Okay, going to call the meeting to order. Got everybody's attention. Good afternoon. Welcome to the May 22nd, 2025 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. Calling the meeting to order. And we'll start with citizen input. And is anyone in the audience who wishes to come and speak on an item that is not on the agenda? And I see no one. So we'll move on to the new business section. We have the draft minutes from March 20th, 2025 Community Redevelopment Agency. Are there any changes? Okay. And hearing none, can I have a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. Second. Okay. And all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. Now we'll go to CRA Resolution 2501, Fiscal Year 2024, Community Redevelopment Agency carry forward budget amendment in the amount of $1,108,165.40. And if I could have Jen, if you'd read CRA Resolution 22-01 by title only. Resolution 25-01, a resolution of the City 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 for fiscal year beginning October 1, 2024, and ending September 30, 2025, and providing for an effective date hereof. That was Resolution 25-01, read by title only. Okay. Could I have a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. Commissioner Sandbergen and Vice Mayor Gao. Okay. And I will turn it to Les for staff presentation. Over here. Yep. It's really Bob Ironsmith, Economic Development Director. Okay. Or Bob. That works. Yeah. That's fine. We have Les Tyler, our finance director. Les obviously prepares the budget. This is something actually you've seen before. And I think Les can go ahead and add a little bit more information relative to this carry forward. Sure. Thank you. Good evening. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioner, this is Les Tyler, the finance director. And as mentioned, this is item 24-1, and this is amending the Fiscal Year 25 Community Redevelopment Agency Fund. The total dollar amount is $1.1 million in the CRA fund. And just some brief background. The purpose of the carry forward budget amendment is that we have outstanding encumbrances and projects at the end of last year, September 30, 2024, that were invoiced and shipped as of September 30, 2024, but we had not paid the invoices. So we carry those encumbrances over, and we also carry our projects over that have not been completed. The total dollar amount of the encumbrances were $37,000, and the total dollars for the projects were $1,070,000. And I want to mention that this carry forward information for the CRA fund was presented to your city commission on March 4, 2025, where we had carryover amendments for the CRA fund and all of the city funds where we discussed this, but we also have to make sure we present this to the CRA board as well. The impact on the fund balance of the CRA is a result of the carry forwards as shown on the last page in this attached staffing report. And the CRA fund still has an available reserve of over the target amount of 15%. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you. Yeah, excuse me, if I might add. One of the things that's occurring is we have multi-year projects. All these projects are not being complete in one year. Whether it's Skinner or what have you, they're going into two or three-year type format. So that's what's occurring. Great. Thank you both. Okay, any questions for Les or Bob? I'll start over with Vice Mayor. Yeah, Bob, without making a big story, and I don't mean that negatively, just can you walk us through, like, on the downtown meeting removal when we might expect to see that? Certainly. On the pavers when we might expect. We know about Skinner Boulevard. We know about the adaptive use. Certainly, Vice Mayor. When you're talking about the meeting, you're talking about Douglas, correct? The one that's in here? Yeah. That is something that we're looking to do in conjunction with the Main Street project, the old Ocean Optics. So we don't want to go in there until we find out exactly how their site plan develops, how they do the bus pull-off, and all those things. So we kind of put that off. As far as the streetscape on Main, this was from the trail to Broadway. We're going to go ahead and push that back into next year. We didn't want to go ahead and rip up another road at the same time we have Skinner going on with detours. So we pushed it off to probably right after the 4th of July for next year. So we have it designed. It's shovel-ready. But we're going to go ahead and do that next summer. Okay. And so next year is next fiscal year. Yes, that's correct. Right. So these are things that we budgeted last year. Correct. So we'll have to carry it over again. Correct. Okay. That's correct. We didn't want to have two major roads ripped up at the same time. Okay. We already got quite a bit with Skinner. All right. Wonderful. That's all. Thank you, sir. Sure. Commissioner Sandbergen. The existing City Hall adaptive reuse, why is that on there twice? What does that mean? That is the, obviously we call it the former City Hall pocket park. We're finishing up design on that. That is carrying out a little longer than what we expected, so that also is a carry forward. We kind of got two steps with that project or two phases. I know we came before you. We have the park itself, which is the brick pavers, the seating, the pergola, things like that. And then we also have approximately 500,000 thereabouts for the bathrooms. That will be phase two. If you recall, getting the bathrooms is a modular type unit with decorative facing to it. That's going to take seven months to get that delivered. So this one is also carrying forward. So that's why I mentioned all these projects are kind of becoming multi-year. Is there any movement on that property? Is there any time on the old City Hall property? The old City Hall, we expect to finish up the design here quite shortly and then go out for the bids. So I expect to help get that thing started here in the late fall is what our goal would be done by the end of the year. That's the goal. And then the bathrooms would follow through if the commissioner approves it in the spring of next year. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Commissioner Walker. Yeah, I think my questions were covered. Okay. Okay. Commissioner Dugard. Same for me. Thank you. Okay. And I don't have any additional questions. So I will open it up to public input. Anyone in the audience wishing to come forward? Joan, you want to come forward? No, just kidding. Okay. Seeing no one, I'll close to public input. And I'll ask if anyone has any comments. The maker of the motion was Commissioner Sandbergen. I have no additional comments, Mayor. Okay. And seconder was Vice Mayor? No comments. Commissioner Walker? No comments. Commissioner Dugard? No comments. And I have no comments either. So I will call for all in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Liz. I'm sorry, Mayor. Oh, wait. Sorry. It was a roll call vote. Sorry about that. Roll call vote. I knew I was saying that wrong and doing it wrong. So it's all good. I'm like, did I type it wrong? I couldn't have. I think we know when the roll call is going. Yeah. I had a moment. So it's all good. Commissioner Dugard? Aye. Commissioner Walker? Aye. Vice Mayor Gow? Aye. Commissioner Sanbergen? Aye. And Mayor Freeney? Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. As I was saying it, though, I'm thinking, wait, that was an ordinance. Wait. Nope. A resolution, rather. Okay, so we're going to go to the CRA midterm report update per ordinance 12-26, and we'll just go ahead and kick off to a staff presentation by Mr. Herronsmith. Certainly. A little history here. This is an informational item. When we went to the county to extend the CRA, if you recall, the city CRA was going to go ahead and sunset in 2018. And we talked to the county and said, gee, you want to extend it 15 years. We have more to do. And they went ahead and extended it to 2033, per this ordinance 12-26, but they said, guess what? We want a midterm performance review. We want you to come back in 25 and show us how you went ahead and mitigated blighting influences, how your TIF is doing, how your economic is doing, how your projects are doing. So in concert with that, we went ahead and retained a consultant and prepared the report that's attached to your staffing in which the cover page is highlighted here. This is something that you'll see it was Wade Trim that prepared it. The next one kind of gives you an idea of the things that were in the midterm that we needed to go ahead and report on. You can do the next slide for me. Thank you. You'll see the performance of TIF, the effectiveness of the downtown master plan. It was downtown master plan 2033. We had a capital section that was in that, which included things like Skinner, the downtown parking garage, so on and so forth. So where we are today is to submit this midterm review to staff at the county, and then from there, they'll eventually go to the county commission, and they'll go ahead and deliberate on it, and hopefully everything goes well. And then in companion with that, at a later date, is something called the interlocal agreement between the city of Dunedin and also the CRA and Pinellas County, which basically is saying we have more projects to do, we want to take on some debt. Originally, when we did the interlocal, we had about $4.1 million of debt in there for the property purchase at Scotland and Douglas. We certainly know with the proposed parking garage that we're going to have to take on additional debt in order to do that. That's something where that interlocal will need to be amended, and I'll be working with the city manager and city attorney relative to that, and then the county, again, will have to deliberate on that. But we're hoping, you know, we fought kind of a battle last year with the city attorney and city manager to keep the TIF in place at the 95% level. We're hoping that we can go ahead and succeed in doing that again. So this midterm review is kind of the start of it. We think we've got a great success story in Dunedin. We're achieving what we expected to achieve, and we're looking to continue more on with Skinner, the downtown parking garage. Of course, the property has already been purchased, but this is something that we wanted to go ahead and present to you, that we will present to staff at the county, and then from there, it'll continue to move forward. So I wanted to go ahead and get that to you. But that's just basically a little bit of history. We were very, very fortunate at the time that we did this to get that 15-year extension. We did this in 2012, 2013. Today, we would not get it. I can assure you of that. Their positioning has changed. In fact, I was watching just a little bit of Tarpon Springs, who wants to do a second CRA district in a very blighted area, and this is just for them to preliminary get going. It was a 4-3 at the county level. So we're not taking anything for granted at this point in time. It's something we're going to have to work very hard at. But that's a midterm review. We've exceeded expectations along all lines. The only one probably that we still have not been able to achieve, although we look at opportunities, is affordable housing downtown. And I'm hoping the success of the flats will get people to take a look at our downtown, and we can look at some type of mixed-use project that would include an affordable housing component. I think affordable housing as a standalone is maybe out of reach, but I think it's part of a mixed-use that we might be able to get that. And we continue to look at opportunities, and we continue to put seed money away for that. So that just kind of gives you an idea. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have on this midterm review. It's a nice little summary of performance that the CRA has accomplished over the years, and it's really a testament to the commission, the merchants, the chamber, city staff, everyone included, to get to where we are today. Okay. Commissioner Walker, you have questions? No, probably more comments than questions. Okay. Commissioner Dugard? And Vice Mayor? No questions. And Commissioner Sandberg? No questions, Mayor. Okay. Well, I think I have something. So it's well done, though, I will say. So just a couple things that's kind of flagged in my head, most of which Jennifer answered. But, Bob, the status of the crosswalk closer to Sandpiper. Yes. We did look at it. We did get it designed. We went out to bid on it, and it had no bidders. So what we were looking to do is to tie it into another project. Perhaps we can tie it into something else that's coming up. So it's all been done. We just haven't been able to get a bidder for it. Okay. You know, I have a personal opinion about that one. Oh, no. I certainly don't. But I do think it's a really important spot to have it. Any time, for me as a planner, any time we slow traffic down, we put it in crosswalks and make it more walkable, the better we do. So I think these type of crosswalks are important. Just unfortunately, we didn't get a bidder. But everything is designed. So we hope to go ahead and pair it with another project. Got it. Got it. And the prototype sandwich board design, is that? I think Jennifer talked to me a little bit about that. But we're just trying to do some kind of model for the chalkboard concept or? I don't know if George is. I'm going to ask Jennifer for help here. Yeah, that was a while ago that we did that, too, is when we were adopting the chalk sandwich boards that we were looking at some sort of a prototype so that folks could just pick it up and set it out. So, but it's not a big dollar amount, as I recall, in there. No, I mean, the biggest thing was people were violating it. I mean, you know, you go to some place like Asheville, it's very cool how they do it. Very eclectic. Versus if you don't do it like that, it's not eclectic at all. It's sign clutter. So. It was really designed, Mayor, if you recall, when we went to the chalk sandwich boards to provide some consistency and some help to folks who were concerned about signage. Yeah. Okay. It definitely had Tommy on, so no doubt. It was in your report, so. Yeah. I had to bring it up, you know. So, and when did you say this actually goes to the county? We're looking to get to the county here pretty shortly. You know, in fact, we sent a little bit of a draft to them already to take a look at. If you remember, we had the annual report, which got complete and got approved here. We've also sent them kind of a draft. We haven't heard any feedback from them yet on this midterm. I think they're going through some new staff changes and also how they're going to report and review all this. Right. I think there's definitely pressure that I feel within the county relative to how these CRAs are doing and why are we losing that revenue stream. And, you know, it's up to the various cities to show how beneficial it is. From my perspective... I can't blame him. I can't blame him for that. I can't blame him, but I'm going to go ahead and just say this. You know, the way the CRA works, and, of course, I know we're facing some of the stuff up with the state, too, legislation. We're stewards to create value. And all this value that's created comes back to the county, comes back to the city. If we left it going like that, everything would kind of decline. So, to me, it's one of the best measures that's out there. If you don't do well, property values don't go up, you don't get that type of revenue stream. We are now at $305 million is the assessed property value downtown, probably one of the largest assets within the city. This started in 1988 at $35 million, so you can see a tremendous increase over a period of time. And the county will be a beneficiary of that, as well as the city, when the CRA sunsets in 2033. And I think what we have to keep in mind is that if there isn't that focused attention, if we believe that local government knows best, and I'm certainly of that ideology, local government knows how to target, how to focus. I report directly to the city manager and to you all, we can make things happen. You know, the county is a big organization, and things can get lost in the shuffle. Am I saying too much? No, you're good. That's the way I feel. Did you give him the eye or something? No, I didn't get the eye. No. Okay, just making sure. I know the look. I did not get the look. That was not the look. That was not the look. That was me getting a little insecure. I love it. That's awesome. I just think local government knows best. One of the things that served our CRA very well is we're small. We're 217 acres. We are targeted. We are focused. We do incremental projects every year. You heard me say that all the time, incrementalism. Some places like Newport Ritchie, the whole city is one CRA, and it's lost in the shuffle. And I think we've been able to accomplish this stuff downtown, and we're doing stuff outside downtown too. I know people tend to target that way, but the affordable housing, the Patricia Avenue, the nice decorative fence that Trevor did on 580, we're doing things outside too. But downtown certainly is one of the pride and joys, I think, for the city, and we stay focused. Great. Did you want to go on for 10 more minutes, or are you good? Oh, wow. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I don't want to get the look. I don't want to get the look. No, you will get the look. Okay. I don't want to get the look. You'll probably get the look from all of us. Yeah. That's it. Okay. All right. If there's no more questions, no more questions, right? I'm going to open it for public comment. Anybody in the audience wish to come forward to speak on this issue, this report? Seeing no one, I will close public comment, and I will ask for a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. And Commissioner Sandbergen, and I will turn for comments, starting with the maker of the motion, Commissioner Walker. Thank you, Mayor. So I do have questions related to the prototype sandwich board design. Are you kidding me? Well, we don't have to talk about it now. Your time's passed for a question challenge. My direction is going more towards the ordinance itself, but that's a topic for another day. Wow. Okay. But I do want to say that, you know, I'm just continually impressed with the administration of this CRA program. I, you know, it's just, you, it's amazing what we've accomplished as a result of this. And I guess I do have one question. When you said that four to three vote, I went quick. I did. I did say. I could guess. I could guess. Was it four or against? Oh, I'm sorry. It was approved four to three. Okay. But there was a lot of dialogue and a lot of discussion. See, aren't you glad I asked that question? I'm glad you asked because I was thinking it went there. No, it was a four to three. This was just a start, the ability to look at a CRA district in Tarpon that is very much blighted. But it's kind of, you know, one of the things you do when you're a staff person is kind of get a feel where the county is. I mean, they're a big partner for us. And I have to say, we would never get to where we are without Pinellas County being a partner and contributing all these years. I'm just a little bit, I'm cautious conservative. And, you know, my friend Les here is too. And, you know, we look at how things are going to play out and what do we need to do to attend to it. So. Yeah. Do you know who voted which way? I don't. I know one commissioner that was a strong no, but I don't know if I should. I just took my guess, but I'll wait and see, you know. I don't want to get the stink eye. So I know the one commissioner was a big no and it's not a huge. I could guess that one too, but I won't do that. Okay. It is a lady. I'll say that. That's it. So, and I'm sorry, just one more question. Sure. Sure, commissioner. What, just in your opinion, why has it gotten so much tighter in terms of the ability to create these CRAs? Wow. It's a great question. You know, I can't even say it's ideology because I see it both Republican and Democrat. So I wouldn't even go there. I think they just don't like losing the revenue and they want control. Maybe city manager Jennifer has a little bit more feel for it than I do. I think you just don't want us to have the ability. They want to dictate a little bit in control. I don't know, Jennifer, you would have a little more insight probably than I do. Well, I think it's certainly about control and it's about revenue and, you know, the tax increment financing, which the county collects, goes back into the CRA instead of other areas of the county, unincorporated areas of the county and those types of things. But the other issue is when CRAs became popular, if you will, everybody wanted one. And I think that there were some cities, specifically in South Florida, that you know, Bob had alluded to, you know, the boundaries of your CRA. There are some cities in South Florida where the CRA was the entirety of the city itself, the municipal boundaries. And then there were some issues as far as budgeting goes. What is used to pay for CRA-related items and what is used to pay for city-related items. And those lines in some of those cities became very blurred. And that was all over the newspaper. So they started tightening up on CRAs. And, you know, the other aspect of it is, too, is that, and we had this, actually we had this conversation, I shared it with Bob at the City Manager's Consortium luncheon three weeks ago, is that, you know, a CRA, for example, our CRA, we were definitely blighted when that was initiated, developed. And now we get to a situation where there are little tiny pockets, maybe, of blight, but the entire area is thriving. And so the philosophy becomes, it's thriving. Why are we spending our money here and not elsewhere? When, you know, you develop a plan, you develop your master plan, you enter the interlocal agreements for what it is we're going to accomplish, and then you work that plan for the period that you're meant to accomplish it. And not sunset it because we're flourishing now, but continue to return the investment until the CRA itself sunsets. So I think that a lot of those CRAs matured to a point where they really did address the fundamental reason why it was created, but then stop accomplishing what is in the plan. So I think there are all sorts of different things that contribute to that philosophy. And I don't think it's necessarily right or wrong, but I think that what we need to prove and what we did when we went for, you know, when there was an issue with the TIF going down to 50 percent, and I felt the county was very supportive of our position at that point, all the way down to the administration, is what we need to show them is not just the success, but the continued reinvestment and what it does for the entirety of the region. Really, it does. The county and the city and on and on. So, and I look forward to that opportunity with them as well, because we do need to issue additional debt for the parking garage. They know it. But when we brought that, when we visited them a year ago, was it a year ago? No, so what? Yeah. A year ago. A year ago. You know, we had zero in there for the parking garage because we didn't know what it would cost. So, we need to go back, and that's also going to be, there's going to be some tap dancing on that as well, you know, with the county commission. So, there's plenty of work to be done, and that's a really long answer to the question, but there's... Especially since it's the comment area for the commission. I didn't want to give a look. I just thought I'd give a... See, Amanda, don't get a comment? No, I'm just kidding. So, anyway, I'll leave it there. Thank you. Well, I will say the midterm review, that's very good. I, you know... Appreciate that. Well, and, you know, I think it's a nice touch. A good story to tell. At the state level, it was just what Jennifer mentioned. There was some activities that were paid for and looked at that weren't really just CRA type stuff, like a special event or something like that. We don't do any of that. So, that's kind of what got the state onto their thought pattern, that maybe CRA should go away. So, any... Well, it's a comment. Do you want to make any comments now? This is the comment time. It wasn't the question time, but, you know, we're giving... I'm giving you a little grace, you know. Jeff said he's doing what I do. Okay. So, you're good? I'm good. Okay. Comment, Commissioner Dugard? I've got about 12 questions now. And she's lost control. My comment is twofold. First of all, excellent report, excellent accomplishments. But I will comment as a commissioner that went up to Tallahassee to fight for our CRA relative to, particularly, our parking garage. And as I've told many people, it's a parking garage that doesn't look like a parking garage. It's an excellent piece of work. But having fought for it, I have become really attached to it. I'm even regretting that we're letting it sunset in 33. I understand the development of downtowns has changed, and the evolution of downtowns, and the whole concept of CRAs is in a kind of a sunset period. But I assure you that cities will still face blight, and they'll still need CRAs. And I feel that way, and that's my comment. Thank you, Mayor. Great. Okay. And Vice Mayor? No comments. Okay. Commissioner Sandbergen. You know, I know the north end of the CRA start, I believe it's Jackson Street. Is that where it ends? Yeah. Hancock. Can that? Hancock? Okay. Can that be expanded, you know, so we could take into the Coca-Cola property, for example? No, in my opinion, no, Commissioner. I love the idea. We know that the county is just not in that mode to expand or do seconds. So that's where it would have to come from the county? Yeah. Theoretically, could it be done? Yes. I just don't think we'd have a good chance of doing that. But certainly we could test the waters, I guess. Okay. Because I'll share a quick story that I had yesterday. I had a meeting alone with two gentlemen from Clearwater that represent a very strong European group who's going to make a play for a big piece of property here in Dunedin. And it was very interesting because I happened to look and I had the CRA goals. One was the marina. I was like, okay, well, that's for a whole nother day. Just the lure of Dunedin, the trail, the walkability, whatever words we could use. I had them all at the tip of my tongue. Sure. You know, and I saw some, they've actually went so far as to have some sketches and some designs of what their vision for this property would be if they can get it. And it's big. This is big. And one of the, you know, they had an interesting question for me. If you weren't a commissioner and you were involved as a partner, what would you want to bring to Dunedin? You know, I said, well, we have parking issues. We have, we need more doors for people to live in, whether it be condos, apartments, not, not necessarily single family. Sure. You know, bring it to the trail, tie it to the trail, and let's focus on what we can do to improve this area as well as downtown. And the term came up, TIFs. And can a TIF be initiated at the city, or does that have to come from the county also? No, you could do it at the city level. Okay. I mean, there's various, I kind of think we're talking about the Koch property, but anyway. That's not the property these folks are looking at. I didn't mean to bring it in like that. Okay. There's other incentives that we could look at that actually Jennifer and I worked on. You can do some impact fee reduction. You could do some property tax abatement. There's various things that we could do that aren't necessarily just tied to the CRA. Okay. To make something worthwhile for investors as well as the city. Okay. And I sort of let them down that path that, you know, there's, this is Dunedin. Sure. We welcome advancement and revitalization, so. I, you know, I personally would love to see, you know, industrial, commercial, anything like that create jobs, higher paying jobs, things that are so heavily residential based. Yeah. So from an, I'm an economic guy, right? So I'm looking at more of those type of things for tax base and stuff, but we're part of a mixed use. Any of those that were good? They were looking at mixed use in the modeling of the artisan. Okay. His design, his concept. Yeah. It was a very interesting meeting, and I hope that this isn't the last time we talk about it. I hope that, I'd like to try to bring this one home to us, this nice project. Well, anything you need, let me know. And of course, I keep everything confidential. I will. So as an economic guy. So certainly. Good. I appreciate your help. Always excited. Yeah. You know, Dunedin, it's an easy sell because we're Dunedin, you know, and people knew about it. They know about it. Yeah. They understood it, and it was a very interesting meeting, and I hope it's not the last one we have with these folks. Thanks. Let me know if I can help. Okay. So obviously, I think it's a great report, Bob. I think you and your staff team did a great job. I actually was working for the county when we were going for the extension, and there was no mentality that they really wanted to do that. So you're absolutely right on that we were lucky to get that extension, and even in the same type of day as it was then, I think we'd struggle to get it, and of course, things have changed now. It's even harder to get them. Correct. So, and there's no question we could keep using the money because there's a lot to do in our downtown. So it helps to get that extra money. I agree. I was telling the City Manager Jennifer, you know, some people think our downtown's done. What are you working on? And busier than ever. There's opportunities. There always are. It just comes down to being creative and seeing what's needed. There's a lot to be done, and unfortunately, you know, the parking garage, it's very needed, but it's going to suck a lot of money out of other things that really are maintenance oriented, even, you know. Well, I know we can't use it for maintenance, but things like what we did in front of Casadina's. Yes, yes, yes. So I think, and we are a model CRA. Everybody, we really are. I mean, I know there's some bad actors, but we are not one of them, and we lived up, you know, back in the day when this started, we were definitely. You know, we had the vacancies and the, you know, the famous, the tumbleweed, but anyway. So anyway, just one comment, like maybe between the two meetings. I did have a couple of typos, little things. Oh, okay. In the midterm report? Typos? In the report, yep. Oh, okay. Yes, please. We like to get that cleaned up. They're just little, but I'll tell you about it. Okay, okay, so let's see. Shouldn't be these days with spell checks, so I appreciate it. So I just need, now you got me paranoid. It's a voice vote. So everybody in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye, and that motion passes unanimously. Okay, great. All right, so now we're going to go to Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee membership, and this is to appoint Mary Blair Carr, appoint Paula Upton, and appoint Sidney Marks. And any comments about that before we? You know, it's interesting. Obviously, I've been here a long time, and we've had more turnover last year and a year and a half than we've ever had. But we're getting people that are excited. There's a passion. Carolyn's been working very hard with her relative to people. Some of it is just things happen. Eric Peterson, who was a good fit, got a job that he's going to locate a little bit and travel. He couldn't be on there. So some of it is just life, things that have happened. But I can tell you the committee has a lot of energy, and Alan does a great job chairing it. So we're kind of excited about getting this real stable and getting a good group in play for a little bit. So can I have a motion to appoint these above members? So moved. Second. Okay. Sean Walker, vice mayor. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee Chair Report. So I would invite Chair McHale to come forward. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commission, City Manager, and staff. I know how Bob feels. He's watching for the look from that direction. I've got to watch it from both directions. I've got eyes in the back of my head today. Yeah, but thank you for the opportunity to bring you up to date with our group's views. It does, as Bob says, seem like a revolving door of members. But there is a core group that have been there for a long time. And later today, you're going to be acknowledging some of those who have been with us for a very long time. Together, 108 years of dedication to the CRA Advisory Committee. Mr. Paddy Coleman, Dr. Zervos, Sylvia Tezikas, John Freeborn, and Greg Brady. So we're delighted that they're going to be recognized. They've been very valuable in terms of their opinions, their views, their energy, their knowledge and experience. So delighted that they're going to be recognized. We met on May the 7th. We received two major presentations that day. One was on the Main Street Exchange and the latest plan for that project. From this advisory committee's perspective, there was no major issues. There is talk of there being a 400-seat theater as part of the project. And there was some concern that that may cause congestion with traffic and transport. If you've got 400 people all coming in for one event and trying to find parking space, that might be an issue. But it's not something we haven't faced before. Generally, we view it as a great asset for the city. So we're delighted to see finally some progress. Same with the new City Hall Park. We saw the plans for that. And for the most part, we're delighted to see that develop as well. We've raised some concerns in the past about e-bikes going through downtown area. But we acknowledge now that the sheriff has bought three e-bikes to try and keep up with the speed of these cyclists. And they've increased their patrols, which will hopefully address the issue. So we're delighted with that. During the meeting, we heard about the merger of the Downtown Merchants Association and the Chamber. And the major concern for us is what might happen to Wines and Blues and the Mardi Gras festivals. After some discussion, though, it was agreed that members would approach the Chamber of Commerce and perhaps the Commission individually to voice their concerns or talk about the opportunity. During the meeting, we heard updates from Mr. Ian Smith regarding the CRA's annual report, the Rock House project on Highlands, Skinner Boulevard, Parking Garage, and Chase Bank. And there was no major concerns with any one of those. So all in all, it was quite a positive meeting. As Bob says, a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm. Our next meeting is scheduled for July the 9th, and that's about it for me, unless you have any questions. Thank you. Any questions? I'll start with Commissioner Walker. No, I really don't have any questions. Commissioner Dugard, Vice Mayor? No questions. Commissioner Sandberg? Nothing, Mayor. Okay. I don't have anything either, but thank you, Alan. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon. Thanks, Alan. Okay. Any additional comments or anything anybody has? I'll just keep moving. Okay, Community Redevelopment Agency Director's Report, and we'll turn to Mr. Ironsmith for that. Yes, thank you, Mayor. A couple things. You know, we currently lease a parking lot from Deborah Bushnell. That's the attorney there, kind of across from the marina on Alt-19 or Edgewater right there. That lease will expire, so we're looking to go ahead and continue that. We had the ability within the lease. There was an option to do one more year, and even after that period, Deborah Bushnell has expressed interest in continuing it. It's done at a very affordable rate, and we're very happy that she works with us. That's kind of key parking in that area for us, so I just wanted to mention that. She deserves an award. Yeah. She's been a stellar citizen for doing that all these years. Deborah Bushnell's been great. All we do with that one, the commission, is cover the property taxes. She's been extremely gracious and generous. Yeah, I can't say enough good things about that. Tempe Markets, which is doing a great job in our downtown. They're also doing a lot of sustainability aspects. We were just getting them with Natalie Gas, but we extended that for, again, in the option period for another five years, so we're very happy with what they produce for us in downtown. It's an activity center, so when you're there on a Friday and Saturday, you feel all the energy, and the people that go to the market also go to the other merchants downtown. The Main Street Exchange, one of the things I wanted to mention is that the owner there, Bill Mazas, he continues to play with the mixture of uses there. He originally was looking at apartments and a boutique hotel. Now he's looking at just a boutique hotel, so kind of stay tuned. In addition, he's looking to go ahead and acquire another piece of property that's close by to help assist with parking. So George Kinney, Community Development Director, and myself are working pretty closely with him on that, and, of course, that'll come before the commission here at some point in time. Skinner is moving very well. It's ahead of schedule. The road work, road work, and the road being open both ways, expected sometime in September. Utilities, again, utilities underground, working with Duke and prior property conversions, that'll take a little bit more time, probably run into January or so. From there, the landscaping will be probably happening in March. That's DOT's schedule. So we're kind of excited. I think that's going to be a major game changer, that road there. When you see the mast arms go up and you see all the overhead span wires, it's going to be tremendous. So we're very excited about this project. And it is one in my own head that I deliberated quite a bit as far as initiating. We started this project, gee, six, seven years ago, believe it or not, with a $100,000 grant from Ford Pinellas. So it's come a long way in this gestation to get to where we are today. Other items to mention is downtown's doing well. Any vacancies that we have are filled quickly. We have a waiting list that Carolyn has. We have been working with the owner of the property at Caracara on Broadway. If you've seen Caracara, it's no longer there. They're going to concentrate on the Jack Polino, and we've had several restaurants looking at that. So that one won't stay vacant very long. We really don't have any vacancies downtown. It's a very strong environment, and the rents are continuing to get high, which sometimes concerns me a little bit because we want to make sure that we're still a pretty good and affordable downtown. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have that I didn't cover that you're interested in. I think we talked about the parking garage a little bit. We're going to go out with an RFQ for a design-build team so we can get a really better handle on range and what this thing is going to cost. And then, of course, as we spoke with Jennifer and Jennifer, we'll have to go to the county and work on the interlocal and taking on the debt and getting approval from the county. So I was going to turn to the vice mayor for questions, but now that you brought up the parking garage, maybe I don't want to turn to him first. Oh, okay. Thanks a lot, Bob. That's okay. Anyway, yeah, vice mayor, questions on some of the things that got reported on, or anything with the downtown? Not about the garage. Great. But I will weigh in on ocean optics. Sure. And the developer's concept of a petite hotel. Yes. And so if we're having a hotel there, we just built a hotel on Grant Street, we are giving up, it sounds like, on a downtown that is livable, right? And so it's just going to be focused on tourism. If that's what we're going to do, then let's put a flag in it and say that's what we're doing. But right now, there's nothing that tells me that we are looking for trying to build a downtown where you can live, work, and play. It's more about visit Dunedin. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Okay, can I respond just real quick? Sure. I understand good feedback, vice mayor. I certainly understand that. And it is more than a hotel. There are other things going on, but I certainly know what you're saying. And, you know, I have had this discussion about the original concept was apartments and a boutique hotel, or 40 of them. And there seems to be some concern about underwriting and financing and doing both at the same time. But I think it's a very valid concept, and that's why we did the Monroe Park townhomes years ago. So I understand what you're mentioning, certainly. That's a very valid comment. Commissioner Sandberg? Interesting what he said and what you said. I have a friend, his sister just stayed at the Grand Floridian last week, $1,000 a night at Disney. So that's the market. I mean, I think people are sick of being told not to spend, and they're spending. Have we had any feedback on Skinner, where trucks and delivery people are getting caught going north between, like, the brewery and Woodwright? I know there was talk about having them turn around, do a U-turn. Yeah, we did. Trevor is behind me. But anyway, Trevor led the charge on Douglas to go ahead and work with Randy Davis to allow trucks to be able to do that U-turn, and also to get more advanced sign notification on there. So I haven't heard anything more on the delivery trucks. He's been dealing with all the merchants on Douglas. Okay. Nature's Food Patch, the Dunedin Brewery and all. And I know, Trevor, if you want to come up to the program a little bit. Trevor's been kind of handling that, because we were concerned with that. Right, right. Yeah, we were really concerned with it, but it seems to be working out. Even the large tractor-trailers can make some of those turns as well. The small box trucks, they can make it without any problems. We did put a sign saying, shops owner, to make open, to make sure that the people knew that those shops were open. Right. So I think that between the city and FDOT, we've done a good job in making that known. Good, good. Because someone even mentioned that their GPS system in those trucks were, you know, came up and told them that that road, the closures had changed, which is, you know, something I would never look into myself. Wow. Good. So we haven't had any negative commenting from anybody? Not that I've heard of, no. Good. Thanks, Trevor. And I've been out there quite a bit. I know. I see you around all the time down there. I know. I'm looking. And I've got to tell you, the city manager, Jennifer, or communications, Sue Burness will tell us right away if there's an issue. I haven't gotten that. So we've been pretty good. And we do expect the south side to go much quicker as far as the construction than what was on the north side of the scanner. Good. And I will give Mr. Randy Davis a pat on that. We're not related, believe me. Give him a pat on the back for doing a nice job and helping the city out to use that area. Yeah, they've owned that property a long time. It seems to work out very well. Good. That's all. That's all. Thank you. Great. Okay. Commissioner Walker, questions or comments this time? So you can go either way and you're not in violation. You go. You know, I have neither. So thank you. Oh, okay. Well, all that buildup. Okay. All right. Commissioner Dugard. That's good. Thank you, Mayor. I am a little bit concerned about our rates for rental in downtown. Yeah. And that they're driving certain businesses to only consider the higher profit adventures in business, if you will. And that pushes out some of our more interesting boutique carriage shop kind of opportunities. And I think that brought character to our community for many, many years and still will. But as those rates continue to climb, our mix for downtown appears to be at risk. What are your thoughts on that? I think it's a very valid comment and something that's on my mind. And we're starting to hit $40, $50 a square foot or $40 triple net. Alcohol, obviously, is a pretty big profit margin. I am concerned. I don't have a good response for you on how you can control that. But I think it's certainly something that we have to really try to watch. I don't know how we can encourage something differently, but maybe we need to look at that. I'm not sure what that is. I think we'll have to do a little more homework and research on it. But I think it's true. I think it's also, as the vice mayor said, you know, live, work, and play, which was our original concept. And we've got to make sure that we keep kind of the ambiance that we have. Yeah, those are those things are going well. Here's some stuff that could be at risk, you know. It's not always just parking, although I always feel that one the most. But it's the things that you mentioned, the vice mayor mentioned. Success is a two-edged sword. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, indeed. You know, I think Patricia is the next frontier for us. Question. On the landscaping plan for Skinner. Trees to make, if it's going to be walkable, then some trees that will provide shade. You know, we'd love to see that. And, of course, that's what we did in front of Costantinus is shade. DOT controls it a little bit. We don't have as big areas as we thought in order to do the tree aspect. I know there was a meeting with Doug and Parks and stuff like that just as a preliminary. We're going to look at that. And we certainly like to create that kind of environment. I just don't know if the areas are going to be big enough to put in, like, we put in Parkside Oaks over there by Costantinus. I'd love to see that again. So we're going to try to take a look at that. Okay. I actually got a comment from somebody who does a lot of historical properties, not Deborah, who, you know, really was, you know, giving a positive comment about that we need to do that. And, you know, and I agree. I mean, it's going to be walkable. But do the best you can. No, I want to. Yeah, do the best you can. You know, I absolutely would like to do that. I mean, DOT controls a lot. But if we can, I want to do it. Yeah. Yeah, the visibility and the area that's needed for a larger tree is going to be key. Yeah. Great. So my only comment, when Tom is Commissioner Dugard. No, I just wanted to kind of, I think you touched it. You big time touched it. I have the same, absolutely the same concern about, you know, we're a live, work, play environment. You know, how much does the market control the mix of what continues down in downtown? How much can we do to incentivize or disincentivize the kind of mixes that we want to the future? I think this, you know, this CRA agency and the City Commission, you know, we have to make sure we're being proactive enough so that we don't drive out the things that are part of, a very important part of the live, work, play. And, again, you said it, as a big profit margin for alcohol, we don't want to be all alcohol. We want to be live, work, play. So, and I appreciate your comment. I think, you know, I think that, and I don't know the answer to that. I can argue both ways on the boutique hotel and the residencies because I think, again, it's all about balance. And so, yeah. It's funny, if I may add, I was thinking of the same thoughts that you had in, Vice Mayor, that you mentioned. And, you know, Bill Mosses with the Main Street Exchange was looking at some apartments and some overnight lodging. I thought it was a pretty good fit. He went to the chamber meeting and had gotten input, hey, it should all be a hotel. I called him up today and mentioned just what you said, what about the live, work, and play aspect to it. And, gee, you know, I hate to see it. His comment to me was, gee, it's a little harder to underwrite both apartments and the hotel and this and that, but he would take a look at it. But I share that thought pattern because that's what we always were striving to be. A hotel can be good. It offers a captive market. People go to the merchants. But it also is a little bit more transient and not necessarily just always the environment that we're looking at. So I think I kind of put him on notice today, and perhaps it's something that gets, you know, reemphasized. But, again, it's about balance. It's always been about balance. And how do we make sure we're being proactive enough? And we've had this conversation a lot with Jennifer and with you about how are we being proactive enough and creative enough to make sure that we're incentivized and disincentivized in the right kind of things. I don't know the, you know, the hotel or apartment scenario. I still think it's about balance. I'd like to share that with him if the CRA is okay with that, the input that we were saying. Yeah, I mean, I'm not trying to encourage or discourage, but I do know one of the common themes I hear out there is like, oh, go for a hotel because of the noise issue. Well, that has to do with the fact that we don't want to be a full-on entertainment district with alcohol and noise. You know, it's about living up to our live, work, play environment because it was always the dream to have people living down there. But we still want our visitors. I mean, we respect our visitors. So, anyway, that's all. I'm just kind of going off on that. But I don't have anything else. So I think we can just do – sorry, guys, lost my place. Yeah, we don't have to take a vote, so we can just move on. Okay. Okay, we're going to go to Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee, Continuance Per Ordinance 92-01. And I think staff is recommending a three-year continuance to the Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee. Bob, did you want to say anything beyond that or Alan? No, certainly. This is one of the more active, viable committees. We definitely need the input. It's got a nice cross – makeup of business leaders, residents, and things like that. But it's just a great forum, and I can't imagine not having that type of committee. So this is certainly needed to continue it, and we would recommend it very strongly. Okay. Any questions for staff? I'll start over here. Commissioner Walker? Really more comments. Okay. For real. And Commissioner Dugard? No questions, but I have comments. Okay. Vice Mayor? No questions. And Commissioner Sandbergen? No questions, Mayor. Okay. And I have no questions. And so I'm asking for a motion to approve the continuance. So moved. Second. Okay. Okay. And I'll open it up to public input. Anyone in the audience wish to speak to this item? Seeing no one, I will close public input. And since I understand that people have a comment, I'll start over here for a comment. Commissioner Walker? Oh, thank you, Mayor. You left out the word, one of the most important committees. I really do believe that. And I think that's it. I mean, you guys do an awesome job. Well, I think it's important for Alan as committee chair, for myself and staff to share information with you the way they feel before it comes to you. So, yeah. I think it's important. Yeah. Keep it up. Good. Let's see. Seconder is Commissioner Dugard. I appreciate how you bring things to the commission. I appreciate how the CRA operates here. And the success speaks for itself. I think that there's a lot of good work here that needs a lot of recognition. Thanks for what you do. I appreciate that very much. Staff really appreciates that. We've got a good team. And we're lucky. I mean, it's a great place to work. And we've been very fortunate. You make your luck. Yeah. No. It's really true. You make your luck. Vice Mayor? No comment. Okay. Commissioner Sandbergen. I mean, just looking through that roster of members on, you know, great group, great leadership. Can't go wrong. Keep up the good work. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah. I'll just add that, you know, Bob, you and your team, amazing job. Done a lot. There's a lot to do. Yeah. There's a lot left to do. So, and Alan, thank you for you and the whole committee. They're absolutely one of the most important committees we have. And so I absolutely support continuing them. So, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. And unless anyone else have anything? Okay. Well, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting. So, we will adjourn our meeting.