##VIDEO ID:bua7abtbE1c## e e all right good evening everyone we're gonna call the it is 6:07 p.m. this is you guys want to keep down for just a second I promise you have plenty of time to talk uh it is Monday September 23rd 6:07 p.m. this is a regularly scheduled Town council meeting all council members are present Town manager Town attorney town clerk uh please rise for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance we are thankful for this day that you have given us for its blessings its opportunities its challenges may we appreciate and use each day that is given to us we pray for strength and gu guidance for each day as it comes for each day's duties for each day's difficulties may we be challenged to give our best always and may we be assured of your presence with us amen amen Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right next is the approval of the final agenda there are some changes that were given to me I'll see if I can try to get them all um the first in the public hearings uh item C resolution 24-19 is going to be moved to date of October 7th is that correct yes okay um we also have advisory committee item H will be moved to October 7th as well um public hearing letter I which is resolution 24178 of the Town Council updating Town council's procedure and policy manual that will move to October 7th as well item L ordinance 24-30 unsafe building code appeals that will be moved to October 7th as well no October 2st 21st I'm sorry thank you and then item E for for administrative agenda the settlement agreement for 131 Estero is that going to be um we would like to have that just removed from theenda REM from the agenda okay that will be pulled from the agenda did I miss anything mayor I have one if I may a second I think want to make sure that did I miss anything no okay parliamentary parliamentary inquiry Mr Mayor yes sir Town Madam town of attorney the item e the uh Estero Boulevard EC uh ordinance 24-28 I was I was I was under the impression that it was going to be continued is it is it actually now re being removed you say so we had two items if if I can provide a small explanation um these uh item e as well as item G uh we were trying to do some agenda management and um because of the fact that this was a a later evening and a change in uh agenda preparation policy um it did not appear that these two would be moving forward um however we didn't want to put the property owner or um at any disadvantage so we did put it on your agenda um and allowed you to make the decision whether or not to continue it um or not forgive me right now they're under the way it's proposed now they're being removed they're not being continued I think you're confed it's a request and we're asking uh direction from Council if you want to uh continue it or not okay I'm just I'm just trying to make sure people understand where we're headed that's that's helpful item e that I think you're referring to to councelor King's Point is Administrative agenda item was pulled that was pulled the settlement agreement under administrative agenda next stage that's that's the one that's being pulled okay there is a letter uh regarding administrative agenda item e is from attorney n Davies um it's some of the materials that have been provided to you uh just very briefly we are currently continuing to discuss and uh should we reach a settlement which I hope we do um that would resolve that potential appeal and then one other thing item G there's a correction it is actually the second reading correct not the first reading for ordinance 24-20 and that was advertised correctly Madam clerk y yes it was so are you are you comfortable with moving forward with agenda Item B knowing that it's been it's the second reading and yes now these items you're proposing to continue them to a date certain um I would just ask if there's any public comment um because these are public hearings we can do that as we get to the item though do you want yes that would be preferable yes okay so for my clarification we're we are doing G then we will open the ordinance and then we'll ask yes if you want to we'll open the public hearing sorry we'll open the public hearing and should Council want to move forward with it you would deny the request for a continuance or you would Grant the request for a continuance at which point we would continue it got it so I believe mayor um you've basically advised the public as to some of the different things that are happening with these agenda items okay so just to further concl just for under public hearings uh ordinance 2428 which has to do with eibc it's going to be proposed to be moved to October 7th is that correct you will open the public hearing and then a request has been made to move it to October 7th you can approve that request or you can deny it but in essence it would be continuing it until October 7th correct if if that is the will of council yes I just a lot of folks are interested in that that particular I just want to make sure people are are aware of what's happening and that was at the recommendation of town staff is that correct it was part of an agenda management issue and um I think Frankie can speak a little bit to that yes we had a hard stop date two weeks before uh when anyy needs to get the packets together to get out to either LPA or Town Council it was agreed upon uh that we have a hard stop so whether it's staff or whether it's the people out in the community put together if we don't have the information it does not get on that agenda and this is one of those that just kind of happened to be in that Nether world where uh we just did not pull the trigger internally in order to get this done okay thank you but we allowed that decision to come to you if you wanted to move forward or not and uh just one more little comment is that this one would be approved by ordinance so there will be two public hearings um so you could hear it tonight as a first reading or you could continue Contin it to the seventh and that would be your first reading and then there would be a second reading after that so you have a couple options are the people here yes yes they are all right we will cover that then when we get to that okay I think everybody does everybody understand Scott got it yes got it everybody everybody out there get it all right are there any other any other changes to the agenda yes sir yes um in light of the current weather uh situation emergency situation we find ourselves in the governor has declared a state of emergency to include Lee County I believe all the counties along the Gulf of Mexico uh we need to declare one um tonight I I request that we put resolution 24-1 192 under um consent agenda declaring a state of local emergency due to the potential tropical Cyclone 9 okay any other changes is there a motion to approve the final agenda as amended so mov got a motion by councelor King second second by councelor Safford just quick discussion item Mr Mayor on the on the consent agenda when it comes to declaring the state of emergency Mr Town manager just because the trajectory of the storm has Eerie uh familiarity uh with what we've experienced two years ago would you just take 30 seconds to a minute and update people or or reiterate uh for folks what the uh evacuation plan is and the re-entry plan plan for folks just give them a little guidance should uh should things get worse we do it now or consent whatever whatever the will of the council is just go aad and do it now okay um a as usual you know our town staff is prepared we've been monitoring the weather probably since sometime last week when we started hearing about this so we we've been uh consistently uh constantly talking speaking with each other of course if there's any evacuations we we will follow the the Lee County Emergency Management we'll follow follow their Direction uh being a bar Barrier island of course we have uh uh different considerations for for evacuation which means we will you know request people to evacuate um it's still early to speculate but we'll be watching it I know the the the worst of the storm will probably come sometime late early Thursday morning into Thursday day so we're still but again we should know more probably tomorrow morning as far as the a little more defini definitive Direction but of course then the the the returning to the island is should that happened the re-entry uh based on the the Damage Done to the island if there is any um it all depend as quickly as possible we will get people back on we typically will station people at each end of each Bridge uh staff members so it's they're they're easily identifiable of course we' got the hurricane uh re passes we have stickers on the cars we kind of you know went to a different uh scenario that way people have to where's my pass they have a sticker on the car uh they can still come in tomorrow and get them and Wednesday and get get those things so we can have a clear understanding of of when people are coming back we will also station staff out at the Target in case people have issues getting you know we can't get back on we need a pass so we'll be be able to help people out there but we will continue to send out public information um press releases media releases email blasts we encourage people to sign up for code red we will we will send things out via code red to make sure everybody understands what what is happening uh but of course our staff is available to answer any calls we do have sandbags available we have sand available so we're just we're we're just you know on high alert uh we prepare for the worst and expect the best so that's where we are as a staff and we continue to talk we had a meeting this afternoon and we will have another one in the morning so we continue to to to be prepared for whatever may come our way if everyone's okay to Pro proceed out order and chief if you wouldn't mind since you're here would you like to come up and just speak on behalf of the fire department to give any updates I didn't mean to didn't mean to put you on the spot but [Laughter] yeah thank you for the opportunity Scott worth the fire chief of for Mar Beach Fire Department um as a town manager said you know the same preparations are in place this is the time when we encourage people to look at their hurricane plans be ready to go in case they need to um have their supplies in case they you know are without power whatnot for a few days but same thing we're watching the storm it is eily similar um I'm looking forward to seeing it start move in the direction that they keep saying so as long as it follows the path they take I think it'll feel a lot more like Debbie than than an actual direct impact but Chief if I could we have a plan now in place postan for folks to get back on the island to identify folks get them back on obviously that's dependent upon the call that you and the emergency response folks make as to what the state of you know damage is with respect to the island we've had some concerns in the past I don't think we'll have that after Ian that people won't leave because because they have a hard time getting back would you let people just would you comment on what you how you gauge when people can come back and now that we have a system in place to allow them to come back much easier what's what's what what should people look look for with respect to when and how they can get back to the island based upon your assessment of the damages sure um it depends on the the amount of damage but at the beginning of season we we sat and went through our plans with your staff and you know we're on the same page um we're aware of your passes we worked with lcso on on what it looks like to come back to the island but in general what we are looking for after Ian our um Mission our first mission was um to to rescue anybody that could be rescued recover any anybody who who didn't make it and um so there's an order to things and um life safety like in any other emergency it'll be life First Property second so just as soon as we can secure all life that's when we look to get people back on to secure their properties um so after we take care of that life component we want to make sure there's no hazards like down power lines or leaking uh gas lines or whatever so soon as those are taken care of then it's you know we're working with the town on on collecting the debris and getting people back to their properties thank you you sir thanks Chief thank anybody else have a question Chief thanks for letting me put you on the spot all right we got a motion of the amended agenda by councelor King second by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously next is public comment um just a reminder if you're here to speak on one of the public hearings you're more than welcome to speak at this public comment but if you want it on the record for that hearing you're going to want to speak at the public hearing portion of the comment but you're welcome to speak at both if you want just what we'll what you talk about during the hearing is what will go on the record I just have one from Tyler spradling and the others I have are for one of the items okay hello uh my name is tus bradling I'm currently an applicant for the LPA position I just wanted to take this time to formerly introduce myself to you guys and put a name a phase to the name in case anyone didn't know me um I think it's been a chaotic two years since herc Canan everything's kind of changed we're at an unprecedented time now and I think uh what we do over the next years is really going to set the tone of the island for a long time and I grew up here and I think I had a unique perspective to the LPA that uh you know that's important so just want to take this time to introduce myself and thank you for your consideration for thank you Ty than is there anyone else that hasn't signed up that would like to speak all right seeing none we'll close public comment local achievements and recognitions councelor King Friday I was chairing of the Lee County Metropolitan planning organization board meeting and Doug hadway with the trust Republic land came up to me beforehand and brought a couple of books uh from the Newtons um one is a book of poetry from Elanor Newton Echoes from the heart and there there was a pamphlet uh regarding Mr Newton and his uh ties and work with uh Mr Edison so I'll be turning those over to the town Doug for that very nice anything else I'll do it Vice nothing tonight thank you all right counc Woodson nothing tonight concer Safford um we lost a a dear friend last week um Mike Yos was one of the good guys and the outpouring of support for his girlfriend Meg and his mom was was incredible we had a little celebration of life last night and uh everybody said the same thing Mike was the island and we lost a true true legend last week well said um just to kind of piggyback on that his his mother I can't remember if it's IMO or emo I can never pronounce her right she's the sweetest little lady but she reached out to me um at his memorial the other night and and wanted to get in contact so just as a reminder with someone at the Historical Society they would like to donate some of his things um to that if they would like it so if someone can just remind me to get you her number number after this meeting so that uh they can get in contact that's all I have uh advisory committees items reports and appointments do we have anyone here from any of the Committees that would like to make no okay next is approval of the minutes we have the town council meeting from SE September 9th 2024 and the Town Council budget hearing from September 9th 202024 is there a motion to approve the minutes so moved got motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none that carries unanimously next is the consent item item uh it's ordinance 24-1 192 the state of emergency for the incoming storm that was added by the town manager is there a motion to approve consent agenda mayor can you read the title Please I certainly can this is resolution 24-1 192 it's a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida declaring a state of local emergency due to the potential tropical Cyclone 9 providing the town with powers including but not limited to those pursuant to Florida Statutes chapter 252 and town code chapter 2 article 6 providing for penalties for violations providing for conflicts severability and for an effective date and a termination date now is there a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved got a motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing done the motion carries unanimously okay now we go to public uh there's no items removed public hearings the next one two three four looks like four correct Poss yeah four possibly five yeah okay the next four possibly five 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 Quasi judicial in nature our attorney will further explain okay thank you um mayor so uh zoning revisions special exceptions variances these are all matters uh that are Quasi judicial in nature and this requires that our public hearing comply with some procedural requirements that have been established in Florida law and in our Land Development code so these quasi judicial proceedings they're going to be less formal than proceedings you may experience before a circuit court but they will be more formal than the remainder of our meeting and they will follow basic standards of due process that requires um having provided certain notices the application of the correct standards and the decisions made by Council on competent and substantial evidence that is presented either in written documents or through oral testimony so the Town Council will evaluate the testimony and the information for each of these quasi judicial items and then draw a conclusion regarding whether the criteria that is in the Land Development code the comprehensive plan or state law as may be applicable has been satisfied so pure speculation or mere opinion that is not based on competent facts cannot legally be considered by the Town Council in evaluating an agenda item testimony by professionals who have are qualified as experts in a particular area has been considered competent evidence by Florida courts as well as testimony by neighbors and residents who have fact-based information such as minutes surveys engineering reports or testimony that is based on their current personal knowledge so if you intend to speak please keep my comments in mind when you come forward state your name clearly for the record whether or not you have been sworn in and your qualifications or your interest in the matter so for purposes of efficiency at the beginning of any of the public hearings we'll go ahead and dispose of a few housekeeping items now I need to ask the town clerk if all agenda items have been properly noticed pursuant to Our Land Development code yes they have been and at this time Council I need to ask whether anyone has a conflict of interest that might prohibit them from voting on any of these items so that we can ascertain if we have a quorum present councelor King none vice mayor edol no I do not have any none none okay okay our next uh item that we need to take care of actually before you go on you want it for just the quas edial or any of the public hearings just quasi judici okay um so at this time I'm going to ask the town clerk um to swear in anyone in the audience who or staff who is intending to provide testimony on any of the quasa judicial items if you would please stand that includes public comment okaye you didn't hear Amy she said that includes public comment as well if you're going to speak in public comment you need to be sworn in as well okay if do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth okay I'll all parties have been sworn okay this item is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions or denying special exception sez 202 4200 to allow repairs to a retaining wall in the E EC zoning District as authorized by section 6- 366 of the town of Fort Meers Beach town of Fort Meers Beach Land Development code for property located at 6500 and 6502 Estero Boulevard providing for scrier errors and severability my screen just went off sorry also there's a typo I didn't notice it until just now in the it says Fort Myers it does not say for Myers we we now open the public hearing oh wait I got to get down to the bottom first sorry if 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 and in correspondence that you received or observations made of the site councelor King none Vice May adol none I do not have any councelor Woodson no councelor Safford I do not okay who's one of the you I'm sorry so we have the qualifications of experts um if I may mayor yes thank you um for the record Jason SMY and Sarah PR and Judith Frankle Judith Frankle they have been pre-qualified already as experts by the Town Council based on their education and experience and accepted as experts in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Meers Beach um regarding this particular um agenda item are there any other individuals who want to be qualified as experts to in their testimony okay seeing none um and the property owner is are the property owner present or applicant applicant okay and have you seen a copy of the agenda items yes okay great um I think that that's it mayor proceed Judith good evening Judith Frankle principal planner um this is an application for a special exception to repair a retaining wall in the environmentally critical uh zoning District um the Land Development code allows for repairs of existing retaining and seaw wall structures um in this area but the special exception is required um the uh historic documents provided by the applicant for this application clearly show that the retaining wall has been in place since at least the um early 1970s um this project is a a repair um of an existing seaw wall and we don't staff does not believe that it was going to um impact the neighboring properties um outside of what is already in existence um the couple of conditions that staff has suggested if you decide to approve the application um one being that the applicant must provide an approved lighting plan if lighting is proposed um with the application uh along with a landscaping plan again if they are going to add any Landscaping in that environmentally critical Zone um the applicant is here on behalf of the Privateer um and I'm available for any questions okay John any questions for Jud not at this time nothing at this time counc Woodson not at this time counc saff not at this time thanks Jud okay will the applicant come on up good evening for the recomend my name is John sikman I am sworn in and I'm with Stokes Marine here on behalf of the private tier cond Association as staff mentioned this is a repair to the existing seaw wall or retaining wall uh we're not trying to improve or expand on it we're looking to just repair what was there like for like and get it back to pre-storm conditions uh the footprint the elevation the size of the cap is all going to remain the same the repair we do have sence seal engineered plan so it will be done to today's current building codes even though it's not changing the footprint or the size the wallet itself the panels that are embedded into the sand they're not going to be touched they're going to remain in place so this is just the cap which is the top portion of the seaw wall and there's shouldn't be any expected impact around it it's basically just sand all around this wall as staff mentioned it's been in place since the early 1970s based on the historic Aerials it was damaged in Ian and the Privateer Condo Association is repairing their property right now and this being the most water structure on the property it's one of the first items they'd like to get repaired because once it's done then they can put in in the landscaping and and work their way back through the property so they're uh just looking to get it repaired back to a like for like fashion from pre and conditions um happy to answer any questions Scott question I have none Conor Woodson I have none Vice manle I'm certainly supportive of your proposal I'm just curious just because a lot of folks like to follow what's happening with each individual cond unit what's your timeline for reopening that I don't know okay uh we're only specific to the repair on the seaw wall cap if this is approved we already have our state permit applied for with the D for the cccl permit we got our first rounded questions two weeks ago they were very basic they asked for a couple dimensions in a spot elevation so we expect that to be issued in the near future our local permits were applied for that's when we found out the special exemption is required to to get approval so if everything's approved our construction would start shortly after and I think this is probably a 25 to 30day project somewhere in that time frame so it would be this portion would be completed one to two months probably after permanent issuance very good thank you coun K I have none so do you think that the start of this based on permitting is gonna how far out do you think that the start date would be just curious if it's going to be outside of hurricane season Turtle season it won't be by this Thursday outside it would be outside though okay no other questions thank you thank you uh public comment are there any members of the public who wish to comment on this matter if so please come forward forward to the podium and identify yourself provide your address and whether you were sworn in am you have anyone is there anyone public comment that'd like to speak on this case seeing none we'll close public comment are there any additional comments or rebuttal of closing statements from the applicant guess not okay I'll now close a public hearing and request a discussion or motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions or deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain discussion or motion I'll go ahead and move resolution 24-19 got a motion by councelor King I'll second seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson I Vice may adhal I I'm I as well motion carries unanimously next is Item B it is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida to approve approve with conditions or deny exception for 1400 to stero Boulevard Lan Kai Resort to rebuild P decks Beach Bar structures walkways covered screened areas gazebo planting areas and wooden decking to prein condition fully in the EC zoning I'm assuming district is supposed to be at the end of that is there if any Town Council Members had any Exar 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 nothing other than having driven past VI AR none Council Woodson none councilor Safford none although I'm quite familiar with the property yeah as well I've been by it many many times 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 okay has the property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff yes not in yes okay go ahead good evening counselors staff members my name is Jason SMY I'm with your planning and zoning department uh as was stated uh by the mayor what uh the request before today is a special exception for the rebuild of the lon kaai Beach area uh this includes P decks Beach structures walkways gazebos um all returning it back to prean State the staff has validated that the Aerials showing that this area being constructed uh go back to at least 2001 we were presented with some evidence that the uh areas did exist in some former faction prior to that but we couldn't independently verify the dates on those um with that said what they are requesting to rebuild and what we can validate from the uh previously approved ldo with the county and with uh aial is they're looking to rebuild approximately 8,000 square fet of area that is approximately 6,700 Square ft of decking hard materials uh that includes also 1300 square fet of a sand area that's being dedicated as a play area um so before you today is the request to rebuild approximately 6,700 square feet of of structure and staff is here for any questions or comments you may have and the applicants here as well okay councelor King questions for staff nothing currently vice mayor G none councelor Woodson nothing yet counc SE not right now uh I guess I just have a couple questions is there does it give you know when we went through and we we did the changes to allow this to happen after the storm does it give staff any heartburn at the size I mean this is probably the biggest ask within the EC zoning District compared to some of the other ones does it give you any heartburn one that the size of it doesn't necessarily meet what the intent was and two do you think this would have any impact on our current FEMA things that we're dealing with now okay um so actually if I may start with the second question with FEMA question uh so the the structures themselves are not are going to be non-habitable space these are understood to break up during a 100-year storm that's also the intent of our code is that any materials that may get caught in the storm would break up so being in a vzone I think FEMA and and the staff have concerns that any number of these things could feasibly be turned into a missile but that's the same with any structure that would be on the beach uh staff does recognize that this was a large developed area we can validate that the area is roughly in line with the original uh 8600 square fet that existed prior um so from that perspective I don't know that staff necessarily believes this is more of a risk or a nuisance to the to the neighbors than it was pre- storm um but the question of whether it may actually be more of a more of a nuisance is that is that the first question that you had well just basic I mean I know there's been talks about having Electric in the EC zoning District having plumbing in the EC zoning District that kind of stuff are these structures going to have that uh so my understanding is some of that will be attached we're talking about redeveloping bars I would imagine that there's going to be Plumbing involved uh electrical more than likely as well uh keep in mind that they also have to go out and get FD permitting so they would have to meet the state's requirements um to mitigate any problems with those so just to clarify I'm glad you said that because I don't know that people even if this gets approved they still have other permitting that they have to go through to get it absolutely and this I'm assuming if approved would be subject to all of the other permits needing to be required full full building permit package and one of the conditions of approval since we're talking about this um is staff is asking them to go back and uh just update their FD application they have one that's approved but staff would like to see more specificity specifically calling out they redeveloping the bars back there because that was not explicitly said in the in the um State or the state permitting that I saw so we are asking as a condition of approval that they go back and just explicitly call out all the structures they'll be using back there including any utilities and then at that point I think that gives the state a better understanding of what the full bread of their project is going to be understood okay thanks J you're welcome would the applicant like to come up good evening Mr Mayor uh fellow Town Council Members Greg Stewart for the record of Stuart Associates planning and Design Services uh assisting in the representation of the Lan Kai uh LP uh we fur the record we agree with the stack report in its entirety findings and conditions the recommend the recommended conditions are reasonably related to what we are seeking what we are seeking is fundamentally a build back we're not adding any use any intensity we're not changing any location we're requesting the ability through a special exception to build back what we had uh fundamentally the two key code sections are 34 88b the findings and again we completely agree with staff findings uh the second uh code consideration will be 34652 uh that allows for major accessory structures which in this case what we're talking about to be uh built back through a special exception uh it's important to point out that the great majority of what we are seeking are passive Recreation at grade type facilities or plantings uh planting boxes uh boardwalks papers the major structure is the beach bar and again we have a a PowerPoint I can show you an illustration of that if you care to see that but I'm pretty comfortable and knowing that you all have probably been to the Lanai you know what we're talking about uh so in terms of the intensity um again it's it's di Minimus within the context of the floor area ratio and or the square footage and or the impervious coverage of what we're talking about uh with regard to the findings and conditions it's important to note that we are consistent with the Land Development code we do meet the performance standards it is compatible with the neighborhood uh princip principally it uh conforms to the comprehensive plan this is not a new development again there is no change in use intensity location and the like uh we agree with the conditions of turtle lighting going back to FD with regard to Coastal Construction uh and the light so um uh we uh uh we respectfully uh we respectfully suggest that please approve this special exception so this will allow Lon to complete it its uh build back process and allow for them to open with the type of amenities and features that historically has uh had on that site and again it's my understanding it's been almost 40 years that we're talking about so again this would be a very needed amenity to help secure the economic Foundation of banii so I'm available to address any questions that you may have thanks Greg Scott any questions I'm good right now Council Woodson I still don't understand how they can put like a bar back with electrical and plumbing and that kind of thing because I thought everything on the ground floor any kind of mechanics or anything like that was not allowed anymore again um your code 34 652e allow this is a an accessory structure and it does allow that okay and it also again it's important to know it's nonh habitable come on up okay out of here Cara's going to answer for me Caris Stewart for the record representing Lon Kai in relationship to that question this will be the first step we have zoning we have D we have building permits to acquire the uh FEMA does allow in your vzone um for commercial we have to have quick disconnect um the structure that was previously there was an aluminum structure I've already spoken with them we have to go you the building code has changed multiple times so we will be bound by FEMA regulations and the building code so I don't know that that's something that um Council needs to necessarily be concerned with because we have some regulations in place so you'll get to that point when you get to that correct permitting correct this this approval will not bypass any of those steps in the process okay thank you sure don't run off you might have another question Vice May yeah I have a question I I think I see somebody from the ownership team here I always like to give businesses an opportunity particularly those who are reopening if you want to come up and a lot of people are watching do you want to kind of tell your story about when you hope to reopen and what what'll be the same what'll be different what'll change just kind of make your pitch about returning to Fort Meers Beach I love your Snoopy yeah I figur nobody could hate Snoopy well played well play my uh my family obviously you know we've been here for 40 something years on former's beach I went Beach sure you say your name for oh I'm Ken caneris um my family built the Lani Kai my parents and um basically everything that you know we live and breathe for Myers Beach I mean I went to Fort Myers Beach school and you know before the storm if there was any problems or issues we went ahead and would make sure we fixed it together and that's what we're trying to do now is we're just trying to get open you know have people get back to normal you know our livelihoods and our you know a lot of families and stuff that work for us you know we're just dependent on that hopefully we can go ahead and start the process Ken do you want to just give a little teaser about your timeline and maybe some some things that'll be different or the same or things you want to pitch about your new facility y I can honestly say my brother he's a contractor and and and they na building and and uh and I think the hotel is looking very nice we're we're uh we're up to the new codes and you know basically uh I feel like we're we're going to be you know better than ever and and and you know instead of you know we're trying to unify you know whatever you guys want we try to do you know I mean and that's what we're trying to make sure we succeed but you mean you want to talk about the timeline to open and also about some of the things you'll have that maybe returning or things that are new or anything different that you want to just talk I believe November 1st is what we're kind of shooting for hi guys I'm Mike kaders um I'm the contractor I do a lot of work for you guys too to you're undergr um we're looking for probably November 1 we got just about everything done uh we've been doing our final walkthroughs with the fire department actually I think I one more walk through I'll have that all done we're pretty much got all of our permits pretty much closed out now and we're just hoping for your blessing to get started very good thank you hold on guys don't John got any questions I'm good since you guys are up there I just got a couple questions as I said the beginning you know our intent to do this was to allow people to have back in a minimal amount of what they had before yours like I said is obviously the biggest area that we we've dealt with would you guys be open at all I mean you got a lot of pavers there and I remember what it looked like before and would you be open at all to downsizing some of that pved area just I'm just trying to kind of find it it's it's a lot that's going on there that's on that side of the cccl and it just it's for me I would feel better knowing that we're trying to minimize as much as we can I think you've got it listed here as a seating area does it matter if it's pavers or if it's in the I mean you look at the beach bar for instance people love to just sit in the sand out there with the tables I just throwing it out there if that's something that you guys would be interested in potentially doing we'd be happy to work okay even even part of it still a playground area yeah I saw that yeah I see that on the right hand side L still sand I mean there's only really two bars putting back up the rest of it just mostly just sand that elevated deck going to go back I assume assume that was that went up to the um right now that's not in the Cs it's not so that's not in here I didn't I didn't see it I just wanted to make sure didn't we drew up everything that we wanted that was there before that is that is part of the request so that it isn't there the stairs that go up to that second that top part is a part of the request that was F correct we just put everything in the drawing you know the way it used to be now when we went to the LPA they said are you willing to get rid of some of the wood deck and put papers there because they're worried about you know BR shooting sure we'll be happy to do that yeah I I guess I'm just looking to to fulfill the intent of what we've been trying to do but also minimize the potential risk not just for you but people that live on the other side of the street if there is a potential storm we could hit with again and just trying to we all unfortunately remember what what the debris looked like from all the buildings from the the Gulf side and to help minimize that if you'd be willing to work with staff that that would go a long way I think let me just another clarification with this too to be something to be aware of that's more unique on this property when we're talking about forward of the 78 line we are still approximately 140 ft from the mean high water line unlike some of the other structures that are being replaced in the EC so we're well beyond that that mean high water line you your code requires me to be 50 feet from that we're 10 and something feet from that so I think is that is that measurement I guess two questions is that measurement that you said is that from the current status now or is that after the beach renourishment and did you guys sign up for the to be part of the beach renourishment the survey that I was looking at prior to the meeting I'd have to just tell you was from I think April of 23 okay so from that point I believe the conides had brought in all their own sand so they had done a Beacher nourishment part of their refurbishment so you're not you're not in you not you didn't sign on with the tal to do no they they did the same thing on their own got it that's all I had thanks are any of members of the public who wish are there any members of the public who wish to comment on this matter if so please come forward to the podium and identify yourself provide your address and whether you were sorn in Amy you have anybody I have nobody okay is there anyone that would like to speak on this public hearing seeing none are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant I probably not okay I'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 a continuance to a Time certain Mr Mayor yes sir I'll move approval of resolution 24-87 with conditions by staff okay second got a motion by vice mayor edal seconded by councelor Woodson any yes sir Pard before the the vote um is there any specific area or percentage uh that you intended to put in the conditions of approval as far as the reduction in uh some of the paperwork or is that being left to staff and the applicant to see what's feasible I don't necessarily feel that we need to micromanage you guys and and I think you guys could figure it out on your own I don't know that I don't want to say a percentage or try to put a percentage in there that doesn't make sense for for you or for them I think they understand I think where I was coming from and and try to minimize it as much as possible but I think they have to think about it too I think they have to go back and look go go back and look at it and think about it yeah and I'm guessing the DP may have their input on what they're going to allow and what they're not going to allow so they're going to have final say when it comes to what actually can be put out there anyway so excellent thank I don't have any percentage any I appreciate the clarification mayor we just noticed there's a couple little scrier errors in the resolution that's in your packet we'll just correct those before it's signed okay any further discussion all right vice mayor adol I councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I councelor King all and I'm I as well motion carries unanimously congratulations all right the next item was moved item C so we are on to item D this is an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions or denying the commercial plan development CPD Zoning for the property located at 2 2545 and 2555 EST stero Boulevard generally identified as strap numbers 19- 46-24 dw300 458 z0000 and 19-4 6-24 dw300 45810 in Fort Meers Beach to allow a fire station and a mixed use development including Civic residential log retail office and Marine uses providing for other clar clar CL clarifications as necessary providing for conflicts of law scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date is there any Town council member that has had 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 I'm sorry was that yes sir uh I have no correspondence uh Vice May none wood counc Safford none but for the record my wife is a fire commissioner but we have not discussed this at all I've had several Communications with the fire chief over the last two years about what potentially could be here so um nothing is specific about this final project however who's so may I ask um council member Stafford um St Stafford I'm so sorry make me run around the building um so your disclosure is based on U your wife's affiliation with it is there any special gain or loss that you you all are receiving because of that no okay thank you all right Judith 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 individuals who would like to be qualified as expert Witnesses on behalf of the applicant at this time seeing none has the property owner or applicant seen a copy the agenda backup materials from staff you're nodding yes go ahead Jude good evening again uh this is an application to rezone um 2.16 Acres from a c CPD to a CPD um with several deviations Fort Meers Beach uh Fire Control District is applying for this uh new CPD mainly to allow the development of the fort Meers Beach fire station the current CPD does not permit essential Services buildings and so this necessitates coming in for the um New CPD the district intends to divide the total site into two parts the portion the larger portion fronting a stero Boulevard 1.17 acres to build their new fire station which is shown in the master concept plan um in your packet the remaining .99 acres is intended to be sold and later developed no master concept plan is presented to you now for that portion of the tract uh however the applicant has requested um a CPD for the total site um with the intent of reducing the number of uses permitted for that rear portion of the site to reduce any potential uh impact of a future development so typically you would see a master concept plan for the entire site because there is already a CPD on the site and they were eager to move forward with the fire station um and redeveloped the other portion later uh we're bringing to you which is basically an an incomplete so whoever purchases or leases the land at a future time would have to come back for either a CPD Amendment um and a master concept plan Amendment um for that project but in thinking about this in moving forward um the applicant decided to change the allowable uses for that rear lot um to um potentially have less of an impact on neighbors so the deleted uses from the existing CPD include restaurant bar or cocktail lounge on premise consumption of alcohol commercial dock use so like for a water taxi uh and Transit terminal so those uses have been deleted um and they have added in to the potential uses a Park Place of wor worship religious facility School assisted living and bed and breakfast uh in addition to the essential Services of the fire station so that's what that change is there there are um six deviations um which you can see we went through the first five are all related to the emergency vehicles that are going to be used on site and the um the parking aisle width requirements um Landscaping requirements that would be um are are particular to this site because of its use as a fire station the last deviation number six um is for that rear portion of the property which we don't have a master concept plan for and what they're asking there is um the the allowable density is six units per acre the acreage of that rear portion is 99 Acres so what they're asking is that we allow them to round up so that the maximum number of units there would be um six instead of five um and we put in the recommended conditions for the property that that um deviation only apply to that rear portion of the property and not to the portion that's going to have the firehouse the applicant is here as you know um but I'm also available for questions and that last part you said you kind of left out by doing that by letting them Round Up still reduces the overall density of the entire site as a whole yes correct because right now with the current zoning you could have 13 um units for the site as a whole but because they're dividing it up there's only that 0 N9 in the back okay uh John you got any questions for Judith not at this time vice mayor none Ken I'm good Scott I'm good I'm good thank you yes sir come on up busy man today gr hello again Greg Stewart for the record representing the for Mars Beach Fire Control District uh a question to the elected officials would you like a full presentation or is there anything specifically you would like me to focus on John do you have any preference I have N I watched I watched this on the LPA I saw it yeah I did too I did too but maybe just for people that didn't get to see it if you could just do a just a quick run through okay um um a key fact is that this is a followup to resolution 0808 um and as a point in question as as a point in fact uh the last deviation deviation six the Roundup deviation that was a deviation that was approved um in this particular case uh staff has pointed out uh not only are we de-intensify the uses but we are de-intensify the intensity of the property with the old um with the old CPD was permitted at 5034 Square ft 13 rooms excuse me 13 units or 32 uh lodging units so what we're doing is coming in and and slashing that in half the fire station site and let me go this fire station site uh is uh consists of and this is total gross Le gross floor area 17,100 88 square ft uh and then in the rear the UN planned if you will site the future phase that will be for 10,000 square ft the floor areas or or for the are very are very di Minimus uh floor area that's being proposed for the that's called it the the north unplanned site is 23% um we come in um far under the uh the regulatory floor area for the fire station uh the reg the regulations 40% we're coming in at 33% so when you look at the totality of the project we're reducing uh intensity uh we are striking out potential uh problematic uses uh we absolutely by by code we absolutely have to come back and in essence rezone the uh North uh unplanned uh portion so clearly you all we're going to have you know a big stake in that uh portion of the property what was driving the application was that yes we have a comprehensive uh commercial plan development it's in the fire department's interest to maintain that so that's why we wanted to establish the overall parameters in regard and here's a an illustration of the of the new fire station I think it's a just I think it fits in well with the context of the Town um I I uh compliment gor M Architects they're not here but they they did a great job uh then there's an elevation again we meet code facade treatment Building height as I stated floor area also setbacks all that stuff we meet code uh in terms of findings we could we're we we are consistent with all all Town findings regarding of the compatibility environmental impact servicing traffic all that in fact with traffic impacts because we're reducing potential intensity and in essence it's a fire station generates very very low trips uh the impacts on the roadway on the stero Boulevard are going to be very low uh in terms of the deviations um deviation one is um for landscaping buffering type D along the stero Boulevard because we want to have an unobstructed view uh Corridor as fire trucks exit the site uh the deviation is to uh not have the five trees per 100 linear feet but we are proposing instead of the trees we're basically doing a a triple hedge uh the double standard hedge plus 18 uh uh shrubs per 100 linear feet so that's a triple hedge so that that that compensates for a lack of trees uh the second deviation um a spacing deviation between Gul Gul Beach Road and tropical Shores way that's a functionally related uh separation standard and it's it's important to note that the driveway connection that we're proposing is the same driveway that um uh that tops use so the GE the geometry is there albe it's wider and the Turning radiuses are larger again to facilitate you know fire truck and emergency access uh the third Greg before you go on from there just I didn't see it covered so will the fire trucks be able to turn around on site or will they have to back in off a sterile uh or will they come in off a tropical Shores way and then well the uh they'll be by backing up uh let's say if they egress they get out of the site they they'll be able to go nor North or South uh in terms of coming back into the site the uh uh understand the bays are in the front so they don't have to back up and then they usually back their but then in the rear the rear site we here you can speak to that but the rear site allows for through through circulation okay mayor council this is a drive-through station which is different than the other stations that the one that's on the south end and the one we had Mid Island um so the intent is to come home on tropical Shores come in to the back of the station and drive out the uh the driveway on the front is wide enough if we need to back in we will we will be off the boulevard when we do it okay since you're up here Chief just just in order to save time um first of all thank you for limiting the uses of your back property I know the Neighbors on tropical Shores way will be very thankful for that uh that's very very kind of you to do that second of all as you know poan and we've lost the town hall building there uh and where there's a lot of transition that's going to go on over the next five years there uh your buildings fronting Aero Boulevard it's a public building my guess is you're you're working 24 hours a day is there any thought to figuring out a way where the public could have access to a restroom if push comes to shove this uh so the first floor has a a restroom and it's it's attached to the lobby area so if people come walk if people walk up to the building and and they access the building that public area would be open it would have a restroom included so that would work for the I mean obviously you don't want it to be a a focal point but I mean but if somebody had to use the restroom they could stop by the firehouse and use the restroom they could it will be behind so after hours it's they come up to the video phone hey I'm here to visit you know somebody comes down and meets them um it won't be open at all times yep so um but there is a public restroom okay I just know that that would be a help in the neighborhood if push comes to shove I mean hopefully it yeah we encourage people to walk up and come visit anyway very good thank you and chief since you're up there for the sake of time as far as the construction of the building I know we've had a lot of conversations about hardening the building and potentially making it place for an EOC and and is any of that in the construction aspects of or you just no so originally when we were doing this project on the back part of the property we were including an Administration and training and the training was one of those components I was worried about being so close to residential neighborhood um so we've we've changed the plan since the storm this is just a standalone fire station um it will be hardened it will be resilient um you know so we'll be able to occupy it um depending on the the levels of flooding um but the administration and training will be taken off of Island um on the other project that we'll be doing over on Main Street that building will have meeting area and it will be it will be hardened as well um but it it will be able to serve those purposes if we're looking for somewhere where we can get together after a storm okay per thank you any questions for the chief before we thank you sir thank you making this kind of easy on us any other questions um or any discussion on deviations again it's all pretty straightforward no I'm I'm good Council Woods in I'm good I don't have any either vice mayor nothing additional counc K none all right thank you all right are there any members of the public who would wish to comment on this matter if so please come forward to the podium and identify yourself provide your address and whether you were sworn in any public comment see none I'll close public comment are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant guessing probably not all right I will now close the public hearing request a discussion or a motion from the Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain is there a motion or any further discussion I'll move 24-27 with staff recommendations got a motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson discussion councelor K hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford I Vice May adle i n and I as well motion carries unanimously does anyone need to take a brief break before we read the next one please all right we'll take a brief 10-minute break we'll come back at 720 so every time I screw up your name up e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right everyone we're going to call the meeting back to order this is it it's 7:22 um before we go on to the next item there's just a little uh Clarity we need for the last item ordinance 24-27 that approval was to send it to the second reading on October 7th U at 9:00 a. for the fire the the fire district it wasn't mentioned that that's what the so our next Orin the next uh case or next hearing we have is an ordinance at the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions or denying a town of Fort Meers Beach ordinance and adop approving the conditions for the commercial plan development resoning for the properties located at 1836 and 1840 EST stero Boulevard L the area within the environmental critically zoning District generally identified as strap numbers 19-4 6-24 dw40 32000.00 CE and 1 9-46 d24 dw4 - 03200 z1010 Fort Meers Beach providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for conflicts of law scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date you seem like you yes I'm seeing a different uh title in the actual ordinance that's before you may I read it and that'll keep us moving along you go ahead and read so it's different than what I have I believe so it's just slightly different okay go ahead so an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions denying a request to Res zone property located at 1836 and 1840 Estero Boulevard L the area within the environmentally critical zoning District generally identified as strap numbers 1 19- 46-24 dw4 d03 2000- Z excuse me period 00 CE and 19-4 6-24 W4 D3200 1010 Fort Meers Beach from downtown district to commercial plan District approval of five deviations from the fort Meers Beach code of ordinances a schedule of uses and a master concept plan providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for conflicts of LW gers errors severability and providing for an effective date a little bit different different a okay before we move on there's been a request to continue to a date certain is there a motion from Council to continue it to a date certain of October 7th or do you want to move forward with the hearing this evening for the first reading I'll make a motion to move forward with the first reading and have the second reading on October 7 9 a motion by councelor Woodson is there a second there is no second so that motion fails right correct is there an alternative motion is there an Mr Mayor sir I would move to continue ordinance 24-28 and I would like to explain my motion yes sir I there's been a lot of communication on this issue in the last couple weeks and I was under the impression that we were going to continue this until uh October 7th uh I've had probably 20 emails from remonstrator to this particular project who I explained that it would likely be continued or otherwise they may be here and In fairness to both sides I just I I would I would have a hard time uh not continuing it based upon some of the information that's been conveyed publicly thus far okay I understand there's two votes on this but still I think there's a lot of interest in this particular project on both sides and I just think it would only be fair to to to uh continue to October 7th okay got a motion by vice mayor is there is there a second second got a C King got a motion by vice mayor aderholt second by councelor King any further discussion you want a roll call vote uh vice mayor I councelor King hi councelor Safford I uh councilor Woodson no and I'm an i as well motion carries four to one so the item is continued till October 7th [Music] okay we do pay taxes thank you thank you thank you what you saying thank you it's not like you're not getting your day have a wonderful evening all right we have to move item G up in front of item F the town attorney has told me that this qual judicial so we will so Council this one is pretty much in the same uh position as your last one was um we'll go ahead and if we can read the title and then um if there is a motion to continue um the item until October the 7th or um here this evening okay this is the first re second reading actually there was a clerical eror this is the second reading and public hearing on a proposed ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending the town of Fort Meers Beach ordinance number 24-1 and approving Devi for the commercial plan development Zoning for the property located at 11701 18011 921 12041 1206 Estero Boulevard 251 Crescent Street 115th Street and an unaddressed Parcels Parcels generally identified as strap numbers 24- 46- 23- w325 z70 m TP parcel number 34-46 d23 dw300 6.00 mCP Parcels number one 24- 46- 23- w320 6.60 mCP parcel number one and 244-4623 w300 9.00 0 mCP Parcels number two and number five 19- 46-24 w4u 49429 mCP parcel number two 24462 3- W3 z205 z70 and 19- 46-24 dw4 u419 2610 mCP parcel number two and 19- 46-24 w414 b0070 mCP Parcels number two and number five 19- 46-24 dw4 0496 2608 mCP parcel number two and 1946 d24 dw4 d498 2607 mCP Parcels number two and number six Fort Meers Beach providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for codifications of Law scriveners erors severability and providing for an effective date I'll now open the public hearing there is a request to continue this to a date certain on October 7th is there a motion to hear the second reading today or continue to October 7th I move to continue to October 7th just so I can hear you read that L again i' be the opposite just not to hear that again um was that a serious motion counc yes sir okay I'll second councelor king has made a motion to continue to October 7th seconded by councelor Safford any discussion roll call vote councelor King hi councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson hi vice mayor adhal hi and I cannot vote on this so I will be abstaining the motion carries four to zero okay um mayor do you want to State on the record the basis for your extension yes um I have a business agreement with the Margaritaville Resort um so so you'll be filling out the form I be filling out form fing and filing it yes thank you do I need to fill out the form today and again every the sth as well you got it when you abstain got it so I will be filling out form eight with the count okay now we are going back to item f this is a first reading and public hearing on a proposed ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending table 34-2 titled use subgroups permitted in each zoning District in chapter 34 article 3 division 2 to amend the allowed subgroups for the CB zoning district from limited to open for the lodging office and Retail use groups the Land Development code subdivision 5- CB zoning districts founded chapter 34 article 3 division 5 Redevelopment zoning districts to place limitations on new outdoor dining and outdoor entertainment uses providing for severability codification scrier errors conflicts of Law and providing for an an effective date I will now open the public hearing if there is any Town council member that 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 the site councelor King none that I recall Vice May none that I recall I do not have any either councelor Woodson I do not councelor Safford I do not 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 Development in the town of Fort Meers Beach are any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness um well we are the applicant so this one is legislative I don't got to read all this no you could have stopped me 20 minutes you were doing a great job you just thought it was so awesome all right let me put that love to hear you sorry Sarah run away with it that's okay good evening Sarah apprach with Community Development um before you you have an ordinance change that would allow um additional uses in the CB zoning District um at present the CB zoning District only allows uses that were previously on those Parcels um so this this causes um Property Owners to be unable to have New Uses on their property so if they were an office they can never turn that commercial property into a restaurant or a store um so this would allow them additional uses that you find in the uh it would be open for lodging office and Retail and currently it's limited for all of those um so it would allow additional uses and in order to um limit interactions negative interactions with adjacent Residential Properties um because most of these properties are uh adjacent to residential we um have included some language in there that would require uses that tend to cause more problems to have to go through special process um so for example a new outdoor entertainment or live entertainment or outdoor seating would require um a special process at the LPA hearing I had included these as special exception requirements so they would have to go through the special exception process it sounded as if the um LPA was interested in seeing these as CPD allowed only I don't know that that um I don't know if that was the original intent of the council though when we had originally discussed this because requiring them to rezone to get these is kind of what we were requiring them to do previously um so another option would be to change this back to uh special exception for outdoor entertainment uh live entertainment or outdoor seating okay questions for Sarah councilor King no Vice May Sarah I think you've done a great job with this ordinance draft but I had a question from a constituent and you've tried to address it but she says uh does the proposed change mean that Anyone who puts in for a CPD and has it approved will be allowed to have outdoor music um I just want you to answer that and then I have a couple questions for you because it sounds like we're going to go through the special exception process as opposed to the CPD process and just for folks who are listening and concern and there's some concern about the theater and uh and Charlie's uh with expected live music when one goes through the special exception process what sort of safeguards and and uh opportunities for public input are there when one goes through that process so when somebody goes through a special exception process it's one LPA hearing and one Town Council hearing um you're allowed to put conditions on that and to choose whether or not you think that that's an appropriate use in those locations so both the LPA and the council could disapprove the use of live music at either one of those locations should should the evidence Merit that yes that's correct or put special conditions on it that put limitations such as decel levels um not allowed after a certain time only certain types of music you know not drums I know that we've used that in the past so there are safeguards against it and there is a public hearing process so if people had concerns if neighbors were concerned they could certainly come to the meeting and and speak against it or in favor of it that's helpful thank you counc wson I'm good for now SE um are is there any potential um impacts that we're not aware of by by giving these benefits to in the c i I know what our our original idea was was to help people like U paa Kiker in that situation but I'm getting some some residents are really worried about hey this this we might be be letting them have too much um so I did include um some maps so that you can see specifically the properties um because I know that there were concerns that these were in residential neighborhoods and that would have a really big impact um so if you look at the the darker uh Pink and um the darker orange I there are only I think two or three orange properties on there um and uh Jason if you go to the next one also and then on there the the pink and the orange um those are the only properties that are zoned CV it's a total of 35 properties on the island they are all located along a sterile Boulevard the vast majority of them are already commercial of some kind the orange ones indicate that they're currently um residential uses um which they would be allowed to remain residential or choose a commercial use which is something they would they would have a hard time doing now I think as far as my reading of the code once they're residential they would have a hard time getting to a commercial use by the way the current code is written um so I think I can understand that that people don't want to give away any additional uses um but I think that these are reasonable um uses and we do have safeguards by requiring them to come back if they want to do something above and beyond um you know including the outdoor entertainment the outdoor seating things like that um we could certain certainly try to put more guard rails on it but um this is just kind of giving these commercial properties similar rights to other commercial properties so that they know what they're allowed to build because right now you'd have to know what was allowed to be what had been built on the property before in order to know what you could build in the future I think we can all agree that the way it was is just nonsensical I mean bank had to be a bank and well and I think that's there's some confusion I think people some people understand this that by making this change it's going to allow people to have outdoor music it's going to allow them to have more intensity or density none of that is true this is simply just going to allow someone that was a bank could be a coffee shop now if they want to have outdoor music at that coffee shop they still have to come through the CPD process or some other process to make sure that they get that by doing this they don't automatically and if you come in for a cpdd that doesn't Auto automatically give you the right to have Amplified music or the right to have anything else you still have to come in and ask for it through the through the CPD process so I think that's where a lot of the confusion was happening I sent an email over to to Sarah that I got from a constituent today and I'll forward it to her um some of the things that she laid out were what I talked about she thought by doing this if you just applied for the CPD that you would get you live music and you'd be able to get all that stuff and that is not the case this is just simply opening up the uses in the CB zoning District yes that's potentially and I I think I just to add to that I think you've done a nice job of limiting the number of properties that are eligible and some of those properties have been for lack of a better term dead properties even prior to Ian we've got some properties on the south end that are right on a stero that are commercial properties that have been vacant for a long time and somebody wanted to put in a t- room at one point there's just different ideas that have come forth that just haven't been able to fit under our sort of Byzantine uh guidelines and this allows some additional options that would obviously with this special exception process have checks and balances to make sure the neighbors were okay with the use but hopefully it'll it'll it'll give a rebirth to some of these uh properties on I can think of three or four on the south and have just been dead and and boy we just need we need options on the south end desperately so I think this could be very helpful okay any other questions for Sarah see that okay we'll open it up for public comment they all left everybody left all right I will close public comment uh I will now any do I don't have to read this bottom part anymore do I no okay putting this away all right discussion or a motion for ordinance 24-26 to go to the second reading on October 7th at 9:00 a.m. yes get one clarification in that motion whether you want it to be the CPD or the special exception process or if you have more questions about that I I would support the special exception because it'd be less costly it still has the same safeguards but right CPD is way too time consuming and and too expensive and too expensive yeah so I'm I'm okay with that special exception and the special exception Sarah would be different than a variance meaning the process that we just implemented for people asking for a variance if after 10 days there was no objection they would still need to go through the council process that's correct okay just want to make sure that the there's a clarification there between the variance and the special exception do you want that in the form of the motion as well is to include that okay is there a motion to to uh so move approve moving this second okay ordinance 24 26 CP zon District Amendment got a motion by councelor Safford second by the vice mayor any further discussion councelor Safford hi vice mayor hi councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously good job sir thank you item H has been moved so we are on to item J is that correct is that what your notes tell you yes sir okay this is the second and final reading of proposed ordinance 24-19 entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending section 28-30 immobilization and impounding of illegally parked vehicles of division one generally of article two stopping standing and parking of chapter 28 traffic and vehicles of the code of ordinances of the town of Fort Meers Beach to include the accepted methods of payment of any fines and charges related to Illegal parking and immobilization of illegally parked Vehicles providing for codification severability scrier errors conflict of Law and an effective date is that you Frankie it can be Yeah so basically this is just a rehash of the payment terms um we kind of got some people got out of their skis or over their skis on this one um we're not hiring towing companies or any of that such all it is is a way to easily get payment and not hold it against the town or keep us uh for booting a vehicle okay any questions for Frankie okay none about this okay Vice M Woodson none counc Safford I'm good and I do not have any is there a motion to approve comment oh public comment I'm sorry we'll open up for public comment there's no one here you sure you don't want to come say so okay say so well close public comment now is there a motion for ordinance 24-24 oh 24 24-9 so move so moved second got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi councelor saford hi councelor Woodson vice mayor adle hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is item K this is the second reading and final public hearing on proposed ordinance 24-25 entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending chapter 16 article one of the code of Co code of or code of ordinances of the town of Fort Meers beach by creating section 16-1 public camping or sleeping on any public property public building or public RightWay prohibited and amending Article 4 of chapter 32 to remove section 32-70 applicab applicability 3271 intent and 3272 prohibited providing for codification severability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date Nancy thank you uh mayor so this is your second reading um as has been previously discussed I believe we did that also at an M uh management and planning meeting um Florida Statutes changed and uh created a new cause of action uh potentially for sleeping or public camping on public property um this was authorized in House Bill 1365 um that bill provided for a a county to designate an area that would allow public camping and public sleeping um on these uh pieces of public property um Lee County has not adopted such an ordinance and should they decide to they would come to um Council to ask for your comment and input before they did so um short of that without this ordinance that's before you today on second reading um a individual could have a private cause of action or a cause of action against the the town um based on uh our failure to prohibit um public uh sleeping or camping so by having this ordinance codified um you have taken some steps to Pro protect yourselves uh from a risk management perspective against any such type of lawsuits okay Council Safford any questions for Nancy not at this time Council Woodson not Vice May at all none Council King do these meetings count I do not have any public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak in public comment okay I'll close public comment ask for a motion for ordinance 24-25 public camping or sleeping move to approve councelor King motion from councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion Council King hi Council Woodson I Council Safford I Vice mhal hi and I'm and I as well that motion carries unanimously next is the long one item M this is the second reading in public hearing of an ordinance and titled so how about L we would need to open the public hearing on L we do yes to continue it to a date certain it's second reading it has been advertised let's do that then we'll go back this is the this is item L second reading and final public hearing of proposed ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending division one or number one division three unsafe building abatement code of article one property maintenance codes and division two Lee County Boards of adjustment and appeals of Articles two building codes of chapter 6 maintenance codes building codes and Coastal regulations of the Land Development code of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida to amend existing existing Pro Provisions related to appeals of the building officials decisions divesting the Lee County Construction Board of adjustment and appeals of the responsibility for review of appeals of the Town building officials decisions including but not limited to determination of unsafe building authorizing the town of Fort Myers Beach special magistrates to hear appeal of the town's building officials decision providing for codification sever ability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date will now open the public hearing and entertain a motion to move this to October 21st at 9:00 a.m. that is correct um and the basis or the purpose for the continuance is to come back to council and provide you with some additional options rather than simply sending these to the um special magistrate in the past um appeals were to go to the Lee County Board of adjustment some comments were made uh concerning uh the cost and and so we want to evaluate and see if there's some other um op options that you have um currently you have an effect an emergency ordinance so if there are any appeals that are filed they will go to the special magistrate okay I will move ordinance 24-30 and safe building code appeals to October 21st at 9:00 a.m. got a motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King all councelor Woodson hi Council Safford hi Vice May hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is the second reading and public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending number one table 34-3 titled dimensional regulations in conventional zoning districts in chapter 34 article 3 division 4 to create note 10 to provide that detached single family and two family home without a commercial use in any conventional zoning District where that is use is allowed may be evaluated by building coverage rather than F section 34- 675c in chapter 34 article 3 division 5 to provide that the building intensity of commercial and mixed use buildings shall be evaluated using floor area ratio F and detached single family and two family resident intensity shall be evaluated using building coverage not to exceed 40% in the downtown zoning District 3 section 34- 683 in chapter 34 article 3 division five related to the creation of neighborhood centers in the Santini zoning District to provide that detached single family and two family resident building coverage shall not exceed 40% number four section 34- 693 in the village zoning District regulations to provide that commercial and mixed use building intensity shall be evaluated using floor area ratio f are and detach single family and two family resident intensity shall be evaluated using building coverage and shall not exceed 40% and section five uh 34705 in the CB zoning District to provide that for commercial and mixed used developments floor area ratio shall not exceed 1.0 and the building coverage for detached single family and two family residences building coverage shall not exceed 40% providing for severability notification scriveners erors conflicts of Law and providing an effective date I'll now open the second reading public hearing Sarah good evening Sarah propes with Community Development um what you have before you here today is um basically we needed to differentiate between single family and two family residential structures and commercial buildings um prior to this single family and two family residential structures were measured by floor area ratio um this was somewhat problematic especially in some of the smaller Lots where um a large portion of the property is in the EC zoning District um so this was a request that we look at another way to do this so now we are applying or this code section would apply the 40% building coverage requirement rather than the floor area ratio requirement um this will allow for homes to be elevated with garages below and um not exceed the allowable floor area ratio okay councelor King questions for Sarah Noone Vice May adal no councelor Woodson no Happ not at this time okay the only thing I have is just to clarify again like we did in the first reading this does not have anything to do with commercial properties it's single family and dual family however you worded it two family residential structures yes that's correct and it does not include mixed use and it does not include uh multi family development so it's not increasing anybody's intensity it's not increasing anyone's density it's simply changing how you calculate it for residential only yes okay I'd like to add once again fantastic job thank you public comment anyone like to speak in public comment doesn't look anybody care I will close public comment bring it back to the council for uh is there a motion to approve the second reading of ordinance 24-24 building coverage instead of f so moved got a motion by councelor Safford second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson hi Vice Mayo I counc King I and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next we have the administrative agenda uh item a is a ratification of the mayor signatures and changes to the resolution Joe okay um Joe ank Finance director um this resolution really is a followup to the resolution that you passed on September 9th in which you authorize the mayor to um sign the community disaster loan application after that town council meeting we heard from FEMA that upon further review that decided that section n of that resolution did not pertain to the town and section n um was the one that had a provision that the town was pledging as collateral um its revenues to repay the loan which is a normal part of a loan agreement but in this case apparently the state is the co-signer to the community disaster Loan in which case and that made this section um not pertain to us so they asked us to strike that section out of the resolution and then rumber the following two sections since that section was taken out so that's we're just asking you to then ratify that change so the mayor had already signed it based on the action that you took on September the 9th so you're ratifying his signature with the um amendment that is being requested which is the deletion of section n questions counc K yeah but I don't know where to start so go ahead all right vice mayor none councelor Woodson coun Safford none I do not have any either is there a motion Mr Mayor yes sir move approval of administrative agenda item a okay got a motion by vice mayor seconded by councelor Woodson do you want a roll call vote for these as well or no yeah that would be preferable okay vice mayor adal hi councelor Woodson hi uh councelor Safford hi ccor King and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously next is the cdb gdr public facilities and critical infrastructure Awards Frankie or Andy goe this is basically just to uh accept the amounts that we had gotten uh through the the cdbg um grants so this is not actually taking the funds per se this is just accepting the awards on those projects um so we can move forward with the other documents that'll follow okay just real briefly in case somebody wasn't paying attention to before what the 8 million and the four over8 million and over four million will be used for so alt together we have requested $15 million for five different projects um and we were granted a little over $13 million uh with those projects we'll get roughly a little under 5 million for the North or West Water Tower um totally re Ren ation uh brand new water tank facility and infrastructure um the other part will be for the lighting from uh Bayside Veterans Park all the way down to Time Square uh down old San Carlos with uh new light poles lights uh wiring throughout the whole system which was compromised by Hurricane Ian uh then moving over here to our community pool uh we granted roughly $5 million for the Reconstruction and renovation of the community pool and last but at least a little under three million uh in total funds for the renovation of Newton Park uh we cannot replace a historical structure but based on a few of the things that uh we have internally based that were given to us by the R2 P2 folks and some of the other projects that we've kind of uh been ding about ourselves um that's how the funds will be uh separated we cannot use funds left over money to carry over to another project they're specific just to those those projects any funds that aren't not used have to go back into the fund um for the city BGR and uh there are a lot of things as far as waivers and stuff as we get into the construction project but we'll talk more about those when they actually come to fruition and the County's already started the environmental review and they've already been out here looking at the sites and all that so the process is moving pretty quick okay any other questions for staff Mr Mayor yes sir move approval of administrative agenda Item B all right a motion by vice mayor aderhold second second by councelor Woodson any further discussion vice mayor hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi councelor King hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is lobbyist Ronald L book PA contract renewal mayor uh vice mayor council this is um a budgeted item uh talk to Mr book and they are renewing it at the same rate that we just finished paying but I think the dividends we reap the rewards of this investment uh tfold 20 fold maybe with some of the you know the state funding just just the 7 million 8 million we got for the town hall itself um so we anticipate continuing to use uh Mr book and his staff okay questions for Andy counc King um I will just state that a couple years ago when I was a private citizen I'm not sure I would have agreed with this but he has really stepped up and come forward and I'm very uh proud of what uh has been accomplish VI Mar I would associate myself with the comments of councelor King okay counc councelor Woodson I'm good counc Safford I'm good all right I'm good is there a motion to approve the contract with uh Ron the lobbyist Ronald book so so second M vice mayor aderholt has made a motion to approve and councelor King second in any further discussion vice mayor I councelor King I councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is item D contract for the sale of 6221 Estero Boulevard Andy thank you mayor uh vice mayor council we are moving forward with the purchase of the 7-Eleven property um we've uh been doing our due diligence surveys um what's the other test we did envir environmental tests but there's really nothing on that property except what's there we will proceed as soon as we get uh a closing date set we'll come back with a budget amendment and we anticipate the return of the our $7 million investment any day if it hasn't come already actually um we receive we received it today you know it it keeps moving you know you just you don't stand still or look the other way too quick something's going to happen so we've got that so we'll be able to to utilize some of that putting that money back we'll come again with a budget amendment to to to purchase this then we'll start with the demo process we have a demolition two demo companies in line to to do some of the the the demos that we're setting up on the the properties in town so we'll move fairly quickly with that to get that done and to start getting the design for raising the parking lot much like You' seen Mr Rashard did with his property to contain water on site and which it should help with the neighbors because I don't think the building the town hall building was ever properly uh set up for the drainage um and that contributed potentially to some of the problem in my opinion I'm not a hydrologist or an engineer but that just seems to be because it's set up so high right in that area so we're going to try to help alleviate some of that once we get the uh access to the other property and start that process which I would imagine would have upwards of 50 parking spaces on it once we finish so that's just part of what we're doing to make sure that we we're good neighbors and provide uh the proper parking for of a structure that we have purchased so your action tonight is to basically approve the contract you have been provided just an updated version of it and also to authorize the town manager to sign any and all closing state ments or documents as well as the mayor and for both of them to sign the closing statement which is the actual expenditure of funds all right questions for staff Mr Mayor yes sir appr uh move approval of agenda item D congratulations to all involved got a motion by the vice mayor second second by councelor Woodson any further discussion vice mayor hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi counc King hi I'm an i as well uh next we removed item E I M carries unanimously sorry um item f is the band's construction Third Amendment who's yeah so that's basically the Sur style shop that's on the corner of old uh St Carlos and North Estero um they're just waiting on elevator repair um they've actually gone a lot faster than they anticipated now they kind of threw them back just a little bit but they're asking for an extension for the month possibly through the end of November okay questions for staff C King no vice mayor could you just give 30 more seconds explanation as to what this is sure it's the cile shop the the two-story one that's on the corner of uh Old St Carlos and north of stero and uh basically they had totally renovated that building um the last I think uh three somewh four months now we've been coming to you and asking for extensions theyve actually bought the extensions that we're asking about they've actually bought the parking around that building so they could fence that off for their construction equipment and and uh supplies and that for the store they've got all the windows in they've got all that stuff a lot of those F that fencing and barricades have been removed and be put back closer to the building itself freeing up those spots as we come along uh but now they have to continue uh asking for just the little I think it's North stero when you say they bought they've actually bought the parking spots they actually paid for what it would cost to park a vehicle there during the so none of this is to be confused with the discussion we had long before you guys came about the property right in front of the store that was under discussion as to whether who the town had right away for additional Lane there you remember all that you may not remember have you ever come into any of that discussion there was there was a lot of discussion you remember that Mr Mayor I I I don't know what ever happened to that conversation cuz if we ever needed an additional Lane for folks folks to come off if they come over the bridge to turn over to Times Square other side other side or the other side of the intersection so there's two sh oh this is the other side this is the two story one never mind got you thank you very much yep very helpful yeah you lost me for a second seems like there's quite a few of them around late C what any questions I'm good s I'm good I'm good as well is there a motion to approve the third amendment uh to the contract for band's construction so got a motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi vice mayor ad hi uh councelor Safford hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously brings us to final public comment there's no one here I will close final public comment Town manager's items thank you mayor I'd only have a couple three things uh the memorial services is Saturday 9:28 at at 8:00 at Santini Plaza it'll be uh short and simple we we've got a couple of responses so far from uh Senator Martin um and commissioner sandelli and I'm not sure if we've heard any more at this point but we've reached out to several we're not anticipating a lot of speaking but we're just uh something just solemn and and brief just kind of celebrating the the recovery and resilience resiliency of our community um Town Hall update we continue to move forward with that I've been meeting with carpet and uh I'll be meeting with painters tomorrow afternoon trying to get that expedited we'll also are working with our architect to get the design of the downstairs kind of like a checklist if you will so we can get U possibly piggyback a contractor that worked in um Bonita Beach Bonita Springs so that's Poss real possibility to speed that up a little bit so you know with all uh uh with every all the stars aligning just right you know hopefully by the first of the year uh we could be completely in that building but again the Stars just have to line uh just perfectly and I think we are being you know doing our due diligence with everything to make sure that we we check all the right boxes and do all the right things um staff is extremely excited about the possibility of of getting in a new home so we're all excited about it um we also are working and Jeff and I and Frankie have talked a lot about the Landscaping along Estero North Estero and old Stan Carlos I've spoken with Kathy with the GU uh Garden Club um just we want to move forward on on those projects we have the money we have we've been looking at that as far as you know any equipment we need to purchase that the the money that came from the county is pretty uh broad so there's some things we can do to be creative to help with uh watering and things like that we're going to attack it a little differently possibly purchase a watering truck instead of trying to go out with a a little bucket and fill things up and we're going to work on our beach ends we're going to start you know those processes if we can with FEMA with the beach re nourishment but we're going to we're going to try to close the loop on some of those that this week so we can get that going as we get into season and some of that hopefully we'll start progressing o St Carlos like I said the north Estero and Estero Boulevard Frankie is going to talk a little bit about the notice of violations for the trailers yes it seems to be a high topic here in town especially with uh uh tropical Cyclone 90 or n out there um today um we were told um in know on certain terms by FEMA uh that all trailers um commercial trailers and conic has had to be removed no later than November 18th the town does not have a police department that we can enforce this uh nor can we legally use the sheriff's department in this matter uh the only recourse we have is through code enforcement um we have uh already drafted a letter which is also going to be used as our notice of violation to these these uh businesses commercial properties that are out there um I just want to say with the caveat that there is a channel of recourse for these businesses this is not the end all Beall um fima did not give us that luxury but built into our own uh Code Compliance system here in the State of Florida it does allow people to go in front of a magistrate a magistrate that we've selected is an independent group called DOA um they're out of Tallahassee they're going to be hearing these cases we are going to facilitate the hearing of these cases here in our facility so not as to inconvenience any of the business owners uh in our community um any more than they've already been uh through the news and and whatnot um I understand FEMA's direction we totally understand uh the guidelines it is written into our own policy moving forward but under the current situation I cannot ask somebody to pack up and leave right now um in case in point we are giving ourselves the town of Fort Myers Beach the very first violation and I want to be clear on that I know it sounds ridiculous and imp pugnate but if I'm to ask a business to do it we have to do it too we are in trailers no different than they are these trailers are considered a commercial trailer trailer no different than the ones that we're asking them to vacate we cannot be out of here by November 18th as such some of the business owners can't be as well so the very first violation in this town is going to go to the town of Fort Myers Beach itself not only for these trailers but also for the conexes that we have throughout the town we have Supply sheds that we use conexes for we also have our marine unit currently based in a conx down underneath the bridge it goes back to when we were little and our parents always said set a good example um we did the same thing with our demolition of our town hall we asked the state to help us they did and it was after that demolition of the Old Town Hall that we saw the community to get behind us and start taking down some of those structures we're still in the midst of that as far as addressing the demolition I I don't foresee this dragging out over a long period of time but I think it does buy some of these business owners at least a chance to plead their case in front of an independent governing body in doing so we'll meet the exact letter of the law and intent which FEMA states that you have to have an action in place and you have to have an action moving forward um we had just gone through this whole exercise that we submitted on September 16th to FEMA as far as uh new policies moving forward and how we would address things um this is part of that plan and that's why I thought it'd be prudent and and and taking a leadership role and and showing that we were going to be the first ones in this so as of to tomorrow morning we are going to be posting in our Lobby in the window uh the notice of violation against the town of Fort Myers Beach um this is not Grand standing this is not for Optics we're going to go through the same process as any other business owner in this town will have to go to it's up to the magistrate to give you a stay to hear your story uh to understand your your quota plea as As you move forward um and I just ask that if people don't understand what's going on in the business community please reach out to me or to our code staff and we'd be more than happy to try to explain the proceeds moving forward um we're all caught up in this together there's going to be a lot of people kind of swarmed along it just so happens that we have a storm brewing off the coast so I don't want to confuse one with the other this is a process that was put in place over a month ago by FEMA we reached out to a few business owners at that time and tried to explain how they could Poss possibly get a stay if that's the proper word which I know it's not um but to no avail FEMA has not given us any direction um any reassurance or or any type of uh understanding of what we asked so this is the best way to recourse this is was their edict and we're going to move forward with that one other thing um I want to thank Joe and his staff for the excellent budget um I think the transparency is evident and how we want to operate the town and I want to thank each one of you for the support and the unanimous uh uh decision tonight to support the budget that means a lot to all of us it it it shows how we are working together and I think that that is a unified voice and the unified front that we we we show and that's very important um I've been experiences before where that's not as unified and this really means a lot I think that that that speaks well of you speaks well of our staff and have the trust you have in US and you know Judith and Sarah and the things they did tonight with the the planning part is really a it's really a big deal to me as a town manager to have have people in place that can can make these things happen for you and for our town so I I applaud each employee and my staff that um you know we do the right things and we would continue to to look to improve that's all we got I have a question yes um Saturday morning rain or shine and our weather patterns and things that are could be happening before that so we'll move forward with it or we anticipate moving forward we'll probably have about 410 up you know um down there there's an area for electricity and Nicole and I go Scout that out tomorrow or yeah probably tomorrow just to make sure of the location um but yeah I believe I'm fingers cross I'm going to think positive and it's not going to be 112 like it was last year but you know maybe like more like 102 but uh we'll be out there shorts and you know not going to worry about you know suits and ties and coats and formalities it's just going to be us you know the way we we live our lives on this beach so this island so we're going to go forward um I guess if push came to shove and it's torrential we get out there on Sunday morning or something so we'll kind of keep people posted if that were to be the case that's the extreme and that'd be if it was just some kind of deluge that we just can't get out there and people it's dangerous to get out so we'll we'll keep it U real quick there's a lot of questions obviously with the storms coming in or this storm coming in about making a decision as to a surge level that we're going to require people to remove their trailers from the island have you had that discussion yet as to that height or that limit not to put you on the spot but people are asking i' I've I've been telling people that have asked me we probably come tomorrow morning when we have a better understanding of when when it's going to hit where it's going to hit what the surge is going to be like what time of the day it's going to be based on the tides and maybe make a better educated decision tomorrow but just want to put it on your radar people are asking about it um to have to make that decision to get those out of the way so can you commit to maybe tomorrow giving an update to the public absolutely I think I think from my perspective everybody kind of needs to take their own initiative and make some decisions on their own because you could get to a point of no return uh but we will definitely be monitoring I was watching today and looking as much as I could all day at at what was happening you we've got our fingers crossed um that that it does you know a little better than Adalia and a little better than Debbie and just keeps moving out a little bit and I know it's going to be kind of a compact storm as of now which is probably a good thing and a quick mover is even a better thing I think Debbie sat there a while and just kept giving us stuff and I think the times we anticipated we might be at low tides when it should be really right out here I think it's early Thursday morning 1:00 morning um which might be a plus for us at that time but I think the winds should come probably you know a direction that should be beneficial to us but again yes we will be as diligent as we can and and encourage people to do what they need to do in the next uh you know 24 to 36 hours after sometime you know tomorrow because it's going to be that's going to be very important because you're looking at on Thursday two and a half to three foot Storm surges or not Storm surges but Tides so that's with the storm surge that could be a significant amount of water so um just so we can let people know in the morning where we stand on that who will any other questions for the town manager Town attorney items I do have an item tonight all right so um I want to advise you that uh Paul Waters of our firm he represented the town um in a lawsuit involving um Danel carello Ortiz and Daisy Garcia um pending before the court was a motion for summary judgment the court awarded granted the motion the town's motion for the summary judgment and issued a final judgment so what all that means is this is one of your foreclosure actions that was pending um when we came on board so we were able to to get this final judgment the court found that the amounts due in owing the town um is $73,900 um so now once we have the judgment we will move forward towards collection efforts um because this is a foreclosure a sale of the property has been scheduled for November 7th 2024 at 900 p.m or 9:00 a.m. um and that is a foreclosure sale we have also heard that there is possibly a private sale going on so the town may may see some money um before November um but we don't know um the status of that so the bottom line is um we're moving forward with trying to recover some money for the town okay questions for Nancy yes sir this is unrelated and and I since the sunshine laws prevent me from having a conversation with the mayor I'll ask him right here uh you made a comment uh on a public uh uh media uh uh show Beach talk radio on Sunday about the potential for a settlement negotiation with the owner of the kyero property uh in essence and correct me if I'm wrong if I'm mischaracterizing in essence there was a thought that maybe we could figure out a way to uh uh encourage the owner to begin to open those shops more aggressively at a rent that's potentially available for retail uh uh uh uh hair salon Etc whatever all the island needs a lot of retail help right now I thought it was a very intriguing uh concept Mr Mr Mayor is that something you want to pursue and should we talk about it here I know I know it's getting late but it just was intriguing to me and the town attorneys here and they're I I don't I I assume you still have a line of communication with their Council I just thought it was an intriguing idea yeah I mean it just kind of came out of nowhere quite honestly it was just you the the amount of money that the town has already collected from him previously and now what's been ordered at the magistrate level again I mean that that's a a large sum of money and to me it just seems that that money could go to much better uses from his standpoint as far as just giving it to the town to be able to subsidize maybe some of these rents that these people would have to pay in there I don't know if there's anything the town can do as far as that goes to so so the process if I can just comment so right now we have an order from our special magistrate so she has imposed a fine on him in the amount of the 91 The Next Step would be to go ahead and have that fine certified as a lean and have that placed of record and once that's there for 3 months then we could come back and authorize foreclosure of the property um we can go ahead and begin conversation with his attorney if you would like if you want to direct me to do that to try to resolve the matter I I I guess my intent wasn't to have the town be the ones that give the money to subsidize his business there it was more of a cry to the the the person that keeps offending to maybe look at the money that you're wasting oh I see be going TOS for good not only get in compliance but also begin to operate your shopping center as a shopping center again right and that seems like an interesting settlement negotiation only extremely clever attorney like our town attorney could figure out a way to Nuance that sure but uh but I I thought it was a really interesting idea and just thought would be good for the council just to get their thoughts and Impressions because I can just tell you it we're desperate for retail space and and that for that just to sit there is very troubling on a number of fronts but I'm interested everybody else you do have a section in your code about U forgiveness or abatement of leans um if you recall Miss Ortiz came to you and asked for you to reduce the amount of herlene um so I will look into that code and I'll talk to kera's attorney and see if maybe he has that opportunity to go through that process where you can reduce it um I think jurisdiction wise you have to actually have a lean I think that the fine is still within the jurisdiction of the special magistrate yeah I just with his track record we would want to have some serious metrics built in where he could demonstrate that he's showing good faith about getting his retail Center back up and operational so people can utilize that space I'm curious as to everybody else's thoughts on this scot in particular you know that area well what do you think you can't change the the you can't change spots on a leopard I mean it's it's it's a I I applaud the mayor for the idea but we have to know who who we're dealing with here thank you yeah I've seen nothing that is going to change with him I mean he's um I'll just leave it I say nothing he's a repeat he's a repeat offender no I understand I just serial offender now yeah I I don't disagree it's very troubling but he was he was am I correct in saying that he he was supposed to cease and desist and shut down y he's just sticking his nose at us yeah exactly it's a mockery I and I I want to cut him zero slack yeah it's not about cutting him slack it's about changing the incentive structure to encourage him to do what would be in the public interest in the town but your Point's well taken I mean clearly the track record is not good but just thought maybe give it the old College try Jim I I applaud all all efforts to to get small business back on the island and if he was if he showed any intent of any intent any intent of you know trying to trying to to make that place a shopping center not a parking lot i' I'd be all for it I mean I we need small business back on this island can we at least uh legitimate skepticism uh stated and and appreciated and and and certainly agree with it can we at least give our attorney the opportunity just to probe around on that would everybody be okay with it I'm I'm okay with that yeah I mean again it's just a long shot but and and Nancy in all fairness they are going through or they're currently in the process of trying to get the special exception is that a fair statement I believe that they have submitted their application um Sarah might be able to help with that um I know that back in July they were lacking a survey but I think that they have moved forward with a survey she's going to look it up now to see what the status is it has not gone to listening to the magistrate hearing they had said that they submitted their application for the special exception they they did at their first hearing um and but there was it was lacking but then at the second hearing that we recently had yes they did say that they had completed that um it was just the survey but I don't have a date for the LPA review yet okay just just for point of of reference um he was in here today because we stopped work on his wall he was working without permits and he he doesn't understand why he has to get permits and so we continue to try to educate him on why he has to have permits and he wants to meet with me tomorrow and he want you know it's it's just it just it doesn't seem to end it just he can get his walls up just come get the permit and I mean but he's got some work he's done they've got to do some x-raying I mean you know Joe takes this stuff serious when people do stuff without permits and case in point this is another one and he was in here today arguing with Tom um about permits why it was shut down so well again I just want to clarify I was not looking at throwing him a Lifeline by any s it was more of a public a public outcry to his mental I don't there any that that's kind of what I was getting at with that not necessarily for the all right did we go ahead it is and it is in review at present okay but we don't know when it's going to LPA yet no so it hasn't completed staff review yet so it's in process so they're at least trying to go through the correct process to yes be allowed to do this is not about leniency this is about holding him accountable and providing some carrots to try to do the right thing if I know it's a long shot too but I I just maybe through his counsel maybe there's a maybe there's a path if you want to authorize me to have the conversation I'm I'm happy to do that I me just feel it feel it out okay is is that consensus I'm okay with that yeah I'm okay that okay discussion never anything else nope okay I have a question though all the discussion of forgiveness and things like that uh do we have an update or is there any progressing on the Jesse Smith issues or that is our last foreclosure case um we filed an amended complaint um they filed a motion to dismiss which we felt was without Merit um we have told them that we think it's without Merit they have until the end of the month to withdraw it or we will tell we will go forward to the court and tell the court that there a motion to dismiss is without Merit so that procedurally there's some delay built into that process but we are trying very hard to bring that one to completion okay thank you well since we're on that can you give us any updates where are we with the unsafe structure of commercial and residential buildings the letters that have gone out so the first seven properties that we had we have three that are actually viable uh when I say viable we've had a couple of them that have actually come into compliance meaning that they were dry flood proof they found proof of that they went through their County it's all been checked out uh the hoer building is the one example I'm bringing up here 19 uh 001 Estero um so there's plans in place already to bring that remaining part of that structure back into compliance um as far as the other one uh Sunset tropical Treasures or whatever it was it was burned out before the storm uh we have it on our demo list uh has cleared it was going to be the first structur demoed we now now found out through hon one of the vendors that we've secured that there's already been a communic for demolition on that property so whether the owners have reached out or whatever either way that building will be coming down uh very very shortly um the other ones we have hon coming into town and um I think it's Fort Meyers Southwest structures or those two vendors are going to come in take a look at the structures and give start giving us prices uh their their time is up and these that's what I was getting at we have properties time is up we're already well into that second list as far as the V Law Firm doing the title searches on those so this is going to be an ongoing just once we get going this machine's not going to stop so we do have properties that have gone through their due diligence process yes sir yes sir now so we um there's a 30-day appeal period once the property is red tagged 30-day appeal period and then by Statute there's another 30 days in the event that somebody was was actually there um so at that 60-day period that is the uh review that staff recently did because we had a number of properties that had hit that 60 days but when we looked closely at each one of those a lot of them had already been develop or demolished others had permits pending um and I think it's down to three properties right and so the three properties they have gone out and gotten proposals from the demolition contractors and we're waiting to see what you know then at that point we have to get it scheduled once we get the proposal um and proceed forward staff is also doing another Outreach to the owner to let them know that we have secured a demo uh contractor and then this is the day that the demolition is going to occur I understand from staff also that they'll be posting a notice on the property so those in the adjacent neighborhood will know that this building's coming down on this date and also that they'll be posting at Town Hall is that correct that is correct and by bringing in the vendors to take a look at these properties that's part of that process so they can look at it see what what it's going to conail to get those properties down and what kind of time frame they're talking about once they give us that schedule we're using it as a hard and fast date and as Council said we will be posting that and it'll be coming down all right thank you is um the Windom continues to be hard bir for some folks is that still in the window or well they were um we reached out to them and uh they they fenced it off as we we required we asked that they U not take their time but they had discussions at that time that they were going to find their own route to demolition uh that never came to fruition so they are back on our list and they will be red tagged and moved forward I've gotten some recent safety concerns from some of the neighbors down there and I have asked them to put that on the hot burner to make this happen whether they like it or not it's been two years it's time to move so correct that's probably the worst one we have in town besides the one down at o car okay thank all right council member items and reports councelor Safford I'm good councelor Woodson I'm good Vice May I'm good as well councelor King I'll try to be brief um I mentioned earlier Doug hadway with the trust for public land uh he did a presentation to the uh Lee County no on Friday on Burt that's the Bonita Estero rail trail project um communities have some of them I think Estero Bonita Springs have unanimously supported uh this effort and he would like to come out to uh a council meeting and do a presentation for us and try to get a vote in support of that project as well he believes and we didn't really get a chance to discuss it thoroughly that it will have a benefit to Fort Meers Beach as well I'm not sure if he's thinking because of the possible extension of bike lanes that the county has approved going into Bonita Springs from uh Big Carlos Pass Bridge if that's one of the offshoots that he thinks will be a support for the the trail project or not but um thank you uh I I guess if he's want I think he wants a vote so I'm not sure we could take that at an M&P so I'll just leave it up to you all as to what you would like to do do you need a vote or a consensus the request is for him to appear and to make the presentation and but I'm sure as part of that presentation he'll want the town to take a stand like on the project it yes support yeah okay we can do that from a Public Presentation couldn't we I think you could at an MMP but you could also bring it up at your next council meeting just to make it formal in the form of a resolution you could do that if you want to hear their presentation first and discuss it among yourselves and then at the next meeting uh take the formal action okay yeah I'm okay either way work or you could have him at your next meeting I mean at an official meeting where you can take action I I guess for me it makes more sense to have it at an MMP these agendas I don't think are going to get any any shorter anytime sooner I don't think so so you know it would make sense to be able to have a for where we could discuss it and then move it to the as a resolution or something potentially to vote on the resolution is I think helpful for them to have as the official you know action by the town sounds good to me thank I'm okay with that M all right uh mayor you mentioned long agendas just so you know for the seventh I already have 20 items in my CU going to be all day all day Okay g to save those sandwiches if they make it that long yeah they won make I I I I don't have anything pertinent that I need to talk about but uh go ahead just one thing uh October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month um we're the 21st uh staff is those who choose will wear pink so encourage you guys if you have that or we'll get a Lael pin and we'll just recognize that on the 21st of October okay we V councel me in that there yeah so we don't have pink shirts but I don't have was it was it subtle all right get to go by one Mr King well tonight has uh I think both meetings have proven the a sung by the late Germaine Stewart to be true we don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time oh no we could dance and party all night and drink some cherry wine and with that I will move to a journ all right I'll second that all right I got a motion in a second any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I we are adjourned at 8:37 --------- ##VIDEO ID:eQ_r3KlmU2I## e e late afternoon evening whatever ever you want to call it uh today is Monday September 23rd it is 50:01 p.m. this is the Fort Meers Beach Town Council budget hearing the second uh version of it all Town C council members are present Town attorney town clerk Town manager you uh who else here Joe's here too Hey Joe uh next is approval of the final agenda there is one change um staff would like to move it see the fiscal fee the final fee schedule up ahead of a to uh they have some people here that are got some discussion points on that if no one has an issue with that move approval of the final agenda as amended okay motion by vice mayor adalt seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none motion carries unanimously uh public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak in public comment no okay we'll close public comment next is public hearings first item is item C resolution 24-16 the fiscal year 25 final fee schedule this is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida adopting the final fee schedule for fiscal year 24 2024 2025 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending on September 30th 2025 adopting a fee refund policy and providing for an effective date Joe good afternoon Joe anig Finance director so I'll try to go through these things as quickly as possible since you've seen most of this already um in the previous hearing so this is um presentation is regarding the fee schedule the very first thing I wanted to bring to your attention is a change that was submitted by our Harbor Master regarding a change to the moing field rates um there proposing that the moing field daily rate be increased from $25 a day to $30 a day that the weekly rate be eliminated since it's basically the same as seven days worth um the Waring field monthly rate will stay the same $410 per week they're proposing that the credit card processing fee change from 35% to $5 they are proposing that the um fee for um a lost fob is eliminated since they don't use lost don't use fobs any longer and that there be a cancellation fee of $50 um and that was if a reservation is cancelled in less than 30 days notice and that was per the suggestion of the Town Council and I have um Curtis is here um to answer any questions or to expound upon anything if you'd like him to go ahead I was just GNA see I don't want to step on your thunder CT but I just wanted to say that at our last Anchorage advisory committee meeting we we did convey to to to our Harbor Master the concern or suggestion maybe is a better term from the council that they begin to look at uh pricing some of the balls based upon their location uh in in the uh moing field and uh the Harbor Master is very was very receptive to that but he wants to try the daily rate first first get a better sense get our get our facilities back in gear get everything functioning uh at 100% before we take that additional step so correct me if I'm wrong cter if you want to add anything to that I just wanted I wanted the council to know that those concerns were conveyed and and well received by the Har Harbor Master yes um uh I'm thank you um vice vice mayor um for the record uh Curtis lewig um Harbor Master town of Fort Mars Beach um listen first off I want to say thank you um I understand um and I'm not um disagreeing with you on um adding a a fee um to the to the uh better better M field field or should I say um the bigger Ming field for bigger boats and um do our fees based off of those um those those fees and um have a different rate for each field um I do agree with that but I think that is something that we need to look at down the road I think right now based off of what we researched uh the $5 I want to start with the daily rate and and increase that to $5 I think that that will I think right now we are kind of kind of at the bottom end of um competition so I think this the Third $ rate will put us right right exactly in the middle um I um the reason why I didn't decide to raise the monthly rate was being if we if we did the same is it the same the same increase in doing the math it would kind of put us out of out of the competition so um I did not I did not want to do that and I think the uh I think the $5 increase is fair that that will generate us an extra $1,290 a year for us so um I think that that would be a fair a fair um uh um uh um increase and a good and a good start um for the morning field here all right questions for Curtis I've got one um the credit card processing fee can you help me walk through that um why the change and it won't cost the town any um anything in that change will it we won't have to absorb anything no no we should not okay what's the thought process behind the change um we figured we' just make it a flat flat rate of $5 um um process that just to kind of simplify things and make things a little easier okay thank you but wouldn't you agree that if somebody pays for a month it would be $14 rough a little bit more than $14 now we're only charging five so we're don't you think we're leaving some money on the table there for the monthly charges but you be gaining some on the daily rate what's the typical transaction regarding what for a credit card the amount for the amount what do you yes what's your what's your average transaction um we do we do monthly rates is I'm I'm kind of not well I mean is is it more daily rates that you're running on the credit card or or monthly we do both we we the um credit card payment is pretty much the main the main source of payment for these for these voters so I think what he's trying to ask is is the stay the people that the length of stay are they staying for one day two days a week a month the more so we get our weekend people that come in so that's about a three-day stay um but the more the more common um stays stays we get are months um and with our monthly rate that's kind of your bang your bang your bang for for your buck so we do uh we do a lot of monthly stays for long termers and transient so I got a lot of weight listing people they're booking out reservations three months right now so um so the monthly rate right now is our most our most popular rate and what I see majority of it right now okay but see that would just go to say though that if you left the credit card processing fee to 3.5% on a monthly stay you're going to make more money instead of just $5 so what if we left it at three and a half% with a minimum of $5 I like that could did that yeah I guess guess my concern is that the town not have to eat the anything okay yeah I'm not trying for the time to eat eat anything whatsoever yeah we we can adjust that we'll get with Joe and Curtis and we'll come up with solution for that but I like the idea that keeping at three and a half% a minimum of five okay thank you that works Vice M questions for Curtis uh nothing additional thank you Curtis for coming on board yes counc Woodson anything else no I'm good no I'm good no all right thanks Curtis you're welcome thank you mayor then this was the other question that was posed at the last hearing and I was asked to bring back information for you to consider and this is regarding the resident parking permit revenue from the last 12 months months was $25,100 and that involved 953 permits for residents 24 for businesses and then there were 23 replacement permits um the cost of a permit sticker is 53 c um and then it was brought to my attention that if a permit fee is eliminated there may be a potential loss of parking meter Revenue if more permanent vehicles are then parking in spots so there's that unknown component that may be impacted as well um and then just to note that if we were to eliminate the parking permit fee that would reduce our Revenue by that amount and so then to keep the budget in Balance we would either have to increase the amount we borrow from the bridge loan by that amount or perhaps reduce the contribution to the emergency fund by that amount or any other option you propose but I just wanted to make sure you well Joe I appreciate you doing this work I I brought it up just to see what it would be okay I have no intentions of going any further with it with this it was just nice to see what it was and and and I didn't realize it would be that I thought it' be much less than that so I have no need to move forward if nobody else feels the need to move forward with it I don't okay you can throw that side away right on to the next one then um and so these are the same increases like it's just to review um basically it's a 3% increase automatic increase for um the rideway permits um in the sidewalks um personal watercraft vendor licenses Paras sailing vendor licenses Beach Furniture vendor licenses um both the um the first year and the renewal all going up by 3% so that was the automatic increase um then of course we had the mount house fee schedule that was presented by Jeff and Adam Knight at the last meeting um they're here if you have any more questions regarding that um and otherwise then this is just that same exact presentation regarding the short-term rental fees and the revenue would brings in and at this point based on the the costs involved um it would generate roughly about 55% to cover the cost and about 45% would be addition Revenue brought in that currently would be going to Workforce housing until it's determined otherwise and then lastly is the fee refund policy that is associated with the fee schedule now um it's basically the same as what had presented before except with the additional changes that were suggested at the last hearing and that those changes are itemized here in the middle there starting in the middle there shall be no refund of review fees there shall be no refund of Ming field reservations unless a notice of cancellation is provided at least 30 days in advance and if a m field reservation is cancelled at least 30 days in advance a refund shall be allowed less a $50 cancellation fee and so um that's now incorporated into the refund policy unless if you have further changes to make well the first one the the review fees and talking with the attorney and and looking that a little more do we want to discuss that a little more because there are some instances where people get charged twice by accident and and if this gets implemented they have no repercussion to be able to get a refund for a duplication of charging so um if I may yes Mr Mayor um so really what we could add to your existing policy um I'm looking at page 2155 of your uh agenda materials um and Joe has highlighted in yellow what we could add there is a very simple sentence that says the Town Council shall hear and decide appeals of application of the refund policy so that way if there is an issue that comes up if there's extenuating circumstances or for whatever reason um it's stated in your policy that the appeal comes back to you and then you can exercise your discretion I can support that okay so we can make that change thank you anybody have anything else on this slide for the fee refund policy no okay and that that's it for the the fee Scott questions for Joe no I'm good thank you counc Woodson uh no but thank thank you for that big explanation too that you sent us on the mount house and what has been spent to date and everything else I had no idea that it was at that platform so thank you well now councelor Woodson just opened up a door for me there well you don't have to walk through it I think it's information that could be really helpful to the public got you but do you want to do it here or do you want to do it in the final budget discussion where would you like to have that conversation there is a point in the final budget discussion presentation where I think it would be more appropriate to to make comments on that that's fine I have nothing additional thank you counc Kang good job Joe thank you thanks Joe all right is there a motion to approve resolution 24- 186 fiscal year 25 final fee schedule so moved with Amendment with as amended as amended second as amended okay got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor uh Safford any further discussion do you want a roll call on this okay councelor King hi councelor Safford hi counc Woodson hi and vice mayor edal hi and I'm and I as well motion carries unanimously next is resolution or item a resolution 24-14 the fiscal year 25 final millage rate a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach of of adopting the final ADV Valera millage rate for the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida for fiscal year 2024 2025 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending September 30th 2025 for the purpose purpose of providing sufficient funds for the general fund and providing an effective date go so I'll basically run through this presentation just one more time just to meet statutory requirements so we are proposing to keep the millage rate the same for FY 25 as it was for FY 24 and that is at 099 um in conjunction with the bridge loan and other revenues this will provide sufficent ient Revenue to sustain the operations of the town and also to add to the emergency fund and that's that contribution of 435,000 that we've mentioned before um the roll back ratees of 6561 is the millage rate that's necessary to generate the same amount of tax revenue as generated the prior year using the current Year's taxable value before taking into account additions like new construction or deletions the rollback rate of 6561 is a reflection of the fact the reason why it's so low is a reflection of the fact that the taxable value in 2023 and then the corresponding adorm Revenue collected in FY 24 had declined 42% due to the catastrophic destruction of hurricane Ian so basically to to come down to the level of Revenue that was generated now at the lower taxable Revenue you'd have to bring down the mill rate to 6561 although the final mill rate of 0.9 for 9 for FY 25 is the same as FY 24 it represents a 50.89 increase when compared to the rollback rate of 6561 this is because 74% of the taxable value that was lost in 2023 has now been recovered in 2024 but we still have 25% still unrecovered 25% of that loss still unrecovered so the bottom line then of all of this is that although the final millage rate of .99 for fy2 is the same as FY 24 the adorm tax revenue generated fy2 is still going to be $ 6,816 less than was collected in FY 23 due to the tax value still being less than what it was before hurricane in so in other words it still doesn't bring us back up to where we were before hurricane Ian and just I think it's um important to note that the town did not increase the millage rate when the tax values declined so it didn't try to make up for that lost Revenue by increasing the mill rate and likewise it will not decrease the mill rate as taxable values recover by maintaining the same mill rate throughout the town is stabilizing the only component of the adval tax revenue calculation that is within its control and then the use of the revenue that is generated by this final mill rate um um the town Drew upon the bridge loan and FY 24 and other reserves to replace the Lost Revenue as Revenue recovers the town will draw less from the bridge loan and other reserves and it's important again to emphasize that all the revenue is used for essential operations funding recovery oper recovery efforts and then strengthening our reserves all of this detail then would be in the budget um this is just where Fort Meyers Beach um falls in the percent of a a property taxpayers bill it's only 6.2% of it so Joe just just because folks can't see that very well maybe at home so when they get their property tax bill from Lee County six 6.2% of that property bill goes to fund the the the functions of the town of Fort Meers Beach correct that's correct and the other substantive ones are obviously Lee County schools Lee County Fire Department Etc correct that's correct okay just wanted for folks who can't see that I just wanted to make sure that was clear yes and then the surrounding Mill rates um Fort Meers Beach Falls in the lower end of that scale um with of course town cities like Fort Meyers Cape Coral pun Gorda Santa Bell Marco Island Naples all having higher rates than we do and it's only the city of Bonita Springs and the village of Estero who has slightly lower rates than than we do and that concludes my presentation regarding the millage rate councelor King any questions for Joel none Vice Mar not for this section okay counc Woodson I'm good counc s not at this time I don't have any e thanks Joe and is there a motion to approve or further public comment opening the public hearing oh I got to open the public hearing yeah we'll have a public hearing sorry that's okay well see that's why you're here it's all right all right public comment is there anyone here for public comment so during the public hearing you're basically announcing um that you're going to be um adopting the final adval millit rate for fiscal year 20 2425 at .99 Mills which is 099 uh for each 100 $1,000 of the assessment that the current roll back rate is 6561 the final operating milit rate is 50.89 greater than the roll back rate and maintaining the millage rate at this amount as it was in the prior years will generate 1,281 489 more ADV valorum tax revenue than was collected in 2024 this is still 6816 less than the prior and that the money would be used to enable fund funding a contribution of 425,000 to the emergency Reserve fund and stabilization and the adoption of the final rate does not exceed the tentative millage that was adopted by the Town Council on September 9th that's statutory um so public comment now okay now we'll ask for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak in public comment see any know we will close it is there anything else we need to do no okay any further discussion is there a motion to approve the resolution 24184 fiscal year 25 final millage rate so moved motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King I councelor Woodson I counc Safford I uh Vice may adhal I and I'm and I as well that motion carries unanimously next is resolution or Item B resolution 24-15 the fiscal year 25 fin finally final budget a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach adopting the final budget for fiscal year 2024 225 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending on September 30th 2025 and providing for an effective date I will now open public hearing Joe okay this presentation is a bit longer so I'll try to most of it you've seen before so what I'm going to do is just highlight the things that have changed and and maybe just emphasize a few things it's not responding there we go okay so basically this is just this overview of what is contained within the presentation so the very first thing is the changes since the first budget hearing so I'll just jump right to that so these are just kind of technical things that we did but I just wanted to acknowledge that these changes occurred because they are different now in what is in the budget document that has been attached to the resolution for your approval um one of the things I noticed when I Was preparing the advertisement for the trim um the statutory required trim ad that goes into the paper is how Capital versus services are classified and from our from an accounting perspective we don't capitalize Beach renourishment because it's simply an expense that a Barry island has from year to year but in a budget presentation it really should be presented as capital and I was just to double check I looked at Santa Bell Islands um presentation and they have Beach nourishment classified as capital so I just wanted to change the classification from services like I originally had it to Capital to be consistent with other Barrier Islands presentation so that's some it doesn't change any amounts just what category it falls in um similarly I noticed that it wasn't obvious in the presentation that we were actually putting money into the emergency fund or contributing more into the building fund it was showing up as a transfer to reserve and I thought that was a bit obscure so just to make it more clear I've changed the description to reserve um also I added the slide that was actually um presented in the um in trim ad itself so that it's included in the packet and then I also added the projected fund and cash balances which I hadn't had enough time to prepare the first time around but I think it's important to have it included in the budget so those are the M major changes um that are included in the attached um version of the budget but since then since we um noticed um this hearing and publicize the budget I did come across an error in the budget where we had overstated the grants for the Bay Oaks Recreational campus Redevelopment it was in the budget as a $2 million Grant when in reality it's only a $1 million Grant and so that needs to be corrected and then correspondingly we need to reduce the capital project expense budget by $1 million so that will reduce both revenue and expenses by1 million million do um there's also a typo I noticed that you know I should have been obvious at the time but the last time the um actual data for fiscal year 24 was updated was actually July 18th but the column heading said um May 21st I don't think it requires official Town Council approval to correct that typo but I just wanted to make sure you knew that that was another thing that was going to change the The Guiding principles again to to um just quickly review them was to achieve a structurally balanced zerob based budget to maintain the current millage rate to limit the use of the bridge loan to covering the non-ad or Revenue loss to stabilize the Personnel budget strengthen our reserves and to limit the Capital Improvements to disaster recovery and I thought that this might be the in this presentation the point at which I could maybe comment on what is includ in the capital budget um and and the rationale behind why it's included so the only projects that are included in the budget you can I can I stop you and set you up for that answer to that question because I had sent you an inquiry and you sent a very eloquent response to the entire Council uh last week the uh Town Council had a joint meeting with the cell cab uh advisory committee which oversees the mound house in Newton park it was the purpose of the of the meeting meting was to to seek accreditation uh sort of a high-profile accreditation that would help the mount house do a variety of things but nonetheless in that conversation there was a discussion about funding for the underground exhibit and and and an inference was made that that wasn't really prioritized by the town in this upcoming budget and therefore that's going to have to wait and it led to a very interesting exchange between you and the council about explaining that it wasn't not prioritized there there were no capital projects uh prioritized so maybe that'll set you up to help better explain what you're going to talk about yes thank thank you for providing that context um so the only projects that were included in the capital budget this year were the projects that had their own independent funding sources you know such as the new town hall which we had the $8 million Grant berri nourishment which we had the grant Turtle lighting which had the Grant St Boulevard Landscaping which we had um a grant really from that inter local agreement um a few years ago so that funding was still there and of course the tier one storm water that was is being funded by grants and Loans so those were the only things that we had certainty enough certainty to incorporate into the budget uh so in that respect there was no question no prioritization involved there um there are many other potential Disaster Recovery projects that need to be included but we just just don't have enough information quite yet on them and so there's uncertainty regarding their cost their scope in their funding but as each of these projects um are more um def more defined and we get more um information from FEMA for example we I don't think we ever imagined that two years later we still wouldn't know how much we're getting from FEMA regarding some of these projects um and the mount house is one of them they're part of a group of Parks and Recreation projects for which we're still waiting FEMA's determination is exactly how much we'll be getting and so that is really the reason why it's not in there we're still waiting for information on that we do have some um insurance proceeds but in in honesty some of those proceeds have already been spent like for in doing the emergency repairs like for example to the mound house so um there's really nothing left of those emergency um insurance reimbursements Jo before you move on I think just not to interrupt but I think it's important to to rear I mean we've said it before in the past but just for those people that hadn't heard when it you're talking about obligation from female right for the funding yes and and and I think some people don't understand that if you go ahead even if we had the funding to be able to fund the repair of that if we did that we would lose any funding at all from FEMA or the opportunity to get any funding by starting before they obligate the project um that that's mostly true I think there's exceptions so I don't I don't want to say that as a blanket statement but I think that's that's generally true and that's why we're trying to be very careful and plus we we don't know how much funding we're going to have and so we can't really obligate or commit ourselves to things Without Really knowing how it's going to be paid for um so that's one of the reasons why things like the mount housee as well as so many of the other capital projects are not in the budget yet and they can be added along the way so this isn't like a singular point in time where you either have it or you lose it we can do this throughout the year so as soon as information comes to light we can make budget adjustments um I thought it might also be important to just remind everyone I think you all know this but we don't have a pool of excess Revenue available for capital projects like we've had in years past um if we did have a pool of excess Revenue the terms of our Bridge Loan prohibit us from using it for cap capit projects we need to use that excess Revenue to repay the bridge loan so that's something that we have to live with until the bridge loan is repaid or the terms of the bridge loan change um so if we didn't have the bridge loan terms to comply with and we did have a pool of excess Revenue certainly that's when prior priorities would come into play and how we would use that Revenue um so one thing that is a possibility and that you might consider given the importance of the mount house exhibit being restored is that we could choose to foro FEMA reimbursement and just use arpa funds for that project um we need to have all of the arpa funds obligated by the end of the year and at this point there's still 7 or 877,000 left that's unobligated that we need to but there's you know many discussions almost daily as far as what we can do using those for as soon as we have an exact amount then what can be done is come back to the Town Council I mean an exact amount for the mountainous project we can come back and then we can have those funds from our obligated for that project um so it's just a very simple thing to do um so I think maybe I would recommend that as being something to seriously consider if if the mount house is a high priority as it certainly appears to be since Jeff and Adam are here what is that number to that we need to to make the repairs to the underground exhibit just ballpark they know your M Jeff hogi Community Services director um anywhere right around maybe 200,000 would be a good ballpark figure on what that might cost to to put it back um now we could do it you know we could replace everything back to what it was I guess to a point but the way it was wasn't the best setup at all um for instance when we did have flooding in there the rope lights that were hung by a fishing fishing line actually got caught in the Shell Mound um so we want to do something exterior to it where there's like a laser that maybe come maybe comes down to show the levels um just some different lighting that we can do in there to make it to modernize it just a little too so so it's them to get it back the way it was or the way you'd like it to be in a perfect world around where we'd like it to be I mean of course we'd like to what's I I assume you guys have a lot of pressures Mr Town manager for that arpa money does that something that interests you or would you rather have us not make that direction I think we we're about to have a discussion before this came up a couple days ago to do this and then of course we've been focusing on Hurricane related things today but we've got a couple several things we we want to take out of the arpa and one of them is a a a back on truck to be able to pump our own storm water drains out which was about a half a million dollars I believe so it would leave some but we need to just calculate and see exactly where we are we've got the million dollars here we've got a couple other things coming out so we could see what it is maybe bring it back to next meeting can we leave this at your discretion this item sure yeah we we don't have to make that determination today in the budget do we we can sort of I believe you can amend your budget throughout the fiscal year once you adopt it today you need to adopt it I'd rather just leave it up to the town manager and the Jeff and his team and just you because you've got to juggle a lot of things so certainly when you're talking about puming out storm water that's pretty important right now yeah well yeah that and I i' being what we're staring at over the next few days and potentially in the next month I wouldn't want to rush to allocate money to something that we might need for something else that was a hesitation as well um and just so you know the the full amount that 877,000 is in the budget so it's budgeted to be SP this year it's just not specified for what so even even if you decide to spend it for the mountainous or back cont truck whatever it might be it won't change our budget it's just be more specific for what the purpose will be and Joe you mentioned in your note to us that the that the support for the mountainous from the town is strong and continues to increase so I just want to make sure that's clear for the record as well this town's not wavering on their support for the mountainous we're just waiting for specific uh uh funding to help with with that specific repair is that that's fair correct oh it is and I I do have a few um figures I could share no we don't we don't need to get it the numbers I mean they're clearly clearly enhanced and and it's it shows a strong commitment but what I wanted to ask too while we just we just on this other subject in your note as well you said that we didn't have any uh designated capital projects except those that have their own independent funding sources and I just wanted to make it clear for f folks who are listening and particularly as we have some significant rain hopefully that's all it is coming uh that the tier one storm water is a capital project that has its own independent funding and if you just want to take quick 30 seconds to give people some peace on that Frankie that those funds are committed and part of the budget and and that's a capital project that is a priority for the town yeah that's been an ongoing project long before uh Andy got here on myself um it started up on the North End of the island we moved the series of streets that we're currently working on to hopefully try to address some of these things as we get through the season um it's it's a long process it's not just as simple as putting a box drain in there's a lot of connecting tissue so to speak as far as the outfalls where it has to go where it collects the pitch of the street um and then also the Swale project which will follow shortly after in some of these areas so it is an ongoing process um just because you don't see them on your street any longer doesn't mean that it's done and operating it's probably not going to be fully functional until well after this storm season but the the funding is not an issue that funding is issue want make sure that funds ahead of time through the state um and it's being looked after by Angie Brewer um and we're in almost every other day conversations it seems like but every weekly uh Joe and Jeff and and some of the utility staff are are on top of that on those meetings and we're we're gauging it as we go along very good and this is the only place that money can be spent it can't go anywhere El that's correct thank you one thing on the arpa funds we bring that to you anytime we have an expenditure anyhow so even if you approve the a amount of million dollars once we broke it down we'd bring it back for the specific expenditure thank you so I'll just move on and this is just to kind of go quickly through so this shows how the bridge loan amount was calculated it's basically a comparison to the amount of Revenue we collected in 2022 versus what's projected for the 2025 and that's how the amount um was calculated to use uh changes in position count I think we spoke a lot about this at the last hearing but is unchanged it's still we're down 16.75 most of those positions are the result of converting um employees to contractors in the Building Services Department um general fund Revenue by sources has not changed since the last hearing you can see that taxes are the are greatest amount of Revenue coming in um the transfer that's from the bridge loan that's the next highest amount and the charges for services that would be like for parking and other areas Jo could you just go back one slide real quick sure just for the record I I I I just wanted to once again reiterate in case there's new folks watching that since uh the storm is it fair to say and it to generalize I know there's a lot of issues going on but is it fair to say that the the size of the Town staff has not increased post hurricane Ian well I hly I would have to look to see it may have increased but I think last year when we did the budget for the current year there was an increase in head count and so but it was because we needed more people to but is it an also some of some of the in prior to hurricane in didn't we have a lot of contract employees yeah that that's true yes and so I think converting contractors to employees was part of that increase so that would that really wouldn't count as an addition yeah in fact we probably end up saving money exactly because some of those contracts were pretty steep yes yeah okay just wanted to get that for the record okay um so we looked at this um the expense by category this has not changed either wages Services benefits they're the highest amount of expense for the general fund um General so this is a new slide this just Compares year-over-year in those categories and why this slide became important to create and I did this for all funds as well was this this is the type of information um and how it's categorize that we put into the advertisement um required by trim and so it's just a way to calculate operating expenses so we have wages benefits Services Commodities liability insurance and contingencies is all part of operating and that in the general fund has actually gone down 5.3% year-over-year um it's the capital that went up and that's because of the asero boulevard um Landscaping that was added into the budget this year so that accounts for that increase and then the increase in transfers is is in this case the transfer is a transfer into the emergency reserve and that's accounts for the increase there in the transfer area um general fund expenses by Department this is unchanged wow that town council's expensive there a brackets it's a and then we have the continuation so this is just broken out by Department um okay this where I have the asteris this is what was affected by that $1 million adjustment so here on the second line the grant re Revenue line that's down by $1 million and so that affects the percentage is for all of the others um the use of reserves is unchanged Grant Revenue this is also um where you'll see that it reflected as that $1 million reduction on that second line the Bay Oaks ball field is now only 1 million Grant from FD rather than the 2 million that was there before other Revenue detail L has not changed so the loan proceeds from the re srf loan from the bridge loan from the general fund none of these transfers have changed the expenses um here it's just really the the capital that's reduced by 1 million as a result of the the Bay Oaks Recreational campus Capital project reduction by a million everything else is the same but it did affect those percentages slightly and then this is the the actual um that yellow highlighted line that 6.3% increase in operating revenue for all funds combined is the result result in my analysis of that additional cdb gdr funding that came in for services and so that's why you see that Services line jump to 38% more and that's because of that Grant that's the only reason for um the increase in oper in whereas you can see Capital went down that's because we had lost um that $10 million loan that the proceeds from that we weren't able to use them all I think there were $6 million budgeted in FY 24 that is not in the budget for FY 25 and we spent there was more in the budget in 24 versus 25 for Beach re nourishment as well and so that accounts for the significant reductions there and then there was just a lot less transfer activity um that's actually pre-planned in the budget this year as compared to last year Debt Service has gone up 170% primarily because the srf loans had been suspended during the last two years the the the repayment of those loans was suspended by the state because of Hurrican and but now in 20 2025 they're coming back again and so that accounts for that almost million dollar increase there um and then reserves um we're putting in the 4 35,000 into the emergency fund which was not specifically budgeted last year and then um there's a $500,000 increase in the building fund um Reserve as a result of the permit Revenue coming in this um all funds expense budgets by fund so this is where you'll see um the change in the capital fund a million dollar reduction there because of that correction to the Bok Grant capital budget items um if you look at the boks project that's about fourth from the bottom on the left that's down it was the $3 million project now it's 2 million and then this has not changed this is that loan from FEMA um through f for to give us some upfront cash for some of these projects so that is unchanged changed and then these are the projected this is the projected fund balance um and this is based on information through September 18th and you can see the fund balances combined are almost 50 well 51.5 million and why this may be surprisingly High I think if you look in water storm water those are high high because you also have the fixed assets of the INF structure included in the fund balance so that's that's what's unique about that and looking at fund balances Alone um then if you look at the cash balances of course we don't include the fixed asset or the infrastructure and this does not include receivables it does not include prepaid expenses it does not include um the liabilities so this is strictly cash so it's much smaller balance but this gives you an idea where we stand or and what we're projected um to be at the end of next year and then debt services are all the same as the last time um we've got the FEMA project loan which is that $5 million we just saw the detail of um we have that $10 million Capital Improvement note which now it's just basically the the repayment of what we did borrow we only borrowed um the 35 million and so each year we'll be repaying the 500 81,000 and then we have the bridge loan and that's not scheduled to begin repayments until um 2000 what is it 20 2033 yes and we we're in the process of getting the updated agreement um from regarding the bridge loan to show officially that it's a 10-year loan now and then this is the same um Debt Service um for the state revolving Lo and I think that's it so it I would just ask that when you vote to adopt the budget that because of this change the $1 million change that would be specific that you're adopting it as amended to include this $1 million change and this is the verbiage to the best of my ability that I'm I'll leave displayed for you Nancy do you have that to be able to read it like you did um no actually this part is a little a little bit more flexible as far as the requirements from the state um we are have open the public hearing and uh public comments would be appropriate okay any questions for Joel before he sits down I have a question it's really it's for Joe Andor Andy uh the mayor is not one to often toot his own horn but I think we're in part in this great fiscal situation because of the work that he has done with Andy and Frankie and our team here at the town going to Tallahassee working with our partners at the state and federal and county level who've been very responsive that money doesn't just pour in on its own it has to be lobbied for it has to you have to put data together to to make yourself eligible and I just wondered uh Andy and I didn't prep you ahead of time but if you could give me a back of the envelope idea of how much money that the town of Fort Meyers Beach has gotten not not via loan but via Grant from our state uh Federal and County Partners since the storm and I just wanted to give the mayor a little shout out because people think go going up to Tallahassee and lobbying that's some kind somehow glamorous it's not glamorous it's a long drive it's a lot of graveling and and and our to our State legislator's Credit they've been very kind and responsive to our needs but it's a lot of work and a lot of time so I just wanted to recognize them and and also make sure that folks understand that's one of the reasons one of the primary reasons we're in such great fiscal shape today but do you have a ballpark guest as to what that number might be first of all you know you you forgot that that long ride with the mayor and Frankie that's that's taxing on me a little bit at my age there's a greater reward for you but there's a great reward for control of the radio uh or your gavl how about that it's missing um we're probably in excess of $50 million wow and you're right it you just don't make a phone call and ask uh you got to make a lot of contacts Dan Dan's done that and to be up there with him and see I've been with a lot of Mayors and a lot of people and he he does represent very well and he does know how to how to handle U elected officials at a higher level and I think that's important in any job especially when you're in a situation like we are and um you know we do we we have had a lot of conversations about it and it it's really um a good partnership even with Frankie going and Jason went one one time you know to kind of help learn how how some of this goes for the for the long term and and it really makes a difference to be there I know some of them say I'd rather just be down here but I mean even if you go to DC and you go you know those things matter when when when they see you and you take enough time to come and tell your story well I for I know I speak on behalf of my colleagues we thank you all for that effort I uh I I relationships this is a relationship business and uh you all have done an excellent job of building those relationships to Great reward for for the for the town of Fort Meers Beach and I just I thank you for your efforts very kind words thank you um counc King questions none counc Woodson great job counc saff yeah great job nice job Joe all right public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak in public comment seeing none we'll close public comment is there any further discussion or a motion to approve resolution 24-85 for the fiscal year 25 final budget as amended to include the $1 million reduction in FD Grant and 1 million reduction in the capital budget for Bay Oaks Recreational campus so move second motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion counc King hi counc Safford I counc Woodson I vice mayor adle I and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously uh next that brings us to final public comment anyone like to speak in public comment now seeing none we'll close public comment before we go to the adjournment do do did we advertise the next meeting for six o'clock is that what it was okay so with that we will look for a motion for adjournment to reconvene at six o'clock so Mo I'll second motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I we are adjourned at 555 live