Good afternoon. Welcome to the March 19, 2026 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. I want to call the CRA meeting to order. Really glad to see Alan here. Him and I were at a Blue Jay game not very long ago. They won 11-0, so that's a good thing. Beat the Yankees, that's even a better thing. Okay, we do have to do an excused absence for the Vice Mayor, who we're not allowed to say, but he's doing well. But anyway, if I could have a motion for an excused absence.
So moved.
Second.
Okay, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, we'll go to citizen input. Does anyone in the audience wish to speak on a topic that is not on the agenda? Okay, seeing no one, I'll close public input, and I'm going to go to the first item of business, which is the draft minutes for the January 22, 2026 Community Redevelopment Agency. And are there any changes to the minutes? Okay, seeing none, hearing none, can I have a motion to approve the minutes?
So moved. Second.
Okay, all in favor?
Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay, now we're going to go to CRA Resolution 26-01, fiscal year 2026 Community Redevelopment Agency carry forward budget amendment in the amount of $2,396,582.66. And City Attorney Jen, if you could read CRA Resolution 26-01 by title only.
Community Redevelopment Agency CRA Resolution 26-01, a resolution of the Commission of the City of Dunedin, Florida, as the governing body of the City of Dunedin Community Redevelopment Agency CRA, amending the operating and capital budget for the CRA fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 and ending September 30, 2026, and providing an effective date hereof. That was CRA Resolution 26-01, read by title only.
Okay, could I have a motion? So moved. Second. Okay, and I believe I am turning to Bob, Les, and Gene.
Yep, certainly Bob Ironsmith, Economic Development Director. This is really the carry forward is in regard to we have multi-year projects. Okay, Skinner, some of the other projects have to carry forward. We have Les, Tyler here, Finance Director, and Gene, Budget Manager, and answer any questions you might have. But it's really a result of these multi-year projects that are carrying forward. Of course, one of the large ones is Skinner Boulevard. We also have a couple others, so Les can go ahead and mention those.
Thank you, Bob. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Finance Director, Les Tyler. As Bob mentioned, I'll kind of go over the highlights of the VA. It's Resolution 260-01. The total budget amendment would be $2.396 million in the CRA fund for 2026. And as mentioned before, the care over, we do it once a year. And for the CRA fund, we have to do it for the CRA fund and the city both. And we've got POs that are open that have not been closed, and the service has not been rendered, so we carry over those encumbrances and purchase orders. And that makes up about $28,000 of the carryover in the CRA fund. Then the larger one is we have carryover for projects that have not been started or completed as of September 30, 2025. That's the largest number here in the CRA fund. We've got $2.3 million of projects that we're carrying over to be completed in 26. The amendment for the CRA fund is included in Resolution 260-01. It's the first budget amendment, as I mentioned. We'll also be presenting this this evening to the city commission as item 3D in the city staffing this evening, which will include the care over budget for all city funds, including the CRA fund. And the impact on the fund balance is also shown on the last page of the staffing, and the CRA fund still has a fund balance over the reserve around 15% after this VA is included. We happen to answer any questions. Thank you.
Okay. Questions for staff? Commissioner Gow?
No.
Thank you, Mayor. I'm good.
Commissioner DeGuard?
No questions.
Mr. Sandberg? No questions, Mayor. I have one question for you, Bob. I could wait to the annual report, but so what's our next, what else are we doing as far as paver, maintenance on pavers into downtown? I just, you know, just spent a lot of time, we all did, down there for St. Patrick's Day, and, you know, there are some issues down there, so I'm just curious what our next plans are.
Yeah, I mean, typically we give that to public services or parks to look at some types of things that might be a mishap. Is that what you're saying, some of the brick?
Yeah, there's some, yeah, I don't know how, I don't know if we're doing an inspection down there, but, you know, it's our most walkable area, so I just think we probably should make sure we are.
Yeah, and we do do inspections. We, as you know, through our sidewalk system throughout the city to analyze what our priorities are, and so we will send staff down there, specifically downtown, to have a look at, you know, some of the issues down there. There is a paper project that Bob has from the trail to Broadway. Broadway, yeah. I know that that area is also problematic, but we will send somebody down there to double check and make sure we're getting it.
Sounds good. Okay.
Yeah, that work will start probably in June, and as Jennifer, as the manager mentioned, that's a complete overhaul there, all new brick pavers in that area.
Okay, great. Okay, anyone in the audience wish to speak on this issue? If this would be your time to come forward, seeing no one coming forward, I will close public input, and I will go to CRA comments, and starting with the maker of the motion, which is Commissioner Sandbergen.
You know, Bob, you and I talked about a couple of things, maybe some kind of an update on the Skinner-Douglas vacant building.
Sure. I'm sorry. Are we talking? We haven't got to any report yet. We're doing something.
Yeah, this is just final comments on the carryover.
No, then I have nothing made. I'm sorry.
Okay, that's okay. And Commissioner Gow, final comments?
No comments.
Commissioner Degard?
Does this carry forward in any way affect our county match, and if it does, how so?
Yeah, no, it does not affect it. The key thing here is that the money is encumbered for projects. It's Grand Oak Park, Skinner, some of the others. So, no, it does not affect the county contribution on the tier. We have to show them, of course, we have the annual report next. We have to show them the performance, and that's what they really focus on, what's been started, what's been completed.
Is there any way such a carry forward, whether it's a large carry forward or a small carry forward, indicates some aspect of deficiency on our part?
No, they certainly understand that these are multi-year projects, some things are taking a little longer to complete. So, no, it doesn't affect our aspect with the county. In fact, we just went through the midterm review with them. It was a seven- or eight-year spot check, and everything came out very well, and they just approved the mid-year. So, we're in good shape.
Thank you very much, Bob. That's all I have, Mayor.
Okay. I don't have any other comments, so I think we do a roll call vote. Member Gow? Aye. Member Gow? Aye. Member Dugard? Aye. Member Sandbergen? Aye. And Chair Freyney? Aye. And that motion passed unanimously. Okay. So, we're going to go to fiscal year 2025, community redevelopment annual report, and we will immediately turn to Bob Ironsmith.
Thank you, Mayor. The annual report, we're going to make a little presentation. Carolyn here, as the economic development specialist, is going to go through the annual report. This is something that's done once a year. Okay. This is last year now, 2025. We're in the year we're in, and, of course, we're doing the budget for the following year. This basically is to show performance and data relative to how the CRA did through the year, and this goes to the county as well as it goes on our web, and it shows the results of what we've achieved. We've had a very good year. A lot of projects got started, and Carolyn's going to lead you through it. I'm going to participate here some, and then we'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have. So, Carolyn?
Hello, everyone. I wanted to start with a brief story about why I love my job, and I love reporting about how we're doing with all the projects. Coincidentally, so this dates back to 1982. I know a few of you were here also, but I just realized I was like the size of the little girl in the picture. It has nothing to do with why we chose that picture, but I'm calling that now 13 BB, 13 years before Bob. So, growing up here, we had Tulane 580. We'd cross to go to Two Scoops to get ice cream over by Granada. There was nothing. I mean, we liked it here, but there was really nothing downtown. We would use it as a pass-through to the beach. I know a lot of you know that, but it was interesting because in 95, I went off to college, and then when I came back, I could see things changing, but I didn't know there was this plan. And when I was interviewed for the job, it was, to me, very interesting that I could be behind the scenes of all that and help the city to continue with the plans to 2033, and hopefully there will be more work after that for me to do. But it's not just a job, and I really like this, so I hope you enjoy it. Good. Thank you. So, we're going to just do, like, a brief highlight of the year. And, again, you said that we're October 1st through September 30th, 24 crossed over to 25.
Good.
Okay. Yep. All right. So, the first few pages are standard. We had them last year. We update them as needed. With our intro and our vision, we have 217 acres, 637 parcels. We check with Mr. Wayne every year to make sure that that's accurate. And then this is, I'm sure, your favorite page, a very good-looking photo of our commissioners and mayor, just explaining to the outside world what we do and what a CRA is. And then we have Alan is our chair for the CRA advisory committee. We meet every other month, and they give a lot of good advice, and they like to, you know, contribute their opinion to what we're doing and help guide us a little bit. And I'm going to pass it to Bob for his director's summary.
Yeah. One of the things we do, of course, is the director's summary. And this is kind of interesting. You know, we had the Skinner project. We got the construction started, and we got it done ahead of time, five months ahead of time, which allowed us merchants to really experience a good September. You know, that was key for them. They had their Oktoberfest. They really needed the road open. And so we were very happy with that. The contractor, Des Moines, did a very nice job. Of course, the landscaping, irrigation, and underground utilities will happen toward the end of the year. So we're working with DOT and Duke on that. In addition, I know we've all spent a lot of time on Grand Oak Park. Okay, that work has started. The design all got taken place last year. And Maui is the contractor, and they're out there right now doing the work. So I look forward to that project. In addition, we've got the design done for the streetscape for Main Street that is from the trail to Broadway. There'll be new brick pavers. There'll be some landscaping. We'll have some twinkle lights out there. It's going to look really nice, so we're looking forward to that project. So all in all, it's really been a good year, a planning year, but also have some construction. Now, going forward, we'll complete those projects. But I think one of the nice things to know is we really don't have any vacancies downtown. If we do, they fill extremely quickly. The assessed taxable values have gone up tremendously here in the last couple of years. And we expect them to go up again with the Main Street Exchange. You all have sat on that project. Of course, it's been approved. That's a $30 million to $40 million mixed-use project. So downtown, very healthy, one of the strongest downtowns in the state of Florida. And we continue to keep that going, certainly with the commitment from the commission here and the CRA that's sustained. It's just been a really good journey. So that's kind of the highlights from the director's report, and that is one of my favorite pictures. You've seen that, I know, many, many times. But I think we lose track more for the public than the commission here seeing it. That's downtown in the 80s. Okay, here we are today. Of course, the chamber building there is on the corner. It's looking toward the east. And, boy, have we come really, really far. And why? Sustained commitment, vision, passion. Everyone's engaged. Everyone's been a team player on this. It takes a lot of many different organizations and staff to get to where we are today. And certainly want to thank all of them. But nice picture.
I'd like to focus on the completed projects because, to me, you have to complete them. It doesn't matter if you're starting them. Complete them. And we're working on a lot of pending ones. But the ones in fiscal year 2025 that we have annually that were completed were several facade grants Trevor helped us with. Downtown various amenity enhancements. Again, more of a Trevor project with the downtown benches, et cetera. The road work for Skinner, as Bob said, was finished before Oktoberfest. And we still have underground and utilities and the landscaping to work on. And then leased parking and jolly trolley service runs every year. We do that. So that's annual. And then the midterm reporting was finished so that we could extend the TIF funds to 2033.
I just want to add, too. Trevor just told me with the Toronto Blue Jays, you know, we had the remote site with shuttle service to the stadium. Trevor just said 4,000 people took that shuttle during spring training season. That's a big number. So thank you to BayCare, okay, allowing us to utilize their lot for the remote parking. And, boy, that's been very, very nice. Yeah, PSTA. Absolutely. Thank you, PSTA and Jolly Trawler. Yep. Thank you. Great.
Yeah, be careful of that.
Yeah, there you go. I brought you over there. There you go.
Got me. You've seen this many times, just the overall vision or image of all projects happening currently. So we're going to address that on other slides as well. So the Skinner project, for those that aren't aware, it was four lanes down to two. We added the roundabouts, bike lanes, widened sidewalks, the bus pull-off. And so that's just a Google image of the before and after.
And that's my favorite pictures.
And then the during, again, that was right before, it kind of happened very quickly, right before Oktoberfest. And the people on the corner were very concerned about that. So that was a big accomplishment. Again, annually, the Jolly Trawler service runs. And then Trevor had that sign installed in fiscal year 25 as well. And then we're very excited about Main Street Exchange coming into town with the rooftop bar, 89-room, boutique hotel, et cetera, et cetera. I know we've been talking about that a lot. So I threw in et cetera. All right. Back to Bob.
Yeah. The top picture is the proposed parking garage. Okay. That's currently in process. We're going to be coming before the commission on April 2nd. We need to amend an interlocal agreement with Pinellas County to increase some of the debt ceiling for the CRA. So we'll be coming to you shortly on that. Below is, of course, Grand Oak Park. I know we've spent a lot of time on that. And as I mentioned, a contractor in Malley is out there. But that parking garage is going to be key. I can see the activity and the amount of people we have downtown. We want to have more centralized locations. And we want to start to move away from these at-risk parking areas that are being redeveloped.
And very briefly, this is just our city, county, and other funds used for fiscal year 2025.
Yeah. This is just the audit. Each year, we have to do an audit. This one is unaudited that actually finance puts together for us. I work with the consultant. And, of course, I think this becomes finalized in the May or June time period. But, again, just a nice benchmark shows where some of the dollars are being used and what's being expended. Each year, we also look at our master goals from the master plan or CRA goals. Things that are in here are, like, improved walkability, improved parking. We have a facade program. Look at unutilized parcels. Look at redevelopment opportunities. So this is just kind of a list, if you will, of what we've accomplished during the year. That's it. And what I'd like to do at this time is the downtown market is here, Tiffany and her staff. And I'd like Tiffany to come up to the podium. We've been working with the downtown market, so Tiffany can come up, for over 15 years, and 15-plus. And they've done a great job. And I know we always get some questions on the downtown market. And I thought, you know what? Great opportunity to get Tiffany up here at the mic to kind of give you a little update. It's just been such a great asset. It brings people downtown. And people get to see the different shops, different stores, different restaurants. And they go ahead and they participate. So thanks, Tiffany.
Thank you, Bob. Appreciate it. I'm Tiffany for our day here with Tampa Bay Markets. And I want to introduce my team, Robert, and then Jeremy.
And we're the Saturday Market Management. And Jeremy is...
Is your microphone on there?
There's a mic button. Can you see a green light up there yet? Yes.
Push. There we go. Okay. So as I was saying, Jeremy is our Friday Market Manager. And Angela, his wife, is the Saturday Market Manager. And I am the owner and operations director for Tampa Bay Markets. First, I want to say thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to come up and give you a quick update. Just going to share some highlights about the market and what's going on. You know, at its core, the Dunedin downtown market is really about strengthening community and building economic vitality. Bringing people to downtown, supporting the businesses that make Dunedin really unique. One of the things that we want to emphasize is our goal is not just to promote the market itself. Our focus is really on supporting the broader ecosystem of local businesses in the downtown Dunedin district. The market serves as a draw. It brings people into the area and encourages them to explore everything that downtown has to offer. When people come to the market, we consistently encourage them to walk around, shop local, grab a drink, enjoy dinner, or visit some other businesses while they're here. In that sense, the market acts as a weekly driver of foot traffic, helping to introduce both residents and visitors to many businesses that make Dunedin super special. From a redevelopment perspective, that consistent foot traffic creates a ripple effect for the local economy. Visitors might come for the market, but they might stay to shop, dine, or spend time in downtown. That kind of activity benefits surrounding merchants and strengthens the vibrancy of the district. I want to touch on something that's new for us at the market. We have made a substantial effort to go towards sustainability and a green vendor initiative recently. A recent initiative we were especially proud of is our green vendor program. We launched it on Earth Day last year. The goal is to gradually reduce and ultimately eliminate the use of plastic bags, plastic straws, and styrofoam within the market. We've been working closely with our vendors to transition to more sustainable packaging options. When we launched the program, we collaborated on a community sponsorship with Dunedin-based BioBag of America. We allocated compostable bags to our vendors as alternatives for single-use produce and plastic bags. We also distributed over 15,000 free reusable tote bags to the market customers in Dunedin and across the markets that we operate to help customers transition away from single-use plastics. And I'll be honest with you, it's an uphill battle, but it's something that we are committed to continuing with our vendors and the community. This season, we are expanding this initiative through partnerships with the City of Dunedin and local sustainability organizations. We have been working specifically with Savannah Bunch and Renewable, a local company that provides composting services in Tampa Bay and to enhance the sustainability and environmental education at the market. Renewable now has, and the City of Dunedin, together they partnered, and they have a weekly presence every Friday with a tent on Virginia Street next to the market. They're providing composting services and educational resources for both vendors and customers. The composting station is located along the food row, making it easy for vendors to use while encouraging both vendors and customers to adopt better waste disposable practices. We're just really enthusiastic about this partnership because it allows the market to serve not only as a place for shopping, community gathering, but also a place where people can learn about sustainability in a very practical way. I'm not sure if anybody had a chance to attend it, but this past December, we had our first holiday night market series. I don't know if any of you got to go to it, but it was really great. We did two Thursday night evening events, but right before Christmas, the events were very successful and very well received by both vendors and customers. We boosted holiday sales and supported local businesses. Each event featured holiday gift items, treat vendors, specialty drinks, and had a live DJ performance. We created a festive, engaging atmosphere in downtown. It's already there anyway, the lights, and it just has that whimsical Christmas feel anyway in Pioneer Park. The holiday night market events were an important growth opportunity for the Dunedin Market brand, and we hope to continue those for the years to come. Some other things I want to say is that we're working more towards supporting local merchants and the vendors. We spend a lot of time each week connecting with potential vendors and local merchants and are interested in participating in the market. Angela and Jeremy specifically are working with them to try and determine the best setup for their business based available, you know, what's the best space for their business to get a highlight at the market. We were looking towards creating a rotational vendor spot for merchants to come in and be vendors for the day. We're just encouraging them to come out, you know, be part, give a sample of your donut or some ice cream and a coupon for the future or something like that. All participating vendors, I do want to mention, all participating vendors are required to have a commercial general liability insurance policy and state issued permits and or licensing for food safety and are in compliance with setting up at all the markets that we operate. Some other things that are fun to talk about is our enhanced social media and community engagement. We've simplified our social media strategy to focus on highlighting local businesses, vendors, and community events, creating engagement with the market audience. And one of the best things that's going lately is what the Roberts team has created is the fun initiative is called Dog of the Day. We call it DOD, which has quickly become a weekly favorite. It helps create a welcoming atmosphere and encourages people to spend more time in downtown. But everybody's loving the Dog of the Day. They'll take a picture of the dog at the market and post about it and the dog's name. And, you know, because it's dog-eating and everybody loves dogs, it's turned out to be a great hit. So we also encourage local merchants to tag at Dunedin Downtown Market when posting so we can reshare their content and help extend their reach to our audience. Operationally, we continue to work closely with the park staff to keep things running smoothly. Their support plays a key role in maintaining the park and providing a welcoming environment. A small gesture of appreciation, we would like to offer the park staff working Fridays and Saturdays a lunch coupon during an upcoming market day to thank them for their hard work. So that's something that's going to roll out. And that's pretty much it. You know, overall, we truly appreciate the opportunity to continue building the market in a way that supports local businesses and strengthens community connections. And we look forward to bringing more people to downtown Dunedin.
Great.
Thank you, Tiffany. Thank you, Tiffany.
Before you sit, though, we're going to go to general questions. But anybody have anything for Tiffany? Commissioner Sammer, go ahead.
I'm glad you showed up because I have had some inquiries. If someone wants to use the facility and be one of your vendors, is there a commitment, a length commitment, or can they just show up?
So it is a weekly market, and it's popular, right? So what happens is any vendor who wants to become a vendor at the Dunedin market, they first need to be approved through the Tampa Bay Markets organization at the top level. And what that means is they put in an organization application to us where our team reviews it and makes sure that they are the professional vendor that we're looking for. We're trying to make sure they have all their licensing. They have the proper tent, they have the weights, they have the banners, they have what we're, you know, they're a professional vendor. And so once they get through that and they have their insurance policy lined up and everything, then they have the opportunity to apply to any market that we operate under our umbrella, that being the Dunedin downtown market. They can apply to that. Once they apply, and depending on the timing of their application, there could be a wait list at the time. There might not be. We do all of our booking for the markets that we operate in the summertime. So we accept the majority of our market applications for returning vendors between May and end of June, and then around July until the end of August, we work on new vendor applications.
I think one of the things, too, though, we've worked very closely. We want to make sure there isn't any competition or concern by Merchant Downtown. I was coming to that. Right, yes. When we've had something happen, and it has happened, Tiffany's quick to address it.
Sure, absolutely. So, you know, they apply, and hopefully when they apply, there's, like, if we already have the produce vendor set for the season, another produce vendor applies, right, they probably won't get in. They'll get wait listed because we have that spot filled. But we do try, I think one of the things that's great is it's a weekly market, and it's two days, right? So we have an opportunity to bring in something fresh and new every week, and we're starting to do a lot more. You're going to see into next season, you're going to see some of the vendors that have been there every single week are now going to be there, you know, maybe every other week so that we can give more opportunity to other vendors that have applied.
Okay, and how about an assignment of their spots? It seems to be the same group on that Douglas sidewalk and Virginia Lane. Yep. Do you rotate them?
Yep. So the goal is to rotate them. Okay. It's funny, though, because when you get into working in a market atmosphere, some people, they come to the market one day, and they're booked in, say, spot number 36, and they sold out. I want that spot every week, right? And so sometimes we will make a decision to keep a vendor in a spot because it is working really well. Other times we want to make a change because we want to switch it up. Pete, we've noticed that customers are a creature of habit. If the vendor who's the big bread vendor in the middle of the market, if they're not right there and I moved them to the other side of the park, you'd be amazed because people will automatically think they didn't come and they'll walk out. Right. And they don't walk around the whole market to try and find that special bread vendor. So consistency is good, and we've seen our customers are creatures of habit. But it's a delicate balance because you do need to change it up, you know? So you have to have a little bit of the same stuff every week, and then you have to have a little bit of stuff that's different.
Okay. And I'm really glad you're here and brought to your managers because I recently had a citizen ask me. So maybe I can talk to them. Managers are available when the market's open if there is a question or a concern? Yes. Okay. Is it recognizable? Somebody walked in, said, I'm looking for the manager?
Yes.
Does it have a table they sit at?
So our managers wear a polo that says Tampa Bay Markets, most likely a hat. We have our booth as a small table. So I'm looking to upgrade the booth display a bit. But it is a table right now, sometimes with an umbrella. Depends on the season. If it's rainy season, you'll see an umbrella. It's right at the front across from the sign that says Pioneer Park. So it's at the very front entrance of the market. I recognize where it is.
Yeah. Okay, good. I just wanted to, I mean, I, you know, I walk by it every day. So I just wanted to make sure for that out-of-towner. Last thing, I guess maybe you can jump in and help me out. Jen, you know, there's a lot of trash that's generated down there. And I see our staff, are they reimbursed by these folks or is that us? Okay.
Parks, it's the Parks Department does remove the trash. I think what happens is, is it depends. Some days we have a slower trash day and other days, you know, it's very busy and a lot of people, you know, there's just more trash than there was, say, the week before. You know, we just have to be in communication with the Parks Department, make sure that they might need to come by and do like a one o'clock pickup before, like another pickup at three o'clock instead of just one in the morning. And, you know, a setup in the morning and then a pickup at the end of the day.
No, I'm glad you're here. I was glad those are questions that I've had. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate your help. Absolutely. Thank you, Tiffany.
Yeah. Jeff, Commissioner DeGuard. Kevin.
Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I consider what you guys do a community asset. Thank you. I know a lot of my friends, when they come visit, they love coming down to the market. It's been an area of interest. And thank you for what you guys do.
Thank you.
We have a number of construction projects in the area. Yes. I was concerned about how they might impact you. How do you feel they will impact you in the future?
Well, as far as I understand it, the construction project that's going to happen at Ocean Optics Lot, that one specifically is right across the street. I think it's a great project. I think the concept, I believe it's a hotel and boutique stores, right? A food court, maybe, I think I heard. I think that's a major draw to the city. I think it's going to help create, our market is only going to benefit from that. Our parking for our vendors isn't necessarily affected. I think the customer parking more so could be affected. But I know there's a parking garage going down the street, too. And I think that that's going to be a great help. So, you know, we have some vendors that have trailers and that can't park down in the, they call it the, what's that lot off of Douglas there behind? Scotland? Yeah. Yeah. We have the church parking lot. Right, in the church parking lot. But there's maybe like a handful of vendors that are parking Ocean Optics Lot because they have large trailers. So we will need to find a solution for those vendors who have, you know, larger vehicles. But I think as long as we can provide the best education to the customer to get them their parking spot so they can enjoy the market and enjoy the merchants in downtown, I think that's the bigger thing we need to solve.
Trevor and Matt are working on this right now, actually looking at opportunities. So we'll continue to coordinate with Tiffany.
Yeah.
I'm extremely impressed with your sustainability project. Thank you. And what you're doing there. Plastic bags. Are you continuing plastic bags or are you going to cease them?
So it's sort of an uphill battle because when we launched it, you know, I would walk through the market and there were no plastic bags to be seen. And what happens is, is it's not, you know, I operate 16 markets under Tampa Bay markets umbrella, right? But the vendors, they may participate in one or five of my events, right? But they go to other events. I'm not the only company that operates markets and events. And when they go to other events, there's not a mandate, there's, they're allowed to use plastic bags. So what happens is, is somebody else might be running the booth for the day and they show up with the supplies that came from the other market that they were operating and the plastic bags made their way to the tent display. So, you know, we've had to go around and police a bit to say, hey, you know, this is part of, you know, we have a green vendor program. It needs to be compostable. And then just making sure, you know, we've got to get them out of their habit of just buying the plastic t-shirt bags and focusing on the alternatives. So we've been working with Dunedin's BioBag and they've given us a code. They're great to work with. Um, they've given us an Amazon coupon code and it refreshes every couple months and, uh, our vendors can order their bags online, uh, through Amazon. And then there's other bag options that we've given them. Um, but most vendors actually have turned to using paper bags or just no bags at all, which is great. Um, with the tote bags that we gave out, you know, that 15,000 tote bags, there's so many tote bags, um, the customers absolutely love them. And we're actually working with that group. They're based out of Canada to get another run of those bags delivered to us for 2026 so that we can keep offering that free tote bag. Um, and, and it's great because it has Dunedin businesses on it that are advertising and whatnot. So that's a great thing. Um, so it, it's an uphill battle and, um, you know, it's, I didn't expect it to just, you know, right overnight turn into no plastic bags, no plastic straws or styrofoam. But, um, you know, I think most of the vendors are on board. We just have to try and get the ones who aren't on track.
Thank you for that answer. Um, as you can probably see, we will have a lot of construction in the area for about two years, maybe even a little longer.
Yeah.
Um, when you have the loss of that much parking, you're, I know your vendors get there early and they're going to take up everything they can and get as close as they can because that's normal.
Sure.
Um, it would be great if you would kind of partner with us through this period of time and just let us know what your challenges are so that we can mutually find solutions because those customers are our citizens a lot of times. Right. And so we're trying to make their experience as positive as possible as well.
Absolutely. Um, one of the ideas I had was, um, to create a parking map just for the market to help show where vendors go and where the options for customers are, where it's, there's no charge and then there's, you know, parking that has a fee to it and constantly push that on our social media, maybe have it printed out and laminated at the market. Um, I think, you know, the more we talk about it, the better.
Thank you so much. And again, I appreciate what you do.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Tiffany. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Okay.
Bob, Bob, I think your microphone is not on. Yeah.
No, I just want to mention, I'm going to add an order there a little bit. I should have had, uh, definitely under director's report instead of under the annual report. So I apologize.
That's okay. We're going to do, um, yeah, don't worry about that. Um, we're going to do questions on the overall report and I'm going to start over here, uh, with commissioner. Yeah. Overall report questions. Do you have any?
Uh, no.
Okay. Commissioner DeGuard, overall report questions.
Thank you, mayor. Um, I'm looking at the slide deck. I think it's slide number, oh gosh, 10 of 24 of Dunedin downtown today and in 1980. Did you paint that sagebrush in the first picture? Is that where that whole myth came from? You're painting of that sagebrush right there? Commissioner Flores shot that in. I thought you might have. I'm surprised you didn't have a cow or something walking downtown. That's good. And on a more serious note, when I'm looking at your project map, uh, that is slide 12 of 24. I'm very interested in the concept going on at UFMC. What can you tell me about that? Yeah. First United Methodist Church continues to look at, uh, a couple of opportunities that might
be there. Either the church itself is out parcel or maybe perhaps the church building could be repositioned. Uh, the church has many layers. Uh, similar to, uh, government, I guess. And, uh, they haven't come to any final decisions, any shape or form. We just stay in contact with them. We met with them last week. Uh, actually this week we met with them. Excuse me. And, uh, they don't have any finalized plans by any means. Very early. Very early. Thank you.
Just keep us informed.
I will do that.
That's all I have, Mayor.
Okay. And Commissioner Gow does have a question.
Yeah. Now that, now that Tom brought up the, no, I was going to wait until the director's report, but, um, the mixed use. Yes. Uh, what's the current gas on that? So what, what, what, what can we see there?
On the Main Street Exchange, you mean? No, no, no.
It looks like the problem of what Tina is doing.
Oh, yeah. Uh, certainly. Uh, they should call on it to, I'm sorry. They're calling it to Trailside. This is the project right behind, uh, Casa Tina's and, uh, GW Salon. Uh, she's continuing to look and refine some of her conceptual drawings. And she has a team of consultants. Uh, we've had dialogue with them. And she's looking to go forward. She's looking at a restaurant, uh, maybe some B&B, maybe a retail. It's very, very fluid at this point in time. The restaurant is probably a little bit more permanent. And we continue to work with her to see how this fits within the downtown envelope.
How many stories do you think?
Uh, I think, no, I think her kids were three stories is what she was looking at. It was three stories. If my research would be right.
And as, uh, in addition to this project, are there any thoughts about what she might want with, uh, where Casa Tina's is? And I, does she own that whole, uh, uh, she doesn't own the whole thing.
Uh, excuse me. Uh, she owns Panavino, owns, uh, Casa Tina, uh, back in the day bookstores owned by someone else. And then the GW salon is owned by Gregory Brady. Yeah. So she does not own the whole thing behind it. Uh, she does. And we just contributed as an incentive to get the old feed store down. Uh, we, she got a demolition grant for that. And now she's looking at plans to redevelop that section, but that whole area she owns from Douglas to the trail.
Right. So from Casa Tina back in the day and GW, that's all one building though, right? Uh, those aren't separate buildings.
No, they're separate. I believe they're separate buildings. Yeah. I believe they're separate buildings. Yeah. I believe they are. Uh, because, uh, the, the, uh, back in the day bookstores owned by a gentleman, uh, uh, up, up in New York and, um, actually a cancer doctor. Yeah. Excuse me, uh, Dr. Patey, long time, a family in, in downtown. And then of course, Greg Brady owns GW salon. So not the business. He sold the business, but he owns the building.
Okay. Yeah. Very good. Thank you.
That's it.
Uh, commissioner Sandberg questions about the whole report.
Just going along with, um, what these guys brought up, uh, there's still two buildings on that property on the Douglas side. Is the demolition done or are those next two buildings coming down also?
Uh, she hasn't planned for that, but if she, with her redevelopment concept, yes, they would come down.
Okay.
But right now it was a feed store. That seemed to be, uh, uh, something that certainly was some pressure on from the community to get that building. Right.
Okay. That's all I had, mayor. Thanks.
Uh, I just have a couple of questions. Um, so Skinner utilities, the undergrounding of the utilities, is that, where's that at?
Uh, we continue to work with Duke. Uh, I think they had a pre-con meeting this week. Um, they're moving forward. They want to get their pedestals in place. They're saying probably by the end of summer, fall, they get their utilities done and landscaping for DOT end of the year.
And how many people are not willing to do it?
At this point in time, we have, uh, one. Is that correct, Trevor? We have one on Skinner itself that is not participating at this point in time. Everyone else, we had, uh, I think, uh, Trevor knows better than I do, but I think we had like 16. I think we have 15, uh, easements. We worked with, uh, attorney, uh, Jen Callen to go ahead and get those signed, but we have one that has not participated. We've had, uh, meetings with them. Uh, we even, uh, send in Jorge, uh, the deputy city manager, but, uh, we have not got that one done yet. We're hoping that we can continue to meet and maybe get them to come on board with us. We have looked at the impact. If they don't participate, it's, uh, a couple of polls that would stay up, which isn't great.
I don't get it because it actually improves their property value. I just don't understand.
It absolutely improves their property.
So if there's anything I can do or anyone of us, I'm sure that we'll, you know, happy to help. I mean, obviously, I mean, I know that particular owner.
Absolutely. We've done tap out with ourselves. It was certainly, we would look for any help that we can get on that one. Yeah.
Yeah. I understand it.
Um, I think there was some frustration that, you know, with any construction that happens, there's going to be some, uh, inconvenience and some business interruption. And, uh, we recognize it, but we think from this point on, they're going to do very well. They have a lot more exposure than what they had before.
Hmm. Interesting. Um, okay. Um, the graphs in Pioneer Park, how are we doing with the graphs?
I haven't been out there personally. I'd have to probably talk to, to parks and all, uh, about that. I know the, uh, what we did with the redesign of, of John O. Lawrence Park has helped quite a bit, but I really don't know the current status. I have to ask parks about that one.
Okay. Can you let us know how that's going? Sure. Absolutely. I mean, honestly, every time I go by it, it's covered. So, yeah, I'm concerned about it, but I don't, I haven't looked at it to that level.
So, uh, typically what we've done, I'll certainly make the call, is we typically refresh that park, uh, after the market is, is done and they move in the summer to the museum area. So I think that's a perfect opportunity, mayor, for us to refresh it. And, uh, I think we can help with that. So I'll talk with the parks director.
Okay. Um, I don't have any other questions. I'm going to open it to public comment. Anyone in the audience wish to come forward and speak on this issue? Seeing no one, I will close public comment and I would like to have a motion.
So moved. Second.
Second.
Okay.
And final comments, make of the motion, Commissioner Zembergen.
Nope. I'm just very proud of the downtown and, uh, things are good. We have, you know, people that want to be downtown and, uh, this time of the year, it's busy and I think it's very satisfied. So thank you.
Commissioner Gall, final comments?
No comments.
Commissioner DeGuard, final comments?
Thank you, mayor. Yes. Um, where we stand because of the work you and your team have done is on the edge of something, I think, very, very special. Our downtown is going to be, and I don't even think I want to use the term Disney-esque, but that's what comes to mind in about three years. And getting from that sagebrush picture to where we are today is an incredible accomplishment. And even Carolyn can be proud of that. Thanks for what you guys are doing.
Well, Commissioner, we've got a great team. We've had sustained commitment throughout the years with the commission. You know, Pinellas County is our partner. They've been helping funding all these years. It's funny, we as a team met with Ford Pinellas, who was doing the assessment of downtown Palm Harbor, and saying, how'd you guys get there? And so we spent some time with them. And, you know, to me, it's a couple of key ingredients. Sustained funding, sustained commitment, doing small projects every year. You've got to have boots on the ground. What I have seen personally with some other municipalities is two things that I don't think work well. They do major public works projects and say, we're done. It's up to the merchants. The other thing I see is they don't have a team. They'll have someone like a community development director, George Kinney, who does very good at what he does. You can't do both jobs. And so I always respect the city manager and the commission giving me the opportunity to work with a team to help make the change. You cannot do redevelopment, economic development, build relationships, and do building, permitting, code enforcement, and all those other things that go with it. And to me, that's what makes the difference. The other aspect is we've delineated and demarcated the downtown. It's targeted. It's focused. Newport Ritchie, the whole city, is a redevelopment zone. That doesn't really work well. And I think the other aspect is we've slowed traffic down and we've added the amenities. So it all has added up to what we have today. And it's really pretty cool.
Okay. Well, you just said it all. So I'm going to leave my comments. I'm very proud of the downtown. And it continues to go well and thrive and just need to make sure we keep up with the maintenance issues as well. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passed unanimously. Okay. Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee membership recommendation. It says staff presentation, but it's just the one. You're just recommending Dr. Zervos, right?
That's correct.
Okay. So I think the motion on the table, staff's recommending approving the Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee membership point Dr. Terry Zervos to a partial alternate term ending 3-1-2028. Could I have my motion?
So moved. Second.
Okay. And I would ask if anyone in the public has any comments. Okay. Seeing no one coming forward, I have a closed public comment. And all in favor?
Aye. Aye. Aye.
Aye. Any opposed? Motion passed unanimously. Okay. Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee chair report. And I believe Mr. McHale, Alan McHale is here.
Good afternoon, Mayor, Commission, or members. I'm City staff, Alan McHale, and I'm the chairman of the CRA Advisory Committee. Please excuse the dress code today. I did just come from the game. And I had a couple of observations when I was there. On a personal note, I've been in a number of stadia around the world, both in Europe and in the United States. And I have to say that Dunedin is one of the nicest I've ever been in. It's clean. It smells good. The people are polite. The service is exceptional. And my only kind of adverse comment is that the audience are very polite. And that's unusual in a sporting environment. And I wonder if they're really paying attention or if they're really just enjoying the occasion. But it was a terrific day and a great advert for Dunedin. And just on the visitors to Dunedin, for my sins, I volunteered at the Chamber Visitor Center on a Tuesday. And this past Tuesday was the highest number of visitors that we have on record. 233 people coming in between 11 o'clock and 4 o'clock, which was a terrific day. And they came from Europe, they came from South America, they also came from almost every state in the United States. It was a really busy day and it was cold, so that was driving people in. But there was no game on, it was just people in the downtown area, which was terrific. From the advisory committee perspective, it's been relatively quiet for us. Bob will go through all the different projects that are going on right now. So, as Commissioner Dugard mentioned earlier on, there is some concern about the amount of disruption that we're going to get in the downtown area when these major projects kick off. Because if you take Douglas, for example, just now, the traffic on Douglas can come to a dead stall from one semi in the morning. Now, you're going to have several semis coming and you're going to also have service vehicles going in and out of the construction sites. So, that's going to be a major issue. We'll have to work our way through it, but if there's anything we can do to try and help that, our committee would like to see something on that. On the Skinner Boulevard project, that's been fantastic, but there's now some concern about the speed of some of the vehicles coming down Skinner coming from Main Street. In particular, across the traffic lights at Bass Boulevard from 580 moving into Skinner, it's a racetrack because you've got two lanes where people are jockeying to get into that one lane. And just by watching, there's a police sign down the road that measures the speed, the amount of vehicles that have to slam on their brakes because they've been racing to get into that one single lane to go down the street is quite concerning. So, the idea of actually slowing down the traffic has been mentioned as maybe not being as successful to date as it might have been or we might expect. We also saw the annual report, and there was no adverse comments on that, and you've just mentioned Dr. Terry Zervos that's coming back onto the committee. We're delighted to see him come back. We take the nominations last in, first out. The people who have registered their interest, we take the oldest one first. So, Terry, he applied on the 25th of January last year, and we're happy to see him come forward. And basically, that's it for the committee report. I'm happy to answer questions, but other than the Main Street Exchange moving forward and the items I've mentioned, the conversation has been very positive. So, nothing untoward.
Any questions?
Interesting about the number of people that come in the chamber. What's an example of what they come in looking for?
Well, the two main ones are, is this a public restroom? And, can you explain the trolley? When does it leave? And I said it doesn't. Actually, you're stuck in here in Dunedin. We don't want you to leave. But, yeah, how the trolley works. And they've changed their timetable. It used to be easy. The top of the hour, it went to Tarpon. The bottom of the hour, it went down to Clearwater Beach. And I could tell them that way. Now, I actually have to give them the timetable and tell them that that's what it is. We get a number of inquiries of people looking for rentals for next year. Some have registered or want to register interest in opening a business in the downtown area. And I refer them up to Bob's area for that. And where would you recommend for lunch? And that's a difficult one because, as far as I'm concerned, there are no bad restaurants in downtown Dunedin. The fact that we've got a waiting list for people to come in if a restaurant fails means that the general standard is higher than you would probably find under any other circumstances. So, just general questions. What's to do in Dunedin? I create a monthly report on what's going on in that month. So, by the last Tuesday of every month, I'll have what's on in Dunedin for the following month. And I think there's 160 different events on in the downtown area in March alone. So, I list that. I give them that as a handout. And any information we've got, we try our best to leave them, have them leave happily. That's a perfect answer. Thank you. It's the greatest volunteer job in the city. I love it. Apart from the SAS.
Any other questions? Maybe. Okay. Now I don't have any questions. So, thank you very much, Alan.
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Okay. We'll go to, we have like three minutes until it's dinner time. So, Community Redevelopment Agency Director's Report.
Very quick, Mayor, Commission. Obviously, you cover a lot of ground. I'll be happy to answer any questions. We've got seven years left in the CRA until it sunsets in 2033. I think one of the things I really wanted to emphasize is after that time period, there'll be increases each year. It'll be about $1.5 million coming to the general fund and $1.5 million to the county. So, we've been stewards to creating value. So, this is probably one of the best government programs where you get rewarded for performance. And that's what we've done. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Okay. Any additional questions for Bob?
No questions.
Okay. I don't think we have any. So, well, now we have two minutes. So, meeting adjourned.