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06-19-2006 - Regular CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING JUNE 19, 2006 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Thomas called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Michael Thomas Present Councilwoman Debra Rogers Present Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Present Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Excused Councilwoman Judith Lichter Present Interim City Manager Jon Williams Present Assistant City Attorney Nicholas Palmer Present City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Present 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/DON ATIONS A. Representative Dorothy Hukill reporting on the 2006 Legislative Session Mayor Thomas commented on the demonstration given by Dorothy Hukill at the Legislative Session and he was very impressed. She is a go getter and very knowledgeable. Representative Hukill thanked the Council for the opportunity to present a report on her legislative activities this past session. She then commented on being proud of what they accomplished and how they made those Page 1 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 accomplishments. She then went over the house and senate bills she worked on this session. She mentioned a health care forum they would be holding in Southeast Volusia in conjunction with the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce th on July 11 at 3:00 p.m. She felt they had a great session and they were able to come together to approve public policies and budget taxpayer dollars in a responsible manner. Representative Hukill reported what she would be doing as they head into the fall session. She commented on the newsletters she sends out with regard to updates. She then introduced her staff. She commented on the items she would be leaving for the Council and the audience. Mayor Thomas again commented on being impressed. This is the first time he has really felt he was informed. He thanked Ms. Hukill for taking the time to give the Council the report. 4. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilwoman Lichter mentioned Daytona Beach having a suit against the Water Authority of Volusia. She mentioned the Water Authority in New Smyrna thinks they can do things faster than being with a cooperative group. She commented on notification sent out by VCOG that those cities are no longer in WAV and that is not true. They still are in WAV. Daytona Beach wants a weighted vote, which would be totally disastrous to small cities. She informed the Council, if they wanted, they could have Bruce Mowry, the Director of WAV, come and give a presentation to explain some of the things that are going on. Councilwoman Lichter commented on pictures of the bears, given to her by Kenny Clinton, that are abutting the Hammock Creek property. Councilwoman Rogers expressed her concern in this City having to do with traffic and water amongst many other things. She felt the City of Edgewater needed to get on board and start doing our part. She mentioned the MPO having an annual call for priority projects. She feels the City needs to get involved so they can start coming up with some of the north-south road issues that we are going to deal with in the very near future. As west of I-95 gets developed, the roads on the east side of I-95 are going to Page 2 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 start becoming more clogged. The long-range plan with the MPO can be between ten and twenty years out. Right now the City of Edgewater isn’t anywhere on this list. She asked to enlist the City staff to help her to expedite this. She mentioned the traffic on U.S. #1 only getting worse. Councilwoman Rogers stated she didn’t understand why she was informed one thing and then in the end it’s like a closed door and it has to do with the dredging. She understands that the district according to the newspaper and according to Ken Hooper’s comments at a meeting they had in March that the District pledged the fill to Volusia County. At one time, the dredging material from the inter coastal that was being stock piled on the City’s property, that we would have been using some of our resources, that that material could have been used and we could have used the funds from the sale of that material. That would have been a good start on a City Hall reserve fund. The fact that the property values in this City have increased 34.6% and people are making comments that we have an increase in value. They are reading and understanding that certain City officials are mentioning that perhaps we should use the increase in tax dollars for a City Hall reserve fund then in the same breath they are asking her what happened to the dredging material. She wants to understand this. To be told we have it and the value to be as high as it was and then to be told we have nothing. We used our resources to stockpile that and she felt the City should have received something and that could have gone into a fund. Councilman Vincenzi stated he’s been meeting with Interim City Manager Williams on a pretty regular basis over the past month and he seems to be making a lot of progress in certain areas. He is pretty pleased with the direction he is proposing on a number of issues. Mayor Thomas stated he was also led to believe the fill that was dredged out of the intercoastal that was stored on our property was going to be utilized for our fund. Mayor Thomas stated Fire Chief Barlow took him down to where the new pet facility is going to be built. They went on a road south of there and he was concerned with what he saw on the hospital property. He mentioned some of the hazardous waste on the property he feels could damage our water in the future. He requested more police patrol down there even though it is on private property. Page 3 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Fire Chief Barlow reported he has talked to the Attorney that represents the Hospital District that owns that property and they have since provided a letter to the police department giving them permission to kick everybody off of their private property and make any such arrests that need to be taken care of. He met with the Chief Operating Officer of the Hospital, Steve Harrell, and took him down there and showed him. They brainstormed some ideas where he will establish some gates or cables on the parameters. He has also been in contact with his attorney to get the appropriate size of signage and where he is supposed to locate the signage for trespassing. Code Enforcement Officer Robin Bell has combed through there and found some personal belongings and is pursuing some of those leads to see if they can actually put fingerprints on who dumped it there. Mayor Thomas feels when people start doing this and people see this they start to think it is a dumpsite and that it is okay to do this. They have to nip it in the bud. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned vagrants living on the property that have started a few fires. This is in close proximity to the shelter. Mayor Thomas asked for a consensus from Council on direction. Council agreed. Interim Police Chief John Taves confirmed they have the letter from the property owner. They are giving trespass warnings and have been for over a week. He has been speaking to Robin Bell and giving her any help she needs. They chased a bunch of people out over the weekend and will continue to do it. They are getting down there every day and will continue to do so. 5. CITIZEN COMMENTS There were no Citizen Comments at this time. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS nd A.2 Reading, Ord. No. 2006-O-18, Reflections Community Development, LLC requesting an amendment to the Official Zoning Map to include 877.50+ acres of land located at the southwest corner of SR 442 and I-95 as RPUD (Residential Page 4 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Planned Unit Development) and approval of associated RPUD Agreement Assistant City Attorney Palmer read Ord. 2006-O-18 into the record. Interim City Manager Williams made a staff presentation by th addressing several items that came up at the June 5 meeting. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned there being a meeting soon on the widening of I-95 by two lanes on each side. She asked if this would cut into any of the property that abuts I-95? The developer informed her it would not. She then confirmed Williamson Boulevard coming down. Councilwoman Rogers commented on the percentage of lots and various lot width categories. The 75-foot wide lots, approximately 40% are going to be that width. She asked if it is possible to change some of these percentages? She suggested 55% be 75-foot wide lots, 25% be 65-foot wide lots and 20% be 55-foot wide lots. The reasoning behind that is the Council is in the process of changing the Land Development Code and even though the Code they are looking to change will not affect the developer, she wants to have these as close to conform to where they are going to go hopefully with the new Land Development Code. Councilwoman Rogers commented on minimum yard size and setbacks. What currently is proposed is a side setback to be 7 ½ feet. That would be 15 feet between homes. She suggested they increase the side setback to ten to twelve feet. Councilwoman Rogers felt the utilities being underground was wonderful. Councilwoman Rogers then commented on the transportation proportionate fair share. It indicates the fair share amount adopted by the Council pursuant to State Law with appropriate consideration for transportation improvement contemplated by the developer. She felt that should read contemplated by the developer and the group that Interim City Manager Williams is now part of consisting of Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater. She felt he should have input in deciding what that transportation proportionate fair share should be, which was on Page 9 of Page 5 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 the agreement in Section H. She feels this is going to affect everybody. Councilwoman Rogers commented on Section J and a concurrency review being conducted to ensure that all required public facilities are available concurrent with the impacts of the development. Currently the City has developments that were approved by the City where the City will be providing water and services. She stated they are anticipating that there will be a certain population in those developments so they have allotted for the water supply to furnish the services to those developments plus furnishing the services to this newer development. She asked who does the concurrency review. Interim City Manager Williams informed her Director of Environmental Services Terry Wadsworth and Director of Development Services Darren Lear. He also assured her there is sufficient capacity within the water and sewer plants. Because of the seriousness of the water issue that the State of Florida has been undergoing, she asked if there is an outside engineer or that could also review this in addition to make sure they aren’t going to miss something. Councilwoman Lichter questioned St. John’s doing this because they won’t give permits unless it is going to be accurate. Councilwoman Rogers felt then the City would be supplying that information to St. John’s and a lot of other cities down south have done things too and their City staff has said they were concurrent and mistakes have been made and those people are suffering. She expressed concern for the residents that currently live in the City. Interim City Manager Williams confirmed we have sufficient capacity for our current citizens. As these new developments come on board there is additional capacity there and those capacities are reserved. Councilwoman Rogers asked for a report that shows this is where we are at, this is what we have that is proposed to be that hasn’t yet been developed but has been approved and this is what we have left over. Because we are looking at more developments down the road, can we handle this? Interim City Manager Williams informed her Mr. Wadsworth provide those reports to him on a monthly basis. Page 6 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Director of Environmental Services Terry Wadsworth stated whenever they do a major land use amendment and capacity is involved, they have to send documentation to St. John’s on water. We have under our CUP an allocation of water that we can’t exceed on an annual basis. They have to keep a draw down list and we can’t over commit what we have. Right now we are in the process of renewing our existing CUP to go ahead and provide for some additional growth. If they reached a point where they exceeded that St. John’s would not permit and they wouldn’t be able to do it. They wouldn’t approve the Comp Plan Amendment and the land use amendment. That is one of the systems of checks and balances that are in place. Mr. Wadsworth further explained they keep a pending capacity list. They monitor the DEP permits that are paid for and are actually considered committed capacity against both water and wastewater and they track the capacity at the City’s plant and the County’s plant. There are thresholds within the law that when you trip you have to demonstrate a plan to the State that they are going to build additional facilities and provide for more treatment. Mr. Wadsworth commented on pressures and the design of the system. Mr. Sterns has to do a water system distribution analysis where he will list pressures and fire flow demands. He will review that, the consulting engineers will review that and DEP will review that. The same with the wastewater as far as on the lift station capacity, ability to pump to the plant, and the plant capacities there. They will do transmission and collection studies that will demonstrate that we have the capacity and what they propose to install there in terms of improvements will meet those demands so not just the development will be protected but also the citizens on the existing system. Mr. Wadsworth stated it is not always fool proof. If it’s bad information in, it’s bad information out. They give it the best scrutiny they can. He feels the City does have safeguards in place. Mayor Thomas stated when he visited the Water Treatment Plant one of his question was how many gallons a day does the City process and he asked about being told 5 million. Mr. Wadsworth informed him the plant capacity is a 5 million gallons per day plant capacity. Right now we are Page 7 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 running about 2.2 through it. We have additional commitments on top of that to about 2.75 mgd. Mayor Thomas stated that was one of his main concerns was how much we are using now and how much we have on storage. He then asked how many residents we are currently serving being 20,000. Mr. Wadsworth informed him as far as equivalent residential connections, we are a little shy of 10,000 at this point. Mayor Thomas asked if the City is going to build another Wastewater Treatment Plant. Mr. Wadsworth informed him there is conversation about that. As far as the existing flow at the plant, it is only about 1.2 million at the wastewater plant and it is a 2.75 plant so we have quite a bit of capacity. We have commitments to go down south to about 400,000 gallons. It would seem to be at some point in time when all the building goes on to the west side of I-95, it would make more sense to locate a wastewater plant there to go ahead and treat the flow, to provide reclaimed there and to hydrate the wetlands rather than pump it all the way back here to the plant in the City where we have a limited amount we can discharge to the river. It would probably behoove everyone at some point in time to have a plant constructed west of I-95 to handle that area. Councilman Vincenzi commented on Hammock Creek coming in that is being proposed at almost 10,000 homes. Our water and sewer capacity for that is definitely not enough and they are going to have to expand and build new plants. They are talking about a fairly aggressive schedule preliminarily starting to build in 2007. He asked what plans we have to compensate for that. Interim City Manager Williams explained obviously concurrency is the main issue. When that development comes before us they will ensure sure we have concurrency with all of our utilities and with transportation. He then commented on the Growth Management laws that DCA has come out with. There are safeguards that are going to be put in place to ensure that concurrency is there. If it is not there, then it is borne by the developers typically or some proportionate fair share agreement where the developer will put in his fair share to bring those services up to a concurrency level that is appropriate for the City and surrounding municipalities. Page 8 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Interim City Manager Williams informed Council Hammock Creek would be coming for our first budget presentation to bring to Council their proposal and to start the process of bringing their vision of that project to the City of Edgewater. Councilman Vincenzi stated when they do come up for presentation and for proposal there are a lot of things that need to be discussed to safeguard people that are here and the resources we have to make sure everybody can get water and sewer and every other thing the City provides such as Police and Fire protection and whatnot. The only other concern he had was with the wellfields and it seems like a lot of those have been addressed. Mayor Thomas asked Mr. Mitchell to approach the podium. He asked Mr. Mitchell what kind of agreement they have entered into with regard to the paving of Possum Camp Road with Hammock Creek. He stated he didn’t see anything in the agreement about that. Ken Mitchell , 992 Balmoral Way, Melbourne, President, Corporate Land Division, Mercedes Homes, informed him it was in there. During the first phase of their development they will be developing four lanes 400 feet to the west of their main entrance. Don Mears does not control the right- of-way in that particular area. There is a gentleman to the north that controls the right-of-way and they have agreed to work with the City on acquiring that right-of-way so they can provide four-lanes. Right now there is a descriptive right-of-way already in that area. The area will need to be enlarged in order for them to get four lanes there, which they have agreed to do in the agreement. Mayor Thomas stated his main concern is the wellfields. Our wellfields are right next to that road. He asked them how far north of there they are going to go. Mr. Mitchell informed him 120 feet north of the wellfield according to their engineer. Scott Sterns , Boyer Singleton, 520 S. Magnolia Avenue, stated the road is currently planned to keep their north property line, which is where the wellfields align and go 120 feet to the north to provide right-of-way for the four- lane section that is going to go there. It will basically be an extension of the existing off-ramps and lanes that are there that DOT has constructed and continue due west Page 9 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 from there. You can’t go south onto their property and that is why they are having to acquire the property to the north because of the wells. Mr. Mitchell stated in his conversations with Don Mears they have agreed to build a road in accordance with whatever the City policy is based on impacts that both of them would build their proportionate share. Together they would cause all of the lanes to be constructed where they abut his property and their property. Right now all he can address is the four-laning to the western most boundary of their property. After the road stops at their property, then there are another four miles of frontage that Don Meares and his group control that extends beyond his western most boundary. They will work it out between themselves and the City because the City needs to be involved. Mr. Mitchell wanted to address Councilwoman Rogers’ statement about the alignment of the units. He would like to be flexible and has tried to be flexible for the last nine months to a year, as they have gone through the process. The plan they have arrived at is a plan they feel like they have worked with the City extensively on over a long period of time. What they have tried to do is to balance the diversity of the lot type, which was one of their early goals, providing a low maintenance lifestyle, which of necessity involves a smaller lot. He commented on what they have offered in exchange for that and things they have added along the way. He is perplexed at this point how he can go back and make any adjustments because he has gotten to this point through extensive negotiation with the City. He has gone through a very long planning session with the Council and the Planning and Zoning Board. He asked if they could stay with the agreement that they have all made together. During the whole process they have been through three public hearings and he believed there was only one person who publicly spoke against their development. That person spoke to him after the meeting and informed him she was against all development and that there was nothing he could do that she would feel comfortable with. Notwithstanding that comment, he feels like he has tried to do a responsible job and be a good corporate citizen. He has a plan he is very proud of that he would like to have acted on tonight. He did some things at the eleventh hour that he agreed to do that were not in his plans that cost him more money but that he is more than Page 10 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 willing to do because he recognizes the City has special needs as well. Mr. Mitchell showed the Council an illustration they have prepared just for illustration purposes of the monument sign. He showed Council a rendition of the sign, which is to include the City of Edgewater. He wouldn’t have come here if they didn’t want to include their development within the City and they feel like they are in a very active and vital City. He spoke of being limited to 90 square feet for their sign. He spoke of possibly having three faces visible. He asked that anything he does for the City of Edgewater not be counted in his 90 square feet or that they increase the square footage to 150 square feet. Councilwoman Rogers commented on being pretty consistent with her lot width comments. Something they didn’t mention was the transportation proportionate fair share amount on Page 9 of the agreement. She asked Mr. Mitchell if they agree with adding where it says contemplated by developer it will say contemplated by the developer and the group that the City of Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange are all a part of. She feels the City needs to be involved with that. Mr. Mitchell informed her he had no problem with that. Whoever is with the City in that role, as he understands it the State legislature this year has passed very specific concurrency requirements and they require every City and every County in the State of Florida to have a concurrency plan in effect by the end of the year. Whatever applicable plan the State Legislature requires, he would be more than happy to comply with. He felt the appropriate entity today would be the City of Edgewater. If in the future that is another entity that is fine with him. He asked that it be the applicable governmental entity rather than mentioning a specific group because that could change over time. He would like to be able to meet the standard of whatever the State recognizes as the appropriate authority. Interim City Manager Williams suggested something similar to applicable to the City of Edgewater’s current concurrency management system or management plan as adopted. Councilwoman Rogers just wants the City to be able to have input in this. Mr. Mitchell agreed and stated he had to Page 11 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 meet the City’s requirements. He didn’t have a problem with this. Councilman Vincenzi agreed with the comments about the extension of negotiations that have gone on. Although he would like to see a larger proportion of larger lots, he didn’t feel it was fair to try and force the developer to do that. He thinks of all the developments that have come into the City so far this is the largest and Mr. Mitchell is one of the few developers that have been willing to work with the City as much as he has on a number of different fronts. He again stated it wasn’t fair to go back and ask the developer to change plans so drastically right now. He is content with it the way it is. Mayor Thomas didn’t think they had to worry about the bears due to them being on the piece of property he leases. Mr. Mitchell asked to see the picture of the bears. Mayor Thomas stated he is against all development but one of the reasons he ran was because he knows you can’t stop growth. He ran to make sure it is going to be done correctly. He believes this individual is trying to do this correctly. He has seen the architectural designs and it looks like it is going to be a unique development and it is going to bring a high quality living to Edgewater. At the last meeting they asked for a bunch of negotiations and it sounds like he has come forward with those. He doesn’t like little lots but he feels the people he will be selling to probably don’t want to get out there and mow the grass. He thinks there is some variety there. He thinks Councilwoman Rogers’ had a point with regard to the percentage and he wished they would have been at the last meeting because maybe they could have done that but he felt it was too late. Councilwoman Rogers didn’t feel it was too late due to this being the second reading and that is why they have a first and second reading so they can discuss these items. Mayor Thomas opened the public hearing. The following citizens spoke: William Glaser , 1703 Needle Palm Drive, asked if the wells were originally put west of I-95 to get them away from development. Mayor Thomas couldn’t answer that question but informed him that is where our water supply is. Mr. Page 12 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Glaser asked if there has ever been any hydrological surveys or anything done. They keep hearing that some of the water in our springs comes from Georgia and other places. They have also read over the years about contamination like at the Florida East Coast Railroad contaminating water around New Smyrna. He wondered if they put the wells over there to get away from development and now we are going to have development all around the wells. He asked if anybody has ever looked for contamination from people fertilizing their lawns or from pesticides and if that stuff is going to migrate into the aquifer and affect our wells in the future. Mr. Wadsworth explained the original reason the wells were located as far west as they were was to get away from saltwater intrusion. All of our wells, and we have fifteen production wells, that are tested extensively annually and they have a huge battery of test run every couple of years to address pesticides or any other means of contamination that go into the wells. Virtually every City in the State of Florida is required to do that and probably nationally as well. They are monitored very closely and we don’t have any indications of any contamination from that. He then commented on the well field protection ordinance with regard to golf courses. If it is done properly through EPA approved products there isn’t much chance there will be extensive contamination. Most of the products that cause that have been pulled from the market and they are pretty closely monitored now. Mayor Thomas asked Mr. Wadsworth to tell Mr. Glaser how deep the wells are out there. Mr. Wadsworth informed him they are between 206 feet to 230 feet. They are in the Floridan Aquifer and not in the Surficial aquifer. There is a huge filtration layer that goes on and a severe confining layer that protects the aquifer as well. Mayor Thomas then asked Mr. Wadsworth to tell him about our backup wells. Mr. Wadsworth informed him the City is trying to permit four wells through St. John’s right now through our consumptive use permit process and also out near the Water Plant there are four more proposed that they are going to be doing some testing on. Part of it depends on where the water is and the amount of supply and the quality of the water there. They will have to verify those but there has been extensive hydro geological monitoring Page 13 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 done and modeling done of that whole area because St. John’s requires that to be done now. Dominic Capria , 606 Topside Circle, stated he isn’t against this developer. He felt Councilwoman Rogers’ recommendations were worth looking in to. That doesn’t mean this has to be approved tonight. It can be postponed, looked into and voted on later on. Mr. Capria commented on the association controlling the watering. He spoke of being able to use the wells from 8 to 4, odd and even numbers but you can also use City water from 8 to 4 and 4 to eight in the evenings. Mr. Capria then commented on the retention ponds. The association will be responsible for the retention ponds so that means the association will pay to take care of the retention ponds. He asked if the residents who build their homes there still have to pay $6 per month retention pond fees to the City. Interim City Manager Williams informed him yes. Mr. Capria then questioned this being a gated community. Mr. Mitchell informed him what they have indicated and what they have asked for is there may be some portions that may be gated and some may not. At the current time they aren’t anticipating gating the entire community. Mr. Capria asked about all of the roads not being public roads. Mr. Mitchell explained the main thoroughfare is a public road. The City has requested that anything under 100 feet be privately maintained. Mr. Capria feels this is a deterrent and a problem although he is not against this. He feels this is worth looking into. Mayor Thomas asked if the residents would be able to go out there and shop. Mr. Mitchell informed him yes. Councilwoman Lichter stated since we do not have a shelter for those in manufactured homes when they are required to evacuate, they are talking about a good portion of acreage free and that might be a thought. Interim City Manager Williams stated they are looking at that potentially for this five-acre site but also as Hammock Creek develops they are looking at opportunities within that community as well. They are also working with the hospital to address some of those needs as they have some age restricted communities Page 14 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 and how they address those needs and to address evacuation needs for our employees and residents. He thought with the development of some schools out there they would fall within the classification of being an impact resistant shelter. Richard Burgess , 2724 Juniper Drive, spoke of not being able to pull out of his mother-in-laws onto Old Mission Road at times due to traffic. He thought there were plans to four-lane that because it is the only other north-south road besides U.S. #1 and I-95. He spoke of the traffic that will be generated by people in this community that won’t want to use I-95 to go to WalMart that will take Old Mission Road instead. Councilwoman Rogers stated they have already got part of Old Mission Road four-laned from Josephine to SR 44 but there has been talk to four-lane it from that point to SR 442. The north-south roads that they have been talking about a little bit that seems to be the most viable solution to extend Mission Road south. This is all preliminary. Mr. Burgess stated he couldn’t find any plans. Councilwoman Rogers informed him there are no plans. She commented on a study that was done a while back and the study was dropped. She wished that things would have been done differently on the MPO previously. If the seed would have been planted years ago, we might be able to say we are going to have that widened and going south in the next five or ten years. We aren’t even on the block. Mr. Burgess spoke of being born in Miami and he used to ride scooters up the coast and he never dreamed we would have wall to wall concrete from the east to the west coast as far north as we have. Mayor Thomas feels Williamson Boulevard when it goes through Hammock Creek is probably going to be the main thoroughfare that those people would take. Interim City Manager Williams explained the proposal has two north-south roads, Williamson Boulevard and Airport Road coming through that development as well. Page 15 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilwoman Rogers felt they have to remember we have new subdivisions already approved with tons of fifty-foot lots so we are going to have the impact. Dot Carlson , 1714 Edgewater Drive, Representing ECARD, expressed opposition to the passing of Ord. 2006-O-18 by reading a prepared statement. They feel the Council should not be permitting development on any property annexed into the City at any higher level of density than that which existed on that property when it came in from the County. Their attorney has informed them that all other zoning classifications in the Land Development Code contain height caps except the RPUD. She asked Council to table consideration of this ordinance until such time as they can determine and wait to ensure that this land will not be developed at any higher density then they were entitled to as it existed in the County. She feels there is going to be a lot of wildlife damage out there. She spoke of the Animal Shelter not taking in wildlife. She is a wildlife rehabilitator. They don’t have a center in this area. They don’t have anybody that can take these animals in. Ms. Carlson mentioned the concerns of Mayor Thomas regarding the water. They are going to have their system on an automatic. That isn’t going to help that many homes out there. Mayor Thomas clarified with Mr. Mitchell that they were going to use a bunch of natural vegetation. Richard Burgess , 2724 Juniper Drive, commented on his brother watching someone pump their boat’s septic system into the river the other day. He feels they have got to educate people and that people have to pay attention. Mr. Mitchell felt it was important that the public record be accurate. He pointed out when this property was brought in from Volusia County the existing zoning was Highway Interchange Commercial and MH-4 Mobile Home. Mayor Thomas stated he didn’t want any mobile homes out there. Assistant City Attorney Palmer commented on City staff requesting an updated title report on this property. During staff’s due diligence and title investigation it came up that one of the ownership entities was registered inactive. He recommended any motion to approve if the Council is so inclined be subject to satisfaction or title Page 16 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 report being provided to City staff and the appropriate entities signing the PUD agreement and to the extent that any specific changes that were discussed tonight they would like to be included in the agreement, he recommended those specific changes be included in the motion as well. Mayor Thomas asked if that was the entire piece of property. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated it is one entity that owns a portion of the property. He explained it was inactive by reason of merger. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilman Vincenzi asked for a list of everything they discussed and agreed to so it is included in the motion. Interim City Manager Williams stated he thought the agreements they struck tonight were 150 square feet for their sign and the verbiage to be added on Page 9 referencing the fair share agreement and that it is concurrent with the City’s Concurrency Management System Plan and the reference that Assistant City Attorney Palmer has brought up. Mayor Thomas asked Councilman Vincenzi if he wanted to make a motion to postpone. Councilman Vincenzi wants it done right the first time. Assistant City Attorney Palmer explained another alternative would be to continue this while staff negotiates with the developer in making those changes to a future date. Councilwoman Rogers made a motion to continue this until a date certain . Assistant City Attorney Palmer recommended this be continued to a date certain. Councilwoman Lichter stated she would like to question the details of that motion because she is certainly for putting in satisfaction legally about title report. She is for putting in there about the sign and the concurrency for the City Manager to be involved in the plan. She is not for reopening the subject of the length of width of lots. She feels they have developed this at great expense and that was not one of the concurrency items. She thinks they spoke quite well that it should remain as is. It is the things that they brought up that weren’t put in there that she is willing to vote yeah for but not for reconsideration because that is a totally new subject of the width of lots. Page 17 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilwoman Rogers stated the lot width percentage is something that has always been addressed and discussed. At their last Land Use workshop where Ken Hooper was in attendance he brought up a question and answer of something she had mentioned at a previous Council meeting when she asked him what is the percentage of lots that we have in the City that is in that fifty foot range and he told her privately between 20 and 25%. On the record at the Land Use Workshop he said between 25 and 30%. The reason for a City to have a first and second reading is so discussion can be made. Not all Councilpeople can make every meeting for various reasons. If she would have been here she would have brought it up. She is sorry that no one did. The fact that she is bringing it up now it is still not too late and there is time involved with putting this together. However if they do not think clearly before they make these decisions, once a decision has been made and the development occurs, they can’t change it at that point and they can change it now and she didn’t believe it was too late. Mayor Thomas felt they needed a generalized motion. Councilman Vincenzi thought Councilwoman Rogers officially had to withdraw her motion and reword it. Councilwoman Rogers stated all she said was she wanted to continue it. City Clerk Wadsworth asked if they had a date certain. Councilman Vincenzi asked if she has to state why she wants to continue it. Councilwoman Rogers stated she would like to continue it because of Assistant City Attorney Palmer indicating there is a problem with the title, on Page 9 they need to have some verbiage added to the agreement and perhaps the other Councilpeople need to review the percentages of the lot widths. It wasn’t mentioned before and doesn’t mean it can’t be mentioned now. Mayor Thomas questioned what date they have. City Clerk th Wadsworth informed them the next meeting is July 10. Mayor Thomas asked if the legal matter could be rectified th by July 10. Mr. Mitchell stated the closing is scheduled based on the approval of the finalization of the zoning. Mr. McCaskill has been waiting patiently for that to be accomplished. They have examined the title and they have several documents that need to be transmitted at the closing. They have already got all the documents together and at that time the unity of title by Mr. McCaskill will Page 18 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 be 100% and they will be satisfied and receive a title policy to that effect. Mr. McCaskill will be signing this document as well as themselves once it is approved. Mayor Thomas asked how much acreage it was. Mr. Mitchell wasn’t aware. Councilman Vincenzi asked when the closing was. Mr. Mitchell informed him if he could tell them when their zoning would be approved he could tell him when the closing would be. The closing will be after the second reading. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated his only comment on the title report was that one of the parties that would be signing the PUD agreement came up as an inactive corporation with the Secretary of State so whoever is singing the PUD agreement as owner of the property whether it be prior to or after the closing should be an entity that is in good standing with the State of Florida and the City should receive a title report that reflects that. Mr. Mitchell stated they would be glad to provide that and could probably have it on his desk tomorrow morning. Mayor Thomas stated the motion is to be continued until th July 10by Councilwoman Rogers. Councilwoman Rogers stated yes. Councilman Vincenzi seconded the motion . The MOTION CARRIED 3-1. Councilwoman Lichter voted NO . There was a ten-minute recess at this time. The meeting recessed at 8:30 p.m. and reconvened at 8:40 p.m. st B.1 Reading, Ord. No. 2006-O-17, James C. and Rosemary Carder requesting an amendment to the Official Zoning Map to include .24+ acres of land located along the southwest corner of Falcon Avenue and Mariners Gate Court as R-4 (Multi- Family Residential), continued from 5/15/06, Item 6C Assistant City Attorney Palmer read Ord. 2006-O-17 into the record. He believed the applicant had requested that this be continued again. Page 19 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Interim City Manager Williams made a staff presentation and explained the applicant has requested another continuance due to ongoing discussion regarding the parking lot at the Pelican Cove West Clubhouse until a mutual agreement can be established between the applicant and the Pelican Cove West Homeowners Association. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated they reviewed the documents and provided a report to staff, which was not included in the agenda packet. He has talked to Interim City Manager Williams and they will make sure it is included in the next agenda packet if Council decides to continue it from today. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Lichter moved to continue Ord. 2006-O-17, second by Councilwoman Rogers . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . C. Res. No. 2006-R-04, modifying administrative fees and schedule of costs/fees relating to Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21 (Land Development Code) and other administrative fees/costs Assistant City Attorney Palmer read Res. 2006-R-04 into the record. He informed Council the title of the resolution was different than what was included in the Council’s agenda packet. The copy of the updated resolution was provided on the dais before the meeting and there has been one omission from the resolution changing fees under Chapter 11 of the Code of Ordinances which relates to Occupational Licenses and after discussion with staff today the reason for changing that is the fees for occupational licenses under Florida State Law must be set by ordinance and not resolution. This will be dealt with by ordinance at a future meeting. Interim City Manager Williams made a staff presentation. Mayor Thomas asked what reference they are going from with regard to the deletions and changes that have been made. Interim City Manager Williams explained with increases associated with the impact fees or development fees they reference the engineering news and record which tries to associate the cost of construction which is why they Page 20 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 reference that to be applicable to the impact fees. In this case they were adjusted based off of last year’s numbers. These increases they intended to take place last October and it did not happen. He commented on referencing the Consumer Pricing Index in other areas. Mayor Thomas stated the biggest complaint he has gotten is on the reclaimed water rates. He mentioned the residents receiving information in their water bills reflecting what their bill would be in the future for reclaimed water. Mayor Thomas questioned if this was the scheduled he and Interim City Manager Williams previously discussed. Interim City Manager Williams informed him it was not. The reclaimed water rates are not addressed in this resolution and they will bring this back to Council in July and amend the resolution to reflect the new rates once they make the proposal to Council. He informed Council they are pretty firm on the rate structure but are continuing to evaluate it for another month before they bring it back to Council as to the impacts it will have. Councilwoman Lichter stated this is the item she gets the most calls about because they interpret what was put as an example as the actual price. All they were trying to show was that if you use more than the average price you would be paying more a gallon. This is a conservation technique to get people to use less. Interim City Manager Williams informed him the letter did exactly what it is supposed to do and that is to raise everybody’s awareness. Mayor Thomas opened the public hearing. Gerald Garrett , 1410 Orange Tree Drive, stated the reclaimed water is getting to be an expensive proposition when you feel that people are actually paying $500 to have it installed. It started out at $5 and then it went to $10. Then they spent $1 million to put meters in. In his opinion he only uses legally what he is allowed to use and he doesn’t even have an irrigation system. He is only using what he needs just to maintain his lawn. He feels what the Council is doing is they are going to encourage people to let their lawns die. Some of the rates would be cheaper if you didn’t have to pay sewer to use City water. He feels they have gone overboard and should start figuring how much actual water when there is no rain that people need to maintain a healthy looking community and lawn. He Page 21 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 asked what the requirement is. Interim City Manager Williams stated St. John’s suggests an inch and a half a week. He assured Mr. Garrett they are going to address those rate structures and they have addressed those internally. They are doing their due diligence internally before they release those rates to the public but that would be forth coming in the next month or month and a half. Councilman Vincenzi stated it is going to be discussed before actual rates are adopted and before the residents start getting charged for it. Mr. Garrett stated he has two lots and just with the watering he is doing by hand his bill would be over $36. Some of his neighbors who have four lots have gotten bills that said they would be $140. He has heard them say they won’t water. He feels then it is going to look like hell. Councilman Vincenzi stated before they start getting charged these rates are going to be discussed and probably modified. Mr. Garrett feels it seems ludicrous when someone says they are going to drill a well. You can’t drill a well. The only reason people would want to drill a well is so they can maintain a healthy yard and save a few bucks. Mayor Thomas informed him he thought Mr. Garrett would be pleasantly surprised. What they are trying to get people to do is instead of having a nice Floratam lawn is to make leaf gardens and palmetto patches and use natural vegetation. Our water is a valuable commodity. St. John’s has said that is a vial commodity and they have to charge for it. That is why they looked into the using of the rates and the people that use more will cost more to reduce the use of the water. Mr. Garrett stated he didn’t know of anybody in his neighborhood that he could say are abusing it. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned running out of water in certain areas because of it being abused in other areas. Mr. Garrett commented on City water and conservation and understanding St. John’s but he commented on this not being water that comes from the ground but water that is already Page 22 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 there. This water would have been in the sewer then disposed of. Mayor Thomas stated St. John’s is saying this is vial commodity. Mr. Wadsworth confirmed St. John’s is saying it is still a resource and it needs to be treated like one and regulated. Councilwoman Lichter stated in the beginning no city had that attitude because it was throw away. Subsequently St. John’s is saying we have a treasure and have to treat it like that. They regulate the CUP, which tells the City how much water they are going to be allotted. One of the conservation measures they are pushing is to use recycled water in a conservation manner. Linda Garrett , 1410 Orange Tree Drive, asked if the new development would have reclaimed water in their areas, in particular Reflections and Hammock Creek. Interim City Manager Williams informed her they would be looking at Hammock Creek to provide reclaimed water. Reflections does not at this point. Mayor Thomas stated the only place that has reclaimed water now is Florida Shores. Interim City Manager Williams informed her the development that is occurring to the south they are requiring the developer to put in dry lines for when that resource becomes available to those folks. He would think that as they look at the development of Hammock Creek and the potential need for a wastewater site and reclaimed site there that they can look at the interconnection over to Reflections to address that need as well. Ms. Garrett commented on with all of the people going in Hammock Creek they may have a need for a new wastewater plant and questioned if the developers were going to help pay for the extra plant. She was informed they would. Ms. Garrett questioned if the City is getting a lot of fees from the developers to help pay for the infrastructure. She was again informed we were. Councilwoman Lichter stated growth has to pay for itself and we got a few extras in the deal. Dot Carlson , 1714 Edgewater Drive, stated the first place growth doesn’t pay for itself, we will have to pay for some of it. Page 23 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilwoman Lichter stated Animal Services has been working with wildlife. Ms. Carlson stated as long as they have the facilities and the trained personnel. Ms. Carlson stated if you go out to the County extension agency at the Volusia Fairgrounds you can get all the information you need on xeriscaping your lawn. She presented some examples of what you can do so you don’t use as much water. She mentioned California xeriscaping for years because they did run out of water. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve Res. 2006-R-04, modifying administrative fees and schedule of costs/fees relating to Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21 (Land Development Code) and other administrative fees/costs second by Councilwoman Rogers . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . 7. BOARD APPOINTMENTS A.Firefighters’ Pension Fund Board: 1) affirming the Board’s reappointment of Gary Butt to serve another 2-year term Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve Gary Butt’s reappointment to the Firefighter’s Pension Fund Board, second by Councilman Vincenzi . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0. 2) nomination by Councilwoman Rhodes to fill a seat due to the expired term of Martin Tse, who seeks reappointment Interim City Manager Williams informed Council they would th be continuing this appointment until July 10. B.Economic Development Board: 1) nomination by Mayor Thomas to fill a seat due to the expired term of Oscar Zeller, who seeks reappointment Page 24 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilwoman Lichter moved to reappointment Oscar Zeller to the Economic Development Board, second by Councilman Vincenzi . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . 2) nomination by Councilwoman Rogers to fill a seat due to the expired term of Chris Balmer, who is not seeking reappointment Councilwoman Rogers moved to appoint Tim Howard, second by Councilman Vincenzi . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . 3) nomination by Councilman Vincenzi to fill a seat due to the expired term of Hugh Sheean, who is not seeking reappointment Councilman Vincenzi requested this be postponed. He would like the City to put out specific announcements to solicit applications for this board and other boards as well. Councilwoman Lichter moved to postpone the nomination and advertise for more applicants, second by Councilwoman Rogers . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . Councilwoman Lichter pointed out that currently there are no women on the Economic Development Board. 8. CONSENT AGENDA A. Drainage Easement – staff recommending approval of a Non-Exclusive Drainage and Access Easement Agreement signed by Dan McCartney and authorize the Mayor to execute the Agreement B. Event License Agreements – staff recommending approval and execution by the Mayor of the Agreements to utilize vacant property at the corner of Lamont/N. Ridgewood Ave. and within the Edgewater-New Smyrna Cemetery for parking during the July 4, 2006 fireworks display Page 25 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilman Vincenzi moved to approve the Consent Agenda, second by Councilwoman Rogers . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . 9. OTHER BUSINESS A. Kennedy Park Fishing Pier – staff recommending authorization for the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Antinori Group, Inc. for the sum of $129,500 to construct the Fishing Pier with Gazebo at Kennedy Park; and authorizing the Interim City Manager to issue Work Order #2 for this project Mayor Thomas stated he thought we got $308,000. Interim City Manager Williams informed him we have two additional grants. This references the first phase of the project itself. Interim City Manager Williams made a staff presentation regarding what this $129,500 is going to be spent on. Councilwoman Rogers asked when this is supposed to be completed. Interim City Manager Williams informed her we have roughly sixty days to complete the entire project from the point that we execute the agreement. Councilwoman Rogers asked if they were planning on starting th this before July 4. Leisure Services Director Jack Corder th informed her it would be coming in on July 5. Mayor Thomas asked what the expectation was on the other part. Mr. Corder informed him we have a conceptual plan for the redevelopment of the park itself, which they will need to bring back to Council for their comments before they actually get out into design plans. What Ms. Hukill didn’t mention tonight, we will be receiving a grant for $200,000 from FRDAP for additional renovation of that park that will go on top of the $300,000 we will be getting. He also has about $180,000 for the dredging of the north side along the boat ramps, which they are in the process of getting engineering for permitting of that. That will be their next phase while the design of the park itself is being worked on. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Page 26 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilman Vincenzi moved to approve authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Antinori Group, Inc. for the sum of $129,500 to construct the Fishing Pier with Gazebo at Kennedy Park; and authorizing the Interim City Manager to issue Work Order #2 for this project, second by Councilwoman Rogers . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . 10. OFFICER REPORTS A. City Clerk City Clerk Wadsworth had nothing at this time. B. City Attorney Assistant City Attorney Palmer informed him this would be the report of the City Clerk and the City Attorney. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated last week the City Clerk received in her office the referendum petition from the Edgewater Citizens Alliance for Responsible Development seeking reconsideration of Ordinance 2006-O-01, the River Oaks project. Section 3.13 of the Charter allows petitions or committees to form and seek referendum petitions in an attempt to have the Council reconsider ordinances and if the City Council does not revoke or rescind the ordinance to send the ordinance itself to the voters. The City Clerk reviewed the petitions and sought their counsel for help with the matter. They reviewed the petitions and determined them to be insufficient under the Charter to bring the matter back before the Council. Section 3.13 of the Charter lists specific requirements that need to be met of such a petition. One of which being signed by 10% of the registered voters of the City at the time of the last election and also that each page of the petition be signed with an affidavit of the circulator petitions. He informed Council on top of the dais was a copy of the certificate the City Clerk issued today along with her transmittal letter. He stated the petitioners committee has a two-day period upon receipt of the notice to have the Council reconsider the Clerk’s certificate as well as the sufficiency of those petitions. C. City Manager Page 27 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Interim City Manager Williams informed Council on the dais tonight he provided them with a copy of a letter from the City of Daytona Beach and an agreement that provides assistance for mutual aid for special events which include Spring Break, Bike Week, the races, and different things. He needed authorization from Council to have the Mayor and himself execute the agreement on behalf of the City, which renews the agreement so we can allow our officers who wish to work extra details associated with these special events to do that. He was looking for a motion to approve authorizing the Mayor and himself to execute the agreement. Councilwoman Lichter stated her worry is a blanket statement. A yes now where there may be extenuating circumstances at a particular time where it isn’t prudent to do that. There may be something where we automatically have to send some officers or firefighters up there. On the other hand there may be something in our backyard that is requiring us to have full strength here. She wanted to make sure there was an opt out of it. Interim City Manager Williams confirmed there is an opt out of it. In no way shape or form is this agreement intended to leave our city exposed to any potential liability. He stated Assistant City Attorney Palmer has reviewed this as well. Mayor Thomas felt it would be up to Interim City Manager Williams to use his judgment as to when they can go. If we have something going on in our backyard, he was sure we would take care of our backyard first. Interim Police Chief John Taves stated this agreement is with Daytona Beach and the Speedway. Most of the special events work around the races and everything at the speedway. They have the option to telling our people they can’t go there for that. There are other mutual agreements where we will respond in case of disasters. This is a five-year agreement that the City has been doing right th along. The existing agreement expires June 28 and that is why it was brought in here now. He assured the Council they would never leave our City absent of any protection of any kind. The International Speedway holds most of the liability on everything from our officers going up there. Councilman Vincenzi asked if this was for off-duty personnel. Interim City Manager Williams stated off-duty personnel wishing to work extra duty on behalf of the special events. Interim Police Chief Taves also confirmed Page 28 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 it would be on their days off or if they wish to take vacation time. Councilwoman Rogers moved to approve this agreement dated th May 30 between the City of Daytona Beach and the City of Edgewater allowing for our City Manager or Mayor to execute this agreement, second by Councilwoman Lichter . The MOTION CARRIED 4-0 . Interim City Manager Williams then informed the Council on July 3rd City Hall and all the related departments will be th closed in observance of the July 4 holiday. It’s also an expression of gratitude on behalf of the Council to our employees as an extra holiday and their dedication and hard work. Mayor Thomas stated this was Interim City Manager Williams idea and he felt it was a good one. Interim City Manager Williams referenced development and some direction from Council as they go forward with any new proposals that come in. Obviously lot sizes and a variety of lots has been a subject of discussion and they have tried to work toward a consensus to give staff direction on how they deal with that. He asked from Council some direction that if it is 40, 30, 30 that they want them to approach they can do that. If it’s a 50, 25, 25 approach they can do that. He looked for feedback that they can at least start the process internally so they can let the developers know the direction of Council. The other point of consideration he asked Council to come forward with is they have heard a lot of discussion regarding concurrency and capacity. He questioned what they could do as staff during these presentations to demonstrate to Council that they have done their due diligence and done their homework to ensure they have addressed all of their concurrency and citizens concerns regarding that concurrency. Over the next couple of months, he would be looking for that feedback. Mayor Thomas suggested they get this information back to Interim City Manager Williams by Friday. Councilwoman Lichter informed him she would be gone from Wednesday until Friday. Mayor Thomas suggested she contact Page 29 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Interim City Manager Williams tomorrow. Councilwoman Lichter agreed to get it back to him by Monday or Tuesday. Councilwoman Lichter would like to know the accurate proportions of the City right now with regard to lot sizes within the City. Councilwoman Rogers stated she thought it was two meetings ago or beyond that when she had asked the City Manager for that information and he reported it back to them but he reported it back to them verbally. Interim City Manager Williams informed her they would look for a resource that they can land on to provide that number as well. Councilwoman Rogers stated showing the existing and what is proposed or what has been approved but not yet developed. Councilwoman Rogers spoke on the mangroves on Riverside Drive. A lot of people have made comments to her when they are walking the Riverwalk how it would be so much nicer if they could visibly see the river. A lot of people are confused and don’t understand. One individual who lives on Riverside Drive near the Riverwalk indicated to her that Parks and Recreation had the opportunity to maintain the mangroves at a three foot height so when people are walking and utilizing the Riverwalk that they could visibly see the river and enjoy it rather than just little bits and pieces of it. This individual indicated the City gave up that right. She wanted to know if there is any truth to that. Mr. Corder stated he wasn’t aware of any places that stated that there was a height of three foot. The State has guidelines for mangrove cuttings and trimmings, which they can look into and there used to be a percentage of what the plant height was and those guidelines are changing on what seems like a yearly basis. He agreed to look at this and see if it requires a specialist for the trimming or not because it is over a certain percent on the coastline. There is a lot more to it. Councilwoman Rogers stated if that could be addressed and perhaps when we get an answer the newspaper will write an article about it so the public can see it has been addressed. Mayor Thomas asked who is in charge of the mangroves. Mr. Corder informed him the State. Mayor Thomas commented on the mangroves being very delicate and very unique. Mr. Corder informed him it was the Department of Environmental Protection that is in charge of the mangroves. Page 30 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Councilwoman Lichter commented on having a problem in Edgewater Landing with people cutting the mangroves in front of their homes. Councilwoman Rogers stated recently they have received the th City of Edgewater newsletter regarding the July 4 celebration. Last year was the first year that the City did not utilize the islands to do the launching of the fireworks. They shut down Kennedy Park and launched them from there. A lot of families use that park especially during that holiday. She has kayaked out to the island and felt the island looked perfectly fine to be able to launch the fireworks. Comments were made that the individual or business that does the launching of the fireworks has expressed that it is too much work for them to go to that island to do the launching. She stated perhaps it is time for the City to look for a different individual to do this or perhaps they could get a barge to do the launching in the middle of the river so the park could be used for families. Fire Chief Barlow stated that very same discussion came up at their staff meeting last Thursday. The renovations to the park are going to limit our ability to launch the fireworks from Kennedy Park. This year the contract was already inked to launch the fireworks off of the end of Kennedy Pier because of the damage the island did sustain in the 2004 hurricanes. In the past they have researched the opportunity of using a barge and it costs $5,000 more to rent a barge to launch the fireworks off of there. It is something they can consider for the 2007 fireworks going forward. Councilwoman Rogers asked if it has been considered when you look south of Kennedy Park there is a large piece of land with no homes on it, which is the Wilkinson property. She asked if anyone has ever thought about approaching them to be able to use that waterfront as a launch site. Fire Chief Barlow stated it doesn’t give them the proximity or distance from the residential homes that we need. There are NFPA standards that regulate that. We are right on the edge of that envelope even at Kennedy Park and that is why they have to block off such a large area. 11. CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE The following citizen spoke: Page 31 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 Dot Carlson , 1714 Edgewater Drive, Representing ECARD, stated she knew they turned in 242 on the referendum. They only had three weeks to do this in. She is still collecting petitions from people who are just getting back into town because they were out. She is still getting them in. Just because they got that amount in that length of time they were slowed down because they didn’t get the ordinance in time. She asked if they are going to get a meeting with the Council, the City Attorney or the City Clerk, on what the next step is. She asked if the City is going to notify them. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated the available options to the petitions committee are reflected in the letter from City Clerk Wadsworth. The petitions that were received were invalid for more than just the amount of signatures collected. Each page of the petition did not include the appropriate affidavit of the circulator. It appeared that many of the petitions were sent out by mail or e-mail, which is prohibited under the Code. He stated the committee is advised of its next available options in the letter from City Clerk Wadsworth. Ms. Carlson stated they were only going by what was in the Charter. Some of those were attached. They did not hear from the City’s Attorney on whether or not they were supposed to be attached. Some were attached and when they were mailed back they were unattached. Some people did copy them and if they got one they did get the ordinance with it. She asked that someone from the City please get back to her on this. She will let them know what they have left. Being out on the streets, people are upset by the condos and that is the bottom line. They are going to be more upset by some other things the City may be proposing. City Attorney Palmer stated their position here is to provide the City with legal counsel and generally he doesn’t believe it is the case that the City Attorney has provided advice to outside petitioners committees. Mayor Thomas asked if Assistant City Attorney Palmer would contact their attorney in the future. Assistant City Attorney Palmer stated if the City would like for their counsel to get in touch with them they would be happy to talk to him. Page 32 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006 A. Tentative Agenda Items There were no Tentative Agenda Items to be discussed. 12. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Lichter moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page 33 of 33 Council Regular Meeting June 19, 2006