e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e thanks sir good evening the time is now 7 p.m. and I'll call to order the town council meeting of Tuesday May 21st we'll begin with an invocation followed by a moment of silence and then the Pledge of Allegiance all those who were able would please join me in standing dear God allow us to be responsible citizens for our community help us have clear minds and to use wisdom in the decisions placed in front of us tonight amen let's have a moment of silence please join me in the pledge you have a roll call please mayor kety here vice mayor sunstrom here councelor Delaney councelor for councelor May Town manager Kito here Town attorney be here okay we'll begin uh with citizen comments uh this is the time for non-agenda items and are limited to 3 minutes and anyone wishing to speak is asked to State his or her name and address for the record prior to addressing Town Council do we have any public citizen comments yes mayor we have several first we're going to have Nancy Gonzalez followed by Cindy Lo hi my name is Nancy Gonzalez I live in the shores I'm here to ask you to keep your promises and to remind you that from my memory each of you ran and won campaigns on the promise to keep Jupiter that small town feel to reduce traffic and to protect Jupiter's unique natural resources in the December 5th 2023 Town council meeting mayor kety after public outcry promised that the town would not build on squez Park and importantly that you would not build on the adjacent land even though there's no such thing it's all the park respectfully please allow me to quote the mayor word for word speaking about a location for a fire station on December 5th quote early on we had the thing there where might a space be so this thing about the dog park it's been you know first of all it's property next to the dog park that was not part of the bond money second of all we've discounted that almost immediately when it was uh you know when it was after it was written but we had to put something down end quote discounted almost immediately and importantly note the reference to property next to the dog park now let me read a quote from the town of Jupiter's official Facebook page where the town repeatedly posted responses excuse me to individual residents concerned about building a station on squez quote s quest park and the dog park are not being considered as a possible location for a future station end quote I oppose this location because one you promised it was off the table two it will increase traffic on Indian toown Road by needing to add another traffic light to allow trucks to safely Head East three more construction will have a negative impact on small businesses in the area four noises from tones going off would distress dogs in the park making it unusable for many five there is no language in the document you're voting on that protects the historic banion tree in the park you should at minimum add language protecting that tree no pruning no relocating no tree doctor conveniently declaring it diseased five building on public parks to save money is not a good look I oppose developing any land on our limited parks in Green Space as I see that as a slippery slope if you're willing to build here all bets are off any green space could be up for grabs so please protect our Parks purchase property in an appropriate location or better yet let the residents vote on this entire matter but keep your promise to not build on squ Park to reduce traffic and to protect Jupiter's unique natural resources thank you for your time Cindy Lo followed by Louise Simmons hi am Cindy Loth I'm here to talk about the dash lack of Dash cans in the Jupiter Police Department I hope that there has been progress on that um I want to talk about how it's affected me personally what the arrest on January May 23rd 2023 it's almost a year um I told you that I sold my car cuz I no longer felt safe in my car I sold my house I can't sleep in my house um I suffer from PTSD um I actually now suffer from sleep paralysis where I think I'm awake and I'm not and I'm constantly reliving that experience that night uh I'm still working on having my record expunged and now I've had to explain to my company what's happened and it's like damaged my reputation as as who I am um again experiencing what happened to me that night and I'm not going to draw compare talk much about what happened to the golfer because I really understand what he's going through right now I I am so tired of coming here um I'm leaving soon but I don't want you to forget my face and I don't want you to forget who I am my daughter I'm sorry this sounds really loud my daughter the one that had a stroke that jpd left home alone exposed Alone um two months after her stroke she wrote me a beautiful letter from Mother's Day and reminding me that we can always find something positive in any experience and I'm so grateful she wasn't in the car cuz she would have died that night um she wasn't capable of following commands um my son is neurer Divergent they would have pushed him to the ground because he's not capable of understanding commands especially from the police department um and I'm going to just take the last few minutes last week I didn't speak because we were honoring police officers and there were children in the room getting their Awards and my daughter in 2019 won first placeat in the eighth grade division and I believe it's an amazing program for the kids it it creates a lot of pride in their art and it was something that helped my daughter love art more because she was recognized and I hope that you always continue that program for the children because I think it's quite amazing 2019 I believe Mr Delaney presented the awards in 2019 they had the plaques back then and um I just think it's um it's a great program for them thank you for your time thank you Louise Simmons followed by Linda mcdermit hi I just want to uh I've just been informed about the zoning regulations in Jupiter are not favorable to opening any dispensaries and I really hope that you'll reconsider those zoning regulations so that Jupiter can be like every other area in in Palm Beach County that has dispensaries um they're all opening up in Palm Beach Gardens they're making a ton of money and I'm sure Palm Beach Gardens is making money from that Jupiter could make money from it also um and I just think would be really beneficial to a lot of the people who actually use the dispensaries and need the products there to be able to go in their own Hometown and not have to travel far to to get anything and just one word about the the firehouse things I think putting something on Indian toown Road would be a just a traic nightmare for everybody um and people here don't use their turn signals enough to say that there's never any accidents and it's just going to increase I think a lot of problems traffic-wise um if there's a a fire station right on Indian toown Road anyway thank you good evening Linda mcdermit Chad with Drive uh tonight I'm going to repeat my coments from May 7th council meeting due to the fact that once again the audio and visual playback did not work at all um through emails I did request that my comments be written into the minutes and was told they were just a summary but the minutes don't reflect the key points of my comments which the public needs to be able to find in public record so here I go I want to acknowledge that I believe the town of Jupiter has done many good things in the past and and I appreciate the staff but there is one important issue that I don't agree on and that is creating Jupiter fire rescue and taking away Palm Beach County fire rescue from us on the appointment of a deputy fire chief while Steven Shaw has outstanding credentials I believe that on boarding for this position is premature and wasteful spending when there is no operating Department stations staff members to train or manage at this time how is this fiscally responsible the town should have spent the money on hiring a consultant to do a study and Sample methodology on how much the fire assessment fee needs to be in order for the town to provide a true budget and impact statement on real costs to all Property Owners this is the unknown that needs to be uncovered for fiscal transparency you still have not proven that you can provide Fire Rescue Services equal to Palm Beach County fire rescue at a reduced cost but most of all I don't know how you can give up a Premier Service with guaranteed backup plans with the intention of utilizing more Mutual Aid than your own units and expect other municipalities to pay for it I don't want to be on a waiting list if I have a life or death emergency voters were not aware that you were going to pull the Accord on safety but that's how I feel it's not too late to do the right [Applause] thing Daniel McAndrews followed by cica praki Daniel McAndrews 6120 Drake Street Jupiter Florida I'm coming to you as a father a husband and a veteran I've been in Jupiter over 20 years um leas I live in your District I end up voted for you the first time um taking my kids to school I'm hearing a lot of chatter about now there's a lawsuit uh there's a pack fund that's suing the town of Jupiter and then the town of Jupiter is now suing anybody that had shirts or part of the pack fun or that was here um I'm just very concerned about it um I know we unanimously you guys all voted to double the town attorney's pay and I have a 2-year-old who wore a shirt so are you guys suing me and my family do I going to put my two-year-old up on the stand but yet I'm also a resident so are you also going to defend me isn't this a little bit of a conflict of interest I mean this is silly it's over putting something on the ballot to vote for um just how the lawsuit was brought up in and anyone that wear shirts or came up here is kind of turning into a little bit of you know repeat of the past with a little bit of the brown coats so I'm asking you guys to rethink this it's something silly over putting something on the ballot thank you cica peraki good evening seni West River Drive it has come to my attention that there is a plan to clear out the non-natives and dead malucas from 500 Delaware also known as the tailor property at one Fel swoop instead of the original plan of doing it in phases to protect wildlife and I did uh confirm this with the town in the first phase a team came walking through hacked the bark of the non-natives and the trees died with minimal damage to the Wetland um this green space is a thriving habitat for Bobcats foxes Turtles and birds and the Wetland has red black and white mangroves spreading out even more now that the malucas are dead and the mangroves have more light apparently there have been many complaints about the dead trees even though they are contained in the Wetland and slowly deteriorating from the top down and a lot of them have fallen going in there with Machinery will destroy the new red mro shoot shoots and crush the little fingers that the black mangr used to allow their roots to breathe not to mention the destruction of the wildlife habitat bird life has been extraordinary it really is amazing there are cardinals Blue Jays woodpeckers doves blue gray and night herand Ospreys Hogs and mures just to name the ones that I know I I see lots of birds but I don't know all of them um Bobcats are often seen by us and the neighbors as they come from the woods and go through the backyards along Jones Creek to Delaware scrub and then south of there along Jones Creek again I'm asking the town to reconsider the manner in which the non natives are cleared out from this green space and asking for continued protection of this wet land thank you thank you Jen clear followed by Karen Vincent good evening Council Jen cly Riverside Drive Park let me start by expressing my frustration towards the town and your continued spending spree in regards to the Jupiter fire department all while the issue allowing residents the right to vote is still before a judge with that said one of my biggest concerns that I have is with tonight T's agenda earlier this week when the agenda came out and it was announced that Town Council was going to vote on building a fire station in squz park I couldn't help but laugh because I've spent countless Tuesday nights here at these meetings listening to our Council preach transparency and Truth only to be disappointed once again I was at the meeting back in December and listened attentively as the mayor declared that squez Park and the property next to it would not be an option for a Jupiter fire station your own words were that you discounted that almost immediately but that you had to put something down you continued by commending your staff for putting out updates on dedicated pages to counteract misinformation coming out from the pack you also stated how much it bothers you that people think that you don't listen to the public so where exactly is the misinformation coming from if Council votes to build a fire station at squez Park tonight it sounds to me like the misinformation came directly from you and your staff there has been a lack of transparency from the beginning now the community can go back on the website and watch the meeting on December 5th 2020 23 where you declared that squis Park wasn't an option and they can see for themselves why there's a lack of trust it's unfortunate but I do not believe for one second that you care what people think because if you did this would have gone to a vote months ago thank [Applause] you Karen vincon followed by Mickey Isaacson Aon vincon 10003 Sue Street I don't really have anything prepared tonight which normally I do my biggest problem is what I kind of plays off of her is the lack of transparency I've preached that for almost a year now since all this started I've been to almost every single Town council meeting except for when I was out sick my biggest thing was transparency you very blatantly stated and put on your website squez Park was off the table that was a town of Jupiter post it was in the meeting for you to turn around and then say that oh we have a loophole we're going to use three acres how do you think that makes the town feel why do you think that everybody in the town is in an uproar and mad about the fire department to start with because it really never was a public discussion I've been here as y'all have made some attempts and you have done Roundtable discussions in the past that are very impressive would be the word that I would use it gives people a chance to have a discussion to have a open thing to revisit it later to be able to make their comments and feel included and at least halfway listened to to put this on the agenda knowing the opposition that there was against this and to say you're going to vote on it today you're only proving one more time that the residents in the town of Jupiter do not matter it is your private agenda there is no transparency and it is an opaque glass that I'm still looking through I am so disappointed and disheartened that you guys would think that that is okay to go behind our back and do that and think that you can vote on it and not even discuss it with the town of Jupiter I'm very sad Mickey Isaacson followed by Aaron actus um good evening um town of Jupiter public servants my name is Mickey Isaacson I'm a Palm Beach County resident at 11260 Glenn Orchard Lane Pointon I like many others believe the 2020 election was stolen I've been observing our local elections at the supervisor election for the last two years this is not about Democrats or Republicans or any party affiliation this is about stealing elections don't give away your election to Wendy link and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections it leaves your ballots vulnerable do you know that um the S soe's tabulation Center was moved from Rivier Beach to West Palm Beach in the middle of a presidential election year and she refuses to allow the public access to um view the facility um I would urge you and the city council leadership to and your residents to insist on a tour so that you can see how the vote by mail ballots are tabulated without ID no chain of custody and many other vulnerabilities um have you thought about educating your residents by offering a workshop on Election Integrity with your residents in the past our counties cities and towns had a clear path to fair and honest elections through the municipalities in the past people were elected not selected um today cities and counties are tapping the officials into place while holding or taking election and tapping the rest of the officials and they're selecting them in the past City Clerks had to verify their own voter roles and certify the election results and secure the results in their municipalities this is a very different process that they have today today all elections are put through a centralized tabulation Center and certified by a supervisor of elections um she was appointed our s soe was appointed and tapped in by the governor then she changed her party affiliation before running in the following election she has a $22 million budget um for her tabulation Center and she's asking for another 14 million to move her Center uh these centers were uncertified these are where uncertified machines are used and connected to the internet and they are subject to USBS corruption with USBS floating everywhere where in the tabulation center and in Sheriff cars all through the county um you plug these into computers these are where your votes are um cap captured and there's not a paper ballot you can change the vote by putting this into a computer um she's certifying our elections with 30 voter roles no chain of custody so the city municipality should be certifying the voter roles you guys know who your residents are and you can certify if their citizens um she shouldn't be doing this for your cities uh for all of our cities in the county of Palm Beach we're the we the people are awake and we're watching we are watching all 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County and the illegal organizations and agencies that you pay into thank you good evening my name is Mrs actus I am actually a resident of Jupiter um we share our beautiful Palm Beach County Federal elections with many other municipalities unfortunately we don't have good control over them the goal of my public comment today is to beg the municipalities reclaim their elections we must address excuse me voter roles and only American citizens verified to register and vote plus the results of the March 19th election um we have have 60,000 um population 40,000 registered to vote and we have 31,000 active which is 79% which is not too bad um for these voters you have 37 locations with 23 precincts with Precinct range numbers between 3,701 to 8,48 presidential preference primary Donald John Trump one our our um palich um supervisor of elections um her registered voters were 53,000 the ballots counted were 112,000 and that is a 22% turnout very bad further data and public records are necessary to examine further details of individual races because the details she has contain a dash if the results of the category vote by male early voting or election day are between 1 and 29 a violation of Florida statute 98.9 812a for transparency the public designes were denied access to election materials according to Florida statute 101.5 72 these items shall be provided as reasonable access during the active election which began on February 5th when the first ballot was processed through the blue Crest machine are the vote equipment centers um located in Rivier beach now it is located in West Palm on Cherry Street Wendy has denied us access until 2025 but maybe she'll allow a tour for you um when these are processed through the blue Crest machine they're considered cast and there is no vote Watchers present um consider that every municipality has a clerk and that clerk shall be responsible for all public records including voter roles voter registration election results and all election materials pertaining to their elect doors participation in the County canvasing Board is not acceptable the process has failed and the municipalities must reclaim their elections and serve the people in this critical capacity thank you Candice roas followed by Kyle notas greetings public servants my name is Candace roas I reside at 306 Waterside Circle in Boon Beach Florida the town of Jupiter appears to be a vibrant and beautiful Community I am certain there are many good leaders here who have not committed treason but regardless I must speak boldly to intercede for those without a voice to defend the Constitution and restore the Republic what I am about to say may seem shocking to those who only watch fake news and believe everything is fine but when whenever any government becomes destructive it is the duty of of the people to abolish it I'm here to put you all on notice as a sovereign American and request your Oaths and bonds which is a pre-step to activate the military I believe the military is the only way because the entire political system is broken our elections are not secure and our leaders at the local level have ignored evidence of election vulnerabilities here in Palm Beach County boxes are guarding the hen house the Constitution states that all of the Power not some of the power belongs to the people not the employees it states that fraud vitiates everything abono if you've not already heard there's a systematic destruction of the Old Guard a paradigm shift is taking place all across the nation no more generational political nepotism no more secret societies controlling the masses no more appointed board members via the tap from Secret societ Society handshakes did you know that Palm Beach county is an illegal foreign corporation called the Palm Beach County Charter and Jupiter is part of that Charter also the town of Jupiter is a member of the league of cities which is a complete conflict of interest and your website promotes your city as winning a globalist award and is actually proud of this you use your taxpayer dollars to pay dues to globalist organizations with connections to the United Nations and World economic Forum criminal cartel whose primary mission is population control this tells me you all need to be retrained the town of Jupiter officials are not following the Constitution or common law instead you're operating under maritime law and using fake statutes to penalize the people when statutes are supposed to be used to control the elected officials yourselves you charge illegal taxes fines citations traffic tickets and fees and use restrictive boards in Code Enforcement to keep constituents in compliance during the march 2020 covid pandemic scam demic many people have committed crimes against humanity by locking down people closing public spaces and businesses thank you these are your notices Kyle not N US hello my name is Kyle I live at 17579 cver Avenue right across the street from squz dog park and last week my neighbors all got together and I was informed last minute to talk about the perspective fire station that's going to be going across the street to my surprise I had mie show up Frank and also the chief I don't think they were counting on me being there either but they were also stating that where they're trying to quell everybody's worries about all the lights and sirens and horns and saying that they would not be activating those on the apron however I know that's against policy and as a safety issue IND toown road is very very heavy laden with traffic you're not going to be able to get out unless you're doing that and you're going to have traffic signal as well but you're going to need to be doing those and if you don't do that it's against policy and that is a safety issue another thing that we were all worried about was parking they showed us the plans that they had there and they said parking would be all along the apron that's another safety issue you're going to give the public access to the apron that emergency response vehicles are supposed to be responding in an expeditious manner potentially blocking things up there's a lot of things that go on in that big field over there sometimes people host birthday parties and it does block up that road [Music] sometimes I was also told that this was like a divorce between Palm Beach County fire rescue and Jupiter fire and like all divorces the victims are the kids referring to the community as being the kids so what I said to that was shouldn't kids have a say in this I don't know why you're not letting us speak and Miss mie said here that we can't compete with Palm Beach County's pack they have put over $200,000 into that and we can't just compete with that it would be an unfair Advantage she said more or less words but at the same time I do think the kids the community should have saying this because like Chief said over there we're the ones that are getting hurt pish county has a great track record we the number one cardiac lost uh Department in the State of Florida I have a three-year-old a wife at home and weigh every third day and I honestly do not feel safe leaving them in your care I would like to keep a Palm Beach County fire rescue you guys are not have a proven track record pish County does and you guys are just spending money blindly trying to get to a point of no return and probably hoping that we're just going to be like hey we already got here let's finish it I don't think that's right please put it to vote stop spending our [Music] money that was the end of Citizen comments okay Council we have before us the minutes of the May 7th Town council meeting I don't see any corrections on the Das unless there's any corrections I look for a motion in a second second motion and a second uh all those in favor signify by saying I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the consent agenda this is items uh 2 through 10 on the agenda is there any Resident is there any member of the public that wanted to pull a consent agenda item yes we have um Mason Torres is pulling item six and Karen Vincent and Kristen Henry are fing item 10 okay uh this town manager anybody on the council no no items mayor I was going to pull item 10 okay uh I'll have a motion in a second on um approving the amended agenda which excludes items 6 and 10 so moved I'd ask the uh Town manager to read ordinance 524 on short title attorney excuse me thank you mayor ordinance 524 an ordinance of the Town Council the town of Jupiter Florida amending the town's official zoning map to rezone approximately 1.72 Acres of property located approximately 30 ft Northwest of the intersection of town hall Avenue and Cain drive from the residential single family zoning District to the conservation preservation Sony District providing for severability providing for the repeal of laws in conflict and providing for an effective date we have a motion and second on the amended consent agenda all in favor signify by saying I I I the motion carries unanimously moving on to item number six uh pulled by a member of the public Mason Torres good evening honorable May mayor and councel for the record Mason Torres 6814 Mitchell Street limestone Creek resident I'd like to speak this evening regarding bicycle safety I apologize for being two months late to Bicycle month my wife gave birth to another beautiful baby boy in March and I haven't had a good night's sleep since then first I'd like to thank the town and police for their public Outreach campaign to inform writers about ebik safety I'd like to supplement that knowledge with bicycle safety examples from other municipalities as mayor kety once said Jupiter does not need a pilot program if a policy is already proven elsewhere as an adopter of vision zero we know that every traffic fatality pedestrian or otherwise is preventable the most vulnerable pedest uh pedestrians are children and the elderly according to the Palm Beach Transportation Planning agency 2third of people would ride their bikes for days daily trips if it was safe safer this is backed up by a recent Nationwide study conducted by REI Co-op and people for bikes now I'm a professional engineer and so is the mayor councelor for uh director Hernandez I'm sure there are others in the room by reviewing the engineering hierarchy of controls we can review where existing policy falls on the chart from least to most effective at injury and fatality prevention so the least effective control is PPE use personal protective equipment such as bike helmets or reflector vests the law says children under 16 must wear a helmet so that's good the next most effective control is Administration change the way people behave the Jupiter police published a bulletin on the town's website about bicycle rules and safety excellent next is engineering controls isolate people from the hazard think bike Lanes buffered bike lanes and sidewalks this is helpful but a stripe of paint won't stop a delinquent driver in a 2-ton SUV next control is substitution replace the hazard replace the stripe of paint with a projected bike lane with a hard barrier such as curbs concrete barriers street parking and trees lastly the most effective engineering control is elimination remove the hazard remove the conflict points between drivers and cyclist this would be an off-road shared used path or Greenway wouldn't it be lovely for people of all ages if every Park School neighborhood center and grocery store were connected by an off Street shared use path um the best example of uh bicycle safety is the Netherlands with the world's highest ridership the Federal Highway Administration compared American and Dutch Street design and an 80 page report but i' would like to highlight a few key design differences uh The Pedestrian always has priority uh most sidewalks are continuous curb cut is a speed bump cars and bicycles are separated as much as possible 30 seconds please uh cars and bicycles are separated as much as possible where cars and bicycles share road the bicycle lane is protected by a hard barrier speed limits are below 20 mph in urban areas comprehensive bicycle networks connect Urban Centers Public Transit and bicycle only highways we all know uh we all know concrete asphalt and labor is expensive however pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure is much much cheaper than car infrastructure I think that if the town of Jupiter can spend um$ 188 million on its highway exit it can afford to spend more to protect our most vulnerable residents our children thank [Applause] you does uh any memb the council have any comments or I'll move here uh accept a motion in a second to adopt the Strategic plan motion to approve second Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously moving on to uh public business item number 10 uh pulled by members of the public followed by uh councelor May um i' ask the members of the P public to uh Karen Vincent followed by Kristen Henry Ken vincon 10003 s Street not sure if anybody realizes it or not but I am against the fire department for Jupiter um you said that you were going to provide the exact same service and that you were going to get top-of-the line equipment and you we're going to make sure that it was good but you have a thing on the agenda today to go buy three used police cars from another municipality that's getting rid of them because they're gas Hogs and their maintenance is high they have a five-year lifespan you're spending I don't know 19,000 I'm not sure what it is but you're already looking at buying second rate equipment this is going to have to be outfitted for for whatever use you plan on doing cuz I'm sure it's not going to come fully equipped and it's going from a police car to something for the fire department so how much more money are you going to spend doing that you're going to continue to spend money until it comes to a point that you say we're beyond the point of any return irregardless of how many times everybody in the community keeps coming up here spending their time coming up here to try and beg and make it known that we want it for a vote if the people vote for it then so be it if the people do not then it needs to go back to Palm Beach County renegotiate a contract do whatever needs to be done by the time that you get a fire department in here and the town of Jupiter at the rate that it's still growing because we keep changing um business property zoning over to residential zoning because we want to keep adding people here your population is still going to grow you're going to need a bigger fire department it's already outgrown three fire departments three fire stations cannot service the town of Jupiter look at what Palm Beach County fire rescue does on their calls you need to go back and you need to try and re-evaluate and do what the people are asking at least attempt to look like you're doing what the people are asking thank you Kristen Henry good evening mayor councel Kristen Henry 109 I my R away um Jupiter um I'm sorry I don't have anything prepared tonight so it might be a little scattered but I did want to bring up um the agenda item about the um purchasing the used Chevy tahos um I actually have a little different view on this because I know in the as Karen mentioned uh they did the town of Palm Beach did mention that they were getting rid of these current Vehicles which were only a few years old due to the high maintenance and the um cost of gas um I in that case you know I I am just wondering why we are not I know they're going to purchase smaller vehicles um for for them I'm not sure if that is an option for us because I don't know um you know if we're taking on something that they are getting rid of because of those reasons why we'd want to increase the cost um I also um basically on that I'm sorry I'm not like I said I'm not prepared but um I also was wondering what I know that there was I know there's a um a car now circulating I know it was spotted today that there's already an SUV out there on the road so I was wondering why we were purchasing three um Chevy tahos uh and like I said just curious on you know why we can't some purchase something smaller anyway and get a newer one that's going to be less or more cost- effective um again I'm not you know I don't approve obviously of the continued spending I know in June it's we have a pre-trial and a trial coming up to still you know not um that could possibly put this on the the ballot um for the residents to vote so I'm just wondering why we continue to spend um the money without this going through first so thank you that's all coun may um I gu I no questions more or less just comments um in building this fire department I would rather have top of the line newer things things that are under warranty um you know at least one of these tops is probably already out of warranty um and the other two are probably coming up at the end of their their warranty span so it would be more expensive for us to maintain these things if something goes wrong um and you know it's out of warranty so I would just prefer that we would order the three new tahos um as opposed to purchasing used equipment because if we're building something from the ground up we should be purchasing brand new equipment um so if it's I understand it's probably for the command staff for the two chiefs that that at least we have for them to be able to commute um I would prefer at least since the order time is four to six months at least over the next four to six months we could provide a vehicle stien to the Chief and the deputy chief if you know that that is one of the concerns for commuting and stuff like that so I would support something like that and I would prefer to see us go uh with the sheriff's contract to order brand new tahos if we were going to order equipment so um the information I received on the vehicles was that they were well first of all for the with the comments made these are from jupit Inlet colony and they were purchased by a former police chief um he's gone our former police chief is now their police chief and that the residents don't want the vehicles I don't need them how many residents are in Jupiter in lity 500 maybe so and what are the miles on the vehicle 6,000 I'm not sure I'm not sure the exact mileage but they're very low mileage it's very low mileage they're still under warranty yeah they really they really are interested in downsizing because the vehicles are too large for their jurisdiction right is it and so that that's what started if you've been to jupit inla Colony it's the little spit at the end of Jupiter Island it's tiny so they don't need the vehicles it's a I mean I I'm okay with purchasing them as long as they're low mileage and in in good condition and it's a savings of money for the town you don't take that sh room hit so I I mean I'd be interested in what my my colleagues have to say about it do we want a presentation or to have staff speak to anything they heard just in case they have a response is there any Scott Reynolds Scott Reynolds Finance director for the town of Jupiter um I worked with the chief on this uh we were approached by Chief Kerr of uh Jupiter Inlet Colony uh that they had these vehicles uh that they were looking to liquidate uh because uh some of the things you just talked about uh the size of Inlet Colony very small uh these vehicles are much larger um so they would like to downsize to a much smaller vehicle uh they feel that it would uh uh better serve their Community uh so they uh approached us first uh there are other communities that are actually interested in these vehicles they're in very good shape uh you are correct there there is equipment in the vehicle uh that uh once we go to uh re-outfit them uh some of these uh some of this equipment will be repurposed uh through the dealer that we'll be working with to uh outfit them as fire trucks or fire vehicles uh I will tell you as far as you're concerned about the uh the chief and the deputy chief they currently are uh driving vehicles that we have uh we've actually received uh the deputy's chief's vehicle uh we did receive that early earlier and the chief's vehicle should be here very shortly that we had ordered early on so that should be here very shortly but he is driving a staff car just so you know just so the public is aware what would these three tahos be utilized for I'm sorry what would these three tahos be utilized for just so the Public's aware we had programmed into the FY 25 budget we were going to ask for uh three vehicles or actually four vehicles I'm sorry uh this opportunity came our way where we can save well over $100,000 uh by purchasing these used ones that are in very good shape uh we felt it was a good Savings of tax dollars any other uh actually uh we do um you can see that there's uh one of the attachments you'd ask about the mileage on one of the attachment we were purchasing the vehicles for the depreciated value uh along with the associated equipment uh the mileage is attached to that uh we have two 2023 vehicles and one is a 2019 vehicle uh the 2019 vehicle um just for the record is just over 177,000 miles which is the highest uh uh number of miles the rest is uh 9600 and the other one is around 10,000 miles so in the timeline for fire it does you're saying it was in the budget for 2025 or it's planned for 2025 and that this opportunity came up and I totally understand that what uh what is the use or what was the you know where does it fit into the timeline the longer timeline for October 2026 do we have that just what the use of the vehicles question the build out of the department and we have this deadline of October of 2026 which is very important uh we have our long-term timeline I don't have it with me but so this this expense would have come up in 20125 um had we not had this opportunity which I recognize uh so in 2025 what was the purchase for what what else was being purchased around that time or what Staffing was being done what was their use to go with the timing of that purchase I'll actually let the chief address that about the Staffing that's coming up okay thank you vice mayor while he's doing that um you was a question on the use of the vehicles so these are and I'm given this perspective from having outfitted hundreds of police vehicles emergency response vehicles um these are general purpose designed for Command Staff designed for scene management designed for training uh a number of other uh things I think councelor may could probably add a little bit more of what Chevy tahos and and what they're used for and these for general purposes I will tell you that um like counselor May I'm very particular I would never want to see anything secondhand uh this is an opportunity these vehicles I've looked at these they come fully equipped they have all everything in them including the light bars and they're just too big for that jurisdiction there's nothing wrong with them they're they're they're safe enough if it wasn't going to get them for the fire department you know how I feel about the police department I would put police officers in this running code high speeds doing all the things that they do is an opportunity and we all know and I think councelor May and the fire chief will will also bear to this is it's challenging to get vehicles in today's market very challenging and so this was an opportunity that came our way um you know we did our homework we've seen the vehicles we've inspected them and um and they definitely would fit um for us moving forward so I hope that's if I haven't answered your question counselor I'd be more and happy to go into a little bit more detail yeah I'm sure Chief can go into I'm sure I'm assuming they'd be used for a Command Staff which I have you know concerns about purchasing those Vehicles now for command which isn't going to start running until October of 26 anyways so I just don't want to see the vehicle sit um you know if anything I'd rather like I said I'd see it rather see us wait purchase the vehicle brand new and I'd even say purchase these tahos and upgrade the canine units for Jupiter police because I know one of at least is running an older Explorer so I'd rather see something like that if we were going to purchase these anyways and in an effort to save money if we were going to have to replace police the police tahos anyway so we do have replacement vehicles for the police department and if I'm not mistaken um I'll double check but I believe the Explorer that the K9 is running asked for the Explorer and so um so I know that was in the past I was a previous Handler whether that was passed down um I'd have to double check on that um and so uh as we move forward you know there there is a timeline um for um hiring staff and training and all the things that you know that goes into this project and we've had discussions on it and so um I assure you these vehicles will not be sitting still um they will be put to good use and uh and we do have a timeline moving forward well you know and I've said this multiple times this Council has given me a direction at 12:01 a.m. on October 20 on October 1st 2026 we have to be ready to go and until this Council or court or someone else tells me to stop we're going to we're going to do our Miss we're going to complete our mission and do our job and so this is an opportunity for us to purchase uh some of the equipment that we need to move this endeavor forward good evening mayor council darl Donado fire chief um so with respect to uh the staff so we did have in our 2025 budget programmed in for additional staff members who would be utilizing a vehicle and so we programmed into that budget as well the purchase of four vehicles when this opportunity came up up at was just a great time because it we were getting ready to have to start the purchase of those Vehicles now because it takes at least four to six months to get a staff vehicle these days off the sheriff's bid um and so this opportunity afforded us to be able to get them in a timely manner but really the big thing is saving the town over $100,000 in this purchase for very similar vehicle um and and it's going to be for a staff function and so I don't know if that answers your question we do have four staff members program that you'll be seeing that proposed budget we're programming in the vehicles for those staff members uh this is just an opportunity to save the town $12,000 I believe it is uh to accomplish that task thank you the Red Dot reads it's off yeah it makes no sense yeah how's that now didn't come with instructions read the instructions stupid um there are definitely two trains of thought uh I've seen this my whole life used cars versus uh new cars my dad taught me to path of the latter used cars um the first 10,000 mies of a car I don't know anybody bought a new car and turned it back in in 10,000 Mi you've lost a third of the value buying used cars is a smart thing to do for an individual I've personally have bought four used cars had the means to buy new cars but I let somebody else take that hit a 10,000 M car is a great car I've not personally inspected these but there two of them are 2023 one of them's a 2019 with 177,000 mil but the other two with 10,000 Mi or less those are That's The Sweet Spot of a used car that's when you can get the absolute biggest bang for the buck of your of the money spent on cars so from that standpoint I'm fully behind it I'm with you um councel May that what are these going to be doing sitting around I hope not I hope they're not going to be sitting around apparently it's going to take some months to get it um prepped for use but otherwise I don't like to see a piece of Capital Equipment sitting around not being used so are we going to have a a immediate use for it after the the rigging can somebody speak to that please the the process is that tomorrow morning we will issue a purchase order uh to Jupiter inlight Colin and there'll be a bill a bill of sale uh that will be uh uh signed off and then we will go get the tags now I will tell you whether there are new vehicles or used vehicles the outfitting of the vehicles uh even with the police vehicles it takes time uh there is a backlog uh in the area uh for the outfitting of the vehicle so it is going to take time even though these are these vehicles we'll have them in our possession early on it will take a little while before we can get them outfitted uh so whether it it's brand new or used that's going to take time well we have a use for though after say it takes three or four months to get a Mal fitted what will they be used for until 2026 well the the first thing is is that we would take off the striping off the uh vehicles and then um we can we can use them for either the police department or other areas in the fire department thank you Scott yeah so I would say that you know in terms of when they're going to be used the FY 202 2025 budget's coming before you shortly and uh and so in that budget we're proposing to hire some additional staff we have a timeline and three of those staff will be in October it would start in October we'd have to begin the hiring yeah so so uh provided uh everything goes as planned in this upcoming budget those staff will be in those vehicles in October and they'll be by then we'll have be able to get them up and ready to go and um sounds like that's Dove telling actually kind of nicely it'll take four or five months to get them outfitted looks like four or five months we'll need them but that looks good um my second thought um maybe just goes back to you Scott when when these vehicles in a in a general rule of thumb as the as we go through Vehicles we trade them in right we get value for them from the dealer when we trade them in we we auction them off I will tell you uh the town uh utilizes their vehicles until really the depreciated value is very minimal uh so they go to auction uh is what we do uh with the town Vehicles so we anticipate using these for for several years not many years many years all right excellent thank you yeah we're I mean in reality uh police cars looking at between 8 and 10 years of life perfect answer thank you that's what I wanted to hear thank you and we monitor that so we're constantly whenever we do the vehicle purchase and that's brought forward to us we're given a full accounting of you know mile you can ask um about the mileage for the vehicles um they're they have volunteers that work with jpd they're regularly looking at maintenance and so these are very regularly inspected for both you know for performance and if they if they are not performing um there are three criteria they look at then they will you know dispose of it I'll take a motion in a second so moved second Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I opposed no motion carries 4 to one with councelor May opposing okay moving on to the regular agenda public hearing uh agenda item number 11 um turn it over to staff evening Mr mayor council George misser with Cutler and hearing for the applicant and the property owner uh we have two requests before you tonight uh one is a smallscale future uh land use plan map Amendment and then a resoning concurrently uh the property owner representative is here tonight with KB Carin LLC uh myself and Don hearing are here tonight as the agents and planners and our traffic engineer uh is klyy horn again as I said we are requesting a uh approval of a smallscale comprehensive plan map Amendment for approximately 1.62 Acres located within the US Highway One Corridor of the Jupiter C the property is located on the west side of US1 just north of the intersection of US1 and Indiantown Road uh and here you can see the relationship with where we are tonight at Town Hall uh the property is located on the south end of the Jupiter Oxo just north of the harbor side development as well as the Cornerstone residential development which is under construction currently at the intersection of Indian toown uh and US1 and we'll talk a little bit more about Cornerstone and the relationship with Harborside uh again Site Area 1.62 Acres the existing future land use is commercial uh with a existing zoning of General commercial we are proposing to amend the future land use to mixed use uh and modify the zoning to the US1 inter Coastal Waterway District now the rezoning is uh a technical requirement for new development within the CRA we are required to develop the property consistent with that code it is within the commercial entertainment subdistrict of that code now the commercial future land use does not permit any residential units to be uh included as part of either mixed use or any development and so we are requesting to modify that land use uh to uh include residential as part of our mixed use development proposal which is uh been submitted to staff again just uh going over the property location within the US Highway Highway One Corridor uh the property is located just to the north of Harborside as we discussed now uh the commercial Entertainment subd District and commercial land use use uh really require that the site would have been developed for primarily commercial use based on the land area itself being only 1.62 Acres additionally there's about an acre of wetland on the site so our our footprint for developable developable area gets smaller and smaller uh at the closer you look at the property so to create a meaningful development that's going to be successful especially because of the Topography of the site being right next to US1 and uh bridge that goes over the Jupiter Oxo it's significantly depressed so for a commercial development to be successful it would have to be elevated uh and then again the area that's buildable on the site is so small that creating something uh especially adjacent to Harbor Side which we know has significant vacancies in its commercial uh areas it just is not a recipe for success for this site uh we are directly adjacent to the old Jupiter Beach Road right away which is a town-owned RightWay parcel and that would be our primary access to this site uh as we know just to the north the town is considering the development of the fire station on the old P Place piece and we see this as a significant asset for our development it's not a deterrent for uh what we propose uh and we see it as something that would really benefit the project additionally the harbor side development is uh it's existing it's built and we see it as a benefit to the site and it's a primary factor in uh the investment that has already been put into the site and the investment that we see coming that would' like to be involved as part of this project as I said uh in summary we are uh requesting to modify the land use from commercial to mixed use which is consistent with the town's comprehensive plan uh likewise concurrently we are requesting to modify the zoning to the inter Coastal Waterway uh zoning District as required again the both of these requests are consistent with the town's comprehensive plan uh we see the surrounding development both existing and proposed as beneficial to what we propose uh the zoning designation is consistent with the surrounding properties uh the proposal is uh would be beneficial to the environment uh we are reducing uh significantly the traffic impacts of potential associated with the site uh and we are not significantly increasing any uh impacts on public facilities and services so um if you have any questions we'd be happy to answer them but thank you very much for your time we reserve our the rest of our time thank you good evening uh Council uh for the record Thatcher heart planning and zoning department uh as you've heard here ton tonight the request by the applicant is to change the future Lane use designation and Zoning of the property directly north of Harborside west of US1 uh as it's generally understood uh Florida State Statute uh under states that the future land use and Zoning need to be consistent with each other uh in this case changing both as requested is not required in order to achieve that goal uh the key policy decision before you tonight for this application is whether or not residential is designed vable on the subject property by changing the future land use to mixed use the proposed future land use designation will allow for residential to be on the site whereas the existing land use will continue to allow for only commercial uses the proposed zoning of the property is consistent with both the current and proposed future land use on the property as well as the corridor and the sector that is currently uh on the property um staff has outlined some considerations regarding the addition of res presidential on the property within the staff report that you all have in your packets uh including the potential for more residents to be impacted by The Noise Within the district due to the proximity of Harborside uh additional concerns for the ground floor commercial do have to do with the elevation differences as noted previously uh of the street bringing into question the viability of the commercial use on the ground floor um but lastly just to note that the in the environmental impact section of the report uh staff has identified that uh approximately 60% of the site uh is made up of mangroves and wetlands um it's traditionally recommended that uh land with this type of vegetation uh be protected with future land use and Zoning conservation future Lane use and Zoning of conservation um however uh staff would note that uh this would reduce the density allowed on lot from six to 5 units and further reduce the intensity for commercial uses outlined as outlined within the report uh both the future land use and zoning map Amendments have been recommended to you tonight by a vote of 6 to Zer and uh we have provided a rough draft of the site plan as attachment k for your reference um but this does not particularly pertain to the site plan tonight but I'd be glad to take any questions I noticed um to the north of this property they're showing a rideway Jupiter rideway and I believe I heard that that's going to be used as the entrance to their property is that going to be cleared um developed maintained by the applicant um that could be in uh good evening for the record Donaldson hearing on behalf of the applicant KB Carland LLC uh yes the applicant would uh would work with the town to develop that right of way it's a town right of way it be our responsibility to clear it rate it and level it and uh I understand that it could also be done in cooperation or in collaboration with your proposed fire station but the applicant is 100% committed to help make that happen Okay but you guys are going to bear the cost of that yes sir okay all right thank you any other questions um what type of uh Mangrove mitigation is going to have to take place on this property very excuse me very little the the applicant has uh worked with the town's environmental staff as well as South Florida Water Management District and DP uh and so there will be very little actually probably be a net gain uh and the you know the one uh uh benefit that I think that we would have is there's there's actually going be more environmental benefit by removing the Exotic vegetation that's on the site as well as the Exotic vegetation that's within the mangrove areas that will end up being preserved uh and that includes the the about about one acre of Mangrove Wetland area that's uh owned by the property owner uh but is actually wetlands and Mangrove Fringe uh and all of that area would be restored as well so clearly a net environment Al impact uh and then just for the for the record the the applicant is 100% willing to uh work with the town to to take the land that's currently Wetland today uh and to put it into conservation land use uh we would do that as a condition of our site plan approval we would agree as a part of you know we amend our application to state that um that that would be something that could be a Town initiated action as soon as our site plan was approved uh and it would be the same as dedicating a right of way that you would on a public roadway which is fairly traditional with development so we're 100% committed to do that and I think that that in addition you know is an environmental benefit I know it's is conservation but you never know like like we see down in Rivier Beach when you have people that try to push the limit and develop those types of properties so our goal would be to work with the town uh to do that added to implement the appropriate management plan in there to really enhance that as a better benefit thank you staff do you guys have a report that shows the amount of mangroves that would have to be removed for any of any of the designs of the property whether it's commercial or mixed use uh we haven't really gotten into those details yet I believe that would be part of the site plan process okay thank you but there are fairly significant restrictions on cutting mangroves right that's just because you asked for it doesn't mean you're going to get it oh cut cutting mangr is is a whole another thing uh literally they're very I I I don't think we'll be taking out any mangroves there's a net benefit as a part of what we would do if the property is developed at commercial um given the small size of it you know my guess is there you probably would have to have more of an impact than we can address residential because we've designed the site plan not only because the town requires a buffer from the Wetland areas from the Wetland jurisdictional area so we've had to set back from that uh my the the the area of impact is is actually in the extreme Southeast corner of the site and it's related our plan incorporates a uh a a Riverwalk connection uh that would go underneath uh uh uh US Highway 1 to the East and to make that connection to physically connect to the existing improvements that are in place that do put in place when they did the the roadway widening there'd be some minor impacts in order to ensure that we could get Ada accessibility so that's really the area of impact all the other areas we're actually staying away from uh and I would say it's uh there'll be far more Ben environmental benefit than there would ever be environmental impact as a result of what we're doing I'm going to hold you to that of course you will sir plus plus it's also important uh we have have one other project that went through staff a few weeks ago went to the Planning and Zoning Board I think it was the first environmental stewardship plan put together uh and so this under the new requirements of your comprehensive plan we're obligated to implement an environmental stewardship program uh and so we're super excited about that there's wor that's we came right out of the box in our in our application indicating our commitment to do that sir thank you any other questions from Council seeing none uh return to council for discussion I'll just go first I uh certainly support the second item uh the zoning map Amendment uh I don't support uh first item I'm not comfortable with uh allowing residential on that property which is a policy decision we have to make I guess I'll go um yeah my I my challenge with this uh property know here we are again um there's only so many Lots open Parcels left in jupit and they're all sort of oddb shaped and we've been through this a few times uh my concern with this one is using the uh 60% of the property is wetland and we're using that they're using that to increase their density and I look at the rendering I don't know if this is what it's supposed to look like and know we're not talking site plan but it just looks very intense for that area and um you know a lot of boers go I go with their I boat by there every weekend to picture that there and then we'd be giving you the exception or you know and changing the zoning to let that and I just really can't justify that with with this particular application um but I I would I would agree with the mayor I would support ordinance 20 2024 which would bring this in accordance with the um the the route one um intercoastal water rate entertainment districts um it would sort of make everything congruent there and um you know obviously the mangram areas the mangr section is very environmentally sensitive um I would imagine anything being built would be hopefully what's your setback from that from like the actual boundary of the mangroves or the mean high high water line yeah I believe we have to average from yeah and do the mangroves go back that far I'm just curious yeah we're required to have an average of 15 foot set back right uh from those you know from those areas you know a commercial use on this property would be delarius it's it's in a hole there's no way you can make I know it's a it's we can talk about the density that comes back as part of the site plan all of those issues do but to force commercial use on this site when you got Harbor Side that's that's you know having a very difficult time when it's going to be in a hole because there's no possible way to get visibility to it because it's below the height of the road you know I mean I I I I certainly understand you're wanting to talk about the density that's associated with the w with those Mangrove areas but as a part of our proposal we would commit to to deed that that that land to you to the public so it could be preserved you know and I can't we can't make that promise under you know under other scenarios because as under commercial development we're allowed to utilize that as you read in the staff report so we could actually we'd have no choice but to apply to permits to impact those Wetlands so that we could have the reasonable and rightful use of the property to have a reasonable commercial development to achieve the 21,000 feet that is would be anticipated under the comprehensive plan so this is the best use for that property because the only way that we can make a viable use of that property is to make sure that we build it up as high as we can get it with uh with commercial use so that you could even see into it because nobody is going to build at the prices that we'd have to build for today on a piece of waterfront property commercial that you can't even see the the wees of which they're trying trying to sell so we have a much better opportunity of working with a town and addressing issues of environmental and impact in traffic uh by working with a mixed use it a mixture of use actually complements harbor side it's it's one of those things that's missing in Harbor Side it creates a diversity of Youth that's what we're supposed to do in mixed uses it only is a is a benefit so I would just I would beg you to to consider that uh and you know if it's the uh intent of the council that that this is not going to go forward we you know at least give us the opportunity to postpone and and talk about it but there's a lot more opportunities of benefit that we can deliver to the town for this than commercial forcing us to do commercial we have to impact the wetlands not no choice suround it thank you uh yeah I I agree I'm I'm not a fan of putting residential anywhere near harbor side I mean I made that decision with Fisherman's Worf across the water and uh you know same here so I'm not willing to go through that whole uh you know whole thing again so you know I agree with the uh section B changing the uh to match the the zoning Amendment but as far as changing it from commersial and mixed use I can't support that so I'm relatively new I was before the time of Harborside or I came into Harbor Side later and I defer to my colleagu in district one who live on the water and who understand that a bit more with mitigation the environment um to play Devil's Advocate though I would ask the question of why not residential just because um and this is just to discuss in Workshop but um you know with Water's Edge that was done before harbor side was built is that right is that correct yes okay so they weren't necess there was no expectation that they would have that experience with Harborside when it came in after the fact and started impacting with sound that was a concern in this sense it reminds me more of like Abacoa with the amphitheater and that it already exists and then if people were to buy it that expectation would be understood that there would be sound there um there is you know it is interesting with the traffic reduction of traffic um and the potential mitigation or you know conservation around the wetlands but it sounds like it needs more discussion and I'm not ready to commit to anything um especially you know listening to my colleagues here tonight I um do remember the history of of Harborside when it first came into being and it it was precisely as you said those across the river we're looking at mangroves before Harbor Side came in so it was a very much a shock to them and the noise was a problem forever but that's been resolved um I agree I don't see future owners having much of a leg to to complain about something that's there if I could do that I'd complain about the train I would really do everything I could do to get that train out of there but can't do that that was there first harbor side is there so when somebody buys a residence there they're going to be faced with the fact that harbor side is there I think it's a better use for the property to have it mixed use and Commercial um commercial is higher intensity it just brings more cars into an area that's environmentally senstive POS and I do like the idea of preservation over commercial area so I'm I'm inclined to do that but I'm I do not like the density of this as counselor um May pointed out that's too much a little too high so that's a se you made it clear that's a separate issue I'm comfortable with changing this to mix use because I think in the long run it's better suited for that Corridor of us one so the question that is the site plan because that's separate and that comes after and that density I agree is is not acceptable um but that is a separate issue from a zoning issue what we have before is we have a land use issue we have a zoning issue and then site plan comes after so I think everybody's kind of weighed in but we need to actually take action you know of some sort individually on the two items um you know I believe that my concern about the mixed juice and residential is we all know it's going to drive to the height we that's what we see in there so you know you know for this one small site you know to have few residential units and they're going to go they're going to be pushing for height I just don't want to go there that was not the intent of this area um and which is why I'm just opposed to uh you know changing the land use on that property but uh but I'm okay with change in the zoning but again it's Council decide so may ask what the maximum height allowed is or what is planned or you know what is the maximum Heights is 35 foot average um is the maximum height and you know we could develop a plan that's there but you know what what we would ask is is perhaps you either postpone this tonight and let us come back or to at least pass it on first reading we've heard the concerns let us try to put together a program that you know maybe addresses you know the delivery of those conservation lands to you sooner some other things it could be a benefit um you know I know that you know I've heard that people are concerned about residents having issue over the noise you know I I've had several local people that you know Developers that you know reach out and say we'd love to buy a unit there there's nothing in Jupiter to buy there's no stock there's no new there's no new stock like this it was Josh Simon unsolicited called and and and I introduced him to Mark earlier in the week so we only have six units and there's uh you know and and I'm I'm hearing that that may end up being five by the time we're done we're willing to work with with the town on on those issues but you know to make this a commercial development when they're given the market of commercial uh in that sector makes no sense mixed use means a mixture of uses and that's the one thing that harbor side is missing I mean this would be an asset to a you know you know somebody a financial services uh CEO from New York who might want to have that probably has their offices there so if you could perhaps give us a postponement let us try to have some further discussion on this and and provide you whatever additional information that you have we'd appreciate it if not we we understand thank you you know I'm going to ask my colleagues you know as the mayor presiding over the meeting when you ask a question I I defer to you to decide whether or not your question is being answered where it's going far a field so I do interpret sometimes you you may be asking a question I can't cut them off because I don't know if you want to hear the rest of it but you know we're not here talking about the side plan we're not depriving them a residential it's it's got a land use of commercial they're asking for to change the commercial land use to include residential it came before us by staff very clearly that's the policy decision so we have that to make you know if you want to postpone making it but I'm certainly not in favor of moving this along and then having more you know conversation about it because I will start with what's the policy perspective but again it's the what's whatever the will is of the majority of the council yeah I'm I'm inclined to go no on a yes on B so I mean like hear I'm inclined to go yes on a and yes on B for now because it's first reading and I'd like to see what they come back with or continue discussions around mitigating this um understanding the site plan is different but I want to I want to better understand that and have more conversation around it so and given that ordinances have two readings I I agree with that sentiment entirely I I agree with A and B giving those caveats but it still sounds like it's two to three so I think postponement would be wise the applicant have to ask to postpone cuz I'm I'm like I like I said I'm I'm good with no on a and yes on B we can go ahead and vote on B we can either vote to postpone or we can vote now but I think it's the prerogative of council the other thing is it's a it's a policy decision so I mean if we're sitting here tonight and and three of us are making a policy decision that we don't want we don't want mixed use and residential then effectively we're opposing the ordinance it doesn't move along it had to be some reason for it to come back to us not to mention that um if that is the case and you postpone that basically staff was looking for that direction before they could process a side plan I'm not asking for any questions just if you're if you're inclined to vote no on on the first one we would we would request to uh to withdraw that particular petition fine with your proceeding would be uh but uh uh we would request that you we would like to with would withdraw that application and whether we withdraw it or act on it we're going to be we we're providing policy direction to staff tonight so so um I'm going to table a motion to approve B may move to approve B yes make the motion okay second I have a motion and a second on approving ordinance 2 24 I'd ask the uh Town attorney to read it on short title ordinance 224 an ordinance of the Town Council town of Jupiter Florida amending the town's official zoning map to rezone approximately 1.62 Acres of property located between the inter Coastal Waterway and US Highway 1 across from Bert Reynolds Park from commercial General C2 to the US1 WC e Waterway commercial and entertainment subdistrict of the US1 inter Coastal Waterway Corridor providing for severability providing for the repeal of laws in conflict and providing for an effective date have a motion a second all in favor of ordinance 2-24 signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously uh as regard to ordinance 10-24 um we can I can take a motion in a second on that or uh we can choose uh to leave I I guess I'll ask the town attorney can we take a motion could I ask for an act what how would I take an action on providing staff the policy Direction without act acting on the ordinance because I don't want staff I don't want it to be unclear acting on the ordinance is the policy Direction what's that acting on the ordinance is the policy Direction you approve the ordinance where you don't approve the ordinance that's the direction they're asking take a motion on ordinance 10-24 just can I have real quick is the applicant they're the ones that applied for ordinance 1024 correct that is that is correct request to withdraw and they're requesting to withdraw so would we grant them a motion would we you know grant them that that like I said they're they're requesting to withdraw the the the ordinance Al together what they would simply they've stated on the record to withdrawing it you would take no action on the ordinance if at sometime in the future another land use is proposed then that would come back before you in the form of an ordinance I'm good with if he wants to withdraw it I'm fine with him withdrawing it we'll talk about it at a future future time okay but regarding for staff I think you've heard pretty clear that uh there's Direction here from three on the council that are opposed the residential on the property want staff exercising a s side plan review on that okay um with that we move on to public thank you very much have a wonderful night we move on to public business item number 12 uh turn it over to uh staff good evening mayor and Town Council again uh Daryl Donado your fire chief um so we're here tonight um talk about a western fire station uh fire and Emergency Medical Services are among the most critical of Public Services provided by governments to protect people and property efficient deployment of fire stations is essential to ensuring timely response to emergency calls for service and the process of selecting the right location for fire station is significant locating fire stations is multi-dimensional and there are a number of key considerations including population density kind of generally more people creates more demand population demographics uh the older the population generally the more demand uh emergency call volume that's the number of calls in concentration of calls uh sometimes we refer to that as call density emergency call types fire calls emergency medical calls and call severity uh risk high risk versus low risk um the need to align Resources with the greatest demand is one of our Prime objectives and the need to optimize response time is another Prime objective and then another key consideration is the availability of property of adequate size and accessibility so the slide that you see before you now represents the Western fire rescue response area for the town of Jupiter as you can see it runs east to west along Indian toown roads quarter and uh that's just from the east of the Military Trail area to the town's western boundary and north to south between the Egret Landing community of the South and the shores on the North as we look at some of the key considerations discussed in the earlier slide we can begin to graph in map some of these things for the Western fire rescue response area this slide is a heat map and what it shows is the workload or the call density for fire and EMS calls in the western response area the highest volume of calls can be seen along the Indiantown Road quarter that's between central and Military Trail area with another higher density area uh over along Central Boulevard near the Indian Creek community as we look at these heat Maps we think about how we can place our resources closest to the greatest risk and demand so we can minimize the amount of time it takes for us to arrive at an emergency and fire department response times for first arriving units and for the total effective response Force provide valuable information for us as we begin to make resource allocation decisions such as fire station locations um the next slide represents EMS calls only the EMS calls represent about uh 65% of all calls for the Jupiter fire service area this is the largest percentage of responses for fire rescue and uh this slide clearly shows the concentration of emergency medical calls uh right along that Indian toown Road Corridor uh between central and Military Trail likewise you can also see a uh similar higher density area over off Central Boulevard near the Indian Creek community this next slide shows the concentration of structure fire calls now this includes not just houses but other struct outside structur such as sheds and light poles again the highest concentration of structure fire calls is found along the Indian uh Town Road corter between central and Military Trail as well as there's this small increased call volume in the southwest area along Central Boulevard So based on all of those key considerations that were presented earlier population density population demographics emergency call volumes emergency call types emergency call severity and all the data that has been analyzed staff has reached the same consensus that is that the senquez park site offers the best opportunity for us to align our fire rescue Resources with the greatest call demands this will optimize our respon times allowing us to serve the community better and faster and I'm recommending that we place the town's Western fire station site at the squez park site the site places the town in a strong position to provide fire and Emergency Medical Service response times that are equal to or better than the current service provider you can see this emergency call analysis uh this slide represents response time analysis performed for the squez park site as compared to the same analysis for the station 19 site and the First Column shows a mean or average travel time for the first arriving unit um as you can see the syquest part site shows a slight Improvement in the average travel time for calls in that Western fire station area the second column shows the mean or average travel time for the effective response Force when measuring emergency responses it's important to know when our first unit arrives on scene but as well it's also important important to know when all of the units required to be effective arrival on scene the number of units you send to a call will vary uh depending on the nature of that call so the number of units you sent to a call for someone who is feeling sick for example is much different than the number of units that you would send to a call for a structure fire both require different responses to be effective so effective response force is all of the units that are required to handle an incident typically based on incident type and risk and as you can see in the second column the average effective response Force time for the squez park slate is slightly better than the average erf time for station 19 and this third column represents the 90th percentile erf travel time this means that for 90% of the calls the number of units needed to be effective will arrive at the incident site in seven minutes or 10 seven minutes and 10 seconds or less for the senquez park site as compared to 724 for the station 19 site course one of the questions I'm sure that you will have is how will we deal with the traffic on Indiantown Road we estimate about 12 trips per day from this fire station and an emergency use only left turn will allow fire rescue to turn left and cross Indiantown Road for responses that are east of Carver Avenue we will have a flashing emergency signal that will turn red to allow fire rescue to exit Carver Avenue go either east or west and in addition we will have a traffic preemption system that will change the intersection traffic lights to Green in advance of the responding emergency vehicles this will flush traffic in the direction of the emergency response well before the emergency vehicles get to the intersection and traffic preemption will make emergency responses quicker and safer for both responders and the public the staff met with the residents along Carver Avenue to answer questions that they had regarding the proposed fire station uh the proposed fire station will not be immediately adjacent to the Residential Properties along Carver Avenue the plan is to place the station approximately 300 feet away from those homes on Carver Avenue and to use the banon tree and some Landscaping to help Shield the station from the resident view as much as possible to be clear the Banyon tree at syquest Park will not be cut down nor destroyed and the space around it will be respected and preserved uh the Beloved dog park space will also be respected and preserved to be clear the dog park will not be eliminated the road through senquez Park will remain open during construction and at that uh meeting with nearby residents an amazing young girl Elementary age young lady had a great question and she wanted to know would she be able to continue to ride her bike and walk in the park during construction and the answer to that is yes fire station will be a beautiful addition to the area that will enhance the safety of the park our goal is to make the Jupiter fire rescue Department a fire department that is loved by the residents and businesses it serves and by the firefighters who work here and for the community nearby the sinz park site we will be good neighbors so I'd like to bring up John sickler from uh director of Planning and Zoning he's going to now go over and review the Planning and Zoning components of this proposal thank you Chief Donado um John sichler director of Planning and Zoning for the record um on the screen uh what you see is image of um excuse me this this slide shows of the existing improvements that are built at syquest Park the area that's highlighted in yellow represents an area of approximately 2 and a half acres it's interesting to remember um that squz Park was the historical location of the West Jupiter fire hall that was a volunteer fire station serving the africanamerican community around Jupiter in fact you may remember uh there's a historic marker that Comm commemorates the location of this fire hall on the property today the town acquired the 13 acres uh which is referred to as squz Park in 2008 and this plan shows the improvements associated with that approval three acres of the property was purchased through the general fund and the purpose was to allow the option of developing other active uses on the west side of the property and the 10 acres the remaining 10 acres were purchased with open space bond funds which generally only allow for natural areas and passive uses the development of the dog park was allowed in 2014 as part of the approved site plan as a passive Recreation use and this was based on an opinion provided by the town's Bond Council to ensure consistency with the bonds that were funding uh that funded the acquisition of the property originally this slide shows some very conceptual designs um it shows a layout on an aerial in the center of the slide the center image on the slide it shows a likely location for the fire station um on the south west corner of the property that I'm circling on the aerial um the location of that building um is actually just to the east of the existing banion tree which will be preserved on this site the banion tree was also seen as a a perfect opportunity to buffer the building from the existing residents that live on Carver Avenue as part of this the neighborhood access road that currently runs through the property can be relocated to maintain the convenient access that it provides for residents on Carver Avenue to be able to access Center Street without navigating Indian Town Road and making a U-turn on the left side you'll see two images of a conceptual design of a fire station um this is um inspired by a station that's located in Santa Bell um and this was recognized as being um reflective of the community style uh the coastal theme um and our environment in Jupiter nearby the station uh just north of the Banyon tree um Contin used to provide areas for other active uses that may be desired by the council um there on the right top right corner um there is just a concept of a fitness area um this could be located within that area or it could potentially be located along the Natural Area paths that navigate through the north side of the site where the town restored that area with Native vegetation um this was prior to some of you may recall uh the site was really a Dumping Ground um and it was underutilized prior to the talent acquisition and Improvement of the property um as it relates to any other uses that may haveo in the property and through the process um you know we would continue to engage the community stakeholders prior to finalizing any plans in addition uh all of this would need to go through a site plan review process and would include public hearings before the Planning and Zoning commission as well as the Town Council with that I'll turn things over to Thomas Hernandez director of engineering and public works good evening Thomas Hernandez director of engineering and Public Works uh I'll be covering just the next steps in the process should the town Council uh decide to or make a selection of the S West Park site um so essentially the town staff has has prepared a resolution uh for a design and design work order uh in the event that this site were selected essentially uh work order 50 would be approved tonight should you pass a resolution uh 6224 and uh it would provide for preliminary side it would provide for preliminary design as well as side approval uh the preliminary design would give the town staff the ability to have uh initial specifications for putting the the project out to bid and advertise the overall work um next steps after the Town Council would approve the work order would be to advertise the RFQ for design build firms uh we are planning to do that in late May um next step after that uh WGI would submit the uh site plan and land use application we're currently sighing to do that in the uh late May early June time frame um as a part of that process uh WGI would be composing um landscape design as well as site layout design basically lays out where the the building is in order to meet setbacks um threee protection plans as we've noted tonight the the banion tree absolutely would be on that uh protection plan as a as a mark and a staple that would be preserved as a part of the overall site um and then the next uh step after that would be uh WGI would continue working on the design and construction criteria package and uh no later than mid July of 2024 they would complete that package um that would give the town the ability to as I had mentioned earlier home specs ensure that uh the town is able to you basically get exactly what we're looking for for meet all the the fire chief as well as the fire department's requirements for uh how they want the building laid out uh what the what goes into the actual facility as well as how the the site is going to to be laid out and designed um also as a part of that design and construction criteria package we would list dates such or dates as well as um critical information such as for example it was brought up ensuring that the roadway is reconstructed uh prior to to um the building and blocking of the um really the building of the new fire station so essentially we would need to relocate the fire the the access road that allows Carver residents to cross back and forth and cross access the site um so that would be need to be uh included in part of the design and construction criteria package so that's something we include and make sure that the design Builder would keep as a part of their construction process uh next after that time um WGI would continue forward with their site plan as well as their uh land use approval process going forward to pnz board as well as Council um looking to get that uh that approval late in July for early August of 2024 uh within some of the next steps after that uh Town staff would work to uh select for recommendation to council for a design Builder and that would come in late July as well as early August of 2024 and then next step after that bringing it the recommendation before Council to award the design B contract in the late summer of 2024 uh the design Builder would then after that project was awarded um begin to work on the full design in roughly September of 2024 uh with the target of beginning Construction in late calendar year 2024 um and then the goal of in service and spring of 2020 turn it back over to in summary staff has researched the key considerations for a western fire station location including population density uh so more people usually creates more demand it's no coincidence that the Indiantown Road quarter with all the people who visit that area is also the area of highest fire in EMS called demand population demographics the older population uh there is the excuse me generally the more demand there are two assisted living facilities very nearby to the sinque park site and those facilities do increase uh demand in that area emergency call volume the highest density of calls is located right along the immediate area of the squez park site this includes both fire and EMS calls thus the sinque park site offers the best opportunity for us to align our fire rescue Resources with the greatest call demand and this will optimize our response times allowing us to serve the community better and faster when you add it all together and in my expert opinion the squez park site represents the best solution for the location for the Western fire rescue Department's Western station uh in 24 months we will have firefighters and fire trucks in this fire station the staff is requesting your approval of resolution 62-24 begin the design process for this site any questions from Council oh yeah um I got to hear from everybody that that b is not going to be touched it's not going to be trimmed it won't be root pruned nothing will happen to that tree can I given those assurance my boss told me don't mess with that tree don't mess with that tree I'm assuring you I won't mess with that tree that's a a very important Tree to me and to many citizens I grew up playing in Bion I love banion the are very cool trees very good for wildlife support too I'm not the expert in this area Thomas probably is much more but uh he's already talked about that there'll be an arborist involved in in all of this process will before okay good um I have some questions about the traffic preemption but of course we all know that the traffic on Indian toown Road is terrible um the traffic preemption when that occurs how long does it usually change the lights I know it's a kind of a tough question because each one's different typically what do we shut an intersection down for yeah I I honestly can't answer that question for you right there are on your traffic Traffic Engineers that are experts at that and so I don't have that answer I can find out from you from the companies that do this work your personal experience how long is the light change yeah I how long does it take the truck to get out of the fire station so here's the deal traffic partion is designed based on quite a few factors right they they have a a vehicle that has a AVL or automatic vehicle locator so it knows GPS it knows your vehicle speed and direction of travel and based on speed and direction of travel is when it it turns the lights green before you if you're traveling faster it turns them green faster if you're traveling slower it turns them green a little slower it times it to your speed and direction of travel but the goal is before you get to an intersection the light has already been green and the traffic has already moved and and all those things are set and adjusted um again I I would be making up something to tell you how long I just can't do that but at this in this instance it's pulling out of the station onto the basically onto Indian Town how long does that typically take just you're going to flip a switch when when they're ready to leave the station somebody Chang the light immediately it will take seconds to if you're going eastbound it will take literally seconds to make the turn and go Eastbound and then proceed uh as well as if you're going westbound uh you won't need to to uh stop the eastbound traffic you'll only need to deal with the westbound traffic and uh it will take literally seconds to make that turn and go and then again the traffic in front of you should already be flowing and and uh that's the design of these systems they're very effective uh I can tell you that um we put them in the town of Palm Beach while I was there at all their intersections as well as intersections off of the island uh that would allow us to get to the hospitals quicker uh extremely effective uh you know one of the biggest deals about traffic preemption in addition to the fact that it makes you get there faster uh is it is much safer for both the firefighters as well as the the drivers right because you're never going through an intersection facing opposing traffic those lights are going to be red for any opposing traffic right well I'm presuming that the station on central every time they pull out and head south they preempt that light so I'll direct that to cam but I'll tell you that my personal experience that's not working right now there because I've never seen it work and anytime I've seen them go through that intersection but again I think they're working on some new stuff now so currently the traffic preemption devices in place in the town of Jupiter are around the US1 Corridor uh Indian Town Road US1 A1A Riverside that's where they're being operated because of the uh US1 Bridge being shut down right it was part of uh fdot putting those in and all the palmach County fire rescue trucks operating in the town of Jupiter to be able to utilize the preemptions in in those areas because of the heavy traff they were expecting in those intersections um but it was a policy to start rolling those out countywide um you know a lot of departments around just you know town of Palm Beach utilize traffic preemption to help um so I'm not sure I'd have to find out I don't think Central and Indian town has it um but the advantage they have is they have about a 300 yard start to start utilizing lights and Sirens to start clearing traffic to notify people of their their approach there so it's a little different situation because they're not directly on Indian toown Road so lack of preemption requires more um audible more Sirens more lights more more nuisance to the neighbors yeah you typically policy is you want to start uh utilizing your lights and Sirens as you're approaching the intersection I'll to find out the exact distance but it's quite a bit of ways um that you want to start utilizing you're you're always going to have your lights on but utilizing sirens and horns to alert the uh traffic of your of you incoming and of course pulling in the Indian Town Road's got to be scary so you're probably blowing the horn like crazy coming up to Indian Town Road yeah it depends on where where it's at on you know in that particular section I mean in the afternoon traffic is going to be at a dead standstill so you know I'll I'll address my concerns about that later but you know um but yeah any any uh High rate of speed Corridor one of our main arteries like Indiantown Road um especially Central Indiantown Road I go through that intersection a lot um it you have to come to a complete stop while utilizing your lights and Sirens clear One Direction of traffic first get to the middle and then start clearing that other direction of traffic because it's so congested they don't really see or hear you um until they're right up on you so it's much more dangerous that way to both the First Responders as well as the general traffic yeah so it's not really a stretch to say that's it is going to be safer for First Responders and um General traffic toab preemptive traff yeah preemption is designed to do that I mean that's that's it's not really a stretch to say it's going to make it quieter there less Sirens are going to be Oh no you're still going to be utilizing I mean at a policy and chief will direct that policy but I know my policy is I make as much noise as I possibly can because and and you still cause accidents it's just it's you can't avoid it yeah but there's only that short distance to go before you're on to any in town road so even if you're applying it at the same rate the overall amount of time of siren use is going to go down um depends it depends on if people are paying attention to you or not it wouldn't be going up what I'm getting at no and you know like I said I'll address the concerns of my my comments but the my concern with the utilizing the Sirens by the houses is you know you're going to be have to utilizing them to make sure all traffic is stopped and and sees you okay thank you um the um I guess this is for um uh for staff and as far as the uh the possibly Mr sickler this the three acres that were allocated for other uses other active uses I think was how you described it 10 acres has to be reserved and I'm glad it is for Park green space but three were designated for other uses the 10 acres is for natural areas environmental preservation um traffic reduction and open space not active Rec Recreation uses but passive Recreation uses the remaining three acres was purchased with general fund uh monies so it is not restricted as to the type of use that can be placed there so on the site plan as an example when it was approved um in 20 it was 2013 2014 um that s plan included future uses uh for community garden uh active recreation area that may have included a playground um it included an open grass activity area and it even included a retail use of I believe 3,200 square fet for a coffee doughnut shop type use U which was could have been for a type of concession but it was also um to leverage the amount of trips that were assigned to the property to kind of reserve some traffic capacity on the property at the time okay understood thank you um I have been here a long time and I remember when that intersection hosted the tree anybody who's been here for three decades might remember that was a very dilapidated area there was a building there called the tree and it was a bar that had become so run down I believe it was actually used by firefighters as a a practice structure maybe 20 years ago okay C you might remember that they actually set the building on fire and everybody got to practice on a real building and that was how that building got taken care of but it was a high drug use area it was a very dilapidated area so it was a huge ey sore for Jupiter that got transferred into a nice park it's a very nice park and I personally don't like to see par land taken away I like to see us adding part but I have to admit when I first saw all the presentations 6 months ago or so I was asking why isn't squz park being considered and I'm not sure why it was taken off the table I didn't understand that it's it's it's in a good spot it wasn't taken off the table I some people were quoting tonight so I have to believe that that was true I'm going to go back and look myself it was it was always in consideration with me I I never took it off the table and I knew these this the two and a half acres were I mean we're lucky that in was it 2008 when the council purchased a property they kept these the secred Jo open for maybe a future Town use if needed and not making it all Park so I mean geographically it's a perfect spot and you could see that from well Chief I I heard all along this has been your favorite spot while we're looking at other properties because of the the hot spots and I looked at those and you know we already have I'm sorry to preempt that's okay go ahead but I mean um we already have a fire station up the street dealing with Indiantown traffic this is going to be more efficient so it's we're already dealing with that and it's right Central to where we need a fire station to be so you know I mean it's it's a perfect location for it except for it's part of a park that's the one part that but it's not a park it wasn't when The Count Council they didn't Design This was never open space it wasn't John what's the actual Zoning for the for the property I mean you just stated a couple things it was for just the the property has a zoning of public institutional which um allows a variety of public institutional uses of course which includes a fire station use right it also includes Park uses right but if if that if that Council wanted this to be part of the park they would have made it part of the park and we we we designated some Park PLS here we if you want to do it you're going to do it but they strategically left this open for a future use and we're the beneficiaries of that I yeah I think it's worth noting at the time there was adequate funding within the open space bond fund to purchase the entire 13 acres but to your point there was a decision to provide flexibility or at least three acres for a variety of different uses that have been discussed over the years yeah I remember there was um a discussion in 2017 when they were actually looking to name the park before the ribbon cutting in 2018 and there's an agenda and and video for that and they actually were thinking of naming it you know like banon Tree Park it was one there was a list of names being considered and so not only this Council but previous councils have always really appreciated um the tree and would never I I can speak for myself but I think I'm speaking for all of council when I say that we're not looking we would never we would never it's it's such an important part of Jupiter's history and I was surprised by the number of emails we got to that effect because there was no mention of anything like that in in this package so I know there will be more discussion going on and that we're in a period of questions but um that site that discussion in 2017 was really interesting they were looking at a very active playground I'll talk about my conversations with residents both in the park and near the park over the past week but um you know they're also looking at putting a tree house in the tree building all around the tree very active and I don't think that would find any support today right well I've got just one last topic and I'll turn it over um part of what I do is I'm a forensic engineer and I have reconstructed traffic accidents in Palm Beach County for 30 four years now over 5,000 traffic accidents so it's a very real concern concern when you when you talk about what effect will this happen have on traffic accidents on Indiantown Road which are prevalent and of the 5,000 I've done in 34 years not one has been in front of a fire department I didn't think about it until now tonight not one has been at the entrance to a a fire department but scores if not maybe a hundred of them have been as a result of another accident on the same roadway traffic and everybody here has seen that traffic stops for an accident and then another accident happens because the traffic stopped so a way to reduce traffics overall is to get the traffic flowing again get the wrecked cars out of the way and rapid response on Indian Town Road I think would greatly help that problem overall I just wanted to add that it's a very real concern we don't want to create a situation where we're causing accidents we're here to help preserve safety and enhance safety not reduce it I just wanted to get that point across and I I wanted to make clear and this might not be the right time but I want to say it anyway um nobody nobody wearing a shirt is going to be sued I don't know where that came from you can look at lawsuits all lawsuits filed you can get them online and it list who's the plaintiff who's the defendant the defendant is the pack and only the pack nobody wearing a t-shirt is going to be a defendant that's just fabricated that's not going to happen not on my watch it's not going to be part of this and right now it's not part of the lawsuit and one last thing I want to say is we've been talking about uh trying to meet what Palm Beach county is doing now and not reduce our Effectiveness our response times it's my goal to make this better um just like like Jupiter police department now is Premier in the United States we we came across that a couple of months ago it's not my intent to make this as good as Palm Beach County fire rescue I want to make it better it's at least our goal should be to make it better not equal so I think everything we're doing is trying to make a world class number one fire department and quite honestly a lot of this litigation that's going on is draining us is taking away our time I'm not saying it's inappropriate but I just want to put it in perspective we're doing what we can to try to be ready to have a topnotch fire department ready from day one when we get going just a uh Town manager just pointed out a little while ago we've got a mandate we've got a date and I personally and I believe everyone on the Dias up here is going to try to do everything we can do to make it a premier fire department I live in this community too my wife my children my friends and family many of which have I right now got my leg up I got a blood clot my left leg and Pulmonary embolisms in my lungs I don't want to do anything at all that's going to endanger any of my friends family or neighbors so it's not our intent to make this as good it's our intent to make it better and we're going to try to do that that's okay you know I was I was asking if anybody had any questions to staff we we then would in the comments I have some comments too but uh no understand but we questions okay because we have any uh comments from the public uh yes mayor we have four we have Lori Bailey bertran followed by Terry Grooms I actually thought I would be speaking at the regular citizens comments but I just wanted to say I live on lockah hatchee Drive I've lived in Jupiter since 1997 I am in favor of the local Jupiter fire department I believe in home rule I believe that um the services should be with the city that they know more what the people need and the further you get away from the town or the community the less they're going to know about the people's needs and wants um as far as the government I've had dogs the entire time that I have lived here and even before here in my opinion SAS Park is one of the best improvements in this town and I was at that Park almost from the opening day it has become an incredibly popular place it is also a social Haven for people there are a lot of seniors that go there with their dogs and to make friends and as you may or may not know seniors sometimes um don't have enough social contact so that is one aspect of the park another thing is that um they're under the tree under the big Banyon tree there are often support uh groups that meet there there used to be a support group that was led by someone that I knew from the park that um supported people who had had family members that had committed suicide okay they have since moved to a different location there are AA groups that meet around that tree in the evening people enjoy that and so just as many of you were commenting nobody wants anything to happen to that tree um my understanding and talk and I've tried to talk with people at the park I go to the park probably four times a week at the very least and I try to talk with the other people that are there and find out what they want and what their concern is everybody's afraid that this fire station will be placed on the park property on the dog park area now listening tonight and what was demonstrated it appears that that's not going to be the case um so long as it's not taking any of the space that we have for the dogs which is people come from Southern cities and everything to at dog park everybody says that's the best dog park they've ever been to and then there's an open field where kids play soccer Etc we would like to keep that as well so my understanding I may be wrong is that it's going to be located west of the westernmost little park that is there and between Carver Street and that Park and then facing Indiantown I may be wrong there so the only other concerns that I heard from patrons of the park is the noise and the traffic so um those things as as you have discussed need to be addressed um I just want to add one more thing I don't like the ugly personal attacks that are being levied against the Town Council or the Town Council Members or the town manager I think unfortunately that's become part of today's uh work world I don't believe that it's um the proper way to address the matter and um I'm here saying I believe that the Town Council is acting in our best interest we have to have a fire station I don't want to see somebody that has a heart attack or something and that is not able to get service so I appreciate what you guys are doing um we do love the park we want it to be preserved but we understand all also the other needs for the town thank you I just want to make one comment about the sound coming out of the station cam correct me if I'm wrong but as soon as you're leaving those Gates you're going to be sounding the horn because it's on a residential street and you're going to have to notify anybody that's on that street that you're coming and going correct okay thank you so the noise isn't going to not stop it's going to start as soon as they leave the door with every new announcement social media post and comments by both individual counselors and from the town itself we continue to prove that the idea to start a new fire department is both ill conceived and being mismanaged so congratulations you created a loophole a way to gain the system that allows you to take the property out of the park you can think you're smart or clever but all this does is further erode The public's trust in our elected officials and in government in general the idea of taking away Parkland is a panamount to fraud yep I said it it's fraud we were promised a um the a fraud to the residents of of Jupiter the money used to purchase the 13 acres was co-mingled and bu to buy the entire 13 acres so to say now that you can divvy up the property based on the percentage of money used is both ludicrous and in bad faith and everything that was presented to the public and pushed out to the media regarding squz Park references 13 acre Park the conceptual plan as John referenced that was used to sell the idea of the park shows that the entire 13 acres area as a park a park with a dog park uh ponds walking trails the playground Etc it doesn't matter what other plans were discussed in the past what was sold to the residents of Jupiter was a 13 acre Park and there was never any indication that that it could F and anything that I could find to um say that it could be taken away your consultant named syquest Park is a possible location and then you all quickly walked it back it was stated at Council meetings and on social media um that s West Park was not being considered but it's back because you have nowhere else to put a station on the west side of town does not give you the right to engineer and manipulate how the squ park was purchased and what can be done with it you all can and and you all can and will but just because you can doesn't mean you should nowhere was there any indication that because you allowed it money from different pots that there could be an instance that our Parks or green spaces can be divided up for some some future plan you owe us a 13 acre Park you have do we have to see the inventory of all of our parks in green spaces and detail how the properties were paid for are are any of our other parks in jeopardy of being taken away so are you going to put so you're going to put a station on a residential street directly across from people's houses severely diminishing their peace and quiet in quality of life and property values I might add are you really that inconsiderate of the residents never mind you don't have to answer that I know the question they answer already if you don't want people to think you're to say that you're corrupt stopped acting like it Daniel MC Andrews follow Follow by Karen Vincent Daniel mcre I just have a a couple questions about the station uh if it's going to be two stories like that and you're saying it's 300 feet from the houses well fire truck going 40 mil hour their debes can be heard at 300 feet if they're pulling out having to go lights and sirens in FPA standards which you're saying they're not going to have to turn them on to go to the intersection because you have the lights how much of the lights going to cost what's legal liability if they're not going lights and sirens for the NFP standards and cause an accident now what about the residents that are 300 ft away with the noises with the lights on the two stories if they're going to be training there where's the water runoff going to be I mean you guys said you're going to maintain iso1 so is there going to be spot for a training facility right next to it is it going to prevent you know water damage from the tree or what about the commercial coming through all the garbage trucks or whenever they check out their truck in the morning all the loud noises does that increase the dog's anxiety you know all the people there is it going to people stop people from coming to the park is there going to be a certain time they're going to be able to do this but about 2: 3 in the morning they don't have hurricane windows and they can still hear the noises not only driving the property value down you're also causing them to be up all night so that's not doing Justice to them thank you here Von 10003 s Street so if I took my dog there and fire truck came out and they blew their horn my dog would probably run away she'd probably break her leash and run skittish dog you're taking away the ability for people to bring if you want to call it special needs dogs you know to a dog park where Bond money was used to buy this nothing was said when it was discussed the last time very blatantly it was said by This Town Council squez Park is off the Record you're not going to go back to it and use it whether you agreed with it or not in your head or openly It Was Written from the town's website that squz Park was off the table now here we are no discussion no nothing let's just put the park there and we're not going to talk to the people this is time and time again of what you have done and that's what my complaint is if the town votes for a fire station I would be behind it 100% I have no problem with it and my problem isn't even doing the fire station my problem is the fact that y'all have not included the residents in this now you went and looked at a small handful of residents over there that was very nice of you I appreciate that did you talk to anybody who travels up and down Indiantown Road every single day I know every single one of you go up and town and down Indiantown Road every single intersection is blocked you have certain times of the day it's about 60% of the day every intersection is blocked I don't care what kind of light control you have which is a good idea and yes you should have it it's not going to make cars move how far ahead does that light control work does it work all the way down if you're going west is it going to change every single light so that the cars can get out of your way because when they're parked all the way through every single intersection it's not like there's any place for them to go to move you're going to put a fire station where you're going to come out at the absolute worst place on Indian toown Road that you could possibly come out of Jen CER all right so after the mayor already said that squez Park was uh not an option here we are again tonight I'm curious to plans for to manage Jupiter High call him at a station at squz Park is going to be busy loud large emergency vehicles going in and out of a residential area from a park with children and dogs seems extremely dangerous no matter how you paint that picture to us Chief suggested an average of 12 calls a day that number is likely to increase by 2026 because call volume in this area is only going up he suggested quicker response times than pbcfr what are the plans to provide emergency coverage to Jupiter when all the units are tied up on calls this happened last week with a residential structure fire where will additional units come from pal Beach Garden has five stations for approximately 60,000 residents and they're currently building a six they are busy and have to add an aid and then they have an aid agreement with pbcfr and other surrounding departments Jupiter has approximately the same number of residents and plans to provide a high level of service that exceeds that of Palm Beach County with only three stations currently pbcfr has the ability to move units throughout the county to provide adequate coverage basically ensuring that the residents are well provided for and cared for is there an aid agreement currently with pbcfr Andor Gardens and any surrounding departments and if so what is the cost because that wasn't listed on the consultant's presentation you're looking to exceed the level of service that's already provided and I'm just not seeing how that's possible with everything that you're currently trying to sell us that was the last one okay um back to council Council May uh I had I never really got to ask questions um Chief what is the uh apparatus that you're planning on housing at this station uh so right now the plan is there'll be an engine rescue and Battalion Chief at this station but that's still under consideration we're having some studies done about uh resource placement now okay I was just curious because I I know that we had talked about in the beginning they had talked about potentially putting a ladder truck in this in this station in this area as when Chief poo was presenting it so I was just more concerned about when the apparatus have to exit out onto Carver and then come onto Indian toown Road making that turn cuz it's a pretty Narrow Street right so I was just more concerned about the angle of them coming out and having to make that turn without uh causing you know backups or anything like that along Carver Avenue yeah currently the plan is not to have the ladder truck there okay and we've done some autoturn models so everything is is okay from that perspective you know computer generated models for cool that's that that was my question so you guys can follow up with comments no you're fine one question I don't know if it's for you Chief or for Thomas um what sort of infrastructure reconfiguration will there be at the intersection of Indiantown Road in Carver because we already got permission from epot that we can go east west correct so we we've rece received uh basically a preliminary approval that they they approve of the concept uh of the opening in the median um so at this point the the full survey has not been performed for subsurface uh I did the actual construction of zquest Park way back when I know that there are various Utilities in the area um off the top of my head I don't know all of those but there there are various utilities whether it's gas um and those those will have to be factored into the location um as as the whether it's the signal the eerc signal Mass arms rep place like all those will have to be factored in thankfully um right there on Indian toown Road uh we own that rideway at Carver should so should we have to move it further up Carver we have that ability to make a longer Mast arm and give ability to move and place that um should we have to we can always relocate those utilities which is sometimes common as a requirement but um as we go further and get more into Beyond just the ceptual uh we'll be working with the design Builder to up with that answer we do have various utilities whether it's water I believe there is some Fiber in the area gas possibly as well been a while since I've looked at some of those construction plans I I actually constructed squz Park thisel the general knowledge was okay thank you that was it well just to kick off my comments uh question for the chief refresh my memory what was your first day with the town I'm sorry refresh my memory what was your first day with the town oh boy uh it was the end of January let's go with that okay I know the exact dat thank you now I just want to say a few things to the degree that people have quoted things that I've said um and um also the fact that you know people have been questioned you know transparency um and you could sit down this isn't any more questions for you but first of all you know I'm the only remaining member that had been on the council when we purchased the property I advocated to acquire it um there was a lot of different concepts that were thought of for those three acres initially I vividly recalled our former mayor thinking Workforce housing so we we consciously decided at that time when we purchased it 10 acres to the East and then we left and then over the course of a number of years you know what could be under three acres you know has has evolved but generally that's the reason why 13 acres weren't purchased with Bond money because there was some thought there could be some other use and the interational use thought was Workforce housing secondly um you know early on uh When sin inqu Park site had been specified by a town consultant um and quite frankly I know I for one didn't even know it was in report and people were calling us out like we've we've decided everything um and uh so um you know I made it very clear that uh and it was it was an opinion that I had that I didn't think that would be the site we'd end up with no doubt about that and and I was more speaking to the fact maybe I didn't communicate it clearly but no it hadn't been decided and quite frankly I I've pursued several other sites that I thought as a nonprofessional in this in that business fire rescue that there would be other more favored sites um and um so you know I made all those comments before we even had a Jupiter fire rescue Chief and before any analysis of response times between sites was ever available to me from a source that I knew I you know I could and should take U as significant facts so um the other sites that I thought were in one of which we had actually also publicly announced uh talked about um that was in another Park and um we were we wanted to make sure we're going to pick a site we want to pick a site that's the best for serving the public um and the chief uh shared with me you know a week ago that you know another site that I had been pursuing that uh I thought might have have some benefits had a slow response time he's the expert I'm not I Rely Upon experts so um yes I might said as people indicated that that wasn't going to be the site but the analysis came out that it's the best site um to serve the public so um you know I'm going to be supportive of that um traffic along India town is problematic no doubt about that um it's interesting because where I live in the shores I can't tell you how many uh fire rescue responses I passed from station 19 and I don't say this in any negative way I say this in a positive way and they come out of station 19 and they're not blowing the horn not until they get to Indian Town Road that's what my observation is having witness hundreds and hundreds of times you know when I'm leaving whatever and they use the horn as well I've observed I don't know what policy is but when it's needed as I think as councelor may had indicated kind of when now they're going to go through the intersections whatever and uh one of the reasons I didn't think squz Park was going to was a good site was it is on Indian Town Road because I can't tell you how many times I've seen County fire rescue from station 19 turn west on Indian Town Road and come to a dead stop because they could blow their horn all they want and vehicles have no way to pull over but ironically you think about it is this station is going to take some of those trips that station 19 was doing that was on Indian Town Road anyway um and to some degree it'll have some advantages uh you know serving them being able to Ser uh more quickly move into other areas so all things you know considered and lacking anything else I have to rely upon the analysis that was given to us by the professional that we hired um you know uh to guide us in starting up and so I just want to kind of explain to the public we have truly been tried try to be transparent and whenever we talk something people say well we knew it was a done deal no it was never a done deal but we're at the point we've been studying alternative sites for quite some time and we're at the point we need to make decisions and uh syquest Park uh you know has shown by the analysis uh that we've been provided uh to be the favored site um with regard to response time uh to that part of the town and uh so with that I'm going to support that tonight but I just wanted to get those comments on the record anybody else closing comments yeah I agree this has been whole process has been fluid and nothing's been decided on until with this station till maybe a week ago I don't know this was I had a couple other sites in mine the last site that sort of felt through we couldn't wait around for the the owner operators of it to make a decision so you know we have to get going here and this was this would person this wasn't my I want to call it wasn't my favorite site but I I and you know for all the people that said you know Council said oh you know when never I can use it there was uh a was it a was it a social media post from a staffer decisions made up here by five of us even if the mayor said something that he changed his mind because he got more information it doesn't mean the council said station's not going there this this was always open for me as I stated earlier um and I knew all along that this was uh Chief D's this this was the is uh most opportune location for a station and I after like reading and analyzing it I agree with them um you know Indi toown Road's not most opportune roow to put a station on but like I said earlier uh Palm Beach fir is already running a station up Central and they deal with the same thing and they don't prant the light cycle so um and I you know I have you know I have concerns with the neighbors Along on car Road and um you know so we'll just have to um you know see if you know I've I've I when I was a kid I lived right across from a fire station and a lot of times when they went down the road it was clear they didn't blow the horn they blow when they needed to so I don't know if there's any anything we can do to keep them from you know just banging on the horn when they turn out of the fire station driveway or they run it all the way down the street I don't know we have to work on that but um and as for SZ Park you know may you're here with the the Town Council purchase the land while I was here during the conception of the plan for the park and I totally supported it and voted for it and after we passed it a week or two later we all got framed aerial pictures of the park you still have yours mine's framed on my office wall that Park would get bulldo Over My Dead Body so I don't know who's on social media spring these rumors that we're going to destroy the park it's whoever does that I'm I'm I've so had it with all those rumors going around you should be ashamed of yourself we're dealing with Public Safety here and this council's always done everything we can to keep your the public as safe as possible look at our Police Department when uh Town manager kitso retired at his going away dinner his celebration he said he pointed to the Town Council end night said you guys gave me everything I asked you everything I requested you gave me am I correct so they'll back me up on that so anyway um I I have a ton of things here I won't take all night but um you know we're I am over the the negativity the lies the inuendos about you know back room deals corruption blah blah blah we were put in this position by the county they gave us a contract that was outrageous it was an excess in excess of a quarter of a billion dollars a year and an upward cost and as a representative of the Jupiter taxpayer I'm not putting up with it and I would never stay with that contract we opted for a 5year Escape Clause they demanded three so here we are at three and I'm the one that motioned to tell our town manager to send a letter that we're executing our Escape Clause I'm the one that did it and I I'm glad we did it this is a heavy lift but we're going to do it and I know lawsuits out there we can't wait for a lawsuit we can't wait for a judge we have a time frame we're moving forward that's why we're doing this so um I guess that's it and um I guess we'll go on from here thank you I can go next um I do want to say and just reiterate that this is in an early stage and this is the ability to plan the site and so while we have a draft and a concept as we do before I absolutely imagine that there will be tweaks to this concept um and I imagine there already are after some of our conversations with residents I also live near station 16 so I I can walk to station 16 for my house in a matter of minutes and what I hear are trains all the time but I don't hear sirens and I don't see them when I drive on Military and I drive by the station frequently and I do not see Sirens as they're pulling out so um I think we just have to get clarity around that and you know I want to say that we I take due diligence very seriously and I think all of us do and I think you know we need to ask as many questions and make this the best possible station that we can and so you know it's difficult because we have two audiences right so there's one audience um that and I've tried to re reach both so the first audience are people that use the park people that live near the park on Carver Avenue um you know and other residents that haven't necessarily gotten mixed up in the pack and are confused and and are trying to understand what's going on May read some of social media not all of it social media is a really hard thing for a town to manage because the town is a page and Pages can't join groups so a lot of what happens on Facebook is actually in private Facebook groups Facebook is not a Public Square this is as close as you'll get to a Public Square all of our positions out for discussion so um you know in talking to these residents uh at the dog park I actually went a few weeks ago um before it was even on the agenda and I spoke with about 30 people there that had dogs and used dogs I was invited by a resident and what they said was first of all don't build the station on the dog park because I never said that there wouldn't be a station there I said we're not actively considering it at this time keywords um but we may and if we do my understanding is that we would be adding to the park not taking away in terms of taking away a dog park we're not taking away a dog park so that welcome news um they also asked that they'd like more trash cans and more trash bags for the dogs because they have to walk too far um talk about fountains they're grateful for fountains that were put in so there's a lot of time spent there with residents talking about concerns um they also said that they just like the Green Space the natural element of the dog park so Indian town is very hustle-bustle and what this offers is a contrast to that I liked hearing Birds you know I've been to the site many times I've walked walked it at 6:00 a.m. to walk laps I've been in it in the afternoon at a park bench for a coffee and I've been in it in the evening with residents um and it's nice to hear birds and see beautiful trees and that's what everyone around it and in it loves about it so the dog owners appreciate that about the park and then the residents that invited me to Carver Avenue um also appreciate that contr contrast so what they asked for um you know and it's always better in person politics is better in person it gets really nasty online but in person you can have a back and forth and you own what you say and and it's nice um but what residents on Carver were actually saying was that they wanted the green space that field across from the homes they want to leave it as is or or add irrigation make it Greener or landscaping or trees or you know a garden of sorts but to play up the natural elements they do not want to play ground there so that's just from the people I've talked to and that was surprising to me because that had always been in the plan and that was in a 2017 plan with the tree house with concrete steps leading up into the tree and wrapping the tree so that's a very different you know that was a different Council different time but um you know so so that is what I'm hearing from this first audience and I'm still Gathering right we're still getting emails sent in good faith curious understanding what's going on and we want to be as responsive to them as possible we want to hear these questions we want to answer them we always want to be available um but there is a second audience and that audience is the pack and you know these questions and POS you know with the sense that they're going to disagree with us no matter what we say and they're going to find something to to worry about no matter what we do um that's always going to be there it's been there from the very beginning and I want to say in terms of transparency I mean I don't know if you guys are reading these documents that are coming out of litigation but they're all public record and there are several of them now they're redacted but they're here and my favorite might be the fact that you know the union was speaking to the attorney about amending our Charter four days before our vote four days before the vote so I have a question what's what's that um so so that's the first question um and I would say you know also the fire Union was in our audience the day of the vote coming from West Palm Beach to sit in our audience the day of the vote and so knowing how many meetings we have we have two public meetings a month and we have a deadline of September 30th to make the decision there was an understanding that there would probably be some likelihood of something happening over that that next few meetings so I found that um curious so you know the pack is going to be disappointed no matter what they've spent $215,000 in our community to try to stop this um you know they're talking to a political consultant about strategies they're getting messages from political Consultants about strategies and one of them is okay well you know now that we have the petitions out let's say don't spend any money until there's a vote so that was a strategy from a political consultant proposed to the pack in October and I'm hearing it today so it's you know it's all connected there and it's just a completely different audience so it's just you know we have these two audiences and at the end of the day this is about saving residents ,000 a year that's at the resident level across the agreement this is worth a quarter billion dollars this is about money and it's about saving residents money and it's not a small sum if we cut our millage rate it's tens of dollars a year this is $1,000 on average a year and what that means to families when we hear about the cost of living is Meaningful and so you know what's $215,000 when it's a quarter billion dollars at stake so that is a different audience um we hear it you know it's getting increasingly more strident um but that said we can't you know we have to keep our ears open open we're listening to everyone um but I just want to show those two audiences the fact that we are doing our due diligence we are meeting with residents we are trying to make this a better site and tweak it to be responsive to those in the area and that's it for now um I just I have a lot of concerns regarding traffic response I I wish we had more time to look at other sites because I think if we went even just a little further west of here just a little further west and approach the owners of like the crossroads property or something to be able to have them designate some land to put a fire station out that way it would actually reduce response times especially out to our Western uh areas such as Rialto and somoma Isles and Jupiter Country Club because right now you know when you got either 19 or 14 going there um especially in the afternoon getting out there it's it's really hard and even though traffic preemption devices will help when traffic has already at a dead standstill from 95 going west to almost pinck um it it's it's still going to be a delayed response time coming directly out on Toontown Road um and just my concerns of the noise I I know how much noise I make coming out of my fire station which is station 16 and I make a lot um and especially in the mornings when we're doing truck checks you have to fire up the saws you have to run the the fire engine in the pump test all the you know the pressures everything like that it's very noisy at you know 700 7:30 in the morning and having that directly acrost from a bunch of residents and people utilizing the park it's going to be disturbing and I'm I'm just I'm very concerned about those aspects and I understand the location is great for you know based on the heat map a large and I was looking at the heat map when he was when it was being presented and a large amount of the uh EMS calls on the heat map were coming from the nursing homes so there's three nursing homes that were on the heat map showing the large amount of calls and a lot of those calls um actually are you know Falls without injury which is basically a lift assist you have to go and help pick them up so those don't require a code three response which would be which would be lights and Sirens that would be a code one response um so you know the the response time thing I'm not i' I'd have to get with Chief on that chart because I I want to see how that was put together because you have the actual times from Palm Beach County because they're currently running those calls but the to say that you'd reduce the times with Jupiter fire rescue and it's currently not an operation I just like I said I got to get with Chief so I don't really know what program was used to put that in place so to say that you're going to reduce times without actually currently doing it is kind of hard for me to accept those numbers especially with how traffic is on Indiantown Road especially in the afternoon and there's a lot of times where I have to resp respond when I'm currently working to 19's area if we're super busy and I'm coming from up and I have to go completely out and around Indiantown Road to actually get there on time because Indiantown Road is just dead backed up and I know even running lights and Sirens I'm not going anywhere so the the location geographically good the as far as traffic and mitigating traffic and trying to get out of there to respond to a call I just I'm I'm very very concerned about it and then I I you know we have a lot of residents that have reached out and said they don't want a station at this park for you know not necessarily I know it's the footprint looks okay we're not disturbing the tree which is great to hear but just the amount of disruptions that could come from this fire station for a very peaceful Park and for the residence that's what concerns me the most so I'll take a a motion in a second on the matter before us resolution 6224 motion to approve resolution 6224 second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed no motion carries 4 to one with councelor May dissenting okay moving on to we have a presentation um on Jones Creek vegetation trimming update good evening mayor and Town Council I'm going to make this um brief because it's late but um we are at the final stages of the Jones Creek vegetative trimming project so we wanted to provide you with an update with that on that project um when I look back at the Timeline it's been six years since we started initial discussions and the about the purpose of the project improving the water quality in in Jones Creek which has a bacteria problem so I want to introduce to you Jonathan Batista he is one of our senior Engineers he has been in managing this project through construction and he's done a great job I wanted to give him the opportunity to present to you and um he has some great visuals for you too good evening o there's always something here we are so tonight we're going to be talking about Jupiter River States the vegetative trimming project now for tonight we're going to be talking about the purpose of the project looking over some before and after photos and when partnering with community relations we've prepared a before and after drone video so the purpose of this project was to improve water quality in Jones Creek we wanted to address nutrient impairments in the southwest Fork of the lockah hatche river remove exotic and invasive species that compete with Native vegetation when it comes to the budget the initial trimming was funded fully by the town of Jupiter for $533,500 the main instrum us to occur once every 2 years for 10 years funded through a non-ad Borum assessment so once this project has been completed the idea is to maintain it in the state it is now when it comes to the project goals the idea was to open about a 30 foot wide Corridor for sunlight penetration uh this varies depending on where you are on the canal partly because we wanted to preserve and protect the existing native vegetation as well as min minim minimize a canal bake disturbance protect the shorelines clean up trash and debris and comply with permits and regulations so we wanted to make sure we complied with the fdp mang grro trimming and preservation act so while we're trying to remove all of this vegetation we also needed to balance that removal with regulations and good practice so we wanted to make sure that mangr that remained in Jupiter River States would be healthy and last for years to come um so these photos give you a glimpse of what Sherlock tree our contractor had to deal with especially between Delaware and kusachi Avenue where literally the shorelines were covered with vegetation from side to side there were Fallen trees within the water that they had to remove and in order to make any progress and in some areas the water was stagnant with a layer of floating organic matter on the surface so when I was out with Sherlock tree initially you could really smell the odor that came from the stagnant water because you have trees impeding the flow you're you're not going to be able to move much water in that area so here's the first before and after comparison when it comes to Delaware and Kusa hatchee you could see on the left hand side before trimming you can't really see the water whereas on the right side after trimming you can see how the sunlight is able to reach the water surface and the second com comparison between Su Street and Mohawk Street there's also dense vegetation inhibiting water movement before the trimming resulting in stagnant and odorous water and then shortly after trimming the order and Clarity of the water improved dramatically so you can actually see the color difference compared to the left hand side to the right hand side now for this next uh photo comparison this is the foot bridge near mohen by the Jupiter park now you can see on the left hand side barely can see anything through uh the vegetation on the foot Bridge whereas on the right hand side you can see many feet down the Waterway now as all of this work was happening we we noticed that the ecological habitat was also affected in a good way so we saw the improvements in water quality in terms of odor Clarity increased numbers of birds fish sightings and even in this photo if you look closely there's the silhouette of a manate that decid to stop by on a visit so when it came to this trimming the initial results are clear the sunlight's able to penetrate the water surface there's unobstructed waterways reduced at tritis and stagnant water restored ecology and habitats mangroves preserved for Healthy Growth while we also removed Exotics and even created some beautiful views in the process when it comes to the image to the right you can see that Jones Creek is a tri tributary to the lockah hatche river where if people chose they could even make it all the way from Jones Creek To The River and the idea is banal maintenance trimming will continue the story where there's been a lot of history with Jones Creek and the idea is to maintain it for many years to come so I I do have to say that residents played a key role when it comes to this project where not only did they give us strategic access in certain parts of the the Waterway they were very supportive of all the efforts that Sherlock tree was making in order to make this the best project that we possibly could so for the next part I'll be opening up the Drone footage in October 2023 the town of Jupiter embarked on a mission to restore the beauty and health of Jones Creek a vital waterway that flows into the Loxahatchee River using state-of-the-art drone technology we captured the transformation of the Jupiter River Estates project area before and after the cleanup the main goal of this project was to improve water quality in Jones Creek by trimming overgrown mangroves increasing sunlight and reducing detrius in the waterways we aimed to create a healthier ecosystem a secondary objective was to remove exotic and invasive species that compete with native plants ensuring a more balanced and diverse ecosystem throughout the project the town's contractor Sherlock tree faced challenges such as dense vegetation and Fallen trees that extended from Shoreline to Shoreline in some areas the water was stagnant with a layer of organic matter floating on Top This was addressed as part of the cleanup efforts the scope of the project included the preservation and protection of native vegetation with a focus on minimizing disturbance of canal banks in Florida there are strict regulations on how mangroves can be trimmed as per the mangrove trimming and preservation act the town ensured that Mangrove trimming was done in accordance with the law balancing removal and trimming with maintaining the existing environment Jones Creek is now on its way to a healthier future maintenance trimming is planned every 2 years to keep the waterways in good shape paid for by residents within the project [Music] limits so what this video shows is that scene is believing where the before footage was taken right before construction started and when it came to this after drum footage we worked closely community relations special shout out to AO to basically help us piece together certain areas of the project that really show what this work has accomplished in terms of not just how the project looks but also in terms of making a real Headway towards improving the water quality in this area [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so that concludes the presentation thank you thank you [Applause] Council have any questions or comments just a remarkable remarkable transformation I was down there a few years ago on a gentleman's boat invied me to take a look at it before this sort of to start the process and we had we're in a small Boston wh we had to pull ourselves through and I don't know how you cleared all that growth out of there it was a mess yeah definitely wasn't easy nasty so nice job thank you have you completed uh you know we heard from some residents I know staff was following back up with with you know claims that perhaps some Fallen trees had not yet been removed has has all that punch list work been completed now when it comes to the punchless items all those are completed Fallen trees were removed uh I think there was some mention of some branches in the water but residents are already organizing to remove some of those branches did you in any way change the depth of the water out there that wasn't really your task was it no no we didn't change the depth do you feel there's a need for it or are you getting the flow there that you want I see a manate there that manties don't dwell where it's stagnant so that's a good sign uh we don't we don't see any reason why we would have to um change the depth of the water the the fish life has come back manatees are there um did you quantify flow in any way or is it just anecdotal um not not flow we have been um taking water quality samples for bacteria and there has been significant Improvement what were the bacterias was it ecoli or septic tank related in any way um not eoli it was just um degraded vegetative matter all right good well thank you thank you very much is there like an average depth in the water in there that you could we we really didn't look at that the purpose of the project was to trim the vation so okay I don't know the contractor at some point was standing in the water but I'm not sure what the depth is in there lucky guy thank you looks much better thank you okay um we have one public comment this kind of M makes up for all the time I was out sick just saying so I appreciate everything that they did uh for Jones Creek because I live on Jones Creek and I truly do appreciate it and it is better the water does still get hugely cloudy to answer your question the depth varies depends on where you're at in the creek if you go up kaloa hatchee it's a lot shallower if you go on that little bridge that crosses over between the first neighborhood and the mo mo Mohawk or mohin on the right side at low tide it's almost like you could literally it's like looks like a puddle and that's about it so the further closer you get to Locke River then generally the deeper it gets there's some pretty good siiz boats out there so my only thing I have is that there is still a lot of debris I don't see that they've come back and cleaned it up a lot of the boats going down their um propellers and stuff are getting stuck on a lot of the debris it was a lot worse up Kusa hatchee and the only other thing I have to say is it needs to be dredged and I hope I've talked to cam and I've talked a couple people about trying to work towards getting some funding and some grants and maybe they can help also to be able to get it dredged I would hope that you would consider sharing the cost with the people in the town because that is a waterway that gets run off from Indian toown Road Military Trail every subdivision the golf courses it never used to be like that that Creek used to be clear when I first moved in there you could catch red tail Snapper all day long you can't catch a red tail Snapper not for love their money back there now but it's because as all the subdivisions built up and all the water that's used for drainage and the original charter did say that Jupiter was allowed to use it for drainage as long as it wasn't to the detriment of the homeowners on the bank so I think I don't think it's a Jupiter thing I think it's a community thing so I feel like that the cost for maintaining this Creek so that it's not polluting lockah hatchee river that it should be shared throughout the town because it'd be a lot less my taxes went up $600 I got $600 ADV valorum tax in addition to my insurance going up and I pay between my insurance and my taxes I pay well over $110,000 a year which is kind of insane but when you add that $600 on it it's it's pretty hard I'm not saying it what necessarily worth it because the difference in the vegetative I'm extremely you know happy about that so I do appreciate it the only other thing I have to say is a I'm not in the Coalition so I'm not in either one of your classes I my own entity my concern is Indian Town Road in the traffic and what it's going to cause because nobody stops in an intersection like they don't stop before the intersection every single person stops in an intersection and I do appreciate the conversation that you guys had with the guy with the property that's the kind of like conversation that needs to be had about most things and that's what upsets me the most the squez park thing I think you should have at least had a discussion and just talked to the people about it knowing that not previously you didn't know about squz Park in the three acres and that we would be revisiting it because then it just makes it look bad for everybody else all I got to say thank you reports Town attorney thank you mayor um we've begun our preparation of arguments in the town's defense of the lawsuit brought against the town by the political action committee and to assist the town in its defense and in the event of an appeal I'm recommending that the town Engage The Law Firm of kruer wall Vargas and sephron it's commonly regarded as the one of the top appet firms in the in the county this firm was the firm that represented 17 cities including Jupiter in a referendum question involving the Inspector General and fees being charged by the Inspector General so um my request is that the um Council authorize the town manager to engage execute the engagement letter with Cruiser W I call for a motion yeah I'll I'll put I'll table a motion for Mo for a motion to approve that second motion a second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I good fir opposed motion carries unanimously anything else nothing further thank you mayor okay Town manager thank you mayor um I just want to take an opportunity you know we just saw the work of the community relations team in that last presentation and um I want to acknowledge some significant accomplishments by this team this past week the town's community relations team attended the Florida Municipal communicators association annual conference this is Statewide organization at the conference the town won two outstanding Awards the town won the FMCA outstanding award for website design which as you remember may remember was redesigned last year and for brand guidelines which establishes the town's brand identity purpose and implementation also the town's annual report report finished as runnerup in the annual report category not too shabby additionally all five members of the community relations team Otto Suarez Jill Alvarez Kate por Corney Sandy mccre and sha Reed as well as our assistant Town manager Kate Mora received the FMCA certificate of excellence in government Communications only 17 certificates of Excellence were awarded and Jupiter claimed six of those the town as a whole also received the FMC a municipal certificate of excellence Jupiter was just one of 13 municipalities to receive the award and the certificate of excellence program has only been in place for two years and Jupiter has received it both years while Kate and Shawn have also received it both years and finally like she doesn't already have enough to do our assistant Town manager Kate Moretta was voted in as the organization's new vice president so I want to congratulate all those folks and the community relations team and thank them for all of their hard work they truly are a remarkable group of people that's my report mayor thank you AB a four councelor after hearing all that it's a great town isn't it and um referring to the Jones Creek project I've been sort of thinking for a while now maybe at some point we should look at or or teaming up with someone for dredging of Jones Creek if it's it it may we might want to look at it as beneficial uh to the entire Waterway and system and so it's um get some flow through there just kind of brainstorm a little bit that's it so I mayor I agree I've been brainstorming that with staff for a little while now but I also want to just give it time to just see how it continues to improve or not um I want to say uh I I did see something about trash on Center Street um and we did have them uh come and collect so Waste Management does collect regular pickups on Center Street um a couple had been missed but that has been remedied so if anyone does see that it's not being collected please let us know um and in terms of point of process I did run across that item on social media but um in many ways we only know what we're told and so it is always better to send us an email or send the town an email um instead of uh social media um I went to Max plon for the first time for an open day to resident and I was so impressed and surprised and just really I I if you haven't been I highly recommend going uh it was their biggest year yet they had 1,400 people re pre-register even before the event and then they accepted people at the door my daughter was able to move things with her brain uh without having to you know it wasn't like video game or something it was just it was absolutely incredible and I'm so grateful we have that um in our town and I just wanted to share that so I did get a a tour while I was there um someone recognized me from a government Affairs meeting and so I thought that was great um and you know I did uh speak with the number of residents who have been here a number of times about the cats uh I'm actually wanting to thank our accy commissioner uh for her quick response on that as well as Donald Ross Road which as you know has been uh opened and closed and it's finally open and we're so excited about that um but that was some really great collaboration and just um communication to try to get things flowing again um and I think the people who are experiencing the issues with the cats are starting to see results which is great um the last thing is that I did recently uh well today join the board of the league of cities I was invited to join or elected by you know these these other uh municipalities and uh for those of you that know my love of benchmarking and comparing kind of a dream to be able to talk to all the other electeds all the time about you know all sorts of ideas and I know that's not its only purpose but you know I'm always open to ideas and comparing contrasting learning and I promise to bring the best ideas home that's it enough for me just real quick um I know we had some citizen comments in the beginning of the meeting uh regarding the maluca trees on Delaware Boulevard I was wanted to see if I and make sure staff addresses that with the resident that was uh questioning that I don't want to be disturbing any wildlife in the area so um and then I know this is very controversial but just out of respect for the resident that was asking for it um as far as the dispensary uh zoning changes that would have to be made I know we went through it a few years ago we looked at it um but just to be able to get her some answers as to what we went through when we were deciding uh when we ultimately decided not to allow for it um just to give her some background as to why and what was going to what would essentially take place um and just high level um I know she didn't she already left but because it's technically a pharmacy it would allow for some of the live work units in Abacoa to become dispensaries if they wanted to and we weren't really uh supportive of putting dispensaries in residential areas so um but just wanted to make sure staff can get with her to explain what's going on and then maybe bring back for further discussion but I I still don't think the appetite is quite there for it so um and with that that's all I got thank you just one quick item uh I just wanted to share you know I had an opportunity this year uh to participate as mayor and also as a grandfather with take your child grandchild workday um staff did a wonderful job um I took an opportunity uh to challenge U the children that were there by offering them a gift to be determined everybody want to know what is it what is it um and I asked them to submit uh a report about what they gained from attending take your child to workday and what they learned about their parents job and I can tell you I was really delighted to read those they're really nice and uh particularly saying this for I know there's at least one parent here in the audience who's in in the chambers whose uh child did submit something and uh kudos to the parents who uh followed up and made sure they submitted because I've chosen to uh award all four um this is a personal uh thing my wife and I we a have awarded the four um children a gift card that they'll be getting so again I thank them it was delightful you know the passion they talked about their parents job this was and and the fun they were having which just was need to hear that anyway that's it the time is now at 10 10:14 we'll adjourn the meeting