Board of County Commissioners on 2023-10-24 9:00 AM - Oct 24, 2023

call our border county commissioners meeting to order. This morning our invocation will be a moment of silence followed by a nice treat where we will have George Raboyne, Mr. George Raboyne, a combat air force veteran who will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. If you would all please stand for a moment of silence. Thank you, sir. Morning. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Sir, good morning. Thank you so much. We're happy to have you here today. Would you share a little bit about your life with us, please? Well, good morning. Thank you for having me. My pleasure to be here. I was born and raised in a little town in West Warwick, Rhode Island. First time on an airplane was going to basic training. I joined the Air Force two weeks after high school. Did my basic training in Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, after which time I went to Little Rock Air Force Base, followed by my tour in Southeast Asia. Started in Taiwan and went to Vietnam, Cam'ron Bay. After that, I was fortunate enough to come back with everything I went over with, my good sense, my good health, and came back to California after that. I used the GI Bill to further my education. I became a registered nurse, and I did 40 years as an emergency room nurse. I retired in 2007, and I cut lawn for a while because I got bored. I rode motorcycles. I'm a proud member of the American Legion right here in Stewart at Post 62. I loved the Air Force. I love my country. Very proud to have served. Thank you for having me today. Thank you, sir. Your question? Question for you. Yes, sir. How'd you get here from California? From California? I flew. And boy, my arms are tired. I did. I was discharged from California. I did a year in Vandenberg Air Force Base. After I was discharged, I went back to Rhode Island and went to school there. Fantastic. Yes, sir. Forty years in an emergency room ER is also just an unbelievable career, even without the military. So you put those two together. You've had quite a life. And the funny thing is I went in the service to be a medic and ended up being an air operations specialist. I formulated and dispatched aircraft and flight crews. That was my job. I didn't mind it. It was a great job, but I still wanted to be a medic. I wanted to be a flight medic, and I never got it. So when I get out, I pursued the nursing field. And I don't regret it. It was a good job. No, well. Great career. You're alive. Thanks to you. So congratulations again. Thanks again. Have a wonderful day. Thank you. That is perfect. We have a couple of additional items. A proclamation Indian River Lagoon water quality improvement grand presentation will be made this morning. Not another written on the policy request by Commissioner Hetherington, so we're going to be doing that shortly. Consent number 19, request to rescind Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant agreement number WG061 and amendment number 1 to agreement number WG061. Withdrawn from the agenda is public hearing number 1, legislative public hearing to consider adoption of a comprehensive plan amendment 22-02, 95 Riverside, PUD Pulte, I-95. Applicant's request due to a noticing issue. Public hearing number 2, legislative public hearing to consider adoption of comprehensive plan amendment 23-06, Sandy Cove Plaza. Public hearing quasi-judicial number 1, public hearing to consider adoption of an amendment to the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning classification for CPA 23-06, Sandy Cove Plaza. There are no consent polls. Commissioner Smith. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Move to approve of the agenda with the two additional items. Proclamation item number 2, consent item number 19. Also withdraw PH1, public hearing 1, public hearing 2, and public hearing quasi-judicial item number 1. I will second the agenda. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? That motion carries unanimously. We have two proclamations and they will be presented beautifully by Ms. Laura Beaupre. Good morning, Commissioners. The first proclamation we have is declaring Hospice and Palliative Care Month. Established in 1982, Treasure Coast Hospice is a non-profit community organization of skilled professionals and dedicated volunteers whose mission is to provide access to compassionate, caring, expert, and professional hospice and grief support services to patients and families at the end of life. In recognition of November as Hospice and Palliative Care Month, the board encourages citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of care at the end of life. And here with Treasure Coast Hospice, we have Craig Perry, who's community outreach representative, and Jeffrey White, who is chief compliance and privacy officer. Thank you. We'd like to thank the board of commissioners for this proclamation and recognizing Treasure Coast Hospice. We've been serving the community for over 40 years as a community partner, and we will continue to do so. Thank you for the proclamation. And I can do it. Declaring, uh, we have a proclamation declaring Mobility Week in Martin County, Florida. Mobility Week recognized October 27th through November 4th, 2023 is a cooperative effort by the Florida Department of Transportation and its partner agencies to promote awareness of safe, multimodal transportation choices by hosting an annual collection of outreach events. And Mobility Week is an opportunity for individuals to explore various transportation choices and to consider out, to, excuse me, to consider how sustainable travel choices reduce traffic congestion, benefit the environment, and improve community health. And, uh, here today, along with some other folks, is Troy McDonald, City of Stewart mayor, and Martin MPO chairman. May I say a few words? Please. Two. Two? Well, uh, thank you, Chairman Campy, uh, Commissioners Hurd, Jenkins, uh, Hetherington and Smith. Uh, I'd actually prepared a 90-minute, uh, speech, but Beth suggested I do something a little bit shorter. So, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Troy McDonald. I am the, uh, mayor of Stewart and the current chairman of the, uh, Martin County MPO, who, which is the Metropolitan Planning Organization, for those who do not know that. I invite all of you to join the MPO, Martin County Public Transit, and me in celebrating and participating in the Florida Department of Transportation's annual Mobility Week, a celebration of making smart, efficient, and safe multimodal transportation choices. This year, Mobility Week will be recognized from October 27th through November 4th, and there are several ways to participate. You can take a free ride on the Marty Bus System on Monday, October 30th, and starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 3rd, Martin MPO staff will be at the City of Stewart's First Friday Art Walk. The Art Walk is a walking tour of downtown Stewart, and the MPO staff will be on location at Colorado Avenue sharing information on safe, on the safety and benefits of biking, walking, and riding transit. They will be, they will be also passing out a transit development, uh, survey that is an element of the transit development plan. This planning effort is designed to guide the future of public transportation in Martin County for the next decade. Thank you for allowing me to accept this proclamation and supporting the safety and the benefits of alternate modes of transportation. Also here with me today are Beth Beltran, our MPO administrator. I think you all know her. Uh, by the way, she's wonderful. Uh, along with Ashman Beecher, the transit administrator. Uh, thank you all for this, uh, time and have a great afternoon. Great day. Hi, I'm Beth Beltran. I just wanted to say a couple of things. Thank you for approving this proclamation, and if anyone here is interested in, um, filling out the transit survey today, we have flyers in the back of the room with the QR code. You're welcome to do it. Uh, those watching, if you want to go to the Martin County website or the MPO website, martinmpo.com, the survey is there as well. Thank you. Good morning, board. Uh, Ash Beecher, transit administrator. Uh, in addition to the Marty being free on October 30th, the transit division is collaborating with the Florida Department of Transportation to host two tabling events. The first event will be at the Robert Moorgate Library from 10, uh, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and the second event will be at the Stewart Walmart, uh, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. I encourage everyone to attend, uh, one of these events for an opportunity to learn more about the county's public transit system, so thank you, and I look forward to seeing you there. Okay, I'm back. We have three requests to speak forms for our morning, uh, public, open public comment, general comment. If you are interested in addressing us on any topic or on a topic that we will have later in the agenda that you won't be able to stay for, now would be the time to do that. Uh, how it works is you'll have three minutes to address us. We prefer that you address us as a, as a general board instead of, you know, singling us out individually. And at the two minute and 45 second mark, you'll hear a tone. That doesn't mean that you have to stop. It means you have 15 seconds to sort of finalize your thoughts so we don't just shut the microphone off on you. And our first request to speak for him this morning is Mr. Tom Pine. Good morning, sir. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years, presently living in Jensen Beach area. In today's consent agenda, $18,101,143.12 was spent between September 25th and October 9th of 2023 without identifying the payees or the purpose of the payments. That's $1.2 million a day. The definition of the consent agenda is quite simple. It's a, it's a list of routine items that don't require discussion or amendment. The key word here is routine. Martin County government does not support this premise. They have their own interpretation where anything they don't want to talk about in public is hidden in the consent agenda. And to today, it's packed full. Two thirds of all items coming for the county commission will be approved in the hidden consent agenda. No wonder why taxes are so high in Martin County. So much of our governing is done behind closed doors. During the budget meeting, it was made very clear by the taxpayers of Martin County. They want our parks department, parks and recreation department out of businesses. They want, they are not related to the operation of our county government. They include the three restaurants, the two mooring fields, the water park, the massive RV park and any other businesses they are operating. A short time ago, we had a presentation about the great golf courses are all for the environment in Martin County. It reminded me about the cigarette industry telling us how cigarettes weren't bad for us. A recent article in the New York Times highlighting America using up its groundwater included Florida. And on their map highlighted was Florida's Treasure Coast. And coastal areas over pumping can accelerate saltwater intrusion, the movement of ocean water into the freshwater aquifer, making it first unappetizing and then unhealthy. So those county commissioners concerned about their children not being able to afford to buy a home in Martin County need to look very closely if we want to be the golf course capital of the world. A few meetings ago, there was an ongoing discussion about 12% raises for our county administrator and our county attorney for the full purpose, for the sole purpose of maintaining part parity among senior staff. And it was tabled. We, the taxpayers like to know when this issue will be publicly discussed again. What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for him is Thomas Connick. Sir, good morning. Good morning, commissioners. First, before I begin, I want to thank the commission for having that for the first gentleman at the meeting. As a Vietnam veteran who spent 14 and a half months there with a combat infantryman's band being awarded in a bronze star. When I got back from Vietnam and this gentleman got back, it, the country at that point, it was not as welcoming as it's shown. So I appreciate that. Mr. Thompson. The reason I'm, the reason I'm speaking on this, uh, or I'm bringing this up is later in the agenda. I, I'm an attorney and I represent, uh, Papa Sierra, which, uh, Pirates Cove is there. Um, I'm going to be talking about the reason that that's opposed, but that's what I'm talking about now is, is that the institutional structural rules that are in the, the Martin County code that is it, it, it limits the expression that ought to be given. Pirates Cove is 50 feet from where this abandonment is under the rules of the code. They were not having, they were not having to be given mail notice. They didn't have a right to intervene. I filed a motion to intervene in this matter and was told you don't have a right to intervene. And then in addition to that, they said, well, if you did, you would have filed late anyway. Now, the way the rules are is, is to file a motion for it to intervene. It has to be seven business days before the hearing, October 8th, which was a Sunday. That's when the notice of publication was for the hearing on today, the 24th, in order to have met that seven business days by Friday, October 13th, merely five days later, there would have had to have been the timely motion to intervene. I filed my motion to intervene on October 18th. My client wasn't even aware that 50 feet from her property, there was this abandonment. This is the kind of thing where people get a distrust for government because they don't have an opportunity. I would, what I've been told. And in fact, what is the fact? Oh, well, you have three minutes, 180 seconds to present the position, which with the motion to intervene with property being 50 feet away, there could have been something more meaningful. And I would ask that the commission think about procedures that they have and they'll follow. It wouldn't be basically the county attorney essentially, in my opinion, was saying, well, you know what? We can't change this rule. An unfair rule. We have to make consistently unfair. That wasn't said, but that's the reality. I ask you to think about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Our last request to speak for him this morning is Ms. Megan McAver from House of Hope. Good morning. Did I pronounce your last name correctly? Good. Good morning. For those unfamiliar, House of Hope empowers our community to overcome hardship and hunger. Because of the actions of our volunteers and our community supporters, like the Martin County Public Works, and in collaboration with Marty last month, they were able to distribute, I'm sorry, collect 718 pounds of food in their Hunger Action Month. That was with the Marty Stuff the Bus event, again, in collaboration with the Martin County Public Works, and also collecting here in the lobby. Just to translate that, that works out to be about 598 meals for our local Martin County families in need. So a huge thank you and round of applause, because great work, and thank you for all the continued support for House of Hope. We appreciate it. Thank you. We do have some plaques as well to present them. Terrific. Ash and Sherry, would you guys come up? And a special thank you to Ash and Sherry, because they've just been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for your support. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Anyone else looking to address us this morning before we continue? Okay. We're very fortunate this morning to have an illustrious visitor. It was at the request of Commissioner Hetherington, but it'll be introduced by Mr. John Mayle to introduce our guest. It's a proclamation presentation for the Indian River Lagoon Water Quality Improvement Grant presentation. So, Mr. Mayle, why don't you kick us off? Morning, Chair, Board. Thank you for this opportunity. We are blessed this morning to have the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection here this morning to provide us a presentation on the new Indian River Lagoon Protection Program and a water quality grant assistance fund for Indian River Lagoon counties and local governments. He's been a great friend to Martin County, has helped us get a lot done, and been available at any time, including today, driving all the way from Tallahassee just to speak to us this morning. That's fantastic. So, without any more, I'll hand it over to Adam. Thank you. Mr. Blaylock, thank you so much. We appreciate all your efforts, especially you coming down to see us today. Yeah, no, thank you very much. I appreciate the invitation and to be able to talk to you all on not just the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program, but also some of the other water quality improvements and legislation that passed this past session in House Bill 1379. Is there a clicker for the slides, or do I just say next slide? I'll go. Just roll. There you go. All right. Thank you. So, House Bill 1379 not only established the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program, but also included legislation to strengthen water quality protections, particularly in our Basin Management Action Plan statutes, which really are the plans that are put in place to allow impaired water bodies to get the necessary pollution reduction so that they become not impaired and are clean for both recreation and wildlife. It also includes improvements to long-term comprehensive planning. Primarily with that is just having local governments where you have developments of 50 parcels or more to do feasibility to address how in over a 10-year period septic to sewer could be implemented, identifying, you know, what is the capacity of your existing wastewater treatment facilities? What are the locations and the means for infrastructure? What the funding could be? It doesn't require any specific action, but really as local governments are approving development, particularly large developments on septic tanks where we know those are contributing to water quality impairments in St. Lucie Estuary, Indian River Lagoon, and other parts of the state, but they're starting kind of thinking forward and how those could be converted when necessary into the future. And then lastly, expanding the funding opportunities to address water quality impairment. And that was a big piece of the legislation and also came with a big pot of funding available for local governments and others. So go into some of the details. And as I said, one of the main programs established was establishing the Indian River Protection Program. And this was modeled primarily off of the Northern Everglades Protection Program, which includes St. Lucie BMAP, which Martin County is a part of, the Caloosahatchee Basin Management Action Plan, and the Lake Okeechobee Basin Management Action Plan. And so we took a lot of the components that have been successful in those areas and implemented and adopted those to cover the various BMAP areas within the Indian River Lagoon. And those are the Mosquito Lagoon Reasonable Assurance Plan, the Northern Indian River Lagoon Basin Management Action Plan, the Banana River Lagoon Basin Management Action Plan, and the Central Indian River Lagoon Basin Management Action Plan. And you can see on this map kind of the geographical extent. And although Martin County doesn't fall within one of those specific BMAP areas, it's in the St. Lucie, but it also does have a connection in the southern end of the Indian River Lagoon. And so part of the funding that's available to implement this program is eligible for Martin County, so that they can address some of the impairments. But the specific provisions and more of the regulatory provisions within this program don't impact Martin County. But I'm also going to get into some of the other protections that were put in place in House Bill 1379 that do have those direct relevance to Martin County. And so one of the main things we wanted to do here and in our other general BMAP statute was requiring all basin management action plans to be updated every five years so we can continue to evaluate progress being made so that after that 20-year horizon that generally those plans are established to meet the water quality criteria that we're not getting to the end and, you know, not having achieved. We know as we're going through that planning process and planning milestones are in place so we can continue and see that progress and make sure we're making progress towards our end result. And then within that also is requiring those entities that do have specific allocations to reduce nutrients that they're identifying what those specific projects are that they're going to implement to meet those required nutrient loading reductions. And that's one thing that has generally been, you know, somewhat criticized on the basin management action plan process is that lack of accountability and making sure as the time periods move forward that we're accounting for and making sure that the appropriate reductions in nutrients are done so that, as I said before, as you get to that end of the planning horizon that we've achieved the requisite load reductions to meet water quality standards in all of our impaired water bodies that have these BMAPs in place. In addition, one of the other components of this program was establishing the comprehensive water quality monitoring program. I'll go into a little bit more detail on the next slide but really just trying to understand what monitoring currently exists, where we have data gaps, and how we can work with all the different stakeholders that collect that data to have kind of a comprehensive understanding of where the health of the lagoon is as we move forward and identifying where those hot spots are so that we can address the most needed areas where we're seeing the greatest inputs of nutrients throughout the lagoon. And as it pertains to septic tanks, we know that septic tanks are the primary contributor along with stormwater within the Indian River Lagoon. A lot of the urbanized basin management action plans, you know, wastewater, septic tanks, stormwater, all those things that come, you know, with a large population densities, just residential runoff and other sources. And so identifying septic tanks as one of the main contributors to excessive nutrients in the lagoon by January 20, by January 1st, 2024, unless it's previously permitted. The legislation prohibits any new septic tanks within the BMAP or RAP areas identified on this map, unless sewer is not available. If sewer is available, you have to hook up to sewer. If it's not available, you can still use septic tanks. They just need to be enhanced nutrient septic tanks, which are basically septic tanks that achieve a 65 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus or nitrogen primarily as compared to your standard septic system. And then by July 1, 2030, any commercial or residential property with existing septic tanks within the BMAP or RAP areas need to hook up to sewer where sewer again is available. And if not available, then replace the traditional septic tank with an enhanced nutrient reducing septic tank. And knowing that this is a huge undertaking, costs money, that's not lost on the department or the legislatures. We've committed to $100 million a year annually to fund these water quality projects within the lagoon. And also in this previous legislative session, we were able to get that $100 million and we're currently reviewing those projects to assist local governments, homeowners, and all of those that are going to be needing to meet these regulations in order to achieve the necessary water quality improvements to protect the lagoon, protect manatees, restore seagrasses, bring the Indian River Lagoon back to a, you know, the level of recreational fishing that was here, you know, in the past. And this is really a good step forward and continuing on kind of past efforts by other entities and stakeholders. Now that I've talked about a little bit before, you know, the water quality monitoring aspect and really understanding where are the nutrient sources coming from, where are the highest concentrations, what is the health of the lagoon in general. There is a ton of data that's been collected over the years by numerous stakeholders. Over time, some of those, if they don't get funding one year, those monitoring stations go offline. So our first step was really getting an understanding of all the different monitoring stations that are throughout the lagoon. What's being collected and how often is it being collected? Is it being QA'd, QC'd so that we know the data is accurate? And we've worked with a lot of different stakeholders over the last six months with the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, the local governments, Brevard County, Martin County, St. Lucie, Indian River, Indian River County, all of those entities that do water quality monitoring, and also with different non-profits, Moat and ORCA that get state funding. One thing that we kind of were able to identify was where those data gaps exist so that the state can fund to fill those holes so that we can get a comprehensive lagoon-wide understanding of what are the water quality issues, where are the nutrients and the source tracking, and then so that we can address those and put those at the forefront of funding. And then all with that, we've also kind of came to a determination that all these different entities are collecting great data, but you have to go to each individual organization's website to get their data. And so if I'm sitting in my office, I see a news article, Fishkill, Indian River Lagoon, I have to find out what's the closest monitoring station. Who's collecting that data? Do they have it on their website? And you know, we want to be able to have policy makers, local government officials, and the public be able to go to one platform, see the extent of the lagoon, have all of that data into one comprehensive location so that we can see just on one website what is the health of the lagoon, what is DO in an area, where is seagrass coverage, temperature, turbidity, nutrients, all the things that we need to know to understand the dynamics of the water quality in the lagoon. And so it's a big undertaking. It's been really good working with all the stakeholders. It'll take some time to get all that data because it does get collected in different formats and everything, and so getting it all to where it can speak together and be shared. But a really important part of this program that once completed will really allow us to pinpoint where the specific needs are for projects moving forward. And this is just a visual of what I talked about before, just with the deadlines and time frames for reducing the number of septic tanks that are contributing to the Indian River Lagoon's water quality and just giving those time frames. And so to kind of move off of specifically talking about the Indian River Lagoon, House Bill 1379 also created a lot of additional protections, primarily dealing with nutrients in all of our basin management action plan areas throughout the state. And so we have a number of impaired water bodies across the state. Not all have these plans in place, but the ones that do, we know that the data has been done. We understand how much reduction needs to be taken, and we continue to update these. And so one of the things that this legislation did was to require all of these to be updated every five years, establish those five-year milestones that we did for the Indian River Lagoon BMAPs, and then require all stakeholders that have specific load allocations and necessary load reductions to identify the specific projects that are going to get them from point A to point B. So we know at the end of the planning horizon these are the projects that need to be done. So if you're a local government and you have to reduce nutrients by 100 pounds, identify what are the different projects that's going to get you to that 100 pound reduction. So that at the end of the planning period, all of the different entities and stakeholders that have specific allocations will have met their responsibilities. And it also allows them to identify those projects so that then they can apply to our grant programs and receive the funding necessary to meet those reductions. And in addition, in some of our BMAPs in more rural areas, our Springs BMAPs, Lake Okeechobee BMAP, they're less densely populated. Wastewater, septic tanks, stormwater aren't the primary contributors, but there's areas where agriculture is going to be the primary contributor. In the Central Indian River Lagoon, it's not the primary, but it has some significant role in the amount of nutrients entering the lagoon. And in House Bill 712 in 2020, we established a cooperative agricultural regional water quality element, which basically just gave a platform for agricultural farmers and operations that wanted to voluntarily allow their land to be used for water quality projects, could submit those and get those within the element so that then they could be cost shared and funded. One of the improvements that we've done is for those areas where we know that agriculture is at least 20 percent of the source of nutrients within a BMAP area would require the Department of Agriculture to work with landowners. It's still completely voluntary, nobody's requiring an ag operation to stop producing or anything like that, but to have DACs work with landowners and identify projects that can meet that load reduction that's attributed to agriculture. All agricultural operations operators are required to adopt BMPs and those are established to really do things that will reduce nutrients in a way that's economical cost effective. They do work, they do reduce nutrients, but typically not enough to meet the overall necessary load reduction. So this is a way for us to know as a state what are the additional reductions necessary, what are the projects, and we've also expanded our water quality grant program so that these type of projects qualify for state funding as well. And then lastly, for all of our BMAPs requiring new construction for lots of one acre or less to hook up to sewer where sewer is available, and if not to upgrade to enhanced nutrient reducing systems. And statewide by 2033, all wastewater facilities discharging to an impaired water body must be upgraded to advanced waste treatment, which just gives that additional treatment so that the level of nitrogen and phosphorus is at a level that will additionally impair an already impaired water body. And so I know we've kind of gone over a lot of kind of the regulatory aspect of things, but knowing that these are huge capital projects, expenses to both local governments, different stakeholders, agriculture, residents, commercial industry, we expanded our, what was a wastewater grant program, which really just pertained to wastewater facilities, septic to sewer, and it only applied within a basin management action plan or a reasonable assurance plan area. And so we not only expanded the type of projects that are eligible for funding from just wastewater to also include stormwater, the agricultural projects that we talked about before, uh, infrastructure needs, and also to reduce those, uh, sewer overflows. Um, but then also still being able to fund septic to sewer projects and, uh, upgrading wastewater treatment facilities to advance waste treatment. And then that also expanded the area of the state of eligibility from not just being within an area that has a B map because we know there are other impaired water bodies that, um, haven't had a B map established, um, but we don't want to not be able to fund projects in those areas. So expanding to allow projects in any water body that's impaired so that we can be working on, um, you know, all impaired water bodies throughout the state. And we prioritize these projects primarily on getting the maximum reductions in nutrients for costs, uh, those that are shovel ready. Um, we do look to see if there's cost share, but we've removed the mandatory cost share that was in the wastewater grant program, knowing that a lot of local governments, um, particularly when prior year we had such a large funding, um, with both state and federal funding, the cost share, uh, we didn't want to not be able to fund good projects because the local government had previously given a lot of cost share, didn't have enough to kind of continue that level of funding, um, but not wanting to not fund a project. So we do look to see if there is cost share or if cost share has been provided in the past, um, but it's not mandatory, uh, to qualify for funding under the new water quality grant program. So just to go into a little bit of how much funding has been made available over the last four years, we've funded as of the state 421 million dollars in the Indian river lagoon. This covers the wastewater grant program, legislative projects, other water quality projects and stormwater grants. And as I mentioned before, we have a hundred million dollars that specific to the Indian river lagoon and Martin County does qualify for those projects because waters that go into that southern portion of the Indian river lagoon, although not within one of the B map areas, they do benefit the lagoon. So they are, uh, qualified projects, um, even though not technically within the, uh, Indian river lagoon, uh, geographic area. We had just that this year, 105 applications were submitted for this specific grant program totaling 554 million dollars. Uh, so our staff has been reviewing those, grading those, uh, putting in, uh, the ones that are the feel will get the greatest benefit, um, address really the largest needs at the moment. And then we'll continue hopefully, um, year to year getting that a hundred million dollars. I know the department is going to be pushing for at least a hundred million dollars in the upcoming budget. And I feel like the, uh, you know, the legislature was supportive last session and, um, hopefully continue that support moving forward. And so for Martin County specifically, um, as John mentioned, and we've had a great partnership with Martin County, um, over the last four years, again, um, the department has been able to provide $84 million in grants to Martin County, uh, 58 million for wastewater grants, 23 million were our legislative water projects and $3.2 million for other, uh, water quality projects primarily coming out of some of our, um, other smaller grant programs. We got $200 million, um, this year for the water quality grant. And again, we're in the process of reviewing those and again, a hundred million dollars for the Indian river lagoon. So $300 million of projects that Martin County is specifically eligible to apply for. Uh, we've had a great partnership and we hope to continue that. And I think it really is, you know, important to educate constituents in the area to support these septic to sewer projects, because by 2025 Senate bill 712 from 2020 directed local governments to develop, uh, wastewater and septic tank remediation plans where septic tanks and wastewater is a primary contributor. The local governments have to submit those plans to the department and they get incorporated into the B maps by 2025 and will have to be statutorily, um, implemented. And so applying for these wastewater grant programs so that the state can offset that funding and cost to homeowners. We hope that this level of funding continues, but the wastewater grant pro or the water quality grant program, it's funded by doc stamps. We're seeing a reduction due to rising interest rates, a decrease in the amount of doc stamp revenue being collected. Um, fortunately we've been able to supplement that with additional funding from the legislature. Um, but at some point in time, a lot of these, um, homeowners and businesses will need to be getting connected to sewer, putting in enhanced septic systems in order to meet those water quality requirements. And so it's, I think really, uh, important that taking advantage of the funding now that it's here, because it's going to have to, you know, happen at some point in the future. And there's no guarantee this level of funding is going to be there. Um, and so just wanted to throw that out there, uh, hopefully, uh, continue to be able to provide funding, uh, to Martin County and to the residences to offset some of the costs that we know, um, are going to be required under some of the new regulations. But we do know that these regulations are necessary in order to improve water quality in the state, which I know all of you are more than aware provides a huge economic, uh, in, uh, production to, uh, your local government from tourism. Um, and so we want to be able to protect that moving forward. And I'm happy to answer any questions, but again, thank you for allowing me to come and talk to you. Thank you for coming, Mr. Blaylock. We appreciate it. We'll start with your person who invited you commissioner Hetherington. Firstly, yes, Adam. Thanks. Thanks again for coming. Cause we know it's a busy week right now in Tallahassee. So we appreciate you being here. You presented this to, uh, our board at the Indian River Lagoon Council. And I thought it was just filled with valuable information that our community and our board, um, would find very relevant, timely and valuable. So thank you for coming to present it directly to them. I always think, you know, there's so many new residents moving to Florida from other states where the environment is very different. So we have such unique ecosystems and water quality challenges. So it's important on a regular basis. I think for those residents to hear, you know, what we're looking at, what kind of challenges, what kind of water quality, our unique ecosystems. So I don't think that our residents could hear this kind of information enough. So thank you for being here and presenting it. And, um, it's all great news and we very much appreciate our partnership with you. Thank you very much. Commissioner Smith, Adam, all of that. Thank you. Uh, and we should have applauded at the screen with the amount of money that you all have brought thus far, um, to us, because that's a really big number, right? Sometimes. And I think we did just on, unfortunately just glassed right over how big that number was. Um, but thank you for all of that. Uh, a couple thoughts, couple comments. Um, the map that presents in the, in the presentation that shows the, the, the, I guess those are the B map areas that make up that map. Yes. So is the Indian river lagoon funding legislation? Is it the Indian river lagoon or is it the B map or is it the same? Yeah. So the funding for the Indian river lagoon protection program, if it's a project that benefits the Indian river lagoon, it's eligible, it doesn't have to be within one of these B map areas. The regulatory side applies just in those B map areas, but the funding is available. It's the entire lagoon. Right. Yes. So do, do we need the legislature to amend the map that represents that so that you don't have to always explain that it is the whole thing? Because if somebody looked at that map, they'd go, where are we in? Yeah. And the reason it is where it is, is because just to the Southern border is the St. Lucie B map. And so there is another B map in place there and the Northern Everlies protection program encompasses that. And there's funding for that through the South Florida water management district. So it's, but you also do, we, but we also are eligible for. Yes, you are. Yes. It's just, we can't have the kind of overlapping kind of B map areas. Um, just, but you know, it is something that is when you go on our portal to submit an application, we put as clear as possible that any project that will benefit. You need us to do something we will. Um, cause when I was on the NEP for a long time, one thing, it was always very confusing that during almost all of the presentations, it was always kind of like the Northern portion of the Indian River Lagoon and then there was the Southern. And I, sometimes I, we always kind of seem to think that because the office was in Brevard, that it always was just the Brevard map and not the Southern map. And so when I was looking at this again, I was like, God, we're out of it again. We're not in the map. So, um, but if it's okay, leaving it like it is, that's fine. Just, I was just curious about that. Um, I, I think something else that's important, um, to mention, and I've been working with Frank Bernardino for, for years on this and we're trying to get what we call all things water adopted with legislature. Hopefully this year, the framework for what that looks like as a statewide policy, because the number and, and, and as, as, as grateful as we are, and, and we continue to keep pushing, it's in the billions of, of what is needed to fix what we have or what exists. It's like, I think Frank's latest number is 115 billion or something over 20 years. And so I think the question for everybody listening and watching is how do we get there? And how do we, how do we, how do we get to a point? And this is what the legislation is we're hoping to get past this year is how do we get the, a, a model that, that really kind of mimics FDOT's model, um, and the type of funding that FDOT gets annually now. They're in the 14 to 16 billion dollar range a year. And we're in about the three to four billion dollar range. And, and we need to be in that 12 billion dollar range to get where you guys have got to get. So, um, we look forward to doing that. Um, I, I think from leadership we've heard this year that, that that's potentially on the horizon and we might get that passed. And if it does, and for the community that wonders how all of this works and what Adam just presented and how, I think what was important to take away from what Adam said is that's the funding today we have. Um, it's, it's the, it's the reoccurring funding that we need to make sure that gets somehow put into legislation that makes sure that regardless of who the leadership is in the Senate, the house and the governor's office, there's legislation is pushing and driving a reoccurring funding source to make sure that Adam gets to do all the cool things he gets to do. So thank you for being here. I know it's a hall down here to get here, but, um, and Stacy, thank you for having me. It's really super important. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Hurd. Yes. Secretary Blaylock, the Department of Environmental Protection has long been a terrific partner to Martin County, but I think that under your leadership, uh, commitment to water quality has never been stronger. And for that, we are extremely grateful. It's not important just to tree huggers like me, but also to, uh, the economic prosperity in Florida. So thank you very much for your commitment and also good luck sorting out that 500 million dollars worth of submittals. Yeah. I could give you some suggestions. You only have to worry about the first 50 million. That's all. We get a lot of sore losers. Yeah. I hope we're not among them. Yeah, no, it's, I have a great staff that really can narrow in and know exactly what are the, you know, best projects and they go through and we go through spreadsheets and everything. And, you know, it is a really, it's great to have that problem. Um, but it is, it's also not easy always, but yeah. We've been converting septic to sewer since before it was cool. Commissioner Smith. Yeah. Two, two other things. One, one, one, bundle it, bundle it. Uh, I think when we talked last, um, and I think I mentioned this to you, one, one thing we have, we have butted up against a little bit here. And I think when we brought it up, the association of counties, we adopted it as one of our policy procedures this year. Um, it's, it's dealing with our, our fiscally constrained neighborhoods and, and you know how we have fiscally constrained counties, but we also have fiscally constrained neighborhoods. And hopefully we'll get some legislation that will address that, um, which will hopefully make your effort a little bit easier that you, in the picking of how you rank and where we go. Um, because statewide we are absolutely going to have neighborhoods that can't afford whatever formula we come up with. And you all come up with, with, with grant dollars to match. Um, I think that'll be, um, hugely important to all of us. Um, if we can get that done. So, um, as he just said, with one, I'll, I'll leave the other one off. This was legitimate. They were legitimate. Sir, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Get home safely. Thank you. Remember Martin, M A R T I N. Write it down. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Okay. There were years where people probably wouldn't have clapped for DEP. You always clap with the guy with the money. With that, we're going to go to Commissioner Comments and I'm going to start, uh, our comments this morning with Commissioner Jenkins. So I would actually like to invite, uh, Jeff Dowdrey, the head of our building department up to, um, introduce and to present a, uh, well-deserved, uh, community recognition award for an outstanding job. Good morning, Commissioners. Jeff Dougherty with the building department and code enforcement. Uh, the team is here today is part of the building department and code enforcement can be a very challenging, uh, career due to the nature of how it operates. Many times the individual was upset with another neighbor, a business, maybe the government, and they go through the effort to register a complaint. The person on the receiving end of the complaint is upset because they feel they've been unfairly singled out. And it's up to the code enforcement team to trying to resolve that to everyone's satisfaction as well as the county's ordinances can be very tough, thankless job and no win situation. So today we wanted to acknowledge the whole code enforcement team, which is here today. So thank you very much. And also one individual who has been recognized by the community. Um, it's not often, it's very rare that the community would do that. So I would like, uh, Tamika to come up, please. Tamika has been recognized by the Banner Lake club for her outstanding service to the community there and a little bit about Tamika. She came to the county about two and a half years ago after serving as a code enforcement office for officer for about 12 years in South Florida. Uh, she holds three certifications through the Florida association of code enforcement and she comes to work every day with a smile on her face. See that smile, a positive attitude and is always willing to help others as well as learn and grow every day. Uh, she reaches out to everyone to try and make a fair and balanced approach. Uh, even her name, uh, says that her name is Tamika Clinton Bush. How much more neutral can you possibly get? So with that, on behalf of the, uh, Banner Lake club, I'd like to present you with this award that they actually, uh, presented and it, it reads to, uh, Tamika Clinton Bush, outstanding community support and beautification of the Banner Lake and Hope Sound community. So congratulations. Thank you very much. You want to take a photo, Jeff? Sure. Yeah. I can tell you firsthand that, um, she has melded into that community, uh, and the, and the Hope Sound community, um, amazingly. And for a code enforcement officer to actually, uh, the community actually reach out and, and recognize for her, for her personality and her, and the way she just, uh, operates is, is pretty amazing. So. Fantastic. Well, congratulations. I think with that, we could have you eggs. The team can exit that way. Thanks team. Thank you. Be safe out there. They see a violation. Is there a violation there? So the rug. Okay. Commissioner Jenkins, anything further? No. Commissioner Hurd. I'm set. Commissioner Hetherington. I'm all set. Commissioner Smith. Uh, yesterday we had our MPO meeting, uh, and towards the end of the meeting, I asked for our staff to put a letter together to the county commission, which should be coming shortly. Um, we had a presentation, uh, we had the secretary, our district secretary up yesterday, uh, sharing with us our long range plan, um, and some highlights of that. And one of the sort of key pieces of that is the, uh, funding, uh, request and needs for seven 10, um, for land acquisition, which, um, at this point is still three years in the making. And so, uh, our ask of, of our staff was to put a letter to you, chair or to us as the board, but for you to, um, work with our staff and our legislation or legislative staff, um, that if there is to be additional funding as was done last year, there were some 20 projects and roughly $4 billion, um, at FDOT that were granted for, um, some very specific projects that, uh, both the leadership, I think, and the governor's office, uh, requested to be funded and were, and were agreed to or signed, um, that if anything such of that sort of package or, um, level of funding comes forward that we, uh, request of our delegation to include that in an ask that we could maybe accelerate, uh, those acquisition dollars, uh, at a faster level for seven 10 land acquisition. So hopefully you're all agreeable to that. Um, I'm sure that Beth hasn't put that letter yet together, but, um, we have our meeting today and I thought we could maybe gain another week in time, uh, by agreeing to, um, put that letter together from the commission to our delegation. I would agree. I think that's everybody. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Smith. Thank you. Uh, I have nothing to add this morning. Mr. Donaldson. Nothing for me. Thank you. Ms. Woods. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. Our first agenda item is going to be postponed until November 7th. It is Public Hearing Quasi-Judicial No. 2, Request for Approval of the Ninth Amendment to the 95 Riverside Plan Unit Development PUD Zoning Agreement, including revised master and phasing plan and final, uh, and phase four final site plan and 027-013. Uh, we're going to open it up to receive any public comment at this time, but we won't be hearing the item. Correct? We won't be hearing the item. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney, but if you could do the, um, ex parte communications and swear in the witnesses and then we can continue it and then close it, please. Since this is a quasi-judicial, I'll ask my colleagues, do you have any ex parte communications? Commissioner Smith? You and they're filed. Commissioner Hetherington? I do and they're filed. Commissioner Jenkins? I do and they're filed. Commissioner Hurd? I do and they're filed. I also have some and they've been filed. Uh, anyone that's going to be offering testimony, would you please stand to be sworn in? Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Were there notifications that needed to be submitted for today? They were probably submitted at the LPA. Yes. Bob, you can confirm? Yes. For the record, Bob Raines here on behalf of the applicant, the notifications for this hearing were submitted at the LPA that took place, uh, last Thursday night. Thank you so much. No interveners? No interveners. So I think that's everything we needed. So now, if anyone would like to address us in a public comment, now would be the time, even though this item will be taken up again on November 7th. Seeing none, Commissioner Smith? We need to... We need to make a motion... ...to continue to November 7th? Yes, at a time certain, so nine o'clock or as soon after as can be heard. That's up to dawn or whatever. Yeah, okay. So I would move that, that we continue to, uh, this item, hearing item number one to November 7th to be heard, um, at nine o'clock or as soon as the item can become available on the agenda post nine. Second. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries. The item has been continued until November 9th. Thank you very much. November 7th. Thank you very much. Okay. Our next item on the agenda, public hearing quasi-judicial number three, request approval of the First Amendment to the Discovery Planned Unit Development Zoning Agreement, including a revised master and phasing plan and Phase 1B Final Site Plan H123-023. It'll be presented this morning by Mr. Pete Walden. It's quasi-judicial, so I'll start with you, Commissioner Hurd. Do you have any ex parte communication? I do, and they've been filed. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins? I do, and they've been filed. Commissioner Hetherington? If any, they've been filed. Commissioner Smith? I do, and they're filed. If any, they've been filed for me as well. If you're going to be offering any testimony, please stand to be sworn in. How about that? Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Are there return receipts that are necessary? They returned in at the LPA. Thank you. Any interveners? There are no interveners. With that, Mr. Walden, you are recognized. Thank you, sir. Good morning, commissioners. This is Peter Walden, the deputy growth management director. I'd like to enter my copy of my work history and the agenda item as exhibit one. Thank you. And I'd also like to enter a revised special warranty deed and a copy of the resumes for the applicant as exhibit two. Thank you. And this is a request for the first amendment to the PUD agreement for the discovery plan unit development. It includes a revised master site plan, a revised phasing plan, and the phase 1b final site plan. It's requested by Lucido and Associates. A little recap on the rural lifestyle land use. There was a new land use approved for this property. The future land use map amendment was adopted on September 13th, 2022. It became effective on September 18th of 2023. Part of the lifestyle land use requires any development to be done under a PUD agreement. You also have to have at least 1,000 contiguous acres. And to increase the density from the existing ag of one unit per 20 to one unit per five, you need to set aside one third of the property in either an agricultural or a conservation easement. The PUD has to maintain 70% open space. An economic analysis has to be provided to ensure level of service is not impacted for the rest of the county. Utilities can be provided to a rural lifestyle land use development. And development standards need to exceed those of the general article three and four of the LDRs. This is the current aerial of the site. It's the existing as the Hope Sound Polo Club. They have the Grove 23 golf course in the upper northwest corner of the project. It's surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park. There's existing ag production on the southeast corner. It's adjacent to and accessed by Bridge Road to the south. And there is an existing agricultural ranch to the west. This is the revised master site plan. There aren't many changes. There is a slight change to the phasing of the project, whereas the maintenance facility is now shown with its own access on Bridge Road. There is an addition of eight golf cottages proposed. And the rest of the project is pretty much the same. I'll run through it briefly. I know Mr. Crady has a presentation as well. There's polo grounds up towards the front along Bridge Road. There's 125 acres of fallow orange groves that are going to be restored as habitat. There is a horse barn and paddock stable that's going to be provided to the state park and a road built from Bridge Road that will provide access to that. This is a blow up of the east southern part of the project. Basically, some of the lakes have been expanded. But other than that, there's very little change. All the lots have been configured to make sure they're at least one half acre or greater. As said, the lot layout is very similar to what was established before. This is a little bit clearer picture of where the existing stable that's being donated to the state park is located. Phase 1b is also being proposed today. It entails all of the earthwork for the entire site. And it will include all the construction of lakes, littoral zones, the golf course, basically wherever fill is going to be generated or placed. The habitat restoration area will be started. And also part of the phase B, the train station will be donated and placed back into Hope Sound. So development review staff have found the application to be in compliance with the comprehensive growth management plan and all applicable land development regulations. The staff recommends approval. This matter was heard before the local planning agency on October 19th and the LPA voted unanimously to recommend approval. Before staff's recommendation is that the board move to receive and file the agenda item and its attachments as exhibit one and move that the board approve the first amendment to the discovery PUD zoning agreement, including the revised master and phasing plans and the phase 1b final site plan. That's my presentation. Be glad to answer any questions. Thank you, sir, very much. Questions for Mr. Walden. Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, the maximum density is one unit for five acres, but the net density is more than that. Correct. There is a little sliver of rural density in the upper and the northern part of the property that is staying and that's how they get to 0.207 units per acre instead of 0.2. So please expand upon that explanation. So if the rural lifestyle allows one unit per five acres, then why is it allowed to be more than that? Because the rural lifestyle land use was applied to the other 1500 acres and the royal density was kept on the upper part, but the whole area was incorporated into the PUD. So that you're allowed to share land uses in the lifestyle PUD and blend the density. So what's the maximum allowable density? In the rural lifestyle land use, one to five if you donate a third of your property. But it also incorporates that little bit of rural estate up there, so that's how they got a little bit higher than that. I'm on page 911 and it says potable water for this project shall be provided by South Martin Regional Utilities. On page 912 it says the service provider is Martin County and on 913 it says the service provider for sewer is Martin County. So who is the service provider? It is going to be worked out in the phase 2a, but right now it looks like it's going to be extended from existing lines from SMRU. Okay, so we don't know. So that's not part of the agreement. The agreement doesn't have, doesn't specify. Right, part of the original application materials was unclear at that time when it was applied for that both of them have availability, but it has been moving forward with SMRU providing the service. But the agreement doesn't specify? The agreement. Yeah. It says irrigation water and sewer will be provided by a regional utility or by various means. Correct. That that wastewater and water service agreement has not been executed yet. When will that when will that be executed? It's part of phase 2a. So we're not approving phase 2a today? No ma'am. We're not approving anything other than the earthwork for the site in phase 1b. It's laid out in the PUD agreement. Okay. Those are the questions I have for right now. Thank you very much. Any other questions for Mr. Walden? Seeing none, applicants opportunity. Mr. Raines, good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. For the record, my name is Bob Raines. I'm a land use attorney with the Gunster Law Firm and here on behalf of the applicant this morning. I'd like to begin our presentation by stating for the record that we have received and reviewed the staff report that Mr. Walden referenced. And we're pleased to state that we agree with the conclusions, uh, the comments and the recommendations in that staff report showing that we are in compliance with all of the land development regulations in the comprehensive plan of Martin County. Um, as you know, this is a quasi judicial matter. So obviously, we're required to provide competent substantial evidence that we meet the rules and requirements. And with that, uh, we'll bring forward, uh, Mr. Crady to make a presentation. And, uh, then also we have the rest of our development team here that we'll be glad to answer any questions. Uh, quick thing I did, as Mr. Walden noted, submitted our resumes for our, uh, team, which are part of that and the deed, uh, showing a new owner. Uh, but I wanted to just say in his recommendation, I know he had attached exhibit one, but also if they could include exhibit two in the recommendation. Uh, I think, yeah, just as a follow-up, just to clarify that. So when hopefully we get to a vote of an approval. So with that, I'd like to ask Mr. Crady to come up. I have just a couple of questions for him and then I'll let him make his presentation. Uh, Mr. Crady, have you been sworn in? I have. And can you just give us a quick summary of your education and professional background, please, sir? Sure. Um, I've been, uh, I'm senior partner with Lucido and Associates and been doing land planning in Martin County since 1982, first as a county planner with Martin County Growth Management Department. And, uh, for the last 40 years, almost with, uh, Lucido and Associates, also been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, uh, for over 35 years. And I'd just like, Commissioner, for the records to reflect that Mr. Crady's resume was part of that that was turned in as packet exhibit two that Mr. Walton turned in. Thank you. Uh-huh. Good evening. Good morning. Good morning. Uh, I think, uh, uh, uh, Pete did a great job going over the, uh, application, but I, I wanted just to update you on the current county maps. This is the county's current aerial and, uh, you know where the property is located. Just to give you an update, this is MacArthur Golf Club, put it in context. And, uh, as you know, they recently purchased about 3,000 acres in this location. And as, as was mentioned, this is the Atlantic Ridge State Park that surrounds our northern and eastern border. And this is, uh, vacant ranch land. This is the Grove Golf Course. Currently, the Grove Golf Course is accessed through Polo Club Drive, which is a road that runs, uh, uh, from, from Bridge Road about two miles. This is the updated, uh, future land use map of the county. And they have incorporated a new color for rural lifestyle. Uh, um, and that's what this depicts. And you can see up on the northern edge, um, is the rural density, which is consistent with the rural density in this area that has been on the property since 1982. Um, in fact, um, before Atlantic Ridge Preserve was, was acquired by the county, all of this area up here was rural density and, and part of the secondary urban service district. Now it's been acquired and it's, uh, it's, it's designated for recreational, uh, conservation land use. Again, the surrounding land use is agriculture. Um, the Grove, uh, was developed under the existing agricultural land use and the existing, um, AG 20A zoning. This is the current zoning map of the county. You can see all of the property within the PUD, including the 37 acres of rural density, um, what it was rezoned to PUD. So, so that's how we get the .207 units per acre. Uh, the RE2A is the designated, um, zoning district for the, um, rural density land use. And, and the, the agricultural areas surrounding us are still in the, the ancient A1 zoning district that was provided on the property in 1967. And, and the property surrounding us is, uh, again, the Atlantic Ridge state park, which is public recreation. This is another aerial, but looking at the top of the page is to the east. Um, again, just showing, um, the surrounding property characteristics. And as was mentioned, we are extending water and sewer from sea branch Boulevard. This is, um, uh, sea branch, I believe it's elementary school here. And, and, uh, there's existing drainage easement that, that provides outfall. Um, and that we'll be using that easement through a memorandum of understanding with Atlantic Ridge state park to extend water and sewer service to the property. Um, and in exchange for that, you know, we, we are providing, uh, we're constructing a paved road, a public access road to an existing equestrian facility here. That's being donated to the park and also providing the park with an easement over the property that will provide access for a quest, equestrian use bicycles and pedestrian use to, to, to tie into the trail system in the Atlantic Ridge state park. And if you recall the, the, you can't see it on the screen, but the, but the 800 acres that was donated or that has a perpetual easement, um, is located, um, to, to the right of the screen. And that's the Becker tree farm that you can see from the highway, uh, that, that will never have any units on it. All those units were, um, um, were, were given up in exchange for the increase in density, um, from, uh, on the discovery PUD property. This is just in a rendering, um, a closer image, um, just kind of depicts where the open space is. As mentioned, we're restoring 125 acres of historic, uh, upland and wetland preserve areas along the northern edge of the property. Again, working closely with the Atlantic Ridge State Park, trying to create what was there, um, historically. Um, and over 200 acres of lake is, are, are, are, are being constructed within the project. We're taking agricultural, uh, runoff in, in agricultural water, um, from the Hope St. Lucie Conservancy District, um, putting it into our system, using it for irrigation and treating it, um, at a much, much higher level than agricultural, agricultural means before it's eventually discharges into the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. Uh, the, really the, the, the, the change that we're making is in response to the construction drawings that we've developed for the lakes. Um, phase one B includes the construction of all the lakes, moving a lot of dirt, but also includes landscaping, the littoral zones and the upland transition zones, the lake banks. So all that landscaping will be done as part of that. So that, that, that, that did change the, um, master plan slightly. Uh, the other change we're making is we're enlarged some lakes, particularly in, in this area, we added phase one C. We made a much larger lake in this location. And this is currently where we have maintenance going on now, but we're, we're, we kind of refined a detailed plan for maintenance and administration offices in this location that will be a separate phase one C that will come back. And all that's proposed behind an existing six foot high berm that runs along the bridge road. So you won't be able to see any of these facilities from the road and they're all low profile buildings and nothing that would provide any issues. Um, so we're adjusting the master plan to be consistent with the phase one B final site plan construction drawings. Uh, we added the phase one C, which is making facility behind a berm along bridge road. We added eight golf cottages to phase three B, uh, from 10 to 18, which is allowed under rural lifestyle. You're allowed one, one, uh, golf cottage per hole. And we have 18 holes plus, uh, some, some practice facilities. And we also added condition 15 C, which prohibits the use of St. Augustine to Florida, Tam turf that was done at the request of staff to, to ensure that we're not overusing irrigation, water, fertilizer, or pesticides on not only the golf course, but all the single, all the lots too, or, or having to, uh, use a particular type of, of grass that reduces the need for irrigation, water, and fertilizer. So this is again, the revised master plan. The area that I was talking about phase one C is located in this, um, quadrant. Again, uh, you know, we're showing a little more detail of the, of the maintenance facility, but this will still have to come back for a separate phase one C final site plan at which time we'll, we'll have a very elaborate landscape plan for the berm along bridge road. But for the most part, everything else, um, along bridge road will look like it does today. We're maintaining the, the polo fields in front where this area here is all going to be dedicated to equestrian use. These, these particular, um, lots are designed for equestrian, uh, users. Um, and, and then this, this is a practice facility in this location. Um, so there will be no, no home sites, uh, visible from, uh, from, from bridge road. It will look like it does today. This is the, um, the, uh, north half of the property again, showing the habitat restoration area, which was again revised and refined as part of the phase one B construction drawings to, to mimic the, uh, historic upland and wetland characteristics of the property. This is the phasing plan that was updated as part of the PUD agreement. Phase one C again is really the only addition to the phasing plan and the addition of, uh, additional golf cottages where the clubhouse is located in phase three B that location. Uh, this is the phase one B earthwork. Again, it's really just moving dirt around and planting, uh, the shoreline along the lakes with native upland and wetland vegetation. It's building the, um, the, the upland and wetland areas within the habitat restoration area. It's also donating the, uh, the hope sound train station to, um, uh, to Martin County, which is currently located at the property's entrance in this location. And with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions. We're of course in agreement with staff's recommendation. So Mr. Crady, uh, you're familiar with the Martin County comprehensive plan and land development regulations. I am. And does this project meet those requirements? It does. Thank you, sir. Uh, commissioners, before we wrap up, I did have just a couple of cleanup items if I could. Yes, sir. Any questions from the commission for the applicants? Okay. Before I finish. Just so you can then wrap up. Commissioner Hearn. Tell me about the new, uh, uh, golf cottages. How many bedrooms are there? Are there going to be restricted to? We haven't decided that the, uh, maximum allowed under the, uh, rural lifestyle policy is six bedrooms per unit or per, per cottage up to six per cottage. And those are not counted toward the, uh, overall density of the project. Those are free units. They've always been counted as accessory units in the county's land development code. Okay. Um, so it says the units to be constructed within the, this is within the discovery PUD shall not be sold nor shall title be conveyed or transferred on the basis of time sharing or interval, interval ownership. How else, how else can they be transferred or sold? That they're going to, that's the only, that's the only prohibition. What do you mean? Is that they cannot be sold on the basis of time sharing or interval ownership. It's a standard restriction on all PUDs. Okay. But that's the only prohibition. Well, we're at the plat and subdivide just like the law requires. Specifically to the golf cottages, they cannot be transferred or not on the basis of time sharing or interval ownership, but those are the only prohibitions. No, they have to remain under the sole ownership of the golf course facility. It's not what the language says. Well, that's what our actual code says too. And, uh, the rural lifestyle is actually the only land use in the county that actually restricts golf cottages as to quantity or size. Thank you. Um, let's see, uh, within 60 days of approval of this PUD agreement, the owner shall place the Becker tree farm parcel, uh, into a permanent agricultural easement. Um, however, the agricultural easement shall not prohibit the conveyance of the Becker tree farm parcel to other entities or persons that use it for bonafide agricultural purposes. So it can be sold. Yeah. As long as they maintain the, the deed restriction. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Yeah. Mr. Raines. Welcome back. Thank you. Uh, commissioner, before we conclude our, our presentation, I did want to just do a couple of quick cleanup, uh, items if I could. Uh, the owner of the subject property, since we started the application is now discovery, excuse me, hope sound investors, LLC, which is a Delaware limited liability company. Uh, Mr. Walden referred to the deed that we put in showing that we've also submitted all the up required updated documentation regarding the ownership. So with respect to that, some of the, uh, materials may still have the applicant's name on it from the original, uh, or the original ownership. We'd just like for those to be able to be changed as part of our and updated as part of our post approval documents, if that's appropriate. I will allow it. And, and then the, uh, and the second thing we have is in the PUD amendment and on the phasing plan, excuse me, there's reference to, uh, uh, a construction of a temporary access road. And it talks about being completed, uh, and certified in compliance by the county. And actually it's my understanding. It should be the engineer of record. I think there's a reference on the phasing plan and then the PUD agreement. We would just like that be able to amend that language so that it would be the engineer of record that would certify that if that's appropriate. I will allow it. Thank you, sir. Um, so, um, let me just see if I had anything else here with respect to that. Um, oh, also, uh, there is a note on, um, in, uh, exhibit E of the PUD agreement regarding the temporary access. It's a note that falls under phase one C right now. That note should actually be under phase one B. So we'd like to just move that. It's the same note. Nothing changes. It's just there. So those are our cleanup, uh, details. We appreciate it. Uh, commissioners, I, I think, you know, with the staff recommendation of approval, Mr. Uh, Crady's testimony, I think, you know, we've, uh, shown that through competence, substantial evidence that this project meets the rules and the requirements of Martin County, both the comprehensive plan and the land development regulations. And we would respectfully request that you accept staff's recommendation and recruit the repressed before you today with respect to the changes that I've referenced and also the exhibit too. And we'll be glad to answer any other questions you might have. We have the rest of our team here, sir. Thank you. Some lights did come on while you were speaking. Commissioner Hurd. Um, I noticed in the PUD agreement, the only reference to landscaping is that the, uh, streets will be lined with live oaks. Is there a landscaping plan? Yes, there is. It's, uh, will be, uh, as the final site plans come forward with all the different phases. Right now, the only landscaping is going to be for the lake littoral plantings and transition areas. But as each final plans come in, that's when the actual construction and landscaping will take place. So we don't, the infrastructure, we don't have landscaping plans for the littoral zones. We do the 200 acres of yeah, that's included in phase one B. Yes. Do you, do you have, you've received that? Yes. Okay. Why wasn't it included as part of our staff report? Um, I apologize. It's, it's part of the construction documents. Thank you. Commissioner Smith. You need to ask for public comment? I will. Do you want to wait? I was going to make a motion. Okay. Let's do public comment first. That's what I was asking. Thank you. Put your light back on. Uh, we're now at the portion of the meeting where if anyone from the public would like to address us on this topic, please come forward. If you haven't filled out a form, you can speak first and fill the form out afterwards. Sir, good morning and welcome. Thank you. My name is Jim 50 and I live in Palm city. Uh, just have a couple of questions. I'm new to this. In fact, today's the first I've looked at any of the paperwork. So I need to make that clear. A couple of questions that I have, and I'm sure the staff has already asked these questions, but I think the public would like to know a number one, is this a public or private golf course? That would be my first private. Okay. So the community doesn't really benefit other than the people that are in this. Um, so the, the outside community, like for instance, you're aware of hammock Creek. It's not private, which means the community can take advantage of the golf course. In this case, apparently from what you've just said, the community cannot take advantage of this golf course. Is that the case? Okay. So comments, and then we'll, okay. Uh, the second question is what if, you know, right now financial conditions are relatively unfavorable with rates at approximately 7%. I would imagine that most of the people are, that are thinking of purchasing in this community aren't really necessarily going to need a mortgage. They'll most likely pay cash or have other financing. But if they're due to financial conditions, construction comes to a halt for, for whatever reason, is there any sort of a penalty, uh, to Martin County, uh, if construction comes to a halt and all we have is a bunch of dirt piles or whatever. Um, so I would want to know if the staff has looked into that, uh, as far as would there be any penalties in place for not, for not completing the project on time. Um, and then, um, me as far, as far as runoff from the golf course, I'm sure again, the staff has looked into that, but I'm, I haven't heard anything. Um, I'm sure that there must be standards for runoff, because as we know with golf courses, there's a lot of fertilizers, things that are used, and we certainly wouldn't want that to have a negative effect. So I'm hoping that that's been looked into. Um, so I, I guess those are my questions, uh, regarding the project. Thank you very much. Anyone else looking to address us? Ma'am, please come forward. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. It's nice to see you this morning. My name is Linda Fithian, and I am a resident of Palm City, and that was just my husband. But my, my question is, um, as always, when we have these new developments come up, there was a struggle in the community at, as you know, to change this from a agricultural, now it's a rural, and now 10 golf cottages turn out to be 18 golf cottages. We don't even know how many bedrooms there are going to be. And I'm not really even sure how many houses are going to be built on this, because it's a kind of a shell game in regards to that. So there are a number of public hearings that are coming up today in regards to changing general, um, commercial into commercial residential. And then there's that little asterisk, which means 10 units can be built. And remember that if the size of the building is 800 square feet, that means it can be 20 units, not 10 units. So when you do all of this changing of zoning and everything, please take into consideration that it's not always what it looks like it's going to be. And that was kind of what the public kind of feared when we went from, uh, agricultural to a rural thing. I'm sure this is going to be a lovely development, but there are a lot of things that we, oh, changed. So, um, I thank you for hearing me. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else? Seeing none. Um, just to briefly address the, this, some of the questions. As far as I know, it's a private club, but that's not unfamiliar. Piper's Landing is private. Mariner Sands is private. Most golf courses. Uh, and then what is the public benefit? Uh, obviously there's a huge tax, uh, uh, opportunity for sales tax, um, residential taxes. This particular project I'm, you know, pretty sure won't fail for a lack of financing. Um, if you have an opportunity to do some more research on Discovery Land Company, we, in my opinion, this project, um, from the first time it was ever presented to me, uh, is a remarkable opportunity for Martin County as a whole to have in our community. The Discovery Land Company has built beautiful facilities globally, uh, and they, if you go to the website, are some of the most gorgeous communities, uh, with first class amenities. Uh, so for the company, uh, to, to, uh, collaborate with Becker, uh, to put this here in Martin County, we won't get into the tax advantages, but they're tremendous for a relatively small footprint of housing. Uh, the, the, the benefit is tremendous, uh, in my opinion. They're also donating a, uh, large portion of their property that will be left in open space. It'll probably be state-of-the-art in terms of runoff and, you know, fertilizer runoff, uh, be state-of-the-art in terms of how that is handled. Uh, so, um, I'm very pleased that this project is moving forward. I've always been a supporter of this, uh, Atlantic fields and the group that's bringing it forward has done a remarkable job, just shown, uh, as evidence by the fact that they brought the entire team today to answer any potential questions. And that's my personal opinion, which we're all entitled to have, sir. Uh, and with that in mind, we'll start with Don Donaldson and then we'll go to Commissioner Smith. I just wanted to briefly care, uh, clarify your, um, um, summary of the planned improvements and their requirements. And that is, once the property is platted, they have to bond those improvements. If they fail to complete them, the county can call the bonding company to require they, uh, uh, um, no property can be sold until all of those required improvements are done. So there isn't necessarily a penalty the county has in the code, but it does have, regardless of its, uh, million dollar properties or, uh, or, or whatever, the same rules apply. And that, uh, they, uh, they have to, they have to build the improvements in order to sell the properties. Uh, if they fail to do so, we can call on the, the, the bonds or the board can rehear the pot and abandon it. So it can no longer be sold as originally designed. Thank you. Any other comments or. Can I just add to that a little bit that that's why we carefully phase these projects as well, so that no, uh, lots can be held, uh, buildable unless all the infrastructure in place is in place to support that phase of the project. That's why it's starting out as just earthwork. So all the drainage and fill will be done before anybody starts going vertical. And as this project gets phased, that, that phase, when it gets approved, has to have all of the infrastructure in place to support that phase. So if the rest of the project doesn't go forward, that, that phase will be, uh, self-sustainable so that no individual homeowner say, if it did get platted would be hurt in the process. Thank you very much. With that commissioner Smith. Yeah. Two other notes on, on the benefit side. And, and I think you did a good job of encapsulating most of it years and years and years ago, uh, there was the opportunity with the upper northeast corner when this was looked at in an entirely different strategy in, in terms of how it might be used for property. Um, the 1B that you can see on the map, if that's showing up on your screen, uh, in the upper northeast corner, uh, was a really important component of, of reconnecting to the, the sort of the 45 degree angle of flow of the road of the water down to Kitchen Creek past, uh, bridge road that we will get back into, um, what it was originally long before it was agriculture. And so just that alone, I think, uh, the millions of dollars that would have cost Martin County to have done that. Uh, it was mentioned a little bit relative to golfing and water quality. I, I, again, for me and, and maybe some of the others, one of the most important components of all of this, uh, is the massive amount of water quality that we get as a result of, of these fallow agricultural sites, um, uh, being reconfigured and re, um, um, imagined relative to water quality. Uh, the millions of gallons that these facilities will process and clean and take care of, hence the millions of dollars Martin County would not have had to spend to do it that the private sector is spending to do it is really remarkable. And so, if for nothing else, the water quality treatment that we get as a result of these, um, types of communities being built is really something special. And with that, uh, I would move staff's recommendation, uh, with the addition of the three additional notes, uh, highlighted by the applicant Bob Raines, uh, and I believe also exhibit two was mentioned, uh, as part of, um, the requirement for the motion. Second. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith. As stated, seconded by Commissioner Jenkins. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Opposed. Motion carries four to one with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. We're going to take our close, mid-morning closed captioning break, and we will return at, um, 11 o'clock. Uh, we're going to continue our October 24th, 2023 Board of County Commissioners meeting. We're going to take public hearing quasi-judicial number four. Request abandonment of a portion of a platted right-of-way lying within Port Salerno. Uh, it's quasi-judicial. So I'll start with you, Commissioner Smith. Do you have any ex parte communications? If I have, they're filed. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington? If any of them have been filed. Thank you. Commissioner Jenkins? If any, they've been filed. Thank you. Commissioner Hurd? If I have any, they've been filed. And the same with me. If I have any, they've been filed. Anyone that'll be offering any testimony on this item, um, during the presentation, please demand to be sworn in. Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Uh, any return receipts necessary? I think. No, no return receipts necessary, but I do have a proof of publication. Thank you. You could submit that as part of the record. And do you have a copy of your work history and the agenda item? Yes. I also, uh, submitted that for the record for exhibit one. Thank you so much. Uh, state your name for the record. Sure. Tom Walker, county surveyor. You are recognized, sir. Thank you. And good morning, commissioners. Um, in accordance with Florida statute section 336.09, the public works department requests that the board considered the abandonment of 1,065.27 square feet of platted right away lying between blocks 70 and 67 in Port Salerno. I'm going to bring that up on the map real quick. That's the, uh, portion shown in red on the map that's currently displayed on the screen. Uh, the intent is to align the southeast park drive right away to follow the uniform width of the existing roadway corridor from southeast seaward street to southeast Bayview street. The abandoned area shall adjoin to the county zone waterfront property, which will accommodate the addition of a county upland facility for the manatee pocket mooring field with an appropriate setback from the shoreline. And staff's recommendation is that the board move to receive and file the agenda item summary and all of its attachments for the record as exhibit one to move that the board adopt the resolution abandoning portions of platted right away lying within Port Salerno as described in exhibit a subject with the following conditions. And that is the proper publication of a notice of adoption of this resolution. And three moves that the board authorized the chairman to execute all documents necessary to complete the transaction. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Questions for staff from the commission. Seeing none. Is that the whole thing? Uh, I'll open it up. I only have one request to speak for him. If there is any others, um, you can speak first and then fill out the form afterwards. Mr. Connick, you are next, sir. Welcome back. I represent Papa Sierra, uh, and Pirates Cove opposed to this abandonment. Um, it's interesting when we go through the agenda, the agenda says any and all persons desiring to be heard regarding this matter were given an opportunity to present their views to this board translated 180 seconds, three minutes. That's it. That's what I spoke about earlier. Then it says this board has determined that vacated and abandoning said right of way would not be contrary to the public interest. That's not true. Let's go through exactly why this abandonment is being done. There are plenty of rights away in Martin County where, uh, you could arguably have certain areas, uh, that might be abandoned, but why is this being done? It's stated in the purpose. It says the abandonment, the abandoned area shall adjoined to the county's own waterfront property, which will accommodate the addition of a county upland facility. Now that, that facility is going to be a restroom, shower, and apparently a laundry room for the people who are using the moorings. That's it, not for the public. Now, when you ask for specific, uh, specifics there, you'll be told by staff. They have, those specifics haven't been done. And so what's happening is, is nibbling along going along. This is being done. This should be heard in conjunction with whatever the plan is. The area, my client is 50 feet from this. My client's property is going to be adversely affected by this. And by the way, you have this mooring area. There's nothing in the plans concerning the, this plan concerning new moorings. There's nothing concerning parking. There's nothing concerning how you're going to be dealing with ADA parking or facilities. Uh, on the one hand, you have a boardwalk that supposedly is to invite the public. This isn't going to be available to the public. It's just going to be available for the people in the mooring area. Uh, this is a situation where, uh, it's a bad situation. It's like, if it's someone who goes to Las Vegas and they throw good money after bad, there should be a plan that's presented to the public that would deal with this issue of abandonment and exactly what they're going to do. Again, I only have 180 seconds. Your resolution said that's, uh, says that there's adequate time. That's like this whole other thing here. It's a pretend public hearing. The result is probably already known, but this is not fair to the public. This is not fair to my client. Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the public looking to address us? Ma'am. Welcome back. I will fill out a form. Um, good morning again. My name is Linda Fithian. And in regards to this property, I understand that that right away is, um, Martin County's property. And also it might take away from some of the park that's there, the Manatee Park. So my, my ask of the commissioners is to actually see a plan and understand how this is going to be built, where it's going to be built, and how it's going to really affect the park, um, and the community. Um, because if you don't know how it's going to be built, how can you say you approve to have the right away? So I would ask that you consider those things before you approve abandonment of this. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else? Seeing none. We'll come back. Um, a couple of questions. One, there were some comments this morning, uh, from legal counsel for the, for Papa Sierra. Um, can you address some of those comments in regards to, uh, interveners and notification, please? Yes. Elise Elder, deputy county attorney. So this is an abandonment of an unopened right away. If the board abandons this right away, the county can do nothing with the property. Not one thing until there's a future land use designation and zoning assigned at that point is the future land use designation. Um, pirates go would have an opportunity to do three minutes, but for the rezoning, if they're within the, uh, mileage for notice, they will receive notice of the rezoning. And that is the proper time for them to intervene. The board has established, uh, quasi judicial procedures. And under that, in order for somebody to intervene, they have to receive notice of a quasi judicial hearing under Florida law, the abandonment doesn't affect surrounding property owners because you can't do anything with the property and there's no notice required, which is why we don't have an intervener here. Even if we allowed, uh, pirates Cove to intervene in this case, your adopted rules provide seven business days notice. Uh, pirates Cove provided notice two business days. Those rules are uniformly applied throughout the county. So all citizens are treated equally. The other portion, which I want to point it out is that seven days is not an arbitrary number of days. It gives staff the opportunity to take that intervener form because it's only a form you fill out and you turn it into the county administrator and put it on the, uh, the agenda that goes out before the board meeting. So all citizens have an opportunity to know there is an intervener because while maybe somebody is against it, someone else might be for it. And if there's an intervener, they might want to come to this meeting and speak for the, the item. So it's in all fairness and due process that we strictly, um, comply with our quasi judicial procedures. And those are the basic reasons why we do not have an intervener today. If that answers the question. No, sir. That was your response. Uh, they'll, uh, as far as I'm concerned as your chair, I'm trying to break this issue down into two parts. The official agenda item, which is the right of way abandonment. And I think we've heard is not the final. It's not the first and final approval of what's planned for this location. Correct. I'm sorry. It's the first step in a process. We've heard that nothing more can take place except the abandonment. There is two or three other steps in the process. One of which would accompany accommodate the opportunity for someone, especially pirates Cove in this particular case being very close to perfectly come forward within the parameters of when that paperwork can be filed. You know, commissioner heard and commissioner smith have been here longer than I, and this every once in a while comes up where someone was much further away, but felt that they had an interest. Some people were much closer, but really didn't genuinely have an interest. So for me, the first portion and that the only portion that the five of us are discussing and addressing, especially in a quasi judicial is exactly what is before us. The second portion about should someone have had the opportunity to intervene is a side issue for me. So what we will be doing hopefully is discussing specifically the agenda item. And then so for the two public comments, one, there will be an opportunity for an intervener. And depending on when that is, if I'm sitting in the middle, you'll have more than your opportunity to participate. I'm always much more interested in leaning in favor of participation than out of away from participation. So that's first. And secondly, for the other public comment, this is not the final decision. And so when we hear from staff that we're not exactly sure on what this will specifically be, that's because we're sort of following along in a process and you don't get to know what the end of the process would look like at the beginning. There, there is a process. I listened yesterday to the CRA meeting and this had come up yesterday and I watched the entire meeting. So there is interest. There is questions. And hopefully as we progress down this path, that those questions, those recommendations will be incorporated in. So today is purely for the agenda item as presented, which was an abandonment of a right of way, not to get into what it will look like, who will be able to participate in it. Um, and then, like I said, there'll be more than ample opportunity for public in terms of three minutes. Today, it doesn't seem like a big deal when there's two people looking to speak, but come when there's 50 people looking to speak. And if, if you, some people are right in the middle of a very passion plea for or against. And when the time is up, the time is up. And some people are, that's, excuse me, that's why in the beginning, I say at the two minute and 45 second point, you'll hear a tone. That's not meant for you to stop. It's just meant for you to know in your head that you got 15 seconds to wrap your comment up. Because I always found it to be a little odd where the microphone would just stop and you were in mid sentence. That being said, um, I would bring it back to the board. I hope that's an explanation of why there's no intervener for this specific item. There will be opportunity for an intervener into the future. And there will be opportunity for not just the affected parties, but for all residents to put their, uh, let their opinions be known for or against. Commissioner Smith. With that, Mr. Chair, I'd move staff's recommendation. Second. Thank you. And thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith for staff's recommendation. Seconded by Commissioner Hurd. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And I'm sure we'll be seeing you in the future. Our next agenda item is public hearing quasi-judicial number five. Request, uh, abandonment of a portion of unopened deed, deeded right of way lying within Miles or Hanson Grant. It'll be also presented by Mr. Tom Walker. Mr. Walker, you are recognized. Oh, excuse me. Quasi-judicial again. It's that day. Commissioner Smith, do you have any ex parte? I do, they're filed. Commissioner Hetherington. If any, they've been filed. Commissioner Jenkins. If any, they've been filed. Commissioner Hurd. If I have any, they've been filed. I don't believe I have any, uh, and that's been filed. Anyone that's going to be offering testimony, please stand to be sworn in. Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Mr. Walker, do you have a copy of your work history, the agenda item, and any, and, uh, any return receipts or notices that would be required? Yes, I have my work history, the, the copy of the agenda item, and a proof of publication to submit, um, as record for exhibit one. Thank you very much. Now you are recognized. Thank you. Good morning again, and, uh, we have another, uh, abandonment for your consideration. Uh, the petitioner requests that the board, uh, consider the abandonment of 57,633.38 square feet portion of unopened deeded right away in official records book 311 page 462 and lying within the east 60 feet of lot 11 of the miles or Hanson grant. And I'm going to show you exactly where that is on the map. It is the portion that is outlined in purple on the map currently displayed on the screen, uh, said right away being sought for abandonment is not, nor has it ever been an open road. The petitioner is the owner of the abutting lots within, uh, lots 11 and 12 of said miles or Hanson grant and upon successful abandonment would be entitled to the entire portion of the abandoned right away section 139.2 of the the Martin County code of ordinances requires a privilege fee for abandonment and vacation of county property and roads. However, the board may waive the privilege fee required upon a showing of good cause. The petitioner has requested that the appraisal requirement and privilege fee be waived. Uh, the, the petitioner will grant the will grant a drainage easement described in, uh, the attached exhibit B totaling 143,438.1 square feet to Martin County as, and as shown, uh, outlined in yellow on the map currently displayed on the screen, uh, for the purpose of maintaining proper drainage through the area. And staff recommendation is one move that the board receive and file the agenda item summary and all of its attachments for the record as exhibit one to move that the board adopt the resolution abandoning the portion of unopened deeded right away lying within mile miles or Hanson grant as described in exhibit a and accepting conveyance of the drainage easement described in exhibit B to Martin County subject to the condition of proper public publication of a notice of adoption of this resolution three move that the board agreed to waive the privilege fee finding good cause shown by the petitioner by conveyance of the easement to Martin County and for a move that the board authorized the chairman to execute all documents necessary to complete the transaction. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, sir. Very much questions for Mr. Walker. What's the purpose of the abandonment? Uh, I believe the purpose the, the applicant can speak more to this, but I believe the purpose is so that they can join, uh, their parcel created a whole parcel because right now the deeded right away represents a gap in, in between, uh, the parcel. None. Sir applicant's opportunity to make a presentation. Good morning. Please state your name and tell us if you've been sworn in. Good morning. I have been sworn in. My name is Joshua Myron. I'm counsel on behalf of the applicant. Uh, at this point, I'm here quite frankly, just to, um, introduce myself as well as to, uh, suggest that to the extent anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them. And I'd obviously respect for requests that the board take into consideration the documents that have been filed, um, and the information provided by Mr. Walker into the record and approve, uh, the abandonment application. Please. Thank you very much for your brevity. Yes, sir. Commissioner Hurd. What's the purpose of the abandonment? Yes, ma'am. Uh, just as Mr. Walker indicated, we own both the lots, both in front of and behind for lack of a better term of the 30 foot, excuse me, 60 foot right of way. And therefore it would be to consolidate both parcels into one. And why, why are we waiving the privilege fee? Uh, they've submitted, uh, the drainage easement. They're actually giving us a drainage easement, uh, in consideration as a showing a good cause. Didn't we have that before? No, no, it's a right. Even though it was our right of way, it wasn't a drainage easement. No, not that I'll go back to the map. Um, yeah, it's the, the, the portion in purple is what they're abandoning. The portion in yellow is the drainage easement that they're providing to the County. All right. Thank you. It looks like a two for one. Any other questions? Anyone from the public looking to address us on this topic? Seeing none. Commissioner Smith. Other questions from staff's recommendation? Second. Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept staff's recommendations as presented, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Mr. Walker, thank you very much. Thank you. I'm going to take one item up, uh, the agenda because we have an outside, um, visitor. I guess if you're a visitor, you're from the outside. We have an expert who's going to make a presentation for the Martin County safe streets for all action plan. It'll be introduced by our team member, Mr. Luke Lambert, and then he will introduce who he's with. Mr. Lambert. Good afternoon, sir. Or nope. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. I brought you up as as high up the agenda as we possibly could. Appreciate it. Good morning, commissioners. Luke Lambert, traffic engineering administrator. And with me here is Stuart Robertson with Kim Lee Horn. They are consultants on this. And just to tee this up, this is the Martin County safe streets for all action plan. This is really a follow up in December, December 7th of 2021. We gave you guys a presentation on traffic safety project planning. And this is this action plan was born out of opportunity. So essentially a notice of funding opportunity from the federal highway administration, the USDOT. So pass it along to Stuart here. Thank you very much, Luke. So not to rush you, sir, but keep that in mind. Okay. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Stuart Robertson with Kim Lee Horn. We are supporting county staff on developing the safe streets for all action plan. It is a program that was established through the bipartisan infrastructure law. It does come with three components that we are addressing as part of the plan. And it supports the county's commission. I'm sorry, the county's commitment to the vision zero plan, which was adopted by the MPO in 2022 vision zero is an international policy of traffic safety that holds that traffic fatalities and serious injuries are unacceptable and are preventable. So an overview of the action plan. The plan is set up in order to be specific to address the bipartisan infrastructure laws criteria for a future grant application. We could apply for funding through the SS for a plan to address traffic safety issues in Martin County. We've been coordinating with and consistent with the county MPO and state projects and policies that are in place. We have also been working closely with several departments, including the sheriff's office, the fire rescue department, the growth management, community development, public works, the MPO, and chambers of commerce as well, in order to try to be reaching out to the community and gaining their insight and the school board staff as well. We've coordinated with school board staff and had a lot of great input. We have analyzed the crash data data from five years of 2018 through 2022, five complete years of crash data. There has been, unfortunately, an increase in the total number of crashes since 2020. 21 percent of crashes occurred during dark conditions. Also, 21 percent of crashes involved a cyclist or a pedestrian, not the same 21 percent, just coincidentally the same number. We are focusing on county roadways. One third of the crashes that have occurred in Martin County occurred on county roads. The others would be on roads maintained by other agencies. And some of the trends that we've seen here are that 19 percent of the crashes on county roadways occurred during dark conditions. 40 percent of the crashes that occurred or 40 percent of the fatal crashes that occurred within the county occurred on the county roadway. So a slightly higher percentage than the total number of crashes, which was 33, probably because the county does maintain higher speed roadways, more rural roadways. We also have a map if you're interested. You can click on the link in your agenda to see the map of where these crashes occurred. So there were 100 serious injury crashes, so 29 fatals and 100 serious injury crashes. The map here summarizes the crash severity on county roadways. And we have identified certain locations that appear to be hotspot for fatal and serious injury crashes. Arterial roadways such as Dixie Highway, Cove Road, and Martin Highway. And this is a map of the 29 fatal crashes that occurred during the five-year period. So most of these fatal crashes are occurring on roadways with speed limits higher than 45 miles per hour. Dixie Highway and Martin Highway in particular show up. And also I would point out Bridge Road shows up with these fatal crashes as well. So we're going through the process right now of project selection, of identifying projects that could be potential grant opportunities on these roadways, in particular Martin Highway, Bridge Road, and Dixie Highway. Looking at the contributing crash factors and potential engineering countermeasures to address those crashes. Also I should point out that the SS4A criteria does include a focus on underserved communities. And there is a U.S. DOT criteria for identifying those underserved communities. And we're showing them in the orange areas on this map. So in summary, we're looking at Southeast Dixie Highway. This corridor does have the greatest concentration of crashes. It also has a very high concentration of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes. It does fall within the transportation disadvantaged community identification by U.S. DOT criteria. We're also looking at Martin Highway and Bridge Road. In particular, stakeholders that we have coordinated with have addressed or have commented that those two roadways in particular have concerns related to lighting. And we do see in the crash data several nighttime crashes that have occurred on both of these roadways. The county has done work to improve the lane departure crash situation on both of these corridors with the improvements that have been made and implemented by the county over the years. So we could build upon those with further identification. So this is an update presentation. Our next steps are to continue to formulate the leadership commitment and goal setting for Safe Streets for All, finalizing the site selections and project recommendations, establish the performance measures, and to set the county up for a potential SS4A grant application in 2024. So that wraps up our presentation, and we would be happy to address any questions or comments you may have. Thank you very much. Commissioner Smith. Thank you, Stuart. I'm curious, after yesterday's discussion at the MPO 710, why does 710 not show up on the list? The reason is that we're focusing on county-maintained roadways, and State Road 710 is a state highway system roadway. Okay, fair enough. However... It's in the county. It's in the county, and it's probably the most severe of our road infrastructure that we have. I think to the people of Indiantown, I don't know that they care that it's a state highway versus a county right away, and maybe if this grant program says it can't be state, it can only be county, maybe that's a defining moment. I would just caution us on whatever we produce, that if it's relative to safety, we are failing miserably on 710. And so, as important as bridge road statistics are and A1A are, I don't know how, with good conscience, at least in a conversation, we can leave out 710 in the criteria side of all this. Now, if you can't, if there's some marginal line that says, nope, you can't do that because it's a state road, fair enough. But if for nothing else, there should be some kind of addendum added or something that recognizes the crash data, the fatality data of 710, and that we don't leave that aside. So, every other year, the Martin County Public Works Department publishes our biannual crash surveillance report. So, this work is specific to county-only roadways, and in this report we do, we do look at this crash data, and we forward those on to the Florida Department of Transportation. They are very proactive. They have their highway safety plan that the DOT implements. So, they are looking at their separate bucket of funds for safety improvements. And so, you know, typically 710 is funded through the five-year work program. So, in this instance, for this grant application process, it is specific to county-only roadways. We wanted to maximize our dollars. You guys were generous enough to create the traffic safety CIP sheet, and so that is our intended match funds for this federal grant. And we want to work basically in tandem. We want to try and eliminate crashes on all roadways, but this plan is specific to the county corridors. Luke, I appreciate all that. Again, I don't know that our Indiantown residents really care about all that, and so at the very least I would put a footnote or I would put an addendum to this that recognizes the crash data from 710. And I get that it's CIS, and I understand its role, what it is. I just think that any presentation that has anything to do with safety, and if you start off with the very opening statement, the Vision Zero, Vision Zero doesn't define county, state, city, it's Vision Zero, right? For me, that's the defining language. And so if we could add that to it in some shape or form, that would, I think, be helpful. And this plan is meant to be complementary to the MPO's Vision Zero plan. So that would be a plan. So that plan right there, if it meets all of the criteria, is the mechanism for, say, the Board of County Commissioners or the Village of Indiantown or DOT even to apply for those grant funds. So this plan is specific for, you know, our request on our roadways. But the Vision Zero MPO plan is that avenue to do that as well. And this isn't the MPO. So I understand that. This is the county commission. And, again, if it's a footnote or something needs to be, I just, I. Even if it's an aside, like in your presentation, when you put up that slide with the red dots, I immediately looked at 710 and Tommy Clements because I know in the last couple of years there's two or three fatalities. Ten, but, I mean, right, there was one like a couple of months ago. I get that it's not part of this, but when you say, hey, there was 29 fatal accidents in the last five years, I took away the fact that there was 29 fatal accidents in the county, not just on specific roads. So you could say, look, this is our presentation, but as an aside, this is the total number of fatal accidents in the county on other roads that we're not necessarily highlighting. So I agree with Commissioner Smith. Mr. Donaldson, and then we have some others. Well, just following up on that, so, I mean, obviously on 95 and 441 and there's a whole host of other streets, are you looking to have all of that included as well? Yeah. Martin County Fire Rescue responded to those calls. Again, this was, again, originally designed just to supplement how we're spending your local dollars on local streets, but if you want a complete, combined study, we can amend to do that. Then we can, I would say, yes, we include A1A and all of the other streets so you're not limited, including I-95, which we have a lot of accidents that fire rescue attends to all the time. Maybe it's a separate situation. Commissioner Smith. I don't care how you do it. I think that any document that any department, any agency picks up, if it's relative to vision zero or safety on our roads, it should pertain or should have some mention of, and I would go so far as to say the crisis we have going on in 710. All the other roads are important. I-95's got its own issues, but I just agree. We can add, I just wanted to be clear whether or not we were adding all of it or just something. You're all trying really hard. We are. We are. I just wanted to be clear. I do, too. Commissioner Jenkins. Well, it could be also an overlay. Sure. However you want to do it. That's, I'm going to leave in there. So, Luke, I'm not pointing my comments at you because I know you're working diligently. I'm just hoping that Marshall Crutchfield from Art and Parental Light is watching us right now because I don't know how long we've been talking about Bridge Road. Two and a half years probably. And those big, three big red dots plus all those others, I guarantee you all those were at night. For all of you, they've been doing a hardening project along Bridge Road where they took all the streetlights down other than just a few. So, it's dark as death out there. And we've, Luke, has also been begging. We came up with, I believe, 14 additional lights on top of the five or six that were there. But it is dark as death out there. So, I don't know what we can do to put any more pressure on flyer power light. But, yeah. Understood. Okay. Commissioner Hurd. So, what kind of additional pressure can we put on FPL? They come to us for a lot of things. They are our partner, if you will. I mean, I believe. They extract a lot of concessions from us, believe me. This is a two-way street. Two-way street, get it. I will definitely reach out to our leadership to find out and reach out to FPL leadership. Commissioner Jenkins and I have been working for this project alone on Bridge Road since September of 22. That's just the paperwork. So, paperwork's in. Do the project, guys. It's been continuously material delays is their excuse. And we've seen hardening projects go up. So, we need to just figure out who the right individuals are to finish this out. And, Mr. Robertson, very, very good presentation. Very informative. So, Dixie Highway, are most of the crashes and fatalities from Indian to Cove? I would say from Monterey to Cove. And are they mostly involving pedestrians, bicyclists, cars? It's a wide range. But the pedestrian and bicyclist crashes are focused on Dixie Highway. That's the county roadway that has the most number of crashes involving people on foot and people on bicycles. I drive that road every day, multiple times, generally. And the crosswalks are completely ignored. Everywhere. Even when they're lit up, they're ignored. So, what can we do to improve enforcement? I don't know. I don't know. You know, we put these things in at great expense and it doesn't seem like it's making an improvement to me. I still see pedestrians standing there waiting for cars to stop and they never do. I'm the only one in the county who stops. No. There's two. Yeah. Okay. There are three of us. So, the Dixie Highway corridor is, it has been one of the, you know, county's most important corridors. We've done a lot of work along Dixie Highway, you know, throughout the years. And the most recent project is Dixie Highway through Golden Gate. We did bike lanes, we did pedestrian crosswalks, the street lighting projects. So, this SS4A opportunity allows us to complete gaps. And Dixie Highway shows up in the MPO's Complete Streets for Transit plans. It shows up in all these various plans. And by being included in this action plan, it allows us to finalize those small gaps. So, we already have plans in the DOT work program to match funds, you know, to do bike lanes and multimodal improvements. And by being in this plan, we could finalize those missing links. So, you know, we have a multimodal plan project that's going to happen from, on Dixie Highway, between Airport Road and Monterey Road and Palm Beach, really creating that gap. Like, there's a six-foot sidewalk. That's one of the most heavily traveled sidewalks in the county. We see workers crossing in with the FEC rail there. It's just generally one of those hot spots where you see that. So, by being included in this, it allows us to complete these big projects and make everything complete and comprehensive. Good report. Thank you. I think some of it, you know, is engineering and construction, but a lot of it's enforcement. You take your life in your hands if you think you can cross a crosswalk and that the cars will stop for you. I think you need to have almost like, you know, a sting where people are crossing in the crosswalk and up the road is a sheriff's deputy to pull the people over that just race right through. I see school crossing guards stand out on Martin Highway and cars, never mind the 20-mile-an-hour school zone, and the woman standing there with a sign that says stop as the kids are literally off the curb. Cars are just going right through. I would tell you, and I think my colleagues would agree, the two biggest issues that I feel that I deal with in constituent services is water issues, like flooding and traffic safety. Those are the two biggest. And by me and Palm City, I'd say traffic safety is first. Commissioner Smith, you get the final word. This past summer I was up in Destin for a couple days. And on Highway 98, which is actually larger probably in scale than A1A, because in some sections it's three lanes, some sections it's four lanes or two lanes east-west, they have full red light crossing bars across the highway. There is a significant amount of retail restaurant on the south side and on the north side, and in between there's a ton of condos or hotels in that stretch of the community. So there's people traversing way more than even what we have in Golden Gate. But those, and they're big and maybe viewed as obnoxious, but they're red light stopping traffic, and everybody stops for them. It doesn't, you don't, the little red light ones that we have in Golden Gate, some people stop, most don't. They just blow right on through, and they just don't pay the slightest bit of attention. But up there it was incredibly effective, and maybe that's something we've got to start looking at. There's a couple of them up on North Hutchinson Island up in St. Lucie County out on the beach for the very similar problems we had up there. And I just, it's crazy to watch Golden Gate. It's crazy to drive through there because I, Sarah, maybe you've noticed, and I notice when I go through, more people are slowing down, though. It's not, it's not like 50 miles an hour going through. People are actually slower. It's just they don't stop. So you'll get hurt, but you won't get killed. Anyway, it's just a thought. Maybe we ought to look at a test with doing that kind of an installation, that aggressive, because it does work when it's red, and you can't not notice those things when they're happening. So anyway, just a thought. Luke wants the last word. So I just wanted to highlight, so the next step really is we need to, part of the grant application requires the board to formulate a leadership commitment and goal setting. So it could be in the form of a resolution. It could be in the form of, hey, we want to get to X amount by this year, and with vision zero being the total end goal by date certain. So it'd be great if we could work with you individually to kind of go through some specific highlights, go through some specific countermeasures you'd like to see. But I just wanted to bring that to your attention that when we come back, we plan on coming back in December, and we would like to either adopt a resolution or do some other type of goal setting exercise. Sounds great. Commissioner Smith, you get the final one. Please do all of the above and come back with the resolution, but please do come back with some project recommendations that are much more aggressive relative to how we stop traffic. Something else I've noticed on New River Drive, we've done a couple different tests out there at the sailing center. And one of the other issues, and we have it up in Ocean Breeze too, people also don't press the buttons to highlight the red lights to stop, you know. And so some of it's two-way. It's people actually using crosswalk, which then sends, okay, they have automated, you know, when you walk through a sensor, it lights up the stoplights. And so they're expensive and all of that, but if the idea is to stop what's happening, then at the really bad intersections, we probably need to be trying some of that. So please do come back with a resolution, and I'd be more than happy to support it. Okay. All right, and thank you so much. We'll see you then. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Appreciate it. Our next agenda item is departmental number one, Office of Management and Budget Items, which require board approval. It'll be presented by Ms. Jennifer Manning. So good to see you. That lady retired. Again, right? No, that was her sister. Her little sister. Good morning, Commissioners. Jennifer Manning, OMB Director. I have four items on the agenda. Is this your last? Yes, it is. Maybe. Celebration. I don't know. That's a thank you. Okay. The first item on the agenda is permission to accept the FY24 Children's Services Council grant for after-school and out-of-school for other areas of Golden Gate, Jensen Beach, Port Salerno, and the Extreme Teen, Countywide, and Summer Programs. The grant award is for $344,284. It requires a $525,308 match, which is adopted in the FY2024 Parks and Rec Operation Budget. Item number two is permission to accept the Emergency Management Performance Grant for $79,912. Those funds will be used to enhance the planning projects, provide technology, equipment, and supplies, as well as meet the program mandates. Item number three is the Mosquito Control Division is requesting an execution of the annual certified budget for the arthropod control. The document is required by Florida statute, as well as Florida Administrative Code. The final item, staff has requested an amendment to the Hawks Hammock Access Capital Project Improvement Plan, and that's due to an increase in the construction costs. It requires an additional $110,000 in order to implement the project. The funds were identified from the Jensen Beach West Kayak Paddleboard Project, which came in on the budget, and that will cover the increase in costs. That concludes my presentation. Say that again. That concludes my short-term presentation. That concludes your career. Your career. Your approval, and I'm going to miss you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Second. Oh, tie for a second. Go to the tape. Yeah, you've done a remarkable job your whole career. And last time when you were here to see you with your family, you know, we're sad. I'm sad to see you leave, but knowing that you're going to get to spend time with that beautiful family, I'm willing to allow it. Thank you. So with that in mind, we have, well, first we'll do this. We have a motion by Commissioner Hurd, seconded by both Commissioners Jenkins and Hetherington. Let our clerk figure out how she wants to do that. And all those in favor, you want to do it beforehand? Well, there's probably two things. Okay. Commissioner Smith. There ought to be a requirement that every holiday that there was curry, that there's still curry going into the future. Yes. You have to come back and do that. I will do it. Okay, fantastic. Now you can. Oh, so that, is that part of the motion? Yes. Okay, now someone's not getting paid or getting a grant because, you know, if you don't show up on Thanksgiving with curry, some monies will be clawed back. We have a motion by Commissioner Hurd, seconded by Commissioners Jenkins and Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Let the record show your last motion was unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Christy Brotherton, what do you want? Our next agenda item is departmental number two, contracts that meet the threshold for board approval, one million or greater. What's your favorite thing to make? It'll be presented by Ms. Christy. Well, our first contract is Jennifer Manning's curry, so, you know, Christy Brotherton, chief procurement officer. I have two items for your consideration today. Okay, the first contract is for Rio East Jensen Beach Water Enforcement Extensions Project. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is Jamie Underground, in the amount of $1,054,708, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. The second item is a continuing services contract for engineering support services. This contract has a maximum not-to-exceed value of $2.5 million, with a maximum not-to-exceed term of five years. And staff recommends that the board award the contract to Keith and Associates, doing business as Keith, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item. Commissioner Smith. I move staff's recommendation. I like that you put your light on. Very official. Okay, any other questions or comments for staff? We have a motion by Commissioner Smith for staff's recommendation, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Excellent job. You might want to stay for my closing comment. Not right there, but stay over here. I know it'll affect you. No. So we're at the end of the meeting. If there's any 505 or, in this particular case, 1149 a.m. public comment, he waves us off. We'll start with you, Commissioner Smith. All set. Commissioner Hetherington. I'm all set. Commissioner Jenkins. All set. Commissioner Hurd. Mr. Donaldson. All set. Thank you. Ms. Woods. I just wanted to bring up that I have personally noticed, and a lot of our residents in Palm City along Map Road have noticed, it seems to be sort of a degradation of our landscaping along Map Road, the landscaping that was put in the last couple of years. It's obviously apparent, and I had the opportunity yesterday to go out and meet with some of our staff and find out what the situation was. It seems that we had come to the end of our contract with our previous maintenance provider out there, I guess countywide, and specifically for our point of view in Palm City, and there had been, you know, three to four to five weeks of nothing. But I'm happy to report that a new company has gone through the bidding process and has been contracted. They had their representative out there yesterday to meet with us, and we walked the full length up and down of Map Road and pointed out all the things that needed to be pointed out. The name of the company is Main Guy. I guess it's a countywide contractor that's been put into place. And so for the folks that are listening from Palm City, I agree with you that it just looked really bad, and they're going to be out there this week completely bringing it back up to the standard that we expect. So it's countywide. Ours is terrible also. Well, because I guess I know they were out on Bridge Road the day before, so it's going to be a complete new, hopefully a new revived energy and efficiency to do these projects. Commissioner Smith. Maybe a footnote to all that. From what I recall during our budget process, did we not take some funding from our countywide maintenance? No. No, we did not. I thought we did. No. It was suggested. It was put up on the block. It was not affected upon. I just want to make sure. Yes, sir. Those are sort of like, you know, those are the things that happen, you know, when we squeeze the budget somewhere, right? There are things that happen that then become. That ship has sailed. Yeah. Let's see it off into the distance. Goodbye, budget ship. I see you in the distance. Yep. I'm pretty sure we could have squeezed out a couple hundred grand out of a $640 million budget, but that being said. I understand. Any other comments? Seeing none, I'd like to compliment when I asked the staff to come out. There was three of them out there yesterday, and the representative from Main Guy, and supposedly the owner of the company, his last name is Main Guy. So he is our main guy, and his last name is Main Guy. We'll see. But with that, our next commission meeting is November 7th, and I wish you all a safe day. That's the end of the meeting. Thank you.