Good morning and welcome to our July 8th, 2025 board meeting. I'm calling the meeting to order. We will, instead of an invocation this morning, we will observe a moment of silence and we are going to be giving special consideration for the victims of the flooding in Texas this morning. That will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, which is going to be given by John Sparaga. Please join us. Thank you. Please come forward. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please tell us about your service, sir. Thank you for having me, guys. I'm an Air Force veteran. I served from 2010 to 2014, and I now work for Martin County BOCC in the Veterans Services Office. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Very short-winded. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda, not with the consent agenda? So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. That's right. Commissioner Vargas is not going to be joining us today, so the motion passes unanimously with Commissioner Vargas absent. We will now present proclamations. The first proclamation is a proclamation declaring July 2025 as Parks and Recreation Month in Martin County. And here to accept the proclamation is Kevin Abate. Good morning, board. Kevin Abate, Parks and Recreation Director, almost 15 years in Martin County. And got to my right, Mr. Kerwin. Both of us have been in this great field of parks. I'm approaching my 41st year. Kevin's probably right behind me. And it's a love of passion of what we do to serve the community. So this year we're celebrating the efforts of our team, but we actually are celebrating our 25th year in being accredited by the National Recreation and Parks Association. And if you didn't know it, there are over 10,000 publicly funded park agencies in the United States, and 214 are accredited. So that puts us in the top 2% of agencies in the U.S. And every five years or so, we attend what's called the Best of the Best Ceremony and accept our proud award through our hard work through our accreditation process. Our team of 85 full-time employees and hundreds of part-time and seasonal employees do work tirelessly for high-quality service to maintain our parks for everyone to enjoy. Their dedication and pride are the foundation of our community, vibrant recreation spaces. For example, our untouched commitment. Under the leadership of Mr. Kerwin, the Parks Operations Division operates seven days a week, 6 to 9 p.m., and are always on duty. We do over 6,800 inspections a year and over 4,000 requests for service. And that's across 1,730 acres of 74 parks and beaches, again, making a massive undertaking every day. Our recreation division also has a great impact. Our after-school programs and our out-of-school programs serve over 162 youths grant-funded through the Children's Services Council. Our summer camps are currently hosting four camps. Three are completely free to the community through the Children's Services Council's grant with over 200 youths. And our team programs serve more than 200 teens in really engaging, positive activities. And our youth sports, which are free to the community, we have over 12,000 youths that do all kinds of sports, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, football, at no charge to the community year-round. Our adult and active 50-plus programs, we have various programs with over 64 leagues and programs. Our community events, we organize our own events 20 a year, but we also permit over 125 events every year with over 75,000 attendees. And we actually expanded some health initiatives this past year through Tai Chi for arthritis prevention and a new Walk With Ease program. And then we have some of our excellence in action programs, like the golf course, which has nine instructional programs that served over 1,100 participants. And last year, we approached 39,416 rounds of golf. And we also traced through our technology over 437,000 golf balls hit at the driving range and over 730,000 balls hit at the hitting base for over 1.1 million golf balls hit, not including the ones hit on the course. Our water park, we're very proud to be able to go into our 15th year. We hosted a combination of different 85 large swim events, and we're also a host to all four high schools and four scuba organizations. And last year, we welcomed over 54,000 guests. And not to be last, but we also have, more importantly, have served this year and last year over 300 swim lessons, which 61 of those are grant funded for the Children's Services Council. Our team, our programs are welcoming, enriching, keeping the community safe, our parks safe. And on this recognition of National Recreation Parks Recreation Month for July, I want to thank the board and our team for their hard work. I brought some of our team members behind us to say hi and introduce our team here, our kind of key players in the team, but through our entire organization. Anything you want to say, Kev? No, I'm great, Kev, but that was really well said. As I've let this board know before, I'm big into doing God's work, so we take care of God's land and God's people. So it's the full package. And we don't do it by ourselves. We have a phenomenal team. Most of them are not here today, but the ones that are not here, I want to thank them for everything they do every day. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you. Shall we get the well? Might fit everybody. I'm going to have to layer. Looks pretty happy. Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup Week in Martin County, Florida. Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup Week is being observed July 19th through the 27th, and residents are encouraged to participate in the 18th annual cleanup event scheduled for Saturday, July 26th. Volunteers will participate in cleaning up our precious waterways throughout Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties. And the board commends the sponsors and volunteers whose contributions to this effort are so important to its success. And here to accept, we have from Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast, Dan Romance, Jessica Garland. We have Jim Moore, our Indian River keeper, and then sponsor Mike Furtall with Pie Barker. Dan? Good morning. Thank you. My name is Dan Romance. I'm the president of the Marine Industry Association of the Treasure Coast, and I am representing the 18th annual Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup. So thank you to the council for proclaiming July 19th to 27th Waterway Cleanup Week. The Marine Industry Association of the Treasure Coast and the Florida Inland Navigation District are happy to bring the Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup to Martin County for the 18th year. Since 2008, we have removed 105 tons of trash from our waterways. Our group targets 125 miles of waterway in the Treasure Coast from Hobes Sound to Sebastian, in addition to approximately 15 miles of beachfront and a scuba diving cleanup at Peck Lake Reef in Martin County. In 2024, 936 volunteers collaboratively removed 2.16 tons of trash. Our week-long self-reporting event this year will be July 19th to the 27th, and cleanup sites will be open on Saturday, July 26th. When one submits their data collection information, they'll be automatically entered into a raffle with all kinds of prizes from gift certificates, tickets for local attractions, and more. Our data must be entered on July 30th, and the drawing results will be posted on Facebook and on our website on August 3rd. That website is tcwaterwaycleanup.com, and you can go to that website for more information or to register and for the digital data collection for that link. Some stats from last year, in 2024, Martin County, we removed 1.05 tons of trash with 393 volunteers. At the City of Stewart, a little under .2 tons of trash with 135 volunteers. And the Peck Lake Reef Dive, the scuba diving group, removed .13 tons of trash with 68 volunteers. So the total number of volunteers since the inception of the event has been 6,063, where the total tons removed is 36.5. So that's a large number. This year, the 2025 Martin County sites include Blowing Walks Preserve, the Indian Riverside Park Boat Ramp, Jensen Beach Causeway Boat Ramp, the Ocean Boulevard Causeway Boat Ramp, Peck Lake Reef, Sandsprit Park Boat Ramp, and Shepherds Park. And again, thank you for your proclamation recording this continuing service event. Thank you. Yes. Gail Bird, thank you. The sites. This year, Sandsprit Park is open after the reconstruction, so that's going to be a very popular and big site to go to. Layton Park is closed because of reconstruction there that we're thankful for. The dive, the Port Salerno Community Dock Authority, provides the management of a dive at Peck's Lake on Saturday, July 26th, and it's 8 to 12.30 in the morning, and the organization is at the Community Dock Authority docks. It's very interesting the things they find at that site. In addition, I'd like to thank the Martin County staff that accepts responsibility to help us so much, and that's Parks and Rec Department, as well as Public Works. So thank you. We have some great sponsors, too. Hi, Jim Moyer, the Indian Riverkeeper. You know, this is the Martin County component of this whole, you know, intercoastal waterway cleanup, and it's vital that the things that are removed from our waterways that people put there, either accidentally or sometimes just forgot, is really vital to the ecological health of this lagoon, and I thank you, Martin County, for supporting it. We'll be at the Jensen Beach Causeway and serving hot dogs, so pick up your stuff. Next up is public comment. I have one request to speak for him, and that is from Tom Pine. Good morning, Commissioner. My name's Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. First, I'd like to thank the city of Stewart for hiring a police chief that thinks enforcing the basic rules of the road is a necessary part of police work. I believe it's been close to two decades since we've had either a city of Stewart police chief or a Martin County sheriff that has enforced the basic rules of the road on a regular basis. At our last county commission meeting, there was more talk about the need for affordable housing. Except for these discussions, like every four to six months, the only meaningful thing this commission has ever done regarding affordable housing, it happened on February 1st of 2022. When housing and food assistance programs... Wait, I'm sorry. When our commission voted to divert more than $2 million in federal funds from housing and food assistance programs to park improvements, one of our many parks was allowed to sink into severe disrepair. This is a quote from Google. The Second Gilded Age, or the New Gilded Age, is a proposed time period of the United States history that is said to have begun between the 1980s and the 2010s, and this has continued to the present. It was around 2000-2003 that Martin County started using the consent agenda to hide from the taxpayers of Martin County where they were spending our tax dollars and where they were spending and hiding where they were spending our tax dollars in the name of efficiency. In reality, look back, it was the beginning of the new Gilded Age in Martin County. That's when it all started, little by little. Today, much of our spending by our local government is hidden in the consent agenda. On July 22nd, 23rd of this month, we will hear the devastating effects of our budget workshop where, once again, our local government will have to raise our taxes. What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address us? In that case, we will move on to Commissioner comments. Commissioner Capps. I am good today. Commissioner Campy. I'm all set, thank you. And Commissioner Heather. I'm all set this morning. How about Mr. Donaldson? I just wanted to say on behalf of Commissioner Vargas that she is not attending due to bereavement. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Woods. And I am set also. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Commissioner Capps. Second. Do we need to second that? Yeah. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed. That motion passes unanimously. With all the votes today, unanimous will be minus Commissioner Vargas. She will be absent all day. We'll now take up public hearing number one, which is a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending Article 5, False Alarm Reduction. Chapter 111, General Ordinances in the Martin County Code. Morning. Good morning, Commissioners. Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. So we're here today for a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending Article 5, the False Alarm Reduction Ordinance. This was an ordinance that was requested by the Sheriff's Office, and it's really for housekeeping purposes and for consistency with Florida law. There are some statutory preemptions under Florida statutes 553.7931 that precludes local governments from finding certain alarm monitoring companies for certain actions. And our ordinance was a little outdated, so we're just really updating the ordinance to make those changes to make it consistent with Florida law, and we're also making some changes to make sure our practice is properly reflected in the ordinance. I'm happy to go through all the different provisions we are changing. They're all a matter of housekeeping, if the board would like. Otherwise, I can just answer some questions, whatever your preference is. Any questions about the False Alarm Ordinance? There are not. I will move staff's recommendation of approval. Thank you. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, is there a second? Yes, second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. The light rule you. Yeah, he is. Next is public hearing number two, which is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of Comprehensive Plan Amendment 23-04 Sunrise Grove. Good morning, Ms. Lovelady. Good morning. Samantha Lovelady with the Growth Management Department. This is a public hearing. It's a request for an amendment to the text of Chapter 4, the future land use element of the Martin County Growth Management Plan. This is a request to change the name from Ag Tech to Sunrise Grove on a site-specific. Here's the location. It is at the corner of Interstate 95 and Southwest Martin Highway. It was formerly the Ag Tech property, and now they want to go to Sunrise Grove and add a permitted use. So this is policy 4.13A9, and you can see that Ag Tech has been stricken, and Sunrise Grove has been added. And there's also a request to add a permitted use of vehicle manufacturing sales and service, and that is throughout the Ag Tech policies, as you can see through the proposed ordinance. And with that, staff recommends that the board adopt the ordinance amending the text of Chapter 4, a future land use element of the Martin County Growth Management Plan. Mr. Campy. After any public comment, I would make a motion to accept that change. Are there any questions for the staff? Okay. Please identify yourself for the record. Come, please. I'm Bell, and I live across the street from that property, and it seems like every time I get a letter that's just adding more and more stuff to it that I don't understand. And I don't know what other landowners are in that area, but I don't understand what vehicle manufacturing is. And it's a very broad subject that they just, I mean, they keep adding these different things every single time that I get these letters. It's like another gas station and another, and when I call to find out what they are, they're just like, well, these are just Ag Tech things. But, I mean, a vehicle manufacturing and sales and service doesn't sound like just an Ag Tech thing. So I'm kind of confused by the verbiage, maybe, and just the complacency with the board. It keeps accepting all these changes. And, I mean, when it first started out five years ago, it was supposed to be Ag Tech. And now it's this, and now it's that, and now it's this, and now it's that. And if you're not paying attention to all this stuff, they're just going to keep, you are all going to keep adding these things and accepting them without any explanation as to what they are. Thank you. We'll have staff and the applicant explain what exactly is meant by vehicle manufacturing, sales, and service. Morris, would you like to know? Sure. Sure. Start. For the record, my name is Morris Grady. I'm senior partner with Lucido and Associates here on behalf of the applicant. And I do have the proof of notice to surrounding property owners within 2,500 feet. And I did give a lengthy presentation the last time I was here during the transmittal hearing. And we scaled down, obviously, the application to just include the name change and the addition of the one use, vehicle manufacturing. And that is really in response to the proliferation of electric vehicles, whether they're for agricultural use. Tractors are now becoming electric vehicles, cars, bikes. There's a lot of new technology. And part of the ag tech, if you look at the description of ag tech, and we're not changing any policy that affects any other uses or any other intensity, but it is about green infrastructure and trying to create sustainable industries that are target businesses. And that's what all the other uses are about, and we didn't want to leave out the potential of having some type of electric vehicle manufacturing or some other type of electric vehicle that may be someone that wants to locate here. So that is an available use. But one thing you have to remember on all these applications is that we have to come back before this board and get a final site plan and a master plan of a PUD before we can get any use approved. So these are just uses that are opportunities. But at the end of the day, you make the final decision on what uses get built on that property, and that's through a public hearing process. And unfortunately, this lady will get a notice again when we do propose an actual site plan for any part of this property. And that's the way the process works. But with that understanding, I appreciate staff's response. One thing that wasn't mentioned is that it did come back from the state with no objections or recommendations or comments from any of the state review agencies. So hopefully you'll continue in support of the request and adopt it today. Thank you. So vehicle manufacturing, that could be any kind of vehicle. It could be a gas-powered vehicle. It could be a diesel-powered vehicle. It could be a van. It could be a car. It could be a bike. It could be any kind of vehicle. I don't think it's limited to electric vehicles. Right? Is it? You're correct. Yeah. So to the member of the public who is asking, it's any kind of vehicle. It's not limited to green, sustainable electric vehicles. And it's also limited, not limited, no sales. You can sell anything there, and you can service anything with the addition of this use. Any further questions, comments? Would the applicant like to make any further comments? Commissioner Campy. Just to reiterate that adding this potential option doesn't mean that it's happening, one. And two, as the applicant said, there will be a process where anything that is specifically going to happen on the property would come forward and still have to go through the vetting and the decision-making of the board, the ability for the community to be informed and to comment. Correct. It requires a PUD to come back to you. So I just want to be clear that today's decision is not to allow an auto manufacturer to start building out there. It's just one of the applicant had asked to layer this in. You could infer that maybe they have someone that's interested, maybe not. I don't know why they would specifically want that, but I personally don't see that as detrimental or harmful, especially considering the process is in its infancy on that specific topic. Thank you. Any further questions? Is there a motion? Yes, I made a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Opposed? That motion passes three to one with Commissioner Hurd dissenting. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is quasi-judicial public hearing number one, which is a request to approve the Third Amendment to the South Florida Gateway Planned Unit Development Zoning Agreement, including a revised master site plan. Good morning, Mr. Elam. Good morning. This is a quasi-judicial hearing. Do you have any ex parte disclosures? If I have any, they have been filed. I don't have any, and they've been filed. Commissioner Campy? I don't have any, and they've been filed. Commissioner Hetherington? I don't have any, and that's been filed. Excellent. Have you submitted all your paperwork to the clerk? It's a copy of my work history and the agenda item. Anyone who is going to be providing sworn testimony, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. Do you swear from the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Madam Chair, Commissioners, good morning. This is a request by Lucido and Associates on behalf of Foundry's South Florida Gateway LLC for approval of the Third Amendment to the South Florida Gateway PUD Zoning Agreement, including a revised master site plan to allow outdoor storage as an accessory use on the approximate 216.37-acre platted industrial development. Included with this application is a request for a certificate of public facilities exemption. The property is located on the west side of Southwest Canter Highway, approximately .6 miles south of Southwest 96th Street and Stewart. Current zoning on the property is PUD, by the way, of the South Florida Gateway Plan Unit Development Zoning Agreement. Approved in February of 2022, the future land use is industrial. The proposed amendment will provide for siting and screening requirements of outdoor storage areas, provide limits as to what activities may be conducted and what materials cannot be stored in such areas, and place height limitations on items within the storage areas. All proposed storage areas would be located in areas already planned to be or are currently impervious areas, loading areas. Additionally, such areas will not be visible to the public and will be individually screened as provided for in the proposed amendment language. The inclusion of outdoor storage as an accessory to the LI user will not allow outdoor storage as a standalone or principal use within the PUD. From the previously approved revised master site plan, the only thing that's been added here is the note that outdoor storage is permitted in accordance with the third PUD amendment. That is the revision to this revised master site plan proposed with this PUD amendment. So development review staff have found the Foundry South Florida Gateway LLC application to comply with the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the staff report. And review of this application by the local planning agency is not required. Staff recommends approval of this. We move the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as Exhibit 1, and move the board approve the third amendment to the South Florida Gateway PUD zoning agreement, including the revised master site plan. That concludes the presentation. Questions for staff. So this new use, outdoor storage, doesn't just apply to this little segment at the bottom. It applies to the entire PUD, correct? That's correct. And there's a requirement for a six-foot opaque fence. Is that in the PUD? It's in the PUD agreement, yes. Yes, but it doesn't mention anything about the height of the storage, stored materials. So how high can the stored materials be stacked? Forty feet? There's no provision in the PUD agreement that limits height. We can add that if the board so desires, but I don't believe there's a provision right now that limits the height of the storage. Then, just out of curiosity, why on earth is the opaque fence six feet if there's no prohibition on the height of the stored materials? Good morning, Commissioners. Madam Chair, Paul Schilling, Growth Management Director. So our understanding is this would facilitate inventory in outdoor areas. We anticipate the height of that material being or pallets or whatever the case is. We don't know exactly. What we do know is there's a maximum height of 40 feet within the land use and PUD. And what we do know is there's a requirement to screen that material. So if the applicant maybe has some suggestions or comments on that, we would be happy to entertain those. Applicant, do you have a presentation to make? Good morning, Commissioners. Brian Nolan, partner with Lucido and Associates. Thank you for your time this morning and also thank staff for working with us through the process. I have a short presentation. As staff outlined, we're here this morning requesting the allowance of outdoor storage as an accessory use. The storage areas, as staff indicated, would be screened and located within the loading bays of the buildings. There is a preclusion prohibiting manufacturing or fabrication within those areas, just to put some controls on it, as well as the prohibition of the storage of noxious or hazardous materials. And this amendment was predicated based on some requests of current tenants and future tenants that we're bringing into this facility. For context, some spatial or situational awareness, what you can see here is built today. And if you haven't driven through the facility, I would encourage you to. It's a beautiful facility. Here we're looking at the buffer along Canter Road with Canter Road to your left. We're at the northeast corner of Parcel B2 looking south. We have some tenants in there. We see some activity, some cars in the parking stalls. One of the loading bays, that's on Neal Street looking north into the loading bay of Parcel B2. This shot is on Neal Street looking northwest into the loading bay of Parcel B2, kind of similar to what one may see as you're driving down Canter Highway. This is a typical streetscape shot of how it's growing in. Again, I think this is one of the nicer industrial facilities I've driven through. Some of the streetscape on Waterside Way looking west with Karis coal storage off to the right and the large lake on the south side of Waterside Way to the left. And some of the buffering, our buffers are growing in very nicely. The north side, the north buffer along southwest gateway place, this is looking east. This is the same buffer looking west. We worked with your environmental staff in preserving a lot of the trees. We even tree-welded some of the oaks, and everything is growing in very nicely out there. A look at some of the littoral zones and upland buffer transition zones on the larger lake, larger central lake. This is looking southwest. You can see Karis coal in the background. Again, some of the littoral zones and upland transition zones. This is the large lake on the south end of the project, south of southwest gateway place, or southwest Waterside Way. And while we were out there, we saw some wildlife. We had a white heron standing in the torral zones, gray herons. We had some black-bellied whistlers. Anhinga sunning himself behind Karis coal. And on one of the rainy days we were out there, we saw some sandhill cranes foraging. With that, I'm available to answer any questions. I think, Commissioner Hurd, you had a question about the height of the materials. I do. As provided for in the PUD language, the materials or products stored outside shall be visibly screened with an opaque fence wall or other barrier, a minimum six feet in height. So the thought there is we'll set the minimum fence height, and then the fence height would have to, you know, be adjusted potentially for how tall the materials or products that are going to be stored in there would be. That's not what the PUD says? I read what the PUD says. It doesn't say anything about if the materials are 40 feet, you have to have a 40-foot screen. It says you have to have a six-foot screen. It also says that the height limit is 40 feet, and it also says that stored materials can be stored within 40 feet of every building. So that means that you can have stuff stored 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide with a six-foot opaque fence. Well, we can certainly look at putting a height limit on the materials to be stored in there. Okay. Six feet? I think six feet may be a little short. I mean, we also have Ted Elam here with Foundry Commercial. Again, this is predicated based on some of the requests of some of the tenants and future tenants that they're bringing in. Morning. So this is generally the fun part of the projects. We're through building it. Now we have tenants moving in, businesses that are moving in. And so what predicated this request were actually some requests from tenants that have now moved into the buildings and are trying to operate. And there are two in particular. One of them is a group called New England Granite, who is a Martin County company that has expanded into our building. They want to store granite slabs in the back. I don't off the top of my head know exactly how tall those are. I think those are within pretty close to the six-foot height limit. But to the extent that they're eight feet tall, we would need to put in an eight-foot fence. That was the intent. The second group is PSM, or Power Systems Management. You guys may be familiar with it. The Business Development Board put together an incentive package for them. This is a 185,000-foot tenant that manufactures and distributes parts for gas engine turbines. And so they are in the process of their build-out, and they have some equipment within the building that is served by a couple of pieces of equipment outside of the building. And so the intent here was to, as we spoke with staff, that there really wasn't anything in the PUD that told us how to handle those things. The intent is we're trying to sort of put a bow on it, if you will. And so off the top of my head, I don't remember exactly what the height is on the pieces of equipment for PSM, and I would want to figure that out before I tell you exactly what that height is. And to be clear, by equipment, it's a water tank or, you know, stuff like that. It's not, I don't know, I can't think of a 40-foot-wide piece of equipment that they could put back there, but they're generally tall and skinny is the stuff that they're putting back there. And so those are really the two requirements for now. Our hope is that we can come up with language that's appropriate from your perspective, but also broad enough where we're not coming back here every single time. There's a tenant that has something that's slightly different. So we're trying to be thoughtful about how we do it. But those are the two specific things right now by businesses that are growing in Martin County that we're trying to help figure out. And would you state your name for the record, please? Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Ted Elam with Foundry Commercial. Okay. My concern, Mr. Elam, is that we have had instances of incompatible uses where there were materials that were being stored that were not screened properly, and there were lots of complaints from the neighbors. And so I'm trying to avoid that problem again because I think that we need to always be mindful of our neighbors, particularly in this area because it's an industrial island. So Commissioner Campy. Thank you very much. If you could go back to the slide that showed the loading bays, please. If I'm not mistaken, the storage can only be located within the loading bays, correct? Correct. So if you could go to that slide that showed that. So if you could enlarge it. Thank you. Anyone familiar with industrial kind of parks like this, commercial parks, you realize this is just like Sands and everywhere else. This is where the trucks will obviously load and unload, comings and goings, sort of the backsides, the service side of these facilities. You showed photographs of what the front of the building looks like. This is the service side. So if the storage is only allowed to be within this sort of the service utility area of the property and not outside of these areas, I think that should reassure most people that this can't get away from you all to the detriment of neighbors. It's also located on hundreds and hundreds of acres. So I think to Commissioner Hurd's example, if it was a smaller business located in a neighborhood or a more residential area, there is a possibility of people storing things outside of their businesses that might upset or look inappropriate or distasteful to residential neighbors. That really can't happen here. But that being said, I think a six-foot fence is low for everyone. If you think about an example, the Home Depot has a large outside gardening section that has probably a 25-foot-tall fence that they have not only for screening, obviously, but also for protection from people stealing your stuff that's outside. So I would ask that we make a revision to the proposal here, that it's not a minimum of six feet, that it's a minimum of, I would say, eight, but I could almost think ten to cover all bases, and then that nothing can be stored any higher than 20 feet tall because the building is 40. I mean, I think I agree with what you said. You don't need to show up every time someone shows up with a different piece of equipment. So eight-foot, minimum eight-foot fence, which is easy enough. And then, you know, we're sort of brainstorming here. I'm thinking I'd pick 20 feet, half the height of the building, but also to store things. And it's, like you said, it could be a telehandler or something, but 20 feet is pretty tall, even in this area. So I think when you put those things together, where it will be located on the property, the size of the property, and with the two recommendations that I am requesting, I think that should cover a lot of the potential concerns. If there is a counter, I'm interested in hearing it. So that knows the PSM project better than I do. So I think the minimum of eight feet is okay. That's fine. The only concern I have about the taller height is with PSM, apparently they have one piece of equipment, which is basically an air compressor that's very skinny and tall. It's about 30 feet tall. So I wouldn't want to trip it up. I think if you saw it, and we can get a picture and send one to you, this is not a 30 by 30 by 30 thing. It's a very skinny piece of equipment, but I do. So what's the height that would be appropriate? Based on that, I believe 30 feet. So, yeah, I think that works fine. Ten feet lower than the height of the. Ten feet lower than the. Well, because you just don't, you know, aesthetically, not that we should get into, like, hey, what does the tenant's aesthetic look like in the back of an industrial park? But I just think that if I like parameters to leave it wide open that it could go up to 40. I don't think we want 40, so I'm okay with 30. Or if you needed to make it 32 so it's not, you know, like if it's got something off the top of it, if you want to make it 32 feet, I just like it compressed down from the height of the buildings. I understand what you're going for. And I think the point that you made is really critical. This is only in the loading areas, only within a certain distance of the back of the building. So this is not intended to start to be meandering away from that. So, yes, I think that works. I think that eight-foot fence also acts as a deterrent for people that think that they want to drive around in the back of these places looking for opportunities. Six-foot fence. I mean, some people can jump right over it. Commissioner Hetherington. On the conversation of the height, so would you consider, say, like a small crane or something, would you consider that storage or if it's not inside the building? Or are you, as the applicant described, he described granite and that kind of thing. I wouldn't consider, if I was just looking this as a layman, a piece of equipment storage. Well, so there's products and materials, which, as Mr. Eland pointed out, could be granite slabs, for example, or pallets or something to that extent. And then there's equipment. And a crane or an air handler or an air scrubber for something that's used inside the building, those are typically stored, you know, housed outside. And that this is not applicable. You are allowed to. I wouldn't want to limit you to what kind of equipment you have based on height if you're storing it outside, as long as it. But I understand. I agree with the higher fence screening and maybe materials having. I don't like putting a number on it because I think that you will be coming back and forward to the commission. But I think if it's screened appropriately. But my concern is if X business has equipment that they use in and out and they have a crane and they leave this out on a loading dock, is that considered storage? No, that would be the equipment. Why is it not considered storage if it's kept outside? They're moving it. They're moving it. It comes in and out. It's not really something that's – and this discussion is good because these are the questions that we try to grapple with and how to allow things but how to control them. You know, to determine when something becomes stored versus temporarily placed or, you know, I mean, we can go back and forth on that all day long, I think. I think the intent here is to provide some control mechanisms for the products and the materials that could potentially be stored out there, which I think we're at an eight-foot fence. And the materials or products have to be no higher than the fence. I think that's what we're – Can't we say they have to be screened? No matter how high they are, they should be screened, I think, to the height – To the height of the fence. Correct. Well, the materials should be screened. May I? Yeah. I have some proposed language that I think might alleviate this. So we can add a provision that says materials and products stored outdoors shall not exceed the height of the fence, wall, or barrier. And this way it allows your equipment to exceed it if it needs to, but materials and products will be lower than the fence. We can add Commissioner Campy's eight-foot, but I think that would address everybody's concern, and we're limiting it to the materials and products, and then you don't have the issue with a crane or something like that if the board desires that. And that might alleviate everybody's concerns. I guess my only change there was that we were also setting a maximum height of how high the material could be stored. Up to 30 feet? I think so. Okay. Well, because material, you're saying material and products, but they were talking about an air scrubber or a piece of equipment that doesn't move. It's permanently outside. Or if they had a tower or a tank or something that needs to be outside that could be skinny but 30 feet tall. The restriction only covers materials and products, and the equipment is left out, so the equipment would be able to be taller than the fence in the language I'm proposing. Just so that's clear. And the eight feet is the minimum. The minimum. So it could be a 10-foot fence. Some of this are general issues that we would get involved in. You know, the four of us are experts on industrial material handling and storage. But that being said, the rest of it is an issue between the tenant and the landlord to decide what should and should not be there. Right now there's no real – it's not addressed in the piece. So we're trying to put some teeth to it so that it can be enforced. Because, again, and maybe I glossed over the point, but this is a very nice facility. We want to maintain the look, the character, the feel of it. Class A. I mean, it's a – we designed it, so I'm a little biased. But, I mean, it's a beautiful facility. Any wildlife out there? I think there's some black-bellied whistle ducks. Yeah, I heard that. I heard that. Commissioner Capps. I think there's a need for a measure of flexibility in an industrial park. You know, we're not renting an apartment here. You know, there are not just reams and reams of prospective tenants who can fill these rather large spaces. And sometimes they have very unique business needs. You know, I would hate to see one of the larger units remain vacant for a long time because we couldn't find a tenant who could live with strict storage regulations on the backside of the building. So, I think that what's being proposed is reasonable, but I'd really like to make sure that the applicant is comfortable with what's being proposed. And if they are, then I would support what has been advanced at this point, and I would move approval. Of what Ms. Elder proposed? Yes, as long as the applicant's comfortable with it. Sure. So, I think from a defense perspective as it relates to materials and products, I'm totally okay with that. Practically speaking, I don't want people racking 30 feet up in the air in the truck court. That doesn't look good. That is not befitting of a Class A industrial facility. My only hesitation is with putting a limitation on the height of equipment, not because I know that there's any equipment that's going to be taller than that, but because I'm just not an expert on equipment. I don't know if, to your point, Commissioner Capps, if there will be a tenant that wants a 35-foot air compressor. I just, it's not my area of expertise. And so, my preference would be to maybe cap that at the height of the building, for lack of a better, you know, knowing any more what could go there. But as far as the fence, as far as language saying that any products or material must be visibly screened, that honestly was my understanding of the intent. So, I'm fine with that. So, to the four of you, my preference would be to allow the height of the equipment up to the top of the building, frankly, just so we're not hopefully addressing this again. I would amend my motion to allow for equipment to be... There's no limit on the equipment in the language I propose. Okay, okay, okay then, good. All right, then my motion will just stand as it was stated previously then. Commissioner Hetherington. That was my question for clarification. I wanted to make sure that we were not limiting the height of equipment. And I will second the motion. This is a public hearing. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, back to the board. Any further comments? Any further questions? Does everyone understand the motion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next up is requests and presentations for the Florida Turnpike and I-95 Direct Connection Interchange PD&E Study in Martin County. Good morning, Mr. Gordon. Good morning. Good morning, board. Jim Gordon, Public Works Director. The Florida Department of Transportation, the Turnpike Enterprise, is conducting a project development and environment study, PD&E study, for the new direct connection interchange along Florida's Turnpike in the vicinity of Bridge Road. The purpose of the potential interchange is to improve system linkage, enhance safety, emergency response, and evacuation. And the Turnpike staff is here to do a presentation. Good morning, Ms. Haywood. Good morning. Thank you for the introduction. And on behalf of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, we welcome the opportunity to present to the board this morning regarding this project. Would you introduce yourself for that? I'm Yaslin Haywood. Thank you. Project Manager with Florida's Turnpike and in-house consultant. Interesting to see you on a Tuesday, not a Monday. Yeah, it is. Okay, so we're going to go over the purpose and need, which was briefly covered. I'll briefly cover it again, the alternatives that were developed. We've settled on one preferred alternative that we would like to present at a public hearing in October of this year, and the schedule. The graphic on the right shows where the project is in the transportation plant development process. It's a PD&E study, and next will be design. Again, we're looking for design funding in fiscal year, FDOT's fiscal year 2031, right-of-way acquisition will follow, and then eventual construction. So the project is within Martin County. Southeast Bridge Road is like the landmark. It's two miles. The study area is two miles north and south of Bridge Road. And why we are looking to do this project mainly is to connect the two facilities, the Turnpike, Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 95, I-95. Also to enhance emergency response and evacuation, and also to enhance safety. So right now, there are no direct connections between the two facilities, I-95 and Florida's Turnpike. So what that means is that the local roadway network is used to cross over between the two facilities. In Martin County, that roadway is Martin Highway, and in Palm Beach, it's Indian Town Road. So halfway between where these maneuvers currently take place is where we're proposing at Bridge Road, near Bridge Road, to construct the direct connection interchange. So I mentioned two alternatives that were presented for public input in July of 2024. We have two meetings now for two opportunities for the public to attend virtually, so wherever they are in the world, as long as they have Internet access, they were able to join that meeting. And in person, we held it, I think, at the Indian State College, River State College. We had 22 virtual participants and 16 in-person and 31 comments. I know this looks low, so I just want to mention the outreach that we undertake. We send the mailers to everyone in the area. We also have social media. We have an FDOT public notice website. We have press releases that we send out to the press. And to circle back to the social media, that's Facebook, Instagram. I'm not the expert there, but we do turnpike. FDOT has begun to use social media to reach out to folks who travel along the turnpike by technology called geofencing to capture folks who may be interested in this project. So these are the two alternatives. It's alternative one, both alternatives provide the same four direct connections, so that's northbound to northbound, southbound to southbound between the two facilities. And alternative one would have required some modifications at the existing interchange between I-95 and Bridge Road, not to change any access, but we would have had to bridge over the existing ramps. The estimated cost of that one back then, just construction, was $231 million, and the potential right-of-way impacts between these two alternatives. I think as presented at the public meeting, the maximum was 76 acres of right-of-way that would have been needed. Alternative two provides the same four direct connections with no modifications needed, no bridging over of any ramps at the I-95 and Bridge Road interchange. The cost of this one would be less, accomplishing the same thing. So the blue box is around alternative two because the turnpike has selected alternative two as a preferred alternative. After these were presented to the public, they did go through what we call a value engineering study where a separate team looks at the alternative and sees what value-added components should be included, and that has been completed. So here is the preferred alternative, not much changes, some slight changes because of the VE study, value engineering study. So this provides northbound to northbound between turnpike and I-95, southbound to southbound between I-95 and turnpike. There are some movements that will not be provided for the general public, but will be provided for emergency responders, and that will be off of Bridge Road. We have been coordinating this with Martin Fire and Rescue, Martin County Fire and Rescue, and they're okay with this. So the access roads, like I mentioned, would be off of Bridge Road to provide, to switch over between the two facilities when needed. So how would this benefit the traveling public? This slide explains that. The interchange is expected to handle 26,400 vehicles per day. So what that means is that the interchanges north and south that are currently handling that crossover in Martin County at Martin Highway, southwest Martin Highway, that would reduce the traffic there to 8%, removing a crossover traffic of 3,000 vehicles per day. And in Palm Beach at Indian Town Road, that would remove a crossover traffic of 15,600 vehicles per day, resulting in 36% decrease at the turnpike interchange and 16% decrease at the I-95 interchange. I mentioned that public hearing that we're working towards, and we are going to provide two public hearings, virtual and in-person. So virtually, and both options, interested persons will be able to provide verbal comments. So we look forward to the public participation. We did meet with all the local agencies prior. I think this is our last. So we met with Martin County staff, fire rescue. We did present the town of Jupiter Island. So we have done all that. So really, at this point, we're focusing on that public outreach in October. We're looking for October 20th and October 21st. And any document that is prepared as part of the PD&E study will be available for public review. Say, for instance, the NOISE study report, that analysis is currently underway, and the results will be available for review 21 days prior to the public hearing, as well as other documentation. Here is the study website. You can scan it with a QR code. And any questions? And, again, thank you for this opportunity to present this morning before the board. Questions for Ms. Haywood. Mr. Capps. You hit on these issues briefly, but I just wanted to emphasize them for the public. The first one has to do with timing. So right now we're in the design phase? No. So right now we're looking for design funds in the fiscal year 2031. Okay. So design funds will not be with us until 2031? Yeah. FDOT is currently going through or about to start their work program cycle. So we're looking to fund this in the fifth year. Okay. For design. For design, correct. So that will be five years. Before design begins. Before design begins. And then right-of-way is the next step. Yes. Right-of-way happens, like, in year one or two of design. Once design is – once the right-of-way needs are confirmed in design, then right-of-way starts. And that usually takes a couple years? Two years. Two years. Three years. Okay. Okay. So in the first five years, we'll have design and right-of-way accomplished more than likely? Well, we're not looking for design funds in fiscal year 2031, so I can't say yes to that. So design funds may be in the next work program cycle. Mm-hmm. 2032, maybe. Okay. And then there's construction, which would take two or three years? I would say more than that. Okay. Especially the structures that would be needed. Mm-hmm. So we're looking at a decade, right? About 10 years, maybe. Something like that. So it's a long ways off. Depending on how you look at 10 years, yes. Okay. And then the cost difference between Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 mainly has to do with the I-95 ramp modifications and the amount of right-of-way needed for Alternative 1. Alternative 1 is more expensive. Alternative 1 was more expensive. I would like to update that Alternative 2, the preferred Alternative is with current unit costs. The construction is looking at $309 million. Mm-hmm. That's what's good. That's the updated estimate. Mm-hmm. But just so you know, it also includes the widening. So these costs that were presented at the public meeting, we were just focused on the interchange ramps. Turnpike is being widened along the Treasure Coast for many miles. So it makes sense to combine the turnpike widening with the construction of these ramps. So that has added to the cost of the project. Mm-hmm. $309 million. For Alternative 1? For Alternative 2 with about two miles of turnpike widening. Okay. Okay. And then I'd like to emphasize, too, the dangers on the turnpike from Jupiter to Palm City. I think Commissioner, which Commissioner was that? I think it was Campy mentioned he had a term for this portion of the turnpike. What do they call that? Danger Alley or something like that? Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone. So there are a lot of accidents between Jupiter and Palm City on the turnpike. Is that correct? Or do we have a lot of accidents? Right. Right. It seems to be the consensus that that's been spoken of before. And by having a system-to-system linkage like this, that would greatly enhance public safety, I think. And so that's a very good purpose for an emergency response. And then evacuation is another purpose. And then the third one is to improve system linkage and enhance safety. I just wanted to emphasize a few of those things. Commissioner Hetherington. Sure. I have a few questions. Firstly, I appreciate your comments because you did this presentation at the NPO on the public input. And I know that you all have been working hard to outreach. 31 comments on something that impacts thousands and thousands of people we know is very low. So I hope by October we can get some more input. We've just seen it happen on another project in Marin County where it's been talked about for probably 25 years. And now that DOT is doing meetings, there's all kinds of input and suggestions. So I hope that you will keep up trying to get the input. On Alternative 2 question, how much right-of-way is required on that one? 83 for the interchange ramps. And we also, every time we add impervious area, we have to do ponds. And we're not, I mentioned before that it's just not the ramps, but it's turnpike widening. So we need an additional 38 acres for the ponds, about. What section of the turnpike would be widened? About two miles. So north and south of here are totally about two miles. But let me just double check. About two miles? So essentially two miles to the north and the south. So the $309 million cost estimate is the overpass interchange plus widening the turnpike, two miles total. Exactly, about two miles total. Yes. Bill Howell with Lochner, consultant project manager to the turnpike. You are correct. But keep in mind, there's two major efforts going on with the turnpike. One is the mainline widening for, as Jaslyn said, quite a ways. And there's design projects already underway to widen the turnpike north and south of where this interchange is located. So what we're talking about right now is simply the portion that contains the interchange. And what Jaslyn has said is that we will, instead of widening the turnpike and then coming back and building the interchange, we're going to do it all at the same time. That's caused the project itself to combine those two, and the numbers have gone up in terms of construction. Okay, so this project is including the widening? Yes. And by widening, do you mean you're adding an additional lane of travel? Okay. So there will be three lanes of travel, north and southbound, which now there's two. And can you describe the, because I think there was some confusion at the NPO, is this a bridge that's going over, an alternative to you? Is it an overpass or is it on the ground, this interchange? We will have to go over, and then eventually. So, for instance, I'm thinking you can see the hand that I'm looking at. So this is northbound I-95. So this blue line that crosses over, in order to get over the I-95 northbound lanes, we will have to be up in the air. So we will be over, and then we'll come down to continue north on I-95. So, yes, there are at least four bridge structures here to get over the turnpike. Four bridge structures? Yes. And what level? What level are they? Second-level bridges. So two stories, essentially? Is that what you mean by it? An overpass. Yeah, ground level and then the bridge over. So, and where else do we find these interchange is from the turnpike to the I-95? Between the turnpike at I-95 and other locations, I don't think there are any. That's why we're building this one. But there are very, there are many, sorry, examples of the overpass situation. Just not the interchange? Yeah. Okay. This is a unique interchange. Thank you. I hope we get a lot more input in October. I hope so as well, because we put a lot of effort into the public meetings. So we, believe it or not, we love when a lot of people show up. I know. I believe it. It's just, it's hard to get people to pay attention to something that's potentially 10 to 20 years out. I appreciate the questions. Any further questions? We have one request to speak for them, and that is from Zach Gaza and Carol Ann Leonard also. Want to come forward, Mr. Gaza? Oh, I'm sure you'll have to answer some questions again. Good morning. As an owner of Hobesound Farmers Market, Commissioner Hetherington, I think those were good questions. I appreciate those. My first comment, concern, is that this is going to completely change the landscape of the entrance to Martin County. We're talking about overpasses. You asked what this is going to look like. Where else does this exist? It exists in Lauderdale and Miami. That's what it looks like. We're talking about bridges over the turnpike. And then you put a semi-truck or three lanes of semi-trucks on top of that. What's the noise? What does that look like? This is my property's own small farm. I wouldn't be able to build something like this in small farm. I've been asking for years what the height is going to be, the final height. I can't get an answer. I've been asking for years how much of my property they're going to take. I can't get an answer. It looks like what they've decided on is they're taking the whole north portion of my farm, which eliminates the cow-calf operation that I have. It means no more calves. Instead, you've got bridges and turnpikes. What am I supposed to do with my farm? What are my neighbors to the south supposed to do with their agricultural property? What does this become? What goes in the hole between these four bridges? Gas stations? Hotels? That's what's in the holes between these four bridges in other counties and other places. DOT mentioned this is going to improve evacuation. Not for Hobe Sound, it's not. Not for Indiantown, it's not. This design was specifically designed so the southbound to southbound is south of Bridge Road. Or the north, sorry, it's confusing in the picture. But however it is, you can't get from Bridge Road onto the Turnpike to go south. And you can't get from Bridge Road onto the 95 to the Turnpike to go north. If these two directional bridges were switched, you could get on the northbound 95 ramp and then merge onto the Turnpike and continue north on the Turnpike. These were specifically designed to keep anybody on Bridge Road from Hobe Sound or Indiantown to get on the Turnpike. You now have to go down to Jupiter or up to Palm City. The evacuation argument is a joke. I hope that this board has more input. There's no one at the meetings because they're advertising these meetings to people who are affected within a geographical radius. There's no one there. It's me and my cows. But the people who use this, thousands a day, they're not being notified. People who live in Martin County, people who drive south and come into Martin County and the buildings go down and the bridges go down, they're all affected and not being notified. Thank you. Thank you. Carol Ann Leonard is next. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, I'm not sure if it was number one or two proposal, but I attended the 2024 in person. And as I recall that one of their proposals looked as if a road would be partially over vacant land. I was concerned at the time and made it known that I was concerned about the fencing maybe along the sides of the road that would impede wildlife movement within that area, like getting water or whatever. I was wondering and I'm hoping that you would provide an access area, like maybe by the bridge that starts to cross over where the wildlife can go back and forth between the area, similar to the ones that allow the Florida Panthers to cross under a road. So I hope you would take that into consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else like to address us? I recall in our preliminary discussions that one of the big points that was emphasized was that there wouldn't be exits because we want to avoid having gas stations and hotels and any of those possibilities. And this alternative, too, will not allow the construction of any of that stuff. That is correct. And also, will there be wildlife crossings? We are looking, and let me go back a step. What I mean by that is correct, I am referring to no access to bridge road. What the landowners do with the remaining parcels, we have no control over that. But the turnpike is not proposing access to and from bridge road. And then what was your question? Wildlife crossings. Yes, the PD&E study is looking at wildlife crossings. Thank you. Commissioner Hetherington. I just have a question. If you are proposing emergency vehicle access, can that emergency vehicle access be used by the driving public in the event of an evacuation? I don't think that would be allowed. But in emergency conditions, that's above my level. In emergency conditions, you never know what can be approved by the state or not, but it's going to be there to be used. When they turn the turnpike during hurricanes and they have the southbound lanes, then they turn them all to northbound on both sides. Because I'm sure they have some options that are unorthodox, but doable in extreme set of circumstances. Extreme circumstances. Sorry, I will not be able to answer that. Let's write down that she said it was yes. Let me just add. Would you get on the mic, please? For emergency. Thank you. You'll howl with Lochner. Let me just add that these emergency access roads are for emergency access. And during a hurricane evacuation, if there's accidents on the turnpike or I-95 during that evacuation, you want those emergency vehicles to be able to get there as quickly as possible. And they will not be able to do that if the emergency access is clogged with everybody else trying to evacuate. So it's a logistics issue that they would consider. Mr. Campy. I thought some of the comments, most of the comments that Mr. Gaza made are valid. It would, you know, even, you don't show elevations here. It's just sort of this map view. It would absolutely change the look and feel of that portion of Martin County. I get it. Two points. One, you know, one of the weird things that when you sit on the MPO as an elected official, like when you said, well, you know, what does 10 years mean? Well, for the general public, for the residents, we think in days and weeks and months and years. And FDOT and the turnpike thinks in decades. So I, the first point is, is that as you were mentioning, potentially the 10 to 15 year construction completion, that's if everything goes perfectly well. So we could potentially be looking at something that is 20 years from now, potentially, which in FDOT turnpike timeframe, it's a project. That's first. That's first. And secondly, you're not here today asking us for permission. This is completely out of our hands. This is a presentation. So I want the public to be clear that don't start contacting us and telling us we don't want you to vote for this because we don't vote. To Mr. Gaza's point about no one attending, because there is a certain geographical area where you have to announce these meetings, part of what we're doing today is partly sharing this information with a broader audience. What I tell people when they think about these meetings and who's watching them, we don't really know how, what our ratings are, how many people are watching. But what I do know is the people that are watching are very interested in what's going on in their community, and hopefully they can then spread the word. We had heard this at the MPO, which is also televised, which is also available to be watched from the county's website. So the information is there for the folks that are interested in finding it. So I think today is more of an informational presentation, which I do appreciate. But there's no reason for people to start going into full panic mode based on how this will detrimentally change the look and feel of Martin County, because it's a long, long way off. But to participate if you're interested. But this is, as you said, it's above your pay grade. This decision-making is well above ours. Not that we can't, you know, get in there and punch around a little bit, but the decision will be made, yes or no, based on a much more of a statewide benefit-need analysis than a Martin County-need analysis. Thank you. But if you've ever been stopped on I-95 at the Indiantown exit, you understand the need for this alternative, because it's not occasional, it's daily. Commissioner, I would like to circle back to Commissioner Hetherington. This slide, I don't know why I missed it before, but it shows the limits on I-95 that would be widened. So towards the south, begin improvements, mile post 123, and then the turnpike would be widened to mile post 127. So it's a total of four miles. So two miles north, two miles south of Ridge Road. Okay. Any further questions? Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. We will now take a 10-minute break. It's already 10.30. We are back, and we are taking up Department 1, which is the Office of Management and Budget Items, which require board approval. Ms. Murley. Good morning. Stephanie here, Director of OMB, to present to you 10 items on the OMB item today. Our first item is a permission to apply for the Fiscal Year 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, or the JAG grant program. Our Human Services Department is requesting permission to apply for $63,984 for funding to support lab expenses associated with the mental health court. This is an annual grant we receive, and they also need the board to approve Phil Ratchford, the grants manager, to serve as the county coordinator for this grant. There is no cash match required. The second item is a permission to apply for the FY2026 Mosquito Control State Financial Assistance Agreement for the state of Florida. This is a grant award in the amount of $55,670 for the purchase of chemicals and equipment used for arthropod control. It requires a match of local funding of 20%, which is programmed within the mosquito control's operating budget. Item number three is a permission to accept the Emergency Management Preparedness and Assistance Trust Fund, or the EMPA grant. This is a grant we get annually in the amount of $105,806 for salary, training, and planning to enhance emergency management programs in Martin County. This ensures the safety and protection of residents, and no cash match is required. Item number four is a permission to accept the Housing and Urban Development, or HUD grant. This is another annual grant we get for the Human Services Department. It's an award of $179,916 to provide permanent supportive housing rental assistance for individuals with disabilities who have experienced chronic homelessness. There is no cash match required for this grant. Item number five is a permission to accept the Federal Aviation Administration, or the FAA grant, to reconstruct runway 1230 visual guidance system, precision approach path indicators, and runway end identifier lights. This is an award of $118,750 to design the replacement of those items. There is a local share of 2.5%, or approximately $3,125, that is programmed within the Airport Capital Improvement Plan. Item number six is a permission to accept the Fiscal Year 2025 Surfing's Evolution Preservation Foundation grant. Our Ocean Rescue Division is requesting the grant award of $4,089.92 to fund the purchase of mobile public address systems for the side-by-side vehicles, and there is no cash match required for this. Item number seven is a permission to accept the Local Government Cybersecurity Grant. This is actually a non-monetary grant that will be providing the county with approximately $450,000 in software and services for cybersecurity and incident response. There is no cash match required for this either. It's our IT department. Number eight is a budget resolution to accept the 2024 State Housing Initiatives Partnership, or SHIP, program funding. This is a grant we receive every year from the state. We have received a deposit of $1,243,861 in SHIP funds to assist qualified, very low-to-moderate-income households with housing rehabilitation, and OMB is requesting the adoption of a budget resolution to allocate this funding. Item number nine is an adjustment to the budget for a budget resolution to recognize additional unanticipated revenues from insurance proceeds. The Martin County Building Department was involved in an accident with one of their vehicles. We had received a partial insurance proceed earlier in the year, and now we've received another $1,000 to appropriate within the budget for this as well. And last but not least, we have a request to approve a budget resolution for the fiscal year 2026 allocation of Federal Highway Administration funds for the MPO. This is an annual allocation of $571,463 for MPO planning funds, and OMB is requesting a budget resolution to appropriate this funding into the budget. And that's all I have today. Questions for Ms. Burley. Commissioner Capps. Yes. On number six, can you define mobile public address systems? I'm like, uh... Good morning. I'm Mojula, Ocean Rescue Chief. Yes. Fire Rescue. So the mobile public address systems would be essentially sirens and essentially our ability to speak to the public from a distance. So we would install these into the side-by-sides, and we could speak to anybody stuck in rip currents, clear the water for sharp closures, clear the beach and or water for lightning closures. So it would just improve our ability to speak to the public from a distance. So we'll install those at each of our side-by-sides at our public beaches. Cool. Versus yelling. Correct. So we have the ability to use our whistles, which help to an extent. You don't know why you're whistling. Yeah, the mobile address systems have been really useful. We have one installed at our Jensen Beach headquarters, which has been very useful for sharp closures, lightning closures. So having one on a side-by-side so that we can be mobile with it will be really useful. And then can someone comment on the title to this grant and explain it a little bit, Surfing's Evolution and Preservation Foundation Grant? Yeah, so they're a local foundation in Florida, and they want to provide grant money to help preserve beaches. And they recently, in the last few years, have been awarding grant money to ocean rescue agencies, but primarily any kind of foundation or associations that are looking to keep our beaches beautiful, safe, that sort of thing. And you may be familiar with the Endless Summer License Plate. It's a red-orange license plate. It's got a silhouette of a surfer on it. So they collect the money through that license plate foundation, and then that money then goes to preserving our beaches. Cool. And you were smart enough to think to apply. Yeah, so like I said, the last few years they've been providing funds to ocean rescue agencies, and so I wanted to jump on board and see if we can get some help. On board. Good for you. Unless you're wearing your Class A, we had to bring you up at least to let everybody see you. Thank you. I do have one more question for Ms. Murley. Number eight, the SHIP program and the things that we spend the money on, and I noticed that one of them is sewer and water hookup. And I thought that was interesting for, like, fiscally constrained neighborhoods and people on the lower end of income that would be struggling with this. Are there a number of people who have used it, SHIP funds for that purpose, and some of our septic-to-sewer neighborhood conversions? Commissioner George Stokas, for the record, Assistant County Administrator. At this time, I don't know the exact numbers, but, yes, people have used that to hook up to water and sewer systems. They have to meet a certain financial requirements that are set forth by the state, but that program is available. And it's restricted to Martin County. It's not restricted to specific areas under qualified census track or LMI or low to moderate income areas, but to the actual person's income. And I do know that Ms. Miller has been in a number of utility open houses and meetings and has made folks aware of that program as well. Yeah, and I was going to mention how could we get notification to people in fiscally constrained areas and, you know, people who need the help in this. Is there a way we get the message to these folks? So, Commissioner, we'll continue to use traditional and social media sources. I do know that we will – health and human service personnel – excuse me, human services personnel will continue to attend the meetings that utilities has with those neighborhoods, especially in public works when they go in and do those programs, as well as I know that Michelle Miller and her staff will also attend CRA meetings for those areas that are expecting those programs. And then, of course, as the schedule rolls out for the various neighborhoods, we can make sure – we'll work with our utilities department to look at mailings, specific – maybe specific mailings and so forth. Good. Thank you. Any further questions? Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. We're going to take this out of – this agenda item out of order. Well, we can do – okay. Thanks. Well, then we'll do – we'll do item Department 2, and then we're going to follow that with Department 6. Good morning, Commissioners. Christy Brotherton, Chief Procurement Officer. I have three items for your consideration today. The first is a contract award for the rehabilitation of Taxi Lane Bravo at Martin County Airport, Witham Field. There is a typo in this contract number. It should be RFB 2025-3676. I noticed that. I was wondering. I knew you would call me out on that. Thank you. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is Dickerson Infrastructure, doing business as Dickerson, Florida, in the amount of $1,564,825. This includes bid schedule number one, which is AIP-eligible, and bid schedule number two, non-AIP-eligible items. And move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. Next, we have a change order. This is for Building 17 renovation for the REACH Center. The change order includes required materials, labor, equipment, and subcontractor services necessary to replace site fencing, install additional CAT-6 cabling for audio-visual equipment, add a fire department connection to the fire riser, perform stucco and painting work, install a fire hydrant tap, and complete additional AV work. And staff is recommending that the board approve change order number five to all-site construction in the amount of $110,658.07, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And last but not least, we have the City of Stewart, various locations, which is for Riverside Park neighborhood improvements. This change order includes additional work that was not shown on the original plans. It includes additional improvements to the milling and resurfacing to improve the condition of existing roadway edges, a precast riser to mitigate a grade issue after installation of a drainage structure per plan, and DOT concurrence is included with this change order. And staff is recommending that the board approve this change order number six to GRSC, incorporated in the amount of $102,750.30, and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes this item. Commissioner Hetherington. And just for clarity, that City of Stewart item, that's because we sponsored the LAP or SCOP or the county was the sponsor for the grant, so. Correct. And the county and city have an interlocal agreement for this project. Okay, but the city funded the. Correct. The city pays for the improvements. Commissioner Capps. Yes, my question has to do with B-1, the REIT Center, and the reference to the ARPA, American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. I'm curious about, does that have a termination date? I mean, like when ARPA is no longer relevant in our society? Like, I'm just, it's interesting that it still applies after four years now. And. Madam Chair, George Stokas, for the record, Assistant County Administrator. Yes, ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act dollars will, we will be done, we're required to be done, and we will be done by December of 2026. The change order that's before you is what I will like to say is the last change order for that building. It's the all-encompassing what's left over to be done in that building. The fire, the majority of it is the fire hydrant and the fire riser. There were some issues with that, that we worked with our great inspectors at our fire department and the City of Stewart as well. But, yes, ARPA will be coming back to this body probably around the fourth quarter of the calendar year with a wrap-up of where all the ARPA dollars went to and what programs and so forth. But we're, Ms. Murley and I are constantly looking at ARPA. We're very close to the finish line with that. We've completed, I would say, 95% to 99% of the projects. And we have, we're confident we will pass an audit, which we know will be coming, as well as we can account for where all the money went as per direction and policy direction from this body. So the rule would be that you have to have your application in for any future ARPA grants before December of 2026? So my understanding, and I could be wrong because I don't have the 400-page act in front of me, is you had to have, I believe you had to identify where all your money was going to go, I want to say, by December of 25. And then the federal government gave you, I think you had to, or you had to start spending it by 25, and then you've got to pretty much be done by December of 26. But then I do know there's been some regulations that allow some, some occasions where you can continue to use your already allocated money till 28. We don't have that. We did not, we don't have any projects that are going that far. All of our grant agreements with the other entities, whether it's a private or a not-for-profit or another government, they all end or are executed by the last day of this December. So from Martin County's perspective, ARPA will terminate in December of 2026, and that will probably roll into our last final report to the federal government at that time. Good. Thank you. Any further questions? Is there a motion to approve? Department 2. So moved. Second. Would anyone from the public like to address us on any of these issues? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Now we'll take up Department 6, which is a request for board acceptance of a proposal for the sale and development of a surplus designated county-owned property located in Palm City. Good morning, Ms. Segura. Good morning. Carla Segura, real property manager. This item is being presented for... Ms. Segura. Oh, sorry. Commissioner Campy would like to interrupt you. Thank you. Before you begin any further, what I'd like to do with our staff is to have the opportunity to explain how we got to today. There have been some emails that have revved up some residents in the community. I've gotten a legitimate amount of feedback. Most of it, I believe, is people having concerns that might not be completely aware of the history and the facts of this specific situation. So before we go about what the future looks like, I'd like to explain briefly what the past was. For those folks that might not remember, it's been a couple of years since we've been at this. And I might call on some of our staff. We're probably going to need someone from growth management. I don't see Paul. The project, the property that we're talking about is on Martin Highway. It's across the street from Danforth for most people. It was six acres in front of Oak Brook and immediately to the west of Palm City School Avenue. It was sold, and I'm going to do some approximates, for approximately $2 million to a private developer that originally was going to build sort of cottages or townhomes that were, since it's within the CRA, would have required some front porches. Am I correct? Some front porches. And it was about 24, 28 units total, give or take. I'm seeing head shakes to yes. So that was the plan. And to be honest, I didn't hear much about it. The developers at the time reached out to the neighborhood behind and to some other folks, and I think that project was relatively well-received. Obviously, most people would prefer that nothing happens on that property, but that not being one of the options, the houses, the cottages, if you will, was well-received. Then, I didn't hear this until much later after the fact, that that project was sidetracked or put aside for a much more intense use because the funders of the original project, the backers, the financial backers, felt that they didn't think that there would be a market for individual homes so close to a busy road. So they pulled their funding, and that's what the catalyst of that project fading. The next version, which I did not hear about until much further down the road, was a 90-unit, a 90-apartment project. It consisted of three three-story buildings that would have had one-, two-, and three-story apartments. And since that section of Martin Highway, many years earlier, when Commissioner Dieter Lizzie was a commissioner, extended the CRA boundary from where it was originally, which was Map Road, pulled it all the way down to Bury in an effort to bring in, at the time, Stewart Fine Foods, the supermarket that had one here in Stewart, and create a little shopping plaza that anybody that's been over there has seen. Unbeknownst, at the time, to doing that, extending the CRA boundary all the way to Bury, and I call that CRA zoning, like Main Street zoning, where you would build directly onto the sidewalk, like you'd see on Map Road, Bridge Road, Jensen Beach Boulevard, City of Stewart. That kind of, it makes sense for a Main Street. What I don't think they realized at the time, back then, is that it also increased the density on all of the properties in between Map Road and the supermarket. So when people say, well, how was it allowed to build 90 units on that acreage anyway, how could that happen? That's how it could happen. Now, if you're not familiar with the property, if you were standing on Martin Highway, looking north at the property, Danforth Creek is to your left or west. There's a small landscaped kind of buffer, and then there's a driveway that would take you to Oak Brook, which is behind it, it's called Cafe, not Cafe, it's called, I don't remember, I'll think of the name. But it's basically the road to the entrance of the back neighborhood. And then to the east of that road is the property that we're speaking of. It's currently got pine trees on it, and there's a small little yellow building that was a law office. And then immediately to the east is Palm City School Avenue, which for decades was sort of the back entrance to Palm City Elementary School. But after they built the new school, 34th Street is no longer the entrance. All of the students, unless you're in a bus, every student walks, drives in their family car or rides their bike to Palm City Elementary School on Palm City School Avenue. So it went from a quiet little side street to the entrance to the elementary school. That's sort of the history. The people that purchased it were allowed to build 90 acres because when the original property was sold, they put an easement for the buffered property by the Danforth Creek and the driveway or entranceway. That being said, they still had those two acres of density calculations so that they went from 60 to 90. They would have built them directly on the sidewalk with literally like a three-foot landscaping garden, two large buildings on Martin Highway, one on Palm City School Avenue, directly as the kids would go to school in front of your front door. There was not just Danforth. A lot of people say, well, you know, some rich neighbors across the street didn't like it, so we bent over backwards for them. It was a majority of the Palm City communities that reached out to me and to our staff to say, we absolutely do not want this to happen. We then, with our staff's help, came up with an idea that if we couldn't stop them, and it was a by-right, by the way, and I asked growth management to come if there's any questions on, well, you could just tell them they can't do it. Legally, we could not stop them from doing it. That's a big distinction because it wasn't like the five of us or some majority of us could say, no, we don't want it. It was well on its way to being constructed, and any kind of denial would have ended up in court, which they would have gotten to build it anyway. So we intervened. The developer put out a solicitation, an unsolicited offer to our staff, and Ms. Woods and Mr. Donaldson met with them and crafted a deal where the developer, who was well into design and engineering and his construction plans, had decided to make an offer to the county for $4 million. He had paid, I believe, approximately $2.1 million. Now people say, well, you know, why did you pay $2 million more than he paid? Well, you can imagine what is the value to him of 90 apartments, even if he built them and sold them off to someone else or if they built them and kept them. The 90 apartment unit project is worth more than $2 million. Then the concern was, well, if you're going to spend, you know, countywide taxpayer dollars, that's not fair to the folks that live in Hope Sound or Jensen. So we used, thankfully, with the strategy from our CRA department, we used NAC dollars from the Palm City NAC, future dollars, and my district funds up front, and then we went back and forth on where would we get the money from, and the board was generous enough to say we could borrow it internally to keep the costs of the financing down. There was never really an intention for us to be able to keep the property, even though we'd all like to. There was a lot of concern or discussion of making it a dog park, but then it would be a $4 million dog park, and that didn't make much fiscal sense. So we knew that we were going to have to sell it. So now the concern is, well, you bought it from one developer to allow another developer to do whatever they want. Of course we didn't do that. We had a group between engineering, public works, CRA, legal, growth management, real property, worked for quite a long time, months and months and months, to craft a strategy that would allow us to put the property out there to have its highest level of success within the parameters of what we thought would be appropriate, not building directly onto Martin Highway. There is a 25-foot buffer. I'm looking to our staff to make sure. And then another 15 or 10, so it's a 35-foot buffer off of Martin Highway that will be, if I'm not mistaken, the county will be in charge of that, so we can landscape it or do whatever we want. And then there's a 10- or a 15-foot buffer off of Palm City School Avenue. The other huge advantage is they're going to build a road, a connection road between the entranceway to Oak Brook, where there's a traffic circle in there right outside their gate, to Palm City School Avenue, thus eliminating the need for everyone that lives in that neighborhood to come out at an un- not an intersection, if you will. It's a median break to make the left, which has always been sort of dangerous. I have a lot of friends that live in that community. They say it's very difficult, as you can imagine, to pull out onto Martin Highway when you're not at the intersection. Now they'll be able to only exit off that way. And the parameters in terms of it can't be more than two stories, it had a lot of parameters that all of the people that were looking to bid on the project would have to follow. And if they bid on it and accept the deal today, which I'm hoping we will, there's no way for them to then sell the project in the future without taking all of those qualifications, restrictions, whatever you'd want to call them, with it. So the concept that this person could buy it and then sell it off to somebody else who could build 90 apartments again, it's not our first day. Our staff worked very hard, which I'd like to commend them, including you, Ms. Segura. A lot of our staff really brainstormed on something unique. So to the folks that say, shame on us for doing it, or now the word was is that we sold it at a loss. Public Works looked at that property and was always for a long time looking for an opportunity to enter the Danforth Creek area to do maintenance and environmental upgrades and never really had that opportunity, as well as the fact that we can now buffer the valuable environmental area of Danforth Creek by having the property within our control. So the Public Works Department purchased one point something acres of that for $800,000, leaving the balance that we would have to try to recuperate of $3.2 million. Now, in terms of the process, the bidders don't know what each other is bidding. It's just like any other kind of an auction, a silent process, a confidential process. I did not participate in it. Everyone can submit their project. They have to tell us basically what their idea would be and how much are they willing to pay. Those go hand in hand. The team put a great, I thought, a ranking or a scoring sheet together that took into consideration the financial responsibility that we had, as well as what would the project look like. And we didn't have a tremendous amount of bidders. But the one that we're going to hear from in a moment, and I appreciate your indulgence, is a local who has a long track record of doing projects, not only in Palm City, but a lot in Palm City, throughout the county. And I think that what we were able to accomplish by stopping 90 apartments from being built, and I'm not opposed to apartments and affordable and helping people. So a lot of people said, well, why are you stopping projects if you said you like it? Just because you're looking for appropriate housing doesn't mean that you green light it everywhere that it could go. And I know some people will say, yes, you do, but we didn't here. And I think that with the help of many, many county employees, what we're accomplishing here today is a benefit, not just for Palm City residents, but if you remember, 95 and the Turnpike you enter. If you're going to Stewart, Jensen Beach, Sewell's Point, anywhere else, and you're coming off the Turnpike, you're getting off in Palm City, and you're most likely either riding down Martin Downs Boulevard, or you're riding on Martin Highway over the Veterans Bridge. So it's the entranceway to our community, and I don't think anyone would have been interested in having three-story apartments on the sidewalk in Palm City. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Segura. Thank you for that. I cut out a lot of what I had to say. As I mentioned, this item is being presented for acceptance of the RFP 2025-3672 in accordance with Section 163-380 Florida Statutes for the sale and development of a county-owned parcel, which we purchased in 2023. In January of this year, the Board approved the preliminary RFP to be designed, designated as surplus, and advertised as required by the Florida Statutes. In February, the RFP was advertised with a submission deadline date of March 19th. One proposal came in, but it was deemed nonresponsive as it did not fully comply with the solicitation and was canceled, and the item was rebid on April 4th with the proposed deadline of May 7th. Only one proposal was received for that rebid, which conformed to all material aspects of the solicitation and all of its requirements, including forms and substance. Since only one bid was received, the selection committee process was actually canceled. The proposal received was from the medalist group, and it was reviewed by internal staff and was deemed eligible as it met the requirements specified in the RFP with a $3,200,000 offer, and also with the understanding that the submitted conceptual development plan met the minimum criteria, but it is not considered any form of development approval, as it will still have to go through that process, and they'll still have to pay for all the applications and all of that. Should the Board find the acceptance of the proposal in its best interest to the public, notification to accept will be filed with the Board of County Commissioners for 30 days prior to acceptance. Upon the expiration of the 30 days, the parties will then enter into a purchase and sale agreement. Upon execution of the contract, the proposer can access the property as needed for due diligence purposes. Closing is expected to occur within 90 days after complete execution of the contract, and the proposer will then deed the portion west of Southwest Newberry Court to the county, and the future CIP project for that portion will be able to help with the stabilization and maintenance of Danforth Creek. Upon closing, proceeds for the sale will nullify the requirement of the inter-fund loan, and the general fund will be replenished. Any balance left over will revert back to District 5's MSTUs. Recommendation is for the Board to deem the proposal to be in the best public interest of and accept the Medalist Group LLC's proposal in response to the RFP and adopt a budget resolution recognizing the proceeds of the sale into the FY25 budget and authorize the county administrator or designee to execute all documents related to this matter, including but not limited to contract or any closing documents. And if there's any questions, we would be happy to answer. Questions for any staff? Applicant, would you like to make a presentation? Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioners, for the record, Bob Raines, land use attorney with the Gunster Law Firm here on behalf of the proposer today, Medalist Builders. Really no presentation other than we're excited about the opportunity to maybe move forward with this project. Again, I think as Commissioner Campy touched on, we have a local businessman and resident who understands what's happening in the Palm City area and what the goal is within that area. And we're very excited about the opportunity. My client's here today. He can be happy to answer any questions you might have about what he's proposing to do there. But we would respectfully request that you accept staff's recommendation and we'd be honored to try to move forward with this project. Mr. Campy. Mr. Raines, thank you. I would like if Mr. Lemaster is willing to give us, there is a 57-page presentation in his proposal that was submitted to the county that is available in the agenda item online or I don't know how else someone could get an opportunity to see it. It's, if you're familiar with how to go to the county's website and look in the agenda, the full package of the 57 pages, a lot of it is just inspirational photographs. But Mr. Lemaster, if you would come forward and just give us a brief idea of what your vision is there. Yeah, and before... Understanding that it's not exactly what it's going to be, he can speak more general. But 100%, that's fine. And again, I would also like to point out, and I maybe didn't mention it, you know, we do understand the parameters that were part of that proposal and we believe what we're proposing does have that. But let me let him go ahead and answer your... If you don't mind, do you want her to just finish her presentation and then I'll come back up and just follow up? Okay, you're all done. Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure we weren't going to cut off. Jeremy Lemaster, a medalist building group. I know most of you here in the room, as you know, I've built probably about 90 homes in general in just old Palm City alone. I'm very familiar with Palm City in general. I went to Palm City Elementary my whole school year, went to Hidden Oaks Middle School, went to Martin County. So I was born and raised there. My mom was a school teacher there for 25 years. We used to go in that entrance to drop off and I'm very familiar with the project. But the more reason why I kind of came in late in this project is I heard that it was actually going up for bid and I'm focused on all my other projects and all my other stuff. And then someone just said, hey, listen, you know, they're going to sell this property. I'm like, okay, well, I didn't really know about it, but okay, let me look into it. So as I looked into it, I realized that obviously there was a tremendous amount of limitations that staff deemed necessary. And I, like I've told staff, I don't disagree with what they did. So, you know, with that being said, I carefully reviewed everything and said, okay, well, you know, can I make something work within this two stories? Can I make something work that's going to be a mixed use project because that's what's in the offering? So I had to come up with a very creative way to make something work with the back entrance coming off of Oak Brook Estates or Newberry Court coming over to the east to connect to the school. And I'm like, okay, I can make that work. And then I thought about it. I thought about it. I interviewed the police people over at the Palm City Elementary during school, okay? Not summer school, but during school. I interviewed some teachers. I interviewed some crossing guards. And I listened to everyone's concern about this project, okay? And just some of their different things that they need to make it safer for the kids. And so my proposal not only takes into account all the limitations that you guys collectively agreed to, but, you know, I'm proposing to put up a wall that kind of looks like the city of Stewart Wall. It's kind of wavy, but it protects the kids for riding their bikes down Palm City School Avenue. For most people that don't realize that Palm City School Avenue is not where the kids ride their actual bikes. The kids ride their bikes down Martin Highway with no railing, no nothing. And if they're coming across Danforth Creek, yes, there has a crossing guard. Then they've got to go to the east. And then from the east to the middle of those lakes or to the edge of the lakes, there is no one in between. So a kid can be a kid. And heaven forbid, I'm so concerned just by bikes riding that way and just a kid winding off that that's a safety concern for me. So, you know, I looked at all that and I talked to a bunch of people and I came up with some ideas. And I said, you know what? I want to make this better. Because the people that are coming from the west have to go, or coming from the east have to go west. Then they got to go north. And then they got to go east. Then they got to go north to go put their bikes in with the parents. So most of you guys probably don't understand that that's actually the route for the people coming from the west. And what I mean by for the west is the people on the south side of Martin Highway coming west, down Martin Highway, then north across Martin Highway. Then they got to go east. So I looked at that and from, you know, being a parent and four kids myself, I don't love that route and that gives me anxiety. So I'm like, okay, well, how can I do something that's going to actually do and work? So I proposed to put a sidewalk on the east side of Palm City School Avenue with a railing would be on the west side of the sidewalk, but in between the sidewalk and the cars driving. Well, that is so the bike and the parents and everyone aren't going north, then east, then north. They can go directly in because that's one of the biggest complaints that the parents have about riding their kids together. And the dangers. So, you know, with that being said, that was not a requirement by any means, but that's something that I desperately think that needs to be put in this. And we need to landscape both sides of the road to make it look like an entrance. We're proud of Palm City Elementary because right now it looks very trashy, dumpy, however you guys would like to say. You know, I include photos in my response. response. It's not something we should be proud of. I mean, that's not the Palm City Elementary that I know. This is obviously a new Palm City Elementary that got rebuilt, and that's our entrance. You know, we need to put a new sign on the corner of Martin Highway, not out in the middle in between two lakes. That's not the vision, in my opinion, of how we want Palm City Elementary to be. So, you know, with that being said, you know, that was not in the offering, but that's something that I'm willing to pay for, landscaping on both sides of the roads to make this beautiful landscape. And, you know, my inspiration is kind of like Rosemary Avenue and West Palm Beach, guys. If you've seen it before, what it looked like to after they retrofitted it and just made this thing just pop and look beautiful and charming and the landscaping, that's what we want to include. And, you know, we have some very other local businessmen that I do business with that are doing other projects in Palm City currently right now. And you'll see his taste for landscaping. So, and you guys will know who that is. So, you know, we want to bring this whole thing together. We want to have dialogue. We want to go through how can we make this project the best it possibly can. And obviously within the parameters that was set, not by me, I had no say of anything. You know, I didn't even know about the first offering. I was so focused on my other stuff. So, you know, that's in a nutshell kind of our game plan of what we're going to be doing. And, you know, we look forward to working with staff and, you know, the CRA in Palm City is great. And, you know, I'm proud to be a Palm Cityan, however you want to say it. But, you know, I feel very, very strongly about this. And, you know, I believe that the sidewalk and doing this interconnectivity thing that we've discussed is so very important, you know, to this project. You know, again, that was not part of the offering or requirement, but I feel that strongly that it needs to be done so the kids can then go down the sidewalk directly to the school and then go to their bike rack. And, you know, it wouldn't take any more crossing guards, by the way. I already spoke about that. Thank you. So, and again, I don't know, Commissioner, if there's any other questions. I think, look, what he's proposing, I think there'll be a lot of discussions and there's moving parts, but I think what comes through is, you know, the enthusiasm to do the right thing in that area. Well, and with that, I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation with my thanks. Do you want to make a public comment, sir? Okay. I'll hold my motion. Sorry. My name's Thomas Pine. I'd like to make a comment on this. Commissioner Campy made a point, I'm sorry, the commissioner from Palm City made a point that it's a local contractor. Well, it was said during a meeting in January there was not a updated financial report of the property made as to avoid out-of-area people learning that the property was going to be up for sale. The whole system is rigged so the good old boys were the only ones bidding on it. That's how we run Martin County these days. Thanks for your help. Thank you. Ms. Brotherton, you're the one that led the process. A couple of quick questions for you. Can you tell us your name and your title? Christy Brotherton, Chief Procurement Officer. Can you tell us, and procurement, so it's not just purchasing, procurement. Procurement, yes. Can you explain how this process worked? Sure. So the county uses for our procurement any of our solicitations, we use a third-party website called DemandStar. It's widely used nationwide. It's not just for Martin County. There's thousands, I don't even know how many vendors register for it, but there's a lot. We utilize that for our solicitations. This particular solicitation, both of them, the rebid and the original, were advertised in the Stewart newspaper. They were advertised in DemandStar, and as an extra step, because this is not a typical solicitation that we've ever done before, we actually posted it on the county's website under Hot Topics both times to try to get the word out. So we get information from DemandStar on all of our contracts that come before you. On the bid tabulations, it'll show the number of plan holders, which is a fancy way of saying this is who downloaded the solicitation from DemandStar. I do want to point out we don't actually know our reach because other third-party sites, other people pick up our solicitations and then put it on their website. So we don't truly know the reach of how far our solicitations go. I mean, we sometimes will get a ton of interest. Other times, we get very little interest. For this particular solicitation, the first one that we did, we only received one proposal, which, as it was stated in the agenda item, was deemed nonresponsive because it was incomplete. Some of the required information that actually was tied to the scoring criteria was not provided, so we could not move forward. Were they locals? I believe Palm Beach, I want to say. Don't quote me on that, but I think it was... It wasn't locals. Not in Martin County. We did reach out to try to get some feedback from anyone that may have downloaded the solicitation to see why they did not bid. One of the responders, which we did not get a lot of feedback, which is kind of typical, was that they didn't have an opportunity to speak to anybody. I know there were concerns in both instances with the minimum bid amount, which was $3 million, versus the restrictions on the property. What came up multiple times was not having an allowance for a drive-through and the requirement to have parking behind the building so you couldn't have parking along Martin Highway. That came up frequently, but for the most part, you know, as far as we know, we got some reach. I know that we sent out notifications to all the chambers of commerce in the area, the Realtors Association, anyone that we could possibly reach out to. So the second time around, we got one responsive proposal, which was from Medalist, which is before you today. So we did the best we could to reach as far as we could with as many people as we could. Thank you. What I would say, in my opinion, and I won't mention the public speaker, one of them who just recently spoke, saying that it's a good old boy network, I think the opposite is true. We had a minimum requirement of $3 million, which then sort of separates some people out. And then as has been mentioned by everyone, we put some very specific requirements so that we didn't leave it open-ended for something to appear that we went from one situation that was not palatable to another. And you heard from the person that bid, I think it might not have made ideal business return on investment business sense for someone from out of town. The last group that owned the property from out of town wanted to build 90 apartments. That's the return. This gentleman, and I appreciate that he would do it, he told us he's born and raised or he's raised here, so maybe it was a good old boy local that would see the value in taking the restrictions or the limitations and still bidding on a number that made the county relatively whole to do that because you'd have to have some passion and love of your community to allow you to make that business decision that's different. So that's how I see it and I give him my thanks, him and his wife and their family. They have a huge successful record. Now, it's easy to deal with. Most of our county employees would tell you he's a tough guy to do business with but he's done very successful business and there has been some back and forth about, oh, you know, he's involved in legal action with the county. Well, a lot of people that do a ton of business with the county will come to disagreements and the process worked itself out. So there'll be people that just didn't want this to work whether it was for me or for us or whatever. I'm telling you sincerely, I think that the perfect person and organization to build something that Martin County residents, Palm City residents can appreciate and value is the person that we're going to be voting on today. Any further questions from commissioners? Well, and if I could just commissioner respond, I appreciate it but there was, you know, there's an expulsion to cast upon the folks here and I just want to clarify for the record, my client wasn't even aware of this RFP until actually it was within two weeks of expiring and he called me, I was not even aware of it and when he told me he wanted to submit for it, I was like, you know, you've got to really hustle because the time frame is short so we weren't even aware of this RFP until it was well out and published so the idea or the concept that there was some kind of something nefarious going on is, you know, somewhat offensive and also, but I just wanted to clarify we weren't even aware of that at this point in time just trying to respond to an RFP that was published. Madam Chair, I'd make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Would anyone from the public like to address us on this matter? Is there a second? Mr. Capps. Yes, I have a question for our Director of Public Works, Jim Gorton. You know, I realize this property has a very storied history in our county that transpired largely before I became a commissioner and it involved changing CRA rules to allow for a large apartment complex that nobody really wanted there and then it involved the county purchasing this parcel to make sure that didn't happen and that all transpired before I became a commissioner and then I think what's before us now is how do we get our money back you know and because we have carrying costs for this property and I think with the restrictions that we've placed on it it's not like there's going to be a big lineup of people who want to buy the parcel you know like Commissioner Campy said you almost have to have somebody local who understands a lot about what can be done to make this feasible and attractive so you know and I think we need to remember we only got one bid so how are we going to get our money back we wouldn't want to be in a situation where five years from now the county still owns the property I mean think about the loss of interest on three or four million dollars if we got it back we could put that money to good use or we could keep it in our investment accounts and it would it would earn money but if it's just sitting there it's a big loss over a long period of time so I've thought about this is a business decision now how do we how do we get the property sold and get our our resources back and I thought what is the county getting in this deal they're getting three point two million dollars and they're also getting is it about a third of an acre that we're going to be keeping on this parcel no it's closer to yeah a little oh it's over an acre and it's the the property directly adjacent to Danforth Creek right well if you divide four million dollars by six acres an acre of the property is worth about roughly six hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars the difference between the sale price and the purchase price is eight hundred thousand dollars if an acre of the land is worth about six sixty seven I think we're pretty close you know nothing's perfect you know it's a pretty good deal for the county I think but what we're getting is a third of an acre of land that I understand we really need for other purposes and I'd like Mr. Gorton to explain that yeah so the the acre of property is directly adjacent to Danforth Creek the that section of Danforth Creek between Martin Highway and Martin Downs Boulevard is built out so there isn't access to the creek in that area and we have a study that has identified that section of the creek as a restriction so Danforth Creek extends all the way west into Palm City Farms and we have flooding in Palm City Farms that's related to the restriction in that section of the creek so by getting access through this parcel we'll be able to build that CIP project in the future it's a project that's been in the CIP for several years predating our ownership of the property and it's really critical to the success of that project to be able to pull it off we need to be able to get in there and if we don't have that access we're going through a private development or something that's going to have a lot of restoration requirements right right so I think that's a huge benefit to the county what would happen if we didn't take this deal and we just sold the entire parcel to someone else like how would we how would we clean out Danforth Creek in the future would that even be possible or you would have to either purchase different property in the in that area or we would have to create a new access through a you know a private subterranean private private roadway that's in that area right so so we're getting 3.2 million dollars we're getting an acre of land that we really need for other purposes and we're getting a build out that is more acceptable to the community you know and I I think those are real solid benefits and nothing's no deal is perfect but I think this one's close enough and so I will second the motion any further comments Mr. Crowley would you like to address us we were done with public comment but here he is here we are James Crowley for the record first of all I'd like to congratulate the commissioners on this purchase I hope you're going to say yes to it I was critical of Commissioner Campi's original plan but you pulled off a hat trick you pulled it out of the hat the reason I came here I was listening to it on the rate on the YouTube the reason I came is because I wanted to say I wish we could do something like this in Port Salerno I wish the staff could do as much work and get together for our CRA as you guys have proven you can do in Palm City for three years I've been coming to these meetings and begging for support and everything else and all I've gotten is code enforcement violations and my name painted on the side of buildings and everything else I'm trying to do the same thing that the citizens of Palm City and Commissioner Campi is trying to do is make the community better and do good things and I can see the capacity and the capability of the staff I have tremendous respect for the staff of Martin County and for the commission and I just wanted to say this is what I call proactive development this is you guys getting ahead of the curve for the community in doing things that typically are not you know not within your scope but you've proven that you can do it and I want to congratulate you for that to zero it out to have it exactly be four million you know that's pretty pretty tight but generally I want to say it's an excellent thing and I just I ran in here because I'm like this is great they're gonna they're gonna get this done and it's gonna be a positive thing let's continue this let's let's keep this ball rolling and keep the staff working but get him in the get him in the Port Salerno get him in the Port Salerno CRA buy some properties buy a park at the last meeting maybe two months ago Commissioner you guys were talking about purchasing a park property and there was some contention over some disagreements over this property and I just hope we can all put our differences behind us and just work hard like we've all been doing to build the community and I want to congratulate the staff and the community and the commission thank you Commissioner Hetherington yeah this this one's really difficult for me having been here for when the whole process and I I credit the district commissioner because I believe sincerely that your heart is in the right place you did what you you fought for your residence of district five and they I believe that there's a lot of people that appreciate it I I didn't support the purchase because I I just didn't agree with the philosophical precedent that it could set and now I'm in a position where you know I I really came in here and I I believe I I don't support this RFP and then you have we have a choice of regaining our money or holding on to this and yeah I don't I don't think I can there's a motion in a second all those in favor I opposed the motion passes unanimously no it doesn't oh you said you opposed okay the motion passes 3-1 with commissioner Hetherington dissenting we will now go on to department three which is designating commissioner Vargas as the 2025 national association of counties voting representative at the 90th annual conference in July mr campy motion to accept commissioner Vargas as our representative on the NACO board I appreciate that she'd be interested in doing it I know that commissioner smith was our representative for a long time and did a good job created a lot of strong relationships in washington and nationwide that hopefully commissioner Vargas will be able to continue yeah I am I'm just we have federal legislative priorities and whoever our representative is on the federal side needs to be aware of and supportive of those federal legislative priorities and not to go out on any limbs and also one of the things that that the commissioner smith did so effectively at the federal level is to fight to protect the reef tract and I would certainly hope that commissioner Vargas I would expect that if she's going to be our representative to this com to this board that she emphasizes the importance of restoring the reef tract because that was commissioner smith's main issue I think definitely passionate about it yeah commissioner hetherington I agree I just I hope that we set the legislative priorities and our representative will represent the board as a unified whole on those priorities any further questions comments there's a motion is there a second second there's a motion in a second all those in favor I opposed that motion passes unanimously next up is department four which is community redevelopment redevelopment agency first and second quarter review morning good morning madam chair commissioners Susan Cora is director of community development and I'm here today with Jordan Pastore who's the assistant manager of community development department and I just want to start out by saying that I absolutely love the new look down here this is the first time I'm actually in here since it happened and it's fantastic and I do thank you for our new seats as well which are very nice we are here this morning to report on the activities of the Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency in the first two quarters of fiscal year 2025 that time period being October 1st 2024 through March 30th of 2025 this is our table of contents and I'm going to talk a little bit about the first two the mission vision and the CRA structure and I'm going to do that because I think it's important that we're all in a CRA frame of mind if you will that the commissioners and the viewers and the audience all understand kind of specific CRA information it's important to know the mission of an organization that mission generally will tell us what are the overarching goals what is it we're trying to achieve the Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency is revitalizing and restoring the neighborhoods and town centers of the Martin County CRA areas we are dedicated to maintaining the unique character of our communities by encouraging sustainable economic investments promoting walkability and livability and working collaboratively with the neighborhood advisory committees and the Martin County Board of County commissioners to advance the future health and success of our communities so now we all have our CRA hats on a little bit about our structure CRAs are created by counties and cities by municipalities although we are governed by the Florida legislature state statutes and those statutes are chapter 163 part 3 entitled community redevelopment we are well CRAs in Florida are dependent special districts so what does that mean that's a local unit of government that has a specific purpose it operates in a very limited specific boundary it's created by local ordinance which in Martin County is number 39 and its focus is on a specific purpose and in our case again it's redevelopment we are one agency we are the Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency we are made up of six areas those areas are and it's not the entire area of each of these places again limited geographic area they are Golden Gate Hope Sound Jensen Beach Old Palm City Port Salerno and Hope Sound that's where they are located they each have a community redevelopment plan those plans are authored by the community then they are approved and they are what's the word I'm looking for and adopted via resolution by the Board of County Commissioners each one of those areas has a specific trust fund those funds are spent only within that area and generally are not intermingled our funding is called TIF and that's an acronym for tax increment financing TIF is an economic development tool that's used to promote private investment in our communities and it funds all of our activities so our capital improvement plan our projects our operating budget all come from this one funding source and we also utilize partnerships and grants whenever we can to augment those dollars the implementation of the CRA's projects and programs are is guided by their municipality each CRA and in our case of course it's the Board of County Commissioners sitting before us how that works briefly in in on the ground if you will is staff receives input from the community through our neighborhood advisory committees each area has its own neighborhood advisory committee those members are appointed by the Board of County Commissioners and they advise us they tell us what are the challenges what are the opportunities how is their neighborhood situated or their area how do these things present themselves regarding getting those projects outlined in their plan completed those that information and those recommendations then go to the CRA Board their membership consists of one person from each one of those CRA areas plus a member at large again appointed by the Board of County Commissioners and they're responsible for the county-wide program the county-wide CRA program and what they then do is they recommend policies programs projects and funding to the Board of County Commissioners and that's where the final decisions are made little fun fact CRAs are 13.6 square miles and that equals 3,483 acres of Martin County and just to give you some perspective the total acreage of Martin County is 347,392 acres so you can kind of see where we're situated oops before we get there our next section is current projects and funding and this is again specific to the first two quarters of fiscal year 2025 this part of our presentation is arranged by area so it starts with Golden Gate it'll end with Rio and Jordan is going to provide a description of the projects the status of those projects in this report period with budgets and with a snapshot as well of the total dollars in the CIP for that area in fiscal year 2025 so you'll notice that not all of the numbers match up but I think this gives you the best feel for our projects funding and our overall dollars and how they're allocated any questions you have of course we'd be happy to answer at any time you're on all right good morning commissioners we're going to start off with Golden Gate the El Camino Trail groundbreaking and notice to proceed happened we held a successful groundbreaking event signed our construction contract and issued a notice to proceed the budget shows the total construction budget there with our landscape vision project many of the redevelopment plans call for additional green space native plantings and a look and feel that represents the community hopefully this pilot project will be a model for some of the other CRA areas the improved street infrastructure project this is a huge very ambitious project we contracted a consultant called DDEC to produce a 30 percent design of all the streets in the Golden Gate CRA this design is to show potential sidewalks curb and gutter landscaping and on-street parking the ultimate goal is to produce a federal grant to help build this infrastructure out the CRA investment program the recipient during this time frame was Bob's barbershop this included two new sign faces demo new soffit columns decking paint handrails fence compressor enclosure and the total improvements were twenty eight thousand five hundred four hundred and fifty nine dollars I just like to interrupt a second and say if you want to really see what happens at Bob's barbershop you should go to our website and look at the video it's just a fantastic display of local business been around forever right on Dixie three generations of barbers and the community that goes there it's it's quite a little quite a little place the this is the Golden Gate CIP our capital improvement plan our budget the total fiscal year 2025 budget was four million six hundred and seventy two thousand dollars where we had additional grant funding of three hundred and ninety five thousand dollars from the Department of Environmental Protection and two million dollars from ARPA which also are included in that El Camino budget of three million eight hundred and sixty three thousand you'll see each of the line items for each of the projects under the category in the left hand column that correlate with their budget on the right hand side of that column and just to note that CRA dollars roll if you will so like other departments we also save up for projects so you will see some projects on here that are not included in the actual report you'll see their category on here that's because we're saving money to actually accomplish those projects in the future moving on to hope sound the Southeast Dixie Highway stormwater and streetscape project the CMAR process was approved by the Board of County Commissioners during this period and we were also working on the design build this project is a renewal of streetscape from Southeast Bridge Road to Southeast Saturn Street includes the post office alley and all the side connecting streets elements include improved drainage stormwater sidewalks parking lighting underground utilities and the historic train station plaza the banner lake project the banner like lighting project and with that we had this is in response to a lighting study done by the Martin County Sheriff's Office 13 new poles were installed and 50 LED lights were changed out it's a great example of a partnership with Martin County Sheriff's Office and FP&L the there was $1,394.60 for a 140 foot distribution pole and that was our contribution to the project the Petway Village project is where Habitat is continuing the construction of the last eight homes this $65,000 you see here is what is left of the CRA's commitment to this project providing infrastructure for affordable housing the Hope Sound murals this mural here number 28 dedication is titled the beat goes on it is located on and celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Hope Sound Presbyterian Church a total of 28 murals have been completed in Hope Sound with those in the CRA supported through creative placemaking the Hope Sound CRA investment program the recipient was the Hope Sound Beach Shop which occupies a prominent space at Bridge Road and Dixie Highway total project cost was $23,425 the project consisted of roof repair driveway pavers EV charger electrical work and the added benefit for the neighborhood is that it's the only public EV charger in the area as you can see again this is the Hope Sound CIP sheet where the total fiscal year 2025 budget is about $6.1 million and there was a debt service through 2028 of $212,000 that was from debt service a bond taken out in 2018 map road and bridge road were a part of that bond with Jensen Beach the parking and roadway enhancements along Church Street we focused on Church Street where we would like to underground utilities and add much needed on street parking we met with the owner of the North property to discuss right of way donation with him to help us secure the most parking as possible with Jensen Beach Boulevard Recruit Terrace the community was interested in new holiday decor and chose beautiful large snowflakes to go on the street lights there were 30 of them and that included putting them up taking them down and we actually held on to those and they'll be with us for years to come the Jensen Beach Maple Ave project the consultant completed a report for possible changes and improvements to Jensen Beach Boulevard and Maple Street to include drainage on street parking and a crosswalk on Jensen Beach Boulevard again our CIP sheet for Jensen Beach with the total fiscal year 2025 budget of roughly two million dollars categories for each on the left and budget that correlate with each of those are on the right just to point out that the last category there is spark program and that is actually a revenue category in Old Palm City the Southwest Cornell Ave improvements and waterfront park project our consultant was contracted for engineer design to make a more pedestrian friendly neighborhood corridor from Martin Downs Boulevard to Martin Highway with additional landscaping a wider sidewalk and a buffer between the vehicles and the pedestrians on the sidewalk and the Palm City property RFP approximately four acres on northwest corner of Martin Highway and Palm City School Ave and we received one non-responsive bid during that time frame I can't believe you haven't had that slide up October 1st 2024 March 30th in the past the ripple stormwater eco art project we received an honorary special recognition award by Martin Arts and again the old Palm City CIP where total fiscal year 2025 budget was 408,000 our debt service for Palm City Place general fund was paid off in 2025 map road inter fund loan is getting paid off in 2026 and the map road bond 2028 needless to say that's different now all right moving on to Port Salerno the new Monrovia neighborhood enhancements to this neighborhood south of Cove Road and west of Dixie Highway will include the installation of additional sidewalks traffic calming street lighting and repaving we received the 30 percent design plans on that Park Drive the elements of this project are sewer installation road paving drainage tree and light pole removal enlarging of cement pads and new signage will be completed and is being court being done with utilities and public works we received 100 percent plans on that new Monrovia Park we received 90 percent plans and the new new the Port Salerno CRA was interested in the revitalization of this well-loved neighborhood park this is where you also find the Costello Williams Learning Center and the one-room colored schoolhouse the project includes leveling the field area removing and replacing the basketball court increasing the number of hoops installing a shade structure over the playground and providing an accessible route and benches throughout the park increasing connectivity the lighting improvement project this study was completed and the project is in the planning stages new Monrovia unpaved roads we received 30 percent design plans and this is where the reconstructing of southeast 43rd avenue and southeast murray street are to provide additional neighborhood connection as southeast field street gets extended from 44th street this is where having graphics would be helpful but we didn't want to make this presentation any longer it actually completes the whole block for that enhancing connectivity here in the banners uh new Monrovia oh my my bad um yeah the banners were made and installed total of 50 of them um and new ones reprinted and then reinstalled with all new hardware Fort Salerno CIP uh total fiscal year 2025 budget is almost 5.3 million here with a majority of that going into the septic to sewer project in Rio um the town center redevelopment project we started working with the consultant on a design contract for both the town center development and the Dixie Highway streetscape the town center redevelopment project is where the civic center currently is along with additional CRA owned surrounding property uh the Dixie Highway streetscape project completes the Dixie Highway streetscape throughout the entire CRA of Rio from Rio Pine Lane west to the railroad tracks and from Mrs. Peter's Smokehouse east to Langford Roundabout to enhance the community's experience and ensure cohesive vision for Rio the town center redevelopment and Dixie Highway streetscape projects are being approached as complementary efforts the CRA has engaged Marlin Engineering and Dover Coal and partners for both projects to foster an integrated holistic design process the crosswalk connections there are three crosswalks being proposed along Dixie Highway and the project is in design Exora and Banyan are two private streets that um furthered our infill sewer project both are private roads where the residents completely engage with their neighbors to work with the CRA and the utilities department to obtain easement agreements allowing utilities to be installed Rios CIP the total fiscal year uh 2025 budget four million nine hundred and thirty seven uh four hundred nine nine hundred and thirty seven thousand six hundred dollars um again categories on the left budget on the right what's property acquisition so property acquisition around specifically around the Rio Civic Community Center uh there was interest by the NAC and the CRA board to purchase some of the surrounding property to uh maximize that space around the community center so we want to end with a brief review of some other CRA activities that were completed at this time share a few metrics with you to kind of give you a feel for how we're doing and offer a list of reports that we provide each year so in that time period architectural design standards were completed and approved by this board as well as our Seymour project that was uh earlier talked about we started our new three touch communication strategy that in to enhance communication community knowledge and participation uh we call it community pulse and the way it works is that we reach out to the community three times for every meeting so a first e-blast would go out and that announces the meeting and provides the agenda the second time we send out another e-blast and that's generally three days before the meeting just to remind people and send the agenda again in case they missed it the first time and then the third touch is a follow-up to the meeting that shares with the community what actually was discussed and what topics came up CRA annual report we completed that this time period as well we call it live from martin county i think you all received a copy i hope that you've had a chance to go through it and actually see the projects and experience the projects with just a couple of clicks of any digital device you can do that um i think it's kind of cutting edge although i am a boomer so you know what i think is cutting edge might not really be i actually went through it when i got it i thought it was very well done oh good thank you we were excited it was it was this was a very fun project to do um we all we all kind of got out of our comfort zones a little bit so it was it was a good one uh we do manage our own grants in our office and that includes researching them writing them uh managing them throughout the construction process and reporting on them to uh recoup our funds and i just like to give a quick shout out to our friends in omb because we would not be successful in doing that without them uh we participate in permit review for architectural design standards as well as development review with many other departments in the county during that time period staff attended the florida redevelopment association conference and presented CRA information to the miles grant country club we also participate in a lot of community events so you could have seen us at the united way holiday project or the 911 bridge walk and we also participated in the hibiscus house angel project as well so we are constantly in the community through public meetings during this time we had 16 neighborhood advisory committee meetings six CRA board meetings one local planning agency meeting and were involved in seven board of county commissioner meetings we present at cares as all of the other departments in the county do and during this time period there were two sessions of cares and i like to end this additional activities by saying we always provide excellent customer service to a variety of organizations developers builders residents county departments and volunteers just to share a few metrics this kind of keeps us uh in line and lets us know how we're doing and where we may need to step it up a little bit uh we use taxable value increase that's something that all cras do utilize to look at how the tiff dollars are being responded to in our case you can go to page uh 27 in our annual report you can see that taxable value increase for each cra and i think it's uh it really shows you um that the private sector is responding and that the dollars that the county is investing in these areas is paying off we've had 21 new business businesses open their doors in our CRA areas um eateries like tacos and more in hope sound lenora's in palm city and small businesses as well um in port salerno for example there was the one home medical equipment llc so a lot a variety of different uh businesses we focus on infrastructure and have done that for many years in this time period we laid down 94 500 square feet of sidewalk we had 58 sewer hookups in our CRAs that would be specifically rio and golden gate we with a great big assist from public works uh we helped repave birch and durant abs to unpaved roadways in the golden gate CRA and provided lighting additional lighting to the banner lake community and hope sound as was uh earlier discussed one other way that we always look at our progress is through permit overview and what that means is how many permits were issued building permits were issued in the CRA areas in a particular time period and what was the value of those so we look at the year before and in 2024 these same two quarters we had 656 permits issued for a value of 21.5 million and in the two quarters that we are discussing today we had 841 permits issued with a value of 29.9 million first is kind of a new category for me but we had a few so i thought it would be interesting to mention uh sound brewing in hobe sound is the first brewery that we have in our series in martin county and it was built from the ground up so that was a really really nice project we had our first mixed use building built that's in palm city on map road it's a two-story building and it has six residential units on top four commercial units on bottom um fully occupied uh historic train station placement i don't think that we're going to have a second one of those so i thought it was important to mention as a first that was a very exciting day uh and our ripple stormwater and eco art project garnered three awards during that time so a few additional resources uh i would steer people to if they needed more information wanted more information uh was interested in any of these things this is are the reporting that the CRA does on a yearly basis we report to the economic and the office of economic and demographic research and many of these you'll see are required by state statute we do our annual report each year due by may 30th march 30th we have annual goals objectives and performance measures that you can find i believe on our website that was also required by state statute just a year ago we was our first year so we'll be reporting what happened external annual audit a monthly capital project report to the CRA board project update reports at every nac meeting quarterly reports to the CRA board and today a quarterly report to the board of county commissioners i'd like to say thank you for the opportunity to come and talk with you today about that we're happy to answer any questions any questions any comments from the public caps can we talk a little bit about the timing of the dixie highway project in hope sound and what we might expect we're moving ahead in three quarters okay so good news on that is we just put out the request for qualifications for the design it's on demand star as we speak so timing has we we set a pretty aggressive timeline for that as soon as we had our cmar and so that what will happen is we will get responses back i believe sometime in august would be the date and we will take a look at those, go through the process, choose a firm to do the design. Once they're at 30%, we will then go out and get our CMAR for that project and have them start working together. So timeline, I wish I had a better crystal ball, but I'll give you one anyway. I would say that we might have a completed design ready to go to bid for construction in 18 months. Write that down. She committed. I think I said maybe. I said maybe. And then from there, it would be, it's hard to say after that, Commissioner, and that's mostly because the CMAR and the design, you know, the engineering folks are going to let us know how to do that project, if we phase the project, and how that would work. And just for a little bit of review, that CMAR concept is where you select a contractor who's involved in much earlier stages of development of a project than normal. Construction manager at risk, yes. Yes, construction manager at risk. And that's distinguished from the regular, what's it called, design, build, and, you know, that design, bid, build is the old traditional track and the CMAR. The purpose of that is to get the contractor involved at very early stages in the process. It allows the contractor to be involved at the early stages so that they can look at the design, what materials would be used, if the project needed to be phased, how that should happen. And it also decreases the timeline generally. And it also decreases the amount of change orders and problems out in the field later. It's designed to eliminate change orders as a fixed cost so that it's the risk part of it is, is that if there is the construction price is fixed. We should get the turnpike to do the CMAR for the connect. If you got into legal trouble, do you have any professional legal advice that you get? From, oh, from our legal department, yes. Introduce them! Oh, I'm so sorry. We have here Frank Morley with Martin County's legal department. He is our CRA attorney. So he's, you will, you will see him down here anytime we are. Frank intends all of the neighborhood advisory committee meetings and the CRA board. So yeah, he's in it. And one more question about the debt service and the Hope Sound CRA, the $220,000 or $212,000. You mentioned that that was a bond that was taken out in 2018 that involved work in Hope Sound and in Palm City. Yours is separate. It's separate? I believe it was one whole bond that did, that had Map Road, Bridge Road, and then there were a couple of other projects that were not in the CRA. Palm City is not paid off. You will be paid off on that debt service in 2028. And Commissioner, technically it wasn't a bond, but it was a borrowing. A borrowing. Okay. Okay. So the $212,000 is a yearly cost for the Hope Sound CRA. That's the Hope Sound portion of the indebtedness. That is correct. It comes off the top of our capital improvement plan. Each year through 2028. So we've got about three more years on that, I guess. Okay. I had one more question about CRA structure at the beginning. And one thing I've been a little unclear on is the CRA board, is it purely advisory, just like the NAC boards are? Like the NAC boards are advisory. And the CRA board, conceptually, is it just as advisory or does it have powers that are different? And in what way is it not advisory? That's a legal question. So the CRA board is not advisory in that strict sense of the word, like a neighborhood advisory committee would be, or any other committees would be. The CRA board can purchase property. The CRA can own property. So it has a little more fiduciary responsibility, if you will, in that sense. It makes policy, although that does go to the board. And I'll give you an example. I'm not sure if this is a great example. In Rio, Jordan earlier talked about property acquisition, and Commissioner Hurd asked a question, you know, what was that for? And the Rio community was very interested in purchasing property, as he explained, around the Civic Center and in that area, because we were looking at what would a town center here look like and what would we need to do about that, because that is in their redevelopment plan. So the CRA board can authorize the purchase of those properties. So they did made a policy, if you will, with the CRA board looking at what were the key areas, what are the key properties that we want to focus on, and then directed staff to go after those. And then those properties were purchased. So, for example, that doesn't come to the board of county commissioners. So their power to purchase and own property, they can actually make the purchase without commission approval. Well, we follow all of the purchasing rules, et cetera, real property rules. We follow all of those rules that are set by the county. Right, right. So that would be one major distinction between an advisory board and a CRA board is they can purchase property. Yeah, and Jordan makes a good point that, you know, these dollars are allocated for that reason, and all of those dollars are approved by the board of county commissioners. And then you mentioned that the CRA board can make policy. Does that mean without county commission approval as well? It depends on what that policy is going to be like. In this example for Rio, you know, Key Properties was sort of a policy that they made in terms of this is the area that we're interested in. We don't want you to be looking, you know, in the Langford Circle area. This is exactly where we want. This is our focus. So in those terms, yes. Okay. Any other ways in which a CRA board is not just advisory? I just want to clarify on the property. They don't, the CRA board does not have the authority to purchase property without board approval. Okay. So it would end up coming before the board as well. Okay. Okay. All right. I just wanted to get clarified on some of those things. Anything else? Thank you. Now we'll take up our last. Could I just ask one question? We will come back with another quarter report. So if there's any feedback that you have, this is a lot to digest. If this is what you want to hear, if there are other, if there's other information that you would prefer, please let me know what that might be. Thank you. Thank you. You know, Sarah Powers will summarize our 2025 legislative session update. And Jenna Nobby. Good afternoon. Afternoon. Good afternoon. Afternoon. So I want to start off by thanking Growth Management for letting me tack on my legislative update to their legislative update. They're obviously one and the same, but now that session is officially done, I wanted to make sure that I had an opportunity to kind of give you an update on what happened and all of that, and then get to the good stuff at the end, thanks to Growth Management. For the record, Sarah Powers, legislative coordinator. So what happened this session? A typical session runs 60 days. This session was extended an additional 45 days to work out the budget. There were some disagreements at the end of session, and the legislature's sole job is to agree on a budget, and they did not do that, so they have the power to extend. This year it happened to extend 105 days. But they concluded, and the governor has, like I said, signed the budget. The budget totals for this year were $115 billion, $2.3 billion less than 2024. The veto amount was $1.3 billion this year, $401 million more than last year, and with maintaining a $15.7 billion in reserves. So some tax relief that is coming out of the, that was one of the kind of contentions was if they were going, there was some property tax discussion, there was sales tax discussion, and this is kind of what they came out with, which is pretty standard, some permanent sales tax holidays, back-to-school holidays, sales tax exemptions on state parks, and the summer holiday, permanent exemptions for disaster preparedness items, and the Second Amendment sales tax holiday. Those just become permanent during those times versus having to come back every year in the budget. Another highlight for us, of course, is the investment in our water quality and supply. The governor, in the last two terms, has promised, you know, historic funding in Everglades as well, and us being involved in that as well. So $550 million investment in SERP, $64 million for completion of the EAA reservoir, $50 million for project components to achieve harm, to reduce harmful discharges for us in the Caloosahatchee, $81 million for the Northern Everglades Protection Program, $382 million for the expanded water quality improvement projects, and $25 million for the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program to improve our water quality here in our backyard. So this has already changed, but the 269 bills passed, 1,900 were filed, so it's about 13% passage rate. The governor has signed all of the remaining nine bills, so those percentages have changed. And like I said, that's kind of my quick and easy of the budget and what happened during session. And growth management is going to go over the bills that we've highlighted. They've highlighted, but were kind of of importance throughout session, and they're going to go into details. So if there's any questions for me, I will hand it over to growth management. Stay there just in case. I'm going to let Paul come over here, and then I'm going to stand over there just in case. Yeah, I'll be right over here. Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the record, Jenna Nobby, Senior Planner with the Growth Management Department. And as I'm sure you were, we were closely following this legislative session and keeping track on a few key bills that we identified would likely have some implications for Martin County and with growth management specifically. So the purpose of this agenda item is to bring forward five bills that we had been tracking and give you an overview of what passed and how we anticipate it may impact our department specifically. So if it's okay with you, I can go read the first one and then have any questions, discussion, and then move into the next one and kind of follow that format. So the first one that we had identified is SB 180. So this bill was predominantly relating to emergency management, and it was meant to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of homes and businesses after a natural disaster or a hurricane. There were two sections in this bill that do preempt local governments from passing more restrictive or burdensome regulations than what were in effect as of August 1, 2024. So Section 18 of this bill specifically defines an impacted local government as a county that's listed in a federal disaster declaration that's located entirely or partially within 100 miles of the track of a storm declared to be a hurricane. And that also covers any municipality within a county for that storm track. And for one year after a hurricane makes landfall, an impacted local government may not propose or adopt a moratorium on construction, reconstruction, or redevelopment of any property, a more restrictive or burdensome amendment to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations, or a more restrictive or burdensome procedure for the review approval and issuance of a site plan development permit development order as it's defined in statute. And so these prohibitions do not apply to privately initiated amendments. They only apply to amendments that would be board-initiated or publicly initiated, if you will. And moving into Section 28 of the bill, it states that each county that was listed in the federal disaster declaration for Hurricanes Debbie, Helene, or Milton, which obviously Martin County was affected by Hurricane Milton, and each municipality within one of those counties may not propose or adopt that same moratorium, those same more restrictive or burdensome amendments to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations, or propose or adopt that same procedures for the review approval and issuance of a site plan before October 1st of 2027. And this section of the bill is retroactive, where any such moratorium or restrictive or burdensome comprehensive plan amendment, land development regulation, or procedure, shall be null and void up to August 1st of 2024. And so this bill was signed by the governor on June 26th, and it took effect upon becoming law. So we identified that the potential impact of this bill is that the county cannot adopt any more restrictive or burdensome comprehensive plan amendments or land development regulations until this bill expires. And we did identify that there were two board-initiated comprehensive plan amendments that would fall into the purview of being preempted by this bill, and that would be the rural lifestyle amendment and the freestanding urban service district amendments. Those were initiated after August 1st, 2024. So based on the language in this bill, they would not be able to move forward. So that concludes our summary of this bill, and if there's any questions, we'd be happy to answer them. Any questions? How does that affect the City of Stewart? I know you're not City of Stewart experts, but can you speak to that generally? Paul Schilling, for the record. So this is statewide, so I don't know the exact implications, but certainly every county in the state is affected, as long as it's within that 100 mile. So Elise Elder, Deputy County Attorney. So if they adopted anything that violates this provision after August 1st, 2024, it would be void. So it's void as of the date this law goes into that. All of their zip stuff would fall into this. Likely. I didn't analyze it, but anything that was more restriction, burdensome, or moratorium would be void. Thank you. Mr. Capps. So the only one that we have passed that is now void is the vote on rural lifestyle, right? So we didn't pass that. We transmitted it. Oh, we transmitted it. And we brought it back for adoption. We didn't bring it back for adoption. So that hasn't been passed. We looked back until August 1st, 2024, and we don't have anything we believe that was more restrictive. So nothing of the counties appears to be void based on this new law. But we just can't move forward with adoption of the rural lifestyle. Okay. Okay. It wasn't adopted. And then I had another interesting thought. Like, what's to keep the legislature from extending this again and again and again? And I was thinking, well, there would be a constitutional argument, I think, to make about home rule, right? I mean, like, if you're completely gutting home rule and continually putting this restriction on local governments in perpetuity, it's almost like a bad faith thing where you're destroying the whole principle of home rule. I mean, I think at some point they have to let us go back to making our own rules again. You would hope so, and there might be some claims under constitutional principles for that. A county would have to sue the state to bring those forward and seek an injunction or, you know, try to prevent them from doing it. But, yeah, there could be. And there's talk about, I'm not sure which counties, but counties actually challenging Senate Bill 180. I'm not sure if anybody has. It's early, but there has been some discussion. I've heard about that. Seeing no other questions, we will move on to the next bill, which is Senate Bill 784. This bill relates to platting. And so the main change that occurred with this legislation is that plats or replats are now to be administratively approved with no further action or approval by the governing body of a county or municipality, as long as the plat or replat complies with all of the statutory requirements. And the local governing body must designate by ordinance or resolution an administrative authority to review and process the submittal and then sign off on the plat. So this bill was signed on June 20th and took effect on July 1st. And the main implication of this bill we've identified is that plats are typically brought forward to a public hearing before the board of county commissioners, and now that process will be administrative in nature. Elise Elder, again, deputy county attorney, we have a resolution coming on the 21st to address this with the board, and then there will be a subsequent LDR amendment to it's actually the county administrator who we're proposing to sign plats based on the statutory language. But there will be a resolution to address this forthcoming next board meeting. And that concludes our overview of this bill. Too bad. As I recall, we recently made promises that we would resolve any problems in the plat review. We're not now. We don't have the plat review abilities any longer. Moving on to the next bill, which is Senate Bill 954. This bill relates to certified recovery residences. And in Section 1 of this bill, it states that by January 1st of 2026, the county shall adopt an ordinance establishing the procedures for review and approval of certified recovery residences. And this ordinance must include a process for requesting reasonable accommodations from any local land use regulations that would otherwise serve to prohibit the establishment of these certified recovery residences. The ordinance, at a minimum, must comply with a few different criteria that are outlined in this bill. Be consistent with the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and other such provisions. And if a final written determination is not issued within 60 days after receipt of a completed application, the request is deemed approved unless the parties agree in writing to a reasonable extension of this time. So this bill was signed by the governor on June 25th, and it took effect on July 1st. And the impact of this bill that we've identified is that the Growth Management Department will need to create an application process for intaking these applications and reviewing them accordingly. This will need to be adopted via ordinance. And currently, in the Code of Ordinances, there is a process for applying for a reasonable accommodation request. And if we were to intake one of these applications now, it would fall under that reasonable accommodation. But this will likely be separate from our current reasonable accommodation process. So an amendment to the land development regulations will likely be necessary in order to set up this process. And this all needs to be in place before January 1st, 2026. And just one more thing, the bill requires that the process not require a public hearing. So this, too, will have to be approved administratively because it prohibits a public hearing on the certified recovery residents. So that's why we have to take it out of the reasonable accommodation procedure because that requires a public hearing. The public doesn't even get to come and say anything about it. So that concludes our overview of this bill, if there's any other questions. Then moving on to Senate Bill 1080. It's okay. So in Section 1 of this bill, or I'm sorry, Senate Bill 1080 is relating to local government land regulation and more specifically impacts the time frames that we have for processing applications for development permits and development orders. So Section 1 of this bill states that counties must provide written confirmation of receipt of an application within five business days after receiving it. And we have 30 days after receiving an application to issue a written sufficiency or insufficiency notice to the applicant, which is pretty standard, but then moving into applications that do not require final action through a quasi-judicial hearing or a public hearing. These applications must be approved, approved with conditions or denied within 120 days after the application has been deemed complete by the county. And for applications that do require final action through a quasi-judicial hearing or a public hearing, there is a 180-day time frame after it's been deemed complete to have the application either approved, approved with conditions or denied. And if there's any missed review or final action deadline that has been missed by the county, then there's different percentage refunds that must be issued to the applicant. So moving into Section 3, I put this in here more just for general knowledge. It's regarding impact fee increases. But as you know, the county just adopted last year new impact fees up until or up through 2028. So we should be good in that respect, and we didn't see anything in this language that would affect that. And then Section 5 of the bill was talking about the transmittal of comprehensive plan amendments regarding time frames. And there was some conflicting language. We're still probably going to need some clarification from the state on that. But it would appear to give us more time after adoption to send an amendment to the state land planning agency. We currently have 10 days to do that, and this bill states that we have 30 working days, so giving us more time, but still evaluating that one. And this bill was signed by the governor on June 24th, and it does not take effect until October 1st, 2025 of this year. So it's not effective yet, but we have that to look forward to. And so in terms of the impacts of this bill, we anticipate that there will likely need to be an amendment to the land development regulations because there's currently time frames for development review in Article 10 of the LDRs, and so we would need to amend those time frames to be consistent with what this bill outlines. And then, again, impact fees don't necessarily think that will impact us right now. And comp plan amendments still looking to get some clarification on that language, but that concludes our overview of this bill. If you have any questions. Questions? Next. All right. And then last but not least, we have Senate Bill 1730, which is known as the Live Local Act and what would be an expansion of the Live Local Act under this new legislation. So moving into Section 1 of this bill, it states that any parcel, including any contiguous parcel connected thereto, which is owned by a religious institution and contains a house of public worship, are now eligible to be part of a Live Local project. The county must authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowed under the Live Local Act in any flexibly zoned area such as a planned unit development or a PUD that's permitted for commercial, industrial, or mixed use as long as the affordability criteria and percentages are met as outlined elsewhere in the bill. So the county may not require that more than 10% of the total square footage of a mixed-use residential project be used for non-residential purposes. As with Live Local since its inception, these projects must be administratively approved without further action by the board or any quasi-judicial or administrative board. Then moving down a little bit, a county must reduce the parking requirements by 15% if the development complies with certain distance requirements from transit stops or major transportation hubs. A county may allow an adjacent parcel of land to be included within a proposed multifamily development authorized under this section, and then a county may not enforce a building moratorium that has the effect of delaying the permitting or construction of these types of authorized developments, and a county may impose or enforce such a building moratorium for no more than 90 days in any three-year period, and before a building moratorium is adopted or established, the county must prepare and publish an assessment of the county's need for affordable housing at various income levels and include projections of such need for the next five years. Beginning November 1, 2026, each county must provide an annual report to the state land planning agency, which includes a summary of litigation relating to this bill and a list of all projects proposed or approved under subsection 7 during the previous fiscal year. The information that's in this report from all of the counties will be compiled by the state land planning agency and will be provided to the governor, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house each year. And lastly, in section 4 of the bill, it states the intent of the legislator to establish a policy that supports the development of affordable workforce housing for employees of hospitals, health care facilities, and governmental entities. This bill was signed by the governor on June 23rd and took effect on July 1st. And so the implications of this bill that we've identified are now PUD zoning districts are open to being part of a live local project, and any parcel that is owned by a religious institution that has a house of worship on it can also be eligible for these types of developments under this bill. And the section 4 about stating the legislature's intent is more of a general statement. We didn't see any specific language or directive for these types of projects, but it seemed like they were just making their intent known that that's the type of housing that they would be supportive of under this act. So that concludes our overview of this bill. Commissioner Catlerington. Yes. Thank you for all this hard work. It was difficult to follow this legislative session, and this is a very good overview. So two questions. On the churches, you said a part of a church property. So does that, and we may not have clarity, so if a church is existing and they have vacant land on the parcel, then they could develop but could not take the church off and replace it with? It has to have the house of worship present. Okay. So the house of worship would have to remain. Okay. And PUDs, so it was commercial, industrial, and now it includes PUDs. Is that PUDs that only include commercial and industrial development or any PUD that would include a single-family residential? Our understanding is that it would be PUDs that currently have a PUD zoning agreement that allows for commercial and industrial, yes. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Capps. Before this, looking at the original live local, was that limited just to industrially zoned properties, or was it industrial and commercial? Industrial, commercial, and mixed use. Okay. But it had to be zoned that way. Correct. It's not just a land use designation of that. It has to have a zoning of one of those. So the addition is that it's going to go into PUDs as well. So, yeah, that was a vague area that our position was it did not, but other developers' positions it was applicable to PUDs. So the legislature just clarified. So for commercial, industrial, property, mixed use within a PUD on that portion, you could do live local. But I don't think you could do, like, if you have a commercial parcel and residential, it would just be you can do live local on the commercial part, not necessarily the residential is how we would interpret it. Okay. I have a question for Ms. Powers, please. Ms. Navi, excellent job. You really boiled that down well. You made a great presentation. Thank you. Two things. One, I've heard, and I think it bears repeating, the super speeder is now law, which means if you go 50 miles an hour over the speed limit or over 100 miles an hour, it's an arrestable, jailable offense with a $500 fee. And then also I had heard, but I haven't been able to look it up, did they switch also to a hands-free where you're not allowed to hold your cell phone anymore? That I'm not sure of. If it's first, because it would just be a first offense, right, is what you're saying? Well, I'm just saying that, you know, like a lot of states have it where you can't hold your cell phone. And I had heard that Florida just incorporated that, too. So if you could let me know. I will let you know. That sounds too sensible. Great job. Very, very complicated bills. Commissioner, I would like to thank Jenna for all her hard work with us, certainly, and for Clyde and all those assisted and Ms. Elder. So thank you, Ms. Powers. Beautiful leadership. Anything else? I'd like to thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. We have reached the end of our meeting. Does anyone from the public like to address this? Yes, I think so. Please come forward. Introduce yourself. I really just have a quick, for an assignment here, I have my fiancée's with my kid just born, and she's in a class, and she needed to get a little signature on this saying she attended this. She's been listening online, and I wanted to just get if anybody wants to sign something. Absolutely. Sure, we all do. Congratulations on your promotion. Thank you. Yeah. I'm a courier. Yeah. You look sleepy. Oh, trust me. It's a five-day-old now we have. Oh, wow. Right in the middle of having to come for this assignment, you have to attend a local government session. Good teamwork. Listening on YouTube. The chairman's going to sign it. Oh, thank you, Ms. Hurt. We can all sign it. What kind of course is it that she's taking? She's going to become a funeral director. Oh. That doesn't jinx us. It's a college, and it's like an undergrad government course, one of the first-level courses you're taking. Funeral director, very interesting. Yeah. They make you watch government meetings for funeral directors. Like a general ed. I want to see if you have the ability to stay awake. They don't have you cutting the bodies until a year after. There you go. Yeah. She should get extra points. She got a family. Yes. Yes. Don't give any ideas. Can I borrow that pin? What's the baby's name? He's actually me, the fourth. I'm Weirly King, the third. He's Weirly King, the fourth. Wow. Sitting at home right now. What's appropriate is King, the fourth? Oh, yeah. No, I love it. I'm thinking the fifth is when you really have a dynasty going, you know. Four is pretty good. Well, congratulations. Thanks for coming to see us. Thank you. Yes. Congratulations and best wishes. Have a nice evening. Thanks. Commissioner Capps, any final comments? I'm good today. Commissioner Campy? The only thing I would like to say is to compliment our friends at the City of Stewart for their 4th of July fireworks. It was really very well done. They had a company in music. They had a lot of food trucks. But most importantly, you know, you'd fear if you head down into the city on such a busy day that it could really be a free-for-all. But their traffic management and how they had it, separating pedestrians from cars, and even all the way up onto US-1, how they had the road, the traffic management, they did a very nice job. And they can be proud of their presentation. I will echo that as well. I went and it was really well done. Commissioner Hetherington? I'm all set. Thank you. And Mr. Donaldson? Just again to thank the City of Stewart for recognizing our county's hundreds during that celebration. So thank you all for attending. Ms. Woods? We are adjourned. Thank you. Just friends, lovers no more Just friends, but not like before Think of what we've been