Board of County Commissioners on 2025-04-08 9:00 AM - Apr 08, 2025

Please join us for the invocation led by Father Christian Anderson from St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Good morning. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the gift of this beautiful county and the responsibility that it takes. And you've made us stewards of it. So with that comes great responsibility and great wisdom. So we pray to you for your wisdom to be pouring through us. So we may we become the lesser so you become the greater. And in doing that, we become enlightened. So work through us all. Let us walk with respect and walk with compassion and mercy for one another. And most importantly, keep our minds aligned with you. Oh, Lord of love. In your name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Now, please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Drew Brown of the Navy and Air National Guard. The Navy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic, one nation on indivisible liberty. Would you like to tell us about your service, sir? Sure. I joined the Navy in 1980 and I served. All right. Joined the Navy in 1980 and served four years in the Naval Air Force. I was an aviation structural mechanic, but I volunteered for flight deck duty. And I was the designation of plane captain, which you did pre and post flight inspections of the aircraft and briefed the air crew on their upcoming mission. Terrific. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have presets this morning at 905. We have public comment at 930. We have an update on our 2025 legislative session update at 505 or at the conclusion of our meeting. We will have public comment. There are additional items. Consent nine is a proclamation declaring Earth Day in Martin County. Consent 10 is adoption of a proclamation declaring historic preservation month in Martin County. Department three is our legislative session update. There's a request to withdraw the plat approval for 3600 Southeast Seapoint Court. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Commissioner Hurd, I will move to approve the agenda with the additional items. Consent nine, 10 departmental number three and requested withdrawal. A departmental quasi additional number three. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. We'll now move on to proclamations. Proclamation number one is Alcohol Awareness Month. And here to accept is Joanna Green and Caitlin Strickland. Good morning, commissioners. Alcohol abuse is a major public health concern that affects millions of Americans of all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds in all communities, which also has a huge medical, societal, and economic cost. Community efforts, including activities, events, and education regarding the effects of alcohol and substance abuse, are dedicated to the prevention of underage drinking and other risk-related risk behaviors among Martin County youth. The board recognizes April as Alcohol Awareness Month and encourages citizens to join in efforts to diminish alcohol and substance abuse within the youth population of the Treasure Coast. And as you said, here to accept is from Martin County Human Services. Caitlin Strickland is actually going to come up and speak. She's project coordinator. Good morning, and thank you for your continued efforts in raising awareness for Alcohol Awareness Month. Alcohol use, particularly in youth, remains a significant challenge that we face. So we are dedicated to raising awareness and contributing on meaningful solutions. We are addressing this issue by creating safe spaces for our youth in Martin County, as well as providing trainings for our youth, our educators, our parents, and other youth serving organizations. We thank you again, and I hope you have a lovely day. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next up is a proclamation declaring Child Abuse Prevention Month in Martin County, Florida. Based on recent data, 3.1 million reports were made to Child Protective Services. Child abuse can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects that have lasting consequences for victims. Healthy Families, an abuse prevention program of helping people succeed, serving approximately 400 families in Martin County, is an evidence-based voluntary family support and coaching program proven to help parents provide the safe and stable environments children need for healthy growth and development. The board urges all citizens to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month by dedicating themselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and families. And here to accept from helping people succeed, we have CEO Kara Stimson and Healthy Families Program Manager, Carolyn Moses. Good morning, everyone. Quickly, quick introduction. I've met most of you, but not all of you. My name is Kara Stimson. I'm the new CEO, replacing Susie Hutchinson, who retired at the end of 2024, as you may know. I'm about five months in, so nice to see some of you again and meet you. If I haven't yet. Just quickly, thank you for the support you all have consistently provided for helping people succeed. You have been supporters of our Individuals with Disabilities Programming, and we appreciate that support. As a quick reminder, we also administer the Healthy Families Program that Carolyn will tell you more about. We also have a full suite of behavioral health services and early intervention birth through five programming that we offer in Martin County. So just thank you, and we appreciate your support, and I'll toss it to Carolyn for some more facts. Kara, you're five months in of your 50-year term. Yes, that is correct. Yes, absolutely. Each director serves 50 years. That's correct. I'm glad that that is now on the record. Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for this opportunity. I'm very pleased to be accepting this proclamation. My name is Carolyn Moses, and I'm the Program Manager for the Healthy Families Program at Helping People Succeed. According to the most recent data for 2023-2024, the rate of children with verified findings of maltreatment per 1,000 children in the general population in Martin County was 5.14, and the statewide rate was 4.15. During that same time period of the families enrolled in Healthy Families Martin Okeechobee, who are among the families with highest risk, only one out of 682 children served, and none of the 138 children that successfully completed the program had any findings of abuse or neglect. Our agency brings additional awareness to Child Abuse Prevention Month through displaying blue pinwheels at our office, and several local agencies, businesses, and community partners have joined in the effort this year. Pinwheels for Prevention is a national campaign to bring awareness to child abuse prevention efforts within communities across the country, and in Florida it is administered or overseen through the Prevent Child Abuse Florida program in partnership with Department of Children and Families and Ounce of Prevention. Prevent Child Abuse of Florida believes that all children and families deserve to live in communities that have adequate resources to support families in the healthy growth and development of their children and a prevention of abuse and neglect. So through displaying these pinwheels within the community, it is businesses and individuals showing their efforts to support programs or do their part to prevent child abuse and our effort within Florida to help children have happy, healthy lives. That's the reason for a pinwheel. So there we have it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Laura, you don't have to do everything anymore. Let's see. We now have public comments. I have, let's see, two requests to speak forms. The first is, yeah, I have three. The first is Robert Aronson, followed by Tom Pine. Good morning. Good morning. My question is for Ms. Vargas. Ms. Vargas, you've got the thing you sent me. That was nice to send me that report on my property. But where did you get it? Sir, address your comments to the whole board, please. Oh, she sent me a package on my property, Sugar Hill, with somebody giving the report on the water, wetlands. Any information, we can provide you the source of that information. Okay, but what I want to say is that report was paid for by me. I researched that. That was my work, my effort. But unbeknownst to me, Sugar Hill has had a main water problem for 40 years, and that Martin County was supposed to fix that problem. What I'm saying is they never fixed it, and that's why I have the problem. And there's about eight things on the Internet that show you the problems with the water. Like the street levels. Every one of them is wrong. Every one of the street levels are wrong. All the water converged on my property. There's 100 homes in there. No, 99 homes. I'm the only one left. So all the water came down to me. Not a lot. I mean, I can still build a home, but I can't build a home the way I want to build a home because of the wetlands. And a lot of people don't know where wetlands even come from. Wetlands become wetlands because that means there's no place for the water to go. And that becomes wetlands when there's no place for the water to go. So the problem being it was back in the day when you researched it and you can go online or the Internet and look at that problem. And that problem trickled down to me. You've had 40 years of not fixing the problem, basically. And to me, that was a free ride. But the real question is I'm paying taxes on a full acre. To me, that's totally unfair for me to pay taxes. I've had the property 38, 39 years, and I've been paying the taxes for that amount of time. And I am not involved in the HOA, as you pointed out, while suing the HOA. Sir, your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be back. This is a month to pay for me. Next up is Tom Pine, followed by Kiana Kelly. Good morning, Commissioners. My name's Tom Pine. I live in the Jensen Beach area. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Today in the consent agenda, this county commission will approve $19,066,311.23 that was spent between March 10th and March 23rd of 2025 without identifying the payees or the purpose of the payments. Hiding where our tax dollars are being spent is no less than a knife in the heart of democracy. This is just how governments work in the banana republics. Why can't our government at least post them in the final consent agenda, where exactly our tax dollars is being spent, instead of hiding it from us? Using the consent agenda in this nefarious way is how we got a county golf course that was originally proved for $5.5 million, ending up well over $10 million, all hidden in the consent agenda. This is how greed overcomes democracy. The hurricane season is just around the corner and our federal government downsizing anything and all federal agencies, including FEMA. What is our local government doing in advance to offset the potential loss of help? The Martin County Taxpayers Association thinks it's time to look at the cost of our Martin County Fire Rescue. In 2019, Martin County Fire Rescue budget was $43,760,566. In 2025, Martin County Fire Rescue's budget was $66,350,650. That's over a 50% increase in just six years. How many new, this is, how many new firehouses do we need as of today? How much money do we have ready for any of, for them? Any? Anyone watching this county commission meeting today, I would strongly encourage you to watch the January 28th, 2025 commission meeting on YouTube or the county's website. Start time to 427. Pay very close attentions through the last couple minutes. This will show how our county government does everything possible to help out the good old boys buy some county property at a potentially great price. What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Kiana Kelly is next, and that's the last request to speak for him that I have. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. On behalf of Children's Services Council of Martin County, we'd like to wish the county a happy centennial, 100 years of policy change and growth. And with 100 years of, that's a significant birthday, I'm having a significant birthday this year, sometimes we like to do significant things to celebrate. And while zoning development and the environment continue to lead the conversations in many spaces, I'd like to appeal to one more issue being normalized, and that's literacy. Some time ago, Mississippi was 49th in literacy and last in math. Mississippi is also one of the lowest-wage states and has struggled with economic growth. However, they are currently 9th and 16th in some subgroups. They are also leading the pack in literacy and math. Journalists called it the Mississippi miracle. Although it's the product of years of collective impact, policy change, and a shift on educational priorities, which they actually borrowed from us. It is said that comparison is the thief of joy. But when it comes to how to improve our quality of living and our community, we have to be willing to take a page out of the book of solutions. Martin County is the sixth-wealthiest county in Florida, on paper, and one of only a select school districts in the country with a golf program. And yet, as many will learn during House of Hope's poverty simulation, we also have underhoused people living in the woods and in vacant lots. We have children in gated communities and children beyond the gates that have the shared experience of neglect and learning loss. We can do better. Summer slide is one of the most vulnerable times for an already vulnerable population, with more than 30% learning loss happening during that time. We learned through the film sentence that one of the tools that we have readily available that works is people power, consistent adult presence. It doesn't cost anything. My ask today is that the commission would be a community leader in volunteerism by allowing county employees one hour per week to volunteer during instructional reading time as an employee perk. So that is something I just want you guys to consider during your centennial year of policy. I think that it would be awesome. We are working on strategizing with local businesses and small businesses. And any business that hears this and is interested in doing that, please reach out to me. It's my reads. We are the county grade level reading program. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Commissioner comments. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I do have a couple of comments. It's Jensen Beach. We are raising, in other words, bringing down, destroying the existing cafe and the restroom facilities. If you take a run by there, they're scooping up everything that's been there for about 40 years. And we're bringing a new building in. This should be completed within the next two to three years. So we're all looking forward to that. Our beaches are sought after. And we have three terrific ones right on Hutchison Island. The next thing is yesterday, early morning, about 2 a.m., Martin County Fire Department responded to a fire at the Langford Pavilion in Indian River Park. And as we can see right now, it's probably due to a malfunction electrical fire with an air conditioning system. We're still investigating, and we're going to bring that back as swiftly as we can. Just have to go through the hurdles of that. So that will be back in full force, hopefully, within later this year. But we'll see. I'll keep you posted on that. Thank you. Commissioner Capps. Good morning. I'll just make a couple of comments about the Hobesound train station in Hobesound that was brought into town from out in western Hobesound a few months ago, or a couple months ago. And the train station has been put down on its permanent blocks, and the wood deck on the front of it is well underway, almost finished. So it's looking better, and I think there's going to be like a fundraising drive to do a lot of the exterior work on the building, new siding, new roof, that kind of thing, and the interior work that needs to be done as well. But things are coming along real well, and we look forward to it being the permanent home of the Hobesound Historical Society. Thank you. Commissioner Campy. I'm all set. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. I'm all set. I have some things that I would like to bring up for your consideration, commissioners. I mentioned them at our last meeting as part of my comments about the air amendments specifically to Chapter 4, and that is that I would like us to consider new policies in order to protect our western lands. Specifically, I would like to propose consideration of supermajority votes for any proposal that would increase density or intensity outside the urban service district. Miami-Dade has been doing this for over a decade. That requirement for a supermajority for any change of any land use outside the urban service boundary. Mine would be for an increase in density or intensity. Also, I would request that we consider requiring a supermajority for any motion to move the urban service boundary. I'd also like to propose a consideration for a supermajority vote for any change on any future land use on any conservation lands. We are poised to spend over $200 million in the next 10 years with our half-cent sales tax to acquire additional conservation lands, and I think that we need to do everything that we can in order to protect those lands because the voters gave us the ability to acquire those in order that they become conservation lands in perpetuity. So I think that it's important that we do whatever we can to make sure that they are conservation in perpetuity. I also think that we should have criteria for evaluating the environmental quality of land if we're considering moving the urban service boundary, much like the criteria that's in our agenda today for evaluating conservation lands by the committee. There should be criteria that tell us where the best spot is to move the urban service boundary when it's time to move the urban service boundary. I'm not saying that it's time now. It's not, not by any stretch of imagination. But at some point, there will be a requirement that we consider moving the urban boundary, and we don't have clear criteria for evaluating where we move it. So those are some additions to the comprehensive plan that I would like to consider. Commissioner Vargas. Yes. For those viewing and in attendance, could you please give a clear explanation as to supermajority? Four out of five. Yep. I'd like to require a unanimous vote, but I know that that's unrealistic. But four out of five, for those very, very limited, very, very important proposals for change, I think it's absolutely essential that we do what our residents have implored us to do, which is to protect our western lands. And we're not, we can do a better job of it. Yes. Thank you. Is there any objection, any... Yeah, those are your commissioner comments. I'm not prepared, having heard it from you for the first time, to you had a chance to think about it for a week, and we're hearing it for the first time. I'm not about to give direction on major changes. I appreciate and could agree with some of the things that you said, but throwing it down there in commissioner comments, I personally don't believe is the way that we initiate new policy. Anybody else? Okay. I will break. Mr. Capps. What kind of a timetable would these comp plan amendments roll out on, like... That's up to staff. Up to staff? Yeah. Okay. Okay. I will bring it up next meeting. Sounds good. Thank you. Mr. Donaldson. Nothing for today, thank you. Ms. Woods. Okay. We will move on to the consent agenda. There are consent polls, consent six, consent seven, and consent eight. Let's start with consent six. Do we need to approve the agenda first, or do we already do that? No, we'll wait and see how they do it. After, okay. Yeah. We haven't approved the consent agenda yet. Okay. The consent six is approval of the interlocal agreement between the Martin County Board of County Commissioners and the St. Lucie Fire District for automatic aid. Good morning. Good morning, and for the record, I'm Rocco Napoli, Division Chief of Operations, Martin County Fire Rescue, and I'm going to pass it off to my colleague. Good morning. For the record, my name is Tom Hornbosel, District Chief of Martin County Fire Rescue. Martin County Fire Rescue and St. Lucie County Fire District are looking to enter into interlocal agreement. The purpose of this interlocal agreement is to meet the requirements set forth by ISO. ISO regulates that responding units to structure fire must be within five road miles from a fire station to receive the maximum ISO credits. Due to the Evergreen Club neighborhood's location and close proximity to the St. Lucie County border, St. Lucie County Fire District has agreed to provide automatic aid. By entering into this ILA, it will allow more residents within the Evergreen neighborhood to benefit from lower insurance premiums because of the lower ISO scoring. So this ILA will not affect any existing mutual aid agreements that we have, and there will be no monetary exchange between the two agencies. I'd like to open up to any questions you may have at this point. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I had requested this be pulled because I do understand about the lower insurance rates. Folks made a decision to move out there, and, you know, that's their decision out there to do that. So whatever the insurance rates are, I think everybody's suffering, whether they're far out or they're in or on the island. I think my big question was, as it usually is, is there going to be any cost to Martin County taxpayers for this interlocal agreement? There will be zero cost to any taxpayers. Actually, there will be savings because of the insurance premiums. Well, it will be savings to the homeowners out there, not to Martin County. Correct. Any further questions? Are we going to vote on these individually? I think so. I'd make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Second. I think it's great for the residents of Evergreen, and kudos to you for being proactive in negotiating for our residents. Thank you. Commissioner Capps, any further comments, questions? I think I heard that this was only a portion of the Evergreen neighborhood, like in the back somewhere. Yeah, so right now Station 21 covers exactly 100 homes because of that five-mile radius. So getting into this interlocal agreement with St. Lucie County, we'll be able to cover additional 114 homes. Okay. Any further questions? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We'll take up Consent 7, which is a request for a Fourth Amendment to lease agreement with the Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast for their facility and leased area at Indian Riverside Park in Jensen Beach. Ms. Mandy. Good morning. Good morning. All right. I am Mandy Johns, Real Property. This is a request for the approval of a Fourth Amendment to the lease agreement between Martin County and the Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast to clarify the requirements under the lease relating to the Children's Museum's responsibility for the common area maintenance fee and an amendment to the boundary that was just added in the third lease amendment. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I did pull this because I do have some questions. I see that this lease that we're talking about began in 2005. It was a 25-year lease, which means 2030, we're in 2025. Why are we agreeing to 2060? In 2016, the board approved a second lease amendment that gave them an additional option for another 30-year term, which would have started from the 2030 date. They had to request that extension five to 10 years prior to that, to the 2030 date. So that was actually entered into in 2022. Mm-hmm. Okay. That's extraordinarily long. What do they pay, a dollar a month? It's a dollar a year. Has anybody requested the 990 form from this nonprofit? Yes, we get all the, we actually just received the forms. Okay. Well, I'd like to see that also. I've seen nothing on this. I think that's way too long, way too long for an extension of a lease. Mr. Campy. Thank you. Um, I see Commissioner Vargas's point. However, I think part of that is when you're obviously newly elected. Those of us that have sat here for a while have had the chance to understand how we have created these relationships with our not-for-profits. The Children's Museum happens to be the one that we're discussing today, but whether it's the Elliott Museum or other locations, if you don't have those length of leases, they have no real ability to go out and raise funds at a grant level or at a major donor level. If you were going to write a check in this particular case to the Children's Museum for, let's say, $5 million from a family foundation, they are not going to write a $5 million check to a lease that's 10, 15, 20 years. If you don't have 30-year, 40-year, 50-year, sometimes 99-year leases, you won't have the ability to raise those private funds from foundations and private individuals that that's where the money comes. They're in the process of a major campaign for a planetarium and some other projects. So they also are completely responsible for the renovation of that particular building was derelict when they took it over. And when I say derelict, I toured it beforehand. It was nearly tear-it-down derelict. And our staff, along with the individuals from the Children's Museum and their organization, their volunteers, turned that into a world-class museum for children and young adults and parents, grandparents. So we should be absolutely thrilled to have them in our community. And all we're looking to do is, yes, for a couple of dollars a year, which was more just symbolic than anything else, obviously, they handle all the work. And that building was sitting empty. It would have been torn down and turned into a parking lot or grass. And instead, it's a museum that the community and the Treasure Coast and the southeast, it puts us on the map. So I think it's a remarkable idea. I understand your concern from a business mindset. When you come in from the private sector into the public sector, as we all are now, there's certain private sector rules don't necessarily apply the same way because you have to look at the overall benefit to the community that we donate as stewards of the government's property and money to an organization such as the group that runs the Children's Museum or the Elliott or the House of Refuge or others. It's a huge benefit, and I think it's a terrific idea. And I don't know if you've had the opportunity recently to hear, they just made a presentation that I was sitting in the audience, and it is remarkable what they have accomplished. They also have outreach into the schools that they base out of that area. It's a blessing to have it in the community. I'm thrilled. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. I don't know if I could add much on to that, but I was going to say that the partnership we've had, and you are very successful, more so than many organizations, at doing your capital campaigns, private donors, and taking care of that property. Very excited about the planetarium project that you have going forward. So I will make a motion for staff's recommendation of approval. Second. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, I understand everything you've said, Commissioner Kiampe. Yes, I'm from the private sector, but we are responsible for our hard-earned taxpayer funds that come into this county coffers. I understand about raising capital and having a long-term lease. I know you said 99 years. Absolutely not. I think that 20 years is more than enough, and then to review again. They can certainly garner funds for their capital campaign with a 20-year lease. And they're paying nominal, nominal. This started at some point. I don't know with whom. Oh, the previous commission, probably, for $1 per year. That's why I asked for the 990. I would like to see that form also, because this is pure profit for them. The executive director would like to speak to us. Good morning. Good morning. My name's Tammy Calabria. I'm the CEO of the Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast. I've been with the museum for 23 years. As a volunteer, for the first seven years as a board member, we raised $6 million, non-taxpay money, private funds only, to renovate the abandoned building that was abandoned for 17 years. We did that all with private funds. We have continued to maintain the building, the surrounding property. We spend at least $100,000 on average a year on the building maintenance and improvements alone. So I completely understand your concern and your fiscal responsibility as a business. I know that the property was purchased with FCT funds as well. And there are parameters within those funds and guidelines that kind of dictate what goes in the park, and we fall right within the guidelines. We do submit all of our financial documents, our financial review, to the county every year, as well as the insurance. We pay $60,000 a year in insurance for a county building. So I understand your concern with the length of the lease, but, again, if we're committing to put, we've put over $20 million into a county facility, if we are going to make that commitment to do that, and we have never used taxpayer funds to do it, I feel that in return, that longevity of the lease, you know, is a give and take. You know, at the end of the day, we don't own that building, it remains a county building, so we are doing our best to, you know, we take pride in keeping the maintenance up, the appearance. We want to make sure that it is a stellar presentation for when you enter that beautiful park area. So I just kind of wanted to give you a little bit of that history that, you know, we don't expect taxpayer dollars to fund the museum. We are a nonprofit, so at the end of the year, we don't profit at all from the services that we're providing. 61% of the services that we provide in the community are free to our community. So I just wanted to kind of give you a little bit of that history, because I know you are new to the commission. And if you ever have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to take you for another behind-the-scenes tour and give you a little bit of more in-depth of who we are and what we do. Thank you. Very lively and enlightened discussion. Good points, everybody. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Opposed. That motion passes 4-1 with Commissioner Vargas dissenting. The last consent agenda item is consent 8, which is an agenda item on our Environmental Lands Acquisition Program. Mr. Mayall. Chair, board, thank you. It's John Mayall, your Environmental Resource Administrator. This item is to adopt the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee Manual, which will define the roles and responsibility of the ELOC staff. It will also give guidance to the ELOC on how to receive and review and then provide recommendations to the board for nominations to acquire land through the program. Commissioner Vargas. Well, I'm the one that pulled this. I did have a question, and I just want to give some information as to my concern for this. When we did float this in front of our voters, we did state that an independent audit would be conducted every 12 months with a presentation to the board. My understanding is that the entity would be our clerk's office, Martin County clerk's office, and deciding whether or not they're going to have in-house staff conduct the audit or farm it out to an outside consultant. I would prefer it to stay in-house. I think that they're very capable, rather than spending additional funds to make sure it's thorough and that we have the report to be able to have time to review. Our goal is to raise $223 million over 10 years. It's an awesome responsibility, and I'm careful with every nickel that's brought in, in case nobody's noticed. But anyway, that's where I always go. I always run after the purse, and I wanted to be sure about this, and I think I have an explanation that's clear in my mind now. Thank you, Commissioner. Ms. Woods. I was just going to reiterate what Commissioner Vargas said, which is the audit would be performed by our clerk of circuit court and comptroller. That's part of her constitutional duties. Ms. Gordon, can you put up page number 184? So, this is, I think, an excellent part of the committee's responsibilities, instead of just being emotional about, oh, I love this property. It has to be evaluated in very, very individually, succinctly. These categories are terrific. It's really going to lead to a really sophisticated result. So, great criteria. I don't know who came up with them, but nice job, Mr. Mayle. Can't take credit for this. Motion to accept staff's recommendation. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. And is there a motion to approve the remainder of the consent agenda? Motion. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. We'll now move to our 930 preset, which is our legislative update. There we go. Department 3, good morning. Good morning. How are you? Good. I just wanted to give a really brief update. We're past the halfway point during session. It was great. I had Commissioner Vargas come visit and Commissioner Hetherington last week for Treasure Coast Days. Um, so it's been a super successful session. Um, 1900 bills have been filed down from last year, which was around 3,000 bills. Um, 961 in the House, 955 in the Senate. Um, the budgets have been released in each respective, um, chamber. The Senate budget coming in at 117.3 billion and the House budget, um, at 112.9 billion, um, for a 4.4 billion difference in the two. So they'll have to, um, by day, by the end of session, have to come together and agree on one, one, um, one budget. So we'll see how, how that goes. Um, and the current budget for, um, this, this current fiscal year is at 118, um, billion. So just kind of give you a gauge of, it's lower than, then this, um, budget year is lower than the past historically. Um, so that's where we are with the budget. Um, our local bill that we've been, um, working on is, um, placed, has been on the, placed on the special order calendar for tomorrow. Um, so that's one step closer to its final passage. Um, it needs to be heard by the full House. Then it'll go over to the Senate. They'll take it up at some point. And then it'll be heard by the, um, full Senate and then wait signature from the governor. So that, that's all I have on our, our Martin County side. And if you have any specific questions, I'd be more than happy to try to answer at this time. Questions for Ms. Powers. Any bills of note like the SB 1118? Yeah. Yeah. 1118? Yes. So that bill has been installed in the Senate currently. It's had one hearing and no hearings in the House at all. So, um, we're just over, like I said, it's over the halfway point. So committees will stop meeting. This subcommittees definitely start meeting either this week or next week. And then full committees, um, and it'll be all just floor sessions. So anything that hasn't been heard, um, in at least one, if not at most two committees is probably not going to pass. Anything can happen. Disclaimer. Um, but it's not looking like that bill specifically has much movement right now. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, um, I was looking at the explanation here, and this refers to, uh, services by health care providers in the event that there is no contract with Martin County. When, when might that happen? Um, what might be a circumstance, Mr. Donaldson, maybe? Um, it is actually, uh, when, when we have, uh, inmates, uh, uh, in our prison, they become our responsibility. They have no insurance, and we're required to provide them any medical services that they need. So the hospitals, if, uh, uh, if we don't have a negotiated contract with them, then, um, this is the floor. This is, uh, the, this is a local bill from Martin County only. Um, and it follows the same standard that the state has set for itself with the state inmates that are around the state. Um, and it also follows a local bill that St. Lucie County adopted last year. So it provides us that in the event that we do, actually, we routinely have to take our inmates to the hospital on occasion, and, uh, and it does set a, a, uh, a limit on what they can charge. Um, and to mitigate that risk in the past, we used third-party providers who would be an intermediary to, um, negotiate, uh, a contract or to try to, um, limit our risk. Um, the problem with that has been is that the, the providers we have have not been, um, always paying their bills on times and other reasons that, uh, uh, it is, it has come to, uh, um, uh, a problem between, uh, our third-party providers, and so this bill will allow us to go back to, to having contracts directly with the hospital. So it'll benefit our relationship, and it benefits the taxpayers in having a maximum out-of-pocket, uh, formula. Mr. Capps. Yeah, I've noticed that the budget's going down a little bit this year. And, you know, we had heard, uh, comments earlier about how local governments need to make their requests to be leaner and smaller because of, uh, uh, sort of seismic things going on in state government. And I wondered if you had any comments about what's motivating that and, you know. So I, I think, you know, in the past, there's the, the non-recurring funds to appropriations. I don't remember the exact number, but it was to the tune of, like, upwards of 600 percent in the last five years since COVID. Um, the state was granted, um, funds for, during COVID from the federal government. So I was able to, we were able to increase the budget and get more line items, um, line item projects as in appropriations. And those, I think the speaker had committed to cutting those and, um, advocating more for grants that are already in the budget. So, you know, like, we use a lot of DEP grants. So instead of using a line item, you know, we go after grant funding. And, and our, our responsibility would be to, instead of going after a single item, would be to advocate for more funding to DEP or FDOT versus single line appropriations. And that was, um, that was a house, the house speaker committed that early on this year to minimize that. Hmm. So any other comments about the, the temperature in Washington and the things going on in Washington with Doge and that kind of thing and how, how federal funds, um, might be affected that flow to the state, which flow down to us. Right. Uh, I think we're still in a waiting period. We're seeing, you know, what's going on with that. But I don't think to, to date, nothing, you know, concrete has, has affected us locally yet, but we're still monitoring, um, what's going on up there. And Doge has come to Florida as well. Um, Governor DeSantis has implemented a Doge committee as well. So that's happening here as well. Commissioner Hetherington. What's the, um, position of the bill that included some protections for Jonathan Dickinson State Park that had been going kind of back and forth? Yep. So Representative Snyder's presenting his version right now. Um, it has made it, it's in, it's the final stop in the house. So they're one step closer. Um, it's had one hearing in the Senate. I believe it has one more to go. So, or maybe two more, but it's moving in the house. So, um, Representative Snyder's presenting right now. And that was Senator Harrell's bill, correct? Correct. So SB, SB 80 and then, uh, Snyder's is 209. Good for her. So is SB 80 moving? Uh, it, it has had one stop so far. So we'll see. It's in February. Yeah. We're, we're monitoring that. I know there was, um, when I met with Senator Harrell, there was some, um, amendments being proposed. So I think they were just working through, um, I don't know the nature, she didn't share the nature of the amendments with me, but, um, I know that they were working on that. Okay. And also, um, Everglades funding seems to be, uh, really inconsistent, wildly inconsistent, with the governor's budget and the house and the Senate. What can we do to make sure that the, that the, that the appropriation looks way more like the governor's than the Senate's? I'm going to let John answer that. I know he's been monitoring that, uh, the Everglades funding a little more closely. I'll mail environmental resource administrator. Um, so the, the Senate's and the, and the governors look very similar. Although the Senate's incorporated line item project budgeting for Everglades pursuant to SB 7002, which kind of reformats the way the water management districts get funding, the numbers are fine, um, at the Senate. Um, the house submitted some pretty substantially lower numbers. Um, but as Sarah mentioned, you know, there's almost a $5 billion difference between their budgets, the, the house leadership was trying to put forward a budget where they could with a straight face say that they can reduce sales tax by three quarters of a percent. And so they had to have some pretty significant cuts when they get to conference. Um, you know, they're going to have to, they're going to have to come up with one number. Um, we're pretty confident that between the governor and the Senate, they're going to be able to, to, to preserve Everglades funding. Okay. If there's anything that I can do as, as you know, if, if I, if you need me to be in Tallahassee tomorrow, I will be in Tallahassee tomorrow. Thank you. Whatever, whatever we need. We need to make sure that we're protecting our, our county's interests. We'll send our secret web. Yeah, that's right. Anything else? Are you going back today? Drive safely. Thank you. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Good job. We will now take up public hearing quasi judicial one, which is a public hearing to consider adoption of an amendment to the Martin County zoning atlas to change the zoning district classifications for the coral gardens, vacuum station rezoning. Good morning. Ms. Offenbach. Hello. Good morning. Excuse me. Commissioner Hurd. We need to take the regular public hearing before we take the quasi judicial. Cause it's a. Okay. So which one is that? It's public hearing number one. Sorry. Let's go to public hearing number one. Which is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of comprehensive plan amendment 2425 coral gardens vac station future land use map. Please proceed. Hello. For the record, my name is Amy Offenbach planner with the Martin County growth management department. With me, I have Leo Repetti with utilities and solid waste. This is CPA 24-25, a request to change the future land use map for a property known as the coral gardens vac station. The property owner is Martin County, and the applicant is the board of county commissioners. This was heard by the local planning agency on April 3rd, 2025, and the vote was unanimously, unanimously recommended for approval with a vote of four to zero. So this is the second public hearing for approval to consider, I'm sorry, consider approval. So the request is to change the future land use on 4.2 acres, known as coral gardens vac station, from institutional recreational to institutional general. The utilities department would like to construct a vacuum-based sewer system for approximately 638 homes in the coral gardens community and future plans for the coral lakes community. So the property is located south of Southeast Pomeroy Street on the northwest corner of, I'm sorry, the northeast corner of Southeast Willoughby Boulevard and Southeast Coral Lakes Way, and it's highlighted here in red. The adopted future land use map shows the subject designated as the institutional recreation in green, and the proposed future land use map would show the subject highlighted in this aqua color. So the amendment complies with three out of four of the criteria from Section 1-11 of the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan in order for staff to recommend approval, and the only one that it doesn't comply with is C. The amendment complies with all 13 of the criteria to discourage urban sprawl required by state statutes, and also complies with eight additional criteria that discourages the proliferation of urban sprawl. And so the amendment is consistent with a comprehensive plan, and also the institutional general future land use is for publicly owned water and sewer systems. And so staff recommends approval, and this concludes the presentation. Commissioner Vargas. Yes, hi. Where are the funds coming from to build this station? So this, again, Leo Ruppetti with Martin County Utilities. This project will be part of a future assessment. We estimate the cost of construction right now about $18 million. We have a grant currently for $8 million towards this project, and the majority of the balance will be an assessment using state, using SRF funds for the loan to cover the cost of the assessment. The assessment to whom? The homeowners that are individually benefited by this vacuum sewer system. Okay, so then you'll have your $18 million, and that's the cost of it. Current cost. Once we put it on the street and get bids back, then we'll know definitive costs. It's based on our latest cost estimates. Okay. I just don't want you to be hemmed in. They said, well, you said it was only going to be $10 million, and, you know, it's $11 million. So you're speaking with the homeowners association about this, keeping them apprised. We. Or you will? We will be, yes. Okay. I think that would be very good, just to keep feeding them information. Yes. So there's no surprises, you know. And they say, well, we're not going to pay that. Yes. My suggestion. Will do. Thank you. Mr. Capps. Well, this is a very exciting thing to see our septic to sewer conversions. And I think it's good to remind people of the goal, 10,000 septic tanks in 10 years is the goal, right? Yes, that is our goal previously said. That was probably about six years ago. And we, by the end of the completion of this project, the completion of the Old Palm City project, completion of the Porcelona vacuum sewer project, and the other ongoing grinder programs that we're working on, we'll end up with about 9,000 septic tanks, available to connect 9,000 septic tanks to municipal sewer over the course of about 10 years, 9 to 10 years. So we're pretty close on track. That's great. I know there's like a priority system in figuring out which neighborhoods we should target for a septic to sewer. And maybe you could comment a little bit about why coral lakes and coral gardens is a priority and how the water travels from those neighborhoods into the river. I think that would be interesting as well. Sure. So as far as priorities, back in 2015, I believe it was, the CAPTEC, our consultant, did an analysis of the major communities and the need for septic to sewer conversions. And they looked at various elements such as proximity to the water, the age of the community, did they have central drainage, the depth of the water table, a whole bunch of criterias. And they ranked those and put priorities forward on which neighborhoods we would do first. We've gotten through North River Shores, both phases of that. We've gotten through Golden Gate, I believe our next project on the horizon, with the announcement of the grant at the last commission meeting for Port Slano, New Monrovia. We also have 100 percent plans for the old Palm City vacuum sewer project. We have 100 percent plans for this project. So and we have, I believe, about 90 percent plans for Rocky Point. So we've got a lot on the horizon and we're ready to move forward getting shovels into into the ground. Very good. Very good. As far as how the water travels from these neighborhoods into the river, I know there are like some deep ditches between Coral Lakes and Coral Gardens. Is that kind of the way the water travels? That's the primary drainage between those two communities. Eventually, that water works its way out, I believe, out to the US-1 system and then ultimately out to the Manatee Pocket, if I'm not mistaken. And every community is a little bit different. In Old Palm City, for instance, there are multiple ways, everything between Danforth Creek and the river directly and I don't think Bessie Creek. But there's other lots of ways for stormwater runoff, which may be laden with nutrients from runoff from septic tanks and flooding yards and things like that, can get to the river. In Golden Gate, there was one outfall that ran down St. Lucie Boulevard. So there the potential nutrients could be concentrated in one discharge. So every neighborhood is a little bit different. Good. And then one other question. I heard 638 homes. Correct. And those are just in Coral Lakes or Coral Gardens? Only in Coral Gardens. Coral Gardens. And then this facility you're putting in will also eventually service Coral Lakes as well? Correct. And how many more additional homes would be there, do you think? Ninety, somewhere. And I used to live in Coral Lakes. I should know the answer. 125, 150-ish. Also, can I interject? Coral Lakes, yet they don't have water. So the homeowners still have to petition and submit that in order to get water. And then we would move on to sewer. So this would serve as Coral Gardens. And then Coral Lakes, who for 20 years have been talking about getting water, they need to petition and vote in favor of getting the water. Then they would be eligible for sewer. And right now, Coral Gardens, the vacuum station, the grid network of vacuum pipes is 100% designed, permitted, ready to go once we get the future land use and the rezoning. And then we can move forward with the site plan and then move forward towards the next phase, getting to construction. It's been interesting learning about sewer systems, the difference between, like, the grinder kind and the vacuum kind. And as I remember, if you have a vacuum system, you need, like, a lot where you can put this building and this big thing inside the building, right, as opposed to the grinder system where you don't need that kind of thing. That's correct. If you put this vacuum station, it benefits our site plan process. We also will be able to access our facility for maintenance off of Willoughby instead of in through the neighborhood. And when I talk about maintenance, we typically have somebody out there once a day just checking on things. Everything's monitored remotely via SCADA. So, but if we have to bring in any trucks or equipment, it would be off of Willoughby instead of through the community. Of course, if there's issues in the community, we'd obviously deal with them directly. And one more characteristic between the two different systems. The vacuum system is more expensive up front but is cheaper in the long run, and the grinder system is cheaper to put in but more expensive to maintain in the long run. So, as far as long-term maintenance, I think our oldest station is about 17 years old, and we just went through some major renovations, the one out at Lighthouse Point in Palm City, major upgrades to pumps and things like that. It's got a very large storage tank that all of the waste get pulled into before they're sent to our plant for treatment. Eventually, those tanks, they have a finite life. They'll need to be replaced. They're costly. So, the vacuum sewer maintenance isn't necessarily, it may be low on a daily basis, but long-term there are some costs associated with that. On the vacuum sewer, the, I'm sorry, on the grinder sewer, the cost of maintenance are a replacement of pumps, which have an estimated life of 15 years, meantime between failures. So, as far as the overall cost, we have to build a vacuum station building with backup power, all the vacuum lines throughout the community and all the pits, very costly capital up front, whereas the grinders, we're doing neighborhoods with small diameter, 2-inch and 3-inch, maybe even 4-inch diameter force mains via directional drill, not very disruptive. They can go in very quickly, suited to doing small neighborhoods, but the majority of the cost on the grinder sewer is on the homeowner's property, installation of the grinder station, the electric, and abandoning the septic tank and doing the connections, whereas on a vacuum sewer, the on-site cost is just a lateral from the building out to the vacuum pit. So, a little bit different costs up front versus maintenance. But you're correct, Commissioner, in the fact that the vacuum station uses far less labor to maintain in the grinder systems. We have to have far more employees per home, if you will, to maintain the system. I remember hearing about the unique problems that the grinder system bring when there's a hurricane. You've got a real crisis because you need just slews of people out there working on these things in every single yard, right? They don't. We rely on the homeowner's power to operate them, and so if there is widespread power outages, we have to have roaming staff with generators to have them pumped out once or twice a day so that the homeowner is still able to use their system, where the vacuum system has one generator that serves the whole community and one employee can manage, you know, hundreds of homes as opposed to roaming employees dealing with all the vacuum spaces, I mean the grinders. As far as daily maintenance on the grinders, right now, Martin County Utilities does not have dedicated people to service-only grinders. We have just over 1,000 in the ground, and they're relatively maintenance-free, so we haven't had to build a grinder maintenance program. There are staff that are trained in the repair and maintenance of those stations, and if there's a call from a homeowner, we'll go out and address those. We might have maybe three calls a week for some issue out of 1,000, which is pretty good. As far as the hurricane preparedness, once you lose power, you also lose power to your water heater, your washing machine, to your dishwashing equipment, and your water uses are going to be lower. Our basins have a storage volume of about 80 gallons before it would fill up, so you can still do some periodic flushes of the toilets, wash some things in the kitchen sink, maybe take a quick cold shower if your water heater is not working, so that's a possibility. And then I was out with staff. We have pickup trucks with a portable generator and a 100-foot extension cord, and during Nicole and also during Milton, we had neighborhoods that had lost power, and we went out there and once a day went out, and we were able to hit 100% of the homes that had no power. The thing I found surprising is of the homes that were still without power for residents that were actually at home, about a third of the homeowners have some sort of backup generator, whether it's a portable or it's a whole-house generator or they're using load shedding for a partial-house generator. I'm surprised how many people really are taking the opportunity to provide their own power, you know, on themselves instead of relying on FP&L. I think it was obviously getting better and doing power restoration. In the event we have a very large-scale hurricane, we're part of a mutual aid society called Florida Warn, and if you would think of Martin County taking a direct hit, the folks in Orlando and North and the folks in Miami South are pretty much unaffected, and if we need staff to come out, if I need a two-man crew with a pickup truck and a 6,000-watt generator, a 100-foot cord, I'd put that call out onto the website, and then utilities would call back in and provide that mutual aid assistance. We have a system of we know all of our customers. They're in sequence by neighborhood and by street, so it's just a matter of handing an atlas to an outside consultant to go out there and pump all of them down. So we have an A plan, a B plan, a C plan, so we take the threat of power outages seriously and want to ensure that people aren't, you know, there's enough inconveniences without the inconvenience of not having toilets to flush. Very good. Thank you. I certainly understand being self-sufficient about power. In 2004, I was without power for two weeks for Francis and then two weeks for Jean, so four weeks in September, which is no fun. Commissioner Hetherington. Pending any public comment, I will move staff's recommendation for approval. Ms. Offenbach. I'd like to add that since this is a county-initiated amendment, the proof-of-public notice has been included in the work file. And just for context, this is the subject property down here, and the Coral Gardens neighborhood is this rectangle here, and this is the Coral Lakes. And also, Mr. Rappetti, you said that this project is 100% designed and permitted. Palm City, Old Palm City is 100% designed and permitted, and Rocky Point is approximately 90-something percent designed. So give me a tentative calendar for when we might expect for these projects to be begun and completed. So with the three projects that are moving forward, our goal is to have all three of them on the street over the next 12 months. And I forgot Port Salerno and New Monrovia, too. That would be our priority based on the latest grant we got, is to get Port Salerno, New Monrovia, on the street first. Okay. And once we get that on the street, and as you can imagine, a vacuum sewer is kind of a specialty thing. I can't put all three of them on the street at the same time, and we have to have contractors that, you know, they'll know who have won this one, and then other companies will bid. Okay, I didn't get this one, so now I'm going to try to bid on the next one. So we obviously have to stagger the start of those. And these are also neighborhood restoration projects? So water, sewer, resurfacing? Yes. Drainage? Yep. And some of the neighborhoods, Public Works has moved out ahead of us and done the drainage, and upon completion of the vacuum sewer system, they would then move forward to the resurfacing of those roads. Okay, thanks. Commissioner Hetherington? How many contractors do we have pre-qualified that are eligible to bid on these vacuum stations? We had gone down the road of pre-qualifying contractors, and then we determined that it wasn't a best interest to get the largest pool of contractors, so we no longer have a pre-qualification of those contractors. And we've not had any issue with performance on these vacuum sewer projects. Good, okay. So it's open for bidding throughout the state and otherwise? Correct. More contractors are eligible to bid now, which is a benefit to our residents. That's correct. Thank you. Good. Any further questions? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? We need public comment. Is there any member from the public who would like to address us on this issue? Seeing none, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Lastly, we will take up public hearing quasi-judicial number one, which is a public hearing to consider adoption of an amendment to the Martin County Zoning Atlas to change the zoning district classification for the Coral Gardens Vacuum Station rezoning. This is a quasi-judicial public hearing. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte disclosures? None, and my report has been filed. Excellent. 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, which I have none. And Commissioner Hetherington? I do, and they've been filed. And have you submitted your paperwork to the clerk? And there is not an... We're the applicant, so we ready to proceed? We have to swear on the witnesses, please. That's right, we do. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed. So, again, for the record, my name is Amy Offenbach, planner with the Martin County Growth Management Department. This was heard by the local planning agency on April 3rd with a unanimous recommendation to approve 4 to 0. This is concurrent with CPA 24-25, a rezoning for the Coral Gardens Vac Station property on 4.2 acres from the PR district to the PS1 district. The property, again, is located on the northeast corner of southeast Willoughby Boulevard and southeast Coral Lakes Way, highlighted in red here. The two zoning districts that implement the institutional general future land use are the PS1 and the PS2. The PS1 has less intense uses, and that's what staff is recommending to change the zoning district to. This is the permitted uses table, 3.11.2. Both zoning districts allow the utilities, and each permitted use is marked with a P. The tables 3.12.1 and 3.12.2 are the development standards for both districts, and they're both the same. The required open space is 40%. This is the adopted zoning atlas with the subject designated as PR, public recreation, and the proposed zoning atlas would have the subject designated as PS1 in this dark blue color for public service. And so this amendment complies with the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan and the standards for zoning, standards for amendments to the zoning atlas of the land development regulations, and staff recommends approval. This concludes the presentation. Ms. Seldar. Lee Seldar, Deputy County Attorney. Can we just confirm that notice has been provided? Yes. Thank you. Notice has been provided along with my work history. Commissioner Hetherington. Depending on any public comment, I will move staff's recommendation for approval. Second. Mr. Repetti, I know that in the case of Rocky Point, that the parcel that we set aside for the pump station, which is serving the approximately same amount of homes, is 100 foot by 100 feet. Why do we have 4.2 acres in this? Why don't you just take a portion of the 4.2 acres and leave the remainder public recreation? Just working with growth management staff, it seemed like it was just the easy thing to do is to just do, instead of carving out a separate parcel, is just to use the entire, just change the future land use and zoning for the entire parcel. Our impacts to the property, if I could ask Amy to go back to the red polygon that shows our overall site. If you were to look at the aerial crossing associated with the getting over to the school, our building is actually going to be north of that, and then our driveway is actually going to be opposite, opposing the driveway, lined up with the driveway on the west side of the road just north of that overpass. So we're really, despite that there's a sign for public notice on the intersection of Coral Lakes Way and Willoughby, are actually, we're leaving all of that land alone, and we're just moving the land, moving the building to the north side of that. So instead of just trying to carve out something, we have no intentions of doing that clearing. We're still subject to site plan. We, once we get approved here, then we'll move the site plan, and we'll work with staff to minimize our impacts. That's encouraging. That would make it a nice neighborhood park. Ms. Oppenbach. I just wanted to note that the PS1 and PS2 districts both allow public parks active and passive. Okay. I'm pleased that you're isolating it on the northern side where it looks like it's most appropriate. And the building actually becomes adjacent to the Coral Gardens neighborhood instead of the Coral Lakes neighborhood. Okay. Good. And there was some concern about the Coral Lakes neighborhood when they saw the sign at the intersection, thinking that we're going to build something right off of that. In fact, we're looking to do our driveway opposite the other driveway. Initial, there was some talk about connecting to the Coral Lakes Way driveway with our driveway, and it makes sense to do it off of Willoughby instead. Great. Thank you. Commissioner? With the vacuum system, you could do like a splash pad or something. Keep it. Right. We discourage the public from interacting with our utilities facilities. Just throwing suggestions out there. Commissioner Vargas. Okay. So, my understanding is that you will change the zoning, but it can still be used for the system and also for a public park area. Is that correct? That's correct. There's also a public park across the street here with the pedestrian bridge accessing it. So, people can walk through here, walk over the bridge to get to the park. It's walkable, that area that we're talking about, the subject parcel. Okay. I was just concerned if we're changing the zoning, if that would still be permitted. Commissioner Capps. I'm good. I'm sorry. Is there any public comment? Seeing none, there's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Blake Capps was the second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We'll take a 10-minute break. We'll take a scone break. Anybody else want to scone? Taking up agenda item number, let's see, department quasi-judicial public hearing number one. We already did that one? Two. We'll take up two then, which is a request, a plat approval for the Newfield Crossroads Phase 1A3 project. I'm here for one? Yeah. I was... Sorry. We did one. No, we didn't. Department... I got bad gouge from my fellow commissioner. I'm taking up... What? Gouge. Gouge? It's a Navy term. Oh, I'll have to look it up and see if you can tell them the truth. So we are taking up number one, which is a request for approval of the Martindowns Planned Unit Development Parcel 38-40 Martindowns Village Center Revised Final Site Plan. Mr. Elam, oh, this is quasi-judicial. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte disclosures? Not that I know have been filed. Mr. Capps? If I have any, they have been filed. If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy? I did have some. I have filed that. And Commissioner Hetherington? I do, and they've been filed. And have you submitted your information to the clerk? Copy my work history in the agenda item. Excellent. If anybody's going to provide sworn testimony, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. Do you swear or affirm 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, Commissioners. For the record, I'm Brian Elam, the Principal Planner with Growth Management Department. Oh, yeah. This is a request by Insight Studio Incorporated on behalf of Bricksmore Property Group for approval of a revised final site plan to construct two standalone restaurants with drive-thrus totaling approximately 4,678 square feet. Within the parking area of the Village Center, an existing commercial development located on parcels 38 and 40 within the Martin Downs Planned Unit Development. The applicant provided an approval letter from the Martin Downs Property Owners Association for this proposal, and included with this application is a request for a certificate of public facilities reservation. The approximate 20.12-acre property is located on the southwest corner of Southwest High Meadow Avenue and southwest Martin Downs Boulevard in Palm City. The Martin Downs Village Center property was platted in 1985. The existing zoning district on the property is the Martin Downs Planned Unit Development Zoning Agreement, approved on August 8, 1980. The property has a commercial general underlying future land use. This is sheet one of the revised final site plan, which shows the two standalone drive-thru restaurants on either side of the main drive aisle into the Martin Downs Village Center development. The 77th Amendment to the Martin Downs PUD approved the maximum commercial square footage for the Village Center at 102,045 square feet and a maximum office square footage of 21,871 square feet. The 77th Amendment also established minimum setbacks for new buildings at 100 feet from southwest Martin Downs and 75 feet from southwest High Meadows Avenue. This proposal meets the setback requirements of the 77th Amendment and is within the square footage thresholds previously approved for the Martin Downs PUD Village Center. With this proposal, the total commercial square footage is at 99,452 square feet, which results in approximately 2,600 square feet of commercial square footage available. So here's the two new proposed fast food restaurants. The traffic impact analysis was performed by Kinley Horn concluding the proposed development meets the concurrency standards within the Martin County, within Martin County and the length of the eastbound right turn lane and the westbound left turn lanes at the intersection of Martin Downs Boulevard and the project driveway were sufficient to accommodate project traffic upon build out in 2026. The traffic division of the public works department found this application in compliance, so what they're speaking of here are these turn lanes here, eastbound and the westbound, which isn't really showing up here, but it's here, to turn into the main entrance to the Martin Downs Village Center. A parking analysis was performed to determine if the reduction in parking supply upon build out of the development would be sufficient for the Martin Downs Village Center. The results of the parking analysis show the proposed development is adequately parked. Breaks in the existing medians of the main entrance will be constructed that provide an alternate circulation path for traffic to the fast food restaurants. So currently, this proposal is showing a break here in the median, a break here, and a break here. Those aren't currently there. Those are part of this proposal, and it allows you to have a circulation path prior to entering the entire development and having to come back around. You break. That's noisy. Indeed we are. But not every day, just two Tuesdays. At least it was a cool song, right? This is an excerpt of the landscape plans, which in addition to providing landscaping for the two proposed restaurants, will be planting 173 upsized shade trees, preserving 117 existing trees, and establish over 3,000 native shrubs, grasses, and ground covers to enhance the visual aesthetics and provide functional benefit for water quality and stormwater management. This is a picture of the Wendy's elevations, complying with commercial design, and the Chipotle elevations. Development review staff have found the Bricksmore Property Group application to comply with all applicable regulations of the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan as detailed in the staff report. Review of this application is not required by the local planning agency, and staff recommends approval of this application. We move that the board receive and file the agenda item and all its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1. We move that the board adopt a resolution approving the revised final site plan for the Martin Downs PUD Parcel 3840 Village Center PUD Project. And that concludes the presentation. Commissioner Vargas. I have a question for Bricksmore and what's the name of the other company? We'll have their presentation first. Let's do that. I'd like to hear what you're saying. Applicant, would you like to make a presentation? Good morning. Brian Terry with Insight Studio. Happy to run through a presentation. Thank you. Mr. Elam's done a very thorough job. I'm going to, I have some duplication in here. I'll try to keep it to a minimum for, for time, but again, we're, we're here on behalf of Bricksmore. This is a good opportunity. It's an infill opportunity on the Martin Downs Village Center to, again, bring, bring some additional activity into that center. It's certainly, it has seen a renovation really recently. There has been some new tenants brought into the facility, but this is an opportunity to really take advantage of some underutilized land that's fronting on Martin Downs Boulevard. So, obviously, I think everybody's very familiar with the location at this point in time. It was touched on the existing, this is part of the overall Martin Downs PUD. And, again, just to touch on the fact we are not amending the PUD. This is certainly working within the parameters of the existing approval and the square footage and the uses that were allocated in those original approvals and then subsequently amended over the years. Some existing photographs, you can see, this is, obviously, the parking lot itself is, is fairly underutilized, I think you could say. It's based on the total square footage that was, that was constructed and based on the code. I'll touch on those parking requirements here just in a bit. But as was mentioned, we have done parking studies and analyzed how, what the necessity is for those. And certainly the addition of these two buildings, the Chipotle and the Wendy's, certainly fit in there. We are removing some parking spaces, but there's adequate spaces in the final design to accommodate for all uses on the property. Again, there is a history here. As was mentioned, this was originally approved back in 1985, ultimately. Had been amended a couple times over the years, but, again, the square footage and the uses were permitted and defined within those original approvals. So as was mentioned, these numbers are slightly different than what you just heard because we're talking about gross total building areas that were going to be permitted. So you have 123.916 is the maximum build-out. It's going to be at 119.560 with these two buildings added into the existing square footage. And then you can see below that the parking, based on the code criteria, based on the uses and the total square footage that's there, you'll be needing 523 parking spaces. There's going to be 570 ultimate design and configuration of the site, so meeting those criteria as well. There's two affected areas. Again, so that main entrance road that comes in off Martin Downs, the Wendy's is on the, we'll call it the east side, the Chipotle would be on the west side. And those are the affected boundaries, so meaning the areas that were going to be modifying the existing parking to place the building structure in there and then reconfigure for the drive-thrus and the parking that will surround it. So you can see how those sites would look in the final design. As was mentioned by Brian, there are two new access points. So coming in this main drive, which is how you typically come into the center today, you would have to come all the way up to the actual main kind of looping road that runs across the front of the center. There will be new driveways placed in this location so that you can veer off of that main roadway and then into either restaurant that you may be going to. Also, traffic was also a significant portion of the review of this. Obviously, there was, you know, each of the turn lanes going both eastbound and westbound were looked at very closely to make sure that they're adding these two facilities. Those capacities would still be met, which they have proven to be. We also talked to, so again, actually, this is kind of showing how that site circulation works, where that intended, you know, new access point is going to be right here to gain access to both of those restaurants. Again, a quick just summary of the parking table so that you can see how we meet all those criteria. A brief summary of the trips that are generated as a part of this. As was mentioned, you know, these types of uses are really a function of the local residents, the local people who are on those roadways, whether they're going to work, whether they're coming home from work, whether they're going to running errands throughout the days. These are passerby types of uses, and so, you know, you're not getting trips from long distances coming to a Chipotle. There's probably one near wherever they may be coming from. One of the most significant improvements I think that you'll ultimately see with this redevelopment is the expansive landscape improvements that are going to be done on the entirety of the front of the center and then as well as some in the rear. Certainly over the years there's been some trees that, whether diseased or wind damaged, whatever it may be, that have come down in certain portions of that parking lot. Some of the landscape has kind of fallen in a bit of disrepair. And so part of the staff's work with us was to look at ways that we could try to improve not just those affected areas but certainly the landscape throughout the entire center. So we're way above code criteria that would be required for what's being proposed here, but really the intention is to then beautify not just those out parcels but the entirety of the center itself. I think you saw the elevations, but again, the Chipotle elevation as well as the Wendy's elevations, that will be a part of that. We did work through the Martin Downs Property Owners Association. We made them very aware of our application. We've been in contact with them for well over a year throughout the entire process. They did issue a letter in November indicating their support and approval of the proposed modifications in the buildings architecturally themselves. So, again, we really appreciate your support. It's a final site plan. We're not amending the PUD, working within the confines of the existing approvals, and happy to answer any questions you have. We have a group from Bricksmore as well as architects that can hopefully answer any questions you have. Commissioner Vargas. Okay. I have a couple of questions, which I already spoke with staff about. I understand that there are plantings that you're going to put because that looks like a very tired shopping plaza, and that's a kind comment, being in the real estate business. Are you going to be putting larger trees than just little twigs that take 60 years to grow? We are, yes. A lot of the landscape materials that are being proposed, the trees are above that minimum specification that would be required. I mean, obviously they're not fully mature, but they're more mature than is the minimum size standard in a lot of locations. Yeah, and shrubbery. And the shrubbery as well, right? I mean, we have a significant amount of shrubbery that's going in. Obviously, we're specifying things that we think are going to do well. There's going to be some irrigation upgrades to help maintain those in the long term. And so, yeah, we think that this is going to look significantly different than maybe how you experience it today. Yes. And the other thing, I have a question, and thank you, is about the asphalt. You're going to asphalt the whole parking area. It looks patchwork. I know it's required, but I'm giving you a professional opinion. And if you want to attract good quality, first-class tenants, and people don't like to drive over bumpy roads, enough of those. Understood. So there's a material, and I think that maybe somebody else can speak to it. You don't have to scrape up the whole pavement. You coat it. I don't remember the proper name. Maybe you can help me out there. To be able to look uniform. Nice, new. Paul Schilling, growth management director. Sure, so I think it's planing the asphalt and then resealing it or putting a top coat on it. I have not traversed this site recently. It's been several years. But the construction area will, of course, have a new appearance. But any of those areas that are maybe being neglected, maybe there's some potholes or something, those could garner the attention of the applicant. Well, I'll definitely bring that to the attention of... Who's the decision maker, him or you? This will be Bricksmore, yes. Are you Bricksmore? I am not. I am within... Who's Bricksmore? Oh, please, come up. I always like to speak with the decision maker. But I hired him to talk. Yeah, I know, but, you know, he's not going to give you the full story. So, anyway, my suggestion, and I already spoke with staff about this, is that it, according to the suggestion of our director from growth management, that you make it all uniform. You don't want patchwork because it looks like the same thing. Agreed. We can reseal the front parking lot, but, you know, we can't do the back. We can't do all of the entire parking lot. We have a lot of landscaping that we're adding to the center, resealing the front, restriping. We don't have a problem with that. Okay, so you heard the product that he recommended or the procedure. That's my novice opinion as far as asphalt. But I think the message is that it should have an appearance that is not... Uniform. You'll make money. Trust me on this one. You'll be fine. I know the shopping center, it's a nice center, but tired. You don't want that. You're putting forth a lot of effort and money to do this. Don't do it half. I'll leave it there. Don't leave it half, okay? Thank you. I really appreciate it. See, I knew she was reasonable. Okay. Thank you. Okay, now you heard her, right? Okay, fine. So you'll follow. So order the little machine that rolls the tar or whatever it is. I don't know. That's the one. Okay. Commissioner Campy. Are you done? I think so, but I could come back for more. No, I'm just saying I wasn't sure if you were done. I'll be honest, when I first heard about the application, I was nervous. Because as you can imagine, people in Martin County and Palm City in general get panicky about anything that's new. So I took sort of an unscientific poll of many residents, friends, coworkers, people that I run into. And I said, hey, have you heard about this opportunity that's coming to the plaza? And I would tell you, it was, you know, universally very, very positive. People love Chipotle. Absolutely love it. I literally, when I mentioned it to people, like, oh, my God, that's fantastic. Like, so really very positive for the Chipotle. Wendy's, I think, is very legitimate. And when some people said, oh, Wendy's, I said, okay, well, if it wasn't Wendy's, what should it be? And nobody really had a definitive suggestion. So everyone says, well, Wendy's is. So I compliment you on both of those choices. I think that they will benefit the community. But my biggest praise would be, and you and I had this conversation, beyond building the new facilities. And I'll tell you, I've been, my parents have lived across the street there in Martin Downs for 35 years. So we have seen, you know, that plaza really from the early days. And, you know, it's interesting, and I want to reiterate the fact that the whole concept is from 1980 and 1985. So when folks that moved here 18 months ago say, stop ruining our community, I want to remind them that this project has been around. 1980, I was in junior high. So it's been around a little bit. But my biggest benefit, and I think the biggest benefit and my biggest praise for you all is a complete redo of the landscaping. I think it'll add a freshness to the entire site beyond the fact that you're building two restaurants. I know you didn't necessarily have to do that, but I'm very pleased that you did. You know, as Commissioner Vargas says, it's a return on investment for businesses. But for the community, people getting off the turnpike, going anywhere primarily in northern central Martin County, Stewart, Jensen, Sewell's Point, Hutchinson Island, if you're coming off the turnpike, you have to come down that way. So it is sort of the front door of all of Martin County, Palm City. And so to give that very large, very definitive portion of Palm City a refresh, especially considering that you've layered in some, and this is more, I guess, for the property managers, some really fantastic tenants. You know, the rebirth of Palm City Grill to fin and flame was a great idea. There's a lot of professional buildings. I know you've got a new optical, and so the plaza is in a rebirth, never mind Palm City Social, which is absolutely fantastic. And then I know that the Chinese restaurant is expanding into a place there. So the plaza is really, through your tenants, has really seen a great improvement. So now to do the landscaping over and some of the parking, I think it's a great benefit for a vast majority of Palm City residents and Martin County residents. And as you said, a lot of people are just going to be passing through that might stop and grab something. So with that, I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation for approval. And thank you for reinvesting in our community and for the additional tax base and a Palm City refresh. Thanks. Commissioner Vargas. I'm sorry, Capps. Commissioner Capps. Yes. As far as the landscaping goes, I don't think anyone mentioned the word native trees. And I know I can't tell you what kind of trees to plant, but, you know, hopefully we're keeping that in mind, you know, that, you know, a lot of older developments have sort of like these cheap builder grade trees that are not high quality trees and not native. And, you know, there's this push and trend toward native trees, which are much better. And that would be a request. You know, I know I can't require you to do things like that, but hopefully that you're keeping that in mind. Absolutely. I'm not looking at the landscape plan, but I do remember, I mean, the large majority of what we have on the site were natives. I pulled this from our landscape reviewer and she's very demanding. Okay. We did spend a significant amount of time working through the plans with her, and I think that we came up with what a plan that everybody felt was going to be successful. I mean, yes, these are her words, 3,000 native shrubs, grasses, and ground covers to enhance the visual aesthetics. And also I remember that a lot of these trees, they got tree credits because a lot of the trees they are putting in, I think, were all native, I believe. And they're all, I think, twice the size. They're larger than they have to be. So they got tree credits for the fact that they increased the size of the minimum requirement. So I do believe they're all native. They are. Good. My next observation that kind of jumped out at me as I was reading the agenda item summary, and it says the Martindown's PUD agreement approved on August 8, 1980. And, you know, the big watershed moment in Martin County history was 1982 when the comprehensive plan was adopted. And it's just a little side note about the history of Martin County. And when I think about huge things that happened in Martin County in the past, certainly the development of Martindown's was a gigantic happening in Martin County. And it's interesting. I've heard little side notes in the past about how that developed and the key players involved. And, you know, it'd be interesting to know if it even could have happened like it did under comp plan rules. You know, that's been an interesting topic as well. But it's all part of the major things that have happened in our history. And it's very interesting to think about. The third thing I wanted to mention was when an applicant comes in and the first time we hear from them, it is for a final site plan approval. The words that always pop in my head are buy right. It's kind of like a buy right development. Is that a correct assessment, Mr. Donaldson? Like when someone comes in for a final site plan approval and there's not a comp plan involved, there's not a zoning change involved. Oh, you're the guy to talk to him. Yes, sir. Paul Schilling again, for the record. The first time we hear from him is for the site plan. Yes, sir. That's buy right, right? Generally speaking, yes, with a few exceptions. This application today is in compliance with the PUD, which has had 77-some-odd amendments throughout the years and decades, in fact, and is in full compliance with the criteria for the commercial square footage, et cetera, et cetera. I don't know specifically as far as I would be hesitant to say buy right, but it is in compliance with the PUD, which is the zoning on the property. So one could assume that if I meet those criteria, then the site plan should be approved. Some other instances when it's a straight zoning project, as you know, maybe in this case when the zoning was GC in lieu of PUD, that is considered at times a buy right project. Are the words buy right, like, in the comp plan, or is that kind of like nomenclature, you know, like an informal type term? When someone says, I'm building this buy right, that's kind of an informal phrase. Yes. That's interesting. Any further questions, comments for either staff or the applicant? Is there any public comment? Is there a motion? I have a motion in. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? No, we don't have a second. Oh, we don't have a second. I'll second it. There's a motion and a second. I was just kind of a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you very much. Don't forget about my paving. Make sure you make a note there when you go out and check. The next item is DPQJ, which is a quasi-judicial public hearing, requesting Platt approval for the Newfield Crossroads Phase 1A3 project. And staff presenting is Mr. Aguilar. Good morning. Good morning, Madam Chair. How are you? Good. How are you? Doing well. Excuse me, Commissioner. We need ex parte communication. We do. Commissioner Vargas, any ex parte disclosures? No. If I have any, 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 I have any, they've been filed. And Mr. Aguilar, have you presented your information to the clerk? I have. Excellent. Anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. Do you swear or affirm 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, members of the board. For the record, my name is Luis Aguilar, Principal Planner for the Growth Management Department. I'm presenting a plat application for a property owned by Marami Palm Beach, LLC. This is a request for plat approval for new field crossroads, Phase 183. Phase 183 includes 155 lots, four civic areas, and associated infrastructure on an approximate approximately 32.56-acre site. The subject is a portion of the approximately 139-acre crossroads neighborhood Phase I Master Plan. The subject site is located northeast of Southwest Newfield Parkway, approximately 0.7 miles south of C-23 Canal in Palm City. This is the overall site for Phase 183. The plat is consistent with the plan. This is the first page of the plat, which consists of a complete set of 13 pages included in the attached documents. Bless you. And this is the overall development plan. Review of plats is now required by the local planning agency. Final action on this application is required by the Board of County Commissioners in a public meeting. Development review staff have found the application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the attached staff report. The County Surveyor's Office has reviewed this plat application for compliance with applicable statutes and ordinances and finds it in compliance. Staff recommends approval of the new field crossroads, Phase 183 plat. And we recommend to move the Board to receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1. And move the Board to approve the new field crossroads, Phase 183 plat, including the contract for construction of required improvements in infrastructure. This is the end of my presentation. And I would like to add also that the applicant has a presentation. Okay. Questions for staff. Then, applicant, would you like to make a presentation? Mr. Fitzgerald. Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners. My name is James Fitzgerald. I work with Madam E. Holmes. I'm the Director of Development, so I'm ultimately responsible for bringing a new field to fruition. Thank you for your time this morning. So, as you know, we're here for a plat, but I wanted to just take an opportunity because the master plan was approved back in 2020 just to provide some additional context and answer any questions that you may have. On the screen here is the... May I stop you just for a minute? Can you make the screen the full presentation? I know sometimes... I can. ...when you're watching it at home, that's a very small image. I'm actually going to bring the PowerPoint presentation. Perfect. Thank you. Sorry about that. So, this is the illustrative master plan. You know, we've had a lot of exciting infrastructure projects and things of that nature going on recently that I just wanted to share. You know, as a strategy and from a branding perspective, what we've done over the last couple years is try to bring forward, you know, exciting public benefit-based projects like the Kiplinger Conservancy Trails, as well as the Newfield Farm prior to, you know, opening the neighborhood. So, what we've done at this point is we've placed conservation easements over about 1,800 acres of land. That constitutes the Kiplinger Conservancy. In it, we've opened about 10 miles of trails. We've opened one trailhead on the north end of the property. And then we've got the second one that's under construction now. And we're hoping to have that completed by the end of May. And we've also, as of last month, got the first ever, as far as I understand, FWC Gopher Tortoise recipient site approved in the Kiplinger Conservancy as well. So, we're very excited about that. In addition, if you've been on site, you might have noticed a lot of activity within Newfield Parkway, which was formerly known as Citrus Boulevard. We've added two roundabouts to, you know, really kind of try to slow traffic down. We've four-laned that portion of the road, which is about a mile. And we've added hundreds of oak trees. And each of the roundabouts that cap this portion of the road have, you know, really beautiful multi-stem ranch oaks. So, we've completed one of those roundabouts. So, you can kind of see those, the landscaping there today. And the southern roundabout will be completed along with, you know, substantially completing the road inside the next 30 days. Again, we've only come before you, I believe, for just the Crossroads neighborhood as it relates to, you know, the primarily residential villages. We've also come before you for the first neighborhood within SDW, which is the workplace district all the way on the east side of the property. What we're talking about today is the Crossroads neighborhood, which is outlined in this black dash line. And phase 1A3 is about 32 and a half acres. There's 155 residential lots. There's four civic areas that form kind of a green belt that takes you from the perimeter of the neighborhood. And it takes you all the way into the town center, which we have a final site plan application in for the first two mixed-use buildings now. So, this is kind of a contextual illustrative site plan where you can see how phase 1A3 and as well as the farm in the model area, which is 1A1, which is kind of in the background here, fits within the overall site context. And I think that there's also worth noting, as it relates to the civic open space area, which 5% is required by code. That constitutes about a little less than an acre. We're providing three acres here in the form of these pocket parks and some of these outward-facing parks that are all open for public benefit and access. So, here's a more zoomed-in kind of illustrative site plan here where you can start to understand what the massing looks like, as is the case with the models, which I think that you've all seen. Everything is, you know, all the garages are accessed from alleys in the rear. So, it's all rear-loaded products, so you're not seeing these big garage doors on the front facades. You know, you've got these beautiful front facades that kind of create a walkable environment along with generous, you know, wider sidewalks. And you've got porches on probably about 60% or 70% of these homes. And then some of the smaller products, like the townhomes or villas, have stoops that are between 5x5 and 8x8 feet wide. So, in addition to some of the residential areas, which I think the image on the top left portion of the screen kind of accurately depicts, these are the models that have been completed that front a linear park. This is probably, I think, a good representative image of what you'll see in the subject area of this plot, especially when you get to kind of the perimeter of the community in the T3 transit zone, which has the wider, more generous setbacks. We also have, you know, some pocket parks that I'd mentioned. The one on the right top corner is one that's within the model block as well that's been completed. We've got a very similar one in this phase. And then the bottom left image is actually an internal park that is under construction that's within this phase. You can kind of tell which one was the professional photography and which one was my iPhone. But I'll leave that up to you. And we also have, like I mentioned, a civic amenity that we're anticipating starting in the next month, which is a nine-month build. That kind of is where the linear park system feeds pedestrians. And that is the two images on the bottom of the screen here. So that consists of five pickleball courts, two pools, a fitness area, gym, a yoga lawn. And then we actually have a bike share station that we're implementing there as well. So this is a depiction from the illustrative site plan that was approved in the final site plan process. It shows you the transit zone allocation. So you can see kind of on the bottom portion of the screen, the purple area is the town center. So we're about a block off of the town center. And the green areas are civic open space, which, like I said, constitutes about three acres. And the browns are the T4 transit zone, which has generally less wide setbacks, which is a little bit more dense. And then as you get further out in the neighborhood, the yellow shaded areas depict the T3 transit zone, which has the more generous setbacks. The homes are set back further from the public sidewalk and so forth. So that's all I've got in terms of a presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can. Questions for Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Vargas. So this is, you come before the hearing so that you can sell your lots. Is that pretty much it? Yeah, that's what the plot is for. That's pretty much what it boils down to. Yes. This is already approved by the previous commission. Yes. Any further questions? Oh, he was next. Mr. Capps. A question or two about the gopher tortoise preserve FWC recipient site. Does anybody know anything about the health of the gopher tortoise population in the state and in the region and whether we have enough of these sites to put them? Perhaps you've learned some things about that. You know what? I have learned a few things about it. I don't know that I know enough about the entirety of the population in the state, but I do believe that they're threatened. You can see on the FWC website where the recipient sites are, and there's very few of them from Martin County down to the Keys. So we're proud to be one of them. It took us probably about two years of site work, drainage improvements, and then just the approval process through FWC to finally make it happen. That included, you know, roller chopping, dense saw palmetto, and then we had some prescribed burns as well. So it was a fairly intensive process, which I'm sure, you know, some developers may opt to just pay the fee and relocate the tortoises. I'm proud that our company, you know, stuck through it, made it happen, and finally got it approved. Were there a lot of expenses associated with this? I mean, it sounds like it. It was more expensive than I think we anticipated, but we were happy to do it, and I was proud to be involved in it. Well, I applaud you for that. I don't think you had to do that, so that's pretty cool. Commissioner Campy. Thank you very much. Knowing that in the past when we have had projects that needed to relocate gopher tortoises, rightfully so, our public and some of the commission and our staff would be very disappointed that we would be taking Martin County tortoise residents and relocating them far away out of our county and far from the area. So when I first heard that you guys were thinking about doing it, which we don't have it for the county as an organization doesn't have it, but now that you do, if we have to relocate within our own county, I know that a lot of people were concerned that we were transporting them so far away. So congratulations on that. I know you're having an event to celebrate it, which I think is worthy of that. I do know in the past that even just relocating a tortoise is very expensive, so I can imagine creating a recipient site for it must have been quite a process. So thank you. The second, you know, each time that you come before us and show little different presentations, can you go back to the photographs? This. Now these are not, especially the top one, they're not renderings. This is exactly what's happening out there. I've had the opportunity, I think most of us have at some point or another, to tour this, and it really is something quite extraordinary and different than what most people would think about like big development projects. It's not cookie cutter. It's not mundane. It's very exciting. I think you can see the difference in the landscaping and the quality of the work and the backloading garages, I think, is an interesting process. It's much more challenging to create all the alleyways. You're basically having to do twice as many roads. But I think it really pays off in the aesthetic and how it feels there. And then the concept, like you said in the top right, with these more public spaces, you know, having three, I can't use the word children anymore because they're basically adults. My kids are all in the mix. My oldest just was able to purchase a home actually in Martin County. But what they are looking for, this new generation, this current generation of homebuyers, is totally different than what I was looking for. We wanted big yards. We wanted all of those things. That was sort of the sign of that you've arrived. And I think young people have a different mindset where they don't want to have the responsibility of maintaining larger yard. Not everybody. I'm just saying I sense that. And so the ability to also the way that things, especially post-pandemic, everyone basically, their whole social network is online. They don't meet and mingle in public anymore. They don't have as many things as a lot of us did. So for you to have created these areas where you have fire pits and pickleball and areas where people can come in, it's hard to see it in that picture. But to the left of the pergola there is a barbecue. And so you can come. And I think that is a nuance to this community that most people might not be thinking about. And other projects that I've seen, even some that we have approved, don't either have the space, don't want to dedicate the space for that. But you have. And I think it will benefit you from a sales point of view. But I think it benefits us from a healthy and holistic community. The last thing I would mention is I sat in a meeting, I'm pretty sure all of us did, with our library folks. And that building here on the bottom right, that's not the library, is it? That's not the library. But the library, in terms of its character, is very similar, kind of traditional architecture. Yeah. Sort of bridging two open public spaces. So eventually when you come, or our library folks come forward to show the vision that we have for the library, that you will be constructing and we will be operating, I think is another great opportunity and advantage for this project being approved in the first place. When Knight Kimblinger first mentioned it, and then the team brought it through, and I know that Knight was very concerned about which company he would select, and he went through a very specific due diligence process before he found Mattamy, I think he made the right choice. And with that, I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation to help you move your project one step closer. Thank you. Mr. Capps. Second. Is there any public comment? Mr. Fine, would you like to comment? Commissioners, my name's Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. It's quite unusual, not unusual, it's the first time that anybody has stepped forward and created a tortoise enclave, which is amazing. And the map showed three schools. What it didn't show was any firehouses. I don't know, I can't keep up with all the different projects, it may be in a whole different area, but firehouses are becoming desperately needed, and I didn't see any on this map that we saw. Thank you. Thank you. I can speak to the firehouse issue. I know that the obvious answer would be that a fire station should be built in this neighborhood. The more specific answer is, is that if you were to build it here in Mattamy, in Newfield, a majority of the service circle would fall well out of the county, since this project is close to the northern border of Martin County, nearly half of the service circle, if you created a circle, which I think they do. The service area, nearly half of it would fall out of the county into St. Lucie and Port St. Lucie. So I know that during several other meetings, we have discussed with a different applicant creating a western Palm City fire station that would be closer to the 95 interchange on Martin Highway, benefiting a lot of our existing, long-time existing residents that live out on the Martin Grade, still participating and have the coverage for Newfield, Stewart, Wesson, Cobblestone, any new industrial projects out there. So they will participate in the process of building a fire station, but it couldn't be located directly here because a majority of the service area would be out of the county. Any further questions? Comments? Any further public comment? Is there a motion? There's a motion. And there's a second also, right? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. We will now move on to Department 1, which is Office of Management and Budget Items, which require board approval. Good morning, Ms. Murley. Good morning, Commissioner. Stephanie Murley here to present to you six items on OMB this morning. Our first item is a permission to apply for the fiscal year 2025-26 Florida Inland Navigation District or Fine Waterway Assistance Program. Our Environmental Resource Division is requesting a grant award of $350,000 for the Fiddler Crab Access Project or formerly known as the Jensen Beach West Kayak Stand-Up Paddleboard Project to enhance public access to water-based recreation by constructing a dedicated kayak paddleboard launch facility. A $288,000 grant match is required, which is already budgeted in the Fiddler Crab Access CIP sheet. Item number two is a permission to accept the local agency program or LAP contract for the FDOT Southeast Avalon Sidewalk Project. This is actually a reduction of the grant award and match requirement due to the bid coming in less than estimated. So it decreases the grant by $109,000 and decreases our local match by $177,000. And we're just requesting the approval of this amendment to continue the project through TOT. Item number three is a permission to accept the contract amendment number one for the FY25 mosquito control agreement. This is actually a two-step process. We were here on March 11th with the same budget amendment. And this is the corresponding contract document in order to reduce the amount of the funding by $6,185. Item number four is a permission to accept the FY25 Florida Department of Environmental Protection or the FDEP wastewater treatment facility sand and grit removal grant. Our utilities division is requesting a grant in the amount of $59,437.50 for removing accumulated sand and grit from the North Wastewater Treatment Facility. There is a grant match of $59,437.50, which is already budgeted in the utilities and solid waste operating budget. Item number five is a permission to accept the FDEP Manatee Pocket Southwest Prong Water Quality Retrofit Grant. Our Environmental Resources Division is requesting a grant award of $600,000 for the removal of 334 pounds of total nitrogen and 234 pounds of phosphorus from the downstream Manatee Pocket in Indian River Lagoon. There is a grant match of $400,000, which is already budgeted in the Manatee Prong Southwest Water Quality Retrofit CIP budget. And the last item is a budget transfer for the medical examiner's request for funds. The county received a request from St. Lucie County on behalf of the District 19 Medical Examiner's Office requesting a salary adjustment due to industry trends and workload volume of autopsies. The medical examiner is requesting a total increase of $127,857 per year, but is requesting for the remainder of this year an amount of $12,276 to fund the medical examiner's request. And that's all I have. Questions for staff? Is there any public comment or request to approve these items? I'll move staff's recommendation for approval. Commissioner Capps. I'd like to take you back to number two, the sidewalk, you know, on Avalon Drive. I'm curious about how funding for infrastructure and roads and that kind of thing works. This is from the FDOT, but what I'm curious about is, does all that money really come from the federal government? And that's given to the state and then the state gives it to us? Yeah, there's two ways that we get funding for DOT. They have gas tax that's the state has levied gas tax that goes to the state. The federal government has a share of gas tax, of which Florida is still a donor state to the nation in terms of fuel tax. You know, we get less back than the citizens of Florida pay and its guests pay into it. So that does come back to the DOT. And I think there's also, in case of the state, they also use some general funds that also make their way into the DOT program. That goes, gets administered by Tallahassee. By formula, some of it comes to each of the districts. And then in our, then in the district's long-term plan, we have it in our, in a CIP for a project like this. And, and so anytime you work with a DOT project or like a LAP project, you can talk about it today, but usually the soonest you see funding coming to you in a project like this is three years out or five, typically somewhere between three and five years out. So local agency program is where the county is able to, uh, uh, manage the project as if we were DOT employees. So we have all the certifications requirement to operate and to deliver funds. There is a mixture of federal funds in this, or sometimes it's a hundred percent federal funds. So we have to operate under all the procurement and, um, uh, uh, and plans and specifications have to meet the, the DOT's local agency program requirements. Um, and it's a fairly rigorous process to get certified to that and it requires staff having the proper education and certifications along with our budget office review and our accounting. So it's a, it's a, you know, pretty significant in terms of, um, being able to do this, but by having that, it relieves the DOT of managing projects like this. And when you're able to do that, you actually get more money from the DOT because you can help them spend the money they receive. So it sounds like it's like a complicated thing, uh, federal state funds, kind of a mixture deal. Yes, yes, it is. It is. And a lot of the times the feds will, the state will try to send us the federal funds first because they're the most difficult to spend. And so usually these LAP projects are all using federal funds and the state reserves their state funds for projects that are, it's the rules by which you spend the state funds are, are easier to follow than the rules by which you spend the federal dollars. And it'll be interesting to see with all the Doge stuff going on in Washington, um, how infrastructure will fare, uh, in the coming days and whether, whether that will be kind of an exemption from the, the very steep cuts that are being done in many other things. Um, uh, the sense I have right now is that infrastructure is not being cut as much as certain other things. Is that, is that anybody have any thoughts on that? Yeah, that, that is true. And that, um, uh, generally infrastructure has been a fairly bipartisan, uh, issue. The fact is, is that there's the amount we collect in gas tax per road mile and usage has been going down, uh, cars are becoming more efficient. We buy fewer gallons of fuel per, and so the ratio of, uh, of, uh, of, of that type of revenue source to maintain our roads and bridges, um, has been, uh, going down. And so there's been talk about how to, to deal with that, um, as a nation, we have not. And so the infrastructure, um, uh, uh, grading system that the ASCE and others have produced is that generally, uh, the infrastructure, uh, maintenance in the United States is poor and bridge collapses and things that we've seen or have, have instituted a, uh, uh, you know, revisiting of that. So I don't expect it to change. Um, but even if it doesn't change, it, we are on an unsustainable path for road and bridge maintenance as a nation. The state of Florida is in pretty good shape because the, the, um, the, uh, state of Florida has injected other funds into the DOT, the state Florida DOT to assist in the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure that we own and operate. That's interesting hearing you say that, uh, because I know that your background, prior to being County Administrator was the, you were the public works guy. So you would know a lot about roads and bridges. That's for sure. Commissioner Hetherington. I was just going to add in on that, um, Commissioner Capps and Commissioner Vargas. If you haven't had an opportunity to go to the MPOAC training, it is very enlightening. It also has a lot of information on the funding mechanisms, how they work. And, um, I, I know some commissioners said it went twice. It was so, so exciting. So not me, but, but it is very enlightening. I would highly encourage you to do it. Thank you. Any further questions? Do we have a motion? Uh, did I make the motion? That's the last item. Is there a second? Did you make it again? Based on that really remarkable presentation, I will second it. We got so bogged down in the really exciting talk of road funding. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. We will now pass on to Department 2, contracts that meet the threshold for board approval of a million dollars or greater. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Tasha Sapp, procurement supervisor. I do have three items for your consideration today. Real estate brokerage services, the maximum not to exceed value is $10 million with a nox, not, bleh, sorry. Maximum not to exceed year term is five years. Recommended action is move that the board award the contract to the two highest scoring proposers, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, and Cushman Wakefield USA, Inc. Move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute any and all documents related to this request. My second is food, food services, items, and cleaning supplies rebid. The maximum not to exceed value is $10 million with a maximum not to exceed term five years. Recommended action is move that the board formally rescind the contract awarded for RFB 2025-3635, food and food services, items, and cleaning supplies awarded to Allure Hospitality Suppliers, Inc. and Cisco Southeast Florida, LLC on January the 14th of 2025 under Departmental 2. And move that the board award the contract for RFB 2025-3661, food, food services, items, and cleaning supplies to the sole responsive and responsible bidder of Cheney Brothers. And move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute documents related to this request. And last, contract amendment, over 10% of the original contract value. It's for Building 17 renovations for the REACH Center. The recommended action, move that the board approve change order number four to All-Site Construction, Inc. in the amount of $191,082.93. And move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute any and all documents related to this request. Questions? Why did you redo number two? So, we had awarded for the cleaning supplies was, we were good on that one. But for Cisco, we had to change the bid form. Because of how food market changes so much, it was not conducive to our contract. So, we had to rebid with a different bid form to make it easier for the market to fluctuate. And us to be under contract with certain prices, percentage-wise, more of than just the price of the food. Another question more for the residents clarification. On number one, $10 million for real estate services, can you explain what that... Mr. Matt Graham. I know you're not an expert on every single topic. But, Mr. Graham, if you could explain, like, what the contract, what that means. $10 million sounds like a lot of money. Mr. Matt Graham, assistant county administrator, the $10 million is not to exceed the two companies that we'll be working with. They don't receive any funding unless we work with them on a project. Understood. But what level of services would they offer? So, right now, we're only looking to use them for public-private partnerships. There may be some other opportunities to use them in the future, but it's focused on the public-private partnerships. We have quite a few projects in our CIP that this would give us an opportunity to give the board ways to get projects done. Commissioner, they would also have the ability to, on any publicly owned property that we have, to evaluate highest and best use if we were going to, in the CRA, sell or, you know, and also help us if we needed in the evaluation of a property. So they provide expert services as it relates to market conditions and the value of a property, especially for a private sector use. If we were going to use them, would that come back to the board, or it's just handled at the staff level? No, all items would come to the board for a task order if it was not budgeted. If it is budgeted in a CIP, it would specifically show that, and so you would have one form or another come to the board. If it was a small task order like $10,000 and it was already approved in your budget, it may not come to the board. It would come ultimately as a noted item. But all services for this will have to be budgeted in the budget for your approval in one form or another. And if it's a large task order, it would come to you as similar items you see here today. Thank you very much. Commissioner Vargas. Yeah, I also wanted to make comments, which maybe you can address. I was concerned about that number, $10 million, over a short period of time. Do you negotiate per hour for what the services of Jones-Lang or Cushman-Wakefield might be so that we can pick apart what we need and what we don't need from them? I don't want some report coming out that it's never delivered or it's inane. That doesn't make any sense for what our needs are. Sure. So we did negotiate with both companies. They provided us with their hourly rate of all their professionals in those positions that they have within their company that we would utilize. So if there is a project that we're interested in working on, both of them will have an opportunity to submit a proposal for us and bring it to you for your consideration. Right. I think that's important that we review that because they can ask for $1,000 an hour and that's, no, that's not reasonable at all. Having been in the business, I know that there's, they use a lot of it on technology now, so they're not walking the properties. So that answers that question. So we haven't expended any money with them yet. That's correct. The other thing I understand about the food, it is going up, but, you know, they may want to make some projection in the future, you know, they're in the business, that type of thing. We did it as a percentage. Yeah. Because the first bid form we had, it had the pricing per item of all the foods that we sell at all our places, but we also had a percentage on the side. So this made it a little bit more clear, but if, Todd, you want to share? Sure. Todd Faust, Parks and Recreation Assistant Director. Yeah, so on this bid we requested that they give us their current wholesale price and then our cost is based on a percentage above their cost. And so we wanted to make sure that the county gets the best deal that we can get from the food service provider. So we want to know what their current wholesale price is, which changes and fluctuates based on the market. But then the percentage that we pay above their cost stays the same throughout the contract. What percentage is that? It varies depending on whether it's a dry good or frozen products or refrigerated products. So it varies between 3% and 8%, I believe. We actually, in this bid, the vendors provided a lower percentage above costs than what we're currently paying in our existing contract. So we benefited from this rebid. Yeah, I would suggest that, you know, you go hard on this because costs can spiral out of control, you know, for that, you know, 3% and 8%. I don't have the numbers in front of me to say, yeah, that's a little bit high there because we are repeat customers and we do buy volume from them. So you can get more aggressive? Correct. That was the purpose of the bid, too, is because smaller companies may have a higher wholesale price. So that's why we asked them in this rebid to list their wholesale price so we could compare that as well as the percentage above the cost so we get our best value or best bang for the buck. Right. Sometimes you have to substitute, just like Walmart. It may be a small vendor, but Walmart says this is what we're willing to pay you. So this project, keep in mind that the bid is all unit prices and fixed. So the vendors had the opportunity to give us their best wholesale and best percent over wholesale, and that's how we have to evaluate. So it's not a sit-down and negotiation on the project. It's an advertised bid that they all submit for, and then the lowest qualified bidder is awarded. So then we move forward with the vendor that had the greatest aggregate of benefits to the county. And so once we've entered in this contract, then the beauty of it is we're fixed for the time frame or the dollar amount of it, but just to be clear that there really isn't a negotiation. It's on the form, and they fill it out, and we compare it between the different vendors and select the lowest price. How long is the contract? It's for three years with two one-year renewal options, so a total of five years. So it comes back to the board after three years? After five years, unless we want to terminate the contract after three. So you have it for three years, and then once we have the three-year, we reach out to the departments, ask if they would like to renew the contract. If they agree and they're okay with everything hasn't changed, then we will go ahead and renew it. Other than that, they would ask us to re-bid it out, and then we would go back out to bid. Yeah, I would encourage that. New players come into the market. Oh, absolutely. Right. The other question I have also is about the REACH Center. That might be another question for someone else. Contract amount, I see a number of change orders, one, two, three. Change orders are expensive. I see something about an air conditioning system that wasn't taken into account, AV. I'm sorry, AV equipment, not air conditioning, AV. And this comes from enterprise funds, or is Martin County paying part of this through the airport? So, Madam Chair, George Stoke, Assistant County Administrator. No, these funds are coming from the American Rescue Plan Act dollars that were appropriated a few years ago. The AV equipment change order is relative to the change in the educational partners. Originally, we were looking at using IRSC. They've decided not to participate, and now we're working with the career source, which is the Department of Unemployment for the state of Florida. The largest part of this change order is actually from the FP&L connection for 98,705. Okay. I see 91, 840, 142, 863, and 173, 398. Am I reading that correctly? All of those are different change orders. Yes. Could have been something that you could have avoided, maybe, or taken a... No, these change orders are all reviewed by both the general contractor, the engineer of record, the architect of record. This, in my experience, this has happened when we've gone with vertical buildings. We're dealing with a building that was pretty much abandoned and in very horrible condition. We've gone in. We did the best we could to anticipate what changes and what needed to be reconstructed, but some field conditions have changed. What I can tell you is we're about at the end. Right now, we're projecting a completion date of June 2nd. There probably may be another change order on the way just for the minor stuff, but these are items that had to do with electrical conflicts, fire alarm, and sprinklers. The building was built, I believe, in the early 70s. There was some environmental mitigation concerns with asbestos that we didn't know about that were in the building. So, that's, you know, these were not things we could avoid. These are things we have found in the field primarily. I understand that. Just keep in mind, change orders. You know, let's look at it holistically as much as we can. If it's that old, you know there would be asbestos in the building, right, and might have done something different. We didn't know there was going to be friable asbestos. We had anticipated there being only asbestos in the tile, similar to what was the World War II buildings out there. However, upon going through the building, we were able to find friable asbestos, which is at a much higher hazard level and has to be dealt with differently. I don't have a list of all the change orders. Oh, you do. Okay. But all those were examined by multiple parties. And when we have worked with the contractor, when able to reduce the cost, and we may actually have some deductive change orders in the next change order. Okay. So, it would be reduced, the cost. Is that what I'm understanding? That's my goal and hope. But, you know, if anything, yeah, but we may not. I mean, a lot of our change orders also, especially the time added, is due to the wait period we've had to have for FPNL and so on and so forth. So, there's some that I can control, some I can't control. Supplying demands, costs based on imports and exports, you know, the cost of power equipment. I think Mr. Donick, you could even opine to that. $98,000 for a transformer was not something we had anticipated. We actually anticipated much less, but that I have no control over that cost. It's supplied by Florida Power and Light. And they have asked us, I think their wait period originally was in the 20-something weeks, and we've been able to get it down to 16 weeks. Well, that then adds on to my general contractor's costs, which adds on to my site security fencing costs, which also adds on to my silt fence. And it just kind of piles up. And it's all because FPNL has made us wait an extra 18 to 20 weeks. But I am happy to say this week we've started to work with FPNL and started to cut the trench to put in the transformer. Commissioner Hetherington. Commissioner Capps. Yes. You know, in the national news, there's an awful lot of conversation about tariffs. And in all of our county contracts, are there provisions in there that protect us against tariffs to where contracts can be changed? Or what are the implications for tariffs in our contracts? It really depends on the contract. Some of them, when we bid them out, the unit price for the particular item was fixed. And if that price goes up significantly during the cost of the construction, the contractor will ask for a change order, but they are not eligible for one. And in some cases in the past, our worst-case scenarios are where contractors have abandoned the project because they can't fulfill the contract or have, you know. So other contracts and some of the DOT contracts have specific, similar to the food one we described either, but it might have an index to oil, a crude oil price, and an escalation based upon that. There's kind of a strict averaging in weeks if you look at it. So a paving contractor that's doing a multimillion-dollar road project can get an escalation on some materials based upon an index, if you will. And so if there are any escalations in there, they're always going to be based on some sort of standardized index, water sewer index, or something like that. But generally, our projects are usually short enough term where we try to fix the cost of the item. And in some cases, you know, staff may put in a provision to allow them to store, to buy the materials up front and have a storage place for them, or we may have to pay a storage price if you think that particular items are really volatile, like steel in the past or some things like that. So long answer to your question, but it really, I guess in the end, it depends, Commissioner, on the contract and if we anticipated the volatility. Usually when it's more normal times, we don't have escalators in there. But if it is at a more volatile time, you may have to. Otherwise, you simply won't receive bids. So that's usually a clue when you have a project and you bid it out and nobody bids on it, and they say, well, I can't guarantee the material costs or my windows or whatever it is. And if you don't have it in there, we're not talking. So that's usually the first indication that we need to amend our procurement method. Thank you. Commissioner Vargas. I think it's really important to put some language in contracts, especially if you are going to be purchasing equipment, supplies, pre-tariff. You can do that now if you're anticipating another project coming up. I understand labor costs can be fluid. It really all depends. It's out of our hands. It is a national trend right now. But we have to be extremely vigilant and review the contracts and not just business as usual. This could be going on for another year or two years. We do not know at this point. So I'd like you to take that into consideration. This is our taxpayers' money. We have to be vigilant. Yeah. So our first goal is to take the estimated cost for a particular item and deliver it at or under that cost. And so any time we have a contract provision that has an allowance, the problem is you still have to do a change order even to meet the contract requirements. So, you know, staff is trying to, you know, obviously our goal is to keep the cost as low as possible. So those provisions for allowable increases is something we want to keep to a minimum so that we can guarantee the delivery of the cost of the project as approved by you all. I understand that the REACH Center has been paid for by an ARPA grant. Who's going to staff the building? Whose responsibility is the maintenance of the building going to be? So the building will be staffed by the career source of Florida. At their expense? At their expense. They're going to be maintained. They're going to be, I believe, paying the utilities. We're in the process of, well, I don't want to say negotiating this. We're handing them the lease that they're going to have to sign. They're also paying a common area maintenance fee as well as a security fee. And then the overseer of all the provision will be the Airport Enterprise Fund. So once the investment's made in the building and the education begins in the building, it's managed by career resource and then overseen by the Airport Enterprise Fund. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? You could dust it off. There is one? Yeah. Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Any public comment? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We've come to the end of our... Mr. Faust, Mr. Stokas, if you could stay. Apparently we haven't come to the end of our... No, for my end-of-the-day comments. Okay. So we have come to the end of the meeting. Ms. Goldie, would you like to speak at public comment? Well, first I'm going to say good afternoon because I believe it's just about noontime and I know you're all anxious to go to lunch and I want to say thank you all for doing the wonderful job that you do. It's not easy. I understand that. But what I'd like to talk to you about today is something that I think would be quite exciting for the commissioners to look into. And as a proud resident of Martin County for over 30 years, and since we're celebrating our centennial soon, wouldn't it be nice to unveil a Martin County official flag? I've done a little research and to date we are one of the counties in Florida that does not have an official flag. We do have two municipalities, municipals that have flags. That's Hobesound and Stewart. Why not Martin County? So I'd like to request the commissioners to propose an amendment or however you're going to do it to look into creating an official Martin County flag. And just a comment. I know this would be a great idea for a contest. However, I'm requesting that we have an official county flag and not a contest. In order to create an official flag, I do believe that there are criteria and guidelines and things that have to be met. So that's it. I'd just like to see that we get an official flag. There are 24 counties that do have official flags. We are not one of them. And out of our 67 counties, we need to make Martin County have our flag. Thank you. Thank you. I think that's an excellent idea. I would love to see the other counties' flags, too. Never. Well, I know that the city of Stewart, on social media, they must have had a flag version that's been floating around. I don't think it's official. I think it was created by Don McIntosh. It was very well done. It looks like an actual flag. It's not a contest flag. And so I think that's clever. The timing is perfect. But even if it wasn't our 100th anniversary, I think it's a great idea that we would have a flag. Commissioner Vargas. I think that this is the year many locations are celebrating 100 or 75 years. And certainly this is one of our lighter topics, something that I would go for without further comment. Okay. Did you know that we were the 66th county? There was only one county named after Martin County. Okay. It's time for commissioner comments. Commissioner Hetherington. I'm all set today. Thank you. Mr. Campy. Two things. One, I know that Mr. Donaldson is rightfully so always looking to spotlight and highlight our remarkable staff. I've had two incidences recently where I'd like to highlight staff. Last night I had the honor of participating with the House of Hope's Top Chef competition where amateur chefs compete against each other for the prize. It's a fundraiser for the House of Hope. And this year they did something unique where the chef contestants were all involved somehow through the House of Hope's food services, whether it was soup kitchens or government officials that were participating. And our very own Mr. George Stokas was one of the chefs, and he did a remarkable job. He was masterful in the kitchen like he lives there. He did a great job. He raised a lot of money for a terrific organization. I wanted to compliment him on that. He did not need to do that, but he did. So we appreciate it. Thank you, George. And then recently, you know, whenever I have visitors come to visit us from out of town, we try to bring them to the highlights of Martin County. And every time I've actually had some friends that have visited or family that have visited repeatedly, and they always ask to be brought back to the same place, which is the Sand Dune Cafe at the Stewart Beach. Last weekend, not this one that just passed, the week earlier, I met some friends there. Actually, a couple of my classmates from high school 40 years ago were in town, and I said I got the perfect place. And so we met at Sand Dune Cafe, and, you know, the criteria that normally you would use to judge how well an experience was was the staff was excellent, friendly, and polite, and professional. There was a line. The place was very busy, as it always is. And there was a, you know, a line of about six or seven people looking to order food, but it moves very quickly. And the reason there is a line is because people are continuing to come. So it's not like, hey, they're slow, and there's a line. There's a line because it's just so many people constantly coming. But the food came out remarkably fast. I thought the pricing for eating on the beach, especially if you go to hotels or anywhere else, the pricing is very, very reasonable. And the quality of the food was restaurant, like if you were sitting in a fine restaurant eating, where they have all of the environments controlled, not like trying to serve food out on the dune of a beach, the quality was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. So I wanted you to stay so you could hear it. Mr. Faust, if you could spread the word back to them that it was, again, five stars. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Commissioner Capps. I'm sorry. I don't think I have anything to say. Commissioner Vargas. No, I think I've said what I have to say today, but there's always another meeting. Sure. I'm set. Mr. Donaldson. I'm set. Thank you. Ms. Woods, would anyone from the public like to address us? We are adjourned. Noon. Noon.