BCC Minutes 05/14/2007 S (Proposed Annexation - Collier Park of Commerce)
May 14, 2007
COLLIER COUNTY GOVERNMENT
CITY OF NAPLES GOVERNMENT
EAST NAPLES FIRE CONTROL & RESCUE DISTRICT
Naples, Florida, May 14,2007
Public meeting to discuss the Interlocal Service Boundary
Agreement relative to the proposed annexation of the Collier Park of
Commerce by the City of Naples, pursuant to Chapter 171, Florida
Statutes on May 14,2007, at 4:15 p.m., Collier County Government
Complex, Building F, Naples, Florida.
PRESENT:
Jim Coletta, Collier County Commissioner, Chairman
Jim Mudd, County Manager
David Weigel, County Attorney
Mike Pettit, Chief Assistant County Attorney
Leo Ochs, Collier County Manager's Office
Robert D. Pritt, Attorney, City of Naples
Leo Salvatori, Attorney, CPOC
Laura Spurgeon, Johnson Engineering
Laura Donaldson, Attorney, East Naples Fire District.
Angela Davis, East Naples Fire Commissioner
Michael Sheffield, County Manager's Office
Dan Mercer, City of Naples
Bob Middleton, City of Naples
John C. Norman, Rep/David Rivera
Jack Pointer, citizen
Judith Chirgwin, citizen
Page 1
May 14, 2007
MR. MUDD: Let's get started. Bob Lee can't be here today.
Well, he can be here but he's in a workshop. And Bob, I think you're
representing the city.
MR. PRITT: Where are all my people?
MR. MUDD: Yeah. They're not here yet.
MR. PETTIT: It's raining.
MR. MUDD: And so -- and if we don't get more people here by
quarter after (sic), we'll talk about it, and then we'll have another
meeting here.
MR. PRITT: Do you expect any more from the county? I'm not
sure that --
MR. MUDD: Maybe the chairman, but I don't know ifhe's
coming or not. It's on his calendar, but he could have got caught up in
the rain, so -- uh, there he is.
CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Did I miss anything?
MR. MUDD: Okay. As far as the county is concerned, I've got
everybody that we're going to have.
When we last had a meeting, we talked about having a sample
interlocal service boundary agreement drafted and passed around so
that we could talk about it during this meeting, and I believe that was
the intent of this meeting, to figure out what things we didn't have or
what things we didn't (sic) have, where we could agree or where we
couldn't. But we've had a series of meetings and -- to try to get that on
a piece of paper.
And so we've -- so we've done that. Your preference, Mr. Pritt,
would be to go down each paragraph or --
MR. PRITT: Yeah, if you'd like, I'll be glad to go through this
with you.
Once again, for the record, I'm Bob Pritt. I'm here on behalf of
the city. Unfortunately Dr. Lee is still over in the brief counsel
workshop that was to be held at nine o'clock this morning. And __
MR. MUDD: Brief?
Page 2
May 14, 2007
MR. PRITT: Yes. I think members -- are they still there, still in
workshop?
MR. NORMAN: I saw the replay on television.
MR. PRITT: They had two or three workshops. I think they
might have one tonight, too, I'm not sure. Anyhow--
MR. PETTIT: Before you begin, Bob.
MR. PRITT: Yes.
MR. PETTIT: For the record, Mike Pettit, Chief Assistance
County Attorney. I went back through this, and there's a couple things
that are not so much substantive in nature to think about, too, which is,
the act does provide for a term for the agreement, which I didn't
include.
MR. PRITT: Twenty years?
MR. PETTIT: Yeah. It could be up to 20 years.
MR. PRITT: Right.
MR. PETTIT: It provides for a renegotiation period, provides for
compo plan amendments for both the city and the county, and it
provides for the agreements being adopted by ordinance if we enter
into an agreement by both the city and county. So we may want to
memorialize those in language and any agreement we finally come to.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PETTIT: That's it.
MR. PRITT: Is that it?
MR. PETTIT: That's it. I have one other language change, but
I'll wait till it gets to that paragraph.
MR. MUDD: Okay. How are the whereases doing? Bob?
MR. PRITT: I had a question on this. I see that there is a
whereas -- frankly, I didn't have a chance to go back and check it in
the files, but one, two, three, four -- between four and five at the
bottom of page 1. Did not, in fact, the city invite the county -- the fire
control district to the negotiations? I believe that was in our
responding --
Page 3
May 14, 2007
MR. MUDD: North Naples.
MS. DONALDSON: This is Laura Donaldson. The city invited
North Naples Fire Control District. The county invited East Naples
Fire Control District --
MR. PRITT: Oh, was that? Okay.
MS. DONALDSON: -- by law, yeah.
MR. PRITT: Why'd they invite North Naples?
MS. DONALDSON: My understanding in watching the tape of
the city council meeting --
MR. PRITT: I'm trying to figure out which district __
MS. DONALDSON: -- was they wanted this to kind of be the
basis of all future agreements and wanted everyone at the table.
MR. MUDD: Well, that was a question we asked, you know,
when we did it. But hey, they came and that's fine.
MR. PRITT: North Naples and East Naples share a fire station;
do they not?
MS. DAVIS: Yes.
MR. PRITT: Is that in the city?
MS. DAVIS: Yes.
MR. PRITT: That might have been their --
MS. DAVIS: It's right by Poinciana Elementary School.
MR. PRITT: Right. It had something to do with that, that joint
fire facility. There's a question that we had, I think, at the time as to
whether or not that was located within the city. Regardless __
MS. DAVIS: I'm sure it is within the city's district, but it's East
Naples, North Naples, and EMS.
MR. PRITT: Right. Did you want to go through these or you
want me to go through any responses to any of the ones you have?
MR. MUDD: Yeah, let's --
MR. PRITT: You just want me to respond?
MR. PETTIT: Why don't you go ahead. I didn't include a copy
of a map yet because I thought we could get together on that at some
Page 4
May 14,2007
point. I've got several maps, but they tend to be more zoning maps,
and I'm not sure that's what they want. We can always get that
together.
MR. PRITT: I guess down on page 2, number 2, fire service to
be determined -- welcome back from Tallahassee.
MS. DONALDSON: Thank you.
MR. PRITT: If you looked at the transcript from the last
meeting, you'll see that we refrained from having any discussions with
you -- or about the fire district without the fire district being present,
and I don't know if you want -- maybe we ought -- I don't want to
slight you or anything, but maybe we ought to go on to the other
things in this agreement and then go back and talk about any fire
issues; is that okay?
MS. DONALDSON: We're here for the long haul, so whatever
the committee's preference.
MR. PRITT: Is that okay with the county?
MR. MUDD: Sure.
MR. PRITT: The -- I'm not in a position to know whether or not
number 3 is correct on all certain -- in all of its respects, and that
would be something that the staff would take a look at.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PRITT: So that's kind of a recital, I think, more than
anything. I think that fairly summarizes the discussions that we were
having back and forth concerning that fire station.
On page 3, I did make a note here, and that's a sentence at the top
that says, the city agrees that should it become necessary to specially
assess property owners for the expanded operations in the future, the
CPOC owner shall only be responsible -- responsible for their prorata
share and that funding at the full expansion of station three shall not
be borne solely by the CPOC property owners.
I think I understand what you're saying here, but correct me if I'm
saying it wrong. Part of -- part of station three will include this area,
Page 5
May 14, 2007
or this area will comprise part of what might go into station three and
a portion of it will not. So you're just asking that this not -- that we
don't stick the property owners in CPOC with the total cost of the fire
station, that everybody pays their fair share; is that correct?
MR. PETTIT: Correct.
MR. MUDD: Yes. The Urban Services Report talks about a
shortage of funds. Was it 1.7 million, Leo, if I remember correctly.
And it talks about a shortage of funds as far as the future expansion is
concerned, and it talks that that expansion will be funded by growth.
And one of the things, when we had this dialogue and we talked about
that particular -- I think it's on page 6, Leo, of the Urban Services
Report.
MR. OCHS: I'm looking.
MR. MUDD: About two-thirds of the page -- two-thirds down
the page. And so there was --
(Mr. Mercer, Mr. Middleton, and Ms. Chirgwin
entered the conference room.)
MR. OCHS: Yeah.
MR. MUDD: Page 6?
MR. OCHS: Page 6.
MR. MUDD: I'll be darned. Two-thirds down the page, down at
the bottom of the footnote?
MR. OCHS: Two-thirds.
MR. MUDD: You got it.
MR. OCHS: You got it, sir. Do you want me to read it?
MR. MUDD: Go ahead.
MR. OCHS: It says, at this time funding for the remaining
annual operating costs of 1.155 million related to the operations of the
station number three expanded, this not yet identified but should be
funded by growth, prior annexation and future annexation.
MR. MUDD: Okay. And the dialogue we were having at that
time was to make sure that with the CPOC, if you were going to make
Page 6
May 14, 2007
the expansion, that the CPOC properties, property owners, would pay
their fair share of that growth, but that the whole expansion wouldn't
be on, so to speak, on their back until those other things happened.
And so when we talked about it during the particular time, we
talked about a pro rata share and those kind of things. And what I
believe Mike did was go back to the record of that time, read over it to
make sure that we memorialized that particular conversation so that it
didn't -- that it didn't allude anybody so that it was there.
MR. PRITT: And I -- I don't know if you were trying to, Mike,
or not, but I think it addresses to some extent the legal concern that I
had concerning the law of special assessment, and that is we have to
be fair -- the public versus private share has to be fairly apportioned,
whether it's 100 percent or 0 percent or 50 or 75 percent. How much
does the public pay, if anything, versus the property owner, specially
benefited, and then it has to be fair among the property owners
specially benefited anyhow. So -- but that was -- and I was concerned
about whether or not we needed to memorialize anything that is part
of the law anyhow at the risk of saying something that's not part of the
law.
I don't think that this --
MR. PETTIT: Yeah, I don't think --
MR. PRITT: -- does that, and I tend to think we're okay on that
subject, my thinking about it a little more. But my main concern, I
think, has been addressed by the way you read it.
MR. PETTIT: Okay, yeah. And I think -- I was thinking about
that when we wrote this. I think that we felt we wanted to have that
expressed, and I -- my impression from statements that the city
manager made, that he was not uncomfortable with having it made
express in the record. And it looked to me like -- I went back and took
a look at the law at special assessments. The general black and white,
you know, Hornbook Rules, and I don't think you could nick us for the
whole thing anyway, but we just wanted to make sure it's express.
Page 7
May 14,2007
MR. PRITT: Okay. So I tentatively, at least, I think we're okay
on that. I had the bigger concern probably, but I think we're probably
okay on that.
You don't think we could nick you for the whole thing, huh?
MR. PETTIT: No.
MR. PRITT: Really? Remember that now when these guys are
trying to nick somebody for the whole thing. You know I'm going to
come over. I'm just going to come over. Now, Mike said that. I'll
read this.
MR. PETTIT: I said I don't think. I didn't give you a definitive
opmlOn.
MR. MUDD: Okay. Recycling. Paragraph four.
MR. PRITT: I don't think we have a problem with that __
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PRITT: -- unless there's something in there that I'm just not
seeing. Dan Mercer?
MR. OCHS: Hi, Dan.
MR. MERCER: Present and accounted for.
MR. PRITT: All right. Recycling. The language that we have
in the recycling --
MR. MERCER: I think the language was okay.
MR. PRITT: Do you have a copy here?
MR. MERCER: I grabbed the wrong folder.
MR. MUDD: Why don't you come on up here, Dan, and sit at
the table.
Bob, if you want to sit up there. You don't have to sit in the
chiefs seat.
MR. MIDDLETON: I've got his back.
MR. MUDD: You've got his back.
MR. PRITT: Is this a copy for anybody to you? There, Dan.
MR. MERCER: Yes, I think that was the wording we agreed
upon.
Page 8
May 14,2007
MR. PRITT: Okay. Wastewater service. Dan, why don't you go
ahead there, if you had a chance on that. I didn't see a problem with it
. .
III my reVIew.
MR. MUDD: Bob just wanted to make sure that we still had the
option that we could talk about it later if we wanted to.
MR. PRITT: Right.
MR. MUDD: And I believe that basically covers it.
MR. PRITT: I think either he or I brought it up at the last
meeting. The only thing is, is that relates to the term of the agreement.
Well, it mayor may not relate to the term of the agreement.
One of my comments later on -- and Mike's already kind of
covered it -- is that we need to have a term, and term of the agreement,
the statute says 20 years, as you said. It's 180 days prior to that time
for notice of renegotiation, et cetera.
But I'm wondering, it seems to me that we ought to have a shorter
period of time on this agreement because we don't need 20 years. And
we're -- I think the intention, at least, of a lot of people here at the
table, between the city and the county, would be to talk about the
service area issues anyhow.
And this very well may be something that we'll want to be
talking about again in the future. I mean, I don't know that we will or
will not. But we were talking about this as one of the areas before, so
I'll presume we'll probably talk about it again.
MR. MUDD: As soon as I'm done with this, we're going to start
again. I just like seeing Dan all the time, you know. So, you know, I
miss it if! can't get a monthly dose of Dan and Bob.
MR. PETTIT: Are you suggesting that we put a limitation in that
provision itself? Because we don't have to have this agreement for 20
years. It can be less, according to the statute. Are you suggesting __
MR. PRITT: I don't know if you want to talk about the term of
the agreement yet or -- until we get to it.
MR. PETTIT: Let's just wait till we get to it.
Page 9
May 14,2007
MR. PRITT: Yeah, but I would like to talk about the term of the
agreement, and this is kind of the poster child paragraph for that.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PRITT: The numbers, I believe, on number 6 -- and Dan,
throw something at me if I say it wrong, but I think these were the
amount of monies that we're talking about. And--
MR. MUDD: And the only bone of contention here, real quick,
is there's a difference with what the city estimates the cost of the repair
is going to be and what Mr. Salvatori and who he represents and what
they have agreed to pay, okay?
MR. SAL VA TORI: That's in part correct. For the record, this is
Leo Salvatori. I think part of this is -- and I think Mike appropriately
worded it based on the Urban Services Report. The Urban Services
Report initially opined that it may require some widening.
I think since that time George Archibald from the city has walked
the site with our client and agreed we're not going to widen the road
anywhere because to do so would remove those trees, and that's what
shrinks the cost to 175,000 that was reached with the result of some
discussions with our client's engineers as what would be a reasonable
cost to do what needed to be done.
The only thing I would suggest is you may want to take out the
widening aspect of it because our client did not want to have the road
widened because they didn't want to lose any trees in the process.
That's a bone of contention with the property owners.
And I think then you will find more than likely when this is
redone, the quotes are refined, the cost is probably more in line.
MR. MUDD: So could we agree to, this will involve -- I'm
down, third line -- this will -- go into the fourth. This will involve
resurfacing, and in some cases, other improvements?
MR. SAL VA TORI: Correct. That would be more appropriately
worded.
MR. MUDD: Okay, would be better than widening?
Page 10
May 14, 2007
MR. SALVATORI: I agree.
MR. PRITT: What about that next sentence then; are they still
going to pay exactly $175,0007
MR. MERCER: We may want to recommend changing that to
175- or less -- or I don't know how we want to word it from a legal
standpoint, but the concern is, too, is the cost of material is coming
down again since the boom is over so if -- we may get all the work
done for 153- or '50-, so I think it -- maybe not to exceed 175-?
MR. PETTIT: Up to 175.
MR. PRITT: Up to, yeah, simply up to.
CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Does that really cover it? You may
run into a point where it runs a couple thousand dollars over. How
about just a plus/minus?
MR. SAL VA TORI: Well, I think when they ran the quote the
last go-round, the quote came back, I think, around 167,000,
something like that, if the materials have fallen since. If you put a not
to exceed 175,000, I think that would probably be the safest way to do
it. And if the costs come in more, of course, we'd have to do
something.
MR. MERCER: Bob?
MR. PRITT: Well, Chairman Coletta's comment is -- that's a
pretty good comment. Yeah, it might be --
MR. MERCER: Without having a written proposal in front of us
CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Yeah, but suppose it runs over. I
mean, just on the outside chance that we go through a period of
inflation, are you not going to do it, are you going to stop when you
reach 175- and not complete the job? Of course you're not. You're
going to --
MR. PRITT: Is there approximately? Would that -- I mean, that
covers you a little bit on both sides.
MR. SALVATORI: Well, you know, the only commitments that
Page 11
May 14, 2007
our clients would make were to pay up to $175,000. So conceivably if
the costs ran over and you were annexed in, it would have to be done
and there would be some excess cost that the city would end up eating,
or the city may --
MR. PRITT: You've got my attention now.
MR. SAL VA TORI: But right now as we're sitting here, the only
authority I have is for the $175,000.
MR. PRITT: Dan, I'm kind of looking at you.
MR. MERCER: Well, I'm done thinking, not out loud yet. I
don't -- I really can't respond off the cuff right now. I just -- I don't
have written bids.
MR. MUDD: How about, Bob, you and Mr. Salvatori, you work
that out on how you want it worded here, but you've got the essence of
what we're basically saying. Whatever you guys work out as far as
the costs is concerned, that's fine. Your client -- or the county
government and the fire district, okay, are not party to that particular
agreement and don't expect to have to pay anything in order to get it
done, okay. And that's the general rule, and I think we've got that
down. Now we're just basically trying to figure out exactly what that
verbiage is.
If I was the city, I'd make sure that I got myself covered as much
as I can on this particular issue. But, hey, I'm glad things are coming
down. If you could please tell me on your crystal ball how much
they're coming down because I haven't seen a whole heck of a lot.
MR. MERCER: It's only rumor. I don't know.
MR. MUDD: It's rumor?
MR. MERCER: I know cement's come down. Asphalt may be a
different story.
MR. MUDD: Yeah.
MR. PRITT: Okay. And then it says, neither the county nor the
fire district shall be obligated to contribute any maintenance or repairs
to the public roadways. In other words, that's none of this -- these
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May 14,2007
public roads above --
MR. MUDD: That's right.
MR. PRITT: That's within the CPOC?
MR. MUDD: And it's what you require prior to annexation?
MR. PETTIT: I'll put these public road right-of-ways to make it
consistent.
MR. PRITT: The confirming letters. We're going to have those
attached. Is that -- or are they attached?
MR. PETTIT: I think the confirming letter was attached.
MR. MUDD: Yep, it's here.
MR. PETTIT: I didn't have it. I had a map Exhibit 1.
MR. MERCER: You know, I missed the -- I apologize. Dan
Mercer, for the stenographer down there. I missed the last meeting.
There might have been a lot of discussion I missed. But this is only a
question. It's probably a loaded question.
Bob Pritt's sitting way down there so he can't kick me. Why
would the -- I guess I'm curious why the fire departments or the
county would not expect to be using or helping maintain the roadway
in this. I mean, do you all not plan on using it, or why would you all
want to be exempt from it?
MR. SALVATORI: I think they're exempt from the initial
payment to bring the roads up to speed, but thereafter they will liable,
just like any other taxpayer.
MR. MUDD: That's a fair statement, sir.
MR. PETTIT: That's exactly what the point is.
MR. SALVATORI: This is just a one-time fix.
MR. MERCER: Oh, it's just the way this next sentence is
worded. I agree with what you're saying. That was what we agreed
to. But neither the county or fire districts shall be obligated to
contribute to any maintenance or repairs on the public roadways.
MR. MUDD: Required by the city as part of the annexation of
the CPOc.
Page 13
May 14,2007
MR. PETTIT: As I understand it, there's got to be some kind of
agreement ultimately between the city and the petitioner.
MR. MERCER: Okay. Just wanted to be sure.
MR. PRITT: Anything else, Dan?
MR. MERCER: No. That's all I got on that.
MR. PRITT: Page 4, utility taxes, communications taxes, and
FP&L franchise fees. Anyone know what the legislature did positively
for anybody around this table?
(No response.)
MR. PRITT: As far as I know, they took away more franchising
authority. But all I can say is I want to take another look at the new
statutes that have been passed. Dave, that took up about half the
morning last Saturday -- Friday or Saturday, I guess it was, but -- at
our conference, but --
MR. MUDD: The only --
MR. PRITT: I don't think there's any difference as far as this is
concerned.
MR. MUDD: And the only piece in here that Bob was -- that he
hadn't definitively said anything, okay, the utility tax, and it gets to the
last -- the last paragraph. The city also agrees that it shall rebate to the
county a 5.9 percent franchise fee that would otherwise be imposed
upon the county.
MR. PRITT: Right. I think that was illegal. I was the one that
squawked on that.
MR. MUDD: Yeah.
MR. PRITT: Yeah. Since that time I ran across a little squib
about a case, and I'm thinking it was a U.S. Supreme Court case
within the last year or so. I have not had a chance to look at it. But I
think that you've got to be very careful about not rebating -- having
discriminatory rebating of franchise fees.
What's left of franchise fees? My looking at the crystal ball is
that now that they've taken away the ability to franchise the
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May 14,2007
rights-of-way for, I guess it's phone and cable, they've taken that away
now, so the next thing will be that FP&L will come in and say, you're
not allowed to franchise up anymore. So I think that that's in jeopardy
anyhow, so -- but I don't think that we have the authority to rebate.
MR. MUDD: But I don't believe -- I don't believe in that
franchise agreement, from what has been laid out by the legislature,
that they've closed out existing agreements. Your existing agreements
still stand. It's -- you're not going to be able to do additional
agreements and nor will you be able to when -- the present agreement
that you have, when it sunsets, are you going to be able to renegotiate
that particular issue? It will go away, too.
MR. PRITT: Well, we've got 28 years left or so on the FP&L
agreement and only about a year or two -- two years, I think it is, on
the cable agreement.
But apart from the -- whether or not the city would want to do it,
I still think that there is a legal prohibition against doing that.
MR. MUDD: Can we get a definitive on that before the next
meeting?
MR. PRITT: Yeah, I mean --
MR. MUDD: I mean, we're going to try to get this interlocal
agreement to both bodies, I would believe, before -- City of Naples
breaks, what, 18 June?
MR. MERCER: Well, 14th of June is the last meeting.
MR. MUDD: 14th of June. You guys, and then you don't come
back until?
MR. MERCER: August, second meeting of August __
MR. PRITT: August.
MR. MERCER: -- which is about the 13th of August.
MR. MUDD: Okay. The 13th. Now, we'll break the end of
June, okay, come back on the 24th of July, and then they'll break
again until after the first week of September.
So I guess what I'm going to say to you is, if we aren't relatively
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May 14,2007
-- if we're not moving this thing here within the next 30 days to either
one of the bodies, we're not going to have anything set probably till
September, okay? So I -- or July or August at the best. So I just want
to make sure that we're all aware of that. You know, the break does
cause a little bit of a concern, so --
MR. MERCER: Well, 30 days. Of course, your June -- boy,
that's after ours, but I would presume we could probably meeting that
week.
MR. PRITT: Well, everybody's June is the same time, Dan.
MR. MERCER: I know, but I was thinking -- I don't know why I
was thinking their break was before ours, but it's not. It's after.
Thanks for pointing that out.
MR. PRITT: That was a joke for the record. I'm sorry. Go
ahead.
MR. MERCER: But anyway. I'm thinking the 30-day mark
would be about that Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of that last
week that we meet, so maybe, you know -- of course, the council's not
involved in that issue.
MR. PRITT: If we have to do ordinances __
MR. PETTIT: I don't know whether the act is -- it's not really
clear, and we'll talk about that. We have to do ordinances to -- did it
say to adopt or -- may have said adopt. Get through the ordinances
and it seems like -- and we have to advertise because it's cited we
advertise in the statutes under the ordinance procedures.
Shall adopt the agreements by ordinance under 166.041 and
125.66, so we're going to have to deal with that issue too. That builds
in more time.
MR. PRITT: And ordinance adoption is more complicated for
cities than it is for counties.
MR. PETTIT: Right.
MR. PRITT: We have one council meeting three weeks from
today -- from Wednesday, and then the next one is the week after that.
Page 16
May 14, 2007
MR. MERCER: Week after, the 16th -- 13th.
MR. PRITT: And we have to have 10 days notice. So we have
some real complications in getting it in before the break anyhow.
MR. MUDD: Okay. What does the ordinance say about this
negotiation and six months, and do we get ourselves slammed up
against that wall?
MR. PRITT: Anybody know when we start --
MR. PETTIT: Without actually going back and finding the
provision, I'm going to talk out loud while I look for it. I think what it
suggests is that we have to negotiate for six months before somebody
can do something else, but I don't think it says we must negotiate.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PETTIT: Would that sound right to you?
MR. PRITT: That's kind of my vague recollection.
MS. DONALDSON: Here's the section.
MR. PRITT: Oh, you have it, okay. Somebody actually reads
the law; that's good.
MS. DONALDSON: No earlier than six months after the
commencement of negotiations. So we actually start at the end of
January.
MR. PETTIT: All right.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MS. DONALDSON: Either the initiating local government or
both may declare an impasse and seek resolution of the issues under
164, which would be the joint. So I don't think -- as long as it's
moving forward and someone doesn't declare an impasse, you can
keep going over the six months.
MR. PETTIT: I think if we have an agreement in -- written that
everybody has -- at least that the people can recommend, then we can
just bring the ordinances forward possibly on the 24th of July on __
what'd you say in August? What's your first meeting?
MR. PRITT: Third Wednesday, I guess.
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May 14, 2007
MR. PETTIT: I mean, certainly we can meet those dates.
MR. MUDD: Yeah, okay. If you would -- if you would check,
Bob, then, and Mike, and make sure that it's legal or not legal what
we're asking on the -- you know, in the bottom piece where we're
talking about a rebate of the 5.9 percent. It's an issue that still remains
unresolved and we need to get definitive one way or the other. We're
certainly not going to have a request in here that's illegal.
MR. PRITT: There are two issues on that. One, of course -- in
all negotiations. But one is whether or not it's legal to do it. If it's not
legal to do it, that's kind of the end of that story.
MR. PETTIT: Right.
MR. PRITT: The other is, if it's legal to do it, whether or not the
city would, in a million years, agree to something like that, and that's
subject to negotiation and we're, you know, back on the table.
I'm saying a million years facetiously. A million years or in a minute,
I don't know which. But I have some real qualms about the legality of
that.
MR. PETTIT: Well, why don't you do this, Bob. Why don't you
send me any authority that you have, and I'll have our franchising
attorney take a look at it, and I will get into a dialogue with you and
see if we come to a conclusion. Because you're right, if it's illegal, we
can't do it, we can't do it.
MR. MUDD: Yeah, I'm not -- you know, and that ends that
discussion.
MS. DONALDSON: Can I add something for this section?
MR. PRITT: Sure.
MS. DONALDSON: Under the statute, the fire district is
actually exempt from the communication services taxes, and then we
may be except from the utilities taxes. I'd like a declaratory -- you
know, if we're saying the county's exempt pursuant to those statutes,
then we would at least like -- and I understand that we still have to
negotiate the issue of the utility tax. But as it relates to the
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May 14,2007
communication services taxes, which the statute specifically states
we're exempt, I would like that statement in here as well.
MR. PETTIT: Okay. And I guess what we could say is we're
going to have to do a to-be-determined on utility tax. It's my
recollection they have the discretion --
MS. DONALDSON: Correct, correct.
MR. PRITT: Are you -- are both of you suggesting that it be in
here in number 7 for the fire control district also? I'll tell you, I think
that's a logical place to put it, utility tax issue.
MR. PETTIT: That's what I thought.
MS. DONALDSON: Right.
MR. PETTIT: We can add them in for the communications tax.
I guess you're going to have to get your issues resolved on the other.
MR. PRITT: So how would you say that there? Can we actually
do that here? Can we sit here and kind of try to wordsmith it a little
bit?
MR. MUDD: You can smith all you want.
MS. DONALDSON: I mean, the easiest would be after -- and
the fire district is immune from and cannot be subject to any
communication taxes levied by the city.
MR. PETTIT: Yeah, we can just put that after -- before the
statutes and citations.
MS. DONALDSON: And that's a different statute. It's 202.125,
subsection 3.
MR. PETTIT: 202, what was it?
MS. DONALDSON: 125, subsection 3.
MR. PETTIT: Well, that would just a be follow-up sentence
following the first citation, to be a citation. That's not a problem. And
I don't know whether you're going to reach any conclusion on the
other or not.
MR. PRITT: Do you have enough on that that you could do a
draft that would just show that language --
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May 14,2007
MR. PETTIT: Yeah.
MR. PRITT: -- so that I can -- yeah. I kind of understand you,
but you both have said something just a little slightly different.
MR. PETTIT: I got it.
MS. DONALDSON: Yeah, you're -- I mean, you know what
we're looking for. I just figured since you're making a declaratory
statement that this is the case for the county, then we also wanted that
statement for the district.
MR. PRITT: Right. Concurrency. Somebody had to swear,
right?
Are we done with the taxes and all that?
(No response.)
MR. PRITT: Okay. Let's go to number 8. I marked this -- let's
see -- accordingly should any increase in density or intensity of use
beyond that currently authorized by the CPOC/CPUD be permitted
within the CPOC following annexation into the city, acknowledges
and agrees that it shall make the necessary intersection improvements
as determined by the county at Horseshoe Drive -- I'm sorry,
Horseshoe Drive -- Progress Avenue and Enterprise Avenue, both
Airport and Livingston Roads.
I have no idea if George or anybody has taken a look at that
issue, but that sounds like a lot of work. And it was my understanding
that -- that under any other circumstance, people would pay their share
of the improvements but not pay for all of the improvements. And
that seems to be a very high number, and does not seem to be
proportionalized in any way.
Can anybody enlighten me on that? We didn't agree to that, did
we?
(Mr. Middleton leaving the conference room.)
MR. MUDD: No. Well, wait a minute.
MR. PRITT: That's an airport ticket number, right.
MR. MUDD: The airport -- well, it could be depending on how
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May 14,2007
concurrency is and if it's failing or not. If it's not failing, then there's
no -- then there's no cost.
The issue is, what happens if the intensity and the density -- well,
first of all, this is a moot point because I believe Mr. Salvatori's client
has said they're not going to increase the intensity or the density on
this particular development. They just want to get their permits faster.
MR. SAL VA TORI: That's true, but keep in mind, they do not
own all of the vacant lots within that property.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. SAL VA TORI: So there's a point. The other thing I need to
point out is there is no PUD for CPOc. That's straight industrial
zoning. So you need to be cognizant of that because that could
change. That front strip is zoned retail, for example, so that's a more
intense use as opposed to an industrial use as it is now.
MR. PRITT: Well, let me just tell you what my concerns are.
One is, it looks to me like the county's trying to shift all the cost to the
city and it seems to be forever. And there must be some way of
encompassing what I thought Chairman Coletta's points were about
density.
And you'll recall at the last meeting I said I have qualms about
the city bargaining away its sovereignty, sovereign power to make
zoning decisions, just like the county could not bargain their power
away either.
So I think this was a good faith attempt to try to deal with that
part of it, but then the rest of it is just -- frankly, the numbers are
beyond me, and it seems like it goes on forever, and it -- and I imagine
that the condition of the roads will shift, hopefully for the better, as
time goes on, and I'm asking if there's any way that we can massage
that around to not be quite so onerous to the city.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Bob, if I may, what I was trying to
come up with originally is we have concurrency, checkbook
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May 14, 2007
concurrency. And the way it works in the county is, if you cannot
meet -- concurrency is not met out there, then you're not allowed to
continue or bring your development up until that concurrency issue is
addressed.
Problem being is that with the City of Naples sharing the same
road as the county with jurisdiction on one side and with us having
jurisdictions on the other, there's no balance, there is no assurance that
we'd be able to have that concurrency.
Now, I don't say I've got the answers to this, but there's got to be
something. We can't arbitrarily just change our concurrency. It's all
in the Land Development Code.
You know, if the city council could give us some sort of
assurances that they would aim for something similar as far as a
concurrency ruling that would more or less mirror the county's, you
know, then we're already there and we could work in conjunction the
way we should be on a regional issue.
MR. MUDD: What I would -- as a minimum I would make sure
one, two, three, four, five, six -- seventh line into the concurrency
paragraph, it says both the county and the city agree that these
intersections could be in a state of failure and require needed
improvements, okay, instead of would, which is definitive. Is says it's
already going to be there. It could be.
And then you've got to talk about what the concurrency issue is.
And there's probably going to be a traffic impact statement or study
done on the particular issue. And I think would -- you know, the
could versus would to give it -- at least give us some leeway into that
particular issue.
But take a look at it. Dan, have George take a look at it. There's
four intersections that sits there. It's North Horseshoe. South
Horseshoe's got to connect to Enterprise now, okay, and most people
are coming out that way to get to the light, okay, and they're coming
across at the Nissan dealer, which is the north side, and then they're
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May 14, 2007
coming across the light at the south side, okay, and they're coming
straight out, not making a left and right from Airport, and they're
going straight down to Livingston and then getting on Livingston and
going whichever way they're going. And that's -- and that's what
we're basically seeing as a dynamic.
A lot of that could be because of the overpass is being
constructed, and when you get in there, you get all gnarled up. If we
could see that change, that pattern change when the overpass gets
completed here in June, when that happens, we could see something a
little bit different.
So it could -- Bob, it could alleviate Livingston to a great extent
when that particular thing opens up. But right now, you're a fool if
you make a left-hand turn trying to get out of there during rush hour to
try to go north. You're going straightaway to Livingston to try to get
around it.
MR. MERCER: What I'll do is -- Dan Mercer, again. What I'll
do is have Greg look at this one more time, because I know he's
worked with you all's staff, and they can come up to speed. There's
really no concerns at this point, especially when the bridge does open.
So I'll make sure we can -- we'll look at the wording, and I'll
shoot it over to Bob. I can probably do this by Wednesday.
CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Ifwe can get by -- if we can get by
this one obstacle, I think it would remove a lot of my misgivings of
what we're going into.
I always felt that one of the reasons why the commerce park was
interested in coming aboard was the fact that the City of Naples'
concurrency rules don't measure up to what the county's are, and so
they have a little bit more ability to be able to operate without
government interference, or however you want to call it. However,
we see that government interference as a control over the
infrastructure.
And if we can get by that, I think we're really there as far as the --
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May 14,2007
as I feel as a commissioner. Now, my other commissioners may have
some other issues. But concurrency is the big one for me. And I think
if you ever went public with your residents in the City of Naples,
you'd find that concurrency's a big issue with them also.
MR. PRITT: Well, I guess that takes me to my next comment,
would be in the next part of the sentence here. See, both the county
and city agree these intersections could be in a state of failure and
require needed improvements should there be any such increase of
density or intensity of land use within the CPOC following
annexation.
Again, I just saw a little blurb about the new statute at the
city/county local government -- or conference Friday and Saturday;
haven't had a chance to really digest it. But from what I was hearing
from the speaker, it seems that the proportionate fair share issue has
undergone yet another change.
And Mike, I don't know if you were there for that one or not. I
know David was. I don't know, either one of you have a comment on
that? It seems to me that --
MR. MUDD: You can't --
MR. PRITT: -- this thing is getting pretty complicated. But it
was like the last person in doesn't have to pay for everybody else, and
that was the -- that was the impression I got from the speaker on that.
MR. MUDD: Well, what I've read in the fair share ordinance is
-- and it's -- and the growth management thing that stated about six
different times that basically the previous Senate Bill 360 talked about
proportionate fair share and it was pretty much silent on the backlog,
okay.
MR. PRITT: Right.
MR. MUDD: The past sins. But the way it was worded, it
alluded to the fact that a development in order to do fair share, would
have to bring that segment up to standard and do its future impacts.
Now, this latest change, which the governor hasn't signed yet -- I
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May 14, 2007
have no reason to believe he won't -- it basically says that when you
pay the fair share, that you don't have to worry about the backlog, the
past sins, so to speak.
MR. PRITT: Right.
MR. MUDD: That you only have to worry about your future
impacts.
MR. PRITT: Now, wouldn't that tend to bring the cost--
assuming that we didn't have something to the contrary in here -- let's
just say it said the city would pay its fair share, end of story. I mean,
wouldn't that bring the cost down significantly?
MR. MUDD: Yeah. Ifwe were developing stuff around
Enterprise and Progress, but if you take a look at that industrialized
zoning part of Collier County, it's built out. The vacant lots in there
are few and far between. And believe me, I tried to find them so I
could have a transfer station, okay? I wasn't very successful.
So I guess what I'm going to say to you is, it's kind of -- we're
kind of in a Naples kind of scenario. We're built out, and the only
way you get yourself to get into a failing intersection is, something
completely changes as far as the traffic pattern is concerned or you
add intensity to something that you still have.
Because when we did these intersections, we looked at what the
zoning was on that particular area when we designed the intersections
and did those kind of things. So I guess what I'm going to say to you
is, those intersections are designed based on what we have today on
the books and so, we're looking for the future dynamic that would
change that.
MR. PRITT: Well, would it be unreasonable for us to ask that
this paragraph -- and maybe you've done it already, so that's why I'm
asking. But ask this paragraph be looked at by your transportation
people in line with what wound up coming out of the legislature that
we all just started looking at here the other day --
MR. MUDD: Sure.
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May 14, 2007
MR. PRITT: -- to see whether or not -- hopefully there would be
a helpful answer to this quagmire here. But it seems to me that this is
a pretty expensive proposition, and especially where it says that the
city further agrees that needed improvements shall be made within six
months after any zoning approvals.
I could understand why you would want that, but I'm not sure
that that would -- I don't know if that's your general policy or if that's
otherwise reasonable, but it would -- I have a little comment here, and
maybe it's not the correct comment. But, you know, it would be
dependent also on the county, I would think.
And I'm wondering, you know, that -- has the county office itself
been the -- would that be an increase in rated density? The county
office is over there, you know, on Horseshoe Drive. It's pretty large.
MR. MUDD: When Schmitt -- when Schmitt expanded his
operation, okay, I had to go in there and put in the throat distance __
put in a new throat coming off of Airport left-hand turn going into
North Horseshoe because it was too small. And we extended it way
back in order to do that.
And I guess what I'm going to say to you is, if you get into that
mode where there's a sharp increase, that -- that commercial park is
very, very -- what happens in that commercial park has a definite
one-to-one relationship to what happens on Airport Road and how you
get in and you get out of that facility.
One of the things that we did to try to alleviate some of the traffic
flow problems from the commercial park was we put the connector
road in from South Horseshoe into Enterprise where it comes through
just before you -- just after you pass the transfer station.
And so that took a lot of the problems out of South Horseshoe.
When they were coming out of South Horseshoe, they were making a
right-hand turn, and then they were getting over real fast to get over to
Enterprise at the light so they could either make a U-turn or make a
left-hand turn and get out, and it was -- we had a couple accidents. So
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May 14, 2007
we opened up that road network to make the intersection, and it's
alleviated it a lot.
I'm just letting you know, it's very -- the traffic patterns in that
particular development and how they come out on Airport Road and
how they get in from Airport Road, may it be from Livingston or
whatever, they're -- you can pretty much see an impact as soon as
something changes. And we believe we have captured everything that
we could as far as the development on that road.
But we'll be glad to have our transportation folks, along with
Greg Strakaluse and crew, take a look at that particular area. Just
understand, the fear is if there's a change to intensity and density in
that particular area, you could pretty much make that whole
commercial park be very untenable for people going into work there
and coming out to work or anybody that's going in for any kind of
servIce.
MR. PRITT: I guess what my whole thought on that was, is,
would the county potentially be shooting itself in the foot by having
something that's so strict that the city's going to say -- if the county
needs to expand its own -- its own facility, the city says, well, we can't
do that because look at this agreement.
I'm not sure that that's something that, in the long-term, would
not wind up in yet another potential dispute between the city and the
county. We have enough of those already. So just think about that.
And you can have Greg look at it, or George.
MR. MERCER: I think I've said this in -- two or three meetings
ago, and I'll say it again. No matter if the city has any projects, any
development going on, like over off of Central or anyplace like that
that dumps onto a county road, whether it be Golden Gate Parkway,
whether it be Goodlette-Frank Road, we do look -- in the development
plans, we look at what the concurrency and everything is anyway. We
look at all that.
We would not treat CPOC any different. So any growth in there
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May 14,2007
-- when we met with your staff about four months ago, that we could
literally -- the way it's set up today, the concurrency or the level of
service for Airport is set up to where we could build a Wal * Mart back
there and it would not exceed your level of service. We're not going
to build the Super -- I shouldn't say that. I don't see us recommending
building a Super Wal*Mart back there. So, you know, I don't see--
MR. PETTIT: Good luck getting to it.
MR. MERCER: -- any challenges, but if we do, the developer
that's building would coordinate with the city and county and make
any improvements necessary to get out onto Airport Road without
affecting that leveling of service.
That's just the way we looked at it, and I think it's the same way
the county looks at stuff, is we would look at everything. We
wouldn't get tunnel vision. We would work with your staff just like
we do now to make sure the development, if any, is to not overload
any roadway concurrency or any other issues over there.
MR. SALVATORI: And if it helps any, it's Collier Park of
Commerce that paid for those two driveway interconnects that Jim
was talking about to alleviate the traffic. They worked with the
county on that, so they actually footed that bill. Even though I don't
think there was anyone particular development there that caused it, it
was just something that needed to be done, just getting it to transpire.
So I need to find the spirit of cooperative things. It's worded in
such a way that you mention that. If traffic warrants the -- some
improvements be done, be it the county and staff can agree between
themselves. I don't think the property owners would have a problem
with that either.
MR. PRITT: I'm not sure that says that anywhere in that --
MR. SAL VA TORI: No. This is kind of strong. I think it
changed the way -- along the ways you're suggesting, I think that
would probably be amenable to our folks.
MR. PRITT: All right. Anything else on that, Dan?
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May 14, 2007
MR. PETTIT: I have just another point. I'm going to --
depending on how this ultimately turns out, I would want to change
the language in the last sentence to say that -- make it clear that any
land use approvals increasing density or intensity would trigger this
issue, because I think now it just says zoning approvals, which is a
specific kind of approval, and I don't think you wanted to be that
specific.
MR. PRITT: You want to change zoning to land use?
MR. PETTIT: Any land use approvals of any type increasing
density or intensity of uses.
MR. MUDD: Now, this is a sensitive point, and I want to make
sure that you understand it's a sensitive point for our board and it's a
sensitive point for the city council, okay?
And there was a statement that was made at the last joint
workshop, and I bit my tongue, but I'm not going to bite my tongue
right now while it's being done.
The last two annexations for the City of Naples increased
intensity, okay, of the items that were done, Rafina, we went to 42 feet
on height. County's cap is 35. One of the reasons they went is so they
could get increased height for their development, okay.
And the Cameron development just north of Golden Gate
Parkway, Goodlette-Frank, north of our water quality park, that was
basically, what I -- what I called contrary -- or zoning annexation,
okay. Their new zoning in the annexation were side by side in front
of the -- in front of the council, and the zoning that was done was
more intense than it was ever zoned in the county.
So I just want to make sure -- they said that's never happened in
an annexation, and I'm telling you the last two the city's done has
increased intensity. So there is -- there is, especially at this
intersection there is a concern, okay, and if your city council doesn't
know that they're being used for intensity purposes on their
annexations, then somebody needs to tell them, okay?
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May 14, 2007
MR. PRITT: Well, I think it depends on your definition of
intensity of use. If a greater height is an intensity of use, then I
understand what you're saying. But greater height is not necessarily
an intensity of use in all -- in all books.
MR. MUDD: I'm not arguing. I can't tell you ifhe did more
floors or he did more ceiling heights. That I can't tell you, but I will
tell you what he went for, and it was, he couldn't get the development
he wanted with 35-foot height, so he went for the city's 42 feet, okay.
And I don't know if that gave him an extra floor or not. Hey, I didn't
see the plans before or after. I just tell you what he got.
MR. PRITT: This says here -- and this is the usual terminology.
It says here, density or intensity of use. And density's pretty easy,
residential density is pretty easy. Intensity of use is --
MR. MUDD: Agreed.
MR. PRITT: It's a little more difficult, you know, but usually
that translates to floor area and, you know, some of those types of
things as opposed to a, you know, parking -- maybe a parking lot
improvement or a height or something like that.
MR. MUDD: Sure.
MR. PRITT: And if that is a -- if that is a big source of
misunderstanding between the two boards, the city and county boards,
then maybe we need to clarify that, but I didn't see that as an intensity
of use.
MR. MUDD: I'm just letting you know it was stated, and I'm
kind of going, okay. And then Fred Coyle -- or Commissioner Coyle
was talking about something that happened in 1997, I believe, was the
year he was quoting. And I believe you could do a lot more updating
as far as an example was concerned.
Just -- I just want to make sure we're covered here. We've got
four sensitive intersections, okay, and we want to make sure that
whatever happens in that particular development, that we don't end up
with four intersections that fail. And it will do nobody any good if
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May 14,2007
that happens. And nobody likes that situation.
So let's -- whatever we word this, I'll have Norman review it with
his planning staff -- that's Norm Feder -- to make sure that the new
growth management change in the law is covered in this particular
area. I'd ask Greg Strakaluse to take a look at the intersections and get
it so that we've got it worked out so that the staffs could work together
on the concurrency issue. The issue is, we don't want to have failing
intersections, not on Airport or Livingston Road, because of whatever
we do in this particular development.
MR. MERCER: We'll commit to meeting with Norm Feder this
week and his staff.
MR. MUDD: Don't get too close to Norman. He's really sick,
okay. When I heard him this morning, man, I said, Norman, don't
come in to work. Please stay home. The whole county staff will be
better if you don't do what you're about ready to do. So hopefully he'll
be feeling better in the next day or so and we'll have him back.
MR. PRITT: The last thing that I have -- we talked about one of
the two things I had left, and that was the duration issue. I put that
down after 13. Did you have anything up until the end there, Mike?
MR. PETTIT: No, I mean the only other thing --
MR. PRITT: Or Laura?
MR. PETTIT: -- is I put down term, and I think we could cover
renegotiation in a paragraph dealing with the term.
MR. PRITT: Right.
MR. PETTIT: I noticed that, like I said, a couple of the other
little things, like adoption by ordinance and compo plan amendments, I
don't know whether that needs to be memorialized in the agreement or
not.
MR. PRITT: If you want to put it in, I don't think I'll object. It
might be helpful to remind people where it came from. The other
thing I have is a notation, and that is a question mark. I put down
county's obligations, question mark, county's agreement to forego
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May 14, 2007
challenge to annexation. I didn't see that in there.
Frankly, I looked at the contract, and really I had two major legal
concerns about it. One was that it seemed to go on forever, and I think
that, Mike, you already handled that from the get-go here.
But the other is consideration. You know, what does the city get
in return for going through this process and agreeing to some pretty
major things from the county?
Obviously we would be interested in not having the county
continue to oppose the annexation. I think that's something we can
negotiate. But it seems to me that there ought to be something in there
where there would be some reciprocity.
MR. PETTIT: If you want to give us some language. I guess --
MR. PRITT: I don't blame you for not putting it in.
MR. PETTIT: I didn't -- the reason I didn't is because I thought
the purpose of the agreement was to resolve all issues that could lead
to litigation or challenge. So once you have the agreement approved
MR. PRITT: One of which would be the county's objecting to it.
I mean, obviously, we--
MR. MUDD: I don't mind -- I don't mind putting it in there.
You know, just -- I think it's -- it's a good statement. You know, the
reason you want to do this is so that you don't get yourself in a legal
battle after it's over. Why not put it in?
MR. WEIGEL: It works. Although obviously you come to the
agreement and you adopt them into ordinances. I think you've
fulfilled the, call it the predicate, the prerequisite, to essentially
prevent yourself from going into 164 proceedings, which is necessary
before you actually go into litigation. But if you want to cover it
expressly, obviously there's nothing to stop you from doing that.
MR. PRITT: Okay. I'll try to draft a --
MR. PETTIT: Draft a paragraph.
MR. PRITT: -- a paragraph or sentence or two.
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May 14,2007
MR. PETTIT: And I'll make the changes, I think, the other
changes that we talked about and send them back to you. The only
thing I'm not quite sure of, I'm going to leave this payment on the
public road maintenance issue just to pay up to 175,000. You guys are
going to have to get together with Leo and his client for whatever
discussion they might have.
MR. PRITT: Is there anything else that the county has that --
MR. MUDD: Nope.
MR. PRITT: -- before we start talking fire?
MR. MUDD: Fire, I think's, the next issue.
MR. PRITT: Welcome back.
MS. DONALDSON: Thank you. I guess -- Laura Donaldson on
behalf of the East Naples Fire Control District.
Since we haven't gotten a counterproposal to our initial offers,
the best way to go is just to say that we're going to follow what
171.093 provides. That's what the statute says. That would have us --
basically we would be providing services all the way through -- I
mean, the four years start -- if the city adopts a resolution and it brings
-- or wanting to take over fire services, the four-year period would
start October 1 of 2008. So it would go -- we would remain the
service provider from this year until October 1,2012, and that's what
the statute provides.
I think if we just reference East Naples Fire Control District shall
remain the service provider pursuant to 171.093, and then what would
happen is from annexation to October 1,2008, the district would use
the county code for inspections and permitting, and from October 1,
2008, to 2012, we would use the city code to do the inspections and
permitting.
MR. PRITT: And you think that that's what the statute says that
-- we kind of had a discussion about that before.
MS. DONALDSON: I think the issue was what--
MR. PRITT: The time before last.
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May 14, 2007
(Commissioner Coletta left the conference room.)
MS. DONALDSON: -- what code applies. And I think that we
agree that the county code applies until our boundaries change. And
after our boundaries change, the city code would apply, but we still
remain the service provider. It doesn't say just -- it says, shall remain
the service provider, and the services under 191 includes inspections
and permitting.
So, I mean, you have to read both section 171 and then chapter
191 of what our powers are, and that's what we would go by, just like
for Rafina the city requested, and at the time the district provided, an
interlocal agreement that said that the city would take over inspections
and permitting.
So that's what's happening with Rafina and that's why the district
does not provide inspections or permitting for Rafina. The district
agreed to give that up for Rafina.
MR. PRITT: We had an agreement with Rafina?
MS. DONALDSON: Yes, just a form -- I never even saw it. It
was before I came on. It was like a two-page thing that just says that
-- that the city would take over inspections and permitting for Rafina.
The district's theory was, why split up the development between two
different inspecting entities?
MR. PRITT: What were those dates again, 10/1/08 to 10/1/12,
was that -- that we go under the city codes?
MS. DONALDSON: That's if the city adopts the prior resolution
by the end of this year.
MR. PRITT: Those dates are correct?
MS. DONALDSON: Yes. It would be October 1,2008, and
then four years from then that the city code would apply, but we
would be doing inspections and permitting. And then prior to 2008,
the county code would apply because our boundary still includes the
area even though the property has been annexed.
MR. MUDD: Now, I'm going to complicate the issue with one
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May 14, 2007
question. Can you apply the codes, the city codes, to -- and this is
truly a question, okay? If somebody's got the answer, it would be
great.
Can you apply the city codes to an area that hasn't had a compo
plan amendment to be -- to be added to the city's rolls, so to speak?
I'm of the opinion that until you get a compo plan amendment that's
approved, the county's codes prevail, and then once the compo plan
amendment is done, that's when the codes change, Land Development
Code.
MR. PRITT: That's my impression, too.
MR. MUDD: So I don't understand -- you're making an
assumption that the Growth Management Plans have been changed by
those dates, okay? And I'm not too sure they're going to be
simultaneously done or they're going to be before. They could be
after.
MR. PRITT: That's a very good point.
MS. DONALDSON: Yeah. That is a very good point. I was
thinking more so that when an area's annexed by a city, the city's,
basically, codes and rules and regulations apply to that annexed
property, and so I guess the question would become, is the fire code --
if that's covered when the requirement of the compo plan amendment
changed. And I would have to look at that section because that's --
MR. PRITT: You just sent four lawyers back to the books.
MR. WEIGEL: Yeah, but not very far. I think that that is
probably the outcome, that it automatically transfers on the adoption
or the amendment of the comprehensive plan or the city to take into
account the annexed property, and that's the trigger.
MR. PETTIT: Do you need to have exact dates?
MR. PRITT: Anyone have 171 with them?
MS. DONALDSON: I do.
MR. PRITT: It's right there, toward the end of part one, if I
remember right.
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May 14, 2007
MS. DONALDSON: 171.093 at the end of part one. Yeah, I
mean, what this just basically says is that the district's boundaries
change at the start of the four-year period.
MR. PRITT: It's not an 093. There's another section. Effect--
it's called effective annexation.
MS. DONALDSON: Effective annexation.
MR. PRITT: And I can't -- the only thing I can't recall is just that
it only applies to land development regulations or to all -- or it's all.
MS. DONALDSON: It's 062.
MR. OCHS: I don't know it that's it. It's circled there in the
middle of the page.
MR. PRITT: Yeah, it says -- well, actually it says it in -- and
this is the part to the new --
MR. OCHS: Part two.
MR. PRITT: Part two. It actually says that in part two here,
under F, however, the county comprehensive plan and land
development regulations shall control until the municipality annexes
the property and amends its comprehensive plan accordingly. But the
question was -- it's a very good question. That's the comprehensive --
your land development regulations do not include your fire.
MR. PETTIT: Right. And that says that the city codes take
effect upon the effective date of the annexation.
MR. PRITT: Yeah.
MR. PETTIT: And I think it's a distinct issue.
MS. DONALDSON: And I would think that the reason why I've
argued that the county's applied for that while the boundary change is
right now the fire district under 191 has the ability to have its code.
We chose to use the county code. So our code is in place until our
boundaries change.
MR. PRITT: I think that all of these provisions are mandatory
anyhow. Do you agree with that or -- I mean, I don't think that we
could, by agreement, change who does what and who is what for this
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May 14,2007
anyhow, because I think these are mandatory provisions; are they not?
I'm not sure that there's anything in part two that makes any of this
other than mandatory, or have I forgot that?
MS. DONALDSON: I think the difference is, is under part two,
basically we get to negotiate the issue of fire services, and there's even
a provision that says if a fire department doesn't agree to the
agreement, we still get to seek compensation. So it's not -- so we can't
be crammed on.
But I think -- I mean, truly we could sit here and say, well, we
don't want to do fire protection for that four years and put into that
agreement that says the City of Naples is going to be the fire service
provider for -- you know, upon annexation.
So I think anything is up to be negotiated as it relates to the fire
services. But no matter what we get compensated, if we don't agree --
you know, ifthere's not an agreement -- if you guys -- if the city and
county sign an agreement and the fire is silent, we get to seek
compensation under the 171.093.
So I would think -- you know, we do have the ability to
negotiate, just like we have the ability to negotiate under 171.093 a lot
of different things as it relates to fire protection services.
I would just hate to keep meeting on this when the district has kind of
made its wishes clear and we haven't really received anything back as
it relates to a counteroffer. And so I just think the simplest thing
would be to just say, you know, the four-year provision under 171.093
applies.
Because if I were not going to keep coming back, and we're just
going to sit here and say, well, we've given you our offer. Where's the
counteroffer? And we'll just keep wasting time.
MR. MERCER: Can I ask two silly questions? First of all,
what's the issue of who provides that service, other than, is it just a
money issue? What's the issue with the East Naples Fire District, just
for my benefit?
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May 14,2007
MR. MUDD: Are you talking about fire review?
MR. MERCER: Fire service, and then the second question --
MR. MUDD: Fire service is a big issue because under -- under
the statute it basically talks about them getting their millage for four
straight years --
MR. MERCER: So it's just a money issue?
MR. MUDD: -- from the time -- yeah, it's a big -- for them it's an
issue, okay. And the other piece is, if they're reviewing plans, there's
a fee for the review. So it's another money issue, okay, for that
particular organization, okay, so --
(Mr. Weigel left the conference room.)
MS. DONALDSON: I can tell you the intention of the statute,
because I worked on it when I was on staff, was cities were annexing
into special district boundaries and almost causing some fire districts
to go into bankruptcy because they were just taking property, and fire
districts could not budget for that loss of income. And so the
four-year period, the theory was, is it allowed for a transition of
services to the city in allowing the special district to account for that
loss of revenues, because, I mean, there have been occasions where a
fire station has just been built and then a city will annex, so we made
an area that's kind of -- the fire district is going -- the fire station's
going to serve.
As it relates to the inspections and permitting, to be honest, that's
one of our powers. We get to do it now. We don't feel like we should
have to give up. We gave it up for Rafina. We had a legitimate
reason on why we wanted to give it up, so right now the district
doesn't feel inclined to do it.
MR. MERCER: But I mean, is it related to your inspection -- the
guidelines you're inspecting, criteria you're inspecting, is it different
than what the city would inspect?
MS. DONALDSON: They are up to -- but as I've said, we end
up having to change the code at a certain point in the future, so we
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May 14, 2007
would be using the city code.
No. I mean I think it's basically the -- one, there's a safety issue,
and I know we've talked about before that the city would be willing to
give us the plans, but our firefighters would be going into places
having never inspected them, not having the plans, and so that's a
safety issue.
And then the other issue is, you know, we have made an offer
and we haven't gotten a counteroffer back really that says, okay, well,
we'll do this or this, we'll give you this, we'll give you that. So why
would the district want to give up an authority it has --
MR. PRITT: Well, you've said it three times, so I'm going to
respond. The reason you didn't get a counteroffer -- one of the reasons
you didn't get a counteroffer, is because you went to the state
legislature to try to change matters that were on the table so that we
could not negotiate those.
And you know that I believe that that was not in good faith. You
didn't tell us you were going to do that. You went to the legislature,
which is your right to do that, and you said that you couldn't make that
meeting during the legislative session.
So here we are. You don't have a counteroffer. We just found
out the legislature apparently has not adopted anything, so we're back
at the table as of last Friday. I guess the legislature didn't do anything
on it. That's what I heard. If you know any different, tell me.
So I mean, why would we be wanting to negotiate something
with you when you're up in the legislature trying to pull the rug out
from under our negotiations?
MS. DONALDSON: First I just want to correct something.
North Naples Fire Control District hired me for that change.
MR. PRITT: I don't care who hired you for that change.
MS. DONALDSON: It makes a difference. I am here
representing East Naples Fire Control District; East Naples Fire
Control District was not. North Naples Fire Control District hired me
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May 14, 2007
back in, I think, December or January, to seek changes, and we are not
in an annexation fight, and there is no good faith requirement for the
city of -- for East -- or North Naples Fire Control District as it relates
to annexation.
And I can tell you as it relates to the premium tax issue that issue
did not pass, that it will be coming back because the Department of
Revenue in the bureau that oversees police and firefighter pension
plans was surprised that those monies, where they're supposed to be
going, are not going based on 171.
So I just wanted to correct that North -- I was representing, on the
annexation issue, North Naples Fire Control District. And I can point
out one reason specifically as it relates to the EMS issue, the signing
language, that when East Naples Fire Control District found out about
it, they specifically called me and said, make sure that you don't tell
anyone that we're supporting that legislation. That's a North Naples
Fire Control District legislation.
So I just want to go on record, that was a North Naples Fire
Control District issue. They are not working on this and they are not
involved with this annexation, and there is no good faith requirement
for them on that issue.
MR. PRITT: There's a good faith requirement for negotiations
on this issue.
MS. DONALDSON: For?
MR. PRITT: And you being the same human being that's
representing North Naples Fire Control District, you're up there trying
to -- trying to effectuate changes that would have the effect of
invalidating or voiding all of our negotiations at this table without
telling us on behalf of the East Naples Fire Control District that that is
what you were doing.
Now -- so you did it, that's fine, but don't be three times telling
us, well, we're waiting for some kind of response from you.
MS. DONALDSON: I'm saying, let's do the statute. Let's go
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May 14, 2007
with the statute. We don't need to wait for any counteroffer. Let's go
with 171.093, which is current law, which there are no changes to this
year, which we did not -- so let's go with that section. And so we don't
have to wait for any counteroffers. We don't have to wait for
anything. We'll just go with what the statute says, and the statute says
we're the service provider.
MR. PRITT: Well, now that there haven't been any changes, we
will get back to you with our response.
MR. MUDD: Okay. Have we resolved the fire for at least the
time being?
MR. PRITT: Yes.
MR. MUDD: Okay. We have one speaker. I think we've
covered everything that's on this sheet, okay.
Mr. Salvatori, we hit your client's issues, at least what you were
aware of?
MR. SALVATORI: (Nods head.)
MR. MUDD: Mr. Pritt, we squared away from the city's side?
MR. PRITT: I think so.
MR. MUDD: Okay. From the county's side, I think we're okay.
We have one public speaker today. Michael?
MR. SHEFFIELD: Judith.
MS. CHIRGWIN: Oh, I saw a notice in the paper about this
meeting, and I said, I know annexation is a very hot topic in the City
of Naples right now, and I said, I think I'll go to the meeting, so here I
am.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MS. CHIRGWIN: And I'll try to keep track of it. When do you
meet again?
MR. MUDD: That's what we're going to talk about after you're
done talking.
MS. CHIRGWIN: Okay. Thank you for asking me.
MR. MUDD: Do you have anything else -- was there anything
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May 14, 2007
else you would like to talk about?
MS. CHIRGWIN: Well, I need the windows done in my house
and the grass cut, but other than that, I can't think of anything.
MR. MUDD: I got it, okay.
MR. SHEFFIELD: Can you spell your last name for the record.
MS. CHIRGWIN: Judith Chirgwin, C-H-I-R-G-W-I-N.
MR. MUDD: That's the next question. Normally we do these
within the next 30 days. And the City of Naples, you've got that one.
We would be glad to have it sooner than that if you're prepared for
counteroffers and --
MR. PRITT: Yeah, I -- let me suggest this. Mike, you have
something to -- that you're going to work out. I have something to
send to you.
MR. PETTIT: Let's put that. Let's get that definitive. I think
what I understand is I'm going to make the language changes to the
document including changes related to the fire district on the tax issue
in paragraph seven. I'm going to leave, to be determined under fire
service; however, you are going to provide a provision concerning the
term and you are also going to provide me with legal authority to
support your concern that the rebate of the franchise fee would be
illegal. Is that everything?
MR. PRITT: And you're going to find a decent map?
MR. PETTIT: Well, somebody is.
MR. PRITT: Somebody will find a decent map.
MR. SALVATORI: I think we have one. We'll get one -- Mike,
you'll be the draft person on this?
MR. PETTIT: Yeah. If you want to send me -- what I have,
right now I've got good colored maps, but they're really zoning maps.
MR. SALVATORI: Yeah.
MR. PETTIT: I'm not sure we want that.
MS. DONALDSON: Aerials maybe, or a street map?
MR. PETTIT: I don't know. I think a street map would be good.
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May 14, 2007
MR. SAL VA TORI: You want to do that, Laura?
MR. PRITT: Okay. So Laura Spurgeon's going to head that up
and get it to -- can you get it to Mike, since he's --
MR. MUDD: When you talk term, it was term renegotiation and
challenge were the issues that you wanted to talk about, okay.
MR. PETTIT: And you're going to provide a provision regarding
the challenge also.
MS. DONALDSON: And I think the resolution that you were--
that this had to be adopted by resolution.
MR. PETTIT: Oh, by ordinance.
MS. DONALDSON: Oh, by ordinance. In the district it's by
resolution.
MR. PETTIT: It's by resolution.
Now, on term, we didn't talk about whether you wanted to go
below 20 years.
MR. PRITT: I thought I did, but I do.
MR. PETTIT: Have you got a number in mind?
MR. PRITT: I want to explore whether or not we ought to go to
something a lot more shorter in term, knowing that we very well may
turn right around and start talking about service area issues.
MR. PETTIT: Well, why don't you just provide that?
MR. PRITT: If you want a number from me, let me suggest five
years, okay? Again, I'm not -- not that --
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PRITT: --I'm strong on that or anything like that, but it
seems to me that -- I think that most of us would agree the longer a
term goes, the less value the agreement has because things change. We
have elections, we have changes in property owners.
MR. MUDD: Okay.
MR. PRITT: We have changes in people there, so --
MR. MUDD: I don't have a problem with it.
MR. PRITT: So just think about that. But meanwhile, we -- I
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May 14, 2007
think we all know that we're probably going to try to look at this issue
agam soon.
MR. PRITT: And I think Mr. Salvatori is aware of that so that
his client knows that.
MR. SAL VA TORI: That's fine. Anything else? Anybody else?
MS. DONALDSON: I would just ask, with the -- and I'm sure
that the county staff would be just as busy. You know, the special
session coming up on property tax, I think everyone's pretty much
focuses -- will be focussing on the impact of property taxes, that we
try to do it earlier than that special session.
MR. MUDD: Oh, yeah. I don't want to be around -- if you're
going to try to have a meeting the 12th through the 24th, you can
forget about it. I'm going to be doing 44 different contortions on how
bad am I going to lose taxes on this deal or on the next one. What did
they just say, okay? And the next change, and try to feed five
commissioners and everybody else that asks.
MS. DONALDSON: Yeah. I just wanted to point out it's just
not my unavailability during that special session. I believe that a lot
of people will be unavailable.
MR. MUDD: And of course you've got the F AC conference
where I've got three commissioners out 12th through the 15th anyway.
It's -- that's a trying time. So if we could get it before that, that would
be absolutely great.
MR. MERCER: We're probably looking at the week of June the
4th.
MR. MUDD: Make it on the 5th. It's my birthday.
MR. MERCER: Then we'd have to bring a present.
MR. PRITT: Or the 8th is mine.
MR. MUDD: I don't want a present. I can't take gifts. We have
a no-gifts policy, okay? Your presence is gift enough, Dan.
MR. PETTIT: I would remind you on Jim's behalf that you -- on
his birthday you can give up, that the subordinate may give to the
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May 14,2007
managers.
MR. OCHS: He reminded me of that.
MS. DONALDSON: I mean, we could potentially meet earlier.
It doesn't sound like there's that many outstanding issues, so I don't
know if we even want to wait a month or I don't know --
MR. MUDD: No. Let's clean it up as fast as we can clean it up
and --
MS. DONALDSON: If you're trying to get noticing and
everything else --
MR. MUDD: Bob, I'm going to tell you that the date is strictly in
your hands. I mean, you call it and we'll come forward. We want to
get this thing moving as fast as we can as far as the agreement, make
sure everybody's comfortable with it, start working on the ordinances
and get it done.
MR. PETTIT: I'll get my changes out tomorrow or, the latest,
Wednesday morning.
MR. PRITT: Well, we have a wonderful, tremendous
phenomenon that occurs this month. It's called five Wednesdays. The
five-Wednesday effect.
MR. MUDD: Well, we have a five-Tuesday effect, and it's the
last week of May.
MR. PRITT: You do, too. No. Yeah, that's right, you do, too.
MR. MUDD: It's the last week of May.
MR. PRITT: So we could fill up that Tuesday or Wednesday.
The only problem is, I don't know the availability of the city manager
and --
MR. MUDD: Just take a look, just take a look. Set a date and
we'll try to make it work for everybody, okay? That's what we always
have tried to do.
MR. PRITT: Okay.
MR. MUDD: Okay. Thank you very much for coming. This
meeting's adjourned.
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May 14,2007
(Proceedings concluded at 5:40 p.m.)
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT
REPORTING SERVICES, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS.
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