Loading...
04-04-2005 - Regular '-' ....., CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEE TING APRIL 4, 2005 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES 1 . CALL TO ORDER Mayor Schmidt called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Donald Schmidt Councilman James Brown Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Manager Kenneth Hooper City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Paralegal Robin Matusick Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Excused INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There were no minutes to be approved at this time. 3. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/PLAQUES/CERTIFICATES/DONATIONS There were no presentations at this time. 4. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mayor Schmidt announced that Item 6A is being continued until the May 2nd meeting. The following citizen spoke: Pat Card, 3019 Willow Oak Drive, presented the proposal for the lease and subsequent purchase of the Regions Bank building. He feels the City should be able to afford this out of the General Fund revenues without increasing taxes. He spoke about rehabilitating the current City Hall. Spending tax money on Regions Bank will be a much better use than spending additional money on a building that he feels should be torn down. ~ ....., Mr. Card went over the proposal from Regions Bank. For the first year the payment would be $34,000 a month. For years two through five the amount would be $41,666 with a final purchase price of $10. He feels the building will be worth well over $4 million five years from now. It will probably be about $2.5 million, maybe a little more. He feels this building is the best solution for the problem the City recognized over five years ago. The Site Selection Committee met for a long time and the parcels that were looked at have been sold and there is no other site that meets the City's needs as well as this building does left in the City. Dennis Ward is able to market this property to many others and is therefore giving the City precedence again. He feels this is the City's last chance to get it. This is a citizen's initiative. Dave Ross and Mr. Card had to make one last attempt to get the City to do the right thing. He feels this deal should not be passed up. He asked Mayor Schmidt to accept this offer for study and action by the Council and Staff. Their only request is that they be invited to the meetings with the bank when they negotiate finally on this. Mayor Schmidt accepted the agreement. He thanked Mr. Card and Mr. Ross for the effort they have put into this. For several years now, a lot of us have looked to that bank building as being the ultimate place we would like to be for the next twenty years. Mayor Schmidt gave the proposal to City Clerk Wadsworth. He and City Manager Hooper have talked and they feel they need to set up a public hearing once the lawyer has looked at it and once the meetings have been set. City Manager Hooper asked if they are interested in this on May 2nd. He commented on the discussions he has had with City Attorney Paul Rosenthal over the difference between a lease and a purchase. City Attorney Rosenthal is aware that the discussions in general are on-going. He hasn't seen the proposal but his opinion is you can enter into a lease purchase agreement. There are some conditions and caveats over how you do that. This has been to the voters twice and he feels the proper way is to hold a public hearing and disclose clearly without any doubt the payment plans, how it would he paid for, the impact on the City's budget and seek public input. You are wandering into territory where the voters have said no twice. There is an alternative financing. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 ....., ....., Councilwoman Lichter questioned if the figures are set in stone or is there possibility of negotiation. Mr. Card stated what he presented to the Council was a letter of intent. He would hope that City Manager Hooper would be able to contact the bank at an early point to make sure they only had to draft an agreement once. Councilwoman Lichter wouldn't want to go to public hearing until that was done. City Manager Hooper stated May 2nd allows you some time to contact the bank. They have had a purchase sale agreement with the bank and that is why he would suspect it to be quick and effective to be able to talk to them and get an agreement in front of the Council and that is when they would be conducting the public hearing. Mr. Card informed Councilwoman Lichter the reason City Manager Hooper would have had difficulty discussing this with the people at the bank if he attempted to was because the bank had an agreement with him that they would present this to Council in an open forum. This is a citizen's initiative and they would like to be involved beyond this point when they are in negotiations with the bank if there are negotiations. City Manager Hooper informed Council if they are interested in that discussion, they should go ahead and schedule it. They can quickly work with the bank and have a draft there. City Attorney Rosenthal will be present at that meeting. Everybody needs to feel comfortable, including the bank. It was the consensus of Council to hold the public hearing on May 2nd provided everything has fallen into place. Councilwoman Lichter asked if there was discussion regarding work that would have to be done to the bank to accommodate City Hall and the Council Chambers. Dave Ross, 2803 Needle Palm Drive, feels the citizens voted no twice on a bond issue that required a tax increase. He has not spoken to one person that has said we don't need a new City Hall. When they said no, they said no to a tax increase. He doesn't think they said no to a new City Hall. He apologized for this being presented so late. He spoke to the Director of Real Estate in Birmingham who worked with his legal department to draft this up and he has received all of the approvals regarding the letter of intent. There have been no negotiations between himself or Mr. Card regarding the finite terms of the agreement. He is expecting to enter into conversations with the staff immediately to iron out the details of an agreement. This is a letter of intent. They just outlined the basics. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 ~ ., city Manager Hooper stated on May 2nd they will draft, negotiate and bring Council back an agreement and then they will hold a public hearing on that agreement and decide where to go with that agreement. Councilwoman Rhodes stated in that it comes back to the Council on May 2nd can there be included figures or a plan for the renovation of Regions. City manager Hooper suggested doing a lease purchase. Take the bank. Do renovations but do it over time and continue to use this for a while. The second floor over there is usable for office space. The downstairs is going to take some renovation. There are some options and alternatives that are there. Mayor Schmidt stated it would probably take them a year to build their branch bank. city Manager Hooper didn't think they were going to do that anymore. The property, in total, has been on the market lately. Mr. Card stated the President of Regions has made it clear to him that Regions Bank is not leaving Edgewater. He commented on city Hall being a good neighbor. 5. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilwoman Lichter stated they received a letter from County Councilman Jack Hayman about a traffic light being okayed at SR 442 and Air Park Road. She spoke of the Animal Facility being located on Air Park Road if everything works out and the traffic generated from this, as well as the Middle School. Councilwoman Lichter also spoke about the paving of 35th Street into Florida Shores. Councilwoman Lichter commented on the Volusia League of Cities Dinner in Daytona Beach Shores that she and Councilman Brown attended. Mayor Schmidt had nothing at this time. Councilman Brown stated the reason the Mayor missed the Volusia League Dinner is because he was given the Citizen of the Year Award by the Elks Lodge. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 'W' ...., Councilman Vincenzi had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Rhodes thanked Pat Card and Dave Ross for all the hard work they have done. She agreed with Mr. Ross that the reason it was turned down was because of extra tax money. If they can find a way to do this in our budget, then she feels they would really be remiss not to do it. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. 1st Reading, Ord. No. 2005-0-07, Halstead Resources Inc. Requesting an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map to include 2.3 acres of land located at 2203 S. Ridgewood Avenue as Commercial and High Density Residential Councilwoman Lichter asked for the minutes from the Planning and Zoning Board meeting where this was turned down. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to continue this item until May 2nd, second by Councilman Vincenzi. The MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 7 . BOARD APPOINTMENTS A. Citizen Code Enforcement Board - nomination by Councilwoman Lichter to fill seat due to the expired term of Ben DelNigro, who requested reappointment Councilwoman Lichter moved to reappoint Ben DelNiqro to the Citizen Code Enforcement Board, second by Councilman Brown. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 8. CONSENT AGENDA There were no items to be discussed on the Consent Agenda at this time. 9. OTHER BUSINESS A. Edgewater Harbor - staff recommending approval of the Edgewater Harbor Phase I site plan on the condition that all City staff and consultant comments have been satisfactorily addressed Page -5- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 "-" """'" City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation regarding the Edgewater Harbor Phase I site plan. The commercial site plan will be coming back to Council. Staff, as well as the Planning and Zoning Board has recommended approval. All plans have been submitted. There is an update of the construction plans that were submitted this afternoon. This is ready for final approval. Councilwoman Lichter complimented the organization, engineers and architects on the work they have done. Mayor Schmidt stated one of the most important parts of this will be the burms on either side. He asked if they will be finished from end to end even though the other buildings aren't going up yet. Katie Gierok, Gierok Engineering, stated they have put a burm on the Boston Whaler side. They weren't required since it is residential against residential on Hacienda's side to put a burm. City Manager Hooper stated the copies of this plan also went to Boston Whaler and they have had an opportunity to review it. They have signed off on the burm. They have been a good partner in trying to get this solved. Councilman Vincenzi asked City Manager Hooper to address the problems and concerns Boston Whaler had when this first came forward. City Manager Hooper elaborated on the concerns about odor and the cost sharing agreement. Councilman Brown asked if the people buying this property are being informed that there is potential of having the odor coming into their condos. He spoke about including in their contract that there will be no harassment calls. He asked if there is anything covering that now to keep peace between people buying the condos and Boston Whaler. Ms. Gierok stated they put language in the contract that was approved by Boston Whaler identifying that Boston Whaler exists adjacent and that they don't have the right to sue. Councilwoman Lichter spoke of Boston Whaler finding a new solution. City Manager Hooper explained they are looking at several different capital improvements. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 ....... '...., Councilman Vincenzi stated he was originally concerned that Boston Whaler would have a lot of complaints and be forced to move out because of those complaints. The legal contract really doesn't make him feel better. The fact that they are making improvements to the plant and eliminating the potential problem is a good sign. City Manager Hooper went over the site plan. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to recommend approval of the Edaewater Harbor Phase I site plan on the condition that all City staff and consultant comments have been satisfactorily addressed, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 10. OFFICER REPORTS A. city Clerk Wadsworth had nothing at this time. B. Paralegal Matusick was excused from the meeting C. City Manager Hooper had nothing at this time. 11. CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE The following citizen spoke: Pat Card, 3019 Willow Oak Drive, stated several months ago he mentioned to Council that he had a concern about the way that properties would be assessed if the property had to be rebuilt and about the possibility that people would have tremendous and larger assessments and as a consequence double or triple their taxes. There is a bill in the Florida Senate right now. If Council has the opportunity to talk to the people they know at higher levels in government, he suggested they definitely support this bill. A. Tentative Agenda Items There were no Tentative Agenda Items to be discussed at this time. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005 ~ ..., 12 . ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Rhodes moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:34 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page -8- Council Regular Meeting April 4, 2005