City Council - Apr 17, 2025

Welcome to the City of St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch, District 1 and Council Chair, Copley Gerdes, District 2, Brandi Gabbard, District 3, Mike Harding, District 4 and Council Vice Chair, Lissette Hanowitz, District 5, Deborah Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, Corey Givens Jr. And District 8, Ritchie Floyd. Call to order the April 17, 2025 City Council Meeting. If we could do a roll call, please. Hanowitz? Here. Dick Sanders? Here. Driscoll? Here. Givens? Here. Floyd? Gerdes? Here. Gabbard? Here. Hardy? Here. Thank you. Okay, today we will have our invocation given by Reverend Cannon Mike Alford from Cathedral of St. Petersburg. Then please remain standing for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. Almighty God, we have come before you this afternoon seeking your blessing upon this gathering of our servant leaders and the citizens and community that they serve. May we approach this work collectively before us with wisdom, integrity, and a shared sense of purpose. May our discussions be guided by respect, our decisions be grounded in fairness, and our actions reflect a commitment To the greater good of all who call the city of St. Petersburg home, let our elected leaders remember those that they serve, every voice, every neighborhood, every need, and strive always to build a city and community that is just, inclusive, and thriving. With humility and hope, may this meeting be filled with a spirit of collaboration and service, acknowledging your blessings and mercy which are ever present in our lives now and always. Amen. As some of you may know, there's an active shooter situation on the campus of Florida State University, if you'll please join me in a moment of silence for all those involved. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Reverend, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. Thank you for the beautiful invocation. Okay. Councilmembers, we have an agenda in front of us, and we are deleting the correspondence item, the number one correspondence item. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move for approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other councilmembers wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Councilmembers, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present councilmembers have voted, clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously, with Councilmembers Lloyd being absent. Thank you. Councilmembers, we have a consent agenda in front of us. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Move for approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other councilmembers wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Councilmembers, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present councilmembers have voted, clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve the consent agenda passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. All right. We're going to move into open forum. Clerk, would you please read the rules? If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed in the agenda, please sign up with the clerk. Only the individuals wishing to speak may sign the open forum sheet. Only city residents, owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak. All issues discussed under open forum must be limited to issues related to the City of St. Petersburg government. If you are speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda. In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address council, each individual will be given three minutes to speak and after which the microphone will be muted. If you wish to address city council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the raise hand feature button in the Zoom app or enter star or nine on the phone when the time the agenda item is addressed. When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted and asked to state your name and address. At the conclusion of your comments or when you have reached the three-minute time limit, you will be muted. All raised hands will be lowered after each agenda item. Regardless of the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including the three-minute time limit on comments. The requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If live public comments is disrupted by the violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by email only. And, Mr. Chair, we do have a few speakers. Okay, if we can please call two at a time. Clerk, thank you. The two speakers is Dr. Washington and Gina Fody. Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. Sure, go ahead. Thank you. Hi, everyone. I'm Gina Marie Fody from 2338 Emerson Avenue South. I have Gina's warehouse as my business in the Warehouse Arts District. I want to thank all of you for your just complete support and throughout all of the years and especially our recent zoning initiative. I come to you with a really serious concern that is not my own. It is from the small businesses in the Warehouse Arts District. And we also have a concern for the safety of Fifth Avenue South, a four-block radius, which in the master plan has it where it's street dieting, neck outs, sculptures, some parking. We've had two recent women die on that street as well as a nine-year-old critically injured. We have near misses all the time, so we're really concerned about that street. However, we were excited when we heard there was funding for the plan. We were put into a, I forgot what it was called, Voices of the Deuces, and the Warehouse Arts District was not represented. A lot of people there didn't even understand the boundaries of the Warehouse Arts District, to be honest. None of the businesses were notified, as well as the Deuces Live had mentioned that a lot of business owners were not notified. The business owners and stakeholders that are directly impacted for the businesses need to be included. We have a couple of issues that are coming up, and we've been unable to communicate with the city. It's a massive, massive problem. We have very dedicated businesses. We want to do this, but we've had two blocks blocked off of parking right next to the studios. We don't know why. We can't reach anyone about it. We've had entrances blocked, but we can't seem to have any of the master plan implemented. In the meeting that they had for this Deuces Corridor, our section, which is the Warehouse Arts District, didn't even have people in our area voting. We did a two-year plan. We won awards for public outreach for cohesively working together, and in two months, they spearheaded a plan that was very, very specific to what they wanted, and it didn't represent the owners. We have a lot to offer. We want to take advantage of this zoning. We need your help. We don't want to let you all down. You did a lot for us, so please help us have a voice for these small businesses there. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead. I am who I am. Dr. Washington, please give us your name and your address. I'm Harry G. Washington. I refuse to give my address over this microphone because, KUKA clan, Proud Boys, you're going to be advertising this around the world. Please give us the intersection then, Mr. Washington. Excuse me, Dr. Washington. One Avenue, Central and First Avenue. That's in St. Petersburg. Now, I own my home. Not the bank. Not you. Not the state. Me. Now, you all tell me you want to follow rules. The fire marshal says, no one is to be standing at the podium. Why are they standing? Hmm? Number two. You all are jack legs. I'm telling you to your face. I'm here because one of you, who's supposed to be my representative, one of you, no, all of you, because it's the city of St. Petersburg Council. The mayor is a jack leg. I'm telling you, none of you came to talk to me. I've been here all too many times. One of you, all of you, were elected by me, but you don't know who I am. You think Brian elected you when you came to the church and begged all of us to give you a chance? None of you are qualified with reference to me. A white man can say he's going to defend himself in his property, in his people, and you all clap. But a black man says the exact same thing. You would put him in jail. This place of practice is only here because you complained about them spitting on you. No one knew right there in the radio. I spoke up for you. Thank you. Next two speakers, please. Mr. Chair, we don't have any more speakers. Okay. All right. We will close open forum and go into awards and presentations. We're going to start with D1, our Arbor Day proclamation given by Councilmember Gabbard. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. All right. Well, today we, I have the honor of presenting on behalf of the mayor, two very important proclamations that I really feel like go hand in hand. Have at it, Councilmember. So what I would like to do, Chair, with your permission, is I would like to ask anyone who is here for either Earth Day or Arbor Day to please stand at your seats so that you can see the showing of support for these two proclamations today. All right. All right. So we're talking about Earth Day. We're talking about Arbor Day. Six months ago or so, Mother Nature really gave us a wallop, didn't she? But what she did was she also gave us a wake-up call that is more important than ever to protect her and to make sure that we continue to be environmental stewards. And this group right here that I am so honored to stand in front of are doing just that. But they don't do that just for Earth Day or just for Arbor Day. They do that every single day throughout the year. So I personally want to take a moment to thank all of them before I read these proclamations because the work that they do will continue to ensure that we are a resilient and a sustainable city long into the future. So thank you all for what you do. And with that, I am going to start with the Arbor Day proclamation. I am going to give this to Mike Jeffries, our Community Enrichment Administrator, on behalf of the Parks Department because you know what they say. It starts in parks. You like that? I tried to get it in for you. All right. So the proclamation reads, Whereas, trees enhance the quality of life by cleansing air and water, providing critical shade, and serving as natural and vital habitat for a variety of birds and foraging fauna. And whereas, trees help moderate temperatures by creating a cooling effect, which can counteract the heating effect of pavement and buildings in an urban environment. And whereas, trees promote social, economic, and environmental health by capturing and slowing stormwater runoff, filtering air pollution, reducing nutrient loading in water systems, and flooding of neighborhoods, and contributing to the character and aesthetic beauty of our neighborhoods and business districts. And whereas, the City of St. Petersburg wishes to create awareness and appreciation for trees among all the residents of this community. And whereas, Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas, the City of St. Petersburg supports the concept of Arbor Day and wishes to enhance its tree resources through commemorative plantings on an annual basis. And whereas, the City of St. Petersburg supports being designated a green city through programming to conserve water, planting trees, preserving estuaries, and sensitive lands, providing earth-friendly recycling programs, and the City's initiative to reduce its carbon footprint. Now, therefore, I, Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, the Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize the observance of Arbor Day through our annual Green Thumb Festival held on the fourth weekend of April, and encourage all residents to join us in this observance. Good afternoon. I'm Barb Stahlberg, Assistant Director for the Parks and Recreation Department. And I just have to say, I'm honored to be in this place. I'm honored to serve the City of St. Petersburg, and all of you in everything trees, everything environment. This is our happy day, right? This is our happy place. This is a place where we all come together and agree that without trees, without nature, there is no us. There is no St. Pete, as we know it. And the beauty of this city, so many people complement our parks, and it truly increases their quality of life. And that helps me feel smiles every day, just knowing that we're a part of that, and it's so important. And I commend each and every one of you who are so supportive of your environment and of trees in this city. It makes a huge difference for all of us, so thank you very much. I look forward to seeing you at Green Thumb. We have over 120 vendors that will be out there this year. And I really want to recognize Lynn Gordon and Adul Yates, who have spent a lot of time perfecting this event. They've spent tireless hours on this, so I'd like to thank them, and I hope to see you. Before I turn it over to our Office of Sustainability for a few words, I think most of you know that we had our accreditation visitors here this week, and we had lots of opportunity to talk about our elected officials, to talk about our mayor, to talk about our administration, and they were absolutely blown away at the city, the way the city looks, the way the city looks in all of the districts, and that it's consistent throughout, and that we're equitable in the way that we apply our trees and our playgrounds and our facilities. And one of the things that they really connected the dots last night, we had several of you attend last night, and one of the things that they were able to connect the dots on is they said the reason St. Pete is successful the way that it is and has been for generations is clearly because of the relationship with administration and the elected officials. And I told them all, I said, I can't think of one elected official that doesn't support parks, that doesn't support trees. I said, you know, what happens is we start to have issues that come in on trees, damaged by storms, or whatever the case may be, and I get calls from eight council members wanting to solve that problem for us. So we kind of have to shuffle who's going to champion which project. So each of you is so sincere about the environment and about making St. Pete the best that it can be. And as Barb said, the quality of life is really key when it comes to trees and the environmental aspects. So I'm going to turn it over to our Office of Sustainability. Good afternoon, Council. Maven Rogers, Director of the Office of Sustainability and Resilience. I am a pretty new director to this city. I started in October. And as a new director, sometimes you just don't know what you're walking into. And especially with sustainability and resilience work, it can go either way. So I am very excited that the city council, the community, and the administration is so supportive of sustainability and resilience work. So we've really hit the ground running. And since in the breath of Arbor Day, I must kind of plug in our event that's happening this Saturday. We will be giving away 500 trees. We have locations on the east side and west side. These are 500 native shade trees that we will have from 9 to 12, one at Walter Fuller and the other at Frank Pierce. So we're very excited for that. So all together, just in this month alone, we'll be giving away 500 shade trees and 400 fruit trees. Yes, we are working with parks. Yes, yes, yes, Councilmember Garrett, we're going to make sure everyone has their fruit trees. And we do have an Arbor Day planting that we'll be inviting the community to as well. We will add eight additional shade trees to one of our parks. So we're very excited. The work is getting done. And I really appreciate council support and the community's support on making sure that we are shading St. Pete. Thank you. When those shade trees can also bear fruit, it is a beautiful thing. So very excited. Thank you so much for that, Maven. All right, and now I'm going to move on to the Earth Day proclamation. I would like to ask Carla Bristol from the St. Pete Youth Farm and Tara Hubbard from Take Mart to come and join me. And I'll let them say a few words at the end, but I have one for each of you. So as you know, both of these organizations and the St. Pete Youth Farm just being, you know, our baby right here at home, both have very exciting events coming up that they will tell you about for Earth Day. And so we wanted to bring both of them today to celebrate and accept the proclamation. So I'll go ahead and read it, and then I'll turn it over to them for some remarks. So we will start with, whereas the Tampa Bay region is an environmentally rich and ecologically diverse community with an estuary that is a valuable and productive regional resource. And whereas Earth Day was originally observed on April 22, 1970, by more than 20 million Americans, leading to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. And whereas the Tampa Bay region faces challenges to protect our environmental resources and quality of life, including the basic needs of clean air, pure water, and natural habitats for future generations. And whereas the Tampa Bay area's environmental resources have greatly benefited from the legislative and public awareness generated by the observance of Earth Day. And whereas April 22, 2025, is Earth Day, to be celebrated throughout the month of April and in many communities in the Tampa Bay region. And now, therefore, I, Council Member Brandy Gabbard, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 25, 2025, as Earth Day in St. Petersburg, and encourage all citizens to commemorate Earth Day by attending community events and by acting both individually and collaboratively to promote a more sustainable and resilient future for the City of St. Petersburg. My name is Jade Kelmick. I'm a Youth Farm Ambassador at the Youth Farm. And I'm here to talk to you today about how excited I am to be here, actually. This is one of my first ever meetings, and it's my first time ever being in, like, a big micro-room. But what I'm here to talk to you about is the Youth Farm and the St. Pete Earth Day that we have coming up. So with Earth Day, what we plan to do with that is we have a whole bunch of seedlings that we have planted, and for whom that we, like, all of us teens work together. We put the dirt in. We put it all together for you guys to take moringa, peppers, and okra, and I think pigeon pea. But we, for us, we want to do, for Earth Day, is give those to you guys to take home and have that and grow those plants at home and have all those fruits and vegetables. With our aspect of, like, what we want to do for the community is give. And that's our big thing is giving. So with Earth Day, we want to give as many plants as we can and have as many volunteers as we can to just come enjoy and have Earth Day. No, you did great. So you guys always hear me say that when it says youth farm, I'm extremely youthful, but the youth and youth farm are, in fact, are young people. Jade lives walking distance from the farm, so I was excited to hear. She got here on her own. I didn't need to pick her up or bring her here. So you did an amazing job. Thank you for that. And thank you guys for the continued support. So I do want to thank all of you for the continued support. We are, this summer will be six years since we've started the initiative back in 2019 to address nutrition insecurity in South St. Petersburg, and we've come a long way, baby. So I do invite you all to come out to the farm, not just because we're having an event, but just because. Thank you so much. Thank you, Carla. Hello, Tara Hubbard. I'm with TAKE MAR. MAR stands for More Action for Regeneration. So fourth generation St. Pete native. This is quite a new organization. We just started about two and a half years ago. So I do want to echo other sentiments in gratitude because we could not be where we are today if it wasn't for the receptivity and support of the city. To be honest, it has been very surprising, very, very refreshing, and very exciting. So, unfortunately, we don't have as noble of an Earth Day event as you guys over here. We're just going to party. So, perfect. It's a good balance. So, yes, we are inviting everyone to party with us, celebrate. We are going to be hosting at the Foodie Labs, which is right on the Pinellas Trail. We do love planting trees, and we do love the Pinellas Trail. So this is kind of a fusion of two of our initiatives. So Tuesday, April 22nd, 5.30 p.m., come hang out, drink, party, listen to fun music, and celebrate Earth. Thank you. Well, all the organizations that are here both for Arbor Day and for Earth Day, just thank you so much for all the work that you're doing. To our team, our team just continues to impress me on a day-to-day basis, their passion for what they do here in the city, and then our community partners, all of them, but specifically Carla, Tara, just thank you so much for the work that you're doing. It's been an absolute pleasure to work with both of you, and I'm not sure I would have imagined four years ago, standing at the patio of Lake Vista on Election Day, that this is where we'd be. I'm glad it is, but just an amazing friendship now with you, Carla, and Tara. Thank you for all the work that you're doing. And Council Member Gabbard, thank you for making sure I know what Take Mar is and does and continues to do, and thank you for all the work that you've done on this. I know this has been a torch you have carried since day one, so thank you for all the work that you continue to do and all of our partners. Council Member Fig Sanders. Thank you. I can't let Carla Bristol stand here and I do not speak to, first of all, congratulations, everybody, for the proclamations, and thank you, Council Member Gabbard, for that. But Youth Farm, you all know that you have that special, special, special place in my heart from the day in Enoch Davis Center, going through candidates, who would be the best fit, and of course, unanimously, it was Carla Bristol. And you have not disappointed. You have not. You've done things with our youth. You have done things with our youth and for their educational benefit in nature and natural and growing, because I remember being in that position as an executive director at the Child's Park Y, and children not knowing where tomatoes come from. You have taken the level of that agricultural intellect to a whole different level. And for that, Carla, and for our youth, you did a great job. Well, for that, I have to say the Youth Farm is one of the greatest programs I think the city has done in regards for our youth and bringing them together and working with them. And I don't see any of our young men here today, but you have those too, and I'm so, so proud. Carla, that we put all of our chips on you, and we have received that back tenfold. Thank you so much. Thank you, Carla. Thank you, Chair. Next up, we have D3, Small Business Week Proclamation, and this is going to be presented by our Chair, Gerdes. Thank you, Vice Chair. Colleagues, I am joined by Deirdre Green-Larkin, Economic Development Coordinator from the Greenhouse. Brian Capers here with team members. And we've got a whole bunch of organization. We've got Saturday Shops, Pinellas County Urban League, Service Corps of Retired Executives, Office of Supplier Diversity, Small Business Development Center. Yes, the list keeps going. Amplify, Women's Business Center, Office of Equity, and certainly, last but not least, the Chamber of Commerce to celebrate Small Business Week. I think most of you know I have been a small business owner now for almost 15 years. Other than being a dad, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's also, other than being a dad and a husband, the thing that has given me the most in life. But I would not have been able to do it without a lot of people around me, my mother and my father, the people that first believed in me, that became my first clients. And I tell this big group behind me all the time, I wish I had known about all the things 15 years ago, of all the support. I would have gotten bigger, faster with all the people behind me. And so I'm just so thankful for everything that you do on a daily basis, a minute-by-minute basis. Let's get real, because that's what a small business does. They're operating minute-by-minute, second-by-second. They ain't worried about Thursday. They're worried about 2.01 p.m., because it's 2 o'clock, right? And so I totally can understand that, and I'm just so thankful for all the support. I said it last night, that the support that we give our community is what makes it the community. It's what makes St. Pete special. When you walk around downtown, you don't see the big box stores. You see the mom-and-pop shops. You see the little small business. You see the home-grown business, and that's what makes St. Pete special. And the people behind me continue to do that, and that's why we will continue to be special. So it is my pleasure to bring this proclamation forward on behalf of the mayor. Whereas the President of the United States has proclaimed National Small Business Week every year since 1963 to highlight the programs and services available to entrepreneurs through the U.S. Small Business Administration and other government agencies. And whereas America's progress has been driven by pioneers who think big, take risks, and work hard. And whereas from the storefront shops that anchor our business districts to the high-tech startups that keep St. Pete on the cutting edge, small businesses are the fabric of our economy and the cornerstones of our city's promise. Whereas the city of St. Petersburg is proud to recognize small businesses and our valued collaborative partners who contribute to their development and growth by providing support and services. And whereas when we support small businesses, jobs are created and local communities preserve their unique culture. Now, therefore, I, Copley Gerdes, Chair of the City Council, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, the Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 5th to May 9th, 2025 as National Small Business Week in the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, and urge all citizens to observe this week and honor the strength of small businesses local, state, and nationwide. Thank you. I am going to invite Renee Edwards from Saturday Shops and Chris Steinarker, the President and CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, to say a few words, Madam Vice Chair. I want to say good afternoon, everybody. I'm Renee Edwards with the Saturday Shops, and I want to say thank you for not forgetting the ones who make their money out of a tent and a food truck. The ones who started with me at the church, and we are now at the Trop. We just celebrated our fourth annual anniversary with the St. Pete Soul Fest. We also exceeded my expectations, and we did $273,000 in economic impact from 11 to 8. I also want to just say a special thanks to you, Ms. Deborah Figgs-Sanders, for always being in our corner. From the first day I invited you out, you've been there with me the whole time. You originally gave me two months, and you've still been with me four years later. So thank you guys so much. Hi, good afternoon, Council, and honored guests. On behalf of the Greenhouse and Tracy, co-manager of the Greenhouse, who sends her regards, thank you for this meaningful proclamation recognizing National Small Business Week. We not only celebrate our business owners, but also our dedicated network of service providers who stand beside them, and they're also behind me today. I want to also recognize our incredible business navigators, Chris Griffin, Brittany Cagle, who's behind me as well, and a few others, and our entire EWD team and our department head. Thank you. These are individuals who go above and beyond, staying after hours and to ensure entrepreneurs have access to expert-led business education and actively bring vital resources directly to the doorsteps of businesses across your districts. I do want to give out a special thank you to our internal and external partners, Office of Supply Diversity, Office of Equity, our marketing team, who gets all of our information out there, St. Pete Chamber, SCORE, SBDC, TBBIC, Pinellas County Urban League, and the Saturday Shop. Thank you. Together, we work to ensure that entrepreneurs have access to resources and support they need to start, grow, and thrive in St. Pete. This year's celebration activities, we have a Lunch and Learn May 5th that we hope you all can join us for. St. Pete Pitch Night, which is May 6th. We will be going out for a business walk, recognizing 100 businesses throughout your districts on May 8th. And then we are ending the week with the annual Food Truck Friday. We're bringing that back May 9th. So we hope you can join us in Williams Park. Jennifer joins us. Thank you so much, and we appreciate all that you do. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Chris Steinacher, President and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for allowing us to be great partners in the greenhouse. Was it lost on anyone else? But it wasn't lost on me. We just celebrated trees. And trees are awesome. But you know what? We're going to give out 500 seedlings this Saturday, and I think that's awesome. But we're not giving out 50-foot oak trees. We're not giving out 40-foot trees. We're giving out seedlings. That's what we're doing every day. All these folks take care of those seedlings every day. Some of our seedlings got overwatered in the fall. Don't want to overwater them. But the care that our teams all provide the small business is only fueled by the passion we see from those. I've done over now, as a chamber, over 1,000 ribbon cuttings. 90% of them are a family of people that just want to do something good for our community. They are starting with an idea. They are just that seedling that says, maybe I can bear fruit. But what happens if you seed and then you water and you feed them with the right kind of resources? They become big trees. You have one on your city council right now, a small business that now has become a big shade tree that provides fruit of the gods, but fruit in what they do. So why we have always said, let's be the best place on earth for the entrepreneur is because it's for real. The entrepreneur enhances all of our lives because they spend money on crazy things like floors and paint and walls and equipment. And everybody who they buy that from or whoever comes to do that, they get paychecks and they take their paychecks home. And they maybe go to Saturday Market and buy some great food on Saturday to take that. And those people at the Saturday Market go buy some food at another place. Or maybe they even go to at Three Daughters and buy a beer as well. So if we don't celebrate the entrepreneur and we don't celebrate the small business, we're not going to celebrate anything in our community that's good, that feels good to us. These are real people, they are seedlings, but they're going to grow into mighty oaks and they need our help. Councilman Gerties, I thank you for bringing this forward. You have been a champion for it, our small businesses. I see our small business, a greenhouse team in front of us too. Thank you for allowing us to be great partners in this. I encourage you to come out to our activities in the first week of May. We're going to have a lot of fun. Come out to Pitch Night and root on folks because we give out real resources. But between the city giving out $200,000, the chamber through the Bucks gave out $100,000 in grants to these businesses. They're not done yet. They need your help. So please come on out and continue to support all these great businesses. Thank you very much. Councilmember Gabbard. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. And thank you to the mayor and Chair Gerties for presenting this proclamation today. You know, Chris, if I'd have known you were going to go last, I wouldn't have gone first. Nobody ever wants to follow Chris Steinhacher, right? Like, you said it so well. I love the analogy with the trees and the seedlings. Like, you hit it right on the head. What you all do in our community, the way that you give such care, not only for your own businesses but for others, is so beautiful. I've owned two small businesses in my life, and I know that grit and that persistence and that you've got to get up every day and put your bootstraps on and go get it and hustle for every single thing that you have. And that alone brings so much talent to our city. And we just appreciate you so much. I'm glad that you recognized our colleague here because the work that he has done in the small business community is one to be emulated. And so just very proud of you as well. You know, I don't want to forget, I want to give a shout-out to our home-based businesses. I think everybody's tired of hearing me talk about them, but I always want to make sure we don't leave them behind because all of those entrepreneurs sitting at home making something happen every single day are just as worthy of our gratitude. They are a critical part of our community as well, so I shout-out to them and just really want to thank our city team. I want to thank the Urban League for what you do to support small business as well. And really, you know, the Chamber, well, I can't say enough about the Chamber because thank you so much, Chris. Your continued commitment, your passion, your energy, the greenhouse, everything you all do every single day. We owe a debt of gratitude to you. We could not be St. Pete without you, so thank you so much. Council Member Fig Sanders. Thank you. Council Member Gabbert said it all. Really, she did. I had to do Chris up. I can't. What are you going to do? Listen, you did a great job, but I will say this, and those that know me know me well. Small business has always been my thing. It's not new to me. I'm true to it. We are also a small business because y'all don't like to be hot. Thank you. And so I understand what it takes, but I am looking at, first of all, Renee. They know you now, right? They know you now because you've actually went and you've proven the fact that small business works, but nobody gives you anything. You worked for it, and I am so, four years later, but actually 10, 15 years later, yeah, I made Renee do her first public speaking gig. And she did a great job. So, yeah, she's been out there for a very long time. But I see Nikki Gaskin-Kapar, who I am going to acknowledge as being someone who has been strong in our community on all fronts. I don't know why you didn't speak, because you have a lot to say on small business, but I'm not going to have the executive director of Pinellas County Urban League, who has done so much, not be recognized for the work that you've done. And, you know, you've been consistent. Every time I see you, you've always been consistent. You've always been giving. A lot of our small businesses know who you are, and everybody, when it comes down to resources, what do they say? The Urban League. The Urban League. The Urban League. And that says volumes for what you've contributed to the community. So, for all of the small businesses that are here, that are represented, that are not here, we truly make our city function. We truly make our world here go around. And so, when it comes to small business, I'm going to always be one of your loudest advocates and biggest champions, because I'm so proud of those that get up every day. I don't see my husband half the time. But, you know, I'm proud of what he does for everyone and who he helps and who his market is. But, again, thank you for bringing this. Thank you, Chris. Of course, you always get to the mic and show out, but thank you so much. I love the seedling analogy, because you're right. A lot of these businesses, especially with Saturday Shop, they were selling out of the trunks of their cars. And she has now a store in Brandon Mall across from the Apple Store. Yay, go everyday shops. So, we're growing and we're doing things. And it's because of people like you, Chris, and people like you, Nikki, that really thought it not robbery to help our small business and to get it done. So, I just want to congratulate all of you. Thank you, Chair. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Vice Chair. It is a very unique American thing. It is what makes America different, the concept of entrepreneurship. But it is also scary, wickedly scary. And I admire the people who eventually dive into the deep end of the pool. And they generally have or they will have a core competency. They're great at making something. They're great at hot dogs. They're great at selling paint. They're great at something. And they're going to go after this idea. But along the way, they also need to very quickly develop skills in procurement, in logistics, in marketing, in advertising, in accounting, in – and I can keep going, right? In HR. And that's where scary gets even more scary. The fact that you're willing to put your heart and soul into a hot dog cart, but you don't know anything about work comp. And that is why I admire, in my previous life, my job took me all the way down to Key West. And we belong to eight different chambers. And I can tell you that, without a doubt, our chamber is hands down – it's not even in the same league. You can't say they're better than everyone else. It's just completely different. But the way that the city recognizes and supports entrepreneurship and the greenhouse itself, which I was talking to Sean earlier. Sean, thank you for your time. And I am not as familiar as I would like to be. And I said, what do you help with? And she just kept going with – just about anything that you could need is involved in how we support entrepreneurs. So I mirror my colleagues. Thank you very much. Congratulations. This is not enough recognition for the behind-the-scenes service that you provide our entrepreneurs. And it's greatly appreciated. So thank you. Well, thank you, Chair Gerdes, for bringing this proclamation. It's very clear that it not only takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to raise our small businesses. And we have a fantastic village. Thank you. Okay. So now we go on to D4, which is Distinguished Citizen Award. And this is going to be presented by our council member, Driscoll, to Christine Page. She makes her wave. If Christine and others that are here, if you want to go and join her there, that would be great. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. It's never going to be a fantastic tenure. Now you know how to be. Now you know how to be. Now you know how to be. Now you know how to be. It is. It doesn't just happen to you. Now you know how to be. It is an incredible honor today to stand before you as I present the Distinguished Citizen Award to Ms. Christine Page, the Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club. It's not always easy to say goodbye to someone who's given so much to a place and to a community and to a tradition. Today we're going to celebrate Christine Page and the incredible mark that she has left on the Shuffleboard Club and on St. Petersburg as she prepares to move on in her wonderful journey of life. Christine has been part of the Shuffleboard Club for more than 20 years. She started as a volunteer and then served on the Board of Governors. And then for the past 10 years, she's led the club as its Executive Director. In every single role, every step of the way, Christine has given her full heart and energy. She didn't just keep things running. She brought vision, care, and creativity to a club that had remained largely unchanged since its founding way back in 1924. When the club was at risk of fading away, Christine led the way in steering it into something stronger than anyone could have imagined. She helped turn it into what it is now, a lively, welcoming, and deeply rooted part of our city's cultural landscape. It's a place where people gather, play, connect, and return week after week. Christine has honored the club's history while finding new ways to keep it relevant. Christine built partnerships, supported the volunteers, many of which are standing here with us today, and opened the doors to a broader community. She made Shuffleboard fun and meaningful again for everything from social events to international competitions. Many of us have personal memories tied to the club that wouldn't exist without her. I personally met Christine before I was on City Council, serving on the Downtown Neighborhood Association's board and wanted to start doing cleanups around Mirror Lake, which led to a big project to replace and restore the Shuffleboard benches, and it just went on and on from there. She hasn't been just a great partner, but she's become a wonderful friend. So whether it was Friday Night Shuffle or a league or a tournament or just time spent at the club with friends, Christine's work has helped to make those moments possible. Christine, I want to thank you for your leadership, for your patience, your sense of humor, and your steady belief in the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club and in our city. You've helped to create something that will last and will always be uniquely St. Pete. So while we're sad to see you go, we're proud that we're going to be able to carry forward all that you have helped to create. The official length of a regulation Shuffleboard court is 52 feet, but the gratitude that we have for you is endless. It is a great honor to present you with the City Council Distinguished Citizen Award for your incredible contributions to our city's culture. You'll always have a place here and we'll always welcome you home whenever you visit. And of course, we're going to keep St. Pete shuffling. And next, I want to invite our Community Enrichment Administrator, Mike Jeffress, to say a few words about Christine. Try to keep it together as we do this. So sometimes we have people that come into your lives and you miss them when they leave, but you may not be too sad when you see the taillights. So I can tell you that I'm totally going to recover. What I'm going to say about Christine is that she is unlike that scenario that I just presented. I thought she was doing bunny ears, which I would have totally anticipated her doing. Christine and I have been working together for longer than I can even remember. And I travel all throughout the country and present to other parks and rec departments in other cities. And I talk about partnerships. And I always use the partnership that we have with the Shuffleboard Club. And I was around when the Shuffleboard Club became a city asset. And I remember when the club had very few members. And I remember talking to Christine about her dream and about wanting to get it as big as it was back in its heyday and all of the activities that she had planned. And I remember the different scenarios we had set up as to how the club was operated. And, again, I will tell you from a fiscal, from a city's perspective, Christine and the Shuffleboard Club have been the most fabulous partners we've ever had. We have a city facility that we have out at Muir Lake that is run by an amazing organization that is bringing in revenue, is sustainable, is helping us with capital improvements. It's a pleasure for us to go before the mayor, to go before Rob and council, and to ask for improvements, which we've done so many times throughout the years. I still remember sitting in the solarium without the air conditioning. And I remember how miserable that was. So it was a fantastic CIP project to get that moving forward. But we absolutely wish Christine nothing but the best. We know that her new endeavors, rescuing barns, which will be very exciting and right up her alley. But we know that she is going to bring that fire and that energy wherever she lands. We're hoping that this is temporary. At our last coffee, we discussed some different options, so we're excited about the future for Christine. And we absolutely wish her nothing but the best and just want for her to know that it has been a pleasure to work with her and that she's been the absolute best partner we've ever had. And I will miss our coffees and our teas together. So congratulations. All right, I'm going to cry. Just ignore it. First of all, I want to thank Mike Jefferson, Gina Driscoll. I don't think I've ever said this word, but I think of you as mentors, even though you're younger than me, which is really annoying. Just, Gina, your love and enthusiasm for the city is just infectious. You can't come away from a conversation with you without loving the city more. And, Mike, you know, I've learned from you how to build and nourish relationships, and how you do that is so respectful. And I'm taking that with me wherever I go, so thank you. So, and I would like to thank the city. I'd like to thank elected officials past and present, city staff past and present, and you all have worked so well with us, and you've improved the club, like air conditioning, air conditioning. 2019, we finally got it. And I've always felt like the city wants us to succeed just as much as the shuffleboard wants, the club wants to succeed. So I thank you very much for everything you've done over the years. So the club has come a long way in 20 years, from 35 members to 2,600 members, from zero staff people to nine staff people. And it would not have happened without people behind me and so many others, just literally hundreds of volunteers and staff members and board members who have the same love for the club that I do and are so committed to keeping it just a gem. I mean, what a special thing to have the same organization that founded it 100 years ago still using it in the same way. And that's what I always try to tell people when I do my history talks. It's like we're using it in the same way we always have, and I think that's really, really special. And they work so hard. I mean, some of the people behind me, you know, they do the volunteer management. They do the hot and sweaty maintenance work even in the summer. They, you know, book weddings. They run members' events. They maintain the courts and keep the discs going. You know, they have to grind the discs in between league seasons. They run the leagues. They run boot camps where they teach people how to play. They run outreach booths, you know, at Localtopia, Collard Green Festival and Pride. They run the leagues and tournaments, and they volunteer on Friday nights. They welcome all of St. Petersburg to the club. They are a welcoming face when you walk in, and I just want to thank you all. So we did our strategic planning, and we came up with our pillars, and that's what I try to think of everything with the club we do. You know, what we're really proud of is our competition. Even if you're just playing for fun, all the way up to the best players in the world come to play at our facility, and it's known throughout the world as the birthplace of the shuffleboard. And then we have, you know, our community. We talk a lot at the club about the concept of the third place where you can, you know, I don't know if you've heard of that. Humans should have three places. They should have their home place, and they should have their workplace. But to really, really be part of the community, they need a third place, and that's where you can just come and be an instant part of the community. And we want all of St. Petersburg to know that we can be a third place for them. And then celebrating the history and the preservation of the facility itself, because it is such a gem. So I just want to sort of thank you all, and I'll leave you with an invite. 20 years ago, a group of people, like preservationists and artists, approached Mary Eldridge, the then president, and said, listen, we love this facility. Why don't we open it up to the community on a Friday night? And that's how the Friday Night Shuffle started 20 years ago. And we are celebrating its 20th anniversary next Friday from 7 to 10. We're going to have music. We're going to have food trucks, a cake, everything. It's going to be, like, just a celebration of all things shuffleboard. So even though I'm leaving, and I'm really sad I'm leaving St. Pete, I can't think about it for too long or I'll start crying. I really am leaving it in good hands. So thank you all. I share hand with. Thank you, Chair. First of all, thank you all for putting your heart and soul into Shuffleboard because that is one of the things that makes our city special. And I remember when I first moved here in 2006, it was when it had just started the Friday Night event, and I saw it growing and growing and growing. And every time I would bring family members or people would come visit, and you'd pass by, it's like, oh, my God, look how cool this is. You don't see this anywhere. And that is special. You grew that. And we had events there. We had neighborhood events there. We had competitions between neighborhood associations with Kona. And it was fantastic being in a place that was the epitome, I think, of what our city is about. That's how I feel about Shuffleboard. And then bringing neighborhoods together there, people from different parts. And by the way, I found out after the fact there were some really good Shuffleboard players in my neighborhood that could have been part of the team. But you find out so much about people in places like the Shuffleboard courts. And we had neighborhood awards there. The city presented neighborhood awards there. And I've gone through so many events there that you're out there. It's a Friday or Saturday or Sunday night. It's a beautiful sky. The lights are out. People are having a good time. And I think, oh, my God, only in St. Petersburg you have a place like this. So, Christine, thank you for making that happen. You have left the mark on our city. And thank you all for being part of that history. Thank you. Councilmember Driscoll, thank you so much for bringing this forward and celebrating, Christine. Christine, I spent some time yesterday with some of your team members and some of your board members. And the first thing we talked about was you leaving and the sadness of that fact. It's not set in stone yet, but there is a nice present for you currently in the 2026 CIP budget. So that's a good – that's a nice farewell, I think. I won't put too much pressure on administration there. But just thank you so much for everything you do. My parents play on Wednesday night. They love it. They enjoy it so much. They get to spend time with their friends who, frankly, in the past, they had never had a place to do that and be active and be out and about. And that's become their third place. And so I'm just so appreciative of everything you've done. And I totally agree with you. Leave it in good hands. But we're very, very sad to see you go. Can't wait until you get back. And once again, Councilmember Driscoll, thank you so much for bringing this forward so we could celebrate, Christine. Congratulations, Christine. Okay. Okay, we are going to move into new ordinances, and we're going to move into E1, an ordinance authorizing the public transportation grant agreement and insurances to be executed by the city. And this is an airport project, and we have Rich Lesniak, I think, joining us for E1. Mr. Chair, would you like me to read the ordinance? Please and thank you. Ordinance number 609-H, an ordinance in accordance with Section 1.02-C5B, St. Petersburg City Charter, authorizing the execution of the public transportation grant agreement, PTGA, for the assurances, grant assurances, which are attached to the PTGA, to be executed by the city, in a requirement for receipt of the Florida Department of Transportation, FDOT grant, for the Albert Woodard Airport, in an amount not to exceed $134,800, for the construction phase of the rehab airfield vault, FY23, project 19235, authorizing such encumbrances or restrictions not to exceed 20 years from the effective date of the PTGA, authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this ordinance, providing for an effective date, and providing for an expiration. And Mr. Chair, we do not have any cards on this. Okay, thank you. I move approval on this. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1 passes unanimously, with Council Member Floyd being absent. Thank you. Okay, we'll move into E2. Clerk, could you please read the ordinance? Ordinance number 608-H. An ordinance of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, amending Chapter 17.5, Article 6 of the City Code, related to affordable housing site plan approval, amending Section 17.5-111, related to applicability criteria, creating a new Section 17.5-124, related to conforming uses, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is scheduled for May the 1st, and we do not have any speakers. Okay. Council Member Flick-Sanders. Thank you. Can someone answer the question in regards to the definition of a grocery store? Does that include our neighborhood mom-and-pop stores? Because many of our communities are food deserts, and we don't have main grocery stores in walkable distance. It's on page 1 of 3 of the resolution, on page 41 of our packet, Council Members. It is Section 17.5-111C3. Yeah, this is existing terminology. This is not part of the proposed text amendments at this time. I know. I just wanted to know what the clarification of that was to see if that was something we need to consider. We do not have that term just defined in our definitions, 1690. So what I can do is be prepared to answer that question for you by the next meeting. Okay. Thank you. Because I just want to know how it's going to also benefit some of the other communities without major grocery stores within distance. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Okay. If there's nobody else. Move approval. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak. Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council Members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, Council Members have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E2 passes unanimously. Okay. Now we're going to move on to E3. Clerk, could you please read the ordinance? Ordinance number 1172-V. Ed Ordinance approving the vacation of the western 120 feet of the 20-foot alley abutting lots 5 through 8 in block 16 of Fuller's subdivision, located at 1833 1st Avenue South and 1850 Central Avenue, setting forth conditions for the vacation to become effective and providing for an effective date. The public hearing for this item is scheduled for May the 1st, and we do not have any cards. Council Member. Second. You beat me to it. Listen, that's what I would have done. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other Council Members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Seeing as all present Council Members have voted, Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E3 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. All right. We're going to move into reports. Now we've got a presentation for F1, a resolution approving an agreement between the city and AC Skytown. We've got Mark Van Leeu joining us. Good afternoon, Mark. Good afternoon, Council Chair, Council Members. Before you today is the Skytown project and a request for funding support of that project and a proposed partnership between Altus Cardinal, the developer, and the City of St. Petersburg. Let's see. Let me find the... So here you can see before and after pictures. You're probably all familiar with the site being the former Ceridian site. On the left is what was there, and on the right is what will be there once this project comes to full fruition. Altogether, it's a 34.3-acre site. It should have over 2,000 apartments once all phases are completed, 69,000 square feet of neighborhood retail and grocer, and 120,000 square feet of self-storage. It's a phase development. Today, we're talking about phase one, and future phases will likely come back before Council for support as well. And the first phase is anchored, the entire project is anchored by the Sprouts Grocery Store, which you see in the center of the new development there. And that is under construction and expected to open for business in October of this year. And site C, which is the mixed-use building in the after picture on the front right corner there, that kind of double square building with the courtyard in the center, will contain 401 apartments, of which 121 units will be affordable in workforce housing and about almost 12,000 square feet of retail. And that will begin construction this spring. It's a very shovel-ready project. And moving on, this is the site plan for the overall project. So in the center to the lower part there, the red square, that's the Sprouts store that's under construction. To the right of that is phase one in that double square building with the pool in the center and the courtyard. That is the phase that we're talking about today. This is, again, the overall rendering of the site from the air. And these are some ground-level renderings of what this will look like. So all of the phases will have ground-level retail with living residences above with the Sprouts there in the lower right corner. So phase one, also referred to as Site C, contains, as I said, 401 units, of which 121 will be affordable workforce housing. You can see at the bottom the bars there are the anticipated timelines. So the top bar is the Sprouts store, which is under construction and will open in the fall. The Site C residential and commercial, the bottom line, which is shovel-ready, and after a financial closing in the next couple of months, will begin construction this probably early summer at this point. The chart in the upper right corner there is interesting, and I want to point out a couple things there. So this is the total count of units, and then it breaks it down in those bottom three sections in the market rate category, the 120% AMI category, and the 80% AMI category. And what's interesting to me, if you look at the next to the last column of average rents, you can see that if you compare the market rents at the top there with the 120% AMI rents, the rents are the same pretty much market to 120% for the smaller units, for the studio and one-bedroom units. But the two- and three-bedroom units, you do start to see some pretty significant monthly rents savings. And if you compare the market rate to the 80% of AMI units below, you can see that all size units represent a pretty significant reduction in rents. And I'll say a little bit more about the rents and what that means to the city in just a few minutes. But first, I want to talk about the sources and uses for this project. It's a little bit small, but on the left side there, the sources, the developers bringing the land and the land value to the deal, along with a common equity of almost $31 million for total equity of $45 million. The county has already approved a $5.5 million forgivable loan. The city is considering today a $4.5 million forgivable loan. And then they'll have a construction loan of about $68 million to fully fund the project. The county and city funds together represents, I believe it was about 9% of the total project cost, which is a lower number than we typically see for the subsidy levels in terms of the percent of total project cost. The investment of $4.5 million from the city when broken down per unit only by the affordable and workforce units represents a per unit subsidy of about $37,190, which is lower than the per unit subsidy we've been seeing on some of the recent projects that were perhaps more deeply affordable and using other funding sources. So this partnership, this project would be a little bit unique for us. It's really one of the first true public-private partnerships that we're bringing before you, partnering with a for-profit mixed-income developer. This is important because, as we all know, the amount of state and federal housing dollars are limited and have been getting even more limited in recent years. And so in order to stretch the city housing dollars and to leverage those dollars to get more affordable and workforce housing built, this is an important type of partnership that we can explore, allowing that market rate units to help subsidize the affordable and workforce units. And that's exactly why the per unit subsidy for this project is at the lower end of what we've been seeing because of those market rate units helping to cover that. When you do deals like this, it's a bit unique in that lenders, investors, and developer of these types of projects typically have a financial strategy and an exit plan from the beginning, and they must have certainty in order to invest. So what that means is that we had to make a couple of minor changes to our developer agreement, to our borrower agreement that I'm going to point out in a moment, and we wanted to make sure that you are aware of those changes since it is a bit different than some of the other deals we've done with developers who are build-and-hold developers that are going to build it and hold and operate that project for many years. And, of course, the city investment can include things like funding, reduced fees, expedited processes, and density bonuses, and by providing those benefits, we gain inclusion of affordable and workforce housing in what otherwise would be a solely market rate project, which this project started off to be. So back to the rents for a moment. I think it's important to note that 30% of the units in this project are going to be affordable workforce, half at 80%, half at 120%, which we're used to seeing that. And the rent reductions, now, obviously, for those smaller units between market and 120 AMI, there was no difference. But for all of the units that do represent a reduced rent, the reduction in those rents ranges from 25% to 40% of a reduction from market rate. So what does that mean over a 30-year rent restriction period? When you take the difference between the market and the affordable and workforce rent amounts and extrapolate that out over the number of units in 30 years, the total rent reduction, or as developers sometimes look at it, the rent impairment from what they could get if they charged 100% market rate for all units, would equal almost $18 million. So a $4.5 million investment by the city today, over 30 years, will net at least $18 million in return in the form of reduced rents to the citizens of St. Petersburg. That number will almost certainly be larger by the time we get there because, as we all know, market rents tend to rise faster than affordable rent caps do. So the disparity there as it grows will increase that return on investment over time. So as the city considers these types of public-private partnerships with a for-profit developer in these types of mixed income and mixed-use projects, in order to increase the amount of housing that we can produce, we needed to revise two areas of the city developer agreement. The agreements need to anticipate and allow for future refinancing and or sale of the development by permitting assignment of city agreements and restrictions and subordination of city loans without the requirement of future city council approvals. So this is the way that Pinellas County's documents are currently structured, as well as Largo and other municipalities have already made these adjustments to their agreements in order to allow for these types of partnerships. And it's important to note that we do require in our agreements that should the project be refinanced or sold, all of our restrictions, everything that's in our original agreement has to be taken on by the buyer or the refinancing entity in its whole so we don't lose any of our benefits over the course of the 30-year affordability period. So in summary, Phase 1, 401 total units, 121 affordable workforce, and 280 market units. This is Phase 1, and because of the inclusion of the market rate and the commercial, that helps to offset the subsidy that we need, so it represents a relatively low per-unit subsidy amount for this project. It's taking an underutilized and outdated site and really bringing it into the modern day with high-quality mixed-use, mixed-income community. And we think it's a good partnership, a great project, and staff recommends approval of this funding request. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mark. Oh, and the developer is present today, so if you have any questions directly for the developer, we're happy to bring them up. Great. Thank you. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Mark, congratulations. This is really pretty neat to see how it is that public government starts to look at the next stage or the next generation of what used to be federal housing, used to be dot, dot, dot, and everything about this project I like. So I applaud you for your efforts, and I appreciate the administration chasing this down and the counsel of LAST for working with this. One easy question. I wasn't clear on the property, just as property contribution. Where does the property come from? I'd like to invite developer, Mr. Frank Guerra, to come up, and we can explain how the property came to be. Good afternoon. I'm Frank Guerra, principal with Altus Cardinal, the development team, as well as the owner of the property. When you say where did the property come from? So I wasn't sure if that was yours or... So we've invested almost $60 million in equity into the property to date, and that's the allocation to this portion of the land based on the per unit. Understood. But while I have the opportunity, thank you very much. As much as I feel the city is forward-thinking, we appreciate the entrepreneurs of this world and the private part of this world willing to look at how do you make this soup better? How do you make it work? And this is innovative. This is, you know, all of the things that the pundits talk about to make this a better society, it takes innovative thinkers like you and your company to come up with how do you integrate all this, and we greatly appreciate it, and congratulations. Thank you, Council Member. We've been developing here for going on 13 years now, and it's been a pleasure. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Floyd. Thank you. I'll start with the positive, a very low subsidy for what we're getting. So that makes me feel good about the deal that's being done. But I've struggled with 120, and this is known. And I think I want to point out your numbers up here that you presented on rents are from last year. And so the 2025 rents came out April 1st, income limits for 80 and 120 AMI, and it erased that delta that you saw in the higher bedroom units. So now a two-bedroom unit at 120 AMI can rent for $28.17 a month, which is only $33 less per month. And not to mention, you know, we had a conversation on housing opportunities for all the other day, and we talked about, like, what the need was. And, you know, I looked up for this zip code. There is a surplus of units at 120 AMI, and you can easily go to apartments.com and find a bunch of relatively new units renting in that area for less than what 120 AMI is, both one- and two-bedroom. Now, three-bedroom is still a discount, but there's only one three-bedroom in this project at each income level, and so it's not really notable. So I think, you know, I'm grateful because let's say I just pretend like there is no 120 in this project. The subsidy is still $74,000 a year or something, or I'm sorry, not a year, $74,000 total for each unit at 80% AMI. That's just doubling what it would have been, which is still a good deal for us, and I can still, you know, accept for this phase is what I'll say. But, like, I would really hope that in the future phases, like, you take into account that 120 is not needed here. It's higher than market rate, and we talk more about 80 in the future phases because we're not actually getting any sort of a discount. And the numbers just came out April 1st. You've been working on this for a while, so, like, I'm not upset about that or anything. But I brought it up because it's relevant. So, like, your perspective savings doesn't even match up. So, anyway, I guess I'll get off my soapbox and say, like, the 120 here, it's not helping anyone if we're looking at the way the market's laid out. But if you could just talk to the potential for in the future us shifting, because it does sound like we're going to do stuff like this with the developer more often, not more often, but as we go into the future, I'd love to think about the future. I don't need to stress too much about this today. Yeah, and those are great points. And I would like to point out that the vast majority of that almost $18 million in savings comes from the differential between the 80% units and the market units. So, while the new numbers may have skewed that a bit, it's not going to dramatically impact the savings, and that still represents about four times our investment. So, even if that does come down a bit, you know, I think it's still a really good bargain for the city and its investment today. Secondly, I pointed out before that while markets are going to go up and down based on a lot of factors, this guarantees affordable rents for 30 years, and if five years from now, ten years from now, market rents go crazy again, as they have in the past, recent past, these are going to be guaranteed to be locked in at what are considered to be affordable rents. Well, I think, and I just, I think I do have a little bit of an issue with that, in that when market rents went crazy, so did income levels in the city. And that's what drove the allowable, the rent limits to go up so much. They've been going up $200, $300 a year. And so, they may not make fast jumps the way that the market does, but over, like, a few years, they catch up. Because when our market rates go up, people get displaced in the city, and they're replaced with people who make more money. And so, and that's what we've seen go on. And so, I don't find that to be as locked tight as it sounds. I definitely think, like, you can go back just a couple of years to what the rents were, the rent limits were, and they were significantly lower, $500, $600 a month lower. And that's because they may not jump as much in one year, but they jump, and over a few years. And so, and then the other thing is that the 80%, you know, I focused on 120, but the 80% went up from what you have listed here as a one-bedroom at 80%, 1505. It did go up as well, but it did not go up quite as much. So, I still agree that this is a good deal for us, but this is a very unique scenario. If this was a more typical deal, and we were doing this much 120, like, I don't think it would make financial sense for us. And so, I would just hope that going forward, we consider a lot of the things. And we've talked about, for everybody else, we talked about this ahead of time, because I lose sleep over this kind of thing, because I want to see affordable housing deals happen in our city. But when we get brought ones that aren't adding up to me, I have to make a decision every time, do I want to see affordable housing, or do I want to do something that makes fiscal sense? And so, I think here, because the subsidy is so low, I can stomach it, but, like, it might not always be the case every time. And thank you for always having a good dialogue with me. I appreciate it. No problem. Thanks. Council Member Givens. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. And I just, I echo my colleague's sentiments. You know, Council Member Floyd said it best. I don't think three bedrooms, you know, one unit, that's not enough per income level. We definitely need more. That being in my district, I see the need. I know there are families, not just individuals, but there are families that need affordable places to stay. So, as we continue to have this boom and bust across our city, I want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of folks who call St. Pete home. You know, not these people, this new demographic of, you know, residents who we're trying to lure to our community, but the folks who are currently in that community and just blocks away, multiple homes were damaged due to that storm. So, you have folks who are still displaced. I think about a local pastor in this community who has nowhere to live to this day, six months after the storm, lives just blocks away from there. But had he chose to rent a home for his family there, it wouldn't be enough. So, again, I just want to make sure that we are meeting the demand. I look at us not having to require future council's approval. Like, that's a concern to me. I definitely feel like other councils should have a say in this, especially if we're going to be refinancing a project in the future. I feel like there should be a say from the city council. We should have a vote in that decision. So, that concerns me. Another concern is, you know, just the loss of public control there. You know, as we partner with private entities, we lose control. There becomes a lack of transparency. So, I want to ensure that that remains, that there will be reports, that we'll be able to understand a little bit more about the track record. I understand this is still phase one, but I want to know about Altus' performance record. You know, when they have used PPP projects in the past, what was your success rate for cities in this size? You know, I'd like to know a little bit about that. So, Council Member, I'll certainly let Altus Cardinals speak for themselves, but I just wanted to provide some clarity. So, if the deal was refinanced and the council was ever asked for dollars again, this absolutely would have to come back before city council, right? And so, I just want to make sure that you understand that particular point. So, if this deal sells, as Mr. Van Leeu mentioned, all of the deed restrictions that we have on the property, would have to transfer with the property. So, the affordability period and those other things would have to be honored by a new owner. And then, I just wanted to mention, I'm sorry, you had one other question. It was binding other councils and... It's the loss of control. The loss of control. So, I did want to mention that every unit in our city we're required to monitor. And so, even though, you know, this is a private owner, as all of the developments in our city are, annually we have to look over their income certifications to make sure they're certifying people's income correctly. We actually have to go into the apartment, turn on the water, look in the fridge, do all the things to make sure that that apartment is in good working order. And then, in addition to that, as you may be aware, we have our program where if folks have problems in a property, they can call our codes office, and we would go in at their request to look at the property even more often than our annual inspections if needed. So, I'll let Mr. Guerra speak to their experience. I can tell you there's thousands of units in our city that they've done previously, and they've been a good actor in our landscape before. Good afternoon again. So, to address a couple of things that have come up, I guess, first of all, Commissioner Floyd's point about the snapshot in time of the analysis regarding the 120 AMI. We had an opportunity about five years ago. It was either 2018 or 2019 in our Elements on 3rd project to do a similar arrangement to what we're doing now, more through the county than through the city, and to income restrict some units that would have been partially 80, partially 120 AMI. If we had done that at that time and committed them for 30 years as we're doing today, there would be a significant difference between today's rents at Elements on 3rd and the 120 because that was in the path of development at the time from Central Avenue going west, and there was a discount on rent, but that market rent went up at a much higher rate than the AMI limits did. So, today, you would see a very, very big differential, even though if you were looking at that snapshot in time in 2018 or 19, it would have seemed like it wasn't much of a difference between 120 and market rate. We believe the same thing's going to happen here. This is a path of development sub-market, which is why we're in it, and over time, the difference between the 120 AMI and market rent will significantly increase. It does not go up in a pair of pursue a proportionate way. Regarding our track record, we have a track record in the city of St. Pete for since 2011 and 12, we started investing here. We've developed one master plan community in the historic Kenwood District that has gone very well. It's the one where we contemplated doing an income-restricted portion of the deal. It didn't work out for other reasons. We've also done a self-storage deal with ground floor retail on 34th Street, and then we bought the Ceridian Campus, and we've been developing this property. We already started construction on the Sprouts, which is slated to open in October, and we're renting out one of the out parcels on that parcel as well, and this is the first phase of the multifamily. We have a track record all over the state. We've delivered properties in Miami, in Jacksonville, in Fort Lauderdale. We just delivered one where we had a CRA component where they invested $12 million in a similar fashion to this on a 417-unit deal that we did there, and the income restriction there only applied to 10% of the units. Different cost structure and a different dynamic that was going on there was a much more expensive form of construction, and that's why the economics required it, but we do have a track record with partnering with either governmental or, in the case of a CRA, it's a quasi-governmental agency, and fulfilling all of the obligations that we had in actually getting it completed on time under budget and delivering to market those income-restricted units and qualifying people and getting them moved in. So we're substantially far along on the lease-up phase there. We're past 50% leased-up now, and the income-restricted units have been extremely well-received. In terms of the control issue, the only issue that was important was to make the documents that the city is using match the documents that the county is using because the county already has, in their documents, the changes that Mark was talking about that were being discussed regarding the city documents. We don't really see it so much as a loss in control. It's more allowing a future lender to be able to step into the shoes of the same lender that is stepping in as the original lender, right? So when the property changes hands, that next lender is going to be subject to all the same rules and regulations, and if the owner changes, that owner will be subject to all the same rules and regulations and reporting requirements. So there isn't any diminished benefit to the city. The only thing it does is that it gives certainty to the players that are involved now that there isn't going to be an impediment in the future regarding what should be either a change in control or a change in the identity of the lender that is just subject to the same rules. Having an arbitrary, this may or may not be approved in the future aspect to it gives an uncertainty element that a lender in today's environment does not want to participate in because they need to make sure that there is a takeout for them because this is a 30-year restriction, but a construction loan has to be repaid in either four or five years. So they need to make sure that there's a path for them to be repaid and refinanced by a permanent source of financing, which in our case, in many cases, has been Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae. We're looking at doing a HUD deal now in another context, or it could be a market rate lender. We're not sure, but the fact that they're stepping into the same shoes and get the same benefit of the deal that's already negotiated and in place with the same obligations is the point of the changes that were requested and that we're asking to be approved. And just lastly, Chair, I appreciate you. Thank you for that explanation. I think this is a low subsidy, so that's the reason I'm willing to support it, but I just want to go on record that I really want us to err on the side of caution when it comes to overdevelopment. Councilmember Floyd brought it up earlier. It's great when you have a market that's affordable, but if you have all these units on the market that people can't afford and they're sitting there empty, what good does it do? So I just want us to make sure that as we're putting more units on the market that we are meeting the needs of the folks who are in need, the people in our community currently who need places to live. It does them no good if they can't afford to live there. So thank you so much. I appreciate it, Chair. Thank you. Councilmember Rick Sanders. Thank you. Thank you. Well, first of all, again, you explained a whole lot to me that cleared it up and some of the conversation that my colleagues have had answered some of my questions. And again, Councilmember Floyd, thank you for bringing a perspective to a lot of this. some people that can afford it doesn't understand the importance of it, of the questions that you're asking. And we do realize that you're right. Rent has gone up a whole lot. You know, I'm a mom, and I see what my young people are dealing with when it comes down to trying to afford rent. Let me introduce myself to you, sir. I'm the council member that tried to have conversation with you and Dr. Williams from SBC and Misty at the Skyway Marina District and took us a minute to get a meeting and then when we got one, it was canceled. So how are you? I do want to ask you a question in regards to the number of units and future projections of the other phases. When we are giving allocations, and I agree about the 120%, wholeheartedly, we've had that conversation. But when we go into the next phases, are we still going to have the same projections of affordable housing? Or is this just an introductory offer that you're making for phase one? In phase two, phase three, phase four, are we still going to have the 80% AMI in all phases? Well, we have to look at it on a phase-by-phase basis based on what's going to be approved by the county and the city because the whole point is to make the deal economics work, right? So in this environment that we're in, and we've literally lived it in the last month with this tariff issue that we've been dealing with and trying to pin down a general contractor to give us, because the bank still needs a fixed cost for what's going to be built. So in this fluctuating environment, having that partnership with the county and with the city regarding the forgivable loan is literally what makes the difference on the yield on cost metric to even be able to break ground. It is a difference maker. So we likely will be in the same position on the second phase of the multifamily, and we will come to you again to have the same discussion. Well, thank you for that. And the reason why I ask is because, again, I don't want this to be an introduction to something that we can't continue to follow through in providing affordable housing. So I understand the numbers. You have to make it work. We don't know what it looks like. You know, we won't know what it looks like a year or two from now, but I would love to at least hear you say you're going to give full assurance that affordable housing is going to be a part of all phases. I don't want it just to come to us and say, well, we're going to give you 100 and whatever phases of 2,000 units. That's not, to me, that's not a good deal for us. But if you're telling me that you're giving us 121 units of 400 of the units, that is a good deal to me. Those numbers do sound good to me. But when you take 121 from 2,000, that doesn't sound doable for me. This is Deborah speaking. So that was a question that I did ask Mr. Van Loo. And I just wanted to have that concern of mine that I don't want this to just be an introduction. This is what we're doing for the community and then we never see it again. There are no more affordable houses in that unit because it's massive. You know, I was looking for you all to go up, but I mean, it's spread out. It is massive. I don't know, you know, the difference of that. But that was my only question. It was explained quite well. But I just wanted to make sure because I've seen it in the past where we are going to see this transpire over the whole project because the land forgiveness that we're giving is the whole project, right? The loan land, the four million. Is that just for this phase? It's just for this phase. Okay. Okay. Okay. So if we're going to do any more allowances like that for the next phases, that'll come back to us. And we are already talking to the developer about the next phases and starting to work with them on a plan. Okay. You know, no developer can say today for sure that a phase that's going to be started in two years, three years, whenever it happens, what the economics are going to be and look like at that time. But be assured that we will absolutely remain in conversation and work to get, you know, another deal that includes affordable and workforce housing in the future phases of this project, similar to the Raytheon project, you know, that you all considered and approved phase one of that. And phase one stood on its own just as this phase one stands on its own. And we will be working with those folks as well to get more workforce and affordable housing in those future phases. Okay. I just wanted to have that spoken because, again, affordable housing isn't affordable to everybody. And so, of course, you know that is where I am. So with that, thank you. A nice meeting you, sir. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Mark, thanks for the presentation. Appreciate it. Just two quick comments. I don't really think I have any questions. Having kind of, I've been diving into this a little bit lately and I just, I want to commend you and the team. Everything that I see that municipalities are going to that really seems to be working and like the front line, this is it. Properties that have no handcuffs on them still have to come to council. You get an administrative approval because there's some handcuffs on it. That's what we're going to trade there and that. This is the cutting edge, for lack of a better term, of what's happening in housing. When you look at what's worked of late in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, this is it. And so very excited to have this and just thank you for the work. I know it's been a big lift and thank you to the developer for working with us on this because you don't have to do this. And so I very much appreciate it. So it echoes really what Council Member Harding was saying. Just quickly, and I know we fundamentally on some levels disagree here, but the lens I look through is when the 120 and the market rate are closer, that means we're doing, I think, we're doing a better job of keeping up with the demand. I know we probably disagree on reasons. When the market rate and the 120 rates are closer, that means I think adding market rate units along with affordable units is working. I think when we look at it statically, like it's going to stay that way, kind of like what he was saying, that can get us into trouble. Locking in the 30 years, because we know that that delta is going to get wider, it's going to come back, that's just cyclical. And so I just tend to look at it a little bit differently where I think, and really this is probably to Council Member Givens' point a little bit, the market rate units help too. I know, I believe that. And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I know you do. But from a standpoint of the 120s, I think the 120 is a good gauge of how we've done bringing markets to the community. I think that's a good barometer. If our 120 rental is close to market rate rental, that means we're finally keeping up. When the delta is larger, we're behind. That's kind of how I feel about it. And I'm not, I'm just giving you my two cents while we're sitting here. And so again, I go back to thanks for all the work. I know it's been a big lift. Yeah, Council Member Floyd. I'll just say, since you were addressing me a little bit, I kind of see where you're coming from. And it's difficult because we only get this kind of conversation to have. I would love it if we could sit down and talk about this, but we can do it in a committee sometime where it's also structured. But anyway, but the 120 has gone up so much. The cost of the rent has gone up so much because of the new people that have moved here and how much more they make than the people that they replaced. And so, you know, we had a conversation the other day about 30% of people who live in St. Petersburg moved here since, I think it was 2021. And that 30%'s income is significantly higher than the people that moved out since then. And so that's why the rent at 120 has gone up because the income at 120 has gone up. And so I don't know if we're on the same wavelength right now or not, but that's why I think the Delta has gotten so small recently. Yeah, and we can get into it in a committee. I mean, I think there are other reasons why they get smaller. I understand what you're saying. I just looked through a different lens. That's fine. Okay. But I appreciate the perspective. If I could interject too, you know, those fortunes for St. Petersburg could change. And they already are. I mean, I've seen article after article recently talking about, you know, fewer and fewer people coming to Florida, coming to St. Petersburg. The tides will likely change as the economic winds change. We may lose some of those higher net worth people who came down here, but are now experiencing super high, you know, flood insurance and other insurance costs and taxes and things and decide to relocate elsewhere. So I think, again, while the tides could go up, the tides could come down. By locking these things in now, it at least guarantees that we know what we're going to see. And those affordable rent caps could come down. If things turn around the other way, those could decrease, not always increase. And to your point, Chair, I've always said that we have a housing problem, not just an affordable housing problem. And the supply of housing overall does impact every level of housing. So I think to your point in support of that, the more supply we have of housing, including market rate housing, allows for that 120% rent and market rent to get closer and closer. It's when you have a deep undersupply of housing that it drives up those market rents. So I think that's also, I think you both have good points about why. Mark did a way better job explaining it than I would have done. Thank you. Vice Chair Hanowitz. Thank you. And thank you all for bringing this forward. When I look at this, I think about you purchased this in 2021. That's what I think about. We're in 2025. Like this picture ain't happening tomorrow. It's not. It's going to happen years from now. And we still don't even know what's going to happen with tariffs. You don't know what the price increases are going to be. None of that. And so like the idea like in a market that you can control all this stuff, there's some things we can control, but there are so many things that are outside our control. And what I do like about this, and it's already been mentioned by a couple of people, is it does bring some certainty to those units. And we have no idea what's going to happen in the future. We just don't. And for all you know, I mean, things are going to go crazy and you may not be able to finish some of this project. And then we're left with whatever we're left of. Period. That, I mean, that's a reality that every developer faces. And so I like the fact that we're being able to do something based in this atmosphere. The reality that, frankly, you didn't have to do this to start. We are getting some housing units that you all worked on to get this to happen. The numbers that we're paying, the fact that the return is based on the estimate to $18 million. I think if you invested $4 million in the bond market, which is a safe investment, you're not going to get that return. You're just not. Okay? So that, looking at bigger picture and understanding, and by the way, the growth in the city, the people coming here, that doesn't happen all the time. It doesn't happen. And you've gone through downturns too. I remember when 2008 happened and we weren't sure if we were going to be able to keep our home. I mean, people have no idea what can happen in the future that impacts the economy of a city. And so I think this, based on the numbers and what you're doing, is a good thing. So thank you for bringing this forward. And with that, I move approval. Second. Council Member Floyd. Thank you. Thank you, Mark, for your explanation. And I see where you're coming from. The only other thing I wanted to say, though, was that, like, the market swings also impact not just the cost of, not just who moves here, whatever. It impacts the market rate of rent and it impacts the rent restriction units. So they may not be lock-tied together, but, like, they do flow together to an extent. And what we see a little bit is a delay because when it comes to moving things up on the cost of rent restrictions because they're not, they have a complicated process that they use to decide how much the rent can be increased every year. But it does, over a few years, end up coming up pretty significantly, which is what we've seen. So anyway, the only point I was trying to make whenever we were in this conversation also was that, like, when we're speculating, the market's still going to go up and down and that's going to affect rents both at market rate and at restricted units. So, like, you know, we can't say what the delta will be in the future. I don't feel comfortable being, like, it's 100% going to be significantly better in the future. I don't know that because they are a little tied together. And so that was the only other thing I wanted to make sure that I was clear on and why, like, I'm not just bought in 100% to that argument. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Rivers. Thank you. Thank you. No, I don't know that anybody's bought in 100%, but I did just want to say, you know, I hear a saying he didn't have to do it if he didn't want to, but it's not, it's a partnership. It's not like he's not getting anything out of this. So, you know, let us not make it seem as though he's giving us everything. He's getting something out of this deal. So, I am grateful that affordable housing will be a part of this and that we are venturing on something that's new and I'm sure it's going to work on the city's behalf, but I just wanted to reaffirm that this is a partnership. Absolutely. Okay. So, thank you so much for that, but again, I do appreciate the fact that we are having those conversations and definitely looking for the future. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other Councilmembers wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Councilmembers, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present, Councilmembers have voted. Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F1 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to F2, a resolution approving the acquisition of a residential property located at 780 58th Avenue North, the Puryear Park Expansion Project. Councilmember Harding, I'm going to turn it over to you real quick. Thank you very much, Chair. Big congratulations to Mike and the team. This is awesome. This is an expansion of the park system. It's good for the neighborhood. It's good for the city. And I think it makes this particular part more accessible and a better asset to the city. Thank you very much, all three of you, for your efforts. And with that, Chair, I move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Sorry, I can't see it. Seeing as all present council members have voted, Clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F2 passes unanimously. Thank you. Great job, guys. Great job. Okay, moving on to F3, a resolution authorizing the mayor to accept a grant from the USDA. And I think we've got Maven Rogers joining us. We probably beat her to it. Oh, she's ready to get it. Maven, welcome. We do have a presentation. Good afternoon, council. I'm here presenting today on the award of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, which really comes at opportune time giving our proclamations today on local businesses and Earth Day. So I'll kind of go into how this relates to all of those things. So a little bit about this grant opportunity. The city, along with our subrecipient, University of South Florida, St. Pete Campus, was awarded a total of $358,735 from the USDA to implement a food-wasting compost initiative on their site. So I'll talk a little bit about that. So basically, University of South Florida, St. Pete, approached the city of St. Petersburg when they saw this opportunity and they said, hey, we need a government to help us apply and co-apply for this grant opportunity. So the city decided to undertake that effort and the University of South Florida, St. Pete, will own the composting equipment. This will be their program to manage. The city of St. Petersburg is going to be the pass-through and be able through the USDA. So this program will look to compost 2,100 to 2,700 pounds of food waste initially each week from the campus. That food waste will be turned into fertilizer, which then the University of South Florida maintenance crew will purchase off of the composting initiative and they will be using that to mitigate chemical fertilizer on their campus. The students are going to be leading this project and creating actually a local business. So not only will this be composting 2,100 to 2,700 pounds of food waste, but the University of South St. Petersburg will be hiring one new position to oversee this program and they will also be looking on how to make this profitable and the students will run and start the business. So students get a really neat opportunity to start their own business and see how it can be economically viable in the future. A little bit about the timeline here, just so you all know, this is a two-year grant agreement. So we're asking for you all to sign the resolution today so we can get that back to the USDA to get all this lovely work started. And basically what we'll see from the end of April to May 2026 is when we'll really see those operations kick up and running. The business will be started. They do plan on partnering with local restaurants and so we're very excited for those types of initiatives coming forward. Are there any questions? I know that was a little short and sweet. Council Member Gabbard. Thank you, Chair. Thank you so much, Maven. This is a great project. Very excited about this. You know, been working and talking with USF St. Pete for a very long time about what I would consider to be like their desire to get more involved in urban agriculture and environmental stewardship. So this project just hits all the right tones on that. So I just have one question. So can you talk a little bit because there is a desire from USF St. Pete to have a food forest and they're, you know, kind of working through the process of that. So can you kind of speak a little bit to how a project like this could potentially help to support and catalyze a food forest on their campus? Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, I've been having those conversations with the university, with the campus. Their number one worry is maintenance when it comes to food forest. So if you have a profitable business model, so let's say the composting initiative becomes profitable, you can actually pay someone out of the composting initiative to maintain the grounds and to help feed people. And then that goes back into the green workforce development that we have at the city. So that could be one way. That is the biggest, honestly, that's the biggest barrier to the campus right now. They want to do the food forest, but they don't have anyone to maintain it. Right. Yeah, I mean, I certainly understand that challenge. You know, I think that, I think in any of these kind of environmental, you know, initiatives initiatives where we're looking at people to get involved, especially on a college campus, right? Like you may have a particular group of individuals who are very enthusiastic about it and then they graduate and they move on and then you're not guaranteed that you've got the same kind of passion around something. So that's certainly sustainability, I think, for all of these projects is very important. So I'll look forward to kind of seeing how this evolves and then hopefully being able to work with them to kind of move them into that next layer. they've even had, you know, really aspirational conversations about potentially working on like an urban agriculture type of curriculum and, you know, how that could work with the St. Pete Youth Farm and help the ambassadors potentially turn that into careers. That's the whole economic driver behind urban agriculture that I don't even think as a city we've even begun to realize yet. So I'm very, very excited not only for this project but for what I see as the vision and the evolution of where it could really go. So very, very exciting. And with that, I'll move approval. Second. Okay. Council Member Harding. Thank you, Chair. Awesome. Awesome project. I enjoyed reading about it. I've been involved in a couple of projects like this before. It's the industry that I grew up in. The only question I have is in the report it refers to the program after this funding is self-sustaining. And as much as I would like it to be, this is a great endeavor. This is an important thing that we should do. It's not going to be self-sustaining. It'll have repair and maintenance costs. It'll have transportation costs. It'll have dot, dot, dot. Do we have any indication of where that funding might come from? And or is it something that the city needs to be concerned with? Or are we just, as you said in the beginning, just a pass-through to get this to them? So we are the pass-through to get this to USF. So this will be USF's program to manage and develop on their own. The idea is that it will become self-sustaining with the amount of compost that they'll sell to other, you know, because you have a couple different modes of economic opportunity. You have the food waste pickup that you can charge for. And then you have the byproduct, which is a compost that you can charge for. You're also mitigating the chemical fertilizers, which is at a cheaper cost. So you can put that savings into a bucket. One thing we did notice is that this composting program will take one employee to run. So it can be self-sustaining as long as you can afford that one employee. And I think that will be USF St. Pete's position to see. Let's test it out and see if that will be self-sustaining. But we are the path through of that and they'll be managing the program. Just again, just just the question I had, but yeah, but a very allaudable program and I'm glad we're involved. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Gibbons. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. Maven, I'm very excited about this. I think this is long overdue. I'm excited to see what the future holds. To Council Member Gabbard's point, I think this is a great partnership opportunity. I was thinking about the youth farm before she even mentioned it, because this is a great opportunity for us to connect the community to an educational institution. So I see it as two for one. Not only are we starting businesses, right, so we're teaching entrepreneurship skills, but we're also combating food insecurity. So it's a win-win for the entire community. I'm excited to see where this goes. I would also like to recommend that you consider passing this information along to the USF St. Pete community, St. Pete Free Clinic, a partnership with the Pinellas County Schools. Maybe there's a school within the neighborhood that we can reach out to and say, hey, whatever fruit or produce or veggies you all have left over, we'd love to get those donations. Maybe even also consider reaching out to the 15th Street Farm. You know, so I really see, you know, this as an opportunity for all of us to engage community partners. So good work. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F3 passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you, Maven. Okay, we're going to move on to G1. That's a referral to BF&T. For me, respectfully requesting referral to the Budget, Finance, and Taxation Committee to discuss Public Utility Revenue Bonds Series 2025 A and B. This referral is a staff request and I am formally submitting this new business item as a method of informing City Council and I'd entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, clerk, could you please tally and announce the vote? Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G1 passes unanimously. Okay, thank you. All right, folks, we've gotten to that point. We will recess until 5-0-1 where we will begin public hearings. City Council is in recess. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Chair. We'll bring City Council back into order and we are going to move on to J-1, which is quasi-judicial. Clerk, could you please swear in all parties and speakers, including City staff? The floor of the floor that you're about to give is the truth. Thank you. Thank you. Clerk, could you please please? No title. This is a resolution. Excuse me. Sorry about that. Okay, so now we'll move into presentations. We're going to start with staff. Everybody will have 10 minutes. Welcome. Good evening. For the record, I'm Cheryl Brighello with Development Review Services. So the case you have before you tonight is a quasi-judicial variance request at 826 32nd Avenue North. It's for a preliminary plat of the 826 32nd Avenue North Estates preliminary plat. So the request is for approval of a three-lot preliminary plat with variances to lot width and depth. So lot one is requesting a 44-foot width where 50 feet is required. Lot two is also requesting a 44-foot width. And lot three is requesting a 72-foot depth where 75 feet is required. This is the location of the property. It consists of one-and-a-half platted lots in the neighborhood Traditional 2 Zonnie District in the Five Points neighborhood. The parcel currently contains a house, garage, shed, and associated improvements which are proposed to be demolished. The total tract area is 17,952 square feet or 0.41 acres. Here are some photos of the property from 31st Avenue North. Here are photos of the property from 32nd Avenue North. So the one-story house is on the property. The applicant proposes to remove all of the structures shown on this survey and subdivide the property into three lots for three future houses. Lots one and two to the north which is on the right side of the drawing require variances to width. Lot three to the south requires the variance to depth. The proposed density of 7.3 units per acre will conform with and is well below the 15 unit per acre maximum of the NT2 zoning district. It appears that compliance with setbacks and lot coverage requirements on the individual lots can also be achieved. The hardships related to the property include its large size, width at 88 feet, and depth at 204 feet in relation to the minimum requirements of the NT2 zoning district which are 5,800 square feet, 50 feet, and 75 feet respectively. The parcel has sufficient area for three lots. The subject block is characterized by a long length, 1,250 feet, and was originally platted with a mix of 50 to 60 foot wide lots. The north-south oriented lots were platted with double frontage on what are now 31st and 32nd avenues north. Most of the parcels have emerged and were split since that time and have a variety of widths, depths, and densities. There are 23 bungalow apartments, two parcels to the east. The blocks to the south were platted at 40 feet wide by 95 feet deep and with an area of 3,800 square feet and many were developed as one house per platted lot. The study area for the substandard lot analysis includes the subject block and surrounding blocks in the same zoning district. Here's the map analysis that was undertaken as found in the staff report. The substandard lots have a red dot on them. You can see a significant number of substandard lots in the area and this is the tabular analysis which found that 52% of all lots in the area are substandard and the proposal is consistent with the dominant development pattern of the neighborhood. Similar variances were granted to lot width for the three lot plat abutting the property to the east in 2016. That property was slightly wider and larger at 18,747 square feet. In terms of comments received from city departments and private utilities, water resources and engineering have no objection to the plat provided that each lot is served by separate water and sewer utilities. Public utility easements are required to be dedicated on the final plat for sanitary sewer service. The city's transportation and parking management, fire, police and sanitation departments have no objection. Duke Energy objects to the plat until easements for their infrastructure are provided. The public had no comments or objections and no comments were received from Five Point Neighborhood Association or Kona. The DRC hearing was held on March 5th. No members of the public commented. The DRC voted unanimously to recommend approval of the variances to lot width and depth. Staff recommends approval of the variances subject to the recommended conditions of approval and they're listed here and in the resolution. Granting of the variances would be in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the land development regulations and the comprehensive plan as outlined in the staff report. And the conditions of approval are compliance with the engineering and water resources memos, receipt of the letter of no objection from Duke Energy and the other conditions are general standard conditions of approval regarding expiration and payments of liens. And that's the end of my presentation. I'll wait for questions. Okay. Does the applicant have a presentation? Good evening. Good evening. This is Yulia Lane with Modern Tampa Bay Homes. Thank you, Cheryl, for the great presentation and for the support. We do not have any presentation because I was aware that it was approved by DRC and we are intending to build two beautiful homes or three beautiful homes for the family who are going to stay involved within, you know, during the duration of entire project. And, you know, we've been in business building homes since 2010 and this is what we intend to continue doing. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a registered opponent? No, sir. Okay. Okay. So, at this point, we'll go to public comment. Do we have any cards? We do not, sir. All right. So, we'll go into cross-examination. Staff, any cross? Staff waves. Applicant, any cross? None. And any closing remarks? Staff waves. No closing remarks from the applicant. Thank you. Okay. So, now we'll move into executive session. Council members, any questions or comments? Move approval. Second. Okay. I just have two quick things. So, in the backup material, it talks about how DRC voted to remove the last two sentences of the condition number four. Yes. And then, on the slide, those two sentences are included, aren't they? So, which one are we voting on? I'm checking the resolution. Voting on the recommendation that doesn't have those two sentences or the recommendation that does? The backup that's for City Council, the updated, the recommendation on that condition four is the one that does not have those two sentences. That's what I thought. I apologize. No, that's okay. I got screwed up. Good catch. Thank you. Okay. Because I liked their intent of that. Yes. And so, I wanted to make sure that we were keeping that. Yes. The second is just a request. If we could have the DRC minutes included in the backup material going forward, that would be super helpful. Because I'm just glad I caught that. And so, I really like the DRC minutes. So, that would just be a request going forward. Okay. Thank you very much. Will do. Okay. Seeing as no other council members wishing to speak, we have a motion and a second. Clerk, could you please open the machine for voting? Council members, please enter your votes. Seeing as all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally and announce the vote. Mr. Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J1 passes unanimously with council members Driscoll and Vic Sanders being absent. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you. Good night. Good night. Okay. We'll move into open forum. Thank you. Do we have any cards for open forum? Thank you. Mr. Chair, we do not. Okay. We'll go ahead and close open forum. Council members, any announcements? Yep. Sir. Council member Givens, we're going to go to Council member Givens first. Council member Harding, sorry. Thank you, Chair. You got to be quicker, Mike. I just want to wish everyone a happy Easter. This Sunday, we'll be celebrating Easter. So however you celebrate, wherever you celebrate, safe travels and happy Easter to everybody. Thank you. Council member Givens, back at you. Council member Harding. Thanks, Chair. Girls Varsity Flag Football. It is a very big district. It is all Pinellas County, all Manatee County, and part of Sarasota County. Wow. And the district finals are in two hours, and it is Northeast High School against St. Petersburg High School. Go Northeast! So the city wins no matter what. There you go. I will report back with a score. All right. Thank you, Council member Harding. Okay, we've got a couple of birthdays. Loretta Taylor's birthday is tomorrow. And Council member Gabbard has a birthday next week. Warries. So we're going to sing Miss Taylor and Council member Gabbard Happy Birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Loretta and Brandy. Happy birthday to you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Okay, and then I'd just also like to say Happy Easter. Please enjoy the weekend. It's a long weekend. Yes. For, it's, they make it longer for some reason for us. My kids are out of school tomorrow and Monday, so. Mine too. Lots to celebrate. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, joyous occasion and Easter weekend. That being said, Council's adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you.