##VIDEO ID:cgFESskhtVc## sure by time he gets he cuts the lights alling and then they had the mid High that's not very ready all right we will call the city council meetings to order today is October 24th 2024 and this is a special meeting to discuss the cdbg block grant uh so I will call Mr Tim Parsons to the podium if you'll kind of give us a rundown Mr Tim absolutely uh Mr chairman thank you uh as you recall at the last council meeting we brought to you the opportunity uh through the Florida Department of Commerce for to apply for a cdbg or Community Development Block Grant application and a conversation between the council uh followed uh that item and wanted to explore some different U projects what what and then uh confer with with our team on what you felt like might be the best best project I know some of the preliminary information that that our team has already received is you know certainly that the city is eligible uh there's some different Grant factors uh like being a being a Main Street program as well that that's also going to uh assist with your score but at this point we've just been simply going through the application um looking at you know types of projects that have been approved and uh welcome this opportunity for the council to deliberate a little bit further before uh hopefully uh determining a project that uh y'all want to prioritize and see applied for okay yeah I got some so we had talked about getting information about 20 Street sidewalks and then coming back and having this conversation so we got up with Walton County engineering and so they sent over their construction estimates and where they're at in the process they are currently out to bid for the they call 20th Street they broke it into two phases from Walton Road to ectc and then from ectc to Highway 90 phase one and phase two the county is currently out to bid on phase one um and from the timeline I'd seen looked maybe be early next year they would be completely done with that um they have designed a full entire Road and they would be willing to give the city the design for phase two if that's if we could get the money went that way the cost esate they had to do the work including a 20% contingency was $487,900 that's just from the school to 90 um I think phase one and I don't want to it's a little over $600,000 construction cost for their phase one so phase one is an additional 600 yeah the Count's doing right now they're out to bid so that's from wal road to the school 615 I believe is is that right is what y one there was some uh discussion I think at the last meeting about a desire for some other some other projects so I'll I'll kind of open the floor up to to those it's okay ask Tim question yes siry Tim you mentioned the Main Street uh score bonus so to speak does that um does that apply to only projects that are in the district or does that apply to anything in the city because the city has a Main Street anything just because of that designation I think okay there's one of 12 in the state so was glad to see yall on that list and being able to take advantage of that nice what um are you familiar with any scoring criteria that might benefit one type of project versus another um I so just everyone knows I'd brought up the cdbd stuff because of the uh well one we didn't have one going on and two the application period that opened and was coming to a draw um my intention was the downtown district was my focus U you know but again we want to look at 20th as well um Tim does it are there scoring criteria that would benefit one project versus another that you're familiar with or is it you know basically just based on the whole city I I I believe it would for the most part be based on the whole city just H having some of this information though from the county it looks like we might be able to leverage some of those dollars that the county has spent as a as a potential match and I holy say that I don't think we've dug as much into the the downtown district project and know what else maybe CRA related and stuff so uh I think without those numbers it's it's hard to say so what are uh what is the match because I I think the one we were talking about didn't have a match it with given the particular way we were addressing it so there was no match on that one that's correct no match uh if you if you are able to show though that there were some funds spent towards the project that you can leverage there's a formula that they use for that so this so the 20th Street would have a benefit in terms of potential match being used into the the design was done from what we've seen yes sir okay does that one qualify for the same amount as the other one we discussed is the same 750 650 or is it l looking at the LMI it looks like the max award for I believe either project would be 700,000 and just a historical note from what I saw it looks like the city last received cdbg funding in 2017 it was a note about um some designated funds or I'm sorry de obligated fund so that that's the last history that I saw the city in this program Tim are we we're not able to say okay we're going to do sidewalks plus uh a Downtown Development plan in within one application right we have to kind of Pick One Singular project J James and I discussed that with hey if it was somehow a lock tonight you know 2 two or something like that could we make a connection between the two I think it would be very difficult to to stretch those funds all the way down from 20th Street to the to the downtown district so we we did explore that as an option but I don't I don't think that's going to fit into this application anybody else have any correct the county has already done the design and they would be willing to give it to the city yes so the county when I spoke to miss anah Hudson went County engineering um that was that was much higher they went in and did some value engineering took some things out to get it down into one budget and so that 487 is what if they were to do the project and one some point that would be what they would go off from no sir I'm good yes sir So Co do you know that includes any lighting along that sidewalk let me any Street lighting desing lighting path lighting might be a big difference I'm reading I didn't see it in there so I think with that difference we could pursue some some Street skate options yeah I'm not in the County's itemized list I don't see any lighting I'm if I'm going down I'm gonna get some lighting with it I'm not giving up yet so we'll keep talking I'm not GNA try to wear you out or around the clock we will talk about some but I want to say that if we are going to do this and we are under what we could potentially pursue I would strongly urge the uh the council to consider at least adding lighting to this we know that street lighting improves safety along any road that we can provide it providing along sidewalks just you know mult as a multiplier in terms of that safety Factor but it will act as a safety for both pedestrians and for for Road we've seen our city is you know dark in many places even in places that we do have Street lighting we've allowed maintenance to get out of hand and cover up what actually should be producing so I think in terms of safety that we can afford to do that's the lowest hanging fruit is to clean up what we got and then the next one is to bring in lighting because it's hard to build sidewalks but we can do light we don't have I'm all for adding that to the to the project for sure and I think they could probably get us a quick number in terms of the budget item on that on on the the design is it purely just a sidewalk and or are they adding curving I think I can go through them real quick I have the design here let me let me reread this one I think I see curbing on here so I thought I saw some curing as well I see like um embankment I see concrete curbing Gutter and then I see the concrete sidewalks a ditch pavement so I do see like I said concrete curbing gutter quantity of 177 I don't know if that's feet yards it doesn't say it just has a number on here but there is curving in there um one side on the east or the West I'm about to look at it right now I I just drove it there there is some like you said one section of it there's drainage on both sides um a lot of the other places there aren't and I I know James drove it after the council meeting it was extremely dark uh driving driving along there at so the one good thing is that this would Connect Four schools is the was the go of this project uh it was uh wton High the the the small moders well mod Saunders but the small school that's adjacent to the Walton High there's actually a small oh yeah W centc ectc so this would actually connect almost every level of Education we're just missing in Middle School uh with sidewalks would to provide lighting that provide safety factors um again it's pretty isolated for long stretches of that is the only thing I don't like uh it's long which is why it's so expensive um I suspect that given 127 that that's going to be limited curving to deal with a couple of SES and not full curving I don't think that they would do it on that th space anyway I think there there are some water retention issues if I remember when it does rain just north of ectc headed back toward Walton Road I think it puddles up in that residential area right there pretty good it's a big low area the entire area is low uh it feeds into this huge wetland M and it is dark north of there or definitely south of there south of ectc all the way around the curve up to um the auto part store I'm reading this right it's on the East Eastern side of the road so if you're if you're going from school 290 head south it's on the east there's more room on that side of the road forther Improvement makes sense I guess that's to not play into the curve be on outside the curve rather than inside the Curve looking at this on the east side so let's we're kind of good on the Sall project and let's maybe move the conversation to the other project councilman Valley that you wanted to discuss thank you sir um so the other project was the uh the downtown expansion so with that downtown expansion we've got a couple things that were're leveraging together um one is we're going to reuse reconnecting communities to assist or the intention and Carlos will be here tomorrow is to use uh reconnecting communities to assist with the uh the code reite so with the actual Land Development code and comp plan full cop text the reason we can do that is because it's associated with one uh equity and accessibility uh so it'll deal with Ada issues and Equity issues in terms of economic equity because you're now providing another way to transport other than a car which requires more cost than bicycling or walking uh so we're providing walking options uh we're providing parking on the street and because we allow housing it allows for policy rites uh so because you can live above the commercial it opens us up for money from reconnecting so we're going to have money for this area one way or another but the intention was to jumpstart it because although we've got a commitment from the CRA we don't have anything contractually yet or or out now they do have some things that they've started but it's not the full-blown effort that we would like to pursue there Meanwhile we're going to have to deal with u issues of curving parking and sidewalks in that area as people do start to develop one thing that was kind of pushing it along is we just saw the thrift ways up for the county to purchase and I believe that they're going to go forward with it uh unless something falls through they uh have other properties there they have the two properties from the CRA I don't know if they have them yet but I think that that's an ongoing negotiation that looks like it's going to go through as well what we have is a group of properties that just like the building departments expanding they you're going to see something happen over there pretty quickly this would start to put in the infrastructure at least the design will be in place I suspect there's enough money to do design and some implementation but it would give us a jump start to where we could actually put the design in place in coordination with the County's needs provide them and ourselves the design that we need for the entire area and now they have the the beginnings of the working documents that they're going to use to actually hopefully them Implement that portion we start to implement smaller sections uh as one demonstration projects or two to pick you back off without working extend out so both projects going to work with the county one way or another it's just because of the physical location of what they're doing um I think it would give us a jump start on the other but if we don't pursue it with this this year we will pursue it next year so My One goal would be whatever we do we want to be able to finish it within a year that's why we're focusing on design uh and the other one is imp M ation so that we can get back in line and get in a process of doing these you know every year every other year so we can get this stuff done so if I understand you correctly you're wanting to basically apply for cdpg to do design technically north of n technically because a lot of the other stuff's in place but if we feel like there's something that we want to implement from either the Main Street uh or the CRA portion we can go ahead and do the design on that as well once you're doing one it sets the standard and that standard is just going to be applied to the other areas but again we've got reconnecting we've got um CRA and we've got um what's the other one we got the ss4a that one's the the study and apply to the whole city but we got one the couny project the East West yeah we got the East West that one will be mostly Baldwin um it could impact other areas but not beyond the intersections so really we got those two and ss4 in terms of I see you know I see the importance of that down the road you know said City counc meeting on this topic about Main Street streetcape and that vision and the amount of time that's been put into that without whole lot of progress well hardly any progress to getting to where that vision is for Main Street um you know so I'm kind of it's like the gentl on on high his frustration is we get something started and course we misunderstood who got that started who did that that project out there from Tom to the high school but regardless um we get things started and we don't see the truth so it's frustrated that the sidewalk doesn't go all the way to I understand that and there a lot of people's frustration that doesn't understand all the processes to get all these projects done but my view is Main Street has been around for a while and been pushing and trying to get these things done SP a lot of money to get a master plan done and um you know for that design because we can build all these paths walkways and all these things of our business go under because we're not doing what we can to make downtown attractive and supportive you know and support this is keep um you know Prosper us um right you know we we have to ensure our base of the economy downtown is not in government um you know the county is expanding and expanding expanding expanding and and that's great but we we need to make sure our downtown Prosper so I'm just you know I'm I'm thinking of we're jumping across the street and I I get the trail I'm fully supported I just I just don't want you know I just hesitate to get ahead of where we've been for the last several years of trying to get our down moving towards a sure enough bonifide Main Street USA City appearance wise streetcap signage way finding signage all those things that that help sure business um so you know but but again I'm not shutting down on any of these ideas I'm completely openminded of objective it's just that's just where I stand on that I get it we get we get a grant and you know we spend so much of that grant money for just design and then probably still not done but the city has to come along with what has to be done under ground before any of that street can be done and I'm part of that now so if we got seage problems on that street we got water we we need to address and we need move forward so whatever path gets us there that's that's kind of where my thinking is so if I may from my perspective I think I think back to again you know me me in the previous city council meeting talking about being practical and let's do something here to to know that we have some designs already done that we can just simply expound on maybe to be able to uh seek a fuller reward right get that done and as soon as that is done and closed out which you know based on what uh Kobe had talk to the county you know that the time frame on that is like six months so we could very well have this you know get this project awarded get it constructed and be basically ready at this time next year to turn around and apply for a CB grant that could address downtown sewage downtown curving downtown Alleyway issues that we've brought up in the past so we could kind of roll a lot of those things into one that's just kind of what I'm thinking on the Fly here is that you could you know kind of put some of these projects in order maybe in in in the hopper so to speak um councilman Valley to to go back to what you're saying about um you know we we certainly want to have a plan for how how that north of 90 grows um but it sounds sounds like to me we've got uh connecting communities we've got potential with the CRA and so maybe that's where we just need to agree to pursue some pressure there to get to get some some action there and then let's leave the cdbg to some of these more practical things that we can actually make happen quickly and that's you know that direction um with the substantial things that infrastructure Stu that I'm talking about um so however we can get that done I want to go but you're right I agree with you design on sidewalk that's important ma money you know that not not to mention the the fact that the pricing is relevant at this time right now so that pricing is accurate that that price now it's those are real numbers that we can depend on and move forward with without having to go out and question a lot yes sir so the the speed is what's attractive about the U the 20th Street project that we can do it quickly um that that gives me Comfort let's say uh adding the lighting would give me a lot more Comfort I would also say though that um we we will have to deal with the storm water on north of 90 uh and and that's going to be a significant Improvement to all the residents there because um again I've talked about those ditches before that we have up there they're dangerous they're unsightly they're dirty it cost us money to clean them out every year we get debris in it so we have an ongoing expense that's resulting from the design that's there we can actually cut our cost by changing design so the longer we wait the worse that gets but because we are going to have to do that my suggestion is that we actually go ahead and continue with something that I discussed with Tim and Liberty uh in advance of this which was we were doing the cdbg for the infrastructure that we could but storm water is not technically part of that so what we had discussed was pursuing uh efforts Grant on that or working with um Northwest Florida Water Management District uh to see if we can get money for that component of it I know it' be a lot easier if we had to design money on the other part but I I would ask that if we do 20th we do the lighting but we also go ahead and proceed with the storm water component of them seeking funding for the improvements there and then next year or with the CRA we can work on the design component um but I would still probably recommend I think there still be a um some design money for cdbg next year uh to pursue on on the full this on so we've had a good bit of discussion uh is there a motion for one way versus the other i' I'd like to make a motion to proceed forward with the 20th Street improvements um added lighting to the project definitely and um for what we could get out of it including his uh Wastewater yes sir comments as well is there a second a second all right so we have a motion in a second any further discussion on that U we do we actually have public quick comment chair just yes sir waste water or storm water storm water storm water okay it would tie I mean also that waste water would also be part of that if there's any utilities need to be upgraded or removed we would do it as part of that design yeah correct just want to also clarify the second hearing which is required Tim for this grant we're going to have us on the Monday agenda so we prepare here so you will see this again I just want to make sure yall know that by Monday we have a mandatory second hear okay we have clarification please so you're talking about on 20th Street no oh well Lighting on 20th everything else is the rest of the storm water was the correct north of n Go okay yes sir uh Robert Raymond for the record first I'd like to say congratulations to the sheriff's department grant and that was a Monumental Grant and we are very appreci um I would like to weigh in on this a little bit both projects are very good I'm not trying to bash one versus the other but I believe there's some things that um might want to be considered one the amount of property on 20th Street is Consolidated with just a very few landowners so if we are doing one property I believe is 50 acres so if we're doing development based on our sidewalks p pattern of new development a lot of that would be developed on its own that's one thing secondly excuse my voice the um the downtown district North of 90 the courthouse is in the process of consolidating and doing an ADA assessment an action plan both of which this councilman's valleys um accessible downtown district would be very helpful so I would like you to consider that um I don't know what the what the benefits would be if there's a 50 acre parcel when that develops which we all know will probably be fairly soon there are going to be requirements for them to add in the sidewalks to continue based on what I understand our County codes are so please consider that they're both great but I think the the lwh hanging fruit for 20th street is going to have less of an impact than the growth of downtown spreading out as they develop that's going to come in on its own thank you thank sir I don't see any other public so we'll close the FL for public comments any further discussion so I mean that's a good that's a good point about development in existing sidewalks through basically stretch there of really nothing right now so how do we guarantee those sidewalks aren destroyed uh and I know we can legally clay figure that out he smart guy uh to when that development does start and that construction does start in there by chance um or are our sidewalks still going to be in good shape I I don't know the answer to that I'm I'm kind of asking clay that's something we can I think look you're lay code look at when you require sidewalks you don't them at this point right now the vast vast majority projects may be requirement to put in place yeah so we're going to need to go through a change process there that's going to take multiple readings U to get that adopted which you know certainly we can we can take that up at the code review level and get that brought up to the city council level well Mr right we do hope in the next couple Mee meetings work with Mr ainson to bring forward the um bid documentation to begin finding someone to do our LDC update um and so we hope to get that approved and maybe begin that process after the new year so real quick I come to you the other thing to think about is there is a company that is attempting to do some development on T Street but we haven't heard from them in a good while about um it was supposed to be basically the arbor version two just south on the Eastern side of the Departments that are being built now right right so I guess my only only concerned with with the the idea that we would allow development to create the sidewalks there and maybe Focus the cdbg grant elsewhere is we're we're kind of banking on that development happening sooner rather than later there is some development going on but I don't know that it gets us to where we ultimately want to be without waiting a long time that would be my only concern so so were you talking about changing the codes or whatever to require Builders to do that yeah okay that's not what I was meaning though I'm meaning if we go to the expense of building these things how do we ensure that they may in remain intact when development does start if that should damage the city infrastructure yeah damage City infrastructure then we pursue them individually yeah so so yeah okay so we can build them and not we don't have to worry about them being trashed and not rebuild uh by their their liability uh whatever okay that's um so that's just normal normal process of construction as people build throughout the city and they you'll actually have driveway curb cuts that will interrupt the sidewalk so they'll have to reshape and redo the sidewalks in those sections create their access all that all that's normal part of business part of their expense I do agree that I would like to see that brought into discussions to bring into Land Development code though because as many neighborhoods that are being built with HOAs most of those if you look at them they're already mandating that the sidewalks be built in anyway during the construction phases and then that the HOAs are picking them up afterwards as far as maintenance goes but all throughout the city that would be a great asset and save us a ton of money um to the taxpayers that as that gets done but as far as this one goes I I agree with the comments Mr Raymond made and that we we've talked about with the downtown project with but I do feel that we can um get that ball rolling quicker because of the fact that we're going to have to go out and look at design and everything else this Design's already there the costs are current I think that we'll save about three or $400,000 by doing this now that we would normally spend in design design work and in inflation as it goes along to go ahead and proceed forward with this and then to look at other avenues and move full speed forward with the downtown um expansion on North the 90 good right I'll call for a vote I'll I know you started last time so I'll I'll start with the vote this time all those in favor say I I I ply I I the hi Gary all right we will move on is there any additional public comment seeing none we will call this meeting adjourned thank y'all