and welcome to the september 10th 2025 local planning agency and planning commission meeting the first thing on our agenda is approval of our agenda can i have a motion to approve the agenda i so move second comments all in favor aye opposed passes um we will now have the county attorney uh to poll for any ex parte communications and read the party statement into the record has any member of the commission received any communication regarding the item on the agenda tonight no and mr chair we do not have any party requests for this item however just for everyone's knowledge a party would be somebody who is more substantially or directly impacted than a member of the public at large by the commission's decision tonight they would be granted an opportunity to present evidence ask questions of witnesses and a longer period of time for speaking as i mentioned we don't have any requests tonight but uh our board rules do allow someone to make a request at the hearing if they explain why they were not timely okay does that impact anybody would like to the clerk will swear we don't have to swear in anybody right okay part we do okay we're gonna i did the same thing last meeting okay sorry anyone that will be speaking at tonight's meeting please stand and raise your hand do you swear from that testimony or evidence you are about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge or belief thank you staff will you begin the presentation please good evening commissioners this is matey bengatar alachua county growth management department the item you have before you is a special exception for clay electric co-op and its application number is z25-000-014 the site address is at 11530 northwest 39th avenue this slide shows the location map as i mentioned on northwest 39th avenue to the west of i-75 and you'll see on the next slide the aerial is about an eight acre site 39th avenue it lies to the south of the site which has the existing clay electric office and they also have a communications tower those two parcels were part of a special exception that was approved in 2007 for a major utility and so clay electric has its headquarters here and the site in between is what we're talking about tonight which was not part of any special exception 39th avenue as you might know has a lot of institutional uses including a lot of churches and schools to the west of this site is saint francis catholic academy to the east is greenhouse church further to the east is countryside christian school and south across 39th avenue is meadowbrook elementary the future land use map shows that this parcel is on the edge of the urban cluster inside the urban cluster has a low density residential future land use designation to the north is outside of the urban cluster rural agriculture land uses and as you can see in that scion color blue color those are some institutional uses for the church and school and south of 39th avenue mostly low density residential land use zoning map this is re1 which is a single family residential low density major utilities are allowed in several zoning districts through a special exception so there is not any need to rezone to have a major utility the pds correspond with those institutional uses and as i mentioned low density residential zoning to the south of the site some background on this request why it's being asked for tonight is that clay electric does not have its own location for staging vehicles and other materials when there are natural disasters i think currently they're using the santa fe college site so the purpose of this special exception is to have a location next to their existing office where they can stage and have a hub and prepare for disaster events and and if there's mutual aid that other utilities can coordinate on this site and respond in as efficient way as possible as i mentioned this is considered a major utility and if you look in the code a special exception required and the main requirement for for major utilities is a buffer the there is a standard buffer of 75 feet if it's not adjacent to a residential use or 150 feet if it is adjacent to residential use although the county commission does not necessarily need to abide by that standard they can choose different standards and staff has proposed a different buffer standard no permanent structures are being proposed this is only to have an area where they can stage their vehicles and materials and this is a temporary thing they'll be there before the storm or as the storm is approaching and then however long it takes to restore power then they will remove all the vehicles i've already mentioned most of this and like i've said uh the staff condition mentions the 75 foot buffer around all site boundaries following slides show some of the uh site photos so this one is from northwest 115th terrace which is on the west side of the uh site looking north and this is um on the same street looking east and you can see the existing uh office and compound there which will be south to the proposed site and on the left side you see the gate there this is where the proposed ingress and egress will be for the site through the existing clay electric office this is from 39th avenue looking from uh where the entrance to the office is and from greenhouse church which is on the east of the site and then this is 115th street which is to the east of the site looking west or southwest you can see there this is a private road and it's heavily wooded so you're looking right at the site but the existing vegetation is substantial and also the tower you can see here that i mentioned for clay electric this is looking south on that same road down to 39th avenue this is just a an image i found that shows something that might be representative of what would occur here with the trailers and the cherry pickers and all the different materials and trucks and trailers that they'll need to stage before the disaster event the special exception master plan shows this area with the hexagonal uh pattern where this would be where the staging area would be and proposed uh stormwater basin somewhere in the northeastern portion of the site the um topography does slant from west to east and we did receive a concern from a neighbor about this but this will be addressed during development review to ensure that the uh stormwater is accounted for the uh green here indicates where the proposed buffer from the applicant um shows that this is what they are proposing although staff's condition would have this as 75 feet around the entire perimeter and again the ingress egress is from the existing office to the south the slide shows our bases for approval and they're related to institutional uses policy 512c which says that public utilities are considered as institutional policy 521 future land use element this is the criteria for institutional locations policy 522 again future land use element which speaks to integration of institutional facilities and communities policy 551a which speaks to public utilities that are considered institutional these are permitted in all land use categories and five these this site makes use of existing clay electric facilities the proposed conditions here on this slide um number one explains what the special exception is for number two states that high density buffers will be required along the perimeter of the site number three regards to temporary lighting to minimize any impact to surrounding residences and for any storage of hazardous materials would be we need to be coordinated with our elachio county environmental protection department and with that that concludes our presentation we have a recommendation that you recommend to the county commission to approve this special exception with the conditions and bases that we have in the stack report i can take any questions you have questions so the the southeast corner between where this property is and just north of where they're existing that little rectangle right there who owns that property that's a single family residence okay that's not clay electric was that the one that that you showed the slide that had that older looking barn that was um on it yeah that's that i think actually one i took from here you can actually um go from greenhouse church on to i think that's one of their when the church is in session then they can also exit through this way okay i think i took it from this area from the north and then i saw also i guess in in some of the paperwork that that almost that whole lot is in a flood zone it looks like is that correct right the eastern portion of this uh parcel the site that we're talking about as well as that house are in flood zone okay and back to that one slide where you showed the hexagonal you know pattern is that what the proposed what's proposed being put down there is that going to be like concrete or is that just the area that you're talking about where they're going to stage the the vehicles that would be where any any of the activity related to the staging would be so i'm not sure that all of it's going to be pervious here because they're going to put the base in they're going to account for tree canopy so i'm not sure that they're going to meet the 20 percent that would be required as part of their plan with the existing buffer but this hexagonal area is where the they're intending to put all the materials and trucks and vehicles okay and primarily that whole lot is tree is that correct it is you see on the yeah aerial most of it is trees okay other questions go ahead yeah thank you chair um why did staff not go with the uh the applicant's buffer the smaller buffer on the western portion of the property and with the 75 foot well mr chair this is um we felt like this is a you know with the standard of 75 um we felt that that was already some of a somewhat of a departure from what the standard is um but this is the board's this is the commission's discretion if they feel that uh there's not as a much of a need to buffer that area thank you other questions yes mr chair um so there was a um natural resource assessment report done and it's not in our backup um could you explain um what that heavy heavily forested area is is it old silviculture or is it just a session for us uh mr chair i don't believe that there were any um comments that we got from epd that stated that they had a concern about the trees that are there but they did review this and they they gave us comment um had an opportunity to comment on this i'm not sure exactly which trees are there okay and then um i'll ask the applicant about impervious versus impervious um the buffer um i think the uses aren't on some some portions aren't conflicting as much as others however because it's so heavily wooded it'd be nice to not clear-cut everything um so i'm i'm leaning toward the staff's um recommendation just just um and if the buffer would likely be what's in place now right um no plantings i yeah i don't think they need to plant um we don't have our arborist here but i think what the high density buffer standards are this would probably be sufficient with the vegetation there okay thank you other questions my i'm not clear um in the area for the staging i assume that's going to be impervious i believe it's going to be impervious um they they have mentioned um what kind of uh material they can use maybe the applicant would be able to explain which kind of material they'll use as the ground cover for this that would be helpful when we get to that point okay you ready do are you complete with your presentation then we're going to ask the applicant if they want to talk hi good evening commission thank you so much for taking your time to hear our petition my name is tara howell i am a senior planner with jb pro here in gainesville and we represent clay electric as the agent for this so meddy did a wonderful job so i will apologize a lot of my slides are going to repeat a lot of what you've already heard but i will present and go through and then of course answer any questions that you may have so again this is a petition for a special exception the proposed use is for a vehicle staging area for service trucks it will be used only in times of hurricanes or other natural disasters for clay electric cooperative utility company the parcel id is 04193004007 it is 7.92 acres approximately the current future land use assignment is low density and the zoning is re1 and as many stated is inside the urban cluster area this is the parcel which you have already seen so we considered the review criteria that is stated in your code and would like to show how we felt that the request meets and or exceeds those codes so this is your code consistent with the comprehensive plan and your uldc compatible with the existing land use pattern and future uses and shall not adversely affect the health safety and welfare of the public and also d which is safe satisfactory provisions and arrangements being made concerning the following matters i won't read off every one of them for you as you can see them listed here they are many but we do address each one so consistency with your comprehensive plan in your future land use this parcel does lie within the urban cluster boundary it does provide public services within alachua county public urban cluster area and it is a what we believe to be an optimal location to enhance services to the surrounding areas it will allow for a faster response time during disaster events for those that you know need services restored for transportation we do not expect there to be any adverse impact to the adopted level of service standards again i'll remind you this is very temporary uses as well as your public facilities and infrastructure it should not create any increased demand or adverse effect on any of those for consistency with your unified land development code for your buffering we are proposing something different which we'll go into detail a little bit in the future in further in the presentation the development will comply with whatever buffers the is ultimately established by the bocc for your photometric plan it will be submitted in the development process and will conform to the standards that are set out in section 407.147 for public health safety and welfare again we do not believe that this will adversely affect public health safety or welfare and we do feel that it satisfies the matters as described in section 402.113 d for concurrency again because this is a temporary interim use it is not projected to impact your level of service at all in any of your public facilities so this just kind of illustrates the surrounding uses this is the subject parcel on your zoning map and these are your uses again as many has already demonstrated to you and again with your future land use it is surrounded mostly by institutional uses such as schools communication towers other cec owned and operated parcels and then there are some residential uses and agriculture uses in the area this gives you a specific breakdown of exactly what is located to north south east west and the southeast section so you can get a clear view of those uses now could you back up to that please yes i'm not sure we're all thank you yes that was a lot to assemble absolutely i'm sorry i'll slow down and what i'm what i'm wondering about i can wait till you finish your presentation or would you like your question whatever you'd like but what i'm trying to understand is this is a interim it's a temporary or is it permanent and the surface that's on it so once the development review process is done and approved the way that it is set up and established will be permanent but the actual use itself will only be on an as-needed basis it'll have the hard surface the paving so uh my engineer from jb pro is here to actually speak specifically to that you can wait till okay okay we don't need to screw up your uh your presentation it's all right no biggie but yes he will come up at the end to specifically address the questions on the specific material that's being used and how much impervious surface they believe it's going to create thank you okay yes ma'am so in your proposal your you've mentioned that the site will only be utilized during disasters but do you not have mock drills similar to other sites throughout the year that you would you utilize the space for i suppose that could be a potential use that's not one that our client has given us any direction on we have been directed that it would be utilized for emergency response but i don't want to misrepresent to you i actually just i i have not posed that question to the client but it was not presented to us either so okay mr chair from planning perspective we would consider you know practicing for disaster response to really be part of disaster response so okay so again this is going just trying to show you how we feel it meets your required code so moving on with your unified land development code for public health safety and welfare no anticipated impact on public health and again all safety provisions will be followed it for safety it will promote public safety in our opinion by enhancing their ability to respond respond it it creates a better efficiency because the trucks and the equipment are located closer to the area that they would serve and also creates a faster response time otherwise we do not at all anticipate that it will impact public safety on a day-to-day use for welfare same idea basically we believe that it will enhance public service quality by enhancing the ability to respond to the natural disasters and otherwise will not create any effect on public welfare for your provisions this is the long one that was on d so you talk about ingress and egress to the property so there is more than sufficient space available and it'll be further addressed during the development review process and the site will meet any required provisions for off street parking and loading areas again there is sufficient space available and that will be addressed further during the development review process for noise glare or odor effects there is no permanent noise glare or odor effects anticipated at all now to answer a question yes when the trucks are there during the natural disaster obviously there will be trucks and there will be workers there and so there's going to be a small amount but nothing that is projected to impact off-site at all proposed buffering will limit the potential impact although we do ask for reduced buffers and i'll give you a little bit of justification on that in a minute as well for refuse and service areas they are available abutting the cec property and then the utilities the location is suitable for utility connections as needed but again we're not anticipating any um permanent need only when the site is being utilized temporary lighting um you know the as the slide that meddy showed you was very accurate temporary um stations maybe for uh washing that sort of stuff everything will be temporary in nature for your provision screening and buffering again whatever buffering is established the applicant will agree by and it'll be addressed more in the development review process based on whatever decision is established at bocc there are no signs or permanent exterior lighting proposed again no permanent noise glare or odor effects as far as general compatibility we do note that cec owns the property that is contiguous with this parcel both to the north and to the south and then for special requirements anything that is set forth as conditions in the final bocc order the applicant will comply with this just gives you a little bit of history on the project the neighborhood workshop that was done the application was submitted staff was amazing to work with and now we are here and then we will move to the board of county commissioners so let me just back up a little bit and give you a little bit more detail on the buffering that we're asking for so because clay electric owns the parcels that are contiguous to this piece both to the north and the south we had actually proposed a zero buffer there one of the reasons is because they are trying to maximize the space they are trying to be able to have as many pieces of equipment and trucks and and and machinery as possible to better be able to service the area in the when there are natural disasters and because they own both of those pieces and the one to the south is currently in operation as their office headquarters i believe may not be their headquarters but their office and the piece to the north has the communications towers on it and it has no plan for further development we don't believe that there's a lot of impact to worry about negating there to the west we did propose a 15-foot buffer this actually is contiguous with an undeveloped right-of-way so again we felt like the impact there was very very minimal so we proposed a 15-foot buffer on the west side on the east side and the southeast property line we propose a 40-foot buffer those are the areas that will somewhat buffer in the east line the residential uses as you see these are larger pieces of property so they're not tiny pieces where the houses are very close to the property lines anyway so again we propose a 40-foot buffer there and again please keep in mind that the only reason that they are proposing uh reduced buffers is to be able to maximize the space as much as possible does the staff concur mr chair i think staff's made a recommendation um in the staff report i think the discussion about certainly the buffers to the north or the south properties is it's a reasonable place for the board to consider as far as the dimensions on the other buffers that's really up to the planning commission in the report that we're looking at and on the table has the does it include the the decrease in the buffers or is it still at the 75 foot because that's what i read in in the what that you're looking at i'm sorry is the present is that what's on what will be discussed is it 75 feet all the way around or is it the reduced mr chair the recommendation in the staff report um and that that made he gave it was for 70 feet five feet on all sides that's where we're reading okay so this is something that's new and different yes mr chair okay comments yes yes how would you go back to the second or third slide you zipped through it a little bit too fast i'm sorry bad habit right there this one okay so these are as um alachua county's criteria is specified but when you say screening and buffering you've uh gone through this and it meets the criteria the criteria under the what's written i think is 75 feet yes sir so that is one of the reasons why we put into our justification report a request for reduced setbacks or i'm sorry reduced buffers and then we did give a justification um in the um report as to why we believe a lot of what i just went over with you um kind of paraphrased so regardless we will meet whatever buffers we are required to meet of course it is our ability to ask for special considerations on certain things and so the client has asked for that in order to maximize the ability to use the spot as much as possible for the vehicles so we are simply just asking well are you asking for a reduction from 75 feet to 40 or 45 feet on the yeah the southeast side yes so on the west property line the east southeast property line and then the east property line because you know you have it kind of comes down and you have that little jog right there so on the west property line we're asking for a 15 foot buffer instead of a 10 foot buff i mean and we're asking for 15 instead of a 75 foot buffer that staff has recommended on the east southeast and then the east line at the very bottom we are proposing and asking for a 40 foot buffer instead of a 75. now what you're asking for though is a decrease for the parcel that is or the part of the parcel which is adjacent to the single family home on the southeast part correct why are you doing that again the client has asked us to try to maximize as and save as much space for usable space as possible so that is the main reason and because the use is not going to be a continuous use the impact is going to be so low if we have a year that we don't have hopefully a natural disaster or a hurricane there will be no off-site impact for that resident of course when we are unlucky and have years where we have those natural disasters then the parcel will be utilized but because this doesn't meet so the the the the typical buffer requirements for this category are written for what is considered major utilities and because this is only being used as a vehicle staging area we don't really feel that it is the same character in use as the reason those buffers were applied in the first place i hope i'm making that make sense well you are but the issue that i have is when it's in use uh at some points there may be the lack of electricity for that single-family home to the southeast and the one that's to the north but uh and that would mean that they're going to have to have their windows open probably because you know right after a hurricane you get really hot weather and the issue is you're going to have all of these diesel powered vehicles noise and exhausts and it's going through that area it would be better if it were used for 75 feet i would think and i would i'll put that in a portion of the of a motion to approve but i don't think you've done that i don't think you're satisfied you you you went over this so quickly that it seems like you're trying to submerge the issue no sir not at all again i think it was ma'am well i apologize if that's the way it appeared to you again in the justification report that was presented to staff that's part of your agenda packet we there is a solid page and a half of an explanation behind our request for the reduced buffering so it was never my intention to glaze over it that quickly i assumed that it had been made very clear that we were in fact asking for reductions and what we stated in the slide is that whatever buffers are ultimately required of the our client we those buffers will be met so whatever when we get to the end and the final order is written and it says these are the buffers that are required we will comply with those so we will meet whatever code is presented to us all right i also have a question uh about the drainage on the site okay that would probably be an engineer question for my for tim our engineer would you like me to pull him forward because he does all of our stormwater is he going to make a presentation or are you calling him to help you on your presentation so he is the expert witness on items in that nature which is why he's present so i am a planner not an engineer so he does all of our stormwater engineering for this site that's fine would you like me to have him come up here it would be good yes okay yes good evening so i am the engineer of record who will be supporting the applicant on this project uh with jb fro so i'm here to answer any questions you guys have on the engineering side what's your name tim bayline bayline b-o-e-h-l-e-i-n okay and you're a professional engineer that is correct and did you do the uh any of the uh planning for the uh drainage on this site yes what did you do so we are currently still working on that as a part of the development review process um this is currently the process for the special exception uh however yes we do have a stormwater pond and plan on doing floodplain compensation um that is also part of the reason that we are asking for that 40-foot setback along the eastern property line is to allow a maximum area within the floodplain to compensate for any fill that would be placed in it the site has a pretty hefty drop from the west to the east side i don't know the exact i believe it's about 12 feet from one side to the other uh granted over a large area um so we'll be doing the large and to answer one of your previous questions it will be mostly gravel uh not just a full pavement or concrete there will be portions that will be concrete to help stabilize some of the larger equipment they'll be bringing in during disaster relief however we'll have a relatively flat section and then it will drop off to the stormwater pond that we will have a stormwater pond that will meet all of alachua county treatment standards as well as the floodplain compensation on site now what's the uh is there a coefficient on the soil as to how much it can take per hour of runoff so that we know approximately when the stormwater retention detention site would be filled and then when how long it would take to drain totally yes we will meet all alachua county standards we have had a full geotechnical analysis done on this site as well um i don't know the exact number but i believe it was in the percolation rates of two to three um inches per hour of on the percolation uh we will be doing most likely some sort of backfill as well or undercut and backfill with a cleaner soil that will help with that percolation as well um and the total recovery time will be per all alachua county and suwannee river water management district standards which i believe is will be fully recovered within 30 days but it should be well within before that uh whatever the standard mr boland let me ask if the you intend to put some type of a barrier on the west portion of the property so that there is no runoff from the parochial high school and then from any of the other uses there yes we so all of that water currently drains down that hill across our site we look we're looking at putting a large swale around the site which bypasses everything and then it will basically end up in the same location on the other side of the other side of the property uh so we'll be doing this so everything currently flows directly across the property we'll be discharging everything most likely to a spreader swale uh per water management district standards i i'm sorry i i thought you were going to put up some type of a barrier so that the water would coming across from the western portion of the properties to the west would hit that barrier and then flow to the south it would or would they still go across the property it would go across the property to the eastern boundary so it would still flow in a manner that mimics the pre-development condition okay is that a requirement it is yes the standard per alachua county code and swanee river code is to match the pre-development condition in our post-development as closely as possible so we will be discharging to the same location at the we'll be analyzing through our model the rates and volumes of discharge okay i have a concern that before this area is going to immediately before it's going to be used it may be hit by large amounts of rain which come and hit us when hurricanes go by and my concern is that the property may not be dry enough to take on these large vehicles now have you taken that into consideration we have yes and that is the reason so we'll be sizing everything on the storm water management system to prevent any issues to the site we'll be doing all of our storm water calculations will be based on both the hundred year one hour storm which is a very intense short storm all the way up to a hundred year 240 hour storm which is a 10 day pouring rain for 10 day type of storm which would be more like the worst hurricane we're getting in 10 years or i'm sorry no 100 years we'll be sizing our swale to bypass the water around the gravel portion of where the parking would be to prevent any issues there and then also making sure that that is not impacting in any adverse way anything off of our site are you do you intend to put any type of uh piping through the site to to divert that uh that water before it goes into the retention detention site it will most likely be a large open channel not a underground pipe system and you're going to have small bridges going over that then it will just bypass our gravel parking on the northern boundary of the site so we'll be swaling everything around the site most likely uh we haven't fully analyzed everything but based on the grading we will be just bypassing we'll we will probably have some piping and the entryway will have a culvert under it mr boland i'm sorry and i am i pronouncing your name correctly uh bayline bayline i thank you mr baland i thought you said that the property or it drains from the north and northwest to the southeast is that correct it generally drains just from the west to the east across the property it does yes okay but are you going to have the diversion of the water will it divert the water to the north or to the south or to both it will divert it both ways okay thank you adrian thank you chair um first of all um so when i was serving on the city commission i oversaw utility and we had to deal with multiple emergencies and multiple hurricanes during that time and staging areas was an important part of our uh of our planning um to ensure they could have the rapid response um i don't think this is a normal application in that sense this is for emergencies this is um i think for a variety of reasons i think we should look to um do the buffers that are presented by the applicant um the first one um i think this will help with the life and safety of our community by being able to uh have a more rapid response to turn electricity back on to um the clay electric customers um it will uh in terms of helping life help life and safety um and helping our community get back together um it also helps economic for an economic development standpoint and increasing tax revenues um when our community doesn't have electricity our economy in essence shuts down um in many respects so being able to get power back on helps our economy um getting back to normal uh second i think this will or a third i think this helps in a um helping to reduce costs as well for clay electric customers by being able to have a more central um staging area that's close to their their um office um being able to have quicker responses will help uh save clear electric customers um money it also will um increase uh reliability of electricity in the area um remember young i i hear you i'm trying to um save more more trees in this area but i think that this is a not the normal i think being able to ensure that there is enough of a staging area um we've had times when there was really bad storms we didn't have no staging we had to move to different areas at gru so being able to have what they need to be able to have um the staging that they need and it's not only for i assume what their staging needs are today but also for the decades to come and being able to have that ability to expand um and be able to serve uh the customers in our community so i would support uh moving forward motion but with the change in the condition of supporting the applicants um setback thank you comments yes questions um sure engineer um so right now with the um staff recommendation on the butler on the buffer what percentage of the total of eight acres would be buffer compared to the percentage would be on the applicant's request do not know the exact percentage that that's looking like um and i will say too so we're asking for that 40 foot buffer that's partially to give us some additional flexibility um as you all know the county has you know very stringent tree canopy code and we will be meeting all of that through the development process we did have the county arborist met on site this actually this week with our landscape architects um i believe there was only one quality tree on site that they found um maybe two but it is primarily planted pines and some old or some uh smaller laurel oaks there was not much i believe it was one uh turkey oak was the only tree that was they per the county arborist worth saving and it at that point wasn't even a high quality tree per their classification but this does allow us to give us some flexibility to kind of dip into the buffer in different areas where as a 75 foot buffer gives us much less flexibility for that stormwater facility to make sure that we're making getting the necessary treatment while doing what the applicant would like to do um so i don't know the exact percentages however we would still be meeting all of the county's uh tree protection code and tree canopy code so there was still will be areas of a larger buffer than what just the 40 foot minimum and then um i know this is for development review but do you um have an idea of the percentage that will of non-buffer area that would be um impermeable versus permeable or is that still in development again i do not know the exact percentage um it will be i would say at least probably 60 percent would be developable area um i believe so we'll be maintaining at a very at the minimum at least 20 to 30 canopy um we'll have the stormwater area which will be another 15 to 20 and then most most of the remainder will either be this swale open channel system or this gravel surface that we'll be using for parking so 20 the stormwater what would you say the buffer was 14 uh the buff the tree canopy and buffer will be somewhere in the 20 to 30 range okay and then um where is the egress ingress in egress is it to the property clay property to the south that is correct yes all ingress egress will come through their property we are not looking to do an additional driveway so just one that's correct yes okay and then um is there plans for any um mechanic services during emergencies like you prepare repair trucks on site i believe so they will have quite a few different trailers that will be set up for different purposes um so they'll have some that will just be for food trucks or kitchens they'll have some that are for showers they'll have some most likely for mechanics they will have but primarily it will be the staging of the vehicles but yes they will have a lot of different um you know again temporary people who come in to set up to assist with this okay thank you and so um the applicant did submit the in multiple forms including its own um attachment the conceptual site plan showing the proposed buffer so it definitely wasn't sprung on us at the meeting um i am flexible in um staff recommendation versus applicants especially to the south where um that property is connected to the the um current property and then um yeah um and then you're you're saying um no no buffer to the north as well because then can to give us to the clay property to them that is correct yes is there any so um is there any plans for additional plans for that parcel to the north not to my knowledge no probably no plans can happen right there's a there's a yeah mr chair there's a current special exception for that property that limits the use on that site for a tower and then is there any buffer to the property to the north do you know does the property on the north have a buffer to the property further north is that no to the is there on the the special exception to the north is there a buffer between the north and the in the current subject property i don't believe so but i'd have to look mr chair okay um i think you appreciate it so my question at this point would be i think i zigzagged your presentation and i wanted to know if you wanted to pick up the p was there more that you wanted to present i i i feel like i you got cut and and thank you for the zigzag because it was helpful to get the information but i didn't want to preempt the out we beat up your continuity much more than i thought we would but you want to pick it up no actually chair thank you but we did make it through the end of the presentation okay um so if you got if you have any other questions i'm happy to address them um i believe um chair you had a question about the impervious space is that something that was already answered by one of the other questions or did you still want to address that with the engineer i have questions but i'm going to wait okay okay go ahead about uh the temporary status when people are coming in or when trucks are coming in and is there a time period in which they have to vacate the lot what does temporary mean so no there's not been any specific um restrictions given to us so i i guess that would maybe be a staff question but to our knowledge no because the site is being the the the special exception would grant the use there on a permanent basis but because of the nature of the use it's only going to be used on an as needed basis so it's as needed meaning permanently yes if that makes i hope i didn't just confuse that necessarily answers the question i guess if you're staging for national disaster and you bring in you know 200 trucks and i'm just throwing out a number is there a time period in which they have to vacate the lot not to my knowledge no i don't think that would be appropriate though for instance when we had andrew and we had katrina different parts of the country but i remember going six months or nine months after katrina and they still had utility trucks in the service areas the same thing happened down in uh miami-dade for a long time they had uh because there was such extreme destruction down there so i i don't think it's appropriate to do that and i think that's why we have to make sure that we've got all the ducks in a row right now yeah and i'm in favor of you know putting this forward with you know the buffers that the applicant has put you know but i just didn't know it on the back end if if there's if it's not a designated disaster area anymore or and i know this is going to be probably used for utility companies up and down the state you know and up you know and throughout you know the southeast if they're bringing in trucks from all over i just didn't know if there's a temporary if there's a time period at the tail end in which they are able to vacate or have to vacate so i would have the same type of question actually because i would assume you would have some kind of protocol for beginning and end because that's what would make it temporary in nature right is there not protocols in place so that after a certain time time point when it's deemed we're good then we have 15 days two weeks a month to vacate area so it's no longer permanent that's a great question um chair to my knowledge there is no specific protocol or requirements in place that have been required of us and i don't mean to cause any confusion the special exception is for a vehicle staging area and that will be if approved would be on a permanent basis by temporary we are simply just wanting to illustrate the character of this use and how it differs from a major utility use where it is continually in use this will be a as needed use but the special exception will be applied on a permanent basis as a vehicle staging but to my knowledge unless staff tells us otherwise i've not seen where there's any specific requirements that this is approved as vehicle staging there there's a natural disaster they use it for this and when it's deemed that you know there's no more need for them that they have a certain protocol set forth by the county that they have to vacate in a certain time period adriot are you done keep going i just want to add i am in favor i guess i'm just thinking of expectation yes right um just so we know what to expect because when you say only it alludes to a specific time frame right so i wish i could be more specific for you because i do understand um the concern and the question again the answers and the information that we've been provided by our client is that it will be used on an as needed basis and i think the duration of each specific time period is going to be relevant to the size of the disaster and the need that's set forth yeah i can answer your question just from um from gru so we would try to as quickly as possible remove the staging areas i mean that's it's a huge cost the utilities have to pay all of those people coming over and coming down here and it's this huge cost and and people working 24 hours a day and long shifts so there is a very much like a cost thing of how quickly they can get power back on and then clear that out so that everybody can go home they're not having to pay huge amounts of overtime so they're motivated they're motivated to clear that i mean to any extent i don't know maybe they want to leave trucks there but to actually having people paid and and using that yeah i had seven years on the uh gru advisory board whenever we had one and i got to understand better not to mention the fact that i interact with them on a regular basis both clay and gru but we have um what i'm concerned with is some some of the questions that are not answered probably need to be ready before you go to a commission if you pass through you know we have we haven't voted or anything but you you have some weaknesses and and i you might want to um beef up some of the um your photos some of your your um there's some things that were hard to understand and i think you're still working on it okay and so you i appreciate the feedback you need to do you need to do that people i have found that i grew up in clearwater and i came here and came here after um school and people are really really happy after a hurricane to see an electric truck on there on i mean that's one of the that's that's real upper you know and so there's a lot of applause that comes along and we want to have this system done well but i'm not getting what i don't have an understanding if somebody asked me is this just vehicles but how do you i think you probably would have to have vehicles and there has to be a staging area somewhere for transformers poles and everything else and that's what i normally see when people are going in to um do this kind of effort mr chair if i can um i did want to just say i think staff understands that temporary you know is going to vary um for some storms that could be a long time for some storms it could be a little bit of time and we've seen that in our community where we've had storms come through and all the power is back on in a week we've had storms come through and it it takes a month clay electric also serves a pretty big service area going all the way over to the gulf coast and we anticipate that this will serve at least some of the portions of that area i think we would be willing to be pretty flexible on what you know temporary means but we also wouldn't expect trucks to be know clay electric trucks to be parked there permanently so i think we anticipate that difference i did want to answer a question that was asked earlier which was about the buffers that were shown in the special exception and that special exception included both the clay electric facility to the south as well as the tower to the north it actually included both of those properties a little weird the property to the south indicated a buffer of 40 feet on the northern edge so that would be adjacent to the current property and the property that where the tower is to the north of that indicated a buffer of 40 feet to this property so there's 40 feet sort of both north and south and that's the same distance buffer that 40 feet that would have run along the the residential property that's sort of that cutout corner as well so that's not necessarily an indication of what you have to do on the current site it's just a sort of for informational purposes what was included in the previous special exception that is helpful because um and and i've i've watched after a disaster instead of just hauling everything out they'll tend to use it and not have to double do that one and they just they just wear they just bring down the inventory are there other questions and do we have and the other thing that i was going to ask is do we have anybody from the audience any non-people who want to talk and that that did not come out right i'm sorry um it was that anybody more coffee uh but is there anybody from the public who wants to sorry you're very welcome hi how's it going um my name is greg rohan i live north of the tower of the property that they're proposing and i'm just looking at the packet here and it looks like there's a pretty big flood zone and i'm just wondering if you know if they clear eight acres of trees my sole access which is northwest 115th street to my property is it going to increase the flood zone is the flood zone going to possibly creep up to my property and make my property a flood zone i think that could be something that could affect me also the greenhouse church they just purchased the property um north of mine 115 acres and they plan on using that 115th street access um it sounded to me like the land itself they're trying to build somewhat of a buffer so that all the water goes from west to east around the property they do have a spot where they're going to have a place you know a retention pond i guess you could say but if it's going around the property it's not soaking into this eight acres that are stopping this flood zone from increasing i just would like to know if the if the retention pond is going to be big enough will it stop any of the water that's coming from this parking lot to going into this flood zone also if there's something that's around the property that's stopping the water from coming from say st francis coming down past it it's just going to go around the property right in this flood zone and it's just going to flood my property's access so this is an easement that we all share and i was hoping maybe that i could have some sort of explanation as far as how large is this retention pond going to be the one that was built on the original property it still floods and it goes right onto that little cutout area across the property of mr hendrix this property itself they've spent money to repair the road they've built culverts they've done things to try to mitigate the water and i would just wish that you know they could do a little something for this road that is going to be you know flooded i think a little bit more from them creating a parking lot on the on the property and that's about all i have to say does staff have any input on that mr chair i'll provide staff's non-engineering input but i the applicant also has an engineer here who can probably also speak to it we we wouldn't allow them to create a drainage situation that enlarges or pushes off site a floodplain what the applicant is proposing and i just want to be clear that the road is already in the flood zone the applicant is proposing to construct a basin that would accommodate any runoff from the developed portion of the site and compensate for any floodplain that that basin is um is is moving around so the basin is likely to be pretty good sized i would think they're not diverting water around the site they're not allowed to do that any water that comes onto the site has to be contained on the site before it discharges that's called a pre-development post-development and so that means that any water that's coming onto the site from that 115th right of way from the property to the north from across the right of way would have to be contained on their site before it's discharged at the same rate that it is prior to development so they're not allowed to make the drainage system any worse um i can't say exactly what that looks like from an engineering perspective but intuitively for me it's a pretty big basin um they do have an applicant here i'm an engineer here who could probably speak a little bit in more detail about what that might entail okay do you other questions then we're going to ask the engineer to come up after you yeah that sounds great i'd like to hear from them uh just wanted to you know ask that they just consider you know building a parking lot may just create a little bit more water runoff and it would actually affect me and two other residents and also possibly access to the greenhouse church going north but mainly i'm just thinking you know it'd be nice if they could explain just how exactly the water is going to be mitigated and possibly even going further than you know what they've done previously on their property that's closer to 39th avenue they do have a retention pond there that i think it just floods it's it's it's not enough so i just wanted them to kind of consider that and um i guess i'd like to hear from the engineer thank you thank you welcome back so yes to speak to that concern um as you mentioned uh we're going to be doing a very intensive analysis of the pre-development versus the post-development layout of the site uh we'll be going through you know it's a very intensive model that we use uh to model this every storm event that the alachua county requires um i can't speak to the design of the previous um clay electric project however there are much more enhanced standards now that we are abiding by so there's a very good chance that anything that was built 15 to 20 years ago is not going to be built to the same standard as it is now just in terms of the design storms we're looking at in particular we're now looking as i alluded to earlier we're going all the way up to that 240 hour storm which is the 10 day storm event so this system will be modeled to ensure that one all runoff from our site that we're developing is going to be captured and also the pre-development condition of anything coming off site will be decreased in terms of the total runoff when we're looking at that we are considering that the existing site is wooded the proposed site is going to be paved or gravel so we are putting in factors on that to show the increase from the land use so we're looking at different coefficients and different runoff values that are you know accepted by the nrcs to basically demonstrate the exact runoff values and can get a very detailed model per the rainfall amounts to ensure that we're not increasing anything the floodplain obviously does create a more complicated aspect on our side and that is why we do a much more advanced model on that as well to make sure that floodplain is not going to be increased either so that'll be another portion of our project is to make sure we're doing floodplain compensation either within the stormwater pond or adjacent to the stormwater pond with another area for that to ensure that we are decreasing whatever is going off-site in the current condition and knowing the issues in this area and doing a lot of work in this area already we're well aware and you know are going to do everything we can to prevent anything you know or any adverse effects to any of the adjacent parcels or the roadway or anything of that sort good thank you very much um did you have a question i was getting about ready for that one i was going to ask staff if they had anything else before we go to a motion you're good okay so motions welcome thank you um as for the flooding i think they will most likely try to make this as capture as much water as possible because they really don't want this area to flood during a bad storm because that's where they're going to have all their emergency um um things there so i think most likely probably would make the flooding less because there'd be less water coming off this site that's currently going into that area so all that water now that's coming off this property probably won't be going into that area um i'd like to move uh the approval of z25 00014 with the conditions and bases listed in the staff report with one change that we recommend the buffer zones that are presented by the applicant second we have a motion and we have a second do you want us to we can read the motion was to go with the staff report and with the modification of the buffers as requested by the applicant is that correct okay yes okay we're we're all thinking it's okay mr chair i just want to make sure that i understand the staff because it's not a rectangular piece so the 40 feet will be um on both sides right i don't know that east side but so we're talking about 40 feet here and 40 feet here what is it did make her the motion correct yes the intention of the motion is to have 40 feet along that eastern side going north south and the 40 feet along going east west so wherever is contiguous with the residential parcel correct and then on the on the eastern side of the parcel as well the northern would be zero the south the southern would be zero and the western portion would be or be 15 which sides are which sides are zero the north and south because they are contiguous to parcels that are currently owned by the applicant i understand that okay comments yes i think that the issue of the buffers should be left to the site plan and not here where we're making the the recommendation and it may go through and there may be other there may be places where the site plan folks think that the 75 feet should be uh there and i i agree with staff on the entire 75 feet i want this to go through but i don't think it's appropriate to go through with such a we have not not we haven't really had the type of discussion about the buffers on each side that we need in order to help with the site plan review that's not our position we should just go with the staff recommendation as presented mr chair if the buffers are are as provided in staff's recommendation um if the board were to vote on that and make them that 75 feet there's no opportunity for the development review committee to vary from those so that once those are established within the special exception they're pretty much set in stone but wouldn't excuse me mr chair if the planning director says that it would we not have the ability to modify it if we showed it with 40 feet or what this or what the applicant wants then if this city committee or the county commission approves it there's no way for the site plan to go up to 75 feet where they might think it's appropriate mr chair that's um that's correct and obviously the board can the board of county commissioners when it approves is going to choose what it thinks to be the buffer that's really kind of the the point here is that in this special exception we're identifying what those buffers access points all those kinds of things are supposed to be that provides some certainty to the applicant to the public about what will be on the site whether that's 40 feet or 75 feet as proposed by the planning commission or or suggested by the planning commission either one of those that that will pretty much be set and when you get to the development plan stage it's not a staff review of that it's a it's a development review committee review um and that will be done and and comply with the buffers that are included in the special exception whichever they are so the what i was thinking if i had my druthers i'd like to say that the sentiment that the um the engineering is not complete this but we the sentiment is that there should be zero buffers on the north and south side because they own as continuous to their property um and that um you know and whatever the detail was and says this is this is from what we have this is what we think and it's they have the engineering is not done and so you're you're going to setbacks without the engineering being known which makes me feel like this is a little premature mr chair if i can before mr hayes santos responds if i can you know we're at a zoning level approval um this is really about the use and making the use compatible with other uses that are in the area are you suggesting that we should just do this without the specifics mr chair what i was going to say is that we don't require sites to be fully engineered at this stage yes um the applicant has made a suggestion um and staff has made a recommendation as well and at this point the question of the buffer widths is really about what will make the use consistent or compatible with the uses that are surrounding it they won't affect the size of a stormwater basin that's going to be kind of set that's how much water comes in how much impervious there is they're not necessarily going to affect the uses that are on the site but what they will do is affect the compatibility with the sites that are around them so to the extent that the planning commission feels that a larger or smaller buffer is appropriate um to you know have that compatibility happen with the surrounding uses that's the recommendation that the planning commission should make mr chairman okay i was just gonna you okay mr chairman yes i may have a a way to massage this so it can be sent to the site plan review it would just be that uh the high density buffers or high density buffers have been recommended by the staff for the special exception however the planning commission had a long discussion concerning this requirement and believe that it should be left to the site plan and not either by the requirements set by the planning commission or the board of county commission that works mr chair i think one of the concerns that i have with that is that right now in our land development regulations maybe you don't have this table do you in your presentation about what the required buffers are what our what our code actually requires for buffers around a major utility is 75 feet on all sides and 150 feet adjacent to existing residential development so the the either of the either staff's recommendation or that made by the the request made by the applicant varies from what's in our land development regulations and i think what we would ask the planning commission to make a recommendation on and the board to adopt is something with some certainty so that staff isn't left evaluating something in the dark that's a pretty uncomfortable place for staff to be you've had evidence presented to you both by staff and by the applicant about what a couple of possibilities are as far as those buffers um staff is is can support um you know a motion either way um and mr chair you have a motion in front of you as well okay so we have we had the motion yes so um from what i understand um this is special exception um but in in other parts where uh of zoning changes and land use changes um when you have a buffer there's often an average an overall average is that correct with a minimum and maximum or minimum um and that um supports any if there's um large trees and be saved you know buffers can go back and forth um and any engineering issues that come up um but this is going to be a totally cleared site with maybe two trees and um i don't think there's any substantial engineering that we should consider at this point it's like mr dawson said it's about compatibility with the surrounding parcels so i'm comfortable with applicant suggestions um for the special exception i would agree again i from what i hear those buffers are specific to major utility facility this is different and in terms of utilization um if we want this to be as successful as possible i would say reduce the buffer so they can maximize utilization of the space is there any problem with the residents that's the one um so we can we reread the motion well mr chairman let me go okay let's just let's just see what the motion is to approve the the application the conditions presented um the basis presented by staff with the one um change that we go with the applicants um presented buffers okay mr chairman i would ask that uh mr hay santos uh bifurcate the motion so that i could vote for what i think is a an appropriate special exception but vote against the idea of setting the uh buffer requirements around the uh project at this time and not before uh further uh engineering is being done and that would allow me to vote against the buffer your idea about the appropriate buffers um thank you and it's not just my idea it's the applicant's idea of what how what they can do to best serve uh the community during disasters um i don't believe we should um separate this because i think it's our we have to kind of take this as in essence a whole um we can't just pass portions of it so i would like to keep the motion how it is thank you well then mr chairman i would do a uh an amendment you can that would be appropriate if you want to put a vote up put an amendment up and have a vote on it either up or down mr chair would be a substitute motion and if there's a second then we would vote on the substitute motion the appropriate the the first motion would be to approve uh special exception as requested by the uh applicant with the provisions of the staff except for uh staff recommendation number two uh which should be uh which will be uh handled on a another motion for by me and so it would be what is recommended now by mr hayes santos and the second on that motion with the conditions one three and four to approve and then there would be a motion to approve i would hope the approve the uh condition on the uh buffers as a second as a second portion mr chair i think the concern that i would have with that motion is that the substitute motion as proposed already approves the special exception so once the planning commission takes action on that they can't approve it again it's not an approval of that sir it's an approval of the of a recommendation by the staff is all right then i'll just go ahead and make the make a i mean if you i am trying to vote for this thing but i don't think it's appropriate to hear the issue of the uh of the of the buffers and i think that we can make it uh for the buffers and you can have a vote with me voting against the recommendation of the applicant rather than taking up the recommendation of the staff okay so it is now our time could i have a clarification on that mr chair i'm not i'm not certain if there was a motion that was made and and i didn't hear a second so if there was a motion made if the maker could restate it and if there was a second i would just want to hear that so to clarify we have the the motion the original motion and we had a second um and then did we have a an official substitute motion that was made i made such a motion and it was to approve the special exception with uh conditions one three and four as specified by the staff which takes out the the buffers which takes out the buffers and then i would recommend on the buffers it would be to recommend the inclusion of two but this is not at the present time but the okay so let me take my turn yes sir okay so what we have is we we have a motion we have a second if you are not in favor of the buffers as a met but we haven't had a second there was a there was a second right not on the substitute motion on the substitute okay thank you very much thank you okay and um i need a swivel um and so if we don't we don't have it so we have no mo what's the motion is there any motion with a second yes the motion from uh commissioner hayes santos which is um staff's recommendation uh with the buffers as proposed by the applicant okay and so the there wasn't an attempted amendment but there was no second for that that's correct mr chair okay so the motion before you right now is mr hayes santos's motion and it was seconded by commissioner riley and that and that's where we are at the moment yes mr chair okay is there anybody who um and so if you do not like the motion that's up then you say you vote negative and if you like it you vote positive right sam is there anything you want to say beforehand before we do a vote i'll give you a shot well no i call the question okay all in favor aye opposed okay uh mr chair i would ask that the staff in its recommendation to the board of county commissioners express uh the idea that the planning commission did have a long discussion about the buffers and that uh and what and whatever they want to say about the the discussion because i'm trying to support the staff on the recommendation we have we have we have our motion we have voted that's correct mr okay and we with the request um for mr much to convey just if you have a side way to do a side which i think you probably can or somehow let them know that there was there it that was the most contentious component of it is the uh is the buffers and um and from this one i i like to have the uh the more cohesive as we can and i'll try and do that but i'm trying not to beat it in the ground it's it's a it's a balance okay and so i appreciate it um is there any i can go back to the script um let's see there are some things to talk about before we do anything else we have um i'm supposed to talk about the next um the next item on the planning is this really right no i don't think so um is there a attendance we had to do okay and um mr chair minutes i move approval of the minutes all in favor opposed but that went well okay and so for the next one um planning comments from the planning commissioners anybody we we did the one when we asked to give a little tickler about the um the setbacks the buffers um anything else on this meeting are we ready to say adjourned time to adjourn all in favor of adjournment aye aye all opposed good