##VIDEO ID:R6MbElGy-uc## [Music] um e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay welcome back to our uh just me or you budget hearing um uh ph9 physical um first physical year 2024 25 budget public hearing and we have Stephan Stephan Stefan it's late after 5:00 Stephanie merley I'm sorry Mr Donaldson or Stephan well I told you we should do shots after five anyway don't say that he's only kidding good evening I'm not um Stephanie merley director of The Office of management and budget here to present our fiscal year 2025 tenative budget public hearing our first public hearing of the workshop so as part of the truth and millage process the board is statutorily required to hold a first public hearing on the proposed budget and millage rates between 65 and 80 Days of the July 1 certification of taxable values provided by the property appraisers office and that is where we are currently where the little arrow is so the purpose of us being here today is we um the millage rates proposed today have been advertised via the trim notices that property owners received as a result of the budget Workshop that we held on July 22nd of this year the board is required to adopt a tenative budget via approval of resolutions for each taxing Authority's millage rate and corresponding budgets the substantive issue to be discussed shall be the percentage increase or decrease in millage over the roll back rate and the specific purposes for which adorm revenues are being increased as part of the trim process the adoption of the budget requires the contemplation of the rolled back rate which is the millage rate that would generate the same amount as the prior year's adorm tax revenues less any allowances for new construction in additions to the valuation so pursu pursuant to trim guidelines the county is permitted to have a mill rate cap of a total of 10 ms for the countywide taxing Authority as well as 10 mills for the cumulative Municipal Services taxing units or mstu as we call them the proposed rates for fiscal year 2025 are all within the maximum allowable per Florida State statutes the following are the military rates that were tentatively approved with the budget workshops I'm not going to read them all with each specific millage rate the roll back rate and a corresponding increase or decrease over the roll back rate will be recited with each resolution adoption all um our FY 2025 adorm impacts the total new Ador generated if the millage had remained constant over last year would have equated to just under 28 million but the County's actual Ador need based on the budgeted expenditures amounted to approximately 26.1 million which resulted in a reduction of the total millage rate from last fiscal year the adorm impacts are as follows on this table labeled budget driver and then the associated impact that we discussed in length at our budget Workshop so our FY 25 proposed millage rates overall the County's millage rate decreased by 366 for the countywide TA taxing Authority and 1.17% for the unincorporated Martin County which which comes to a total combined millage rate reduction of 624 per. our fy2 24 to fy2 budget summary so the following summary is a highlights the changes from FY 24 to 25 the County's taxable value increased overall by 20 10.04% yet the overall budget increased only 5.6% this budget includes one additional position for the BCC which the cyber security manager for it which we discussed at the budget workshop and the 12 positions cumulative cumulatively for all the Constitutional officers so finally the total total millage rate reflects reduction from 10.05 24 to 9.98 N7 as part of our our public hearing requirement the board must adopt the resolutions for tenative budget adoption the resolutions are not required to be read in full but must State the taxing Authority the roll back rate the percentage increase or decrease over the roll back rate in the millage to be levied for fy2 the board must also call for public comment to comply with the public hearing requirements and that's it for this presentation so if we'd like to call public comment now before reading the resolutions it' be the appropriate time to do so sure Conrad I can't read it you're G to have to help us out sure my name is Conrad zulaf I live in Palm City my wife and her family have been residents part-time at times and we've been full-time for quite a while since 1985 we don't believe the amount of overbuilding and construction that we are now being saddled to pay for through this tax increase it's just U astronomical the roads are crowded and now we're expanding all the facilities to and we are being settled with paying for all of this construction as taxpayers and I don't have much else to say about it but you know ourselves and many other residents here are tired of the constant tax increases that's all I have to say thank you a tax increase will you have a tax increase yeah okay uh Sarah Hernandez please sorry um it's my first time doing it I have take your time you're good um my name is Sarah Jessica Hernandez um I was Sarah Jessica black I am born and raised here in Martin County um I went to Felix short middle and Martin and um now I own a home in pal city um so we do have 5 acres and cattle and all that so um I'm big on a so bear with me here also never done this before um good evening esteemed members of the Martin County taxing Authority and fellow residents I stand before you today to address a matter of the utmost importance in our community the proposed increase in property taxes as we navigate the complexities of our growing County it is crucial that we carefully consider the implications of this decision on our residents and our future Martin County is in experiencing unprecedented growth our beautiful Community has become a beacon for new residents and businesses bringing with it natural expansion of our tax Base According to a recent census based on the internet our County's population has grown by approximately 10 % over the past decade new construction permits have increased by 15% year-over-year indicating robust development the organic growth is already generating substantial additional revenue for our County given these facts we must ask is a further increase in our property taxes necessary our homeowners should have shouldered the burden of consistent tax hikes year after year this proposed increase comes at a time when many are already struggling with Rising costs of living including groceries utilities health care I know we all know stagnant wages that fall to keep Pace with inflation and I understand we weren't closed down for covid-19 but it is still a huge impact um another tax increase could be the Tipping Point for many families forcing them to make difficult financial decisions or even consider leaving our beloved County I know I don't want to that's why I'm still here um now I propos A solution that could provide significant relief to many of our residents expanding the a exemption to include properties of 5 Acres or more regardless of commercial use this change could offer a tax relief to a broader range of home owners encourage the preservation of our green spaces within our County as we all know the state park Fiasco align with our community's values in supporting local Agriculture and maintaining our rural character this adjust to the a exemption policy could mitigate the needs for across the board tax increases while providing targeted relief to some of those who maintain larger properties excuse me as a resident I'm also a Florida licensed insurance agent I know don't don't shoot me I can attest to the crushing burden though of rising Insurance costs in our community many homeowners are facing double digigit increases ma'am your time is up thank you I'm [Laughter] sorry thank you okay anybody want to point out that we're not raising taxes or no we do it you want to go back to the slide which shows the amount of increase in taxes in Martin canning right now millit trates it's that's a reduction yes the look at it at 62% is the reduction in Martin County taxes that uh are real estate so I just wanted to make that that we can control exactly so uh with that moving on to the next step of this process which is the most exciting step are you ready I'm ready okay Commissioners um sure you ready ready all right uh the first resolution to be read uh board accouny Commissioners countywide taxing Authority uh roll back rate is 61603 percentage of increase over the roll back is 6.77 tentative millage rate to be set at 6 [Music] 5776 second second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I I motion passed unanimously and that was resolution a and we have 20 some more to go uh Item B uh resolution Item B uh border of County Commissioners countywide taxing Authority taxing Authority uh Board of County Commissioners fund total 287 M 6797 144 second motion by commissioner Smith second by by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes un unanimously uh item number C or letter number c uh taxing Authority District 1 mstu roll back rate 0660 increase percentage of increase over the roll back 8.18 tenative millage rate to be set at 0714 second motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously um item number number D uh District 1 mstu fund total $372,900 n I'm sorry $99 motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously resolution item e taxing Authority District 2 MST roll back rate 828 increase over the a percentage of increase over the roll back rate a reduction of 1.69 uh tenative millitary to be set at 0814 than motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner herd all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously uh item f is in Frank taxing Authority District 2 mstu fund total 215,000 even second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously resolution it item G uh taxing Authority District 3 mstu roll back rate 0377 percentage of increase over the roll back rate 7.16 tenative millage rate to be set at 0404 second Mo motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion carries unanimously item H taxing Authority District 3 mstu fund total 234,000 $514 second motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner herd all in favor all right motion passes unanimously item I taxing Authority District 4 mstu roll back rate 0527 percentage of increase over the roll back rate of reduction of 1.33 tend of millage rate to be set at 052 Zer second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I I motion passes unanimously item n item letter J taxing Authority District 4 mstu fund total $ 24,39 motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I I motion passes unanimously uh item letter K taxing Authority District 5 MST roll back rate 0754 a reduction of 2.52 millage rate to be tenative millage rate to be sent at 0735 five second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously item L um taxing Authority District 5 mstu fund total $370,000 even motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously item m is Mary taxing Authority special district A- 61 Hutchinson Island mstu roll back rate1 1814 percentage of increase over the roll back rate uh reduction of .50 tenative millage rate to be1 1805 motion by commissioner Smith second and by commissioner herd all in favor motion passes unanimously item n is Nancy taxing Authority special district -61 Hutson Island mstu fund total $392,000 second motion by commissioner seconded by commissioner herd all in favor motion passes unanimously item letter zero taxing Authority fire rescue mst1 Incorporated roll back rate 25071 percentage of increase over the roll back rate 6.41 tenative millage rate to be set at 2.66 77 second motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously letter P is in Peter taxing Authority fire rescue mstu unincorporated 76,7 15974 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor motion passes unanimously item uh Q is in Queen taxing Authority uh countywide mstu unincorporated storm water and road maintenance roll back rate. 5572 percentage of increase over the roll back rate 4.95 tentative millage rate to be set at 0 5848 second motion by commissioner Smith second and by commissioner herd all in favor I um motion passes unanimously item letter r is in Robert taxing Authority countywide mstu unincorporated storm water and road maintenance fund total $3,468 1110 motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I I I uh motion passes unanimously I item uh letter S as in Steve uh taxing Authority mstu Parks and Recreation roll back rate1 1520 percentage of increase over the roll back rate uh 5.0 tenative millage rate to be set at 0.596 no15 91596 I'm sorry motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously item letter T is in Tom taxing Authority mstu Parks and Recreation fund total uh 4, 36,000 uh $362 962 huh 962 962 God what's wrong with me sorry motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously item letter U as an utility non taxing fund General unincorporated fund fund total 7,478 , 494 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously item v is and Victor uh non-t taxing fund building and permitting fund total $1,782 th000 even second motion by commissioner Smith second and by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously letter or item letter number W uh uh what do we want to use for w Wilton non-t taxing fund impact fees fund total 5,258 se9 second motion by commissioner Smith second and by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously non- taxing fund special Revenue fund total 29,6 528 uh and that was item X as in xylophone second motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner herd all in favor motion carries unanimously non-t taxing fund item Y is in yellow um grants fund total $682,500 debt service fund total 8, 326,885 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously non- taxing fund item double A other capital projects fund total $3,462 385 second motion by commissioner Smith second and by commissioner herd all in favor motion passes unanimously move item doubleb non- taxing fund utilities Enterprise fund total $3,835 motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously move item Double C non- taxing fund Solid Waste Enterprise fund total 43,9 24, 920 thank motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously move item Double D on taxing fund Airport Enterprise fund total $2,711 4113 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion uh passes unanimously move item double e non-t taxing Fund Golf Course Enterprise fund total 3,458 49 Second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously move item dou F non- taxing fund internal service funds fund total 4,637 1992 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor motion passes unanimously move item double G trust funds non- taxing fund trust fund total $80,000 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion pass and last item Double H item Double H non-t taxing fund community redevelopment area trust fund total 8,711 th000 and or $ 71,2 second motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I motion passes unanimously and with that what the hell that um that concludes this first public hearing um for the fy2 budget you'll see see me again in two weeks to do the exact same thing all over again on September 24th at 50:05 p.m. okay and with that we'll wrap it up with commissioner comments got anything set I'm all set I'm all set you all set I'm set okay everybody set yeah thank you Commissioners with that we are ajour --------- ##VIDEO ID:0KpM5atHDEQ## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome back to our Board of County Commission meeting we will uh skip down to public hearing number eight because it is a 130 preset and it is 134 so uh public hearing to consider adoption of amendments to the article to article six of the Land Development regulation impact fees Mr Clyde Duan and Miss Lisa wixer doesn't look like Lisa W where the hell she she was here anyway thank you Mr chair members of the board um with me is Negan Camp our impact fee consultant uh so uh after I you know briefly touch on the fact that this is a proposed amendment to article six the Land Development regulations and we're proposing changes to the text to update it consistent with State statutes and proposing changes to the impact fee schedule uh I'll instead uh stop and uh defer to Negan so that she can perhaps give you an update or not an update but a summary of uh what impact fees are all about good afternoon Commissioners Neil Green Camp with Benish this is just sort of a refresher nothing that you haven't seen before but uh basically in terms of the background the county has been experiencing growth and the technical study for the impact fees current adopted impact fees was last updated in 2012 um so the purpose of the study is to bring everything up to date and reflect current uh data and it's focusing on those uh seven service areas ex so we are not updating schools but just the County fees uh impact fees by definition are onetime capital charge to new development they cover the cost of new capacity projects um they cannot be used directly for maintenance uh resurfacing operations but they do free up general tax dollars and indirectly help those programs they help implement the capital Improvement plans and capital Improvement elements uh their main purpose is to maintain the level of service they calculate the cost of growth and they are most needed when there are high growth levels and limited alternative funding the study is using what we call a consumption based methodology which is very common in Florida it charges New Growth based on the value of the infrastructure that is consuming and the way the fields are calculated we make sure that we are not charging new development at a level to correct any existing deficiencies they will basically generate just enough to uh enough revenues to uh address their growth needs and of course the study establishes the maximum uh technically calculated rates but the board always has the policy option to adopt them at a reduce percentage in terms of legal requirements impact uh impact fees were governed in Florida by case law for a long time and then in 2006 we had the impact fee Act pass and then it has several changes since then some of its key requirements are that the studies and the fees be based on most recent and localized data for any increases there's a minimum of 90-day requirement for implementation after adoption and if there's any challenge now the local governments have to show that their fees are correct instead of other side showing they are incorrect then in 2021 um we had a house bill pass that put some limits on how much the fees can be increased and how they need to be phased so if any increases up to 25% needs to be phased over 2 years any increases between 25 and 50% needs to be phased over four installments and the fees cannot be increased more than 50% and they cannot be increased more than once every four years there's an exception Clause that requires a study that shows extraordinary circumstances which would need to be discussed in two public workshops and be approved the increase above 50% needs to be approved by two3 of the governing body and then uh the basic impact fee formula looks at cost to add capacity so for most of the fees this is the value of the infrastructure what the community invested in any given infrastructure up to this point from that uh we subtract any other revenues that are coming from future development and will be used for the same infrastructure so that we are not charging them twice once through the fee once through the tax and then that net cost gets multiplied by demand which is measured in terms of travel for transportation and population for all the other fees so this slide is just showing you a total calculated fees for two three example land users and for single family home uh again just is just the county excluding schools it would be about 10,200 and current fees more about 8,000 and you you all provided the direction of using the capping so these will be all capped and I think those schedules are in your package so that just is a quick overview that if if I'll be happy to answer any questions commissioner um thank you for that can you go back that last slide please um does the school board have impact fees as well yes they do it's a separate schedule in the or in the ldr okay so I I just want to point out to everybody that it really not the county total calcul it is for the County Commission but there's like another 8 or 10,000 for the school board so it's really 20,000 for a single family house not 10 and to add to that commissioner division two of this of article six of the Land Development regulations deals with school impact fees and none of the changes we're proposing here today deal with that division of the ldr I appreciate that I just want the public to understand that when you look at that number somebody may say oh 10,000 that's not so bad until you write the check for a new home and it's really 20,000 that's all just I remember when my parents built their house in SS point and I always tried to understand exactly where they were going to get $220,000 worth of value out of their impact fees that they paid cuz s's point at least at that time wasn't having a lot of infrastructure needs one way or the other but they may not have paid County impact fees and s's Point s's Point might have had its own impact fees is that right municipalities have their own yes yes okay thank you um I'm probably going to ask a stupid question but what is square F SF is square foot GLA what is GLA oh gross leasable area just the retail category is measured by the um Institute of Transportation engineers in terms of the leas of area that's okay it would have bothered me forever if I would have not done that yeah okay any other questions do we have any public comment I have a commissioner comment knock yourself out just to reiterate the fact that these numbers have not changed in 14 years right this is 2012 was the last time this has been reviewed the the last time that the the whole feat schedule and the whole uh ldr was reviewed was back in 2013 there were some changes made in 2016 to add a conservation impact fee and to combine the library fees under one uh but yes as a as a whole it was 2013 thank you uh to add to the to presentation just a little bit there are as Negan just explained some of the fees are going to go up by maximum of 50% some will go up by less like 25% some will go down uh there will be some fees that actually go down like the small uh unit size for a single family residence of 800 square ft those fees actually go down and what we have in the um in the presentation materials is um uh that's not where I want to go um is are there are four schedules that show a 12 basically a 125% increase for uh the fees over a the course of four years uh the the 50% increase pardon 476 is the last the staff report thank you um the the fees will go up by approximately 125% as proposed in these in this uh work product for a maximum of 50% Over a four-year period so um you will not see a 50% increase on any fees uh next year and the fee schedules would bring it up uh would start January 1 2025 and then the next fee uh increase would be January 1 2026 and so on for a 4-year period um I do not can I get to the tables quickly 51 so there's the 2028 that's what the fee the schedule would look like on the fourth year uh and and so we've got four sections of figure 611 here uh so that it can be easily seen by all parties what it what the fee would be each year of the four years and then at the end of four years or near the end of the four years the board could initiate another study and do another um revision to the fee schedule if if the board so desires uh I can go into a lot more detail and discussion on this if you'd like but uh staff recommends approval of the proposed changes to the Land Development regulation and the fee schedules uh attached commissioner herd yeah um I I really feel sorry for incoming Commissioners who have to learn about impact fees these are so complicated and that our hands are so tied it's it's impact fees have always been very obscure for me but never never more than they are right now um are we going to look at the changes proposed in article six we certainly can I'll just go through the ones that I the the questions that I have I'm on page 485 6.9 D district and text no the new text okay um so there uh well explain explain 69d to me well the state statutory changes require the impact fees to be expended for Capital Improvements that would benefit uh that District or that where those fees were collected but there's an exception tell me about the exception uh as you correctly note the County engineer can make uh qualified improvements uh based upon documentation that the fees will be spent on those improvements is that Florida Statutes or is that us it's Florida statute that says that the county engineer can make the changes turn your microphone on please no the the uh the the statute is that you must spend the fees in uh the rational Nexus I think the uh in this particular case your the County's determination would be um using the County engineer um uh could submit a finding if it was going to be spent outside the the the um the immediate area so the concept is is that for instance if you had a development in um Jensen Beach that you would not be spending um funds on Island Way in in South County it's not a now if there was a regional facility that you were building on and for some reason and just please this is an example don't that if uh we were contributing to a 95 or something and it was benefiting the whole County you could make make it a determination but it's very difficult so the idea is under law is that you're with the the trips that the that the uh development is making the improvements that you're you're using those funds on have to be related to the people that are that are either traveling there or they originated there for if it's residential of course they're leaving and they're creating impact if it was some major um you know uh uh employment Hub and it's drawing people from different areas you you might have a a rational Nexus or a determination study that could say that hey I'm pulling a third of my trips are from people that live out of the county and therefore I can spend money on the western Corridor even though the project is in Cove Road so those are but in general the way it's written by laws you can't we have to program the fees that are collected for a project simply on coov Ro that benefits that on transportation systems that are are close by to it or that we can demonstrate have a um have trips are affected by that this just seems to toh negate the purpose of the impact fees being spent in The District in which they are raised I I also they they in in 6.9 E Impact fees can be used for uh repairs that's not creating new new capacity no impact Fe at all I I believe it says no impact fees shall be used for repairs oh okay good redoing um now I'm on page 487 um and I'm on uh 611b credits under number five uh crossed out is the requirement that the uh subject facilities are listed in the capital Improvement plan yes that why is why don't we want our projects to be listed one of the recent legal changes now the statue says you have to give new development Dollar by Dollar credit regardless of whether it's in your Capital Improvement plan whether you want the Improvement it just really um forces if it's in a state facility even if you're are not collecting for state roads basically anything they do they get full credit dollar for dollar Index to the value it really um kind of strengthened that language for the developer credits I'm I'm okay with that I'm not okay with doing away with the requirement that it be listed in the Capital Improvements project well even if it's not listed the county has to give credit so that's why it got stricken yeah that's one of yeah something is it really messes up the capital Improvement plans yeah it does okay next one is on page 489 uh number 10 uh impact fee credits are assignable and transferable from one property to another in the same impact fee District or an adjacent District that receives benefits blah blah blah really yes is that a a state requirement yes yes well that's just ridiculous you should run for governor yeah yes or something state senator you're just trying to get me out of here you and I are stuck together at least for the next two years if not longer that's right maybe four make the motion to accept I'm move staff's recommendation for approval I will second it okay we have any public comments in this public hearing no public comment so we have a motion by commissioner heard seconded by commissioner we got to just go ahead can't be all in favor I all opposed be like that for when you all write the check for a new house you come back and tell me how fair the impact fees are well I have I have an observation commissioner Smith and something that I learned is that if you bulldoze your house that's on your lot you don't have to pay impact fees yeah you've already paid your impact yep as long as your capacity is the same unless you increase capacity inre cap doesn't matter you can have a 100q foot house and if you build a 5,000 foot house on your lot you don't pay impact fees y helpful hint for everybody who's considering moving or bulldozing buy a shed on a large piece of property okay so got some friends here from out of town this is all for you God so anyway um motion passes 4 to one with commissioner Smith dissenting who would have thought it okay we have a 2:00 preset but we can can we squeeze in um absolutely number six thank you consultant is always a wonderful job thanks legislative public hearing Samantha love lady as well so fantastic please continue you might get the why' you get no mention um legislated public hearing to consider transmittal of evaluation and appraisal report based based comprehensive plan Amendment Preamble and text Amendment Mr Duan uh thank you members of the board this is a uh mostly a housekeeping changes that uh have been prepared uh I'll go quickly to the uh summary and the staff report uh the local planning agency recommended approval 31 on August first um there are several minor changes uh made to the to the chapter um the residential Capacity Analysis changed that was I noted in section 1.7 C we discussed at the LPA and it's due to the fact that the Indiantown urban service District uh changed when the Indian town community de annexed the little ranch estate's property so uh we just made a small change there to note that uh that property that that would be added to or included in our residential Capacity Analysis calculation I'd like to introduce to you our new senior planner Jenna Nai uh we're very happy to have Jenna come on board uh she's been a big help already in the time she's been here and I'm going to go ahead and let her finish the discussion on chapter one thank you Clyde good afternoon Commissioners welcome thank you uh as Clyde said my name is Jenna Obby senior planner with the growth management department and as with many of these other proposed ear-based amendments much of this is housekeeping so some minor proposed amendments for chapter 1 include section 1.7billion um remove reference to the Indiantown urban service district and clarify that Parcels within Incorporated municipalities are not included in the housing unit demand projection for unincorporated Martin County the same similar proposed amendment is for Section 1.7 C residential capacity calculations to uh remove reference to the Indiantown urban service district and clarify that parcel within Incorporated municipalities are not included in residential capacity calculations for unincorporated in unincorporated Martin County Section 1.7 C is also being revised to change the existing 15-year planning period language to now specify a 20-year planning period language and this is consistent with Section 163 3177 of FL statute and the remaining changes in chapter one are simply renumbering sections for um Corrections and clarification so staff recommends that we continue this public hearing to October 22nd and we are available for any questions that you may have now you can breathe good job excellent job sorry I thought that this was going after the 2:00 preset so I sprinted over here you're among friends here you don't don't need to be nervous we're all good apologies and if you make a mistake commissioner next you don't worry commissioner herd um so the changes for the planning Horizons are changed because of of the state statutes to 20 yes that's correct aren't we planners in this develop rapidly developing State um and and my other question is Parcels within Incorporated municipalities are not included in the residential capacity Cals or the project projections for housing demand did we used to count the the uh municipalities no but the the situation that we talked about with little Ranch Estates and Indian Town required that we we make it abundantly clear we're not calculating the urban the um areas that are in municipalities but did we ever no okay all right for clarifying existing plan policies motion to continue this item sometime after 9:00 a.m. on October [Music] 22nd any public comment on this public hearing seeing none we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner herd all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously how about U that was my welcoming public hearing number seven can you squeeze that in in the next four minutes if you want let's do it all right yeah she's like thank God I'm out of here get her some oxygen uh members of the board uh this is the oh I was supposed to read it but I'm sorry go legislative public hearing to consider transmittal of evaluation and appraisal report based comprehensive plan Amendment 24-7 Recreation element a text Amendment this element has the fewest changes of any element that we are working on uh we consulted with Parks and Rec St and they actually um suggested the changes that you see in this proposed element U there's some minor minor changes about um park facility planning to reference the uh master plan for the parks department and um I think there's an extension in their in their planning period for um for planning uh parks to move it out to like a 10-year period or and actually probably by Statute now even farther out so um staff recommends this item be continued to October 22 um and I'll be happy to answer any questions W that was great yeah you'd fit that right in that not necessarily got to grab the edge of the bar Clyde oh commissioner I didn't see your L I'm sorry I'm on page 459 at the bottom of the page under future needs and it says the county will encourage planned unit developments to provide provide active Park Land Based on current levels of service I will never encourage anyone to do puds I hate [Laughter] them uh it used to say dris also and we we struck that yeah I think that puds are extremely unfair any other questions for staff do we have any uh public comment saying none [Music] will'll move that we continue this item till 9:00 a.m. or after on October 22nd second geez want to give commissioner Smith a chance I gotta get used to this okay um have a motion by commissioner um Hetherington seconded by commissioner campy all in favor all opposed oos motion carries 4 to one because it has puds um commissioner herd dented thank you with that it's 2 o'cl Dot and Miss Tammy that's how we run the county at 2:00 preset 2:00 on it huh department number five consideration of a resolution encouraging power system manufacturing to submit an application for an adval tax exemption in accordance with State and county law Mr George stokus good afternoon Mr Chair George stokus assistant K mare behind me is uh a bevy of uh bdb representation as well as uh PSM or Power Systems manufacturing before you is a a non-binding resolution that's a first step of three to allow for uh Power Systems manufacturing to apply for to apply not actually get it yet but to apply for an economic development ADV valarm exemption in accordance with chapter 71 Article 13 General ordinances of your code section 196 decimal 1995 of the FL State Statute Power Systems Manu ufacturing uh intends to occupy a 185,000 ft manufacturing facility located off of caner Highway also affectionately known as the south Florida Gateway industrial park they are proposing 10 one jobs at 36% above the average earnings in Martin County for an average salary of 36% above well 36% above 36% above 100% yes 36% above 100% 101 new high wage jobs um I do have one scribers therea that I do need to have the board accept while we're uh considering this um again this resolution does not obligate the board of County Commissioners to approve or in any way guarantee an ADV valorum tax exemption will be granted uh Power Systems is here to answer any questions you may have however they will be applying for this tax exemption for the tangible personal property tax which is the taxes taxed on equipment that they purchase between January 1st and March 1st and they are planning to the average wage by the way is 74,4 129 and the County's average wage is 54801 as well as they are planning to buy approximately $1.3 Million worth of tangible personal property equipment by December 31st in 2029 I want to scroll to the resolution to show everyone in TV Land including yourselves where I made a mistake and I will have to pay my wife CU I made a mistake in number four Power Systems manufacturing plants to locate a new I wrote Aerospace power generation because I'm a pilot it should actually read Aerospace and power generation not uh uh one they're not creating jet engines they're creating Aerospace and power generation and with that I'm more than happy happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time any questions for staff commissioner campy not necessarily for staff are we going to hear from the applicant or if if they would like to come on up if you want introduce themselves you could sit you could do whatever makes you most comfortable uh I'm John Pere I'm vice president and general Council of power system manufacturing uh PSM actually began in Stewart uh about 25 years ago uh we had since moved to uh the North End of Palm Beach County in juper and have been there ever since we're out growing the facility there we will still be there we're going to grow here for our existing power generation gas turban business manufacturing and engineering design uh and additionally um Aviation and Aerospace engines as uh Mr Stoke has pointed out can you you said that you were in Steward 25 years ago how long how old is the company uh the company began in 1999 and so we are celebrating our 25th year this year okay great fantastic homegrown Martin County coming from P to roou well I would tell you that U your timing is perfect because um at least in my world uh I plan on focusing on additional Industries and um industrial companies manufacturers people that can employ our residents knock down some of the travel time and the road traffic that's required when people live out of the county and work in the county or live in the county and have to go somewhere else so uh it' be my pleasure first to welcome you and secondly to accept staff's recommendation yes I'll second it okay thank you sir thank you and with that we do have a public comment um that has been sitting here very patiently Tammy and I've already forgot her last maoda nope no yeah that's about it would you please correct your name for the U mot Samy Mota yeah I just have I think everything sounds great it sounds like a great thing to have a facility up here my question about the employment um how many of these 101 people are actually going to be employed from Martin County and how many are going to be transferred up from the Jupiter area I think it's kind of an important question to know how many people are going to be commuting up here to a new facility for you compared to how many people you are employing from Martin County itself this is not really public comment is kind of a one-way deal it's not really we can okay if staff has the ability or the the um applicant has abity that's fine cuz that was more of a question I get you so basically then you know my comment is that it's great that they are bringing this up here but if they're not going to employ the actual Martin County residents maybe it should be a looked at a little better and figure out something a little bit better for Martin County and tap tax taxpayers so that's it thank you Mr chair if you would like I can answer the question the these are 101 new jobs okay not being transferred these are new jobs to Martin County um unfortunately we cannot make them hire Martin County residents get that um I mean almost a lot of our work force comes from St Lucy County and that I don't know what else to how else they answer that they're new jobs they're new jobs but that being said most employers not specifically saying these employers but most employers having people that live closer to where they work correct and we have a talented job pool so I mean I would imagine that they would attempt to hire locally and while we're talking about that that that is done through we we are check when when they when you go through so the next two steps will be they will submit their their state form to the property appraiser who will then analyze their form based on the tangible personally property that they've purchased and then they'll come back before this body I believe after March I I I want to thank legal they've helped me greatly through this process as well as the bdb they'll come back before this body for approval and then as a part of you adopting that ordinance there are checks in place where we will check payroll and make sure they're doing the jobs we we we that it's not just we're trusting their word I know it sound I think they're very trustworthy by the way but there will be checks and balances it's not just giving away uh this exemption so commissioner Smith I think a way that uh everybody that's listening to this should think about this type of Industry um Aerospace um at least in my manufacturing background tends to be generational uh a lot of uh parents that are in the industry that have raised kids uh tend to gravitate to the same kind of industry uh hopefully anyway um The Reach Center was something that we thought about a very long time ago to start considering the aging out of our Aerospace employees uh knowing that probably 10 years ago we were seeing a major aging out period And so hopefully as part of this um this company and others can take advantage of certainly the Reach Center and and its capacity but also the longstanding Aerospace industry that's been in Martin County which I suspect is part of the reason why they would come back here in the first place because there is a long understanding history of it all and it's generational and I I think that sets us up very very well for having the continuation of that kind of employment um and so I best wish you the best of luck that it goes the way we'd hope it would go and it'll be Welcome to our community okay we have a motion by commissioner campy I think we have a second by commissioner you yes it okay heatherington all in favor I all opposed no motion passes unanimously thank you thank you thank you very much okay back to um the schedule here um Department quasi judicial number one request plat approval for the 95 Riverside plan unit development um which commissioner hates on phase four project you don't have to say that on say it out loud it out loud anyway n27 d014 this is an example how we have fun up here and we don't take ourselves too seriously so and it is um going to be presented by John Senate there he is got it finally yes that's you this is quasi judicial proceeding so excited about the name I was so excited I got your name right okay do we uh for one Let's uh say do we have any expart if I do they're filed if any of they been filed if any of them been filed no parte no parte if I have any they've been filed okay uh would you please stand and be sworn in Raise Your Right hands do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth do we have any interveners no interveners and no notice needed and all the paperwork has been and no yes I'm turning in my uh history and the agenda item to be filed as exhibit one I think I got it all thank you all right I'm John Senate senior planner with growth management thank you Mr chairman good morning good afternoon Commissioners I'm presenting the 95 Riverside PUD phase 4 plaid application this is a request by hja Design Studio on behalf of py Home company the 95 Riverside PUD phase 4 plat is to be consistent with the phase 4 final site plan which contains 98 single family town homes on an approximately 12.4 Acre Site the phase 4 final sight plan was originally approved in November of 2023 minor technical changes were required to the phase four final site plan to achieve consistency with the plat the applicant has requested release and termination of existing access easements these easements are no longer needed as alternative access is being provided within the plat phase four of the 95 Riverside PUD is located at 7439 Southwest Los River Road on the northwest corner of Southwest caner Highway and Southwest L River Road in Stewart just east of the 95 interchange this is an example sheet from the proposed phase 4 revised final site plan showing the layout of the fee simple Town Homes the storm water tracks and the internal roadways this is an example sheet from the plat prepared by Coffield and Wheeler laying out the fee simple lot Lines review of plats is not required by the local planning agency final action on this application is required by the board of County Commissioners in a public meeting pursuant to table 10.5 F9 Martin County ldr development review staff have found the application to comply with all applicable regulations in the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the attached staff report therefore staff recommend approval of the 95 Riverside PUD phase 4 plat staff recommended action is to move the board receive and file the agenda item and all attachments including the staff report as exhibit one move that the board approve the 95 Riverside PUD phase four plat and phase four revised final site plan including the contract for construction of required improvements and infrastructure and move that the board approve the release and termination of access easement and release and termination of pedestrian access easement and authorize the chairman to sign any and all documents necessary to complete the transaction that concludes my presentation I'm here for any questions any questions for staff commissioner herd yeah I some a public speaker this morning uh said that this was an inappropriate uh addition to our uh development in Martin County and this is a very old planned unit development it was first approved in uh 1987 and as I recall uh what was approved for where the now the town homes are being uh constructed was two Office Buildings 200,000 square feet of Office Buildings is that am I remembering this right yeah it was it was a use that was just so Antiquated and so wrong and so unsellable and so inappropriate and incompatible so if people think that this is is uh inappropriate it's not nearly as inappropriate as the approved use on this property was this will these will actually be those Town Homes will sell like hot cakes I agree I remember when this agenda item first came it was really like night and day between what was originally U allowable there commissioner herd's right it was hundreds of thousand excuse me hundreds of thousands of square feet of office and commercial space that was going to generate thousands of traffic trips and this was much uh less impactful than what would have been there uh when we hear from the applicant I'd like to ask a question okay um the applicant have a presentation or would like to speak to us that'd be great good afternoon commissioner Michael Houston with the hga design studio those were great comments and right on the money I've been driving by that since 1987 88 um we do not have a presentation but we just wanted to express our appreciation for the work staff's done Project's moving along you can tell when you drive by there it will be in nice addition to that PUD perfect commissioner campy Mr Houston um we saw the plan there um not putting a gun to your head any idea what the range of pricing is for these I you know this Market is so hard to say um it changes all the time but I think commissioner herd's comments but Hot Cakes is going to be accurate it's such a convenient location for so many reasons just wondering not that you know we're trying to Market them I think they'll sell on their own just I in my mind when we're thinking about what we approve and don't approve or doesn't even get to the point where it's comes before us is I'm trying to contemplate the different price ranges you know we're still having conversations about quote unquote affordable or essential housing which are lower price points these will probably be a stage up from that but they're not I would assume they're not6 700,000 Town Homes yeah so they fill and there's a hundred of them or 908 how many are there 98 so approximately 100 uh that will not necessarily solve a problem but it'll it'll solve a problem for 98 families so I appreciate it yeah and it's got a nice amenity package the river will finally be seen from here I saw the lake was Park um you know a lot of the things that we left the existing trees in place that as you came around the corner there those trees were left and lit at night I remember the the time it was presented it was a good package thank you denied no was just okay do we have any public comment seeing none back to the board move approval second well we have a motion by motion made by commissioner heard heard wow you can put that on a sign in front of the place my God motion by commissioner herd seconded by commissioner campy all in favor I all oppos motion carries unanimously thank you Commissioners thank you John Senate yep Michael Houston okay department number one office of uh management and budget items which require board approval Miss merly look I'm wearing two pins also good afternoon Commissioners um Stephanie merley here to go over this week's om item which only has 10 items this week oh yeah scaling back our first item is a permission to apply for the Florida Department of Transportation public transportation Grant agreement for the fy2 section 5311 non-urbanized area formula funds for operating assistance the public works department is requesting um permission to apply for $176,800 a grant contract in the amount of $60,000 to spawn grow and release two species of clams the grant requires a local match of $2,000 but we will be contributing an additional 40 to for the whole project cost and these funds are budgeted within the Indian River Indian River Lagoon Estuary restoration CIP sheet item number three is a permission to accept the Florida Department of Environmental Protection FD P Grant for the St Lucy Inlet management plan implementation project our Coastal Division is requesting um acceptance of $3.1 million for construction costs related to the north bypassing project for the St Lucy Inlet management plan there is a match of 3.1 that is required and that is programmed within our St Lucy Inlet management plan CIP sheet item number four is a permission to accept the FD grant for the Martin County Shore protection project Coastal is requesting acceptance of a grant in the amount of $199,300 for the design and permitting of the shore protection project at the Hutchinson Island fourmile beach project Grant match of $234,300 thanks great item number five is a permission to accept the FTE grant for another Martin County Shore protection project cil's requesting the acceptance of $2.6 million for the north bypassing project construction cost for the St Lucy Inlet management plan what's the difference between three and five two oh sorry that was a math oh so the one project is the uh so we we are the local sponsor for two Federal projects the one is the uh uh North or the Hudson Island Shore protection project which goes from the county line to um uh south of Stewart Beach and the other is the St Lucy Inlet and our Inlet management plan where we bypass sand to uh either north or south and this is related to the inlet management plan but so three and five are the same project 87 three was yes I think yeah well why is it two separate grants there 1 so it's $5.7 million but it's broken down into 2.6 and 3.1 this is it's the same project right so one of them is uh monitoring that on goes goes on for several years so that would be a multi-year grant and the other one was actually for I think construction bypassing thanks so that Grant has approximately a $2.6 million match which is also programmed within our Inlet management CIP where would you fly item number six is permission to accept the Centers for Disease Control drug-free communities grant our human services division is requesting the grant acceptance of $125,000 for the year five of funding to support the goals of the Martin County Community Action Coalition work Group which focuses on youth substance youth substance use prevention um there is an inine Grant match of 125,000 for the 5year period which is through a combination of Staff time and Coalition member time for this grant item number seven is a permission to accept the Federal Transit Administration section 5307 urbanized formula grant um this is a grant award in the amount of $1.1 million and this is to provide operating and capital assistance funds to the Martin County public transit service um the grant includes 400,000 for the purchase of a replacement bus and there is a grant match of 502,000 required which is a combination of the state public transportation block grant of 335,000 as well as our County match of 166,000 from our Transit operating budget that's where I'll stay right there item number eight is a permission to accept the e911 state grant for call taker console refresh um this is a capital project that's happening at the EOC this is to accept a grant Award of $452,900 for the Martin County Sheriff's Office e911 console and it it enables the county to upgrade the consoles for call takers in the EOC there's no Grant match required item number nine is a permission to accept the e911 state grant for smart transcription um the Martin County Sheriff's Office e911 is requesting acceptance of a grant Award of $447,900 GIS data services the e911 division of Martin County Sheriff's Office is requesting um acceptance of a grant Award of $350,500 that will bring our County's GIS data and master street address guide up to 98% accuracy level to improve the delivery of 911 services to our residents and visitors and there's no Grant match required and that is my last item on OMB today okay any questions for Stephanie Blue staff's recommendation a okay we have a motion by commissioner herd seconded by commissioner heatherington because I heard her first and um all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously contracts that meet the threshold of the board approval of $1 million or greater Mr Miss Christy Brotherton good afternoon Christy Brotherton Chief procurement officer uh we have two items for your consideration this afternoon uh the first contract is for the pal City to landfill and transfer station administration building construction um let's see staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder which is one call Florida in the amount of 2,195 [Music] 27.50 um and then move that board approve a CIP modification three move that the board approve a budget transfer of $1,850,000 from Project number 49 four which is relocation of recycling to project number 4015 admin building construction and last move that the board authorize the County administrator or designed to execute all documents related to this request and the next item is a contract for US1 and Southeast Constitution Boulevard intersection improvements uh staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder which is car Construction in the amount of 1,769 7444 and move that the board authorize the County administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this request and that concludes this item commissioner heatherington I was just going to say I'd like to see when we have seven biders bidding on projects that's that's phenomenal so commissioner Smith competition is good um to the second item constitu Boulevard um uh a former employee who's now helping us on the side uh when we struggled to figure out how we got constitutional Boulevard a traffic light on US1 uh and we were doing the project with MacArthur um and we were trying to figure out exactly how we could move some RightWay around and their access road around and Lisa wixer came up with the idea of taking that piece of that inter C in moving it further south so that we could align it with constitutional Boulevard which gave us the ability to have a um warrant approval or warrant study approval So Lisa thank you for your um knowledge and ability to make all that happen for the residents down there now if we can just do South River yes where's Constitution Bridge we all said at the same time we've been talking about that for years when they built the uh it's now where that were that uh Dollar Store store Dollar General that's when we started to talk about that Dollar General just celebrated 10th anniversary done it I would also say you know in In fairness to MacArthur played a major role in getting that alignment taken care of as well with their construction entrance and now converting it into a an access road so um to them as well thank you for all that for our residence should make the most appr second okay motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner heatherington all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously department number four approval of collective bargaining agreement between Martin County and Teamsters Local 769 for up upcoming three-year term and it's the Heather and Matt show good afternoon Commissioners uh M Graham assistant County Administrator joining me today is Heather danan our risk management HR um director so we began negotiations this year with the team search collective bargaining that's obviously why we're here and seeking your approval um but before we began negotiations we had three key Concepts that we wanted to accomplish with this contract one was to be financially responsible two was the Recruitment and Retention of top talent and three our commitment to no millage increase so we began negotiations in November of 2023 um with the teamsters and an overwhelming majority of the teamsters voted for this 98% of them we believe that this contract strikes the perfect balance between addressing the needs of the employees as well as addressing the needs of the County's Recruitment and Retention efforts so one with financial responsibility every term of this contract was thoroughly analyzed by our budget Division and we worked with them uh within the constraints of our budget and we also believe that this budget is sustainable the second item is for Recruitment and Retention of top talent you heard from our department directors during the budget Workshop that Recruitment and Retention was a concern of theirs and we're hoping that this contract will address that during 2020 to 2022 even upwards to 23 we had record inflation High turnover and we believe this is the last step in addressing our Recruitment and Retention issues the HR department has done a great job you heard from Heather and Tim on some of the programs that they implemented but again we believe this is the last step to address it and then finally with our commitment to no millage increase um when we met with the teamsters they understood that any proposal that they had that there would not be an increase to our millage they originally came in with a 12% increase I think I heard today somebody commented that we were getting 12% increases that's not what we're here for today we're here for a 6% increase or $2.50 per hour whichever is greater for year one and for years two and three we're asking for a 6% increase or $150 per hour whichever is greater again so this contract will address our recruitment retention issues we believe it's sustainable it meets our financial responsibility and the staff is recommending the following move that the board approved the collective bargaining agreement between Martin County and Teamsters Local 769 effective October 1 2024 through September 30th 2027 we're also asking that the board approved the same salary adjustments for the teamsters for our HRM employees our County Administrator and County attorney for fiscal years 2025 2026 and 2027 and then finally we're asking that the sick leave provision that we included in the collective bargaining agreement for the teamsters also be included in our HR manual and be available for our County attorney and County Administrator so that concludes my presentation and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have any questions for staff I believe there's no questions for staff okay do we have any well I would just so that the folks at home home don't wonder why there's no questions for staff we have had the opportunity to meet individually and since this was a labor negotiation we were able to meet privately as a group one of the very few times that we're able to and ask questions and and speak through some of these ideas and then I had I think all of us had our own followup so it's not like we're sitting here just blindly agreeing to whatever the staff is putting in front of us this has been a long process I appreciate the efforts of of our Union and the representatives that represented their co-workers um because that's not easy and to have a 98% uh acceptance rate from the rank and file I think is appropriate and also our Teamsters represent the folks our employees um that a majority of the residents see they're the ones that are out there in the community doing the work on weekends on holidays at night in the rain uh emergencies things that happen when you hear hey you know there was a water leak or hey there was a a car ran through some traffic signaling equipment it's these members these men and women that are the ones that come out so they're like lifting up the county at this level so I personally feel they are more than deserving of the salaries uh increases that were given that we are discuss discussing today and I appreciate our internal team for helping put it together I think you have someone wants to talk from the Union Yes afternoon all right uh good afternoon Commissioners uh my name is Chuck Tomy I represent the teamsters here in Morton County proudly represent them I got to compliment you all for putting a great team together uh negotiations as we started as uh Matt stated uh November uh almost a year uh we knew we needed to get started early um the previous contract um of inflation uh was more than what they're making so a lot of the members were in a worse financial position uh through the pandemic and this contract we knew was going to be a little more expensive than they had been in the past and uh with Matt and their team and Heather um with the Matt being previously lead negotiator and our previous negotiations and Heather stepped up to this time and the rest of your staff and with Don's help and your attorney uh the negotiations went smoothly uh and as Matt said U we met at Middle Ground we met at a at an area where it's good for the county it's good for the your employees it's a it's a good deal for everyone here at hand and uh we're just looking for your support as you said these are the guys out there in the heat making sure the lights are on that it it's nice and cool in here the street lights are working and you know you don't have a backed up sewer at night or a broken main so they're your hardworking Teamsters uh we appreciate your support hold on one minute when when he's finished oh okay we're good all right thank you commissioner Smith yeah just a a side comment there have been years there have been negotiations where there were outside uh individuals involved in pulling our contracts together and they didn't go so well and we have a remarkable team on both sides that have done great work so thank thank you for all that you do to make these things happen and with that I would move staff's recommendation second okay we have a motion by is there any more public comment no no there is I think motion is commenting on this are you commenting on this particular item or just okay that's we'll get to you in just a sec let's finish this sorry before she walks all okay we got a motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner heard uh all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously thank you you all right thank you and with that now we go to our oh do we do our F how do we do this oh we have he's coming back with the item from the we have one I you uh commissioner herd brought up a um a uh uh a project that is requesting um um I guess it's in the public comment phase of uh of a a draft the EP uh consideration for a permit and uh Mr Gorton is going to bring us up the datea where it is and what this is about thank you Jim Gordon Public Works director um this morning during uh commission comment it was brought up about a um permit to dredge an area associ with the Riverwalk Community which I wasn't familiar with because it's not in Martin County so Riverwalk is this community right here um Martin County the line is right here and this is our impoundment uh mosquito impoundment in Jensen Beach so there're are neighbors directly north of us and this community has proposed to dredge um the Open Water Area in this vicinity here um the reason that uh some of our residents are concerned about that is because that same area that they're proposing to dredge has a conservation easement across it so that conservation easement limits their ability to do certain things in there one of them is dredging the the conservation easement does allow for them to apply for a permit to dredge which is what they have done um but they've Al it also limits their ability to use motorized vehicle gas powered boats in that conservation easement area so they've requested did two things one is to dredge the area shown on the previous image and the second thing is to eliminate that requirement in their conservation easement to allow for gasoline operated engines to run in this kind of Natural Area that exists right there so there are some um docks that exist around this community and think have boats real quick that the area that you pointed is actually they dredged that wasn't that the issue years ago it was dredged to create the community without a permit is that as I understand correct so I'm just getting up to speed on it so I don't have all of the history on it but it does appear that the conservation easement was created because of some environmental issues that occurred during development associated with dredging and removal of mangroves in that area so that's why D required that conservation easement to even exist um not in our County not in our County it's directly adjacent to our County um we actually do drain into that so our empowerment has some pipes that drain into this area and that's one of the areas that we um discharge from our empowerment um in addition to the major discharges which go directly into the river so there's really would be two questions that that we'd be looking for board approval to create a letter um which would be do do we uh want to address the changes to the conservation easement as far as um allowing motorized vessicles that operate on uh gas or diesel and then the second thing is the is the dredging um so it's about it's about a foot and a quarter deep at the shallowest spot right now in that channel they're proposing to go down to 2 and 1/2 ft there are some seagrasses in there they've uh uh I spoke with the DP today about it and they have modified their design to um not get into the area with the seagrasses and they also are not going to impact mangroves with the dredge project um DP is close to issuing a permit so if we're going to uh send a letter it needs to happen this week for sure misser hurt I I am am still all in favor of protecting conservation easements there's a good reason why there's a conservation easement on this on this property and it's because they did unpermitted dredging so to reward them by allowing them to uh amend their conservation easement so that they can do more dredging is I think in um contempt of the easement that's been put on there so I I would still favor uh writing a letter to D asking them not to permit the dredging commissioner Smith yeah I would add that uh gosh probably 15 17 years ago uh we went after the 92 Acres I think that make up the Northern end of this parcel to acquire um and um I think that was a really great thing for us to do it's a really unique um interesting area in both our side and their side St Lucy County side um I know that we have had some issues a couple of years ago with the how we drain the mosquito impoundment ditches and so on in there and so the only thing I guess I would recommend when I heard it discussed this morning is that everybody fully understands the ramifications Pro or con relative to what they want to do relative to how it may help our situation on our side of the equation given that the mosquito empowerment ditches and what's all involved in that 92 Acres um gets the best chance we we and and Jim maybe you can because I'm not I'm a little bit not 100% sure on on what did happen when we wiped out a whole bunch of that impoundment area a couple years back when we over flooded it or something ended up happening there that probably wasn't the best thing in the world and the mangroves are starting to recruit back at the southern end if you go go out Jensen Beach Causeway you can kind of look to the north and see at the southern end of this all of this area uh what happened in there but I just I would I would I would just Express caution relative to us objecting if D in St Lucy County come to an agreement on on how best to manage that whole area it may be somewhat in our interest relative to our mosquito empowerment program I don't know yeah that's why I brought up that we we do have a pipe that discharges in there and if that channel if this channel right here ever completely um filled in then we would have a problem on the north end of our impoundment because that's how we drain that and that is what happened during the hurricane is we had too much water fresh water in the impoundment and that's what killed the red mangroves on the south end of the empowerment we have since made some changes to our impoundment we've created new outfalls and we've also done some dredging ourselves to make that drain a little bit better um but um so we wouldn't want this channel to completely fill in over time so at some point it's going to need to be maintained commissioner C I tend to agree with commissioner herd in this case however and I would have to rely on your U opinion Mr Gordon are we being unneighborly and will there be times when we're needing favors across the county line from St Lucy or Port St Lucy and they're going to remember that we were not interested in helping them now oh Mr Donaldson's got an answer for that so this is not an issue between uh County jurisdictions it's the private Community or the and and the D so I don't think there's anything issue with that I don't think there's any problem too with the Cy's making a stance saying that you don't like the amendments to conservation easements they need to be carefully considered or or shouldn't be changed at all so I think that that's just my input that's what we wanted okay did you make a mo M herd yeah I'm just looking at this areial and it looks to me like the The Dredge was completed in order to create the spoil upon which these buildings are sitting is that what I'm looking at or to make water makes them all waterfront that's imag that's the theory we're operating on I don't have that confirmed yet that's what it looks like here it's it's pretty homogeneous in the entire area so it's it looks to me like it's 100% mangroves and they dredged the mangroves in order to create spoil in order to put these buildings on allegedly well why don't we just leave it that we know that the conservation easement was a result of a violation okay how old are these homes uh it looks like it occurred in the '90s and then the conservation easement was edited in 2003 was the most recent update to that so yeah in the early 90s is when it appears that was constructed commiss Smith I guess the only thing I would add relative to our relationship with our Northern County uh it was brought up this morning out in the central northern part of our County the discussion of how we have connections between our counties and whether this is a private application or not it's still in someone else's County and I think if Martin County were proposing something and that which has happened in the past and other Counties have stepped in and offered their opinion we didn't think too much about that but I just I I am more conscious about the 92 acres and how the impacts relative to our side of the county will be affected one way or the other Pro or con that we somehow make sure that we were able to manage our side of the the county line appropriately I I tend to agree we stand our own Lan this is not huh this is not really if they do this does it adversely affect our property or our interests it won't directly impact the impoundment so um the only thing would be if that completely sh in it would negative so it would actually potentially benefit us it take quite a bit siment for that to occur though my point is this is not this is out of our jurisdiction we should stay out of their business and call a d anyway commission heard yeah I'll make a motion to uh send a letter of opposition to the D for the for to amend the uh conservation easement to allow dredging commissioner as well as the um gasoline powered operation okay as much as I would like to support my colleague I think the evidence that I've heard and the information that I've heard from our staff and my colleagues uh don't allow me to Second her motion at this time I think that some of the information tips the scale for me to stay in my yard I apologize agree I agree but I know you're making a point as well want to protect conservation may I make a suggestion could could indan River Lagoon Council perhaps I don't know that they would pass a resolution but could we well you're saying this has to happen this week as far as the dredge permit so what they've done is they've broken the two permits they originally was applied as one permit for the dredge and the change for the gasoline operated vessels um they've broken that into two The Dredge appears that it's imminent as as far as uh issuing that permit and then the uh gasoline powered vessels it will take a little bit more time because that's a bigger ask than the dredging because in in the conservation easement it does allow for applying for a dredge permit so the the two that one's going to happen very soon and then the other the conservation eement modification to allow for the gasoline operated vessels is the one that might take a little bit more time for them to review tell them we're watching so we are taking no action is that the idea well there's a motion that it fails for a lack of a second right you'd have to announce oh um we do not have a second so that motion seems to fail Jim thank you for coming up with all of that so no action means no we're not correct we're staying out of their business yeah it's a lot of good information though okay so we have now reached the end of our original agenda except for our 505 budget meeting so we have somebody that would like to do 55 uh public comment so I I would assume it's appropriate to do it now absolutely Miss Williams would you like to come up and speak to us all right take your time cuz we have two and a half hours to kill two hours to kill yeah you could stop every 15 minutes if you two hours two hours and 15 minutes hi Commissioners my name is lever Williams thank you thank you for letting me speak um I apologize first for not doing my research to make sure that my comment now is applicable for this day I apologize for the last meeting for not speaking when I should have spoke when you did talk about the issue at hand and thirdly thank you for all that you all do I appreciate you all I am representing today the citizens who makes who who make use of the disadvantaged transportation um I'm asking if you can consider us when you do your budgeting if it's not done already for the $150,000 I'm praying and hoping that that would be at least the amount up until January and that we will move forward as a community to work with Marty and disadvantaged Transit so in years to come they can maybe blend together and be a great asset to the community if possible and that was it thank you thank you God bless you all commissioner campy ma'am let me thank you you sent I don't know if you sent all of us but you sent me a thank you yes and it was so lovely that I kept it oh so thank you very much thank you yes I did because I think it's important to the community thank you and I appreciate what you did okay thank you now well public comment he we have any more public comment sir were oh that's not a form yeah I actually do but it was more on the budget side of thing that'll work right I wait two and a half hours we got we got yeah we got come on up just fill out one of the one of the forms uh before you leave and give okay I'll I'll fill it out it was kind of spontaneous I wanted to come just to Sher a couple of things uh but it's really regarding the the the budget process and the actual budgeting so I didn't go into a lot of detail on the documentation that was provided but I do wanted to advocate for three things and and one of them is um to put as much funding available for educating the public regarding our environment and why it's so important to have green space in our in our County why it's so important when a private land owner decides you know and property owners have property rights of course but they don't really have the right to infringe on others right so if you say you fill in a wetland say what my property I can fill in do anything I want or cut down trees you know they don't necessarily understand that it affects all of us in the community and I I think that's so important the education and that will help us and you as decision makers uh work with the public better um the other thing is I wanted to advocate for uh fixing some of the existing infrastructure and I can give you a couple of um examples I live over in Tropical Paradise off um pson Road there and I'm recently just um moved in there so my property is on the water on Canal and it's overlooking um the park well we have water and sewer there but there's swells all throughout that that area that is taking the rain water the runoff from the roads and it's going right directly into the water and so of course that poisons the water because there's a lot of those forever chemicals wind up in it and then of course the fish eat that get it and then what happens when we go fishing and what do we get we get forever chemicals so I think that's important to really look at that um and then the other thing is that on the other side there's a lot of um properties are still un well in septic tank and those are close to the water as well and I think something needs to be done with that it's on section one and two back there and off pulson and because that's so close to the water that though that's going to impact that's impacting the surrounding quality of the water and so we all want clean water there I think that's something whether wherever you are on the development thought process I think we all can agree that we want clean water and fresh air in our community we want a healthy environment and so those are the things I wanted to say can I speak one more minute okay and the other thing is more of an internal thing and I would advocate for as much budgeting as possible for information technology and GIS it it's so very important to help streamline our business processes internally and it will make a big difference in how the public communicates with your time is up okay thank you very much I appreciate your and um thank you I really appreciate all your work I know that um I'll give you 10 more seconds I really appreciate all your work because I know that you have a very difficult job and thank you for your contributions thank you for coming in Mr Smith yeah as you're walking away I would just add just a I I don't disagree with almost all that you said I think that was very helpful other than we don't allow Wetlands to be filled in and so um I I just don't want you to leave with the idea that you can do that in Martin County and that um I don't want people to listen and going I didn't know that they could do that but just to our our codes our our our comp plan we don't allow that thank you I I I guess I knew that but you know there's people in my area they don't understand the environmental issues and things maybe we can coax this guy in that just walked up for a comment no anyway um I did just get the word uh an hour ago that AT&T is still on strike so the train station will not be moving this weekend who's on strike AT&T who iwa International uh icw International Communication work do so anyway so there it's uh pushed off once again so there's that so we have har in the morning for breakfast well you could still be there at 5:00 Harry starts cooking bacon about 5:30 I had breakfast there on Sunday so um at 1:00 in the afterno so I think we now pause our meeting until 5:05 correct well we could share stories we could at 505 okay sit right here all right we're kind of adjourned till 505 thanks so are we back on Coca