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01-10-2000 - Workshop ...... .....,. CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP JANUARY 10, 2000 6:00 P.K. COKMUNITY CENTER KINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Schmidt called the Workshop to order at 6:00 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 Legal Assistant Robin Wolf City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Excused KEETING PURPOSE The purpose of the workshop is to have the Mayor and City Council develop short-range and long-range policies and provide direction for staff to assist in implementation of the goals. Mayor Schmidt informed the public during the first ten minutes of the meeting and the last ten minutes of the meeting he would allow citizen comments. Dick Jones, 1530 Sabal Palm Drive, discussed Item 3 under Economic Development. He spoke about what impact this will have on the city. He would like to see more emphasis on getting this done. They had indicated a major part of u.S. #1 would be part of it, a major part of Park Avenue would be part of it as well as Guava and Hibiscus. Mr. Jones spoke about Item 1 under New City Hall. He would like to see it stay where it is. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, spoke about beautification. He received phone calls since SR 442 was in the newspaper especially about Code Enforcement and what is going on a long u.S. #1. The complaint was regarding codes for signs on u.S. #1. He also received a complaint regarding the colors of buildings on u.S. #1. He doesn't know if there is anything that can be done about enforcing a color code or sign code. Mr. Jones stated a while back the Volusia county School Board gave back land to us on Mango Tree south of Public Works. He thought they were going to work on making that into a park. Environmental Services Director Terry Wadsworth explained they are not using this pond for storage but they can use it for withdrawal. When they put in for a grant it was a combination of stormwater abatement, reuse augmentation and passive park proposal. It probably needs to be altered. They are doing an update right now on the application with st. John's for some grant money. Parks & Recreation Director Jack Corder stated if they decided to open it up as a park they would have to have some serious discussion regarding the liability issue. Councilman Vincenzi would like to see this cleaned up anyway. It is an eyesore. Dominic capria, 606 Topside Circle, stated he sees nothing on the list regarding the additional $25,000 exemption for senior citizens. "-" .....,. City Manager Hooper explained how he came up with the summary of priorities. Councilwoman Lichter feels this is a very comprehensive list. She feels certain things can be done in conjunction with each other. She doesn't quite see too much priority but short-term versus long-term. City Manager Hooper explained he is looking for more of a long-term direction. Councilwoman Lichter asked City Manager Hooper if he put money in this budget already for unpaved roads. City Manager Hooper stated there is $100,000 in this year's budget for roads. There is money set aside to start the program. Mayor Schmidt stated we in the last two meetings have committed and are spending close to $1 million to go west and go south. He really wants to see this start working for us since they are now spending the money. He also wants to see us as the lines go out on Park Avenue, he wants to push and drive FIND as much as they can, he wants to see the annexation of the airport and the businesses around there and he wants them to do whatever they need to to make it as fast as they can. He asked for a brief explanation about tax increment financing which city Manager Hooper explained. He feels they should set up at least one tax increment financing district. Every City has one, except Edgewater. Mayor Schmidt asked if there are certain areas that would benefit us more. City Manager Hooper explained areas like FIND, where you have fairly low current property values. Mayor Schmidt asked how long it takes to get something like that in place. City Manager Hooper stated three or four months. He went on to explain the process. The hard part is defining what areas you really want. Councilwoman Lichter asked about a community Redevelopment Agency. City Manager Hooper explained a Community Redevelopment Agency is what you set up and it is funded by tax increment financing. Councilwoman spoke about attracting businesses and keeping them here. She spoke about the revitalization project done in DeBary. city Manager Hooper informed Council the City has advertised for Planning Consultants. They are the ones who put together the redevelopment plan. The short list will be brought to the Council at the next meeting to authorize them to negotiate a contract. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about S.R. 442 and I-95. She feels a truck stop with a restaurant would be a good idea. She would like to find out who approached New Smyrna with that deal. Councilwoman Lichter then spoke about ECHO tourism and people being interested in historical spots. Edgewater has not been involved in this plan up to this point. She feels they should really think about this. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about beautification tying in with economic development. until they have this redevelopment agency into affect, they don't know how they want to beautify it. She feels they should have an area in mind and then a plan. Mayor Schmidt spoke about the medians on U.S. #1 and asked if there is a certain amount each year that is already in the plans to do more. City Manager Hooper explained the south two are in this year's budget. Mr. Corder stated the median in front of Burger King and the one south of it. Page -2- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 '-' ...." There was a discussion regarding the cost to beautify the medians. Everything you do has to be done to D.O.T. standards. It is a long drawn out process. There was further discussion regarding xeriscaping. city Manager Hooper explained that is not what anybody is really wanting. They want something green and lush that looks good. There was further discussion regarding irrigation. There was a brief discussion regarding reclaimed water. City Manager Hooper stated they budgeted $26,000 last year and $30,000 this year to be able to do two medians at a time. Mayor Schmidt spoke about the entrance into the City from Park Avenue. He would also like to see something out Indian River Blvd. somewhere near the horse farm. City Manager Hooper stated they can. D.O.T. is giving us $100,000 and that is part of what they are looking at putting in place. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the appearance coming into Edgewater off of 1-95 and possibly putting wildflowers in those medians. She would like to create another visual point that takes away from the ugly beginning, possibly a sign. Councilwoman Rhodes asked where the focal point and downtown district are in Edgewater. city Manager Hooper stated he hasn't found it. Councilwoman Rhodes stated everyone has a different idea of where downtown is. Maybe they ought to define where our downtown district is and where we want to concentrate their efforts. City Manager Hooper explained the next step is the C.R.A. stuff. We aren't there yet. There was some discussion regarding enhancement programs associated with beautification. City Manager Hooper spoke about medians to be done, gateway effects, and signage. Mayor Schmidt feels the intersection of u.S. #1 and S.R. 442 may end up being the focal point of Edgewater after the road is widened. In essence, it is going to be the center. City Manager Hooper feels that is going to be the residential center. He feels Park Avenue will become the industrial center as it develops out. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested doing something to coordinate the two so they blend together aesthetically as well as functionally. There was a brief discussion regarding the appearance of Florida Shores. This is a subdivision that has no deed restrictions. Councilwoman Rhodes questioned what they can do to reverse this. City Manager Hooper explained for manufactured homes, you would adopt rules that would make it more aesthetically difficult for a manufactured home to meet the codes and building requirements. The rules are real clear and the City can't discriminate. If you've got no rules that say you can't have manufactured homes so you can't legislate it. The people that own the property can legislate it. He commented on it taking time to fix this. Councilwoman Lichter feels some of the problem with the way Florida Shores looks is perhaps they haven't put enough money into fixing the swales, the water ponds, the overgrowth. She feels it should be evaluated. She has been getting complaints about streets, drains and lakes. She feels street by street or area by area they have to look into that. Mayor Schmidt asked how close the codes are to coming before Council. City Manager Hooper stated the last week in February or first week in March. City Manager Hooper feels if the Council were to try and do something to keep the manufactured homes out of Florida Shores, they will be challenged. Page -3- Council workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 ........ '<raf1I' Councilman Brown spoke about trying to get Embry Riddle as a resident of Edgewater in the FIND project. He asked if anybody on Council is interested in allowing the City to present this. Councilwoman Lichter suggested using the Economic Development Board. Councilman Vincenzi feels if they are serious about it, it has to be done in an official manner. His personal feeling is they would not really be interested in that. Mayor Schmidt feels they would be more interested in the area of the airport. Councilwoman Rhodes spoke about being largely residential at this point and airplanes constantly going overhead. Councilwoman Lichter feels they have other things to finish before they look at a new City Hall. It seems like we can live with what we've got. She asked that a title search be done. She received a call that there may be something in the original papers that we have to stay here. Mayor Schmidt stated even if it is deeded that way though, he thinks everyone can look at this series of buildings and say maybe it works right now. It's not going to work later on. He feels it not the most efficient and as years go by it is less and less efficient. Councilwoman Rhodes stated this is prime real estate. She is thinking that government offices shouldn't be where there's prime real estate. It's worth too much. There is so much more that could be made of this. Councilwoman Lichter stated within the last two years they built a new fire station and a y that isn't built yet. We have 21 streets in Edgewater that aren't paved. We also have streets that need to be repaved and work in Florida Shores in terms of drains, etc. Councilwoman Rhodes feels this could pay for itself. City Manager Hooper stated that is a goal. Councilman Vincenzi stated he would like to get some numbers regarding what it would cost to build a new one and how much we could get from this one. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about revisiting the ordinance pertaining to bed and breakfast establishments a long Riverside Drive. Councilwoman Rhodes would like to find a downtown district, make a town square and have your center there. City Manager Hooper stated what he is hearing is them not say no but to do some more work, tell us what it costs and options where they may go. Councilwoman Lichter would like to hear what the citizens want. City Manager Hooper stated there would be multi public hearings, to borrow money and to do plans. This is the first start. If they tell him to scratch it, it's scratched. To keep it on the list to look at, that is all it means at this point. Mayor Schmidt feels it is something that deserves more research. Even if we were to stay here, he doesn't think there is much more you can do to this building that hasn't been done already. He would venture to guess it would cost $1.5 million to build a new City Hall. He further spoke about Edgewater expanding and having City Hall more centrally located. They are long range goals for City Hall but they owe it to everybody to be looking at options now. There might be a piece of property that comes up that is near the center that might be a goal mine that we can't refuse. Councilman Brown spoke about ten acres of property that was offered to the City at a reasonable rate and it was turned down by a previous City Council. Councilwoman Rhodes stated there is no reason that this can't be City connected. She just doesn't see where there is room for growth unless you are going to go up. City Manager Hooper mentioned it not being safe during a hurricane. Page -4- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 ..... ....., Councilwoman Rhodes feels you are so limited here, it is not feasible. We need to start looking before it becomes a necessity. Mayor Schmidt stated this year started the process of getting a program in place and getting some money allocated to start working on the roads. He asked logically, how long would it take us to build the fund up to where we have $300,000 a year that we can use. City Manager Hooper stated it's not a long process, possibly two or three years. Mayor Schmidt asked what the estimate on the gas tax is that the City receives. City Manager Hooper informed him $75,000. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the residents on Pelican Lane who have agreed to pay their third to have their street paved. She went on to speak about the residents of Meadow Lake wanting a sidewalk from their subdivision to Indian River Elementary. There was a discussion regarding street maintenance being on- going. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if we should have a plan for maintaining our roads all the time. City Manager Hoper stated yes. Councilwoman Rhodes stated let's do that. Mayor Schmidt spoke about when Florida Shores was done and they were talking about resurfacing system that is a real thin coat but it is supposed to extend the life five or six years. Mr. Wadsworth stated it wasn't tried in the Shores. It was tried on Boston Road, Falcon Avenue and in Shangri-La and his opinion is it wasn't highly successful and isn't worth the effort to apply it. Mayor Schmidt mentioned a golf course. City Manager Hooper explained he has had two developers who have approached him over an area out by I-95 and one to the south. He made it quite clear that he didn't think the City was interested in owning it but the City wouldn't have an objection to working with the developer. There was further discussion regarding golf courses. Councilwoman Lichter questioned if the City needed a part-time Economic Development person. City Manager Hooper stated not yet. We are so far from being able to offer an awful lot. Mayor Schmidt spoke about recreation development. He questioned if they are doing everything they can right now to really make sure it is going to be a success and are they putting everything they can into the building and outside the building. City Manager Hooper informed him yes. Mayor Schmidt asked if the skateboard park is still a reality. Is this something that can be encompassed in the 26-acre park? Mr. Corder explained we lost seven acres of land due to a conservation for the scrub jays. As far as the skateboard park itself, it could be done at Whistle stop or at another site. Mayor Schmidt feels it is something we definitely need. He spoke of instances where he has seen kids skateboarding and roller blading. Mr. Corder spoke about using the northwest corner of Whistle stop Park. Councilwoman Lichter suggested mitigating the problems the neighbors are worried about. Councilwoman Lichter asked about there being someplace else they could buy property. Mr. Corder feels the site at Whistle stop is good because of the location and the proximity where all the kids are. He feels he could do this in-house for less than $20,000 at Whistle stop Park. City Manager Hooper stated what he hears Council saying is they want him to put it on the agenda, get them a price, the timing it would be and if something has to give, what that would be. Council agreed. Page -5- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 ~ "-' Mayor Schmidt would like to see this in place by the summer. Mr. Corder stated he would like to agree with him but they have to deal with st. John's on permitting and that might slow that process down. Councilman Vincenzi stated even though the City is no liable if someone gets hurt, what if someone does get hurt? Is there any provisions for that? City Manager Hooper elaborated. Mayor Schmidt asked if we require a registration. Mr. Corder commented on what Ormond Beach is doing. They are asking the parents to come and sign a consent form on liability. Mayor Schmidt asked if helmets are required. Mr. Corder explained the signage is up requiring the helmets and proper safety gear. Councilwoman Lichter feels at the end of this year they should have some sort of baIlor dance for the City of Edgewater in the new Y. City Manager Hooper stated he would bring that back to Council to see how they want to deal with this. Councilman Brown spoke about all of the children wanting to go to Manatee Park which was built by funds from the public. The City of New Smyrna got involved about halfway through the project, which facilitated getting it done faster. If the City promoted this to begin with, there may be enough room to build something like Manatee Park in the YMCA. Mr. Corder spoke about another option being Rotary Park. There was a brief discussion regarding an amphitheater. Councilwoman Lichter stated we have gorgeous parks but some of them need a little updating in the equipment for young children. Mr. Corder stated the conservation area is taking up a lot more than they originally planned. They are going to turn this into a nature area with trails so the schools can use it. Councilwoman Rhodes spoke about economic development and beautification. She questioned if there are any kind of incentives for businesses that are already here to maybe paint their building brown instead of yellow. City Manager Hooper informed her nothing like that, only for businesses that bring in so many jObs. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if there are any incentives in place to make this a voluntary kind of thing. A lot of businesses will say they can't afford to do it. Mayor Schmidt spoke about little things that little businesses can do to take away little eyesores. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if a business can't afford it, do we have any sort of set up where we can offer them matching grants or something a long that order that might lend them some encouragement to do things. Councilwoman Lichter feels individuals in America have a right to use whatever color they want. Mayor Schmidt stated they have a right to do that but equally on the other hand they have a right and responsibility to the community to fit in. Councilwoman Lichter feels if the city offered an incentive that the City will help a business with matching money if they will maintain it to put something in that would be a concrete plan that could be done to camouflage some of the mess. City Manager Hooper presented a suggestion of how to approach this. Public money on private property can really turn into problems. Councilwoman Rhodes stated it all comes down to money with everyone she has talked to. There was a brief discussion regarding getting help from a Garden Club. Page -6- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 ..... ..." There was a five-minute recess at this time. Mayor Schmidt asked for each Councilperson's top three goals they would like to see done. Councilman Brown chose the YMCA, FIND, and beautifying U.S. #1. There was a brief discussion regarding Manatee Park and how it came to be. Strictly volunteers built it in a week and all the money was donated by businesses, residents and in-kind services. Councilwoman Rhodes chose economic development to include roads, beautification, drainage and economically developing what we already have. She would also like to see as along term project checking into a new City Hall. Councilman vincenzi chose economic development, road improvements and drainage and beautification. Councilwoman Lichter chose economic development, beautification, and roads. Councilman Brown spoke about a situation with a gentleman who bought property in Edgewater and the house had been vacant for a year. He went to clear the title and there was like $800 on the water bill and the water had been shut off for the whole time. He doesn't think it is fair that a person that abandons a house, that the water billing proceeds and the person that buys it can't get a clear title until they pay the past water. City Manager Hooper feels that needs to be looked into. He thinks that is more of a staffing issue. If there is a problem, unless Council tells him they don't want to, he thinks they should look at utility billing in general. He wants to look at all of it and bring it back to Council and modify how we do some of it. He further spoke of some issues of concern. Councilwoman Lichter feels they should also be working on an access road to get out of here in an emergency situation. Mayor Schmidt guaranteed it would be mentioned at every MPO, VCOG, VCARD, and every time they see a senator to whoever it is. He feels this is something they realize is a need. There was further discussion regarding who to talk to about speeding up the process to getting this done. Mayor Schmidt moved on to privatization. He spoke about vehicle maintenance. If there are things that are being done that we can definitely save some big bucks, we need to look into it. City Manager Hooper commented on the City having in-house vehicle maintenance. He presented some possible options. He feels the citizens are happy with solid waste. He briefly spoke about building maintenance. Grounds maintenance needs help. They are coming up a time period where you will have to add more staff or during the growing season, contract with a company to come in and cut the grass in some areas. City Manager Hooper further commented on banking/utility billing and the amount of customers that come in. He spoke about staffing a third register up front. Mayor Schmidt spoke about possibly setting up a general payment spot in Edgewater for electric and cable bills as well as water. Sun Pharmacy is the only local drop off place for phone, cable and power bills. Councilwoman Lichter likes the idea of customers coming in. City Manager Hooper spoke about looking at asking the customers if they would be interested in direct deposit or if the City provided an envelope with a stamp on it. That would save a lot of time and frustration that we are having. Ms. Goins is going through the learning process trying her best to streamline that right now. Page -7- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 --..,.. ...." There was further discussion regarding a local drop off place for other bills other than water. Mayor Schmidt listed his top three choices for his goals as being economic development, annexation and recreation. CITIZEN COMMENTS Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, spoke about unpaved roads. He spoke about the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 method of payment. There was further discussion regarding paving in residential areas as opposed to industrial areas. Mr. Capria further spoke about Edgewater Landing being beautiful because the residents pay for everything. Tom Alcorn, Chairman, Economic Development Board, spoke about water bill liens. He suggested setting up a mechanism that would have to be worked out between the buyer and seller. He further spoke about tax increment financing. He then went on to speak about beautifying homes and businesses. Mr. Alcorn commented on an Economic Development seminar that will be held by the City of New Smyrna Beach, City of Edgewater, and the City of Oak Hill. Mr. Alcorn spoke about the medians in New Smyrna Beach being adopted by businesses. Mr. Alcorn spoke about needing an economic development person full-time. New Smyrna Beach is getting an Economic Development Coordinator. Mr. Alcorn stated they are currently looking for two people to serve on the Economic Development Board. Mr. Alcorn spoke about up to two years ago having a budget for the Economic Development Board. At the current time, they have no budget. He encouraged Council to think about having a budget. Mr. Alcorn spoke about a seminar that will be held by the Chamber of Commerce and their Economic Development Board for people who are looking to start or get funding for their business. Mr. Alcorn went on to speak about annexation. The Economic Development Board has done two studies on annexation. Dick Martinez, 317 Schooner Avenue, spoke about the success of the New Smyrna Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. He spoke about the problems with the utility billing payments. He suggested setting up electronic check billing. He applauded the Council's efforts for starting to look into the future. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, spoke about getting water to the medians. He had suggested using a water truck to water the medians. City Manager Hooper stated D.O.T. won't let you do that. Mr. Visconti feels it is necessary to get S.R. 442 to S.R. 415. When the City was dealing with the wildfires, he could not get back into Edgewater. It took him seven hours to get to Edgewater from Jacksonville. He feels this is a real priority for Edgewater. Mr. Visconti spoke about the $100,000 for beautifying S.R. 442. He asked if it is possible to get a matching grant for the $100,000. City Manager Hooper informed him no but commented on how they could get more money. Page -8- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 "-" ....." A gentleman spoke about the condition of the streets in Florida Shores. He further spoke about improving the current infrastructure. City Manager Hooper informed Council he would summarize this and put it on the agenda. Mayor Schmidt asked about attorneys. City Manager Hooper spoke about a summary sheet that was done regarding the firms that applied for the attorney position. He presented some options to Council on how they could handle this. He further asked for clarification of what Council is looking for. Councilwoman Lichter stated she is only comfortable with two out of the six. She worries about large floating scales. She also worries about a monthly retainer and paying for travel time. She feels it should be an attorney on-call when we need them. She feels they have a very capable person in Robin. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they need to have an attorney or someone at every meeting. City Manager Hooper commented on what they generally do. There was a brief discussion regarding rates being negotiable. Councilwoman Lichter feels comfortable with Robin Wolf attending general meetings however, if we know a particular issue is going to come up and sometimes there are issues that need a lawyer, then she would suggesting having one there. Ms. Wolf stated most of the time the Council knows when an issue is coming. They could make sure the attorney was present at that meeting if they aren't normally there. There was a discussion regarding an attorney for the Code Enforcement Board. Councilwoman Rhodes asked about writing new ordinances. City Manager Hooper informed her Robin has been doing that. Councilwoman Lichter asked about there being times when Planning and Zoning would need an attorney. City Manager Hooper explained they are an advisory board only, there is nothing they take as final action. They could have one if they request one because of big projects or major changes that are being made such as the Comp Plan. He doesn't feel the Board would need an attorney for ordinary zoning issues. There was a discussion regarding if the department heads have a question that requires an attorney, they could go through Legal or the City Manager's Office. They do not make a direct contact so the costs can be controlled. There was further discussion regarding individuals going to the attorney to ask individual questions. City Manager Hooper commented on the process they will use to get questions answered. Mayor Schmidt stated the interviews would be January 24th at 7:30 p.m. He asked Council if they want to talk to all six. council agreed. Councilwoman Lichter asked if 15 minutes is enough time to talk to each firm. City Manager Hooper explained the firms will be notified what information the council wants to know. There was a brief discussion regarding some of the applicants being individuals and some being firms. After some discussion, Council agreed to go with a firm. Page -9- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000 "'-" """'" councilwoman Rhodes expressed concern about being locked into a rate spectrum. City Manager Hooper commented on the process they will follow and explained they would have different rates for different disciplines. We haven't used that type of system in a while here. Councilwoman Rhodes feels if you go with a large firm, you eliminate going outside. City Manager Hooper suggested the Council interview all six applicants. Council agreed. There was some discussion regarding some of the firms that applied. There was then some discussion regarding preparing a list of questions to present to the attorneys. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Mayor Schmidt adjourned the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page -10- Council Workshop/Goals January 10, 2000