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02-17-1999 - Workshop , '-'" ~ CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 17, 1999 6:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Workshop to order at 6:02 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 Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Excused MEETING PURPOSE The purpose of the workshop is to present Council a draft of the Land Development Codes. City Manager Hooper presented opening remarks. Planning and Zoning Director Lynne Plaskett went through each article explaining the most important part of that section. (See attached) Councilwoman Lichter expressed concern regarding homes having a requirement of 20-foot setbacks and if homes got blown away in a storm they would then be non-conforming if they had to rebuild. She spoke about the height being different by a foot. She doesn't know if manufactured homes are being built with a different height or not. She asked for this to be looked into. Mayor Allman stated he believes what they are doing tonight is just going through this. The actually getting down and rewriting this will be done at another time. City Manager Hooper asked Council to let Ms. Plaskett go through the changes with questions after with public input at the end. Ms. Plaskett continued with her presentation. Councilman Roberts asked about impact fees for building permits. He feels they should always allow people to pay road impact fees, which actually goes through the County at the end of a project. Ms. Plaskett informed him that is not mentioned and would remain the same. Ms. Plaskett continued with her presentation. Councilman Gornto asked for clarification on Article VII Non-Conforming Uses. He questioned this being done different in the past. Ms. Plaskett explained they have done it based more on an administration policy. It has just never been written. They are trying to add language to the land development regulations that allow us to do that. There was further discussion regarding Article VII. Ms. Plaskett continued with her presentation. '-". ...." .. City Manager Hooper spoke about why he feels they should add a 25,000 square foot threshold for site plan review by Planning and Zoning Board and City Council. There was further discussion regarding Article IX Application Procedures and Fees and standards that are being set. Councilman Roberts stated they want standards that are going to bring in development but they don't want to go overboard and scare people away. City Manager Hooper spoke about P.U.D.'s. City Manager Hooper informed Council of the current zoning ordinance and proposed LDC comparison presented by The Gosline Company. City Attorney Clayton thinks the public input and education process are probably going to be the most important elements the Council is going to address as soon as they get a better handle of what they are looking at. city Manager Hooper asked to take input from the citizens. Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, asked about eight-foot versus ten foot in subdivisions. He asked what would happen to the existing empty lots that have not been built on. Is that still going to be eight feet or will that be ten foot under a new code. Ms. Plaskett stated he is supposed to change it and we are going to take it back to the way it was. Paul Jenkins, willow Oak Drive, addressed commercial vehicles. He also spoke about no electric in mini- warehouses. He feels wording on Page 21 section 4-9 should be corrected. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about residential abutting industry or commercial. Ms. Plaskett explained industry and commercial are being kept separate and further presented examples of situations. Councilwoman Lichter expressed concern with there being ten empty lots in Florida Shores and the owners thinking that they are in a residential area and all of a sudden someone comes in with a plan for something else. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the Florida litter law. Ms. Plaskett explained this is included in the Florida Statutes. Councilwoman Lichter asked if it could be included in the Land Development Code. City Manager Hooper feels they should go to the various Homeowners Associations to get input. He feels they should send out a letter asking if they should like the city to come in and talk about it and also invite them to this public type meeting. Mr. capria feels in most cases, it is a good idea to go the associations because they are more stringent in their covenants than the city is. Councilman Roberts asked if there is anything in the Comprehensive Plan where we will have to deal with DCA. City Manager Hooper explained not on here. The Comp Plan is not in good shape and needs to be fixed independent with the Land Development Code. They will have this fixed in the next year and a half. Page -2- Council Workshop February 17, 1999 '-'" ..."" City Attorney Clayton explained the Comprehensive Plan for the state said that it was going to have a unified development code and the state statute requires that be done. The Land Development Code has to be completed first. This is the first step to getting legal. City Manager Hooper spoke about the city growing at a fast rate. Ms. Plaskett informed Council some of the things they are proposing in the Land Development Code are also being put in the Evaluation and Appraisal Report. City Attorney Clayton stated one of the things the Council may want is input from people who have to live with a code like this. Mayor Allman wants input from anybody that lives in the City that shows concern. He feels the citizens should have a voice in rewriting the code. Councilwoman Lichter feels there is so much to it that the breaking it up for meetings is probably the best idea. Andy Anderson, spoke about the ship restaurant and the rental units in the back. He asked if there are any plans to get that cleaned up. It is an eyesore. Ms. Plaskett elaborated. City Manager Hooper stated they would take another look at it to see their options. City Manager Hooper informed Council of setting up a meeting with the Homeowners Associations for public input. He will bring this back in a 90-day time period. City Manager Hooper informed Council they would have a Charter work session on March 1, 1999 at 6:00 p.m. with the Regular Meeting to follow. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they should have the work session another night or will they have enough time between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. City Manager Hooper spoke of the meeting process for that night. Mayor Allman asked if they would be voting on the Police Pension at the March 1st meetin~. City Manager Hooper stated he thinks it is March 1s . Mayor Allman spoke of meetings he has sat in on with the Police Pension Board. Mayor Allman spoke about an officer that is totally disabled as a result of a catastrophic injury he suffered while on duty. He recommended they as a Council show the people that work for them that they care. He spoke about the police officers and firefighters only receiving 25% disability if they are hurt in the line of duty plus 2% for every year they are credited with serving. Mayor Allman stated what we are doing now is allowing our people to put their lives on the line and if they get hurt we are forcing them into poverty and public assistance. He feels this is wrong. As a Council, we can change this on March 1st. He believes this is well over due and should be taken back to the date of the police officer's disability. He spoke of an officer that is having heart problems. He feels they need to take care of the people that take care of them. city Manager Hooper commented on where they stand with this. He went on to speak about certain steps they have to follow. Page -3- Council Workshop February 17, 1999 . 'W' ""'" Mayor Allman explained he is talking about a catastrophic injury causing a man to retire. He feels as citizens they do not have the right to take his life and put it into poverty for protecting our community. He feels this is a special instance to where if it is going to cost the City a lot of money, he would be willing to donate his salary to go towards this if it is going to be such a monetary bust for the City. City Manager Hooper explained the issue is it is a pension plan and you can't just take a little piece of it and say it's the portion that has to do with disability if you are going to change just that. You change the whole plan, which is what is coming in front of Council. Councilwoman Lichter asked about a personnel review committee that looks into disabilities. City Manager Hooper elaborated on how it has been done in the past. Mayor Allman feels no matter what employee gets hurt in the line of duty this community owes them something. He doesn't feel this community has been fair. If it is the last thing I do as Mayor of the City, so be it. He believes they need to address this. He questioned amending the contract and having to rework the whole contract. City Manager Hooper explained the process. Ron Prekup, Pension Board member, spoke on the minimum paid being required by the state and mandated by law. He feels if they are going to give the minimum disability, let's give the police officer's minimum wage. He spoke of officer's leaving the city because of better offers from other cities. In order to keep the officers in Edgewater, you have to do better than the minimum. Mr. Prekup is upset with having a blanket policy to cover anyone disabled in the line of duty. He doesn't feel there is a comparison between a garbage man or meter reader being hurt in the line of duty as opposed to an officer. He puts his life on the line every time he goes out there. Councilwoman Lichter asked about Mr. Prekup receiving 75%. Mr. Prekup explained Federal is different. Councilwoman Lichter stated but he doesn't receive social Security. Mr. Prekup clarified he receives Social security but it is very minimal. city Manager Hooper spoke of an officer who had a heart attack off duty. Is it the City's issue? He doesn't know. Was it because he was stressed as a police officer? He doesn't know and doesn't think anyone can tell you that. He has a family history. Mayor Allman spoke of what the City and its employee have done to help Mr. Frazee. There was a brief discussion regarding disability insurance. city Manager Hooper will make a report on March 1st. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Roberts made a motion to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Minutes submitted by Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -4- Council Workshop February 17, 1999