June 4th 2024 Sebring city council meeting if you'll all stand with me the mayor's going to lead us in the prayer pledge oops got my garbage please B me Lord thank you once again for a wonderful day thank you for the city that we live in thank you for the staff that keeps it moving along like it is we ask that you watch over all of our staff and our citizens and especially our First Responders that protect us on a daily basis we ask that you also look over our country and hopefully bring it together where everybody works together even though we may have different decisions to make everybody gets along in the end we ask that all we do in your name Jesus Christ amen amen pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Miss Haley can you call the RO please may sh here car here H here M here Stuart here here all right if anyone has anything they would like to discuss that is not on the agenda you can fill out one of the forms here on the front table hand it in to Clerk haly and we will get to it at the appropriate time uh first up is the mayor's report uh just a couple things I think you'll notice that the cameras are gone from downtown and the roads are open in the last few days and didn't have any stoppage so um I'm sure some of our Merchants downtown are happy for that but I think in a long run it's really going to help pick up business and that the httv crew um did an excellent job spent a lot of time and uh did a lot of neat things for our city so if you haven't gone around the circle and enjoyed it yet um we got a few businesses opening up Bob getting his Irish Market going um um we got some other businesses that are are relocating downtown so it's really been a boost for the downtown and I think once it airs next spring um probably April May June uh ER it's really going to be a make a significant difference at that time but um also got to attend the Memorial Day service at the military Sea Service Museum uh John Cecil and the group U do a great job um every year it was very warm though so I think that held a little attendance back but it didn't rain which is a good thing coming up we have the juneth is on uh June 15th um ad mcg's putting that together again at the park across from the church and then on June 21st from 4 to 8 the Sebring small business organizations having their summer jub summer Jubilee they're trying to do a quarterly event um so um the merchants will get together on a circle and do what they did last time but it was a pretty cool event last time so that's all I had all right thank you thank you Mr cwlo well as usual the mayor steals my thunder there you go CU I everything he spoke about I was going to talk about but I think i' I know I've noticed downtown on the circle in the evenings there seems like a lot more people lot people with kids down there so I'm encouraged with that even though we've had a lot of complaints there are there are people using what's on the circle and enjoying it that's it Miss ble um good evening we're so glad you're here um I Echo what these gentlemen said uh the HGTV uh folks just did a great job and the downtown area looks so spiffy and uh just you know Sebring really has kind of closed down after about 4 or 5:00 in the afternoon and um it's just way more open way more enjoyed by our people and we're so grateful for that that uh with the help of Steven Kramer I've been working on the truest Park and we got the downlighting going for that and it looks very nice I saw it last night Stephen Kramer's done an awesome job and also we're working on Elsa con's uh downtown uh Park and uh getting the the benches repaired and the Landscaping uh filled in and uh we had a tree taken down and things to just make it a lot nicer and uh whenever I'm driving downtown I always try to look and see how that Park's being used and quite a few people do use that so we're grateful to be getting that uh looking better thank you that's it Josh want to give a shout out to all the city staff who helped with the HGTV um event especially Public Works and the police department um there's a lot of man- hours and a lot of work went went into that I think it looks great um also attended the County Commission meeting today because the The Tourist Development Council was presenting a concept for a new multi-use sports complex um which the commission gave kind of a blessing to continue to to pursue it and get come back with some final numbers which could be a really really awesome thing for our community and the location they're looking at is within City Limits um which would be very cool and we I guess we'll learn more probably in August when they come back that's it uh just yeah thank you City uh thank you that TV living downtown I get to see all the people at the Circle all the time and it's just great to see tons of families all all the time um and just to see those spaces being utilized in ways I haven't really seen before so it's just been great to be able to walk downtown and to appreciate In a Different Light uh a little update on the golf course last we we talked about that little popup disc golf tournament so we had 50 players come show up on May 25th excellent turnout we brought people from Lakeland Gainesville Tampa Orlando Miami it's all anywhere you can think of in Florida uh really good turnout people were thankful I think it's going to be one of the it could be one of the Premier disc golf courses um in in the state if we decide that we want to pursue it in the future uh we are going to try another tournament on August 10th we're going to really hope for about a full roster of players about 72 players compared to the 50 that we already had um so it's we're excited about it uh Golf Course Maintenance we got the temporary greens are open so we got players back on the field uh the last tea box was removed today Fred was working on that they're fumigating everything on Monday a new Turf is going to be um planted this month so good things are happening not just downtown but all over and so just really exciting time to be party and Harrison what's the uh status of the irrigation out there on the golf course is it all working well yeah I think with the variable drives everything is working way it needs to and the greens actually look good and the I think this is in some of the best Fairways I've seen in a long time okay that's it all right thank you thank you all right next up is the consent agenda any questions on the consent agenda I'll make a motion we accept the consent agenda as proposed second Missy car yes yes yes yes yes all right item 10 a we have the purchase and sale agreement between the city of seing and blue sky communities um Scott do you want to come up so or Scott n you one of you you want to give us the background so um as you guys will recall um at your November 7 2023 meeting Council received an unsolicited proposal from Robert Blackman and blue sky communities um for some properties located off Park Street Spruce Street and Avocado Street and the Mal Drive uh Council instructed staff to issue an RFP um for those properties City Seine purchasing department published RFP 24-3 on December 22nd 2023 um to be received on February 7th 2024 the RP Drew zero new proposals into one unsolicited proposal uh Council approved a motion to move forward uh we've been working with blue sky communities uh on the parcel or portion of the parcel um that they were interested in and um probably have come to the conclusion at this point in time anyway um we're not quite ready uh for them to make application um to the state because we've got some hurdles to overcome we do have a couple of wellhe heads uh located in very close proximity which are creating some uh issues with uh you know placing buildings on the property and then of course as you know we have a cell tower on the property that would require uh moving as well so with that said I'll allow Scott to chim in if you like uh thank you and uh thank you to uh city council for having me tonight um I I also want to thank Bob and Scott for all the all the work they've put in thus far um on this property we um you know uh we are still extremely interested in in Sebring um and this parcel as Scott alluded to uh you know when we make application to the State of Florida for funding um we have to be extremely confident that there are no uh obstacles that cannot be overcome in the development of the property uh and you know the the cell tower and the well heads um at this point uh I think we you know we just haven't made it through enough due diligence to come to that conclusion and the the penalties are very stiff uh if you're unable to move forward once you have an award so um uh we're going to we're committed to continue to work through those um with the city um and and hopefully find a solution uh but in the case that we can't we are are committed to um to finding some solution here in in the city of Sebring and um I just want to thank everyone here for for their support um you know in in making it a priority to get some housing built for the hardest working citizens of Sebring that they can actually afford uh to live in um and so uh I'm you know just thankful for the interactions I've had with you all and and happy to feel any any questions uh if there are any so Scott if I understand then what you're saying is if this particular parcel doesn't end up working you're open to to still doing a project on a different piece of land somewhere in s absolutely awesome okay anybody else have any other questions no we appreciate your effort Scot I think it's yeah it's I I think it's such a worthwhile project and I I'm glad you're willing to work with us and we want to work with you and uh we would love to see uh a wonderful project like what we saw over in Brandon with your uh beautiful building over there and the fact that you stay with the project in managing it and don't just flip it or hand it over to somebody else so thank you very much and we do want to help you in any way we can I appreciate that and I I should mention you know uh when we first got going at this all we really have to work off of is the state's timeline from the year prior and in the year prior um the applications were due uh in November December and in an effort to get their funds out quicker um they're actually moving those up to June and July this year so that's one of the other things that really put us behind the aall that we weren't expecting um and and and made it just a a timeline that was was too difficult so all right all right I appreciate you making that trip over that speaks volumes my pleasure yeah we're we're committed and we wanted you all to know that right thank you very much appreciate all right um moving on to item 10B we have resolution for the real property located at 320 Spruce Street and 400 Avocado Street Mr Spain I would encourage Council to either table it to a uncertain date or simply take no action on it at this time okay so you want a motion table it on or just let it go I think we just let it go at this point Let It Go all right oh so we're we're not Tak all I'm sorry okay all right next up we have item 10 C a public Hearing in ordinance 1525 an applicant initiated Amendment to the zoning map uh Mr Swain ordinance number 1525 is on your you're having a public hearing and then you'll consider it on a second and final reading it's entitled an applicant initiated Amendment to the zoning map specifically changing the zoning designation for a 0.45 acre parcel at 339 Lemon Avenue further known as uh it's strap number from commercial District C1 to plan development PD providing for separability providing for conflict and providing for an effective date all right Miss barnby yes good evening for the record mer barnby with the central Florida Regional planning Council this is an applicant initiated request for a change in zoning um for the property slide one more there we go 339 Lemon Avenue next slide this is an aerial view of it you can see how the school wraps around the back side of it um the site is a little over 177,000 Square ft in size and the request is to go from commercial C1 to plan development um with the intention to have the whole site be converted into residential uses next slide this is a a picture I took to show the property and the yard that is fenced in that's adjacent that is also part of the property um that piece will be converted into parking for on-site use of the residents to be there this is the alley or the road that runs around it you can see the school in the background and this road is a one-way road that is serviced or that Services the areas behind it and through this planned unit development um they will install parking spaces there that will help assist for visitor parking and and um additional parking for residents on site this is an just a picture off of Google Maps to kind of show the area so you can see there's single family residential uses there's also commercial and some Warehouse type uses that are right in this same area so the future land use map is downtown mixed use next slide um downtown mixed use as it sounds like allows for a mixture of different residential uses and may allow up to 40 units per acre with the approval of the CRA and the Sebring city council the CRA did approve it next slide um last year they gave their approval for this site to be developed um as being presented next slide this is the existing commercial um shows commercial the public going around it is all the school that's in that location next slide this is what your zoning map will look like if this change is approved um the plan development is requesting a total or would would allow for a total of six multif family dwelling units that range between 744 ft and 1,236 ft the site would also have laundry facilities on site for the residents as well as a fenc play area and dog park um with the parking this is the master development plan for the site again the existing building is there all the work is happening within that existing structure what would be new onto the site is the proposed site um parking area and then the development of a a fenced area for children to play in and um um dog park type uses there for the residents to to accommodate and then the shed that's on the site today is being renovated to have the laundry facilities and some storage areas for the residents um there is facilities poo or public facilities and services can handle it um the uh the school board also issued a letter stating there is capacity for the proposed development to go through next Slide the site does have access to the surrounding uh Road Network um and then as I mentioned they're going to be putting in the 45 degree angle parking in that right of way to accommodate additional parking um not only for the residents but for visitors and people in the area um next slide there also would be striping the area next to the fire hydrant to clarify that that is not a parking space but it's no parking because of fires hydrant the red line on the map shows where that road runs and you can see the um five parking spaces that is being proposed in that rway we have included recommend recommended conditions of approval the first is that the site would would be developed consistent with the master development plan and if there's a modification being proposed it has to follow the Pud requirements in the code for how modifications are addressed that they will stripe and maintain the on street parking spaces to be located in that right of way and that they would also then stripe the parking um for the no parking area and that other parking in that spot uh this is a second reading next slide this did go or this sorry this is what the zoning map would look like if you do approve this change this evening um May 14th the Planning and Zoning Board did hear this item and discussed it and recommended approval um to the city council of this Zing map Amendment this is a public hearing I am happy to answer any questions you may have and the applicants representative is here as well all right thank you thank you are there any questions or comments from the public anything from Council no all right I'll entertain a motion would you close itose the public hearing I make a motion we approve uh ordinance number 1525 on second final rating as present I second Missy car yes H yes M yes steart yes yes thank you thank you thank you that building's needed a lot of help for a very long time we're really excited thank you we appreciate your looks good uh Mr attorney or actually we don't have any business from the audience do you have anything nothing in addition to what you got on the perfect all right next up is Mr Nate Lake we're going to talk about buyer assessments good evening Council agenda item 13A um answer advisory Services uh as they do annually uh sen correspondents looking to get your input on establishing rates for our next fiscal year uh currently um Council adopt a schedule which which would provide for 23% of the city's annual fire budget attached you'll find a spreadsheet that provides for different rate scenarios that would generate additional funding uh for the fire department uh currently you're at the 23% rate the the maximum you could go to is the noticed maximum 35.5% rate the current adopted rates generate 1.1 million of the current fire budget um as you can see as you escalate in uh percentages they it Associates with uh estimated net revenue that towards uh the fire assessment um just for means of everybody knowing what the 35.5% would generate that that would generate $1.7 million whereas we're at $1.1 million today there are associated rates for each one of these percentages uh per square foot other than residential which is a fixed rate if you will per percentage and vacant land also is a fixed rate per percentage uh that you advance did you get the the county any of them Park rates and what they are what they're proposed I don't have Avon Park rates but I do have County rates um So currently residential at the county is and they do Residential by square foot so their current uh residential rates 05610 or 2,000t house that's $12.20 said 112 okay correct um obviously a $33,000 square foot house would be half a again that uh their commercial rate is 8414 cents per square foot the industrial Warehouse is 0 7209 per square foot and institutional is 8414 per square foot that's their current not and they haven't proposed new rates yet did they so they noticed their Max rates MH that they could go to but they have not adopted any new rates which they're trying to cover didn't they say they were trying to get up to 100% coverage on their fire assessment they have options for that on their on their that agenda and we're at 23% right in Avon Park I think I saw it was at 64% so okay well I think we need to raise it a little bit um I think I personally would be in favor of the 25.8% mark uh it's $15 a year for houses it leaves commercial um and Industrial unchanged and a slight bump for institutional nursing homes and $2 for vacant land that would net institutional change it would go from Seven to8 cents okay see um so that would net us another 135,000 towards the fire budget um any other comments on that yeah I don't like the idea of raising rates I don't want to increase taxes but I also know how expensive it is to run a fire department and I'm learning that more and more uh we got a $2 million fire truck coming our way we on tomorrow we're just we're going to put a new apparatus in in production on the road and that's it's not cheap um I think we need to go a bit bit higher than the than the 28 than the 25.8% I mean I'm on the high end of things just if we went to the 33.8% that's going to bring in about additional 500,000 but looking at what we have coming up down the pipeline with capital expens um trying to provide the best service to to a residence it's it's not cheap so I might be on the high end of things but I would push for a larger increase personally well the only uh thing I see about this is everybody pays it everybody and avalum uh if you increase avalum uh some people don't it doesn't affect some people some people affects a lot this uh everybody pays their share of this so um I'm for raising but I don't know if I want to go 30% yeah so uh I kind of like U Josh's number okay I realize we need the money but uh times are tough too so we need to consider that and the taxpayers are definitely on that put us here we have to think about them as well right M midle you have anything that well I don't like to raise taxes either and I understand where where Harrison's coming from and it's just uh uh heartbreaking how how high all expenses have gone and yet and we see how how desperately we need to keep our fire uh protection up and running and in good shape and as we expand uh we need more services and um uh I don't know if I could go quite as high as what you were thinking but we definitely are going to have to to raise it I I believe and I'm interested in hearing what each of you all has to say about it well you know I think it's a given that we we need to increase our rate just a matter of how much yeah you know it's a shame with the nursing home you know that's such an issue here to have that go up so high and yet they use an awful lot of uh fire services and um just very very difficult any questions or comments from the public no Roland were you kind of going to make a recommendation or what are you thinking um I I I can't get on board with the 33 meet me in the middle 29.3 well how about split and the baby yeah yeah so 29.3 huh 29.3% someone has a motion there would like to put forth we'll entertain it well well mayor she what do you think I I'm definitely I mean it's a service that we have to provide and when you pay $2 million for a firet Tru and you have to we've got to finance that yeah plus keep it staffed and as we're growing the city continues to grow um we're actually I think at sometime in the very near future we've got to look at another station um there's a lot of growth and you know we we've got a lot of development that's going to happen around here and we're the primary source of fire safety and I hate to ready agree with Harrison um but he does make a good point and I think and but I agree also it's a you know everybody's everything's going up it is so difficult but we also have to keep the city running like it is um and it's you can't cut back you can't take people off the staff you know that that competition for salaries keeps going up so you know I'm you know if you split it to the 29.3 I think I'd be in favor of that you know one thing I want to point out that I learned after I came on city council and that is that a lot of these items that are so expensive rather than raising the taxes a lot of times the city ends up eating the extra expense and that was a real surprise to me and uh and that makes the city budget really hard too but um we definitely have to increase to keep up with everything well the mayor brings up a good point you know we do we are in need of another station yeah and it's something that we need to start planing for now yeah yeah even if it's you know we don't get it for 10 more years we need to start planning for it now yeah I think we're going to really see a bump in development and growth and we need to be strategic and ready and all of that costs money well a lot of things too that you know the Enterprise funds are funded for the city the state's pretty much taking that that ability for us away to use those Enterprise funds to help support General Obligations so that's another consideration that when we go to the budget it's it's going to be a it's going to be a challenge how you how you balance all that so have they closed those and lard made a good point that this is affects everybody it's just you know if we keep adding on the Ador side of it but this affects you know all the way down to vacant land so right and the thing about it is I I think everybody up here owns a home or two and I know I have two and and three four pieces of vacant land so I'm going to pay you and we're not going to pay out of our salary here which is $1 what' you say 29.3 I'll make a motion that we increase it to 29.3 on a second Missy car yes yes yes steart yes yes all right next is item 13B we have a contract to purchase a piece of multiple pieces of vacant land located at 125 Markley Street and 213 Dawn Drive Mr Nate lck so please find attached contract between city seed ring and the briman trust uh uh ownership group for the purchase of a approximately 25 acre tract of land at the above reference address which was 125 Markley Street and 2113 Dawn um this is a parcel that if you're if you're looking at from 27 it's behind the Lowe's parcel give me one second here sorry there you go there we go so as you can see in the upper left Highland County already owns a parcel a portion of this not this parcel but we did apply for a grant an open space Grant Jared applied for an open SP space Grant um and verbally uh we've been awarded it um we're still waiting on the uh paper documents to to back that up uh but there are requirements that we have to fulfill in order to do that one of them is to create a trail around it um Place some benches um maybe an observation point or something of that nature uh and then do some storm water treatment um part of this area is is wetlands area we did we've been in conversation not only with um the County engineering department but also civil serve uh there is the potential to treat water here um there will have to be some discussion with both the EP and Swift Mud in reference to it um for storm water treatment given that this there are some wetlands area here uh the grant provides for 60% of the purchase price obviously this doesn't include all the improvements that we're going to have to make um I don't really have a good estimate for you at this point as to what those costs may be um um I I will make the remark that um I think it's beneficial to the city um to acquire this property so that it doesn't get developed in the future um because I my personal belief and kind of was echoed by uh both civil serve and the county that you know if this were to be developed it's going to create additional storm water issues um for at least those folks who live between uh it and and Lake Jackson at you know at a minimum so the purchase price uh for the property is 3.95 if I remember correctly um they're looking to put $20,000 in escrow the grant would pay up to 244,000 based upon that price or I think a price of 407 so um I think we threw in some extra cost for closing cost and stuff like that um so it would pay up to $244,200 um should all the grant requirements be fulfilled um and we have until 2028 to to make those improvements um to make it the Eco Park what requirements does it have to me so it's got to have a trail around it I believe if I remember correct it's got to be a mile is that correct we put in about a mile uh a mile in length um benches was there structur two structures so some form of a pavilion right an observation tower or deck or something is that what I read right similar to what Spring Lake similar to what Spring Lake did with their U storm water retention right this has been a long discussion with the county and how we manage that water coming off 27 too this is just not popped up the actually we're trying to help get the county to help us out but they're they're on Bo from saying it's a nice project but so the County's still in the process of doing their D due diligence from a storm Water Analysis they're doing that whole stud Bas so they're doing a study and as we all know there's water that's draining from the west side of 27 towards Lake Jackson so um once they have the results back from that they're going to be in a much better position to determine whether they're going to participate in this or not um I would Advocate that we we purchase the land regardless of whether or not they're going to participate um for the before mentioned um potential development that could create greater issues for us in the future this will also help us with the late View Drive project catching this water yes to some degree yes in conversation with civil serve there's it would help but it's it's not the perfect answer but it help will we be able to access it by the roadway in between Lowe's and I'll call it Starbucks Thunderbird so at the upper left up there that's a count so where don't between the two shopping centers the lower left so the point that comes down on the left hand side where would you where do you propose it the realtor here ask him so what I yeah I'll I'll ask what's ask I don't know whether or not he's going to know the answer to this the so this parcel the answer this parcel back here is actually own it's still owned by the prime interest correct so talking access from here correct so this here that's the storm water Pond for loaves or this out parcel and windy and of course the the project that's in L Sparky l so I guess the question is could we get an e this road we'll find out the due diligence per include that in the common yeah get being that there is a light on that street I think it would be a pretty ideal place to access it where you going to park we would have to install a few parking we'd have to create some parking okay okay I think it's wise to purchase this now and make sure industrial doesn't get in there and cause more of a water issue and your saying that um there's the potential that there is already some water it's wet I guess yeah but it isn't a matter of it's kind of a natural treatment of the water that's going into the lake just because it's wet lens and all but then we would do something a little more um I don't know what the right word is something a little bit more in the way of water treatment so the concept might be is Retention Ponds that step down cu the elevation up here to the left if you will or to the West is higher than it is towards the lake so conceptually you could create a you know series if you will of retention areas to help treat the water but I it's really an engineer it requires an engineer solution of course and the grants being given because they want like an Eco Park type thing is that yeah open space yeah pre preserving land it's it's part of preserving Florida's preserving land forever and then Jared the sidewalks a requirement as well right yes so a sidewalk down to Lake View so if you look at that red line there at the lower right that's a proposed type of sidewalk along rideway down to Lake View to to ultimately end up at the sidewalk at Lake View so all right anything else any questions from the public um one other thing um and it's it's in the agenda item summary but uh we will need to do a phase one environmental the approximate cost on that is $3,000 um and that actually a requirement of Grant as well I would have recommended it anyway I think so right I'll entertain a motion make a motion we approve sell and purchase contract as presented and authorize staff to obtain a phase one environmental and wire escrow funds to escrow agent of record did you want to insert possible easement I think let's work that out in our due diligence period and we can okay I don't know Peter recommend putting it end in the contract cor right I know there's a number of cross access agreements on those Parcels um we could add it to the contract CU a seller hadn't yet signed it if you if you want to have I don't they don't own the property immediately to the to the West well that corner there's a road that goes back there right and I I believe that was developed with cross access uh easements for those uh Parcels we can certainly add something if you want but it can be a reason during due diligence that we you readdress it or cancel it if we don't like that we don't believe there's sufficient access my only concern with that this conversation is that I want to make sure that we if we this does happen this Eco Park that we have access by car from 27 not the residential Community that's my only concern contract right all right have a and it seems like the residential you know area like people riding their bikes and all down around the lake they could access on that I'm only talking about by by car sidewalk sidewalk and then the parking would have to come in from low 27 pull the board car yes H yes M yes Stewart yes fish yes and uh for the record thank you Jared for all the work work too making this happen appreciate it Miss Haley anything else counc pay the bills please so moved second P the board sorry car yes H yes M yes Stewart yes fish yes