##VIDEO ID:EVuUCJ4kF1Y## [Music] [Music] [Music] 2024 meeting of the local the c order thank you the local planning agency is an Advisory Board of citizens appointed by the city commission this board is comprised of volunteers who represent the thoughts and concerns of the community the purpose of tonight's meeting is to make recommendations to the city commission regarding each item on the agenda fortunately there's only one one anyone in the audience who wishes to give testimony to any items on the agenda will need to be sworn in by the deputy city clerk citizens speaking on an agenda item or during citizen comment shall not engage in loud boisterous or disruptive speech or conduct that means you Bob any speaker that has continued inappropriate or irrelevant comments will be requested to relinquish the podium by the chair Please be aware that the local planning agency is not a quasi judicial board and therefore has no final decisionmaking power our procedures however are structured in a quasi judicial manner for those who come before it tonight's format will be as follows I will introduce the item on the agenda after which the city representative will present information about it thereafter the members of the local planning agency will ask any questions of the city representative finally anyone from the public may come forward those from the public wishing to give testimony will need to approach the deas state the name and address and then utilize the speaker's lect turn in order for their comments to be recorded individual speakers will be limited to three minutes of speaking time and we kindly request that speakers are respectful of the countdown clock upon conclusion of each public hearing the local planning agency will consider the evidence before it and vote on the agenda item that Voice vote is the rendition of the order of the board and there will be no written decision issued by the board the deputy clerk will now swear in all persons wishing to speak to or give testimony to any of tonight's agenda items do you swear the testimony you about to give in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the TR yes thank you the first item on our agenda is ordinance 24-25 termination of development agreement with Gateway Denon LLC for the Gateway Denon mixed use project located at Main Street Milwaukee Avenue and scanner Boulevard has anyone had any experte Communications regarding this item y thank you hearing n the floor is yours thank you chair Bob iron Smith economic development director uh for the city of Duneden uh today kind of marks a restart if you will with the Gateway project uh certainly we've had a fairly long history with this project as many of you know I've been here a long time and actually negotiated the purchase of this property in 2004 so it's been 20 years but I'm very optimistic here for the the next Journey with this property tonight we're before you uh asking for condition additional approval to terminate the existing development agreement through that ordinance 2425 this will allow the property to be re-envisioned or reimagined if you will the developer Joe kokakis is still very much engaged still very much involved uh he's certainly the past project just economically became unfeasible due to inflation economic conditions High interest the project Grew From a$ 3540 million project to a 7075 million project so what he would like to do is kind of clean the Slate start over he is still very much looking at a boutique hotel and some other mixed uses which would be a great entrance way to our downtown uh I'm very much in favor of a hotel because it's what from an economic perspective we call a captive Market people would stay in a hotel purchase things downtown as opposed to a lot of the merchants are always hit with the online aspect that many of us do and uh so this is uh really the first step in in do doing that uh the other aspect that will go to the commission is there's a piece of property called the Jernigan track it's 6/10 of an acre which is just North of the Boy Scout property if you will next to Wellington Town Homes uh he's obligated to go ahead and de that over to the city so that's another wrinkle that will go before the city commission here on September 19th but today we're before you to start the process for conditional approval for termination of that development agreement and the reason it's conditional is we need to uh just ensure of course we know that he will deed the property over that joury cont trct so that's why it's conditional and the commissioner will take care of that on September 19th and then they'll go to the commission at a later date I think it's October 3rd for them to have the final approval on terminating the uh development agreement so happy to answer any questions that you might have we do have a representative from cak's Contracting here will kok Koken hours in the audience we also have Sally too who are both with with Joe cookaka so be happy to answer any questions that that you might have that's the first in a long time so so I don't know if that's good or bad I don't know if that's good or bad I've got to ask a question I don't it's in my nature I don't um so with the agreement terminated Joe cookaka still owns the property so he's still be you know do we know at what time we may be looking at a new development agreement and and yeah well let me no I think it's a good question and let me just add some additional information so this will be terminated uh we are not looking to do another development agreement with him okay he can come under site plan review with the boutique hotel and the mixed use we're not offering incentives like we did with the First Development agreement we had incentives in there this one will not have that so he's looking to come in uh you know I'm thinking he probably will look to try to get something started in the spring of next year is probably what I'm kind of hearing from him uh you know it's also kind of exciting because we had this plan that staff set out several years ago called the deep and commissioner K of course remembers that but downtown East End plan and we're doing it that included Skinner Boulevard a new city hall uh The Old City Hall is a park which we're currently under concept drawings um and the the John or Lawrence Park which we've already redone so this is kind of the book end into our downtown so it's very important piece for us with Skinner the overhead traffic signal and wires will become a mass armm we're going to go as you know from 4 four lanes to two lanes this whole area is changing so perhaps the timing is even better now for Mr calakas to re-envision the property you will see equipment on that property uh dot is going to use it as a staging area for to to do uh Skinner so this project is probably still a little bit of time away but all the steps he'll go through I'm sure he'll probably accomplish the next year or so we're going to help them get there by having this property um de veloped it adds an awful lot to the city we're probably talking about $200,000 in tax dollars that's a big deal for the CRA um we're talking about employment we're talking about a lot of positive things and if you look at Skinner now even though we haven't started the project which will start in November we're already seeing economic aspects going you'll see Terry hodj is doing a new office and some apartments or BNB there uh they're looking at a a Craft brewery there on the corner of Douglas from Jack Norton so economically it's already started this whole area will transform the goal was always to make Skinner part of downtown and to make this piece a showcase piece the other thing that's exciting is the hospital across the way is looking to take that brick and paint it white and make it a little bit more modern if you see closely the hospital's already put in a whole bunch of landscaping things are changing uh it's it's pretty exciting to watch this happen and so I know I'm adding more than just this property but I just want to kind of give you a feel of what's happening in whole area good we'll be excited to see the proposal when it comes through yes absolutely absolutely that'll be another part to see is is how it all plays out and you will see that for sure does anyone from the public have any comments to make sure you have to come to the podium I'm sorry yeah I no that's okay you're good fine U Mary Aaron 938 lden Avenue um I just have one little question um when the the original agreement uh went forward especially when it came to the uh the vacant property mhm uh that's was going to be a park yes uh he the developer went ahead and got credits he did well what will happen with those sure I know it's a great question so thank you as part of the uh original development agreement Mr kokak has purchased the 610 of an acre known as the Jan track uh TR part of that agreement was there was a TDR which is called transfer development rights density got transferred off of that site it was 19 units which could be for apartments um and then the site has to remain perpetually as Green Space public park so that was kind of the deal did did that answer your question yes okay yeah so there was benefits there too for Mr kakas with transfer the development rights and that's already occurred that's why it's his obligation now to make sure that property gets deed over to the city so that's why it's conditional today is there any other uh one from the public that would like to say something howy uh Ronald Hunter 538 Lexington Street good good okay cool um do we need any more hotels like I like the idea of like mixed use but I find that like having more hotels doesn't really gel or I I just don't understand are we looking towards doing more mix use so we can have businesses and apartments above so we can you know have more population yeah no I think I think it's a great question I mean it will be mixed use but we do like the hotel because it actually feeds the downtown uh businesses the restaurants and things like that we're not looking at a five six story type Hotel we're looking a little bit more of a boutique hotel with with kind of mixed uses but I think it's very valid what you mentioned relative to uh you know having a combination of Housing and and businesses and you know obviously we we did that with u The Artisan on Douglas with Nature's Food Patch this site's a little bit bigger and the RightWay is a little bit bigger so that's why it kind of lends itself toward a Botique Hotel so Bob just in line with that question a little bit I know we got the ocean Optics property and we've seen developments that were condo oriented then we had the Sterling Property which more hotel-based yeah would the addition of another smaller Hospitality business up there uh direct development at Ocean Optics any differently in your opinion that could we'll have to see how that all plays out so much as economics and and uh you know we do have a new owner there at the ocean Optics that's another one that's been long time in the queue for lack of better word and uh we don't have anything definitive on the concepts but I think yeah mixed use is definitely where we want to be with that and what how the housing part or or U uh works out I just don't know at this point in time but yeah we really want the balance you know it's funny when I'm digressing when I first came to the city it was 1995 and we didn't have much residential downtown and the monreal Park Town Homes was the first deal that I put together uh with John freeorn Law we did land exchange and all so it's always been our goal to kind of have this this this balance if you will and it a lot of times economics plays a little bigger role than what you want to see from a planning perspective but I think a hotel is a good fit there and certainly Joe kokakis does quality and he's very big in uh artwork and things that will make it very attractive so it's not going to be a uh a franchise type hotel that lacks kind of a character or soul to it you know so we're excited about it of course that's his initial thought he he he could change too we don't have anything definitive at this point in time other than we know banks are lending toward hotels at this point so um Bob y we had the question on the TDS why don't you explain it a little bit you know a little more he's gifting the land but with that gift he gets more uh development rights maybe you can explain it yeah he certainly does uh uh so what you know I still call you commissioner K it's been so many years I can't get out of my head so but anyway I've been so many times before Deborah but um anyway a TDR basically there's ability within the Land Development code that says someone can purchase a property and if it's adjacent they can transfer the density count off of that but then the place has to stay as just Green Space they can't double dip so in this case he buys the jurnigan track he takes the density off which we're were using as an incentive for the Gateway was 19 units and but then it needs to stay as a Perpetual Green Space or or public park so that's kind of what he did and that's why it's conditional he needs to carry forth and he will deeding their property over to the city which will then make his requirement satisfied under that development agreement that work okay is there any other comments from uh the public then we are closing input from the public and any other questions from the group here no I do want to say that that property the Jernigan tract has this fabulous banion that's the Manion tree property and it's so beautiful and it'll be right by the condomini or their Town Homes right there and it also backs up to the the Boy Scouts so that's a really special little green space Green Space area it really is and Barbara Mary will definitely always stay on top of me on that and the Boy Scouts too um they they will get to use it I am uh digress again you're going to have lunch with Vince gizy tomorrow or parks recreation director to look at access and and how it signage and things of that nature you know that's the other aspect ECT is is how it's positioned so uh Vince will be looking at that with me tomorrow so we we are on top of this and I think it's just a nice situation to have that kind of Green Space right there so it will be passive yeah it would be passive yeah the Boy Scouts will be able to use it and the Wellington town homes and the rest of the public can go out there and we'll probably make sure we get a couple benches and things out there that people can sit and reflect on on on something you know parks are uh parks are a very important part no doubt about it with our downtown so um that's why we work on The Old City Hall too we're going to have these pocket we call them pocket Parks you know throughout the Main Street area so tell you what let's finish with 2425 and then we can open up to other questions because Bob is a rare guest here so yeah yeah so so uh do we have a motion about I'll make a motion to approve uh ordinance 2425 termination of development agreement with Gateway denan LLC second all in favor any opposed the motion is passed certainly now let's open up for any questions we have of Bob yeah no so so what's going on with the orang juice building the old Coca-Cola building coca you know yeah sure uh Koke is an interesting piece it's 27 and half acres obviously Koch is leaving or left really to go to BTO the plant's closed it does have some environmental aspects we're trying to work through it right now uh looking how uh the first step is Koke is a very good partner and they might look at bringing forth a little piece of land for the city for waste treatment plant that's something to been looked at and then the other aspects is what we do from Redevelopment you know what's it going to be and and that's another one that's kind of down the road but that's a that's a key piece um you know from my perspective uh that's critical uh the other thing I've really proud to say this one because we've worked on this this for five years is uh we're going to get an affordable housing project in D and who project affordable housing project Department affordable housing and it's going to be on 580 it's over there on Carnation Drive behind Dollar General and we've tried uh four four or five years Deborah certainly when she was up there we've presented to her and uh we were able to get the right people we got the right developer uh we got the penis County Housing Authority to partner with us and we got the number one lottery pick at the state and guess what all the stars are alined and this one's going to happen and uh I'm really really excited about it it probably won't start to get built till the probably the fall of next year but all the approvals as far as from the state uh are in play so uh this is a big deal for the city because we have small tracks of land and we've had a hard time we've lost out a lot to uh St Pete over the years and this time we beat them so I'm very happy Bob how many units are will we get 78 units 78 78 and it'll be uh 60 to to uh I think U 60 to 120% of the median so it also really provide a pretty good broad spectrum for people that are looking for apartments because apartments are so expensive today you know we're seeing numbers $2,000 for one bedroom you know so this is really going to be a huge deal for for the city is this going to solve all the affordable housing needs no but it's the step in the right right direction so um I know it's a long journey for you so congratulations oh thank you yeah no I'm excited about that and from my perspective um we got the strongest downtown going we have over 20 million in capital projects we're going to be doing downtown Skinner proposed parking garage The Old City Hall and we want to streetscape additional phases of main street from where the trail is to Broadway and that's on the docket for next year too so we got a lot going on it's it's it's a busy place but the things that I look at we really don't have any vacancies downtown unless you can point one to me I don't see any vacancies that tells me the health is pretty good and our tax base is now getting close to $275 million this started in 1988 at 35 million so it tells you how far we've come and we've done this on an incremental type basis what I see a lot of other cities and municipalities do they do major public works projects they say we're done it's up to the merchants it doesn't work well that way that's why we do many small projects whether and Deborah was very involved with the first artistic bus shelters that we did small but it starts a climb it and it makes people excited and they see it and it's that type of feel that we want to keep on going for the downtown so anyway I'm very much digressing chairman yeah yeah I I I I really want to acknowledge you and your uh department for the major role that you've played in making the needen what it is now we got a good Department I want to introduce car Carolyn Homer our new staff person we're very excited to get Carolyn aboard she has a MBA from USF undergrad from uh Gainesville she's a gator so uh there you go here you go but uh Carolyn's been with us since April and uh she's like the air traffic controller you know she keeps everything running with us and of course we have Trevor Davis who reaches out and at the moment I'm I'm very spoiled I got Doug Hutchins as a consultant one or two days a week and Doug is just critical to make all these capital projects happen Skinner is extremely complicated from the perspective that you have underground overhead utilities you have private property conversions you have easements you have detour War the list just goes on and on and Doug is just uh excels at that so we're very happy to have him on board with us so oh yeah okay Carol whisper year which is great we just had thank you Carolyn that's why she's the air traffic controller uh we just had uh a tour over downtown the Florida planning conference which was held in Tampa kind of Statewide just came visited our downtown they want to see how we're doing it and then in October we have the another Statewide the Florida Redevelopment Association is going to bring two bus loads just to see what's happening downtown how are we doing it so we are definitely one of the strongest small downtowns in the State of Florida no doubt I know I'm biased but it's just the way it is so I can say it pretty confidently but we're we're we're excited about that and we're going to undertake these capital projects and U you know move move forth so it's an exciting time it really really is we're not letting anything rest I can tell you I can tell you that so yeah super uh this is an opportunity from anyone from the public to bring up something that is not on the agenda is there anything sure I know Citizens Academy I I we're going to make a presentation to you here soon so I think it's great that you're here and uh we take all the input that we get seriously you know so anybody that wants to talk or if you're not comfortable here you can uh email me at R ironsmith dl.net okay or you can call me at 727 298 3204 so uh always love the input and conversation super thanks Bob yep I think we are adjourned take care everybody thank you take [Music] care for