[0:04] Welcome, residents, neighbors, and guests. I think you guys are so well
[0:09] trained. I didn't even have to start talking and it just went quiet.
[0:13] so, as is the norm here in chambers, we'll start first with a prayer and a pledge and
[0:18] then we'll move to the agenda.
[0:25] great god in heaven, we come together as a commission of the city of
[0:30] atlantic beach representing citizens. And the best interests
[0:34] of our city and our citizens. Give us wisdom tonight to do those things that are most appropriate
[0:40] for all the best interest of the majority of our citizens.
[0:44] we ask this in your holy name. Amen. If you'll join me,
[0:49] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic
[0:54] for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice
[0:59] for all.
[1:07] this meeting of the city commission of the city of atlantic beach, dated march 23, 2026, will now come
[1:12] to order. Donna, can we do a roll call, please?
[1:16] commissioner bohl? Present. Commissioner grant?
[1:21] present. Commissioner kelly? Present. Commissioner ring?
[1:25] she's absent. Mayor ford? Present.
[1:30] thank you, donna. Before we actually get into the agenda,
[1:34] with the permission of the commissioners, I would like to make two adjustments
[1:38] in timing on the agenda. One, I would like to insert a short presentation
[1:43] from both judith larue and lisa goodrich into the courtesy of the floor segment item 2a,
[1:48] right behind doug conkey, the presentation to him. Would that be okay? Okay, we're good.
[1:53] and then I would like to move
[2:01] up resolution number 26-53, item 8f
[2:05] on your agenda currently. I'd like to move that to item 8a, proceeding or beginning the action
[2:10] on resolutions before the
[2:16] current resolution that's number 26-45. So this would be inserting
[2:20] 26-53 ahead of 26-45. We're good? Okay.
[2:27] thank you. Let's see.
[2:31] so do I have a motion for approval of the minutes?
[2:35] make a motion to approve the minutes. Okay.
[2:40] we have a motion and second. All in favor, signify with aye. Aye.
[2:45] okay. Minutes are approved. We'll move to courtesy of the florida visitors,
[2:50] and we'll start with mr. Conkey. Mr.
[2:55] conkey, would you come up to the podium, please?
[3:00] and if you just stand by, I'm going to read this, but then I'm going to join you down below and we'll do a quick
[3:06] photo. But mr. Conkey is with st.
[3:11] john's river water management district. He has a lot to say often about water use,
[3:16] water conservation. We're currently in a water conservation period, and this is water conservation
[3:20] month, so it's kind of timely on that. But this is a proclamation of the city of atlantic beach
[3:25] in recognition of water conservation month. Whereas water is a basic and essential need
[3:30] of every living creature, and whereas the state of florida water management districts and the city of
[3:35] atlantic beach are working together to increase awareness about the importance
[3:39] of water conservation, and whereas the city of atlantic beach and the state
[3:44] of florida annually designate april typically a dry month when water demands are most acute as florida's water
[3:49] conservation month to educate citizens about how they can help save florida's precious water
[3:54] resources, and whereas every business, industry, school, and citizen can make a difference
[3:59] when it comes to conserving water, and whereas because efficient
[4:03] irrigation design, programming, and maintenance can conserve water, the city of atlantic
[4:09] beach encourages citizens and businesses to evaluate their irrigation systems for
[4:16] potential efficiency enhancements.
[4:21] now, therefore, I, curtis ford, mayor of the city of atlantic beach, florida, do hereby proclaim the month of
[4:26] april as water conservation month. In atlantic beach and encourage
[4:31] each citizen and business to help protect our precious resource by practicing water saving measures and becoming
[4:36] more aware of the need to save water for this the twenty eighth year of water conservation month
[4:41] there will be a special focus on ensuring that outdoor irrigation systems operate efficiency efficiently by using
[4:46] properly functioning rain shutoff devices by making sure these devices are installed
[4:50] connected and working as intended community can prevent unnecessary watering, reduce
[4:55] waste, and better use of the rainfall we receive. In witness whereof, I have set
[4:59] my hand and caused the official seal of the city of atlantic beach to be affixed this 23rd day
[5:04] of march 2026. Can we give him a hand? Doug?
[5:08] we don't need to face the audience chambers. It's an honor to celebrate the
[5:13] engagement this week.
[5:21] this is the year
[5:30] of the mission chambers on a regular basis, representing the history, but really representing what is
[5:35] important to us as a mission. We need to celebrate this. So thanks to all of you.
[5:40] this is a point of time. Good night. Good night. Mayor, fellow commissioners, thank you so much for squeezing
[5:45] me in. I made a late ask. I'm going to be out of the country for a bit,
[5:49] so I wanted to get a lot of these done because right now it's obviously very important. Water conservation is the 28th
[5:53] year, so the state takes it very seriously. But one small, you know, we always have a theme, and
[5:57] this year's theme is rain shutoff devices.
[6:24] most people don't know that since may of 1991, they are mandated to be
[6:28] on the installation of all automatic irrigation. Systems.
[6:35] and I would take the over under at 30% or less of if they're still operating,
[6:39] because if they're either installed correctly or incorrectly, and if nobody's
[6:44] doing the maintenance on them, they aren't working. So I'll take the under
[6:49] on that one. That's probably a good bet. So we really want
[6:55] to get that word out on something that saves water just by being there and working correctly.
[6:59] but I also wanted to talk about, obviously, the more important part is we're in a modified phase two
[7:05] severe water shortage. Which is no joke. And you can see it in all your ponds.
[7:10] and obviously your utility is probably giving you regular reports. We don't go there just
[7:16] on a whim. It's based on two critical criteria, lack of rain, lack
[7:20] of a lot of rain. And then we actually have groundwater monitoring wells that are
[7:24] at the 10th percentile or less, which means the aquifer is getting pretty low. So we have to take steps
[7:29] to ask people to really step up the game. Obviously, we ask all classes of water users to reduce their
[7:33] water use and conserve water to the maximum extent possible, because the weather service doesn't paint a good picture
[7:37] until this summer, hopefully, as we transition la nina to el nino.
[7:42] all public supply water consumptive use permittees, which would be like the cups,
[7:47] which would be the utilities, should institute or accelerate system-level water conservation measures that can help manage
[7:52] demand. All commercial, industrial, and institutional water use should
[7:56] be voluntarily reduced. Here's the big one, because as you drive around,
[8:03] it's pretty easy to see the harsh results of a winter. Landscapes have been crushed.
[8:07] we're asking people to hold off on major projects like replanting grass, replanting the big water-using
[8:12] plants or trees, just because that takes a 30-day exemption, and that's an awful lot
[8:16] of water. Also, when we fast forwarded the clock. A couple weeks ago,
[8:23] you get an extra day for watering. We're holding everybody still at one day
[8:29] for the foreseeable future until things get better. So only one day a week. All recreational area water use
[8:33] should be voluntarily reduced. So obviously you've got a lot of kids now. Springtime is out.
[8:38] they want to play on the ball fields. The grass is kind of brittle.
[8:43] we understand that. Just try to be as respectful of the use of water. Here's one biggie
[8:53] for the hoas, and I'm sure you've got a lot of hoas because you have a lot
[8:58] of wonderful neighborhoods. Washing or cleaning of buildings or structures and outdoor impervious surfaces.
[9:02] this is the time hoas say, all right, time
[9:07] to pressure wash your house, pressure wash your driveway. Let's make everything look
[9:12] pretty. With this order, we are preempting all hoa covenants and restrictions
[9:16] on the aesthetic use of pressure washing. So they cannot force you to do that or write you up
[9:21] for that. Now, obviously, if you're doing it for construction or a paint job or something,
[9:26] that's obviously an exemption. So no person or entity like a homeowners association or property manager shall enforce
[9:30] any deed restrictions or other community standards that would cause a violation of this order.
[9:34] one misnomer also is I'm on a well, so it doesn't apply to me. This applies to all wells,
[9:39] whether it's an hoa's irrigation or your well that you have on your irrigation. The wells must comply as well.
[9:43] so that's basically a basic outline. But I want to thank you so much for allowing me
[9:48] to come here. Thanks so much for the proclamation squeezing me in.
[9:52] and obviously, if you have any questions, then I can be of any assistance. And tonight's a winning night
[9:57] anyhow because I have commissioner bowl and I have my classmate, pete mccauley, class of 84, in the back.
[10:01] so tonight's a great night. Pete army. Thank you so much thank you our next um presenter it's actually
[10:05] a duo uh I'd like to invite judith larue to the
[10:16] front and uh lisa goodrich judith larue is a long-term judith is a long-term resident of the city
[10:21] of atlantic beach involved in so many things was
[10:31] on the first um esc committee. But judith happens
[10:38] to have a nonprofit by the name of nature connect florida. Did I get that right, judith?
[10:43] yes, you did. And nature connect with judith's decisioning and
[10:49] influence is kindly going to speak to us today
[10:53] about a gift in kind of a of a community garden at our new facility,
[11:02] which is now known as marsh oaks community center. Assisting in this endeavor is lisa goodrich.
[11:11] she'll speak second, if that's okay. And judith, take it away. Okay.
[11:16] yeah, it's my pleasure to be able to do this. But first of all, I want to thank you all for having the
[11:22] foresight and the courage to buy this building, because I
[11:26] know it was not always something that people thought was going to be good idea having toured the building.
[11:30] which I'm just going to call mock. It's a lot easier. It's going
[11:35] to be such a great asset for the community. It's amazing, the space inside.
[11:39] and it's my hope that the garden, which is going to be essentially in the front yard
[11:44] of the center, should you choose to accept this, will be, well, it's going to add to the center
[11:48] as a gathering place, possibly a teaching forum. The most important thing that community gardens grow is
[11:53] connection and community. So to add to that gathering space and also, you know, to have the ability to.
[11:58] to use it as a classroom is a great thing.
[12:02] it's the kind of thing that I want to do with nature connect florida, because it's my belief that, and the reason
[12:07] that I named it that is that when you connect people to nature, they're much more likely
[12:11] to appreciate it and take care of it. So there's that, but it's kind of like an oscar speech.
[12:16] I have a couple of other people I want to thank you.
[12:25] thank you, mayor ford, because
[12:31] at my request, he helped me through the process, this and really of this and brought it together.
[12:36] I know you're a gardener yourself. So help. Helping me move this idea
[12:41] through the city system. And also lisa goodrich
[12:51] of the late of the arts recreation and culture community. I wanted to bring this
[12:55] to you as a package of peace in which essentially the work was already done, that there would be an element
[13:00] to it that was aesthetic because it is sort of the front yard. We want it to be beautiful and
[13:04] lift the space. And lisa, I was delighted to learn from her that arc had already in 2024 identified a community
[13:09] garden as something that... Was one of their priorities. So it all seems to be coming together
[13:14] in a really nice way. So she's been terrific in helping me pull the concept together. I think she might have visited
[13:18] every community garden within 50 square miles, and she's got a lot of great information. So she's going
[13:23] to tell you how it all can work in the city system. Thank you, ms. Larue. Hi.
[13:27] thank you. I am pleased to stand before you today and what it's most likely my last official
[13:32] kind of talk as a member of arc. Next week is my last week, and the reins will be turned
[13:36] over, and the entire committee is thriving, and there's lots
[13:41] of great people there. But I'm pleased to end on this high note. Like judith said,
[13:45] and first I really want to thank her for this super generous gift.
[13:51] I mean, this is a tremendous gift. To the community, and we're all going to be better for it.
[13:55] in march, like she said, march
[14:00] 2024, we identified a community garden as a way to activate the marsh oaks community center.
[14:06] having it right in the front yard, it will be a beautiful and welcoming space for everybody that visits.
[14:11] we envision 32 plots. Six of those plots will be handicap wheelchair accessible.
[14:16] six of the plots will be part of a community, a true community garden.
[14:20] they'll be managed by several people who will, I'm sure, organically identify.
[14:30] and then the other, excuse me, the other plots, the other 26
[14:41] plots will be allotment plots for the, excuse me, allotment plots for the community to lease.
[14:48] on a yearly basis where they can come in with their families and grow food.
[14:53] let's see. She's already contracted with a...
[14:58] gardening gardener. His name is garrett lopez and he specializes in native
[15:03] plantings and gardens and his heart is in community gardens.
[15:07] he's done several in this city alone, several yards in a native and
[15:13] florida friendly landscape. He will come in after the parking lot is done and the
[15:17] power line is buried and all the water is run to the to the front yard there. He's going to,
[15:22] and the swale is dug, and there'll be a little bridge that goes over the swale and a pergola and a fence that
[15:27] surrounds the property with honeysuckle vines growing on it.
[15:31] and then when you walk in through the center aisle, it has been designed to have a
[15:35] small pond and native plants and flowers there for pollinators, and then all
[15:39] the garden beds will be along the side. They're made out
[15:44] of corrugated you steel to stand up to all the elements and have a long life.
[15:49] he will provide all the plant plantings for the six community focused beds and put all the soil in all the other beds so
[15:55] that when the community hopefully at the grand opening of the center can get excited about it and they can sign up
[16:00] for a plot there and this would
[16:20] ideally work through the recreation department through civic rec.
[16:25] and since I understand that they'll be moving their offices
[16:29] over to that building, it'll be a good idea
[16:34] for people to sign up face-to-face so we can make sure that they understand the agreement of what it takes
[16:39] to manage one of these plots. Along with this, our new city arborist has applied you for a grant through aarp to
[16:44] supplement the garden and everything that judith is so graciously donating and
[16:49] garrett is building to seed some programming around the garden for the
[17:05] community and a shed and some
[17:13] tools and things like that that everybody can share and use
[17:17] together. Does anyone have any questions about the garden at all?
[17:22] very cool. It's going to be a great thing. First of all, I've known
[17:27] judith for quite some time and I'm so delighted that this donation is being made, but I'm equally as delighted that
[17:33] you're involved in it because I know your pedigree for success.
[17:37] so thank you for doing that. Thank you for serving so long on the arc. I do recall that there was a
[17:42] concern, and I'm not sure we can address it when we get to the actual resolution, but about making sure the power
[17:47] line was varied. Not just to the garden, but from the power pole
[17:52] at the street to the building and then to the garden. So I want to make sure we
[17:57] address that when we get to that, when we get
[18:02] to the resolution. And for the people in attendance,
[18:06] what really struck me about this, I love to garden and I can kill more herbs and
[18:10] spices and tomatoes than anybody.
[18:15] but what was particularly interesting about this is the concept that it's not,
[18:19] maybe it's not even as much about you the vegetables and the herbs that we grow, but it's about community and
[18:25] bringing people together and having a place of exchange.
[18:30] and in this case, the icing on the cake is the handicap accessibility, which you've built
[18:35] into the plan. So we'll have a little more conversation when we get to the resolution,
[18:40] but thank you both for being engaged. We so appreciate it. Thank you.
[18:45] thank you. Okay. At this time.
[18:51] we're going to go ahead and start courtesy of the floor. And I'm going to apologize if
[18:55] it looks different. Sometimes we have a couple of presentations
[19:00] like this and it's okay to applaud. But I want to remind everybody
[19:04] during courtesy of the floor, the direction is only to the commission from the speaker.
[19:09] and there is no applause or boos or other indications of preference. How many do we have?
[19:15] thirteen. Oh, wow.
[19:19] we have 13. It's like everybody in the audience. Okay.
[19:24] I'm going to allow for five minutes per person. Usually I cut it off when we go to 10, but I
[19:29] think we've got some important things to be said. So let's call our first person. Jim wheatley.
[19:35] and I know you did.
[19:41] hi.
[19:47] good evening. Talking about the development of 500 atlantic, I've borne witness to overdevelopment
[19:52] to the rape of florida over 55 years. We just came up from winter
[19:57] park last night. What a mess down there. I knew central florida when
[20:01] there was hardly anybody down there. Look at it now.
[20:06] what a disaster. It's been my experience that developers will make sure that the right folks are in place that serve their purpose.
[20:11] I've seen it over and over. I have no knowledge, I have no direct knowledge of jack's beach nor neptune beach
[20:15] inside going on. Seems like the realtor mayor of jack's beach can't get enough overdevelopment.
[20:21] the appearance is the attorney slash mayor of neptune beach is determined to follow suit. Demonstrably, this has not been
[20:26] the case at atlantic beach. After observing the apparent very cozy relationship between the 500 atlantic
[20:30] developer and ms. Byland at the joint neptune atlantic beach commission
[20:37] meeting, it seems very much that this kmart center is a done deal as far as neptune beach is
[20:42] concerned. Few facts. I emailed a freedom of
[20:47] information request to the city clerk at neptune beach a few weeks back.
[20:52] I asked about this development. She replied,
[20:56] for the last three years. She replied, there are no official records in neptune beach
[21:01] of any discussion about this development. I can only speculate how or why the city commission in
[21:06] neptune beach would be on board. Of course, there could not be any non-official communication
[21:10] on the subject, and this would violate sunshine laws. Perhaps the mayor of neptune beach has some sort
[21:15] of independent authority to grant the developer clark launch. I did inquire of the mayor of
[21:20] neptune beach how many years were anticipated.
[21:24] this was unknown to her a few months back. What is guaranteed are higher
[21:28] taxes, more congestion, more crowded classrooms, more pollution, and more people into the beaches.
[21:33] florida house bill 337, act of 2021, puts all the associated infrastructure and
[21:38] extra costs regarding these developments squarely on existing taxpayers. Developers ain't paying it.
[21:43] taxpayers are paying it. We don't have to meet taxpayers.
[21:49] although a recent inquiry about how many units went unanswered.
[21:53] I seem to recall number 330 to 335 packed condos, apartments, or so.
[21:58] figure a thousand more cars packed into atlantic and 3rd street.
[22:03] I believe a low-income housing component is part of this project. Last I checked,
[22:08] the vast majority of f&b citizens were vehemently opposed to this transgression
[22:12] into their community. I've come across a few exceptions that have been enriched one way or the other
[22:17] from this looming degradation of our lifestyle. Now, if you can't trust an attorney who's bought and paid
[22:22] for by an unwanted developer, who can you trust? Last commission meeting, the developer's attorney
[22:27] stated, property owner will figure out how to tie into existing
[22:31] tank or seek a permit of their own. There are two other options.
[22:35] in other words, they don't have to have a nice beach water. You can say no comfortably.
[22:40] the homily of one neighbor helping another just isn't so. The only entity that should be helped here is the unwanted
[22:45] developer. This argument is akin to the russians helping ukraine
[22:50] in their efforts for urban redevelopment. It is not a matter of cost.
[22:55] thirty pieces of silver cannot make up for the degradation
[23:00] of our lifestyle. Let's be clear here.
[23:05] this is not about supplying water to neptune beach in general. I've heard some arguments that,
[23:10] oh, the poor people in neptune beach need more water. No.
[23:15] this simply goes to that development. That is the sole purpose of
[23:19] this proposed water line. I know every perp.
[23:23] I've been here enough that I know every. Everybody here is here
[23:28] for the right reason. They've always been in the best interest
[23:33] of a bank beach. I may agree, I may disagree, but it's always ethically.
[23:38] honestly, it's a fire line, so tribe bridge can further degrade our lifestyle as being
[23:42] in our best interest, nor the interest of neptune beach. Here's the question I hope the
[23:47] commissioners are considering. Whose best interests are being served here, the developer or the citizens?
[23:51] thank you. I may excuse myself early because my wife is a little bit under the weather. Yes, sir.
[23:56] thank you. Carolyn zisser.
[24:03] hello and good evening, commissioners, city attorney,
[24:07] commissioner, mayor. My name is carolyn zisser, a long-term resident of
[24:15] atlantic beach and also a long-time attorney. My address is
[24:21] of record. I submitted a letter to each one of you this morning in which I
[24:26] carefully detailed my legal analysis of this resolution and
[24:31] supposedly, supposed agreement. And I stated my opposition
[24:40] to that. And what I'd like to do is summarize that for you. My theme, it's harder
[24:44] to say. No for the right reasons than to say yes
[24:55] for the wrong reasons.
[25:01] and I'd like to tell you the seven right reasons. To say no tonight and to deny this resolution and
[25:06] in a local agreement. First, most atlantic beach citizens who you represent have
[25:20] already spoken mainly
[25:25] against this resolution. And I have been here at many of those meetings, not all of them, but most of them.
[25:34] when I have heard that cry in the audience. Two, this is not
[25:39] about being neighborly. This benefits the developer.
[25:47] it doesn't benefit the citizens
[25:52] of neptune beach, but the developer only. Third, if you read the
[25:58] agreement. Closely, it's not limited to fire suppression, as many
[26:03] of you or a few of you may have been led to believe. You have
[26:07] to read the fine print. There's 13 pages of fine print, single space. And it gives the developer the
[26:12] opportunity to ask for more water for other reasons other than for fire protection.
[26:17] four. If we consider, if you all consider it or any of you consider it a neighborly
[26:22] development, you don't know who the developer is going to be because the developer has the
[26:26] right to sell and the water being
[26:31] able to get the water suppression will enable it to be sold. There's a big difference
[26:36] between a big box development or a mall of boutiques. Or housing development, which
[26:40] will cause even more traffic onto the main arteries, which we share with neptune beach, namely atlantic
[26:45] boulevard. Five, the developer has told
[26:50] you in a previous meeting that they have other options for
[26:54] fire protection suppression if this council denies the
[26:58] request. So deny the request.
[27:04] don't get yourself into the problems that can come from this agreement. Let them solve their own
[27:09] problems. Six, I'm so glad the first speaker talked about water
[27:14] conservation because last but not least, this proposed resolution and the interim
[27:18] agreement is against water conservation. And against the judiciary's use
[27:24] of water in the event that there is a drought, in the event that there's a fire.
[27:29] we have to look at the worst case scenarios.
[27:34] we have to prepare for the best, prepare for the worst, and hope
[27:45] for the best.
[28:15] that's what we lawyers do. And the worst case scenario would be a drought, a fire in
[28:20] neptune beach, and the need for fire suppressant in beach.
[28:24] what happens if we can't do both? Therefore, and this 13-page
[28:29] single-space agreement adds risk and complexity that we don't need with everything else we're trying to accomplish in
[28:34] atlantic beach. The city of atlantic beach, in summary,
[28:39] does not need this agreement. It does not benefit us. It has real and potential harm
[28:43] in both the enforcement and in its interpretation. I would like to put on the record, I know I sound
[28:48] like a lawyer because I am, I'd like to put on the record my letter that I wrote this
[28:52] morning so that it's upon the record as well as dr. Nancy stats' letter that she provided as well.
[28:57] thank you.
[29:14] thank you. Thank you, ms. Disser.
[29:19] oh, sorry. Holly waters.
[29:30] good evening, commissioners. My name is holly waters.
[29:34] I live at 374 4th street. And as you know from previous letters that I've written,
[29:40] I started a non-profit to protect trees in atlantic beach. I'm here because as you discuss
[29:45] the priorities of the environmental stewardship committee next week, month,
[29:49] I urge you to strongly consider strengthening the city's tree protections. The current system of codes and
[29:54] enforcement clearly are not really working and we're losing far too many trees, especially the heritage trees,
[29:59] to development. These trees provide shade, air quality, and stormwater protection.
[30:03] more and more cities around the state are working within the florida rules to tighten their own city
[30:08] enforcement
[30:18] of tree protection. Just recently, fernandina
[30:23] beach increased fines for removing heritage trees up to $20,000 per tree. In 2023, a tree service in
[30:31] tampa was required to pay over $234,000 for illegally removing trees, even
[30:37] after many appeals it still had to pay. We need to incentivize tree
[30:42] preservation. Cities like tampa and st. Petersburg offer stormwater fee
[30:48] credits for tree canopy maintenance. Orange county has tightened tree protections
[30:53] for heritage trees. Replacement trees must add up to five times the size
[30:57] of the original tree. Specimen trees replacement are three times.
[31:02] the cost to remove a heritage tree starts at $21,000. Planning boards are looking
[31:06] at increasing setbacks. And finally, ramesh bush from the north florida land
[31:19] trust has offered to do a workshop.
[31:24] on land conservation for local governments. I spoke to him today.
[31:29] as you know from previous correspondence,
[31:35] the charity now has been awarded 501c3 status, so we can start raising money and get federal and state tax-exempt
[31:46] status. So I look forward to working with the city, the constituents, and up.
[31:51] raising money and going forward. Thank you, ms.
[31:56] waters. Julie lagoy.
[32:05] good evening, mayor ford and commissioners, mr. Hogenkamp.
[32:10] I wrote a letter, and I'll just kind of summarize the letter. I was at a meeting
[32:15] in this room thinking like two years ago, it was in summer, and it was standing
[32:19] room only jam-packed and not one single person was, it was about giving water the same.
[32:24] not one person was in favor of giving our water to city
[32:30] of neptune beach or the
[32:35] developer. So, and it was discussed and it still is a problem that water is a dwindling and precious
[32:40] resource. So it's just very frustrating that it's,
[32:45] we're discussing this again. And so in my email, I just asked. You two commissioners to write
[32:50] to me is how did this come again?
[32:55] because the commissioners that night all said that they would not vote to do that or support it because there was such
[33:00] strong opposition to doing that, to giving our water to a developer or to the city
[33:06] of neptune beach. And we are also just,
[33:11] I'm going to address the neighborly, we are a city of neighbors and we need
[33:16] to take care of each other. Something could happen. Water is dwindling. We need to watch out.
[33:20] for our residents to make sure if there is a drought or if we
[33:27] need our water we have access to it thank you so much thank
[33:32] you miss lagoy sarah bourne hi
[33:36] good evening sarah bourne I
[33:43] live on on 8th street in north atlantic beach I have a couple
[33:48] comments mostly just questions on some resolutions that are on your plate tonight.
[33:54] so for resolution 2649, the commercial beach access and vehicle operation policy, I
[33:58] noticed that you explicitly mentioned ahern, but not 7th street or 19th street that also
[34:03] has kind of vehicle access. So I'm wondering if you would
[34:07] be willing to add that, since you explicitly mentioned
[34:14] ahern. And then I had a question about what, you know, our current vendors,
[34:19] like our beach trash pickup, are they affected by this policy?
[34:26] moving on to resolution number 2650 of the establishment of residential turf block
[34:30] cost-sharing program. I guess I'm seeking a bit more clarity on what problem or
[34:34] problems the city is trying to solve. And is the problem occurring everywhere or only in a few
[34:39] places? I know we have very narrow
[34:44] streets. I know that people are parking in the right-of-way. That the solution is more
[34:50] structured parking needed, but is that all over the place?
[34:54] and then, you know, are we trying to solve flooding and erosion?
[34:59] so I think my most biggest ask about this is can we somehow determine and require that what
[35:04] is installed has a better infiltration rate and lower
[35:08] heat island effect than the current situation? It would be awful,
[35:14] in my opinion, if this initiative caused more flooding and heat island issues than
[35:18] that was there before. And are we, is it only open
[35:22] cell turf block allowed or other permanent? Permeable options allowed,
[35:27] several of which have higher infiltration rates than cell turf black.
[35:32] don't get me wrong. I'm not against cell turf
[35:36] black. I'm just asking some questions. Will artificial turf and plastic blocks be allowed
[35:41] regarding maintenance? Who is in charge of the recommended kind of deep cleaning vacuum cleaning that's
[35:46] recommended by the manufacturer? Because that's kind of unclear
[35:53] in the responsibilities. Will herbicides be allowed, potentially increasing our non-point source pollution
[35:58] to our waterways? Will only grass be allowed or can native ground cover be
[36:03] encouraged? Are these new kind of structured parking spots
[36:07] allowed in areas that are already flooding or will it be a specific installation be required maybe
[36:13] with more percolation volume? So there's my question
[36:18] for that. On resolution 2653, I just want to say a ginormous thank you
[36:22] to nature connect florida and judith larue. She was not only the founding
[36:27] member of esc, but it's like the pre-committee that even got it in as an ordinance and exceptional inaugural chair
[36:32] of the esc. And thank you to arc and lisa
[36:36] goodrich for its time and expertise. And I know that ese.
[36:41] also wanted to do a community garden, and then we were kind of
[36:47] steered towards edible orchard. So if the community garden is there, if there's spots for
[36:52] edible trees that doesn't cause shade or anything, then I think esc, we'd have
[36:57] to go to esc, but I think it would be amenable in proving that.
[37:02] and then I noticed that in the schematic. That it looks
[37:07] like it's all raised beds but if there is a need to uh
[37:15] test the soil which is what we were going to do because there was concerns um I would be
[37:19] happy to donate that soil testing the cost of that um just so we're all we all know
[37:24] because a couple trees have died over there and we never knew why.
[37:29] on the ordinance 9026259 I
[37:35] understand the triggering of the code and the landscape buffer.
[37:40] again, just questions. I'm not trying to wreak any havoc,
[37:47] but it seems like by my reading, it's a one-time payment when a landscape buffer
[37:52] would keep on giving after installation. And then just wondering if
[37:56] there's any chance that that $162k payment could be spent on the ab side, you know.
[38:03] and then as far as the...
[38:08] neptune beach water tie-in. I have a lot of questions, but I'll just kind
[38:12] of name one. Do we know the timeline for neptune's beach for improving
[38:16] its pressure situation? And are you all open
[38:24] to maybe, I mean, resolutions are kind of temporary in nature, like
[38:28] just putting maybe a revisit date in the resolution so that if something happens
[38:33] to develop, or I'm not saying that they'll go bankrupt, you
[38:38] know, just. We can't ever anticipate. So just a consideration. So thank you for the time.
[38:43] thank you, ms. Boren. Lisa harrell. Lisa harold, my address is
[38:52] on record. I'd like to speak about the neptune beach water tri agreement, interlocal tri
[38:57] persons entity agreement. One of the previous speakers, mrs. Zisser, two words stuck out
[39:10] to me when she spoke, and it's risk and complexity. So I really, really...
[39:18] fail to understand the need for us to enter into an agreement,
[39:24] a three-party. It's not like we're entering into an agreement with citizens of neptune beach
[39:30] who have low water pressure and don't have enough water for their daily needs. We're, you know, helping
[39:37] someone develop property. And does the city really want to get into that position?
[39:44] I mean, we're having a hard enough time dealing with neptune beach with the paid parking.
[39:49] that we just went through you know however many months ago when they raised the do you
[39:53] know what I'm saying so I urge you just to sit back and especially since the developer has other
[39:58] options there's this is not like oh my goodness we can't get insurance we can't develop the property unless you so as
[40:03] the water. Thanks. Thank you, ms.
[40:12] harold. Mitch reeds.
[40:19] thanks. Good evening, everyone. First of all, I just want
[40:24] to take a short message to say many of you that watch the media platforms, facebook
[40:28] and all of them, you're drawing a little heat on the bicycles, the police
[40:33] department enforcement right now. And I think that's totally
[40:38] unfair because people have complained and complained that something's happening.
[40:42] you asked the police department to do something.
[40:47] they actually have done something. It was great to see the
[40:51] officers starting friday to be on bicycles driving around in the city.
[40:56] and yes, they wrote a 60-year-old lady a ticket, and everybody says they're getting
[41:01] a citation. The truth is, is when I looked into it, they're not getting a
[41:06] real violation. They're getting a warning. And therefore, if they get a second warning,
[41:11] they probably get a violation. So I want to commend the police department for doing it.
[41:16] you can't have both. And by the way, if a 60... Year old lady doesn't
[41:20] understand you can't run a stop sign then how do you expect a 10 year old to understand it not
[41:24] to run a stop sign but thank you atlantic beach police
[41:30] department for doing this I'm probably going to be the only one up here to speak differently
[41:35] about the fire suppression water but I think there's some more facts there's a lot of things being said tonight that
[41:39] are misleading number one atlantic beach and neptune beach we're not they're not taking our water stealing our
[41:43] water. They draw the same water we draw, same location. The water is only going
[41:48] to be used for suppression system, not fire hydrants. Fire hydrants are free.
[41:53] there's no charge. And if you look at this, let's say, let's pray that they don't
[41:57] have a fire, that they need a suppression system.
[42:01] that's a pretty good investment for a city to put $0 to have a water line put in and get revenues of $72,000
[42:07] a year. Whether it's used or not used. And I think that's interesting
[42:11] if that's a true number, the rumor I've heard. It's $6,000 a month is what I
[42:16] heard, but I can't confirm it. And then, so anyway,
[42:20] real quick with that, I would think if you're uncomfortable tonight with it, jessica, commissioner ring is
[42:25] on spring break with her family overseas. Or either stuck in the tsa line.
[42:34] I don't know where she is. But she had a lot of pros and con questions
[42:39] in this topic. And I think later on that maybe somebody would make a
[42:43] resolution to postpone it to
[42:48] another meeting so she could have the opportunity. I think we did it for
[42:52] commissioner kelly one time to have an opportunity to give her opinion
[42:57] on that too. And I think that would be the right thing because she did ask
[43:01] a couple of things. Real quick, downtown. I understand. I understand what you're asking
[43:06] in ragtime.
[43:16] it's more complex than you really know.
[43:20] the town center is a beautiful thing. We are so lucky to have a town center that looks
[43:25] like it is. And yes, amanda's writing a report that we have zero
[43:29] setback. The problem is one day we need to do an overlay with us and neptune beach in case we have a
[43:34] hurricane or a big major fire that we can build town center back just like it is. Because we don't want to be
[43:39] like the other cities do. So that's the real elephant in the room, or those that
[43:43] don't think it's an elephant, the donkey in the room, whichever one you prefer to use.
[43:49] but so I support that. The only thing that I have a question about is this,
[43:55] is the hundred and something thousand, I don't have the exact number in front of me, but the hundred
[44:00] and something thousand. I'm a little concerned who came up with the idea that it would go
[44:05] to town center, not against town center. But I think the better idea
[44:09] that there should be some discussion with that. And what I would like to see is the same thing that you did
[44:15] for 42 east coast when they needed something. They paid a fee and they and that money they paid up front,
[44:19] which still hasn't been fixed on sturgis, still going on a year ago. Almost they paid for it,
[44:24] but not that long. And what I suggest that that
[44:28] money do is collect the... $100,000, whatever it is, and have it put in an escrow account with the
[44:33] city attorney's office. Therefore, that money is there. Whether they build or don't
[44:37] build, they've already paid up front for them. And thank you so much
[44:42] for tonight. And I'm under five minutes. Thank you, mayor reeves. Bruce andrews.
[44:57] good evening. Bruce andrews, 11th street in atlantic beach.
[45:06] so I came tonight, but I had another thought. Sorry.
[45:11] first of all, I just was thinking as I was looking at the city manager's report,
[45:16] how refreshing it is to have proactive communication to the public
[45:21] about what's going on in our city. And I appreciate that.
[45:25] that he's proactively doing that. He's also very responsive when asked to engage
[45:29] on community issues by citizens.
[45:34] so thank you, kevin. But my main reason for coming was to talk about
[45:40] something that I was excited about seeing in the agenda when I looked at it last week.
[45:44] I had an email come through about the ragtime property and giving them the exception for
[45:48] landscaping. Requirements because
[45:55] of space limitations, et cetera, and the fact that they're going to give us a payment instead.
[46:00] I saw that and that got me to look at the agenda. And I saw another item that was close to my heart because, and
[46:05] it's the resolution 26-50 concerning the turf block, which I come
[46:10] to wholeheartedly support. Although I did hear some issues from my good friend, sarah
[46:14] boren, earlier about questions and things. But just in general, the
[46:18] concept, I think, particularly in old atlantic beach, where I live, I know that it would be a
[46:23] great thing because I walk my dog and there are all kinds of similar turf block, right
[46:27] of way, paved areas all over the place that are, I guess, technically illegal.
[46:32] I also know people that have asked over the past couple of years to have them put
[46:36] in so that they don't have
[46:51] to park their vehicle on the street. And they've been denied. So, again, it's been kind
[46:56] of a you know, I don't I don't park on the street and I don't need a turf block.
[47:01] I have a grandfathered in circular driveway. Thank you very much. But other people
[47:06] on my street do. And when I first moved onto 11th street 25 years ago, nobody ever parked
[47:10] on the street. They're always in their driveway. Then, you know, the little
[47:15] homes get knocked down. The big homes get built. There's not enough room for cars and they've got a golf
[47:19] cart and they don't want to have to. Back out one car to get the other one
[47:24] in and out. And so people now are parking on the street.
[47:28] good. And we have the little kids on our street.
[47:34] and our good friends, katie across the street have four little boys.
[47:39] and she told me about coming down to seminole one day and they were getting ready to turn, go to seminole
[47:44] westbound on 11th street. And there was two cars parked in the road on the left-hand side.
[47:49] and a car at the same time they were
[47:53] in their proper lane on their bicycles, a car came around off seminole, avoiding the two parked cars
[47:58] on the street, came over into the wrong lane. The little boy literally head on the car, fortunately,
[48:03] at extremely low speed. Nobody was hurt. But, you know,
[48:09] it freaked the mother out who was a half a block behind the little boy.
[48:13] so getting cars off the street would be a great thing.
[48:18] I sent you all a picture. A couple hours ago, you may not have seen it of my next door neighbor and who I was telling
[48:23] him he's going to be excited about this if y'all pass it because he is one of those people that asked
[48:29] to put a little pull off and was denied. So he's he's hoping it will be
[48:33] passed and he can move his car off the street onto the right away onto this nice new turf block that, you know, is built
[48:38] in a way that, you know, hopefully is permeable and doesn't require herbicides and all of those good things.
[48:43] speaking from the environmental stewardship committee.
[48:50] anyway, so I think safety, aesthetics, getting cars off the street is a great thing.
[48:54] and I encourage you to do it. I also think that the little. Test areas that we've done
[48:59] on some of the access streets between beach avenue and ocean boulevard could be
[49:03] expanded. I think the mayor's talked about that in the past.
[49:09] and so doing more, instead of parking, you know,
[49:13] and making sand, dirt areas, have actual proper parking. And let's see, I've got 35
[49:17] seconds, so I might as well use it. The landscape thing that I
[49:29] mentioned a minute ago, I'm not sure what... Mayor ease was referring to,
[49:34] but I think that any money that they pay in lieu of doing landscaping should be spent
[49:39] on landscaping. And we could jazz up the four corners at atlantic boulevard
[49:43] and ocean boulevard there in front of where ragtime was or embellish ahern and do a better job back there.
[49:49] so I hope we'll reinvest that money into the beechstown center.
[49:54] thank you very much. Thank you, mr.
[49:59] andrews. Brinkley harrell.
[50:06] your time is up.
[50:15] good evening. I'm brinkley harrell. Good evening, mr.
[50:21] mayor, commissioners, city clerk, city attorney, city manager. I'm brinkley harrell, 266th
[50:26] street. Never afraid to tell people my address.
[50:31] most of y'all know where I live. If you see my garage door open, just slow down, wave, beat the
[50:36] horn, or dodge me, depending on if I'm trimming trees up in the street. There are a number
[50:40] of hot button issues for us right now.
[50:45] oh, but also, I've only lived here 53 and a half years now. I don't know it all,
[50:50] but I see a lot over time. I've seen a lot of change.
[50:55] I've seen the city grow from 06,000 residents to 13,500. We're all built out.
[51:00] but we still have hot button issues, one of which is beech's town center parking. We're still hassling back and
[51:04] forth with the city of neptune beach because they're not trying to be a good neighbor to us
[51:09] on beech's town center parking. They're, in many people's opinion,
[51:13] trying to take advantage of us. You know, I'm not so sure, but it's an unresolved issue.
[51:18] you know, we only have... About 25% of the inventory in paid parking slots. So there's a mathematical
[51:23] formula that could be brought up as far as splitting operating costs, splitting revenue, or with the age
[51:28] of computers, they can tell exactly how much revenue our
[51:41] parking spots are generating versus their parking spots generating. What's fair is fair,
[51:48] but it's an unresolved issue with the city of neptune
[51:53] beach. The fire water, fire water resolution 26-48,
[52:01] there's a lot of issues that have been pointed out. On the one hand,
[52:05] there's no sunset in it. It's open-ended.
[52:10] there's no incentive for neptune beach to fix their problem.
[52:14] and I think it's just a veiled attempt for us to solve one
[52:18] of their problems. We probably shouldn't be doing that.
[52:23] I certainly hope that... Well, and there's other options that the developers already stated that they have.
[52:27] but ironically, as I skimmed through it, it actually had listed rates if they start
[52:32] using water. Well, that means that it's contemplated that they might
[52:36] use water for something besides fire suppression. Sounds kind of crazy to me.
[52:41] there's no development plan that we can look at. So in the absence of
[52:45] commissioner ring, who's attending a wedding in venice.
[52:49] in her absence here, I certainly would like for y'all to at least defer resolution 26-48 until there's a full
[52:54] commission, because she's been quite vocal on a number of key points on that.
[53:00] another hot-button issue is this interlocal agreement contract that we're
[53:04] contemplating, that we're doing with the city of jacksonville.
[53:09] what I didn't see was the list of all the bidders and the
[53:16] bidding amounts,
[53:22] which was kind of ironic because I think it's kind of crazy that we're going
[53:28] to a west palm beach-based law firm to do this. And what does west palm beach
[53:32] know about our little enclave of atlantic beach?
[53:37] that just seems kind of crazy to me. There certainly could have been
[53:41] a duval county, northeast florida bidder. Might have been a couple
[53:46] of thousand dollars more, but... They probably really know the issues a lot better.
[53:54] so beech's town center parking, the linkage on that with neptune beach, along
[53:59] with the fire water resolution, the interlocal agreement. Contract, which, you know, I
[54:04] think the city manager is going to discuss that a little bit
[54:08] more. And I would be remiss if I did not say something
[54:13] about the intersection of ahern street and east coast drive that needs a four-way stop.
[54:18] yes, there's lots of studies that say that all the crashes that have been there have been mere fender benders.
[54:23] but with all the jaywalking that new 42 east coast building, the grand, is generating.
[54:29] it doesn't take but a bump by a car to a pedestrian or a
[54:35] bicyclist. That pedestrian or bicyclist falls down, hits their head,
[54:40] has a concussion, and dies. That's not a fender bender. That is real liability that the
[54:44] city's got because
[54:50] of all the jaywalking at that intersection. And to end all this,
[54:54] I think that we could save a lot of money on housing allowance if we end the city
[55:02] manager recruitment. And just stay with the status quo, we could, you know, already in atlantic
[55:07] beach resident than 1 for 810 years. You know I'm all for that.
[55:12] so thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Good evening.
[55:16] thank you, mr. Harold for being on time.
[55:22] david, you.
[55:32] david view, 381 3rd street. I've only been a resident around here for about 60 years.
[55:37] but I already mentioned to the mayor about this turtle crawl.
[55:42] it's a lot harder than it looks.
[55:46] I've been hunting submarines for 24 years in the ocean.
[55:51] I could always find a submarine, but I can't find these sea turtles.
[55:56] they're pretty well hidden. But anyway, about water and trees.
[56:01] I've been watering my tree,
[56:05] my heritage tree, with my rain barrel water. I can water it whenever I want.
[56:09] I can water my yard a little bit and my driveway.
[56:15] and then the neighbors started complaining, hey,
[56:20] what is that water? It's coming from my roof. And I said, oh,
[56:26] how's that happen? Because I got a rain barrel. It'd be nice if we had rain barrels.
[56:31] anybody that wanted them and about trees uh speeches and poems are made like fools
[56:35] like me but only god can make a
[56:42] tree thank you thank you mr bugh laura conahan I'm sorry
[56:50] laura conahan conahan am I saying that right okay good
[56:57] evening, mayor ford. Good to see you and council.
[57:05] I'm just here. My name is laura conahan and I work at the dune house hotel
[57:10] and spa, formerly known as one ocean.
[57:16] I have been serving there as the assistant general manager for the past eight years.
[57:20] I'm here tonight to,
[57:24] I know that there are a lot of important topics. But to talk about resolution
[57:29] 2649. In asking where the dune house has been
[57:34] under renovation. I'm just here to answer some
[57:40] questions maybe that council had originally, simply just to say that we will continue
[57:48] to be 193 rooms. We are not expanding the
[57:53] structure itself. We will continue to have... A new restaurant called
[58:01] coastal farmer that will be even better than azarea, but it'll be a restaurant that has been open to the public prior
[58:06] to the renovation and going forward. Open to the public means that
[58:12] that would be for the restaurant only.
[58:21] it would not grant any additional beach access or allow non-guests to filtrate into more space
[58:26] in the public beach area. We would be serving only our
[58:39] 193 guests with beach chairs and umbrellas, which we have done consistently year over year.
[58:44] again, we are going to have a wonderful ice cream shop that will be open to the public, a
[58:49] wonderful coffee shop that will
[58:55] be open to the public. And we hope to be good stewards
[59:00] and neighbors to the community going forward. We just held a jax chamber
[59:04] event, which was fantastic. And we can hope to continue to do all of these things to benefit our wonderful
[59:10] community. And I look forward to speaking more, hopefully, about...
[59:15] a resolution 2649 later this evening. Thank you so much for your
[59:21] time. Thank you, ms. Cunahan. Charles dewitt.
[59:33] good evening, counsel. My name is charles dewitt. I am formerly at 425 atlantic boulevard, now in neptune
[59:38] beach. I just moved recently as we sold our hotel.
[59:42] but I am a business owner in neptune beach, atlantic beach, and jacksonville beach.
[59:47] I'm also talking about the resolution 2649. I've been working with the dune house before when it was
[59:52] one ocean. And I believe that the topic
[59:56] came up as we were trying to figure out a safer way for equipment to be transported.
[1:00:03] as laura said just a moment ago, there is no...
[1:00:08] no desire to change the current plan. It was just
[1:00:12] to really touch base on how we've been able to do our essentially driving
[1:00:17] in different local municipalities.
[1:00:22] the neighboring municipalities have ordinances and the
[1:00:27] permission for us to be able to, if the need occurs, not necessarily
[1:00:32] for anybody to do whatever they want.
[1:00:37] it's if the need occurs to um have access to drive on the same accesses that may
[1:00:42] be or specific ones. You know, you can limit them. They're not every single beach
[1:00:47] access, as stated earlier, where there are different places that can be driven on.
[1:00:52] I believe the current idea is for atlantic boulevard to be the restricted one
[1:00:56] for this specific purpose, allowing it to be a much smaller area where the vehicles
[1:01:01] will be driving. Obviously, like I said, if things stay the same.
[1:01:06] the amount of vehicles on the sand. We want to limit it as much as
[1:01:10] possible. We don't necessarily want to encourage more tires
[1:01:14] on the sand, but with the training and the proof of concept that we've had and
[1:01:18] the experience that we have, that's why we were kind of in this conversation to show
[1:01:24] that it can be done if desired, and it can be beneficial on the times that the there's a need to quickly help and assist,
[1:01:29] get things on and off the sand. If there's a need for a vehicle to be required,
[1:01:34] it's possible to be done because that in the moment
[1:01:39] of an emergency, the lifeguards shouldn't necessarily need to worry about those items that
[1:01:44] necessarily aren't for human safety, but necessarily are
[1:01:50] for the ecosystem where like if equipment or if anybody's. Belongings get left
[1:01:55] behind because they're having to leave in an emergency. Sometimes if they're left
[1:02:01] behind, they end up in an area
[1:02:05] that isn't necessarily good for the community. So that's really the main thing
[1:02:17] that I would like to say is that necessarily the, sorry, it's not really
[1:02:21] recommended that every single day there's more vehicles
[1:02:27] on the beach is what I'm trying to say. But that being said, if there are questions
[1:02:32] in the future that need to be answered, I have a lot of experience driving
[1:02:36] on the beach and a lot of experience in 70 miles of different coastline. I mean, we have been doing it
[1:02:44] from jacksonville beach all the way down to crescent beach area.
[1:02:50] so I think that's all. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Dewitt.
[1:02:55] jackie beckenbaum. Good evening, commission, city
[1:03:02] staff, city attorney, city manager, city clerk.
[1:03:07] first of all, I do want to comment on resolution 8b,
[1:03:14] but I also wanted to take a moment to thank whoever it is that handles the russell park tennis courts,
[1:03:19] because after the recent storm, a number of those windshields
[1:03:25] that are attached to the fencing around the
[1:03:29] tennis courts had ripped off and was were laying around on the courts themselves.
[1:03:34] and within a day or two, those were all replaced and back up on the side.
[1:03:39] so who's ever doing that? Appreciate the quickness in getting that repaired. Also appreciate your report.
[1:03:44] kevin, it's very helpful to have yours. Summary overview
[1:03:49] of what's happening in the city but I did want to comment as a number
[1:03:54] of other people have on the resolution 8 26 48 that
[1:04:00] and I have a couple of questions I feel
[1:04:04] like I'm supportive of smart growth and regional cooperation
[1:04:08] but I feel like it's important that whenever there's an agreement that's being made
[1:04:13] between neighboring cities that the agreement should actually be necessary and that it should
[1:04:18] fully protect the residents of atlantic beach first and foremost.
[1:04:22] a few of the questions I have, if the developer sells the property or the property
[1:04:27] changes ownership, do those obligations and agreement transfer fully and how would
[1:04:31] that be reinforced?
[1:04:38] and is there any scenario when the city of atlantic beach would inherit? This responsibility back?
[1:04:43] and who's responsible for repairs, upgrades, failures of the water pipe over the next 10, 20, 30 years?
[1:04:49] I think these are all questions that need to be addressed.
[1:04:57] if the agreement is approved, how will the city handle future developers requesting similar arrangements?
[1:05:02] are we setting a precedent to be a supplier of water, which I think after some of the
[1:05:06] discussion this evening. I don't think we want to be in
[1:05:12] that business. I think we want
[1:05:18] to be protecting our water. What is the tangible benefit
[1:05:23] to residents of atlantic beach in exchange for entering into this agreement? Is there anybody who benefits
[1:05:28] besides the developer? Because I don't see any benefit to the citizens of neptune
[1:05:32] beach, and I really don't see any benefit to the city of atlantic beach either.
[1:05:37] at the last commission meeting, stephen devenow, the attorney for the developer,
[1:05:41] stated that tri-bridge would move forward with the project regardless of whether atlantic beach
[1:05:46] entered into an agreement with them, that they had other options like putting up a holding tank
[1:05:51] specifically for this project or tapping into the tank that already
[1:05:55] exists to protect publics from fire suppression. So why not consider those
[1:06:05] options? That to me seems... Way less disruptive to our community.
[1:06:10] it doesn't put ab at risk for whatever is in this 14-page agreement.
[1:06:14] and I feel like we are also enabling the city of neptune beach
[1:06:20] by providing fire suppression.
[1:06:27] they have not gotten their infrastructure up to speed since the early discussions about this property started 10
[1:06:32] years ago. And they're still
[1:06:37] in the same place. So are we not enabling them by offering to take care
[1:06:42] of this water issue? So I would just ask two things. One, to delay this decision.
[1:06:48] I think also jessica ring, commissioner ring, should have
[1:06:53] an opportunity to weigh in on this because it is a very significant decision. And secondly, I would like
[1:06:58] for this commission to explain to me, like I'm five years old,
[1:07:03] why this is beneficial. For us to get involved with a city that is not run very well,
[1:07:07] that hasn't taken care of its infrastructure, and why should we be the ones
[1:07:11] to bail them out? So I would ask for that, and I would also ask that we don't
[1:07:16] vote on this this evening, and if we do vote, that you all vote no
[1:07:20] to supply them with fire suppression water. All right,
[1:07:25] thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, ms.
[1:07:30] beckenbaugh. That's all I have, mayor. That was only 12.
[1:07:34] 13. Oh okay I missed one uh thank
[1:07:39] you and with that we'll close courtesy of the floor and we'll move on
[1:07:47] to city manager reports mr hogan thank you mayor ford to the city commission and to
[1:08:03] the community the report that I provided these meetings is published on the city website and is available at the door
[1:08:08] these meetings I'll start with the first thing on the agenda and go down the list on the agenda and
[1:08:13] then add a couple others first the neptune beach city council has indeed voted unanimously to maintain the paid parking rate
[1:08:18] at 2.50 an hour through
[1:08:22] december 31st this enables both the cities of the landing beach and neptune beach
[1:08:26] to evaluate full year of data before considering rate adjustments, and it sets the stage for us to
[1:08:32] extend our interlocal agreement in the meantime. City manager pike continues to
[1:08:36] maintain excellent communication with me on this and other mutual concerns, and
[1:08:41] our staff is now reviewing two months of reports. Financial reports revenue
[1:08:45] reports that the city manager has provided and he is going to provide the march report in advance of an april meeting
[1:08:49] that we have
[1:08:55] to further our discussions on this topic um may I comment on this um thank you for that update it occurs
[1:09:01] to me that one of the main reasons for delaying the change to any
[1:09:06] number different than what we're charging today which is the team. $2.50 per hour is to give time
[1:09:11] for data to actually be analyzed to make better, more sound
[1:09:15] decisions that hopefully won't have to be adjusted again, or at least not relatively
[1:09:31] quickly. In light of that, I think the same thing should apply
[1:09:35] to our agreement on the which is expired.
[1:09:40] it's more than a year expired with neptune beach, but I would ask
[1:09:46] with this commission's consensus on it that we respond back that we agree and we could actually take a vote now and or
[1:09:51] get consensus to to have you ratify their decision on the 250 but also to gain their
[1:09:58] agreement that we would delay any restructuring of our agreement until the
[1:10:02] december I think you said december 31st I did yes you
[1:10:09] know so the december 31st date that would be eligible for reconsideration of the parking fee thank you.
[1:10:14] would also be the date eligible for reconsideration of our partnership agreement.
[1:10:21] and right now, that partnership agreement for simplicity is 70 percent of the growth
[1:10:27] of the growth income on the parking spaces in atlantic beach.
[1:10:31] and it is not it doesn't get in the weeds on costs to administer and so on.
[1:10:37] it's simply 70 percent of the gross, allowing 30 percent
[1:10:41] to cover administrative costs. So... Commission, can I gain your
[1:10:45] consensus to send the city manager back to discuss that with city of
[1:10:50] neptune beach? Mayor, I support that,
[1:10:55] but I would like to say, and I know kevin is engaged over there, we all went through the last year of the
[1:10:59] parking. I think transparency and up front with us, and again, part
[1:11:05] of this is on people that made that original agreement, right, or in this room, I'm one
[1:11:09] of them, and we didn't ask for those updates. And I think we're getting some updates.
[1:11:14] I think that's... Part of the discussion as we go back. So I'm with it if that's
[1:11:19] along the deal. Mayor? Yes.
[1:11:23] I'm also with having kevin do that. I do think it needs to be shared, though.
[1:11:28] it's important to understand who we're negotiating with,
[1:11:33] right? As in business, it's good business to understand the
[1:11:38] people you're talking to. Trying to negotiate a fair deal with.
[1:11:42] as some of you know, I'm the representative
[1:11:47] for the beech's town center agency. And the last meeting,
[1:11:53] which I was not able to attend to a work commitment, but in getting the report, the behavior
[1:11:58] from the representative from neptune beach prompted the
[1:12:02] president of the merchants
[1:12:08] association down in atlantic beach and the town center, including neptune beach, was so upset and so flustered and just
[1:12:13] really unnecessary behavior directed towards her prompted her resignation.
[1:12:18] so she's no longer president
[1:12:23] of the merchant association and she's no longer on the beach's town center agency.
[1:12:27] so this is who we're dealing with. This type of this rudeness and unprofessionalism.
[1:12:32] and I just want it to be known. That that's who you're dealing
[1:12:42] with and to act and be cognizant
[1:12:48] of that type of potential response. Thank you, commissioner.
[1:12:53] just clarify. They've already agreed to wait till 31 december. So what are you asking kevin
[1:12:58] to do? Two things. They've only agreed to the 250 per hour charge to be extended
[1:13:03] through december 31st. They have not agreed. To not come back to atlantic beach, let's say in 30, 60, 90
[1:13:08] days with a new agreement for the split. And I want the split.
[1:13:14] I want the agreement we have with neptune beach on what is paid to atlantic
[1:13:18] beach to be coinciding with the december 31st date, because it's on the same basis
[1:13:22] that I want the data. And I want to know things like if they, for example, they recommend that we take a net
[1:13:28] split, a net of revenue, net of expenses. Is and then split it.
[1:13:32] I need to know what those expenses are and why, and do we agree with them, so that's one thing.
[1:13:37] anyways, that's but the second thing is he to get this formalized to where
[1:13:42] we're not failing as well on the communication. The agreement is they will
[1:13:46] notify us of changes. We will discuss them and ratify them.
[1:13:51] and it doesn't have to be a regular formal vote with a resolution or a an ordinance,
[1:14:04] obviously. But we will give our city manager the authority to go back and say we agree.
[1:14:12] and that way it's all in the open.
[1:14:16] it's in the sunshine. Well, it sounds like you have a good working relationship
[1:14:21] with ricky. I do. Is that the only one that
[1:14:26] counts? I mean, is that the most
[1:14:31] important relationship? Just to give you some perspective as
[1:14:37] to where we are, we are negotiating, and I'm maintaining that we
[1:14:42] want to keep the 70-30 split through the end of the year. He countered
[1:14:47] with something differently
[1:14:53] before this neptune beach city council decision.
[1:14:59] so in our next meeting. We'll see how that goes and I'll report back to you. Okay.
[1:15:04] so at this time, do we have consensus to send the city manager back
[1:15:09] to ratify the 250 through the end of the year, december 31st? Yes. Okay.
[1:15:14] you have that. Is that reflected on our 18th and 19th as well?
[1:15:18] no. 18th and 19th are separately administered by us. Same prices?
[1:15:22] yes, we do have the same price at 18th and 19th. Okay. Thank you.
[1:15:27] thank you. We have received notice of the approval of our $300,000 fema funding request for our stormwater master plan
[1:15:31] update. This grant, which requires our already budgeted $100,000 city match, enables us
[1:15:36] to move forward with the long-awaited update to our 2018 master plan.
[1:15:40] we will share a proposed timeline and scope on this project very shortly.
[1:15:45] congratulations. Thank you.
[1:15:50] city engineer swan, who is with us tonight, is continuing to coordinate with the florida department of
[1:15:55] environmental protection to advance a forward-thinking senate bill 64 compliance
[1:15:59] strategy for the city. Last week, the city received dep's recognition of the project's ecological benefits,
[1:16:04] as touted by mr. Swan, and this marks a significant milestone in our pursuit of of senate
[1:16:08] bill 64 compliance as there are no identified project killers at the moment. And by pursuing freshwater
[1:16:13] salinity barriers rather than deep well injections. The city aims to protect the
[1:16:20] local tree canopy and ensure the long-term environmental stewardship while remaining
[1:16:25] fiscally responsible as there are tens of millions of dollars at stake here. I did this last time, but I
[1:16:30] don't know if this city knows how valuable that city engineer is back there. If you look at some of these
[1:16:34] projects that we're going through I know I did last time but he's actually here tonight okay uh but he's invaluable to
[1:16:39] this program I'm sure you feel the same way I just had to point that out as you go through these initiatives
[1:16:44] thanks thank you indeed I concur uh in terms of the marshall's community center while we remain on schedule
[1:16:49] for a july 26 soft opening and are moving forward with our july 11th centennial event at beaches veterans memorial
[1:16:54] park. We're now planning to hold the community center and community garden ribbon cutting
[1:16:58] in september. An update on the aquatic gardens hopkins creek stormwater improvements.
[1:17:03] the major components of the project affecting flood control have now been successfully
[1:17:08] completed.
[1:17:15] while the coordination
[1:17:19] of fema funding often moves at a glacial pace, we're pleased
[1:17:47] to report that the project is in its final stages, and we expect all work
[1:17:52] to be finalized by the end of april.
[1:17:56] good. The rfp for the farmers market operator, it's hit the street
[1:18:00] on friday and responses are due.
[1:18:06] it hit the street last friday. Responses are due april 15th. Staff will bring a
[1:18:10] recommendation for an operator for you all to consider us doing business with either your april 27th or
[1:18:15] may. 11th meeting. We're going to try
[1:18:20] to do it sooner, although the timeline may not enable us to get here until
[1:18:25] may 11th with a recommendation. A reminder that our
[1:18:31] centennial americana celebration is from 10 to 2 this saturday at jack russell park.
[1:18:37] highlights include vintage baseball, car show, and 100th birthday themed family
[1:18:42] activities. And that is the end of my report.
[1:18:46] I'll gladly answer questions yes, commissioner. Yes. Kevin, you and I had some
[1:18:53] texted earlier. I would like, if chief vick wouldn't mind, just talk to us
[1:18:58] about the blitz that happened on saturday in terms
[1:19:03] of ticketing and whatnot, because there is a bunch
[1:19:08] of hubbub on facebook. But, you know, I know that we've been very aggressive with the ticketing and management.
[1:19:14] of the e-bike activity.
[1:19:20] hadn't really talked about, you know, pedal power, strictly pedal power.
[1:19:24] but if, you know, someone's doing 15 going down, going south, going down selva
[1:19:29] marina drive and goes to a stop sign, that could be a problem, too.
[1:19:34] so I'd love to hear from chief vic if we can. Thank you.
[1:19:39] vic galila, chief police. Good evening, commissioner,
[1:19:43] mayor. So...
[1:19:48] in particular, this past week, we did a directed enforcement patrol because of spring break
[1:19:52] at the behest of some of the commission members, letting us know that there were
[1:19:56] plenty of e-bikes and bicycles in the town center area that weren't complying with regulations,
[1:20:02] typically running stop signs. And moreover, I think I'd ask you to look back over the past
[1:20:07] three or four years where this discussion on bicycles not complying with traffic regulations originated
[1:20:12] on beach avenue. You know certainly agree with the last 35 years I've been here,
[1:20:16] that has been a complaint for 35 years. But before e-bikes became an issue, the hot topic,
[1:20:21] we were directed and asked specifically, go do something on beach avenue for all the people who ran stop signs and
[1:20:25] didn't obey traffic regulations, going the wrong way. That, of course, filtered
[1:20:30] into the town center area. You remember the signage and the debate we had about putting signs up on
[1:20:34] beach avenue, trying to get people to work together. Bikes were allowed to go the
[1:20:38] wrong way because we wanted as a city to be able to do that. So e-bikes, the latest topic.
[1:20:45] bicycles have been on the radar screen for a long, long time, and more particularly
[1:20:49] during your tenure here in the last three or four years. I've been before you many times answering questions about
[1:20:53] bicycle regulations not being obeyed. And I ask you to please bear with us.
[1:20:58] we are going through education campaigns. We're talking to people, warning people,
[1:21:03] doing direct enforcement to educate folks, which we've done multiple times. And I.
[1:21:07] believe the direction from the commission has been in the last six months or a year that, thanks, we appreciate
[1:21:12] that, but we want more enforcement. So this particular week,
[1:21:16] because again, it was spring break and we've had so many recent complaints about bicycles, any bikes
[1:21:20] in town center, we asked our officers to direct enforcement in that town center area.
[1:21:25] I'll share with you that over those... Those days last week, we did
[1:21:29] about 100 bicycle stops, bicycles and e-bikes. We happened to do 30 or 29 vehicle stops also for about
[1:21:35] 133 contacts in that week related to this directed enforcement.
[1:21:40] we did issue some uniform traffic citations, which are state tickets.
[1:21:44] but remember, we did vehicle stops as part of that also.
[1:21:49] so not all those uniform traffic citations, the state tickets were issued to bikes.
[1:21:54] some of them were. More specifically, I draw your attention to the
[1:21:58] municipal ordinance citations, the municipal ordinance we passed about a year, year and a half ago about
[1:22:02] specific things bikes can and can't do, shouldn't, shouldn't
[1:22:07] do, because it gave us a way to write a $50 ticket, a local state, a local municipal ordinance
[1:22:15] citation, not a state ticket to someone who violated that. So he wrote 61 municipal
[1:22:19] ordinance violations. We also issued 25 warnings.
[1:22:24] so now that 61 number isn't exact because we had to, we would have to factor
[1:22:29] in a few more things, but I'll tell you that was 41% of the people that we stopped on bikes and e-bikes got
[1:22:34] warnings. So a little less than half, I think, if we did look at the true numbers
[1:22:39] by the time we factored in some of the utcs, that's not a bad average.
[1:22:44] so not everybody who got stopped got a ticket and missed the ordnance citation. Plenty of people did.
[1:22:50] we had some emails we responded to over the weekend. I will tell you, I responded to one that was a complaint on
[1:22:54] an officer and how they conduct themselves.
[1:22:58] I watched the body cam video. That officer did nothing wrong. He was professional. He was polite.
[1:23:03] he was informative. He didn't throw anybody under the bus, meaning the commission.
[1:23:08] he accepted the responsibility and said, look, it is the city of atlantic beaches initiative to create a safer environment.
[1:23:14] we are responding to complaints of bicycle violations. We're responding to complaints
[1:23:18] of accidents and injuries on bikes. This is what the city is doing, and the police department is
[1:23:23] enforcing these. Laws because of these complaints. I will tell you that while he
[1:23:27] was there talking to one person, two more adults rode through a stop sign.
[1:23:35] they slowed down pretty well, but didn't stop completely. He did talk to them and give them a warning politely, again,
[1:23:40] explained why he was there. It was a city's initiative for safety and sent them on their way
[1:23:45] without a ticket, just a verbal warning. I'll tell you that one of my sergeants today talked
[1:23:50] to a citizen in the lobby for about 20 or 25 minutes. Explained to her that what she got was a citation
[1:23:54] for one citation. She thought she got two for running a stop sign and going the wrong way.
[1:23:59] said, no, this is just one ticket. It was a ticket, but you were going the wrong way and you ran
[1:24:04] the stop sign. You didn't get two tickets. You got one. And it took about 20 or 25
[1:24:09] minutes for him to explain to her, look, this is a safety initiative. It's not about us picking
[1:24:13] on e-bikes or picking on bikes. It's the fact that what we are seeing out there is unsafe.
[1:24:18] and so in order to try and get people's attention, we did this directed enforcement for a week.
[1:24:23] by the time she left, she understood. She thanked him.
[1:24:29] she said, look, I understand. I get it. I did the wrong thing. I got one ticket.
[1:24:33] no problem. I'll take care of it. So I get there's plenty of concern
[1:24:37] about what people saw over the weekend. There were a lot of warnings given.
[1:24:43] I think it was an appropriate thing to do. I'm not aware of any negative
[1:24:48] interactions that the officers had that were justified. I don't think any
[1:24:53] of our officers were rude, overbearing, unprofessional. We will continue to do this
[1:24:58] into this summer, obviously, maybe not as as directed as we did on on the last week. But we'll continue this
[1:25:02] into the end of the summer. We'll continue to give warnings and educate. But I think it was the
[1:25:07] appropriate action at the right time. I'm sorry that some folks got tickets.
[1:25:12] they are more than welcome to contest those citations that they got them. That option is open to them
[1:25:17] to contest this citation in court and talk to the traffic officer about it.
[1:25:21] but again, I think what we did was a positive thing and hope that sends a message to the community.
[1:25:26] and I will tell you, there were also also two. We talked about e-bikes that ran
[1:25:31] from the officers. The officers tried to stop them. They said, no, we're not stopping.
[1:25:36] and I'll tell you that they were not kids. They were adults in their 30s or 40s.
[1:25:41] ok, so there is some of that going on also out there. But it's sort of
[1:25:45] across the board. We focused a lot on the kids in a lot of our discussions in the past six months or year.
[1:25:50] there are plenty of adults out
[1:25:57] there who are doing the wrong thing also. So thanks for that. Let me start by saying kudos to you and your staff,
[1:26:02] the officers participating in this. It's a long time coming. It's welcome.
[1:26:06] I got quite a few compliments of our police officers in doing that from residents who are tired
[1:26:11] of seeing this recklessness. But I want to caution and temper it because you. You've heard through the city
[1:26:15] manager that I was displeased that several people told me that they were advised that this was a directive
[1:26:20] of the mayor. Okay.
[1:26:24] now, while I appreciate the promotion to a level of being your boss, I am not your boss.
[1:26:28] and so I'm not making any direct directives. You will make those directives to your staff and you will
[1:26:34] answer to the city manager. But if these are untruths,
[1:26:42] then they're kind of spreading. So I'm going to validate with a
[1:26:46] few people whether they heard it and if they know the officer and whether they were the actual one being pulled.
[1:26:51] but I... I would like for the mayor not to be invoked as the reason for application of our laws.
[1:26:55] now, that being said, when we had our last conversation in my mind, and I thought I articulated it pretty well,
[1:27:00] I was very concerned about what I referred to as hooligans. Now, these hooligans could have
[1:27:04] been my sons 10 years ago. So don't for our residents do not misunderstand. These are youngsters that
[1:27:09] haven't yet gotten a dose of reality, and that is compliance with the law is mandated.
[1:27:14] and my specific examples were these e-bikes that were literally popping wheelies on ocean boulevard
[1:27:18] into oncoming traffic,
[1:27:27] playing chicken with them. These were children that were
[1:27:32] weaving in and out of cars on atlantic boulevard in beechestown center. These were children that were
[1:27:37] giving the inappropriate use of a certain finger to people who called them out.
[1:27:41] so that was. My concern because that to me is the risk of a major injury, not the
[1:27:46] beach cruiser that cruises through a stop sign. Now, let me be clear. I am not asking you to, and
[1:27:51] remember, I'm not your boss. I'm not asking you
[1:28:02] to not enforce our laws on that. Somehow our society has gotten
[1:28:09] to the point we're jaywalking anywhere across the street is okay. Not even looking up from your
[1:28:14] cell phone when you step into the crosswalk is okay. I literally see bicycles go through a red light at
[1:28:18] beech's town center at atlantic and burst or ocean. And so I'm concerned along with you,
[1:28:23] and I know you and I can agree on this, chief. I'm okay with applying the law equally.
[1:28:27] I do appreciate your comments about the level of.
[1:28:32] of warnings. I do think we're still early enough. My sense is this, the 40 to 50
[1:28:37] to 60 year old men and women, they're getting pulled over now, didn't quite realize this was going to be a big
[1:28:42] deal. I think they know that now. So we'll see. But I hope that your officers
[1:28:46] are saying, are we dealing with somebody we've seen as a repeat offender or somebody who is
[1:28:51] really dangerous or somebody who is intoxicated and at risk. In that way.
[1:28:55] so I just want to finish by saying you are doing a great job on this. Thanks.
[1:29:00] keep doing it. Just try not to use the mayor's name.
[1:29:24] thank you. I will remind everybody, though, if anybody has a question
[1:29:29] about that, all our officer body cams, all our interactions are recorded. They are a public record.
[1:29:33] they are welcome to get a copy. Ask us. We will give you one.
[1:29:38] yep. Understood. Thank you. If I may say, I did follow up on a complaint.
[1:29:43] today, reviewed body cam footage, and indeed, in the one case I looked at where it was alleged that the commission or the mayor was
[1:29:48] blamed, that did not happen at all.
[1:29:53] thank you. Yeah, you can blame me. I'd like the mayor to be blamed.
[1:29:57] thank you, mr. Bull. Okay, are you still? I'm done.
[1:30:02] what I haven't done is asked
[1:30:08] you to accept the 90-day calendar. Will you please?
[1:30:14] any objections? Isn't that the new town hall date? If I'm through the mayor.
[1:30:19] so you received correspondence from me suggesting we change
[1:30:24] the april 18th town hall date to april 25th because we regrettably scheduled it the
[1:30:33] same time and day as arts in the park. Um so love to hear from you uh
[1:30:38] this week as you check your
[1:30:42] calendars and let us know if that's acceptable okay so are we do we have consensus on the 90-day calendar you have your
[1:30:52] calendar thanks okay I'm going to move now to reports from city commissioners
[1:30:58] starting with uh mr boll donald could you put up the calendar
[1:31:03] yeah, it's the attachment. I'm sorry. It's in the agenda packet. I'm sorry.
[1:31:08] I'll just talk for a second. Obviously, I put my cell phone here
[1:31:12] for city manager report update, and I apologize. I was asked last time to take a look
[1:31:17] at a timeline. So I kind of took the timeline that I think matched up with the city commission meetings
[1:31:21] and the rfp release, the citizens committee, et cetera, et cetera.
[1:31:37] it's still notional. Take any input. We'd like you, if you have
[1:31:43] input, to go right to bob blanco and hr as far as we go. And when you see it,
[1:31:47] I think most of you saw it in the packet. I do. Yeah.
[1:31:52] it's aggressive. I guess what I'm saying is if we're not aggressive, we fall short and it keeps pushing it
[1:31:56] down the road. So we can change this. But I just want to put it up
[1:32:01] here because we were I was asked this last time. The rp, as you all know, is out.
[1:32:11] and that's one of the dates that I had up there. And I apologize.
[1:32:16] all right. You want to come back to that? Sure.
[1:32:22] okay. Then we'll move to
[1:32:29] commissioner kelly. We're doing a commission report? Yeah.
[1:32:34] I want to thank both kevin, because I nagged him, and the response by the boys
[1:32:39] and girls club to have camp during this spring break. It's important that families
[1:32:43] can send their kids someplace safe and enjoyable. So we made that happen, and I appreciate that greatly.
[1:32:48] well, darlings, go back to school tomorrow, so be out, be ready, chief.
[1:32:55] thank you, commissioner. We don't have the calendar yet? Okay, commissioner gray.
[1:33:00] yes, thanks, mayor. Just real quick, I want to thank I know it's
[1:33:05] out here. I want to thank judith and for that donation.
[1:33:09] I had heard, I don't know, months ago about potential
[1:33:14] similar something falling
[1:33:20] through, which I was very upset about.
[1:33:28] and so I appreciate that now that we will have that garden.
[1:33:33] and lisa, thank you for your involvement.
[1:33:41] I mean, I think it's just a really solid thing to do. And I might have
[1:33:46] to look into, I'm
[1:33:50] in a condo now, so I may have to look into getting one of those plots
[1:33:55] to grow some tomatoes. And so, in any case, I can't wait to hear all the
[1:34:00] details.
[1:34:06] I think that's just a really cool thing. I guess I had it pictured
[1:34:10] in my mind something else, but the fact that anybody can go in there and lease a plot,
[1:34:15] that's even better. So, thank you all for that. The rest of the stuff I want to talk about is, you know, we talked about some of that
[1:34:20] in the manager's report. And wait for the other resolutions and conversations. Thank you, mayor.
[1:34:24] thank you, commissioner grant. So back to you, commissioner bold.
[1:34:29] yes, you can see up on the screen, that's an anticipated, like I said, notional timeline.
[1:34:33] so as we go through, I just wanted to be transparent. And some of these dates could
[1:34:37] slide, but I tried to sync them up with commission meetings so that we can go back
[1:34:42] and take a look at that where we are. So, like I said, you see the first dates up
[1:34:48] there, the rp questions, march 30th. So as we move through, you can see, again, as I mentioned, it's aggressive.
[1:34:53] any inputs, please send to hr directly or me. Thanks.
[1:34:57] okay. Thank you. Okay. My turn. Thanks.
[1:35:02] absolutely delighted with the presentation from judith larue and lisa goodrich.
[1:35:06] and like, as was already said, and especially by commissioner grant, you guys are solid.
[1:35:11] we're in good shape starting out. Good news is we're going to vote on the driveway.
[1:35:15] and parking tonight. And so I think we're going to button that up and that'll keep us on track for what,
[1:35:20] september?
[1:35:25] we're talking now september on the actual dedication
[1:35:30] of that. But thank you again. And I want to share just a short story and I'll be brief.
[1:35:36] I know we're going long here, but this is important because we focus
[1:35:40] on the e-bike issue. And I say e-bike, it's bad manners on regular bicycles too, but
[1:35:45] it's... E-bikes predominantly, especially with young people.
[1:35:49] and thank you, chief, for mentioning they were adults this past weekend. But so we very seldom have a
[1:35:54] positive story. And I'm going to give you a positive story. And it transgresses or goes
[1:35:59] between both cities of atlantic beach and neptune beach. A couple of weeks ago, my wife,
[1:36:03] leah, was driving back from lemon street. She turned northbound on
[1:36:09] first street and neptune beach, heading past pete's bar and through the up.
[1:36:14] the traffic light at atlantic and first, and she was being followed by a youngster
[1:36:18] on his e-scooter. Wearing his helmet and he stopped behind her at every stop sign and
[1:36:23] at the traffic light. And he was he was being he was proper.
[1:36:28] and I don't think we see that often enough. And we think they're all hooligans.
[1:36:34] that's my term. Right. So she got to the end
[1:36:39] of the paid parking just past
[1:36:43] salumaria. And she pulled over, rolled down her window and waved the youngster
[1:36:48] to the side. And he stopped at her window and she said. Would you talk to me?
[1:36:53] and he said, yes, ma'am. And he went and put his scooter down in the grass and took his helmet off.
[1:36:58] and she got out of the car and spoke to him. And she said, I just can't believe how appropriate you are
[1:37:03] and deliberate and stopping. And you're wearing a helmet and you just seem like you've got great manners.
[1:37:08] I think your mother would be very proud of you. And I guess I'm an old person now.
[1:37:12] I just think that it endears me to my wife, obviously. But that is the messaging. We need to have more
[1:37:17] of that. And she went the extra mile. She said, hold on a second. And she went back
[1:37:22] to the car and got one of my business cards. It says mayor curtis ford. And she wrote on the back
[1:37:27] of it. Your son is a wonderful, well-mannered child or whatever.
[1:37:32] and this is like a 13 or 14 maybe a 15 year old and she handed the card to him and she says uh rowden and that's his
[1:37:36] name rowden if anybody knows rowden uh go home and tell your mother that you met the wife of the mayor, and I'm giving
[1:37:41] you this business card to give to your mayor. Let her know that she can reach out to the mayor anytime.
[1:37:46] and so my encouragement to all of us is let's find what is good in our community and celebrate that as well as
[1:37:51] dealing what is not so good. And so that's my report, and we'll move to our consent agenda.
[1:37:56] one of my favorite pieces. It'll be quick. So the consent agenda is all matters listed under the
[1:38:01] consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city commission and will be enacted by one motion
[1:38:06] in the form listed below. There will be no separate
[1:38:19] discussion of these items. If discussion is desired,
[1:38:30] that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately
[1:38:34] supporting supporting documentation and staff recommendations have been
[1:38:39] previously submitted to the city commission on these items.
[1:38:43] item 6a, approve resolution number 26-51. 6b, approve resolution number
[1:38:48] 26-43. And 6c, approve resolution number 26-47.
[1:38:52] do I have a motion? Oh, and at first, do we have anybody that wants to pull one of these
[1:38:57] from the consent agenda? Okay, hearing none, do I have a motion?
[1:39:02] I make a motion to approve consent agenda item 6a through 6c as written. Second.
[1:39:10] we have a motion in second all in favor signify with aye aye aye opposed motion carries thank you commissioner uh let's
[1:39:16] see now we're moving to the inserted uh resolution number
[1:39:20] this is item eight now 8a uh resolution number 26-53 the
[1:39:24] community garden and I'll read that if I can find it here it is.
[1:39:30] okay. A resolution of the city of
[1:39:36] atlantic beach, florida, authorizing the acceptance
[1:39:42] of a charitable in kind donation from nature connect florida,
[1:39:46] inc. For landscape design and installation services at the community garden
[1:39:50] at marsh oaks community center, authorizing the city manager to
[1:39:55] execute the donation agreement and providing an effective date.
[1:40:01] mr. Hogan can thank you. Mr. Mayor our staff is extremely
[1:40:06] excited about this project. We did hear some.
[1:40:10] questions earlier, particularly from ms. Boren, that we will be prepared to answer along with
[1:40:15] on some other resolutions.
[1:40:19] but we wholeheartedly recommend you accept this donation. Recommend we adopt resolution
[1:40:27] 2653. Okay, so we can have discussion.
[1:40:35] I'd like to call up either judith or lisa or both. I just want to address one
[1:40:40] thing that was brought to my attention earlier and make sure we're clear on this. In the agreement, the last
[1:40:45] iteration, okay, we may or may not need that. Okay.
[1:40:50] the last iteration says all power lines shall be placed underground and then
[1:41:02] in brackets, including but not limited to the main power line.
[1:41:06] so that would be the line coming off the pole. So it would have to be run
[1:41:12] down the pole underground to the service at the building.
[1:41:16] and then from that service, we would run the conduit underground back
[1:41:21] to the outlets in the garden.
[1:41:25] is that what you mean? I just wanted to make that clear in spite of mr. Gabriel's multiple back
[1:41:29] and forth with me. I just wanted to make sure
[1:41:35] that. That regular people would understand it because this is
[1:41:40] an additional expense. When lisa and I think alike about aesthetics, and one of the first things we noticed
[1:41:45] out there was this huge, ugly power line that goes from the pole to the building. And so I've offered in this an
[1:41:50] additional amount that there was staff had provided, because this has been going on for some time, an estimate
[1:41:54] from, I think it's limbaugh. That would be about $6,500 to bury that main power line.
[1:41:58] I just think it could be an interpreted like main power line to the garden, but this is
[1:42:03] from the pole to the building. And so I'm providing an additional amount if it's not
[1:42:07] in the city budget. And it sounds to me like the parking lot is going
[1:42:11] to be more expensive than you thought. So you're welcome.
[1:42:15] but this won't be, I heard from staff also that you were possibly looking at the building as a back up
[1:42:21] city hall in case there is some sort of disaster or whatever. So it certainly seems
[1:42:27] like it's a great idea to bury the power line now while the parking lot is being torn up. So I just wanted to make sure
[1:42:32] that we were all clear on that. That isn't limbaugh. It's not my choice and I'm not
[1:42:37] supervising that in any way, but I'm willing to include that as part of the grant.
[1:42:41] I just want to make that clear. So thank you so much for that clarification. So does this indicate that
[1:42:46] we're accepting that as part of the gift? Yes. This entity,
[1:42:52] this nonprofit will actually pay for that. Yes.
[1:43:03] and do we need to put a limitation on that? It may have been up to that amount because that that was in september that that was
[1:43:08] gotten. So up to the amount of that, I think it's sixty five. Sixty is what I'm willing to.
[1:43:13] so not to exceed. Can we insert that in here? Why don't we just move an amendment that says that that
[1:43:17] portion of it will be not to exceed whatever the amount is in that. Are there some copies there?
[1:43:21] yeah. So I'll entertain a motion to amend the document to include a limitation not to exceed six.
[1:43:26] how much? Six thousand. You have it.
[1:43:36] it's sixty five. Six thousand five hundred and sixty dollars. I mean, the estimate could have
[1:43:41] changed by now. So, yeah, but for that amount, I'm fine to do that. I propose an amendment
[1:43:45] to limit the amount to sixty five, sixty dollars to include others. Make this as an attachment.
[1:43:49] to include that amount.
[1:43:55] okay, you're going
[1:43:59] to include the attachment. Is that good? Do you want to do it that way? Yeah, that's in addition
[1:44:03] to the other value of the gift. In addition, I think this is more... The garden structure itself.
[1:44:08] this is separate. This is more comprehensive, I think. Yeah, maybe just for
[1:44:13] clarification, what we'll do is we'll just attach that limbaugh estimate as an exhibit. So, we second that?
[1:44:18] we don't have a second. Would would you like to second it? Yeah, second. Yeah.
[1:44:22] okay. So we have a motion in second and we'll vote on the amendment only. All in favor signify
[1:44:27] with aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
[1:44:32] now back to the main motion as amended. We already had a motion to end a second, so any further discussion
[1:44:36] on that? All in favor signify with aye. Aye.
[1:44:44] opposed? Motion carries. Thank you again. We're so excited. Can't wait.
[1:44:48] thank you all. Thank you. Okay.
[1:44:53] put that aside. Now back to what previously was 8a,
[1:44:58] which is now going to be next, 8b, resolution number 26-45,
[1:45:02] a resolution of the city of atlantic beach, florida, awarding bid 2526-07 sturdivant avenue sidewalk
[1:45:07] improvements project to mclean site solutions, authorizing the city manager to
[1:45:11] execute the contract and purchase orders in accordance with and is necessary to...
[1:45:16] effectuate the provisions of this resolution in providing
[1:45:21] an effective date mr hogan camp thank you this project focuses
[1:45:28] on what we all know as a critical east-west corridor stretching from seminole road
[1:45:33] to east coast drive along sturdivant and ahearn it includes a sidewalk expansion
[1:45:41] the existing five-foot sidewalk will be replaced with a new eight-foot wide multi-use path the path will be reinforced
[1:45:45] with fiber mesh to increase durability and will be five
[1:45:52] inches thick. There will be a french drain system
[1:45:58] to manage stormwater runoff. It includes replacement of existing storm drainage structures, relocation
[1:46:02] of three fire hydrants, and reconstruction of residential and commercial driveways
[1:46:07] to match the new grade. This project is more than a sidewalk replacement.
[1:46:12] it's a an application of some of our long-term planning goals, including our connectivity plan adopted in
[1:46:17] 2021. It's worth noting that this
[1:46:22] project promotes e-bike safety. The extra width is crucial for the city's ongoing safety efforts as it reduces conflicts
[1:46:27] between pedestrians and the growing number of e-bike users. This project includes upgraded
[1:46:32] ada compliant ramps at all intersections. And we recommend, I'm available
[1:46:36] to answer any questions, but we recommend adoption of resolution 2645. I'll entertain a motion.
[1:46:40] make a motion to adopt resolution 2645. Second we have a motion in the second discussion hearing none
[1:46:45] um all in favor signify with aye aye opposed motion carries moving to resolution number 26-4 26-48 formerly 8b now 8c a
[1:46:49] resolution of the city of atlantic beach florida authorizing the city manager. To execute on behalf of the
[1:46:59] city of atlantic beach an interlocal agreement between the city of atlantic
[1:47:04] beach and the city of neptune beach and tbr, neptune owner llc, for the provisions, the provision of potable water
[1:47:08] fire protection services and
[1:47:21] providing an effective date. Mr. Hogan camp. Yes. I move we table this resolution
[1:47:26] until the next commission meeting. Second okay we have a motion in the second discussion yes if I make um yeah I think it would
[1:47:30] be important to have all all
[1:47:37] of us here um to discuss this
[1:48:08] important subject it's a it's a very sensitive matter to a lot of people and so I'd hate to um not have jessica here I also
[1:48:12] think you know one of my points has always been you know you know look I mean,
[1:48:18] we had a line established with the navy and the mayport base, you know, not because
[1:48:23] of fire suppression, but because of having a line in case we need
[1:48:29] to help each other, you know, and we didn't have people protest that.
[1:48:33] this, I think a lot
[1:48:45] of our objection is coming from the fact that we're, you
[1:48:50] know, people don't want development over there. And we're somehow going
[1:48:55] to influence that. Not sure that what we will or we won't.
[1:49:01] but in any case, one of my other things is, you know, when you talk
[1:49:05] about fire suppression, you know, I have a lot of firefighters who are aware
[1:49:10] of this. And they, you know,
[1:49:15] if they're fighting a fire, you know, they want all the help they can get.
[1:49:20] this gives it to them. Jessica's married to captain, right, who's at 55.
[1:49:24] I just think it'd be behoove us to wait for her to come back and um before we move forward on this
[1:49:32] thank you further discussion so before we vote on this is the motion to simply
[1:49:37] table this or is the motion
[1:49:44] to move this to the next uh meeting agenda table it to the next agenda okay and I think that technically that's a
[1:49:49] continuance to the next agenda which would be I think april
[1:49:59] 13th. You know the magic words. Yeah. Okay.
[1:50:04] so the motion,
[1:50:10] let's change that. Is correct that to continue to the next official city commission meeting dated what day?
[1:50:14] 13 april. April 13th. Second. Okay. Motion second.
[1:50:19] any further discussion? All in favor, signify with aye. Aye.
[1:50:23] opposed? Nay. Okay. Three ayes, one nay.
[1:50:28] motion carries. Thank you. Um, let's see where we at here.
[1:50:33] okay. Now on to resolution number 26-49, which was 8c, now 8d, 8d. Resolution of the city
[1:50:38] commission of the city of atlantic beach, florida, establishing a policy for commercial beach access and vehicle operations pursuant
[1:50:43] to city code sections 5-16 and 5-30, providing for operational limits, safety standards, and enforcement and
[1:50:47] providing an effective date mr hogan thank you if you go with me just a moment I got the amended agenda I can get a lot
[1:50:52] of tabs over here to the public out the public scene is scrambling we're working with two different agendas and I'm slower than
[1:50:58] everyone else here please
[1:51:18] forgive me what uh resolution
[1:51:24] number we are 26-49 thank you 49 beach driving. Thanks so much.
[1:51:29] so the city identifies as beach accesses as many parks for nature and recreation and our two sections of our code.
[1:51:35] grant the city manager the authority
[1:51:39] to permit motorized vehicles on the beach and business activities
[1:51:44] in public facilities. However, the city lacks a
[1:51:48] formalized comprehensive policy governing commercial vehicle
[1:51:53] operations and equipment standards on the beachfront. And as you all know,
[1:51:58] it is our mo lately to be a policy-driven organization and that it seemed as though I need
[1:52:04] to be informed by a policy as I consider the request that has
[1:52:10] come to us. So the request highlights the need for standardized policy and
[1:52:15] by formalizing these rules, the city ensures that commercial activities.
[1:52:20] don't displace non paying beach goers or create safety hazards. This policy highlights a few
[1:52:25] things access control. It mandates the use of the atlantic boulevard. It prohibits a her and access
[1:52:30] and other accesses. So it mandates the use of the atlantic boulevard.
[1:52:35] it. There's a capacity cap where it limits the number
[1:52:39] of concurrent commercial permits to two. Frankly, we can't envision a
[1:52:44] scenario where requests would come from more than this particular property.
[1:52:49] although you never know, and we have a policy in place to inform us and guide us,
[1:52:54] indeed, if you all approve this resolution. In terms of safety standards,
[1:52:59] there's requirements for anchored umbrellas and pre-approved vehicle types.
[1:53:04] there will be operational hours restricting setup and tear
[1:53:10] down to off-peak morning and evening hours. The city manager does have
[1:53:15] authority to work within this policy and otherwise to work
[1:53:19] with a permit applicant in terms to their particular operation.
[1:53:25] for example, this particular operation really doesn't want to set up or break down so much
[1:53:30] as when there's high tide or... Storms are imminent to be able to activate and get a vehicle
[1:53:35] on the beach from time to time. And, of course, your vote
[1:53:40] tonight does not grant that. It grants me, it provides a guiding document for me to follow,
[1:53:45] frankly. I'll still be working with any applicants in terms of
[1:53:49] making sure all the boxes are checked before issuing a permit. So this.
[1:53:56] this has no immediate budget impact, and I recommend that you approve resolution no. 2649 and the attachment, which
[1:54:01] is a commercial beach access and vehicle operation policy. Thanks.
[1:54:09] thank you. Recommend we approve
[1:54:13] resolution 2649. Second. We have a motion and a second.
[1:54:19] I'd like to call laura conahan to the microphone if you would join us. And I want to start
[1:54:24] by saying congratulations on what you're accomplishing and
[1:54:29] the progress at dune house. It's appropriate. I mean, I go way back to
[1:54:33] before the sea turtle. Okay, so I've been
[1:54:38] around a long time. But anyways, so I'm
[1:54:42] in favor. I'm going to vote yes.
[1:54:47] but I want to challenge you and see if I know what's going on in my city. So in the past.
[1:54:52] beach chairs and umbrellas were stored inside the toe of the dune.
[1:54:57] that is incorrect, mayor ford. Thank you. Please help me understand where
[1:55:01] we are today. Okay. Where we are today and where we've been historically storing beach chairs have been
[1:55:06] at the base of the stairs on the boardwalk, and we would have chairs either
[1:55:12] to the north or the south of that. That would be stacked neatly.
[1:55:18] would be secured at the end of each evening. No, we had stored beach umbrellas in the pool house
[1:55:22] of the pool area, and we would bring those umbrellas down the boardwalk every morning and
[1:55:27] return them back every evening. But by no means was anything ever stored in or behind the dunes
[1:55:32] at the property. Thank you.
[1:55:44] and if you'll humor me on this, I may pay a visit. Let's go. Look at it so that I can defend
[1:55:49] my position because I'm being told by people that are watching our beach that we are not as tight on this as
[1:55:53] jacksonville beach, that they require the storage to be
[1:55:57] in a facility. So this, what it does is it expands that opening
[1:56:01] at the base of atlantic boulevard because that's being used as opposed
[1:56:06] to allowing the dune to to grow in that area.
[1:56:14] yes, yes, absolutely. I hear what you're saying. So I don't want to go
[1:56:19] overboard. I love what your concept is and your corporate responsibility.
[1:56:24] so let's have a conversation if appropriate. I'll reach out to you.
[1:56:28] absolutely. And I encourage anyone from the council to come and join you or separately.
[1:56:33] we're happy to walk the property, walk the area and be able to be fully aligned with.
[1:56:38] how we've done things historically.
[1:56:42] and we have been stewards of our dune. We love the dune.
[1:56:47] we are quite honest with people that want to come for oceanfront dining.
[1:56:52] and we have to be transparent in saying, well, we would be oceanfront. However, we haven't had a storm
[1:56:57] in quite some time. So the dunes do cover the ocean view, but we would love
[1:57:02] to have you anyways. Yeah, that is so true. Yes, commissioner. I'm a huge supporter.
[1:57:08] I know we talked to the new management. I think all of us, when it made a vision,
[1:57:13] this is going to be huge for our area. But one just technical point
[1:57:17] here. This just establishes a policy. The policy is this guy right
[1:57:21] here. Let me just finish.
[1:57:25] and by doing this, this is important. As one of the authors
[1:57:29] of the parks resolution, I can tell you it's important that we give the city manager the
[1:57:35] ability. To follow the policy, report on the policy,
[1:57:39] and enforce the policy. And we agree 100%.
[1:57:44] this was totally separate from this resolution that we're discussing. Yes, sir.
[1:57:49] thank you for your comments. It is my pleasure. Yeah. All right.
[1:57:55] any further discussion? All in favor signify with aye.
[1:57:59] aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
[1:58:03] thank you. And let's see. Okay.
[1:58:08] okay. Um okay we're gonna I'm sorry but we're gonna take a five
[1:58:13] minute recess five minutes I'll stand by okay this meeting will now reconvene thank you all um but I think we're
[1:58:18] over just past agency 2650.
[1:58:26] yep. Yes. Okay.
[1:58:45] so now we move to which is resolution number oh, no, it isn't. Yeah.
[1:58:51] I think we're at 2654, aren't we? Well, yeah.
[1:58:58] 2650. So we are at resolution number 2650, resolution of the bank
[1:59:02] for authorizing establishment. So, perfect. Cost-sharing, public rights
[1:59:07] employees, operating in the city, and executing the necessary contracts, agreements, and
[1:59:12] providers that we can develop. Thank you.
[1:59:22] you're muted. Sorry. Okay, let me read that again.
[1:59:26] my mic was off, sorry. Okay, resolution number 26-50,
[1:59:32] a resolution of the city of atlantic beach, florida, authorizing the establishment of residential turf.
[1:59:37] block cost sharing program for public rights of way authorizing the city manager to
[1:59:42] execute necessary contracts and agreements and providing an effective date. Mr.
[1:59:47] hogan-kamp. Thank you, mayor ford. We introduced this concept
[1:59:51] to y'all at the last meeting and
[1:59:56] in advance of presenting it as a resolution for consideration
[2:00:00] of adopting a policy at this meeting.
[2:00:05] so this would establish a residential turf block cost sharing program. The idea is
[2:00:10] to balance the growing need for structured public parking with the preservation of permeable surfaces and
[2:00:15] neighborhood aesthetics. At the moment, many residents
[2:00:20] utilize unpaid city rights away for parking, which can lead to soil compaction, erosion,
[2:00:26] and drainage issues. So to address this, the staff has developed
[2:00:30] for your you consideration or green parking initiative, a cost sharing program that
[2:00:35] enables residents to partner with the city to install turplock, a.k.a.
[2:00:39] permeable pavers in the right away directly adjacent to their property line.
[2:00:52] this proposed this policy along as ratified as codified by the resolution establishes
[2:00:57] the following framework in terms of cost sharing costs for materials and professional
[2:01:02] installation or. Split 50-50 between the
[2:01:07] requesting resident and the city. As the installation occurs
[2:01:12] on city-owned land, the parking remains open to the general public and cannot be
[2:01:17] reserved or gated. The use of open cell turf block supports stormwater management
[2:01:23] by enabling water to soak into
[2:01:27] the ground rather than contribute to runoff. And property owners would
[2:01:32] manage the routine vegetation, a.k.a.
[2:01:36] mowing, while the city maintains responsibility for long-term structural repairs
[2:01:41] and maintenance. Funding for this 50% share would be drawn from the city
[2:01:45] budget as appropriated by the city commission. Individual project costs will
[2:01:50] vary, of course, based on square footage. We did hear some really
[2:01:54] valuable public input earlier. Certainly, by all means,
[2:01:58] contemplate that. And if we don't answer questions satisfactory
[2:02:02] to your being comfortable with approving this, we certainly aren't
[2:02:07] in a rush. We're glad it's in the public domain for public input.
[2:02:12] and, of course, we also concede, as you and I discussed
[2:02:16] recently, that this policy, because it's new ground for us,
[2:02:20] we don't know what it might look like ultimately. It could evolve as we get input
[2:02:24] and learn about what we're dealing with. At the moment, our
[2:02:28] recommendation is that you consider adopting resolution no.
[2:02:33] 2650. Make a motion to adopt resolution no. 2650.
[2:02:38] second. We have a motion a second discussion yes commission I kind of interested in the cost
[2:02:43] of I mean like what's the typical a typical party spot
[2:02:49] what would it cost so what would it be our share and where in the budget is this money going to come from um thanks we
[2:02:54] don't know the cost yet until we until we get a request and follow up we'll have some examples as we prepare the
[2:03:00] upcoming budget and that would come from your uh fiscal year
[2:03:04] 26-27 budget. And so you'll hear more during
[2:03:08] the budget process because we'll have a line item proposed
[2:03:15] for your consideration in the budget. I mean, it's not a bad thing.
[2:03:20] it's just that the price is pretty open right now. So for the last two years
[2:03:24] running, you've had $50,000 in your budget for turf
[2:03:29] block. And we spent $30,000 this year on turf block.
[2:03:35] yes, I think on a single project, yes. So I'm going to just advocate
[2:03:40] for it. I think we're all in agreement. It's certainly worthy of
[2:03:45] testing out. I'm most interested to see if some of the citizens
[2:03:50] that have raised their hand and said, I'd be happy to pay for it or pay for half
[2:03:54] of it or something. We're going to test that.
[2:03:59] ok, and we heard from one of our citizens tonight, and I don't want this
[2:04:03] to be assumed to be a beachfront rich people get, you know, a boat, you know,
[2:04:08] bogey for, you know, 50 percent of the time. The citizen spoke earlier is
[2:04:13] not beachfront. In fact.
[2:04:17] I believe he lives west of east coast. But I think what this is part
[2:04:22] of, at least in my mind, what a atlantic beach, florida in 2026 looks like. We have an upscale community
[2:04:26] today, nothing like 50 years ago. I know we want to keep it mayberry, but we have an
[2:04:30] upscale community. And I've said it for three years. Our beachfront parking in
[2:04:35] particular is a weed patch here and a dirt patch there. I'm tired of it. People don't know where they
[2:04:40] can park, where they can't. Sometimes they nose in and they don't even parallel park
[2:04:44] off the pavement. They just nose in and get as far
[2:04:49] off the pavement as they can. And what this does for the city and for our police
[2:04:54] chief is it designates where parking, ultimately, when we get a lot of it, assuming that we pursued this
[2:04:59] over the years, it will really designate the parking. And one of the things that I'm passionate about,
[2:05:04] I don't know I heard from the citizen earlier
[2:05:09] about other forms of permeable pavers. Right now, all I know is turf block is my girl.
[2:05:14] so turf, I've actually used it in a property I just completed
[2:05:19] building. It's my lake house. But turf block, the reason why like it is we already have it
[2:05:25] in the city of atlantic beach on city parking. We have it over by beaches diner.
[2:05:31] we have it on some of our numbered streets. We have it over next to,
[2:05:36] we have it at the new or near the new community center, don't we?
[2:05:42] I don't know if that's actual turf block. It's, amanda, will you
[2:05:47] describe? It is? Yes. Yeah.
[2:05:51] so we've already started with that. Here's where I'm going. Whatever it is,
[2:05:55] I think it should be turf block for now. But if we're consistent. Then we start training people
[2:05:59] who are coming to our city, look for the turf block. That's public parking. We approved an exception.
[2:06:04] to a denial that had been
[2:06:13] denied by the cdb a few months ago for a citizen on 6th street
[2:06:18] to put in pavers right away to
[2:06:24] replace what was previously rock in front of his house. And I agreed
[2:06:28] with the approval, but I made the comment then, and we didn't push it.
[2:06:33] I wanted it to be turf block to match to the city parking, but we didn't make it so.
[2:06:38] and so he went out and got something pretty. And if you let every citizen
[2:06:43] in the city put in something pretty, you'll have 15 different shades
[2:06:47] of permeable pavers and the citizens will be confused. I would love, and I'm going
[2:06:53] to finish on this note, I would love to start this program without putting
[2:06:58] in additional signage. But if we had to in the future, we could always
[2:07:02] put up city signs saying public parking, right?
[2:07:07] but the caveats are the language that the citizens participating per this legislation would be specific
[2:07:13] that they do not have ownership of that parking space. It's open to the public.
[2:07:18] it's city public parking. So anyways, I thank you if you all support it. Commissioner?
[2:07:23] I'm going to support it, too. I just have some questions. I mean, I would, you know, let's say someone.
[2:07:28] pays for half a spot and is across the street neighbor is the one who continues to use it
[2:07:33] because maybe he gets home before the other guy does. All of a sudden you've got neighbor parking, you know,
[2:07:38] so I just. Of course, why not? Yeah, no, I get it.
[2:07:42] but I'm like, but and that part I'm ok with. But the the the property owner
[2:07:47] who's putting up half to put the papers in, you know, he needs to understand that that could be a possibility and
[2:07:51] that, you know, he has no recourse. That's exactly right. So I just want
[2:07:57] to make sure that, you know, the verbiage says, you know,
[2:08:01] says those things. Unless we want the homeowner to pay for all of it, and then he gets some sort of
[2:08:06] preference certain times a day. I don't know.
[2:08:13] yeah, and thank you for bringing that up.
[2:08:18] I'm not in support of that as the pilot program.
[2:08:23] okay. We always, look, in the next few years, we're going to be talking about changes in
[2:08:28] our parking policy because we're getting more and more
[2:08:33] visitors, right? That could be something
[2:08:37] down the road. But for right now I think this is a great start.
[2:08:41] okay. And so I think we should move forward. So we have a motion and a second.
[2:08:46] any further discussion? All in favor signify with aye. Aye. Opposed?
[2:08:50] motion carries. Resolution number 26-52, a resolution of the city of atlantic beach, florida, awarding bid 2526-10, marsh
[2:08:55] oaks community center parking improvements project to j. Howard construction, authorizing the city manager to
[2:08:59] execute the contract and purchase orders in accordance with and is necessary to effectuate the provisions of
[2:09:03] this resolution and providing an effective date mr hogan cam thank you so much so the
[2:09:08] purpose of this project is to select a contractor to perform the parking area improvements at marshall's
[2:09:13] community center we received seven bids and are recommending going with the low bidder this
[2:09:17] project is primarily funded and that's 196 750.72 cents by a
[2:09:25] federal housing and development
[2:09:30] or the community community development block grant another seventy seven thousand three
[2:09:38] hundred and forty four dollars and fifty three cents is being
[2:09:42] allocated from uh our our denton island road francis
[2:09:46] avenue to mayport road connectivity project that's slated to be initiated this
[2:09:52] fiscal year and is now slated to be completed
[2:09:57] in fiscal year 26-27 we
[2:10:01] recommend that you adopt 26 resolution number 2652.
[2:10:06] make a motion to adopt resolution 2652. Second. We have a motion and second
[2:10:10] discussion. I only have one thing to say.
[2:10:15] you used to be able to build a whole house for the cost of this parking. Isn't that something?
[2:10:21] but I did look at the other bids or I looked at the range. So I think, I guess we're...
[2:10:26] the best we can be on that and we're lucky to have
[2:10:30] that much parking available there and it is going to be the most significant parking that we have at a facility so that's
[2:10:34] good all right if there's no further discussion all in favor signify with aye aye opposed motion carries uh let's
[2:10:38] see resolution number 26-53
[2:10:47] of resolution of the city of atlantic beach florida authorizing the acceptance of a charitable yeah we only did
[2:10:52] that okay I knew we hadn't got to that okay, resolution number 26-54, resolution of the city of atlantic beach, florida,
[2:10:56] authorizing the city manager to execute a consulting services agreement with civic consulting group, llc,
[2:11:01] for the review and development of the interlocal agreement. In parentheses rfp 26-01 authorizing a cost-sharing
[2:11:05] arrangement with the sigma of
[2:11:13] jacksonville providing conflicts and providing an effective date mr hogan thank
[2:11:20] you as we all know very well the city has long operated under an interlocal agreement with the consolidated city of
[2:11:25] jacksonville regarding the delivery of municipal services
[2:11:32] and the allocation of tax revenues to ensure fiscal transparency and equity
[2:11:38] for residents, staff identified a need for
[2:11:42] professional independent review of the current ila structure.
[2:11:50] following the issuance of an rfp, civic consulting group was selected, and indeed,
[2:11:54] civic consulting group was the only bidder. So the idea is for this firm to
[2:12:06] perform a comprehensive forensic fiscal analysis. And recognizing the mutual
[2:12:12] benefit of establishing an independent source of truth
[2:12:16] for future negotiations, the city of atlantic beach and the city of jacksonville have
[2:12:22] agreed to equally share the professional fees associated with this study.
[2:12:26] the study has an eight-month timeline, and staff recommends the city
[2:12:31] commission approve this agreement via resolution no. 2654.
[2:12:35] I make a motion to approve resolution no. 2654. Second.
[2:12:40] we have a motion and a second discussion. Yes, sir. I spoke
[2:12:45] with my ex-fellow commissioner, brittany norris, about this very topic.
[2:12:49] and I think, again, I think she's pretty plugged
[2:12:55] in, but the city of jacksonville is on board with this. Yes.
[2:13:00] I think it's about time. And I think when she was on our city commission, she was the go-to person.
[2:13:04] for the interlocal agreement that done the history. So it's good that we have a
[2:13:10] connection with the city of jacksonville, and it's good that we are kind of holding our feet
[2:13:15] to the fire. Yes, thank you, commissioner.
[2:13:19] I'll comment. Go ahead, commissioner. Yeah, I just had a question. You said this was the only
[2:13:24] company that bid on this? Yes, sir.
[2:13:29] is this the group down in? Kissimmee. Homestead, I think. Homestead.
[2:13:34] homestead, okay. And there's nobody else in town or nobody wants
[2:13:38] to touch this because of potential conflict or, you know. I'm going to answer that
[2:13:42] since I've been part of these discussions from the beginning and through several discussions.
[2:13:46] in addition, discussions with our partners at city of jacksonville. I was very disappointed that we
[2:13:51] only got one bid. I was delighted that we got one bid. So let me tell you, that was a.
[2:13:55] a mixed feeling on that because that bid came in the day of, I believe it came in the day
[2:13:59] of or the day
[2:14:08] before the deadline. And so immediately I thought, oh my goodness.
[2:14:14] okay. And I'm so glad, thank you, city manager, for being
[2:14:19] transparent that we only got the one bid because it's important to acknowledge that
[2:14:23] we got one bid, but that's why it became real important to interview them properly. And we did that.
[2:14:28] with our partners at coj, I believe, counsel, you were on that, two of those calls. So anyways, we interviewed
[2:14:33] them, found them to be extraordinarily professional with a lot of credentials for doing similar studies
[2:14:38] for other cities. And then finally, it occurred to me that, you know, maybe sometimes things happen
[2:14:42] for a reason. I know that's a cliche, but having, you know, we had thought.
[2:14:47] previously, maybe local universities like a unf or a ju or somebody would handle that through one of their
[2:14:51] departments and that would be good.
[2:15:08] but then what if there's a bias there because they know people at coj or they're doing other
[2:15:12] work or other studies for coj? So I think for full transparency, I am delighted
[2:15:18] with the firm and I'm delighted with the fact that they have no allegiances to atlantic beach or the city of jacksonville.
[2:15:22] and I think. Reform a very similar problem on this, but that's just my take.
[2:15:27] thank you. Okay. Further discussion? Okay.
[2:15:31] all in favor signify
[2:15:37] with aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
[2:15:42] so what is the cost? $89,000. And that's $40-something is our half.
[2:15:46] oh, okay. So that's the question. Mary, you probably know this answer. How does neptune beach you
[2:15:51] enter into that agreement. They don't.
[2:15:55] well, and to be clear,
[2:16:00] and we all know bits and pieces of this, but there are three separate interlocal agreements. Jax beach has theirs.
[2:16:04] neptune beach has theirs. And we have ours. And I'll give you a quick delineation.
[2:16:09] difference between us, one critical difference between us and neptune beach, and this is outside of the main
[2:16:13] interlocal agreement, but they pay nothing for fire service. We do.
[2:16:17] that's right. And then we provide our fire engine to service neptune beach.
[2:16:22] but city of jacksonville. Pardon me, the city of
[2:16:28] jacksonville beach, they pay for fire service, but they don't pay any tipping fees for garbage.
[2:16:33] and that's a bigger number. It's a huge number. So it's not the same. And we had asked previously if
[2:16:37] neptune beach wanted to partner on this initiative, and their answer was no.
[2:16:42] and I also asked mayor hoffman in jacksonville beach whether they intended to pursue a reconsideration
[2:16:47] of their interlocal, and the answer was no. So at this time, I do not know what neptune
[2:16:51] beach is doing.
[2:16:56] they may not be using an outside firm. They may be just having
[2:17:04] discussions. So I'm not saying they're not. I'm just saying they did not choose.
[2:17:08] the fire was where I was going with that. Yeah, well, and to be clear, this is part
[2:17:13] of our expectation in this review. We would like to do two things, in my
[2:17:17] opinion. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but we would like to roll the fire agreement into
[2:17:22] our main agreement as opposed to keeping it separate as it's always been. And secondly, is we want fire
[2:17:26] to be designated as a county service at no charge to the city of atlantic
[2:17:32] beach. So that's a significant budgetary number. And to put it,
[2:17:36] I'll give you the number. Two years ago, that was $1.5 million. We negotiated that
[2:17:42] down this year to $750,000. And did we get affirmative
[2:17:47] affirmation on the extension? We have, yes. And that's through when?
[2:17:52] through.
[2:17:58] may the 1st of 2027. So we now have extended the 750 through that period, which
[2:18:05] it depends upon how you look at it. Some citizens think it should be zero, but it's 750,000 less
[2:18:09] than it was two years ago. So that's where we stand. All right.
[2:18:14] we voted.
[2:18:18] thank you. Okay. Let's see. All right, 9a, which is
[2:18:28] ordinance number 90-26-259. This is introduction and first reading,
[2:18:33] so we'll have a second reading, and this is open to public comment. An ordinance of the city of
[2:18:37] atlantic beach, county of duval, state of florida, approving the development agreement between the city of
[2:18:42] atlantic beach and south coast capital partnership limited and authorizing the city manager to execute same
[2:18:48] to provide for a development contract to govern the redevelopment of 299 atlantic boulevard,
[2:18:53] providing landscaping compensation allowing for the redevelopment of a portion of the existing
[2:18:58] building providing for conflict providing for codification providing for severability and providing an
[2:19:03] effective date mr hogan camp thank you in advance of uh recommending for the
[2:19:12] commission that you adopt ordinance number 90-26 that's 259 on first read uh and this will require a second read
[2:19:20] on passage I'd like to get our neighborhood department director.
[2:19:26] amanda askew has worked with our city attorney on this agreement to come and give an overview.
[2:19:31] hi, good evening, amanda askew. This would be our first
[2:19:35] development agreement that we've done here. It's kind of exciting. The state authorizes
[2:19:41] development agreements through the florida local government development act and it's codified in state statute.
[2:19:50] a development agreement is a contract entered into between a city and a developer that
[2:19:55] expressly defines the rules, regulations, and commitments and policies governing a
[2:20:01] specific development project for a defined period of time. And as the city manager
[2:20:06] mentioned, we have been working with the developer and their attorney
[2:20:10] and our attorney to negotiate a development agreement for 299 atlantic boulevard and 0 ahern, which is the portion of
[2:20:15] the building that the former rag time was located on. They are going under significant renovations,
[2:20:20] and as part of those renovations, they triggered some landscaping
[2:20:24] requirements in the code 24-176-3 that indicates if you exceed more than 25%
[2:20:29] of the assessed value, then you have to come into compliance with our
[2:20:33] required landscaping requirements. The required landscaping
[2:20:37] requirements would require a buffer, a landscape buffer between the building and the
[2:20:42] street and in the rear parking lot. Of course,
[2:20:46] we know the building has been there, its existing conditions, so that would be impossible
[2:20:51] really to come into compliance with.
[2:20:59] if you do come into compliance with the landscaping requirements in the rear
[2:21:05] of the property, you'd be losing a significant amount of the parking spaces. And so it's a balancing act
[2:21:10] between providing parking in the beaches town center and
[2:21:15] landscaping. It would be in excess of 10 parking spaces that would be lost if they came
[2:21:19] into compliance. This particular location, the existing building, and matches the comprehensive
[2:21:25] plan future land use designation of central business district and the zoning district regulations.
[2:21:30] this would serve a public purpose.
[2:21:35] the proposed landscaping would be paid in lieu. And so they have provided and
[2:21:40] we have concurred that it would
[2:21:47] cost $162,595 to come into compliance with our required landscaping code.
[2:21:52] so this proposed development agreement would authorize the developer to make that payment
[2:21:57] to the city. There are stipulations with that payment.
[2:22:01] outlined in the code. One stipulation is that they would need to commence construction
[2:22:06] within 12 months and then be finished upon 36 months, although I know they are ready
[2:22:10] to start construction relatively soon. They are also in the proposed ordinance tied
[2:22:16] to the money is where the money
[2:22:23] would go.
[2:22:30] we wanted to make sure that the money just did not go into the general fund and the money
[2:22:35] would be allocated to be used for the beaches town center or the tree fund, or specifically
[2:22:39] in the beaches town center area. This is a proposed ordinance.
[2:22:44] so as the city manager mentioned,
[2:22:49] we will have second read on it. And I'll answer any questions you might have.
[2:22:53] I do. Thanks for the last part. I know. I wish bruce andrews was still
[2:22:58] here to hear that. The other thing, and I spoke to kevin about this. Kind of interesting, and
[2:23:05] kevin, you correct me, but the parking fees that we collect on our portion at beech's town center agency, I know
[2:23:09] you're looking at the ceiling, kevin, probably didn't hear this one, theoretically should go back
[2:23:15] to that area in general. Again, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm glad
[2:23:19] to hear that the money's tied to that.
[2:23:25] I'm sure thomas will be happy to tell the our friends at beech's town center agency
[2:23:29] about that. And I'm sure they have all
[2:23:34] kinds of ideas of what to do with that. But thanks, amanda. I have a question, though.
[2:23:38] when you say that by our code, it has to stay in beech's town center, does it have to stay in beech's town
[2:23:43] center on the atlantic beach
[2:23:49] side because it's an atlantic beach property or potentially usable by the neptune beach side?
[2:23:53] I think that's up for discussion. The way we've gotten the agreement written,
[2:23:59] it is 5h and it's found on, let's see, I don't think I have a page
[2:24:03] number, but it's 5h in the contract.
[2:24:10] it says south coast shall make a payment of $162,995 to the city in lieu
[2:24:15] of planting the landscape on the property by which shall be deposited into the city's beaches town
[2:24:19] center fund. It's tree fund or designated
[2:24:26] account and used exclusively for off-site landscaping or environmental enhancements within the beaches town center
[2:24:30] part of the city.
[2:24:37] okay. Yeah, okay. And thank you. So I heard it enhanced.
[2:24:43] and what was the enhancements? Environmental enhancements.
[2:24:48] so environmental usually denotes something that's growing. We're thinking perhaps some
[2:24:53] bioswales. We are doing some. Improvements and because that's I guess after looking
[2:24:57] at the cost of the parking lot at the community center that's not much money but I don't know that you have much dirt that
[2:25:02] you could re-landscape within our side
[2:25:09] of beechestown center and I want to go on record this money better not go to neptune beach I I love neptune beach's side
[2:25:15] of beechestown center but they need to fund that and we need to focus on the atlantic beach
[2:25:19] side the part you stopped reading can you can you go back and read that last full
[2:25:24] sentence? Because it says something about... Okay.
[2:25:29] it says, which shall be deposited into the city's
[2:25:33] beaches town center fund, its tree fund or designated account to be used exclusively for
[2:25:38] off-site landscaping or environmental enhancements within the beaches town center
[2:25:46] part of the city. We could amend that to say
[2:25:50] atlantic beach. Let me be clear. It says part
[2:25:54] of the city is defined as atlantic beach. That's the only place it can be utilized.
[2:25:59] if you want it to be utilized for neptune beach, you should say so.
[2:26:04] but right now, it's only in atlantic beach. Yes, I thought that little phrase tacked
[2:26:09] in there would be. All right, so that answers that. However,
[2:26:14] since this has come up, which fund are we depositing it into? Because where are you going to put $150,000 with the trees
[2:26:19] in beech's town center? Yes, sir. It's not just trees. Well, do we have different
[2:26:23] accounts, though? I think we do have different accounts. But I'll give you an example.
[2:26:27] I know kevin knows this. We clean the sidewalks with the gum. Not a lot of money, but there's also
[2:26:32] around that and the merchants. Thomas knows this, are excited that we, and we only do it a couple times a
[2:26:37] year, the trees, but I think, you know, that whole area, hey, you know what, it's kind
[2:26:42] of a trust fund for that area.
[2:26:46] I agree, but I'm just trying to be clear. If we have different accounts,
[2:26:51] once it's deposited, let's say we have an account that's just the tree fund for beechestown
[2:26:56] center. Once it's in there, it can't be moved without action
[2:27:01] of this commission. So how are we structured
[2:27:05] accounting wise to deposit this money? Yeah. To be clear, we'll go through
[2:27:10] our accounting procedures. This will be a standalone fund as described. So you'll simply take all of
[2:27:14] that verbiage so that we can go any of the directions permitted under code unless we are
[2:27:19] willing to change our own code. And
[2:27:24] of course, we're not spending any money that you don't
[2:27:29] appropriate through the budget process. Well, that would be
[2:27:35] appropriate. Thank you. Okay, I guess I beat that up enough. Yes, sir. Can I ask amanda a question? And I bet everybody
[2:27:40] up here has got this question. What's going in? What's the deal? Is this public information? They have
[2:27:45] submitted plans for interior remodel. It's a restaurant, and they are adding
[2:27:50] a second floor covered deck seating area, not
[2:27:57] over the entire footprint of the roof, but a portion. I
[2:28:02] saw the diagram. Is there a name? I don't know the name, but I can see if rafton and
[2:28:11] fleck got it. Thank you. You heard it here. I just. Yes, sir. Thanks, merritt. So it's
[2:28:17] not going to be mexican. It's just I'm in support of this.
[2:28:24] but I do have to say this feels and I'm happy
[2:28:29] about the money. I mean. Lord knows we can, you know,
[2:28:35] we'll put it to good use. It just feels a little bit, you know, like a gotcha moment in
[2:28:41] our code that here we are having a developer coming in that's going
[2:28:45] to renovate a space that was in bad need of renovation. That building had some issues.
[2:28:50] so we're going to come in here, put something brand new. And
[2:28:54] it's like, oh, by the way, you know, once you go past a certain percentage of improvement, you now have to
[2:28:59] do all this stuff that's really not doable. And so, you know, 162,000, gotcha. Not real crazy about that. I'm all for being
[2:29:05] fair and doing the right thing. But this feels very penal. But, you know, we'll move on.
[2:29:10] welcome to this dais. Yep. Okay, thank you. We need to open up public comment. Do
[2:29:15] we have anybody signed up? We
[2:29:20] don't have public hearing
[2:29:28] for this. Oh, I thought we did it on the first one. I apologize.
[2:29:33] okay. Okay, then I won't even close what I couldn't open. Okay, further discussion?
[2:29:37] okay. All in favor signify with aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion
[2:29:45] carries, and that was unanimous. Thank
[2:29:49] you. I did. Okay. We'll go directly to city attorney
[2:29:55] comments. I have nothing to comment on. Okay. City clerk? Donna? Nothing? No.
[2:29:59] okay, commissioner bull. Yeah, I wish bruce was still
[2:30:04] here. Thomas brought this up. I was at the beach and stone
[2:30:15] center agency for five years. Kendra robertson was a treasure for this community. Yes.
[2:30:22] for both neptune, atlantic beach. She held the glue together. A lot
[2:30:27] of these events that you see around here. She was one
[2:30:31] of the driving forces. She was a volunteer out here, you know, dancing and all the things that
[2:30:35] go on here. It's sad to hear that because she put her heart and soul into that. And I'm
[2:30:40] personally, I'm taking this for- it's not kendra. I don't think it's
[2:30:45] kendra. Oh, it's not kendra? No. Okay. I'm sorry. Kendra's still there. Okay. Kendra's
[2:30:49] still there. Sorry. I was going down the wrong- I noted a lack of naming,
[2:30:53] so we might leave it at that. Anyway, they do a great job and full support of kendra. I'm
[2:30:58] done. All right commissioner kelly oh sorry about hacking up
[2:31:04] alone oh it's okay I'm almost better right is that your report that's it man thank you
[2:31:08] but he knows a good doctor commissioner grant I'm good thanks and I have nothing
[2:31:13] further to give tonight this meeting is
[2:31:21] adjourned.