Good evening, everybody. It is the August 12th, 2026 meeting of the local planning agency will now come to order. The local planning agency is an advisory board of citizens appointed by the city commission. This board is comprised of volunteers who represent the thoughts and concerns of the community. The purpose of tonight's meeting is to make recommendations to the city commission regarding each item on the agenda. Except for quasi-judicial items which are identified on the agenda, tonight's format will be as follows. I will introduce each item on the agenda, after which the city representative will present information about it. Thereafter, members of the local planning agency will have the opportunity to ask questions of the city representative. Finally, anyone from the public may come forward. Those from the public wishing to provide comments will please approach the lectern, state your name and address for the record, and then utilize the microphone so that comments can be recorded. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes of speaking time, and we kindly request that speakers be respectful of the clock countdown. Citizens speaking on an agenda item or during citizens' comment shall not engage in loud, boisterous, and or disruptive speech or conduct. Any speech or speaker that has continued inappropriate or irrelevant comments will be requested to relinquish the podium. Okay, with that, I do want to do one reminder for the members up here to please be sure to turn on your microphone and turn off when you're done. Good? Okay. All right. The first item on our agenda tonight is to approve the July 8, 2026 LPA minutes. Are there any questions, additions, deletions to those minutes? Nope. Hearing none, do I hear a motion to accept the minutes as submitted? I do. Sally makes a motion. Do we have a second? I second. Dr. Broom seconds. It has been moved and seconded to accept the minutes. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Minutes are passed. Okay. Item, our second item on the agenda is item 1B is a quasi-judicial item in nature, and as such, the format will be as follows. While the local planning agency is a non, or is not a quasi-judicial board and therefore has no final decision-making power, our procedures for quasi-judicial items will be structured in a quasi-judicial manner. The commission will be the ultimate quasi-judicial decision-making authority. The process will be as follows. I will introduce each item, after which the city representative will present information about it. Thereafter, members of the local planning agency will have the opportunity to question the city representative. The applicant will present information about the item. Thereafter, the members of the local planning agency will have an opportunity to ask the applicant questions. If the applicant has any questions of staff, we ask that those be addressed to the board. Finally, anyone from the public may come forward. Those, please utilize the speaker's lectern, state your name and address for the record, and please limit your comments to three minutes. Okay. Upon conclusion of each public hearing, the local planning agency will consider the evidence before it and will vote on the agenda item. That voice vote is the rendition of the order of the board, and there will be no written decision issued by the board. Further, should the board vote to recommend denial of the matter, they will provide their basis for the denial. Okay. At this time, anyone in the audience who wishes to give testimony will be sworn in by the city clerk. Do you swear to, wait, sorry. Do you swear the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? All right. Got it. Okay. Before we get started, item 1B, Application LUPZO-2026-0002, which is a request to rezone the 1.07-acre property located at 968 Douglas Avenue from Downtown Ordinance 2609, rezoning it from Downtown Industrial to Downtown Core. Has anyone on this board had any ex parte communications regarding this item? Nope? Nope. Okay. Okay. With that, I'd like to turn it over to George and Bob. Thank you, Chair Benjamin, members of the LPA, George Kinney on behalf of the Community Development Department, and my trusted and learned colleague from our Economic Development Division, Bob Ironsmith, is beside me, because this is a downtown project. So I have a very brief presentation, a couple of slides, and then we're happy to answer any questions at the end. As noted by the Board Chair, let's see if our PowerPoint is going to come up here. As noted by the Board Chair, this is a request for rezoning at 968 Douglas Avenue. The applicant is Mazes Development. The applicant is Mazes Development. The property size is approximately 1.07 acres. It looks like it's coming up now. I do have a little map to the left so you can see the location of the property. It's sandwiched between Douglas Avenue and the Pinellas Trail, just south of Skinner Boulevard. And in the lower right-hand side, you can see a rendering of the project. One of the things the LPA might be wondering is why didn't we see this in the form of a design review, and it's because the current zoning of downtown industrial does not require it. But, however, to do the retail, as you'll see, is going to be proposed as part of this project today. The applicant's rezoning the property to downtown core, which is, as you'll see through the presentation, is encouraged by the city. Just a little bit by way of background, again, it's a little bit more than an acre in size, located about 150 feet south of Skinner Boulevard. The owner-applicant is redeveloping the property as the Douglas Parking Center, a structured parking facility, which will be providing 318 parking spaces to serve the Main Street Exchange Project and downtown Dunedin. There is approximately 25,000 square feet of ground floor retail proposed along Douglas Avenue with a small portion oriented against the Pinellas Trail. As you can see from the third bullet, because the current downtown industrial zoning designation does not permit retail and similar commercial uses, the applicant is requesting to rezone to downtown core. And I would note that's downtown core street type C, as in CAP. From a land use plan perspective, there's absolutely no change as part of this request. The land use is activity center, and that land use does support what is being proposed, including both the parking facility and the retail uses. It's also consistent with all of our other relevant planning documents, including the CRA master plan, countywide rules, and our comprehensive plan. From a zoning district designation, as you can see from that photo on the left, this is, again, downtown industrial. There's only one other DI parcel left after this one, and that's the one immediately to the north, right up against Skinner. So when that project decides to develop, that will likely go to downtown core as well. The evaluation of dimensional standards is in the chart, as you can see. And this particular project and request complies with all of those dimensional standards. And there would be no nonconformities as a result of the development or the rezoning change. So very quickly, the staff recommendation, we are recommending approval of Ordinance 2609 to change the zoning district designation of the property to downtown industrial, or from downtown industrial to downtown core, street type C on the city's official zoning map. And with that, I'll kind of turn it over to Bob to maybe offer a few comments on the economic development side, and then we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Certainly a good job, George. It's Bob Ironsmith, economic development and CRA director. This is consistent with what our vision was many years ago. You know, Douglas, for a long period of time, was something that was not an activity center. You know, we went to a development agreement and a partnership with the Artisan. We got that going. Other businesses came on board, such as Jensen's and Carver, and we have the Coastal Vet. And the whole corridor has changed. Our goal always was not to be just very long and linear east and west. We wanted to go north and south. And this is kind of a great piece for us. If you remember, this was the Artisan, but for a long period of time, it was just really storage of boats, cars, RV. We did something creative, Commissioner of Kind at that point in time. We went ahead and at least got some cultural aspect to it with the artist aspect with Bill Coleman. But that time kind of ran its day, and we were very happy that Bill Mazes purchased this piece of property. And, of course, he was always looking at the garage. And we did, as George said, encouraged him, we'd like to see some retail. We want an activity engine as well as just parking. In the Artisan, we have some retail and some different businesses there. This will be another area right to the north. It really kind of fulfills what we always expected Douglas to be. It's a part of Main Street. And as you can see over time, we worked with Mr. Kokolakis on the south to do angle parking. We created that vision. And this is another very, very important piece. So from a CRA perspective, we're very, very supportive of having this changed into retail. 30,000 square feet or thereabout of retail is another place for people to go to and have a good time. So I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have, but that's just kind of a brief overview. Left side, any questions? No. The right side? Paul? You're up. Okay. So just for some clarification between the owner application, what was on the city's agenda item, and then what's on your parking garage website, I see a few different totals for the amount of square footage. I see 25,000, 35,000, and 30,000. I know it's plus or minus, but those are some big swings. So I just, for consistency purposes and as it's going towards the commission, I'm just curious as to what is about the right number. Yeah, I think I'd have Mazda's answer that question, what they're looking at. I know sometimes those things vary based on what they're looking at for the retail, but I would have them answer that question. John, could you come to the microphone? John, Pentaz is 320 Causeway Boulevard. I work for Bill Mazda, so I'm the architect of record. It would vary with the type of retail that's going in design-wise. We have a 25,000 square foot footprint for leasable space. We also have a service area that could possibly become leasable space as well. It depends on what kind of tenant we attract. I know we have a survey to see what kind of use that the citizens want to see there. We also have on the north side, there's an outdoor area that could be a possibility for like a dining cafe kind of thing. We don't know yet, but we know that at least the garage is designed such so we could have like a 20-foot ceilings and things like that. Okay, well, like I said, just kind of wanted to point out those inconsistencies between what's out there. Right, but the 25,000 square foot footprint is what we're looking at now. Okay. And I would just add, so the rezoning application notes 25,000 square feet, so if there was to be more of it, it would be a very quick zoning administration review to see if the parking was there for the additional square footage once the project was done. Right, and the gist of that is it depends on the tenant. The tenant may need like a service area in order to perform properly in the programming. So that area wouldn't be leasable. It would be like a service area. Okay, so 25,000 is the number, and if they want to change it, then there's a mechanism for them to do that. And then talking about parking spaces, I also saw 309 parking spaces and 318 parking spaces. So I wasn't, I was going to ask just for clarification. 318. 318 is the number. Okay. I'll note that it was in the owner application where I actually said both. Okay. So just so you guys know. I did see where you, because of the ordinance and the change that you sent out mailers to the neighbors within 500 feet, did you all also have a meeting with them, or did this require having a meeting with the neighbors for the zoning change? No requirement, but they've had significant discussions with the surrounding property owners. Yes, we have. They can get into that a little bit. In fact, they were at the commission last Thursday and spoke at length about some of the meetings they had on the construction side of it as well. Very good. Very good. One question I had, and George, this is more for you, or at least on the city side, and with the road closures, you know, approaching Halloween and knowing how everything happens in the city with regards to that, is there a downtown trick-or-treat this year? Yeah, I think we took that into consideration. Yeah, I think there is. We also, you know, the arts and crafts and all, but I believe there is, Paul, but I might have to get back to you on that one. Okay. I can e-mail if you'd like. Let me make sure. Well, I think, once again, I think, you know, once again, trying to do due diligence for our commission. Yeah. I know special events are considered as part of that. Yeah. Special events did take a look at everything. We looked at the dates. We're only looking at a two-day road closure, October 26th and 27th. So, there's been a lot of thought given to that impact of all the construction and the deliveries. I'm just not up to speed on the Halloween component. Halloween or before? Usually the Friday before. Yeah. Yes. And the arts and crafts, the 10th and 11th. Yes. The 10th and 11th. And I did see where the road closure didn't start until after that. So, that was good planning there. Yeah. And like I said, the one thing I didn't see was the downtown trick-or-treat. So, I just want to bring that to your attention to make sure that that's – I'm pretty sure it's Board Member Coyne said that. You're right. It's a Friday. You're absolutely right. Yeah. I know a lot of thoughts are given to it. And, of course, some of it's going to be weather determined, too, what happens with the weather. All right. And then the last thing is just more of a comment was is hopefully you guys have a plan to put up a time-lapse camera. And I think it would be pretty cool, especially with your garage website, to see how that's going and how that goes up. Excuse me. Yeah. We have heard that. People are very interested in that. So, yes. We want to make that happen. That's all I have. Thank you. Good. Thank you, Paul. Okay. I have no questions at this time. We'll open up for public input. Does anyone from the public wish to comment? Okay. Seeing none, we will close public input. Okay. Any further responses for the applicant or? I have one. Okay. And I'm just looking at the picture. I hope you can explain it. So, I guess this is the left side where the car is coming out, and then you have the walkway going down between each side. How far out to the road so each side can see people coming to the left? How far is the retail going to be pushed out to the road? So, that way, with people coming out of the garage, you can see both sides. Creek Orca Sergeant, Gulf Coast Consulting, 13825, Icott Boulevard, Clearwater. I'm the engineer on the project. To clarify, the question is, as you're coming out of the garage, can you see left? Yes, this white car right here. So, you're coming out then to the other. Okay. The white car that's in that picture. So, you got this one right here, and then you have another entrance of people coming in and out. Then you have the walkway going in. So, how far out is the retail going to stick out that will people be able to pull out so make a left or right? So, in our plans, we have shown site triangles, visibility site triangles. I'm sorry. I can't hear you. In the plans, we do show site visibility triangles, and so there's no obstructions. But also, just to let you know, the building is probably set about 20-plus feet from the edge of pavement. So, the face of the building to the face of the street, the edge of pavement, is about 20 feet. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. It's a fair question. I walk that sidewalk a lot. Don't want to get run over. Well, you just have too many things coming out. Yeah. Okay. Good. Okay. Seeing no further questions or responses, do we have a motion? Does the applicant have any closing statements? No, Mr. Chair. You've seen this project. We're very excited. This is the last phase of the approval process. You've heard much about it. We have a full PowerPoint and animations, but I didn't feel like it was necessary to go through all of that unless you'd like us to. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And, again, we appreciate the city and all of the collaboration. And, Mr. Mazis is just very proud of this legacy project. And he will do everything he can to accommodate anything that the city needs. And I think we've shown that since the first approval to now. And it's been a great relationship. So, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think we don't need to rehash the project itself. The question before us is the zoning from downtown industrial to downtown core. So, with that being said, do we have a motion? We already addressed public input. Yeah, that is correct. You may proceed. I didn't turn myself on. I make the motion to approve the change of this 1.07-acre property from the zoning of downtown industrial to downtown core. Do we have a second? I will second that. All seconds. Okay. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed to the motion? No. Seeing none, the motion approves to go forward to the commission. Congratulations and good luck with the project. Thank you. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is the recommendation to address our members on the local planning agency. We have one vacancy, correct, Heather, right now? So, our first order of business would be to advance. Tim Young is alternate number one. So, it would normally fall to him to come up to the board full time at this time. And that would be, and then in the future, Sylvia Sikis is currently in the number two position, so she would move to the number one position. Correct. Okay. So, if everybody is, any questions or any discussion on that? Anybody? Good. No? Okay. Anybody? Tim, would you like to make a statement? I'm here for you. You're here for me. Always here. We can't say anything. Tim, do you have any problems serving full time? I've already spoken with them and thrown my name in the hat, so absolutely not. I'm thrilled to be part of the group here. Okay. To make it official, then, do we have a motion to advance Tim Young to full time? On the LPA. Aye. Yes. Sally, motions. Deborah seconds. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Seeing none opposed, motion goes forward. Congratulations, Tim, and welcome to the board full time. Thank you. Thank you. And Sylvia will move up to number one. Yes. So, now we're going to need to replace our number two alternate, and we have some candidates for that. And hopefully everybody had a chance to look at the information. Do we have any of the candidates here tonight? Okay. Yeah. Would you like to come up and give us three minutes? Tell us what we should know. Hi. Good evening. I'm Caitlin Hembree. Sorry, I didn't realize I was going to be speaking in front of you guys. So, I'm a real estate broker. I have been for about six years now. Yes. Can you state your name and your address? Yes. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. It's Caitlin Hembree, 2679 Saddlewood Lane. Thank you. So, I am kind of new to the area. I love Dunedin. It's so special to me. I really value this town, this city. It's very special to me personally. So, I feel like I would love to volunteer my time to help preserve this community. And I also value, you know, balanced-based decision-making and things like that as far as the community and everything. So, I don't really know what else to tell you guys. But I do have a good amount of education in, like, what we heard just now with the zoning and things like that. That's what I went to school for and everything. So, you know, I do have some knowledge about that. And I would love to be able to help the city and the town in any way that I can. So, that's pretty much it. Okay. Any questions for Caitlin? Have you been on any other committees, Caitlin? No. I'll be honest with you. I have not. I have not served in a capacity like this before. And how long have you been in Dunnean? One year. Okay. Caitlin, I saw on your application it said you're not a resident of Dunnean. Yeah. I know. The crazy thing is, so, I'm actively trying to be a resident here. As I stated before, I am a real estate broker and I'm trying to purchase a home here. I haven't found the right one yet. But this is where I choose to live. But right now, I am renting a place in Palm Harbor. But it's just for the time being. Okay. Yep. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. Yep. Laura, question. Do we have any residency requirements for this board? Yeah, I'm looking at that right now. Under your code. There's something involved. Because when we brought Sylvie in as an alternative issue, because she's in order to reach, you were involved in that, correct? Yes, yes. Resident or business owner. Business owner. Clearwater, yeah. Yeah. It's not just limited to residency, but business owner. But yeah. Okay. Where's your business? Clearwater. I mean, I do service this area. But technically, my business address is Clearwater. Got any questions? Debra? James? Welcome. When you get to Dunedin, welcome. Thank you. You know, it sounds like you're going to be a wonderful person to start being on these boards. It sounds like, to me right now, it's a little, you know, a little unstable at this point. Right. You know, I really welcome the thought that you're coming to town and are interested in becoming involved. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I would just echo that. I think it's great, especially with your background. Housing is really important to our community. We've got a lot of needs. We've got a lot of opportunities in this community. And that kind of expertise is helpful in working with the city. Right. Yeah. But I do think it may be premature at this point until you become a resident. Until I become a resident. Yeah. I definitely understand that. And I appreciate that fact as well. I completely agree and understand, so. Yeah. Definitely appreciate the initiative and getting involved. Thank you. It's a wonderful place here. Yeah. Okay. All right. I would recommend just stay in touch with the city clerk. Absolutely. I was just kidding. I was just kidding. I was just kidding. I was just kidding. I was just kidding. There's so many boards and committees. And once you're here, yeah, there's plenty of vacancies. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Caitlin. Now, with that, with the boards and committees, do all the boards and committees have a residency or business requirement, or is it just some? They're going to have some form of residency or business ownership requirement within the city. Sometimes it's like in your code. Sometimes it's like part of the rules that you adopt as a board, but it's likely you're not going to have to be either residency or business or one of them. The only exception I'm aware of is the ARC, the Architectural Review Committee, because they're specialized. So I know that we do have some, the rules for the ARC allow for outside folks, because we wouldn't be able to fill those spots anyway. Okay. But like Laura said, the rules are set up that way. Okay. Especially, yeah, especially a local planning agency. It makes sense. It's kind of logical that you will have something. It makes sense. I just didn't know if there was something else that she, it seems that she wants to be involved, if there was a different committee. Now that we have her application, I can speak with Michelle, and we can run through each board and maybe find some options for her. Yeah. When we have somebody that wants to volunteer, I'd love to take advantage of that, right? You don't get that often, so yeah. Michelle just sent me a list of all the vacancies, and there's a lot to work with. So take a look at everything there, and if you need it updated, anybody can help you within the city building, of course. Okay. Thank you. Good. Good. Okay. So a quick update on the candidate list. Sharon Herman, Heather, correct me if I'm wrong, but she is pulled out at this time. Yes. Yeah. She's currently on the city finance committee as well. So yeah, there's a lot going on there. And then Daniel Massaro's on here twice, but it looks like we've got four candidates. Daniel Massaro, Larry Gerson, John Shine, and Jeremy Reynolds, okay? Does anyone have any comments or questions on any of these four? I'll make a motion for Dan Massaro. Okay, and I will second that. Second that. Yeah. He's the architect. Architect. Yeah. And we have a developed, you do big development, and then we have an architect, and we're just building our base of, you know, knowledge on the board. Agreed. I think it's, I agree. Okay. So we have a motion for Dan Massaro. It's seconded by Paul. All in favor? Signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. Dan Massaro moves forward as our recommendation for alternative number two. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. And with that, we can adjourn the meeting. Thank you, sir. All right. We'll adjourn it. All right. Thanks, everybody. Gentlemen, good job. How are you? I see all your beautiful signs out there.