##VIDEO ID:CU61fD8Jg2g## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e somebody's got to you find a seat please so we could we're late as it is could you find a seat please please quiet please can we close those doors thank you Stern where Madam clerk could you take the role vice mayor Rich president commissioner Clark present commissioner Collins here commissioner goobi present commissioner Reed here we will now have the invocation invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance don't you join me sorry it's Mr James Hart from the steart alliance you call me Jim let's pray father thank you for this evening and all of those that are gathered here tonight uh to take interest in what is going on in our beautiful city of Stewart Lord in your word in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 you said that you desire that in every place the men should pray lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling and uh to pray for those who are in Authority those who've been placed in leadership over us and so Lord I don't see that as a suggestion I see that more as a uh command that we do that and so we're here tonight Lord to pray for these especially these that have just recently been elected and placed in leadership Lord we just ask you to pour out your blessing on each one I pray for their families Lord for spouses and children Lord God that you would just surround them with your love and care and protection in in a world in which we live today where there's so much animosity and and uh just not not pleasant circumstances so Lord we ask that this city would be a place of Peace place where people love one another and care for one another and reflect the glory of God into their lives and their Community God and I pray for wisdom tonight for all the decisions that will be made and the comments that will be made from this Podium this evening Lord that it would be glorifying to you and edifying to one another and that God you would guide and direct to for your perfect plan and will for this city and we thank you in advance for all you're going to do in Jesus name amen you lead us in the pledge Jim sure I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and now and the reason I wore a coat and tie to this meeting we have two new Commissioners to take the oath of office for the record uh City attorney Lee bagin I'll be administering the oath for our new uh Commissioners so I'll start with commissioner Laura Joby if you'd please stand and raise your right hand and repeat after me I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support honor protect and defend that I will support honor protect and defend the Constitution and government the Constitution and government of the United States in the State of Florida of the United States and the City of Stewart in the State of Florida Florida and the State of Florida that that well you said City we're gonna get there that I am duly qualified to hold office that I am duly qualified to hold office under the constitution of the State of Florida under the constitution of the State of Florida and under the charter of the city of Stewart and under the charter of the city of Stewart and that I will well and Faithfully perform that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties of city of Stewart commissioner the duties of the city of Stewart commissioner on which I am now about to enter so help me God on which I'm about to enter so help me God thank you thank you doing we do pictures now she take pictures with her friends my understanding picture time for that has why don't we finish we're going to do them both all right hey commissioner sea Reed it's your turn you're already standing with the right all right ready I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support honor protect and defend that I will support honor protect and defend the Constitution and government the Constitution and government of the United States and the State of Florida and the United States and the state Florida that I am duly qualified to hold office that I am duly qualified to hold office under the constitution of the State of Florida under the constitution of the State of Florida and under the charter of the city of Stewart and under the charter of the city of Stewart and that I will well and Faithfully perform and that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties of city of Stewart commissioner the duties of city of Stuart commissioner on which I am now about to enter so help me God on which I am about to enter so help me God [Applause] Amen around and go down there take didn't give me a handshake [Music] come on Mom they brought them all out might as well do it yeah come on [Applause] Mom do you want to put your arm out like your grandma's here or something Sean you want to hold your arm like this for your Grandy you can post her in later [Music] [Applause] for me for Sean it doesn't [Applause] matter Sean flers your you to hold your flowers your mom take one more do it one more one more where's Jim Jim do you leave come back out great [Applause] [Applause] I do I do two and I want to thank I want to thank everyone for coming today and sharing this with Sean and I and I want to thank the um citizens and the voters in the city of Stew done it we've making a change going in a different direction thank you [Applause] woohoo also e margas is here commissioner elect commissioner elect um yet so we have commissioner comments now and commissioner giobi I was happy to see you gain your off office cuz I am no longer the oldest commissioner this is true absolutely true so in in deference in Defence in deference to your age you may speak first this evening okay um well I know it's only a number and I'm not embarrassed to say it I'm 74 years [Applause] old and I think I actually had already said I wanted to thank everyone uh everyone who voted everyone who supported me um there are so many people who made this happen and I thank you very much and uh now let's move on forward to business okay very succinct uh now commissioner Reed do you have any comments to sh I do I I made a speech for tonight so today my dad would have been 63 63 today so it's a little Bittersweet he wasn't able to be here to celebrate with us um but first first and foremost I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all my constituents your support and trust and belief in the vision that we had have brought us to this moment I'm both honored and excited to serve as your next commissioner in the city of Stewart I also want to take a moment to thank my family my friends that are [Applause] here and all of our employees and parents at re childcare for their support along this journey as well all of their encouragement and dedication have been the foundation of this journey in the city of Stewart and I'd like to also express my gratitude to my fellow candidates whether it's in the city and the county and everyone that participated in this process I think your engagement is a testimony to the city of Stewart and Martin County and I think it's the drive in our community um to the voters thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility your voices have been heard this Victory is not just mine but it's a shared Triumph of all of us who are invested in the future of this County let's remember that this Victory is a starting point it's the beginning of a new chapter and I'm excited about what we can achieve together and look forward to getting to work thank you once again for your support and confidence commissioner [Music] Reed so as long as we're hearing from our newly elected commissioner I would like to acknowledge the presence of a commissioner elect for Martin County and that is Eileen Vargas has joined us this evening congratulations commer Clark do you have any comments this evening yes um since we're recognizing I'd like to recognize our former mayor who will seat you're taking right now as in a room and I was the vice mayor Becky Bruner congratulations for your time that you've worked with our city commission we really appreciate you and our new Commissioners welcome welcome welcome thank you so much for whatever you did you know what you did you know the miles and the shoes four pairs of shoes Sean yeah four pairs by the way me so just this is a small town and um Martin County is always there Martin County is bigger than we are but we're just wanting to make sure that we keep steuart vibrant not overdeveloped but we just want to make sure that we work and we do what we need to do to make sure that our city of Steward stays really vibrant so I think that that's important and your input is going to be a big part of that and we appreciate that we just appreciate the fact that you want to serve so many people criticize when you serve and you you'll get some of that too but we really appre we really appreciate that thank you and uh commissioner El Vargas thank you for making your first unofficial official trip right here to the city of Stewart we appreciate that thank you so much um I don't really have anything else I think we don't have a a big agenda but it's an important agenda and I just I think commissioner sha Reed said it best uh in involvement is important and so we'll see people want to be involved and they're here to give their opinions and to be uh involved with whatever the city is interested in making the decision making on so we're just so happy that everybody is here tonight to participate with us thank you thank you uh commissioner Collins yes so I'd also like to say congratulations uh it was interesting to watch YouTube from afar and hear from others that you knocked on their door and just how busy you both were um I'm sure with a tired knee out knee it just it really speaks to When You Reach somebody's door it shows how driven you are to do a good job and how much you care and there's no amount of political advertising that can touch that and the city is unique and that we have just enough time to reach those doors um personally and and extend our hand and I am thankful for both of you because you have incredibly unique Insight from a you know customer based marketing and and data like you have touched each one of those people had conversations with them so I'm really looking forward to your input in our discussions about whatever we'll talk about through the lens of how the people who live here and vote feel so very thankful for you guys thank you yes um also commissioner elect Vargas what an honor absolutely um I had a few points I wanted to make and and the main one was that city and county voters the electorate has spoken quite clearly where I can uh easily admit that I only won by 94 95 votes it there was a widespread in a lot of these races that was undeniable and so if anybody was thought that maybe I was a fluke in my race there's no confusion now how the voters of Martin County and the City of Stewart feel across a pretty broad range of issues preserving our Green Space keeping our small town charm slower growth that actually takes into account traffic holistically and not just in a silo being more proactive about protecting our Estuary from discharges it seemed like every campaign mailer I got across the board they were all Greenies that felt this way but I intend as much as it's within my capacity is one of five to actually deliver on that for the time that I have here and I have expectation that all of us will be so um for now I'd like to reserve the rest of my comments till after the uh city manager comments if you would permit it because I wanted to do a little bit of business uh before we get into the actual agenda if you'll allow it uh if not I can do it oh yeah I think you should complete your comments now absolutely I will so there are two major points of business then that I would like to discuss just briefly before we get into our agenda which thankfully is light the first is a zoning in progress so two years ago when I was elected we went into a zoning and progress that I personally feel accomplished little to nothing and I would like to offer up and have an ask that we potentially move into a new round of zoning in progress really to tackle three issues um and there will most likely be more uh assuming but one what I would call double dipping of density within commercial zoning that um I could characterize this by you see a commercial project and then three or 400 apartments next to it right and the way it works is uh you can calculate your residential density by the entire parcel of land even if it has a commercial project on it this is one of those things I'd like to look at half units in my opinion half units and if you're not if you're not aware of what this is forgive me but the removal of half units from our code where we basically can double our density instantly um with some of these projects and then finally and slightly more broadly I would like to revisit what I would call the danani plan era of mixed use and um again sort of pointing to the first thing I said uh mixed use and giving more density kind of revisiting the allowances of residential density for apartments and multif family that we give uh as it it did sit in an era of time when the downtown was a ghost town and I would offer up that potentially we've accomplished what we were after that we are now bustling and busy and potentially it might be an opportunity to revisit this and look at going back to pred dwani density allowance is within conditionally use puds so if I can just chime in as far as the code is concerned the way of zoning and progress will work is that we'll actually bring back an agenda item for the commission at the September 9th meeting however at such time as the agenda item is ready to move forward and the city publishes it which could be Wednesday of next week or Thursday of next week it effectively goes into into effect on the day that we do the notice and then it gets ratified at the meeting the only Direction I need from from you obviously I'll need a vote from the commission but I also need direction the last time we did the zoning and progress it was for any projects that had multif family housing in them and I don't know when you said the Dan I would say the scope would be basically anything that includes residential safe single family because if it has any multifam component okay that's was wondering but when you said D that would be commercial as well so I didn't know but also commercial within commercial zoning there's there's the residential component right but if it just anything that includes a residential component or is it all commercial too basically anything Bes other than single family I would that that's clarified um so that would be first thing I don't know if it's appropriate task for a motion for that is that what you would like you need well you'd make the motion and be looking for so I would like to make a motion that we I don't think we make a motion now we can I mean you can absolutely can do it yeah during the commissioner comment I'll second it yeah I would like to make a motion that we move into a zoning in progress effective it'll be it'll be come back for September 9th under under the um purpose of visiting specifically to give you just you know scope for why commercial zoning double dipping I don't know what you would call it half units and revisiting conditional use PUD density allowances I got your comments um so Motion in a second are you going to read that out I just want to make sure if Meritt could read that back so we make sure we have all of the pieces in that zip I can do that my computer is months until otherwise it's automatic statute got it code I can read it it's a it's a motion for zoning in progress to address three issues the double dipping of commercial zoning which relates to the calculations of commercial zoning and uh density calculations where you have a uh full density on the property and AOG commercial building the half units as well as revisiting the danani plan area related to mixed use and now also commercial and therefore it will be related to receiving plans for any projects other than single family Citywide right correct yeah yeah so we have we going to read out them motion any comments or questions regarding no I think we can go right to the vote last time we had the Zone in progress it was a six Monon thing well we'll wait until we get the agenda so you would need a you would need a uh vote but after taking public comment yeah um we got a little waylight here with our well we do have a motion in a second so is there any public comment on this issue M McBride I think it's telling McBride for Mingo Avenue I think it's the grand idea got our new Commissioners in I know I'm listening to a lot of people we want to we want to keep our hometown like our hometown and we need to address this whole thing uh I was here back in the D days I we were a ghost town and there's 3,000 maybe 4,000 people living in the city of story but like even with my neighbors sitting next to me in that there another thing on the agenda I didn't know about yeah we got to stop and just take a couple of steps back in a deep breath relook at everything so thank you commissioner absolutely thank you hel Helen you need to fill out a green card please for that item mayor Rich do we have any cards on he's got it Sean wants to address mayor Rich okay commissioner Reed yeah after this vote I want to address something as well but for another well you've had your opportunity for comment so no his is for an address to something else now we're taking the vote all right let's focus uh no no this I'm waiting to see if this woman wishes to speak to this issue you can speak you can you can fill it out [Music] afterwards yeah because I got one more thing too some water here hi my name is Cynthia Lucas and um I know all about Andre d because that was the 750 which we defeated in Marton County Andre Dy is up in Viro now trying to ruin that town um I'm not a fan of his I don't believe in the earth Charter which is on your website um I think that's incredible that comes from the UN the UN um everybody should go and look on on the website um we have a town here a little town I've been here a long time what happened so I'd like to think about that I think everybody should educate themselves about where it came and Chris is right and I just want to appla the new Commissioners and feel bad for the ones that didn't win but we're moving in a New Direction and I'm so proud thank you thank you God bless call the roll no any comments commissioner clerk do you have any other additional comments or questions I you do I didn't run it's okay okay I'd like to make a comment uh I think commissioner Colin is selling us a little short because two years ago when we put the zip in progress has happen look what happened the city in 2022 approved 60 new units that are on Central Parkway in 2023 we approved we received no applications and we approved no units in so far in 2024 and I can pretty much guarantee you it'll be true to the end of this year we receive no applications and we approve no units so that's kind of the point of a zoning in progress halt so I I don't it it seems redundant but if that's the will of the commission then so be it I think removing the dwani overlay is a separate issue and I would just Mr mortell if we could deal if those could be two separate issues or well the zoning of progress will come into play and then during it there'll be a 90day time when we have workshops and discussions and so you guys will be addressing codes and to say you're removing the DNE overlay you'll be effectively adopting whatever code you want any code you adopt effectively changes the dwani overlay anyway so it's not really the danani overlay as a code right now and it just will depend on what you guys do as you go forward but yeah as someone who moved here with my family in 1980 and downtown was completely dead I mean nobody went downtown for any reason and to now see the considerable success we've had in the Envy well we're the best small coastal town in United States and what yeah um we should just think careful carefully about making changes that may threaten that this motion is not to actually make any changes I understand okay I can say one more thing sure for you know me personally the major concern is that sort of this Urban core type mixed use development where you see so much density has now spr red out on to US1 and caner is kind of the main rationale for what I'm saying if to give context if you may not know what we're talking about that was all uh Madam clerk will you take roll call commissioner Reed yes commissioner Collins yes commissioner Clark yes commissioner goobi yes vice mayor Rich yes and second comment okay is bright lines so this will be a contentious issue I'm sure um I had requested last meeting not to get too personal but my dad was actually in the ICU that day and I had asked if we could postpone the vote discussion and vote uh for bright line because he was going into surgery at North and I really wanted to have input on that meeting and I was quite disappointed that we couldn't wait one more meeting meeting to have those conversations because bright line is a really big deal and will affect this town for a very long time so my Hope was that we could have all of us here to Hash it out and try to have the best deal possible for residents because we would be putting them on the hook uh for the tab but things happened for a reason and nothing's an accident so um for me personally at this point in reviewing this bright line is a terrible deal for taxpayers um it is a deal that has changed and it went from the county paying you know 15 million half the station and bright line paying for its half of the station to now the city has taken the other half of the station with the county and bright Line's off the hook and so as far as I can tell um and not just myself and talking to many residents that don't feel like they've really been able to voice how they feel about this um it it doesn't really make sense to them that a private company would get basically a free land lease of taxpayer land and a private company that has billions in bonding should have this little town fund its 30 4050 million station uh it's crazy when the majority of people are just trying to survive right now so I would like to make another motion and before I do that I am fully aware and I'm going to quote this because it's from our comp plan that the city shall continue to encourage the expansion of Tri Rail passenger rail service bus service and other multimodal forms of transportation with a particular INF on developing downtown steart as a Transportation Hub that's in our comp plan what is not in our comp plan is that we should all be paying for that my perception of that in the comp plan is if we need to make some alterations and setbacks or make it more feasible for them we should but certainly not that we should be giving up our land and being on the hook for 30 and 45 million because remember City taxpayers are also County taxpayers so we are paying twice right yes so again my opinion this is a bad deal but it is not something that any of us in my opinion should be trying to amend because this is an internal um staff this is this is between the staff and the county I don't think we should be on the fly on the dis trying to amend uh the agreements that came forth last time so I want to do something that's a little bit uh out of the box and I would like to motion to resend the previous two agreement agreements that we entered into last time resolution number 41 2024 resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an amended interlocal agreement with Martin County and also I guess a third would be resending the previous interlocal agreement because that was an updated one and resending resolution number 52 2024 resolution authorizing the city to enter a longterm lease and development agreement with bright line trains LLC and I believe we should be notifying the County Administrator that U because I don't know if this is going to be on their agenda tomorrow but before that happens or if it's the next meeting I think it's incredibly important that they know that this is still being hashed out by the city and that whatever they vote on is not formalized if we potentially vote it down to terminate it so with that I would like to make a motion along those lines if there's a second and for clarity the motion would be for staff to bring back on September 9th because obviously we can't resend it today you would have to have notice to the public and have a public hearing on it and next meeting we would have a recision vote it would be on September 9th yep right so I'd like to motion that if there's a second I'll second motion before we do that can I commissioner or mayor Rich can I Prov we have a motion by commissioner Cs and a second by commissioner giobi but Sean had already ask for can I provide some comment commissioner Reed do you have any questions or comments yeah um so in my research in the Robert Rules of Order there was three options um obviously I wasn't here August 12th when you guys voted I was campaigning um but there is a motion to reconsider um but you would have had to have been on the prevailing side and that would come from mayor rich or commissioner Clark um so then I would be able to provide input um commissioner Joby um commissioner Collins all of us will be able to partake in it um but obviously you know there's a motion on the floor currently um but a reconsideration would have to be done by on a and that's correct and I am right yeah I'm ruling his motion out of order okay but yes but if we chose to resend it would be completely done for um and a new agreement could come for and a new agreement could come back before the board or we could do a reconsideration and it come back in order to do a reconsideration that would have to be done okay the motion has been ruled out of order so we won't have further discussion on it um that's the way it works right and certainly in a gentler tone thank you I just didn't know if you guys were willing to reconsider you have to wait till after we vote on this motion okay that's what he's saying okay no no there's no motion there was a motion in a second there's a motion motion to resend is on the floor and there was a second so that motion has got to be disposed of before you consider another motion is out of order he can't make that motion because he wasn't at the meeting he didn't vote in favor well I can I can clarify that so and maybe so there's three options the board has to reconsider a prior course of action there would be a motion to reconsider which is what commissioner Reed um had mentioned and in a motion to resend was commissioner Collins there is a third option it's a motion to amend something previously adopted and a motion to amend well first off a motion reconsider has to be done by um a commissioner who voted in favor of this last motion and commissioner Reed is correct it can only be done tonight or on the day of the hearing U so he that's the last dat you can raise the motion to reconsider the other two options a motion to amend or motion to resend they can be done at any any time tonight or even a subsequent meeting uh there is no time limit on it and the motion to amend or a motion to resend can be done by Commissioners that did not vote in favor of the issue that's being done so but um you know commissioner Reed is that you can't bring another motion up until this motion is disposed of but I guess he's actually um um asking you if you'd consider another option uh in your vote and and and I think you know it would be up to uh commissioner Collins to amend his motion or to revoke or resend his motion to resend and start over but otherwise there is a current Motion in a second so uh you need to have continue to have discussions and then let the public comment and then vote on it so commissioner Reed are you asking commissioner Collins to amend his motion well I was just seeing if uh mayor rich or commissioner Clark were willing to do a reconsideration just because you are the only two that are able to do that before we resend it or if we do um an amend something previously adopted so I was just seeing because obviously I wasn't here August 12th I was not elected um so we have a majority of three people up here that were not even a part of the discussion um and here we are a week and a half later and just to clarify aemotion reconsideration would to bring back the original um agenda item in motion and it would be like you guys starting fresh on that issue a motion to resent like um commissioner Reed said it just cancels it out all together it would have to be put on the agenda and re raised again at a future date to start something new on it um and then a motion to amend you actually have to if you do a motion to amend nobody's done that or talked about that except myself but motion to amend you'd have to be specific on what you want to amend about the agreement you know a term in the agreement and then that's got to be noticed to come back for the next meeting but and also um the motion tonight is to bring back whatever motion you decide next meeting we're not voting on it tonight right so so a motion to amend we have a motion to re a motion to reconsider would would either of those require more time and Would One require more meetings than the other by the way I just looked up the motion to resend and it says if notice of the intent to resin was given at the previous meeting or in the call of the meeting that is on the agenda a majority of vote is required to adopt a motion to resend if no notice is given then 2third a vote of the uh entire membership is required but in this instance we'll be giving notice because it'll be coming back on September 9th and notice will be provided to the public so that they can appear come on September 9th and provide comments and essentially at the staff meeting tomorrow I will direct staff to put together the history of what's happened so that the whole thing can be presented to the board my concern is just that tomorrow potentially the county might be voting on that Ila to approve it correct so if we did want to resend it we need to do it now before it's formalized to the county if you resend it now though you didn't put it I mean it's not on agenda you'll violate State Statute State Statute requires I mean uh to vote to re to to set it for September 9th but if we're but if we are going if we are approving that we will be having that vote that signals to the county that they should wait clearly right that's what I'm saying and if we wait to do that and we're you know no the motion is to be heard right now any comment commissioner Clark on this motion um there is so much misinformation out in the public about this if you look at the bokeh station I believe 98% of those costs were covered by grants um the Aventura station I believe 92% of those costs were covered by grants so to say that the city is going to be on the hook for 3040 million does not reflect the reality of what is probably going going to happen of course we cannot guarantee that we will receive but if you look right excuse me but if you look at the success that bright line has had working with municipalities it would lead one to believe that to be the case we don't even know what the deal with the county is because this matter is before them tomorrow so at least at the meeting in two weeks we will know the deal that we have with the county now if the county rejects this deal by the way the because of the meeting two weeks ago uh the lease has been signed with bright line because the commission instructed the commission to do that but the county will have to fall back on their settlement agreement with bright line which does require them to pay quite a bit of money so I'm glad we're going to have the opportunity uh in two weeks to discuss this further and in detail and with correct information um just speaking for myself after the issues concerning water quality I have encountered no issue that has enjoyed so much support as having a bright Line station in the city of stort commissioner Rich can I add more comment I don't think you heard you commissioner excuse me commissioner are there any other mayor Rich questions or comments can I provide more comment yeah okay so I I actually did a Foy request on the city of bokeh and uh it was 11 half million for the parking garage and I believe the city got a grant for a million and a half and besides that you know if we talk about a business being successful you wouldn't be asking for $45 million plus of taxpayer money if you're that [Applause] successful okay Mr bagot where are we public comment public comment you need to fill out a little green card please I will happily fill out a these were my comments for the county tomorrow but hopefully that vote will be postponed so let me share them with you and this lovely group of people we can talk about the agreement for Park oh Robin cartright city of store Super Famous right here we can talk about how the agreement for the parking garage with 450 spaces that is now a surface parking lot with 200 spaces meaning that 250 cars are anticipated of being part of the already crowded Street and on parking street parking in the city but I would like to talk about the land agreements so the county is giving land to the city of stor who will then lease each parcel for $1 a year for 80 years one of those Parcels is not of the train station and that agreement is that bright line can develop it for a to and can apply for the live local act which means it would be slated for development so if I'm reading everything correctly and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong the city of St will bless bright line to be able to lease a parable land for $1 a year that they can develop but bright line is not a real estate company nor do they have a construction company nor real estate division to do anything with Residential Properties at least not that I could find so is there a possibility that they are going to take this land that they have leased again for $1 a year for 80 years and sublease it to a company that will develop it Rob and that's been removed out of the agreement so it's still it's on the County's agenda for tomorrow that it is part of it it's a previous well regardless we taxpayers are paying for a private entity a parking facility train station buying tickets and now we are looking at the possibility of this for 80 years with the prospect of development that a private company can make money off of our tax dollars so someone please explain to me because I feel like I must be missing something that this is a good idea that provides a much needed benefit to our community to those of us that live here because I cannot figure it out and I'm pretty smart I graduated Magna Kum Lai I'm Six Sigma certified I'm definitely able to read and I still feel like I must be missing something so for the benefit of everybody here I am grateful that this is being reconsidered I feel like we need to have a voice in this because you are correct we are paying twice in the city of stort for something that gives us absolutely no personal economic benefit thank you a as a point of clarification the um what happened was in 2010 when the charter review board for the city of Stewart um reviewed again uh the charter review and the comp plan stuff where they go out to referendum the issue um regarding trains came up again and they voted to keep it in the comp plan and to move forward and then in 2011 um the city uh prepared a um transit station and designed for the Final Phase of Memorial Park as well as a transit station is what it was called but it was on Flagler Avenue on the property adjacent to the courthouse and in that transit station design on the to property as Miss cartright was referring to it that's owned by the county there was a design that showed a um 48,000 squ fot County building that was intended because at the time the Martin County property appraiser was renting space in the towers building and was looking for a location to build an office building and so in the design that the city did in 20 11 related to that site it demonstrated that building um I believe that along the lines during the uh requests for proposals by brightline that brightline probably saw that document or design and in their March fourth letter they sent a letter to the county and the city selecting the city and county uh in response to the request for proposals and in their letter they mentioned that they wanted the city to provide three acres of land from the landfill as well as the county to provide what they referred to in that letter is the to property however um neither of those things actually made it to the agreement I know that I got the letter on March 4th and on March 5th I contacted them and told them that I didn't know about the three acres and that the city wouldn't have the ability to give them 3 acres at the landfill and then I know that the final settl with the county um did not include the to property at all and would not be um renting at leasing it letting the county use it or letting bright line use it at all it's not part of the agreement it's that it will remain a parking lot and owned by the county and used I Believe by the courthouse during the week and the baseball fields on the weekends so that particular property wasn't in the agreement but anyway we that's just an update on where it got there as I say the there's a great deal of misinformation out there and we will have the opportunity apparently in two weeks to go over this again in detail see no are we voting do you have any comments no are we voed well we have any additional public comment okay good evening Commissioners and I have to say it brings a great smile to my face to see the new commissioner sitting up there we work very hard you worked very hard and thank you um I'd also like to thank the other Commissioners that are sitting there but um Gail Goldie and I am at 1153 Northwest 12 Terrace and i' just like to address something that commissioner rich said he's talking about grants I do believe that you need an education on grants grants are not free money grants come with I remind you that you and not allowed to address anyone up specifically by okay well then this is for all Commissioners grants come grants come with no guarantees just because there's a grant it doesn't necessarily mean that we need to look for it or to take it because it is a cost to the taxpayers grants have been much less than what a lot of the people who have applied for them actually receive and as a taxpayer in this County and unfortunately I'm not in the city but I know that many of the city residents pay taxes twice they pay it to the county and the city so I would just like to remind everyone that when you're looking at proposals and there's a grant attached to it please please please really really delve into exactly what we're getting with a grant if we're going to get it thank you we have anybody else I do not Mary I speak during public comment but it had to do with bright line so um I'm going to speak now I want to say Welcome to our new City commissioners we're so glad you're here the city steart the residents have spoken loud and clear I'm sorry Dina Peterson um 221 hibiscus um the city and the residents have spoken loud and clear welcome we're looking for a change um I feel it's insulting as a citizen to be told we misunderstand um lot of us are very well informed are paying attention and we're watching and the bright Line station is a huge cost we're not guaranteed the grants as other people have said um I think having it done right the vote done right before the election was really kind of almost underhanded like it could have waited till we had the people who are going to be rolling this out on the dis um that would have been a more fair process um I think it would have changed the vote quite a bit um bright line is a private company they should be rolling out their own money getting their own grants raising their own bonds this is not the city of Steward is a small City we should not be spending the money on this and I just hope that this vote to resend goes through in two weeks and that the county takes notice that the Commissioners that are sitting that voted for it before both at the city and the county take notice because the County Commissioners tomorrow will be the old County Commissioners and again it's very convenient that this is happening now now and not after um they get sworn in um so thank you so much congratulations could you fill out a green card please could you fill out a green okay all right see no other comments or questions roll call please can I verify if it's to bring back the item to resend those two resolutions at the 99 meeting thank you okay correct um vice mayor rich yes commissioner Clark yes commissioner Collins yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner giobi yes awesome thank you all and with that I'm done comments by the city manager is there no other City Commissioner have any other comments I'm good um I just had a couple items to address first um most people have already heard but I want to make sure that it's very clear if you go to the Flagler Center tomorrow they're going to charge admission because the meeting has been moved for the de and we are hoping not to get the 500 people that didn't find out showing up anyway but there is not a meeting raring Jonathan Dickens saten State Park tomorrow at 3:00 at the Flagler Center so please if any of your friends Wonder at all it is not tomorrow um secondly the Stewart Heritage Museum uh was one of the election matters that came up and um I actually think it may have gotten the most favorable election results out of anything ever in the city of Stewart I think there was less than 200 votes that were no um so it was like 98 or 99% in favor I just want to let the commission know that I've already communic unated with uh board members from steuart Heritage and I will be working with them and be bringing a draft lease forward sometime either in late December or or late September early October um they're already in possession so it's not like it's any big deal or emergency lease is that it's it already had a 10-year lease and so the 10e lease expired and you can't extend it Beyond 10 years without a referendum so the length of the lease will be up to the commission but I couldn't even bring a lease back for 6 months because their 10 years was up so that'll be up to the board the length of time and those terms and we can address that at the agenda item um and lastly uh during the meeting before um the folks that um had a concern about the cdbg grant that said they had reached out to the city and that they had not received any response the reason that the agenda item was on the agenda and scheduled to bring to the attention of the commission was because they reached out and was in fact intended to bring it to everybody's attention to provide them with the response and the opportunity to talk that they were saying that we didn't give them I just wanted to let you know that we intentionally brought it forward for that purpose um and I don't want to comment on the actual merits or facts of it because as you all noticed and were clear about the city of Stewart was more of a catalyst than than deeply involved so I I'm sure there are two sides of the story and rather than commenting on either of them I think it needs to be fleshed out and hopefully we can do that over the next few weeks and that's all I've got can I have a motion for the approval of the agenda so moved move by can I can I can I pull an item now yes yeah yes uh approve the agenda and pull item numbers three and four as far as I'm concerned just for explanation purposes so we have a motion for approval of the agenda pulling items three and four from the consent calendar is there a second what would be the purpose of pulling them to discuss them to discuss them not removing just discussing okay that's what I was confused being removed I'll second the motion okay all in favor I I do we roll call it's all in favor no comments from the public on non-agenda related items I see one M Hamilton I'm Olga Hamilton s Street Stuart Little church right at the corner of at so as we talking here about tax Bay Money cdbg program and here I'm sorry I I'm back there there are many people with the cdbg to programs this is all taxpayer funded programs they are good programs they help our communities to rehabilitate houses yes rehabilitate not to bring the disaster in this houses by shy work constantly and constantly and constantly taxpayers FR in these programs takes many forms it can be committed by applicants but it can be committed and it's very often committed by Shady contractors now how to it helps our community here when the general contractor bring unskilled vus in your house and they don't even know what they are doing that's what happened no local guys no local workers no local subcontractors we have roof companies our very good roof companies we have window companies our local guys no one hire it everyone brought from Jacksonville and they all like traveling wagons and they don't speak even English it's it's not I'm telling you that you cannot communicate with them you cannot tell them stop guys and when the management company you since May 22nd I preserved all messages all emails thousands photographs videos and when every time when I send these messages and photos to the managing company Guardians oh okay hey that's fine give them another chance we will fix it give them another chance so I sent him photo left that what was left from our walls they order it negligently windows that you 4 in biger and you need to address the board yeah and they to alter our exterior bearing wall they cutting essential parts of our walls Jack STS that support our cripples and wall pl we have CS in the wall we have holes in the wall Ted by you're supposed to be addressing the Commissioners when I send this particular picture with the pencil stocking this is silicone hole they cut 4 Ines of our wall vus three workers unskilled workers will left on our property without any any supervision and that's what happened thank you Mrs Hamilton thank you very much for your attention and uh a quick moment a quick moment no no no no no thank you Mrs Hamilton thank you thank you um could I ask the Commissioners who are texting or receiving text to turn off their ding ringers because I'm listening for Mary for the three first of all you really shouldn't be texting up here but um if you could turn off the dingers then I I was confusing I didn't know when her time was up I think okay I'm sorry then if that's the case you call me your computer didn't you hear those D um any any other public comment regarding non-agenda items oh I'm sorry I have it here A bunch it's my first I'm getting it Frank mccristal City Stewart uh I'd like to thank the previous speaker for waking me up from my coma so I'm ready to ramble now she she she nailed it I mean everything ties together um the shelter line stretching around the corner Welcome to the New World Order illegal aliens building new houses with on the job training it's unbelievable you do not want to buy a new house anywhere anymore get yourself an old house all right so what a great country and the Lord is good 95 votes what a difference 95 votes makes it was it was about two and a half years ago when I listened to a uh young woke mayor describing all the woke things that needed to happen to our city to comply with the globalist agenda 21 and and and the existing city manager chimed in yeah and I think the city manager needs a a brand new Tesla okay and so then what really got me excited and wanting to do something anything anyhow was when this existing mayor said now we spent two and a half hours describing all this new and beautiful stuff that's going to be so great for the citizens but the most important thing that we need to do is to create a new position hire a full-time position that's going to spend time educating the people on how good it is so I would hope this new commission understands one thing you work for us not I'll leave it at that thank you so [Applause] much Valerie Jones Valerie Jones no no Valerie Valerie Jones 40-year resident of uh of uh Stewart um clearly everybody here is aware of the brewhaha uh surrounding the proposal for golf courses and resort hotels at the Florida state parks including Jonathan Dickinson uh I have sadly learned through personal experience that despite massive public outcry no proposition is actually dead until laws or regulations are changed at the state city or county level I would respectfully request that the steuart city commission consider and pass a resolution protecting the sanctity of Jonathan Dickenson and opposing commercial development thank you Deborah thank you Miss Jones harsh speak to that good afternoon everyone good afterno I just want to reiterate a little about the Hamiltons and hopefully all the shoddy work that was done on the church can be rectified and the original bones of the church will be reconstructed and put back into its historic State I want to thank you for your time and consideration into saving the 1895 Church on Third Street and making it the landmark that generations to come will know and appreciate the history of potam thank you thank you and one of our crb members Bonnie Moser is Bonnie here Deanna Peterson thank you Miss Peterson and Carl is it Carl Hathaway Carl left yes okay so that's the end of all my green what I do not okay unless he's is he speaking to a specific item Jimmy did you want us yes I have Jimmy I have Jimmy he's on a specific item he's on six yeah I think Mr Christie's on six too who did you just hand me there chief Charles Jones Charles Jones sorry sir but you get to be lost one more second the last sorry good evening Commissioners um I I just want to State for the record I I think it's pretty obvious when you look around the city um whether it's St Lucy or Martin County you see growth growth and growth from someone who grew up in Stewart particularly in East Stewart that is where my my concern lies especially with East Stewart there's a lot of changes that have been proposed um especially with the building that Willie Gary had purchased many many years ago as far as the use of it and what it can do to our community I know initially it had been stated to be something to um help enrich or to help the citizens or the residents of East Stewart to actually have a chance to whether they want to um bring forth their own own businesses or have a place where they can use it to train or it can help ourselves but it seems as of late that decisions have been made to where it's now going to be vocational but it's inviting people outside of the area it doesn't really serve our interest Mr Jones I believe you're speaking about item six oh so is that coming is that coming up have I spoken too soon yes okay should I I'll wait thank you [Applause] well this is a twof for for Miss cart right so Robin so officially I will clarify Bob did not run for anything and does a great job with project lift and I'm very excited that they're coming to the St Community um so good evening officially Commissioners and first and foremost I want to congratulate our newly elected Commissioners both at the city and the county level while voter turnout was unfortunately low compared to previous years I think those who did vote made quite a statement based on what they voted for so what did we learn this election voters care about campaign contributions votes on developments and apparent and sometimes real conflicts of interest and now that the elections are over now what paying attention doesn't stop just because the election is over we will continue to monitor the influences over activities as well as the activities themselves make no mistake there is still work to do but there's not a lot of time before 2026 and we need to make voters aware of what's still at stake and what's possible for our communities and it's great to know that people are paying attention the elections of the two new Commissioners here at the city congratulations and the two new Comm commers of the county are a referendum on how current residents feel about the votes by the respective commissions mainly the disregarding of the concerns exess expressed by those of us who live here because as a gentle reminder we will and we do vote as evidenced by the change you see tonight on the dis congratulations M rudge good evening Karen Hall Yos rudge 1701 Southwest Palm City Road I second her uh about how grateful we are and what a change being made but I do want to thank mayor Bruner and commissioner McDonald for their service and and I'm glad we're having a change but thank you for your service um I want to bring up this we have to stop this nonsense about if we say something nice about you we're allowed to say your name but if we say something that's true that maybe you voted on something that we didn't care for then all of a sudden we're going to be um interrupted and so it was you mayor who said that that interrupting a speaker is um not is bad form and that's so true it's very bad form so I love that I'm in this city I love this County been voting here since 1992 I love my country I love being able to redress my grievances to my government and we're excited but yes let's not have this nonsense it can't be selective you can't let someone say something nice but then call out if commissioner Reed does something which I don't think he will but if he does I'd like to be able to say I don't appreciate that so let's let's not do selective okay and let's this public comment look what time it is 7 o' we're the public we pay for everything we love you guys but maybe commissioner should go after us and if you want to go before us you get three minutes you have caught us from 5 to three minutes this is nonsense okay so we love what you have to say but what we have to say is actually more important because we're paying you and for all this so anyway God Bless America God bless City [Music] [Applause] Ste that so we approve this consent can uh we have a motion to approve the consent calendar pulling items three and four excuse me mayor I apologize but Mr Hamilton um stated he put in a card I don't have it here so perhaps okay I'm sorry Mr Hamilton Mr Camp I'm all out of I'm sorry my name is Robert Hamilton the 1895 Church of Stewart 311 Southwest Third Street um Mr campanini made me think of something and I want to address for penol Gandhi I learned something from penol the other day I didn't realize that when our city is implementing this program our city gets no money do you realize that 25 to 30% goes to the guardian program who would not help need to think about that because we have to have teeth and this needs to be changed the program is great I've worked with M gandi before right here on projects we always didn't agree but she was professional she was nice and we met in the middle and it was serious had to do with water flooding under the church and she took it seriously and we resolved the issue I've asked and you got the flooded email and I know Mr mortell got mine I just feel and I'm not trying to poke anybody I don't want to thank youa I want to thank you very much man Because you responded and you talked to me and you made me feel like a human and when I was speaking to Brian Mass office because we're doing multiple meetings I said we feel so subhuman we have three minutes to get out and it's taxpayers money and we don't have the time to talk I realize Mr mortell is busy but I had truly hoped in the heart of our people our citizens here that you would have said you know what Mike you need to sit down with the Hamiltons and panol and find out what's going on and get Lou in the building department and Bruce I've been doing business here for years restoring that place I realize he's busy I shouldn't have to sit down with mass office to resolve this issue and he said when you're there you tell them if there's any other suspected fraud or misappropriation of federal dollars or State dollars you contact me at my office I rely on all of you people here I know you I don't interfere in your regular business Mr mortell knows me I spent my life in litigation it's not something I like it's what I did and was good at I'm not an attorney I was a trial consultant but I know how to put a trial together ogre handles 1,200 pieces of evidence without a miss and hits 44 million in our community on a bad chain from a Chinese company I'm very proud of the work she did but when we found ourselves in a bad situation we had to reach out to you guys and I realize this protocol you got to understand what it feels like to be that individual that we don't count or subhuman so you can come in and speak three minutes it would take me and Mr Morell and Miss Gandhi to sit down for several hours to show and have ogga show the documentation as some of it Flatout fraud into our building department that's wrong what they did to our building department not telling them but I had it in my contract they didn't think I was going to read my contract well there it was in the contract building Department's going we don't have that I would just yield the rest of my time oh there's no time thank you very much okay just I've made this comment before but it was there were not quite so many people here but there are quite a few in attendance and Stuart is very lucky to have so many concerned Citizen and this was actually the remarks I was going to make to our new Commissioners is this is a very difficult job because the only time we can talk to each other is here in public on the dis I hope none of you have each other's phone numbers I hope none of you text each other I hope none of you email each other I hope you never speak on the because that is a violation of the Sunshine Law and that is not a little thing okay up in Sebastian if I can find my remarks three Commissioners broke the sunshine two of them went to jail they lost their office two of them went to jail had a fine and the third was removed from office and had a fine so if I spent 10% of my time up here I'd be surprised most of my time is spent talking to the people who live and work in the city and it's a lot more than 3 minutes these are long long meetings I go to their houses I walk on their property I go to their businesses I travel and that's my job and it takes a lot of time so I I've been in your position I've been in the audience and I understand the frustration you feel but let me tell you these we we hear you we hear you and it matters to us that you have a problem and it's not being dealt with and you will find in most instances that you're going to get a call from one of the Commissioners after the meeting and say what's the problem how can I help you I'm coming out to your house so right it's 7 o' the meeting started at 5:30 it's it's you know the three minute limit is a is an acknowledgement of that many of you have worked all day you've come here after work and your time is limited as well and we have to get to these decision decisions and this is the only time we can talk to each other about it and so we do have to be selfish uh with the demands of of that time and Miss Raj I know you know that okay no no we're not the audience so Gail Goldie Gail Goldie sure spoke Goldie 1153 Northwest 12th terrorist I just wanted to make a comment on uh on um the uh alga Hamilton's uh talk about uh the shoty work that was done at her property um I have several I know several people that have had grants and were granted the Grant and the work that was done was atrocious uh it was terrible um the work and M my thing would be that I just want the Commissioners to know I don't know who's in charge of picking the contractors that do this work if there's a list that they have to choose from I know that alga said that they didn't take them the cheapest they went to the most expensive but whoever they are I believe that there should be a better vetting process for the people that are doing the work Y and um that I don't know who you get to do the vetting process but you need to have someone that is doing a better vetting process for these uh contractors that are working on a grant and taxpayer money thank you you and just as a point of clarification in the in the cdbg grant Arena that's a federal program and the City of Stewart isn't the one that gets to select or do any of the vetting process so we actually didn't participate on that we didn't have any rfps or any criteria or any review Authority at all mrga was correct that I do believe that the people that worked on hers were in from Jacksonville and I know that at the meeting before this when uh commissioner Clark brought it up um this is about a year ago we had a matter in E Stewart where the people had a cdbg grant and the contractor was from Texas and was operating under a temporary license Mr Ernst and that is the last green card I have so are you sure or UN Agenda items uh greetings commissioners small town Stewart small town Stewart let's be proud of ince yourself in your address please say again could you introduce yourself in your address please uh Bob Ernst 801 Johnson Avenue thank you and Stewart I look up at that Shield there and I see small town Stewart and I'd like to welcome Laura and Sean and I'd never seen Chris smile so much true sorry to say the last commission voted against smalltown stward and it's not the rhetoric we listen to It's the votes we look at remember the outcry when cube Smart Storage was built at the corner of US1 in Palm City we thought the previous commission would listen when there was such a an outcry they did not mat Bruna and McDonald are all gone now we told them traffic on Cana was unsustainable can US1 north and south and now we know officially North they're trying to figure out what they're going to do about traffic on North but build more tenaments we're over capacity you know how to road is overc capacity when you sit through numerous traffic signals as you do in can or in us one as you do on Monteray and us one as you do on Indian as us one so what did the prior commission do for an answer they put in Costco and 400 tenaments plus all the other things going in there and they put in Indigo that's the tenaments at the corner of Indian and annah the constituents pleaded with you not to do this the constituents of South Federal Highway pleaded with you not to do Mason and you went ahead and voted for these unneeded developments I hope we can keep in mind small town steid and there's really no capacity left I think probably the most you heard when you were out there campaigning was complaints about traffic and when you have traffic issues you don't put in a Costco you don't put in 400 tenaments and you don't put in Indigo and I can make a list of others that you voted in but I probably won't have time in the three minutes I appreciate you both being here I hope you can all work together I think the message is loud and clear both here in small town Stewart and in Martin County the we worked hard the vot I was so afraid the voters weren't going to listen the voters weren't going to be informed but they did listen and they were informed and they made a loud statement and hopefully it'll make some change it's made some changes up there and hopefully the influence will be contagious and I thank you very much for your time I thank you for serving we know you work hard thank you very much ma'am could you I my name's Deborah harsh you already have my my green card anyway I just want to reiterate did you already speak once on this I did do I have to I'll fill another one no no I just want to take two seconds only once only once only once okay can we get a motion for the move adoption of the consent agenda I pull item number three and four or just to have staff briefly talk about it and to see if there's a relationship do we have a second second all in favor I okay commission action so let you want let's take up three three let's take up item three right now will you be pres I need to the title thank you uh resolution number 886-2247 May to execute an interlocal agreement between the between the city of Stewart and Martin County to provide maintenance of traffic signal cabinets with decorative uh art W providing an effective date and for other purposes and I I don't think we need to have Miss Gand just go over this is the this is the same thing as the wp that was discussed or presented to you earlier today um it was my understanding that uh commissioner giobi had asked that we go back to the county on this uh inter local agreement and request that the language as it relates to the uh County being responsible for the W in the event that they damage it when they're um repairing or doing anything to the boxes be amended I've already spoken to the City attorney about that between the meetings so that part is covered but yes this is that amendment to that interlocal agreement right so we didn't yes so this that's why we need to okay thanks number four well we have to address this and vote I need a motion for so we have a motion approve resolution 86202 second go that's May motion he has to I can't move it appr second we have a motion for approval by commissioner Collins a second by commissioner Clark any comments or questions from the other Commissioners all in favor or you want to do roll got be roll call on the public okay oh public comment any public comment on this particular item the wrapping of the signal boxes it's actually the maintenance of the interlocal or the maintenance of the signal boxes wrapping see none roll call please commissioner Reed yes vice mayor Rich yes commissioner Clark yes commissioner goobie yes commissioner Collins yes Mr baget will you read item number four please sure mayor um resolution number 884-2020 a resolution of the city Commission of city of Stewart Florida authorizing an interlocal agreement between the city of Stewart and Martin County to maintain the existing entrance Monument sign on idian Street providing an effective date and for other purposes and I'll be happy to handle this as well um as a background to this uh Martin County was the uh Catalyst behind the construction of the Indian Street bridge and um the on-ramp and offramp were considered County Roads even though that technically an extension of Highway 714 the county is transferring the road back to fdot but fdot will only take care of Andor manage traffic control signs east of caner highway is a welcome to Stewart sign that is not considered an F traffic control sign and as a result the county wants to enter into an interlocal agreement with the city that the city would be responsible for the maintenance of the uh Monument sign on the corner of Indian Street and um caner there the option would be that the city be responsible for it or we remove it so um this interlocal agreement is simply the city saying that it will in fact be responsible for the sign and if somebody crashes into it and breaks it or whatever it'll be our responsibility to obviously go repair it and obviously over the years to maintain it and paint it and keep it in um proper shape overal approval of 84224 second we have a motion by commissioner Clark for approval and a second by commissioner Collins any discussions concerns or questions from the public comment come forward please and fill out a card afterwards please introduce yourself Valerie Jones a longtime resident of caner Highway 40 years uh right across from CostCo I just like to note that that welcome to the city of Stewart Monument sign is probably on County Land and the city failed to acknowledge all of the thousands of of uh County residents who were completely disregarded in the passage of the uh of the Costco development could you fill out a card please ma'am any other comments questions Commissioners nope seeing none roll call please commissioner Collins yes commissioner Clark yes vice mayor Rich yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner GI yes we're moving on to the first reading of items did we pass two and five in the consent yes we passed the consent C I got that one we did vote on yes we did vote didn't we Madam we didn't pull no we did not pull it it's approved it's approved with the which included the minutes first reading uh Mr bagot will you please read ordinance number 2 25 32202 of course uh ordinance number 2532 d224 an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida amending the city's official zoning map to rezone a 2.4 acre parcel located at 710 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard being more described than exhibit a attached from commercial planned unit development to business and mixed use zoning designation providing directions to the city work providing for repeal of all ordinances and conflict providing for an effective date and for other purposes and um before I give it back to you uh mayor I just wanted to point out uh we do have some new board members and uh commissioner Reed just stepped out but there was a lot of confusion confusion in the past with the pass board when we have these uh multiple readings and multiple hearings and I I just wanted to um uh reiterate the rules on a rezoning matter like this um that there are two hearings um that the will be conducted by the city commission to consider a proposed rezoning and this is a rezoning such um hearings may be scheduled on the agenda of the regular City commission meeting which we're here um and also um it says the rezoning ordinance may be read by title only at the first hearing the second hearing is where we'll have a quasi judicial um hearing and uh that's when you take testimony put people under oath and that the reasoning ordinance may be adopted at the conclusion of the Quasi judicial hearing so the Quasi judicial is not today so I just I got a lot of questions with the former board on some of these hearings and I just wanted to clarify it since we did have some new members that uh ideally this first hearing I'm I just read the title um and and you can have some comments but I guess if when you get to it it would be motion to push uh to push the ordinance to the second reading for the next hearing and that's when we have you know evidence and people under oath and so forth but I just wanted to clarify that because we did have that issue a few months ago on some confusion and just to further clarify we are only voting on The rezoning we are not voting on any potential lease that may be given correct this is just rezoning the the the parcel that issue and um and again the next hearing you'll have a quasi judicial hearing um and that's where you vote on approval or or project right the resoning and but there is also another issue that's coming second reading on the resoning at the next there's also the other I'm just ask and and and I probably should have spent more time that's okay you commissioner I'm hearing two different alone because the other commission I'm hearing two different things I'm hearing that there's a vote to change it but you said it's just a vote to move it forward where it will be discussed at the next meeting cor voted on at that point vote today is not to vote to actually accept right the rezoning it's to push it forward to the second hearing right so under under State Statute and under our city ordinance we have to have two hearings the law only requires that we read it at the first hearing for the resoning now we we're going to have the second ordinance reading next commission meeting and it'll be quasi judicial in nature you'll have to disclose expar Communications that you've had um you you will also uh hear evidence under oath um and you'll make a decision there you'll act in you'll act as in judicial in nature at that at the next hearing there's also I think a second component another issue that only has to be done one time it'll be a second hearing on the same property but tonight is just rezoning the property um from the cpud to the business mixed use so we are voting on the actual reing I'm read if all of you vote Yes it doesn't make it binding because it requires two hearings you'd still have to come back on September 9th and the vote on September 9th is The Binding vote today is more of a signal to the public and to everybody else as to what you intend to do September 9th absent some change in circumstances if we did vote no hypothetically tonight you could still vote Yes still move forward on the night well if five of you voted no it' still come back for second reading and would be really up for the actual vote on the night did you hear that commissioner goob um actually I was telling Sean was out of the room I was going to ask him to ask the attorney would had just explain sorry state that Mr Mortel didn't hear that um if all five Commissioners vote no tonight on the zoning it still would move forward and come back for the second reading because the second reading is the actual vote on a zoning technically under state law you have to have two two readings of a motion but only one vote it has been the culture and tradition in Stuart to have the commission vote at both readings of the motion because a lot of people come out to the first hearing and want to see how the Commissioners feel and historically the Commissioners felt like it was kind of leaving the public in the Lurch if they didn't actually vote at that first reading after seeing what they were you know hearing public comment Etc so we vote on it at first reading even though the vote at second reading is actually the only one that counts it's not like we go back and take an average of the first and second reading or anything like that it's just that it's been a tradition and standard in steuart out of respect for the people that come to the meetings to have the commissioner show how they're feeling at the time of the meeting however there could be new information between now and the second meeting that causes you to change your vote thank you good do we have a motion let's hear public comment public no presentation from the Sor right good evening mayor rich and uh welcome new Commissioners uh commissioner uh joobi and commissioner Reed uh thank you um just to kind of give you a little bit of background of where we came came uh how we this this project came fruition uh I apologize my name is j cougler I'm the development director with the development department and um I'm going to introduce panal who's our community development Redevelopment agency director and she has the Insight of how we got how we're looking to reone this property good evening panal Gandhi savc director for the record um I've been working on this project since 2021 so I want to provide U brief history of about the project and how we got here especially to our new Commissioners um so this is a project timeline um the proposal for this site is a rezoning um from cpud to bmu uh for job training center and we're also asking for conditional use uh which will be heard at the next city commission meeting so the project sorry I'm sorry Mr when you do the alphabet soup can you just explain it to the residents CPU bmu right so the rezoning application um actually jod will go through the rezoning application process and present that to the public I'm just presenting the timeline of the project okay so J yeah there will be further discussion about the resoning U so again the project um we started working on this project back in 2021 um the governor announced that there was a cdbg covid relief Grant uh available for communities um the federal government actually made5 billion available um to states to prevent prepare for response to economic impact of the pandemic um then the HUD which is Housing and Urban Development which is federal government they partnered with uh with Florida commerce uh it used to be called Deo U Department of Economic Opportunity um they partner with Florida commerce to administer the Grant and then the grant was made available to the communities there was advertisement uh which is notice of funding availability for the communities to apply for the grant um city of Stewart decided we were going to pursue this grant we didn't know what we were going to pursue it for um so we had a public meeting there was a notice that was published in the newspaper we had two public hearings because we wanted to hear from the community hear their ideas and what we wanted to apply for um we were limited to certain eligible activities that the program offered um so we had two meetings back in February 2021 to get input from the community so these are some of the eligible activities um we could acquire construct rehab buildings um assistance to businesses that were impacted by covid uh public services and project planning uh such as design studies uh to prevent uh from prevent and planning for future pandemic um so we heard from the public there were some comments made um at the end the board did recommend that we were going to acquire the Willie Gary property this was all at the public hearing meeting uh we were going to acquire the 710 soueast Martin Luther King Boulevard um and again this was supposed to be for job training center to help the community um to help grow the economy and Foster generational growth for the resident for steuart res um application was submitted back in March 2021 there were no actions we didn't hear anything from the state until June 2022 when the scentist uh uh announced that 23 communities uh were awarded grant for the project that we applied for uh we were one of the 23 communities that received the grant for $4.7 million the highest amount um so we were very excited and we did have public me meetings to accept the Grant and then um we executed a grant agreement with the with the state back in January 2023 uh we began the negotiation process with the property owner uh to acquire the property um during that process uh we did some inspections and uh it wasn't feasible to um rehab the building that's what we initially applied for is to um acquire and Rehab the existing buildings but it wasn't cost feasible so we decided that we were going to change the scope to demo and new construction um so then I went back to the state and I said hey we need additional money we don't have this is not enough to do new construction so I requested additional 1.5 million project um so they did recently approve it for a total of $6.2 million um and that was actually just executed last month so we actually didn't get the full amount till last month um we had to go through the environmental review process that is a long process it takes almost a year to go through that process as we've heard at the cdbg rehab it it's they just have a lot of regulations that we have to comply with um so and they wouldn't authorize to use the grant fund until we um clear the environmental so that didn't happen until end of last year and we finally got authorization to use Grant funds in December 2023 so until then we really couldn't take any actions couldn't acquire the property uh we just had to sit still then we acquired the property for $1.6 million in January 2024 again and anytime we take any actions all these items come to comes before the city commission for approval and um their public hearing process uh we advertised for RFP contracted with kimly horn to design um the B building and the site planning that was back in February or March 2024 again the process was very fast as soon as we received that we could um move forward with the acquisition um you know everything else happened in like four or five months uh we decided we were going to partner with project Cliff so we had a memorandum understanding uh we executed that agreement with project lift back in April 2024 and then uh once we had uh conceptual plans uh we went before the Eastward neighborhood um to get their um their uh input on the site plan and design and it's true that was the first time they saw that because again we just started working on that back as soon as we received approval and acquir the property so within few months we did go before the community to get their input and then um crb and LPA meeting for last month we received uh they did recommend approval for resoning today I'm here before you uh City commission to get your approval on rezoning and then on September 9th I'll come before you again for rezoning final rezoning approval and conditional use approval as far as the timeline for the construction um we hope to submit for demolition site and building permits uh by in the next couple of months uh should we have your support to move forward uh we will advertise for uh construction uh get the bid on construction in October 2024 hope to award the contract by November 2024 and begin construction by early 2025 and hope to um substantial completed by late 2025 and then um close out the grant by 2026 that is our deadline we do have to close out this grant there's no extension and that concludes my presentation but jod is going to go through the rezoning process thank [Applause] you uh good evening again uh for the record my name is Jody couger I'm with the development department um I tonight I'll be presenting agenda item number six a petition submitted on behalf of the City's community redevelopment agency to amend the city's official zoning atlas map to rezone the property located at 710 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard from commercial planed unit development to a business mixed use zoning District by the public public notice requirements outlined in under section 11.2.5 of the Land Development code the applicant mailed 40 letters to adjacent Property Owners located within 300 ft of the subject parcel providing details of the requested development in a date and time of tonight's meeting additionally three signs were posted on the property along with this same information the 2.4 acre vacant side is located is located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Tarpon Avenue the property is located within this community redevelopment agency area and also located in the East Stewart area according to the form based code uh that was adopted in 2023 this this property is located in East Stewart uh neighborhood zoning district and according to the uh requirements for any presentations in front of the board uh this zoning change had to go before the crb the local planning agency and tonight but at the city commission this just gives you a little bit of timeline of what um actually happened on the property the property was uh rezoned in 1985 uh through the re through ordinance number 1037 85 and the property was reson from R3 to commercial planned unit development and also amended the comprehensive plan and entered and entering AC a commercial plan unit development agreement to construct what was called the Vista Village shopping center sorry um in 1987 construction was completed at the Village the Vista Village shopping center um in 1987 also Willie Gary purchased the property um and uh finished the finish the building conditions in 21 uh CRA obtained the Grant and in 2023 they were looking to purchase the property and acquisition happened in 2024 uh this is the actual uh site plan that was originally approved in 1987 of the Vista Village shopping center and just to kind of get familiar with the property uh Martin Luther King is on the at the top of the property um in Blue uh the blue square was a uh convenience store a con coin laundry and a convection store totaling 5600 sare ft the orange area uh demonstrates the two gas pumps with canopy uh the green retail area with totaled a 2500 square ft the pink is the office space which totaled 3120 Square ft and the yellow is the car wash that's total 2500 square ft again this property is located in East Stewart neighborhood district and the purpose of the code was to encourage Redevelopment infill development and Small Business Development affordable housing historical preservation and restoration and to promote stability within the East Stewart neighborhood according to your Land Development code section 3.2.2 of the regulating plan a business mixed use zoning District uh is is traditional business area abing the south side of Martin County Luther Jr Highway adjacent to the central and East Avenues the area is currently characterized by several vacant properties and a few scattered single family again this is the regulating plan that was pulled out of the uh four base code as you can see the property is circled in like a light lighter future color that is the current zoning which is a commercial plan unit development as you can see there nowhere in that jurisdiction is showing a commercial plan development and the this is same same property uh and this is the proposed zoning which would go to a dark fuchsia which is consistent with the neighborhood uh for the business and mixed use zoning District again the land use is East Stewart Joe do you have a question when did that parcel next to it um become bmu because we just did this we just did this overlay recently because that would be strange for that to just be a oneoff in the middle of they're all being okay so according to our um director C director it's always been listed as a bmu isn't that a a part of Stewart overlay I can give some historical context to that so um you're correct 2003 was when that was adopted could you identify yourself please yes thank you I'm sorry I'm Rusty Jess Jessica Seymour with Treasure Coast Regional planning Council we assisted the CRA and the development staff um back in 2002 and 2003 with the uh the code update in this area very few map changes were made so we wanted to stay um consistent so that bmu was um consistent with AC was across the street from there at that time so there was very few changes into what was the permitted uses in that area so you you assigned that bmu and you did that overlay no no it wasn't it wasn't ex the bmu the single family dwelling um uh suplex zoning district and thank you very much and the grro which is the general residential office those were all existing um zoning categories and so we brought kept consistent with those there were a handful of places where there were some modifications um but that was already uh a per the intensity that was at that location was and by intensity I mean the permitted uses were consistent so there wasn't a change in that area again this is d uh title reading from the ordinance um again uh staff recommendation this petition conforms with the criteria outlined in section 11.02 of the Land Development code uh statutes andc consistent with the goals objectives and the policies of the city Stuart comprehensive plan and staff request the city of Stewart City commission forward to the second and final adoption of ordinance number 2532 d224 at the Monday September 9th 2024 City commission meeting to amend the official zoning map from commercial Planning Development to business mixed use located at 710 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard this ends uh staff's presentation and here to happy answer any questions are there any questions of Jody from the Miss commissioner Collins so and ju just kind of briefly scanning through the cpud what's allowable and the BM mu within the E Stewart code they both Greenlight schools so I'm curious why we are needing to change to bmu I it does not allow vocational schol the bmu does not BM allows Vocational School yes right so and plus we wanted to beat with straight zoning because we're meeting most of the code it's currently PUD right it's currently PUD and within cpud allows this use commcial the question before the commission before was did you guys want to change it from PUD to straight zoning and rather than having a PUD the direction was to have it be straight zoning so that I mean you could leave it PUD here's my only concern this is my this is my issue with this is if I can do what we're want what we want to do here with the current zoning I would rather leave it that way because when we go bmu I open this parcel up to a lot of other new land uses later including multifam um like within a cpud you can't have an assisted living facility you can't have multif family you can't have a hospital you can't have an adult business you can't have uh dry cleaning you can't have there's a lot of these usages that you can't have you can have the school that we want to do here the city owns the property I understand so actually could happen the bmu does not I have to correct myself bmu does not allow vocational use that's why we're coming before the board as a conditional use for vocational use right uh that's the next meeting oh cpud we can do what we need to do here anyway right but there are other requirements with cpud like uh 25% open space requirements there's a lot of other requirements that's hard to meet so that gets into my next issue is we're I feel like we're changing zoning here to try to make this work um we the tree the tree I guess what I'm trying to say is you know we hold developers feet to the fire for like tree allowances and and uh you know like impervious space bmu allows more impervious space so the drainage is going to be worse have we have we considered doing what we're trying to accomplish here um with a cpud is it imposs and I'll stop interrupting you um well Our intention was to U go back to straight zoning because when we adopted the form based code uh we want to we want to demonstrate how the straight Cod zoning works and you don't have to go through the P process um straight zoning way the way we've developed it it requires more architectural requirements there are other um things that you can actually get by doing straight zoning versus pudd process we're doing conditional use for the vocational just for the vocational use because it doesn't allow vocational use but as far as architecture we're meeting all the all the requirements that we work so hard to get approved through form based code for me I'll just say sort of you know AC with the board is I would not feel comfortable going bmu here um if I can achieve what I want to achieve with the cpud because this is a single family home neighborhood and I don't know if the people who live behind that street necessarily want to have a lot of this mixed use multif family kind of stuff going on I wouldn't in next to my single family home neighborhood so that's kind of where I'm coming from just generally yeah and I think we can easily meet that open space requirement um if we do decide that if that's a direction from the board space is exempt in the CRA I'm sorry the open space requirement of PUD is exempt in the CRA not in the but we'll check that but I think we can meet that um open space requirement that was the only thing but other other than that the trees yeah we are providing actually I wanted Kim leorn to uh present the site plan and some of the amenities that were uh um providing on the site and there is a lot of amenities in open space so um I would like and also we were waving parking correct that's not that's for the next meeting got it uh commissioner are Jody are you done with your presentation no commissioner Collins if I if I may um just add a little bit to that since the pro the project was approved in 1985 as a commercial planned unit development which was a contract zoning at that time we didn't have a code that says what was permitted so the contract Zone today only allows what's existing there today so either we would have to bring it back as a the Pud we would have to bring it back as a plan unit we would have to reone the property no matter what so for consistency in the way the regulating uh plan showed the bmu was to most appropriate Zoning for this area because of the consistency with the site if you notice that with regard to the parcel next door is that what to the parcel next door into the property um um along Martin Luther King Highway Boulevard but it is more consistent um okay so that's that's why we chose be uh business mixed juice thank do any Commissioners have any other questions of Jody panal no see none we'll move on to public comment so from what I gather from it Jody um one you didn't hear okay we could amend the cpud instead of changing it to bmu so for future it would make it easier for an applicant whether it's project lift or someone in the future they would go straight to the building department based off the bmu yes if you rezoned a property to a business mixed juice you would you would approved the project if you had went through the conditional use process it would be approved for what you what the use is what you're requesting and the site plan if there was a change of use and it wasn't consistent you would still have to do a site plan Amendment it could either run administratively as long as the use was within the business mixed use category and the conditional use is strictly for the vocational the yes that is correct same thing it would be the same consistent with the commercial plan unit development like I said we were just being consistent with the regulating plan but but if it's a bmu as long as it's one of those uses that's consistent with bmu which is everything you can do everything in bmu the only no is a six person or more group everything is allowed so as long as you have an allowable use in any type of use then you were you guys are going to say yes and this is my issue is if if something goes there it can now be anything where having that CPD locks in this usage and then if that we want to go through a new process they're gonna have to if we want to make an apartment it's going to have to go through a totally new well essentially with your conditional use you would have to come back to the board as well right so if you went business mixed juice or if you went commercial plan unit development if if you approve the vocational and the site plan that's adjacent that's going to be part of the project and they say they they move to a different location because they're very successful then right the next person would have to come back to the board to amend the conditional use or to the new use but you would just have to do a site plan Amendment and the conditional use wouldn't matter unless it was is a land use for Ste that's what I'm saying that's not CP doesn't we're changing it to right so again I think a good point is within a cpud there's a very limited residential possibility here it's not going to be become an apartment complex but if it's bmu that applicant right could bang as long as they go through you guys correct that's correct commissioner so if I'm a single family home neighborhood I want to try to really lock in and protect that that's going to be a school unless a whole new PUD happens and that's going to be seen there's no way that could happen administratively we we can certainly look at the CP as well I'm sorry who are you you hi Christina about with kimly horn so I just um so we just wanted to show you kind of the plan that we've been working with closely with staff um to incorporate some of those requirements to make sure that we were meeting that used e to were code um you po the site plan please oh do here I'm sorry just a just a moment please is do we really want to hear this it's it's technically not you're getting into the actual approval of the project project is what's driving your zoning right now which normally wouldn't be driving the zoning but it is because you're talking about project lift being the end use rather than a longterm end use but the change in what what we're proposing for this specific item has uh it could either way it could be the same use so talking about the project is kind of irrelevant it's do we want to change it from it's irrelevant or relevant it's not relevant because either way you can do the same use there's nothing that we're doing differently with this project under a PUD what I'm saying is the project doesn't drive the land designation right but the project is driving the land designation because you're saying that you could do the project under a cpud right so you're saying that the project is driving the land designation the question is does the commission want to address the land use on it right now you have essentially an expired PUD that was right adopted in Stewart before even any of the Pud regulations were done because since the late 90s you could only do a conditional use in the um uh CRA area until I think 21 when we adopted the um the urban urban PUD to allow those puds but this PUD is not a upud it's a cpud but nonetheless it's still there it's just a non-conforming land use that was adopted in the 80s and so to conform it you could probably do an amendment to the Pud and make it an urban a upud with limited uh uses yes you could revert it back to the land use of whatever land use you deem appropriate we could update the cped though right you could amend it to a whatever whatever appropriate here's here's my concern I'm going to be completely transparent all right like you like this is my NE like I live on this street I might not be here in two years okay and this is a fiveyear it may get extended but the the the ter this is a land acquisition where the city's going to get this land be with a five-year term on this grant at the end of five years if this is wide open and can be anything and it's bmu and there's a new commission that all of a sudden wants to build apartments that neighborhood and the houses that are behind there are not protected that can be anything anything and as a cpud it's going to be the school that we make it and if we want to make it something else we're going to have to go through a new cpud that's my hesitation with this the commission at that time could choose because it's the property it's family home neighbor but they could change the zoning as they see fit at that time and also if it has a conditional use on it the conditional use would have those rest as well I mean again it's the pleasure of the board right so it's you can't um any other questions of Jody I don't think we need to hear from you at this time thank you they want the residents want to know the res okay yeah so okay we may not be voted on it but the residents want to know and we need to be educated too we're not voting on the project vo we're just learning about so um as as mentioned it's on Southeast Martin Luther King Boulevard we can't hear you ma'am sorry there is an existing access um currently vehicular access there that's proposed to be closed to make it more pedestrian friendly and to to meet the the street Frontage requirements the building has to be brought up to um East Martin Luther King Boulevard and so there's no really Set uh back it's actually a set to online so as you can see the building is um parallel to to Southeast Martin Luther King Boulevard with no vehicular access there's a shared use path that's 11t with Street um with lighting and shade oak trees that goes along the east side um you can see excuse me is your thing lit is your point a lit I I I don't see where your point there okay sorry um so right here this is the shared use path and it that you can enter here and go all the way up to um Martin Luther King Boulevard as I stated this is 11 foot path with shade oak trees aligned all the way along it with lighting as well um there's proposed RightWay dedication along the purple area shown on all sides to provide for wider sidewalks with Street trees as well um for additional shade um there is in this corner here proposed 1500 foot of green open space with B RS and bench amenities for pedestrians and for the public sorry the purple is RightWay Dedication that would um go for future um along South Southeast Martin Luther King Boulevard the on street parking but again that's a separate project this is just dedicated in case if it were to come in it would be there and be readily available exp there's a picture this is a black and right exterior elevation photo the architect is also here um if we want to speak about that further there's some renderings that just show what this would look like we just adding along here is the shared use path that I mentioned with um the the heavy shade oak trees that line it this is yes this is MLK Boulevard down here this is Tarpon Avenue here and so there's a vehicular access here and and here which these are two existing access points that are to remain one story one story how T um I'll let the architect that I'm not sure I'm Sarah Le I'm with the Architects it's uh 24 feet three in give or take 24 feet thank you um I do also want to mention as you can see there is a lot of green space on this site the existing site um has approximately 25% pervious area and we're doubling it to be 50% with this purpos plan What's the total square footage the building square footage this is the street view looking from Martin Luther King Boulevard so you can see the it's pedestrian friendly um path there's no vehicular access point along here these are uh bay Windows um along the street that you know do are fixed they do not open and close it meets all of the code requirements um for the overlay District again this is just another view this is U Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and that's tpon so you can see the shade trees with the path same thing along here um nice wide walking path with bicycle racks um and some there's a bench over here and some other sh amenities this is looking at it from interior to the site if you were um once you're inside the site not the street fronting view still um has awnings in shade trees in the islands this is that shared use path again with awnings that cover path and this is a dry detention area to meet the storm water requirements with um obviously shade oak trees planted here as well the wall yes the existing wall would remain again this is that shared path just to show the the the the width of it it is rather large it's 11 ft so it can be traversed with on a bicycle or a walking path there's um lighting as well thank you that's [Applause] beautiful Jimmy Smith what no I say if Jackie had a green card commission my name is Jimmy Smith I come tonight just to to to share my my thoughts uh through the last presentations and stuff there's a lot of people that's concerned in fighting arguing and we have went through a rough time I mean for the last um I've been in the nacp for 20 22 years I've been the president for nine years going n uh vice president for nine we've been trying to get something doing in East and I commend you uh for what you're trying to get accomplished there I know our community is concerned about housing we have a lot of land that's not developed we're fighting and trying to find ways to get family owned properties that own the property to develop so we have more housing we lost a lot of families from the area of Cherokee across the street from this project lift that we we lost I imagine uh probably what 60 70 families uh that lived over there in Cherokee we lost probably 6 or 7 7 their families uh there George Taylor uh uh voters yes uh when I say six or seven family there's probably six or seven uh family member lived in a house a lot of votes I know but what I'm I'm I'm just hoping that we go forward with something in East St it I know the project live is set in place I'm supported to help our kids to be educated I'm hoping that our Park that we've been fighting for years to try to get done the park there to God Davis Park that all use for all people can utilize the park uh we just need something so the the the the community can feel hope I know we fight back and forth we have some disagree do agree I'm just praying and hoping today that you all will leave here and I believe you will we have new commission I want to commend you congratulations thank you uh uh uh being out there and seeing you out there working hard uh I'm hoping that all of you all can work with Mr M Mattel and you get something done to show that hey we're here for the people and we work for the people and I believe you will uh so I want to say that with project LIF it's going to help kids give them a chance the opportunity to get a skill to be able to earn a a decent dollar basketball football and baseball ain't the only way you can make a career one out of million that makes that uh but just an opportunity and I hope and I hold you strong that we will work in this community to make sure that the assess is properly used uh benefit for the Community that's what I look forward for and I I believe you will and I thank you very much thank you Mr Smith Charles Jones now's your time he already took two minutes so I don't know it'll be good hello again Commissioners I get a second crack at the back um I appreciate the comments that have been put before you um but I do want to say this personally I mean as we all have our opinions um there are a lot of Rosy ideas and a lot of paint um let's say Rose tenant glasses that are put that are being put forth about the vision of what should happen with the rone resoning and what should be happening in the East Shore Community but when I look at the reality the one thing I will say is this there's not a lot of trust that's coming from the citizens or from the residents of East Stewart and I speak on behalf of the citizens and the residents of East Stewart the last meeting where we found out that the daycare center was going to be cut because of the new Boys and Girls Club that while it sounds great in theory it doesn't benefit us it doesn't benefit our kids it doesn't help us because now they have no place to go and while yes they can go to the new center the new center also has a long line of applicants waiting to get in to it so how does that serve Us by cutting what is currently available what is currently helping thing how that doesn't help us I appreciate the Commissioners for speaking and saying when you look at the future where are we going to be in another four or five years if we're trying to really cap growth and you heard me speak about growth earlier but we want to be in on in the process we want to have a voice in the process not just have things dictated to us or get this Rosy picture when the reality is far from that you can see from your own eyes I I'm I'm I I could tell you and tell you stories and other people's stories we know how it works so we are asking the the commission or the Commissioners to please table your vote that's what we're asking until we can we want to be a part of that process we want to work with you we want to compromise but we don't want things dictated to us we also don't want things done where there isn't the transparency that should be as well that's my that's that's all I got thank you thank you thank you Mr Jones um Mr Slattery Mike [Music] Slattery my name is Mike Slattery I live at 2064 Southwest pitster Stewart Florida and I'm an employee of project LIF and I'm just a fairly new employee I've been there seven months but I can just give you testimony of what I've seen that how that project lived changes lives of young kids and I think the future of steuart and Martin County is the youth and if we don't grab a hold of them now and let them go down the wrong path we got to keep them on the right path and give them a little bit of guidance and a little bit of training to help them have a a career and be uh good citizens for Martin County so that's what we do and uh like the gentleman said he was glad to get a second crack at the bat that's kind of what project LIF does it's given these kids a second crack at the bat and they're not all independently wealthy kids that have opportunities that everybody has and this is a chance to give them an opportunity to set them on the right [Applause] path okay hold on I miss it here they are thank you Mr Mr Blair Wickstrom hi I'm Blair Wickstrom 270 Southeast Cardinal way I know a lot of the uh old or the the past Commissioners and I I'm I'm pleased to meet you as present uh Commissioners and my go to other world as uh a Rivers Coalition board member and president of votat um and former publisher of Florida Sportsman magazine I've spent a lot of time uh trying to save our River um I kind of screwed up a perfectly good retirement about uh eight months ago by taking a job with Bob working uh four or 10 hour days a week uh in the uh non-air conditioned wood shop that I'm a uh a carpentry mentor now in the uh project lift and so I'm seeing something that uh again I haven't really been part of before I'm not a a union carpentry guy and I I I was a hobbyist and and so I had a chance I felt to make a difference and uh Charles I know you Charles um yeah I I I have an affinity for E Stewart too and so I I think there's something that uh again I can bring my experience that I've had in Palm now for about 8 months it's a an incredible program and uh hopefully I'll have a chance to to do it in E Stewart thank you thank you thank you Helen I think this is a new record for you for one meeting go get him Helen hello McBride Flamingo Avenue all right we bought this land for $1.4 million are these gentlemen buying or this uplift is it buying the land or is it another one of these 88 80 years at a dollar a year are we Renning the land out or are we selling the land it's the the land was purchased with the cdbg grant money 100% remember I was here and that was required that we partner with a program that would provide the education for the children so this is the partnership it is a $1 lease to them but the land comes back to the city when the partnership ends all right then we we voted in the boys and girls club now I went to their open house they're going to teach our children mechanics air conditioning carpentry art uh catering um chefs teach them how to be chefs and that so we got that we were supp to be putting in a training center now this organization uplift it's not just for our students here in Martin County it's open to the whole state well the truth of it so is Boys and Girls Club the reality is the school systems are open to anybody as well but project LT is going to take approximately 16 students at a time those the reason that they want to be in the location they're in is because even in Palm City the kids that they have are coming from our area and so they want them they want to go to where the kids are not make the kids come to them all right so and and I'll let them talk to it more and that's the intention for the next the next I just want to not I'm not Prejudice but I just want to be sure it's our kids because 51 years I've lived here and I seen what happened when the kids from Fort Pierce came down into our little city and the problems we had I just want want to be sure you know for 51 years I go to all the meetings on 10th Street and that it's always oh it's for kids in Easter Easter at Easter but you come down to it nothing our kids aren't getting uh we're just not getting it you know it's up to you people you're much better educated than I am I just it's the underdog I don't mind paying taxes but these are my kids I watched them from kindergarten I've got because they're growing up now watching their grandchildren I just want to be sure the kids in Stewart are taken care of and and and I'm the taxpayer $1.4 million was a lot of money and a dollar a year um it be oh the tuition's free then yes it's all free you they're not charging especially the kids in stud answer that question okay after M he he rang the bell we need to give Mike and that $1 we get is pure profit because we didn't didn't cost us anything um wow okay Mr James Christie Mr Christie this is the I think the fourth time I've heard you speak on this issue and I know you care a great deal about it yes I do appreciate your input all right you guys got ear for tonight going to get a little bit more okay first of all it's wrong for the city to take money that was designated for the East Stewart area to combat blight to come back economic recession and take it and do what you want to with it okay that's first when I looked at news reports I looked at City meeting minutes I heard that what was said in the community and I heard heard even before vocational trainers and I heard business incubator I heard the mayor on WTV uh PTV talk about economic Injustice you heard all of these things associated with that site but now the only thing we have is a vocational school if you want to start economic engine would you put that downtown would you put vocational school downtown now I talk with Bob and I know Bob he's a good guy and it's not directed toward him it's directed toward the city you would never do it they would never allow a vocational school downtown I know you know everybody knows for an economic engine you need businesses and if you can't do that through a c or anything you need a business incubator something that a licensed kitchen that will start economic Revival but we feel that the city of Stewart is exploring East Stewart and that thing with those children at the at direct Center oh we got a big beautiful boys and girls club about three stories high but what you guys failed to tell us that our kids were going to be displaced those girls in there I was to that meeting and I was feeling so bad because those are youth in our community that need to stay here and build that economic engine we're talking about they were so discouraged they said they getting up out of here and I sometime feel that Martin County as well as stor uh is a gentrification City trying to get all us out of here that's where those children felt they didn't want to go over there uh few things about this notification stuff the spirit of notification not the legal not oh we just check the box we talk to the public we talk to each steart we one meeting you guys couldn't even address the son many changes up here without confusing everybody one meeting for the community and now and now you're doing that we just want economic Justice we want imp put we want to see us halt all these projects and let us get some true input that's what we need thank you Mr [Applause] Christie I think this says Frank mistal the only person who has worse handwriting than you is me I resemble that remark uh this this isn't about could you introduce yourself my I thought you did uh Frank mccristal City Stewart um this isn't about how great a operation project lift is and what great things it does for the kids not many of them though really the numbers are are low um it really is about what I've been hearing for years and years is the people of East Stewart really don't feel like they have a real voice as to what's what's happening there and uh I think they deserve that I think they deserve not a full voice but at least a partial voice and again things kind of happen and they you know it's like you you'd rather ask for forgiveness than I forget how to say saying goes now but you'd rather just get it done ask for forgiveness later than ask for permission uh so yeah it's not about how great project Lyft is it's just about do the people of East Stewart really have a voice and as to what's going on in their own neighborhood thank [Applause] you and Christie from could you introduce yourself your address please miss Christie good evening and Christie I am a a property owner here in East Stewart at 8:15 n saw so I thank you first of all for late in the evening it's late in the evening for you taking the time out to hear the citizens here so what we're attempting to do is to stop uh ging foration in East store um if we do not take a stand on gentrification we will continue to be uh being accelerated place we want to build wealth for the historic citizens of eart and we need to Spur our citizens to dream and grow opportunities to increase our wealth through businesses stocks real estate and Investments Etc uh we want to preserve a safe enjoyable space in East stort that prioritizes the interest uh need to have its own plans and mechanisms in place to protect our families loved ones and also have a plan for natural disasters such as hurricanes fires and Etc yes I was reading that because you know I can go off on my own tangent so long story short there's a lot that can be done with that Willie Gary property uh like I said I'm a property owner here and have seen that property when it was um functioning uh with the store and the gas station a laundry mat there were things that were there do I want to see the youth have opportunities absolutely the boys and girls club offers that up until the age of 22 okay so there's a lot already in the area that's designed to help our youth we just need to give them an opportunity to get in so that's all I have to say thank you for your time thank you you miss CHR Rudolph Jameson is that correct yes okay good congratulations guys thank youed um I was born and raised here in Stewart and the projects that you have are great but just like Jamie said but our kids when you build them will our kids be here to enjoy them I he now we have this e stward um we're going to be his storic that's great for those that can afford to stay here about the ones when you when the tax money goes up you're going to be moving people out you're not going to be helping the community it's not going to look like the East Stewart I grew up in if you look now you see there are people that are in stward I've never seen before but they're there now which is fine which is fine but I mean we need to keep our people in each St it is our community I mean it was a time when you guys wouldn't even come in e stward but now you want e St it you know what I mean now you want to you want to you pretty much want to take it but you use different words you know it used to be imminent domain now historic you know what I mean so all that sounds great and this new project that we're building like that new boys and girls club I'm going to give you an example the YMCA the YMCA that we have our black kids don't go there because they're not welcome there and I'm just keeping it real even though we have some wonderful kids not all of them are good but we have some wonderful kids in our neighborhood I grew up in that neighborhood my children my grandchildren grew up in that neighborhood and it's like you guys are trying to take it from us when you can just come in and you know God tells us to come to love our neighbors to treat each other the way we want to be treated so if I love you and I love my child I'm going to treat you just like my child I'm going to show you the respect and the love that I'm going to show my children I'm not going to push you to the side cuz you're poor cuz God said we're going to always be surrounded by poor they will always be present now what we're going to do is what we're going to do for them are we going to just turn and say you because I'm going tell you if you know anything about life you're not going to let your child starve I don't care you're going to do whatever you got to do to feed your family you're going to do whatever you got to do to feed your if I'm knocking on your door and I see all this food in here and I'm being nice I'm knocking please let me in let me get something to eat you ignore me I'm knocking harder I'm trying to get louder I'm singing songs please let me in you ignore me you think I'm going keep knocking now I'm trying to pick the lock cuz that's where the food is that's right you guys about to get it together man we got a wonderful City here and the problem is a lot of you are not from this city you're not from here you don't know how wonderful it is but the how you say the cat is out the bag they know how beautiful steart is and everybody wants to come here I got one question though all the developers that came in here don't they have to come to you guys before they can build in here so I'm going to say this you know how we're citizens of Florida and we go to Disney World we get a discount to go to Disney World just by being special being a Florida Citizen so why could we make these developers allocate one building for the citizens of Stewart you can charge all these Outsiders what you want but we're going to allocate these buildings for the citizens of Steward the people that are born and raised here I live right now right now two of my and i' and they've been my neighbors for 10 years where they're gone now the landlord went up $1,000 on their rent he's charging these people $2500 for one2 bedroom apartment and then the new apartments you guys got out here they're asking 3,000 and you're notay I you what's your Sal you Mr G what's your salary over 100 Grand well I can guarantee you a lot of people in the store ain't making no 100 Grand thank you Mr [Applause] Gore Vic Miller Mr Miller Vic B Miller um could you give us your address please Mr Miller 2165 mide Boulevard um I live in Port St Lucy now but I'm born and raised long time longtime residents of Martin County and actually um I'm here to address the people of East Stewart um Mr Miller you have to address it commission okay okay they can hear you um I definitely understand you know what's going on and and I agree Rudolph I agree Mr chrisy Charles I agree you know uh E Stewart definitely deserve more and uh I keep hearing you know vocational vocational vocational project lift is not a vocational school but we do use vocation to replace negative behavior we are a mental health facility to help you know our young people deal with the trauma that most young people who look like me don't even know they dealing with Trump 30% of high school graduates that's the number that's going to college so that means 70% are not so what are these young people going to do 70% of high school graduates are not going to college so that's what we here to do with mental health facility to help our young people in East Ste it to not you know deal with their substant abuse deal with their traumas deal with behaviors so they can obtain a job if they don't go to college it's easy to get a job but to keep that job you got to be mentally stable 80% of job loss is due to some form of mental health and I just thank project Li personally for giving me an opportunity to those who know me and know my background opportunity only knocks maybe once maybe twice and that's it and if you don't seize that opportunity or have somebody like me that our young people in East Stewart can look and see you know to deal with been there done that to help them go through but me I can personally say I'm here for East Stewart the young people in East Stewart I can't say what Boys and Girls Club are doing but I know for a fact what what project LIF is doing the impact and what we do we pay our young people a stien to alleviate that generational poverty you know to get them used to getting a paycheck we teaching them soft skills how to open banking accounts get they uh driver license B to set them up for Success so we are here to help and not to hurt thank you Mr Miller thank you I believe it's Mr zako is it m Mr Mayor Mr zako when you speak can you define young people sure that age range yeah no problem and you know my history you know um how much I love my community and how much uh this place means to me uh we work with 14 and 19 year olds uh through several of our programs so 8:00 in the morning it starts this is not a Boys and Girls Club so please don't do not confuse this like this is the this is a real work environment that trains real work opportunities and gets people clear-minded decision- making I talked with Mr Christie a little bit bit earlier and you know the the uh the industry incubators and those those things they're right on the money like let's teach entrepreneurship um I'm heading up to to to uh forvard County here next week go visit an incubator up there really get some good ideas on how to do that because I'm hearing it like I'm hearing hey this is the need this is where we're at I think as a as a community and as an organization uh that um that I frankly I always put mental health first right you know I'm a licensed psychotherapist that's how we started project LIF that's how it all works but that first shift is uh they're Rising 17 year olds to 25 years old right we're really expanding that Horizon so 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. is the first shift 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 is the second shift 5:30 to 10:30 is the third shift all paid opportunities for teens and young adults to be working they're all paid at over $15 an hour for the work that they're doing the money that's regenerating and teaching them how to work is one thing and Vic uh touched on it maybe one of the other speakers talked on it too is they don't even know how to take a paycheck when they walk in our door they don't know how to take a paycheck right and that is the most interesting part to me is you know what our kids do and Vic and I talk about this all the time we've been working together for seven years going on eight years on this project and everything that we do looks a a lot like him him or I this is how it all works you know what they do they walk in on their first paycheck they walk in their first paycheck and they slide it on the table and they go Mr Bob someone's stealing from me someone's stealing from me this person named suda this person named F they're taking my money am I it's the truth that's what they do and then we walk in they're Ste they're stealing from me and then I go you you know what no this is this is where it's at or Vic does it or one of our staff members and they go no no no that's that's not who that is let me tell you what that is right and let me tell you how this all works and then they learn to do those things and had one of the other speakers say uh do they pay to be there I have never ever charged a person to come into project LIF ever and I never will I never will ever I raise that money for all the Operational Support to be poured into our community I grew up there I said to Vic I whisper to him uh he said uh you I spent my someone said they spent their whole life on East Stewart I did too I did too that's why I care so much all right I love you guys and I appreciate everybody here and all that you guys do and this staff has worked tremendously hard to get this to where it is so I appreciate them as well thank you thank you thank you Mr [Applause] zako okay but the issue before us is the zoning change so way motion motion for number 2532 d224 to be moved forward to the next agenda as published there's a motion is there a second I didn't he did fill out one oh I don't see it I'm sorry okay I I turned in everything I had so I'm not sure do you want to speak Mr Wilson okay just Jackie Gore Jackie Gore spoke no no okay that's sh okay go ahead how everyone doing how everybody doing today hi everybody I want to say congratulations to the new people my name is Jimmy Wilson I'm from Stewart and I'm born and raised here all my life and I'm one of the ones that deals with the youth I'm the only person from East Stewart that has volunteered for the past 25 years with the youth and all nonprofit organizations in the in East Stewart nobody has done it longer than me and I'm still doing it now I mostly dealt with teenagers but I realize we had to start young so now I'm dealing with 9-year-olds so I'm starting from that area and I've talked to Mr vicis about what he was saying and by me dealing with the youth mostly the black males of East Stewart as usually because I deal with ones who don't have fathers we try to get the fathers when they get out to get back with the kids and we give them certain type of things so he can get back with his family and get back with his kids and be in his kids life I mostly deal with the guys or the males or the kids the boys and when I talked to Mr vickas he told me some of the things and like he said the mental part a lot of things we don't even talk about or think about as far as when parents talk to their kids or deal with the kids in our community none of that is talked about it's something like it's almost embarrassed to talk about and when project LIF comes to your community and they that is one thing they're going to do bring that out and and make it where you can sit down at a table and be comfortable to talk to your kids I'm 100% behind and also all the things that they're bringing to this community as far as me dealing with the youth I'm 100% behind it and like a lot of you guys who are older When We Were Young we can get two things and build a go-kart these kids these days you ask them to build something they'll look at you like huh and when they told me project Li will come all I thought about those kids in the community able to bring that back I mean we have to teach them now before we learn it on our own but that's the way times have changed and since time have changed to that project live comes here and help us to basically go with the time and I really appreciate that from what I do and what I've done for the past 25 years and I always work with nonprofit organizations thank you thanks thank [Applause] you yeah Jack Mr gour thank you for hello everybody persevering Mr Wilson sorry oh I'm sorry I'm kid Mr Wilson Mr Wilson please introduce yourself now you start hi my name is Jackie Gore I live at 410 Southeast Lake Street which is a second home through with um my husband and I own several properties and the church in East Stewart I would like to see um see us get more information I happen to just found out find out this information Through the Grapevine I was like this is not good the information is not getting out of any store I'm telling you usually when they come and throw something at our church I make sure all the churches get it so they can announce it because most of the people are there on Sunday mornings but um for project LIF make no mistake I don't bite my tongue amen um I'm for project lift and I like to see more than 16 put another building up oh you said okay we can do that all right okay yeah you can do better we can do better and I like I said I'm for it and I know how it is and with AI coming a lot of our kids don't know computers so a a trade will be good cuz you know my husband we had a Cub Scout one time and he steart and um but he got sick and you know been went through a lot of things and um and um we was treat we was um he let someone got on a riding lawn mower and this was an adult and this person was riding this lawnmower and my husband stood there and he said Lord have mercy and he said you didn't he he thought he was more in the yard but he didn't even put the blade down and that's how these kids are not trained they don't know anything cuz their most of their parents are locked up you understand what I'm saying so I'm for it y'all can call on me anytime if you need some extra help volunteer help whatever it Tak I'm for it so you saying 60 instead of 16 I'm all right with that now God bless you better be careful when you say to Bob you can call on me cuz any anybody else can we go back to commissioner clerk motion ordinance number 2532 2024 move for vote at this time is there a second we'll still move forward until if we don't have a vote we'll still move forward all right so nobody in a second no vote will be taken so we'll just go forward to the next hearing yeah it'll just move forward it's met the legal standard that it has been read for a public meeting so it'll come back on September 9th for uh the balance of the hearing um I want to thank you all for making it so easy for my first meeting it's [Laughter] mayor but absent any other items this meeting is adjourned thank you