Board of County Commission meetings. I'm calling the meeting to order. Please join me as we celebrate a moment of silence and followed by Michael Drost is going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Mr. Drost. 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. Can you tell us about your service? Absolutely. Good morning commissioners, county administrator. My name is Michael Drost and I have the honor and privilege of serving in the United States Marine Corps back in 1994 through 1998 in active service and in inactive reserve from 98 to 2002. My journey all started here in Martin County. I grew up here my entire childhood going to Jensen Beach Elementary, Stewart Middle School, and finally graduating here in Martin County. Hi. It was there that my journey to the military service began where the recruiter walked into the library, came right up to me, introduced himself as Sergeant Collins, told me a story and before I knew it I was signed up for the delayed entry program. There was one minor problem. I was still a minor. I actually had to convince my parents to sign a waiver for me to go to boot camp. So I was under the age of 18. Made it to Parris Island, South Carolina. First thought, what was I thinking? We all came there as individual boys and we graduated as a unit, as a team, part of the most prolific fighting force in the United States. After graduation, I went to Camp Geiger, North Carolina. There, everybody, every Marine is always trained as a rifleman. After we graduated from Camp Geiger, it was off to 29 Palms, California. And if you've never been to 29 Palms, California, I don't know if there's actually 29 Palms out there. It's a huge desert in the Mojave Desert. They're for radio operator school. Graduated from radio operator school. My first duty station was Okinawa, Japan. I was with first thing or battery at Fatima Air Wing. Spent a year in Okinawa, Japan. Was deployed out to the DMZ in South Korea to defend the airspace between North and South Korea for about 60 days. Turned out to be more of a training mission than anything. Came back to Japan and found out that the Marine Corps is doing some outreach with the Okinawa community, and they were sponsoring an all-Marine soccer team for Japan. I tried out. I made the team, and we were able to travel the community and build relationships with local Okinawans playing soccer in different villages. Finished my deployment after a year in Okinawa, Japan, and went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. There, I was stationed with second amphibious assault vehicles. Did a lot of desert training back out to California in CAC's combined arm exercises. Finished up my service in 98, came back to the United States, and the military provided many opportunities for me. Number one, it led me to an education. I was able to complete my master's degree in public administration. I made more friends and more connections throughout the United States than I can ever imagine. It's funny, my wife and I talk about it. Where do you want to go? It's, well, I know somebody in Colorado. I know somebody in Washington. It's just a great community to be involved with that military. Although my service, I never did see any action. We were always at the ready because we knew it was vital to national security. I also want to thank everybody here in public service as you make our community wonderful to live in and be a part of. So that's my story. So I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. We'll start with our public comment. The first speaker is Sadia Safarides. The agenda. I don't think we have. The agenda. Okay, can we have a motion to approve the agenda? Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. This is Sadia Safarides from Golden Gate. I am here this morning to ask you please to approve, you know, the light and the calming on Jefferson Street. I thank you first for doing a great job. I mean, resurfacing our community. I look a real grand. I, my dream was in 2000 when I become an advocate for Golden Gate is one of the questions I was asked by the consultant. How would you like to see Golden Gate? I said, number one, I don't want them to call a Golden Gero anymore because we are very blightened community. And number two, I would like to see it like a celebration around community over Disney World. Of course, that's a dream. Well, we are three quarter has a celebration community. We have so many kids in the neighborhood. That is got, I mean, Jefferson's got at least about four stops for the bus. People don't really respect, you know, the traffic, even though we have signs all over saying 25. Sometimes I even make a mistake if I'm in a hurry. So anyway, I am here because I really, really, we need traffic calming. If you ask me not only to evergreen in Jefferson, you may add Golden Gate Avenue because people, they take it from, you know, has a shortcut. So we see a lot of traffic coming. The deputies, they stand there, they stop people, but they're not taking, you know, but traffic calming will help. And I appreciate you listening. And I want to thank you for everything. Thank you. Thank you. Lawrence Lieb is next, followed by Brian Allen. Good morning. Morning. Got to get my eyes on here. My name is Lawrence Lieb, and I am a resident homeowner of Section 2 Fork River Estates here in Stewart. At the present time, two water board officials of the South Fork Homeowners Utility are trying to coerce four local residents to illegally reform a dissolved HOA in effort to sign over the right of way in our community for water and sewer repairs. Our roads are private, which was not disclosed to us when we purchased our homes by various realtors. We have many issues with a previous reinstatement of our dissolved HOA and are unanimous in not wanting an HOA conducting business in our behalf again. We are in favor of transitioning to county water, sewer, and roads with an official county ballot and let the majority of homeowners rule. Florida statutes state, in order to exercise the right of a homeowners association, as provided in this chapter, the mobile homeowners shall form in compliance with sections SS 723.007, 723.078, and 723.079, which shall be a corporation for profit or not for profit, and of which not less than two-thirds of all the mobile homeowners within the park shall have consented in writing to become members or shareholders. Commissioner Sarah Hurd has referred me to Leo Rapetti to discuss these issues. However, after six phone calls and attempts with messages to call back, Leo has neither answered or returned my calls. My whole neighborhood is frustrated and angry about this behind-the-back approach to force us to force us to do something we don't want to do. An informational bulletin board was ripped down on the corner of Fort Drive and River Bend by an unknown person to hide transparency. Please allow a democratic process to facilitate this transition. Lawrence Lieb, Homeowner, Section 2. I have several documents here and papers pertaining to the issue. However, it might be a little too much for this meeting. Uh, I've got the results of a ballot that I took with the ballot, copies of the ballots in this folder that I'm willing to give to the board if you want them, make copies and give them back at a different time. Okay. Thank you. And, Mr. Donaldson, can you make sure that someone from utilities gets in touch with Mr. Lee? Yes, I will. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Brian Allen, followed by Charles Marshall. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Brian Allen, as you just announced. I want to talk about a variance that you approved back in December. It's a right-of-way for a mango terrace. You might recognize my name because I've sent you multiple emails and have also tried to call. So the board heard the request for a minimum right-of-way, development of two-way, one-acre lots, and my property adjoins these lots, so obviously of a vested interest. The board approved the variance, and I believe was false or misrepresented information. Just after this January meeting, the property owner, despite saying that he was going to develop the lots and sell it to individuals, the property owner listed the property and said he was not going to sell individual lots and was trying to get the property developed. So the listing states, prime development opportunity with approved easement in downtown Jensen Beach. This offering includes two adjacent parcels subdivided into eight flats, providing endless possibilities for building large homes, townhomes, or even multifamily units. This is located at Northeast Mango Terrence, just off Skyline Drive. So I also sent some regulations that I won't get into the details, but some highlights. We're misrepresented of the application. The building official may revoke a permit approval issued order under the provisions of this code where it's been false misstatement or misrepresentation of material fact in the application or plans which the permit or approval is based. Also, misrepresentation if there's evidence in an application development was considered wherein a misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, deliberate error, omission of a material should have been disclosed. The county shall initiate a rehearing to consider the development order. The county shall approve, re-approve, or approve with new conditions or deny development order based on the standards of this article. So that's what I'm requesting. Specifically, I could give the entire history of the lots, but short of it, during the summer meeting, the county engineer stated the property owner wished to build a road, sell the lots to individuals wishing to build a home. There was never any intention of the property owner to build anything. The only intent was to use the board in an attempt to market the property. And this is supported by the listing that I just read. And our contact with the owner and the real estate agent stating that they will not sell individual lots. And no less than nine times during the meeting, the owner or his representative stated that the lots could not be developed without the variance. This is not true. And I have done the research. There are alternatives to property in question. And I believe you misled the board to get the approval of the variance. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Hampy. Ms. Woods, I have been following the emails that I've been receiving, and I also read that ad for the property. May you review that that process was handled? I was one of the people that voted for it. I heard what the applicant said, and then nearly immediately following, I saw the Zillow ad, and I feel uncomfortable with the way that process worked. If you tell me after a new review that it was handled appropriately, I will hear you. But I have a lot of questions on how that went down, and I was one of the people that voted to let that happen based on what I heard that day and the assurances that we heard. Now, if it's legally done and they, you know, allegedly were able to work an angle on us, then it's a valuable lesson. But I'd like to have that reviewed. Yes, sir. Staff, I can tell you that Public Works, as well as the county attorney's office, is preparing a response to those emails. And we'll have it shortly, and we will brief the individual commissioners. I'd like to have it. Yes. I'd like to have it, because everyone's heard it now. Oh, of course. I'd want to have it come back as an item. Yes, sir. Not an item. I'd want you to give us an update. Oh, of course. At this meeting, so everyone gets to hear what. Okay. That's great. Not just me individually. We'll do so. Are you prepared to do that at this meeting? No. I don't think so. I'm looking at. I will have it at the next meeting. I know people are waiting, but I just, I was very uncomfortable with how that, what transpired in the days and weeks after that agenda item. I just need to, and I'm up here a long time, and I don't remember ever having that happen to me like that before. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. We are looking at it. I'm in the middle of preparing a response. Some of the commission aides reached out to us, so I don't know if it'll be done today, but it might be done by the end of the day. If not, it would be the next board meeting, but we are working on it now. I prefer it be at the next board meeting and discussed in the morning when more people are paying attention than at the end of the day. We will have that ready. Good. Thank you. Okay. Charles Marshall is next, followed by Julie Priest. Commissioner Vargas, you wanted to respond? Yeah, I did, because I did vote in favor of that item, and I feel that the owner's situation could have changed, and it was not manipulation of the board or their vote. So we need to keep an open mind about that. We cannot mandate, and we need to stick by what the evidence was at that time. Mr. Marshall. I'm here to speak about the same issue. Is it necessary? Come back next time. Are you serious? No, you're entitled to speak. Give your three minutes. Okay. I'll just read. In December of last year, after conducting a quasi-hearing, this board approved the road with variance for the road that doesn't exist to allow access to the property where there are no plans for road construction and there's no plans for development of the property. Others, and I believe that you were misled to believe that without the variance being granted, there was not access to the property, which is not true. You were told that the intentions for developing the land was to sell individual lots for single-family homes. Well, facts were omitted from that hearing that the property is accessible by construction of a private driveway on the existing right-of-way. And now that you have approved the variance, the landowners are advertising the property for sale to be used, and quote from the MLS, providing endless possibilities for building large homes, townhomes, and even multifamily units. And that is exactly what we predicted to you might happen because over the last three years, and as of recently, as a month ago, we have made offers to purchase single lots, two lots, or even four lots. And every time we have been told that the property is only for sale as a whole, and we have not even been able to get into any type of negotiations to purchase individual lots. The property has been basically for sale since it was purchased about three years ago, and there is not any attempt that we have seen to develop the land or construct a road only to resell the property. We're asking you to review the quasi-judicial hearing and reopen discussion about the future of the property to prevent a community uprising of a zoning change request for development of townhomes or multifamily housing. And this is not so much about preserving the view that we have from our properties. Our view will remain unobstructed, and this would only be changed by us overlooking rooftops instead of overlooking grass and trees, providing that tall, multifamily homes are not built. This is about not putting the carriage before the horse by approving a variance without the proper information of the possibilities of what that variance opens us up to as far as how it might infringe on our property rights and the effect on the entire neighborhood on Skyline Drive, which is one of Florida's and Martin County's most unique and prized areas. Thanks, Mr. Marshall. That's it. Thank you. Thank you for your attention. Appreciate it. Julie Priest is next, followed by Gary Erler. Good morning, Chairwoman Hurd, honorable members of the board and staff. I am Julie Priest from RIO. I have been a longtime proponent for walkable communities, and I'm here to discuss item number 250597 that comes up much later today. One of the very first safety projects in RIO's CRA was the installation of traffic-calming measures on Alice Street because it had become a racetrack alternative to Dixie Highway. The measures greatly improved safety for pedestrians and children on bikes. As a major collector road, Jefferson has more traffic than a local road. Golden Gate has a high percentage of families with children. Jefferson is the shortcut to St. Lucie Boulevard. A four-way stop makes sense because Evergreen continues south to Kensington Street. Evergreen intersects Jefferson almost in the middle of the Jefferson portion that is within the CRA boundary. Safety should be the top priority. As a member of the MPO's Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, I urge you to vote in favor of the resolution. Vote for safety. Thank you. Thank you. Gary Erler is next, followed by Susan Resendez. Do you want to talk now, or do you want to talk on the item? You want to wait until – okay. Good morning. Commissioners, Gary Erler, for the record, Port Salerno. I do have some pictures. I believe you've all completed a copy. I'll put them out here. I guess there isn't enough room to get them all, but we will – Three minutes starts now, please. This is the upland facility in Port Salerno, the construction being done. A lot of these pictures were taken by myself, some of them off of the Internet. They had a – I want to say a water main relocation due to the fact of the building. Water was shut off. At first, I was told it was scheduled. Then there was a supposed water main break, so a boil water order was in effect. But the conditions around the place, I'll start. No trash dumpster, no restroom facilities, no signage on the fence of the responsible parties or contact information, no hazards posted of the worksite. I spoke to Mr. Ronald Rudner from the project manager of Capital Projects with the county. Some of these issues, I understand there's no room for a dumpster. Well, there's no room for that building in that park. No restroom facilities. They're using the portable facilities. Well, every other building permit issued in the county, you have to provide a dumpster or a collection area. You have to provide a restroom. They're fortunate enough not to be able to do that. There were workers installing wire and rebar for the slab of the mooring field. They had no face shields, no safety glasses. They were operating a gas-operated target saw with metal sparks flying everywhere. No personal PPE was done, was being used. Contractors working in and around an open hole, those are the dark, no trench box to protect them, no notification to the residents of the planned shutdown and to boil water because of it. The relocation of a fire hydrant right next to a tree that looks to be removed at a later date. The connections of the rebar out of the ground, they didn't have caps on them. The fencing around the back with trash outside of the construction area. The silt fence was improperly installed, allowing soil to run into the mangroves and ultimately the manatee pocket. I guess we'll find out if that's been cleaned up, and we'll find out the next rain if, in fact, it's working. But these are just some of the things that are going on in and around Port Salerno. I ask that you all attend our NAC. Sure, your time is up. Thank you. Mr. Johnelson, will you make sure that this project remains in compliance? Yes, ma'am. Thanks. Tammy Mazzotta is next, followed by John Dial. Morning. Oh, okay. And I would just like to put my recommendation in to have the three people on the NAC board to be reinstated, which is Jamie Royal, Kathy Harvey, and Casey Cass. And there was something else, and I didn't write it down, so I forgot it. But anyway, I just wanted to put my word in for those three. And that's it. Right now, thank you. Have a good day. Thanks. John Dial is next, followed by Lori Whalen. Morning. Good morning, Commissioners. How are you doing? First off, I thank you all for the time to be up here. Number two is the Jefferson Street stop sign. Living on Horseshoe Point, we can identify, as some of you know, what the traffic is there. I think a stop sign is probably warranted on a lot of these streets or some sort of traffic calming device. But I do a lot of business down in Golden Gate with some people that I know. And so I think a stop sign on there is probably warranted. The other thing that I'm going to bring up that was brought to my attention is the CRA money that is talked about being rescinded. I don't know much about that, only what I've read online. And I'm hoping you'll leave that CRA money where it should be, which is inside those communities. As I'm looking at a property in Port Salerno to build for someone that works with me to enact some affordable housing. And it's very difficult to do, and if you take away that money that's earmarked for that community, then I don't know that that's going to be a wonderful thing to do. The last thing I want to bring up is I think there's a big misconception with the County Commission on Clarity Communications. And I think one suggestion I wrote down in the last meeting was you guys could have your own portal for giving polls on important information. And you can get people to register when they vote or when they pay their taxes. If they want to participate in that, much like you see on some of the other media sites where you control the information that goes out there, and we could all get it and you could gauge your decisions more than what just, you know, a few of us in here show up. Because I think you all are very good people. I think you've got very difficult jobs. And thank you very much for the time for letting me come up here and speak with you. Thanks, Mr. Dial. And there are no proposals to take away money from any of the CRAs or NAC. Lori Whalen is next. Okay. Amy Pritchett is next, followed by Kathy Harvey. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. It's nice to see everybody. I would like to ask for your support for three of our NAC members, Casey Cass, Jamie Roll, and Kathy Harvey. Each one of them bring a unique perspective to our community. But collectively, they all want the same thing, and that is for our community to thrive and for everybody to get their voice. And I really find that they have invested in our community more than I've ever seen before, and to take that away would be a shame. So I'm asking for your support to please reinstate all three of them. Thank you. Thank you. Kathy Harvey is next, followed by Angela Garcia. Good morning, Commissioners. Good morning. Kathy Harvey from Port Salerno. I am up for a reappointment today, but I'm not here for myself. I'm here as an NAC board member for the entire board. When we apply for this position, it is completely voluntary. We volunteer our time and our opinion. We solicit, and we're very passionate of our neighborhood. This appointment is typically two years. I've been on this board since 2017. Mr. Cass was appointed in November of 24, and we're asking him to reassign. I've never seen this since 2017. When we take this, we take it seriously because we love the community we're in. And I just ask that each of you consider why Mr. Cass is being asked to recertify after two months. He committed in November for a two-year term. Thank you. Thank you. Angela Garcia is next, followed by Jeff Whitman. Good morning, Commissioners. I am speaking on the Public Hearing Notice 1 and the Public Hearing Quasi-Judicial 1 and 2. I am a homeowner in the Oaks community. I'm also serving my homeowners association as a director on the board of directors. I'm not speaking on behalf of them. I'm speaking on behalf of myself as a homeowner. I'm in opposition of changing the status of the property from residential to commercial, and I'm also in opposition of building a three-story storage unit. We have 20 storage facilities within 10 miles of that property. I live across the street from where the proposed property is, so I'm not even within 1,000 feet. I'm within 50, so I know that we don't need that storage facility. I know that within 5 miles, there are 10 storage facilities, and within 1 mile, both north and south of the proposed site, there are facilities, and neither one of those two are full to capacity that would warrant the need for a 1-, 2-, or 3-story storage facility to be built. I purchased my home in Hope Sound because of the green space. We're building a tennis community center just a few hundred feet south of the proposed storage, so I would like to see us retain the green space and not put in another storage facility because clearly that is not something that's warranted or needed, and I think that there's a unique opportunity for people to seek storage services elsewhere and for us to keep that property from becoming commercial. Thank you. Thank you. Jeff Whitman is next, followed by Frank McChrystal. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. Jeff Whitman, Hope Sound. I'm going to speak on that storage unit facility thing in a minute. Commissioner Vargas, it was great to see you at the Battle of the Loxahatchee, you and Bobby. That was a lot of fun. Enjoyed it. What most people don't know is that Palm Beach County had a plan, wanted to turn that park into a regional sports complex with eight softball fields, a golf course, and 850 parking spaces. They would have destroyed it. The Loxahatchee Battlefield Preservation has stopped that by proving that the battle was there and that seven U.S. soldiers are buried on the property somewhere. They don't know exactly where it is. I come to you today to speak about the Hope Sound Storage Facility, which is coming before you today with a land use change and a zoning change. I'm not going to ask you to vote one way or another. I am going to offer a win-win for the county and for the landowner. This land, unlike the five acres bought in Palm City by a previous commission, is entirely environmentally sensitive land. The back half is wetlands. The front half is coastal sand pine scrub, which is considered rare and endangered. I went out there the other day, sand pines, saw palmettos, rosemary, pawpaws. It's very beautiful. It is right next to Preserve, the East Fork Creek, which was a multimillion-dollar conservation project with a 20-acre lake and a 700-foot flowway to Manatee Creek. The people of Hope Sound, who have seen enough habitat destruction, have no way to access it, and you can't park at the church. The last environmentally sensitive land in Hope Sound that was bought by the commission was the ham property. Thank you, Commissioner Hurd. We are so grateful for that. That would have been 84 houses. With the passing of the half-penny sales tax referendum, the county will get about $200 million over 10 years. Parlayed with the state, that could rise to $800 million, almost a billion. And those figures are from Jim Sendker. Thank you, Jim. So the county has lots of money. I ask that whatever the outcome of the vote today, sit down with the owner, who is a good guy, and talk. It could be a win-win for the owner and the people of Martin County. And Hope Sound. Thank you. Thank you. Frank McChrystal is next, followed by Tom Pine. And Mr. Pine is the last request-to-speak form that I have if you'd like to address us. Please fill out a form, and we'll... Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. I don't know if it's my frame of reference, but it just seems a little serious and stressful around here this morning. So maybe I'll keep it light. There's no doubt that there is a pickleball boom. It just fits our society today. Most importantly, you can multitask while you're playing pickleball. You can be checking your stocks. All it takes is a twitch. There's instant gratification. The rack, whatever you want to call it, is basically right there where your hand is. So there's no learning curve. And the second or third time you're playing pickleball, you're probably as good as all the other people around you because the bottom line is it's just a big social gathering pickleball, all right? You've got humans packed in tight spaces, which goes with the larger narrative also. And they're just having a good time, man. It's just a party, all right? It's loud and that irritating tink, tink, tink, tink, all right? Yeah, so it just goes with our society today. I get that. Now, that being said, four tennis courts in Jensen Beach, four tennis courts north of the bridge, is not too many tennis courts. Not to the extent of pickleball, but tennis is experiencing a rebirth also. Don't know why. They don't deserve it. That's for sure, okay? Also, the overflow, pickleball, for the reasons I just mentioned, pickleball antennas are in no way compatible. So any ideas about multipurpose courts should be thrown away. Also, the tape they bring out to put down their extra lines and then they lower the net. They never clean up their dirty underwear when they leave. So now you've got to deal with that. Also, the sound, they're just two different sports. Tennis takes ultimate concentration and so much of your feedback involves what you're hearing on the other side of the net. And I would say, I'll take it a little more serious and say, how about some signs at Langford that say, no pickleball allowed on the tennis courts? Have a good one. Take care now. Thank you. Tom Pine is next, followed by Elaine Calendayo, something like that. You'll pronounce your name properly when you come forward. Good morning, Commissioners. My name's Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years, presently living in the Jensen Beach area. Today in the consent agenda, this commission will approve $11,501,697.80. That was spent between January 13th and January 26th, 2025, without identifying the payees or the purpose of the payments. The definition of the consent agenda clearly states in Google, a tool used to streamline meeting procedures by collecting keyword routine, non-controverable items into a group whereby all are passed in a single motion and vote. Our Martin County government continues violating the essence of the consent agenda for more than 20 years. Our Parks Department has spent now over a million dollars developing yet another business venture on the taxpayers' back, all hidden in the consent agenda. It's a massive RV park out at Phipps Park. The only reason I know is I went to the grand reopening of the RV park several years ago when it was stated that the Parks Department had already spent $700,000 to $800,000 and still had several projects to go, all conveniently hidden in the consent agenda. It was a very sad day at our last county commission meeting to listen to senior staff and the district commissioner from Palm City try to con the taxpayers into believing it's a good deal to sell county-owned property using market analysts from 2023 and 2025. Thanks to our newly elected commissioner from Jensen Beach area for not backing down as she continued to push the county for a new update market analyst before the property is put up for sale. It looked like just another scheme to give substantial financial advantage to the good old boys, as usual, when selling county-owned property, and it was quite disingenuous when the district commissioner claims the county government shouldn't be competing with the business community when selling property, when he already has voted for several different businesses that the Parks Department presently operates. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Elaine. Colin Bayo. Good morning. Good morning. Would you pull the mic down, please? Sure. Thanks. Okay? Yep. Okay. So before I came to Hobe Sound, I lived in West Palm Beach, and a couple of blocks away, a storage unit went up. And I had bad experiences with the storage unit because people were coming in the evenings, late in the evenings, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning, in and out, and it was very bad. And then I moved to Hobe Sound, and I loved it because it's a lot of green space, and it's wonderful. Well, now I feel like we're getting inundated with storage units and car washes. It's like Hobe Sound is becoming the capital of the storage world or something, right? A couple of blocks away now, we have that big, huge storage unit that went up, and then a couple of blocks later, there's another storage unit. I think at this point in time, we don't need another storage unit in Hobe Sound. And I feel really sad that we're going to do something like this next to a residential community. I live in the Oaks, by the way, and it's beautiful with, you know, we have the preserves, and I think this is sad that we have to put in another storage unit. I mean, if we want to do it, we could do it maybe somewhere else, in Stewart or somewhere. But, again, I feel like Hobe Sound is becoming the place where storage units and car washes seem to spring up. So I'm against the storage unit, obviously. And thank you for your time. Thank you. That's the last request to speak for, and would anyone else like to address us? In that case, we will move on to Commissioner comments. Commissioner Vargas. In late January, I attended the Florida Association of Counties Tech Summit held at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala. They're on 2,000 acres. It's a training facility for equestrians. University of Florida has an equine and small animal boarding, grooming, and veterinary facility on the 2,000-acre resort. You can watch the trainers work with the horses early in the morning throughout the day in the numerous rings. You can pass by and see the jumpers and doing their maneuvers for their particular sport. You can also pass by the air-conditioned, heated, modern, well-kept stables. You'll see folks practicing jumping and dressage. They have three facilities there, the latest, which is under construction. So this particular summit was a collaboration between Florida International University, the University of South Florida, and the University of West Florida, offering self-paced, state-funded cybersecurity training sessions. We were taught by a graduate-level professor. They offer cybersecurity training, realistic cyber attack simulation experience, which is used internationally and nationally, and virtually in-person or hybrid, or as I said virtually, for government agencies and private enterprises and counties. There's a lot of sensitive data out there, some of which include social security numbers, information on employees' family members, medical information about the patients, employees, and polygraph results. They stress the losses that can occur within law enforcement, fire rescue, transportation, payroll, building development, public works. There was also a very real example given by the attorney for Highlands County Sheriff's Department. Very vivid example. We also talked about the underserved and unserved sections of counties and the potential to receive federal grants in the amount of $1.16 billion. They work with workforce development. They bring digital literacy to the workforce in order to qualify for office jobs that students might not have the opportunity or the potential to realize. They also structure a county pilot project by advising, consulting, and monitoring threats. They have tabletop exercises, and they do audit analysis from the inside. They make the resources available to all constitutionals, including the supervisor of elections office. They also talked about AI, you know, that chat, GBT, and AI. They have a terrific program, which I was, I didn't know it because it's called DAL E3. And you dictate what you want to design, the mood, identify your target audience, and in a matter of minutes, they will process something for you. Something I picked up, a quote, managing change is a process in and of itself. After that, I did attend the National Conference on Beach Preservation Technology. Now, I will say, and folks that know me, I am not, I am not at all a geologist, I'm not an engineer, and this was attended by those folks, a few county administrators also, and commissioners. But this was organized by the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, and this was held in Panama City Beach. So, over there, we learned quite a bit also. We were dealing with the habitats of our marine life throughout the state of Florida. They want to evenly distribute the workings that they're doing. We talked about Jupiter Inlet dredge and maintenance. I learned about Hopper Cutter, and correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Donaldson, Cutterhead, dredge clamshell, and truck hauls, and about three to eight miles of discharge distance, the average being four miles. There are federal and state dollars available. We have to respect our turtle nesting season. There's a window for that, and it also dictates the depths. We learned about the activities that can be done in the planning of relocation of turtle nests. We understood about the cost, and we noted the seawalls, public-private walkways, dune walkovers, and geotopes. I'm still studying that one. We know about the certain windows. November through April is a very sensitive time also. We have 8,000 nests on the beach last year, last year alone. We talked about Jensen Beach also, which identifies and relocates sea turtle nests, and we use mechanical screening to reduce the impact. We also talked about dredging, and there's been special requests for that. There's a whale season here too. Did you know that? I didn't know that. And there's also possible conflicts with spring breakers. So we also looked at the pictures of the hurricanes that have hit our state, unfortunately, over the last couple of years, Nicole, Ian, Milton, Helene. A lot of that touched the southwest coast, but we had some of it over here, at least the winds and, of course, those tornadoes. The government, there's a $100 million request for these projects. It showed the before and the after, the dredging industry, I understood about that, the possibilities. Where will the ships be transversing in the next few years? The next 18 months, we need to put equipment out. Florida has a tremendous demand for equipment, and we have to respect sand removal. Are we going to haul it by truck or hydraulic? And the thing is that we need 200 hydraulic trucks, but we only have 60. We talked about the roads, the roads to be able to afford our citizenry to conveniently pass through our state. But then, of course, we have the concern. We have the Florida Panthers. We have the queen conch, which is my understanding that a lot of folks that are in their boats, they may drop the conchs coming from the Bahamas. And then, of course, they start to feed on the grassy areas, not in the sand areas. So, having said that, I went there because I wanted to see how we could have better coordination between the federal level to the local counties to be able to bring some of these monies back to us. These are our tax dollars. We just need to circle it back to us for our benefit. So, there's an industry working with projects to get contractors in and to retool the bids for the future. Our biggest challenges are the easements and those lovely queen conchs. And I understand about underwater, I am a certified scuba diver, but I understood some engineering talk, too, except when they started talking about pie, I checked my news break because I didn't understand the formula. But anyway, it was a great conference, and I'm glad I was able to attend. Thank you. Commissioner Capps. I want to mention a few things I've been able to be involved in since our last meeting. On January 31st, my executive aide, Colleen Pakowitz, and I got to take a helicopter ride over Martin County. The pilot was Ed Stagmiller of the Martin County Sheriff's Office, and we got to ride in that sheriff's helicopter. And, which is a spectacular piece of equipment. Our tour guide was Senior Project Manager of Environmental Resource Management, Mike Houston, who did an awesome job explaining to us what we want to preserve in Martin County, particularly the western lands. It was a stunning view from the air. I've never done anything so fun. It was amazing. One thing that was a little alarming was some of the damage that's being done to some of the wetlands out there by these big swamp buggies. I have pictures that are really shocking, you know, those nice, beautiful water pools that you see when you fly over them. Some of them are just ruined, you know, with these big monster trucks that just run around in circles. And hopefully we'll be able to purchase some of that and get it restored and taken back to its original state. But it was very revealing what we seek to preserve in Martin County and how we want to be different. We have natural lands in the western area that can be used for environmental preservation and environmental restoration to the Everglades as we sit as the northern headwaters to the Everglades. So that was really fun and very exciting. On February 1 and 2, we had the Hopesound Festival of the Arts, which went off without a hitch this year. The last few years, they've had washouts from rain, so that was great to see. I think the chamber probably did pretty well. On February 4, I had the privilege of touring the Daher facility at the Stewart Airport, which was very, very interesting. To learn about the major components that they built for big jets and how they also produce components for smaller jets as well. And to hear about their expansion plans at the Stewart Airport. They're going to be preserving 480 jobs, and they're going to add 180 jobs in their expansion plans. They're going to be assembling two different types of small aircraft. And what's really cool about this is it's not going to have much impact on our airspace over the Stewart Airport, because they're just going to be assembling these planes and flying them away. And so there's not going to be a lot of additional aircraft coming in and out of the airport. So that, I thought, was exciting, particularly for the young folk who may be needing jobs in the coming days. And the last thing I'll mention was on February 6, I had the privilege of touring an organization in Stewart called Volunteers in Medicine. Many of you may have heard about it. I was very heartened to see how well this organization is run and how much of a help they are to the most vulnerable among us. They offer free medical care and medications to people who qualify. And I was surprised at the thresholds as to what it takes to qualify. Surprisingly, they were reasonably strong. So if you know people who are in need of medical care and medications, please have them look into Volunteers in Medicine. They use a lot of retired doctors and also area doctors who are not retired, who just like to volunteer their services. They can link you up with anything, a knee surgery, a heart surgery, whatever you need. So it was an amazing tour. And I would encourage you to get familiar with Volunteers in Medicine. Thank you. Yeah, Volunteers in Medicine provides more than care. They provide top-notch care. Commissioner Campy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one quick announcement. On Friday, February 21st, we're having music in the park on Map Road at the patio at Palm City Place. We're going to have anyone that lives in Palm City might be very familiar with Ms. Loriana Collazo and a couple of her young protégés will be singing. We're having food trucks along the way there that start at 6, probably 5.30 to 6. The music starts at 7, ends at 9. It's a free event. You can either buy food and drinks from the food trucks, you can pack a dinner, or you can eat at one of Palm City's local restaurants. We attempted this in January as well. It was a complete monsoon evening. So Carla Holbrook, who everyone loves, who was going to be in January, will come in March. It's a free event. Again, come with your friends and neighbors, or if you're looking to make new friends with your neighbors, come and enjoy the evening. It's on Map Road, immediately north of the Palm City Fire Station. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. On Commissioner Capps, I also toured Dyer, and it was an amazing tour. I've had the opportunity in the past to go to Vaught, and I believe that's the future of Martin County. The aviation and marine, some of those specialized jobs, those are exactly the kind of companies that I would like to see in the future hiring more people in Martin County. So it was a great tour, and I congratulate them for their expansion. And we had a great arts fest downtown this weekend. Martin County Council of the Arts put on the arts fest in downtown Memorial Park. And Commissioner Hurd presented the proclamation for the Martin County Centennial's 100th birthday. So we're excited to celebrate that all year long. And then there was a gentleman here this morning who I had the pleasure of talking to yesterday, Mr. Dial, talking about communication, transparency, and polling. I think I've always said the county can, you know, we've improved, I think, immensely every year in communicating with the public. There's always ways, I think, that we can improve. The Tourism Development Council, which I'm now on the board, we have the strategic planning process, which has a very intense polling mechanism, which I think has been great to gather data. So the more input that we can get from the public, the more that we can share what we're doing in the county and provide transparency, I'm all in favor. So I think we can look into any opportunity that will give us that much more communication. You know, and if people can't attend the meetings, they're able to dial in or provide their input. And, of course, everybody knows that they could always visit our website and our app. But I think that we could probably even do a little presentation from communications in the future so that the public knows all the different ways that they can engage and interact and participate. So that's all I have for today. Thank you. And I just wanted to say that there were reports last week of unprecedented pollution in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. I know people who observed it personally, and we need to make sure that our projects that are in the western lands are compliant with all of our regulations to make sure that they're not polluting our delicately balanced South Fork of the St. Lucie River. And here, commissioners, I accepted on your behalf a proclamation from our state legislative delegation celebrating our centennial, and we will find an appropriate spot to mount this. And that's all I have. Mr. Donaldson. I have nothing to take you. Ms. Woods. In that case, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Now we'll take up public hearing number one, which is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of the comprehensive plan amendment 23-02, Hobes Sound Storage, amending the future land use map of the comprehensive growth management plan. Good morning, Ms. Offenbach. So, again, for the record, my name is Amy Offenbach. This is comprehensive plan amendment 23-02, a future land use map amendment request for a property known as Nine Gems. I'm sorry. Hobes Sound Storage. The application was submitted by Thomas Engineering Group, LLC, on behalf of the owner. This is a small-scale amendment requiring two public hearings, and the amendment was considered by the LPA on June 1, 2023, and the vote was two to two. This is the second public hearing for final approval. So the request is to change the future land use of 4.01 acres from medium-density residential to general commercial, and this site is located along the east side of Federal Highway, south of southeast Heritage Boulevard, and north of southeast Ponciana Lane, and the subject is highlighted in red. The existing medium-density residential future land use and the proposed general commercial future land use, both are meant for accessible parts of the primary urban service district, and allow a maximum building height of 40 feet. The main difference here is the existing medium-density residential allows eight residential units, and the proposed general commercial allows a building coverage for 60% commercial, which is also governed by the parking standards. The existing future land use requires a minimum open space of 50%, where the proposed future land use requires 20%. The adopted future land use map shows the subject property and the property to the north and west across Federal Highway, designated as medium-density residential. To the south is institutional conservation, and to the east is low-density residential. The proposed future land use map would show the subject property designated as general commercial, and as you can see, there are other properties designated with this general commercial in the light purple. And the dark blue here is commercial office residential future land use. The National Wetlands Inventory Map shows a great amount of potential wetlands on the rear of the property, and a 50-foot buffer would be required between any wetlands and development on the property. The existing uses along U.S. Highway 1 include a mix of commercial and residential uses, and this is the subject here. And so the general commercial future land use is meant for highly accessible parts of the urban service district. The subject is located along U.S. 1, a major corridor within the primary urban service district. The request complies with Section 1.11 of the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan by meeting two out of four of the criteria in order for staff to recommend approval. And the request discourages urban sprawl pursuant to all 13 of the criteria required by state statutes and meets eight additional criteria that discourages the proliferation of urban sprawl. So staff recommends approval, and it's available for any questions. Commissioner Vargas. Yes. This property, I did some background here, Live Oak Capital Partners was the buyer, but this is the Employees' Money Purchase Pension Plan and Trust Agreement of Boca Raton Cardiology Associates, Babbick and Vinci, PA, for the benefit of Stephen Babbick. Is that correct? That's correct. The application must be from the owner for our future land use map amendment. Any further questions? Applicant. Good morning, Chair Herd. Commissioners, how are you this morning? For the record, my name is Bob Raines. I'm a land use attorney with the Gunster Law Firm here this morning. On behalf of the applicant, I would like, which is Live Oak, so I would like to, for the record to reflect that I have with me today, the proof of notices to the surrounding property owners for this hearing and the rezoning next, and I'm turning those in to clerk at this time. Commissioners, we're pleased to state that we have reviewed the staff report. We do agree with the staff report and the staff recommendation. We believe this is an appropriate land use designation for this property, given its location on U.S. 1, which is a highly accessible highway. And I would just like to point out just a couple of other quick points, and I think Mrs. Offenbach did a great job. As a matter of fact, we had a presentation to give, but it's so close to hers. I don't want to take your time. I know you've got a busy morning, but on page 5 of 18 of the staff report, 1.4, it talks about past changes and future land use, and there were eight, I counted, and six of those are all to general commercial. One was institutional recreation, and the other was high-density residential. So I think that's, you know, evidence that this is the trend that's occurred along U.S. 1, and I think the general commercial is an appropriate land use designation. We'll be glad to answer any questions you have, but we would ask you to accept staff's recommendation and approve this request. Questions for Mr. Rains. Thank you. Lori Whalen and Susan Resendez both have requests to speak for, I think, public hearing quasi-judicial 2, but would you prefer to speak now? This is when the first decision of three will be made. So, Lori, followed by Susan. My name's Lori Whalen. I am a resident, and I live just south of the proposed site. I didn't receive the notices of the hearing, so I'm just kind of learning about this. And I understand the investment group purchased this as a small farm district zoning property, which was then changed to a RS-6 residential property. And the residents were in favor of that as it limited, as residences would limit runoff of water to the sole drain that drains the property. We feel like a commercial building is going to add to the flooding, which is already a concern because we have a single drain that empties all the runoff when we have large amounts or heavy rains. And there have been three instances where the road was not passable as a result without a storage facility being built there. I came to the meeting last Thursday to try and understand more of what's happening. And I listened to this group talk about how they were trying to be good neighbors and that they saw very little opposition to the project. But I know from talking to the neighbors on my street and the people at the church and the people in the Oaks that there is a lot of opposition to the construction of this property. I talked, I believe that more study needs to be done on the flooding concerns. I listened to the engineer's lowest floor elevation for the property and compared it to a neighbor who had asked to put an addition on the back of her home and was denied not very far from the property because she's in a flood zone. So she was denied the ability to put a bedroom on the back of her property, yet we're going to allow a large storage facility to go there. So I think some study needs to be done there. I feel like that's a big hypocrisy. And I listened to the low flood elevation that they presented, and I know the low flood elevation of her property because she had to have a survey done. And hers is lower than what they reported, and their property is higher. And the building from top to bottom is 48 feet. By the way, it's not 30 because of the facade that's going to be on top of the building. So my time is up. Ma'am, your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Susan Resendis. Good morning. My name is Susan Resendis. I also live on Lexington Avenue, and my home directly abuts this site that's going to be proposed. I've lived in my home for 25 years. Zoning has been the same since I moved here 25 years ago and probably prior to that. We are dead set against residential zoning being changed to a general commercial zone. I've done study on general commercial. I know what can be put on that. Never mind a 94,000-square-foot storage facility, three-story, that would be out of place in this particular location. It doesn't belong there. Nobody in Heritage Ridge, and there's a lot of people here from that that are for it. Another would have more people here, but they work, and they can't take a day off and not get paid to come here to voice their opinions. But there's a lot of people that are dead set against this zoning change. And I really hope and pray that this commission will really think about the residents, because it is. It's about the residents. Thank you. Thank you. Any? Yes, Mr. Raines. Thank you again for the record, Bob Raines. If I could respond just to a couple of the quick comments. I think with respect to the flooding issue and concerns, we certainly appreciate and understand that. I'm not sure that's really, you know, an issue for the land use. All of that stuff would be handled if we ever get to a site planning on this property or whoever would site plan this property at that point in time. So, and I think we can address the flooding issues. I have my engineer here to also discuss that. But we think that's more of a site planning issue. The question right now on this particular item, obviously, and I don't have to tell you, but maybe for the audience, is whether, you know, the general commercial is appropriate land use designation on this piece. And I think given the size of the property, because we can't talk about the wetland and preserve areas and stuff, you know, the general commercial, I think, is an appropriate use for this particular piece. With respect to neighborhood opposition and stuff, I'm really pleased to say, you know, I've been doing this for 28 years. I can't remember any applicant who met with neighbors and attempted to meet with neighbors more than Mr. Tetter, the applicant, did. We had meetings with the Heritage Ridge POA board members and the Oaks. I think it's the Oaks, if I hope I got that correct, across the street. And their attorney, Deborah Ross, before we even filed any applications for anything, because we wanted to make them aware of what we were doing and wanted to take their temperature on what we were proposing to do. We then had, and Mr. Tetter also reached out to the pastor at the church next door prior to any meetings occurring and had good meetings with him. He had then left. And we continued to have meetings throughout with the board. And then Matt Sullivan, I believe, is here today. And the POA, I believe they sent a letter of support. Mr. Sullivan also coordinated, helped us coordinate a meeting with the entire Heritage Ridge POA that we invited everybody to, all the residents were invited to. And that meeting was fairly well attended, and everybody who left there, I think, left and felt pretty positive about what we were proposing to do. And then we continued, again, to reach out to the church and anybody that we wanted to talk to. So there's been an enormous amount of an attempt to reach out to community people. I know Ms. Whalen was at the LPA the other night, and she talked about her flooding concerns. And Mr. Tetter made a beeline after the meeting and said, here's my card, because she had mentioned an engineer. You know, if you want to have your engineer call us, we're happy to go through this. So we made every attempt to be a good neighbor, and I think Mr. Tetter has done that. And I think the fact that we got a letter of approval from the HOA is part of that. So thank you. Any questions for staff or for the applicant? Mr. Raines, if you have a letter from the HOA, I see people shaking their heads behind you. Can you show it to us, please? Sure. Absolutely. While he's looking for that, commissioners, there are four criteria for a future land use amendment, and this is a legislative decision, not a quasi-judicial one. The first one is past changes in land use designations in the general area make the proposed use logical and consistent with these uses, and adequate public facilities are available, or growth in the area in terms of development of vacant land redevelopment and availability of public services has altered the character of the area such that the proposed request is now reasonable and consistent with area land use characteristics, or the proposed change would correct what would otherwise appear to be an inappropriately assigned land use designation, or the proposed change would fulfill a public service need that enhances the health, safety, or general welfare of county residents. If, in order to vote to approve a land use amendment, you have to find that at least one of those conditions has been met. So carefully consider whether you regard all, whether one of those conditions has been met. Yes. Yes. Commissioner Campy, to answer your question, there's the letter that we received, and I believe Mrs. Offenbach also received that letter. Is that correct? Excuse me. Commissioner Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. It's also attached to the agenda item, so it is attached to as part of the record. Okay. Commissioner Capps. I think that the existing land use for this property is the most appropriate, so I move that we deny this amendment to the comprehensive plan. Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. So the amendment request is denied, so that means that we don't consider public hearing one or two, probably. Thank you, commissioners. So we will now move on to public hearing quasi-judicial number three, which is a public hearing to consider a request to designate a brownfield by 9670 Southwest Marine Way. You might want to explain to the crowd what this means. So, by way of explanation, we denied the comp plan amendment, therefore, we will not consider the zoning request or the master site plan. Thank you. The land use will remain as it is today. All right. Or you can turn it in now. Ms. Snobby, please proceed. Excuse me, commissioner, this is a quasi-judicial. Oh, sorry. Have you turned in all the necessary materials to the clerk? Yes. A copy of my work history and the agenda item has been turned in to the clerk. Terrific. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte disclosures? None, and it's been filed. Commissioner Capps. If I have any, they have been filed. If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy. If I have any, they've been filed. And Commissioner Hetherington. If any, they've been filed and Commissioner Hurd, this item, because of my relationship working with Ferreira, I will have to abstain and recuse myself. I've filed my form 8B with the clerk, and I will be abstaining from this item. Thank you. Anything else? Do you have to swear in the witnesses? Please swear in the witnesses. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners. My name is Jenna Nobby, Senior Planner with the Growth Management Department. And this is the second public hearing on a request by 9670 Southwest Marine Way, LLC, to designate property as a green reuse area, also known as a brownfield. Since this is the second public hearing, a lot of this information was covered in the first public hearing, so I'll just give another brief overview of the request. But the property is located at 9670 Southwest Marine Way in Martin County. The site has a future land use designation of Commercial Waterfront and a zoning district of Waterfront General Commercial. There is currently an approved site plan for the property that would allow a marine construction equipment warehouse, office building space, a boat ramp, gravel parking, stormwater dry detention, and green space. Section 376.80 of Florida statute outlines the brownfield program administration process, and these requests must demonstrate that they meet the five criteria outlined in the statute in order for the local government to designate the property as a brownfield via resolution. The applicant has stated their intention to utilize these state-based financial incentives that are afforded to brownfield sites through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's brownfields program. And with that, staff recommends that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1, and move that the board finds the request meets the criteria outlined in Section 376.802C of Florida statute and adopt the resolution designating the property as brownfield. And I know the applicant is here today as well. That concludes staff's presentation. Applicant. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the Commission, and county staff. My name is Brett Brumman with the Goldstein Environmental Law Firm here on behalf of the applicant. I will not add to my presentation from last week other than to reiterate that the applicant does and the project satisfy the five criteria for designation, namely the applicant is the one requesting the designation. They have a redevelopment plan and a rehabilitation plan. The redevelopment will result in economic productivity and create at least five new jobs at the property. The redevelopment is consistent with the local comp plan and land development regulations. Notice was provided, and we held two community meetings to give those receiving notice an opportunity to comment and ask questions. And the applicant has provided reasonable assurance of the financial resources to complete the rehabilitation and redevelopment. With that, I respectfully ask for approval of this resolution today, and I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions? Commissioner Campy. Yes, thank you. This is the second time we're hearing this. I remember the last time we did that I thought it was a well-done project, well thought out, well considered. It'll be an environmental benefit. It'll be an economic benefit. And the owner, operator, and the people involved are of the highest level, so I don't have any concerns that they will be able to accomplish what they say they will. Well, I'm happy to make the motion to accept staff's recommendation and wish you the best of luck. Is there any public comment? Seeing none, is there a second? I'll second. Any further comment? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes 4-0 with Commissioner Hetherington abstaining. Thank you. Thank you. Let's take a 10-minute break. Commissioner Hurd. We are back taking up Department Quasi-Judicial No. 1, which is a request for approval of the First Amendment to the 7-Jays North Industrial Park Planned Unit Development Zoning Agreement, including a revised master and final site plan. Mr. Elam, have you turned in all the necessary things to the clerk? Copy of my work history and the agenda item. Okay. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte developments? No, and they've been filed. Commissioner Capps. If I have any, they have been filed. If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy. I don't have any, and that's been filed. And Commissioner Hetherington. If any, they've been filed. Would anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony please stand up and be sworn? Do you swear the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Please proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, I'm Brian Elam, a principal planner with Growth Management Department. A copy of this agenda item and my work history have been turned in as Exhibit 1. Per the request of the applicant's legal counsel, I have the following documents to offer into evidence to be included in the record as Exhibit 2, Work Histories. This is a request by Stephen Cooper, P.E., and Associates, incorporated on behalf of Palm City Holdings, LLC, for approval of the First Amendment to the 7J's North Industrial Park Planned Unit Development Zoning Agreement for Permit Ready Industrial Development. The planned unit development zoning agreement for the 7J's Industrial Park Project was approved on September 27, 2022. This application proposes to increase the depth of the development's existing Lake 2 from 20 feet to 40 feet. The increase in depth of the existing lake requires two PUD agreement exhibits to be modified. Exhibit D of the PUD agreement, which is the 7J's North Industrial Park Master Final Site Plan, has been revised to reflect the changes in depth of Lake 2. And Exhibit F's Special Conditions section has been modified to include language related to the regulations governing the excavation depth of Lake 2. The subject site is located north of the approved 7J's Industrial Subdivision and east of the Martin County Recycling Landfill at the north terminus of southeast Poma Drive, approximately one and a half miles north of southwest Martin Highway in Palm City. Included with this application is a request for a certificate of public facilities exemption. This is an aerial picture of Lake 2 on the 7J's property that is being proposed to be excavated to a depth of 40 feet. You can see here the underlying industrial future land use of the 7J's and the PUD zoning. It's the northern section up here with the PUD zoning. This is just an excerpt of sheet 1 showing that the lake depth has been increased to 40 feet. That's the Exhibit D for the PUD. The applicant has offered a public benefit to the county within 60 days of the approval of this to contribute a sum of $50,000 towards the construction and design of a proposed fire station in western Palm City. This is just a picture of the sheet 1 of the master final site plan with all of its data and the lake 2 right here and the lots that will be coming forward after the PLAAD application comes forward. Review of this application is not required by the local planning agency. And development review staff have found the Palm City Holdings LLC application to comply with all of the regulations of the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan as detailed in the staff report. Staff recommends approval of the Palm City Holdings LLC application for the First Amendment to the 7J's North Industrial Park PUD zoning agreement, including revised master final site plan. We move the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1. Move the board approve the First Amendment to the 7J's North Industrial Park PUD zoning agreement, including the revised master final site plan. That concludes the presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Questions for Mr. Elam. Commissioner Campy. More of a comment, Madam Chair. I had a conversation. It was a long time ago, but the application and the presentation reminded me. So when I said I had none, ex parte, I did, and I will file it. Questions for staff. I have one. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I think this is my question, Mr. Poma. Everything that we do up here is for the good and the benefit of the citizens of Martin County. And I would like to know, what consideration are you offering towards building of the next fire station? All right. You want me to answer that, Commissioner? Sure. Okay. For the record, Bob Raines, a land use attorney with the Gunster Law Firm, and I'm here on behalf of the applicant. So, Commissioner, you know, the public benefits are supposed to be commiserate with what relief you're looking for from the code. In this particular instance, you know, the 40-foot is allowed in the code. The reason we're amending the PUD is it was changed after we already got the PUD approved. That being said, I have spoken with Mr. Poma, and we've agreed, obviously, to put forward a $50,000 contribution toward the design and construction of a fire station, which I think is commiserate with what we're asking. But as a show of good faith, Mr. Poma is willing to up that contribution to $100,000. So, we would be willing to do that and make that change. Do you want to make a presentation? Yeah, I was going to, yeah, but I wanted to hear. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. So, with that, again, for the record, Bob Raines here on behalf of the applicant. We do have a very short presentation. Again, we agree with the staff report and the staff recommendation. This is really just, again, no change. This is an existing permit-ready park. We're just proposing to go to a depth to use the fill, which will, one of the great benefits is it's going to keep a lot of trucks off 714 that would otherwise be required. But at this time, I'd like to ask Mr. Cooper, Steve Cooper, to come up. He's our engineer. He's going to make a very short presentation because, again, there's not much to talk about as far as what's changing. But I would just ask Mr. Cooper if he could identify himself for the record. Steven Cooper, SCPE engineers for the applicant. And have you been sworn in, sir? Yes, I have. And can you kind of state your background, your work history, your education? I've got an ocean engineering degree from FAU in 1986. I worked for South Florida Water Management District from 86 to 89. Then I worked for Lyndall Browning, Ferrari, Halstrom, and Stewart here from 89 to about 94. And then I worked for another firm in Vero Beach. And then I started my own company in 1997, which we've been doing civil projects around the county since then. And can you identify the paper I'm handing you, sir? That's my resume. And is that a current resume? It's a current resume. And, Commissioner, I would just like for the record to reflect that that's the same document that Mr. Elam handed in for the record earlier. So they have that. We prepared the original site plan that was approved in the past. And really, like he said, it's a pretty short presentation. All we did, we represent the applicant, and we changed the site plan to reflect 40-foot depth. That was pretty much it. So we're here to answer any questions about that. Any questions? Commissioner Capps. Yes. You know, lakes these days oftentimes have what are called littoral zones around them where they put plants around that helps clean the water. And will those kind of measures be taken, you think? Yeah. We were doing littoral shelves on the original master plan, which is shown on the plans. And we added some other, you know, pro-environmental consultant back there. We added some other upland transition areas and some other littoral shelf around the whole lake. Good. Thank you. Commissioner Vargas. Okay. It's my understanding that the reason that you are here is because you want to dig 20 feet deeper. Is that correct? Yes. Yes, Commissioner. Okay. Otherwise, it would be rubber stamped. Because he is not a miner, correct? M-I-N-E-R? Oh, no, ma'am. This is for site planning. This is not a mining operation. Am I answering your question? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Because if he were selling a product to another end user, then that would be different. It would be not here contained within his property. Yes, ma'am. And we're not going to be hauling, just to be clear to your point, we're not hauling anything off-site either. I understand that. And this is a huge convenience and a huge cost saver to you. Correct, Mr. Poma? Okay, it is. Absolutely. The cost for a fire station today is approximately $17 million. We had that discussion. I appreciate your latest offer, but it's simply not enough. We have to take care of the residents, and the growth is continuing. It has been unbridled. So I would appreciate if you could please go back and make an offer that this board could consider. Well, a couple of points on that, Commissioner, and I appreciate your comments. You know, I understand that there's a lot happening in Western Palm City, and there's going to be the need for either fire station. But, again, I think what we're proposing today, it's already an existing project, number one. Number two, what we're proposing is not increasing any impacts to anything in the community. It's actually going to keep – it's going to reduce impacts because he's not going to have to truckload – put trucks on 714 to bring Phil to the site. And then, second of all, I think it's a very fair contribution given what we're impacting, and I don't think it's fair for this project to take on this huge burden. So what's the number you have in mind? Because I don't want to see – you know, you tell us what you think the number is because we think we've got it right. And I'm certainly happy to listen to it and hear what it is. You know, you're going to have – you're going to have this warehouse facility that you're constructing, correct? Well, it's an – A series of them. Well, it's an industrial permit. Industrial – Correct, correct, of which it would be a business, of which you may be leasing. There will be definitely more movement. You have to give me the number that you feel – We have 100,000. Okay. That's not enough. That's not enough for what you're proposing to do here. Okay. You have a viable concern. If you want to take a few moments to speak with your client, that would be fine with you. I will check with him because that's my obligation, but – Absolutely. Commissioner Campy. Thank you. Obviously, there's five of us up here for a reason, so you get five different opinions. I have known the Poma family and Frank for a long, long time. This project has been – it's not just happening. It's not a brand-new project. The Pomas have been generous throughout their history and their relationship with Martin. This is a great project. It's a smaller-scale industrial park that allows businesses that are going either from startup and need a place to go or that first level of improvement and expansion. So, the park is beautifully designed, beautifully kept, beautifully maintained, as is all of the Poma family properties. I thought 50,000 was generous, considering, as you said, Mr. Raines, the project exists already. I thought that when you bumped it to 100,000, doubling it, it was generous. There are other partners and projects that are happening out there that would have to take on a larger percentage of what these buildings would cost, new fire stations, and that would draw more reason for additional fire stations to exist. I think the offer of 100,000 and the fact that he's a major taxpayer and that he employs a lot of people with his own projects, they do the family, and that their tenants employ lots of people and pay all sorts of taxes, that you're not asking for something unique and new. He's talking about going from a 20-foot depth of the pond or lake to a 40, which is, as you mentioned, a rule that had taken place after the original lake was approved. So, you're just coming in to ask, and then you're not taking the fill off. As far as I'm concerned, it checks all of the appropriate boxes. I make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Commissioner Hetherington. I agree with all those comments. And, you know, in order to take the burden off of residential taxpayers, we need industrial parks. I've been there. It's a nice, smaller industrial park. There's a very minor change, which the commission approved, the 40-foot depth. I wholeheartedly support your efforts and appreciate your contribution. As well, I just want to be mindful of this board when we're talking about extracting benefits from our applicants that the state will come in if we continue, and you've seen it happen in other parts of the county or the state, if we start extracting benefits that don't have a rational nexus, although I would enjoy if everybody would contribute, the state will come in and preempt us, and we will not be getting your $100,000 contribution. We will be getting nothing. So I want to be very cautious to what this board does to actually extract benefits and more have a mutually beneficial relationship where you've offered. So thank you. I will second the motion. Commissioner Capps. I wanted to mention that I did have a conversation with Attorney Raines that I failed to tell my aide about, so I'm making my confession now. So, but I'm satisfied with the offer, and I will support it as well, and this measure, I'll support it. Commissioner Vargas. I've heard the comments from my fellow commissioners. Again, I appreciate you building out there, and certainly your family is a wonderful example of what you've been able to accomplish. I would appreciate if you could please go back and speak with your client. We do need help on building fire stations. Yeah, I did speak to him again, Commissioner, and I appreciate your comments, and I want you to understand. We took to heart what you said at least coming in forward, you know, and raising it due to your comments and stuff, so, and I appreciate it, and I just double-checked with him during your all's conversation, and 100,000 is, we feel, is the fair number. And we appreciate your comments, and we respectfully agree to disagree. I want you to know that. We're not, we understand what you're trying to accomplish. Mr. Elam, Article 4 is site development standards. Division 8 is excavation, filling, and mining in the land development regulations. Section 4.347.a.6 says that maximum depth for these lakes is 20 feet. At least that's what Muni Code says. There's a new piece of code which allows this, which I believe... It's not been updated in Muni Code. I think it is. Nope, I looked at it this weekend, because I wondered why on earth there was a proposal for a 40-foot excavation when we only allow depths of 20. I've seen it. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. So it's in the next provision for the mining standards. It's in 4.348, I believe, and it was amended to allow miners to go from 20 to 40 feet. So since this is a PUD agreement, if the board decides to make this revision, we would allow this applicant in the PUD agreement to go from 20 to 40 feet. When did this change occur? In 2022, I believe. Why? Okay. I looked it up this weekend, and it wasn't in Muni Code. So... It's... I have the... Yeah. It's in 348.48.B5. It talks about the maximum death going to 40 feet, I believe. So does 4.347.8.6, says 20. Correct. And that would be... So you've got some inconsistencies in there, and when there are inconsistencies, you take the more strict regulation. But the 40 feet is just for a mining operation. Everything else is 20 feet. So that is correct, Commissioner. This is not a mining operation, correct? Correct. So we take the more conservative approach? Well... Excavating... If the mining operation, it's excavating to 40 feet. He's not selling a product. Doesn't matter. But again, we're... This is a PUD, so that's why we're... You still have to obey the LDRs. Well, you can have... You can... That's the whole point of a PUD, is you can go away from some of the LDR requirements. Really? That's... That's news to me. That's why... That's the... That's not my understanding, either. Yeah, with the PUD. You can't be inconsistent with the comp plan or with the LDRs. Just because you're a PUD, that doesn't grant you exceptions from our rules. No, I did not say the comp plan. LDRs. Yeah. Well, the whole thing, in your LDRs, you have setback requirements, and during the PUDs, you can get relief from those. Isn't that correct? Everything in the LDRs is negotiable. Yes. Except for the height, which is in the comp plan, and... No, it's not. No. The commissioner, Paul Schilling, growth management director... The LDRs are not negotiable for all... Everything in the LDRs is not negotiable just because you have a PUD. If it complies with the comp plan, it can be negotiated. Then why bother having them? Commissioner, good morning, Commissioner. If we don't have to comply with them. Paul Schilling, growth management director. May I, Madam Chair? So there are provisions in the LDR which can be varied. That is the request. For example, on setbacks, lot sizes, things of that nature, this is an example of a deviation from the code. There is no prohibition on applying for and seeking approval of any variance or deviation from the LDR. There isn't a variance that's provided in the LDR. Commissioner... You get that you're seeking one, but it's not allowable. The purpose of this hearing is to seek that approval. Commissioner Campy. Try to bring this in for a landing. Mr. Schilling, did your growth management, professional growth management staff review this? Yes, sir. Do you feel that the recommendation you made is appropriate? Yes. Ms. Elder, did your, in your legal opinion, did you review this? I did. Do you feel that legally, as a lawyer, that this is appropriate? I do. My motion stands. I called a question. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? We need public comment, sorry. Is there any public comment? Seeing none, there's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Opposed? That motion passes four to one with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. We need to have further discussion about how you can just waive the LDRs if you have a PUD, because that is absolutely not the truth. Commissioner, there is a provision in the LDRs that allows for that. It allows a negotiation of the zoning standards for PUD agreements in Section 3.241. So it is allowed per our land development regulations for PUD agreements. Thank you for your opinion. But it has to be consistent with the comp plan. Yes. That is not negotiable, that part. None of it's negotiable. Thank you. Department 1, Office of Management and Budget Items, which require board approval. Good morning, Ms. Murley. Good morning. Stephanie Murley, Director of OMB, here to present seven items on today's OMB item. Our first item is a permission to accept the Supporting Healthy Aging Through Parks and Recreation, or the SHAPER grant. The Parks and Recreation Department is requesting the acceptance of $1,000 to facilitate two instructor trainings and participant materials for the Walk with Ease program for the aging population, and there's no grant match required for this grant. Item number two is a permission to accept the Florida Department of Transportation LAP grant for the State Road 714 Southeast Monterey Road and County Road A1A Multimodal Pathway Project. The Public Works Department is requesting the acceptance of $2,246,880 for the construction of a multimodal pathway that will connect existing bicycle lanes to the north and south side of Southeast Monterey Road. There is no grant match required, but the remaining balance of the project budget of $285,000 is programmed within the FY25 Signalization and Intersection Improvement CIP. Item number three is a request from the Martin County Sheriff's Office is a permission to accept the Bureau of Justice Assistance Criminal Alien Assistance Program grant. This is a grant award in the amount of $15,988 that will fund costs at the Martin County Sheriff's Corrections Facility for the training of corrections officers related to offender population management, medical and mental health services, and vehicle rental and purchase for the transportation of offenders, and there is no grant match required. Item number four is a permission to accept the FDOT Runway 1230 Precision Approach Path Indicator and Runway End Identifier Lights Replacement. This is at the Martin County Witham Field. It's a grant award in the amount of $3,125 to design everything I just stated in the title. There is a local match of $3,125, which is budgeted within the Airport Capital Improvement Plan. Item number five is a permission to accept the FDOT Witham Field Hold Bay Extension. This is a grant award for the airport of $37,650 for the cost of construction, the Hold Bay Extension at the Runway 12 end of Taxiway Alpha. There is a match required in the amount of $37,650, which is budgeted within the Airport Capital Improvement Plan as well. And item number six is a permission to accept the FDOT Rehabilitation of Taxi Lane B Construction. This is a grant award in the amount of $921,790 for the cost of construction of rehabilitation of Taxi Lane Bravo. There is a local share required in the amount of $247,683, which is also budgeted within the Airport Capital Improvement Plan. And last but not least, this is a request for a budget transfer and a CIP modification from the Utilities Department. Utilities is requesting an additional $120,000 from their Utilities Enterprise Reserves in order to begin the construction of the Martin Towns Wastewater Repump Station project. This was initially delayed, and due to that delay, the additional funding is required in order to get this project moving. And that's all I have today. Questions? Motion to accept Ms. Murley's presentation. Any further discussion? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next is Department 2, contracts that meet the threshold for board approval of a million dollars or greater. Ms. Brotherinton. Good morning, Commissioners. Christy Brotherton, Chief Procurement Officer. I have three items for your approval today, but we do need to separate out Item A2. Is that what your question is? Commissioner Hetherington. Yes. Commissioners, could we please separate out A2? As a consultant for Ferrer Construction, I will be abstaining from A2. I've filed my Form 8B, and thank you. Okay. We'll vote separately on that. Okay. If it's okay with you, I will present that item first. Sure. Okay. So the first item for your consideration is Item A2, which is our Port Salerno Peninsula Neighborhood Restoration Project. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is for Ferrer Construction Company in the amount of $1,640,641, and two, move that the board approve the fiscal year 25 amended CIP sheet for the Port Salerno Peninsula Neighborhood Restoration Project. And three, move that the board authorize a county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. Commissioner Campy. I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendations for one, two, and three, especially if it's going to benefit Port Salerno Peninsula. I have questions about two, and that is please tell me what exactly this is. It's Port Salerno and Rocky Point. George Zama, Public Works Deputy Director. So the scope incorporates our typical neighborhood restoration of drainage improvements, and it also incorporates low-pressure force main throughout the neighborhood, which is east of Dixie Highway, between Dixie Highway and Manatee Pocket. And utilities and department has also elected to incorporate a service area of low-pressure force main in portions of Rocky Point. So we added that scope to this project for cost efficiencies, and there is also another component that the CRA is contributing for some improvements in the neighborhood. So, you know, in an effort of a team-based approach between three separate departments, we combine scope to complete the project. Okay, so it's just a move to do this more efficiently? Okay. Correct. So Rocky Point, just for reference, Rocky Point, you know, there's thresholds for neighborhoods for low-pressure force main and a vacuum sewer system. This is a section of Rocky Point that's kind of a transition zone between the peninsula and the mainland, if you will, and utilities felt it was better to serve with low-pressure force main. So we just, because we have a great magnitude of scope with this project, we just added it on in this little section, which is really along Manatee Cove Road area. So that's the service area for this additional scope. Okay. Any further questions? Is there a motion to approve these? I motion to approve this. Is there a second? Second. Commissioner Kapp seconds. Any further comment? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. I'm sorry, four to zero with Commissioner Hetherington abstaining. Okay. So we will go back to item A1, which is our professional services for the Bathtub Beach Sailfish Point Beach Nourishment Project 2027 rebid. And staff is recommending that the board award the contract to FOTH Infrastructure and Environment, which is doing business as Olson Associates, in the amount of $3,112,077. And two, move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And last but not least, we have a contract amendment for the professional services for the operation and management of the St. Lucey Inlet contract, staff is recommending that the board approve amendment number one to Gahagan and Bryant Associates in the amount of $464,432.15. And two, move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item. Any questions on A1 or B1? Yes, I do have a question on Bathtub Beach, if you could scroll back to that. I was looking at the dollars that are being spent. It was a breakdown. How much of that amount is ad valorem taxes? Jessica Garland, Coastal Program Manager, for the record. So that $3 million is going to be spent over five years. And it covers design, construction, engineering, inspection. So we can get, it'll be 63% of that expense. The 36.99% of that can be covered by grant. And then we also have a sale fish point share that will cover part of that as well. So it's not a full 63% covered by Martin County. So it's, as I understand, it was Hutchison Island. I saw something on here. I don't know. Scroll down a bit. Hutchison Island, MSTU. There is a small portion from the MSTU as well. Okay. And so what portion, percentage would be ad valorem? Is this countywide or is it just that section of sale fish point that would be contributing? Commissioner, the funding for the coastal inlet program is mostly funded by ad valorem funds, general ad valorem funds. There's also some funds that we get from the, that's shared from the, um, um, sales, uh, the, um, tourist tax dollars. There's a certain amount of tourist tax dollars. And then there's, uh, the smallest portion is the Hutchison Island MSTU, which is probably, in this particular case, less than a percent. Um, uh, and, uh, those funds that go into the inlet management plan. And with the Corps of Engineers, uh, we use that to match with the federal program and also the state program. And then we have an agreement with sale fish point that for projects that are specifically beach nourishment on sale fish point, they split the local costs 50-50. So that, um, at, at any given time, uh, sometimes we pay as little as, uh, well, zero percent on the Corps doing some projects under FCCE projects. Um, and then sometimes we're paying up to 50%. So it depends on, on the, um, on the project and the storm damage recovery that we benefit or from congressional appropriations. Um, and so that, in the end, our staff's job and our job is to maximize the amount of, of funding that we can get from the state and federal to offset our local dollars. We also have an agreement with Jupiter Island on how we are funding and spending this program that we've had in place for some time to ensure that the impacts from the inlet are, uh, to south beaches is being mitigated, uh, um, uh, on a timely manner. So that, uh, uh, we can discuss that with you in more detail, but that agreement is also kind of central to, to how we operate the inlet. And so the bathtub beach, a portion of that project is operated by the inlet management plan. And the fact that the inlet has caused erosion to the North section as well as the South. And so there's a portion of that project that, um, under the agreement with the state of Florida, we're obligated to construct. Right. I understand everything you've said. And of course, what I picked up from this last week, um, is just if a constituent comes to me and says, well, how much is this costing me? I don't, I can't give them an explanation as eloquent as you've given. I need to say, this is what it is. Do you know what I'm saying? So if you could say about a third of it is, uh, is the County funds. So that's total County paying for that. Of course, I know that you're seeking as much as you can to bring back those tax dollars back to us again, which is what it's about. Yes. Okay. So you're constantly monitoring this. Yes. And seeking grants. Yeah, absolutely. And you'll be helping with us to continue. I will. I'll be right there. Me, my little calculator. Any further comments, questions? Is there a motion to approve a one and B one? So moved. Second. There's a motion in a second. All those in favor. I opposed that motion passes unanimously. Next up is the department three, which has discussed the 2025 priorities of the board of County commissioners. Mr. Vargas, you want to elaborate on yours? Um, well, I think it's everything water, water, water, uh, anything dealing with that. I think that boils it down. Um, do you, do you have those forms? Um, is it in here in the book? Don Donaldson? Yep. Yes. Okay, right there. Yeah. All right. That's fine. I may have made some notes in there. I didn't know. Um, okay. Um, so yes, there is a building that I've identified so far. One building, there could be two buildings, but this particular one is right in the central commercial area. It's on the back street of Jensen Beach Boulevard, uh, on the corner of Pineapple, almost Pineapple. It's Riku Terrace and Pineapple, and that's been vacant for quite a few years. I did go into the building, and I, I was not pleased by what, by what there was. It was built in the 60s. Um, it's, it doesn't have the effects or the accoutrements or anything that you say, we, we really would like to preserve this from the outside. So it's my understanding that we are seeking opinions, um, outside of our county, uh, to see how we might benefit better, whether it's going to be, um, bringing the building down implosion, or somebody is interested in reconstruction. We still own the property. Uh, they would be a user and end user of that project. And so this is one of the properties, although we have others, uh, throughout my district that I'll be looking at. But this particular one is definitely on target for me this, this particular year. Also, I'm looking at state and federal funding, of which I learned so much about in the last couple of weeks, about the wildlife corridor. I understand the Loxalusi and the Jonathan Dickinson Park to, um, create this wildlife corridor, and this will protect the habitat, water quality, uh, the agriculture, and, of course, for public recreation. I might even use it myself. I, I shall use it myself, actually. I will say that. I'm also going to advocate for federal funding, funding for the, uh, construction of the St. Lucie Inlet Operation and Maintenance, the South Jetty Construction, and Hutchison Island Shore Protection Project. So those are a couple of different, um, um, uh, areas that we're going to pull together. Uh, and also I'm looking for the water quality grants on hazard mitigation grant programs and revolving loan programs that are available to us. So we want to tap every source as possible. Um, and then, of course, support increased funding for SERP, which I think the governor has just made a mention. And, um, and I have that article upstairs and expedited construction of projects that, uh, will benefit the St. Lucie River and estuary. So, as I say, it's water, water, water, everything dealing with that shoreline. And I'm so glad that I went to that conference last week. It opened my, my eyes to the potential and the possibilities and what we can bring back to Martin County. So, but I'm still looking at that building, but there are other buildings too. So I'll speak with the necessary department heads about that. Okay. To make that happen. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. Yes. Okay. So, um, our first, we had a ribbon cutting recently for El Camino Trail, which is been a priority of the Golden Gate CRA for some time. And it was bid and then rebid and construction costs went up. And so I was really pleased that we were able to do the ribbon cutting and it is, should be under construction soon. But I want to make sure that we continue to have the funding and, um, secure additional funding. We had to phase out a portion of the project. So I'd like to see that included in the future. So, um, and with, with the federal funding kind of volatile at the moment, um, I just want to make sure that we maintain the funding and see this project to, uh, to fruition. It's been on my priorities for the last couple of years. I hope to be able to take it off next year because it will be completed. So the second one is, uh, and interestingly enough, we have a departmental number four right after this is, um, pedestrian and safety and traffic calming. We started with this St. Lucie corridor over by the Martin County golf course had received many, many, um, resident concerns years ago on that road. And we put in speed feedback signs, we put in a speed table, uh, three-way stop in front of the golf course. And the residents have been very satisfied with those work. And I wanted to continue it down St. Lucie Boulevard and Jefferson. Jefferson, as again, you'll hear the next agenda item is a really straight away from Dixie highway to St. Lucie. It was just resurfaced. It's a, um, it's a, and there are several driveways and streets. Again, we'll talk about that the next item, but the reason it's on my priorities is because it's so vital, important to our community and the safety, the pedestrian aspect, as well as the intersection of Jefferson and St. Lucie. There's a crosswalk there currently, and you'll note it as the banyan trees. It's got a tiny little sidewalk on the side of the banyan trees, which we really can't, you can't move because of the banyan trees. It abuts right on the road. So we want to do on that crosswalk, a pedestrian lighted flash sign and a liquid brick crossing. So that makes the crossing more denotable for that area and, um, is safer for pedestrians. So hopefully we can get this accomplished this year. And again, the next item will address, um, traffic calming on Jefferson. I have not wanted to put in speed tables because those don't seem to be, especially with marine traffic, um, the right solution on these roads. And then septic to sewer, um, sitting on some of these, the Indian River Lagoon Council and Martin County has a model septic to sewer program throughout the state. The way we've, um, added our own skin in the game, our contribution, how many connections we've done. We have a model program, so we need to keep funding that and keep moving along in that program. Um, and I know that SRF funds have been, um, more competitive now to get. So whatever I can do to go to Tallahassee and continue to bring those SRF funds, we will do. Workforce housing, we continue to talk about it. Interestingly, in my district, I've had a number of constituent calls because of certain areas who were, um, maybe, uh, HUD or they, they were controlled, um, they had an affordable housing component, which have just expired. So I've got a number of people in my district that are like the rest of the nation, you know, really, um, being priced out of their homes and the county. So, um, I know that it can't be that was on your priority. And, um, um, I want to continue to have those quarterly discussions and updates and look for opportunities for workforce housing. And then, uh, of course, reduce and maintain current tax rates. And I added in this year, um, with all that, I think, you know, our, our discussions on bringing different kind of tax revenues into Martin County is important. So that the burden doesn't rely on just the single family residential. And with our homestead exemptions, you know, we have the way our rate payers pay, it makes the budget process interesting. So we need to continue to hold those rates down and look for other sources of revenue. And I'm really, as the rates come in for these recreational facilities, that again is an amenity. And I want to try to keep those, you know, within reason as, um, flat as possible for our beautiful recreation facilities. And that's all I have. Thank you. Commissioner Capps. Well, and talking with our county administrator about how long this list could be. He, he, he encouraged me to, uh, boil it down to our top five, right? And that kind of the, the idea, um, there's only if C one through five of mine, right? And it's hard to boil it down to just five things, but, uh, I know that's what we need to do to, in the interest of timing, you know, district three represents three distinct communities, Hobe Sound, Indian Town, and Northern Tequesta, um, unlike some of the other districts that are more centralized in one community in Martin County. You want 15? Right. I think that would be good. Um, but anyway, uh, I thought about two thoughts when I was thinking about my top five. One would be like, what is the most important countywide priority that applies everywhere? And the first thing that came to mind to me was improving water quality. And how do we do this, uh, by, uh, purchasing conservation lands, uh, which we're going to be able to do in a great volume in the coming days because of the half cent sales tax referendum that passed in November that will give us lots of resources. These are going to be very exciting days, uh, for conservation, and we look forward to that. And then also by converting from septic to sewer, uh, the county's on a good track. I think it's, uh, 10,000 homes in 10 years is the goal, and I think we're on track with that. Let's get it done. So I think, to me, that's the most important countywide priority. And then I thought about how I'm to represent all three communities in District 3, and, and I thought of some district priorities. Two for Hope Sound. The Dixie Highway Streetscape Project in downtown Hope Sound. I'm sure many of you, uh, enjoy eating at the restaurants, uh, along our access road on Dixie Highway, uh, Citron and Sophia's and, uh, wonderful places to dine. And maybe you've been to, uh, Attorney Mark Gaylord's office for a real estate closing down there. And, uh, and maybe you've, you've been there when, uh, you've had to step out of your car in a heavy rainstorm only to find your, your shoes sinking into about four inches of standing water in the parking areas there. We've been plagued with drainage problems along the access road for many decades, and they've never been able to really come up with a good solution. The water spills out onto, uh, A1A or Dixie and creates kind of a, uh, a hazard for the motoring public. So all that needs to be torn up and redone with better drainage and better asphalt and better parking. Um, and we look forward to that in the coming days. Secondly in Hope Sound is the new fire rescue building at Hope Sound Beach. This is going to be a big deal for Hope Sounders, um, because we've, we've been used to the old canopy, uh, for many decades. And, uh, my wife and I enjoy sitting down there, uh, looking at the beach. Uh, I don't walk on the beach a whole lot. I like to walk out in the woods, but, um, but, uh, we, we love to go look at the beach. And, um, and many locals love it, too. And so the new building is needed by fire rescue, um, for emergency situations. Uh, right now they're operating in very substandard conditions, um, uh, basically performing medical procedures on a little kitchen floor, as I understand it. And, uh, and also the bathrooms there are really old and outdated and need to be replaced. So we need to come up with a good design that's satisfactory to fire rescue, to the Hope Sound locals, and, uh, to the town of Jupiter Island. Um, so that's going to be a big deal in the coming days in Hope Sound. When I thought of Indiantown and something realistic and something that might be able to be done in the next few or several years, the first thing that came to mind to me was the 714-710 road realignment in Indiantown. If you take the Martin Grade west to where it merges into 710 that goes to, uh, Okeechobee, um, you know there's a, a sharp hook in the road right there at the end. And that has contributed to a lot of accidents and, um, a lot of problems. Um, and so the idea is to straighten that out and to run that little hook through a cow pasture, um, so that it's straighter. And I, I believe, uh, according to the MPO, uh, that's a priority that would be coming up reasonably soon. Is that right? Uh, the next few years maybe we could get it done. Yes, sir, Commissioner. And I think with this board's continued pressure, we'll help, uh, the DOT, both DOT districts, uh, keep their commitment to fixing that. Good. Good. And then lastly, I thought of, uh, Northern Tequesta. We tend to forget about those folks down there. Uh, they are Martin County residents too. And, and they, they need something, uh, out of this deal as well. And we have a bridge on County Line Road close to Heritage Oaks and Little Club, back in that area. It's a little bridge, um, that is going to be replaced real soon. I believe we're breaking ground on that thing in about a year, is that, or six months or something like that. So, uh, that's a big deal for the Tequesta area. So those are my priorities. Commissioner Campy. Oh, that's very kind of you. Four. Uh, correct broadband connection issues. Believe it or not, in 2025, here in Martin County, there are residents, especially in the Palm City Farms area, that are still without, uh, consistent and, uh, an appropriate broadband or Internet access. I know that we have been working with our staff for a long time and getting much closer, working with Comcast. Uh, Mr. Stokas has been leading the charge for us, and I appreciate it. I know that there was even some grant dollars, but, uh, I want to be careful every time we have a positive. I reach out to the folks out there that are on me about this issue, and I say, oh, it's going to, we got it. And then it's still such a complicated process that we're not there yet. Uh, I know that with Mr. Gordon's help and our public works department, we have been working for several years, uh, on a drainage and flooding issues in Palm City Farms. We did a whole, um, very expensive and detailed analysis because it is so complex and, and everything is interconnected or related. Drainage and flooding issues start way in western Martin County, work their way through Palm City Farms, over Martin Highway, into Canopy Creek, under or over the Turnpike, into Martin Downs. I know that there was some issues being discussed, uh, even today about Martin Downs and things like that. And then it goes through Martin Downs, back towards Lighthouse Point, and then into the river. Um, residents have been patient. Every once in a while they have rally meetings at, uh, uh, at a church out there, and they're constantly looking for not just the answers, they're looking for the solutions. And I think we're closer, so I just wanted to make that, uh, one of the issues. Uh, number three has been something that a different constituency group all over the county, but specifically in, in, in Palm City, is the, is the strong desire for us to construct and open a dog park. Uh, I know the city of Stewart has two. Um, I still believe that we need to negotiate with our friends, our dear, dear friends at the South Florida Water Management District because we have identified a site that I believe is absolutely perfect. Um, it's a leased piece of property that, uh, every time they say that they're not interested, that, that doesn't work for me. And so I know that our sweet, dear friends at the South Florida Water Management District will like to come back to the, to the table when we can show them exactly what we're talking about. Uh, and a group of residents, private residents, have been funding for many years, uh, a fund that would be a contribution to the county's efforts to create this. Uh, there's also been a very, very generous offer that instead of using natural grass for a dog park, which, if the park is what we would expect, very well utilized, uh, it's tough to maintain that grass. Uh, so what a lot of, um, communities throughout the United States and probably globally use is a synthetic grass, um, that is actually more environmentally friendly and sanitary than real grass. Uh, and someone is willing to donate all of the grass, this, the turf that would be necessary to do that. And that's well over a hundred thousand dollar donation. And then, as my colleagues had also discussed, is the construction of the septic to sewer conversion projects. I know that Commissioner Hurd and I were the original ones that when we tasked staff with really a very aggressive, um, desire, and Commissioner Hedrington came on right as we were doing it, uh, they've been doing terrific. We originally, for folks that might not remember or are new to the community, we had prioritized, based on environmental need, um, a list of how we would do it. And old Palm City or, you know, um, east of Map Road along the river, but also west of Map Road along, um, Sunset, you know, Thelma and the rest of them. These folks have been waiting for many, many years, some of them, um, reluctantly postponing needed septic repairs or replacements, not wanting to spend $25,000 or $30,000 to replace the septic system, only to find out that the following year the county came in and figured it out. So I know that we are very, very close to getting that done. Um, for me, I numbered them one through four, but any one of them, I could have probably numbered most of them just one because they're important to the constituents. Like, if you don't have a dog, a dog park's not that important, and if you have a septic issue, then that's your concern. So, um, it was easy to redo this list year after year, as Commissioner Hedrington said. The best thing that could happen is that they get accomplished, and I don't have to put them on again. And I know our staff is working on them. It's not a critique of our staff. It's just a lot of moving parts to make these things happen. But I want them to be first front and center for me, front and center for our staff, and I want our residents to realize, especially within District 5, this is what we're focusing our attention on. And one final comment to Commissioner Capps, that 7-14-7-10 retrofit there, as well as the Tommy Clemens area of 7-10. Those, I'm glad you've inherited those and made them your priorities because they are very, very important priorities. Thank you. Thank you. And mine are first to stopover development in Martin County. That's pretty much self-explanatory. Next is acquisition of natural lands component for the completion of the Indian River Lagoon South Plan. That's our portion of SERP. The natural lands component is an authorized WERDA project, so it's eligible for funding. And now whoever wants to be our partner can use that toward their ledger, their ledger keeping. Both the state and the federal governments, if they choose to partner with us, can use that as part of their SERP ledger, which is extremely important right now. Port Salerno community redevelopment area, I simply want for the county and the CRA to make prudent investments in Port Salerno so that it redevelops as best it can. Cease gunfire and illegal activity in Palmar. This has been an ongoing problem. It's Commissioner Capps, you just took a helicopter ride. I'm sure that you saw lots of examples of the illegal activity in Palmar, both off-road vehicles, destroying the wetlands, and also lots of unpermitted structures. We now have a security firm that's going to be helping us. Code enforcement needs to be helping us. The sheriff needs to be helping us so that we can make sure that our conservation lands throughout the county are maintained, that the habitat is healthy, and also that people are safe. And lastly, spoil sites. The muck removal in the St. Lucie Estuary in the Indian River Lagoon is also an authorized project, so now it's eligible for funding. And once again, whoever partners with us can put these contributions on their ledgers. So in order to be able to start letting contracts, we need to have spoil sites because we're going to be dredging 9 million cubic yards of muck from those estuaries. And that's that. All right, Ms. Gordon, before we move on to the other items, do you want to do the board appointments? Yeah. Commissioner Hurd, if I could just wrap up the last comment. So just as your administrator and our staff, well, obviously these collectively become part of the county's priorities and part of our strategic plan. And so along with some other items that we have routinely done, Ms. Morley is going to work with me on bringing back to you out of kind of a summary of our strategic plan of which these elements will be part of the tip of the spear, if you will, of what we will be focusing our efforts on this next year. Thank you. I just received a request to speak form on this. Is this on the board appointment with your permission, commissioners? Can we hear from Dr. Fogelson? Yes. Sure. Please come forward, and you'll have three minutes to address us. She had good timing. She did. Very good timing. We're about to take that item up. Thank you so much. My name is Susan Fogelson. I am a business owner and a landowner in Port Salerno. You may not have met me before, but I wanted to introduce myself and kind of give you a little bit of background of why I'd like to be part of the NAC. Over the last couple years, I've kind of been a silent participant, going to meetings and kind of listening to what's happening in Port Salerno, and I feel like my position or my proposed position on the NAC may provide a different perspective to the community. I think there has been a lot of aggression, which has been a deterrent for me to get involved, unfortunately. I feel like there's a lot of sides being taken, and I want to be a neutral party and be part of the community and help the community. You know, I live there. I work there. I'm there every day, and I want it to succeed, and I want it to be a beautiful community that people can enjoy going to. I spend weekends, you know, going to some of the facilities down in Manatee Pocket, and my professional office is actually there about a block away. So all of the changes that are happening with the CRA and the proposed developments really impact me, and I'd like to be able to have a say in that but also represent an underrepresented community that maybe doesn't want to step forward for fear of, for lack of a better term, bullying. And I want to be part of it, but I also don't want to be targeted. So I've been really hesitant to speak out until now, but I am a part of the community, and I'd like to be represented, and I know that there's others out there like me who potentially want to be represented as well. Thank you. Thank you so much. If you don't know, Commissioners, Dr. Folson is a veterinarian. And she's mostly a pathologist, and she does pathology of large animals from all over the world. I actually have a specialty in fish as well. So about 60% of my practice works with fish, both wild and captive. And so I have a really big stake in looking at disease in fish. And so, you know, I work with FWC and some of the state agencies to try and help keep our waterways and our animals healthy, as well as humans. So I kind of am at the intersection of humans, animals, and the environment. And so I'm trying to do the best for all of them that I can with the specialty that I have. So, yeah, I'm a veterinarian, but with a passion for fish and aquatics. And I apologize for being late today as I was actually at a local aquatic facility trying to help their fish stay healthy. Thank you. Commissioner Campy. I just wanted to mention, Doctor, that this agenda item was going to be first. So at least I have already submitted my ballot. But it's a pleasure to meet you. And I would tell you, as I have said many times in the past, when we have to vote to pick one private resident who's willing to participate in the system, over another, it's probably one of the, at least for me, the most difficult decision to be made. Because in a perfect situation, we would let everybody that wants to participate, especially as volunteers, and bring their talents and their time to the process. But we can only pick a couple. And so having not known you, it's a pleasure to get an opportunity to meet you. So I would say, I don't know how the vote will go. But if it's not you this time, I would certainly encourage you to apply again. Thank you. I appreciate your time. And it's nice to meet all of you. Thank you. And Commissioner Capps. I have one question. Do you watch Dr. Pohl on TV? That's my wife's favorite show. I thought that one closed down there. I thought he retired a little. Yeah, he did. But we watched the reruns. I did a little bit when I was younger. Unfortunately, you know, it's part of my daily life. So usually when I'm not. You don't watch shows about your profession? Yeah. Not so much. You know, I like to actually get out on the water and, you know, have fun at the beach and do all the things that the locals like to do. Exactly. Yeah. So it's kind of. I do. I do. Every once in a while, I'll watch it and, you know, see some of the medicine that I don't get to see on the regular. Okay. Thanks. Sure. Ms. Gordon. This is for the Golden Gate, Hope Sound, Port Salerno, and Rio. Golden Gate, there's two vacancies but didn't have any applications. Hope Sound, there's two positions and two applicants, and I'm recommending Michael Banas be reappointed for a term to end in February 29 and Ms. Butler to be appointed for a term to end in September of 26, and that's to complete an outgoing member's term. And then jumping to Rio, there were two positions open and no applicants. Port Salerno, there's four applicants, three positions. Ms. Kathy Harvey received five votes. Ms. Jamie Roll Taylor received four votes. Mr. Gerald Cass and Dr. Susan Fogel each received three votes. So we have a tie. How can they each receive three votes when there are only five of us? Yes. I double-checked. I can read them off if you want. Could that be possible? It's not. It is. If there's three votes for, oh, well, I'm not going to second-guess you because I know that's not going to work. Yeah. See, I learned that a long time ago. I went through them because, yeah, I can go through each voting sheet if you want me to. Yeah, because you could do that because you said one of them was four to one. Right. So that person didn't. Yeah. Jamie Roll Taylor received four votes. So one of the her votes. Could be for somebody else. Exactly. Making it six. So give our sheets back to us and let's break the tie. So you want us to circle three again? No, just between Cass and Fogelson. Okay. Thank you. In pencil. Thank you. Can you tell me what mine is? And Mr. Gerald Cass received four votes. Motion to accept the votes as presented by Ms. Gordon. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Madam Chair, may I? Susan Cora's Community Development Director. I just wanted to clear up a little information that was spoken about earlier today about NAC appointments. The reason that Mr. Cass was on the committee and then had to reapply after two months is because he accepted the term of another member that had resigned. And it doesn't generally happen that they're that close together. But there's particular criteria that applicants apply for in the NAC. And so he took someone else's term and finished it out. The same thing happened in Hope Sound, actually, with Mr. Banas. He took someone else's term, finished it out. So they would have to reapply for a new term. Most terms are, I believe, four years. So that's why that happened. It had nothing to do with that he had to reapply for some other reason. It was just the completion of a term. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Let's move on to Department 4, which is a request to consider installation of stop signs on southeast Jefferson Street at its intersection with southeast Evergreen Ave. Motion to accept. Mr. Griselka, please proceed. Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, I'm Michael Griselka, the county engineer, and this is a request by the residents of the area of Golden Gate and surrounding to install, excuse me a second, all-way stop condition at the intersection of southeast Jefferson Street and southeast Evergreen Ave. The history on this, southeast Jefferson Street is a major collector which connects County Road A1A to southeast St. Lucie Boulevard and Sandsport Park. So there are many motorists towing boat trailers along the corridor. Residents of Golden Gate and its surrounding areas have complained of excessive speeding along the corridor. Many conventional traffic calming features involve vertical deflections such as speed tables and raised intersections which would generate irritable noises for nearby residents or horizontal restrictions such as lane narrowing and bulbs outs which would deter motorists from trailering boats. Although deterring motorists from trailing boats along the corridor seems reasonable, there is no other feasible access to Sandsport Park from County Road A1A. The route along Indian Street and St. Lucie Boulevard is a feasible alternative to Jefferson Street for passenger vehicles, however, is not feasible for high-profile vehicles because they cannot safely pass under the historic tree canopy along St. Lucie Boulevard. As an alternative to conventional traffic calming features, the residents of Golden Gate and the surrounding areas have asked the Public Works Department to install stop signs on southeast Jefferson Street at its approaches to southeast Evergreen Avenue. The county has adopted the Federal Highway Administration's manual and uniform traffic control devices. The MUTCD provides warrants for engineers to use to determine where stop signs should be installed. The warrants are based on crash experience, sight distance, transition to signal control, eight-hour volume, and other factors. None of these warrants have been met at this intersection. Therefore, staff cannot support the installation of stop signs on southeast Jefferson Street at its intersection with southeast Evergreen Avenue because when stop signs are installed where they are not warranted, unintentioned consequences result. So, the staff recommendation is to move that the board deny the residents' request for the stop signs. However, we have also provided an alternative to this, which would be move that the board adopt the resolution authorizing the installation of stop signs on southeast Jefferson Street at its intersection with southeast Evergreen Avenue and authorize the chair to sign the resolution. And that resolution has been included in your package if you so deem to go down that right. Commissioner Hetherington. Yes, thank you, Mr. Griselka. So, the residents have asked, but they've really demanded that their safety be improved. And the reason this board is taking this item up is because there are provisions that when you can't adopt the, what is the engineering standard warrant, that this board can, for the safety of the residents, provide these provisions. It's happened previously in speed limit changes. It's happened on St. Lucie Boulevard with the stop sign in front of the golf course, which wasn't warranted. However, let me just give you a little picture of this particular road. It, it, it, it, Jefferson is a, it's a major corridor that connects Dixie Highway to St. Lucie. Uh, Sandsprint Park uses it. And a lot of boat traffic does. So, yes, while residents wanted to slow the traffic down, we resisted from putting speed tables and things that would, um, impede the flow or, um, not be acceptable to marine traffic. So, the solution was, and if you drive from Dixie approximately to Evergreen, there are a number of driveway connections. Driveway after driveway, I went and sat and visited with residents, sat in their front yard, on their back porches, and watched the traffic. And while I say a snapshot in a traffic warrant study on a particular certain, um, time, there are a number of speeding vehicles through there. It's a danger to the kids. There's at least three bus stops on that street. And this was a good compromise to not putting speed tables in, but to put a break in the traffic. The road hasn't been striped since the resurfacing. Lisa Wixer and I, you know, former county engineer, before she retired, we had been working on this for several years, but waited until the sewer project was done and the resurfacing. And now with the resurfacing, I would say the speed has increased because it's a, it's a great surface. It looks like a runway because it hasn't yet been striped. And we do have some landscaping and some things, like I mentioned, in my board, uh, priorities. The reason this is a high priority in my district is because the residents expect and need this. So, I would humbly ask your consideration, and that's why this provision comes to the board. Because there are alternatives, and I would make a motion for approval. Second. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I have a question. Maybe two. Um, so, staff did not recommend what was proposed initially. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. And the reason why? It, it, it, it, we follow the, the standards provided by the federal government for installation of traffic control devices, and adding a, adding the stop signs at this particular intersection does not meet any of the warrants for adding the, the stop signs. Um, but however, you said an alternative would be another solution, and so why did you make that decision? Is that correct? The alternative is that you all vote to accept it and install it at the resident's requests. Okay. From my knowledge, what is the cost of a stop sign? I want to say they're about 200 bucks each. $200. So, 200 and 200 and 200 and 200? Well, there's two stop signs already there. We'd be adding two. Just two. So, 400. Okay. But about the traffic, would that impede the flow? That's going to cause people to stop, correct? I understand that, but I mean. Blow them down. I get that. I get that's what we do with a stop sign. But what I'm saying is back up. I mean, there are other places where you say, well, it's going to be like a backup or an imposition on. I mean, a good example of this is in Palm City with along Cornell, where they've added years ago, they added three sets of stop signs along Cornell to do this, to do this exact same thing, which was slow people down and slow the cut down traffic down. Like I said, looking at the other alternatives along that road for speed control, it doesn't make sense on that road because you put humps in there or raised intersections, it creates a lot noisier things for the residents, especially with the boat traffic or the trailer traffic, I should say, going up and down that road. So, I mean, this is one alternative. It's just that myself, as the county engineer, cannot recommend it because it does not meet federal standards. But it's not to say that you guys can't direct us to go forward. Commissioner Capps has a question. Yeah, basically, I wanted you to kind of restate things in non-engineering lingo for us basic people. Like you had mentioned unintended consequences. Any thoughts about what any of those might be? Early on, when you add stop signs like this, a lot of times you'll end up with more rear-end crashes because people are stopping and people behind them don't realize it. A lot of that, though, can be avoided with advanced warning signs and letting everybody know that, you know, these are coming up, that they're being installed. I mean, over time, you know, that gets mitigated. But the initial stuff, that kind of stuff does happen. And, Commissioner Hetherington, you had mentioned certain exceptions to federal standards being made around the county for various reasons. Could one of you comment on that a little more? Commissioner, maybe I can step in for a second. So, if this meant the warrants, the county engineer and their traffic staff would have all the authority to install the stop sign under those regulations. And, but since it did not, they brought it to you for consideration. If this was on a road that was, had, in the county engineer's opinion, a very high risk of complexity or just simply high risk, you know, your county attorney and others would weigh in on that we would still not recommend the board install it. So, in this case, because it's a, in a part of the neighborhood and the character of the road, they included the resolution for, except, you know, knowing that if the board collectively deems it as appropriate, it is, the risks are sufficiently low that they put the resolution in there. If the risks were significantly higher, there would be no resolution, and there would be lots of conversation before we relented to the pressure of the board. But, anyway, so that, I think that's just to you for your edification. It is, it is not a preferred method of traffic calming, I think, is what the engineers typically see. However, we do experience in many neighborhoods and many areas where there is these minor collectors, where stop signs are put in, and we get used to them. And the traveling public is able to accept them in a safe manner. We could not do the same thing on U.S. 1, regardless of the public pressure to put a stop sign in the middle of U.S. 1 just would not work, right? So, that's kind of the contrast of the two, just trying to put it in perspective. The risk is sufficiently low that staff included a resolution for you to adopt. Good. That was very, very helpful. And I'm satisfied with the motion and the second, so I'll support the motion. Commissioner Campy. Thank you. So, I know that it sometimes can be frustrating for our professional staff, especially engineers. They're very technical. When Mr. Donaldson was the head of the engineering department, he and I had a couple of rounds on traffic lights on Martin Highway. And that's when Terry Rout was here and Lisa Wixer. And I remember I was a new commissioner, and we were having speeding issues. Martin Highway was recently two-laned. That created a lot of speeding opportunities for residents. There were accidents, one that had a fatality at Barry and Martin. There were kids that were trying to cross to riding bikes that got hit by cars. And so, we pushed real hard. They did not warrant traffic signals. And there was concern that the residents will feel like there's too many. And now, I'll tell you, you've all driven that length of Martin Highway. I don't know what we would have done without them. You know, especially as Commissioner Hetherington was saying about individual driveways where people have to, like, literally pull out of their homes. And I know that this is a, one of those gray issues where, you know, thoughtful individuals can disagree. But I get that there's a federal guideline, which is more of a, obviously, universal guideline that it's over the entire nation. Then there's state guidelines, but there's no person, no one that's more, in my opinion, should be giving what the actual situation is right where it exists than the residents that live there. The frustration that they have with people racing past their homes or not getting out of their driveways or being fearful of their kids riding a bike on the sidewalk. With Sansprit there, there's a lot of out-of-the-area people that are driving. They don't, you know, I see this sign that makes a lot of sense to me. It says, drive like your kids lived here or your kids played here. And I don't think we have. I think one of the biggest issues that I hear about, I'm assuming you all do as well, is from our constituents, is traffic and road safety. And, you know, we just, our staff work hard to put a traffic signal on Murphy. There was a lot of controversy with that. It goes all the way back to several commissioners before me. They did islands to slow people down. They did blinking islands. They did speed tables, elevated intersections. Stop signs, I think, are helpful, even though it's shocking how many people just take those as they're simply a suggestion for stopping. It doesn't mean you genuinely have to stop, which it does. But I think it will give the residents an opportunity. Most people will stop at a stop sign. And so I appreciate, you know, Commissioner Hetherington going against that kind of recommendation because we represent the residents, especially right where they live. And I think it sends the right message from us that we heard. We've got the, I got a whole bunch of emails about this. I recognized a lot of the names on the people that we're emailing. They're reasonable people. And so I was glad to second it. And there will be other times when you all will come forward with residents. I don't know the specific situation. I don't drive that way that often. But if our commissioner who does know that area says this is something that she feels or any of you will feel is important in the future, then it's important in the future to represent your residents right where they live. And so I think I know, especially for the two of you that are new, you'd feel like, oh, I don't really want to necessarily go against this engineering recommendation. But as Mr. Donaldson said, the reason that there is even a resolution in there is at the end of the situation, it's your decision that rules the day in this case. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Griselka, because the engineering department can't warrant this stop sign and you're fearful of unintended consequences, what additional liabilities does this board take on if we do? In other words, if there is some sort of an accident and there wasn't a stop sign warranted by our engineering department, but rather we made the decision to disregard the recommendation of the engineering department, what additional liability do we face? I don't really know that off my hand. It's like it's an individual choice to do what they want to do, whether they're going to follow the traffic control device or not. Does it open the county up to additional liability because it's not warranted? I don't know that answer off my hand. I mean, that's more of an attorney thing than an engineering issue. Okay, an attorney's going to answer. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. It could potentially open up the county for additional liability if there are additional rear-end crashes. Ideally, those wouldn't be big crashes, but if we do the precautionary advanced warning, that would offset the liability. So I don't think it's a great risk, but, of course, you can't stop somebody from suing you. But if we take the proper precautions, you can alleviate much of the liability. Commissioner, I think if this stop sign, let's say, was on same neighborhood situation, but behind a sharp curve where you couldn't see it advanced and we did it anyway, that would certainly have a liability that's much higher. I think the reason why the resolution was attached because it will be easy to see it's at an intersection of another road that comes through that has it. So I think that was the four-way. Yes, the four-way stop would be. I think that's inherently obvious that we could do advanced warning to show that it's there, which is why they included the resolution. Commissioner Hetherington. I would say that, in addition, I'm concerned about the liability that we face when residents are saying that there is an unsafe condition on the road. There are kids, you know, there are people speeding. And, again, there is zero in Cornell was a really good example because I attend church over there, and that needed a break between that road. But there are people flying to get from Dixie to St. Lucie or vice versa. And there will be an accident, just like there have been on Dixie. We've done a lot of improvements for pedestrian safety on Dixie Highway because they were crashed. I would be more worried about not taking action and the liability for that. So there needs to be safety precautions on this road. Commissioner Campy. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington made that point that I was going to, that when you hear repeatedly from residents and don't act, that leaves you just as open for liability. And then the other thing I would recommend is that we use one of our electronic totes in both directions. You know, I know that you can put a permanent sign that says, you know, stop sign ahead. But those totes for the locals, especially, for 10 days out or whatever. And I know you've done that in the past, you know, especially with traffic lights, signals that say, you know, two weeks from now, a stop sign and a stop sign ahead. So for the people that have driven that way forever, the locals that were unaware that there's a stop sign, I would do that for a bit. And then because you're really trying to just reach the locals. If you're driving through an area for the first time, all of us travel outside of the areas that we're familiar with. If you're driving down an unfamiliar road and you see a stop sign or a light, you're supposed to do those things. And so I think that that's what makes this an appropriate decision on our part. And I appreciate that staff gave us sort of an alternative. Commissioner Vargas. Yes. Could you tell me, us, what an advance warning signal might be that you might place in addition to a stop sign? Well, what we're talking about here is we would definitely put the message boards out ahead of time, but you can put advance stop-ahead signs as well that, you know. Would they be flashing? They could be. So this is something that's fixed, electric, and it's flashing? It could be. Just from my knowledge, what's the cost of that? You'd have to have two, correct? One in each direction. If we go down that road, yes. They, I want to say the solar-powered flashing ones are probably in the $1,200 to $1,500 range. Each. Each. Any further comments or questions? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. I'm opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We go on to Department 5, which is to consider approval of a resolution establishing the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee. Mr. Houston. Two weeks in a row for you in this city. I know, right? I'm going to have to trade in some of my swamp clothes and, like, go to a suit store. Right. This keeps up. Good morning, commissioners. I'm Michael Houston, Senior Project Manager for Martin County Ecosystem Restoration, or Environmental Resources Division. And we're here to talk to you about our land acquisition program and what we've been up to. So, with the adoption of the ordinance and the sales tax that passed back in November, there are certain requirements we need to do to start our land acquisition program. And, really, the first thing that we have to do is pass a board resolution. And, in addition to that, set up a committee, a citizen oversight committee called the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee, or ELOC. And, ELOC, yeah. Not to be confused with EWOC, but... I was going to say, can't you figure out something with a W? You know, it was in the ordinance, so I couldn't get too creative with it. But, in essence, why we're here today is to... The first step is for you to set up the committee. That's not to say, at this meeting, we're going to appoint the members, but we need to start by having you agree to set up the committee itself. So, that is why we're here today, and to pass a resolution in regards to the sales tax as well. Once that happens, we will send out... We had talked previously about having different environmental groups and different organizations in the county that would be involved and would receive the ability to appoint somebody to the committee. So, that will be the next step, is that we'll send out those nomination forms, they'll come back to you, and then you'll be able to agree with, or not agree with, the people that have been appointed by those different organizations. And that will happen at the next board meeting on February 25th. In addition to that, we've written a public lands acquisition manual, which will be kind of the guidance document that will tell us what we're doing and how we're doing it, how the committee works, what the different responsibilities are for. So, we'll bring that in front of you at that next board meeting, and once that happens, we will start working to set up the actual committee and get them to work. So, John, do you have anything to add to that? All right. Thank you. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, my office had sent to you several suggestions for organizations. Did you receive those? John Mayall, Environmental Resource Division of Management. Yes, ma'am, we did. It was about four or five. Yes, yes. We met with each of you, and, you know, our understanding of the ordinance was that it was asking us to identify organizations to bring forward. And so, we met with each of you and went through exhaustive lists. And what we presented today was our best attempt to capture the collective input from each of you. I think this was after we met. Then it was a follow-up of other suggestions. I just want to be sure. Yes, we did receive those. You sent it if you didn't. Okay. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. I know that when we first made suggestions about membership composition, we were concerned about appointing members that we would have confidence that in 10 years that these organizations will still be viable and that they have a history, they have a past as well as a future, and how confident are you that all of these organizations fulfill that goal? Well, one thing that we did in response to that concern was in the ordinance, we used generic descriptions for those organizations so that in the case that an organization no longer exists or is viable to send a nominee, we could make that adjustment by a simple resolution and action by the board. Versus having to vote on it with the public again. Right. Correct. That's not answering your question, and I just couldn't answer, I guess, on the viability of those organizations. It also allows the board that if there is an organization that the collective board felt that they were no longer serving in the best interest of the county, just the organization itself, that you could simply eliminate them and add somebody else. How do you do that? It would be by the board bringing forward, this resolution establishes the membership, and then it would be an agenda item to come forward and say we want to have, under the ordinance, identify a different organization that would require the supply. So that is how you would do it. And there are some guardrails in terms of, you know, somebody representing the economic interests, somebody from a citizen, like taxpayer advisory group, a realtors association, two representing agricultural interests, and four representing environmental groups within Martin County. So those are the limitations established by the ordinance do have some constraints, but there's, beyond that, there's freedom to pick and choose who you want. Ms. Woods. I just wanted to reiterate, when we were drafting the ordinance that was validated by the referendum, that was the idea of having kind of a descriptive form in the ordinance and then being able to narrow the advisory board using a resolution because you really can't go back and amend, you can't amend the ordinance without going back to referendum. So this would allow the BOCC to do that. I also think the staff, when they came up with the input for the resolution, these organizations are fairly well-established organizations from that standpoint that would fit the criteria. And in my legal opinion, all of the organizations identified in the resolution fit within the ordinance's descriptive terms. I would also just add that the manual that we are in the process of drafting will probably have some triggers as well. For instance, if there's a board member that's not attending those meetings, a certain number of meetings a year, that that would automatically trigger a review of that position and allow the board to take different action. Ms. Woods. The resolution, the resolution of the draft resolution has a provision for attendance. Let me see if I can, I'm having trouble pulling it up. Do you have it, John? Yeah, that's right there. Three consecutive meetings. Yeah. Which we pulled that from previous land acquisition committees we had in the past when we had a sales tax. So, you know, we felt like three consecutive was a, because this is going to be a vital committee and we need attendance. And how did you determine the term of office? You didn't want to complete, in general, when we've set up advisory committees and in specific for committees like this, it's standard practice and policy of the county. You don't want the whole committee turning over every few years. So, this was to allow for staggered terms. I believe it's four years and then there's a couple of folks that do two years. They can certainly be reappointed, but it allows a consistency, but it also allows for someone who no longer can serve or only has a limited time. So, that'll be, you know, up to the board who they want to appoint when we come up with specific people, who you want to put in those four-year slots or those two-year slots. And who will make that determination? You. The board. Based upon what criteria? I don't know that you need a criteria. They all have four-year terms. It's just that, but they start out as two. And then those, then they will equalize. They start out different. This is standard. A lot of county committees do this. You're just trying to say that you don't have all the members expiring four years from now, that you'll have, you'll start, someone will start out with a two-year term, and then in two years from now, they have to get reappointed for a four-year team. So, it's really just staggering the beginning so that the terms will, the four-year terms will not all be expiring at the same time. All right. So, there'll be nine board members originally. Yes. I understand. Yeah. So, there really, there isn't the determination of who gets the first two years. That's, I mean, we could do as simply as the, pick them out of a hat or the first, you know, we can talk to you about it. It's fairly, because in the end, they will have a four-year term after two years. Well, I guess it's similar to what we do here, right? We all just don't expire at the same time. Right. I should also say that when we bring forward the public lands acquisition manual in two weeks, it specifically goes through what, what they're assigned to do, what their responsibilities are, and what their limitations are. It goes through what county staff, what our role in the process, and the board of county commissioners, what your role is in the process. And at the end of the day, all the decisions are made by you. They're a citizen advisory board, and that's a role, to provide advice to you on which properties they feel should move forward with acquisition. Commissioner Campy. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was thinking, just as a suggestion, if there's four members of Environmental, that when we do stagger, that two, like if we pull the names out of a hat, which I don't believe we'll necessarily specifically do that, that all the members of a specific category, they would have to split. Like if it's two agricultural, one was a two and one's a four. If it's four members of Environmental, it's not all of them being two or all of them being four. That's just housekeeping logistics. And then also, the individual groups that are selected, they could then pick their own person to be approved by us, or we're going to start picking and choosing everybody. Our intention is to send nomination forms to those organizations. And they come back and say, here's the person we're recommending. That's how I like it better. Versus us trying to hand-select every category, individual. Thank you. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I see that this could be similar to what we did just now, voting, you know, for the NAC or whichever committee. I think that we have to be very careful, and I assume that that particular organization will understand, as you said before, that they don't have a sway in a certain direction, i.e. a commercial real estate broker. We talked about that also. Certainly, yeah. We tried to avoid any conflicts of interest with the selection of those organizations, and they understand that they need to do that as well with their nominations. Right. And our first ELOC committee, a big part of that meeting will just be sunshine laws, ethics, all those kinds of issues. So that will be a big focus early on in the process. Any further questions? Well, the recommendation is that the board adopt the resolution regarding the establishment of the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee. I second. That's not a motion. That is a motion. I'll motion that. Yep. There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. That brings us to the, would anyone like to address, it's now time for public comment. Would anyone like to address us? Seeing none. Commissioner comments. Commissioner Hetherington? I'm all set. Thank you. Commissioner Campy? I'm all set. Commissioner Capps? I'm all set. Commissioner Vargas? Yes. To Commissioner Campy, I wanted to pass on some information to you from one of the events that I attended about underserved, underserved or unserved, for the process of getting everybody on board for connection with Internet. And whatever else you need out there, I can give you that information. I'll have my aide send that to your aide and call them. They're waiting for you. They're waiting for you. And they will come out and meet with you personally or they'll do it virtually. Okay? Make your life simpler. All right. Thank you. Mr. Donaldson? Yes, I just have one announcement, and that's that we have the State of the County Address being held on Thursday, February 20th, at Palm City New Hope. Doors open at about 8.15, and the program will start at 9. The residents are invited to join us as we take a look back at the highlights and accomplishments of 2024. More information on how to RSVP can be found at our website at www.martin.fl.us. I look forward to it. Thank you. Ms. Woods? I have nothing. Thank you. We are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.