Board of County Commissioners on 2023-12-12 9:00 AM - Dec 12, 2023

We are going to do our annual singing by the Gertrude Walden School first thing so we can kind of get them in and out. Good morning! Good morning! We bring you greetings from Gertrude Walden Child Care Center. This morning we have some of our BPK students. BPK is Volunteer Pre-Kindergarten. That means all of these kids were 4th and September 1st and in the fall they will be bonafide kindergarteners. We've had a very busy month. They were at ICE at the Gaylord Ponds last week because we know that we give them as many experiences as they can so they got to experience 9 degree weather. As they weathered the ICE program last week. On Friday of this week they will be performing in the Nutcracker with Florida Arts and Dance at the Lyric Theater. They have three shows so this is a very busy time for them. Right boys and girls? Yes! You want to say good morning? Good morning! Okay so we are here to spread a little Christmas cheer with the county and we are very thankful for all Martin County Board of County Commissioners due for the kids at Gertrude Walden Child Care Center. Let's start with Jingle Bells. Ms. Doris you got music? I'm going to be saying this one right here too. And we have a special guest coming in that's also going to stand right here. Good boy! Alright boys and girls you're right! No dimensions! No discussions! What? Ready for the final song? Yeah! Great! Suggest they leave the Grinch beat. About 10 years I think yeah. Here they are. And Harold. Yeah I know. Great! Okay we are going to all stand and do our invocation by Reverend Singh followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Augusta Harris. Good morning! It's great to see all of you again. Thank you for inviting me. Let's unite in heart, mind and spirit. Creator of everything, giver of every good and gracious gift, thank you for breathing life into this world. Thank you for our great nation, for our state of Florida, and for our beloved Martin County, our home. And thank you for the dedicated hard-working leaders, public servants and officers gathered here today who devote their time and talent and very best effort to make our county a better place to live. Gracious one, as we celebrate our holidays in a variety of ways, lead us to regard one another as beloved neighbors. Give us eyes to see your goodness and mercy in each other, whatever our faith or background. And grant us the compassion and fortitude to care for one another despite our differences or disagreements. As the wars around the world continue unabated, loving one, guide our community to continue living together in peace. And in this season of tremendous change, kindle within us a fire of courage and boldness to lift up the fallen, to give voice to the voiceless, to feed the hungry, and to shelter the shivering, and to bless people in need with whatever they need. May your loving spirit inspire us to strive not only for our own good, not only for the good of our friends, our allies, and supporters, but for the good of all. May your justice, mercy, and steadfast love bless us all, everyone. Amen. Good morning. Can you please join me in the pledge? 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. Mr. Harris, if you could give us a little history of your life. You served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Yes, sir. As a tank crewman. That's cool. I was born in Orlando, Florida. And after graduation from high school, I went off to college and played ball. And then I left college and went to the United States Marine Corps. And I served in the Marine Corps for five and a half years. And I left and went back to college and got my degree. And I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida and started teaching. And I teach emotionally handicapped students at Rolling Green Elementary School in Boynton Beach. And I've been back and forth from Stuart to Boynton every day for the last four years. And on December 31st will be my last day teaching. I'll be retiring. And that's about it for me. That was from the beginning to the end. Well, we appreciate you coming today. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So we have 9.05 public comment. Preset at 10 for Florida Department of Environmental Protection presentation about the Florida's coral reef. And then 505 public comment. Additional item, consent 13, adopt a proclamation declaring January 19th, 2024, as Arbor Day in Martin County, Florida. And we have no agenda polls. Can I get a... He's got his light on. Oh, you got your light on. I'm sorry. Yes, sir. Good morning. Mr. Chair, thank you. I approve of the agenda with the additional item of consent number 13. And I will second that. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes unanimously. First up, we have a proclamation celebrating the 125th anniversary of All Saints Episcopal Church and All Saints Cemetery with Father Tony Holder. Good morning commissioners. A group of settlers joined together to establish an Episcopal congregation in the late 19th century. And then Charles and Mary Racy donated four acres of land for an Episcopal Church and cemetery. The All Saints Episcopal Church building was dedicated on February 19th, 1899 by the Right Reverend William C. Gray Bishop as a place of worship and a symbol of God's presence in this community. And the cemetery at All Saints has welcomed people of all faiths and nationalities and is a garden of remembrance for many of the pioneer families of Martin and St. Lucie counties who laid the foundation for our community. November 1st, 2023 through November 1st, 2024 is hereby designated as All Saints Episcopal Church's year of celebration to mark its 125th anniversary. And here we have Father Tony Holder with All Saints. Chairman Jenkins, Vice Chair Hetherington, County Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. Good morning. As you've heard, I'm Father Tony Holder. I'm the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Jensen Beach, Florida. On behalf of the wardens and vestry and the church family of All Saints, I want to thank you for this proclamation on the occasion of our church's 125th anniversary. Here with me today are our current senior and junior wardens, Harry Cappell and Jack Miller, respectively. Former senior wardens Joyce Fletcher Menard and Paul Neff and current members of the vestry Elita Watkins and Melissa Jones. All Saints is the longest continuously operating church in Martin County, officially dating back to 1898, although there was apparent Episcopal Church presence since 1894. Our church building and cemetery are also celebrating 125 years during our year-long celebrations. Known as the little church on the hill with a big heart, we are a faith community that embraces its vision to live like Jesus, love God and all people. As we live out our vision through worship, service, fellowship and discipleship, we also do so through outreach ministry within the community. We are the only faith-based group in the area to offer scholarships for college-bound local youth. We make and provide quilts for abused and neglected women and children, and we financially assist members of the community and the church in cases of emergency, just to name a few. In observing our 125th anniversary, there is currently an exhibit at the Elliott Museum, a dinner and gala planned for January 20th next year, at the Francis Langford Dockside Pavilion, and a 5K run, walk and roll on Saturday, February 24th. The 125th anniversary of the dedication of our church building will be observed of a service on Sunday, February 18th next year, and a commemorative book which tells the All Saints' 125th-year-old story will include messages from clerical and civic leaders of our community. Again, thank you for allowing me to accept this proclamation on behalf of all saints, and for your recognition of our church's life and ministry in this community for 125 years, and we look forward to another 125 years of service. May I also mention, it is good to see here one of the members of your staff, Beth Beltran, who is also a member of our congregation. Thank you. Thank you. Photo. Beth. Beth. We're demanding that you be in the photo, Beth. Here she comes. She's our representative. Thank you so much. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Ed. That was Jensen Beach, just so you know. Represent. That was nothing. I appreciate it. No doubt. Well, they said the hill. I figured it could only be Jensen or Hobesound. There's some hills in Hobesound. Hey, I have four speaker forums that are well aware of our, the way we do things, but I need to probably repeat it. You have three minutes. At 2 minute 45 seconds, you'll hear a tone, which gives you 15 seconds to wrap up your thoughts. And we're going to begin with Mr. Mark Perry, followed behind Mr. Tom Pine. Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. Thank you for giving me a moment of time. I, unfortunately, have to get down in Miami for meetings later on, so I'm not going to make the presentation that I wanted to be at today. And that's the one on coral reefs. You're going to hear from Florida DEP, and it's a great interest that we have here in Martin County because we're pretty much bordered by reefs along our coast. And as you know, we're at the north end of the Florida's reef track. And right here south of the St. Lucie Inlet, we have the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park, which includes about 4.7 miles of reef right offshore all the way down almost to Hope Sound. As you know, that reef is probably the northern limit for a lot of the hard and soft corals you find in the Keys and the Bahamas, like Oculina and other kinds of brain corals and things. It's just incredibly rich with great diversity of fish. And I know it's been under a lot of siege because, as you've heard, and a lot of outfalls. And, in fact, the county initiated a lot of recent studies to demonstrate how the salinity changes and things over the reef are causing a lot of problems. Of course, you know, that reef I've dove on since I was pretty much young in this county and really enjoyed it, especially around lobster season. And, you know, I also dove later on in the late 60s, early 70s and dove with John Hallis, Walt Japp, who are two Florida scientists, biologists with the state, on the reef, as well as John Reed from Harbor Branch. And the conclusion came out of that that this was a very significant reef and not only be protected under the state preserve, state park, but also as a significant reef to be nominated for National Marine Sanctuary. So John Reed was able to get that on along with the Oculina Bank, which is a deeper reef off of Fort Pierce all the way to almost to Vero. And it's an Oculina Bank reef off there. But Florida Statutes 403, the Coral Reef Protection Act, also includes hard bottom. So the definition of coral reefs is not only those limestone corals that we know about, but it also includes hard bottom communities, which includes all of the reef organisms that are associated with hard bottom, including the worm reefs that are created by Phragmatopoma, Lapidosa Phragmatopoma species, which we have north of the inlet. As you know, the Sabal Air Reef is the bathtub reef, about a mile north of the inlet. And that worm reef is very special as well. Those particular species exist from about Cape Canaveral to Brazil. And we're pretty fortunate that it comes short, low tide, it's exposed, and it's very accessible. So I'd like us to also, when you're considering that, to protect those reefs as well and keep that in mind. The reef track goes all the way to the county line north. But this is a great report that was in there that can be referred to. It's Ecological Functions of Hard Bottom back in 2009. But it's a really, really good report about the significance of our reef. So I know you're doing everything we can to protect all our reefs. Mark, you're here. That's great. Thank you very much. Mr. Pine is followed by Robin Cartwright. Good morning, Commissioners. My name's Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. And once again, the consent agenda will be used in a questionable manner by approving $6,632,624.08 in expenditures without identifying the purpose of the payments or the payees. The consent agenda is often used to hide from the taxpayers where our tax dollars are being spent, such as giving our Jensen Beach Community Center that was built in 2020-10 at a cost of $1.5 million to the Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce to users they see fit. No, I don't know the rental agreement, nor do I know any of the details because it was hidden in the consent agenda. The community center in Palm City also had a sweetheart deal hidden in the consent agenda that was pulled for discussion. In it, the details were made public because it was pulled for discussion, and the details, as I remember, were about 500 square feet of office space for $10 a month with a 10-year lease and two five-year extensions. Not a bad deal if you can get it. You just have to know the right people. Other things that bothered me a lot this year, using the consent agenda to hide from the taxpayers the millions of dollars used for cost overruns at the county golf course clubhouse. This one was especially disturbing because I paid $40 fee for a public records request about the cost of the clubhouse and got 30 pages that had nothing to do with my request. Because, once again, our local government doesn't want the taxpayers to know where our tax dollars are being spent. Our Martin County commissioners like to use Indian River County as a comparison county because of our similar size and population when it fits our commissioners' needs. The Marti bus system is one such example. Indian River County has a much larger ridership than we do in Martin County, but when the majority of our commissioners want raises for senior staff or Martin County Fire Rescue, they use Palm Beach or Broward County for comparison. I feel it's time to move on to the 21st century and use an Uber-like public transit like they use in Wilson, North Carolina. Broward County, Collier County, Miami-Dade County, Monroe County, Palm Beach County are the only counties in Florida with a higher property tax rate than Martin County. Indian River County is 17 from the top. Go figure. What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What condone, what you own. What you condone, you own. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Cartwright will be followed by Butch Olson. Good morning, commissioners. Happy holidays. I've been wondering what concerns me about how you vote, and two things stand out. First is that you justify your votes by bringing somebody else down, blaming the city, or saying so-and-so did this before you. Your vote is your vote. If you're going to vote for something, don't blame someone else, don't justify it, just own it. But this bothers me more, and it's the fact that when you're voting, you give credence to consultants and not to those who are actually experts in a field. Case in point. In the last hearing where you voted to amend the Rural Lifestyle Amendment, the Indian River Keeper, Friends of the Everglades, as well as others who are experts in protecting natural resources, spoke, and they were completely disregarded. They spoke based on science and best practices, and three of you decided instead to vote in complete opposition to that. You decided that an environmental consultant who is paid by the developer, for some reason, carries more weight. You decided that this environmental consultant, who once said that gopher tortoises didn't exist on a parcel, but then charged a developer $168,000 to remove those same gopher tortoises he said didn't exist, is more credible. You also routinely accept reports from another environmental consultant who has been proven wrong over and over again. And that same development consultant claimed to be a professional wetland scientist, but was not for many quasi-judicial hearings, so he raised his right hand attesting that he was. And when I raised this concern to you, one commissioner said to me, but he's a nice guy. You hold their reports to no standards while holding subject matter experts and constituents to unattainable standards. The fact is, you require no real planning, excuse me, no formal studies, no workshops, and certainly no consultations with those organizations whose job it is to protect the natural resources that we have here. Pretty soon, you won't be able to tell us apart from West Palmer, St. Lucie, especially if you cram the square peg of a train station into the round hole of a parcel on a street that has a grade D from 2022 from the Florida DOT. And that's before the recent projects approved by the City of Stewart. And it doesn't matter that the city approved them. We all use those streets. If it comes to fruition, this project will create gridlock and make unusable a street we use to avoid Confusion Corner. And more importantly, you are spending tax dollars for a private enterprise while many of us are struggling to pay our taxes. Ultimately, these votes are laying the groundwork for destroying the natural resources like the estuary that make Martin County different. This will become just an overdeveloped area that few can afford, and there will be no Martin County difference. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Olson. And that is my last speaker forum, if anybody wants to speak. Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you. So, typically, every year, something puts me in the Christmas mood. Charlie Brown, the original Charlie Brown Christmas, didn't do it Saturday night, but this morning certainly did it. So, maybe next year you give us a heads up so we can bring tissues, because that was just amazing. Thank you. So, Butch Olson, Executive Director, Portsmouth Commercial Fishing Dock Authority. So, I'm speaking to you this morning in hopes that you will direct staff to work with us on a very important and timely issue. We're in the process of working with your staff on a very positive and constructive issue that's helping us secure grants to revitalize and refurbish the commercial fishing docks. We're very, very grateful to your staff. This process has been extremely constructive, and it's been an amazing process. We're very appreciative. We're also very appreciative by the emphasis that's been put on the commercial docks by the county. This is an investment in the revitalization of our industry and gives our fishermen much hope for the future. We do feel it's time to relook at our agreement with the county. We're about midway through now, and there's some things that we'd like to look at and discuss and potentially refine with your legal team. So, again, it's our hopes that you will direct staff today to your team to work with us on looking at some things and refining some things that will be more in line with our shared projections. Thank you. Thank you. So, Ms. Angela D'Angelo. Hi. Good morning. My name is Amber D'Angelo. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. I'm not here about chickens today. Instead, I'm here to make some suggestions to the board on ways that we can encourage community engagement and build trust. So, lately, I've been pretty busy doing life and adjusting to having two kids now, but I've tried to keep up with the happenings in the county. Basically, I feel like there's a gap, a disconnect in the community that we have the opportunity to fill. So, one of you said last meeting that the same people come to public comment. There's obviously a lot more voices out there. I don't feel like I see too many people that closely represent me and my family come up here for a comment, and that's a huge part of our population. I'm talking about the people that aren't closely related to county politics, those who are just doing the daily grind of going to work, staying home with the kids, building and creating within the scope of their vocation. Every decision this board makes, whether we realize it or not, affects us and our kids. So, I think we should be more engaged in the happenings of our community. I also realize that we have a trust problem here. This is not unique to our county. A lot of people plainly distrust the government at every level, and unfortunately, I think there's a lot of good reason for that. But we don't have to settle for that in Martin County because Martin County is different, and we do things differently. So, here are my suggestions. One, we have a webinar or something similar to explain the authority that the board has and the different roles of different departments. Whatever the setup, I think that it should be one where people can ask questions. The thing is, I know from listening to you all that there are some things that are out of your hands, but we would like to know what is in your hands so we know what to ask for. To have a person, perhaps a YouTube video, break down the consent agenda before the day of the BOCC meeting to maybe a 3- to 10-minute video with links to click on to learn more about a particular topic. For this reason, when I look at the consent agenda, I feel very confused. It's like walking into a movie halfway through that you've never heard of, and you have no idea what's going on. So, something in plain English, explaining and giving a bit of background, important details in a factual and unbiased manner would help those outside of the scope of politics to better understand, and it would help them decide if they feel like there's something they should comment on. In efforts, number three, in efforts to build trust, consider moving the time of the day of these meetings to being lunchtime tonight, maybe 11 to 7. A lot of people complain that they simply can't make it to public comment. They have to drop their kids off at school or go to work. On top of that, you can't tell that the 505 comment time is actually going to be a 505 because it often ends early. And if I have time, lastly, number four, considering term limits. I do not know and have not looked into how long each of you have been in office, and I don't think my intention is to try to shove you out. I understand from watching these board meetings that these jobs come with a big learning curve. So I'm grateful that you show up to listen to each person speak, and, well, there's more on that. But anyways, thank you all for your time. I truly appreciate all of you and the work that you do, and I'm hoping that we can explore a few of these things. Thanks. And I wrote out my comments just in case I didn't have time to read them all. We apparently have one more speaker form coming. Come on up, ma'am. Jody Foster. Good morning, commissioners. It's great to meet you all this morning. My name is Jody Foster, and I am counsel for the Port Salerno Commercial Fishing Dock Authority. And to follow up on Butch Olson's comments, what we're hoping that we can accomplish today is get some guidance from the commission here towards county staff to assist the dock authority at looking at their current lease agreement and some of the projects they have planned for the future so that we can move along with these projects in this agreement and start making even better plans for the coming years for the dock authority. It's an important economic driver for the Salerno area and for Martin County, and so we really appreciate any and everything that you can all do for the dock authority. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. With that, I don't see any more public comments, so we'll move on to commissioner comments. Commissioner Smith. Can I first start and address that issue and then come back to my comments? Oh, I didn't see your light. Hold on. That's okay. No worries. I would, and first and foremost, I very much appreciate the effort of what the Commercial Dock Authority has been doing all these years. I was fortunate enough to be here when that all first started. I was also involved and part of when the working waterfronts issue was brought to Port Salerno for the first time, and Senator May, was it Senator or Representative Mayfield at the time? Was he Senator or Senator Mayfield? Helped push that whole idea through. And historically, I think for all of us, it's one of the very rare and one of the few, if not only, commercial dock settings left really in our area. And I think at least from what I recall when we put the agreement together, it was in a hope to recognize that the importance of it and the ability to protect it into the future. And so, you know, when we did the grant a couple weeks ago and the conversations have been kind of going on about what's happening on the waterfront down there, I think it's really probably perfect timing to revisit where we are with that agreement and to see if we can't maybe even make it better, stronger for the future, to make sure that what is historic and what we all value is the waterfront, working waterfront in Salerno goes long into the future. So I would ask if there's agreement amongst the commissioners, but that we direct staff to work with the dock authority to revisit polish, if you will. I don't think it needs a complete rebuild by any means. But as time moves on with any agreement, things change. People change. Ideas change. The industry changes. And I think it's certainly a good time to recognize those changes and see if we can't put an agreement that will take us into the next 20, 30 years, whatever length of time seems reasonable. So I don't know what everybody else thinks, but I just think it's important that we take a look at it and make sure it's good for the next 30 years. And that's it on that. And then if you want to, if anybody else wants to talk, then it's fine. Yeah, no, I agree. Do we need a motion for that or a head nod for that? I would agree that, you know, it's a multi-year contract to have it reviewed with our staff and that folks at the commercial dock authority is a good idea. Good. I agree. So do you want to, Sarah or Dawn, do you want a motion for that or do you want to? No, she said we're fine with the head nods. We're good with the head nods. I can bring something. What sometimes happens, you know, two years from now somebody comes back and says, we went through the record, we never saw a motion, how did that happen? So if you'd like to make a motion, we would certainly. I would like that just for the sake that it's happened maybe once or twice before. Second your motion. That we ask our legal department and any other associated staff to work with the dock authority to polish up what we have, embrace the ideas of the grants and what we're trying to do or what they're trying to do anyway, and that they bring it back to us as soon as practical. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion passes unanimously. There we go. All right. Keep on going. Just a couple things. The All Saints Church presentation this morning kind of breezed on through, and there didn't seem to be like a really good pause. So I'll just take two seconds to highlight that. There are a lot of iconic features in Martin County, the House of Refuge, the Ryo Arch, and there are a handful of others throughout our community. Downtown Stewart has certainly the water tower and the cultural courthouse. We have the Leach Mansion. But All Saints is probably one of the most special, iconic pieces that we certainly have in the northern part of the county. And when you're up there and you're looking out to the river and you're looking over the cemetery, and if you've ever had the opportunity to go through the cemetery, pretty much every historic family in Martin County is represented in All Saints Cemetery. And it's really kind of interesting to see who's who and where people came from. We have a lot of military representation in the cemetery, and it actually spun out from that. I think, Harold, I think you used the same folks that we did up there to help relocate or understand where all the grave sites were, because, you know, 50, 60, 70 years ago, 100 years ago, there wasn't really technology as to where burial sites were. And a lot of our burial sites were either unnamed or not known. And so we went through with them and did solar penetrating, not solar, ground penetrating radar to find all the sites. And so that was a huge undertaking, but probably one of the most important things we could do as a community to protect and to recognize our former residents of certainly Jensen, but a lot of Martin County residents. So congratulations to them on their 125th. I'm sure Commissioner Jenkins is going to talk about his ribbon cutting he had on Friday, so I won't talk about that. But it was spectacular, and congratulations on that effort. We had a fantastic taste of Jensen in downtown Jensen Beach last Tuesday. We had a great turnout, a lot of fun. We had a great parade from Ocean Breeze come through with our golf carts and a lot of really great food. So thank you all, and Merry Christmas. We'll probably do that at the end of the day as well. But lastly, a shout-out to our staff that helped put together the tree and all. It's a lot of work to do that. So, Don, if you could make sure that we tell everybody thank you very much. They did a fantastic job, and it really makes it special down there for everybody. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington? I was just, I think it's Amber. Let's just follow up on Amber, because I think when people come up and they offer, you know, not only things that they're concerned and interested in, but they offer suggestions, I think it's important for us as a board to consider that. And we've talked often about how we can communicate better with residents, and I think that we all desire to do that. So I appreciate your suggestions, and I hope that we'll take some of those suggestions to heart as a board and try to, you know, as residents are asking for more information to try to get them the more information that they're desiring. So thank you for coming and bringing, actually, creative and useful suggestions as well. So with that, too, I'll wish everybody a Merry Christmas. And especially the information of what we're responsible for and what is out of our control is completely misunderstood by the average citizen. Commissioner Campy? Thank you very much. I agree. I know, Amber, we worked the chicken fight together. Those are legitimate suggestions. We have a new chair in place, and I know he's all about educating and, like he just said, educating our public. Those were excellent suggestions that I also would agree several of them could be instituted. And with that, I know that everyone wishes everybody a happy holiday, but I also know that it's also a challenging time for many people, whether you've had loss in your family, you have, you know, relationships that are not exactly the way that you wish they would be, or there are family members that are sick. So I just want to send my best wishes to those folks that are going to have a very happy and joyous holiday, but also for the folks that are going to struggle through the holidays, that you are in my prayers. Thank you. Commissioner Hurt. And, Amber, those were very helpful suggestions. Another thing that we do to familiarize our residents with Martin County government is we have Martin Cares, and we have two classes that were filled. And so a couple weeks ago, we decided to add a class. It's a six-week-long class, consecutive Thursdays for about three hours. Don't know if that's real practical with two small children, but it's a marvelous class that will really familiarize you with how Martin County operates. You go through all of our departments, and it would be a very, very nice Martin County 101 for you if you're interested and available. And it's free. And so we're going to have another one. I don't know when it is, but we agreed to add one because the other two filled up so quickly. And also, last week was our reorganization meeting, and we determined what boards we're going to sit on. And I wasn't paying close enough attention because it was at the end of the day. But if I have the opportunity to serve on the canvassing board, I would love to. I do. You are. You're the alternate. You and I are serving on it. Oh, just one of us does. Well, I think I'm the main member, and you're the alternate. Yeah. Well, I would love to serve. The canvassing board counts ballots. It's Vicki Davis and Debbie Dent and Judge Roberts and our auditors, Colleen Holmes, and it's really a marvelous education each election. We should be very, very proud of our canvassing board. And we do a really fair, objective elections. So I'm very proud to serve on that board. And with that. Do you see what's on your screen? She's on it. Yeah, but I'm all the alternate. No, no, no, but she is on it. Yeah. She's on the screen just like. She's talking down. I just didn't notice that I was the alternate. I was before the person. Well, there's a lot of days, so there's probably a chance that you might get to serve a day. Terrific. I love it. Thank you. Merry Christmas. I always enjoy it at times that I've done it, too. It's actually kind of fun, believe it or not. So why couldn't we do a YouTube Cares, right? Good. I think, you know, I mean, it's not like being in person, but I think that would be awesome if we could get our folks to do that. So I see a bunch of head nods, so there you go. And for me, Friday, was it Friday? Yeah, Friday evening we did a ribbon cutting for the new location or the new added location for Project Lyft with Bob Sacchio. We welcomed him into the Hope Sound community. It's going to be an awesome addition to Hope Sound and the whole Banner Lake complex where we have preschool all the way to teens, to all the way. And now we're adding young adults with Bob's program, and we are all really looking forward to that project getting completed. Where is it? And is it replacing the Palm City location? No, no, no. Supplementing? No, it's an additional one. It is the vacant lot that went from the playground of Dunbar down to Bridge Road. So I think it's like an acre and a half. Like two blocks in back of Harry and the Natives. Yeah. On Bridge. West. Is he fundraising to build it? No. They're done. I think he's already done it. He's always fundraising. He's an amazing, I'm telling you, that guy is. World domination. That's his goal. He's got it, and he's got it going on, no doubt. And the program is awesome if anybody has the opportunity to actually see what the program's all about. Let me finish. I didn't want to add to that. Anyway. Oh, go ahead. Kudos to Harold. Harold doesn't brag about himself probably ever. But if you listen to the comments at the ribbon cutting, you know, you can see Harold laced throughout the whole strategy. And it's phenomenal what you guys are doing down there and what they're doing. And the community that turned out and the support that you have is really, we're jealous. It's nice. It's fantastic of what you've accomplished. And everybody had their own kind of commentary about Harold's involvement. Harold's kind of quiet and behind the scenes. But it's been fantastic watching what you've been able to do down there. Thank you. Was that worth pausing for a second? Yeah, that was great. I'm not here to be. Anyway, I just do my thing. Yeah. Sure. We do. One thing we are almost to the finish line in all of the minutia of setting up a not-for-profit is our Martin County Community Land Trust actually exists as a 501C. We've pounded out the ground lease, worked out all the details with that, and we're just working through some other legal, not legal, but all the technical stuff. And literally within a month, we're going to be ready to rock and roll with that, and I'm so excited with that. And, again, Wendy from the Banner Lake Club, an amazing woman, a huge asset for Hope Sound, and we're very thankful for her. Can I add one more? Go for it. There were two young individuals that got up and spoke about their successes with Project Lift, and if there was the best part. I mean, Harold was the best part, but if there was a second best part, the kids' stories of where they came from, how they got to be where they are and where they're going. If you weren't a supporter of what Project Lift is doing and how it can transform the lives of individuals that otherwise may not have a rosy future, they were fantastic. It was really, really nice. Absolutely. Okay. On that, Mr. Donaldson. Yes. I need to give our past chair another opportunity to have a roll to mic, but this is just to thank Commissioner Campy for appreciation of your dynamic leadership and representation during your tenure as board chairman. If you could come down and take this platform. Very nice. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm sure the chair would allow you to make a few comments if you'd like. No, no. Pukito. Very quickly. Thank you. Being chair is a nice responsibility. I appreciate my four colleagues. I think we have worked very well together last year. I look forward to doing that again. I left each of you something. The commissioners and Don and Sarah get a lot of the attention, but Donna and Layla and Martha Ann and Laura and the gentlemen that work in MCTV that make this whole kind of complicated process look very easy, I wanted to especially thank them and all of you. Thank you. Sarah, do you have anything? All right, moving on to our first item, public hearing number one, historic preservation board text amendment, Jordan Pistorius. Another county superstar. Hi, good morning, commissioners. For the record, my name is Jordan Pistorius, assistant manager of the Office of Community Development. It's my pleasure to bring to you today the text amendment for Article 4, Division 13, where we will be changing the amount of board members on the historic preservation board from seven to nine members. The two additional will be two at large. Any questions? It's pretty straightforward. It's kind of left us hanging there. Anyway, do we have any questions for Mr. Pistorius? I think it's a great idea. Apparently not. Well, we've got to get public comment. Do we have any public comment? With that, we have a motion by Commissioner Hetherington. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Smith. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Now that's how an agenda item should go. Mr. Pistorius, while you're there, can you give us an update on the patio at Palm City Place? A lot of exciting things happening. Sure. And now I just lost control. Sorry. So the patio at Palm City Place is on Map Road in Palm City. It's going to be a great community asset, community gathering space, and it is between the fire station and the veterinarian office on the west side of the road. The anticipated substantial completion date is February this year, and if you drive by, you'll see a lot of Bismarck palm trees going up. So it's moving along as expected, and it looks great. Thank you. Thank you and Susan for all your efforts on we're getting very close now. And I like that you said February of this year, this coming year. Yes. Thank you. You just say February, that's pretty open-ended. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Okay. You're welcome. Public hearing number two, public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending Article 10, development review procedures, and Article 12, Community Redevelopment Code, Land Development Regulations, Martin County Code. And it's Mr. Peter Walden. Oh, there's Mr. Peter Walden. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just pleased. Assisted by our director, Mr. Paul Schilling. Get up. My apologies. I'm going to run away. I'm going to preset it. Yeah. Morning, Commissioners. Peter Walden. Oops. Epidotee Growth Management Director. This is a proposed change to Article 10 with a minor adjustment to Article 12 as well. A little background on Article 10. It was created in 1996 by adoption of Ordinance 510. In 2019, Ordinance 1100 was brought forward by our then Growth Management Director, Nicky Van Vano, who did an excellent job restructuring Article 10 and simplifying it. And so that's why we don't have very much to talk about today. But in 2021, there was also a minor application brought forward to make things consistent with some mining application changes. So the few changes that we have to discuss today are for a CRA exemption in Section 10.1D, lists about 20 exceptions to site planning in Martin County. And one of those exemptions is for CRAs, parcels of one-half acre or less. They can go straight to building permit to develop those sites. The one change that we're making is that we require a pre-application meeting in order to do that. Sometimes when they go straight to building permit without staff input, they find themselves in a redesign issues and site issues that can easily be preempted by that pre-application meeting. So we're proposing that change and also a change to the threshold for CRA review for major projects in the CRAs to not expedite those into the 15 working-day review. We have several projects, of course, that are large in nature and very complicated with the infrastructure demands and integrating these projects into the existing neighborhoods. And some of it is more challenging than even greenfield development. So we want to make sure that they get the proper review times, and we're asking for the 60-day review on those major projects in the CRAs, of which there's very few. 10.2D1 provides clarity as to public facility reservations. There's some gray language in there that kind of refers to reservations being available for master plans, which they are not. Certificate of reservations are only available for site plan approval because that's the only thing that you can have that has the ability to construct anything. And also we wanted to clarify some of the review process and the responsibilities of those reviews for PUDs and site plan amendments. There's a chart in 10.5F9 that lays out those responsibilities, but there's a little language following that chart that added some ambiguity as to those responsibilities. So we cleaned that up and we added a paragraph to further clarify how PUD site plans work. So if you have a major master site plan through a PUD, the final site plans that follow that, as long as they're fairly consistent with the PUD, can go through without the LPA and public hearing, which is a process that we've already been following for years, we're just clearing it up in the code. The only other thing we're really touching on is we have a post-review time right now of 15 working days to review post-material, which is a little long and we get a lot of complaints about that from applicants. So we're shortening that to 10 days to try to expedite that post-review process because a lot of developers and applicants come in, they think they have their development order, they're ready to go, and we tell them we have almost another month of review just to get their post-documents in order. So we're trying to expedite that process. Article 12 is also updated for consistency because it also talks about being exempt from Article 10 review for the half-acre property. So we're just cleaning that language up as well. And with that, we move that the board approve the ordinance amending Article 10, development review procedures, and Article 12, land development regulations. Be glad to answer any questions. Mr. Hurd. Yeah, I'm on page 454 under 10.2C5, and it's about mixed use, and it says within the CRA the thresholds are not combined and are based on either the residential or non-residential threshold, whichever is greater. Please explain to me how this is to be applied since it's being applied to mixed use. Sure. This is an interesting article. I'm glad you brought it up because, for the most part, we don't allow the mix of uses. So this article here, this part of the code combines the review threshold for residential and commercial properties. That's not a process that we do in the CRAs. We allow the mix of uses, and we allow that either the residential or the commercial use predicts or is the component that drives the major or minor site plan application. We don't combine the two. So we're making that clarification in there. But as time goes on where we have Live Local in the process, where we're kind of forced to do these mix of uses and everything, so we left this in here just in case with the ear process that we make changes to Chapter 4 that will actually someday possibly allow some mixes of uses. We will have this equation already in place to deal with that. So if you do have a mixed use project and it has 25,000 square feet of non-residential plus residential, how do you calculate? Well, if it's more than 25,000, it would be a major development. And if it's more than 50 units, it would be a major development. How do you combine the two? Anything under is minor. We do the – we don't do the math in combining it like this Section 5 would propose. Okay. And also on 1011C is untimely submittal of documents, and it's the language is going from shall render the previously granted project null approval null and void to May. When does that stop? At the growth management director's discretion, we did that because of instances like pandemics and that type of thing where sometimes applicants get held up in the process, and also the growth management and staff reviews aren't always timely lately as well. So to even that playing field, we're not making it mandatory that we discontinue somebody's application if they're a little late on a recent middle. Is it ever mandatory? It was mandatory that we do this, and that's why we're cleaning it up in the code to give us some discretion in helping applicants when they need a little bit more time. I understand that. I just don't understand if there's ever a stopping point if you get an incomplete submittal, if it can just be continued forever. No, we don't allow it to go on indefinitely, but it does allow the directors some discretion to work with applicants if there's something that comes up where they need some time. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions for staff? Any public comment? Seeing none, back to the board. Move staff's approval. Or move staff's recommendation. Is that a word? Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Campy. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay. And so we're going to do, I missed the preset at 10 o'clock, so we're going to do Department 6 next, which is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection presentation about the Florida coral reef. In the meantime, while they're getting set up, Mr. Campy apparently has something to say. Mr. Chair, thank you for a moment. I wanted, while Ms. Elder is here, to recognize her son, Matthew, and his business partner, Jackson McIntyre. They won the Business Development Board Business Award for Youth Entrepreneur of the Year, which is a very large award. They opened a J&M window cleaning service. They are both from Jensen Beach High School, by the way, so I know that that is a great honor for your son, and I saw you there, and you were absolutely beaming with pride, which you are absolutely entitled to do. So congratulations on behalf of your son. Okay. Thank you, sir. Jessica Garland is in charge of this agenda item. Go for it. Sure does. Good morning, Commissioners. Jessica Garland, the Coastal Program Manager for Public Works. I am here to introduce Joanna Walczak, the Administrator of the Coral Protection and Restoration Program for the Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection. What a mouthful of a title. She is here to give you guys an update on the department's choral program and everything that has occurred since your last update. So we've had some setbacks, but then some very big achievements that have occurred and Martin County's interactions with the program. So I'm going to turn it over to her and let her take it away. Thank you so much. Can I interrupt one second? Yes. Can you simplify it just by saying goddess of coral? Yes, she is the goddess of coral. She has her hands in all of the coral on the state of Florida and probably everywhere else, too. That's very kind of you, but my technical title is Governor's Appointee for Florida's Coral Reef. So I'm here today on behalf of all of us that work across the reef. My day job is within the Department of Environmental Protection. So just as a quick reminder, because it has been a bit since I've been here to see you, Florida's Coral Reef runs 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas all the way here to the very end in Martin County. So you are the end and I would say possibly also the beginning, depending on where you wanted to start. And it is the only near shore coral reef that we have in the continental United States. You can literally swim to it from shore in Fort Lauderdale. Most of you know coral reefs are the rainforests of the sea. We always talk about the ecology, how diverse they are. But it really is the economic and how economically essential they are that has driven a lot of the support that we've garnered across all of our communities. They're literally our first line of defense when we talk about coastal resilience here in southeast Florida. We have new data that shows shoreline protection benefits alone are over $1 billion annually during severe storm events. Not to mention the fact that they provide recreational and commercial fisheries habitat in the hundreds of millions. Tourism is in the $6 billion range annually. Like these are numbers that we should not be cautious about. This is a really incredible economic driver. Unfortunately, we have seen a significant increase in the severity and frequency of things that are stressing out the reef. And ultimately, we're seeing a lot of die off of the corals, the coral animal that builds the reef structure itself. I'm not expecting you to read everything here. This is just a representative example of the last 10 years of the different types of impacts that our reef has seen. Underlying all of this is water quality pollution. Water quality pollution, all of that stuff that goes to tide does not get diluted. It goes straight to our offshore reefs that are within the three-mile area. And that water quality is ultimately causing the system to be stressed out chronically. Many of you heard the national news that just happened recently this summer where we went from a nice, lovely July 4th weekend to all of a sudden headline news that we've hit record temperatures across our reef and that our reef was severely impacted. Now, the news got it a little wrong in that they said that all of the reef was impacted, and that's not accurate. But what was accurate is that we did see significantly high temperatures, so much so that instead of just being stressed out, the corals died in certain instances almost overnight. That is very unusual and has not happened here before. And so I just wanted to point out that the media really was focused on the area that was impacted by Florida Bay. So many of you know Florida Bay from the Everglades work. That area is shallow, and it means that the water in that bay gets super heated and, if anybody remembers back in 2010, super cold. So it's very sensitive to temperature stressors. When that water gets either way, hot or cold, and comes out onto the reef, that area that it's impacted is then also doubly impacted. So that's where we saw the biggest impact, and you'll see that in the circle with the red arrow there. But over the course of the fall, where we have the hottest temperatures, dry tortugas all the way up through northern Miami-Dade County did see some pretty significant bleaching of coral, which is a stress reaction to that heat. But you'll notice north of that, we did not see that. So there was almost 100 miles of reef that did not have significant bleaching and significant stress, including here in Martin County. And that's mainly because we have coastal upwelling. Thanks to the tidal cycles and the Gulf Stream, we have a lot of cold water protecting these a little bit deeper reefs. Now, what we did do, and I want to make sure that you're aware, that we have a network in place when disturbances continue to happen across our reef. It's called the Florida's Coral Reef Resilience Program, and it is led by management agencies. So all of the agencies that manage coral reefs, including the counties, as well as all of our non-governmental organizations, our NGOs, as well as our academics, we've all come together in this one group to have a unified voice and response effort. We were able to rapidly mobilize our coral rescue and propagation networks, our leadership networks to look for funding to help support the triage efforts, and importantly, the communications and outreach network. We wanted to make sure that we were getting the appropriate facts to the media so that they started reporting that not all of the reef was dead. So what we did, we did what we call big eye interventions. We got in there, and we actually literally had to take the corals that we were growing in the water out of the shallow water nurseries. It was so hot that if we didn't take that action and bring them onto land, they would have died. And so part of it is also just looking for opportunities. Can we think about moving those nurseries into deeper water to protect them the next time this happens? Because it will happen again. We also looked at experiments. Can we look at literally covering them with shade cloth in certain areas so that we can protect the value of the investments the state and federal government has made in growing these corals? We also looked at things like removing the things that stress them out, the corallivores that eat them. And in particular, we're looking at monitoring so that we understand if there are certain corals and certain sites that were more resilient to this particular event. So because of all of these stressor events that keep happening, the five main management goals, management and restoration goals, that I came to you a couple years ago with really resonate now, especially. We need to double down on these large-scale goals that we have. And so my update to you today is the successes and the ongoing work that we have on these five management goals. The first one is representing Florida's coral reef priorities in our national platform. And I want to just take a moment to commend you all in particular. The leadership of this body, especially from Commissioner Smith, has for the first time in 20 years reauthorized the only federal authority that we have for coral reef management. 20 years, we had no financial budget increases in authorization. We had no new management tools. We have the management tools now. Unfortunately, we got the authorization, but not the appropriation. And so we still have some work to do on that, but it is a massive step forward to even have that federal bill reauthorized. It also codified the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, which is a body of federal agencies and local entities, local managers like myself, that meet to make sure that we, our local issues, are represented in the national platform. We recently passed resolutions to define coral reefs as national natural infrastructure because of their shoreline protection and flood risk mitigation benefits. And specifically, we also worked on enhancing our national response to stony coral tissue loss disease. One of the products I wanted to highlight for you as it relates to the national natural infrastructure is the Coral Reef Restoration for Risk Reduction Project. This is specifically looking at aligning coral reef restoration projects with FEMA funding under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. This document guides potential applicants through the concept, alignment, design, and implementation of a what we call Coral Reef Restoration for Risk Reduction Project. It's a mouthful, so we just go with CR4. These CR4 projects will help us here in the local communities find better ways to protect our ecological habitats and also our coastal communities. As part of that, we just launched a Silver Jackets project. Many of you might be familiar with the Silver Jackets. It's led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We're going to take that national document and revise it so that we have a local guide specifically for us here in southeast Florida, providing a roadmap for those of us who do want to step into designing these reef restoration projects to protect our coastal areas. As part, kind of tangentially but directly associated with that, we as the department are in the process of working with the Florida Division of Emergency Management. We've updated our state hazard mitigation plan to include coral reefs as part of the coastal process for risk reduction from flooding, which means now if you at the local level include coral reefs in your plans, you will be eligible for funding that comes from FEMA through this line. And so we as the department have taken a step to propose some funding here for South Florida to do all of the modeling and mapping that you would need to do in order to step you forward should you choose to go in that direction. If that project is ultimately selected by FEMA, we will be doing that in the next year or two. And so we will make sure to continue updates for you on the results coming from that project. A couple of other big goals that we've been working towards are supporting Everglades restoration and unification with Florida's coral reef. Many of you may or may not remember the original definition of the South Florida ecosystem is including the reefs. We just needed to remind everybody of that, that the water does not stop at the inlet. It goes out there. And so we've established a new Florida's coral reef coordination team within the South Florida ecosystem restoration task force. Our goal is to create a unified water quality monitoring framework, which ultimately allows all of our monitoring programs across the reef, estuaries, and Everglades to actually talk to each other apples to apples. This is the first time that we're actually doing this holistically across all of these big major ecosystems. We also continue support for increased funding for water quality through EPA's South Florida Geographic Initiative. Senator Rubio just recently reintroduced the South Florida Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2023, which is proposing a $50 million grant program specifically for water quality monitoring, protection, preservation, and ecosystem restoration. We also continue to work with our stakeholders, making sure that our stakeholders have a voice in coral reef management. The update from my partners at the DEP Coral Reef Conservation Program, they're the managers for the offshore Kristen Jacobs Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area that was renamed just recently. You guys are at the northern boundary of that at the St. Lucie Inlet, and it goes all the way down to the northern boundary of Biscayne National Park. They're in the process of creating an action plan for this area specifically to reduce stressors, and they've been working with your county staff and the stakeholders to review those chapters. Each of the chapters will have, you know, the standard background, et cetera, but the main meet will be in Chapter 5, and so if you're ever interested in an opportunity for yourselves or your stakeholders, we're happy to provide that as it becomes available for public review, specifically focusing on the things that stress corals out here in the northern reefs and ways that we will work on reducing those stressors. Finally, we recognize that our reef has gotten to a point where it will no longer be able to restore itself, and without management action, we will start losing all of those services that we, as humans, benefit from. And so the state has worked on developing restoration priorities for Florida's coral reef. We have to work on filling some research gaps, but we also have to have a strategy of where we invest in restoration so that it's appropriate and thoughtful. So we're doing this in a layered process. We're calling it Tier 1, 2, and 3, where we're going to nest these large-scale, treat the reef as one system, and then at Tier 2, we're going to look at managed area-specific goals and objectives. That means we're going to be coming to you to ask you what your community values in your reefs here and what you want to protect and restore. And then once we have that information layered, we're going to do site-specific detailed plans to ultimately decide where to restore and what to restore there. In order to do that, we're building a suite of land-based coral baby nurseries. This is large-scale ecosystem restoration at its finest, and we're literally going to be starting a new workforce to stand this up. All of this is wrapped up within the governor's new initiative that was launched earlier this year, the Florida's Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery Initiative, or FCR3, again, with the acronyms. The goal here is to develop the infrastructure, technology, skilled workforce, and logistics necessary by 2050 to support the long-term recovery of no less than 25% of our reef. This was kicked off by a new $9.5 million grant specifically to jumpstart that coral restoration workforce I mentioned and to start building that suite of land-based nurseries. Those awards have not officially been publicly announced yet, but as soon as they are, we'll be sure to share them with you. And I believe that's all I have to share today. Happy to take any questions. I just want to follow up real quick on everything Joanna said. All of those plans that Joanna said we're working with the DEP on, it's myself and Lauren Tice, our coastal management coordinator, who's new to the county. She's been here less than a year, and her degree in college was coral and marine biology. So we do have a staff member whose basis is coral. So we do have an expert staff member who is new working on this stuff with DEP. So I just wanted to make you all aware of that. Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Joanna, always great to see you. Thank you. She is truly the goddess of coral. When we talk about this nationally and even internationally, Joanna is always someone that's in the conversation and leading sort of the conversation. And so had it not been for Joanna and her persistence, I think, with so much of this, we wouldn't be where we are today. And a lot of other people are certainly due a thanks. But I would, if at the federal level, if I was to really call out someone that I think got us from A to at least W was Senator Rubio's office with Westbrooks and getting the language created and moving us in the direction of getting a new reauthorization act passed. And there were a lot of people who gave input to all that. But had it not really been for Westbrook and Senator Rubio, I don't know that we'd be where we are because we had multiple attempts before then. And they kind of almost got there and didn't get there. And last year, the week before Christmas, actually, like a year ago, like next week, it was added to the national defense bill. And that's probably not the right name. But the reauthorization act was, again, Senator Rubio and others kind of put it in the right place to get approved last year, which was huge for us. Because it did change the way that coral does business at a federal level. And for all of our territories, Hawaii and us, it meant a lot to get that done. I was meeting with some folks yesterday, and this kind of conversation came up. And there's some opportunities, I think, moving forward for us here in Martin County. And one of my priorities for this coming year, whenever we get to that, will be to ask, so I'll ask it today, ahead of time, because you're here, Joanna, would be for us to formalize a committee for our coral restoration planning program here in the county. That there are, we have great staff, as was just pointed out. We have others that can be brought to the table. But there are some interesting opportunities for us moving into the future that need a dedicated team of county staff, state staff, to achieve some of those ideas here in the county. So that's going to be one of my priorities for this year to get done. And some of those are, like, literally sitting right on the edge of going after a project and getting it going. So, Joanna, thank you, as always. And thanks for all the work you do for Florida and our coral reef. Mr. Hurt. Yeah. I'm also going to the federal side. You said that Senator Rubio introduced the South Florida Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2023. Is it authorized? Okay. So we need to work on authorization. And also it authorizes the EPA to establish a $50 million grant program. Do we have projects designed? Many are waiting in the wings. And part of the Everglades group that I mentioned, the Florida's Coral Reef Coordination Team, has a new framework that could easily take a good chunk of that to unify the water quality monitoring programs across the reef and estuaries. Okay. I think it's really important that we support the authorization of the South Florida Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2023 to make sure that that $50 million is available and that we spend every dime of it. So it's really important to have projects ready to go. And speaking of that, the Florida Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery Initiative, is we're hoping for $9.5 million in grants for phase one priorities. Do we have projects designed? So what I didn't get to mention is that part of the ultimate goal of that initiative is to select one to two restoration sites per county. And so we're just in the infancy of this. And as soon as we have those sites selected, then we will go to project design. But we're still baby-stepping into that process. Five counties? Correct. Okay. All right. Very, very wonderful presentation. It gives me hope. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Smith. And to Commissioner Hurd's point, one of the more important – I'm sure there were lots of important components to the Reauthorization Act, but one of them was to make sure that the funding that is allocated by Congress to coral reef takes priority to areas that are in crisis or are in distress or are in some bad state, whereas it wasn't maybe as clear as it was before with the limited funding that we used to get in coral restoration. But that was a really big piece that it really does, to Commissioner Hurd's comment, says the lion's share of the money, if it is Hawaii that's in crisis, it should go to Hawaii. If it's Florida that's in crisis, it should go to Florida. It really does start to target those funds specifically to where it will make the biggest impact. And so, again, to Commissioner Hurd's comment, that was one of the more significant pieces of all that. Absolutely. And if I may, the piece that is still missing, unfortunately, though, is the money. Sure. We did not appropriate anything to put in the pot. Kind of like Werder. Approve legislation but no money yet, but we'll go get it. So four or five years ago I went to Cuba, right, which I'll never do that again. So as the cruise ship is pulling into the Havana Harbor, there was an absolute stench of diesel fuel and sewage. And then touring that because I'm, I think we were dealing with, anyway, water and, that was when we started our program of converting septic to sewer. So Havana and that whole area, the populated area, used to be on, have a sewage treatment plant. They have a pipe now that goes like a mile offshore in a few places and they pump their raw sewage into the ocean. Which the Havana Harbor, one of the attracting parts of that is it's close. It's as close to the Gulf Stream as we are here. Has anybody done any study? And I asked this the last time years ago when we did. Has anybody done any studies of what, you know, raw fuel or crude oil? Well, they have a refinery in the harbor that's been leaking for, like, 25 years. And, you know, it's got to be, somehow that's got to be impactful. And I just, I've been thinking about it ever since then, you know. And that was really when it was brought to a lot of people's attention of our coral reefs and stress. It was about that same time that I did that visit. And I just, it was just nasty. It really was. And I just think it's got to have some effect on us. Yeah, absolutely. There are some researchers out of Nova Southeastern University that are looking specifically at petroleum product impacts on corals. It was aligned with the Deepwater Horizon impacts. But I'm happy to connect you with those researchers. Yeah, I just, I'm just curious if anybody's ever kind of looked at it. Commissioner Smith. Another thing that came out of this was probably four or five years ago. We had the Admiral of the Navy, right? Noah. Noah. Do a presentation in D.C. to us at a lunch. And it was fascinating because at that point, the disease that we were dealing with six, seven years ago was creeping out and spreading out in all sorts of exponential ways. But in, and that's where I thought you were going to go, but into the lower Caribbean basin, all the shipping routes that were going into the southern Caribbean basin, wherever there were crossing points where the shipping industry was going from A to B, there were popping up disease hotspots. And it was literally, he had a map of all these dots and every single dot had, had a, had a corresponding shipping lane attached to it. There are international rules as to where you can offload ballast water from your ship for stabilization. And there's so many seven miles offshore, 10 miles offshore, whatever, but one, and I don't know if they ever concluded or proved that that was where it was coming from, but literally every crossing point of every shipping route, there were outbreaks of the disease happening, which would lead to believe that it was picking up, a ship was picking up ballast water and unfortunately releasing it before it probably should have in a basin that it probably shouldn't have. And then the disease was showing up almost instantaneously. And you could probably do that with, with the discharges of, of crude oil and, and, and whatever as well. But, um, that's been a big part of all of this, just understanding it in the first place. Um, but it's why it's, it's, it's, you know, like Joanna said, there's a lot of, there's a lot of still bad going on, but there's a lot of great stuff that's happening as a result of all this. Cool. Don. Uh, commissioners, a couple of you mentioned, and, and I, uh, don't know if it's in our, uh, federal, um, um, uh, legislative program, but just to confirm, um, that, uh, with, with head nods that you would, uh, support staff and including the, uh, federal appropriations, uh, as presented today. And our federal obvious program. Obviously. And then I just wanted to say also that, uh, uh, uh, Martin County has been a leader in, um, data collection and analysis. And we have, uh, also very fortunate to have some, uh, really stellar, uh, partners, private sector partners in our community, uh, ecological associates. And I see Nikki's in the audience today. And of course, uh, uh, uh, CSA and, uh, uh, uh, you know, really our premier, um, um, um, scientists and, uh, and working on, on, on a whole variety of environmental issues. But coastal and, and estuarine work has been a big part of that. And, and you all have supported our monitoring efforts with a lot of really high quality, um, data, both on the reefs, water quality monitoring, everything from physical data, you know, salinity, uh, wave heights, uh, and, and chemistry that you've been doing for, for decades. And I think you all should be, uh, we, we appreciate that because it's, it's come in handy. And when we do things like LOSUM and other things you asked us to do without those long-term records, I think we have the longest, uh, sea turtle nesting data in the, in the Northern Hemisphere that's collected here off our coast, uh, that there were times when we didn't have to collect it, but we've always been doing it. So it's, it's really important that we continue those efforts. Cool. Any other comments? Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you so much. Really. Very interesting. Thank you very much. And you'll be hearing from the sea turtle folks soon. Cool. All right. With that, we're going to take our 10 minute, um, closed captioning break. See you back in 10 minutes. I'm sorry. Um, for the sake of the folks in the audience, um, we are going to take things out of order again and have a department five presentation by ecological associates incorporated on the sea turtle monitoring and outreach. In Martin County. In Martin County. And they would be in Jensen. Yes, sir. Well, right. Garland. Yeah. They would be in Jensen Beach as well, right? They would be in Jensen Beach as well. Really? Not Palm City. Not Palm City. No. Sorry. Careful. I'm in Palm City. Good morning again. It's coastal all morning. So, Jessica Garland, the Coastal Program Coordinator, or Program Manager, um, I have with me Ecological Associates Grace Botson, Project Manager, and Joe Scarola, a senior, the senior scientist for Ecological Associates. They are going to present information on their achievements, successes, and challenges to the sea turtle nesting in Martin County. Ecological Associates has been working with Martin County probably over 35 years, and Martin County has a 40-year data set on sea turtles. So, I will give them the floor and be available for questions. Good morning, Commissioners. Good morning. Good morning. And thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. And thank you, Jessica, for that great introduction. Can you maybe take the mic a little bit closer? No, no, no. You just need to move. It doesn't move. Yeah. That's the motion. Sorry. No worries. Um, so we are here to present to you some information regarding the sea turtle work that EA performs for the county. Martin County is well known for its environmental stewardship, and its investment in sea turtle conservation and management has contributed to a globally important data set on sea turtle nesting, as well as facilitate responsible coastal management. Um, so just a bit of background on EAI. Uh, we've been performing environmental monitoring for Martin County, um, since the early 1990s. Um, we are headquartered just down the road in Jensen Beach. Uh, we operate as a small business employing approximately 40 scientists who work on a variety of projects, including protected species monitoring, water quality monitoring, habitat assessments, and environmental resource permitting. Um, AI scientists have worked in Martin County every year since its doors opened, and we are very proud to be celebrating our 30th anniversary next year. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Joe to talk about the long-term data set we have here. All right. Thank you, Grace, and thank you, Commissioners. Um, since 1997, EAI has monitored approximately 5.6 miles of beach between the inlet, uh, the south of the inlet and the St. Lee's Inlet State Park, and the Hope Sound National Wildlife Refuge on Jupiter Island. However, our longest-running, uh, sea turtle monitoring conservation program occurs approximately 6 miles north of the inlet to the county line. Um, sea turtle nesting has been collected on this stretch since the 1970s. However, consistent monitoring wasn't established until 1981, and it's one of the longest-running data sets on sea turtles in the world. So, in total, we, we survey about 11.69 miles in Martin County, and the rest of the county is monitored by another sea turtle monitor down on Jupiter Island. There are three main species of sea turtle that nest in Martin County beaches. Um, the first to arrive is the leatherback sea turtle. Um, they are the most highly migratory and have the ability to withstand much colder waters. Uh, they feed on jellyfish and can eat their entire body weight in jellyfish every single day. So, that's 1,000 pounds of jellyfish they're eating out there every day. Uh, the next to arrive is the loggerhead sea turtle. Uh, they are the most abundant in Florida, and they are characterized by their large, uh, large heads and their reddish-brown, carapace, and they have a distinct, uh, alternative gait as they walk up the beach. So, that distinguishes them from the other two species where they walk, uh, alternating with their flippers. And then the last to arrive is the green sea turtle. And the, the juveniles have that beautiful, like, sunburst pattern on their shells. And the adults have a, uh, unique nesting, uh, trait where they come up to the beach and they make a huge pit in the sand. It kind of, if you've been on the beach, you see it looks like a bomb went off where they, where they do their nesting. So, to give you some perspective on the abundance and the seasonality of nesting, this graph shows the number of nests per day documented on South Hutchinson Island in Martin County. Um, so, the, the blue line represents leatherbacks, the orange line represents loggerheads, and the green line represents green turtles. Uh, you can see that the nesting starts off with the leatherbacks. They come in late February, early March. Then we have the loggerheads. They come in mid-April, beginning of May. And then lastly, we have the green turtles that come around mid-May, uh, beginning of June. So, nesting for each species lasts around four months. And with the peak of the nesting season around, uh, end of May, beginning of June. Green nesting extends later into the summer. And those nests may actually incubate into the fall, with some incubating into the winter. So, I'm going to start off by explaining the nest trends we're seeing with the three species. Like I said before, loggerheads are the species we most commonly see. EI has been involved with the monitoring since the 70s, like I said before, but not consistently since 1981. So, this data is just for the, they're approximately six miles north of the inlet to the county line. So, you can see that the trend has varied somewhat. And we even saw a downward trend in the early 2000s. However, this year, we had a record year with over 2,500 more nests than we've ever recorded. So, to kind of put that into perspective, uh, that's about 400 nests extra per mile on that beach. So, amazing year for loggerheads in Martin County. Um, and this, this kind of, uh, mimics the, the statewide trends. And the loggerhead nesting population in Florida is the largest, uh, loggerhead nesting aggregation in the whole world. So, um, in 2023, we recorded around 9,000 nests on Jupiter Island in Martin County. And this represents about 7% of all the nesting in Florida. So, they were, the records were also set at the state level. And we, uh, the state recorded over 130,000, uh, nests, which is about 12,000 more than we've ever had, which was established in 2016. So, we kind of saw the same thing with green turtle nests. Um, they've been increasing exponentially. And they've been kind of exhibiting a biannual pattern, which means the, uh, nesting would occur in large numbers every other year. So, the peaks have been on odd-numbered years, like in 2023, and we had a record year for green turtles as well. As, as you can see, we tend to have a lot more nesting on Jupiter Island with green turtles than in South Hutchinson Island. However, both areas, we saw an increase in nesting of over 200 nests, uh, for this year. So, we saw that at the state level as well. Um, we had over 76,000 nests in the state of Florida. And that represented a 23,000 increase since our record year in 2017. And then, lastly, we have the leatherbacks. Uh, they're the third most common nester in Florida. And they've been experiencing an increase up until about 2016 when we started to see a, uh, a sharp decline. Um, we've seen that kind of rebound recently, but not, nothing significant. Um, the last year we had a record for leatherbacks was in 2011. Um, but this year was not a record, and it was down by 70 nests since we had that, that record in 2011. Um, it was also apparent at the state level. This was not a record year for leatherbacks. But Martin County is an extremely important nesting habitat for leatherbacks. And it has the highest density of leatherbacks in the entire state. So, you can see nearly a quarter of all the leatherback nesting happens here in Martin County. So, an extremely important nesting habitat for leatherbacks. And again, that doesn't even include the, the southern portion that's monitored by another, uh, permanent monitor. So, with a lot of nesting comes a lot of marked nests. So, you may have seen our yellow stakes out on the beach. And a common misconception is that we're out there to mark every nest to protect it. And as you can see with all these nests, that's pretty impossible to do all that. Um, so on these densely nested beaches, we only mark a small percentage of those nests. And to get, determine average reproductive success for that beach. So, this year, it ranged from around 10 to 16%. So, in addition to marking nests to determine that reproductive success, we also barricade off nests in areas of high pedestrian use. And since there's no real development on the areas we monitor in Jupiter, we don't really protect many nests down there. But, however, on South Hutchinson Island, we, uh, protect nests where there's, uh, beach furniture is placed daily, uh, specifically umbrellas. And then in areas of high foot traffic near, uh, walkovers. So, you can see the number of protected nests we also had on, on the island this year. So, with that, I'll hand it over to Grace to discuss our sea turtle permit compliance work. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Um, so we're not only out there collecting data to assess sea turtle populations. Uh, the county contracts with EAI to perform construction compliance monitoring for beach nourishment projects. Martin County has earned an excellent reputation for consistent, accurate, and complete data recording and monitoring. And the federal and state agencies that permit these projects know that the folks they work with here are responsible and responsive and very cooperative. The county has benefited from having a solid environmental data set and compliance record, which has assisted the county in obtaining federal funding, as well as expedited permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the DEP. So, in addition to the nesting surveys and nest evaluations, permit compliance monitoring also involves nest relocations, shorebird monitoring, and escarpment surveys. So, during the county's most recent beach nourishment projects on Jupiter and Hutchinson Islands, we relocated 29 sea turtle nests out of construction areas to protect them from impacts from during construction activities. Uh, both breeding and non-breeding shorebird surveys are conducted during construction, as well as post-construction, and any nesting sites are cordoned off and posted for avoidance. Aspartment surveys are conducted after a project because, as the beach equilibrates and sand shifts around, these escarpments often form, which can cause an impediment to sea turtles coming up on the beach to nest. And since nourishment projects typically raise the elevation of the beach, nighttime lighting evaluations are also required to assess the visibility of lights following a project. So, lights that were not visible prior to a project may become visible after one. And since both hatchling turtles and adult nesting turtles rely on natural light cues to safely navigate the beach, dark beaches is critically important. EAI performs lighting surveys using laser-sighted GPS units, which allow us to locate and map all potentially disruptive light sources that are not in compliance with the county's sea turtle protection ordinance, and we also generate reports to help code enforcement officers get the necessary information out to property owners and managers to help them come into compliance. Over the recent years, EAI has greatly expanded its outreach programs in Martin County. So, we partner with both the Martin County Office of Tourism and Marketing, as well as the Florida Oceanographic Society for the Public Nest Excavation Program, which presents an opportunity for the public to observe the excavation of a loggerhead sea turtle nest by trained individuals. The Turtle Walk Program provides a unique opportunity for the public to observe a nesting sea turtle at night under the direction and guidance of permitted and knowledgeable sea turtle biologists. Both programs provide an opportunity to advocate for sea turtle conservation by addressing threats such as artificial beachfront lighting and marine debris. This is our team of very dedicated and hardworking seasonal staff who surveyed the beaches this past season. They've spent lots of long hours out there recording all those record numbers of nests. The monitoring that we do ensures that the county is in compliance with construction permits, but we're also out there keeping an eye on things on the beach, like illegal construction out there on the beach or the sudden appearance of harmful algal blooms. We know that the Martin County residents' value, it's the waterways, beaches, and wildlife that make this area such a great place to live. And by taking a proactive approach to protected species and environmental monitoring, you're ensuring the quality of life and the quality of the environment for future generations to enjoy. Thank you so much. Thank you. No, just. Oh, not done. Okay. Thank you. Do you guys have any questions? I have nothing else to follow. They have all the knowledge. Anything? Yeah, a couple things. It is incredibly special that we have you all in Jensen Beach, not in Palm City, but in Jensen, which is actually right in my neighborhood. And the work you all do is fantastic. And the idea, you know, Don talked about this earlier with Joanna, the amount of monitoring and the amount of historical data makes a huge difference, both on the permitting side but also on the funding side. And when we ask for our partners to work with us, having all that data really, really helps. And I think for the public's perspective, you know, there's – when we do a renourishment project, there's sometimes criticism for doing renourishment and that it's going to hurt the turtles and so on. And I don't know if you want to comment on that, but it would indicate that at least your graphs in any way would say that what we do provides a better landing point for them in the first place to come back and nest. And it would seem like it would be improving versus not improving. But I don't know if that's something you want to talk about or if that's accurate or not accurate. But I think sometimes the criticism we get during a beach renourishment project that it just isn't overly founded, and I would say almost to the opposite, that we seem to be having record numbers of nesting. So is that true? Grace, I'll start on that. So we did just – in 2022, we did a beach placement on the St. Lucie Inlet State Park on the north end of Jupiter Island, and we had large numbers of turtles this past year. So we replenished that beach with 467,000 cubic yards of sand. There was absolutely no beach for the turtles, and there were very low numbers in 2021. So we now have large numbers, especially of the loggerheads nesting on north Jupiter Island. So that just right there shows that replenishing the beach provides habitat for not only the turtles, but the birds will have a large bird nesting habitat on north Jupiter Island. And then the other thing I always comment when we get an opportunity like this, it's someone I hope we never forget whose name is Ross Witham. And I don't know – I'm sure you know Ross or remember Ross. But Ross was – and I used this word icon a couple times today – but Ross was an icon in the world. Decades ago, Ross used to collect turtle eggs, and there were probably ten tanks or eight tanks out at the House of Refuge that they would do hatchlings and whatnot, and they'd have these huge release events for the kids, you know, from the school system. And when Ross was alive, we used to have him come to the Environmental Studies Center and speak about that and talk about what happened and how long and how many years turtles that were marked from that point in time – or tagged, I guess is what you would call it – have come back and returned back to Martin County, and they've been seen, like, all over the hemisphere. And I just – I hope that Ross's name never gets forgotten in the turtle world. They used to call him Mr. Turtle because he really did, in many ways, probably was responsible for the numbers we see today for the thousands of turtles that they released and have come back. And so, to his family, because both Mabel and Ross had passed away, but they were incredibly special to that idea of what turtles meant back then, long before all the things you all have to go through with removing nests and doing stuff. But Ross really was a visionary in terms of thinking we need to do everything possible to save our turtle population. So, anyway, thank you for your presentation. It was great. And keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just doing an armchair assessment here, and I'm looking at the graphs for the three different species. And except for 2023, the other ones are anomalies. In other words, the loggerheads and the greens and the leatherbacks don't thrive in the same years. And there are peaks and valleys every other year, that's for sure, but they're not in the same year. And I know scientists are loathe to cite causation, much less correlation, but to what do you attribute these dips and why aren't the different sea turtles performing in the same trends? So, the same turtles aren't returning every year after year. So, basically, some take two years, some take three years to return. It all depends on food availability. So, if they're eating well, they can come back in two years. If they're not eating as well, maybe it takes them three years. So, it's just a matter of some of the turtles lining up two years, some of the turtles lining up three years. And, you know, that's why we've seen both the greens and loggerheads kind of have record years here. There's alignment of food availability and the nesting intervals between those turtles. But I would think that the three species would have the same sort of habitat conditions every year so that their reproduction would be similar every year. And yet it's not. But I'm just, you know, I'm not as familiar, I'm not familiar with these graphs. You are. So, I just don't understand why the loggerheads thrive in 2019 and the greens don't. So, they're also, the food, they're also eating three different food types. So, you have the green turtles, they're eating off all that seagrass. The loggerheads are eating all those hard-shelled animals, blue crabs, horseshoe crabs, conch shell, conch. And then we'll have the leatherbacks that are feeding on jellyfish. So, you know, you've got variability in the food sources that they're eating per year. Also, if you haven't Googled leatherback, Google inside a leatherback's mouth. It's terrifying. Yeah, they all have that. All they eat is jellyfish and inside their mouths looks like that's all they do is eat jellyfish. It's scary. They mistake the balloons. Yeah. Yeah, so they can't throw up. They have something called esophageal papillae. So, all three of the turtles have that. And it's pretty much spikes that kind of keep things from coming back up. Yeah. And, yeah, it is terrifying, I guess, if you want to. These small children, by all means, show them what the inside of a turtle's mouth looks like. Yeah. Performs the same function as the French does. Yeah, no, that's not going to happen at her house. She already gets enough videos off of. And speaking to your point about the Ross Witham and the conservation efforts that happened so long ago. So, these turtles take 20, 30 years to reach maturity. So, likely what we're seeing now is the effect of the conservation efforts that happened, you know, a long time ago. So, what's the lifespan of these turtles and what's the reproductive lifespan of these turtles? They never go through menopause. Oh, really? Yeah. They can be, you know, we think that some of them can live up to 100 years old. So, and they never go through menopause. Wow. Yep. And they live to be 100? Yep. Some estimates, yeah. There are tagged turtles from Ross's era in South America that have migrated back and forth, and it's amazing how far they go. I know the tortoises, some tortoises live to be 200 years old but didn't know about sea turtles. Fantastic report. Really, really wonderful and proud to have you in our county. Thank you. You're a wonderful organization. I appreciate all the support that we've received from Martin County over the years. Thank you. It's very interesting. Thank you. Okay, we are going to take another out of the line because we have Mr. Lanahan here to get him back to work. No, don't look at the mouth of it. Oh, I just did. Oh, my God, yeah. Okay, Mr. Stokas is going to bring us Department No. 3, Brightline Request for Proposal. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Join with me. George Stokas is the county minister here. Joining with me is Mr. Tom Lanahan. He's the CEO. Executive Director. Executive Director. Once again, I get a title wrong at the dais here. I'll try and be brief but brilliant and help guide you through our proposal process. On October 26th, Brightline issued a request for proposal for a potential station site on the Treasure Coast. On November 7th, this body directed staff to move forward with submitting a proposal for the consideration of two locations, the fairgrounds and downtown Stewart. Through a process, staff has determined that the only site that could allow for the proposal that meets the criteria set forth in the RFP is the courthouse location. This location offers two major benefits, the first one being that the county has complete control over the property, which is a requirement of the proposal. The fairgrounds still currently has a lease, so we do not retain that complete control. The second being that the county has city support financially and administratively with the site. As of yesterday, the city did approve a letter in a local agreement. Thank you, sir. And our county attorney will be talking about that. At this time, I'm going to, if you can hand me the mouse, please, I'm going to reveal for you the site plan. It's a part of the board. Oh, there we go. I forgot I did it. So just to give you some, I guess, geographic, the right side of the picture is facing north. The square buildings. Now, the building complex here is obviously the Morton County Courthouse. The center kind of hexagonal looking is the Stewart Water Tower. To reference it, this would be the lumber yard, and this over here, this box here, would be the Ernst & Produce Stand. And then this green area is the Sailfish Ballpark. The site can, there are basically three elements that go along with the site. The first one being the parking garage, which is currently illustrated. It can be, the RFP requires a minimum of 200 spots. Our fine folks at Treasure Coast Regional Planning have designed us a parking garage. It's approximately 451 spots based on, you know, building the largest thing possible in that site. One of the requirements that the county had, because this is currently a parking lot that was, I don't know as much detail in the background of the parking lot, but it is a parking lot that has 169 spots. When you take into account the parking that is currently underutilized in this triangle parcel, the county has worked within the ILA for a net result of 54 spots, thus reducing to a net zero loss on parking. And we are working with the city on various parking solutions, and we'll come back before this body as well as the city on those solutions. The other component is the actual station itself, where the hand icon is. The station is approximately 10,000 square feet. It's no higher than a two-story building. However, the site does need to be raised approximately four feet for the smooth transition from the platform to the actual rail line. The rail line proposal looks to Brightline in the county, as well as on the station, for a 50-50 per our settlement agreement. The rail does clear Confusion Corner and MLK, so it does meet the rail siting guidelines. The nice thing is, thanks to the insight from Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, we will not have to do any type of construction work on Confusion Corner. I know that was a bit of an issue with the community and getting around town with that. And the third rail is on the east side, so this is a different type of station than the one that you see in West Palm Beach, which loads here from the center. This actually loads from the east side of the tracks, both northbound and southbound trains. Some of the questions, total cost. Staff approximates the range of the total cost between $40 million and $60 million. $30 million for the parking garage, which is going to be the responsibility of the city, and $30 million for the site, station, and rail work, which will be per according to our settlement agreement will be split between the county and Brightline. However, staff is currently applying for RAISE and CRSSE grants. I don't know what those acronyms stand for, both on the federal and state level. Staff believes that this could reduce the approximate cost of the station and everything associated with it by 80%. Staff is currently drafting a RAISE application for design for $8.4 million, and analyzing what the match criteria will be, either between 0% and 20% for match criteria, based on the fact that this station location is located in a federal-qualified census track for a community that is economically endangered. So when you break down, we believe we can, as staff, get the cost for the station and the parking garage and everything would be approximately $3 to $6 million for the city and $3 to $5 million for Brightline and the county. All those grants, as we apply for them and come to you, we would update and come up with the actual how the split is. I do want to hand it off to our county attorney to discuss the interlocal agreement, which has been handed out, and then I do need to come back and seek for authorization for two items. With that, I'd like to hand it off to the county attorney. Thank you, George. Mr. Chair, members of the commission, Sarah Woods, county attorney for the record. Before you, you'll see an interlocal agreement regarding the joint proposal between the city and the county for the train station and the parking garage. I want to say at the outset that meant for those people who have forgotten about our settlement with Brightline in 2018, the reason we're here today that we have a seat at the table is due to Martin County settlement with Brightline, which required construction of a train station either in Martin or St. Lucie County within five years of starting the rail service between Miami and Orlando. So it's easy to forget that we're here because of you all, because of your settlement, and that is why they're here. The interlocal basically is a way of providing Brightline with the RFP, responding to the RFP and showing the cooperation between the city and the county to get the station. I won't go through all of it, but the high points are the county agrees to convey the city. It's a parking lot that is located behind the courthouse. It runs along Flagler. There's an aerial with a depiction of that. And again, this is the blueprint for entering it. This doesn't bind you in any way. It just agrees that it sets forth how we would go about providing our proposal to Brightline by the city. We've agreed, the city has agreed, because we would lose the parking lot, they've agreed to provide 54 parking spaces for public use within a quarter of a mile from the courthouse. And again, this is the number of parking spaces that we're losing from that back net loss of parking spaces because of the conveyance of the proposed site. It does set forth that we agree these spaces can be street parking as well as parking behind the water treatment facility on Stittman. The city, once we convey the property, the city is able to then enter into a long-term lease agreement with Brightline for the construction and operation of the project. As you all well know, in our settlement agreement, we have a specific provision that says that Martin County, if asked, would pay 50% of the construction costs. So now in this agreement, we're affirmatively saying that pursuant to the settlement agreement with Brightline, the county agrees to pay 50% of the construction costs of the station. For the city, the city agrees to pay for the construction costs of the parking garage necessary to meet the criteria for the RFP. We agree in the following paragraph to jointly apply or to cooperate in applying for federal-state grants to offset the project. As you may recall, in our settlement agreement as to the station, Brightline and the county agreed to evenly split any grant to reduce service because we're doing a 50-50 split. So any grants that come in that reduce the costs of the station, they would be proportionately reduced. We agree that any grants that come in for the parking garage would go to the city because we're not contributing to that. And we also just have some general language that we agree that we'll make reasonable efforts to file for any and all grant applications whenever possible. And that's really the gist of it. Again, this is really a basis for our agreement with the city. And, of course, if we were to be so fortunate as to have the award of this site, then, of course, all of the nuts and bolts of that agreement would come back to you for approval for all of that. But we're just submitting that RFP. And, again, as George said, with this agenda item, we're not only asking for authority to submit the RFP or our response to the request for proposal to Brightline, but also for approval of this interlocal agreement. And, as George mentioned, this was approved last night by the city of Stewart. So you're the final approver. And with that, I'll take any questions. Any questions for anybody? Commissioner Hurd. Yeah. Do all the parking fees go to Brightline? Yes, ma'am. Is that negotiable? Yeah. I don't believe so. I have... We can negotiate. I don't know what the success of those negotiations would be. But in the RFP, they do ask for 200 spots. And in other stations, they use that revenue to operate and maintain the parking garage. And I will say at the other parking garages, the rate of parking is probably sub-market. It's a little bit lower than some of the other surrounding markets. I think for the West Palm, they have parking rates for as much as $6 a day. Wow. That's the reason I asked was because I talked to some people who paid over $30 a day to park in West Palm Beach. So that makes it kind of important to be able to negotiate that. Yeah. Mr. Chairman, if I might, there's a great variety in what they charge for parking. You can get it for $5 a day bundled in with a train ticket. I think if you go out and do it independently, you're just parking there or you didn't tie it with your ticket, the rates can be different. And it has varied. I've paid all different rates there. And I would also like to add, Mr. Chair, that the rates are also very susceptible to what's available around it. So in some markets where there's a proliferation of a lot of free parking, I notice the rates are much lower. Yeah. So I would say it's negotiable, but it also is a driving force based on market. Okay. I agree with this in principle, but I'm a little bit reluctant to give full-throated support. Mostly because of number four, pursuant to the aforementioned settlement agreement with Brightline, the county agrees to pay 50% of the construction costs of the train station. In principle, that works. But if we don't obtain the grants that we anticipate receiving, where's the escape clause for us? Can we put in a not-to-exceed amount? I don't want to – I would be fine with approving a $3 million contribution. I would not be fine with approving a $10 million contribution. So as I understood it from – and kind of had said to the city last night, Mr. Chair, this is the first process of where we put in for the RFP. It's an actual proposal. Then they will either shortlist or select us as the – or someone else, I suppose, as the winner. At that point, the details get more hammered out. We meet with Brightline. We have a design engineering grant request in. We can harden those numbers. But I think like everything, as soon as we kind of renegotiate the elements of an agreement, all three – in this case, all three parties would be a party to that agreement. And at any point, there would be abilities to, I guess, pull the ejection switch based on the estimated costs or based on changes in conditions that our legal staff would negotiate for us. And also, just to add on, our settlement agreement currently provides – I mean, it did in 2018 that – let me find it. The construction of the station is subject to payment of 50% of the station construction costs by the county and or municipality in which the station is located if such payment is requested by Brightline. I mean, it's very clear – Mr. Lanahan is the expert on the RFP – that they're looking for – you know, that this would be done at minimal cost to Brightline to locate this station there. We just happen to be fortunate with a 50% cap on it. But if we don't pay the 50%, then, you know, the station wouldn't be constructed. So I don't read it as an obligation, a binding obligation, but we're making that commitment because we've already kind of made that commitment in the settlement agreement. Okay. And if I could, Mr. Chairman, I – kind of two points to make there. The first being that this is a request for proposal and it is competitive, you know, putting your best foot forward is, I think, important. And then the second part is looking at the Boca Raton example, which the RFP specifically brings up the Boca Raton station. We've designed this very similar to that scenario. We think it's actually a little bit better layout than they have, but it is designed like that. And Boca was able to receive grant funding support for – I want to say it was 80% of the cost of that project. Very, very, very substantial. These are the kinds of things that the federal grant programs are written towards. Other people try and make something fit. This is really kind of like what they're geared for. And the city's obligation, which they were the partner with Brightline on that one, ended up being pretty minimal for that project. So just to kind of put that into your thoughts. And, Commissioner, the reason why I believe we will be successful in the grant is because this – well, Friday, our federal government announced $8 billion dedicated to high-speed rail, of which $3 billion is going to Nevada and California. That leaves $5 billion on the table for us. Also, I think we will do better than Boca Raton, I believe, because this track is located in a qualified census track. And our grant staff and myself have quite a bit of experience, thanks to ARPA and CARES, with basically highlighting the QCT and the importance that this brings to the community. So I think we can actually do better than 80-20. But I don't want to sit here and commit to that. Yeah, I do, too. Thanks. Ms. Woods. I neglected to publicly thank the city manager and the city attorney of the city of Stewart. They really were so cooperative and helpful, and this really was a true product of collaboration between the city and Martin County. So I want to thank them. Mrs. Woods, you beat me to the punch. I also want to take the time to thank other county staff as well. And this is going to sound a little weird, Mr. Chair. I want to thank Brightline because we did have a very good meeting with them on, I think it was November 29th. It was right after Thanksgiving, and they were very instrumental in helping us craft the final document that we will be submitting to them with your approval next week as far as looking at economic data and what are the things that we needed to focus on because really when you look at their RFP, it's a very broad scope, and they were able to help us to define where they wanted us to look. So that was Mr. Kronberg and Ms. Sowell and their staff did an excellent job at helping us with the rail and what they were actually looking for, which we think could give them a better proposal. Commissioner Smith. So I'll continue on that theme and thank the city commission as a whole. I think one of the things that is important to this entire conversation, and at least from what I've heard feedback from, is that the collaboration between the city and the county was super important to Brightline. And certainly having that partnership on this item goes a long way. And so we have one of our city officials in our audience, and thank you, Campbell, for your support. But your support as a whole, you know, I think the message that the county sent to the city and the city sent to the county was that we were all in on this. And that makes a big difference when agencies and people are looking at a project, no matter what it is, to have that kind of support. So with that, I would move approval of staff's support and recommendation for the RFP, unless you need some changes, George. I need a couple changes to that, but I can hold until you're – I know you had a light up there. Mr. Dawson. Commissioner, I just wanted to point out that we're recommending that we're only submitting for the city of Stewart location. I know you'd suggested this, looking at the fairgrounds, there's several reasons why that one doesn't work. And, of course, one of them has to do with our lease with the fair association, how that transitions. And then more importantly, it really has to do with how the county can transfer properties under county rules, opposed to the city. So that and our conversations with the Brightline, it's most important that our partnership with the city. And I just wanted to reemphasize that we're all in on this site and not proposing two applications to Brightline. So, Mr. Chair, I would have written this down, but because of the ILA we've held, so I need three things. Staff's recommendation is three things. One, approve the interlocal agreement with City of Stewart. Two, approve staff to submit proposal for courthouse location to Brightline, Florida. And the third is to authorize county staff to work with the city to initiate a conditional use process for approval within the city of zoning and the city land zoning issue. So that we can get that process started so that it's going at the same time as whether or not Brightline is deciding there whether we are the selected site so that we can trim a couple months in time off at that point. So, Mr. Chair, my motion plus the inclusion of Georgia's three highlighted items and the notation relative to the fairground site. Second or agree? Yes. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good luck. All right. Public hearing number three. Public hearing to consider adoption of comprehensive growth management plan amendment CPA 22-09, Chapter 18, Community Redevelopment Element, Chapter 4, and Chapter 2, text by Mr. Peter Walden. Thank you, Chairman. Once again, Pete Walden, Deputy Growth Management Director. I'm joining today with Liz Noggle, the Development Review Administrator. This is the CPA 220-09. The board saw this at a transmittal hearing on September 26, and it was met on the LPA on September 21st. The LPA recommended approval, and the board voted unanimously to recommend approval or to transmit, rather. So the areas covered in the ordinance are regarding density. There is some current language in Chapter 18 that is a little gray, and we're just clarifying that so that even if you do use some of the public right-of-way adjacent to parcels, you cannot exceed 15 units per acre on any property in the county, in the CRAs. So accessory dwelling units are addressed, and they are further described in the LDRs, which we'll be taking up as well today as we're going to look at changes to Article 12 that are coinciding with this comp plan amendment. So, and then open space is addressed as well. We're proposing alternative methods rather than paying cash, I mean, rather than paying cash in lieu of open space that we incentivize green building practices and other alternatives to provide alternatives for open space on properties. And one of the most important things is we've addressed the preserve area requirements in the CRAs, and currently you're allowed to go up to one acre to offset one acre of preserves that might be required on a piece of property. We're proposing to limit that to one-half acre of regular habitat and only a quarter acre of rare and unique habitat because of the uniqueness to Martin County of this rare and unique habitat, which mostly occurs only in Hope Sound. And Chapter 2 is updated for uniformity in that regard. So Chapter 4 is where we dealt with the mixed use of projects, and it is permitted in CRAs, and this is just a cleanup area that we're doing as well. So another thing we're doing with this is we're updating the Chapter 18 to be consistent with state statute. There was recently a bill passed that has further requirements regarding on-site sewage disposal systems. So we're basically making that Chapter 18 consistent with state statute so we don't have to deal with that in the year process. So, like I said, this was heard before the local planning agency on September 21st. It was transmitted to all the state agencies. They recommended no changes, and we've heard back from all of them. So with that, we move that the Board approve the ordinance adopting CPA 2209, amending Chapter 18, Community Redevelopment Element, and Chapter 2 and 4 of the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan. I'm glad to answer any questions. Commissioner Smith. I know we need to ask for public comment, but when that happens, I'll move staff's recommendation. Do we have any public comments? Commissioner Hart. Yeah. Policy 18A2 says the development within a CRA can meet its obligation to provide open space by utilizing green building and infrastructure practices as described in the LDRs. What do green building and infrastructure practices have anything to do with open space? As these developments inside the CRAs become more dense and more intense, the need for open space becomes that much more important. Instead, we're reducing them by saying that you can provide, in lieu of providing open space requirements, you can utilize green building and infrastructure practices. We couldn't agree more with you that the open space is valuable in the CRAs. This is just a way to further develop some of these small sites, and rather than just, as we pointed out, rather than just paying cash in lieu of open space, actually creating a better environment on the spaces to offset that open space, whether it's doing further protections and planting trees in the right-of-way or doing solar panels to reduce that footprint, green walls, green roofs, that type of thing. So it'll lessen the footprint of the development to offset that open space. But it eliminates open space. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. development within a CRA may meet its obligation to preserve native upland habitat present on the development site by making a cash payment in lieu of preservation. Again, man, we don't need cash. We need open space. And I don't know what on earth the cash is going to be used for because the amendments don't describe what they're going to be used for. And buffers and transitions between different development intensities shall not apply in any CRA land use designation. Once again, I think it's a race to the bottom. I think that we're harming our CRAs by diminishing the standards, diminishing compatibility and comparability. That density transition issue was already approved back in 2019 when the board adopted Chapter 18. It was a mistake then. Just because we made a mistake in 2019, we don't need to memorialize it in 2023. So I'm not going to be supporting this. I think it's moving in absolutely the wrong direction. I want the CRAs to thrive, and this is not the way to make them thrive. It's not the way to make them livable. Okay. Do we have any public comment on this item? I say none. Back to the board. We have a motion and a second. Did we already do it? Oh, you already did it. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Opposed. Motion passes with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. Okay. Next one. Public hearing number four. Public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending Article 12 Community Redevelopment Code, Land Development Regulations, Martin County Code by Ms. Nigel. What? It's a group. Yeah, it's a group. All right, but I'll get it started. Once again, Pete Walden, Deputy Growth Management Director, and, yes, Elizabeth Noggle is here with me today. And also, I'd like to point out that this has been a joint effort between growth management's environmental staff, us, and all of this has been under the supervision of the deputy county attorney. So, this is a revisions proposed to Article 12, Division I, Community Redevelopment Code, and this coincides with the changes to Chapter 18. So, several of the things we're working on today is a little bit of background. Article 12 applies to all six of the county's community redevelopment areas. The CRAs were previously an overlay. The new zoning districts and regulations were adopted in 2019, with some revisions in 2021. Chapter 18 was adopted concurrently. And with any new code once applied to projects and the amount of review that we've gone through, some necessary revisions and clarifications are typically found. And these proposed updates include clarifications and modifications, as I stated, to be consistent with Chapter 18. So, the first one is density. The code in Article 12 was consistent with what was in Chapter 18. So, we've changed all that so that it's very clear that you cannot exceed 15 dwelling units per acre on any common ownership parcel in the CRAs. There's also a clarification of existing provisions for small dwelling units, and I'll go further into that in a minute. So, open space. So, one of the other sections in Article 12 that we're making some modifications to is the open space, as also referenced in Chapter 18. So, there is a current provision relating to civic open space that's pretty general, that smaller sites can count civic open space, impervious civic open space towards their open space requirements if it's designed to be a plaza, but there's not really any standards associated with that. But we were finding that with some metals, we were getting less than what we hoped for. So, we're trying to introduce some design requirements to include some items in the civic open space, including lighting and seating and shade and public access, so we don't end up with a bench and a trash can, and that's it. There's also a requirement to propose that project sites one acre or greater shall design a minimum of 2% of the total required open space as civic open space, meeting the same requirements for design and access. So, this will be privately owned and maintained, but designated for public access, and that's intended for some of these more infill projects for people who are walking around and they get to spend some time in these public open spaces. Also proposed is the removal of the off-site open space provision for small site development to be able to pay in lieu. The program hasn't been utilized, but it would be challenging to implement. And as mentioned by Pete, there is a new provision for sites less than one acre to meet the open space requirement by providing green building and infrastructure techniques, which would be reviewed through alternative compliance at the discretion of staff and the growth management director to be appropriate for the site. So, the intention is not to get out of your full open space requirement by providing one solar panel. It has to be properly justified. There is also a clarification that accessory dwelling units are not permitted for small dwelling units. So, if you're already having the 800 square foot dwelling unit that counts as half a unit for density, you can't also have an ADU, which doesn't count as density already. Okay, the other provision is the native upland habitat. This is going into the description alluded to in Chapter 18. We're getting rid of the off-site preserve option, and we've added further clarification and restriction of the payment in lieu of preservation. So, now you have to do a formal appraisal of your property, and that will go into the analysis of whether or not the habitat can be displaced. And that payment would go into a fund used by ecosystems to fund either open space projects or preserve projects in the CRAs. So, again, it's more restrictive than it has been, where you can only go up to a half acre of needed preserve for regular habitat, and only a quarter acre of rare and unique habitat. And this is done through analysis with our environmental folks as to what is sustainable in these small habitats. It is possible to require that every ounce of preserve area is saved, but we found in these infill development sites that some of the smaller sites, especially with the common habitat of pine tree and palmetto, they don't necessarily adapt well once the site's been developed. So, it's better to use those resources towards a common good with ecosystems help. So, that was the thought process behind that. So, this was before the local planning agency on September 21st, and they voted unanimously to recommend approval. And that is concluding our presentation. We'd be glad to answer any questions. Any questions for staff? Commissioner Hurt. Who requested this? Staff did this in coinciding with these boards' request for Chapter 18 changes. So, last year in 2022, the board requested changes to Article, I mean to Chapter 18, and this goes along with it. For what purpose? To make sure it's consistent. No. For what purpose? What is this supposed to be? How is this supposed to be improving our CRAs? Well, for one thing, we're requiring more stricter requirements for preserve areas. So, that would be one thing that I think you would find beneficial. And we're also being more specific about how you use open space. As Liz noted that right now, if you just put on your site plans an area that's an open plaza, you can actually have no real open space. It can all be hardscape. So, we're making the criteria for open space and preserve areas a lot more strict. Within the CRAs, this is new language, impervious civic open space may be credited toward required open space. If it abuts an existing public sidewalk on at least one side, if it provides pedestrian-level lighting, if it provides two benches or one linear feed of another appropriate seating area, how on earth do those things provide open space? Well, it's very consistent with what is already in the code, which allows just any kind of plaza or landscaped area to be solid, impervious area already. So, we're just trying to add some elements to it to make sure that it's beneficial. So, if you put a – you can do away with your open space requirement if you put in two benches and a garbage can. Well, that's not correct. Well, it's number three. That's what it says. It doesn't say the garbage can, but it does say the two benches. It goes through an alternative compliance review that is reviewed by staff and approved by the growth management director. And we already do this method with all design work in the CRAs. Okay. Less than one-half-acre sites can avoid their open space requirements by utilizing green building and green infrastructure techniques. Correct. Tell me how on earth a solar panel provides open space because that's one of the alternatives. Well, solar panels can reduce the development footprint, and that's what we're looking for. Total going as green as possible. That's all part of green building practices. But it's not open space. They're completely different. They provide completely different assets in neighborhoods. You're paving over our CRAs. Development within a CRA, let's see, undeveloped sites can make a cash payment in lieu of on-site preservation. Tell me how that works. Is there any limit on how many people can apply for this exception? Anyone that's developing in the CRAs that has the appropriate amount of preserve area that's less than a half-acre for regular habitat, less than a quarter-acre for rare and unique, can apply to have this program done. Okay. And it's not... We can have a CRA that has absolutely no open space any longer because they've met their open space requirements through alternative compliance by having benches and garbage cans and impervious pavement all over and solar panels. How livable is that community? Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. Currently, our comprehensive plan provides that an applicant can already purchase due cash in lieu of open space. That's already in the comp plan. These LDRs are really just giving them the process that's already in our comp plan because it's been a little bit difficult to implement when there's been nothing in the LDRs. So this policy already exists. We're just giving some guidance and guidelines so applicants know how they can do the cash in lieu of. We're not proposing that today. I just wanted to clarify that for the record. But there's no limit on how many people can qualify for these exceptions? No, it all depends on the site and the habitat on the site. Okay, I'll move on to payments received in lieu of preservation shall be utilized to acquire land in Martin County that will be part of sustainable preserve system. Up to 25% of funds received may be utilized to plant native vegetation and to restore the native natural habitat on the 27 acres acquired by Martin County in December 2017, commonly called the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve. So tell me what data and analysis was done in order to say that open space that's not provided in Port Salerno or Jensen Beach can pay into this and it will be used in the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve. So this will be analyzed by all ecosystems and growth management environmental staff, and they'll determine the best path forward for utilizing these funds. Sometimes it's better to do an accumulation of these funds for common good rather than the piecemeal payment of small areas or try to create these small areas of habitat that don't necessarily translate into good habitat for the future. So this is something that our ecosystems and growth management environmental staff will work on. I was certainly supportive of purchasing the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve because we acquired a scrub preserve. So it's already been preserved. What on earth does eliminating open space in Port Salerno and putting that money toward the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve do to preserve open space in Port Salerno? I tried to explain that the best I can. It's nowhere near there, and we've already purchased the property for it. We've already spent tax dollars. So we're going to be spending more tax dollars for the Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve when there's no measure of how the habitat in either place is being improved? Commissioner, if I might, Susan Correz, Office of Community Development. I think part of what we're trying to do here is to make the policies usable in the CRA. Remember, of course, that CRA sites are small. There's already infill. It's much harder than a greenfield development. So if you have, I think what Mr. Walden was trying to say, if you have a small bit of habitat, it's not going to be sustainable if somebody is going to potentially develop on the rest of that site. So the funds going to a place where we can maintain and sustain that habitat would be a good use of that money, and making that open space, I think, a little bit more meaningful for the entire county. I absolutely completely disagree with you. I think that eliminating open space in Port Salerno is going to be extremely detrimental to the CRA, and allowing developers to use impervious surfaces in order to fulfill their open space requirements is ridiculous, and allowing them to pay in lieu of preservation in Port Salerno in order to provide more habitat restoration in Hobe Sound is also just ludicrous. This is a terrible mistake. It's weakening the protections in the CRAs. It's hurting them. Mr. Donaldson. Commissioners, this has come up before, and I think it's important to point out that there are situations where you have open space areas that are the size of the well here in the dais, and then what happens is through the normal actions of improvements in the CRA, somebody puts a paver brick. It may still be impervious to things, but it doesn't qualify under the rules as that preserve area. So you often have umbrellas and other things that people are using the space, but it doesn't qualify under our rules, and I think we've run into this in a number of situations, and this rule was initially put up because you had these, you know, micro, or you might even call them nano spaces within the CRA, and the point was to try to create a place to put the money into it. Obviously, the Hobe Sound scrub area has some restoration needs, and this was an immediate place that staff could identify that you could use these funds to make improvement that benefit the public in that acquisition. So that's the genesis of this, I think, is a large part is dealing with these really small lots, and then how do you appropriately allow them to develop it without having to do enormous code enforcement action because people are using the property in a commercial activity. It's still open, but they, you know, pavers encroach on it, those kinds of things, and next thing you know, we're struggling with how to, and the public and the owners don't understand. So I think this was a way to try to allow the CRAs to actually develop as we're seeing them actually develop. Thank you. Commissioner Campy. Thank you, Chair. I'm reminded of, for me at least, the catalyst for this is the Flash Beach Grill issue on Bridge Road many years ago and how that turned into really just an unbelievable issue for the owners of the property and the county. And to remind folks, it was a very, very small, maybe 15-by-10-foot little portion of property behind their restaurant on Bridge Road that was a preserve, and they had parked some catering trailers, so officially still pervious. It wasn't like they turned it into a patio, but they were not. And then that was literally the only extra space that they had on the property. And then from my perspective, it became an issue of do we support local small businesses on something so benign in that particular case, not in every case, but in that particular case, benign. So if there is some language that would make it clearer for staff to then explain to business owner, resident, who most likely by the time they show up here, there's an issue that's already percolated, and to give them and the county an option, I'm okay with that. To Commissioner Hurd's point, I would recommend that if there is a payment in lieu of money that's happening in Port Salerno, as the example, that the money should stay somewhere in Port Salerno versus taking Port Salerno payment in lieu and using it in a different CRA. I would agree with that. So if that is an opportunity to make that suggestion, I think if it is a payment in lieu, it should stay in the area that it was derived. Thank you. Even if you don't have it useful? No, you'd hold it until reserved. All six of those areas, it's not like you couldn't find something in Port Salerno, Palm City, Golden Gate, Rio, Hobesound, that you could use the money for versus taking it out of that area. Commissioner Smith. Just the tail end of that conversation reminds me of another idea that years ago there was a decision made to take impact fees and co-mingle them all into one pot so that they could go to where the most beneficial area that needed those impact fees, especially road impact fees, could go. Ed, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but what I would rather see is our staff that are the experts in where could we get the most ecological benefit from. I would much rather have them make that decision. And if there's not a project in Jensen or Palm City or Hope Sound or wherever that couldn't use those funds, I would rather see them go to an existing project that says, yeah, today we can apply those funds to a given space and make it better. And from what I hear being said, that's kind of the goal. So I'd rather, I just rather wouldn't tie staff's hands to say it's got to stay in one place. Sure, there's an argument to be said that if you could build up enough funds in Hope Sound or Palm City to do something, great. But if that takes five to eight years to get to that point to where we don't even have a project that's accessible, if you had a project, Hope Sound, and those funds can go there and we can make a direct impact today, I would rather, I'd rather see that happen at the moment and not bank it to a further point. But again, I would leave that up to our experts. We have phenomenal staff in the environmental world. As we've heard with two of our presentations this morning, the private sector has, and the government sector has come out and said, look, you have some of the best people in the business doing what they do. I'd leave it up to their value judgment, honestly. I don't know if there's any public. So we're referring to Hope Sound. It owns the Scrub Preserve. The Scrub Preserve is a county asset. It is in need of restoration. It is in need of some restoration. It's a beautiful part. But so when something's identified in Port Salerno, Palm City, or whatever else, it could be added to our list very easily, right? So right now this is the only significant thing that we're focused on. But if Commissioner Hurd comes up with something, we can add it to it, right? So is that if there's not, it's not what the language says. It says the Hope Sound Scrub Preserve. But it can be changed in the future when you find a project to spend it on. Commissioner, what the language says. If there's not any public comment, I would move staff's recommendation. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor. Aye. I didn't ask for public comment. Oops. Anybody wish to comment other than Commissioner Campy? Commissioner Campy. I'm going to vote in the affirmative because I like the concept. I'm unhappy with the concept that all of the money raised in other CRAs would go to the Hope Sound. As well as the fact that if these are small, very rarely used opportunities, that's not going to be how you're going to fund the repairing and improving the scrub preserve. If this is just an option that is not going to be that utilized, and even if it's a small little parcel of property, how much money is in lieu of, you're going to need different money. I will vote for it for the concept, but the idea of where the money is going from, all the CRA money, the whole concept of the MSTU and the TIF is that it's raised in the CRA, it stays in the CRA, except for this. But I wanted to be clear, I'm unhappy with that, but the rest of it I like. Okay. We had a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Opposed. Motion passes with Commissioner Hurd dissenting, and with that, we'll take lunch. See you at 1.30. Call this back to order. Okay, our next item, I believe, is public hearing quasi-judicial number one. Public hearing to consider the adoption of an amendment to the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning classifications for Monty P. McClendon. Linden M234-001 by Mr. Peter Walden. Where is he? Let me go through the whole spiel here. Have you turned in your agenda packet and resume and all that? Yes, sir. Okay. Are there any interveners? No, sir. There are no interveners. I'm intervening. You're intervening. And then everybody that is going to give some testimony, please stand and 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? And do we have any disclosures from Commissioner Smith? I do, and they're filed. If any, they've been filed. If any, they've been filed. I don't have any, and they've been filed. I don't have any, and they've been filed. Okay. Moving on. Thank you, Chairman. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Peter Walden, Deputy Growth Management Director. This is a request by Monty P. McClendon for rezoning. And a copy of the agenda item in my work history has been turned in for the record. So this is a request to go from the existing R2 single-family district to a proposed RM8 medium-density residential. The existing future land use on the property is medium-density. This is a couple pictures of the site. It's a typical quarter-acre lot. It's in the unplatted area of Jensen Beach off of Baker Road. There's been a couple rezonings in the recent history that are similar to this. So this is the subject site located in pretty much a sea of medium-density residential land use. These clear areas are the city of Stewart. So the application is for consistent zoning with the land use. So it's considered a non-mandatory rezoning request. And this is the R2. Most of this was followed up from the old Category C zoning districts. They're considered Category B now in the current Article III zoning article. And that's why it's considered a non-mandatory rezoning request. And you can see the two lots over here across Charlie Green Drive that were recently turned into RM8 as well. And it's pretty straightforward, and I know the applicant has a presentation as well. So development review staff have reviewed the application, find it's in compliance with all applicable development regulations and the comprehensive plan, as detailed in the attached staff report. And we move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1, and move that the board adopt a resolution amending the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning district on the subject site from R2 single-family district to RM8 medium-density residential district. That concludes the presentation. Be glad to answer any questions. Any questions for staff? Seeing none. Applicant? Presentation. Good afternoon, everybody. Dina Freeman here with Monty P. McClendon as the applicant. So we have Pete's obviously covered quite a bit. Just to confirm, Article 10, we've provided the sign on site and also the notifications within 500 feet at least 14 days prior to the public hearings. We were basically... You give me the mouse. Thank you. So the request is, as Pete said, R2, a zoning change from R2 to RM8, consistent with a medium-density residential. The location shows the area depicted in red. Its vacant property did have previously a single-family home in there many years ago. It's part of an unplatted area of Martin County. And there's a location map. So 1367 Northwest Charlie Green Drive in Stewart. And there's the municipal boundary. Just to give you the context, the surrounding blue hatched area is all within the city of Stewart. And there's the property again depicted in red. Subject property, vacant 0.25 acres. R2 allows... The current zoning is R2. It allows one residential unit per lawfully established lot. Mr. McClendon would like to construct a duplex. In order to do so, we are here today to request the RM8, which is consistent with the size of the lot and will allow basically two duplexes or one duplex, two units. The land use, as was confirmed, is medium-density. And they're just zooming out just to give you more context in relation to surrounding land uses. Obviously, to the west is Northwest Federal Highway. And further east is Northwest Green River Drive. And to the north is Northeast Baker Road. The zoning map confirming R2 and a recent, in the last couple of years, Baker Road LLC received a zoning change from the R2 to RM8. And there are two duplexes that have just recently been constructed and are at the final phase. So that was successful and obviously received approval from the board. And there again, we've zoomed out to show in context. To the north is RS6, but RS does not allow, single-family does not allow a duplex, which is why we're here to request RM. And RM8 will allow the provision of one duplex based on the 0.25 acres. The surrounding properties, just to give you context in relation to the site, there's a lot of established residential small lots. There's a few duplexes in there already. The Avonlea mixed-use project further east is part of the CRA, community redevelopment area, with a density allowed up to 30 units per acre, just to put it into context. Obviously, to the west, we've got the Buttonwood tennis courts. And further west, we've got Northwest Federal Highway in Stewart. This was some analysis that was completed with the Baker Road rezonings depicted in number one, which has now got the two duplexes. What it does is show the nature of the development that's already there in terms of scale, size of unit, and that they're all very small lots. And it was a subdivision that was not a subdivision. It was never platted. And there's the area in number 19 is the subject property. There's some photos that were taken recently that show the site in relation to, you can see the duplexes that have been built from southeast Baker Road. The subject property, which is vacant but isn't an established curb cut. And then we've got the existing duplexes again, and the recently approved townhouses, which are within the Avonlea project off of Baker Road. Summary of the key issues, I'll just run through this really quickly. We're here to request the RMA zoning because it's consistent with the medium density land use designation, and it would allow the one duplex unit on the property based on the gross site area and density. This request would accommodate an infill development. The map in Martin County does show this as an infill site within Martin County. It's an urban area, obviously well served with utilities within the urban service district boundary. Confirmed that the property owner would like to develop the single family duplex units on the property, which has triggered the need for the zoning change. It's non-mandatory. Staff reviewed and made a positive recommendation for RM8. Any future development would require a building permit to be submitted and meet the RM8 zoning district and medium density land use. And as was confirmed, the signage was posted and the property and mail-out notices were delivered ahead. Just to give context, this shows the single family and the permitted uses table in relation to why we're here asking for RM8, and that is also obviously because of the density we will be at the eight units per acre just accommodating one of the duplexes. We also give you some information on the development standards of importance to note. The R2 zoning actually required less setbacks than the RM8, so we're actually increasing the setbacks from the property into, you know, the development has to be further away from the property lines with the RM8. So, conclusion, the property is consistent with a comprehensive growth management plan and the LDR policies pertaining to a rezone that was submitted in the staff report with all of the analysis. Staff has made a positive recommendation. The local planning agency considered this at a public hearing on the 7th of December, and we request officially and formally that the board approve the zoning change from R2 to RM8, and that's the end of the presentation from Dina Freeman. Thank you. Ms. Elder. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. I just want to confirm for the record that your affidavit of mailing was turned in the LPA meeting. Yes. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, any questions for the applicant? Any public comment? Back to the board. I'll move staff's recommendation. Commissioner Hurt. Yeah. According to the staff report, in reviewing specific densities, the aim shall be to preserve the stability of established residential areas, and when we look at the zoning map of the existing residential area, to the north is R2 single-family residential, to the south is R2 single-family residential, to the east is R2 single-family residential, and to the west is R2. So the best, most compatible density is in order to protect the stability of the established residential area would be for it to remain R2. So I won't be supporting the motion. Okay. Anything else? We've got a motion by Commissioner Hetherington, seconded by Commissioner Scampi. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Opposed. Motion passes with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. Thank you very much, and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Next, public hearing quasi-judicial number two, public hearing to consider the adoption of an amendment to the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning classification for Western Distribution Center, LLC. Ms. Nagel. Okay. So I've got to do that again. Is there any intervenors? There are no intervenors. Anybody here to give testimony, please stand and 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? Ms. Nagel, have you turned in your copy of the agenda and your resume and all the rest of whatever we need to do? I have it right here. Thank you. Thanks. And disclosures. Commissioner Smith? Are you in there filed? If any, it might have been filed. If any, it might have been filed. I don't have any that have been filed. I don't have any, and they've been filed. Okay. Yes, Ms. Nagel. I'm the chair. Hi. Good afternoon. Proof of mailers was turned in at the LPA meeting for this item. We are here to talk about the request to rezone, Weston Distribution Center, LLC, R2 to LI. I'm Elizabeth Nagel, Development Review Administrator. The property, subject property here is outlined in red. It's at the northeast corner of southwest Canter Highway and the Florida Turnpike, just west of southwest Jack James Drive in Stewart. The existing future land use for the site is industrial and surrounded by industrial as well, everywhere north and east and west, and then separated across the turnpike to the west. I'm sorry. The zoning for the site is R2. You can see that in 2001, the surrounding properties were rezoned to limited industrial, but this little parcel remained R2. So this is just to make the parcel consistent with the future land use and surrounding properties, which is all under common ownership as well. There are three standard zoning districts that implement the industrial future land use designation, limited industrial, general industrial, and heavy industrial. New PUD zoning is an additional option for applicants, but not presented before you today. The development standards as well as the setbacks were included in the staff report for the three standard zoning districts that are compatible with future land use. Also within the staff report were conditions supported limited industrial, including that the site front southwest Canter Highway, a major arterial roadway, and is between the Florida Turnpike and Interstate I-95, which meets the locational criteria of being an accessible site adjacent to a major thoroughfare. Adjacent is the key word, though not actually directly accessed from Canter Highway, but it is fronting, located within a large area of land designated for industrial land use, not directly adjacent to residential land use, and it is the least intensive district of the Category A zoning district, compatible with the industrial future land use. The matter was held before LPA last Thursday, December 7, 2023, and the board unanimously recommended approval. And with that, the recommended action is to move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1, and move that the board adopt a resolution amending the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning district designation on the subject site from R2, single-family district, to LI, limited-industrial district. Thank you. Any questions for staff? Any applicant? Good afternoon. Thank you for taking this time. I'm the owner of the property. We bought this a year ago, that little triangle that is residential, too. It doesn't have any access. We only can access from the rest of our property, where if you see on the map, it's the big green land. There's no way that we can get access from the turnpike to do a residential. There's no way that we can get access from the Canter. We would love to do it residential, but it's impossible to do that. It's radiated for industrial, and to continue in a future development, we need to change it into industrial or light industrial, and it's not going to hurt or make any problems to that whole community. That's why we are requesting the zone change. Thank you. Any questions for the applicant? Any public comment? Seeing none. Commissioner Campy. I move to accept staff's recommendation for the applicant. Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Campy, seconded by Commissioner Smith. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Have a good afternoon. Thank you, too. Bye-bye. It's a Christmas miracle. Yes. Okay. Next up, Department Quasi-Judicial request approval for the First Amendment to the Port Cove Planned Unit Development PUD zoning agreement, including a revised master-slash-final site plan B-006-009. Mr. Walden is back. Why is that judicial as well? Oh, thank you. Is there any interveners? No interveners. Okay. Would everybody kind of give testimony? Please stand and 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? Copy of the agenda item and your resume and everything else. Okay. I'll disclose it. Commissioner Smith? Are you and they're filed? If any, they've been filed. If any, they've been filed. I do have some and they've been filed. Go ahead. I have none. Oh, I didn't do it. I have none. They've been filed. I don't have any and they've been filed. Thank you, sir. Pete Walden, Deputy Growth Management Director, and this is a request for the First Amendment to the Port Cove Plan Unit Development. It is a quasi-judicial matter. However, there was no return receipts requested, I mean required. So a little background, the Port Cove PUD application has been in circulation for several years now. It was originally for 29 townhome units. It's on 4.84 undeveloped parcel, approximately six units per acre. It has a 75-foot shoreline protection zone, because it's adjacent to the river. And it has approximately 1.95 acres of preserve and 63% total open space on the project. So this project was approved just last year. You may remember that there was an intervener at that time. It was the Beacon 21 Condominium Association next door. They were petitioning to have access to their property and parking on this project. You could see that there was this staircase ramp system that was to go from this property to theirs. There was a pretty good elevation change. That's why it looks pretty substantial. Since then, it's my understanding that the Beacon 21 no longer wants access to this property. So they have settled in a different way, and I'm sure the applicant can go into that for you. But so that's the only change. We had to come back and amend it because that was a board condition that they provide access for that, and that was through the hearing process. So now the new site plan is basically the same, little small modification to the parking area because it doesn't lead to the staircase or the ramp system, and the next-door neighbor's ramp system access from this lot has been removed. And that's pretty much the gist of this application. So development review staff has reviewed the application and finds it in compliance with all applicable land development regulations and the comp plan, as detailed in its attached staff report, and recommends approval. As stated earlier, it was not required to be before the LPA. And we would move that the board receive and file the agenda item and all its attachments as Exhibit 1 and move that the board approve the First Amendment to the Port Cove PUD agreement, including the revised master and final site plan. That's all I got. Commissioner Hurd. Yeah, what communication did Martin Canty receive from the Beacon 21 Homeowner Association asking that the cross-access be removed? I don't believe Martin County requested that it be removed. They requested it. No, I'm asking what kind of communication we received from Beacon 21. The growth management staff and legal staff received the correspondence between the applicant and the Beacon 21. It wasn't included in the packet. I apologize for that. I thought that it was. No. Okay. But I believe Mr. Raines could go into detail on that subject. Okay. I just need to understand what kind of communication we received. Mr. Raines. Good afternoon. For the record, Bob Raines. I'm here on behalf of OKSJN, the property owner of the Port Cove PUD. And I think Pete did a very good job, obviously, of presenting this. To answer your question, Commissioner, we did receive a letter from the Beacon 21 property owners suggesting that they were in favor of removing this requirement. And Mr. Douglas, Mike Douglas, is here today with the Beacon 21. So I'll definitely let him come up and speak for them, too. So I don't want to speak out of turn. But basically, yes, we had after originally there was a condition in the PUD, condition number 19A and 19B that required us to provide easements, also required us to install the stairs. And then after the approvals, as we walked through the machinations of that, the POA decided that maybe it might be in their best interest if they went in a different direction. And we were certainly willing to work with them on that. Therefore, we needed to amend the PUD to, number one, remove the conditions of 19A and 19B. That's before you today, which is the requirements for the easements and the stairs. And then also because the site plan had to be revised, as Mr. Walden pointed out, and that was an exhibit to the PUD. So that's what this amendment is about. We had a short presentation that Brian Terry was going to come up. But to be honest, Pete basically showed the changes. So I don't I think that's necessary. But let me let Mr. Douglas come up and address Commissioner Hurd's question, if I could. And you've been sworn in, correct? Yes, I have. Good afternoon. When we went back to the Beacon 21 homeowners and explained to them what was happening and what the access would provide, we've chose to improve our amenities and gain access using our own property. And we would prefer to be locked off from the Port Cove PUD. So that's basically why we've made the change. We've suggested the change. Can you state your name and your title for the record, please? Michael Douglas, president of Beacon 21 Condominium Owners Association. Thank you. Thank you, sir. There's no questions. Any other questions for staff or the applicant? Any other public comment? Seeing none, back to the board. Well, now you do have a question. I already asked that. Mr. Douglas, can I just, yeah, Mr. Douglas, just I think to follow on Commissioner Hurd's question, and I'm assuming, and I know you should never do that, but I'm assuming that the POA voted or gave direction to all to do this? Yes, sir. We have voted. Beacon 21 is made up of 19 directors, and all directors actually and ominously agreed that we were going in the right path of eliminating access from their property. That would be found in the minutes of a board meeting. Okay, great. I just, sometimes things show up like six months from now, and people say, I never agreed to that, and there was nothing in writing. I mean, one of the biggest issues we had, and you're familiar with Beacon 21, being a very seasonal and elderly community. So once they got back on the ground and they could physically touch and feel the fence and the wall and all that other stuff, it was decided to go into the direction that we're going. Yeah, that's fine. I just, for your purposes as the, yeah, right, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Campy. Motion to accept staff's recommendation on behalf of the applicant. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Campy, seconded by Commissioner Smith. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Peace on earth. And Ms. Stephanie Murley is coming up, so obviously we're going to have Office of Management and Budget items, which require board approval. Several of them I have questions with. It's a little spicy. Good afternoon, Commissioner. Stephanie Murley, Office of Management and Budget, here to present our OMB item. First up, we have the permission to apply for the Urban and Community Forestry Grant. This grants for $75,000 with no match required, and it's to launch a native tree planting initiative along the Green River Trail, which is adjacent to the Green River Parkway, for stormwater runoff capture and to enhance the water quality of Warner Creek Watershed. Boom. Commissioner Smith. Thank you. Thank you, Public Works Department. No, it's just been an ask for a very long time, and that's great news. Thank you. Next up, we have the permission to accept the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection Water Quality Workshop and Citizen Science Program Grant. This grant award of $60,000 for funding public education workshops to promote citizen science and engagement with water quality issues impacting local water bodies. There is a local contribution of $40,000, which is budgeted within the TMDL Capital Improvement Budget. The next one is the permission to accept the Bureau of Justice Assistance Criminal Alien Assistance Program Grant. This is for the Martin County Sheriff's Office. It's a grant award of $21,426 for funding to offset costs for the Martin County Sheriff's Corrections Facility. It enables the Martin County Sheriff's Office to offset costs for equipment, training for corrections officers related to offender population management, medical and mental health services, and vehicle rental and purchase for the transportation of offenders. Next up is the permission to accept the State of Florida Department of Health for the FY24 Emergency Medical Services, or the EMS Trust Fund Grant. This is a grant that we get every single year for our fire department. It's for $23,728, and it enables the county to enhance the delivery of emergency medical services through the purchase of new equipment that is not otherwise budgeted. A portion of about $4,000 will be provided to the City of Stewart for their pre-hospital EMS system as well. Commissioner Camping. May I ask Mr. Resch a question about it? I don't want the kids to be able to see it on TV. Ms. Marley said you apply and receive this every year. Is this a guarantee, or is it, you know, how is the process working? Matt Resch, Fire Rescue Administrator. Yeah, unfortunately I can't claim credit for this one. It's per Florida statute, we are entitled to 45% of the traffic fines surcharges that are generated in the county, so it's a reimbursement. Formula grant. Good. Thank you. But we do have to apply, which I did. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is the permission to accept the Resilient Florida Program Implementation Grant for the MacArthur Boulevard Road Elevation Resilience Project. This is a grant award of $1.2 million to acquire professional services to elevate MacArthur Boulevard Roadway and install new drainage facilities. This requires a local share in the amount of $1.2 million, which is already budgeted in our MacArthur Boulevard Improvements Capital Improvement Plan budget. Next up, we have permission to accept the interlocal agreement for the state attorney's victim services, fiscal agent services. Essentially, this interlocal is between the state attorney's office for the 19th Judicial Court for Indian River County, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie. And what this interlocal does is just shift the role of fiscal agent from Indian River State College to St. Lucie County since IRSC recently got a new accounting system and they're not allowed to provide fiscal services any longer. So, St. Lucie County will be assuming that role. This modification has no changes in our current victim services agreement or services provided. Next up is the annual 2024 fiscal policy update. So, every year, the board is required to update the county's fiscal policies to address changes and revisions. There are no proposed changes for FY24, but I will note that there may be a slight modification of the building department reserve verbiage to be in conformance with Florida State Statute 553 and will be presented by Jeff Doherty later this afternoon with this building department item. Commissioner Smith. I think I know the answer to this already, but I assume if we wanted to make a fiscal policy correction mid-year, we could. It's just merely advertising or having an agenda item that allows us to do that. I mean, it's not like we have to do it at this time of year and. Absolutely. We have to do it annually, but nothing prevents us from doing it more frequently. Next up, we have a request for funds for the economic toolkit. On September 18th, the Business Development Board of Martin County transmitted their recommendations to the Martin County Economic Toolkit, and administration is requesting that the BOCC allocate funding from the Economic Development Fund in the amount of $53,455 so that work may commence to update the Martin County's Economic Toolkit. And then finally, we have a request for funds for engineering services. The Public Works Department is requesting funding in an effort to reduce the development review backlog due to extended and repeated staff vacancies for the past 18 months. Funding in the amount of $201,000 will provide in-house consulting services for plan reviews and include a five-person rapid tech team of technical staff, and funds are available in the unincorporated MST reserves to fund this request. And that is all I have today. Commissioner Smith. If there are no other questions, I'll move staff's recommendation. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, a very loud motion by Commissioner Camping. For a second. Welcome. I don't hold a grudge. Okay. So with that, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Now, Department 2. Contracts that meet the threshold for board approval, a million dollars or greater. Three items. And Ms. Brotherton. She likes to be announced as Palm City's own. Palm City's own. Ms. Brotherton. Brotherton. Good afternoon. Christy Brotherton, Chief Procurement Officer for the record. Mr. Chair, if we could separate out the voting for items A1 and 2, do those together, and then we'll take B1 separately. As Mr. Camping would say, I allow it. Thank you. You're benevolent. So the first item is item A1, which is a continuing services contract for building envelope consulting. This contract has a maximum not-to-exceed value of $4 million with a maximum not-to-exceed term of five years. And staff is recommending that the board award the contract to three vendors, which is ARC Associates, Incorporated, J. Ammon Architect, Incorporated, and Raymond Engineering, Georgia, Incorporated, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. The next item is a continuing services contract for building architect consulting. This contract has a maximum not-to-exceed value of $4 million with a maximum not-to-exceed term of five years. And staff is recommending contract award to five vendors, which is CPZ Architects, Jeffrey Igoe Architects, N2 Architecture and Design, REG Architects, and Song and Associates. And move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And I ask for a vote, please. Okay. We're going to vote on those two. I would make a motion to accept the recommendations thus far. Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Campy, seconded by Commissioner Smith. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Commissioner Hetherington. Yes. I'll be abstaining from B1 as an employee of Ferreira Construction, whose bid on the item I have completed and submitted my Form 8B to the clerk. Thank you. So the next item for your consideration is for our Marine Contracting Continuing Services contract. This request is for an amendment to increase the original contract not-to-exceed value. The reason for this amendment is to cover the county's current repair needs due to numerous weather events that have caused damage to the county's infrastructure and to allow staff adequate time to complete the procurement and contract award process and allow for continuation of services until a new contract is executed. We did go out to bid. We did cancel that bid. We are in the process of revising the solicitation documents based on some feedback we received. So this amendment will allow staff to make the required repairs in the meantime until we can award a new contract. With that, staff is recommending that the board approve an amendment to the agreement, RFB 2021-3337, for Marine Contracting, for Brothers Construction Incorporated, and Ferreira Construction Southern Division Company Incorporated, to increase the not-to-exceed value of the contract by $750,000, for a revised maximum not-to-exceed value of $3.25 million, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item. Move staff's recommendation. Second. I want you to participate. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hurd. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries 4-1-0 with Commissioner Heather intended abstaining. Thank you. Got through that. All right. Thank you. Okay. Department 4. Mr. Downer, you're up. Building Department plan review, impairment fees, and authorization to allocate funding for updated software. Good afternoon, everyone. Jeff Daugherty, Director of the Building Department. This agenda item is to update you on the status of the Building Department and make some arrangements so that we can move forward and come in compliance and stay in compliance with Florida Statute 553, which is the Building Department. Originally, the state building code came into effect in 2002. At that time, the statute lays out what the building departments, how they operate, what they do, how they use their funds and restrictions on such. The intent of the intent of the building code statewide was uniformity across the entire state for consistent building construction and consistency in the review and planning. Prior to that, each government, county, city, college, school board could adopt their own building code and enforce it as they chose and do as they saw fit with the revenue. And in Martin County, there was a fiscal policy in 1999, and they adopted what to do with the money. That policy would no longer be effective with the enactment of the Florida Statute. So today, we're here to address that and to give you an overview of where we are in the Building Department. We're 100 percent funded by user fee. There's no ad valorem tax used for the operation of the Building Department. One of the requirements of the building code statute is that we put an annual report out of our utilization report. That report includes various information, such as number of permits, number of inspections, number of plan review, number of personnel, revenue in, expenses, and all that type of thing. It also requires an audited financial report. The clerk of the court has done that for us. What the Building Department does now is want to continue to move forward to provide the best service for our clients. We are competing on the private sector because under the Florida Statute, clients can go and use private providers. So we are in an environment where we have to be very competitive. So we have to stay up to date on our technology and all our uses. To give you a little overview, 20-some years ago when our current fees went into effect in 2001, the county was doing about $300 million worth of construction. Today, last year, we're doing just under $900. So the volume of dollars has increased. The actual volume of work is up about 150 percent. So you can see the cost is outseating the volume. How do we accommodate that without changing our fees? Well, some of the ways we do it is technology. A couple of things we've used is the Acela software system, which is an integrated plan review system that many of our departments use. We use it. Growth management uses it. Public works uses it. So it's a single operational system. It does have public access that our clients can go on and use it. What we want to do is take it to the next level. Currently, our software and our data resides on the county servers. We want to move to the web base or cloud servers to provide better access. We want to upgrade our document viewer system. We're having some issues as technology moves along, and engineers, architects, plan reviewers can sign and seal digital plans when we document them. It's tough to do that on our current, so we need to upgrade the software so we don't lose signatures and that type of thing during the review process, as well as the versioning. As three or four different people pull out a document and make comments, they don't get lost with each other. So that's staying up on technology. The other is we want to do an enhanced reporting information as we extract that to keep everyone current on the information we have. That's just how we do our job to serve better our clients and stay competitive. We've invested in texting. That sounds old, but it's not texting as you think. We now can have our clients text 24 hours a day for an inspection, so they can, 1130 at night, they can request an inspection via text up until midnight, and we will respond the next day. We want to expand that to actually texting out so that as an applicant has some kind of information that has been reviewed and approved or not approved, automatic texts go to them so that they stay informed. We also just implemented the Calendly system. That's a play on the word calendar. Our clients can now make a schedule of an appointment with us 24 hours a day, 365. We offer them a face-to-face appointment, a phone call return, or a virtual. We have a great response, a positive response back, so that if you're calling for something, we'll make an appointment that you will get a call at 3 o'clock on Wednesday so you know exactly when you're getting it. And we found out we've actually been able to answer most of those phone call questions, so they get an answer to the question prior to the meeting, and the meeting's canceled. So we've dedicated a person to provide that service. Others is ViewSpec. ViewSpec is a remote inspection service for minor things. An example, if you change your garage door, someone doesn't want to take a day off work for the contractor to come, let them in, and then take a second day off work to inspect it. The ViewSpec is a software system where the contractor takes a video. It's geo-coded so they cannot take it of another building. It gives you a longitude and latitude where it is. You must use the software of ViewSpec. You can't take a picture on your iPhone and upload it. And that way the person who just had the garage door replaced or the hot water doesn't have to take a second day off. It's sent in, and a licensed inspector will review it electronically. So there are some of the services. We've also gone to drones. We use drones for both time and safety. One of the issues we've had is steep roofs or high roofs. We don't want people crawling up on them, and that becomes a workman's comp issue. I can tell you I looked at one of the drones zooming in on a nailing paddle on a plywood. If I was crawling on the roof with my reading glasses, I couldn't see as well as they can zoom in. So they're very effective. So those are some of the tools we're using. To give you an idea of where we are from the last time we did this 20-some years ago, in 1999 there were about 1,000 single-family homes and multifamily homes built in Martin County, 930, 93% were single-family and about 7% or 70% were multifamily. Last year, fiscal year ending on September 30th, there were about 900, so it's down 10%, but it has totally flipped that 49% were single-family and 51% were multifamily. So you're seeing what's out in the world today, less families formed and demand for that. So that's the way it's headed. We also, with that, find that 75% of our homes here are built by national builders, where 20-some years ago it was only 25%. With the national builders coming in more, it's probably a fall in the real estate market in 2008, 2009, where many people either got out of the business or they lost financing opportunities because many of the local banks are now being absorbed by the big national banks. With that, big national builders are more likely to use private-provided, which means that's the competition for us. So we have to stay up and current on those to compete in today's world. Today we're asking a couple things. Number one, to allow us to use our funds to develop more software and continue on with that and stay competitive for our clients. We're also asking to adjust our building permit fees. We're lowering them approximately 35%. Anything over $50,000 is based on the value of construction. Anything under $50,000 is based on the number of permits – excuse me, number of inspections. Our inspections are $89.50, and that's what they were 20-some years ago, and they remain at that. We also charge an $89.50 plan review fee. However, we are waiving that if they file online. So there's less paper to touch, so we're trying to stay very competitive. So if you file online, you want to put a hot water heater in, it's $89.50, and then whatever the state surcharge is. That's about as competitive we can get. On the other construction side, the cost of construction since 2017, 2018 has gone up over 40%. We're predominantly a labor-based system. 80% to 85% of our budget is labor. Our labor hasn't gone up, so we can reduce our fees because the cost of construction multiplied by our rate is no different than the millage rate versus the appraised value or assessed value. So we're in that same area. We base our cost of constructions on two things. The greater of the applicants' cost that they provide or the international code council list, it's given every six months, and we update that periodically. Initially, we wanted the – or I should say I wanted the opportunity to adjust the fees periodically to stay in compliance with the state statute. However, with county attorney's office, we realized that I could not do that. It had to be through the board, so we put out a supplemental resolution that set forth those fees, and you can see that they've been reduced. Again, we're trying to stay in compliance with the Florida statute 553, putting our utilization report on the website, and today with the permission to use our money for the upgraded software to set a reserve fund away for operations were allowed by statute up to one year based on the prior four-year averages. The balance of the money would go to a capital fund, and then we also would ask that they approve – adopt a resolution. One thing I like to expand on, too, kind of interesting, the building code is monitored by the Florida Building Commission, which is appointed by the governor. It's updated every three years, and the next one will go into effect January 1. And if we go to a prior page, I think the page is 909, if you would, please. This kind of gives you some perspective of where we've come in the last 20 years. This is a picture of Pam, who's currently still in the building department. She was in where growth management is. This was – it looked like in 99 or 2000 when the new building code came in. It looked like boxes and boxes and boxes of plans, and we could not do that efficiently. Now, if you go to the next page, if you would, please, Donna, you'll see today this is what it looks like. It's coming in electronic, and plan reviewers are operating that way. So the efficiency of technology and the efficiency of not having to touch paper as much is where we're being able to keep our fees as low as they are. It looks like Don Donaldson from behind. It's like he's doing double duty there. That is Mark Daves, but – Don's cousin. Don's cousin. There's no gray hair in there, so he must not have been the county administrator at the time. So with that, we would ask approval of our request, including the adoption of the resolution, and we're glad to answer any questions that you may have. Commissioner Campy. Mr. Daugherty, thank you. I thought that was very thorough. You, again, and I've seen you do this before, most of our staff does, you recited all of that information, technical and detailed, without really any notes, just from off the top of your head, which I appreciate. I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation and request, and Larry would be proud of you. You're doing an excellent job. It's always good to follow behind someone who's done an excellent job and have great staff to support us. Appreciate that. He probably wouldn't have said anything about Don's gray hair, however. But you're still learning. We'll get there. That's right. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Campy. I'll second it. Seconded by Commissioner Smith. Oh. Did you make the motion? Yeah, I just – I'm trying to streamline it. Okay. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Thank you, sir. Great job. Now, Department No. 7, Martin County Safe Streets for All Action Plan, Mr. Luke Lambert. Good afternoon. Luke Lambert, Traffic Engineering Administrator for Martin County Public Works Department, and with me here is Stuart Robertson with Kimley Horns and Associates, our consultant for this Safe Streets for All Action Plan. This is the second time we've come before you. Back in December, we presented our draft plan. We met with you all for some one-on-ones to get some more feedback, and that was much appreciated. We made some revisions to the documents, and Stuart's going to go through our PowerPoint to discuss kind of some of the differences that we've seen in the data. Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners, county staff, members of the public. My name is Stuart Robertson with Kimley Horn and Associates. We have supported Martin County on the development of its Safe Streets for All Action Plan, which is a program that is part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. There are federal funding grants available for communities that have SS4A action plans, and this is consistent with the Martin County and MPO's commitment to Vision Zero, which is that no amount of traffic-related deaths or serious injuries are acceptable, and we'll strive to eliminate those. We conducted a crash analysis for the SS4A. Since our meeting with you in October, we have updated the crash analysis to include all roadways in Martin County, regardless of jurisdiction. So previously, we were looking at county roadways, county-maintained roadways, I should say. We now are looking at all roadways, including municipal as well as state. And on the analysis side, we have found that Martin County does have better safety outcomes than its local neighbors when it comes to fatalities and serious injuries per capita. So I think that's testament to the coordination that you all and your staff have done with FDOT, with partner agencies, the countermeasures that have been recommended by public works and implemented by Martin County. It has resulted in safety outcomes that are better than most within Martin County. However, over the five years of the study data from 2018 through 2022, we still have approximately 400 friends and neighbors that are killed or seriously injured in traffic-related crashes. So we still have some work to do in order to help achieve our Vision Zero target. About one-third of the total crashes that occur in Martin County are on county roadways. And there has been an increase in crashes since 2020, and about 40% of the fatal crashes occur on county roadways. And this is likely due to higher speeds on our county roadways compared to city roadways or even FDOT roadways, some of which, of course, pass through urbanized areas. About 26% of the serious injury crashes that occurred on county roadways are in dark conditions. And so that led us to begin examining lighting and other nighttime improvements, lane departure improvements, countermeasures, as part of our recommendations to address the crash occurrence. We did select projects that were based on both the analysis of the crash contributing factors as well as an equity analysis that is part of the USDOT requirement for Safe Streets for All. So just to summarize the project selection that the plan is suggesting that the county could consider for potential grant applications, the first corridor that we recommend is on Southeast Dixie Highway, generally between Monterey Road and Cove Road. And the recommendations here are to upgrade the existing mid-block pedestrian crosswalks to signalized crossings called pedestrian hybrid beacons. This would allow for pedestrians that are requesting to cross the street to be able to press a button and have a traffic stop at a red indication for a safe crossing for pedestrians. Other recommendations shown here are the same as what we had presented back in October, your October 24th meeting. Second corridor is Southeast Bridge Road from I-95 to Florida Avenue. The recommendations on Southeast Bridge Road include installing rumble strips along the outside of the roadway, implementing new roadway lighting features, and installing electronic speed feedback signs that show a motorist the speed that they're traveling and compare that to the speed limit. And then finally, on Southwest Martin Highway between Deer Run and I-95, installing lighting along the corridor, surface modifications to increase skid resistance, intersection lighting improvements at arterial intersections including Allapata Road, and finally, rumble strips east of Allapata Road. We already do have rumble strips west of Allapata Road. And now I'll pass it back to Luke to finish up the recommendations. Good handoff. So, thank you, Stuart. So, following back up, one of the requirements in the Notice of Funding Agreement is that the board take a leadership and a commitment. So, attached to this agenda item is a resolution that we would like the board to adopt. And really, I wanted to inform you all that in October, USDOT announced fiscal year 23 grant awards, and some of our Florida neighbors have actually gotten those awards. So, to me, when I looked at the map, the city steward got the biggest award. They got an award of like $2.6 million to do a demonstration project. I think every other award was for a planning grant. So, we think that we are ahead of the curve. You know, we did this on our own dime, and we want to, you know, start out strong in January. We think the next funding, the Notice of Funding for next year will be in January, so very soon. So, we wanted to, you know, get this action plan approved and then really dive into, you know, what does our grant application look like? What are the specifics that we need to get into? So, with that, I'll open it up for any questions. Excellent report. Have you heard an update on lighting for Bridge Room? I'm literally tired of asking. I just... So, we have been in contact with FP&L since our meeting. I'm unsure if Jim has talked to Mr. Marshall Critchfield, but we have definitely heard from Mr. Eric Culling multiple times. They've taken down the lights that were there. The only lights that are left on Bridge Road are private. Anyway. From what they've told me, yeah, they needed to do some redesign of their actual, of the lighting plan. Apparently, it wasn't done correctly, so they needed to redesign their electrical feeds for those. Yeah, Jim Gordon, Public Works Director. I talked to Marshall last week about it, and that is the case. They have to redesign it. They didn't have enough electricity coming to serve those lights. That was two months ago. Yes, I agree. That's the answer I got two months ago. Yep. We had two projects that were really dragging. There was one up in Jensen Beach related to our irrigation system. That one has just been resolved, and then this is the next one that's on its priority list. So, we'll continue checking in with them every two weeks. It's on my calendar to get a status update. I appreciate it. Yep. Go ahead. How long? Is it the stretch that we just saw? Is it from? Literally from Flora Road all the way to 95. All the way to 95. And do we have any idea, like, what the scope of that really is? Is it, like, 75 lights or something that get us that far? No. So, typically, what we have done with FPNL lighting is we've done intersection lighting. So, throughout the corridor, if we were to do a photometric analysis of that, it still wouldn't meet any type of DOT standards. We're trying to spotlight intersections. And so, I think yesterday at the MPO board meeting, there was a question about US-1. That project, the triple R project on US-1 from contractors way up to Jensen Beach Boulevard, that is true, you know, a full design photometric analysis. We're talking, like, 150 lights. On Bridge Road, if we were to do something similar, which is what we could do for this roadway, we would need to do a full design. But it would be. That's not what we're asking. Correct. That's not what we're asking for with FPNL. But that is something that we could accomplish under this action plan. So, I think we, so, the lights that were there, which I didn't count. Now they're gone, so we don't know what that was. We were asking, I think, for 14 additional lights. And it's just simply to aim for the next light, right? I mean, we're not trying to illuminate the whole thing. We can't. It's just not practical. Plus, it's light pollution and the whole thing. But it's just, it's dark as death out there, you know. Because we don't get, I don't get to talk to you about that. Right. So, you know, I've heard you comment on it before. And I just wonder, should we be doing this study from 95 to flora to find out, is there a way long-term for FDOT and for FPL to fund that kind of a strategy to make it safer? Or is it literally, okay, we get 14 lights and that's going to help us, but I don't know. I mean, it's kind of your call, Harold. I'm all for it. For asking for more? For asking for a study. Absolutely. And so, the reason why I'm pushing this is because I don't know if you're asking us for that to ask you, but I would certainly say, look, if there's a safety analysis study that has to get done by FPL to warrant or to justify the addition of lighting, then let's do it if that's what we're asking for. This is the most, this question is brought to my attention more than any, unless we've got some controversial thing going on. And my trips to Publix, right, or out and about, it's 70% of, are we going to do something about Bridge Road, especially now that the lights that were there are gone? I don't mean to make an issue out of it. I just hope that it doesn't, we'd have to have a fatality out there to get somebody's attention. That's what my question is. So, you know, and I hesitate even to bring this up because it drew so much attention. But on the island, we did a project and we did a safety study for lighting on the island and the residents didn't want it. We pulled the funding and we didn't do it. But one thing you could possibly ask in the study, Harold, Luke, and whoever, you know, the lighting we do have out on the island is turtle lighting. It's that amber lighting and whatnot. It's, and the way the LED lighting is working these days, you can really focus the lighting to a specific. It's not like the big Cobras that are on I-95 that light up the planet, although they're going to LED too and it's pretty focused. But my guess is you could even maybe go to turtle lighting, which would give you some illumination out there better than nothing, but you'd have very little lighting pollution spinning off of it. But I would, you know, if you want in the motion, but I'm asking you, if you want that, I'll add that to a motion to include that so that we could at least get this thing started to go. My only apprehension is would this slow down the process that's already not moving? No, I don't believe so. And so I want to point out, there are, like, if you think about, you know, Federal Highway down at Hope Sound, we have traditional state lighting system, which is, you know, hundreds of poles, and then the county takes over for maintenance, which, what's happened on Federal Highway from Contractors Way to Gents Beach Boulevard is the DOT is paying FP&L, they're paying them a large fee, capital fee, but they're installing intermediary poles. So that's something that we could do. We would have to come up with the capital cost to do that. But we could do more of that corridor lighting to that, you know, photometric analysis would support. And then FP&L would maintain those lights in perpetuity. We would just finance them. We would pay the electric bill every month. That's definitely an option, and that has not been our case. What we've done so far, Commissioner Jenkins, has been kind of the free route, like get FP&L to put in the lights where we can without adding any new hardware, if you will, and going that route. But that's something totally our analysis and our stakeholders and, you know, input has shown us that we need more corridor lighting through there. Couldn't we at least ask and start? And, you know, whatever recommendation that they would come back with, and Stuart, whether it's you or whoever is doing that analysis, you know, it doesn't have to be I-95, but it's certainly something in between there. And I suspect that a safety study, corridor study, would tell you exactly what's needed. And what the what and who does it and how it gets done, that's down the road from what the study says. This is what you ought to be looking at to achieve what you want. I think that's I would worry about the funding later and not necessarily wonder, is FP&L going to pay for it? Is FDOT going to get the study done first? And then at least we have the data. I agree. We need to know what we're asking for something that we don't really have any data and backup for that a study would provide. So, yes, that makes perfect sense. So you want to you want a motion to accept the resolution or to approve the resolution, right? And then can I add to that motion that we request staff to apply whatever that whatever the right terminology is to do a safety study lighting study for the corridor from flora is flora far enough east? Yeah. To I-95. You could. And I wanted to kind of lay this out earlier. The presentation with regards to the coral reefs was really kind of good timing. So if you think about this action plan is really our tier one. That's the base level. That's the comprehensive look. And then we would get into the site specifics. I mean, by all means, this document is really your guidance for staff to move forward to do those studies. So we've heard it loud and clear. It's in our analysis that this is one of the corridors. So we can move forward, you know, with approving of the action plan. But there's the action plan. But internal to the action plan is at least, I mean, you can modify the motion if you want. But I would specifically ask that we move forward on that ask for that corridor study to start. Yes. I think those are two separate motions. So do I. Yeah. I think. Okay. You all do it. I don't care. Trying to help. Good points. Just I would make them two motions. But fine. I think he wants a clean motion for his plan. Fine. Okay. I don't care. Trying to help. Then make somebody do something. I move that the board approve the SS4A plan, the resolution, and authorize staff to apply for the bipartisan infrastructure law SS4A discretionary grant when it is available. Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Hurd, seconded by Commissioner Campy. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. I don't think I can make that. It's not. I'm not capable. Just. Okay. I'll do it. How do you want it to be worded? I think it's really just staff direction that it's direction to staff to prioritize this quarter, or project, I think. I think the motion, Commissioner, is to direct staff to perform a lighting study on Bridge Road from Florida I-95. As a requirement of this, or in addition to this? Just as a standalone to do that, and then to integrate, you know, to seek funding. But that's why exactly, and I appreciate what you all just wanted to do, but that's why I would have tied it to the prior motion, so that somebody looking at the document says, oh, as a result of this work that we're doing, here's direction, but we can do it separate. I'm fine. So I would move that, please. Second. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Hetherington. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Thank you. Motion carries unanimously. I think we're done, right? Yeah. Good study. I think we'll use it a lot. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. We skipped around a little bit, but I think we got it all, right? So with that, 505 comment. I don't have any comment forms. I'm coming up. Okay. Just be sure to fill the form out. Huh? Yeah. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. James Crowley, for the record. Port Salerno, like all communities, has, I'm going to read something from my prepared, has many special interests, whether it was a resident with an interest in only their property, the fishermen with an interest in the docks, New Monrovia with an interest in their neighborhood, the waterfront district with an interest, et cetera, and each of you has an interest in their interests. That's how you get elected. But nobody cared about all the vacant land that was west of the tracks. It was just lying there, and when it all of a sudden became important, it was natural for everybody to complain, and complain bitterly, they have. But now what do we do? Do we just go back to doing little projects and letting our CRA funds continue to go unspent, or do we finally decide to spend it on real infrastructure? And if we decide to spend it on infrastructure, what do we spend it on? Fishing docks, improvements to the parks, mitigating sewer expenses, which many people want. And if we do those things, are we okay with the downtown proposed area to simply just become apartments? Or do we step back and see the potential to design a common area that everyone can use? There was never an opportunity to create a common area because there were no developers. The CRA plans were just concepts and visions, and now that the plan has become real, the community is outraged that it might actually become true. Few other protests about any of their small projects have a real chance of changing development because they are approved by the time people are aware of it. This is different. Nothing has been proposed. The outrage is happening in the planning phase. We, the developers, are organized, and that is a good thing and not a bad thing. That means we can sit down together with the community and the county and make plans together. This was an impossible dream, to build a downtown in a historical waterfront community, but I wasn't put off by the odds. I decided to take this chance and to get it done. I have made mistakes along the way. I have been misrepresented. I have misspoken. I have made this impossible task a little bit more improbable by these areas, by these errors. But Port Salerno is a special place, and I am confident that everyone will come together and be a part of its reinvention. But that's the problem for the community. They don't want to be reinvented. They want to be left alone. Everyone understands that. Barnton County wants to be left alone in general. But that is no longer an option. We are at the heart of the CRA, and what we do will have a significant impact on the community. That's why I have been so public about our plans. Stories are about people, and the stories become about me. But this isn't about me at all. This is about a future for Port Salerno, and it largely depends on the five of you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? Seeing none. Commissioner comments? Commissioner Smith? Have an amazing Christmas. Safe and all that kind of stuff. That's it. Commissioner Hetherington? Merry Christmas. Commissioner Campy? I wish I didn't have to make these announcements as frequently as it seems that I have to. And I've sort of taken on a role of eulogizing dear members of our county staff, of our community, dear friends. One of our closest friends, Ms. Pat Spaulding, has passed away. After a long battle with cancer, a very valiant fight, I started my career in the county, and she was my, or the District 5 executive aide. She was a superstar. You know, I inherited her. She was willing to stay on after her longtime commissioner, Mike Dieter-Lizzi, had moved out of the building, and she stayed on and made the transition from Commissioner Dieter-Lizzi to myself on behalf of the district so much easier. She was a superstar with the Palm City Chamber. She was like the quintessential. If a constituent had a problem, you could call the District 5 office, and Pat Spaulding would take care of it. She is now, the good news is, is that her husband, her beloved husband, Bob, had passed away earlier in the year, and I'm sure she was heartbroken. They were definitely a love story. She has so many friends. I know Commissioner Smith was dear friends with her as well. Carolyn Davey, George Stokas, and Mary Stokas really did a remarkable job of taking care of Pat, literally taking care of her, loving her. And so, like I said this morning, around the holidays, it's never a great time to lose a loved one, but especially not around the holidays. So I just wanted to say that, Pat, I love you, and rest easy. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Follow that. Can I tag on? Yeah. Thanks for doing that. You are the best person to do that. I guess what I would tag on to, on a happier note with Pat, for years she put on a Kentucky Derby party. Like no other kind of Kentucky Derby party you could ever go to or be at, she'd have a good 150 people at the party. It would be all day long. By the time the Kentucky Derby came around, everybody was crammed into her living room, sitting on the floor, watching the race. It was also remarkable with her decorations in the house. I don't know if I counted seven Christmas trees, eight Christmas trees she would do, but she was a real unique individual, and she was a real rock star for us in many ways. And she probably, more than anything, kept George Stokas in line at the airport, probably better than any of us probably ever could have. So we will deeply miss her. I did get to talk to her about three weeks ago, and thankfully the conversation, you would never have known that Pat was ill or struggling one way or the other. She was completely lucid and happy, and it was a good way to remember her going out. So thank you, Ed, for doing that. She was a wonderful lady. And with that, our next meeting is January. Yes, sir. So if you can indulge me, it'll be a few more than three minutes on just a few comments. But, one, first of all, thanks for recognizing Pat, and I think George Stokas said that I think there's no one that's giving him the finger more than Pat, but I'm sure knowing it's in a loving way because he and Mary did a lot for her in the last few years, as you know. But, anyway, I wanted just to take this day at the end of the meeting just to recognize a few of our staff and some things that have been going on to just give you a heads up. We often celebrate big ribbon cuttings and other things, and so I'm just going to illustrate a few things that have happened in the last few months or so that usually don't rise to the scale of an annual report or something, but still notable items. And so I think, you know, we recently implemented a county-wide timekeeping system, which I know a number of our staff have gritted their teeth over, but it's our IT system. It's made us all more uniform in how it's done. I think it really hats off to the IT staff and human resources who put that on. In addition, our HR department, we've been doing an on-the-spot recognitions program, and we've recognized 60 employees this last year so far and provided luncheon with certificates and also safety on the spot, which has been really good to recognize our team members out there that are doing work and recognize they're doing an on-the-state member. And both of these programs are nominated by fellow employees, and that's I'm really proud of what's been going on there. In addition, we have, you know, about this time last year or so, a little earlier, we asked we have an uninterrupted power supply that serves our public safety complex that is a piece of equipment that so the 911 system operates and the power goes out at Ronset Facility. And our IT folks were really concerned that some of the equipment was getting antiquated, and so we asked our congressman, Brian Mass, to get an appropriation. And I'm happy we got the appropriation. But like so many things in bureaucracy, it's getting the appropriation and actually getting the money in the bank and then getting an actual contract award where that contract has been awarded. And one, I want to thank Brian Mast and his staff's effort for both getting us the funds and then helping us track it down from Washington to the state of Florida, the state of Florida DEM, and finally a contract to us so that we could actually spend the money. So that's going on, a really good project. And similar in good works is Jim Gorton's here. He's got a staff member that's worked with us for a long time on disaster management, Lissandra Bonet, and we just recently got an impressive reimbursement of $2.5 million for Hurricanes Matthew, Dorian, and Irma. And so those are, and Lissandra and the public works team works a lot with our budget office and even the clerk's office on how all this gets moved around in tracking it. Patrick Conte is also a consultant. So there's a lot of team members involved in making that happen. But, again, a significant item finally getting some projects that have been hanging around for a long time. Public records, we've responded to over 1,000 public record requests. You know, that's also a difficult, you know, in this era of Florida and the sunshine, which we've had for some long time, but the legal community has found it more and more a tool in their quiver, if you will, and we've got a great team working to respond to those public records requests. Just a handful of folks who work diligently on that. Parks had a after-school, out-of-school programs to 258 youth. The program provide various benefits, swimming, aquatic safety, 4-H curriculum, social learning. So that was, you know, a really good program. In addition, our Parks Department with our senior program, Meals on Wheels, currently the program boasts 117 participants. And in the senior games, attracted over 380 participants. So, you know, some of the areas that, you know, Parks is really doing a great job on. And also in their team program, they organized a thriving summer camp with 43 participants, 23 teams. And these teams collectively contributed 147 hours of community service through the team community service. And then the team advisory board hosted seven district events throughout the year, delivering community programming for approximately 702 young individuals. So, again, our Parks Department doing a lot. They do a lot of different things, but these programs and outreach have been really fantastic. Just a couple more items. One, you know, we really appreciate the board helping to fund our mental health court. The mental health court provides many ill defendants with the opportunity to receive community-based treatment services. In Martintown County to date, more than 350 clients have participated, and 211 have graduated from the program, which is significant because those graduates are not likely to return to that to the end of the court system. And then finally, just to round things up, just mentioning our library has 366,000 items in our collection, and they circulate check-out about 730,000 times. I think what's interesting to me is visits continue to increase from last year, and they are 20% above pre-pandemic total. So hats off to our library folks who are doing a great job. We have a great reputation. And anyway, I just wanted to point out some of the notable items that your staff are doing at the ground level, and I appreciate all that they do, and have a great holiday season. You're in review. Nice job. Thanks. So I know we had a full agenda today, but are we doing our priorities next on the 9th? Yes. Okay. Okay. And with that, um, our next meeting is January 9th, 2024. And with that, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and everything else that goes along with it. Happy Hanukkah. Yep, Hanukkah.