Loading...
09-27-1999 - Regular / ..,. ...." l . CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Randy Allman Councilman James Gornto Councilman Myron Hammond Councilman Gary Roberts Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Attorney Nikki Clayton City Manager Kenneth Hooper city Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Excused Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Special Meetinq of September 2. 1999 Councilman Hammond made a motion to approve the September 2, 1999 minutes, second by Councilman Roberts. The motion CARRIED 5-0. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/PLAQUES A. Mayor's award and proclamation to Marcella Halstead This item was tabled until the next meeting due to Marcella Halstead not being able to be at the meeting. B. Storm Briefinq by Fire Chief Tracey Barlow Fire Chief Barlow presented a report of what actually occurred during the events of Hurricane Floyd as it passed through here. He feels they were extremely prepared for this storm. He went over storm tracking, the evacuation process, response/recovery, damage assessment, areas for improvement with the emergency operations. He briefly went over the damaged properties in Edgewater. He also briefly went over the damages properties from Tropical Storm Harvey which followed four days later. He commended the whole City for their cooperation during the evacuation. Councilwoman Lichter asked if anyone else was evacuated besides manufactured homes. Fire Chief Barlow commented on an evacuation order for anyone east of u.S. #1. Councilman Roberts asked about recovering some of the cost for the cleanup effort through FEMA, some federal programs and grants. Fire Chief Barlow elaborated. Councilman Roberts feels the city employees are doing a fantastic job of getting the city cleaned up. Fire Chief Barlow stated the dedication of the city employees is quite unique compared to a majority of other cities. City Manager Hooper commented on the efforts by Fire Chief Barlow, Police Chief Schumaker, Environmental Services Director Terry Wadsworth, and volunteers. He stated we've got quite a group of not only staff but volunteers also. Hats off to the Department Heads. 'W' ..",., \ Mayor Allman spoke about Marcella Halstead providing food and cooking at no expense to the city. He feels she did a remarkable job also. councilman Hammond spoke about the efforts of everyone in the City coming in and cleaning up the City after the storm. C. Presentation - skateboard facility at Whistlestop Park bv Director Jack Corder Parks & Recreation/Maintenance Parks and Recreation Director Jack Corder made a presentation regarding a proposed skateboard facility at Whistlestop Park. Councilwoman Lichter was pushing for this at the Recreational Complex. She asked if there are any grants or moneys out there to help supplement this cost. Mr. Corder elaborated on some grants he is looking at. Councilman Roberts expressed concern of this being a hangout for teenagers late at night. Mr. Corder informed him they do not plan on lighting it and a sign would say the park closes at dusk. There was a brief discussion regarding putting a fence around it. Mr. Corder stated Ormond Beach chose not to fence theirs in because kids will just jump the fence. Councilman Hammond feels it is great that the State is backing off on the regulation. He spoke about the County where he came from and an incident that happened where two kids were injured and the County was held liable even though the children signed a waiver not holding the County liable. City Attorney Clayton explained the law that the Federal Court would apply is going to be the State law. Because the State has just amended it and said there is an encouragement to provide these facilities and a release of liability to the jurisdictions that do, the Federal Court would apply that law. She believes the result would be different. Councilwoman Lichter feels with control a place to hangout isn't a bad thought. City Manager Hooper asked for a consensus from Council to incorporate this, complete the plan, bring it back, have it finalized and put it on the agenda. Councilman Roberts would like to look at the site more closely. City Manager Hooper stated they would bring a site plan back. Mr. Corder agreed to go there with Councilman Roberts to look at the site. It was the consensus of Council for city Manager Hooper to look into this. Councilman Roberts wondered if the money wouldn't be better spent going into the project on Turgot. That is going to be our central complex. Mr. Corder elaborated on why they didn't choose to do this at the new recreational site. city Manager Hooper informed Council he would bring this back as an agenda item. Councilwoman Lichter asked if New Smyrna is open at night. Mr. Corder hadn't checked into that. Ormond Beach is at dusk and has no lights for their facility. Ms. Plaskett stated New Smyrna also has a cutoff at dusk. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 .... 'W CITIZEN COMMENTS REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS ONLY Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, spoke about kids that rollerskate and skateboard through Meadow Lake Subdivision. He expressed concern with children using pine Breeze Drive to get to and from the skateboard facility. He is not against this. He asked that the children not be allowed to use their bicycles on the skateboard ramps. He feels this is very dangerous. He would like to see a road built from 28th Street to Roberts Road to alleviate the traffic on pine Breeze Drive. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Roberts asked city Manager Hooper if he has set up a time for Design Works for Education to come in and address Council. Cit~ Manager Hooper stated he believes he will be here on October 18 h. Councilman Roberts asked City Manager Hooper if he and Mr. Corder had a chance to start to put together figures on landscaping Rotary Park. He has met with members of the Rotary Club and they seemed very receptive to this idea and are willing to try and help out with the project. City Manager Hooper stated they haven't gotten to that due to Mr. Corder's crew being busy cleaning up after the storm. That is something they will do in the very near future and bring back to Council. Councilman Roberts stated he asked the Rotary Club if they would consider putting on a fundraiser to help fund the project and they are always there for volunteer labor. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the Committee for the Year 2000. City Manager Hooper stated they have appointed a member, either Ms. Plaskett or someone in her office, to help do that. Councilwoman Lichter stated she got a call from a constituent today regarding the Police Department aspect of the budget who compared 1995/1996 to our current one. The budget back then had a total police budget $300,000 less than what we collected in ad valorem taxes. Our present budget has $500,000 more than our ad valorem. city Manager Hooper stated the only thing he can think of without spending a lot of time going through the budget is in 95/96 there were grant applications to help pay for certain items. He agreed to meet with the citizen that has expressed concern. Chief Schumaker stated the only thing he can think of is the evidence building was an initial expense. city Manager Hooper spoke about the time spent reviewing the Police Department budget. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the additional break for seniors on the homestead exemption. She was told it would affect about 300 homes in Edgewater. city Manager Hooper presented an update and informed Council it would be brought back in November to discuss. This will not be effective this year. City Attorney Clayton stated Ormond Beach has adopted this, Holly Hill is under consideration now, and DeBary said no. Apparently the County doesn't want to enact a local option. They have begun to gather information which will be brought back in a report. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the County being impacted. City Attorney Clayton stated the County impact is about a $2 million hit to their budget. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 ...., ..., Councilman Roberts asked what the impact would be on a city level. City Attorney Clayton elaborated on the initial response from Morgan Gilreath, the tax collector for the County, being about a $47,000 hit to the City's budget but he did not have the current Department of Revenue rulings. Councilwoman Lichter asked if the state wrote that law. City Attorney Clayton elaborated on how this came about. Some concern has been expressed regarding what happens in Volusia County if some cities have it and some cities don't. Councilman Roberts stated if the amount of money is not a serious impact on the budget it may be a nice to give some of our seniors a break. city Manager Hooper explained what will happen when this is brought back. Mayor Allman stated he had the pleasure of attending the forum put on by the CRG Friday night and Saturday. He had misgivings originally prior to going and he wanted to state that they did a wonderful job and had a very professional forum. The CRG needs to be commended. Mayor Allman introduced Charles Gebelein and Don Schmidt for Mayor, Harriet Rhodes for District 3 and Jeanne DelNigro for District 4. Councilman Hammond spoke about the manufactured homes in Florida Shores. He further spoke about deed restrictions. He would like to look into this further. city Attorney Clayton presented a report of how many modular homes exist in Florida Shores and what they have done up to this point. This is just a preliminary report. Councilman Roberts asked Building Official Dennis Fischer how the new manufactured home going in is being anchored. Mr. Fischer explained him it is on post and pier. Councilwoman Lichter stated the Manufactured Home Association is the most powerful of lobbyists and they have obviously got this dream on a Federal and State level. She spoke about some differences between manufactured and site-built homes. Mr. Fischer commented on DCA housing and HUD housing. The difference at 50 feet is identical. Councilwoman Lichter stated modular homes are different than manufactured homes and asked if modular or manufactured homes going up in Florida Shores. Mr. Fischer stated all of the homes that have gone up in Florida Shores are modular homes. Mr. Fischer further elaborated on the difference between manufactured homes, mobile homes and modular homes. He referred to the State Statute and DCA approval. Councilman Hammond spoke about an agency in Port Orange that is planning on moving to the Edgewater area. Teresa Voshell, 2219 Doster Drive, 800 Indian River Boulevard, stated there is not a large market for the modular home sites so when they find one they tend to jump on it. The lots in Florida Shores are at an all time low. She feels if you put a modular home next to a site-built home it will not help when they go to sell that home. A neighborhood definitely affects the value of your home. She doesn't think they should wait on this. She thinks Council should try prevention instead of dealing with it after it happens. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 ... ,.., City Manager Hooper spoke about the Land Development Code that is underway. This is supposed to be back in front of Council around late October and early November. That is the place, if you are interested in increasing the aesthetic value, to do this. Councilman Roberts suggested adjusting the minimum square footage of living area required in that district. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the older homes in Florida Shores that may be smaller. If they burn down, they would be non-conforming. City Attorney Clayton stated they would bring back some characteristics for Council to look at. She stated Council may even want to extend this to commercial development. Councilman Roberts stated he has spoken to a couple members of the Planning & Zoning Board about the B-3 Service District on u.S. #1. He stated they may want to consider adopting ordinances in those zoning districts so we don't end up with allowing certain things in certain areas. He feels this would help improve the look of Edgewater's downtown. Councilwoman Lichter asked Mr. Fischer the size of modular homes. Mr. Fischer stated the modular home they are talking about is 1,625 square feet living. Councilman Roberts asked if when they are putting these in are they putting in a modular garage or a site-built garage. Mr. Fischer stated there have been no garages at this point. City Attorney Clayton stated she would bring back choices for Council. They can figure out what they think would be the most useful to have in a neighborhood that has 5,000 units with another 2,000 to go. She spoke about restrictions and covenants. Councilman Hammond presented a scenario on Riverside Drive if someone was to put in a modular home. Mr. Fischer spoke about a modular home that was done a year ago that is behind the Sewer Treatment Plant. It is three times larger than anything in the neighborhood. Rosemary Ricks, Lighthouse Realty, 201 S. Ridgewood Avenue, feels Florida Shores is now becoming a nice area and feels this is a big setback for Edgewater. She went by the house on Mango Tree today and feels it does not look like a regular house at 50 feet or 20 feet. This is going to deteriorate the whole area again and people will look at Florida Shores as they have done in the past. Councilman Roberts spoke about the homeowners in Florida Shores needing their investments protected. He feels this needs to be looked into. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the standards of upkeep and tightness in Edgewater Landing being stricter than Edgewater's codes. She spoke about the Florida Shores Homeowners Association getting involved. There was a ten-minute recess at this time. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. Public Hearinq, 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 99-0-21, adoptinq millaqe rate of 5.95 mills per $1,000 of assessed taxable value B. Public Hearinq, 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 99-0-22, adoptinq tentative budqet for fiscal year 1999/2000 Page -5- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 ...... ...., Mayor Allman read Ord. 99-0-21 and opened the public hearing. city Manager Hooper made a staff presentation regarding the budget and the millage. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, urged Council not to cut taxes. Mayor Allman commended Donna Looney for the marvelous job she has done since taking over. Mayor Allman closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to approve Ord. 99-0-21, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 4-0. Mayor Allman read Ord. 99-0-22 and opened the public hearing. Councilwoman Lichter feels City Manager Hooper has so explained every aspect of the budget that is probably clearer to her than the one in her pocketbook. She thanked him for that. Councilman Roberts stated he is very pleased with the budget. He likes the idea that our unrestricted funds are up around 22%. Ed Keenan, 1905 pine Tree Drive, stated in 1996 the increase in taxes had been over 60%. He congratulated Council for doing a good job over the past two years. Councilman Roberts made a motion to approve Ord. 99-0-22, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 4-0. c. Public Hearinq, 2nd Reading, Ord. 99-0-04 Repealinq Ord Nos. 90-0-27, 94-0-11, and 95-0-13 and restatinq the Firefiqhters' Pension Retirement Fund Mayor Allman read Ord. 99-0-04 and opened the public hearing. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Allman closed the public hearing. Councilman Roberts made a motion to approve Ord. 99-0-04, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 4-0. D. Public Hearinq, 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 99-0-23, annexation of 1.05 acres located at 2576 U.S. Hiqhway #1 (Nice Place Restaurant) Mayor Allman read Ord. 99-0-23 and opened the public hearing. City Manager Hooper stated the applicant could not be present but is requesting approval. Staff is also recommending approval. Mayor Allman closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to approve Ord 99-0-23, second by Councilman Roberts. The motion CARRIED 4-0. CONSENT AGENDA There were no items to be discussed on the Consent Agenda. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business to be discussed. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 W' ..., OFFICER REPORTS City Clerk Wadsworth reminded everyone to vote Tuesday, October 5th. City Attorney Clayton presented a report on request for proposals for insurance coverage renewals. Mr. Al Waters is present to go over the insurance proposals. Mr. Al Waters, Waters Risk Management, Pinellas Park, went over the insurance proposals for property, liability, and workers compensation. City Attorney Clayton informed Council they have substantially improved their coverage with this proposal and have saved, for all insurances, approximately $27,000. The enhancements for the umbrella and other discussion that we want to refine will come back to Council as options at the October 4th meeting. She asked for Council's approval of the base proposal outlined by Mr. Waters. Councilwoman Lichter asked what the cost is for the services from Mr. Waters firm. city Attorney Clayton stated she believes we pay him for consulting services the poultry sum of $9,000. City Manager Hooper commented on the numbers for workers compensation. There was a discussion regarding Risk Management Associates giving a very competitive proposal. She asked for Council's approval of the recommendation. Mr. Ewing stated he didn't hear anything about earthquake insurance. Mr. Waters spoke about what is automatically included such as earthquake and sinkhole. Henry Dardinski, 2704 Sabal Palm Drive, asked about the $25,000 deductible. Mr. Waters elaborated. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to accept the $11,000 and award the proposal to Risk Management Associates, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 4-0. City Manager Hooper informed Council of a petition he received regarding paving dirt roads on Juniper, Lime Tree and the 1100 block of 15th Street. He suggested giving the petition to the City Clerk and meet with the residents and talk of the normal process of a 1/3 on each side and see if they can come to an agreement over the funds. It was the consensus of Council to proceed with this. Tony Mason, 1106 15th Street, informed Council of the locations they want paved. Councilman Roberts asked if 16th was being considered for repaving because of its poor condition and wasn't that an area where the duplexes on the north side were not tied on to City sewer. He questioned if they should consider putting sewer lines in before they put new asphalt down. Mr. Mason informed Council of areas where homes are still on septic tanks. City Manager Hooper informed Council of the process to do this. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999 ..... ...." Councilman Roberts spoke about the north side of 16th street not being included in the Capital Improvements Program. Mr. Mason stated when he purchased his home he contacted the City Engineer and was told it was. After the project was completed, they claimed they were part of either Edgewater Acres and they were never part of the plan. Mr. Mason stated 30% of the people on the petition are owner- residents. He doesn't have the means to track down a lot of the property owners. Councilwoman Lichter referred to her list of unpaved streets in Edgewater and questioned 16th street not being on the list. Councilman Roberts informed her 16th is paved but is in really poor shape. It doesn't make sense to repave it if it needs sewer lines. GENERAL CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE Henry Dardinski, 2704 Sabal Palm Drive, stated he has lived in Edgewater for 17 years and his mailbox had been destroyed three times. The Police Department caught the culprit and made him pay for his mailbox. He congratulated the Edgewater Police Department. Dorothy Ward, Lighthouse Realty, asked if the modular home business will be brought back at the next meeting. city Attorney Clayton stated she could expect it on the October 18th meeting. She is concerned that Edgewater will go right down the tube again if something isn't done. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Hammond made a motion to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page -8- Council Regular Meeting September 27, 1999