uh it's critical uh for quality of life um the public benefit piece of this for me in part is something that the applicant has been consistent about from day one and that's the health and wellness Focus we lost uh the urgent care facility at Santini Plaza we lost the the physical therapist at s Santini Plaza we lost the dentist uh and the chiropractor uh at locations nearby uh that affects quality of life here in Fort Meers Beach um to my knowledge none of these entities that I just referenced are coming back we've got serious challenges in some of our other retail space at KERO and C Great Plaza I thought Barbara Hills comments were preent in the sense that if the T-shirt shop offers the applicant the right price they're going to be tempted to take it that's why I suggested these parking places that is incentive to further incent them from their already stated purpose to to to to encourage critical medical uh service providers to come to Fort Meers Beach is this is this binding in this application it's not fully acknowledg that is it a risk I I think it is a risk but I I I think it's I think it's a risk worth taking and it will it will have my support but I do respect all the input that's been provided thus far that's all I have okay John I just would like to clear up a few things I know folks want us to slow our role I guess but we don't control what comes before us and it would be very dangerous for us to attempt to do so because it would create legal issues um density I I hear that a lot and mixed with intensity um it just seems like it's a buzzword I'm not sure everybody knows what it is maybe I don't know what it is because I'm dense between the ears and maybe I'll go to rehab for that but um I'm I'm a newbie to this island and I can tell you we've got less population than what we had in 1990 we're almost probably about half and that's pre-storm so I I take that into consideration and then I see over the weekend that Lee County has us at 42.9% uh of open hotels and and rentals on the island and then the chamber broke it down even further that uh less than 1,800 hotel and vacation rental rooms available and that's down from 4315 prean um so that that's a factor to me also I think um some of the emails I received of folks that were against this are also against a tax increase for the millage rate and I think U that's kind of uh talking out of both sides of your mouth because I see this as a big positive of increasing our our tax revenue once this uh this project gets completed so that's where I'm coming from okay that it that's it thank you all right I guess I'll add my two cents for what it's worth um as I said at the last meeting Bon Roland I have I have great respect for you I think you took a piece of property that nobody else wanted to do anything with you cleaned it up you made it a place where people wanted to go wanted to hang out you did everything that this Community asks of you and you you you play vibrant role in assisting nonprofits and I mean you guys do a lot and and I really respect for you for that and and as I said in the last meeting I I really want to get a yes on this project I really really do but I I look at things a little bit different and I've said it a thousand times and I'll continue to say it I'm okay with whatever decision comes down from the five people up here when it's done it's done it's over it's over you move on to the next thing as long as everybody understands and goes into it with an open mind so what I've tried to do and in this case is just present things in an open mind I understand that the neighborhood group has to to do what they have to do and I commend them on the tactics in which they did that I would have done the same thing I would have put out a pretty picture to get the support I've always said if you can walk into a room and 50% of the people or 49% of the people already love it based on what they see you're already ahead of the game so I I think the way that you did this was spectacular I think you got a lot of support behind it but it doesn't to me change the fact of the numbers it doesn't change the fact of what this is going to do not just this one particular property but in general you know I'm not a big fan of using the word precedent but in your in your presentation you brought up another development that used the same process for a reason for you to get the same process which the next person is going to do if this gets approved they're going to say you did it for this one you did it for this one why aren't you doing it for me and to just give you an example since we all like to talk about numbers there's a property just down the road if you apply the same numbers that we're talking about today the 5.6% to what they can build by right that's 840 hotel rooms 840 next to a residential neighborhood if this gets approved how do you then tell them no because your argument was you did it for this person now their argument is going to be you did it for them you use that process for them we want to use the same process they're going to they're going to do the same thing whether they do or they don't I would be shocked if they don't let's just put it that way I think that I'm all for smart growth to me this doesn't appear as smart growth I completely support we can say the 30 units you're in my opinion asking for double what you could do by right based on the staff's um the staff's comments you're asking for double what you could do by right that is a lot of intense that's a lot of density whether it's between your ears or whether it's in a book or whether however you read it that what is being built there by right is already three times what was there when the property was purchased whether you want to admit it or not that adds traffic that adds strain on the infrastructure that adds time to First Responders getting there because they're stuck in tra and it add adds to all of that and although this is a very small number I will agree with that and it's a very beautiful project and I I think if if you would have even moved a little bit and tried to come closer to the 30 even if we agree that 30 is the number but you haven't done that you have there has been nothing that you've said and and the public benefits we can go back and forth to me there's nothing on there that's a public benefit other than one maybe thing that maybe you can argue these things if if they come if you try and make them come to F fruition that you could use it architecture is beautiful I think it's great I just think putting a 54,000 foot building on a one acre piece of property without sufficient parking I I don't know how staff no offense Sarah I don't know how staff got to a yes on this and was a no on a much smaller scale on the previous one to me that just baffles me I will re obviously I can count I'm going to be in the minority here which I'll live with it I'll move on I will congratulate you if it gets approved because you are great people and you do do a lot for the island and but I think this is going to it's going to have an adverse effect on the area in which it is and and I don't think people are really looking at I I know I keep saying infrastructure it's a thing that nobody likes to talk about but all we've heard over the last week is why is my street flooding well you build a bigger house you build more cars you put more things on there that the tube's only so big it can only take so much water and if I'm going from a two-bedroom unit one bath place and now by right I'm building a four-bedroom four bath unit that's four more three more toilets that are flushing that's three more showers that are run in the height of season that's going to put a strain on the infrastructure so although this may seem modest and and small because of the size of the project this I agree is probably going to start a Snowball Effect and it's going to start and it's going to start very very quickly so with that I I I will stop talking I won't be supporting this project but I I do congratulate both of you and the neighborhood group for for going through the process and I know it it takes a long time but uh I certainly wish you the best so with that is there a motion I'll move ordinance 24-15 for approval okay with or without conditions uh as listed in the packet or the town recommendations staff recommendations I guess that's that confuses me because it's already in there why should I have to reiterate that I guess uh because when we do the draft ordinance we give you that option so we're just making sure that that's what the intent is it makes the record a little clearer if we clity um for clarity the applicant had provided additional conditions um and the council had discussed um a change that would sorry I'm trying to find my way back to them um remove medical spa massage therapist and after a medical clinic in urgent urgent care include an MD or practitioner who can write a prescription include an MD physical uh a physicians's assistant or nurse practitioner must include [Music] all three of those have the ability to write a script okay got it thank you yes um so do you want to include uh their conditions that were not included that's fine thank you everyone clear on the motion okay got a motion by councelor King is there a second I'll second got a second by councelor Safford any further discussion none councelor King hi councelor Safford hi uh councelor Woodson hi vice mayor hi and I am a no [Applause] congratulations all right next we have item we take a break you want to take a five minute break could we please yeah take a quick uh five minute break e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e look at that getting this ready now we're there we go all right we're going to call this meeting back to order it is 12:17 the next item is item e resolution 24133 vac2 D oh did I skip one I'm sorry let me re let me start again item D resolution 24131 v202 471 1250 Estero Boulevard the cottage Shuckers a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving with conditions v202 40071 consisting of five variances from the following LDC sections section 34- 674 a1b build to line maximum setbacks section 34- 675 B3 Building height section 34- 676a for parking spaces and section 34 676b rear parking and 5 Section 34- 676 D location of entrance ways for property located at 1250 sterile Boulevard also identified by strap number 1 9-46 d24 dw4 d70 f. Z10 to allow for redevelopment of rest /ar and providing for an effective date if any Town council member has any expart communication to disclose please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place any correspondence that you received or observations made of the site John just familiar with the site but I don't recall any U emails or anything I I had a conversation with the neighborhood company and I a long time ago had a meeting with the applicant I also had a meeting and discussions with the neighborhood company I've also talked by phone with the owner of the property uh and have not received any emails for or against I have not received any emails I did watch the LPA and months and months ago saw the first Renditions of the plan Scott I'm very familiar with the the site um and I had and I who needs their who needs rehab now who needs rehab now yeah yeah um I also had a meeting with the neighborhood company I'd like to amend it folks jog my memory I did meet with uh the developer a long long long time ago as I think Don mlan would say okay Jason SMY has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on his education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time that have not done so before anyone be okay uh has the property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff they're noding yes go ahead Jason good afternoon counselors again my name is Jason small I'm with your planning and zoning department uh before you today is a request to um to approve five variances for the property located at 1250 Estero Boulevard generally known as cottages and Shuckers uh the five uh requests I would like to briefly go through I know that the mayor has quickly mentioned them uh I would just like to wrap it up for anybody that perhaps didn't see the LPA meeting the uh requests before you again there are five of them in general the first one is uh variance from 34674 a1b this is for build two lines uh currently the downtown zoning calls for building new buildings to be constructed 0 to 5 feet from the uh front property line that's sort of the mirror inverse of a setback which requires that you uh develop a minimum U or that that you de develop much further from the uh from the Street setback so they're they're requesting uh one variance to not have to build between 0er and 5 ft off of a stero Boulevard uh the second request uh for 34674 B3 is for Building height they are requesting an additional 2 feet 3 in of height uh staff recognizes that the that modern Coastal Engineering and the um request to put their final Des ation of the uh of the elevator uh on the third floor are going to necessitate the for the most part the the additional 2 Fe 3 in so that uh that elevator cab uh final destination at the top and then thickening of uh of the roof and the floors for Coastal Construction uh third they are requesting excuse me a variance from 34676 A4 which is parking spaces uh currently uh the building that they are requesting to construct would have a requirement of4 spaces uh they are providing uh 16 spaces for a total reduction of 85% so they are requesting uh to alleviate 85% of their parking requirements you've got it listed as 17 spaces yes and we will we will get into that in a moment but actually right now would be great so this is a a issue that was noticed by staff where the applicant has uh proposed to put multiple bike racks the code does allow for applicants during development to uh request to have parking removed uh one parking space per four uh bike racks one bike rack with four slots in it I should say so staff's understanding of this code section is that uh there is an allowance for one there is no technically limit on what it can be asked in the code but staff recognizes that since there's not an upper limit there would be an opportunity for technically somebody to propose putting in you know a few dozen bike racks and then requesting that their parking be reduced to um minimal or even zero theoretically so with the the way that the Precedence has been set in the way that staff has always reviewed that code section you can remove one parking space from that calculation but it wouldn't allow you to remove everything um so the way that staff looks at it they are providing 16 spaces and this this reduction would be 85% from their requirements um number four that they before you go on yes absolutely just for clarity so they already get a 67% decrease right so is this 85% above that 67% or is it 85% so they they get 67 they're asking for for 85 so the the difference isn't the way it reads it reads completely different than that so the the difference I believe is 18 18% difference between what they are allowed by write in the code right and what they're requesting for uh the the hard number is that uh they are going to be providing 16 spaces plus the bike rack um the number four request uh a variance from 346 76b which requires rear or in some cases side parking uh when you redevelop a lot new uh staff recognizes that the existing parking is already forward of the building and as general broad Strokes the way staff has looked at this is that with the exception of the additional 2 feet and 3 Ines in height all of the other variances are requests to keep the site as they existed pre storm therefore not having to move the parking not having to change out where the Estero uh Ingress and egress is going to be uh and that gets me to my actually my last uh last Point here number five uh deviation or excuse me um variance excuse me of section 34 676 which is the location of entryways uh as I mentioned before under new development uh the entrance ways are expected to be moved to a side road if they are available uh while this does do have access to a beach access uh they want to continue to keep their access along Estero and then utilize the access along the beach access as well U so they will have two entrances two exits off of the site uh I would note that the applicant had received a uh unanimous recommendation of approval from LPA and that they are coming before you today uh even though the code would allow for them to take advantage of the expedited um Pro uh review process because they're only asking for variances they have asked to be on the meeting today just to ensure that uh they they do not push a final approval past June uh while the uh the Town Council is going to be on recess so there they have requested to come before you today and present the uh the package but they did get a 70 vote at LPA um in general what they're asking to do is they're asking to rebuild the structures that existed before they're going to be bringing them forward of the 1978 cccl line which marks the beach area or the EC Zone from the normal developable area Upland of that so they're pulling all of the buildings that existed onto the beach uh forward of that line during Redevelopment and they are going to be constructing roughly a 12,000 square foot uh yeah 12,000 ft building which is a an increase of approximately 1100 square feet from what existed previous uh staff is here for any questions or concerns that you may have and the applicant is here as well right questions for Jason counc King none at this time vice mayor nothing counc Woodson I'll hold nothing at this time I'm sorry one one other thing I did want to just point out uh at LPA there was just some discussion about music I believe it came up earlier on another case uh the recommendation from LPA is that they come up with some sort of mitigation technique uh with some sort of physical barrier to keep the noise from going from their building back towards Estero they are beachs side of Estero that was a condition of approval that you'll note was added between the LPA meeting and this meeting and it's part of the uh staff report that you have before you thank you Jason you're welcome who's going first thank you Mr Mayor afternoon everyone again for the record old Davies uh with the law firm of Davies Duke on behalf of the applicant in this matter and that's right choice Investments LLC uh the full team is here today including uh Joe orlandini and the applicants professional planners Ken glander and Patrick Bass from the neighborhood company our request is to seek your help to rebuild the iconic Cottage uh in order to do that as you heard from your staff we are in need of five variances uh the shape of the subject lot is unique uh and then given the updates to FEMA regulations as well as the restrictions from the Coastal Construction Control line variances are the mechanism allowed and and and really what's required here to build back uh what was lost in Ian and with that I'm going to introduce Mr vess to walk you through the rest of our presentation thank you very much good afternoon my name is Patrick vaness with the neighborhood company um not going to belabor things I know we've had a long meeting already I I think uh um most of you if not all of you listened to the LPA uh meetings we went into a detailed presentation during that meeting the the only thing I'd like to do is clarify a little bit why we're here today um as mentioned by staff um the LPA has final agency approval if it's a unanimous approval and there are no objectors so in this case we had no objection it was a unanimous approval however if you recall we were hoping to be at the LPA last month um and and unfortunately we had to be at the LPA this month it went very well um but you're taking a break in July and our new process with um the possibility after something's been approved unanimously uh we give a 10 10 day grace where someone can provide a comment or an objection and if someone does within those 10 days it goes before you for final decision um in this case we were at the LPA the 11th so the 10 days is going to be after this meeting 21st um should there be someone that objects we can't go to hearing before you in July you're taking a break it would delay us till August um the applicant is trying to redevelop this property as soon as they can they have been waiting for these variances to get their building permits in and reviewed and approved D so um that's the clarification as to why we're here today um as I mentioned more than happy to provide a presentation but if you feel that um you know the details of this and staff has provided uh an explanation for um all the the various variances we support their findings their conclusion and their recommendation for approval questions for Patrick John no vice mayor um I I did have a chance to see the uh lpa's uh hearing and I thought they did a nice job of scrubbing the the the proposal I I would if if the applicant is is comfortable um we heard all the nuts and bolts of The Proposal at the LPA hearing but I'd love to hear from the applicant I know the applicant is trying to preserve the iconic nature of the cottage but I'm I'm guessing he has a few uh rabbits in his hat with respect to the menu and maybe some things that if you want to just do some marketing today to give a little Sizzle additional Sizzle to the project Jim you put me on the spot uh thank you I appreciate being here and and everybody taking the time to look at our project uh got to identify yourself oh sorry Joe Orland Dany um we have taken a lot of time with the Architects and the design we're going to do the best we can I'm going to start with the building gym um we're going to do the best we can to keep the character of that original Cottage one of the things we've somewhat figured out is if you actually looked at the prior building it actually had rectangles so we were able to take those rectangles and stack them together and reuse them in a sense uh the shapes uh how the the bar will will somewhat have its function will be very similar to the prior Cottage we want that feel the the uh ground floor Flor I think is going to be probably one of my more favorite places in in the in the uh in the building we are planning to actually put the wood floor back in the lower level uh on top of the concrete so that we have the sand and that original feel in the cottage we're going to try to do some cosmetic lowering of the ceiling we do have to have a taller building we've taken a lot of awareness of what that will feel like so we want that to carry into this building we want to feel as close as as the prior building it's it's important to us to keep that feel uh when we get into the upper Parts it's obviously uh a different landscape that we're going to have the prior building actually sat just above the uh the main the uh ground floor so we're obviously going to have a a third floor to this that's going to feel different it'll have a a larger View and on a broader view we are set back so it is going to look different uh when you take a picture from the water from what it set forward uh from the Lanai unfortunately the layering of this is because of our Coastal Construction line we respected that line we held the building back beyond that line so we're up we're Upland of that line and hopefully uh the everybody enjoys the the new building when it comes to the the uh menu gym I don't know exactly what we're going to do but we're going to try to carry on the favorites is what we will do we've list listed those what they are we know that we want those to stay there we are contemplating uh maybe some because of the spaces one of the floors having a little bit nicer menu than the prior hopefully that uh broadens the the uh the clientele that will come in but we want the cottage to remain the cottage and uh Mike I hopefully our our sound and we we definitely intend on containing it we do not get you in trouble um but we we want to play fair with everyone as far as the sound I have met with all the neighbors and U uniquely everybody is has bonded together and wants to work together as the prior uh ownerships did not so we we feel that we have a great future ahead of us with those bonds coming together we want to be part of the community and do great things for the community thank you thank you anything else Council Woodson um Joe you should have stayed up there a minute I have a couple questions sorry I was so quick to get away from that microphone so your first floor level that you talked about with the sand and all that that still is your ground level and it's going to be open correct it is open okay um on that ground floor we actually have a two stair Wells we have an elevator uh the contained G herbage uh what you call the dumpster area is actually enclosed so that you visually don't see the dumpster outside the um those areas of the lower level if you've seen in the rendering people are confused what the what's on part of the exteror lower level it's vegetation so I I happen to like that on on some of my prior buildings I want the vegetation to grow where the closed walls are and then where the Open Spaces are it's completely see-through so from the beach side if you've seen the rendering the um the beach side would be completely open and then from the roadside is where we utilized the closed areas now if you look at how we we positioned it we did position it to the left side the closed area with the intent that another building would go in front of us so that way you never notice that closed area so a couple other questions so I haven't seen the ins well I have seen the inside tell there's a stage for music uh we it's not necessarily a stage okay the floor isn't going to have a raised area as as you do with the your your floor here we're literally going to leave it flat where we actually place the actual abandoned people we're still a little bit um in a in in I guess in a in a a planning stage of where that will finally lie the we're running into some kitchen issues that is a making us move things around ever so slightly uh what people don't realize um in designing these buildings that were dealt with on these small properties it's difficult it's difficult to fit a stairwell a bathroom two stairwells a bathroom two elevators and you still have to function in this building uh it's tight so it's been very very very difficult so to lock in where that space is going to go um it's probably close but it's definitely not a raise stage because they the LPA made the condition in between here that the back of the third floor would be enclosed for sound we've got so um one of the things I have to make clear is the the The Architects who've drafted this have drafted the top floor as open fourth floor uh the third third floor so the on that floor the openness that they've left um is something that we did not actually want we want it to be able to enclose during the day or during any periods of rain but then also at that 10:00 hour if we do decide to have live music so we had the intent for that they did not show the enclosures what would be uh garage glass garage doors something decorative in that sense so that's what we do intend to do so you mentioned two elevators so one is service and one is Patron correct yes one's the main elevator for the people and then the El elevator is for uh food delivery up and down obviously we don't have the ability to have a kitchen on the ground floor we will have a bar serving area no kitchen that will serve us bringing the food down thank you I guess I just got a little confused in that you're were saying the top floor is open is that what you're talking about for the elevator and all the Mechanicals on the roof the essentially the the rear part of the building which faces the water it has it's it's an open structure with with doors that physically close but again I that's not the top floor you said the top is the top floor where I guess what I'm trying to get at is there going to be a rooftop deck up there or is it just going to be that's I didn't think so I just a little confus way you said it there there is only a fourth floor uh that Karen kind of mentioned it's only actually two access Mechanicals we so what we did is we created resiliency in the building in this design so that we put everything on that very top floor which where the elevator would go our air conditioners um the generator uh panels so that way if any at anytime we do get another storm of this caliber that we just had that that does flood that floor we can reopen everything will function we're not dealing with panels and electrical issues so we've eliminated anything that would come from the ground going straight up to that top floor that's our access so to answer your question that third floor is is the top there is no roof on top of of the building that would we we we did keep this building as um we used our footprint but we didn't want it too big so that it it did not keep the comfortable feeling that the cottage was if if you remember the cottage it was it was cozy that's what this it's it's depending on who the band was well the feeling in there was was tight so we want that still that tight feeling to remain so that that atmosphere continues and you know you're going back to a place that has that same feel we hope it picks up where it left off and we're going to try to create that space so it does any other questions for good no I'm good thank you thank you thank you well it's more just so it's public knowledge people watching on TV that we're increasing the building height by 2 feet 3 in is that correct that's what they said yeah correct okay thank you don't go anywhere I got a quick question for you when we met I I'd asked you a specific question as related to parking were you able to the question I asked was how what is the usable square footage of what the new Cottage will be versus what the old Cottage was and the reason I was asking because I wanted to correlate it to parking so you know if you had a th000 square fet and you had 10 parking spots and now you're going to have 3,000 square feet but you only have 10 parking spots so did were you able to get that so I I came up with an estimate uh it's really hard to get accurate records of what used to be there uh I did look at the property appraiser website and property appraiser breaks it down into kind of an indoor space outdoor space and as as everybody recalls there was a lot of deck area so that deck area is very big when you look at the property appraiser I came up with some estimates and our estimate is the previous Cottage Cottage probably had 7 to 8,000 squ F feet of Patron space m and currently we are at 7,800 plus or minus of Patron space so the the increase in in the total square footage really is associated with back of the house um issues yeah and and and above all if if if you guys recall bathrooms were a challenge um we've got much bigger much better bathrooms so um so really when it comes to Patron space roughly the same square footage okay I appreciate you doing that I just thought it'd be an interesting exercise to to see how that correlates obviously we know bathrooms have to be bigger the kitchen's got to be a little different compared to what they were but the square footage is going to be pretty close the usable square footage what I mean is people dancing whatever they're going to be doing there the amount of people you could fit in there the occupancy is going to be roughly the same the same okay yes sir um Jason small again Planning and Zoning I just wanted to clarify from our last conversation on the the parking numbers just so we're all on the same page uh they are providing 16 physical spaces plus one bike rack so they are providing the equivalent of 17 spaces the requirement based on the area calculation was for 114 spaces total so they are asking for a reduction of 97 spaces and that comes out to a total of an 85% reduction of4 spaces required or another way to say it it's a an additional 18% reduction of parking than what is allowed for by right which is 67% say sorry because I think it's that just made it more confusing so so for clarification the code in the downtown zoning District allows a reduction so that they're providing 67% not a reduction of 67% so they basically get a 33% reduction and they're asking for an 85% reduction so it's not an additional this it's it's the opposite direction so I I just I wanted him to clarify that because you don't get a 67% reduction you get reduced to 67% so a 33% reduction just so that everybody outside that is pro listening is their heads probably just exploded I'm so sorry if 114 spaces are required yes by right with the 67% decrease what does that number come up how many spaces is that yeah you're going down to 67% times so you you'd be required at if if you were providing 67% of the parking you would have to provide 76 parking spaces okay and they're doing 16 yes so 60 spaces essentially is what we're talking about yes and for clarification I believe it was bought up in the previous meetings for another thing is is the way our code reads that if you have a bar you have to have this many but if it's a bar and restaurant it essentially doubles the amount of parking even though it's the same usage it goes from I believe like eight uh 8 per th000 to 13 per th000 so yes that's correct so a bar space requires a much higher a much higher parking requirement than a restaurant space but why I guess I'm trying to understand why the need for the double why go from the eight to 13 if it's if it's the same usage if it's in this case the cottage why not stick with the eight instead of having say eight plus the extra I couldn't I couldn't tell you why that was put in our code um all I can assume is that they're assuming that when people go to drink they have to have more cars which doesn't seem like a good option I just I'm wondering if this is just for another conversation to look at so we're not dealing with this as much going forward because I think it gets very confusing to people when they hear you're you're getting a reduction of this many parking spaces but the reality is that's an inflated number because you're required to provide more than you normally would because you have a bar and a restaurant but it's the same place you're going to you're not going there you know I'm not driving my car there to go to the bar and then going and grabbing another car to go to the restaurant and and I'm I'm assuming this was based on on the the parking regulations generally seen at that time um but I couldn't speak to exactly why that multiplier exists but I just wanted to provide a little bit of clarity because it's it was sort of said reverse of what it should have been so just to muddy the waters a little bit more if you were to just take the eight mhm what would that number be how many parking spaces I'm letting you guys do the math that way your throng is on you good man so that's it was 11,000 sareet it' have to be less than that yeah be has be less than that uh 96 right but that's now the six now the 67% would come into play at that that's what I'm getting at okay yeah so then 6 64 get the real number so 64 and they're asking to have 17 okay so and how many did they have before the storm 28 they're saying yes but many of those are because you were on the other side of the CC to yeah so the building was pushed further back right okay that's all I have any other questions for who are we on the applicant yeah I think we're on theant side of it none okay we will open it up for public comment is there anyone like to speak on the The Cottage suckers come on come on up Mike I can't believe you have anything to say say hello my name is Mike Miller everyone I hope you guys will still remember me it's been a long day and uh um owner of the whale and I just got a few little comments one I am a little disappointed in the neighborhood group here uh for the main reason is out of after all of this uh uh parking issues they didn't use non-exclusive parking I worked really hard coming up with that phrase to get through a lot of stuff so you guys need to use it in the future I'm telling you'll you it's not patented yet patent pending no but you know um uh I I just want to let you know the whale and we all support um a a positive and a you know for the cotage and we want them to succeed and as you know everyone's listening to the LPA we had uh you know we've spoken to them you know we do have a concern about the noise um but you know Anita and I'm not going to read the whole thing that I did before Anita came up and said something very positive and she said uh it she said right here um oh I'm trying to get it here um they need to be responsible for their actions and with that um I I agree 100% you know I know that they're going to be be good neighbors and also therefore what we've done actually yesterday is we've went gone ahead and put an application in to remove our special exemption for noise ordinances for that reason because every business needs to have their uh and be responsible for their noise ordinances and we need to follow the town and how their noise ordinances you guys put a noise ordinance together and we all need to follow it and we all need to be on the same playing field so that's what we're doing and and obvious seeing you guys in a few months after your break and uh have yourself a good day and get these guys approved thanks Mike anyone else have anything to say I can remember many many times struming across I mean walking across the street when I first moved here from the whale to the cottage um it's looking a lot more like rehab now right right exactly I'm not too far off uh are there any any additional comments if we'll close public comment are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant no okay and now close a public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain is there a discussion or a motion I got a question um so the parking is is there an issue with parking on this project are you asking anybody I'm asking anybody I is there a parking do I have an issue with the parking sure is it in this case there's a lot of things that are outside their I mean the CCC they got to be behind that I mean it's to me it's different it was important to see the square footage the usable square footage of what they're using the patrons that they could fit in there before versus what they have now I'm not a huge fan that the fact that they're having less parking spaces but in this case I understand the circumstances because we're because I I just want let everybody know because we are looking at every every case individually and I think to me it's never made sense to why the double calculations for parking if it's a bar restaurant why you have to have calculations for the bar and then on top of it it's for the restaurant to me it just it makes staff's job much much more difficult um and for people to understand it makes it much more difficult so I would like down the road to look at how we can clear that up to make it a little bit easier for people to understand and not create variances that aren't necessarily needed or requests that are necessarily needed anything else Scott no all right woodon I'd like to make a motion to move forward and approve resol resolution number 24-13 31 with the variances that have been approved by LPA second got a motion by uh councilor Woodson seconded by vice mayor adderal any further discussion vice mayor uh councelor Woodson I vice mayor Ed hi councelor King I councelor Safford hi and mayor Al and I vote Carri un say congratulations next we have item e now we have item e this is resolution 24133 vac 202 430 pink shell resort beach access easement relocation a resolution vacating beach access point number 42 located over real property owned by Captiva Villas Development LLC generally located at 200 esto Boulevard Fort Meers Beach accepting and approving a comparable replacement easement to be located on real property owned by Jabo LC subject to terms and conditions as contained in a second amended and restated pedestrian location and view easement agreement directing the town clerk to rec record the resolution authorizing the mayor to sign at all all needed documents and providing an effective date if any Town council member has had any expar communication to disclose please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place any correspondence that you received or observations made of of the site uh councelor what councelor Safford I back months and months ago we were getting bombarded by emails about this and I it's just gotten real quiet so I I have not I've have none at the present time okay Council Woodson um I've gotten many emails on this subject um and most of them have been um negative okay do I have to even though I'm abstaining from the vote do I have to no you're not GNA be voting so oh May yeah I I've received a number of emails a long time ago and just watching the LPA hearing I think a lot of those concerns were addressed although I did receive an email at 2:58 a.m. last night uh from someone who was in opposition okay concer King I will Echo exactly what the vice mayor just said mine came in at 2:58 a.m. as well I haven't check my all right Sarah pro has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on her education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant this at this time that have not been no okay as the property owner seeing a copy of the agenda backup materials from the staff they were nodding their head yes go ahead Sarah good morning afternoon almost noon uh Sarah propes is Community Development the property owner of the property containing beach access number 42 uh Captiva Villa's Development LLC has requested the current walkway easen to be vacated and relocated jbo LLC who owns the property at 200 EST stero Boulevard directly to the south of Captiva Villas has proposed that the easement be moved to 200 Aero Boulevard that's the large pink shell Resort building um the beach access would extend from the trolley stop at the front of the property through the pool deck to the beach uh beach access number 42 was originally granted to Lee County in 1985 and has been relocated twice over the years in addition to uh having a recordation in favor of the Town also uh the current location of the beach access would go through the middle of um proposed pool uh improvements between santel View and Captiva Villas uh the two buildings to the north of the uh larger pink shell building um the beach walkway easement would be open from dusk the proposed Beach walkway easement would be open from dawn to dusk for safety the applicant has messed with staff and the attorney and this proposal was found to be appropriate uh the applicate applicant has provided letters from the county indicating a willingness to move the beach walkway easement also and has required they've require they've provided the required letters of no objection from the utility companies and from the town departments who might have a need for that uh easement um which is a code requirement The View Corridor would not be moved it would remain in the original location between the Captiva Villas building and the Pink Shell Resort building that was the original location of the access easement um staff is available for any questions you may have and the applicant is also here okay questions for Sarah councilor King not at this time vice mayor adle just a quick one Sarah and maybe it's the council's uh uh maybe that maybe she's better situated for it but I'm curious I watched the LPA proceeding one of the things that just was never clear to me just procedurally is the county has controls the access the beach access but yet we're here help me understand that just a little better um there yeah okay um so uh my understanding of it originally it was a Lee County beach access easement um over the years it's been granted to the town uh there so the town has um a role in that but it isn't just the town it's the town and the county still so they would have to get it approved by us and by the county and the county has already voiced that they would be comfortable with that just over the years the county sort of yielded that authority to the town just gradually or was that a um it was I mean it was done via um an easement document um at I'm not sure what caused them to do it I think that it was when um originally it was granted under Lee County okay uh then when the town took over I think that when the next resolutions were approved there was an interest in ensuring that the town got involved because now we were making the uh approvals and recommendations and the changes to their zoning and wanted to ensure that we had a stake in that process okay thank you mhm con Woodson um so so they're not closing an easement they're just moving an easement correct so so they have to vacate that the location where it is now right um and from what I understand it is already blocked that's been uh a point of contention um amongst uh some of the letters that we've received that it was already blocked um by the full deck work that's been done but they're not proposing to close an easement they're proposing to move an easement and the way that has to be done is they vacate the one and they create a new so in moving that easement does that it still is an easement but it has to go through their property now or it's taking it out of there I'm confused when I'm reading this it's so it it was on the Captiva hold on the the property owners so the different properties are owned by different uh entities so the Captiva Villa Development LLC owns the property where the uh easement 42 was um and the property next door is owned by jbo LLC so um the easement just overlays on the property um so Captiva Villas wanted to move it jbo LLC next door says we'll take that on um so I'm not sure if I'm describing this well at all so I apologize um so they're not getting rid of an easement they're just moving it but the legal way they have to do that is by vacating one and creating a new I'm not sure if I answered your question I apologize so you're saying that Captiva Villas wanted to move the easement and pink shell is taking over handling that essentially yes I mean it's it's a it's the property owners I mean I believe that they're they're managed together um at least somewhat but they're owned separately so the the property owner was kept hea Villas and they're moving it over to jbo LLC and yeah uh their their attorney can probably speak a little bit more more coherently to this so I apologize I I'll wait then okay so I have a question about the hours of operation so to speak um number one is that can we impose that and then so here's my second qu follow-up question if we allow this then can somebody living down on Hercules say hey I I want my beach access to have the same hours are we open up a can of worms here well they they can make a request for you to put additional restrictions on your access areas that that is possible that's the answer to your second question um in answer to your first question yes um in the uh proposed easement that we tried to further identify death to Dawn um and some times are in there and that is your disc to approve those or not it's my understanding that there's no other beach access that has hours of quote unquote operation is that correct I would say and and Jeff may be able to speak better to this but my understanding is that none of the access easements have ours because we don't have any any like actual way to close them off um so they're open because they're open um if we chose to gate those access easements we could send somebody around to close all of them I don't want to do that no no I'm not I'm not saying that I'm just saying we don't really have the ability to close off any of our current ones because they're not designed in such a way how would how is this enforcable I mean somebody cruises in there at you know an hour before Sunrise do is it'll be closed be so you can actually physically put a gate close it I guess that's what I'm asking yeah okay that was kind of the the big thing so so you you can actually close it off wait take come up and we can hear what you're saying yeah okay all right got it I was kind of confused about that so all right yep all right Sarah other Sarah yes good afternoon Sarah Spectre with redone Andress on behalf of the applicants which is both Captiva Villa's development and jbo which both have the same managing Partners which I do have them here today uh part of them are here today um Sarah could you just break that down and how that relates to the pig shell itself I will if you'll I think it'll be easier to explain when I have a map up which actually that might be my first slide it is um so these properties were purchased there were two that were developed as Condominiums with the properties around them being left not submitted to the condominium form of ownership so Captiva Villas is one of those where the surrounding property is owned by Captiva Villa's development and then the condom minum is Captiva Villa's Condominium Association so I don't know if you can I point real quick sure okay so this isas and then this isini property L this is and re can can I speak into them because I know that from listen relisten no if you want to point those out and I'll repeat what you said so that people at home can hear the full thing I I apologize I just know from listening to these sometimes you can't so jbo that's J yes this property this property and owns that J oo owns both of those properties for purpos of so you know what we're talking about this is White Sands that's White Sands Captiva Villas that's Captiva Villas and is santelle view S View thank you so did a good job it is no just kidding all right perfect so I know the ownership that any other way can you point is the green line the Eastman yes so that was the next thing I wanted to there are currently three e on I know that was a question earlier whether this was on I guess Town property or some other property but all of [Music] these this is beach access 41 this is beach access 42 and this is beach access 43 what I want to tell you at the beginning is I know a lot of you had gotten quite a few letters of Noah letters of objection when we had originally proposed to move this six-foot easement 42 and combine it with 43 we have since changed that and are now moving it through the White Sands building so and I say through it actually is going underneath the building through the pool deck and down to the beach so we have since received there again this is Vacation Villas and beach villas both have now submitted letters of support there's just one person within Vacation Villas that has submitted a letter of no a letter of objection opposition to moving it here and Sarah the the green is the new easement proposed what which is the one that's actually closing that are being moved this one right here thank you and the reason for that is this as you can it's a little hard to see I'll show you on the next slide but um this runs through a pool deck the pool decks there was two pool decks they were not even and for Ada reasons they um made the decks even to address any there were previously Falls in this location so they've since even the decks and put a fence around that so there's a fence around the entire which we'll get into in the special exception next but there's a um fence all along here but there's Gates here and um thank you very much so let me show you the next slide which shows you a little easier so you can see where they actually are now and what we're proposing as in the way of public benefit and one thing I do need to uh address uh Sarah was not at the LPA meeting we did agree to leave the um access open from 8:00 a.m. in the morning to 11:00 p.m. at night which is the operating hours of the hotel we um had originally had Dusk to Dawn and that was at the suggestion of the county the County's parks are only open from I said that backwards from dawn to DUS so it was their recommendation that it be from dawn to dusk but we're since the resort will be open anyway we're fine with keeping it open during those hours there is it will be easy enough to make a distinction between who is there for pink shell and who is there um to use the beach access because those who are there for pink shell have bands that um identify them and allow them to use the pool facilities while those using the beach access only and not there for the Pink Shell Resort will not have access to the pool one reason why we're suggesting this location we think it's a better location where the current beach access is because one right at the um entrance to the White Sands building is a trolley stop because if you look back at the slide before you'll see that there's 800 ft in between the two in between beach access 41 and beach access 43 across the street on the Bayside that's entirely owned by Pink Shell with no public parking so no one really uses especially 42 right now because there's nowhere for them to park if they aren't staying with the pink shell so we're moving it to where there's a trolley stop so there's a better chance that people will use it Additionally the White Sands building has restaurants that are open to the public and most beneficial that you don't have any of your other Beach accesses is there will be bathrooms that will be open to the public so those will be available during the hours that it's open between 8 and 12 so that um that the trolley stop the restaurants and the bathrooms are public benefits for moving these um Beach accesses one additional thing I I don't think it got corrected in this um in your packet but originally we had proposed that we would extend the beach access to the cccl line your where the EC Zone starts but the county has asked that we extend that to the mean high water line so the legal description and sketch that's in the agreement that we have already um negotiated with your town attorney does have the easement extending all the way to the mean high water line and then I just want to go back back to this for one second so what we're asking for is Captiva Villa's development would like to vacate its easement which is current beach access 42 and we're simply replacing it now this is we're going through a vacation process which this has never been required previously which I think is why it's a little a little new um it was when Mr Karen was your town attorney he had instituted this vacation process which is a little different than what the statutes U contemplate that's when vacating ploted right of ways and ploted easements so this is a little different which is why our agreement giving you access to proposed Beach act 40 access 42 is a separate agreement rather than part of a plat or something of that nature so we as I mentioned we have negotiated that with your town attorney and um included terms in there that have not been included in there before for the town's protection uh including indemnification and insurance requirements so if anything were to happen in that location the um jbo LLC does have insurance coverage the town will be added as an additional insured onto that policy and there is an indemnification provision in the agreement so and then maintenance is ongoing is a responsibility of J LLC so the town really has no obligation as it relates to the replacement easement Sarah yes just real quickly I don't want to belabor this but prior to the storm was was the public really even using the current beach access 42 no no bill wulus has been with the hotel for 18 years and he doesn't recall it being used it's a pretty odd location for beach access yeah it is okay I'm just curious thank you yes so um just I don't remember where the second access was But as Sarah mentioned there was it was relocated it was originally located between the White Sands building the big one and the Captiva Villa development that is where the view corridor was originally created and Still Remains the only reason why it's in your agreement as being restated is we're terminating the previous agreement so in order to carry forward The View Corridor we needed to restate it in a new agreement but it's not moving and nothing about it is changing then just to wrap up the this is um what your code now requires as far as um applications for vacations and the criteria that must be met and our uh argument is that this does meet the requirements of the code given that we are uh providing a replacement easement that does provide additional public benefit that the current beach access does not provide so with that our request is that you please approve the vacation all right questions for Sarah John have you seen this uh email that came in at 258 this morning or I did and um I think she made the same arguments in in her email that was sent before the LPA meeting I I only saw it briefly on my phone um I know that there's a mention in there that the facilities in the pink shell are not open to the public based on a previous zoning approval that was since changed the zoning approvals now provide that the uh amenities within the Pink Shell restaurant Spa all that are open to the public what do you have to say about the U allegation that this is uh doing a after the fact that this was already started and we're just now going to clean it up after the fact it sounds like is what their accusation is a few things to that point first ping shell was one of the first resorts to go back online and be able to house FEMA individuals and and the like they had to get the resort safe so that they could have those visitors and there was no fencing around the pool so they did need to fence the pool in this location so that there was no one from the outside coming in and getting hurt um there was another point I was going to make there um oh I know what the other point was we submitted our application originally over a year ago when the fence wasn't up and it's just taken this long to get it through the process with coordinating with the county who the county had I've met with the county attorney and the uh County uh lands manager and they are in support of this they just haven't gotten it on agenda yet they have the vaca or the termination and the replacement agreement it just has to be put on an agenda so um this has been a long time in the works so we started where it wasn't the fencing wasn't there but we had to put it up for safety purposes also the there's a accusation that the Land Development code prohibits vacations of public right of way solely for private purposes if a replacement is not given and here we're given giving a replacement eement okay thank you no nothing additional counc won no I'm good thank you Council saffre so I have another question about the this gate let's say you guys have a special event like singer songwriter what's going to happen to that gate it's going to remain open are you going to close it I'm gonna I I'm not sure about operationally so I just um because you if your hours are 8 to 11: then you might want to put something in there unless we have a special event and we should be okay with that because I can see that happening I I don't think anybody's going to do that but I'm always looking at the wh ifs well I'm Bob boin uh the uh I I go back to the beginning I I bought the resort in 1998 and and and in some regards the pink shell is a reflection of the entire Island if you look at what it was and now we look at what it is very different and uh you guys are doing Yan's work to get it get all of us into the future and I appreciate that uh but uh the the the reality is there's lots of operational factors that came into why we wanted to move it and it is a completely useless easement let me just begin with that because no one ever has used it and I don't think they likely will use it heavily if at all because we have two easements on either on the North and South perimeter of the property that are that are wide open this one we had a the the previous location required us to basically uh segreg at the pool decks with fencing and then have you know uh electronic RFI uh gate access uh devices to allow people to travel between the various pool decks this was an opportunity to bring it all together and then in in working with we realized that vacating this easement was a road too far we weren't going to get there so this was uh a pretty good solution that brought benefit with it by having the public restrooms available to people we're pretty concerned about however having this be open 24/7 given that we have a pool right there and uh just the liability of having somebody uh start to use that facility you know in the middle of the night and let alone the the disruptions it could cause to our customers it's just a safety issue and so that's that's the Big Driver behind it you know gets into our insurance company's concerns and and all of that so uh I apologize I wandered off your original question where were we my my question sir was if you have a special event like singer singer songwriter yeah and obviously private wedding I and we are going to have songwriters again this year and uh pretty excited about that we are too we're going to we're going to have that gate open you know it's a it's a it's something we never had before if uh well we had doors but uh the the the uh pool deck just wasn't something that was secured very often we have a pretty effective security Force now and we've now located Chester right there in the vestibule so if you want to come on to the pool deck you're you got to get past him if you don't have a wristband and so we realize that the security of the Integrity of the resort that pool deck is is Paramount and so we'll we'll we'll have the the team in place but for a special events for whatever other reason uh that gate can be just left open I mean it's a it's a something that we operate at at our dis discretion uh but we will be shutting it down at 11 o'clock every evening because we want to we want to keep people away from that pool when there's no uh staff around totally understand thank you other question okay public comment is there anyone that would like to speak and public comment seeing none we'll close public comment is any additional comments Sarah no okay I'll now close the public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain Mr Mayor yes sir I would move approval of resolution 24133 okay we have a motion for approval by vice mayor adhal is there a second I'll second second by councelor Safford any further discussion vice mayor arol I councelor Safford I councelor Woodson I counc King hi motion carries four to one uh with Vice with mayor adhal abstaining four to zero sorry four to zero yeah with the mayor did I say did I it's uh 1:30 so okay moving on item f is resolution 24-13 sez 20230 226 275 322 200 esto Boulevard and 192 Estero Boulevard common element the pink shell it's a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving with conditions special exception se22 30226 to allow reconstruction of a pool deck Cabanas fence irrigation system and cheeky Huts in the environmentally critical easy zoning district with the conditions for the property located at 275 322 200 and the common element of 192 Aero Boulevard providing for scriveners errors severability and an effective date if any Town council member has had any expart communication to disclose please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place any correspondence that you received or observations made of the site councilor King none that I recall Merle i' I had some emails long ago but I think most of those concerns have since been addressed okay coun Woodson uh again emails long ago but I did receive that one at 2:59 a.m. o councelor Safford I'm so glad people can't spell my last name I didn't get that email but my my ex parte is is is the same lots of emails way back when but nothing since okay SAR pro has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on her education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the Town Fort Meers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time who have not already done so seeing none go ahead Sarah good morning Sarah prop good afternoon Sarah propes with Community Development jbo LLC and Captiva Villa's Development LLC owners of Pink Shell Resort located at 275 322 esto Boulevard 200 Estero Boulevard and the common element of 192 Estero Boulevard have applied for a special exception to allow the replacement or repair of accessory structures that were in the environmentally critical zoning District prior to Hurricane Ian these structures include a pool paper deck Pap pool deck pool fence six chicky Huts uh two um movable huts and Landscaping and irrigation the applicant is requesting this special exception through the ordinance amendment to section 34- 652e that allows reconstruction or renewal of primary structures and major accessory structures partially or fully within the EC zoning district with the approval of a special exception the EC zoning district is the land seword of the 1978 Coastal Construction Control line the resort appears to have been built after the imple implementation of the 1976 uh Coast 1978 Coastal Construction Control line however the amenities may have been in place prior to the buildings the applicant the applicants are not proposing any additional development in the EC beyond what was in existence prior to Hurricane Ian staff has received several letters of support and of objection from the adjacent Property Owners the applicant has has provided a landscape plan and uh for the pool deck and sidey yard event area and an emergency evacuation plan which was requested by the LPA staff is available for any questions and the applicant is also here Scott questions for Sarah not right now Karen I'll hold Jim nothing at this time John none currently right thank you thank you Sarah 2.0 h right good afternoon again Sarah Spectre with Rell and Andress on behalf of captivia villa development and jbo LLC both of which have an interest in the property that is subject to the special exception request as Sarah mentioned we are asking for approval to Simply put back what was there prior to Hurricane Ian that crossed over the cccl line so that is a special exception to allow for a pool fence with Gates pavers six cheeky huts irrigation to support lawn and landscaping which I'll show you the location of and also electricity to the two um movable Huts that Sarah had mentioned which I'll also point out to you so here is a depiction of the resort with the yellow line being the cccl and the green line being the uh Dune where the Dune will be restored so it's everything between the yellow and green lines that we're talking about now so you'll see there's a dark gray area that's noted as lawn that's the lawn area there's around the pool is a light gray area which is the pavers you see a dash line that goes around the pool deck that's the fence you'll see three little squares re I'm sorry six rectangles and squares that don't have red exes to them those are the cheeky huts and then the two movable structures that have have the red X's through them are not included in this request because they were approved by the zoning so those have already been approved and don't need special exception approval however the electricity that runs to them does so that is included in this request there's a a nature center in one and um food being served out of the other so electricity is needed there as was mentioned the there was some concern at both um the original application level and also at the LPA regarding the Landscaping as you'll see here uh the lawn in the previous picture went all the way over to the property line which is not actually what we're doing here there's actually we're reinstating the walkway that was there and then you'll also see as a um benefit to our neighbors who had some concern we have put in a hedge of clusia so that they um will not see anyone once they grow to their maturity or full maturity um will not see the walkway that's through there this is a picture from September 14th uh 2017 the only reason I've included that the dates not of any importance but I did want to show you uh that there was some concern previously about we were asking for something more than what was there before so I wanted to be able to show you here that it's actually identical to what we were were asking for before I know that there was uh originally opposition to the lawn area that's why we've since provided the landscape plan which shows that the trees that were removed by the storm and I say removed by the storm they were destroyed by the storm um the Landscaping will be put back to closely mirror that but unfortunately we can't put in um the thick level of um Landscaping that was there to begin with so uh in your letters of objection that you might have received back from January these were two of the issues that were addressed the third was the um vacation and so since we've already addressed that I've taken that out of this presentation one concern was the number of cheeky Huts because we currently had four prior to the storm however long ago as you can see in this pamphlet there were six cheeky Huts The Cheeky Huts uh were contested by our neighbors to the South Beach villas for blocking their view of the water and they we entered into a settlement agreement with them to where we moved the cheeky Huts that were in front of beach villas which is to our South we moved them North because we historically had six we're asking that we have permission to put six back but they will all be North either located directly in front of or north of the White Sands building so that they comply with the settlement agreement the other thing I should note here is that DP has already issued permits for six cheeky Huts so D has already uh approved of the six there was also a question as to what was going to happen in these cheeky Huts so I just wanted to provide a picture this is from um shortly before the storm there just um open structures where people use them as a cabana so there's no parties or anything going on there was concern that there'd be it would be like a tiki hut or something like that but as you can see here it's solely to serve as a a cover when people are using the beach and then I did I uh made reference to this this is what the area looked like prior to the storm but all of that has been um removed mostly by the storm and what was left afterwards and you can see the pathway that is being created with the landscape plan to the left that's what we intend to um put back and then I've listed the special exception criteria and I've gone through each one of them but um in place of going through that I would like to uh ex or um sorry ask that you submit the staff report to the record and we agree with the staff report where recommendation has been made that the special exception criteria has been met and the special exception um should be approved so we would ask that you please approve the special exception okay oh I'm sorry there was one additional point in addition to the landscape plan we were asked to prep um provide an evacuation plan for the movable structures that you saw with the red exit through them we had submitted that in advance but it didn't make it into your package I don't did copies you you do have that okay so this is just the um what the LPA had asked for and it just identifies what steps will be taken if a storm comes through the area and those movable structures have to be um addressed that questions for Sarah John No Sa no okay we now open up to public comment is there anyone that would like to speak in public comment seeing none we'll close public comment any rebuttal no okay I'll now close the public hearing and request discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain Mr Mayor yes sir I would move approval of resolution 24-13 I'll second got a motion by vice mayor adalt seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion Vice mayle I counc seford I counc Woodson hi councelor K hi motion carries unanimously 4 to zero with mayor allers abstaining next is resolution 24134 sc202 4126 7400 to stero Boulevard a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions denying special exception sc202 4126 to allow reconstruction of a storm damaged infrastructure in the easy zoning District including a partial parking lot a new aluminum rail fence along the seaw wall and new fence with gate around the South Garden for the property located at 7400 EST stero Boulevard providing for scriveners erors severability and an effective date if any Town council member has had any expart communication to disclose please let the let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place and correspondence that you received or observations made of the site John none that I recall J uh prior to the store I live next door but I have not had any specific conversations about this item okay Karen I have had none Scott I've had none and I have had none as well um Mr Mayor I think this is Eli have you've been qualified as an expert before the Town Council okay so if you can could you please please State your uh qualifications to to serve as an expert witness on uh land use planning in the town of Fort Meers speach yeah so Eli Lee for the record uh with Community Development Department been with to town for five years served two years as a code enforcement officer through as a planner um and also receives my masters in public administration from FGCU sh I move we qualify Eli as wit us I will second any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I hi welcome to the expert panel going to bre about it later Eli Le is has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on his education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Mary's Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time seeing none has the property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff yes okay Eli take it away yeah so once again for the record uh my name is Eli Lee with commun development um Leonard Orange Beach Club County medum Association has applied for a specialist session to allow the replacement or repair of a major accessory structure that was constructed in the environmental sorry environmentally critical zoning District in the construction of two new minor structures on the common element portion of the condominium property prior to hurricane in these previously existing structures is a partial parking lot and the new structures are an aluminum rail fence along the seaw wall and a fence with gate around the soft Garden the applicants requesting the special session through the newly adopted ordinance amendment to session 34- 652e that allows reconstruction or renewal of primary structures and accessory major accessory structures partially or fully within the EC zoning district with the approval of a special exception the EC zoning district is the land Seer of the 1978 Coastal Construction Control line this country was constructed in 1969 prior to the creation of the 1978 trip it appears that the parking lot was part of the pre-existing development prior to Hurrican the applicant is also proposing installation of Def fenses which are new developments that did not exist prior to Hurricane Ian um staff notes that the staff Nots that because the proposed fences are new they do not meet the uh code requirement for the specialist C on June 11 LPA voted approval of this the request and including in the staff report are the list of conditions um staff is available to answer any question that you may have and also we have uh a representative from Leonardo ORS here if you have any questions okay uh questions for Eli John yeah um can you help me understand the uh denial for the seaw wall fence and the garden fence yes so the denial for the seaw wall fence um the applicant St that was for liability purposes um and uh fall protection so I talked to the town's building official and um there's no requirement for um a seaw wall fence for fall protection because um the Florida biding code from my understanding with the town's biding official is that uh you only need a fall protection for walking surfaces the seaw wall is not considered a walking surface that's not what the intent of a seaw wall is um so that's why I recommend a deny for it and also the um DC code session says that minor R are allowed in EC but they be located closer closer to landward portion of the EC line so the proposed fences are fully in EC um and not only that but they also did not exist prior to the storm it is not required by Florida Bal to have thank you okay Jim Eli uh this is may be a better question for the applicant but is somebody who lives in this area I you know when you walk along the beach from the south end to the North End you run into this seaw wall as you know you've been out to the location I'm guessing and your first instinct trying to get from the south to the north used to be able to walk the whole length of the beach which is one of the blessings of this renourishment plan that's coming down the pike that'll fix that uh is to hop on top of that seaw wall and walk around now I I I I do everything I can to prevent myself from doing that because I I could see that the the liability issues for leardo arms and the danger involved uh it's not a balancing beam it's a little wider than that so it's definitely doable so I understand the liability issue so when you say you're in denial you're denying this you're just you're just sort of it's more procedural than practical is that is that fair yes and I do understand what the applicant was saying that is a you know liability life safety for protection um when I talked to applicant about this um during the review process say as them you know is is this fence a huge priority um and he told me that it it is but it's not as important to have as the uh rebuilding the parking lot that was you know truly damaged in the from the storm um and then as well as of course the the building official saying that it's not really required it's they don't really need to you know have it like the code is not required to make uh to to install it so that's what aided in my decision um but I do understand the liability Life Safety uh need for it it didn't you know was a a soft no yeah you can't I appreciate that and because you can't really get around to continue to walk on the beach because of that that seaw wall and of course the in the instinct is just to climb on top and just walk on top of it which I'm sure gives the uh owners heartburn and and and legitimate concern so thank you I appreciate that okay Karen so this fence would be in the critical Wildlife Area this whole area is on that beach is it critical Wildlife Area or not no it's critical it's environmentally critical EC it's not in a critical Wildlife like the Doom or anything it is in the critical Wildlife Area oh EC yes yeah no but I mean it's in the it's in the CWA yeah as well is that what you meant yeah because I know and I'll just go back to the infamous Dune walkover um they were not allowed to have railings or anything of height because Birds of Prey sit on top of it and go after um nesting birds and that type of thing so I'm wondering why that wasn't brought up or if it was brought up or is it does it even play a part in this I guess I'm asking but if it's in the environmentally critical Zone wouldn't it well I it's it's in the it's in the CCL and the and the CWA are we sure that is in the CWA I I am sure because the because the Bermuda Dunes which is on the south end of that is in the CWA and then obviously everything to the north up until uh the Doom walkovers in the CWA mean South South I'm South sorry South right yeah so so the Dune walkover goes from the the Dune I'm sorry the the the critical Wildlife Area goes from the Dune walk over to just before the window thank you so I I I'll go back to it and I would I I don't know the answer to your question I I mean I would just for consistency and what the D had said was they didn't want any kind of railing or fence or anything like that because of birds of prey so I can I can understand for other reasons than what you stated the denial of having off fence there I do know the uh that Leonardo arms had to get an emergency permit from the state to build the seaw wall so whether they had to do that for the additional railing that's a good question for the applicant I don't know Scott you got me confused now uh no no questions at this time okay the applicant like to come up good afternoon guys miles lagard CIO construction I am the uh general contractor working with lean AO arms thank you for your time today as you mentioned the seaw wall was not uh there prior to Ian and I think the main concern that they're having is as as well of the seaw wall I don't know if you still have your packets but there is a rip wrap wall Splash apron that is now in the works of being permitted and until the beach replenishment happens the only way to get across from the north to the South is the seaw wall and what they don't want is people walking on the seaw wall and falling into the what will be the splash apron the rip wrap so they're very concerned about liability and and as far as a South Garden Gate that was news to me that it's in the EC Zone and all that was is they had a fence there prior and when I was back I was here in front of you guys back in J January to get a special exception for the pool no just just so we're clear I I thought councelor Woodson asked if the if the seaw wall was in the CWA I I thought that was her question no I I thought I heard you say that the because it was in the CWA the railing wouldn't be the both the railing and the south gate wouldn't I wasn't referring to the south gate just apologize no it's okay I just want to make sure we're every we're we're we're clear y but my question for you is if I could the the seaw wall you're going to put a fence on top of the seaw wall how high is that fence we requested 42 Ines per code it's it'll be a 42in powdercoated uh railing does the railing go away what after be nourishment AB buts the seaw wall the fence I mean do I would say that they may be open to that again they're just concerned about this situation that they're faced with now so I can certainly uh request that I I can't answer that I I think again if if if the renourishment is is is as extensive as we told and I was told I asked about Lardo Leonardo arm specifically and they said initially it would be 200 feet of sand in front of Leonardo then nature would be allowed to sort of naturally do the initial wear back which would still leave 75 ft of sand so that fence theoretically i al would no longer be necessary and I I can't imagine the the residents there would want it and I I wouldn't think the neighbors would want it and I would think the Aesthetics of walking up and down the beach would not be good either sure certainly understand the need for it now I I would agree to that yes so can was can we as a would you be comt comfortable as a condition that after renourishment is done that that that that fence come down if if there's no longer a safety need or Public Safety need if we could revisit that yes in case there is still with the rip wrap wall of safety but yes absolutely any other questions for the advoc k no I'm I'm good with that I like that suggestion all right thank you thanks guys public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak in public comment no seeing none we will close public comment is there any rebuttal from the applicant I'm assuming probably not no okay we'll now close the public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions or deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain Mr Mayor let me take a crack at this uh I would move approval of resolution 24-1 34 with the condition that the additional fencing on top of the seaw wall be removed if there are no longer any public safety concerns post Beach R nourishment okay VI mayor I'm sorry who who would be making that determin uh Frankie I like that yeah I the the town's director of operations or the town of Fort Myers Beach whatever whatever is appropriate y I'll second that motion all right got a motion by vice mayor adhal seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion vice mayor adal hi councelor Woodson hi coun Stafford hi counc King hi deny motion carries unanimously any we need a break we want to keep plowing through oh they they're about ready to eat there all right let's take a we're going to take a take a break and U can eat while we're working or do at 3:00 just threw you all under the bus did you hear that e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right we're going to call this meeting back to order it is 20:09 p.m. next we have the administrative agenda um if it's okay with console and speaking with Nancy we're going to switch item d and e just so because it's the two short-term rental discussions and then save the millage rate for last so we can to a good point keep the same train of thought any objection to that okay first item is resolution 24126 authorizing use of arpa funds to reimburse the emergency fund Joe good afternoon Joe anik Director of Finance um so this very first resolution on the administrative agenda is regarding um it's really the remnants of the the verer Consulting um expenditures that occurred during the um first like two and a half months primarily um immediately after Hurricane Ian there was about $1.7 million of expenditures um that were um they had invoiced US Weekly and so those first seven invoices were paid out um at that time fairly soon after they were invoiced that was immediately after the hurricane and so title bason became involved soon after that in reviewing expenditures and then the interim Finance director had come on board at that time as well and through that joint effort and reviewing these invoices they realized that there was not sufficient documentation um to have FEMA um to qualify for female reimbursement and so that started a long process working with verer and going back and and forth and trying to obtain as much documentation as we possibly could for FEMA reimbursement and I just brought this binder with so it's really it's seven invoices um and this is all the documentation that we eventually were able to collect from them but at some point they just stopped um cooperating and that was a point at which the decision was made that we would withhold further payment to them until they finish providing us the documentation and that's what eventually led to the dispute with verer and then to the mediation process and then the settlement but in the aftermath of that there was still 400 and let's see 11 with the amount $411,000 worth of expenditures for which we did not have sufficient documentation to be reimbursed by FEMA and so it fortunately the American Rescue plan act the arpa funds they are allowed to be used for emergency expenditure and so this resolution is proposing that we use 411,000 of the arpa funds to reimburse the emergency fund for these expenditures okay questions for Joe John none Jim no Karen no Scott just for the people watching at home what uh what What's the acronym arpus stand for American Rescue plan act okay and how much money do we receive from them was like 3.6 million yes and how much of that have we used so far there after this ball park you right after this would be um we have almost 3 million of it accounted for in terms of either has been used or is proposed to be used like for example 1 million of it is proposed to be used um for the matching portion of the grant for this the new um ball fields that are going in so that that's 1 million of it and we used um 800,000 you know plus thousand to help balance the budget for this this current fiscal year and there's one or two other items um so how much will be left then after this um would be about 800,000 would be left and we are required to spend it by the end of this this current FIS well calendar year by December 31st not fiscal calendar by right calendar year okay I don't have any questions I think you cover it all I'll make a motion to approve resolution 24-26 authorizing use of arpa funds to reimburse the emergency fund second motion by mayor Aller seconded by councelor King any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none the motion carries unanimously next is Item B resolution 24-27 adoption of the final Financial policies Joel yes um in the process of applying for the cdb gdr um grants as well as um ensuring that we meet the requirements for um receiving funding in advance as much funding in advance as possible that's was that frck um process that the town had gone through it we worked on developing our financial policies and formalizing them um so the four that are included here um would be the emergency financial plan the grant financial management policy the duplication of benefits policy and then the accounting policy um I I'll just skip over the first one and then go right to the grant financial management policy one this one is really it's almost word for word Lee County's policy and we just took it and customized it to match our our um own situation and the positions that we have within the town and so that is how that policy was developed and that was necessary in order to qualify for cdbg Dr funding and the same is true for duplication of benefits policy the duplications of benefits policy is just um the procedures and the controls that we have in place to make sure that the funding that we're re receiving from outside sources um for a particular expenditure you know grant funding is what I'm referring to is is not duplicating itself so we're not receiving two different sources of funding for the same expense so it's just the procedures that we have in place to ensure that that doesn't happen and that's what the duplication of benefits policy is the accounting policy is basically um a cut and paste of our accounting policy that's already included in our audited financial statements that was drafted by our Auditors and those are the policies that they ensure that we follow for um in the way we process and record and Report our financial transactions so those three things were really developed by either Lee County or Auditors the very first one the emergency financial plan um this is brand new it's it was required by the frro process it's it's encouraged to have an emergency financial plan excuse me by the Florida state statutes for all towns and municipalities um within Florida I did a search to see if I could find someone else's Town's emergency financial plan I could not find anything the only thing I could keep coming up with was FEMA had guidelines for how to create one so that that is what I did I closely followed FEMA guidelines and so just to briefly um run over some of the things that are included in this emergency financial plan um it it captures the essence of effective financial management of a disaster so it kind of lays out the the various elements that need to be taken into consideration um and the things that you should be doing the calculation of costs and then comparing that to the financial resources that we have available um it recommends the formation of an emergency Financial team which is basically what we had and it will consist of the Town manager and the directors and then this group would assist with budgeting forecasting cash flow management debt monitoring payroll risk avoidance disaster assessment expense reimbursement emergency protective measures debris um debris removal timely tracking and reporting of costs and long-term Disaster Recovery project planning funding streams so it really item all the different things that we were already fully engaged with but it just formalizes it um it talks about the importance of project portfolio management I think we have something like 37 different FEMA projects and how important it is to keep track of all that the cordination of multiple funding sources and we we're seeing that with the various granting streams that are coming to us primarily FEMA but there's other ones as well and how to coordinate that a compliance with the procurement regulations how import important that is uh refers to the Grant Management policy which was that separate policy which um is here for your approval it talks about the importance of having pre-existing and pre-qualified emergency contracts which like for example for debris removal um and then it also um focuses on the maintenance or the establishment and maintenance of an emergency Reserve fund so that we're able to provide rapid response and recovery from a disaster it talks about the logging and tracking of the Disaster Response and Recovery costs and all of the forms that are necessary like for um FEMA reimbursement um and it talks about the monitoring of cash flow um and then that leads into the source of funding for the disaster and it it and what it asks the um guidelines for FEMA recommends is that we have like a um hierar hierarchy of funding sources to fund the disaster and so this is kind of touches on what I presented to you regarding the millit rate and talking about what what we actually did do immediately after the hurricane and so our first source of funding is the emergency Reserve then it would be the general fund emergency Reserve then it's the general fund operational Reserve then it's the general fund contingency account and then from there um if we're still in need of of cash it would be the capital fund Reserve so this just formalizes that that hierarchy of what we would need um so it it's all just presents it in in What's called the emergency financial plan and I just wanted to highlight all of those aspects of it so you had a better understanding of it all right questions for Joe John none Jim Ken I have no questions but I just got to say you the work you've done on this is just incredible thank you thank you yeah I got to say the same thing as a numbers Guy this is Well written thank you a lot of time and effort since we' we're talking about the frck have we received our number yet or they still I know we've completed all the stuff that we need we we've we've got to consider we received a considerable upgrade they're still working on it but I think the Top's 52 or something 55 and like at 49 I mean we knocked it out of the park right yeah I was just talking to um Jason this morning and he said that I think it's 60 is the highest but and we're at 55 so we good good and just if you can explain a little bit about what that is because people aren't really sure what frck is and what the program how how it would benefit having that high rating for the town how that would benefit us should we have another storm I forget what the acronym stands for um but it's the it's what the emergency the Florida emergency department um Emergency Management Department it's an evaluation process in which they have a whole list of criteria of individual policies and procedures that we need to have in place and they they use this as as like a risk assessment in order to determine um how safely um could they is how safe is it to give any town or municipality um the funding up front and be entrusted with that funding to manage it properly according to all the policies and procedures and so to get a score of 55 out of 60 is is really incredible frck is Florida Recovery obligation calculation yeah we were probably in the upper 20s when we first started and and then the homework and and the SEC providing information documents like this we're one of the first we are in the first group and now they've got every almost every town and City's clamoring to get in the program now but we're already way down the way down the road you want Jason you want to talk any about F rock at all I I just think it's really important that the people out there get to hear exactly what it is Jason's been early aison for that so if you want to just talk a little bit about where we started and where we are sure sorry I apologize we're doing that EC briefing right now Tu for Hurricane Seasons we're listening to that so A couple of us were on that but your stff um yes the Rock program was new last year uh the town opted into it we just started the optional opin process for next next hurricane season uh so we were in that the first year of the program which is pretty exciting uh so essentially entailed us going through a lot of our uh category a and category B expenses and procedures and policies uh which is removal and emergency protective measures I believe under FEA under FEMA correct so we worked with the division of Emergency Management FM on uh taking a look at our policies sending them current policies and practices and they gave us an abatement plan of different activities that we could do to kind of streamline the process make it easier on them make it easier on us kind of formalize a lot of those policies and procedures uh so we did that through uh items such as updating the procurement ordinance which we did a couple months ago I believe and so I don't believe we have our final score yet uh but from what we've indicated we've gone up a substantial amount from what our initial score was after that abatement plan uh so as soon as we get the official word on what that score is I'll be able to share that with you all um but essentially that score will translate to money up front that we can receive upon obligation uh which I know Joe can kind of probably explain what obligation is a little bit more than I can but uh essenti that helps us with uh cash needed in hand after an emergency uh which I think will be very huge Force so what that score does is it translates to a percentage of uh of money that we can get up see if I guess from them uh upon obligation so pretty exciting it's it's a new program we just started it this year kind of we're part of that like Andy said that first group uh that we you know kind of to go through everything and now I think there's a lot more interest in it so it was pretty neat to start with it and kind of see where the program goes so all right thanks for the thanks for the update any sure any other questions mayor I'll move 24127 authorizing adoption of financial policies all right second a motion by councelor King second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously next is resolution 24-1 128 short-term rentals who's taken that I can Nancy yeah um did you want to read the title I can sure it is a resolution of the town of Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida waving the requirement for proof of use of a dwelling unit as a short-term vacation rental during the prior year due to the pendency of the local states of emergency for hurricanes Ian and nalia directing Town staff to administer annual renewal applications of previously registered monthly and weekly short-term vacation rentals and collect short-term fee rental short-term vacation rental fees as if the annual registration was timely received and the houses had been rented during the prior year until June 1st 2025 and providing for an effective date thank you um so we will be I will be asking you for um a little bit Direction regarding the June 1st 2025 date but basically what this resolution does is it attempts to um put into action um your direction from your June 6 um management and planning meeting um where we had a situation of a June 1st deadline for those that needed to register for short-term rentals and um they weren't sure of what they needed to do because of the fact that their um home their structure had been damaged by Hurricane Ian so as we understood the intent was to not require we're not making any changes to the ordinance but to not require um proof of rental during that period of time when they were getting their permits and moving forward with um getting that uh structure house back into the the rental market Market um so that is the first um waving that you're doing with this ordinance or resolution the second part is meeting the deadline of June 1st of 2024 I mean obviously that has that has passed um so the second part of the resolution is to direct Town staff to administer the applications of those that had previously registered as if the uh registration had been received by June the 1st and and the house had been rented during the prior year what we didn't know was are you going to set a deadline for when those that perhaps have not registered now to actually get their applications in and pay their fees so we put in the date until junee 1st of 2025 which you may want to redirect that I got I guess my question is what is the need for a deadline at all I mean if someone wants to take a year off or someone where they sell their house and they are on a weekly Street and now it's October and they miss the deadline to to do that this why why is there renewal so at some point in time why can't it be like your like your tags on your car I mean if it's your birth date you every year you know on your birth date you got to go in and get your renewal or you're not in compliance with the law that I don't have a problem with that um as far as the the June 1st date but what this is the way that this is worded right now which I'm bringing to your attention is that anybody that didn't meet the June 1st 2024 they still haven't made their renewal application and they still haven't paid their fee so how much time are you going to give them to actually come into compliance at this point because you've waved the O the requirement of showing proof that it was rented as a short-term rental and you waved the deadline under your U emergency powers that you have you can do that so now what are we doing going forward that's the second part of that um resolution so I think a couple of the people that had voice concerns had lost their structure completely so when their house is finally rebuilt and they get us when they're finally ready to either move in or rent that's kind of when they want it to register because it makes no sense to register while your home's being built or you're still not there yet so I I thought that was the main issue is that people want to keep their status but they're like hey my my H is it does it go my property is it go with that structure that washed away and we we clearly stated that it goes with the property but some of these houses aren't going to be built by June next year so I agree with you that makes perfectly logical sense the problem is is that your code has that June 1st deadline in it and we can't make any changes do that so we're functioning under our emergency uh powers that we have in our local state of emergency so we we're providing some flexibility for them to uh re-engage um but you know when do you want them to now file a renewal application and say that you know my property been damaged I'm trying to get permits here's my fee because the June 1st date has gone by um and you're waving the requirements again for the uh we put June 1st of 2025 because we didn't know I think that's kind of long that's a whole year tie along with sb250 where it's September 28th it's just direction to staff and you'll probably be coming back for um the extension of your um local states of emergency we don't know when those are going to end just a point of reference Mr Mayor we we have been very lenient with everyone that's approached us there are some that have not contacted us and have gone to contacting you all um but those that have contact us directly we have treated them on a Case toase basis realizing that they may not have a a a dwelling at this point or a dwelling that's up and in the process of getting back on their feet so we've been more than lenient as a staff as Nancy said looking for direction and again this is we're not talking about changing a monthly Street to a weekly Street or weekly monthly we're not doing anything this is just to get your fee in and your application now what if someone's renting and they're just not getting their they're just not coming in to get their application those people will be found out um through either code or the system itself because it goes through the registry that we've uh initialized uh when you guys started this program so as we get further and further along with this um those things do pop up and those they do get put out to code and code does make a a visit um if we find that you've been renting without coming in um and you've had every opportunity to do so then then it's a kind of a BL violation uh again we're not in that business we're in a bus business of education so we bring it to their attention first but um we all know that there there's at least correct correct so as a property owner I would need to have um something from the town saying that I could still engage in short-term rentals when I go to apply for um a construction loan so I could rebuild my my uh my my house sure so what document are we going to give them at this point they need to apply for Renewal um we've waved the requirment to show proof that they rented last year um and probably collect the fee and when would you like them to come in instead of having that June 1st deadline that's in the current code what is a reasonable amount of time to bring all their paperwork in order I think your June 1st of 2025 is is pretty reasonable and you can always revisit it yes if need be later okay all right then that's that's all I have to say yeah I'm fine I'm fine with that okay any other discussion or a motion I'll move 24-18 vacation rentals resolution all right got a motion by councelor King second second by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I i i i opposed hearing none motion carries unanimously next is resolution 24-1 129 condo opt out resolution a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida suspending during the pendency of the local states of emergency for Hurricane Ian and Dalia the requirement for condominium associations to notify the town manager if they self per if they self-perform an enforcement program for violations of the code of conduct for the short-term rentals as provided in section 10-17 or 1987 of the town of Fort Myers Beach code of ordinances waving payment of the required fee for each building for which an opt out exemption would otherwise be requested and providing for an effective date so this one also um does not make any changes to your existing code um and this one is um in effect the waving of it um until the local states of emergencies for Ian and Adelia have U come to an end okay questions for Nancy none all right is there a motion for resolution 24-1 129 so move mayor a motion by councelor King I'll second seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none the motion carries unanimously and last but not least is resolution 24-120 the tentative fiscal year 24-25 millage rate a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida adopting the tentative operating ADV rate of don't know yet for fiscal year 2024 2025 of the town of Fort Meers Beach establishing the date time in place for hearings to adopt the final operating at Valera millage rate and budget for the fiscal year 2024 2025 and providing for an effective date go ahead Joe okay I'm kind of embarrassed because I think I may have sent Jak of the wrong slide but maybe this is the first title that was wrong so I I just was going to bring up the same presentation I won't go through the whole thing but I think um you know one of the key places was just looking at um you know one of the key issues was looking at how much of a emergency Reserve we should have and that was DET ter as explained last time it was about 3 and A5 Mill million just in total so that we could make sure that we have enough cash on hand to get through the initial um portion of a disaster and then of that $3.5 million we have what's left in the emergency fund reserve of 220,000 and I was already assuming that you would approve the reimbursement of that 411,000 so this is after considering that reimbursement um and then we would have the 1,60 ,000 in the general fund emergency reserve the 600,000 operating Reserve so we would have like almost 1.9 million of the 3 and A5 million that we need so we're short the 1.6 million and let's see so we have in this proposed budget 290,000 available that we can contribute to the emergency fund and then this is then um if we were to stay at the point 99 millage rate that would would enable us to contribute 290,000 to the emergency Reserve Joe on that priv previous screen yes does that include this 290 if nothing were to change that the no one more back oh no I'm sorry you're right go forward this one here yeah do that in is that included in the 1.6 million that 290,000 well it would it would contribute towards um towards that amount so we need to add 1.6 million in the 290 would go towards that okay so that would decrease that number it would decrease it yes um the only other thing I would add to this just to maybe give it more context and it I don't know that it necessarily impacts this year's decision but I just tried to focus on what our immediate urgent need is and that's the boosting up the um emergency fund Reserve balance but one of the things that was reinforced when I I went to the um government Finance Officers Association conference in Orlando this last few days and I tried to go to as many um sessions as they had regarding emergencies reserves and and things like that so one of the things that was reinforced was the importance of having a sufficient emergency Reserve fund and one of the ways to calculate that was to take the probability of the need and and use that to kind of calculate how much you should put aside each year and so if you I mean then this is obviously hurricane Ian was as Extreme as you can get but that we had $20 million of expenditures and that's just our own that doesn't count what the state paid and all their debris removal we had $20 million of expenditures typically we would be required to pay 12 a half% so that would be $2.5 million so that would be like let's say the worst case scenario total cost and looking at I was trying to search for what is the probability of hurricane hitting Lee County again so the probability of a major hurricane according to Colorado State University's research for Lee County in Florida is like 19% and so if you just round that up to 20% that's like once every 5 years so if you use that kind of methodology that would mean we should be putting like $500,000 a year towards worst case scenario into the emergency fund so that every five years we would have enough and of course every year there' probably be more minor storms that we'd have to deal with and we have you know much less expense but we every year we need to be have something in the budget to replenish what our share of that cost would be and so I think um although this this specific presentation is geared towards building up the emergency Reserve I think on an ongoing basis we also need to think about having enough in the budget to continue replenishing it and so I guess I'm just trying to make sure that this isn't seen as a one-time need that this is really the beginning of an ongoing need that we'll have I'm not doubting uh the need to do what you said and I and I I support that help me understand now this frck thing would that offset help with that three and a half million we had to come up with since it sounds like we can get that money quicker or well I I don't think it necessarily would change that because FEMA decided to give us the 37.6 million and that comes through the state so as long as it takes to get to that point where it's decided that we're going to be getting money and it comes through the state then that's the point at which it's released and so in in this for Hurricane even was 7.6 million but it took it was like to mid December before that money came to us so it was um October November and into December it was like those was that four8 10 weeks 10 weeks worth of emergency expenditures we would have to go through of our use our of our use using our own cash on hand I guess what I'm getting to is I thought I heard that with this FR Rock program yes that would exped issues well it all it would mean was like so like when the point at which we get the the money up front it would be Pro I mean it could be like the 10 weeks it may be 10 weeks after the event and so we'll have to have sustained ourselves for 10 weeks and that's that's what's considered quick for government work is 10 weeks well and I and I think if I'm not mistaken even if you were to receive a an influx of cash from FEMA through the state we still are required to pay 12 and a half perc yes I get that of whatever that's where this money would come into play to offset the difference between the money we get through frck or through FEMA yeah to to pay our portion of it that's true right to answer your question directly sir the the frck uh program is basically just to expediate all those all that paperwork and that's what I was looking for so we had the proper checking account so to speak in place the all the all the the control systems put in place so they just basically hand you that check as soon as they get it which sounds like it's 10 weeks but it it gets it a lot quicker than what Joe explained I think the other thing we have to look at thank you um the other thing we have to look at is is just the storm last week Thursday if we would have had a title event with that storm oh my goodness so our our shorelines eroded our infrastructure is a lot weaker than it was um you know a category one could do as much damage to us as what would a fourwood to another town so just because it's not a five doesn't mean if if we get storm surge with the way our beach is today um you we're in our infrastructure I mean we're we're we're exposed well just look at what ad Delia did yeah I that was 60 miles offshore and in if it wasn't for the the sand the BM those that didn't have it so they they saw the effects of just what a title to your point it's got just a title event could do yeah you know I think we should also be clear you know it's it's been very um widely issued of the money that we just received from danta signing a bill and can we kind of go through what that goes over that does not go into our Reserve that's basically reimbursing us um for a lot of expenses we've already had and then for our building for the town hall building so can we kind of go through that because that just doesn't come as a you know influx of cash so to speak that's that's correct um the $8 million for the building will be used for the building and for whatever renovation needs to be done there so that that's nothing that we can or should count for a reserve so we we need the building um unfortunately fima reduces their their um grants To Us by any other funding that we' receive so whatever we we can we thought we might get from FMA for a building would be reduced by that to the extent that uman FEA May pay for um if there's any kind of additional costs like for mitigation they May cover some of that if it's over and above this $8 million so so we're given one thing but it reduces something else so we're not really coming out ahead but it's it's a wonderful thing that we you know either way you look at we don't have to pay for the building the town itself it'll be paid for so that that that's a wonderful thing but it has nothing to do with our emergency reserve the $7.6 million I believe it is for Revenue replacement that's truly that it's money that Revenue we lost as a result of the economic impact of hurricane and we survived through that by using the bridge loan and so this money that's coming into us as Revenue replacement is really just enabling us to repay that bridge loan it's and so that will go back to the state unless that loan is Forgiven and then at that point it could truly be considered additional Revenue that we could put towards other uses but for now we're required to use that um and we pledged that all of our non edor Revenue would be put into trust to repay the bridge loan so until that changes until the loans forgiven or for some reason they change the terms of that loan we that's what we need to do so we can't even touch that money how much of the the 11.9 bridge loan have we have we used well I I had this the last time I'm sorry I may it may take me a few minutes to find it but it was roughly it was whatever the amount that we approved a few weeks back for 2020 3 million three so was 3 million okay so there's that and then I we budgeted like 3 point some million for this year although I don't know that we're going to use need that whole amount but we budgeted that and then we have what's in the budget for this year which I think I've got in one of these slides um 2.4 million so if you add those three three together it's yeah it's like over $8 million so the projected use of the bridge loan is more than what we got back in Revenue placement but if we use less this year and next year than what we're projecting it may turn out to be just right um the other use of the bridge loan that we we're presuming we'll need it to use would be for um the demol cost of demolition because that would be we'll have to temporarily fund that until it comes back to us um from from the tax elction and demolition of unsafe buildings demolition yes yes so we won't know or is there a time frame that we'll find out whether that loan is Forgiven or not not or is that just best case scenar would be after the next legislative session so not until next June but you can't do you can't you can't do a budget and base your numbers off of what if I no I get that I just want to make it clear though that we right now as of this moment we are still paying it back yeah that's correct at 10% interest right John did you I've kind of jumped around a little bit do you have any more questions Joe you barely touched on it I think but you going back to the revenue replacement there that comes with parameters uh that's just not something we can start using right away correct the you talking from the state from the state right well I haven't seen the agreement normally these things come to us along with an agreement and that would specify you know but there's there's nothing specific I know of now okay thank you the only thing that would be governing it at this point that I do know about would be the terms of the bridge loan agreement itself and that's any non-ad Revenue would be pledged toward repayment of the loan so at this point that's how we have to view it and I don't there's never at least been in all the meetings we've had there's never been any discussion of any strings quote unquote attached to the the revenue replacement whereas the there are strings attached to the Deo loan that you can only use it for operating cost you can't use it for Capital Improvements you can't so we have I have not heard of any discussion that there would be restrictions but again if you haven't seen the contract yet or if it's going to be just a grant or how it's going to come down yet again that's an unknown we don't we don't know what we can do with it so just one other question between now and our final budget review and decisions what if anything could still be coming down the pike that could change our expectations of the budget between now and our final budget meeting September whatever that is 23rd 23rd um just off the top of my head I'm thinking you know most most of the non-ad VOR revenues that we built into this budget were based on our current estimates so if it's possible as we move closer towards August September we may find out or realize that there might be more Revenue coming in for any one of those than we knew about I think the state may have like an updated forecast by then so possibly one of their revenues may be higher than what we're currently expecting so that would be an improvement I mean it could go the other way too but that may improve it um if once we get the final um taxable value amount from the Appraiser's office if it's higher then we would have have higher tax revenue than what we thought um but last year it went down actually so it could also go down so those are some factors that could change it either up or down also to that really quickly to tell on what the state is looking at we did get some communication from the EM that possibly by the end of this fiscal year that the state's fiscal year not ours um that they would have an update for especially our community here as far as where we stand and what their projection was for our area but we haven't gotten anything since that initial email from them and what is their date versus ours their uh the fiscal year I think it's June 30th June June 30th July start starts goes October 1 okay John what else you got well I mean I've got a lot I could think of before we start moving but I I don't want to dominate the conversation and give you you know if you want to hear what I have to think then specific questions for Joe discussion I do okay thank you thanks for clearing that up I do not thank you Joe Jim questions for Bill yeah it's been been some good discussion this afternoon I I think we've established and I think we can all agree based upon the conversation that we've had thus far that to have 3.5 million in in in in emergency reserves is good public policy we all we've established that thus far just just to be clear though Joe under the current millage rate we're going to increase next year uh that emergency reserves by 290,000 yeah we'll still be sure we're 1.6 million short yes so we're we're bad public policy people if we just do that if we raise it to 1.6 which is the backs you have on here we're at 542,000 and change we're still bad public policy people because we're still a million bucks short so we need to do something a little bit more aggressive and drastic in order to satisfy your legitimate concerns which is why earlier I suggested the sale of part of the Old Town Hall property because we can then upon the completion of that sale fully meet the needs of the 3.5 emergency Reserve if we take your call to have that 3.5 million seriously which I do so whether it's 290,000 under the current millitary or it's 542,000 we replenish under the 1.6 we're still doing a disservice to what you're challenging us to do it's better but it's gradual and if we had a hurricane God forbid this year we're short so it seems to me The Prudent fiscal policy and and and risk management policy is to sell part of that land and fully fund our emergency reserves keep the military St the same that's am I missing something in in in the logic of that joke no I I mean I I agree that selling the land would be the the quickest way to boost our Reserve that I know of given our options which are very few so that would be a wonderful way to take care of that um because Joe if we raise the millage rate to 1.6 we don't satisfy what you're asking us to accomplish no we don't um my only concern is and it doesn't have to be done this year but we do need to be prepared to be funding the reserve on an annual basis and to that point that's a fair fair point if anybody had a chance to listen to Matt Caldwell the Lee County Appraiser to kieran's point his he said over the next four or five months where we'll be wondering what's going to happen when we have to finalize the militate he said things were likely to get better not worse again guessing but he's pretty qualified guesser he also said over the next year we'll be back where we were prior to Ian in terms of our appraise value for all of our aggregate appraise value for Fort Meers Beach we're on the move and santel is flat they're cbell said this on Saturday he said they're eight months behind Fort Meers Beach I mean that's amazing Fort Meers beach is on the mve and in a good way so so the progn prognostic prognostication is good for Fort Meers Beach so it seems like if we're going to take your hejer call seriously we need to sell that piece of property or at least part of it get this emergency fund fully uh reserve and and fully uh meet meet the emergency Reserve numbers that you're asking us to do otherwise we're going to be negligent from a policy a public policy standpoint I just wanted to make sure that that I know we can all disagree on whether we should sell the property or not but I just wanted to make sure it's consistent with what you're trying to accomplish based upon what you said thus far today yeah yes okay I'm not trying to put you on the spot I just want to make sure it makes sense because you're are you're are you're making the recommendation I don't think we're doing you Justice by raising the millage rate because that doesn't accomplish what you're asking us to accomplish it's a start but it isn't accomplish it if we're taking your he if we're heaing your call seriously we need to do something much more dramatic to be ready for a storm this hurricane season well I I I agree it's just the only issue is the timing of when would the sale take place how soon can we get that that would be an issue as well and I and I understand your your your points are very valid vice mayor but I don't think it's fully addressing what you're saying Joe if I'm hearing you yes this could be a potential Quick Fix to the initial influx of capital that we would need to reach that 3.5 but that would be all it is it would not be a reoccurring Revenue sour source to be able to keep that fund where it is as every year that fund will go down it it'll need to be replenished every year it'll go down it'll need to be replenished even from small issues that we've had like over the last week so if if the goal is to ultimately achieve everything you're trying to do then it would have to be a hybrid of what I believe you're proposing here and what the vice mayor is proposing it can't be a one solution fix all if I'm hearing you correctly and what you're saying going past yes this will this initial sale could potentially fix today's problem but it's not going to fix the reoccurring problem we're going to face every year thereafter that what you're saying is true I agree with that and I think because also in my mind is that yes we're focusing on the emergency Reserve right now but we have other expenses that we haven't even talked about I haven't even shown you but we we need to be um decid putting money aside into the emergency Reserve we need to Once once a bridge loan issue is it's either repaid or we have money in trust to repay we can then start putting money into our Capital fund which we've stopped since we've had the bridge loan and at the gfoa conference they recommend putting 25% of your depreciation into the capital fund every year that's $330,000 once we get the pullback in operation if you deduct the revenue that it brings in that's another $380,000 we haven't even talked about ongoing Beacher nourishment and that's we should be putting money aside for that so there's all these needs that are out there they're not nearly as urgent as this is but I think we have to be careful and thinking that just the property tax value increase is going to be enough it'll be enough to take away the need for the bridge loan it'll be enough to maybe start putting more money aside into the emergency Reserve but I it remains to be seen if it'll be enough to address all these other needs as well and but that's that's what the big unknown we don't know we can be optimistic we can be hopeful but all we know is what we know now and I think that's why I feel concerned that we need to do as much as we can to bring us to a more um fiscally respons ible place and I think um you know selling the land that would certainly be a big step in that direction um I think doing what we can to increase Revenue to make sure that we have enough for to meet all of these needs especially the emergency Reserve is important as well but um so I I guess I'm just repeating myself can I take a crack at that Mr sure go ahead just based upon what Matt Caldwell said after the storm the the aggregate valuation for Fort Meers Beach was $4 billion After the Storm it went down to 2 billion over this last year we're back up at three billion and he projected over the ne over the following year we'll be back at four billion which is where we were prior to the storm and then we've got all these major projects all these larger homes coming back online everybody rebuilding uh continuing to rebuild I I I it's a very it's not even a Rosy scenario it's a realistic scenario given given what's ahead of us and what we all see happening around Fort my Beach I do think there's a way to grow our way through this and and and and address some of the concerns Joe's talking about particularly it gives us an opportunity to to give our folks a breather while they're still recovering from the hurricane I think in a responsible way so I I I I just based upon what what Matt Caldwell talked about and what he projected I think we're going to be we're headed in a very positive direction whether it addresses all of the needs Joe's suggesting I don't know yet but we'll as we go down the pike but we'll certainly address your number one need which is our emergency Reserve fund by selling part of that property and preventing the need to raise the millage rate this year and then we'll have a much better sense next year as to where we're at that's just my thought here's kind of my here's kind of my thought um well I'd love to play Monopoly with you Jim I mean you want to keep your assets that that that land is our asset and if if you are correct sir that yes the the the property values are going to go up and everything if if we can get through this struggle through it not only will we be in rosville you're talking about but we'll have a a large large piece of property that may we may or may not use but we can use it as a poker chip to maybe get something else because you never know what's going to going to come up we can also use that property right now to generate some Revenue I don't know why we're not why we don't have parking spots I don't know why we don't try to look at our app and go hey you know what um let's let's do an overnight parking option generate $25 a car for overnight parking there um there's there's lots of other ways we we have you have to remember Jim that that our Revenue has dropped substantially and I I don't want to hammer you know the property owners and everything else and with that with that narrative but facts are facts we were underinsured no no fault of ours but we were heavily underinsured we had we had replacement costs I we're pretty much like a like any condo on the beach um underinsured it's tough getting the money back revenues nobody's nobody's you we're our revenue is down substantially I mean people aren't using the ball field you know Bay Oaks Mound housee parking you name it so all these sources of revenue have decreased substantially and and it's going to be a couple years till we get there now I don't I don't know any condo on the beach that is not raising their their HOA fees not one and it's going to be a couple years till you know like you said we're going to have we can look at in a couple years but I think we would be prudent right now to to to raise it to potentially raise it but give us that cap so in the next couple months we can have some serious discussions of where the where our revenues coming from um what our enses are going to be and and look at different sources of revenue I at the at the mean I was at last last uh week one one of the towns they use a PE card they they use a a credit card that gets cash back to pay all their invoices they made over $900,000 in cash back I mean there's there's other ways to generate Revenue it's not just adorm but yeah I I I just think we've got to you know we got to take a hard hard look at this not only on the revenue side but also on the expense side as somebody lives in a condos Scot though the the state hasn't bailed those condos out the last two years to the tunes of multi-million dollars right so um that's a that's a nice little uh something to have in your back pocket I mean I there's not a condo on this island that wouldn't like that and have that have that forgiven yeah I I would just say this uh your Point's well taken except for the fact that the first couple years were brutal and it affected our Revenue demonstrably but the mayor and our team and our legislative friends did Yan's work to replace those revenues for those F those those ugliest first couple years so what Joe's here telling us is today correct me if I'm wrong that he's telling us the reason why we have to ra raise the millage rate is to begin the process of replacing our emergency reserves that's why he's here today that that was his number one issue and number one concern so I'm I'm I'm I hear you but I'm I'm not sure I'm in agreement that's that's fine I mean this why we're having this conversation I mean I think as Joe pointed out this is the big one but there's cap there's where's the money going for Capital Improvements what I mean you you you saw what happened four four four days ago in that storm I mean the we're going to need some Capital Improvements like you wouldn't believe I mean we we've got to we're going to have to address those for me you know I I I heard what our representative said on beach talk radio and and although they they said what they said that's that's two of many and over the last two years we've been up there asking for money they've been so gracious in in helping us but that's what they've done they've helped us but it it it is it was made very clear to me in the meetings that I had that you have to also help yourself we're not going to always continue to help you out of things now if things are perfect over the next five years six years 10 years when we get to that place that you're talking Jim of of where we won't have to worry about it that's a whole different that's a whole different ball game but we don't know what could happen tomorrow we don't know what could happen next week and to not take steps to at least stay in the ball game until September to then get more data and and I will challenge you Joe to go back and find anything that you can find to trim the fat if you will to shave where we can shave save where we can save um I know there's some programs out there that we could probably look at to save some money here and there um to try to help alleviate that anything we can do to cut spending so that we don't have to ultimately raise the mill rate I would I would challenge you to do not that I don't think you haven't done that already ready but maybe come back with some suggestions for us as to here are some ways that we could alleviate some of this to help you know get get this Reserve funding back and then let let us make the policy decisions and let the public help us make those policy decisions on whether it's a program they want to cut or if it's or if it's something that uh we all agree that you know this more important putting this money now in this spot then in this spot and we'll revisit it that way I mean keeping every option on the table is really what I'm what I'm all about right now I I don't want to pigeon hole Us in today's meeting to not being able to do something should something catastrophic happen over the next three months we we just don't know um I I just I completely agree with what you're saying vice mayor I think if if we stay on the path that we are we we will be fine um but what we don't know we don't know at this point and it's hard to just hope for the best and not plan for the worst so I guess that's kind of where I'm at um Karen I know you have had a chance to maybe ask some question so please do no it's not even asking questions I mean I I hear what you're saying vice mayor about selling the land I don't know that I agree with it um we've seen nothing but a decrease in property sales um especially this calendar year um if we help on to it as an as an asset like Scott said you know and we ultimately do decide to sell it we could get a lot more perhaps we could reimburse a lot more things perhaps um what we do today is not set in stone until September 23rd so whatever we decide on today can always be changed based on what you come back to us with in our budget meetings um what creative ways we can come about I love the idea of the credit card uh cash back credit card um but the other thing and I'll go back to I remember in our budget meetings last year and we talked about raising the millage rate and we agreed that we would not because our citizens just absolutely could not bear it at that time but there was also concern even back then with everything that we were being given by the State how long would this last now we're another year into it and this budget goes into effect for the following year so again how long will this last we're seeing everything being reduced by FEMA we're seeing grants Fall by the wayside that are disappearing um that available funding is just not there going forward and it's being I shouldn't say it's not there it certainly is being reduced from what we had at the onset of this um just looking at what happened this last week and now more rain coming this week and all the people's houses being flooded still in that you know first category of streets I mean there's a lot of work that needs to be done on the infrastructure and you know we don't have that budgeted so whatever we do today can still be changed if other things unfold Mr King we move Beyond questions I was just going to say I think the question I'm sure there'll be more that come up but because I'm ready to let everybody know where I'm coming from on things but okay and I think I've started but down that road and Karen thank you for that but I understand it's not set in stone but I think it sends a bad message to um to our residents um mayor I appreciate all the lobbying effs that you uh the town manager Frankie Jason have done over the last couple years to bring home what was needed but I I sit there and I look at the bridge loan uh it cannot be repaid by ADV valorum taxes and that tells me the state is against raising property taxes um also I think you talk about we need to show that we're helping ourselves I think by implementing the uh uh impact fees that we're talking about will be a big help to show the state that that's what we're about raising ourselves up by our bootstraps we still need I think at times a handout I know the delegation at least the two members um the senator and and the and the representative talk to they're they're still willing to to bra strategize and brainstorm about what we need of anything for the for the future so um the millage rate stays the same but people are going to be paying more in taxes that's just a given um and um I think I think the vice mayor did a a great job in in coming up with a solution that I think for me at least is something that I I can hang my hat on and that's the sale of the the town the Old Town Hall property and I thank him for uh for working hard to come up with that solution and that's where I'm coming from so I'll I will not be supporting any increase that's fair enough and and I I just don't know that I seeing over the last four years how hard it's been to try to acquire land to accumulate things that the town has wanted to do connectivity Green Space things like that to me it would be a last resort to sell something so valuable that you could bond against prot I mean you can loan against I mean there's just there's there's you know you could potentially use if we don't get um approved to get that forgiven or the interest rate go down a year from now or 18 or 24 months we could use that that property to loan against to pay back the loan at a much lower interest rate therefore saving a lot of money so there's I think there's other ways that you could use that property to benefit as opposed to using it and being a knee-jerk reaction to try to fix something to the vice mayor's very well pointed out Point there's not one thing that's going to fix what I think your concerns are Joe overnight there's not one thing that we've talked about up here in the last 45 minutes that's going to solve I think what's keeping you up at night and how are we going to fund this so I think it has to be a multi-pronged approach and again it's what we're discussing here is not finalized it's not something that you know you can just take it to the bank that this is what the number is going to be but if we don't do something to at least keep those options open over the next three months in my opinion I think we're not we're not being responsible stewards of of of what we need to do and I would just hate to come back three months from now and we got hit with another storm and we there's nothing that we can do there's nothing that we can do to to help get money back into this Reserve fund without going with our hat and hands again and saying we didn't take action we we we're hoping there's going to be action that covers us over the next few years but we're not taking action on our own to at least be prepared as much as we can be prepared for this potential small amount but again I go back to I I really challenge you to go back to the budget if you can and take another look at it and and find ways to offset what could potentially be um a a tenative number that gets set here today to help offset some of that cost um I'm sure there's a program or two out there I know I'm thinking one off the top of my head I'm not going to say it publicly but I'm not going to say it right now but I can think of one off the top of my head I would absolutely hate to lose but if it meant saving the taxpayers money in September um to have to revisit it down the road I would certainly do that um but I I I just want to make sure that we're giving ourselves time to hear from our residents to say here's some things that we could potentially pull off the table to offset what we could maybe have to do if we get it with a storm um but we want to hear from them we want to hear from them that no this is important we keep this program or it's important that we keep that um we need this we don't need that and see where those numbers come out so that we hopefully in September don't have to do anything that none of us want to do um yeah but I I don't want to raise taxes either but I I'd sure like next 60 days to to get feedback from from the town and you know vice mayor I don't I think trying to sell that property now you're almost like hey motivated seller and uh are you really going to get a solid offer you're just going to get low balled like crazy I I don't think we should be leaving money on the table I think you know as to Karen's Point down the road when things appreciate and we're in a in a better financial position then we're we're selling or horse trading that property from a position strength not weakness I just um that's my two cents on Commercial Real Estate is always the a awkward time of the year I I guess Joe what is a he's got the sminos a tough issue it's always it's always a very tough tough issue and and you know if this this was September 23rd we may be having a different conversation or we we will definitely be having a different conversation but um I'm looking to you Joe you're you're the one that sees the numbers every single day you're the one that you know things keep you up at night I I need to know if I'm going to approve something that you feel comfortable and whatever that is knowing that it's the right path based on your knowledge and your expertise to put us in the best path forward if you will to event get to the goal that you you sat down here an hour ago now to to try to get to not to put you on the spot but yeah no pressure well I guess I will just stand by my original suggestion recommendation would be that 1.03 mate and I say that both from the perspective I I know that certainly almost like a drop in the bucket in terms of getting us back but it's 1/4th of the way there towards um getting our Reserve where it needs to be and then I'm thinking that that coincides with roughly that 3.7% cost of living increase and I I know it's really not um the best way to look at a mill increase because it's also coupled with taxable property value increases so the end result is a much larger increase but in terms of a mill rate increase I think the 3.7% is reasonable um and so I would feel comfortable recommending that and I think it would make progress towards where we need to be and you know hopefully we won't have to do that come September but that's what I would recommend okay any more discussion is there a motion I guess I'll I'll make the motion since nobody wants to um I I I'll make a motion to based on the recommendation of our finance director to set the tentative millage rate at 1.03 um to put forth to the state to then be brought back to discuss in the two meetings for in September on the 9th and the 23 I'll second got a motion by mayor Aller by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed no motion carries 3 to2 next final public comment anyone here we cleared the [Laughter] room no no F yeah exactly that'll be final public comment is closed Town manager items thank you thank you mayor thank all you do on can we back up just a bit will you do a roll roll call on that last vote the roll call okay so you want me to restate the motion and or just do a roll call vote based on the last oh you want me to wor yeah okay we're going to do a roll call vote on resolution 24-120 the tentative fiscal year 2425 millage rate to set the tentative uh millage rate at 1.03 not to exceed 1.03 with the final discussions happening in September uh mayor allers I councelor Woodson I uh councilman Safford I vice mayor adhal no councilman King nay the motion carries three to2 thank Youk did final Public Town manager item sorry yeah I put notes down here um you eight hours ago and now I'm not even sure if they're pertinent because we talked about a lot of things um just an update obviously the last two meetings I've updated you on the FEMA the national flood insurance program the 105 properties that were we were asked to provide information we met the deadline we provided our narrative we've met all the deadlines met with them we've done everything we feel like we need to do to maintain our number um our discount but it's not in our hands at this point so now we're waiting for uh FEMA to review everything I'll use air quotes on that um because we thought they already reviewed them six months ago um yes um but we're uh we're we're we're hopeful and we'll we'll we'll leave it at that um I wrote downtown Hall um and it'll come back to me in a minute but we we are moving forward um obviously on that there's some other things that we'll be doing looking at a piece of property next to it uh to put an offer in I'll put an offer to see we're going to talk to the lobbyist see if he can make some calls do a few things for us on on on another property so hopefully we'll we'll just get the ball rolling because strictly because of the the fact that that we are going to provide all the parking that we require uh we're not going to ask for a variance we're going to do the right thing and put parking where it needs to be and also we're going to put flood controls in uh to help with beia to do some things there so we're going to be a good neighbor uh we're going to do all the right things to Hope alleviate some of the the concerns and the the the energy that's expended on the on worrying about flooding in that area we will do all we can do and and and go from there you've got a question I do have a question Mr Town manager I I uh again based upon the mayor and the town team and our legislative delegation's hard work and the signing of the governor uh we received $8 million to purchase the new town hall building right I just think it's important for the taxpayers to know that there had been estimates prior to this for the town to build a new town hall correct and the difference between what those estimates are and what it actually cost to purchase an existing building are dram dramatic correct and to your credit uh but could you just for the record discuss what the cost prior to all this were in terms of what we were being told to to build a new town hall at the Bay Oaks location mayor can probably add to this as well but when I got here a little over a year ago the discussion was that we were going to ask for 125 million over two years which is a total of $25 million to build a new facility on the property we already have now in my experience with estimating um Town managers typically underestimate uh we typically do because we want to sell somebody on what we're going to do I would imagine it would be north of $25 million were we to actually build something we can't control cost and supply and things like that that affects what's going on we can't control the weather uh you don't know what's going to happen over a three-year building project um plus then it's three years now we went to Tallahassee and we actually were sitting in Senator pres Senate President pasados office um we didn't know she was going to come in she came in um our one of the meetings and they run together uh mayor um and she said you know oh I don't know if we can do that go back and sharpen your pencils as it were and see what you can come up with and we we did we we looked and we found a suitable facility which we've all been in uh we understand how how good that fits us um and we we reduced that down to $8 million ask from just a one year of$ 12.5 million and to her credit she got behind that even though she's not our Senator she got behind our our our recommendation and our ask and and we were successful in achieving that because we worked with our partners in Tallahassee and in Lee County I just that is a significant public policy accomplishment I just didn't want it to go unnoticed thank you sir also we continue herc preparedness we getting more information out as we go forward of course we realize that you know in in the drop of a hat in the next you know three days um you know weather could change as we all know but we continue to do that as a staff and and continue to to train and and make sure we're ready um even go on Fox Weather if we need to looking good I get I get poked pretty good by this guy and that guy about that but it's not you mark the guy on the end down there you're not a meteorologist but you play one on Fox apparently so um sorry um we're also um I need to talk bit about U bringing to you probably in August um discussion about an ordinance for silk fencing uh we don't typically we don't have one and and I believe part of what you see and I know what part of what you see with the sand in the streets and getting in our storm drains and things of that nature is not helping we need silt fencing put up so we're going to bring an ordinance to get back and and have you discuss that at a future meeting in August there MMP so that just be mindful of that strategic planning uh going to get with Angela Chris over the next couple of days so when you get back in August or between now and then we'll have more discussions about our strategic planning so we can we can start to focus on on our future um R2 P2 the survey is out till Friday I believe that's are the 27th um which is a Friday I think maybe I don't know no it's it's a Thursday okay close enough um so it's still out there but please fill the they're they're looking for the results they're looking for input um to the to what the proposals they put out there so we can get some feedback I think at the time on Friday or Thursday they only had about 10 or 12 but they were they were they were it was good information and also I'll finish up um town hall is closed on Wednesday uh for the juneth holiday okay anybody have any questions for the town manager no Town attorney items no items okay council member items and reports Scott I think we had a long day I'm I'm good Karen done all right vice mayor atle I just have a brief one I just wanted to uh get consent from my colleagues to begin a process to work with the uh owner of Santini Plaza and some of the tenants including Anita and some of the other tenants who are signed the sign ordinance for Santini Plaza is very outdated and just needs to be tweaked and updated a bit and just wanted to get everybody's consent to begin that process to update that sign ordinance so when Santini Plaza gets up and running they can be competitive and their their their their existing and future tenants can have a have a successful uh uh Venture and I'll be working with the Town Council Town attorney on that and I'll have obviously the devil's in the details but I just want to make sure people were comfortable with that process moving forward no I it was actually I was going to bring up the side orn too believe or not but in a different okay aspect it seems that there's many on the island that are choosing not to follow the sign ordinance now I I think what you're suggesting is maybe looking at it is there ways we can tweak it make it better just for that particular PL yeah but but certainly open to other Concepts as well I mean because there are some that have five six signs on their property advertising their business and then there are some that are following the rules and starting to get more emails from people that are saying well how come they can have four or five signs in their front yard for this but we can't have a three foot by three foot sign so I'm I'm an agree I think if we're going to look at it let's look at it as a whole not necessarily just for that one specific property but only because their situation is very unique and their language is very unique that affects them but but I'm I'm happy to look at it the broader and just from our enforcement standpoint I think it's technically expired but I appreciate the town continuing to give Grace to those condos who have yet to open we we decided uh After the Storm to allow those condo buildings to allow their general contractor to put up a larger sign so the subcontractors could find it because a lot of these places don't even have signs or addresses that are visible from the from the uh street so and then not not all the subs but just the major general contractor could at least have a sign out there that says the name of the building contact information phone numbers to help them rebuild and help that subcontractors have them all including the tenants and the owners get in there as well and and and and so forth so but hope hopefully we'll continue to show them a great since the condos are still hanging you know dragging along we can show them some Grace maybe till the end of this year as well but I do agree we can we can certainly look at the broader sign ordinance as well that's all that's all I've got okay John I'll pass and yeah I have nothing else um if there's nothing else is uh John well I heard the goo song yesterday and it was vacation all I ever wanted vacation had to get away so those who about to vacation I salute you and I'll move to adjourn all right second Got the Beat way to pick it up counc King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I hi we are adjourned at 3:30