Board of County Commissioners on 2024-02-20 9:00 AM

At this time, we'd like to call Murphy Hanley up for our invocation and by followed by the pledge. Good morning. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, in our hearts, we plan our course, but we pray that you establish our steps. We pray this meeting be in your hands. We place our hearts and our minds in your hands so that you may direct us. I pray that as we seek you for advice, that we lean not on our own understanding, but we act based upon your wisdom. Please guide us, Lord, and I ask this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. And we have some employee recognition, so we might as well go down front. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Jeff Foley, Public and Media Relations Officer for Communications. Today, we are recognizing four employees for the service to Polk County. I'd like to invite the employees to come to the front as their names are called, and then if the honorees will remain standing at the front while the commissioners return to the dais behind them, we will take a group photo at the end. Mark Schmitz is currently a financial administrator with the Roads and Drainage Division. Mark has worked for Polk County for 20 years. He has also served the county's residence as an administrative services manager and a senior budget management analyst. Mark retired as a U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer in 2002. He has a bachelor's degree in public administration from Upper Iowa University. Mark enjoys traveling and tackling home improvement projects in his free time. He spends the planned time with his family and do more traveling in the future. Linda Keenan is celebrating 25 years with Polk County. She currently works as a member services support supervisor in the Health and Human Services Division. She previously spent 18 years as a family support worker for healthy families, and she was a case manager for the Polk Health Care Plan for four years. Linda earned a master's degree in social work this past December. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her granddaughter. In the future, Linda plans to take road trips and vacations. Idrina McAfee started working for Polk County 25 years ago as a family support worker in the Human Services Division. She is now a family support specialist, too. Idrina was Polk County's family support worker of the year in 2015, and she has a child development certification from Polk State College. She enjoys reupholstering old furniture, as well as shopping, cooking, and going to Miami Hurricanes games. Idrina's future plans include traveling with her family and simply enjoying life. Marsha Andreessen began her Polk County employment 30 years ago in 1994. She is now the county's Health and Human Services Director. Marsha has a master's degree in counseling psychology from Illinois Benedictine University. In addition to spending time with her children and grandchildren, Marsha's hobby include diving with sharks and whales. She also has a goal to run a race in every U.S. state. Marsha plans to continue working for the county so she can keep making a difference in people's lives. Easy, George. Okay, let's move on here. Okay, this is the time for requests from the general public. I have numerous people that signed up to speak on the concrete plant matter. You know, you can't double dip, so I mean, we have three minutes if you want to get up and talk, but I would recommend you talking as we are going through that at the end of the meeting. So, I do have some other people that want to speak on different things. So, I have a Catherine Barber. Would you like to come up? And you have three minutes. Good morning. Can you hear me okay? Good morning. My name is Catherine Barber, and today I'm here to represent my husband, Louie Barber, who is unable to attend due to a recent surgery. I find it critical to address you today regarding a matter concerning the waste of taxpayer dollars. In April of 2019, we spoke over the phone and communicated via email with Thaddo Hayes, who at the time was the county development and customer service manager. We inquired regarding the need for permits to construct a pole barn. Mr. Hayes referred us to and provided us a copy of Florida Statute 604.50, emphasizing the exemption of non-residential farm buildings associated with bona fide agricultural purposes from the Florida Building Code, and hence, they do not necessitate a building permit. This applied to our situation as we were planning and now have cows on this parcel, as well as adjacent parcels located at 5102 Lightsea Branch Road in Lake Wales. Despite complying with the statute, a code enforcement violation was issued referring to the pole barn construction in 2021. After failed attempts to resolve this with code enforcement, we retained legal representation in the same year and provided evidence of this communication. Further, we hold our agriculture exemption under Huckleberry Farms of Polk County, LLC, and the property use code 6001, which is listed as pasture with miscellaneous implements on the Polk County property tax appraiser website, and property taxes are paid as such. Regrettably, this information was not acted upon by county representatives on numerous occasions. When I say numerous, I'm referring not only to the first time in 2021, but also it was provided in February, October, and December of 2023. During the December meeting with our attorney and county's outside counsel admitted to not reviewing this information that had been provided numerous times. Moreover, the issuance and resolution of these code violations are being done in a manner that is both highly discretionary and unfair. For example, there are ag-exempt parcels in the nearby area which were issued violations for unpermitted buildings and structures, and yet these violations were withdrawn without penalty, highlighting these inconsistencies. We are concerned that the objective is to deplete our financial resources. It is disheartening to observe the county's willingness to spend taxpayer dollars on outside counsel who is not willing to act upon information that has been provided. We kindly request that your intervention in your capacity as county commissioners to bring a timely resolution to this matter. Thank you, ma'am. Ms. Wells, I think you're in the audience. You were on the list already earlier to speak, and I skipped over you, and I apologize for that. So come on up. Good morning, everyone. I have a little brochure. My name is Brandy Wells. I have a youth mentoring program I started in 2017 in Miami-Dade County. I've since moved to Polk County in 2019. Me and my husband, we bought a house here to become successful, build a family, and that sort of thing. Since the last two years, my son attends Haines City High School. The crime rate and the violence targeting those youth have been overwhelming. So I figure, Brandy, you've been serving these kids all of your life. My passion is case management. I've been doing case management for over 15 years. Why not start it where your kids are? This is where you'll be for the next some years until at least you decide to do something else. So I'm right now currently serving 250 kids at Haines City High School, and I'm also in Ridge High School serving 300 kids. It's just me alone. I have a mentoring program, and what the problem that I'm facing right now is funding, to be honest with you guys. It's hard for me to get funding when I'm a grassroots organization serving these kids. One counselor, in Haines City High School, there's over 3,000 kids. There's four counselors. There's no way possible that the counselors can provide counseling service for the kids, get them prepared for college, in addition to the violence that's going on in the school. So I came in. You can't serve a child without serving a community or without serving a family. And so what we do is we provide mentorship for these kids Monday through Friday in the schools to redirect problematic children. I provide services for them in addition to, like, Monday through Friday. We do every other Saturday. We do peer groups. We do field trips. This summer, I'm anticipating on taking 50 kids on a college tour for three days just to expose them to something different, to get them out of their elements. And it's just a grassroots organization for mentors. Again, this is what we're doing. They don't have – a lot of the large organizations are being funded, but no one is targeting these grassroots organizations. I was working with the kids day in and day out every day. Like, again, I work with over 500 kids, making a difference in their life. I'm nervous. This is kind of, you know, my first time presenting some of the work that I have done in the community. Again, I make phone calls. I'm in the court system. I'm the barrier between the school, the community, and the family. Again, I'm working with the DJJ. I'm working with the JPOs. I'm working with the school just to make one child successful. That's my target. That's my goal. I'm not trying to reach 500. If I can find staff to do it, then that's great. But right now, I'm just trying to make a difference in one child life. And I think that it starts with me. Again, it's just me, and I have a few board members and a few community activists that mentor with me. But somebody has to step up and make a difference in these kids' lives, and that's what I'm doing. Thank you. Mr. Beasley, do you have some guidance for maybe? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Wells, I believe you've talked with some of the staff at our Health and Human Services. I have, and they're great. Thank you for that. They are good people. And there may be some possibilities for grant applications on a competitive basis through our Community Development Block Grant Program. So I would ask, I think Marsha Andreessen is still here if you want to just touch base with Marsha on the way out. But there may be some possibilities associated with that process. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, what about United Way, though? Have you been in touch with United Way? Have you presented? No, I have not. In fact, I thought that even came up in our agenda meeting, that that's another place and resource and potential source of funds that she needs to be aware of. United Way may be a possibility for funding sources. I know that United Way does fund, in part by county contributions, a number of community-type organizations within Polk County. So that may be a possibility. But Ms. Andreessen and some of her staff are really, very skilled at those avenues for funding. But my initial reaction is Community Development Block Grant. Now, that's a hotly contested and competitive program, but you should put your name in the hat. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Randy Wilkerson. We got it. Oh, no. It's called Randy. Yeah. Randy, yeah. Sounds like Brandy. Yes, it does. Nice to see you again. I'm addressing a topic that I've brought to you before since I was last here. Jonathan Martin, state senator who is over the Criminal Justice Committee for the state of Florida, has taken the case of Leo Schofield very seriously and spoke before the parole board for the state. I want to play just a little bit of what he said. About this case. Is that Mike on? Can you hear it? Hold it closer. Can you hear it? Okay. Let's hold it closer. Just a second. Here we go again. Put it on the speaker phone. Good morning. My name is Jonathan Martin. I've known Scott Connors. I guess it is. For many years. Okay. Thank you. It's a good idea. How do I get it? It's probably on there. Oh, it was on speaker. Okay. Yeah. You got to get your hearing aid turned up. Right in there, though. Okay. I want to put it up close. One more time. Put it in the microphone. When I was a prosecutor, I've handled homicide cases. Everything that I've seen about this case turns my stomach. I don't know why Leo Schofield wasn't released years ago when he was. You have to at least crack the transcript. You have to at least wonder why the fingerprints of a serial killer were inside Michelle's car and were never tested and were never presented to the jury in Polk County over 30 years ago. I was five years old when Leo Schofield started doing time for this murder. Stand by the criminal justice system here in the state of Florida. We're one of the best on the planet. But there's a whole lot of doubt right now about how good we are. You guys have the chance today to fix that. Okay. That was a bit of his testimony. There's some more. You can go on the website. Also, since I was last here, another podcast by two former Texas prosecutors, state prosecutors of Texas. It's called The Prosecutors. And what they are doing, they're taking the original police reports that happened the day after or two days after and comparing it with the trial transcripts. And they found that everything was changed, like from the initial time until the Mr. Weeks, Detective Weeks, went 15 months later to ask the same questions. One of the questions had to do with, I thought, the most damning evidence, I thought it was evidence, was of the newspaper vendors seeing the two cars of Leo and his dad outside, well, right by where the murder scene happened, at that canal on 33. Actually, the vendor said immediately after the murder that he had seen nothing two days after the murder. But then 15 months, he changed the story. So all these things need to be looked at. This affected a lot of Polk County families, including my own. My stepdaughter died early because of this, as well as the many murders, rapes, break-ins. It's a case that really needs to be looked at. Okay, Randy. So I want to encourage you to listen to the prosecutors. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. Abercumby. Before Mr. Abercumby starts, we had a conversation about a week ago about, you know, what exactly Mr. Abercumby was in need of and wanted to have. And anyway, so I talked with Mr. Beasley and Mr. Mink, and they have worked with County Building Division, Ben Dunn and Ryan Wiggins. And I think Randy has developed a letter from the Building Division as well as a letter for the board. Is that correct? Yes, sir. At the request of the board, we have placed on the agenda item underneath me a letter to Mr. Abercumby from the chairman, based on the approval of the board, informing Mr. Abercumby that the building officials, the building official is responsible to supervise, enforce, and perform the inspections under the Florida Building Code, and as such is determined determination is the final decision and that this board does not have purview of any further review of it. And that would be the final decision of this board. All right. I'm looking forward to a copy of that, folks, because that's just totally illegal. You make the final decisions. This board makes the final decisions. I don't care who else is in here. This is a charter government. This is the top of the line. Before it goes to the courts, this is it. You should know this. You should be a real big gentleman here made the decision last two weeks ago, based upon a rendition, based upon a mediation that didn't happen, which made it my fault. Now, I'm supposed to take that to court and say, this is my fault, folks, so you need to fix this, all this stuff. Ain't no way. This is not right. I'm not even going to bother to go through what I went through this morning. This is totally illegal. I'm looking forward to that paperwork. I'm going to sue every one of you. I guarantee you'll lose your job, buddy. You will. You will. I guarantee you, Mr. Albert Tombe. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that the board affirms the staff findings and bring this matter to conclusion. I second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. No, sir. Your time is up. Thank you. When the minutes are approved, copies are made available. Yes. All right. Now, everything else I have is on the concrete deal. Does anybody else have anything other than P4 that they would like to get up and speak about? You'd be more than glad to come up. All right. Seeing none, I'm just coming to approve a consent agenda. No move. Second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Ms. Deedee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, board members. This morning, we'd like for you to approve and ratify payroll checks 02600 through 02622 in the amount of $23,163.03, $2,641 direct deposits in the amount of $3,901,332.24 dated February 9th, 2024. Wire and electronic fund transfers in the amount of $15,636,662.98 dated February 6th through February 19th, 2024. We also request approval of the minutes of your regular board meeting held on February 6th. 2024. Motion for approval? A motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's all I have today. Nothing else? Nothing else. Thank you. Mr. Mink. Yes, sir. I have one item. It's the item that was on the consent agenda but being placed here to allow a commissioner to recuse himself. That is to approve staff to pursue acquisition on the site nominated to the Environmental Lands Program, Conservational Land Acquisition Selection Advisory Committee Classic recommends pursuing acquisition of EL-110-23. And actually, Mr. Cumby is supposed to recuse himself who stepped out. What do we need to do? Need to wait on him? He's going to recuse and go ahead and vote without him. So move approval of the staff recommendation. Is that okay, Randy? For the record, I would just say Mr. Cumby has stated that he has to recuse himself from this action based on a business relationship of the applicant. I have a motion. A second. A motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Is that it for you, Randy? Yes, sir. Okay, Mr. Beasley. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, members of the audience. The manager's office will have three items for board consideration this morning. Item number H1 is to request the board approve the purchase of Motorola Diagnostics equipment in support of the Polk County public radio system. This would be a one-time expense not to exceed $644,793.85. Since in November of 2019, the board entered into agreement number 15-09 with Motorola. That agreement provides for the purchase of various Motorola equipment and services using discounted pricing and hourly labor rates. In July of 2023, the board ratified the process for purchases made pursuant to that agreement, whereby purchases of up to $250,000 would require approval of the county manager's office. Any purchases over $250,000 would require board approval. The current FY23-24 board-approved emergency management budget includes funding for anticipated Motorola Diagnostics hardware, equipment, and installation services. This hardware and equipment will be installed at 12 public radio system tower sites across Polk County. This hardware and equipment will allow for the remote monitoring and evaluation of all radios with authorized access to the Polk County public radio system. The intent is to proactively assess radio functionality to ensure that those units are properly operating during calls for service. This hardware and equipment is paramount to ensure the safety of first responders and support personnel. Again, funds are budgeted in the current FY23-24 emergency management budget for this specific purpose. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, consistent with the board's commitment to public safety, I would request the board approve the purchase of Motorola Diagnostics equipment and services in connection with Polk County public radio system at an expense not to exceed $644,793.85. Move approval of staff recommendation. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? All right. I have a question. Oh, excuse me. Is this replacing an equipment that you already have and it's just outdated, or is this something new that you're moving towards? Commissioners, good morning. Paul Womble, emergency management director. No, ma'am, this is new capability. It will let us be more efficient by reducing staff time to troubleshoot radios that are within specs and also let us quickly identify radios and equipment that's not within specs, and then we can fix that before it causes a problem during our response. Okay. Thank you. All right. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the board, item number H2 is to request the board to approve a Florida Defense Infrastructure Grant Agreement between the Florida Department of Commerce and Polk County. This is a one-time revenue source of $500,000. Polk County is home to the U.S. Department of Defense Avon Park Air Force Range. Polk County has a longstanding relationship with the Department of Defense by way of conserving lands near the Avon Park Range. As established by Florida statutes, the Florida Defense Infrastructure Grant Program supports local infrastructure projects deemed to have a positive impact on the military value of these installations across the state. Funds provided pursuant to the grant agreements must be used to support the state or local community and a specific military installation. Projects that relate to encroachment, construction, transportation, access, utilities, communication, housing, the environment, or site security are all eligible to receive funding under this program. The grantee must represent a local government with a military installation that could be adversely affected by Department of Defense operations. Polk County has been strategically working with the U.S. Department of Defense to conserve lands near the Avon Park bombing range for, one, to protect portions of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, two, to preserve uplands and wetlands that support sustainable water resources for South Florida's agricultural operations and urban populations, three, to support key wildlife conservation corridors to nearby protected lands, and four, for providing economic benefits by supporting outdoor recreation and agriculture production. To continue Polk's successful partnership with the Avon Park range, Polk's project intends to address compatibility issues, including the Avon Park range's three-mile buffer zone around the site perimeter, inclusive of low-level and night-vision flight training areas. In early 2023, Polk made application to the Florida Defense Infrastructure Grant Program to secure $500,000 in state funds by way of working with willing property sellers located within a designated priority area to acquire blanket conservation easements. Polk County was subsequently notified by the Florida Department of Commerce that we had indeed been awarded that grant totaling $500,000 with a $150,000 match requirement. Funds are budgeted and available in the Special Revenue Grant Fund for this specific initiative. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, consistent with what I think the board's prior commitments to the U.S. Department of Defense, I would request the board to approve the Florida Defense Infrastructure Grant Agreement, number S0232, between the Florida Department of Commerce and Polk County, all in connection with strategic property conservation easement acquisitions to be used with this state funding and the $150,000 county match. Moved approval. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any other questions? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Mr. Chair, members of the board, final item from the manager's office this morning, item number H3 is to request the board approve an agreement for mowing and ditch cleaning services between Polk County and the Association of Poinciana Villages, APV. This is an annual expense estimated at $224,000. Polk County owns and controls many miles of roadside right-of-way within the large Poinciana community that requires routine maintenance, including roadside mowing and ditch cleaning. In December of 2021, Polk County entered into an agreement with APV to perform routine mowing and ditch cleaning services along designated roadways throughout the Poinciana community. That agreement expired in December of 2023, and the APV continues to possess that equipment and the skill sets necessary to perform such maintenance services. The APV has expressed a willingness to accept a renewal agreement and to continue performing such services through December 30th of 2025. In light of the distance between county roadway maintenance facilities and the Poinciana communities, staff believes it continues to be a cost-effective and efficient service delivery arrangement to contract with the APV for such maintenance activities. Funding for this agreement is budgeted in the Transportation Trust Fund. So, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, in keeping with what I think is good staff initiative to form mutually beneficial partnerships in delivering public services, I would strongly recommend that the Board approve the proposed agreement for mowing and ditch cleaning services with the Association of Poinciana Villages with an annual expense estimated at $224,000 and a term set to expire December 30th of 2025. Provo approval. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I do have a question. It refers to the ditch cleaning services, because I've gotten a couple of calls from this area. Is this a routine, a scheduled routine cleaning, or is it upon a request from the citizens or from a HOA or something like that? It's a combination thereof. They try to do it on a routine basis, but like everybody else, they get doing other things and potentially. So, a lot of it is citizen-driven. The one issue we have up in Poinciana is because of the wet conditions. It is a wet area. So, standing water may not just be from the rain runoff. It could be groundwater at the surface. So, that's an ongoing issue up in Poinciana. Okay. Well, it's good to know. So, when they call me, I can tell them that it's either a routine or that they could make a request. Am I correct? Yes, you are correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That's it, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Lindsay? Nothing at this time. Thank you. Commissioner Santiago? Nothing at this time. Commissioner Cumbie? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Had I not stepped out to talk to Mr. Abercumbie, I would have abstained from G1. So, I intend to file the proper form work because Carlsby Associates represents one of the property owners that was in that G1 group. All right. Are we okay there, Randy? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. And I don't have anything. I do have a lay board appointment. Mr. Chair, I do like to appoint or make a recommendation to appoint Alice Brown to the Housing and Neighborhood Development Citizens Advisory Committee for the three-year term, February 20, 24, through February 20, 27. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Moving into expedited hearings. All right. Mr. Chair, before we begin the expedited hearings, I will go over the public hearing general procedures. We ask that you please turn off your cell phones or other devices that may distract from the public hearings. Please adjust the microphone and state your full name and address for the record before you begin speaking on a topic. Individuals speaking during the public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited to three minutes. The board is experiencing these matters and is able to discern what is legally relevant to an issue and what is not. Information that is relevant or repetitive only serves to frustrate and necessarily prolong the day's business. The commission expects civility at all times during all public hearings. Speaking out of terms, shouting out from the audience, disrespectful sounds or utterances while another is speaking are unacceptable and you will be asked to leave the chambers for the remainder of the day. If any person decides to appeal any decision made by the board with respect to any matter considered here today, you will need a record of the proceedings and that for such purpose you may need to ensure a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony evidence upon which the appeal is based, which you must gather at your own expense. Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak and present testimony today must be sworn in. All testimony given during public hearings shall be deemed to be sworn. At this time, if you're going to address the commission or speak on any case today, please stand, raise your right hand, and answer out loud the following question. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony or evidence you provide to the commission today is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Now at this time I'll go over the expedited hearings procedures. Expedited hearings are held pursuant to resolution number 2022-089. Expedited hearings are used when no opposition was present at the planning commission hearing. The applicant agrees to the expedited hearing, and the recommendation of the Development Review Committee is for approval. Expedited procedures are the following. After staff briefly introduces the case, the hearing will be open for public comment. If anyone speaks during public comment, the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond. After public comment, the board will consider the land use case. At any time, a full presentation from staff can be requested from a commissioner, the applicant, or members of the public. All documents attached to the agenda item are deemed part of the record of the land use case. Unless removed from the list of experts by motion of the board, all individuals on the list of experts attached to the agenda item are deemed experts for the purpose of the land use case. And at this time, I'll turn to Mr. Siskel to present the expedited hearings. Thank you, Mr. Mink. For the record, Ben Siskel, Land Development Director. On our agenda today for the expedited portion of public hearings, we have three items of important note. Item number 02 and item 03 are companion items for the same property. Item number 01 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT 2023-14, U.S. 27, SAP, RACX storage and carwash to consider the adoption of a request to add self-storage facility and full-service carwash to the use table within the U.S. 27 selected area plan. Carwashes and full-service carwashes and self-storage facilities are currently allowed as a conditional use within the Neighborhood Activity Center. And this request is to add them into the Regional Activity Center as well. This is consistent with other selected area plans. This item was reviewed by the Planning Commission who recommended unanimous approval. And following any comment or questions today, there's no action required by the Board. And this will be back before you in two weeks for a decision. All right. I still have to open it up for a public hearing. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come up and comment on this, you need to give your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, we'll close that and bring it back to the Board for consideration. Oh, that's right. Go to O2. And Mr. Sisko, are you presenting O2 and O3 at the same time? I will present them separately. Separately? I will present. Okay. Item number O2 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2023-20, Graceway-Thornhill Institution, and Appendix 2.135, text CPA, for consideration of a map amendment and text amendment to the comprehensive plan to change the future land use designation from Business Park Center, Residential Low, and Neighborhood Activity Center to Institutional. The subject site is at the southwest corner of Thornhill Road and Spirit Lake Road. And you can see on the screen here, it is the green box highlighted in yellow or circled in yellow. The request is to change the land use designation to Institutional on 5.86 acres to facilitate the construction of a church. And the text amendment component is to remove site-specific restrictions within the comprehensive plan, which I will also cover in O3. This is an adoption hearing. The Planning Commission has recommended approval. And following any questions or comments from the public or the board, staff recommends approval today. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come up and speak on this matter, you may even state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, we're going to close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for consideration. Move adoption. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, item number 03 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT 2023-21, Grace Will Thornhill Institutional Appendix E Text Amendment. This is a companion item to item number 02 to change site-specific restrictions within the land development code related to this property. If you notice the small rectangular area in red on the screen, that is a 30-foot strip that has site-specific restrictions from when this property used to have a business park center land use designation. With the adoption of item 02 and changing the designation to institutional, these site-specific restrictions are no longer needed, and this item will simply delete them from the land development code. This is the adoption hearing and second reading of this item. The Planning Commission has unanimously recommended approval, and following any questions or comments from the public or the board, staff recommends approval. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come speak on this matter, come forward and state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, we'll close the public meeting and bring it back to the board for consideration. Move adoption. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, that concludes the expedited portion of your public hearings. We're waiting on you. Okay, here we go. Good morning. For the record, Mark Bennett, Land Development Division. I'll be presenting LDC-PAL 2023-9, which is a text change of the comprehensive plan, future land use element regarding rural cluster centers and also our policies regarding expansion of activity centers. You can see on the slide here, the gist of this amendment is to allow rural cluster centers, RCCs, to serve as commercial nodes in certain locations in rural areas of the county. Currently, our RCC designation is intended to recognize areas like Alturas, Babson Park, Homeland, you know, rural communities. What we've discovered over the past few years, and we've also received some inquiries, is people have been interested in designating commercial areas in rural areas, but we didn't really have a land use for that. This slide sort of shows that in detail. So what we're proposing is to modify the RCC policies to basically allow for standalone commercial. I won't go through these line by line here, but the gist of these slides is to show that we're proposing changes to the characteristics, designation and mapping, location criteria. And in particular, I'd ask you to focus on, we are proposing some specific criteria, that being that they can only be within, we'd have a three-mile radius between RCCs with a minimum population count of 2,500 persons. And then the other policies here, we prepared this map with the idea of being, well, where could they potentially go if this amendment was approved? And you see that in the green dot, excuse me, blue dots there. There was some discussion and concern about potential proliferation. However, by having the policy in that says they've got to be, you know, at least three miles apart and certain population criteria, that effectively will eliminate a lot of those. And I used an example here to illustrate that point. So, to summarize, we're asking for changes in the comp plan text to allow for rural cluster centers to be sort of a standalone commercial. Also, changes to our activity center policies, location expansion criteria. Planning Commission did recommend approval at their January meeting. And if approved, this is a transmittal hearing, so it will then go to Florida Commerce for feedback and comment. And with that, I'll stand for any questions. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mark. Yes, sir. You said something that made me come up with a question for you, and that is the word about the proliferation. Right. I mean, I support this idea. I mean, it's like an oasis in the desert. And for some of these people, I'm sure, to keep them having to drive 20 miles to get what they need. But if you're the first in, is that going to prohibit others from coming in next door with a similar but different use? You're talking about the three miles, they're prohibited from being within three miles of each other. So that concerns me just a little bit. Well, in a situation like that, if someone wanted to go in and establish a new RCC, and then someone wanted to go in next door, the RCC could be expanded. Okay. Good enough. Just, yeah. Good. Got it. Thank you. Welcome back. Thank you. I've been here a year now. Oh, well. I'm flying out of the podium, though. Yeah. No, I don't appear here very often before you all, but yes. Thank you. Anyone else? Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you wish to come up and speak on this matter, come and state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the board for consideration and close the public hearing. Move. Transmittal. Yeah. Move. Transmittal. Move to transmit. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. All in further discussion? Excuse me? Nope. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. How are you today? I'm well. How are you? Thank you. Good morning. For the record, my name is Shonda Bennett with the Land Development Division. This is a request for the board to consider adoption of a small-scale conference plan amendment from residential and medium to institutional on 29.34 acres. It's the site of an existing religious institution, the St. Matthew's Church. The property is in the greater Winter Haven area off of Overlook Drive. It's Overlook Drive is on the south side of the property. Here you can see a context aerial directly adjacent to the property are some residential subdivisions to the north, the wetland system, and to the southwest. And then due east is another religious institution, the Calvary Church. Here's a close-up view that you can see. Currently, the property is residential medium. That limits the property in terms of any time they want to expand. They have to do a conditional use permit coming to the Planning Commission for expansion. The church is interested in doing some expansions. If approved, it would be institutional. They have talked about doing a cemetery aspect to their property and residential medium. It's not permitted, but an institutional one. It is permitted. The default Land Development Code district would be one versus institutional two. It would not be unless they did a separate district amendment for that. Some site photos here looking west at the entrance into the property in the other direction. You can see the other Baptist church there on the left-hand side. In terms of impact, it's in the urban growth area. It's got access to public water. As far as we were told by the city of Winter Haven, the sewer is not available, so they're on septic, but it's short distance away from public safety, and there's available capacity in the surrounding transportation system, and there isn't any known impacts for environmental resources. Staff recommends approval. The Planning Commission also recommended approval. We mentioned the expansion or the institution allows the church to do some expansions without automatically going to the Planning Commission, and then it's also consistent with the location criteria as it's on a collector roadway, and we feel it's compatible with the surrounding area, and staff will stand for any questions. The existing church is allowed in residential medium, but in the expansion to include a cemetery or mausoleum, that's what triggers this change? Yes, sir. That it? Could you put the map up again and show exactly where, yeah, where exactly are they looking at? Is it to the north of the parking area? I mean, we're exactly at the thinking of doing this. Well, and again, wherever they say today may be adjusted as the land development. We can't bind them to that location with this hearing, but you can see they have vacant land here on the east side, and they have some vacant land to the north, but that is a wetland system. But the site plan that they provided us had location here, if you can see on the screen, the difference here, adding it to it. So basically to the east, but the representative would speak better to that. Yeah, I would like to hear from the representative as to why, but thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. The applicant want to come forward? Good morning, commissioners. My name is Nathan Milch with Kimley Horn, 200 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32801. I'm here representing the property owner, as well as we have some members from the church that can speak to more specific items as well. As you can see on the east side of the plan there, the tentative plan for expansion is for a burial ground, a columbium, and then a shelter, as well as some landscaping and dry retention. And just to get on the record, that is the conceptual site plan. At this time, I guess changing the future land use, it would not be locked in as the site plan, as she said. So this is the plan now, and we think that the change to institutional will allow for more consistency and compatibility with the land development code and comprehensive plan. So are there any other specific questions? Please let us know. Tell me exactly why you want to have a burial system here. David would be able to speak to that, but my understanding is members that would attend church, you know, they would be able to have their loved ones in a facility next door and be able to visit them after service. I think she's okay. Thank you. Very common in the old days, anyway. Yes, it was. Anyone else? All right, ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. I will now open it to a public hearing. If you have any comments, please come forward, state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for- Move it to option. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? No. Motion carries. Who's up? Gilbert Fox, Pat. Forgive me, Mr. Chairman, but I did not get sworn in. Uh-oh. You swear that the evidence and testimony that you present to the Board of County Commissioners today will be truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? That means you relate. Yes, I was helping a customer upstairs. They needed assistance. Yeah. We'd like to hear that, yeah. Before you today is a waiver request, LBWA 2023-58. There were 129 mailers sent to area property owners, 12 letters, or 129 mailers sent out. Legal ad was published in Lincoln Ledger on December 18th, or sorry, February 5th, and boards were posted on the property on December 18th. This is a request that can only be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. The response to this hearing was 12 letters in opposition with 19 signatures and a petition with 41 signatures in opposition, and another petition or emails, 18 emails, with 27 people in opposition. This waiver request is for access to a platted lot. This can only be granted by the Board of County Commissioners in accordance with the Land Development Code. This is for just four lots coming off of a public road, Silver Fox path. It's located in the north area of Lakeland, just south of Duff Road. This is a site. It's residential low. The parcel it's taking access through is RL3. This is the site. And Fox Chase Drive is the subdivision. This gives you a kind of overall look of the area. It's very well built out. This is one of the few remaining parcels in the area, as you can see. The access will come through the Fox Chase subdivision. It is a all public roads will access to the site. There is legal access to the property currently through the neighboring subdivision. However, they will not be gaining access through this portion. It is occupied by a lift station. It's very narrow, and it's a private road. So the applicant has chosen to come in through the public road access coming off a Silver Fox path, which is a cul-de-sac of six homes or six lots, five homes currently. This is their proposed layout of the four lots. They're going to be very large relative to everything around them. This is the property that's most affected by this access. This is how the four lots would lay out on the property. This is a rudimentary drawing of those four lots in a closer view to the neighboring property owners. You can see that the lots are much larger than anything around them. This is where the floodplain and estimated wetland areas are. The site has a significant amount of relief. The high side of the site is up here in the northeastern corner at 182 feet above sea level. As it gets to the wetland boundary, it goes to 142 feet above mean sea level. The floodplain is 131 base flood elevation. So it gives you kind of an idea that these lots will be high up on a hill above the flood. As I said, there's six total lots on the cul-de-sac of currently five homes. The applicant owns the one home that straddles actually two lots within the cul-de-sac. They're proposing a 30-foot access easement. This homeowner is the one that is most affected by it. Staff recommends approval. It is low intensity. It's only four lots, even though it's the properties of just over 26 acres and it's an RL1. Yes, but today you are approving four lots. You're not approving five. You're not approving 27. You're approving four. I just want to make that clear that if they were to want a fifth lot or more, they would have to come back to you in the very same manner in which they're coming to you today to add an additional lot. With that, I'll stand for questions. Questions? Seeing none, is the applicant here like to speak? Well, come on up. I'll give you your name and address and you'll have some time to speak. All right. My name is Tyrone King. Address 3202 Silver Fox Bad. Okay. Basically, we just want to build four lots for my kids. So when I pass away, they'll have something. And the access point is through the property that I own, so I don't see it really disrupting anything, you know, around that area. So that's basically what we're just asking for. Okay. Anybody have any questions for me? Thank you. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this matter, you can come forward and you'll have three minutes. State your name and address. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Move approval of the waiver. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Good morning. Amy Little with the Office of Planning and Development. Our next case is LDCT-2023-15. This is a Land Development Code text amendment to Appendix E of the Land Development Code to add additional area to a previously approved conditional comprehensive plan map amendment to allow the applicant to apply for a conditional use approval for construction aggregate processing and storage. For the purposes of notification, 168 mailers were sent on January 9th, 2024. Two signs were posted on January 21st, 2024. An illegal ad was published in the Lakeland Ledger on January 19th, 2024. Staff has received petitions with 815 signatures in opposition, 14 emails in opposition, 53 letters with 58 signatures in opposition, and three letters of support. In 2016, a conditional comprehensive plan map amendment was completed to change a portion of the property from Business Park Center 2 to industrial. As part of that, a condition was placed to limit the location of construction aggregate processing and storage to the southwestern-most portion of the parcel. The legal description was added to Appendix E of the Land Development Code, which is the parcel-specific future land use appendix. The applicant no longer owns that portion as listed in Appendix E, and this text amendment would add the additional property to Appendix E of the LDC to allow them to apply for the conditional use approval on the site. The site is located north of the Polk Parkway, east of Highway 98, and east of South Cumbie Road. Staff is recommending approval, and this is the adoption hearing. Here you can see in yellow is the current parcel that is owned by the applicant. The red is what was previously approved in the appendix, and the blue dotted section is what they would like to add so they can apply for that conditional use. Section 303 of the Land Development Code outlines the separation from residential properties for construction aggregate. Processing of construction aggregate must be 200 feet from residential uses. The area that you can see here in red, which was the previously approved, was 250 feet from the properties to the east. The new area that they are proposing is 450 to the east and 820 to the north, and that exceeds what the Section 303 of the code requires. Again, this is the adoption hearing. Staff is recommending approval. If it is approved today, the conditional use request will be heard by the Planning Commission on March 6th, and at that time, a binding site plan would be required meeting all of the standards of Section 303 of the code, including a Type B landscape buffer, along with a 6-foot-high opaque fence. There are further restrictions on height, and they will be required to incorporate dust prevention measures. At the time of the conditional use approval, staff will ensure that those conditions are met. The Planning Commission recommended approval of this text amendment, 4-2, and with that, I will stand for questions. Any questions? Is the applicant here? Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Dave Carter, professional engineer at Carter K Engineering. This morning, representing Mr. Tom and Patrick Mims who are in the audience. We had a hearing several weeks ago, went over a lot of detail. I'm just going to go through what I think are some critical items for you this morning. One of the issues raised, and one that you need to consider, obviously, is traffic. There was concerns raised at the prior hearing about truck traffic. Our access is off Minamill Road directly, and then goes out to Comby Road. Typically, our traffic would head south. Comby Road is rated C, so there's plenty of capacity. I was quoting from the staff report that states that capacity exists for even higher uses than that which is proposed. So I don't think traffic is an overriding consideration in your vote today. I think the main consideration today, my assumption, would be compatibility, and so I'm going to lend my remarks to that issue. We prepared some slides. We had some drone photos of the area just to give you sometimes when you're up in the air, you can see a little better than on the ground. But this photo is looking directly west. I believe the drone is pretty much over the site, looking directly west down Mine and Mill Road, obviously a heavy industrial area. This is looking, I would say, northwest. The cars in front of you are a salvage yard that are direct neighbor adjacent, and also the extent. If you'll see how far to the right this area goes, it goes very close to the Skyview subdivision to our north, but that's our neighbor to our northwest. The drone, I believe, at this point is close to the end of the cul-de-sac and over our site, and I think the takeaway here is that we mentioned in the earlier hearing that there's a heavily dense forested area between this site and any of the residential areas. The small little white areas that you see are, I would assume, rooftops of homes. And, again, the drone's up in the air a good distance, so estimating that those trees you see in front of you are 20 to 30 feet tall. This forested area between us and the residential area, much of it, as I mentioned earlier, I'll show you a graphic later, but much of that area is floodplain and wetland, so it's very unlikely it would be developed to where we'd be going to a standard type B buffer that was mentioned. That's commonly done when there's nothing around us, but we've got a very significant forest around us. We still have to meet the type B standards, but this forested area would be above and beyond those. This is looking at our entrance, the round area in the bottom is the cul-de-sac, and then this is looking, there you go, cul-de-sac. It was mentioned the proximity to Pope Elementary. You can see in the photo, you see that tall tower structure? That structure is very near the northeast corner of Pope Elementary, so what I'm seeing here is a little bit of structure behind and below that tower is the elementary school. And this photo shows to demonstrate the significant industrial area that exists already between Pope and our site. Again, the cul-de-sac for the entrances right here in the bottom of the picture. This is looking east and southeast. The area to the right is a parcel that south of that area is the area that is currently allowed for the aggregate crushing facility. The homes to the east along here on the adjoining subdivision. Again, our site is down here in this forested area, and there's plenty of woods between us and that site as well. This was the 450-foot setback that staff indicated between the far eastern edge of our site and the subdivision to the east. That's looking east, Dave? Yes, sir. This is, again, just a general view of the mine and mill area looking back to the east. West, I'm sorry. Yes. Okay, this is the property on our southern boundary looking due south. And, again, this is the site entrance. These units on the left over here is the corner of that car lot. They're pulling the cars apart and wrecking them or whatever. Quite a bit of noise with that. Could you back up, Dave, to that previous photo? Now, that's the site that is actually approved for the aggregate crushing, right? Yes, sir. This is about 15 acres to the south of us that's currently approved. Okay, this is Street View. This is the south side of the site, the entrance off that cul-de-sac. This is the – if you were sitting in the cul-de-sac looking onto the site, this is what you would see currently. This is the salvage yard. Again, it's to our north and northwest, and this is the entrance off the cul-de-sac. Prescott Septic Tanks is along that road there. Just trying to show the industrial nature of that area and the noise factor that currently exists in that area. This is a dumpster manufacturing facility. It's on mine and mill. Again, fabrication, metal-to-metal noise. This is another smaller garbage dumpster plant. And, again, a lot of noise, a lot of metal-to-metal noise currently existing in that area. This is other industrial uses in the mine and mill area. Just go through these quick. You may be familiar with some of these. These are out on Cumbie Road. This is the trucking facility and the substation that's along there. It's, again, a heavy industrialized area. And, quickly, these are some uses adjoining Oscar Pope Elementary, a railroad, and some substation. This is south of our site, more industrial. I wanted to relay you the yellow area in the center is the site. The orangish-colored crosshatch areas are our immediate direct neighbors. They have all given letters of support for the project. You will note the northeast area that we own, the outline here. The industrial area, this is all zoned industrial right here, land use of industrial, and then behind that's BPC-2. But there's a significant, that's 850 feet from our northern border up to the southern limits of the adjoining Skyview. Industrial separates us in that area. We've been talking about a crushed concrete aggregate. What does that look like? And, again, we've mentioned earlier that this is a temporary facility. It's a movable facility. It's not a permanent building. This, we found a location, and this is on the north side of Lakeland. The unit in the middle is the actual machine. That's a conveyor. On the right is the raw material, which is chunks of concrete, and on the left is basically concrete aggregate. And the reason I wanted to show you this, you'll notice the railroad and some trees here, and you'll see these green areas here. This area was subject very recently of a zoning action plan that went to the Planning Commission. And there is a new proposed townhouse project, the buildings of which are 225 feet from that machine. So a developer is planning on coming in and putting in new homes within 225 feet of that machine. The apartment project to the south is a little over 500 feet, and that's a pretty decent apartment project about 500 feet away. And I raise that point because I know sometimes, I know it's even hard for me, it's hard to think about what's 300 feet, what's 800 feet, what does that represent, what kind of distance is that, am I going to be able to see it, am I going to be able to hear it. I think the point I'd like to make here is that not only do existing residents exist closer than what we are proposing, our facility, but a brand-new project being put up within a couple hundred feet. The 225 here is just beyond your 200-foot limit on your code for a facility such as this. Is that inside the city limits of Lakeland Day, or is that unincorporated? The townhouse project was recently approved by your planning commission, so I'm not sure if the facility itself is in the city, but the apartments in the townhouse or county. We mentioned, and I think staff has indicated to you, this is not a hearing on the site plan, but I thought we would at least show you, to give you an idea of what was planned on the site. We have to go through a full planning commission review process. We'll review all the details of the site plan, but what I want to show you on this slide, mine and mill roads here, this is the cul-de-sac, this is our entrance. The area pretty much on an east-west line south of here was what was previously approved for concrete crust aggregate. We've pushed the machine and the material to the west of the site. Again, it's easier access for us, but basically the water is draining to the east, and so putting the pond up in this north area seemed to be the better play as far as the location. So we're keeping the facility itself as far away from the residential areas as possible. These jagged lines you see, I mentioned earlier, that's the flood line, and the wetland line is contained within that. And so this area back here, although it is BPC2, we feel like it'd be unlikely it'd be developed. This area right in here is industrial, as I mentioned. That's the 850-foot, I think staff showed you, distance. The 450 is over to the east. We're even further than the 450, given the fact we're putting our facility on the west side of the site. But I wanted to get you some idea, although I know you're not approving the site plan today, of what the site might look like as developed. Mr. Chairman, that's the extent of my comments today. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Any questions? Yeah, I got one. Oh, excuse me. Go ahead, George. The wetland area on the east side that you outlined. Along here? Yeah. Yes. Although it already has a BPC land use now, you had indicated that it's unlikely, planned to, intend to, leave it as is. But those are qualifying words. And if it were to be used in some fashion, it would require mitigation in some fashion, either on-site or off-site, to mitigate that wetland impacts. That's correct. You couldn't develop that area without floodplain compensation and wetland mitigation, either on-site or by buying credits. That's correct. In its current location, though, untouched provides substantial buffer to the surrounding area. And again, this is outside the scope of what we're hearing today. But is it likely that that area identified and flagged would receive a conservation easement to prohibit that mitigation? Are you asking could it or would it? Yes. Yes, both. Both. Both. Go ahead. Again, that's outside the scope of what we're hearing today. Tom Mims, I have been sworn in. So, yes, I would be open to putting a conservation easement there to protect that area. I don't envision that ever being developed. So, there would be no reason not to do that, to maintain that buffer between the area and the residents. I appreciate your comment, Mr. Mims. The future owners, weeks, months, years, decades from now, could take a different stand, absent that proactive action. And although it would be unlikely, it's planned to, intend to, leave it as it is, that's still open to future action, absent some more positive limitation. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. Mims, quick question for you. Are you going to have your own, are you going to own your crusher or are you going to bring a crusher in and crush and then pull out? We are going to own the crusher we plan to, at least initially we may rent it and then move it in and out. We have another site in Mulberry, so it will be a dual use. It will not be permanently there. It will be basically moved on site, crushed the material, and then moved back to Mulberry. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? All right, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public hearing, and I would like to say this. I know that we have a lot of people here that want to, you know, address their concerns on this, and we've heard a lot, you know, from our last meeting. So, I mean, all I'm saying, I have people signed up, which is fine. You have that right. If you have, you know, new information for us, something different, you know, just not the same thing that we might have heard. But, you know, we would just appreciate that, and we'll move this along. So, but I'm going to open it up to a public hearing now. I have some names that have people that had already signed some slips, and I think you know who you are, so if you don't mind, line up. And we just want to make a line and move this as, not as quick as we can, but just move it, you know, as best we can. And so everybody have their time to speak. Once you get up, I would appreciate you to give us your name and address, and you will be given three minutes. And so I'm looking, I reckon I'll just go ahead and do this right now, a Becky Chupak. Chupak, yes. Well, I've got seven, so if y'all are okay with just getting in line and going, oh, I've got eight now. So if that's okay with you, just go ahead, ma'am. State your name and address, and we'll go from here. Hi. Good to see you guys again. My name is Bonnie Shaloff. I live at 1626 Blue Lake Drive, Lakeland 33801, and I have a number of people yielding their time to me. I don't know whether you want the names of them all in a hand wave. Yes. So that's going to be David Shaloff, Sherry Lampert, Heather Hunter Rush, her other name. And we've got Barb and Dennis Riss back there, and we've got the Mr. and Mrs. Murray as well. I don't intend to take all that many minutes, but I'd like to be prepared. You have three, but I'll work with you a little bit. Okay. Thank you. My name, again, you've got. You've already heard why we, the people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods, are passionately opposed to this facility for health reasons, for financial reasons, for general quality of health. And I just want to reiterate a couple of things because they're very important, and that is that the proposal goes against the Board of Counties Commission's mission, which is to enhance the quality of life for people throughout Polk County, and it certainly doesn't follow your vision statement, which is Polk County, where people excel. In my opinion, the only quality of life that will be enhanced if this proposal goes through is that it will be with the people who make a profit. The only people who will excel are the people who will make a profit. This proposal will not even provide a lot of substantial income opportunities in the neighborhood for the residents and the businesses. So, again, I have repeated some of that that you've heard before, but I think it's necessary to have that in the forefront of your mind. So, the opposition has come from the neighborhood and Polk County residents in general. I know you've got some emails and letters from friends and families of our Skyview and Citrus Woods residents who are worried and concerned about their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their uncles, their lifetime friends. We have over 800 signatures, and if we include all the emails and letters, it's close to 1,000 people. But you may ask, and I know I ask this question to myself, you've heard all this from the residents, but where are the businesses? I'll tell you where they are. They're in the dark. I've gone up and down Mine and Mill Road. I have not talked to all of those businesses, but the businesses that I have talked to have made it abundantly clear that they are shocked that this is going in at the end of their road. And I do know that people within 500 feet get told whether they're business or residents. They do get told. They get the letter, which is not what I would call general language, layman's language of exactly what's going on once you get around all the legalese of where it is and so on, the actual location. But the second thing that they get that they are disappointed about and almost angry about is why they didn't hear about this before us. Why does it take a small committee out of a 55 and over older community to tell them this? And I understand that there are things that have to go through a certain process, but it might be one of the things that you want to consider changing to be able to have everybody involved in what is going on in their community. I also know that you send out the newspapers, ads, ads. Hello? Oh, yeah, I'll give you a few more seconds. Oh, I've yielded all those. He's aggregating others. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson. Yep, my bet. You're right. This is a little different. Okay, so I know you send these to the newspapers and they get sent out and put in. We've got a quarter-page ad and a half-page ad for the one that's happening now. I don't think that this is a good way of getting this information to the right folks. And, again, another thing that as construction criticism that you could use to involve your business people more in this and to get their opinion of what's going on is to not use this means because people aren't reading newspapers as much and they have a very difficult time realizing that that is their concern. Mr. Chairman, can I take one second here to explain? That's the law. State law requires us to make those advertisements hoping that somebody's going to see them. In addition, letters are mailed to property owners within X number of feet. 500 feet. I'm guessing a lot of these businesses probably see it and it doesn't pertain to me or the right person probably never sees it. If you're talking to somebody that says, I had no idea, if they're maybe a decision maker there, it's likely they didn't even see it. And I absolutely think you're right, Commissioner Cumbie. But, in fact, if this is not an effective way and it is legislated by Florida law, then, yes, put these in. But you can go above and beyond what Florida law states. I'm just trying to give you constructive criticism on what the businesses are telling me. We always welcome constructive criticism. Thank you. Can't you tell? I wish I'd brought all my other papers. I've always seen that. Okay. I also wanted to talk about these businesses, some of them that I have talked to. RMC is a Rubinger's manufacturing company. It's a family business started in their garage in 79. It's at the end of Mine and Mill Road. They would be here today except for the Vice President, Chris, who is the son of the guy that originally started this family business, has fallen ill. It's interesting, though, because on his fence they've got a no dust sign, please, because they are metal fabricators and their process does not allow for a lot of dust to be involved. They do a lot of work for the mid-state machine and fabricating, which was in another business that I couldn't actually talk to the right person at this point in time. Again, time is of the essence, and these people are busy, and it's hard going up the ladder of the person that answers the phone to reach the right person. The bakery at the end of the street, there's a thrift store, and there's a 20-bay distribution center there. I did manage to get up their ladder somewhat. They are horrified at this. The latest person that I'm waiting to talk to is the president of the Bradenton Bakery part, which overrules. They report to him in this distribution center. Flowers Baking Company is part of Flowers Food, which is a $4.8 million sales in 2022, and number two packaged goods in USA. So we're not talking just all small businesses. Ed Burke's Cooling and Heating has a letter on the way. Unfortunately, it hasn't reached you yet because I was copied on it, and I haven't got mine. So they are also very concerned about this because of the truck traffic. Most of the people that I talk to, their first thing is I say about the health aspects of it. The second thing I say is about the truck traffic, and they are horrified at what that's going to do to Mind and Mill Road. Perry's Lawn and Landscaping is the one business that is BP2 land that did get a letter in 500 feet, but they also sent a letter in talking about how they do not support this, that they are in opposition of this. And if you'll allow me, I'll just read it to you. It's very short. I will leave this for you to get copies because it hasn't been given to the staff to put on public record. So it says, it's to me, because they didn't have your email addresses. Thank you for taking the time to address this. If you're able, please present this in the meeting on our behalf. Thank you in advance. And it goes to Honourable Polk County Commissioners, as owners of Perry's Lawn and Landscape, we want to expect to see you are concerned with the existence of the business in close proximity to our business. The health risks for the resulting deadly sediment and silica dust are just one of our concerns. It is our understanding that the applicant has stated there will be 130 to 140 truckloads per day. In our estimation, this could mean in a 10-hour day, there would be a truckload every 4.4 minutes. These large trucks would be lined up in front of our business entrance, not only slowing down our ability to enter and depart from the property, but causing a backup on Mine and Mill Road that would make a trip on congested Interstate 4 to Orlando preferable. This congestion would not only make entrance and egress difficult and time-consuming. The congestion on Combi Road caused by their trucks entering Mine and Mill Road would also be untenable. We respectfully request the Commission to turn down the request for this concrete crushing facility to be located next to our property. And that's signed by T. Houghton Perry, the 4th. So this is just one of the letters that I know there will be more coming if indeed we need them. But I also want to talk about the fact that some of what Mr. Carter mentioned on January 3rd was talking about the Mine and Mill Road. And some of the words that he used to actually consider Mine and Mill Road as being, in fact, I'll quote this, has a number of very intensified uses, industrial uses. It spills out onto Combi Road, which is sea capacity, so plenty of room for development. First of all, all of that business, all of that, those businesses up Mill Road, except for the ones that we talked about earlier, the auto crushing parts facility and the new one that he sold off that has the conditional use entitlement, all the rest of them are BP2. So it is not what was termed very intensified industrial uses. The fact that he talked about, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Carter, it spills out onto Combi Road, which is sea capacity, so plenty of room. It's not going to spill out onto Combi Road. It will drip out onto Combi Road. And you do not need a traffic study to realize this. If you go and stay there for a day, get a high school student, go and sit there for the week and take videos at that corner, it is a nightmare. And I think that saying that the infrastructure is okay on this in these reports, that that is wrong too, because it is not okay. Mine and Mill Road, on one of the things that was put together in 2016, and I know this was 2016 and that many years ago, but in fact, it actually said that roadway pavement conditions for Mine and Mill Road is rated a four, which is fair condition, which means significant aging and sign of need for strengthening with structural overlay and seal coat. This is the PACER information that came, which is the pavement surface evaluation rating. This was seven years ago, if it was in this bad of shape seven years ago, and I've driven and walked up and down that road quite a bit in the last few weeks, so I know it is not in good health. It is also only 20 feet wide. There are often flatbed trailers, especially in front of the very large but very quiet waste-equipped company that is at the corner of Cumbie Road and Cumbie Lane. So to have all this traffic coming down there with what's going on there now, that is why those businesses are not happy about this coming in. They are also, back in 2016, the Cumbie Road was part of the Complete Streets program, and that was hoping to have improvement like bike lanes, sidewalks, and transit stops. I couldn't find any further information on that, but that should be noted because if we have all that traffic coming along, I can't imagine seeing a bike going beside them or sidewalks or transit stops. And the 2023 on page 2, the LDCU 2023-19, and I realize this isn't going to be the new one that's coming up now because they're looking for a much smaller site, but they've got that rock-hauling trucks impact roads with the weight of these trucks decreasing in infrastructure. So that is definitely on your reports, but you have to realize that marry that up with the one back in 2019, and you've got really poor roads. Ma'am, I'm going to give you about three more minutes, and you're going to wrap it up. Three more minutes. Well, my math mustn't be very good because I thought with all those people, I would have a little bit longer. I'll end this way, though, and there are many details that I would love to talk to with you again in person that shows that you are missing information for making a very important decision. And it is important to make a rational decision. And in my previous life, I worked for two large international companies, and one of my accomplishments was leading a team that researched and implemented a rational process for resolving concerns like decision-making. And in decision-making, it is very important to realize that you have to have musts and wants. These musts have to be makeable, mandatory. And this is a want that is mandatory. The fact that you do not want to have this must includes the compatibility issue, and it is prioritized as number one. So if you're looking at that as the number one must, it can only be satisfied by one of those choices, yay or nay. And the nay answer is what will satisfy that make. So if you look at that in that rational process, realizing that once you don't satisfy the most prioritized must, you stop there, you go no further, it cannot go past this. Mr. Chairman, not too long ago we had a process procedure which was for these hearings, which was called organized opposition. And those where you had organized opposition had a specified amount of time. I've not heard any mention of that. Or obviously this is organized opposition. I just don't know what we're doing here. Those were to cover de novo hearings. They were specifically adopted for the de novo hearings. This isn't a de novo hearing. So the board has more discretion and the time allotted. Of course, the board itself can decide how much time to get them. I don't think I'm breaking it. I'm not trying to rush her. She had X amount of people. I appreciate your time. I'm pretty much, you know, given her. And I appreciate that. Let's move on. I'd rather hear from one organized than 10 rambling was the whole idea behind the organized opposition in the first place. Not that everybody's going to ramble, but I ramble. Believe me. He does. I think I'm rambling right now, but nevertheless. I forget I had a meeting with you, Commissioner Cumbie, so I know how you ramble. I thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. I hope you make the right decision, that you make a rational decision, and you have to say nay if you're making a rational decision. I reminisce a lot. I remember. All right. Come on up. Name and address, please. Good morning. My name is Theodore Harms. I live at 1506 Blue Lake Drive in Skyview Estates, and I'm the president of the Homeowners Association at Skyview Estates. As you know, Skyview Estates is adjacent to the property being discussed. There are 208 homes in Skyview Estates. We are different than many mobile home parks in that each resident owns their property and the home that sits on it. We are proud of our clean, well-maintained, gated community. Our community contributes over $200,000 each year in property taxes. Our 450 residents are mostly retired and come from all walks of life. Approximately 10% of our residents have some form of respiratory issues. We have established our residents here in Lakeland and come from all over the U.S. and Canadian provinces. Many of us have witnessed aggregate processing plants in other areas. There are two universal items common to all such plants, regardless of mediation, and that is noise and concrete dust. Please do not allow one proposed business to destroy our health, property values, and enjoyment of life. Some of you may not know that Flowers Bakery, Bonnie mentioned Flowers Bakery, makers of Wonder Bread, Tasty Cakes, and a variety of other products, has a distribution center at Combine and Mill Road. Bakery delivery trucks utilize the plant all day long to stock and restock as they travel to supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the area, and the garage bays are kept open most of the time. I do not believe any one of you would want to go to the grocery or convenience store and pick up bread coated with a fine layer of concrete dust. The Carter Engineering Representative stated that a traffic study was done without providing dates. Over the last five years, over a million square feet of new warehouse space has been added along and adjacent to Cumbie Road, resulting in hundreds of additional semi-trucks every day. In addition, this area, like most of Polk County, has experienced substantial population growth and increased traffic. Amazon, UPS, Walmart, Saddle Creek Logistics, Fleetling Fuels, Werner Trucking use this route daily. They're all right along there. Mine and Mill Road is an uncontrolled intersection in between Commerce Drive and the controlled intersection at Main Avenue. An addition of 150 trucks a day could cause gridlock in this area and could back up all the way out to 98. While reusing concrete is a good business, and it helps ensure Polk County growth, its location in the residential, retail, and light industrial area close to Pope Elementary and Eaton Park Post Office is not a viable location. It is inconsistent with neighboring businesses and the surrounding areas. Thank you. Thank you, sir. And what was your name again, sir? All right, ma'am. Good morning. My name is Becky Chupak, 3023 Sago Lane, Lakeland 33801. I am also on the board of the Skyview Estates Community. We are, I have a couple of questions. First, if we can respond after Mr. Carter, he gets to speak first, we speak in the middle, and then he speaks last. Can that be a, we can't do that. No, ma'am. Okay. I'd like to address a couple of things that Mr. Carter indicated. The salvage yard, the noise from that, yes, that is in our community or nearby now. That doesn't mean we want more of it. We don't want more. He talked about metal on metal noise. We don't want any more than we already have in that neighborhood. The concrete crushing, he discussed a 20 or 30 foot trees and vegetation. That is not going to filter out. Nor is the six foot opaque fencing that was discussed. None of that will filter out our winds in Florida, whatever direction it's going, whether it's going to the north. As you see that red arrow, just above that, you'll see it says Galaxy Lane. That's where we live. That's where we breathe. The dark area to the right of that is Blue Lake. That's where we go fishing. That's where we walk on trails. We want to keep our community clean, clean air quality. And I can't even imagine Mr. Mims, Mr. Carter, as you're talking about Pope Elementary. They're not here. And I don't know why the parents are not here speaking on this. But there's over 400 children, 4 years old and 10 years old, that go there every day to school on the playgrounds. That needs to be addressed. We need to protect our children. The traffic is another big concern for all of us. And I would like to hear exactly how many trucks they're talking about when they're talking about trucks and the small traffic direction they're taking. That will not happen that way. I can promise you that. This is not compatible with our community. We don't want any more dust, noise, air pollution, noise pollution, and the seeping into our beautiful Blue Lake in many years that could easily happen. So I would ask that they not pursue this, that you make a decision not to pursue this. And I appreciate your time. And may I ask all of our communities that are here on behalf of this if you would stand just briefly showing the opposition to. I think we know that. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of it's already been said, as you well know. Name, ma'am, and address, please. Elaine Todd, 1610 Reynolds Road, number 89, Lakeland, Florida, 33801. Also speaking on behalf of Kathy Stearns, 1610 Reynolds Road, number 121. Won't need all that time. I'm going to be brief. But at the last hearing, Mr. Carter mentioned that the Mims had owned this property for 40 years. And with the intent of it being light industrial, trucking and warehousing, and what's happened over the last 40 years. And I appreciate Mr. Carter giving us all that information about all those businesses there. I wasn't aware of all of them. But what the heck has happened over 40 years to this area? I guess, you know, I'm familiar with this because I have a background in property development and working with Area Plan. And I know it's a process. It's all about money. And I guess after seeing all this map, my big question is, where does this stop? It didn't stop with B.S. Ranch. It's gone from, okay, light industrial use. What I see here with this crushing plant is manufacture. How have we gotten there? And where does this stop? Is there a place on the map in the long-range plan that this stops where the residential areas are protected? Can you answer that question? In the future long-range plan, where does it stop? Have you considered that? We need to know. Do we need to be selling our property now? Because you have plans down the road for this industrial, light industrial to continue. Where does it go? Could you give us that, please? Ma'am, you know, we don't have the answer to that. I think we need to move on here. I mean, you're asking questions that, I mean, it can go in a lot of different ways. But right now, we need to discuss about this and move on. We are discussing this. We need states to be on track. I think to answer your question is it may stop here because that's why they're here. They have to come and ask for permission, and that's why we're having this hearing. Does it stop here? I don't know. But if somebody wants to do something else out there that, as you probably were trying to say, is heavy industrial, then obviously they've got to come back here and ask, and that's the process. Well, I'm actually asking about the long-range future plan, and you can't answer. I understand. Yes. You asked staff to pull up the land use map on the overhead. There you go. Everything in purple today is allowed to be what's allowed in BPC2. So whatever that category is in the Land Development Code and the comp plan, anything that's classified BPC2 by right is entitled to go in that purple area, which surrounds your community on your east, I mean, on your west and south. If there is a request beyond what is allowed in BPC2, that's why we're here today, because what is being asked today is not currently allowed in BPC2. So that should answer your question. And that's where the line is drawn. And unless something is outside the BPC allowable uses, then it comes back here. Okay? Thank you, sir. Anything else? Okay, sir. State your name and address, please, sir. Dwayne Witter, 1610 Reynolds Road. I've been a resident on Reynolds Road for 21 years, and just traffic alone in the area without any extra truck traffic is horrendous. You all know Reynolds Road is narrow. You all know there's some businesses along Comby Road. And right now, when I've talked to some of them businesses around Comby Road, they're complaining because of so much traffic. And then we're going to add to it. My one question is, what are we going to gain from this? We are property owners. We aren't paying rent for our places. We're actually property. We own property. My question is, what is the benefit of this going to be other than tax dollars? And you look at the environmental standpoint, which you've already heard. Yesterday, I sat on Comby Road at S&L Restaurant Driveway for approximately eight minutes just to get in traffic. That was at 2.20 in the afternoon. When this all started, I said I wouldn't get involved. Somebody told me they've already made up their minds, so there's no sense attending the meetings. Well, we're here to attend the meetings, and we're here to tell you our standpoint. To me, I'm not against business, whether it's commercial or industry. But it needs to be located in the proper areas. I can't feel sorry for the people that are building houses around the airport because the airport was there first. We're here first, and now they want to come in and intrude on our areas with truck traffic and noise and environmental standpoints. I just can't see this happening. And I told my wife I wouldn't get involved, but I lied to her because here I am because I think it is really important that you people listen to us that pay taxes and live in the area. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. All right. Does anybody else like to come up and speak on this matter? Come right on up, sir. George Dempsey, 215 Reynolds Road, Lot 215. I just wanted that many of the things have been spoken here about health and so forth. But I just wanted you to, if you would, take a minute, Google what an impact this has on people's lives. And I'll just read to you. The chief culprit is what they call silica dust. It will scar the lungs, lead to sclerosis, which is associated with chronic wheezing, arthritis, cancer, and reduced life expectancy. Look at that crowd. These are older people. Many of them couldn't make it here because they're already on respirators. Make your decision based on what is facts. It goes on to say also that all studies, all studies found positive associations between cement, plant exposure, and respiratory disease and symptoms. There's really nothing else to say. You have to make a conscious decision. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. We don't need any clapping, but appreciate it. Hold your applause. Hold your applause. I have one right here that I don't believe, I'm not sure if it was somebody who represented you, a, Ms. Todd? She just spoke. She just spoke. Okay. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure. Anyone else? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the applicant. Mr. Chair, I'll be brief. Just to clarify, the land that this proposed facility is sited for is industrial. Things like manufacturing, fabrication are allowed by Wright. A motor freight terminal is today allowed by Wright. A warehouse is today allowed by Wright. A salvage yard is allowed but with a C3 planning commission. And what's the common theme with all those uses is truck traffic. So anything that goes in here, you're going to have trucks. It's challenging. Most of your traffic studies are done based on ADT, average daily trips. With a facility like this, it's kind of challenging to figure because you might go for a month and have no trucks, and then you have an intense period. So we looked at, well, what would the intense period be? What would that be? Because the fact that they're not out there someday, who cares? But talk to one of our clients, who has a lot of borrow pit, they do quick loading, indicated that a five-minute turnaround is about the best you can expect on a good day on a truck. That's 12 per hour. Just to give you an idea, a comparison, a dollar store or an auto zone has about four times that peak hour trips. So we're looking at around 12 for what we've got. And that's the most you can load. You just can't get trucks in and out of there any quicker, and you can load them. So you might have a couple come in, but then they're going to sit. So a dollar store, auto zone, about 48 trips per hour. A bank is about 90 trips per hour. So in terms of numbers of vehicles, it's far less. I would argue it's certainly truck traffic versus cars. But, again, it's industrial zone. Anything that goes in there, anything, and you've seen the photos, anything in that area that's built is going to be industrial-type uses. So I just wanted to mention that. You saw some distances listed on the staff report. I think 850 and 450 was a separation. Just to give you an idea, once again, the residents both existing and proposed in Lakeland are 225 and 525. The distance between this facility, should it be built, and the bakery that was discussed is four-tenths of a mile. That's 2,000 feet. The distance, we are north of this is Skyview. Each of us is Citrus Woods. The center of those developments, to give you an idea, and I know there's a lot of folks that were concerned from Citrus Woods, is a mile from this property. The center of Citrus Woods subdivision is a mile, over 5,000 feet. The center of Skyview, 2,600 feet. So, yes, there are homes that are closer, the 400 and 800-foot you heard. But I think a lot of the concern of the residents are well beyond any area that they are going to see effects from the project. Mr. Chairman, that's all I wanted to mention to you. I appreciate you've been very patient today with everyone, and we appreciate that and look forward to your consideration. Stand for questions. Anyone have any questions? I do. You mentioned earlier about a traffic report. Can you go back and reiterate about that traffic report specifically? I think I heard somewhere about 130, I don't know who mentioned it, but at least 130, 140 trucks going up and down that road. So can you just reiterate that traffic report? It was part of our original submittal. The county, because of the nature of the process, did not do a traffic study. They analyzed that at the time of the planning commission, or the planning C3 and the level 2. Is that accurate? All right. So my next question is about the letters that you said that you got from, I guess, the businesses around you. How many were there? I believe it was five, ma'am. There was five, and they're our nearest adjoining properties around us. I can show you the graphic. If you remember, it had the yellow and the orange. That was what that graphic showed was those five businesses. So according to what I heard, some of the businesses didn't know what was going on. So was there any attempt to get more? I think you got letters from those that are connected to you, but anything around, did you bother to get any of those letters or anything like that to make sure that the other businesses were involved? We did not, ma'am. We did not. So the only ones that you have were the ones that are connected to the property? Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's all the questions I have. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I think it's a – Are we at the board now? Yes, we are bringing it back to the board. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Right ahead, sir. The thing that concerns me most about this is the 450 feet to the folks of the east, and I know that Mr. Carter was just talking about the center of Skyview and the center of Citruswood, and I understand you're looking at a mile and a half a mile, but obviously there's people that are 450 feet. So I'm thinking, okay, what's 450 feet? It's a football field, a couple of end zones and the bleachers on the end, and you're at about 450 feet. So obviously I wouldn't want to live within 450 feet of the operation. I grew up on Mineola Drive, and across the street from my house was pre-stressed concrete, and I told this to some of the residents before. I'm not talking about down the street. I'm talking about – I think it was actually 449 feet away. And, you know, we got through it, and it went on for years and years. They built concrete bridge structures there. They had concrete trucks that ran up and down. It affected you, too, didn't it? Huh? It affected you, too. Yeah, it was – maybe it made me tougher. I don't know. They blew like a Fred Flintstone horn at 7 a.m., at 9.15, at 9.30, at noon, at 12.30, at 2 o'clock, at 2.15, and then at 3.30 they blew the horn. But meanwhile, they had hammers, and they beat nonstop on the mold structures where they poured the concrete in for the bridge structures. But that was what I was – I think it was there about probably the time I was born until the time I moved away. But we got by. But nevertheless, I wouldn't want to have my mother living 450 feet from this, and I understand. I like the recycling, and, Tom, I appreciate what y'all are trying to do. And I get the need to try to do it closer to probably where it's going to be used to cut down on the trucking. And – but I think when you start talking about running many wheelers down Mining Mill Road, which was not built to current standards. In fact, I don't think Mining Mill was built to really any standards at all. And I'm trying to think what year it was built. But, again, I was a kid when it was put in there. Or I'd say I was a kid. I probably was maybe not even a teenager at the time. And I drove down it the other day, and I looked at Perry Landscape, and I don't – Perry probably wasn't one of the ones that signed on of the five that you mentioned, Dave. I don't guess. But last week or a couple of weeks ago, I was on State Road 60, and I got off at 27. No, I'm – actually, I'm wrong. I was on 27 at State Road 60. And they were working on the road 27 just on the south side of State Road 60. But on the north side is Houston Motors, which is a – I don't know whether they're Chevrolet or GM, Cadillac dealership there. And I looked, and I really couldn't believe what I saw. Every vehicle – a new vehicle on that lot was white. It was absolutely – I just looked at it, and I'm like, holy smoke, how would I like to be Houston Motors. Now, there's construction going on on 27, and they – it's probably not an apples-to-apples comparison because they had machines. They were cutting the concrete. They were – looked like they were basically grinding it for some reason. I don't know. I watched them there a little bit. Not really thinking about this, but looking at that, and, you know, what had gone on with the surrounding businesses there is unreal. And this may not produce that same kind of dust. This is crushing. It isn't grinding, so it may not be as bad. But I'm not willing to take a chance on it because, one, the condition of the road. It went down, Mid-State Machinery's got a signalized crossing for their employees. I don't know who paid for it. I don't know if Polk County paid for it or if Mid-State Machinery put it in there. But they obviously had to put it in there for safety's sake because people trying to get across the road with the current traffic, not – think about new traffic. And I don't know how long that signal's been there. But obviously it would put in at considerable cost to somebody, whether it was the county or whether it was the owners of Mid-State Machinery. But when you get out to – and somebody mentioned this – it's an uncontrolled intersection of Mine and Mill and Cumbie Road. If you're trying to go south, I can't imagine what that's going to be like. If it's only 12 trucks an hour, you know, that will be a challenge. If it's more than 12 trucks an hour – and I'm sure there's going to be times, as Mr. Carter said, that there's no activity there. That's just the nature of how this is done. But to me, when you look at BPC, you look at BPC2, you look at the heavy industrial, which this is, you know, by any measure, a heavy industrial use. I just think it's too much to ask the people that are to the east and the people to the north. And then I get down to the big one, and that is, you know, what will the impact be to Oscar Pope Elementary School? And those little kids, if I breathe some dust, I don't have that much time left anyway. But at least those folks that are in that elementary school, they've got their entire life ahead of them. And I would hate to – I would hate to think that we were doing something there that's going to cause them physical harm down the road. So I just think that it's just really not a good fit for this road now and will not be able to support the application. George? All right, let's hold our applause. Can you hold your applause? I would appreciate it. Everything's been good. Well, I'm not going to go down memory lane, but I will reflect on the process that we go through. Much of what we review is what I've called a prescriptive process. That is, that if you meet certain conditions and certain criteria, then you're entitled to move forward in that prescriptive process. Conditional use permit is more discretionary and permissive and not as imposing as being prescriptive. I think we were most accommodating to the applicant's request several years ago, went through similar angst in approving what was there. But I think this is two bites at the apple, and so I would not be in support of this application. Yeah, thank you, Chairman. My take is going to be on reference to health and how it's going to affect people. I know this is an industrial area, and as we saw in the map, there's quite a few industries, but I don't think this kind of business needs to be here. Property rights are, I see property rights on both sides. I see property rights on the owner of this land, and I see property rights on the residents that have come out. But someone said something earlier that said the subdivisions were there first. And I think we need to acknowledge that and the fact that the people that live in these subdivisions are going to, down the road, suffer from whatever comes out of this business. So, I don't, Mr. Chairman, I'm not going to support this either. Okay. There's no need for me to, I mean, I'm going to touch on everything here. Everybody said it. And just to make it quick, I will be not supporting it either. Mr. Chairman, I move denial of LDCT 2023-15. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Thank you very much. We have one. We have one more, so we'll give them a few minutes to get out. Ladies and gentlemen, we're still not finished with our board meeting, so if you can please get outside in an orderly fashion. And so we've got one more to do, and we would appreciate it. All right. All right. Mr. Chairman, the last item, P5, will be presented by Assistant County Attorney Noah Milub. The new man. He will do a quick presentation. Oh. Very exciting. Hey, we're all very excited for what just happened. I was not here for getting sworn in. I don't need? Okay. Sounds good. So I'm here to discuss public hearing item number five, to consider adopting the Polk County Claims Settlement Ordinance, raising the amount the risk manager may issue or receive in settlements from $25,000 to $50,000. The risk manager will handle the settlements of claims which do not exceed $50,000. The risk manager still requires the written approval of a deputy county manager and the county attorney to settle such cases. Likewise, the procedural requirements for settling a claim above $50,000 would be the same by going before the Claims Review Committee. There will be no fiscal impact to the passage of this ordinance, and that's about it. It's recommended for approval. Mr. Chairman, it is a public hearing. All right. This is a public hearing. If you want to speak on this matter, please come forward, and you will be given three minutes. State your name and address. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for consideration. Move adoption of the amendment to the ordinance. Did I have a second? Second. Okay. I had a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That's it, Mr. Chairman. I believe that's it, and we are done for today. Thank you.