##VIDEO ID:GowE-gMRP74## [Music] I trust everyone's wake now well good afternoon as I'm I'm the executive director for the community appreciate you all attending today didn't move forward with anything uh that we have planned without public input so it's always good to see you all attend a little bit of a background of this project so back last year we hired a consultant to help us with the Redevelopment plan me Redevelopment agencies are required to have an adopted development plan which acts as the framework for which we're allowed to uh function essentially so back in July we hired a consultant uh they went through a number of of public engagement opportunities we had two separate sessions where we identified some potential projects flooded them around and included them in this plan update that was adopted by the Council on January 8th of this year to a public hearing recognizing that I've been um presented with a lot of interest in the vet Memorial which is one of the projects that was included in our plan I've brought it forward to my board to see how they want to proceed turn turn turn the main volume down some yeah I'm pretty loud let me just do this so so anyway I took this project forward to my board uh with a generic Tas that I put together to start the design effort for the proposed location that we have which is at the intersection of Main Avenue and Circle Drive in that depressed area there in chickle park where the circular sidewalk is after we moved it forward we approach city council to get their blessing and and at that point we decided we needed to get some more public input so we're here tonight to do just that uh to discuss that location any other location that you all may may find app all right okay we have uh we had we already had discussion with the city counc we want to bring a little bit more public input to this because Council was concerned about all the public not just three or four people so um some some of the concerns were was the location which is one we're talking about now is on the northeast corner of the lakeyard Park we call it chickley Park and it is U kind of where East Main Street is circle and it's kind of a round flat area down there um there were other suggestions about other places personally I uh I like to see that the is recognized as a military friendly participating City and I i' love to see some sort of whether it's Flag or something else that in in our lakeyard indicate that we love our veterans and we have a place for them to come but um we can anyway um let me allow the council to weigh in any concerns that any any one of you may have in regard let's first start talking about the location down so I want to say that uh I am in support of the of the project I do have concerns about the location I feel that um what's going to happen is a proposal is going to go out requesting a design for that location if you do a proposal and you hire someone tocc Bas or best serving in terms of accessibility accessibility uh it's going to require about 380 ft of ramp have wheelchair access to that location uh we have pine needles pine cones that fall that location regularly it's to additional access liy and otherwise dangerous and I feel like it's a low area that said um if the community wants it in that location I will support it however I've gotten a lot of feedback concerns about that location the avability around accessibility of site because it is very low we have other areas around lakeyard uh that have flatter terrain and they're not as Ste to access they do la some sh that is concern we have loc like Brotherhood sh um however my concern is if a proposal is put forward to request a design for that location you're not going to get recommendations for alternates or otherwise um and that is that is a concern I have uh in addition to the reservations that a lot of the community members have had about having anything um I'm definitely in support vet Memorial somewhere in our city as well I have concerns about the location I also have received uh citizen concerns about the location because of the L you know and when people it's not the memorial I think that people have issues with is the the buildings the restrooms um and and that kind of thing is is what I've heard the most about so I'm in support of something to be done but I I think we need to hear more from the public I don't know if we have acquired canulated public responses from from the community as a whole have we have we been able to do that at all or is it just the input that we we have location Haven feed okay and I know there was conversation about behind the uh St building um The Fountain area uh just to the right of the um St building might be another possible location it's very peaceful spot right there U with restrooms Fair close close by so I'm I'm open to some of these alternative U locations possibly or at the current discussed location uh possibly without I'm Josh C some of the feedback that I got from the college when when this came about was it was just a lot of different ideas of different people and it's not really one consensus as to what they would like to see so one of my biggest concerns had the proper feedback and engagement with the local community of veterans to ensure that this is something that would um it would reflect positive upon e Branch service or service and then location was another key issue with it do they actually want it there at the corner of the lakeyard some do some don't it but it wasn't it's always been mixed with it seems like the train coming by as few as it is right now but that loud noise there once you talk what's going on my biggest reservation is making sure that whatever we put up doesn't get desperated it's something that's well maintained it's not too difficult to maintain to where it would look poorly because the one thing that I don't want to see is for us to put out an area for um showing that we support our veterans that our community is better and friendly but then to have something that's just it's not clean it's not maintained it is difficult to maintain it's too expensive for us to maintain um those are about the biggest concerns I I'll just Echo what other council members have said that I've heard from numerous people from the public that have concerns about the location the accessibility the paring the issue of loud noises whether it's trains or other other events that are going on when people are trying to participate in the memorial if there happens to be U Lake Fest or anything else occurring in the lakeyard um i' I've heard numerous suggestions on location um as well so there doesn't seem to be consensus on U where it should be located um as I brought up uh previously I'm concerned about making sure that we have that we can maintain and can honor all of our veterans as someone that has an extensive family history of service I want it to be honoring not only to my family but to All Veterans as well so I'm in support of a memorial for our veterans please don't get me wrong but I do think that we need to carefully look at the location and what it is that was uh another issue that I that I raised at the the council meeting was what is here in this C plan that's that's before us what was presented at the city council that time what has been presented at the Tre board are all different um there was talk of rests that's not listed here there was talk of additional Pavilion cover Pavilions that that are lit here there seems to be no cohesive plan for what we're actually going to deoy first uh and and that that alarms me because even in the presentation that the there was numerous options in that presentation but we didn't know which one we were actually going to approve there was one that was even some sort of fabric covering that went on the ground so th those are my concerns again I support the Veterans Memorial my family is full of veterans I want to honor them and I want to make sure that what we have is something that is the fitting of their service as well as all all of our vet service thank you I think uh one thing May kind of help us move along Andy if uh you could tell us what do you think the bare minimums that you need wherever this facility is going to be particularly if there's buildings involved or resturants involved and uh I think that could proba maybe EAS some mind or maybe something you're waiting to to get a St before you decide whether we include bathrooms or some sort of structure can you go to the podium and maybe tell us what your on mayor MERS of counil and the board of the C thank you for having me this evening um you know when you think about producing something you think about how you might pay for it and the way that we thought we could pay for it was a combination of um private and governmental funds we thought that the governmental funds might come from fer down um their particular um thoughts for this area of Florida were trails and picnic pavion so it's smart if you want their money to write toward their needs I had not thought of putting a picnic Korean in there but when I found out that that was one of their needs I said to myself well we probably need one of those we do not have a place that the city could R out for family reunions wedding receptions that sort of thing numerous people park in front of my house for their lunch hour and all around the circle they're reading their books they're having their lunch away from the office and that would be a wonderful place if we had it um for them to have lunch when it was not reserved for a large group that's why put that in and I did not want it design like a regular picnic pavion in a state park I wanted to designed to match the Cho building with columns and maybe a cop on top that's where I think the ls need to be if we put it near the Cho building there are already going to be eight restrooms in there so people more I I think at that same location um when the L was discussed at a toal assembly 2009 or 2010 the the primary speaker who had built 11 labyrinths I don't know have many more by now got in my car and went all over the city everywhere they wanted to go I took them they picked that spot uh not necessarily because it was an ideal spot but because they felt the lives when they went there that it could be made private and quiet and would be away from the traffic in other areas where we have a lot of traffic like at the the CH building and on the other side of the lake I think that's one of the reasons they picked that spot um I can give you the history if you like for how we came about this project how condensed can you do it in three minutes go for okay um I've been working on it for uh eight years since way back when they had the topic at Chaka and about six years since uh forward defunc took it over as a project and we did that uh because the city council in office at the time that scers was buried voiced the need for a more permanent Veterans Memorial plus the fact that D Johnson and Community Lee asan to forward urged the organization to adopt the project because her community had a little money for a memorial but not enough and no land so those things stimulated us to take the project on and we've been working on it since then we developed slides and they were shown to individuals and groups over the past six years um they were all given a chance to fill out a comment card to express their concerns or their whether they were for it against it I only had one or two who expressed a concern about where it was and I can't tell you how many hundreds of people I've shown it to um I've had others Express concern about how we would pay for it um others wanted a Monument not a memorial and we have a lot of parks around the country that are Veterans Memorial Park Veterans Memorial this Veterans Memorial the other thing but when you come to monuments that's automob uh as I presented the concept to the veterans they were very acutely aware of decreasing maintenance cost for the city that that's why they made the suggestion that the flags be removable so that the city wouldn't have to pay to have them put up and taken down every single day but that they would be available to be put up for festivals and for um ceremonies that involve things like Veterans Day Memorial Day those things uh they looked at the slides and they said well that's too much maintenance we we shouldn't pick that one I got the overall impression that they were saying to me and they'll correct me if I'm wrong that they were saying to me we served our country this particular idea gives us a chance to serve our community because it's a multiuse type of Memorial um I think if you could fund a task order of an engineer and an architect if they got into it say 20% work and felt that it was totally inaccessible and totally non uh viable that they would let us know before they went further also when um the task order was outlined to me there was opportunities for Community input again at 20% 40% 60% 80% and then finally I don't know what this Veterans Memorial might turn out to be it might depend on what's said at uh by the experts who are doing the uh task order and by the suggestions that come in to the community at each phase however without some sort of motion we're never going to get a veter memorial I don't care what it looks like or where it is and if I have to back up from that place I want to back up to the position that we're going to get a Veterans Memorial that's my position uh just for the record how many veterans are in the audence here stand up stand up how many dependence of veterans do we have stand that how many relatives of veterans do we have here all right that's your verbal majority and I have to listen to what they say and theyve had opportunity through the years to offer their suggestions and every suggestion that a veteran put in was put into that design um exactly how that might get done I'm not that kind of expert and that's what Josh I think is trying to do get us a couple of experts that will tell us whether it's feasible whether we need a different design whether we need a different place or whatever in terms of the accessibility you ever ask yourself the question why has the city not made our L yard accessible before now it's a model that you haven't already been sued so I don't think that you should say accessibility is a negative thing for this particular idea because it's a positive thing for the city and for the entire lakeyard and we need it whether or not we have the Veterans Memorial or whether we have it there or not we need accessibility it was suggested to me that perhaps V could drive down to the bottom of the um boat R and that then it would be more accessible but if they're by themselves they had to give up and leave their car which makes the boat R inaccessible to anybody else who wants to use it um I realize that each of you have to listen to your constituents when they complain about an issue I wouldn't want you as my counsil person if you didn't do that keep in mind though that they represent themselves and as such they are the vocal minority when we have the vocal majority here um I didn't think about the fact that if we did a test order that it would continue to offer public input along the way but Mr iring enlightened us to that possibility and so I I don't know how it's going to come out we have to accept the experts and the input that keeps being put in I would you have to have you would have the opportunity to look at it too at 20% 40 and would have multiple opportunities to say yes no or we need to retreat entirely okay thank you all right before we have anybody else I want to have give the C members opportunity to voice their opinion the chair the C board and go around rest of see what their Are My Views are you know I think this is a healthy discussion I think that sounds like better everybody's favor of it is more like a location thing how it how it will be laid out but I view the CRA is implementing know we can we can use the C money to pay for something like this especially since it's within our plan um so um I don't have any if you tell me I want to put it here and the board thinks it's a great idea I'm in favor of it so it's what the city and residents you know the city council where they want to see it I'm I'm M the C Memorial um obviously we had somebody show up our last concerns theise of the train have never even thought about to be completely honest with you but it made sense when she brought that forward people theity of I guess just been down walking down that naig especially in you know cloudy condition or you know seeing and all it would be a difficult okay sorry but um I agree with everything that everybody else has said um it's it's a great thing for this community and I think it's it's needed the location is what we have to discuss but certainly as mind said you know with this majority of people here you know this is going to be great input to to understand and understand you know what you guys want and what our what's best for our entire Community guess my [Music] Loc like then that location may you start build struct by and they build another structure conern if it's just going to be some of the Dr on without structure that location may be okay concu back everyone I'm also in Memorial um we've been talking about it for quite a while now and what I would really like to see is we have a lot of people here today that can help us make a decisions and I'm hoping that today we can sort of try even if we have to extend our meeting a little bit let's let's make a decision let's try to see if we can take a step forward instead of continuously having these meetings and I think we have a lot of a lot of a lot of information already that I think is really great information and i' like to hear from you know these people out here on what they they're looking for I think that's what we're here for today is to try to take another step forward in a appropriate Direction instead of coming back 100 times over um I I think this is a great idea I am a widow of a veteran and I want to move forward with this I think um you know this Memorial will not be used just by vet it's going to be used by you know younger generation older generation I do know that we have to keep all of this stuff in mind I don't know what the other locations really are that we have us know what other I don't even know where else has been picked so I would just like to ask everybody that's here today if we could just you know civil try to figure this out step go back knows definitely Pro military Pro and I own a business here in town so I a lot of people and I've been approached wach to the church and people asking about this not one single person has a problem with again parking like some of the others have uh they you know want something looking at they're looking at More Level not having to go in and down and around so the only they said is location that's the only issue that they have but 100% and long okay well we what we can do is uh you want to raise your hand and be recognized we'll give you three minutes just m if you want go ahead at the podium and uh please SP your name and if you're representing an organization you can St that with hello I'm Mackenzie Brown citizen um I hear a lot of discussion about location if we can't decide on the location ourselves we don't have enough information to do so could we identify exactly what would make a good location such as centrality in the city visibility for visitors accessibility for those who need it accessibility to our citizens and make a short list of potential locations that fit all those bills thank you yes my name is brown W and I'd like to thank you for undertaking this project beh have with myself and Veterans but the one thing that keeps crossing my mind and I've spoken with colleagues we're calling this the Veterans Memorial but we have V we have AmVet we have BFW we have Veterans Affairs why don't we have Comm those people that are reporting to you that meet with you to give the veterans input to what they would like to see and where they would like to see it because the way it's coming across to me it's your Memorial with a veteran's tag thank you thank you very much yes sir go ahead my name is G that's I am 2 four years service in an Airborne Ranger unit so I just want to make it short and sweet and simple um the mission is to complete M also a lot of GRS and lot of stuff but the city already wants Memorial so we need to just do it and then to say I'm a commander of Disabled American Veterans bar chapter here in un streams um okay so uh we have a lot of issues that that always going to come up so we've got to have a democracy yes you can pass it down to our chapters uh to have a vot on what location or what needs to be done that's what I want to look at forth the V you can give out a ballot or something to the chapter commanders like me and I will get a vote for it for what location what needs to be done whatever else that needs to be accommodated for the V I think that'll be quicker if you go that route and you'll get an answer faster uh to close out this uh Memorial okay so yes we all have a chapter Commander that's in your local chapter go through them get a faster answer in the correct answer sometimes about that train coming by thing that last me I wasn't here for that but that's like 95% of uh a train will come through while you're sitting there thinking about your V okay so that that 5% that train comes through I'm just saying that Memorial is for the vet and for the community is to close out this and then pass it down to the commanders give a ballot request in one location with all the um gifts that you already have created what locations and we'll write down I'll close out as a chapter Commander I'll close out of a memorandum send to the GU what both came through and you'll have like signed list of personnel what do they want next you can make your closing comments for this Memorial thank you thank you yes ma'am citizen uh I'm also the uh chair of the beautification and tree board thank you all for for having this opportunity for everybody to come together uh like all of you I'm all in favor of a memorial uh for our veterans my dad I my Grandad in World War I just like many of you uh I had a deep respect for them and yes we should have done something before now we're acting on it um I I think I'll repeat what others have said uh location is the main concern um one of the things that um that I I totally agree with McKenzie I think having a list of alternative locations would be ideal so that everybody isn't just focused on this one thing let's see if we can B a location where everyone is agreeing rather than being in opposition of one another uh and if it isn't something that the city already owns if there's budgeting for it perhaps that could just be included uh as a purchase right just purchase a property uh that would be suitable um and then I I love the gentleman's idea of getting direct input from the veterans but I think we need to have something for them to work off of right or else it's going to be here here here here here here so come up with a few locations that could be viable um I I'm happy to volunteer my my time as a realtor and and help identify if there's anything I can do to help if that's something that that you would like um the thing that that I I Look to is as a board uh we came to the council last year and one of our six priorities was getting a master plan the lakeyard and I hesitate saying this because I always want to see action fast but I want to see things planned well um so that it's done right even if it takes a little bit longer um and one of the things that we had on our six priorities was the master plan and I would I hesitate to have it in that location because we don't have a plan for the whole lakeyard I would like to see what the entire lakeyard could look like that better suited as a garden because something else is going to be in another location I I don't know the answer to that um the only thing that I can say without question that I am very opposed to is a large structure um we have some deep restrictions for our lakeyard that I do not think it would be appropriate to have a structure built there um I'm not opposed to the memorial being there but I would like to see what other opportunities there might be out there um that's it thank you so much thank you yes sir Tony Roy represent as a citizen the I'm retired US Air Force 20 years the when I heard about the LA that didn't strike to me as aoral um I'm more of a I want to see the flag and I want to see all the service Flags lit up at night overlooking blard or some place in the city and I think United States has been involved is important whether it be a monument or or some other method as far as location I agree that the present location that you're considering that would be almost impossible for people that got hand conditions which a lot of your V do have that that has to be a consideration I like the idea about it being cl to the building or redesign I think that would be a good location for another thing that I was considered I thinking about it maybe with the county put at the April Springs Golf Course issue maybe they could loan out the go CS to go to you know that's big area with city limit and it could be whatever you imagine but I think a monument bomil is a for Danny if I'm reading the bias correctly it sounds like pretty well du in on not accepting this location is fine that's not the end of the world but in the show of good faith veterans I'd like to suggest that you consider making a motion tonight to commit this city the memorial that we're talking about pending approval and design location and type of structure you're giving the veterans what they want your Memorial you're approving it pending the right location that tells you you're not against it for you're behind the V 100% we just need to go back to the drawing and sharpen our pil a little bit thank you of course it is a workshop so you can't pass any motions tonight as far as city council cting work C do what they need to do at 5:00 anyone else yes sir my name is and may I think it's a great idea I know it's long to have have a lot of other smaller cities actually have veterans even on got a beautiful Memorial it's day is beautiful and I'm glad that the finally taking some action to try to put in a memorial a majority of people families and their their relatives there's good time in the military we veterans too so understand that it's long overdue and I I would hope that the city after they get take input from B BFW American region we're the veterans some yall veterans too we should all get together determine okay what our pth is and what what are we really want to see down there or what location my first suggestion is to figure out where it Cally located accessibility and where where everybody can agree on right but it's all about the citizens and the veterans to we all words going to be and then we can move forward thank you thank you very much I I'll take about one more comment if somebody want I'm going to have go back to the council and come up with a consensus of what we going do location uh just to keep the rules clear you can make that to us after we close okay to give our body one shot okay we our lead spok you can make a comment we don't have to have a picnic Pavilion but that's probably where the money is going to come from the other thing I want to say is that if frerick ra Armstead can build bathrooms in Central Park that are hidden from you we can do that too without a all we need is an architect and an engineer to help us figure out how to do that thank you okay we're uh I want to go back to council and of course the C China in this is not a vote just consensus are we going to try to bring the I I like that I like that a lot um I think that that would include two parts I think that we should U provide a process for people to submit potential locations so we're getting full public input so we can consider things that aren't obvious necessarily and then we haven't talk about the C has talk about that hasn't talk about uh and I think we should include I would actually be fine with putting that recommendation the final location onto those entities should they be willing to participate in that process I would love to see their their input on this as well as more public input that we can see I'm not sure how I know Miss Henderson you've been working on this for a long time you you pointed that years or so and 15 okay um but we have a we have a lot of lot of people moving in the area lot of those are veterans as well and it would be great to get some some some broader public input uh recent and and you know time is kind of of the essence here to do this and we all to do it I think that is I hope that's well understood in in this room we all want to do this but to do it well someone said that earlier take your time find it find a proper location that gives the most visibility to it with Travelers coming through with our local citizens something we can all be proud of and those taking the time to do that usually yields the best results uh long term and we want it to be great we want it to be something that we proud you thank you Mr May um I agree with a lot of comments that were made here tonight I mean everybody's got their ideas on everything and the one thing that I want the public understand is the council is not against against building Veterans Memorial current Council you have now I believe we're all forth It's just collecting the right information and making sure meable to everybody and something that won't be defaced or forgotten so um Mr Mayor I'd like to volunteer my services and legal says that I'm with Dr Henderson the commander always up your [Music] name I would like to work with him trying to identify the proper location the design that the veterans truly want and then to bring that back and then um before the CRA is they're so generously willing to help us out with funding the project to come to the board and say and say look these are the results from the survey this is what our vs locally want and then then let's look at it again and say let's make it happen sobody to I'm going to do that you're welcome to volunteer your time k c v to do all these things um I want to thank everyone for their input uh today and taking the time their day out you know it's not easy 4:00 on Wednesday to to come out so I do appreciate everyone time uh I do want to clarify one thing um this is in the CRA plan the Veterans Memorial is in the C plan the CR has dollars to purchase property it doesn't have to be confined to the L if we find a piece of property somewhere within the city that we think is is the fitting of a memorial and checks all the boxes the C has dollarss where they can purchase not only purchase the proper it's an a plan that can construct the memorial so I think that we need to look at engaging with the the veterans organizations holistically and and bring everybody into this and uh get a better idea of what it is we want to see and where we want to see it again one of one of my main concerns originally wasn't that were building memorial supp that was that what was presented to us was a grab bag of options but no Clear Choice as to what we were actually voting on you know I go back to what was presented city council what was presented to the C the first time what was presented to the tree board they all contained numerous and various options but no clear Direction on which way to go the only thing that up to this moment has been clear was this particular location so I'm I'm in support of the memorial I think that we should look around the entire city loc whether it's City own property or whether it's even priv own property the purchase and dedicate to the [Music] memorial thank you um I thought what said was really what everybody said was great I think this is a hug helpful discussion of the city overall really important that V want to be part of this and it needs to be but at the same time I me you know KY was saying I think a list of what the needs are for this and then I think some suggested locations and then work with veterans and city council to try to get that established our job again is to implement that good thing about the C is you don't have to rely on 100% or anything we may not even any and you know we have M I like it's and you know like City but uh having the vet input on what they wanted to look like as well as the location is real important um we've got as they said in smaller cities they have um little you know memorials they all look a little different but um so your input would be fantastic to know what you want to with Anderson says she's been working on something like this for a long time and I know I've been city council meeting and put all us together coming up with what veterans want I think the most important part your input is going to be really really thank U thank you address just minute next thing we need to do is have contact with you and the other leaders yes you help us make that happen yes on November the 7th at 5 p.m. at the D I will organize all the commanders and all the Personnel to come at 5m D 131 Rural Street of Rural Drive and this our sence to D um yeah uh November the 7th at 5:00 p.m. I'll have all organ there and then be there and not that be great that be awesome all right we'll get everybody's information well City W up and I want to thank you so much this is worth this is worth cheing each other over a little bit this be something we can be very proud of so want to thank you very much and we're going toour all right