BCC Minutes 11/12/1996 R REGULAR MEETING OF NOVEMBER 12, 1996
OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COHMISSIONERS
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners in
and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning
Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts as
have been created according to law and having conducted business
herein, met on this date at 9:03 a.m. in REGULAR SESSION in Building
"F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the
following members present:
CHAIRMAN: John C. Norris
VICE-CHAIRMAN: Timothy L. Hancock
Timothy J. Constantine
Pamela S. Hac'Kie
Bettye J. Matthews
ALSO PRESENT: W. Neil Dorrill, County Manager
David Weigel, County Attorney
(The proceedings commenced, Commissioner Matthews not
being present.)
Item #3
AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA - APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED WITH CHANGES
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: I'll call the county commission
meeting to order on this 12th of November, 1996. Mr. Dotrill, could
you please lead us in a invocation and a pledge to the flag, please.
MR. DORRILL: Heavenly Father, we give thanks today, and
on -- on this day, the day after our Veterans Day holiday, we give a
special thanks and testimony and lift up to you those in our community
who have served their country through the Armed Forces and in many
instances paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep this the greatest
country in the world.
Father, we thank you for our elected leadership, and it
is our prayer each and every week that you give them the courage and
the due diligence that they need in order to make important business
decisions for Collier County and its people. We give thanks for our
staff and for the many citizens who do choose to participate in the
government process in our community. And we'd ask you bless our time
here together this morning. And we pray these things in Your Son's
holy name. Amen.
(The pledge of allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Dorrill, I see we have scant few
changes today to the agenda.
MR. DORRILL: Yes, sir. Good morning. I have just two
changes today. The first one is one that you're aware of, and we did
get that information late Friday afternoon concerning a grant. This
is a -- a FEHA-type grant coming through DCA that requires the grantee
to have a facility in place. It's operating funds, but we have under
10(B) a request to add a grant request for St. Hatthew's House for
operating grant funds.
And I have a request to continue for one week item
16(D)(6). The request is from the Collier County Golf Authority.
This was the item that was scheduled on the consent agenda that would
approve the required advertisement to post that property for sale as
surplus property. That's all that I have, Mr. Chairman.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm sorry. Can you repeat
that last one?
MR. DORRILL: The last one is a request from the Collier
County Golf Authority to continue for one week until the 19th that
item which would authorize the advertising for the sale of the current
landfill property to be surplus.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I -- I'm a little hesitant. We
have had hearing after hearing on that. I'm a little hesitant to
continue that item -- I don't know how the rest of the board feels --
unless there's a valid reason. I mean, they're not exactly the
petitioner.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: No. I got to agree, and I
saw Jack just wander in somewhere, and -- and we've had opportunity
after opportunity. We've been doing this for six months since that
response came back. And in six months they couldn't meet the
requirements of the bid, and I got to agree with you. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Was there any reason given?
MR. DORRILL: Yes, sir. They've stated one. It says,
"We've been advised by our attorneys that the Collier County Golf
Authority Incorporated has received a preliminary approval which is
still in effect that would preclude issuing a new request for bids."
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Based on that I'm not -- I'm not
going to be supportive of the continuance.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Is that --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I agree.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Then that will not be continued.
MR. DORRILL: That was all that I had, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Well, we need a --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm going to move approval of the
agenda and consent agenda as amended assuming there were no
additions.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Seeing where -- as I have no
other changes, I'll second that motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Commissioner Hac'Kie, do you have
anything further --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- before we call it?
We have a motion to approve the agenda. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #5A1
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING NOVEMBER 17, 1996, AS NAPLES CONCERT BAND DAY
- ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: No minutes, so we'll go straight to
proclamations. I'll start off with concert band. Dwight Richardson,
would you please come up here and stand here and turn around so you
can be shown on television with your Naples Concert Band jacket on?
Whereas, the Naples Concert Band is now beginning its
25th season of providing a regular concert season for the enjoyment of
Collier County residents and winter visitors; and
Whereas, the Naples Concert Band through the proficiency
of its musicians, directors, and programming has earned the support of
the Collier County business community to augment that provided by the
Collier County officials; and
Whereas, the Naples Concert Band has through the years
proven its increasing audience appeal with the concert attendance
growing from 150 in its early concerts to more than 3,000 at the
height of the concert season; and
Whereas, the Naples Concert Band continues to welcome
all qualified musicians of all ages to unite in harmony, to enjoy
participation in rehearsals and concert presentations; and
Whereas, the Naples Concert Band provides scholarships
for deserving students in our Collier County school system who
participate in the band during its concert season; and
Whereas, it can be stated in this 25th season that the
Naples Concert Band concert series is being highlighted this season by
a special joint concert with the Greater Hiami Symphonic Band on
November 17, 1996, in an effort to promote off-season tourism.
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that November 17, 1996, be
designated as Naples Concert Band Day in Collier County and encourage
all residents and visitors alike to attend this special concert in
Cambier Park as part of the 25th anniversary year celebration.
Done and ordered this 12th day of November, 1996. And
I'd like to make a motion that we accept this proclamation.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll second that.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: If you can hold it just for a second
-- just for a second and we'll -- we'll call the question and get it
approved and then --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Very controversial. It might
not pass.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Very controversial. May not pass.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: I can tell by the applause
there's no admission charge.
MR. RICHARDSON: You're right. Thanks, Tim.
Item #5A2
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING NOVEMBER 10-16, 1996, AS YOUTH APPRECIATION
WEEK - ADOPTED
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: We also have youth appreciation
week. Commissioner Constantine.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I
believe Gerald Neff, secretary of the Sunset Optimists, are here -- is
here to accept this proclamation if you too can come up and face our
vast audience in television land. The proc -- the proclamation
reads:
Whereas, the vast majority of youth are concerned,
knowledgeable, and responsible citizens; and
Whereas, the accomplishments and achievements of these
young citizens deserves the recognition and praise of their elders;
and
Whereas, Optimists International has since 1954
developed and promoted a program entitled Youth Appreciation Week; and
Whereas, the citizens of Naples, Florida, have indicated
a desire to join the Sunset Optimists in expressing appreciation and
approval for the contributions of our youth.
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that the week of November 10
through 16 -- coincidently, that would be this week -- 1996, be dis --
designated as Youth Appreciation Week.
Done and ordered this 12th day of November, 1996, Board
of County Commissioners, Collier County, Florida, John C. Norris,
chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we approve
this proclamation.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second for
approval. All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Learning new job skills, Miss
Filson?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That falls in under the and
all other.
Item #SA1
RESOLUTION 96-505 AMENDING RESOLUTION 96-27 CORRECTING A SCRIVENER'S
ERROR FOR A CONDITION OF APPROVAL ADDED TO STIPULATION "b" WHICH HAD
BEEN INADVERTENTLY OMITTED FROM EXHIBIT "D" OF SAID RESOLUTION; MR.
JAMES SMITH REQUESTING CONDITIONAL USE "1" AND "3" OF THE ESTATES
ZONING DISTRICT FOR A CHURCH AND CHILD CARE FACILITY FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF GOLDEN GATE BOULEVARD - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That concludes the ceremonial portion
of our agenda this morning, and we are ready to start business. So
8(A)(1) is a resolution amending resolution 96-27.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I believe this
was just a scrivener's error. And with that in mind, I'll make a
motion we approve item 8(A)(1).
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #8A2
PRESENTATION TO THE BCC OF THE 1996 ANNUAL UPDATE AND INVENTORY REPORT
OF PUBLIC FACILITIES (AUIR) OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE
- HPO TO REVIEW TRANSPORTATION ISSUE WITH FDOT AND BRING BACK TO BCC;
LEVEL OF SERIVCE STANDARDS NOT TO BE CHANGED AT THIS TIME; JAIL
FACILITY (CATEGORY B) NOT TO BE CONSIDERED THIS YEAR. LIBRARY LEVEL OF
SERVICE STANDARDS TO BE INCREASED TO 1.65; REPORT ACCEPTED; AND STAFF
DIRECTED TO PROCEED WITH CHANGES DISCUSSED FOR CATEGORY "A" AND "B" FOR
INCLUSION IN THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT ELEMENT
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Our next item is 8(B)(2), presentation
to the Board of County Commissioners of the 1996 annual update and
inventory report.
MR. LITSINGER: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,
commissioners. For the record, Stan Litsinger with comprehensive
planning department -- excuse me, comprehensive planning section.
This morning we have for you the seventh or the 1996
annual update and inventory report on public facilities. This report
is required to be presented to you annually by both your adequate
public facilities ordinance as codified in the Land Development Code
division 3.15. Through this process we resolve any public facilities
deficiencies, look at revenue solutions, new projects that need to be
added to your com -- your capital improvement element, and receive
direction from the board on specific problem areas as we identify them
and also look for direction relative to policy on the various
facilities that we outline to you.
Today what I would propose to do is outsign -- outline
some of the issues in the report which I would like to bring to your
attention for which we need specific direction. As a result of
reviewing this report today, the board will through its direction
include projects identified in the AUIR in the next financially
feasible CIE update and amendment which will be brought to you after
the first of the year. And by establishing and amending this element,
you will establish a concurrency situation for the next 12-month
period.
At the end of this presentation, we will ask the board
to take three actions: Number one, we'll ask you to accept and
approve the attached document as the 1996 AUIR. We'll ask you to give
staff direction on category A and B facilities relative to inclusion
with revenues in the upcoming CIE update that I mentioned. And
finally, we will ask the board to find upon analysis and review and
actions taken today to declare as required by division 315 of the Land
Development Code that there is sufficient category A facilities
through your actions to support development approvals in the next
12-month period.
Before I go through an overview, are there any general
questions on this process?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Any questions?
(No response)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Please continue.
MR. LITSINGER: Referring always to your agenda page
numbers, I would like to point out first on page 6 of your agenda we
have a reconciliation of total projects and total revenue types. This
is for the five-year planning period to be covered by your capital
improvement element because that is the statutory requirement, a
five-year period.
Are there any overall questions on the summation of
projects on page 6 before I go on to some individual project types?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I take it it has not been updated
since the failure of the sales tax referendum regarding the jail.
MR. LITSINGER: We will discuss that --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: -- when I come to that item. If there
are no questions on the overall summation, I'd like to ask you to turn
to page 10, your agenda page 10. We have one specific issue in
transportation which we need some direction from the board.
In our traffic analysis, CIE project 72 which is the
section of Davis Boulevard between the intersection of Radio Road and
951 -- you may be familiar with it. It's a very short section there,
less than a half mile, pretty much comprises a intersection -- is
currently operating at a deficient level of service standard. In
their traffic conditions report we recommended that direction be given
to do some analyses to look at some ways to alleviate the current
deficient conditions.
In the meantime, we are recommending that you give staff
direction to include advanced funding for PD and E for this section in
the FY '96, '97 CIE from available reserve funds and that you also
advance funding for possible construction in FY '97, '98 in order to
relieve a deficiency situation with this particular segment. Yes.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Litsinger, when was the PD
and E scheduled for in our current CIE?
MR. LITSINGER: In the current CIE there is -- there is
no scheduling at all. It's a state road project. And in a five-year
planning period unless something has changed very recently, there is
no scheduled activity by the state.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So by advancing funding, we're
not really doing that. We're in essence paying for it and hoping for
repayment down the road because it's not in the state's five-year work
program -- program; is that correct?
MR. LITSINGER: That's correct. There are -- I have the
obligation to point out other alternatives to you. One alternative is
to take no action at all which would be in conflict with your -- your
ordinances relative to a deficient segment.
However, I would not be a staff member to stand here and
recommend that you establish a moratorium around a segment that small
of two miles on each end and one mile on either side. I don't think
it serves the public interest because I believe that we can look at
some other remedial actions.
What we may be able to do from a process standpoint by
adding this funding giving staff some direction on working with the
state be able to report back to you next year that the state has
advanced funding or advanced this project in their planning process.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Isn't that an HPO --
MR. LITSINGER: Yes, it is.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- priority then?
MR. LITSINGER: Uh-huh.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Before this board makes a funding
commitment, I would like the HPO with the presence of the DOT to
review this matter publicly and then have it brought back. So if it's
possible in this particular AUIR to remove that to be brought back to
this board at a later date for, I guess, final direction, I'd like the
MPO to review this with the FDOT present.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I concur. The -- I mean, we
talk moratorium or we can talk any number of things, but the fact is
it's a state road. And if we start taking responsibility, where does
that line end? And Norm Feeder's the right guy to answer that
question.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I just think sitting here today
we really don't know what the options with FDOT are gonna be. And I'd
like to know those before we commit reserve funds particularly in a
year where we're already a million short. COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That's right.
MR. LITSINGER: What I might suggest is we can probably
have that information and reflect that in the proposed CIE amendment
that we will bring to you in January or February. COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: And you can make your decisions based on
that at that time as you give the MPO time to look at this situation
on this particular roadway.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That'll be fine. If you'll give
notice to FDOT and place it on the next available MPO agenda, please.
MR. LITSINGER: Will do. Are there any other questions
specifically on transportation segment? That was the only really
issue that we thought that we need to bring up to you that had not
been dealt with in your normal road transportation planning at this
time.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Any further questions?
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: None on "A".
MR. LITSINGER: If there are no other questions, I would
ask you to turn to page 18 of your agenda package. Page 18 is the
recreation facilities component of your AUIR. Reflect -- reflects
current budget and revenues.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You mean your page 187
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Or the agenda.
MR. LITSINGER: Excuse me. My mistake. Your page 23.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Gotcha.
MR. LITSINGER: What we're asking the board to do, as
has been a previously adopted policy, is to direct staff to amend the
level of service standard for capital facilities reflecting current
valuation based on the cost of construction index to $240 per capita.
We have provided two spreadsheet analyses, one on page 24 which shows
the condition and availability of facilities on your current level of
service of $179. On the following page, 25 shows the result should
you give us direction to amend the level of service to $240 per capita
keeping in mind that this is an annual process. We review this on an
annual basis and move upwards or downwards based on revenues and
valuation of existing facilities.
So the staff recommendation is to -- in the upcoming CIE
to amend the level of service to $240 per capita.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Help me understand, if I may, Mr.
Litsinger. We have a Growth Management Plan requirement that is -- I
believe there's one that's acreage for population, and this is dollar
value for population?
MR. LITSINGER: Yes, sir. There are three separate
level of service standards relative to parks. This being the first
one is the capital facilities on your park land, things like baseball
fields, stadiums, basketball courts, things of that nature. That's --
in other words, the value of the improvements on the land if you take
a lot and the value of the structure on that land. And this shows the
current valuation which is revalued each year based on the replacement
costs and the costs of construction index as an inflater.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Dorrill, why would we want to
increase our level of service that far?
MR. DORRILL: I don't know that -- that you necessarily
would. I think that's gonna be a distinction that you need to make on
that one.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yeah, because my -- you know, I
understand that yes, the value of those facilities has gone up since
the time we constructed them, and that makes sense. However, it also
puts us in a position of having to provide those increased dollars per
capita for future expansion. So it's a double-edged sword, and I'm
not sure that the -- the -- that we're really gonna see a tremendous
benefit by doing this.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, I think particularly as
we look at the ad valorem crunch we had this past year and we're going
to see again in the following year, this is the kind of thing that can
put an added burden on the taxpayer without, I think, a realistic --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: We can always exceed that per
capita, but it's when you fall short that you create your own
difficulties.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And that's my concern as we've talked
about in our library system level of service. We don't have any --
any concern if we exceed our level of service. But to put something
in there that gives DCA the stick to beat us up with again at some
future date is probably not the smartest thing to do. But, Mr.
Litsinger, why are you recommending this change?
MR. LITSINGER: It's in your -- in our current language
in the recreation element, and I believe from recall in the capital
improvement element it calls for an annual amendment of the level of
service to reflect current valuation and current expenditure plans
against the --
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Looks like Mr. Olliff may be
wanting to jump in here.
MR. OLLIFF: The other issue is this is the only element
that I'm aware of that's a dollar value based type level of service.
And if you don't adjust the value of the inventory that's already in
the ground, then you end up having your inventory being much less than
what your current actual impact fees are geared to actually produce.
So I end up with this gap that an impact fee was originally designed
to generate what was $179 per capita's worth of value of recreational
equipment. But that impact fee was based on 1985 or '86 dollars at
what $179 would buy the general public per capita when they moved in.
So today what we're trying to do is make sure that the
impact fee has some justification to it still. And what you're seeing
is the inventory does -- has a value that is greater than what we're
recommending so that you're not creating a deficit situation for you,
but we're trying to just recognize that the value of the stuff that
you have in the ground actually has increased over the years, and what
it costs us to build a ball field today is significantly higher than
what it was eight or nine years ago if that makes sense.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: It -- it does to some extent, but
it sounds like -- maybe I'm incorrect in thinking this, but the two
seem like they should operate independently. For us to look at the
value of our inventory in our Growth Management Plan and to state an
amount is one thing. But the calculation of impact fees by state
statute I don't believe has to be connected to our Growth Management
Plan. In other words, do the two have to stay the same number? We
could recalculate impact fees on an annual basis and increase them or
reduce them based on cost of construction upcoming. Are the two
necessarily tied so that we are, you know, creating a -- if you will,
a -- a -- a greater picture in our Growth Management Plan when we
don't necessarily need to do that just to justify an increase in
impact fees? Can the two be separate?
MR. OLLIFF: They can be. Today they're not. I think
that today the basis for the impact fees that we have in existence is
the plan that you have in the way of the CIE. So I think we've tried
to at least make sure that they are closely matched so that there is
some justification for the fee that we're charging.
MR. LITSINGER: One last comment if I might,
Commissioner. We'd like to note also that on the issue of the impact
fees as they affect the level of service and the level of service that
we've proposed, you'll notice on your agenda package 23 that at the
level of service proposed of $240 per capita, it is primarily funded
by impact fees. The issue that Mr. Olliff brings up is that there's
supposed to be some nexus between facilities that are built and
expenditure of impact fees relative to a fairness issue which would
need to be resolved through a reanalysis of the impact fee
ordinances.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Maybe it's just lack of
experience in dealing with this particular element, but it's not --
it's not becoming more clear to me why this is necessary. I can
understand why it might make some sense, but why it's necessary is
what I can't get past.
MR. OLLIFF: My suggestion at this point would be to
leave your level of service the way it was and have us go back and
look at the separation of the two, the impact fees from the CIE, and
see if there's a way we can go ahead and distinguish between the two
so that what it's in your CIE says one thing, but then we've got the
justification based on current dollar need for the impact fees.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: When you come up with that
answer, if I for one could ask for an individual meeting with you to
discuss that just so I can increase my understanding of it.
MR. LITSINGER: If I understand, the direction on this
particular facility would be to continue to value your inventory at
its current replacement costs yet not to amend the level of service
standard at this time?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's correct.
MR. LITSINGER: Your agenda package 29, I need to point
out some information on your regional park land level of service
standard. Specifically on regional parks, we'd like to point out it's
staff's recommendation to include an expansion of 500 acres of active
recreation park land to be purchased in the county. Primary funding
source for that, as you will see under supplemental revenue sources on
page 29 of your agenda package, is a Florida community trust grant of
up to eight million dollars. The reason I say up to eight million
dollars is that we would propose to add this project and the
prospective revenues to your capital improvement element, pursue the
grant. And in the eventuality that the entire eight million or all of
it was not achieved, you could adjust your element next year to
reflect the -- not receiving those monies.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Do we have to show it in the
element to justify the grant request?
MR. LITSINGER: I have not seen the grant application,
but I would think that it would be a substantial -- have substantial
impact on its success.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Again, my take on this is that we
set a standard, we pursue that standard. And to go putting additional
acreage and dollars in there that exceed that standard is an
unnecessary step.
MR. LITSINGER: Well, here it's a win-win situation.
You exceed your level of service standard. If you look on page 30 of
your agenda package, we exceed our level of service standard in
regional park acreage by such a tremendous amount. Should the
500-acre project not become a reality, your level of service standard
is still extremely safe.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Again, I'm going to take the
conservative approach on this. Let's go ahead and pursue those
funds. I think that's a great idea. I'm a big advocate of increased
park lands, but let's not put it in our plan until we have the money
in hand. Then we can put it in, and we don't experience any shortfall
or the -- at least the appearance of a shortfall.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I agree.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Agree.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: We pursue it, but we don't
bind ourselves to it. And I guess, I mean, you made the point for
that, Stan. That is, we've got such a large surplus anyway that if
for some reason it doesn't work, we're fine. But at least we haven't
bound ourselves to it.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I appreciate you going after it,
though. Please do.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yeah, please.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: But let's -- let's add it once we
have the money in hand, not prior to that.
MR. LITSINGER: And neither the projects nor the
revenues in the CIE.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: That would be my preference.
MR. LITSINGER: Okay.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Agreed.
MR. LITSINGER: On page --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Litsinger, before you start, let
me make sure that I understand what we -- what we're asking to be done
there. We're not -- did I understand the direction right that we're
not to go after the grant?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: No, no, no.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: No.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: The direction is to pursue the
grant with -- with all speed, but we don't want to put it in our plan
until the revenues are secure because then we have to -- we go back,
and the appearance is that we are reducing our p1 -- you know --
MR. LITSINGER: Either way it creates no difficulties.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Oh, okay. I see. I see what you
mean. Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: The next issue I'd like to point out is
on page 40 of your agenda package. Those facilities that I'm passing
over, in staff's opinion we have no situations that require a specific
board action. I will go back at the end and ask if you have any
questions on any of those types.
Page 40 is solid waste, ten-year raw land supply. I
need to point out that as you look on page 40 that we have no -- at
your direction obviously we have not identified a site, so we do not
have a site identified for the CIE to include.
I would like to point out to you on the next page, 41,
that we have removed the -- the current 312 acres of surplus as the
board has directed. I need to bring to your attention that lacking
some action in that area we may be looking at a deficit situation
certainly by the next AUIR relative to abatable land in our adopted
level of service standard. That's information only. At this time you
have no deficit. I want to make that quite clear.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: We shouldn't have a deficit for
20 years.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I don't -- I don't understand
that at all because we've been told the cell that is open right now
has at least eight years' life left on it. And then we've got an
additional cell if we choose to open that one on the existing site.
So we certainly have more than ten years in that --
MR. LITSINGER: That's correct, but there's also a
requirement to have available raw land I believe by statute and also
by your comprehensive plan for expansion of the landfill available at
all times.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: But that's only when you get
within a ten-year window. We have to have available land once we have
-- the red flag goes up when we'd have only ten years of capacity. MR. LITSINGER: Correct.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So I don't think that's a deficit
-- deficiency right now when we have well over ten years' capacity at
the existing site.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Since we have a documented report
that lists as -- lists the minimum life of the landfill from this
point forward at 20 plus years, I think we need to revisit this page,
incorporate that report into your assessment. I think you'll find
then that that trigger does not occur.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And I understand your point,
Stan. You're talking about raw land. But there is still an unopened,
unused portion.
MR. LITSINGER: I understand.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I mean, there is raw land on
the existing site.
MR. LITSINGER: I'm just bringing that up. As you see
in the out years that as we continue to come back to you with this
analysis, at least as your plan is currently written, there is a
technical issue, concurrency issue on that, and I just wanted to bring
it to your attention.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is our plan written as acreage
per capita?
MR. LITSINGER: We have level of service standard that
requires ten years of raw land capacity at current disposal rates, and
we also have a -- secondary level of service standards of two years'
lined cell capacity at any given time.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: We have both of those right now.
MR. LITSINGER: That's correct.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. So rather than showing a
deficit in our AUIR, we should be okay. And I would just ask that Mr.
Dotrill get involved in that and make sure that it reflects the
information we received on the landfill.
MR. DORRILL: I agree with the board. I'm not aware of
any raw land requirement under the statute, but we will make doggone
sure because our observation is the same as yours. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: The next issue on solid waste, we're
requesting direction from the board to amend the level of service
standards of tons per capita disposal to 1.1 tons from the current
1.39 to reflect actual disposal rates that have been experienced in
the last year. This is something that we do each time that the CIE is
brought to you. And historically we've always been in a downward
trend due to the various resource recovery projects that have been
ongoing. But experience is 1.1 tons, and we'd like reflect that as a
level of service standard.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Fine.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That sounds acceptable to the board?
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Uh-huh.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: The next issue I have for you on
facilities would be the jail, page 45 of your agenda package. This is
category B facilities. I'd like to point out all of category A
facilities which we just passed through are your concurrency demands.
In other words, you have to meet your level of service standard there
or it's a concurrency issue. Category B are binding only in policy.
County --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Interesting in that gotta have
parks but you might or might not have to have jails. Just an
observation.
MR. LITSINGER: That's correct. Jail, I need to point
out obviously this report was prepared in -- in anticipation of the
referendum which was unsuccessful. Staff needs direction on two
fronts, whether to continue to include this project in the capital
improvement element and, if so, for the purpose of making the capital
improvement element financially feasible to identify a potential
revenue source.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, I don't think we're
gonna decide today how we're gonna pay for this. So I don't know that
we could include it in the capital improvement element for the
upcoming year.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Or --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Obviously it's an issue we're
going to wrestle with in the next several months. And I know the
sheriff's department will -- is diligently working on it now, but I
don't think we have something to fill the plug with today.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Can't it be there with a list of
alternatives, that we don't have to select one today but there are
alternatives available and --
MR. LITSINGER: The requirement for it to be financially
feasible, it has to be a revenue source which the board has available
to it which has not been defeated by the electorate.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So it doesn't -- we're not
binding ourselves. I mean, I hate to see this coming out of the cap
-- out of the AUIR.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: That was my first reaction, but
actually Commissioner Constantine makes a good point. I would like to
see a full packet of information from the sheriff on the past ten-year
bed capacity, what has it been, what do we expect, what are our
options for construction. You know, we produced one package and one
funding option to the general public. They turned it down. I think
we don't -- rather than just looking at the funding, I think we need
the opportunity to review the -- the entirety of the proposal, the
what's being built, how many beds, at what cost since we are going to
be the ones that are going to be responsible for the funding of that.
So I'm with Commissioner Constantine. Rather than
leaving it in this year, I would like to -- we know it's going to be
back next year and we're not going to be able to get around this, but
I think we need to take a full look at the entire proposal before
leaving a 25 million dollar line item in here. I'd like that line
item to be specific to what actually we're going to take to fund it.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Well, what -- what is the basis
for the 25 million dollars? Where did that number come from?
MR. LITSINGER: At the bottom of page 45 you'll see an
outline there that the actual jail housing is estimated at about 9.7
million dollars. Jail support and contingency facilities are
additional 15.8 million dollars.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: If I can interrupt you, I -- I
read it, so, I mean, I know that's in there. My question was where
did you get those numbers. What is the source of that information?
How reliable is it? Is that what the sheriff is telling us we need,
or was that our sort of guess of what we need?
MR. GONZALEZ: Adolfo Gonzalez, capital projects
director. Commissioner, that information was taken from some data
that -- the previous consultant put together an estimate about three
years ago for us, and it was updated to reflect today's current
construction cost indices.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: So that -- that I think adds
credence to what you're saying, both -- both of you, that -- that we
ought to get more real numbers from the sheriff before we just have
this arbitrary number in there. So I agree.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Let's do that with the
understanding that in some form or fashion it will be back in next
year's AUIR. Going to be tough to duck that one. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Try as I will.
MR. LITSINGER: So your direction would be to remove
this item temporarily from your capital improvement element and
pending the next update?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yes.
MR. LITSINGER: Let's see. The next issue I'd like to
address with you would be on page 47 of your agenda package. This is
for information purposes only. The library buildings level of service
standard, we show the one $6,000 Marco Island addition. As you'll
notice, we have not included in this AUIR or lacking direction from
you do not intend to include additional building projects in the
coming CIE pending decisions on your regional libraries program. And
I'm asking for an okay or whether we would like to take some other
action in that area.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That's fine by me. We haven't
reviewed the regional concept in finality or capital plan yet, so I
don't have a problem with that.
MR. LITSINGER: The next issue is library collection.
It is a staff recommendation, and I'll point out that staff analysis
indicate that -- indicates that this is fundable with existing library
impact fee revenue stream to have a progressive increase of level of
service standard from the current 1.1 to 1.65 books per capita over
the planning time frame of the CIE which would mean that each year we
would come to you, look at the revenue stream, increase it by an
additional .05 each year.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: We've made an effort to do
that every year. This past year did we budget enough to do that? My
rec -- my recollection -- I see Tom nodding yes.
MR. LITSINGER: Nodding yes.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: But my recollection is we've
done that carefully each year, so I don't have any problem upping that
to 1.20.
MR. LITSINGER: Coming CIE and then the understanding
we'll come back again next year with the additional .05.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: And impact fees are sufficient to
fund that current five-year plan. Good.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Wonderful.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Good.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Way cool.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. LITSINGER: The last facility which I want to point
out to you is on page 53 of your agenda package. These are EMS
units. We have a recommendation from your EMS staff to increase the
level of service standard to .000068 units per capita. This is based
on calculations and analysis by the EMS department of the number of
vehicles and units needed to maintain the six-second -- six-second,
that would be great -- six-minute --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That would be quick.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That's gonna be a problem.
MR. LITSINGER: -- average response time to each call
which is the standard not only for your EMS system but others. And
the funding sources are E -- are EMS impact fees and capital ad
valorem. And the direction we're asking for is whether or not to
increase this level of service standard and include the identified
projects in the coming CIE.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Wouldn't it make sense if we're
going to increase our level of standard in this that we increase our
impact fee commensurately so that ad valorem doesn't pay for the bulk
of that? If this, in fact, is a growth-related expenditure where
we're buying the actual units and the hardware and the capital
expenses, shouldn't we adjust impact fees accordingly rather than just
rolling it into ad valorem?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I think that makes perfect
sense.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I think it makes --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I mean, I think it just -- our
impact fee ordinances are crying out for review overall in addition
to, you know, this particular one.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Before approving this, I'd -- you
know, I think we need to see that. Whatever the additional capital
expenditure occurring from that increase in ad valorem, let's make the
commensurate adjustment to impact fees and not increase the ad valorem
subsidy to EMS.
MR. LITSINGER: Suggestion. We could include the
proposed level of service amendment in the CIE we will bring to you to
transmit in January or February and showing the revenue source as
impact fees totally which then would leave the intervening period for
review of the impact fee ordinance. And at the time which will be
probably about ten months from now when you adopt the CIE, we will
have the information from you whether or not to adopt the level of
service or not. But I would suggest submitting it for review that
category B facility is not binding on you.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm -- I'm comfortable with
that.
I feel like I'm at home.
MR. LITSINGER: That is all the specific issues in the
AUIR that I need to point out to you. Are there any questions the
commissioners have on any specific facility type that I did not
address?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I understand we
have a three-step process here. I'd like to make a motion we accept
and approve the report as amended by the board this morning.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion and a second to accept the
report as amended. All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Mr. Dotrill, are we going to have any public speakers on
this item?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir. We don't have any.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Litsinger, you needed
staff direction. I'm not quite sure what you were looking for.
MR. LITSINGER: Yes. I believe we received staff
direction on each category A and B facility. We have a direction I'd
like to bring back to you in the capital improvement element. The
only other action I would ask the board to take by motion and vote
would be to find upon analysis and review of the actions taken here
this morning that according -- and as required by division 315 of the
LDC that we do, in fact, have required facilities to support
development order issuance until presentation of the 1997 AUIR
approximately 12 months from this date.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: So move.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So move.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
MR. LITSINGER: Thank you.
Item #8B1
CONTRACT TO CONSTRUCT IMPROVEMENTS AT THE MARCO ISLAND RACQUET CENTER,
CIE NO. 729 - AWARDED TO VANDERBILT BAY CONSTRUCTION IN THE AMOUNT OF
$313,986
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item is --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, do we have any
public speakers on this item?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- 8(B)(1). Do we have public
speakers?
MR. DORRILL: Yes, sir. This is the item that is under
big protest. Mr. Yovanovich is going to teach us about tennis courts.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: This is the one with the bid protest?
MR. DORRILL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: So we have public speakers?
MR. DORRILL: Yes, you do.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Gonzalez, do you have a short
presentation for us?
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Please.
MR. GONZALEZ: Good morning, commissioners. Adolfo
Gonzalez, capital projects director. This project is to construct
three new tennis courts and replace one existing tennis court at the
Marco Island Racquet Center. Along with the court construction,
there's also some site improvements such as landscaping, irrigation,
enhancement of the existing maintenance facilities.
We received one bid from Vanderbilt Bay Construction who
staff has reviewed and considered Vanderbilt Bay Construction to be a
responsive bidder. There has been a bid protest. The purchasing
director is ready to answer any questions you may have. I understand
the county attorney also has some remarks that he would like to share
with you before you direct the public speakers.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Mr. Weigel, do you have something
for us?
MR. WEIGEL: Mr. Pettit of our office would have a
couple comments for the board. Thank you.
MR. PETTIT: Morning, commissioners. Mike Pettit from
the county attorney's office. I just wanted to set forth three
guidelines for you as you consider the protest. First is that protest
is limited to the issues raised previously to the purchasing director
in an October 18 letter that was received from Mr. Yovanovich by the
purchasing director and taken into account by the purchasing director
when he rendered his decision.
Second, our policy does not specify or entitle any
particular format for these proceedings. There is a provision in the
policy that would allow the county manager under certain circumstances
at his discretion to appoint a hearing officer. That did not take
place here.
And finally, I want to leave you with the standard that
governs this body in making a bid award in Florida. And this is a
quote from a case, Capaletti Brothers versus State Department of
General Services, that's reported at 432 So. 2d, 1359. In Florida, a
public body has wide discretion in soliciting and accepting bids for
public works contracts. And its decision when based upon an honest
exercise of such discretion will not be set aside by a court even if
it may appear erroneous and even if reasonable persons may disagree.
In other words, you do have wide discretion to make any
decision on a bid award even where reasonable persons might have other
opinions.
That's all we have from the county attorney's office at
this point.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Camell, you have something for us
as well?
MR. CARNELL: Mr. Chairman, for the record, Steve
Camell, purchasing director. I'm prepared to give the board a brief
overview of the situation first if the board would like to hear that
before we hear from the speakers. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. CARNELL: Briefly, Mr. Gonzalez has described the
scope of the work in the bid that was issued by my office during the
summer. And the plans and specifications that were issued by my
office were distributed to 79 different firms, the large majority of
which were general contracting firms. And shortly before the bid
opening, we in my office received a call from the protestor,
specifically Mr. George Todd of Welch Tennis Courts, who notified us
of two things: Number one, that he had not received a copy of the bid
invitation; and secondly, that he had object -- he was objecting to
the specifications pertaining to the subsurface irrigation system
which again is one component of the bigger project.
So in -- this was two days before the bid opening. And
in response to Mr. Todd's concerns, the -- my office postponed the bid
opening for two weeks, and that gave us time -- obviously gave Mr.
Todd time to get -- to obtain the bid documents in full, to review
them, to prepare a bid offer, and also to discuss with him in more
depth this issue of the subsurface specification.
Now, in that subsequent discussion which occurred about
a week after the postponement, county staff and Welch -- we heard --
we heard three particular issues from Welch. And when I say county
staff now, I'm referring to the project manager from OCPH, myself, and
a representative from the parks and recreation department.
The three items that were brought to our attention
specifically by Welch in these discussions were that, number one, that
there was no substantive difference between the product that had been
specified for the subsurface system which is known as CalCap, and
several other products or systems, licensed systems, that are on the
market. And we specifically in this conversation talked about two
others, Hydrocourt and Hydro Grid, with most of our attention paid to
the Hydrocourt system. The Hydrocourt system is presently in place as
the subsurface system at the Marco Island tennis club.
Now, the first contention again from Welch was that
there's no substantial difference between the product that was
specified and the other systems in the market that I referenced.
Secondly, the statement was made to us that the installation down in
Marco Island which occurred approximately four years ago was installed
under a -- what's known as a modified linered design as opposed to a
fully linered design, the liner being the canvas or surface area below
the ground. And the -- that that, in fact -- we had commented to Mr.
Todd in our conversations -- we had remarked on the difficulties that
we had experienced with operations maintenance and performance of the
courts on Marco Island and that Mr. Todd's response was, well, the
design was flawed, that we had, in fact, put in a different design
than what he would recommend or advocate today in the marketplace
using the Hydrocourt product.
The third issue that Mr. Todd raised -- and Mr. Todd, by
the way, very early on identified himself as a licensed general
contractor, and that's a very important consideration from your
staff's point of view in this. Mr. Todd -- his third point that he
brought up to us was the fact that he was not sure that he would be
able to bid the CalCap product, that he would have to go out of state
and deal with whomever which wasn't clear us to necessarily at the
time who he was referring to and that there would be difficulties in
being able to tender an offer through the CalCap subcontractor.
Well, in response to the issues raised by Mr. Todd, we
shared with him at the time the difficulties that we experienced --
experienced in Marco Island with the performance of the courts. And
specifically there's two issues. The courts have experienced what's
known as dry spots where there's a loss of traction on the courts
which results in slipping and sliding for players; and secondly, that
we have -- we have constantly struggled with excessive growth of algae
on the courts which has resulted throughout the ownership of that
project down there and the installation and the life of it of having
to treat the courts above surface a minimum of two times a month
regularly. And each time that treatment takes place, the courts have
to be shut down because muriatic acid is applied. And obviously the
acid has to dry and evaporate before you can let people back on.
And obviously as a result, there's a domino effect with
down time, lost revenue for the operation of the facility, and
obviously the inconvenience to the users of not being able to use the
facility.
We also commented to Mr. Todd that we had not
experienced these problems at Pelican Bay Park. Pelican Bay Park is
using the CalCap subsurface system and has had it in place for about
two years as we speak now. It was late 1994 that it was installed.
And at no time in the two years that that system has been in place
have we had to take the system down for the purpose purely of applying
algae treatment externally. The algae treatment is provided
subsurface. It's fed into the system, and it does not require an
interruption of service or access to the courts.
We shared that information with Mr. Todd. We also had
shared with him initially some findings that the OCPM office had
uncovered during their preparation of the specs. several months before
the bid was issued and specifically some analysis that had been done
by the office of capital projects in which they had found that the
water consumption for the CalCap system was lower in many cases than
for the Hydrocourt product.
Now, that information was exchanged in kind of a general
verbal way in a telephone conversation. And we asked Mr. Todd at that
point in time to provide us additional information regarding his
system. Specifically, we wanted to know a little bit more about this
issue of fully versus modified liner design, and we also wanted him to
give us his version of his water use data, let him tell -- hear
straight from him what he said his water use consumption rates were.
We also -- so we sent him a letter in writing asking for
that kind of information after this conference call. In the meantime,
we took his other comments under consideration and particularly the
comment regarding the provision of the CalCap system.
Now, remember Mr. Todd held himself out as a licensed
general contractor. He made the comment to us that he was capable of
installing multiple -- different brands or licensed systems, that he
was not strictly married to one product or system.
And so we contacted the license holder who was specified
in the published bid invitation which is CalCap, Calico Systems of
North Carolina, and talked to an officer in that corporation who
explained to us that there are several different ways that somebody
can install a CalCap system using their license. They have a
proprietary license on their technology. And if one wants to do that
as -- in other words, a bidder bidding on a municipal project such as
this, they can either subcontract the work through one of three li --
full -- fully licensed and approved contractors within the state of
Florida who can perform the work or the bidder, the prospective
bidder, which in this case would be a licensed general contractor, can
contract directly with CalCap even if they have not previously
installed a CalCap system anywhere. And that's simply working out a
business arrangement with CalCap directly which enables them to go in
and do the installation themselves.
Well, we discovered that information, of course, in
talking to CalCap. And then we wrote back to Mr. Todd after receiving
his information. And again, we got the response back from Mr. Todd.
Among the things that Mr. Todd mentioned in his letter, he gave his
water consumption rates estimated for the Hydrocourt product, and we
compared those numbers again to the numbers that we had. They were
not identical to what we had estimated for the Hydrocourt product, but
they were still higher than the consumption rates for the CalCap.
So based on -- oh, one other very important fact here.
With the issue pertaining to the design, again, Mr. Todd has suggested
that our problems down on Marco Island relate to the modified design
being installed there rather than a fully linered design. And our
findings were that prior to going out to bid, parks and recreation
staff had visited some local Hydrocourt installations that were, in
fact, fully linered sites. And in both instances those sites were
experiencing problems with fungicide, and they were fully linered
sites.
So with that information in mind -- and I think another
important consideration was the fact that we had done some previous
research -- and again, this has been conducted by the OCPM office --
in which they obt -- obtained an independent consultant's report from
the city of Delray Beach in 1993 in which they had evaluated very
specifically CalCap against Hydro Grid which again was another product
discussed with Mr. Todd. And they had come up with a very precise
point-by-point analysis of the differences between the two systems and
the advantage in their professional opinion of the CalCap system which
the city of Delray Beach elected to go with.
So when we take all that information into consideration
plus the fact that Mr. Todd, being a licensed general contractor, had
indicated he could bid more than one system plus the fact that the
license holder had indicated a willingness to cooperate with Mr. Todd
or any other bidder that wanted to contract to install a CalCap
system, based on those factors, we denied Mr. Todd's original
objection to have the specifications modified to allow more than just
the CalCap system for again that subsurface component. We went
forward with the bid opening.
Prior to the bid opening, we had anticipated receiving
potentially three bids. Again, we had mailed this out to many, many
firms and also to several plan rooms and notification agencies. And
immediately prior to the actual bid opening, it was our expectation
that we would receive a bid from Vanderbilt Bay who did bid, from
Christell (phonetic), another local contractor, and then prospectively
from Welch Tennis Courts. At no time in any of my discussions with
Mr. Todd did he indicate that he could not or would not bid the
project. So that's -- again, with those factors in mind, we proceeded
with the bid opening.
Subsequent to the bid opening, staff has done an
evaluation of the prices to evaluate them for competitiveness. And
based on that finding, we have -- we're prepared to recommend award to
the board at which time we received a protest of the bid award at
which time Welch reasserted some of their previous arguments and also
really broached two new arguments which was that we were violating our
purchasing policy as it pertains to formal competition by the use of a
single source specification and, secondly, that we had developed a
justification for the CalCap system after the fact.
And we in our protest response in -- in the decision
that was issued by my office, we provided information back to the
protestor on both of those facts. We believe there are significant
arguments to counter both. And we think there's evidence to suggest
certainly that the evaluation was done well in advance of issuing the
bid. And also with regard to the question of formal competition,
there was formal competition. It was advertised pursuant to the
requirements of the purchasing policy. It was advertised among the --
what we believe was the logical group of people to compete for this
business, licensed general contractors, given the broad nature of the
work, given that we weren't just putting in a subsurface system.
And so we believe we've complied with the policy. There
are -- there were some other case law citations provided by the
protestor which we responded to as well and we can talk about in more
depth should somebody care to do so. At this point, though, we are
recommending award of the contract to Vanderbilt Bay and be willing to
answer your questions.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Camell, did Welch submit a
bid using Hydrocourt, Aqua Grid, or another system? MR. CARNELL: No, sir.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So you never received a bid.
MR. CARNELL: No, sir.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So now we have sealed bids that
have been open that are out there for everyone to review, and Welch
never submitted any bid whatsoever prior to their protest.
MR. CARNELL: Correct.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: How many public speakers do we have?
MR. DORRILL: I have several. I believe they're all
with the same firm, though. Mr. Yovanovich is here and I presume will
go first.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: He will go first. We'll -- we'll
adhere to our policy of five minutes per speaker, Mr. Yovanovich.
MR. YOVANOVICH: You will adhere to it?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We absolutely will. This is not a
court of law. This is a --
MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: This is a --
MR. YOVANOVICH: That's fine.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- county commission meeting.
MR. YOVANOVICH: That's okay. We've -- we've accounted
for that. But if you'll give me a second preliminarily -- CHAIRMAN NORRIS: You're using your five minutes. Hiss
Filson, start his five minutes.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay. We've -- we've accounted for
that, and we do have three additional speakers in addition to myself
to address different issues.
For the record, my name is Rich Yovanovich, and I
represent Welch Tennis Courts. We have filed a bid protest in
compliance with the county's purchasing policy. We have complied with
every step we're required to go through.
First, we notified the purchasing department that the
spec. was an improper specification. They ignored our research. Then
under the policy we filed a formal protest just like we were required
to do. Your policy does not require that we submit on a specification
that we do not believe in. And we didn't bid on a specification we
didn't believe in. That should not be held against our clients.
The purpose of competitive bidding is to, one, obtain a
quality product at the lowest pice pros -- lowest pice -- price
possible and to avoid favoritism. That did not occur in this
situation. The purchasing policy was established to promote as much
competition as possible on our -- on all purchases of commodities and
services. You got one bid. You got one bid. That's not much of a
competition.
The competitive -- the purchasing policy allows you to
use a sole source. You gotta do two things to meet -- use your sole
source requirement. One, the vendor is the only one who can meet your
standards; and two, the product is the only product that will meet
your needs. We are here to tell you that there are four products out
there that will meet your needs. Your needs is a subsurface irrigated
tennis court system. That is what you need. CalCap is not the only
system on the market. There's Aqua Grid. There's Hydro Grid.
There's Hydrocourt, and then there's the CalCap system.
The county claims that the only system that meets your
needs is the CalCap system. Your staff has pointed out that the
reason they feel this way is water usage. They stated that the CalCap
system uses a tremendously amount -- less amount of water than the
other systems, yet they've given you no data to support that other
than manufacturer's specifications.
We will show you -- we have metered all the different
types of courts out there, and they all use essentially the same
amount of water. So we have done the homework for your staff and have
metered the different courts out there.
Staff claims that there's less maintenance cost because
there's no algae growth. We have called around to all of the courts
or a majority of the courts, 56 out of the 63 CalCap courts listed as
references by CalCap. Fifty-six of the six -- fifty-six we
contacted. Fifty-six all have algae growth. So the major basis of
the algae growth is not factually correct.
Staff also pointed out that CalCap has this
state-of-the-art sensor system so you know you'll always have proper
water on your courts. We will show you pictures of how that
state-of-the-art sensor system performs.
The CalCap system is not the only system out there.
Staff has said, you know, CalCap is just a small portion of the
overall bid. Well, the overall bid was -- they said it was
one-third. The information given to me is you have a $360,000 bid.
One-third is $120,000. I would think that's significant.
The most significant item raised in their rebuttal to us
is we didn't bid the system. Well, we didn't bid the system because
we couldn't live up to the specification you were setting. CalCap
will not give you water consumption like you have requested. It will
not give you a maintenance-free, algae-free court. So we didn't bid a
court that can't be delivered. Why should we bid on something that
can't be delivered? We didn't. We chose not to bid that
specification. We have followed your policy.
As far as competition goes, again, you've received one
bid. It's $100,000 over budget. I believe the county would -- and
the people of the county would be better served to open up the
competition for substantially similar products, have true
competition. Worse thing that happens is -- you know, we're not
looking for you to award it to us. We wanted to be able to bid on the
work. We were not entitled to bid on the work because of a
proprietary spec., the basis for which we can rebut and will rebut
through pictures and through data. And your staff has been very
cooperative with me and has given me information when I've -- when
I've asked for it.
The only thing that we didn't get and in the last minute
we got is when we were rejected on our bid protest, then we were given
the calculations on how they came up with their -- I had a public
records request in before I filed my bid protest. I didn't get the
data until the end, and you will now hear from the rest of the
speakers.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Yovanovich, quick
question. Did your client -- yes or no. Did your client submit a
bid?
MR. YOVANOVICH: On the CalCap system? No.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Did your client submit a
bid?
MR. YOVANOVICH: It would have been rejected if we --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: It's a yes-or-no question.
Did your client submit a bid?
MR. YOVANOVICH: It doesn't require a yes-or-no answer.
The answer is no we did not because -- COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, it doesn't require a
response from this board if you're not going to answer my question.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Okay. No, we did not submit a bid.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thank you.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Can I expand on that?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The very first comment you
made in your presentation was "we have complied with all bid
requirements." One of the requirements is to submit a bid. Now, if
you think there is a portion of that bid that you disagree with,
that's fine. But probably the best way to preserve your rights is
submit a bid and note that one difference, not completely neglect
submitting and then after the fact say, well, if it was different, we
would have submitted a bid.
MR. YOVANOVICH: That's okay. I'm not your county
attorney, but I can tell you that the purchasing policy does not
require us to submit a bid to preserve our rights. We have preserved
our rights. We have done everything required by your purchasing
policy.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You're right. You're not the
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: I have --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- you're not the county
attorney. But you opened your comments. You missed my point
completely. My point is --
MR. YOVANOVICH: No, I got your point.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: My point is you said, "We
have complied with all bid requirements." Well, you haven't submitted
a bid, so I don't know how you complied with the requirements. Part 1
of the requirements was to have a bid submitted by a certain date.
Obviously you didn't do that.
MR. YOVANOVICH: We were not required to bid on the
project to protest the project.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I have a question.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That's not what I said.
That's not my point.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I have a question before you
leave. Did I hear you say that -- that your -- that this one bid came
in $100,000 over budget?
MR. YOVANOVICH: That's what the agenda package said.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Is that correct?
MR. GONZALEZ: No, ma'am, not exactly. There are two
projects that we lumped together for the purposes of trying to get the
best bid. One was the actual construction of the three courts and
replacement of one existing court. There were also other site
improvements that our parks and recreation staff wanted to do, thought
it was a good idea to do at the same time and -- during the
construction of the courts: Irrigation, landscaping, lighting, things
like that.
What we did was we -- we're asking you as part of this
agenda item to combine the budget for the racquet court construction
plus funds from another project, Tigertail Beach, which is now a
costly prohibitive project to do, add those funds to this one so that
we can accomplish all of the construction improvements at one time and
hopefully save some money, mobilization, additional costs by combining
it into one contract.
Yes, it is over budget as far as this -- the
construction of the courts is, but we expanded the project to include
other site amenities, and we added the monies for that. It is --
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: How much over budget is the
court, the tennis courts portion?
MR. GONZALEZ: Our original estimate was 284,000 --
$250,000 for courts, lights, replacing the walkway, and converting one
of the courts. The budget -- the costs -- the bid for those four
items came in at 284,000. So that portion was $34,000 over our
estimated amount.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I -- I have a question for Mr.
Camell that is based on something Mr. Yovanovich said if I may real
quick. Steve, Mr. Yovanovich said basically that the bid contained
unattainable criteria if you will. Were the criteria listed in the
bid consistent with the operation of a two-year history at the Pelican
Bay courts? Are they -- are they the same? Is it apples and apples?
MR. CARNELL: Actually, Commissioner, in response to
that, the public's bid specifications did not state or mandate a
certain water use requirement.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: This was in the verbal discussion
with them where you were referring to what caused you to list the
CalCap system that Mr. Yovanovich is referring to?
MR. CARNELL: Correct, the analysis prior to.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. But those statements, are
they based on fiscal operation in a two-year window of the Pelican Bay
courts that we have had no trouble with?
MR. CARNELL: Yes. They're based upon that and also
research of the products in the market.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next, please.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Peterson.
MR. CARNELL: I'm sorry. One other thing,
Commissioner. They're also based on our experience with the Marco
Island facility.
MR. PETERSON: Okay. My name's Carl Peterson. I am a
tennis court builder. I've been in this business for over 30 years.
I am an employee of Welch Tennis Courts.
At your photographs that are being handed out here right
now, I'd like to bring your attention to a few of them. The first
batch of photographs that we have, there's 23 of them from Delray
Beach Tennis Center which was built in '93. And this was one of the
models or one of the park facilities that your park board considered
using for their comparison of building new courts at -- in Marco
Island and using the city of Delray Beach's photos, tennis courts.
If you look at photo number 3, you're showing -- you're
stating that no algae grows on a CalCap system. And if you look at
number 3's photo there, there's definitely heavy areas of brown,
yellow, and green algae that is growing over the top of the tennis
court. So the CalCap system doesn't totally eliminate any algae
growth or maintenance.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Does everybody agree on the staff
that this is a Cal -- photos of a CalCap system? Is everybody
familiar with that?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And did the bids specifically
state that the CalCap system absolutely had no algae whatsoever?
MR. CARNELL: Correct. This -- again, our -- as Mr.
Pettit said to you earlier, our bid protest policy requires that the
protestor lay all of the issues and evidence out when they tender
their protest. None of this was presented to us with regard to Delray
Beach, none of it at the time of the first --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: But is this a CalCap system?
MR. CARNELL: I don't know. They -- what I know is that
the city of Delray Beach installed some CalCap courts three years
ago. I'm not in a position to speak to whether these are them or
not.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Just I saw Mr. Olliff nod but
I -- the bid -- did this bid specifically state CalCap doesn't ever
have any algae?
MR. CARNELL: No.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That's what I thought I heard
this gentleman say, so I wanted to make sure that wasn't part of the
bid.
MR. PETERSON: Okay. Going on to -- photo 4 also shows
the algae growth and the buildup of dead loose material at the net
line and at the playing line area.
Photo number 8 also shows calcification or hardness of
the court surface at the net line which is a product of the Cal
Cap-type court where you have hardness and it has to be scarified to
maintain it and add your muriatic acid to soften the court up there.
Number 9 is also another photograph showing the same
thing at the net or at the playing line area.
Continuing on down to photograph number 15 showing the
algae and growth marks, even though the court has been scratched and
scarified there -- you can see the ridge lines from a scarifying
machine -- the algae growth is still there, so the park board has been
trying to maintain these courts and to try to rectify the problem of
the CalCap system. But we're still showing moss and algae in that
court area there.
Going down to the photo of 18 through 23 --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Sir, I -- I -- I just want to
make a point here. We could go out and get pictures of a Hydro Grid
system that looks the same way. So what's the point?
MR. PETERSON: The point that we're trying to clarify
here is that the CalCap system is -- that you're recommending here is
not a working system. It's not a viable court surface right now at a
facility that has -- in a park district that has CalCap courts.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Where are the pictures --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: You mean like Pelican Bay in
Collier County, Florida?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah. Do we have any
pictures from Pelican Bay here?
MR. PETERSON: I do not, sir. These photographs I
personally took myself. These were at Delray Beach. I took these
October 10. It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day. If I can continue
on with my photographs before my time runs out --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Please do.
MR. PETERSON: -- 18 through 23 here does definitely
show that these CalCap court has a bad sensor where the water levels
-- the court was totally wet and saturated, water bubbling up from
the bottom. The court was unusable because of a bad sensor system
which is part of the CalCap system of subirrigating the courts to tell
us when the court needs water and when it doesn't need water. And
this court is definitely flooded, and it's unplayable where the other
courts were. So it's not a specific function of any subirrigated
court. It's the specific CalCap court that is not working. The
sensors of their design is not working in there.
More recently there's some other photos here from Coral
Lakes Country Club in Delray Beach which is also a CalCap system.
They were built in late '95 showing that they have algae and hard
spots, calcification, moss, growth on top of the court. And that,
again, is not working as a CalCap system.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, I -- you were interrupted during
your presentation, so I'm going to just take a second and ask you, I
know there must have been a point to your presentation here, but could
you please explain it to us.
MR. PETERSON: I'm trying to make a comparison of other
types of subirrigated courts to the CalCap system.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And your point is going to be that
CalCap --
MR. PETERSON: Does have problems with their system.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And no other system does.
MR. PETERSON: All systems are going to have a --
certain degrees of problems, sir, but you're specifying one.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: If that's your point, I think we
understand it.
MR. PETERSON: Okay.
MR. DORRILL: George -- George Todd.
MR. TODD: My name is George Todd. I've been quoted a
couple times. I appreciate the time. I'll try not to belabor this.
I'm with Welch Tennis Courts.
I initially asked for a meeting face to face where we
could sit down and -- and have these -- these types of discussions.
Unfortunately I was not afforded that privilege. I'm not used to
public speaking, and you're used to people who are not used to that,
so let me get through it.
A couple things. I -- I went through all of the
references that were on the list. My product was restricted from
being able to be bid here because of water savings, supposed water
savings. I have metered the CalCap and the Hydro Courts, and all the
Hydro Grids come with a meter on them. Evaporation is equal for all
of us, and that's what this is about. You've got plastic underneath
and the sun up above. So to throw mine out because it uses more water
is not true.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: But --
MR. TODD: So there's one mistruth.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: But how do you know they would've
thrown yours out if you didn't bid?
MR. TODD: I had conversations with Mr. Camell before
that we were not allowed to bid the Hydro Grid, that we were to bid
the CalCap. We would be a nonresponsive bid. And so we went through
that discussion. He went through calling CalCap to see if I could get
lined up -- lined up with CalCap. And -- and I told him -- I said,
"They aren't going to save the water." And his response back to me
-- and I've heard some of these comments coming from you -- is -- but
the bid doesn't say you have to save the water. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Right.
MR. TODD: Well, you know, I'm not going to sell you a
product based on claims that -- that aren't true. I'm telling you
they all use about 600 gallons of water, CalCap, Hydrocourt, Aqua
Grid, Hydro Grid, all of them. They all are going to have some algae
problems. Tennis courts have algae problems. The point of these
pictures was to show you that other courts have scarification, that
other courts -- that -- and scarification is not listed as one of the
things that CalCap is supposed to have to have done to it. But I have
evidence here that that happens on other courts.
We called, as you heard, 56 out of -- 56 out of 63
people. Of those 56 -- courts, I'm sorry. Of those 56, 40 -- all
hundred percent of them had algae problems. Do you now have or have
you had problems with algae, controlling algae? Yes on all 56 that we
contacted. One facility with three courts has replaced this with
sprinklers, overhead sprinklers.
Another facility with eight courts, JDH, which is listed
as one of the references over here, made their decision last year.
For the last two courts that they bought, they went from CalCap to
Hydrocourt, a fully linered six-inch Hydrocourt, Hydrocourt.
The Delray Beach facility, I'll get into the detail
here, is actually controlled with time clocks. It doesn't rely solely
on the -- on the sensors. It relies on time clocks.
My point is if you folks -- you have pictures in front
of you now, and you can see the Delray Beach facility. If that is the
type of facility that two or three years down the road that you want,
it's up to you. That -- that's fine. I just don't --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: We also have Pelican Bay that's
-- two years down the road that is a beautiful facility. So -- so,
you know, that -- that, you know, diminishes your argument when you
say if this is what you want, go with theirs because we have another
experience with this particular product that's been favorable.
MR. TODD: Yes. Yes, you do. And they've done an
outstanding sales job, and they've got a good maintenance job in your
facility that's keeping that. It's more a function of the water
supply, the location, the weather, and the maintenance than it is of
systems. And that's -- that's where it boils down to.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: I have a question for Mr. Camell
related to this, and that is would -- did you tell this company that
you would not accept their bid unless it had CalCap?
MR. CARNELL: I don't know that I explicitly told them I
wouldn't accept their bid. I told them that we weren't going to
change the specification.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: And could they have submitted a
bid to meet your specifications without CalCap?
MR. CARNELL: No. They would have been considered
nonresponsive.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: So -- so we're just, you know,
semantics here. The fact of the matter is they could not submit a
responsive bid without using that particular product.
MR. CARNELL: Correct.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me -- let me just go back
to something you said in your presentation; and that is, you spoke
with an officer in the CalCap corporation who indicated that virtually
any general contractor who had some inkling of how to work with tennis
courts could have available to them that product.
MR. CARNELL: I would even be broader than that. I
think any -- any general contractor who was willing to contract with
them, whether they had an inkling or not.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: So --
MR. TODD: That's not an issue with me. I agree with
that totally. I could have done CalCap. I -- I could have done it.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I don't know if there's
another speaker. I got a couple of points I want to make if we
don't.
MR. TODD: Okay. Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Todd Senior.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Is this the last speaker?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir. I have one more after this
gentleman.
MR. TODD SENIOR: I'm George Todd Senior. I'm the old
man. I think the only point that we're trying to make here today,
we're not fighting for the bid for this particular job. We're only
trying to make the point that we would like to be considered in the
future as an equal in the tennis court business.
I would like to submit to you for you to keep courts
that I just built for Chrissy Evert and also for the Boca Raton Resort
and Club. Cal -- the Hydro Grid court was selected as the state of
the art for these people. They didn't even get bids. They just went
out and investigated the tennis court systems, and we were selected.
So we're not fighting for this -- this bid. I want you to understand
that. We're only fighting for permission to submit bids to you in the
future.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Are you withdrawing your
protest to this bid then?
MR. TODD SENIOR: I am not withdrawing my protest. I'm
-- as the old man, I'm looking down the road as far as our
opportunity to bid again for Collier County.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Either you're protesting this
bid or you're not, and I understand you want to work --
MR. TODD SENIOR: Yes, I am pro -- yes, I am pro -- we
are protesting this bid. I won't change that point. But I want to
just --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Todd, you -- you stated I believe,
did you not, that you could have used the CalCap?
MR. TODD SENIOR: We will not install the CalCap system.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: You will not.
MR. TODD SENIOR: We will not install the CalCap system.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is that because you don't believe
in it or because you can't be competitive in it?
MR. TODD SENIOR: That is because we do not believe in
it. There's two systems that we will not install. There's two
systems we will install. We will not install -- install Aqua Grid,
and we will not install -- install CalCap. And I'm not going to beat
them about the ears about anything. It's just that we will not
install it. We will --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Have you ever installed either
system? Have you ever installed either of those two that you say you
won't? Have you ever installed and had experience with either of
them?
MR. TODD SENIOR: No, we will not. We have observed
them, and we will not install them. We install Hydro Grid and
Hydrocourt.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you, sir.
MR. TODD SENIOR: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Hueller is your final speaker.
MR. HUELLER: Good morning, commissioners. My name is
Gil Hueller. I serve on the Collier County park and recreation
advisory board, and I've also played on these courts. I refer to
Marco Island, and I've played at Pelican too and Marco at least for
the last 14 years.
It seems to me that -- that these people are asking you
to put in courts that have proven to be dangerous. I know of a half a
dozen people that have fallen on these courts. One man dislocated his
shoulder. Two of them split their heads open as they fell, hit the --
the metal incidently. Half the time they aren't even -- they aren't
even playable. The maintenance people for park and recreation tell me
that they're repairable which is, you know, a pretty sad commentary.
We've had four or five delays on this thing now. We're
into the season. We badly need these courts. We've increased our
membership down there. The courts are inadequate as far as the number
of courts are concerned and the quality of the courts. We have, I
must say, the worst courts of the seven installations in Collier
County, and that's -- that shouldn't be. We need them badly, and I
urge you to proceed with this long overdue project. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Hueller, do you know if this --
the irrigation for those courts is connected to the city water on
Marco?
MR. HUELLER: I believe it is, yeah.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Well, I'm -- I'm surprised that any
algae would grow in that SSU water at all.
MR. HUELLER: I can't explain that. I really can't.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Just a joke, Mr. Hueller.
MR. HUELLER: But the prob -- the thing is that we had
some people object to these courts, some people that live immediately
adjacent. And we met with them on five different occasions. And they
were promised some berms and promised proper drainage, and that's
probably the reason why this thing has gone a little bit over budget.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Uh-huh.
MR. HUELLER: But I really think they deserve it. They
were promised by their realtor that there would always be trees there,
and they're quite upset about it so -- as an explanation as to why.
But Commissioner Mac'Kie hit it right on the head when
she said why should we switch to courts that are proven to be faulty
when we've had experience with courts in Pelican Bay that have been
marvelous? And those are the kind we want to put in. Thank you very
much.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's a good point.
MR. HUELLER: Thank you.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I got a couple
of questions for Mr. Camell. When submitting a bid like this, are
some sort of references required?
HR. CARNELL: Typically they are.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Did you get references from
Mr. Todd?
MR. CARNELL: Well, Mr. Todd didn't submit a bid.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Okay. Thank you. Did the
bid have a due date if you were going to submit a bid? MR. CARNELL: Oh, yes, sir, time and place.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Was Mr. -- was Mr. Todd's bid
in on time?
MR. CARNELL: No, sir.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess -- and I want to
point out, Mr. Yovanovich, you've completely missed my point. When
you say you protected your ability to protest, that's fine. That
wasn't my point at all. My point is you opened by saying you have
complied with all bid requirements, and you clearly have not complied
with all bid requirements. There's two examples right there. And --
and I'm going to make a motion that we go ahead and award the contract
along with staff's recommendation in -- in compliance with staff's
recommendations.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: If I may, I have a question for
Mr. Camell before this vote is taken. Mr. Camell, whether it be
CalCap or another system, is there a -- is there performance criteria
that should the system not meet it, assuming a set maintenance
schedule, that the vendor is still on the hook? Or is it once it's
installed it either does what they say it's going to do or -- you
know, I'm just -- I'm curious. We're looking at there are several
systems out there. If we are so sold on CalCap through our individual
experience which I understand has been very good so far, if we're
going to install that system or another, is there a performance
guarantee by the manufacturer of the system?
MR. CARNELL: There's a warranty period following the
installation. I don't know that -- the window of time off the top of
my head. But beyond that, no, there are no assurances past the
warranty period.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is there a maintenance schedule
that the manufacturers of these systems provide to the purchaser that
if you follow these maintenance steps, our system will perform to the
greatest extent possible?
MR. CARNELL: I don't know the answer to that question.
I don't know if other staff does. MR. OLLIFF: Yes.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: That was Tom Olliff.
Okay. I'm going to support the motion for the reason
that we have had individual experience with the CalCap system that is
proven far, far better than what we have in place which is similar to
what the protest argument is -- is discussing.
However, if, you know, as the Pelican Bay courts grow
and if there is a case to be made that other systems are acceptable,
that needs to be made on the forefront. It needs to be made
commensurate with a bid. If today we had two bids in front of us and
we were being asked why should we approve the one that is more
expensive and we discuss the parameters of both bids, then we have at
least something substantial to talk about. But I am concerned that we
are sacrificing the integrity of the bid process by allowing bids to
be open when there was an unresponsive bidder by not even submitting
anything and then we're gonna go back and revisit it now. So I'm '-
I'm going to support the motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Is that a second?
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: It is a second.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I -- I agree with that. There's
just one thing I'd -- I'd like to be sure comes out of this, though,
is the process is so critical that it be carefully preserved and --
and that it -- it be as straightforward and honest and as open as it
possibly can be, and fortunately nobody has alleged anything to the
contrary about the honesty of the process, and that's the good news.
The only -- what troubles me is I would like to have a
bid -- if the bid says -- if you're not going to accept a bid without
a specific product, say it straight out. If -- if you're gonna have
specs. and people want to make a case that their product can meet
those specs., then accept the bid with the different product and let
them make their case for meeting the specs.
That's the part that I hear today that I didn't like is
that you, you know, told them there's really no point in submitting a
bid without a different product. We should let them make a case and
submit their bid with or without a product if it's -- if they can
prove that it will -- or if they can at least argue that it will meet
the specs. of the -- of the bid.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, I guess at some point,
though, the bidder has to take responsibility, and they can choose to
do that or not and to say, well, staff has to reel them in, tell them
they can do anything they want and -- but it will be up to the
purchasing department to try to define after the fact what's --
whether it meets bid or not but we'll still encourage them to turn it
in, I mean, the bid specs. are very clear. And either you meet them
or you don't. And if you don't, there's nothing to prohibit you from
still submitting it and arguing your case.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Well, they said they wouldn't
have taken it.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I don't think that's what Mr.
Camell said.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That's what I understood and --
MR. CARNELL: I did say that and -- but -- but let --
but you raised a very important point, Commissioner Mac'Kie, I think
we need to follow up on here. In many, many instances where a product
or a system could be specified within a bigger contract such as this
one or, for that matter, if this was all we were buying and we had --
within our purchasing policy, contrary to Mr. Yovanovich's
representations, we can have competition among one product line if
you've got more than one source. It's not a sole source if more than
one can bid that product.
Now, getting to your point, our specifications at the --
we did consider Mr. Todd's contentions. We considered them at the
point he raised them initially prior to the bids ever being opened,
and you reach a point in time and -- where certainty becomes a very
key element in the bidding process. The bidders either -- they need
to know what's off limits and what -- what is fair game and what
isn't.
And in this particular instance, we considered modifying
the specifications to allow for CalCap or equivalent. We seriously
considered that. But the reason we didn't do that is because we felt
like we had done the analysis on the front end. We felt like the data
that had been gathered from other sources that had bid this previously
such as the Delray Beach study were going to point us back to the same
plans. And we had given Mr. Todd a chance to convince us otherwise
through the data he submitted. And when it came -- we felt it was
more straightforward, more honest to tell people this is what our
requirement is and not leave them guessing.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And again, my point is if
some -- if I wanna bid on something, itws up to me to do that and to
bid in whatever way I see fit. And -- and at some point the bidder
has to take responsibility for their own actions. And so I guess I
just disagree. I think Mr. Camell does a great job, and I donwt want
it to reflect that he is somehow rejecting people verbally or
something because I donwt think that was the intent. He said, look,
this is the bid specs. This is what we expect to be met.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, to get this moving, you
know, wewre talking shades of the same subject. If wewre going to
spec. a certain system, we need to list the reasons why. If another
system can meet them, that -- that tells you you can meet those
specs. Even if itws not the same system, go ahead and submit a bid,
and then you have the right to protest. Iwm saying that we did follow
our bid procedures correctly. But thatws not to say with a slight
modification those procedures couldnwt be a little bit better.
COMMISSIONER MACIKIE: Exactly.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: And from all experiences we
learn. But we did follow those procedures as theylre outlined, and
Iim going to support the motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: You seconded it.
In -- in this particular instance, the critical point is
that the protestor has stated on the record that he -- he could have
-- there was nothing to prevent him from submitting a bid with
CalCap, and he chose by his own free will not to do that. Thatls the
critical point here.
So with that Iill call the question. All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And we will take a short break, let
the court reporter change paper or whatever.
(A short break was held.)
Item #8C1
EXISTING CONCESSION AGREEMENT REGARDING THE COCOHATCHEE RIVER PARK
FACILITY TERMINED AND STAFF AUTHORIZED TO ADVERTISE FOR A NEW REQUEST
FOR PROPOSAL FOR ANOTHER CONCESSION AGREEMENT
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Weill reconvene the county commission
meeting. Our next item -- next item is a recommendation -- excuse me
-- recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners terminate
the existing concession agreement at Cocohatchee River Park facility.
MR. OLLIFF: Yes, sir. For the record, Tom Olliff, your
public services administrator, and the item is just that. Itls a
request that we terminate the existing concession agreement at
Cocohatchee.
As -- as youlre well aware, we went out to bid for
concessionaires at that particular facility. Welve had a contract in
place for almost one year. In fact, the anniversary date is coming up
on the 21st of this month.
Unfortunately, because of performance issues -- and Iim
going to try and keep this presentation fairly short. But just simply
because of some performance-related issues in terms of the days that
the facility has been open, performance in terms of payment of the
minimum concession fee to the county, and in terms of some of the
major items that were required as part of that contract that be
provided in the way of public service that have not occurred, the
staff doesn't believe that there is a reasonable opportunity for that
contractor to -- to make amends and become successful under that
current contract.
And for those -- those reasons, the staff's recommending
that we terminate that existing agreement and rebid the entire
facility there including fuel this time which wasn't included in the
original bid.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Mr. Olliff, have we given the
contractor ample opportunity to correct deficiency?
MR. OLLIFF: I would think if we erred anywhere it would
probably be erred in -- in providing too much opportunity. I think --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Obviously I think I sense an
agreement on this item. However, my concern is that we are entering
season, and we have lost a tremendous amount of ramp fees at this
location. This is probably during season one of the busier ramps in
town and has been since the day it opened.
Mr. Olliff, how fast can we get -- the RFP's already
done. It's been sent out before. It's the same RFP. How fast can we
get it out there, get respondents, and get a new vendor selected? I
-- I would really like to fast track this thing because there's a
great service that can be provided there, and I know we're going to
get more than one bidder this time.
MR. OLLIFF: I'd venture to say if we gave you two weeks
to actually get the bid out, two weeks to respond, and then two weeks
to be able to sort the bid and get back in front of you, six weeks to
-- to two months on the outside.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: We could have it by the 1st
of the year.
MR. OLLIFF: Hopefully, yes, sir.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I would like it -- I was hoping
for 30 days because, you know, the -- you know, it's just -- as fast
as we can get that done and be reasonable would be my -- my hope
because every day we don't have a responsive operator out there, you
know, we're losing revenues and not providing service at a really
super facility.
MR. OLLIFF: I -- I agree, and that's one of the reasons
why it's here in front of you today, that we -- we wanted at least to
have an opportunity to try and make a season. And the 1997 season is
pretty much on us. And the faster that we can try and resolve this,
the better off the county will be.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Can we target six weeks or less?
Is that reasonable by your estimation?
MR. OLLIFF: We will -- we will shortcut that process as
much as we possibly can. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Olliff, is it our intention to --
to terminate this contract effective immediately and operate the park
with the county employees?
MR. OLLIFF: No, I don't think so. I think that there
are a number of existing contracts that the concessionaire probably
has with vendors and also in terms of improvements and shelving and
those types of things inside the actual building itself that we
probably legally need to provide a reasonable amount of time for her
to be able to remove those items. But the actual collection of the
ramp fee we would probably go ahead and shift over to the master meter
which is already on site so that we wouldn't have to -- to worry about
that.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Okay.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: With that --
MR. DORRILL: One speaker, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: One speaker.
MR. DORRILL: Your concessionaire is here, Hiss
Kilgore.
MS. KILGORE: Good morning, commissioners, Chairman
Norris. I'm Lisa Kilgore. I'm from Captain's Cove. That is my
business. I stand here before you to talk about something that I
really believe in, and I have chosen to be here without counsel again
just as myself.
My first thoughts about this termination was to explain
all the adversities I've faced this first year in business. I am now
a disabled woman who's had failing health issues, and I am a single
parent. That is my reality, but I'm still trying to build the
American dream which is what the commission labeled it last year when
we came before you on September 5.
I have made a lot of errors in operating this business,
and I have used poor judgment. Host of all, I've let a lot of my
adversities get the best of me and even use them as excuses. But most
-- most of all, I've let a lot of people down. But to terminate the
contract now would be a bigger letdown, not only to my American dream
but to the people that use the community that I provide a public
service to, my daughter who I'm now sole support of, and the creditors
who I need this business to pay back.
All I can do is learn from these mistakes and make
arrangements to cover what I cannot do personally myself because of my
health or whatever. I have hired a business consulting firm to come
in and take over totally and rearrange the accounting, the payment
system, kind of put my business on track.
Because of being a small business, not having the fuel
operational yet, I've been trying to keep my costs low, and I felt I
had to do a lot of it myself and still deal with everything else that
I've had to deal with, and I haven't been able to do it all. I admit
that now, and I have hired people. I have people -- I have staff in
there now that run the business for me when I am not able to be there
which is almost most of the time. But I have a full-time staff that
has come in, a retired contractor that is now working for me full time
who is taking on the construction aspect of the whole park.
I'm respectfully asking that the board give me time to
turn this around, a short period of time, if that. And if I cannot do
it, then I would more than agreeably let you terminate my contract.
I've survived now through the off season, and this is my peak too.
The commission knew back last year that I invested a lot of time and
effort even before I had the bid awarded. It was my hard work, my
passion for what I believed in that got the fuel approved that now
will give you more prospective bidders.
This was the third time it was out for bid again. I
mean, it was the -- the work that I put into it that I believed in, my
efforts that got -- and I was the only bidder the third time out. The
length of my contract was determined by all the effort, by the money,
the expense that I had put into it. And now you're cutting me short
without even the ability to finish it and complete it to the point
where I can pay back the creditors.
It's kinda hard. If there had been as much time looking
for the good things that I've done down there as there has been
looking at the faults, I think there would have been just as much good
as bad. The people that I've taken care of at the park, the
community, have not suffered at all. In fact, they've benefitted.
Even before me, the parks and rec. department did not keep somebody in
there to collect the ramp fees. I mean, they didn't have people down
there for the bait and tackle. And whether it's 30 days or 6 weeks, I
mean, here again, inconsistencies are gonna affect the community, and
I don't think that's fair to them.
Once again, all's I can close with is just ask to let me
have the opportunity to turn this around. The same passion, hard
work, and what I believe in is the same thing that will make me make
this American dream work. I'm just asking for the time to do so.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Olliff, when was the first
notice given to Miss Kilgore of failure to meet contractual
obligations?
MR. OLLIFF: I think the record shows that in writing we
probably started this in July.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: More than four months ago? The
problem we have, Miss Kilgore, is that from July till now there has
been just a record of failure to perform, a response of promise to
perform and a continued failure to do so. There's a track record of
at least three times in which the county were -- was told you would
deliver X on this date and you didn't do it. And then we waited for
the second date, and it didn't occur. And we waited for the third
date, and it didn't occur.
Your personal problems aside, we have an obligation to
the rest of the county to provide a consistent service at that
location. That hasn't happened. You've been notified in excess of
four months of failure to meet those obligations, and I think our
obligation to the balance of the county that uses that park is as or
more important than your desire to succeed.
So I don't feel there's been a track record for me to
stand here today after what you've said and have any comfort level
whatsoever that what you're telling me is going to happen. I'm sorry
to say that, but it's been that performance record that has -- has
built to this point.
So I wish you the best, but I don't think we can
continue to sacrifice the success of this one concession for your
personal needs at this point.
MS. KILGORE: Well, it's not just my personal needs.
It's -- it's -- I mean, regardless of me, I mean, I have creditors. I
went out and had a tank built per specs. for the site, I mean, the
most environmentally safe, sound tank that is now gonna sit there and
not be able to be delivered. And it wasn't -- if I was just out for
me, I could have gotten just a plain double walled, steel tank and,
you know, cut corners and done everything else. But I've done the
best.
And as far as my saying that I would do this on certain
date and not be able to, that was because of my health issues. I've
corrected that. I have people -- Collier Business Consultants will
take over that for me and be there when they are told to be there or
need to be there. You know, once again, I did what I thought I had to
do being a small business.
COHHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, I'm not sure the
problems have been corrected completely because you had an appointment
with me on Friday that you called and canceled ten minutes prior to
the appointment. And that in and of itself isn't necessarily such a
big deal except for the consistent track record of that type activity
that Commissioner Hancock has already outlined.
MS. KILGORE: I apologize for that. Once again, I tried
to explain. This past week I've been very sick because of drug
therapy that I'm on for my disease, and it has affected me greatly. I
can't deny that. I even asked starting Thursday for a postponement of
this issue so I could get back on my feet more and be able to do
things I needed to do. I was sick. I could not be there. That's my
reality. I can't help it. But I cannot stop my everyday life because
of how I feel. You know, I start -- when I made the appointment with
you, it was with all good intentions to be there. But because of my
health I could not be there. That is my disability.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And the point I made is that
the track record continues, and it's gone on for several months that
you've been scheduled to meet with our staff and have not and
scheduled to meet in this case with the commission and have not and
scheduled to deliver materials and have not. And while you may very
well have a valid reason for those, as Commissioner Hancock has
outlined, it is interfering with a service that the public has to
receive and is not receiving appropriately at this time.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Rather than -- rather than turn
this into an issue-by-issue debate, you've outlined the difficulties
you've had in operation of the concession very well. Unfortunately, I
don't feel that it is necessarily our job or our position to overcome
those difficulties for you. Our position simply in my opinion is to
make sure the concessionaire that's there is qualified and able to
handle the operation. That has not proven to be true in this
individual circumstance. And I'm going to move that we terminate the
existing concession agreement and put this out for bid on a fast track
as soon as possible to catch as much of the season services as are
required.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. If
there's no further discussion, I'll call the question. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #BE1
A. G. EDWARDS APPOINTED AS SENIOR MANAGING UNDERWRITER AND SMITH BARNEY
TO ACT AS CO-MANAGING UNDERWRITER FOR THE CONVERSION OF A PORTION OF
THE COUNTY'S VARIABLE RATE TAX EXEMPT COHMERCIAL PAPER TO A FIXED RATE
BOND ISSUE - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item is 8(E)(1), a discussion of
the finance committee's recommendation of underwriters.
MR. HCNEES: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, commissioners.
Mike HcNees from the county manager's office.
A few months ago we discussed with you the possibility
of issuing fixed-rate bonds to pay back a number of tax-exempt
commercial paper variable rate instruments that you've entered into
for various projects. And we told you at that time that given a
certain interest rate availability that we thought financially that
would be a good idea.
With the market getting to a point where we think this
is probably going to be a viable issue, staff issued a request for
proposals to select an underwriter to undertake that financing or at
least to bring forward a proposal to do so and to stay on top of the
market.
We received proposals from ten different firms that your
finance committee read and ranked. We had two firms that split the
first place vote. We had Smith Barney who was the first place
selection of three of the finance committee members. A. G. Edwards
was ranked first by two of the members.
We're hence making a recommendation to you that Smith
Barney be appointed as the managing underwriter for this project and
that A. G. Edwards be added to the deal as the co-managing
underwriter.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Who are the -- who's
currently serving on the financial committee?
MR. HCNEES: Myself; Mr. Mitchell, your finance
director; Mr. Smykowski, the budget director; Ed Finn, the public
works operations director; and John Yonkosky, the department of
revenue.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Is there a copy of the score
sheets anywhere?
MR. HCNEES: I don't think it's in your package. I can
make that available to you. We only had -- of the ten firms, there
were only four that received votes at all. Smith Barney had 12
points; A. G. Edwards, 10 points, William R. Huff, 6; and Merrill
Lynch, 2. And none of the other six firms got votes at all. We can
provide that to you very quickly.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: What specifically are the dollar
savings to be achieved or to be realized by taking this step?
MR. HCNEES: We're not really talking about net present
value saving. We're talking about taking away one, the variable
interest rate risk and fixing what our variable rate instruments --
fixing them at a -- at a rate that's low today when the variable rate
may go up later. Also we have balloon payments due on a couple of
these in '88 and '89, and we take the risk of having to refinance at
higher rates when the balloons come due if we can fix these now.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And we're fairly confident
through our finance committee that those rates are going to inch
upward as opposed to downward? In other words, a year from now, we're
not going to be kicking ourselves? I know you don't have a crystal
ball. I'm just -- I'm asking for the opinion of the finance committee
because not having the benefit of that meeting.
MR. HCNEES: We hope that a year from now you won't be
kicking us. But yeah, we think -- we think that now's the time, and
we had -- we had established a target interest rate that would make
all this make sense, and we think that we're about to get there.
So yes, in our -- in the best judgment of the committee
and in particular of your financial advisor, now's the time.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess -- I don't have any
objection with doing the transaction now. I guess I would like to see
-- as personal preference -- I'd be interested to see what the rest
of the board thinks. But I'd like to see A. G. Edwards be the primary
and Smith Barney secondary solely because it seems as though we do --
and maybe my recollection is wrong. But it seems like we do an awful
lot with Smith Barney as the primary, and I'd just like to mix it up a
little bit. I don't want to give the same firm everything.
MR. HCNEES: In all frankness, the reason we included
A. G. Edwards, at least one of the reasons was sensitivity to exactly
that issue. We haven't done any bonded debt for a few years, so
really we haven't -- we haven't had anybody on board. In fact, most
of the current members of the finance committee have no existing
relationship with Smith Barney. They -- they weren't on the committee
and weren't involved when we did our last deals. But it was our
sensitivity to that issue that made us recommend that -- that we add
A. G. Edwards as a co-managing underwriter just because of the
perception that maybe Smith Barney's --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: And I don't -- I don't have any
knowledge of any particular individuals at Smith Barney or whether or
not we've been with them too long. But I'd like to join in support of
that, that having a new face frankly just based on, you know, the
unfortunate history we had about the one broker who got too much of
our investment work, and I'd like to see that diversification so --
and I'm confident A. G. Edwards --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Is that a motion?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll make a motion we appoint
A. G. Edwards as the primary with Smith Barney playing the backup
quarterback role.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second.
MR. DORRILL: No speakers.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: All those in favor signify by saying
aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
MR. MCNEES: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Before we continue, could I ask the
people in the audience with small children, the crying of small
children is a little disruptive. Could -- if they're going to cry,
can we take them outside, please? They're very cute.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Not that that deserved applause.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Some us actually used to be small
children.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Some of us actually what?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Used to be small children.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Oh. Only some of us. Not all of
us.
Item #9A
AGREEMENT APPROVING AND PROVIDING FOR COUNTY TRAFFIC CONTROL
JURISDICTION OVER IMPERIAL GOLF COURSE BOULEVARD AND OTHER ROADS WITHIN
THE IMPERIAL GOLF ESTATES SUBDIVISION - APPROVED
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Chairman, this next item,
item 9(A), I don't know if you've had a chance to review it, but I
find this actually silly that it actually had to come before us.
Everyone and their mother had to sign off on it.
If there are no speakers that -- that are opposing this,
I'd like just to move approval of the agreement approving for county
traffic control jurisdiction within Imperial Golf Estates.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
MR. WEIGEL: Mr. Chairman, pardon me.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Maybe not.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Weigel?
MR. WEIGEL: Although there are no registered speakers,
I appreciate that I can comment briefly, and I have met with Mr. Herb
Oehlers and Miss Patricia Lawrence of the Imperial Golf Estates
Homeowners' Association and Greater Imperial Board respectively. And
they had one question which appears -- and although I provided you the
documents this last week, I provided them again this morning.
On page 3 which is where I have numbered number 2 with a
little flap and highlighted the bottom of the page, they had indicated
that their insurers had had a question or concern about including
Collier County and the sheriff's office as additional insured which is
surprising because typically there's no problem whatsoever along that
line. And, however, above that sentence at the bottom of that page,
both organizations provide complete and full indemnification to the
sheriff and the county in regard to this patrol service over the
private roads.
And part of the reason that this language is there is
not for pure complication or legalese. But since these are private
roads which may be or may not be at current county standard at any
particular point in time or that may have potholes or may have
flooding or issues of that problem -- of that nature at some point in
the future, the county and the -- the sheriff as -- as participants,
particularly the sheriff as an active participant, look to their
interests to be protected in case some inadvertent accident should
Occur.
The indemnification is there. They've requested that if
it cannot be worked out that the insurance -- additional insured for
the county and the sheriff not be an absolute requirement. And so
it's on their behalf that I bring that to this board.
If you have any question, I'll certainly try to answer,
and they are here too if you'd like to speak. Also like to commend
Sergeant Todd Taylor of the sheriff's office for his work. This
agreement is required under state statute 316.0063B. It requires the
sheriff to be involved. It does ultimately re -- require the county
to be involved, and that's how we are here at this point.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Certainly was not a commentary on
your involvement but merely that it seemed like a lot of work to go
through for a fairly simple agreement. But now we have one in hand,
so it shouldn't be a problem from here on out.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
MR. WEIGEL: Thank you.
Item #9B
PROPOSED W. J. JANES MEMORIAL SCENIC DRIVE PARK LEASE, INTERLOCAL
PATROL AGREEMENT AND DUSK TO DAWN ACCESS PERMITTING PROCEDURES -
APPROVED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item, Mr. Weigel.
MR. WEIGEL: Yes. Thank you. I'm pleased to bring
before you three related documents concerning Janes Scenic Drive also
known as the W. J. Janes Memorial Scenic Drive Park. And this is --
these agreements are before you based upon a previous memorandum of
understanding that was approved by the board and the Department of
Environmental Protection parks and recreation department.
And what we have here in brief is a -- an approximate
99-year lease of the roadway area which is specifically identified.
The swath includes Janes Scenic Drive and land on both sides of that
drive that are county owned, a lease from the county as lessor to the
DEP as lessee for 99 years.
And with that, concurrent with that, is an interlocal
patrol agreement that is with the county and the sheriff's department,
already approved by the sheriff. And also with this is a dusk to dawn
permitting procedures document for approval by this board. We are
waiting for final approval from the DEP in both the lease agreement
and the permitting procedures. We think that that's forthcoming
probably even today.
We would request the board if they wish if there are no
truly substantive changes and the board desires to approve these
agreements and documents that we would exercise minimal changes if
required by the DEP. But if there's anything substantive, we would
bring it back to you. And I'll certainly entertain any questions you
may have in regard to any of the agreements or the procedures.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Weigel, has the deed to
the airport been signed, sealed, and delivered to Collier County?
MR. WEIGEL: Long ago and recorded, and they have
received our deed for 1,920 acres of strand property long ago, and
it's recorded too. And from that -- from that standpoint I think
these issues just sort of fall back -- I don't want to say they're of
secondary importance. But I think the impetus from DEP is certainly
subsided significantly. But the patrolling has been occurring as per
the memorandum of understanding for essentially a year now, and I
think everybody's ready to come aboard.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I have -- and I'm sorry
Commissioner Matthews isn't here because she's the one that closed the
agreement on this. But I had met with the DEP on some of the
specifics on this. And item 17 in here I want to see if you can
clarify for me a little bit.
MR. WEIGEL: Where is that?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Seven -- seventeen. Page 4
of the agreement, page 5 of our packet, item 17-A, breach of lease.
MR. WEIGEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The nonbreaching party may
continue the lease and recover damages from the breaching party. I
want to know how far that opens us up, and I want to also go down
under B of that. And regarding the special conditions, should the
lessor, the county, fail to provide the agreed-upon level of patrol
services, the lessee shall have the right to contract for or otherwise
provide for the correct level of such patrol services. MR. WEIGEL: Yes.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And lessor, county, will be
required to reimburse the state. How will failure be defined if we
fail to do that? That just seems very objective, and I'd hate to
think --
MR. WEIGEL: Fine.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- 12 years from now when you
have a different secretary of DEP and none of these commissioners here
and no one that agreed to this has any idea --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Page 14 of your packet.
MR. WEIGEL: Each of these agreements, the interlocal
patrol agreement and the lease agreement, both reference and even
include the original memorial -- memorandum of understanding. And
they reference each other in the parts and specifications of each. In
the interlocal patrol agreement, it specifically provides that there
shall be 28 patrols monthly with 21 occurring nightly, and logs shall
be kept. So the standard is -- is rather clear. These are also
public records that can -- although it provides for review by the DEP,
people, anyone can review those records to see if there's a failure or
falling behind.
In regard to the breach-of-lease provision, paragraph
17, this is kind of standard lease language. We are dealing with two
sovereign entities here. And so to the extent that sovereign immunity
may and does apply, there are some limitations there. But I don't
know if I responded to your question entirely. It is not an entirely
risk-free agreement.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Do we have some sort of
interdepartmental agreement with the sheriff's department that they
will do this for 99 years?
MR. WEIGEL: Yes. In fact, that is number 2 of the 3
agreements that's in here. And Sheriff Hunter has signed off, in
fact, long ago.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Great.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I had similar concerns because it
states that -- under the interlocal agreement with the sheriff, it
states that the sheriff will commit and -- include committing the
sheriff to provide a specified patrol service which is the 21 such per
week between dusk and dawn, 28 total. There is a nonwaiver of breach
in here. As I read it, Mr. Weigel, that states that if we perform 20
dusk till dawn, what does the nonwaiver of breach mean to us as an
entity?
MR. WEIGEL: Okay. What that means is is that there can
be cure -- I would think and hope -- like to think that in dealing
with offices of state and local government that these -- any
misunderstandings would not continue for very long. But under regular
-- this is typical contract language with contracts between almost
any party. And that is that although you can agree that there's not a
problem -- to be a problem in the future, the party who has been
breached against may, in fact, consider that as a breach for future
records and issues that may come up.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm just so leery of agreements
with the state at this point after what we've gone through in recent
presentations regarding south block and other things. I understand we
need to do this, we made an agreement. But I think we need to keep
our '-
MR. WEIGEL: Well, these agreements --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I share your concern, and I'm
just --
MR. WEIGEL: These agreements are not signed. Pardon my
interruption. They are not signed or finally agreed to by the DEP.
And respectfully, we can -- can convey your comments or directions in
these agreements still at this point.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I share your concern, but I
will say this is completely consistent -- a very pleasant surprise --
completely consistent with the conversations I had with DEP and I got
to assume that Commissioner Matthews had with DEP. This does meet
what we had asked for. There were several -- we had several meetings
where they had folks come here to our Tuesday meeting that disagreed
with this basic substance and tried to get more and tried to get all
kinds of things. And I think this meets what it was we agreed to.
And because that's what we asked for, then I'm not going to vote
against it now, but I share your concern.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Instead of keeping a log of going
through, maybe he can just -- you know, they can count spent shell
casings. He can fire one round before he heads in. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Or not.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: A little paperwork for the
sheriff's office involved there. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Perkins.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Perkins, your time is running.
MR. PERKINS: Good morning, commissioners, ladies and
gentlemen. People at home, listen up. Topic is naturally Janes
Scenic Drive. And if you people have never been there, I highly
recommend it that -- that you go there. It is a county park. You're
paying for it. You've been paying for it.
As of October the 12th, '96, the department of -- of the
state forest declared southern Golden Gate Estates the Picayune State
Forest. In their brochures they have labeled Janes Scenic Drive as
being a way to get to Jane -- to the park for camping, horseback
riding, swimming, boating, fishing, bird watching, and all of the rest
of the goodies that every environmentalist will tell you over and over
and over again, the point being the other end of Janes Scenic Drive is
at Copeland which most of you people don't even know where it's at.
It's on Route 29.
The state forest that we are talking about as far as
Janes Scenic Drive being a way to get to it has yet to stop the
hunting out there which they advocate trespassing and discharging of
firearms on private property. And needless to say, I'm going to put
this -- or the -- Collier County on notice again that they're assuming
some of the liability out there if one of these people get hurt.
The only thing that I've got of concern is that we do
not change the status quo as far as disrupting what we have in place.
I highly recommend, needless to say, because of the other
organizations that I belong to, that we protect Collier County and its
citizens, we protect the money of Collier County, and we protect the
citizens of Collier County, meaning we need to be able to take and get
ambulances in and out of that area.
For the people who don't know, Janes Scenic Drive and
the Fakahatchee was on the agendas four years ago. Two of our new
two-year-olds, commissioners, weren't here. Pam, I couldn't help that
One.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That's okay. I like it. I
haven't been a two-year-old in a while.
MR. PERKINS: The idea was that the state of Florida
deliberately lied to us about closing Marco Island airport if we did
not bow down and transfer the title of the Fakahatchee and Janes
Scenic Drive to the state.
(Commissioner Matthews entered the proceedings.)
MR. PERKINS: Well, we found out that they were lying
through their teeth and so was the DEP and all of the related agencies
for -- for their own benefit.
Now, the one big item I want to bring up is if they
happen to declare this surplus property which they've done in the
past, the DEP, do we have the right or can we take the right to
confiscate that property back and maintain Marco Island's airport? In
other words, let's turn this thing around for a time. When I'm lied
to or if a contract is being lied, I have the right to take and cancel
the contract and recoup my losses. Does the county in this particular
case? We're talking about a lot of land. We're talking about a lot
of natural resources that this county needs to maintain and keep in
our possession, not let it go to some bureaucrat up in Tallahassee who
will sell it on the courthouse steps in Tallahassee to one of his
insider relatives.
With that I'll close. I think I've stirred the pot far
enough. Back to the hunting. Discharge of firearms is illegal out
there because there's all roads. Please do something about it on
behalf of the people of this community. Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Erlichman.
MR. ERLICHHAN: Gil Erlichman, East Naples. I'm
speaking for myself. I have a few -- few questions, and I don't know
who to address the questions to, Mr. Chairman. But what -- what is
the necessity for patrolling this road? I thought Fakahatchee Strand
was part of the area that the South Florida Water Management District
was gonna flood. Is that true? I don't know. And so I -- I'm at '-
I'm mystified by this whole procedure and this question.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Gil, I can answer that one.
When we first went through this process and they wanted Janes Scenic
Drive --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: This is all part of the agreement.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- they wanted to put up
gates and do all kinds of prohibitions. They wanted us to give them
the land, not lease it to them. And they wanted to put up gates and
prohibit anyone from accessing that property.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Actually they wanted us to
vacate the road.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's true.
MR. ERLICHHAN: What -- why? Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Initially it was -- the
reason changed several times, and I would never accuse a state agency
of lying to us. But the reason changed several times, and first it
was because poaching, and then it was for any number of different
things. And bottom line came down was we could meet their request of
making sure there weren't people in there at night who weren't
supposed to be there by sending a patrol through. The sheriff's
department said he drove through there once and often twice a night
anyway. And so it really wasn't putting an additional burden, and it
met -- the reason we were told was to avoid the poaching or avoid any
illegal activity going on out there. And by sending the patrol
through there, they made sure of that. And yet we kept it open during
the day for anyone who wanted to access it. And as A1 said, it's a
beautiful drive out there.
So what we did is that was the -- after several months
of negotiations, that was the agreement we came up with was we will
commit to continue to patrol long term, and we would lease them the
property instead of sell them the property.
MR. ERLICHMAN: Well, I'm -- I'm -- I'm still
questioning why we have to provide patrols by the sheriff's
department.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Let me answer that.
MR. ERLICHMAN: What's -- who are we protecting, or who
are we trying to prevent from going in and out or using the road?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Mr. Erlichman, we're not trying
to prevent anybody from going in and out from using the road who have
a legitimate right to use the road. One of the things that we were
made aware of in the course of -- Mr. Dotrill, what was it? More than
ten years of negotiation on this -- was that poaching was going on.
People were going in and taking animals, and people were going in and
taking orchids. And there are orchids -- there are species of orchids
who grow in the Fakahatchee that grow nowhere else -- else in the
world.
Now, one of the things that was explained to me in the
process of this is that because Janes Scenic Drive is a public
thoroughfare and the Fakahatchee on both sides of it is a state
preserve, the sheriff was going through there patrolling. And he
would -- he would see some of the poachers, but they would leave the
roadside, go into the strand, and the sheriff has no authority in the
strand.
MR. ERLICHMAN: No jurisdiction, right.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: So part of this agreement is to
give each other, the forest rangers and the sheriff's office,
permission to work together so that the people who are doing the
poaching cannot avoid capture, I guess, by moving from one
jurisdiction to another. And that's -- that's a good bit of -- of --
of what this is about. It's to stop the poaching and to stop the
interjurisdictional use that the poachers are using.
MR. ERLICHMAN: But this is not going to restrict the
public use of any area in -- in this Fakahatchee Strand.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Not in the daytime. But between
the hours of dusk and dawn roughly, people who are -- are -- are
traversing the road will be required to have a permit. The very use
of that permit on their car, if -- if a patrolman goes by and sees the
permit, he knows the person has the right to be using that road in the
hours from dusk to dawn. He will not stop them and ask them what
their purpose is. If you do not have the permit, you will be stopped
and asked what's your purpose.
MR. ERLICHMAN: How do you get the permit?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: The DEP is going to institute a
program, and the appeal process on it will include the county manager,
a representative from the DEP. And, Mr. Weigel, who's the third
person?
MR. WEIGEL: A third person is a permit holder.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: A permit holder --
MR. WEIGEL: That's right.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: -- who is --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Gil -- Gil, the reason --
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: -- who is not an employee of the
state I believe.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The reason behind that is you
don't need a permit during the day. At night there are people who
live in Copeland or wherever that use that as a cutthrough or
obviously want it open for emergency vehicles. But, quite frankly,
there's no reason, there's no logical reason, why you or me needs to
drive down there at 1 a.m. And it's just one more mechanism to help
out the sheriff's department so that --
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: So he knows who belongs there.
MR. ERLICHHAN: Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
MR. DORRILL: That's all, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion, please.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'd like to make --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Motion to approve the item.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Oh. I was going to say which --
which item are we on? The whole thing? Are we doing all agreements
at one time?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: 9(B).
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: All of them at one time, okay.
So your motion encompasses authorizing the chairman to -- chairman to
sign them all.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Correct.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Good. I'll second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
MR. WEIGEL: Thank you very much.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: One relieved county attorney.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: What's that? Twelve? Twelve
years?
Item #10A
RESOLUTION 96-506 APPOINTING JAMES LANDRUM TO THE TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
COUNCIL - ADOPTED
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Item 10(A), appointment of member
to the TDC.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chair --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: One vacancy, one applicant.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Difficult choice.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Move James Landrum.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Landrum was not one of those city
councilmen who recently resigned from Everglades City I hope.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Come to think of it he may
have.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: If it is, we'll see it back next
month.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Does anyone know the answer to
that?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Jody says he was not one of the
ones.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: He was not one of the ones?
MR. WEIGEL: Mr. Tim Smith recently resigned.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yeah. There -- there were two,
though. Mr. Smith resigned.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: If we make a mistake, we can just
bill the paper. I'll let my motion stand. The name doesn't ring a
bell. And if it is, we'll see it back soon enough.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I know Mr. Landrum, and I have
not heard that he has resigned. So with that in mind, I'll have my
second stand.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #10B
ST. MATTHEWS' HOUSE GRANT REQUEST - DENIED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item is -- if the board members
will recall -- you -- you have a little packet here. I know it's --
it's late date for you to get it -- the -- last year St. Hatthew's
House applied for a grant and the grant application had some false
information in it, and we declined to approve their grant at the
county commission level if you'll recall that. This year again they
brought this on as an add-on because they found out apparently that
the deadline is the 15th. Did we confirm that, Mr. Dotrill?
MR. DORRILL: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. All right. We did confirm that
the deadline is the 15th. So this was not properly advertised, and
they want it in on an add-on.
I read through this yesterday, and the -- the objections
that I have within it are fairly minor this year. They -- they claim
that there's 2,000 homeless people in Collier County at any one given
time. There's no documented evidence to support that number. The
sheriff, when he did an inventory during the season, found a very much
smaller number one year.
The other one is that they -- they claim a 75 percent
approval rating -- I mean a -- I'm sorry, a success rate of their --
the people that go through their program. But the definition that
they use to declare success is that they complete the program and are
released. It -- they -- they -- it doesn't -- doesn't have anything
to do with what they do the next day or a year from now. So that --
that success rate is a bit suspect.
But my real objection is that St. MAtthew's House as
opposed to the other homeless shelter proposal, St. MAtthew's House,
at least three of us will recall, battled the community for a year
actually and -- and located their facility against strong objection by
the community when it would have been much simpler to be a good
neighbor and a good part of the community by locating in a -- in a
more favorable place.
In any case, there was a long, extended battle. We all
remember it. And now they come up and ask the county commission to
help them. I -- personally I can't see it, but I -- I brought it
forward for the board's consideration. I don't intend to support the
application, but it's up to the board to do so.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess my objection is -- is
more that I have a 30-page document that I just started reading 30
seconds ago and I'm being asked to put my stamp of approval on it. I
can't do that. I want to read something and know what it is prior to
getting it, and we just got it. And I'm not gonna approve something
that I haven't had an opportunity to read.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Can -- can I just point out one
of the things that we have is attachment i-A, is the cover on top of
the application package itself. And I think the wording in it is very
important. We're not being asked to approve the grant application or
to acknowledge that any information in the application is true. I
think actually this is a really superfluous piece of paper because
whether we like it or not, this shelter has been approved where
located in Collier County. And that's all we have to say, that the
Collier County commission has approved the project which is located at
this address. And that's a fait accompli.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I appreciate that comment. The -- the
-- the way this was represented to me was that that cover sheet is
what needs to be executed for Collier County to a -- approve the --
the submittal of the grant from our perspective.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Right.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: But that's not what it says.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- I'm just not prepared to do that.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: I understand that, but I just
wanted to point out to you that the document speaks for itself. And
all it says is that the location of this --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I understand.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: When did you get a copy of
this, and how do you know what the document says? I mean, I -- I -- I
have all these pages here that I haven't read.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: I -- I got a copy of this
attachment that I'm referring to when I sat down this morning. It was
waiting for me here. But -- but I did get a copy of the grant
application itself provided to me yesterday as I think was offered to
members of the board.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yeah. It was given to me also
yesterday. I -- I read it last evening. And Commissioner Norris is
correct in the items he points out. But again, for the purpose of --
of the mission St. Hatthew's has, I'm not sure that that's all that
important.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: It's not. I stated that that was
fairly minor. I just wanted to point those out.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Not being here during the time
that this came about and only reading what I read in the paper, I
recognize the contentiousness, and -- and I -- I have to agree. If I
were sitting in your shoes at that given time, I probably would --
would harbor a lot of those feelings and carry them with me.
My concern is separate and apart from that. This is
federal emergency shelter grant funds. They're asking for $200,000 in
-- and I'll say it again -- federal emergency shelter grant funds.
It's -- yet 100,000 is going for daily operation of the existing
center. If you look at the grant application, half of it's going to
just achieve the -- the day-to-day goals.
When I look at why our federal government sets money
aside to increase the availability of federal shelters -- and you all
-- you all know I'm involved with the Red Cross. Disaster sheltering
is one of my duties with them. We use schools. Schools don't
differentiate between homeless and not homeless. It doesn't matter.
If you need a shelter during an evacuation period and those schools --
or the last time we did this it was vo-tech. And of the people we
had, the majority of them were homeless. They didn't go to St.
Hatthew's. They came to us.
This isn't -- I guess it's not addressing what I think
the federal funds are intended to do. It has nothing to do with
whether I like or don't like what St. Hatthew's is doing, like or
don't like their location. These funds are to be used to increase, as
I understand it, the ability for emergency sheltering.
What these funds are doing, according to this
application, is paying for $100,000 of operation, putting 12
additional beds in a shelter that will be used for daily operation,
not set aside for emergency.
So my concern -- unless someone can answer that
effectively for me, how are these funds being used for the intent of
the grant, I can't support it because then what happens is next year
the funds go there. And when our county maybe needs storm shutters
for a school, we have to end up competing with someone who's already
gone out and got the funds so --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Maybe the applicant can shed some
light on that because I think that's a good point.
MR. KIRK: My name is Jim Kirk, and I'm the vice
chairperson of the board of St. Matthew's House. And I'd like to go
back to what Commissioner Mac'Kie said earlier. We're not asking you
to approve the grant. We're not asking you to judge the merit of it.
That will be done in Tallahassee. I can assure you that the
application does meet the criteria as put forth by HRS. I can assure
-- assure you of that.
What we're simply asking you to do as it says on that
one page is to approve that the program is legally allowed to exist
where it does, which it is.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That's all the form says, guys.
I mean, I think that -- that it wouldn't be -- I think it'd be
dishonest of us not to sign the form when we all know as a fact that
the shelter is permitted where it's located, and that's all the form
says.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, dishonest might not be
an accurate -- if we put a letter out that said it can't happen, that
would be dishonest. But to not to take action isn't the least bit
dishonest.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: No. My kids know that if you
don't tell the whole truth you have lied so --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, no. And that's not not
telling the whole truth. That's just declining to participate in the
process. And, I mean, again, I go back -- my reason -- like
Commissioner Hancock, I'm not saying it's because of something that
happened two years ago. That's -- that's water under the bridge. But
I haven't read it, so I don't know what it says. And as I read it, I
can -- I'm -- I'm circling and underlining furiously because I don't
think it's accurate. And Coll -- Collier County has 2,000 homeless
individuals each year. I don't think that's accurate. Affordable
housing rents have been set at 575 per month by HUD. We don't use HUD
statistics in the county programs. We -- we set a lower line because
we realize the numbers are unfairly inflated. So that's misleading.
You talk about not telling the whole truth. I mean, that's not
telling the whole truth. And you can go on, I assume, through this.
I haven't read it. There are 25 more pages I haven't read yet. But
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I think --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- there are -- I mean, even
in three minutes I found a number of problems that I don't know are
accurate, and I'm not prepared to sign off on it.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I just -- I want to go ahead and
put on the floor a motion to approve the request as made. And the
request is -- and I'm just going to read it -- to sign a certification
that says, I, duly authorized to act on behalf of Collier County,
hereby approve the following project, task force for the homeless and
hungry, which is located at -- it says in -- 2001 Airport Road South,
Naples, Florida. That's true.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And listen to what you said.
Hereby approve the following project.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Project.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Task force for the homeless
and hungry -- hungry which is what this is that I'm reading. Either
we approve of it or we don't.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: It's a project that's permitted
to be located where it is.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That's not what you just said
we're asking for.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: It's exactly what I just said.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: If I could ask a question back to
the idea of what the grant's supposed to do, how many beds does St.
Matthew's currently have that you use for daily operation?
MR. KIRK: We are permitted for 84 beds.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: And you have 12 short of that
existing now?
MR. KIRK: We're currently -- our capacity right now is
72, yes.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. And those are generally
full. You don't have a lot of vacancies.
MR. KIRK: Well, we have -- the way the grant is
written, we have eighty -- we have the capacity for 84 beds.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Correct.
MR. KIRK: And we're not going to exceed that with or
without this application. But because of our current staffing level,
we've only been able to adequately use 72 of them. So we're hoping
that -- that if we are successful in receiving this grant, that we
will be able to have the necessary staff in place and the necessary
structure itself to -- to then accommodate 84 people.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: If there were a -- an emergency
sheltering need right now, would you lay out 12 additional cots in
order to fill your capacity in order to shelter those people?
MR. KIRK: Well, my understanding is that -- well, not
my understanding. Collier County has a cold weather policy, and I
think it kicks in if the wind chill factor goes blow 40 degrees that
there's a number of shelters that are allowed to take in anybody who
comes, and so we would take in -- at that point we would take in
anybody who comes under that emergency situation.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. How -- how would this
$200,000 increase your capability to do just that? That's the focus
of the grant as I understand it. You may have a different
understanding, but we're kinda working on mine right now. How would
-- how would that increase your ability to handle emergency only
sheltering?
MR. KIRK: Well, my concern with the question is that
that's not at all the scope of what we're asking. That's a group of
people in Tallahassee who will receive this application and then judge
the merits of it based on -- on very specific criteria that they
have. I mean, I can give you my opinion, but -- but that should not
be germane to whether or not the county commission feels that it is
appropriate to sign that -- sign that one page.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: And can I point out too just one
other little bit of information because we're all doing this sort of
quickly that you're right that the funding program is federal
emergency shelter grants, but it's program for the homeless. It's the
federal emergency shelter grants program for the homeless, not for
hurricanes, and that this is submitted to HRS, not to FEMA. So we may
be, in fact, mixing our --
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: The problem we have is federal
programs tend to take on a life when the dollars are assigned maybe
different than the inception. When I look at the term federal
emergency shelter grants program, that tells me that when we have an
emergency sheltering need in Collier County, these funds are intended
to augment or accent your ability to -- to accomplish that -- that
sheltering. Why we as a county didn't apply for some of these funds
because I know when we have those sheltering needs we don't always
have everything on hand we'd like to have yet the demand comes to us
because it's Mr. Pineau that makes that call if I'm not mistaken --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: But it's because this is for the
homeless. Keep reading, Commissioner Hancock.
MR. DORRILL: As -- as odd as it -- it may sound, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency is the principal and primary
agency of federal government that deals with homeless shelters, soup
kitchens, and, for that matter, fuel oil. And they contract for the
purchase of fuel oil in the -- in the northern states. And they're
the largest entity of contract purchase for that to -- to buy fuel oil
for older people that won't otherwise afford it.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Then, Mr. Dotrill, you can answer
for me when it drops below a 40-degree wind chill factor and we have
to open shelters for the homeless, what is our priority there? How --
how do we go about doing that, and how will these funds assist us and
assist this operation in making sure that's available?
MR. DORRILL: The policy that is in place is
administrative and on the recommendation of the emergency management
director. I authorize and then we flash facts to the participating
entities in Collier County. There are a number of churches, and there
are two existing properly approved homeless shelters that they for
that evening and that evening alone may bring anyone in or the sheriff
may deliver to those facilities anyone who is otherwise homeless and
at their discretion would warrant harborage for that evening.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Now we're getting to the
base of this. We know what it is that causes homeless people to need
to be sheltered on an emergency basis. Now, they arrive at your
door. Explain to me how this $200,000 is going to help you handle
those individuals.
MR. MEEHAN: Oh, it's real easy to answer. First of
all, I'm -- my name is Frank Meehan. I'm the executive --
M-e-e-h-a-n. And I'm the executive director of St. Matthew's.
I'd like to just back up just a little bit and answer
your question a little further. Ken Pineau or Gary Arnold contact
myself. I am the cold weather coordinator for Collier County. And I
call Assembly of God, whether it be East Naples Methodist Church, St.
Paul's, the Baptist church, whatever, to get them to open their
doors. I'm the one that does that. COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Uh-huh.
MR. MEEHAN: We have cots set aside. We have plenty of
cots set aside for anybody who needs shelter. During the hurricane,
we put up the police -- the sheriff's department over at St. Paul's
Church. We had 14 cars over there. They were off the road. St.
Matthew's van was still running. We -- we need this money.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: For?
MR. MEEHAN: For the homeless. That's what it's for,
for the homeless. The grant is for the homeless.
COHHISSIONER HAC'KIE: Mr. Meehan, can I interrupt you
for a second --
MR. HEEHAN: Sure.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: -- because I wanna just --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm really trying to get to an
answer here, Commissioner Hac'Kie.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: But just notice one thing. I
think your focus is on emergency. And because of your experience with
Red Cross, you're thinking of those kinds of weather-related
emergencies. The emergency exists by virtue of being homeless. That
is the emergency that this grant seeks to address, not a
whether-related emergency.
MR. HEEHAN: Right.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Now -- and I'll stop I promise.
MR. HEEHAN: And I believe being homeless is an
emergency. There's no doubt in my mind. When you have a woman and
three children come in with no home, that's an emergency. And I think
we should be able to take care of those women and children and we
should have someplace to put them. And we're not asking you to
approve that grant. We're just asking you to approve that you did let
us build on 2001 Airport Road.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Are your grant funds -- you're
using $100,000 just for operation. What happens next year when the
hundred thousand's not available? You built the beds. You've
increased your capacity. Now the hundred thousand isn't available.
What happens then?
MR. HEEHAN: The good Lord will provide for us. He
will. Other things will happen for us. They always do.
MR. KIRK: In a -- in addition to that --
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Commissioner Matthews, do you have
a question?
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yes.
MR. KIRK: -- I've got a further explanation.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Mr. Kirk, if I could interrupt,
I had a question. Mr. Dotrill, you had said that your office declares
an emergency or -- with the help of -- of Mr. Pineau for the cold
weather emergency use. On -- on the nights that that's declared, does
the capacity for -- or is the capacity at St. Hatthew's House allowed
to increase beyond the 84 currently permitted?
MR. DORRILL: Yes, it is, as would other churches that
are not otherwise specifically zoned to be homeless shelters, and
they're all over town.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: So they can -- they can take in
as many occupants as they can handle up to whatever capacity they feel
is -- is deemed reasonable and helpful.
MR. DORRILL: That would otherwise be upset by maybe a
fire code provision or something. That's never been a problem.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay. There's a motion on the
floor I believe; is that correct? COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes, ma'am.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'll second it.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thank you.
MR. KIRK: To continue with the answer on -- on the
funds, one of the things that was -- that made it possible for us to
build the new shelter is that we -- we're able to get a mortgage. And
one of the things that we'll be able to do is we'll be able to
redirect funds in such a way that the mortgage would be paid down
which means that our overall budget goes down per month, and that
allows us other funds in successful years to continue what we hope
that this will allow us to do.
I will also once again add that these funds that we're
applying for are specifically for helping those who are chronically
homeless. These are not for people who live in a house and because of
flood waters are displaced for a period of time. These are
specifically for the people that we're already dealing with.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: It just seems like you're telling
me the word emergency crept in there by accident.
MR. KIRK: I didn't put it in. That's part of the --
that's part of the way the grant came.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, Mr. Kirk, I believe I heard you
say now that -- that looks like what your real intention is to make a
paper shuffle here and use these funds to pay your mortgage down. You
did say that.
MR. KIRK: Uh-huh. It seems to me that that's a very
reasonable thing to do to try to pay down a mortgage as quickly as
possible. I will remind the commission that there is a homeless
facility in Collier County that did receive these same funds last
year, and that's Friendship House in Immokalee and that the county did
approve that application much the same way we're -- not the
application but approved that program much the same way we're asking
you to approve the program of St. Matthew's House.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And once again, my objection is that
St. Matthew's instead of choosing of their own free will to be a good
neighbor to the community and involve the community in the siting of
this project, you choose to jam it down the throat of the residents
that were over there. And now you come back asking that same county
to help you get grant funds, and I just -- I just don't think so.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, and, I mean, the form
we have in front of us, regardless of how Commissioner Mac'Kie reads
it, it says Collier County hereby approves the following project. And
then attached to that page is the package that I've been trying to
read the last 15 minutes which includes erroneous information. And so
I've got to assume project means --
MR. KIRK: The project specifically that we're asking
you to approve can be found on page -- I believe it's page 3 in my
packet, and it's called the application narrative. That is the
program. Some of the things that you've highlighted in terms of
success rate and how many people are actually homeless, that's not a
part of the program, but that's part of our statistical information
which will be looked at at Tallahassee. But the specific program
we're talking about is on the first page or the page 3 that says
application narrative.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess --
MR. KIRK: And that --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm not -- I'm not going to
belabor this. I mean, either we've got three votes or we don't. But
application narrative has section 1, 2, 3, and so on. And as you get
on to several of these sections, I don't think they're factual. And
so if we're being asked to approve the application narrative -- and I
think that --
MR. KIRK: No, you're not.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That's what you just said.
MR. KIRK: No, no.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And if I don't think that's
accurate '-
MR. KIRK: Let me rephrase it so perhaps you could --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You don't mind if I finish my
comment. If I don't think that's accurate, then I'm not gonna vote to
approve that. I said we're being asked to approve a project. MR. KIRK: You're being asked --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You said that project is on
page 3, the application narrative. I don't think that application
narrative is factually correct, so I'm not going to vote to approve
it.
MR. KIRK: You're being asked to approve a project, and
I said the project that you're being asked to approve is outlined on
that first page. You're not being asked to approve on how many
homeless people there are in Collier County on any given night.
You're not being asked to approve what the success rate is of a
particular shelter. You're not being asked to approve any of that.
You're being asked to approve the project that's outlined in that
first page which has already been approved by virtue of us being
there, albeit not to your liking.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I appreciate the comments by
Commissioner Matthews and Commissioner Hac'Kie. But I'm still dealing
with the very basic problem of the words emergency shelter grant in
the title of this. And without having the opportunity to understand
the purpose and intent of the grant program, I'm not going to squander
federal money when I have tremendous questions about whether or not
this is a fair and accurate application of those funds. It has less
to do with what I've heard from my colleagues to my left and more to
do with -- with the fact that I -- I don't want to throw money away if
it's not being spent as intended, and I haven't been given the
opportunity to answer those questions. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. KIRK: We keep coming back to the same thing.
That's not what you're being asked to do.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm --
MR. KIRK: You're not being asked to approve anything.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I don't care --
MR. KIRK: You're not being asked to approve -- you're
not being asked to approve the spending of one dime. That's not your
money. You're not being asked to do it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Then go get it approved --
MR. KIRK: That's going to be done in Tallahassee.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Then go get it approved without
my approval.
MR. KIRK: We can't do it without you signing that one
page. And if you choose to do that, my interpretation is that you
just simply don't want to do it because you don't like it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, that's -- that's your
interpretation, and you must -- MR. KIRK: Well --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- have been ignoring every
single word I've said. And if you wish to do that, that's up to you.
But I have stated the reason why I'm uncomfortable with this. And if
you ever want to bring something back to us after the eleventh hour,
I'm going to suggest to you you're going to experience some of the
same difficulties. I have not been given ample time to review
something in detail, to get questions answered. And what I hear is
trust me. I'm telling you what's really happening here. Just sign
the paper. I'm not going to step in that direction. I have questions
that are not being answered sufficiently. If you want to answer them
in the next year and apply for this next year, then we'll deal with it
then.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Aye.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Aye.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That motion is not successful. We are
PUBLIC COHMENT - AL PERKINS REGARDING A COUNTY CABLE TELEVISION STATION
AND GIL ERLICHHAN REGARDING REFERENDUM ISSUES AND VETERAN'S FESTIVITIES
-- we don't have any public comment today.
HR. DORRILL: I'm afraid we have two.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have two?
Mr. Perkins. Mr. Perkins, with all due respect, you
need a new hobby. You really do.
MR. PERKINS: Say again.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: You need a new hobby.
MR. PERKINS: I won't say to answer to the audience.
CHAIRPERSON NORRIS: Clock's running, sir.
MR. PERKINS: Okay. Let me take and cut to the chase on
this real quick. First of all, A1 Perkins, Belle Heade Groups,
Citizens for Constitutional Property Rights.
The one real quick thing that I forgot to mention at --
Janes Scenic Drive is in very good shape according to your
transportation director, George Archibald, meaning that they're
minding the store out there.
The subject that I want to address is your TV system
that you have in place here now and getting the information out there
which is -- which is very important to all the people at home.
Now, your display of what you've taken and done here
this morning has shown that this commission has gone out of its way to
take and play fair, be honest and to look into all of the
discrepancies that's being put in front of you. You move in a good
direction. I highly commend you for this, all of you. You've done a
good job here today.
And I hope the people at home are paying attention to
channel 54, channel 54, gang, which is -- happens to be the
educational channel. It's controlled by the school board. I would
like to see this board move to establish our own three channels to
provide information and to get the message out and to provide a way so
that we can see the displays that are normally put on the board
through monitor system and get the message out to all of the county.
At the present time anybody in the county who does not have cable
television do not receive the signal, nor does Everglades City.
We're making the money on the franchise. I understand
this. And we have it coming up in front of us so the point being
let's see if we can't take and fix this problem to inform the people
who are paying the bills around here.
You did a good job here today, very good. But the
people at home need to know. The people at home, this will be
broadcast, this program, this in its entirety, Thursday night starting
at five o'clock on channel 54. You need to get the message out to all
the people. Find out who's work -- voting for you, who's working for
you, and who's spending your money. These are your employees, and
they want your input from it. Thank you. MR. DORRILL: Mr. Erlichman.
MR. ERLICHMAN: Good morning, commissioners. I know
you're hungry. I know you want to break for lunch, so I'm gonna be
very short and sweet, and I have a few subjects.
I have to take this opportunity to congratulate myself
-- first of all, I'm speaking for myself today.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Everybody join in
congratulating Gil.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Just for being Gil.
MR. ERLICHMAN: -- on the defeat -- on the defeat of the
green space referenda and the jail work release center referenda. And
I'd also like to thank Mr. Constantine for his great help in defeating
the green space referendum. And I'm -- we want to -- I'm one of the
45,000 naysayers, as we are called, who vote two to one -- voted two
to one against those two referenda, saved the taxpayers money.
Okay. The services at Cambier Park yesterday, I would
like to thank the sitting commissioners for all being there. With
their presence you lent a high honor to the veterans that were there,
and this is the first time in the eight years that I've attended these
services that I've seen all the commissioners present, all the sitting
commissioners. I want to thank you very much. It was a beautiful
service.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: They're letting us run the county
now, Gil.
MR. ERLICHMAN: And the attendance was noted only by
adults. There were only adults there. Now, what's the reason for
that? Senior citizens, veterans, and the younger adults -- there were
no children. There were no school children outside of Barton Collier
High School band which did a notable job. They were excellent. But
why weren't the children there? The schools were open. Why do we
have schools open on Veterans Day or Armistice Day when all the
federal buildings are closed, the county buildings were closed? A lot
of people had the day off, but yet the schools were open. This is a
big fault that I have to find with our educational system in Collier
County. In fact, I don't think that we even teach enough American
history in the schools.
So I would like to start -- try to start a movement. To
me it's useless to talk to the board of education, so I'm talking to
you commissioners. Maybe you can start a movement to have the schools
closed on Veterans Day or Armistice Day and let's have some more
American history taught in our schools. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. In keeping with the Board of
County Commissioners' longstanding tradition of any commissioner who
happens to have a birthday that falls on a county commission meeting
buying lunch, we are -- we are going to adjourn at this point for
lunch and let Commissioner Constantine buy us lunch.
(A lunch break was held.)
Item #12A1
ORDINANCE 96-68 RE THE MARCO ISLAND MASTER PLAN - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We'll reconvene the county commission
meeting, and our first item of business this afternoon is the Marco
Island Master Plan.
MS. CACCHIONE: For the record my name is Barbara
Cacchione with your comprehensive planning section. The Board of
County Commissioners directed the preparation of the Marco Island
Master Plan at the beginning of the fiscal year in October 1994. The
Vision Planning Committee was formed and appointed by the board in
February of '95, and since that time we've had numerous workshops and
public meetings and committee meetings to receive public input.
The first public hearing on the Marco Island Master Plan
was held by the board on April 23, and that plan was transmitted to
the Department of Community Affairs. They reviewed the plan and had
comments in regard to transportation, sanitary sewer, capital
improvements, recreation and open space. Their comments are attached
to your packet on pages 9 through 13.
(Commissioner Hancock entered the board room.)
MS. CACCHIONE: Staff recommended some policy changes to
meet those objections, and also some additional data and analysis was
submitted in terms of the Appendices A through which is also attached
to your packet. The recommended policy language change is on pages 14
and 15. This was reviewed by the committee -- the Vision Planning
Committee on September 18.
At that meeting a resident and property owner suggested
that a future land use map change also be considered by the board, and
that was to change three lots on San Marco from residential to
community commercial which is adjacent to the medical center on San
Marco Drive. The Vision Planning Committee agreed to forward that
request to the Board of County Commissioners.
One of the issues under discussion at the transmittal
hearing was the funding of the different policies in the plan.
Attachment E which is a revised Table 29, which is on pages 31, 32,
and 33 of your agenda packet, outline the cost estimates for all of
the policies in the plan.
The first page identifies that most of the policies in
the plan can be done with existing staff resources. In some cases
we've had to extend time-lines in order to meet those obligations.
The second page identifies a conceptual master plan for
the roads -- the 24 miles of collector roadways on Marco Island. That
conceptual master plan is intended to look at drainage improvements,
intersection improvements, landscaping, and lighting for that major
collector system, and it will also be used to provide cost estimates
that would then be taken to referendum in terms of the future funding
of the installation of those projects.
There are also three other studies on the last page,
page 33, which are not funded, and that is a cost-benefit study of the
county taking over the Jolley Bridge, a second study in regard to
connecting the northwest and southeast waterways, and a third study
looking at alternative technologies for wastewater treatment. These
policies can be modified by the board and can be deleted from the plan
or modified to state that they will be conducted when funding is
available.
Finally, the planning commission held their public
hearing on October 2 -- 17 and recommended 5-0 to the Board of County
Commissioners for approval of the master plan.
The Vision Planning Committee did meet again on November
7, and the handout that I gave you at the beginning of the meeting
identifies some changes that were received by members of the public
and were incorporated into the master plan.
The board today has the option of adopting the master
plan as it is, adopting with changes, or not adopting the master plan.
I can go through each of the policy changes if you wish or answer
questions, whatever the board prefers.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Miss Cacchione, the handout that you
gave us has -- Objective 4.1 says, "The county will assure that
wastewater treatment, collection, treatment and disposal facilities
are made available to correct any possible deficiencies." That seems
to have strayed a long way from the original intent of the -- of the
entire policies and objectives in the master plan in that this --
what -- unless I'm reading this wrong, it says that the county has
assumed responsibility unilaterally to make available any possible
deficiency on Marco Island, and that's -- really wasn't the intent
when we started here. Am I reading it incorrectly?
MS. CACCHIONE: I think you're reading it correctly, and
I would suggest that we change that language, and basically we could
change it to, "The county will encourage that the wastewater," because
it is true that the county does not have control over the whole system
there, and we can only encourage SSU to meet their part of -- of that.
The "any possible" changes, there are no existing
deficiencies, and it was changed to any possible deficiencies that may
occur in the future, and that's why the word "existing" was deleted
from this policy.
But I would agree with you that we -- we should change
the word "assure" and change it to, "The county will encourage
that ....
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: From -- from assure to encourage?
MS. CACCHIONE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That would -- That would address my
concerns.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I -- I was going to -- I was
going to say, what are we going to do? Underwrite the activities of
SSU?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, that was -- Yeah, that was my --
my concern. Exactly.
And the -- what -- What is the reason on that same page,
Objective 7.2, for the addition of the word "detailed"? What -- Why
are we making that little modification?
MS. CACCHIONE: Basically the -- the detailed
construction drawings which would be part of any improvements that
would occur after the conceptual plan is completed, there would be
detailed plans needed which are very -- much more expensive than the
conceptual plan would be, and it was felt that those should come under
the referendum.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Well, we're not talking about
the conceptual plan today or funding the conceptual plan today.
MS. CACCHIONE: The conceptual plan -- we did provide
some -- We did identify some possible funding sources for the
conceptual plan, and basically the cost that we've determined that
that probably would be would be about 150,000. That's probably a
little bit on the high side, and that would be conducted by capital
projects.
The funding options that we provided are, of course, the
District 1 road impact fee district, which Marco is part of; a loan
from 111, 301, or 341; or a grant from one of those sources.
The option could be that it could be paid back later by
the road impact fee fund. At some later time, it might involve
shifting some priorities with paving, either the paving going first
and the conceptual plan coming later or vice-versa.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Three -- Fund 341 is -- what
geographical boundary does that cover?
MS. CACCHIONE: I'm going to have to defer to, I think,
George Archibald on that.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Isn't that the Marco Island road
district fund?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: He wants to know the graphical
boundaries.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah.
MR. HULHERE: Yeah. It goes up into east Naples, I
believe.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah. Most of it's in east Naples, I
believe.
MR. ARCHIBALD: That's confined to the island itself.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Excuse me?
MR. ARCHIBALD: That boundary is confined to the island
itself.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. All right.
MR. ARCHIBALD: Just for the record, George Archibald.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I do have a question, if I may,
on that same objective, 7.2. I -- I get two things from that. One is
that detailed design construction and maintenance for -- for all the
projects listed in the plan will be selected by referendum and that it
has to occur by 1997.
Two things concern me. One is that the voters on Marco
may not want to do all of it at one time. They may want to phase it,
and it seems like this language may preclude that. I don't know. I'm
sure we'll hear that when the speakers come up.
The second thing is, by 1997 I'm not sure -- does that
mean by December 31 of this year? That's how I read it because 1997
begins on January 1. So those two things I'm a little unclear on.
MS. CACCHIONE: Okay. And, of course, we can make
modifications to those. I think we can plan the referendum either
way. We can separate projects out so that there is some flexibility
on it. If they want to vote for perhaps bicycle paths but not
drainage improvements or something along that line, we can modify that
language to make sure it reflects that, and we can change the date so
that it would occur on the next regularly scheduled referendum
following the -- the completion of the conceptual plan.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: My -- You know, we have always
had a -- if you will, a manner in which you can get petitions signed
to get a referendum put out there, and by putting a date in here, do
we circumvent that? Are we saying that this is more important than
that process? Are they going to have to go through that process or
not? A lot of kind of unanswered questions about that referendum date
in there, so I think we'll want to resolve that today before we -- we
either approve or -- approve modifications or whatever we do with this
today.
MS. CACCHIONE: Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Can you direct me to the
portion in here -- You mentioned the Jolley Bridge and discussion
regarding taking responsibility for that.
MS. CACCHIONE: That would be Attachment E, the -- pages
31, 32, and 33. On page 33 you'll find that the Jolley Bridge is --
there's a study in there to see about the county taking over the
Jolley Bridge in terms of a cost-benefit study as to whether it would
make any sense for that to occur or not and, if so, at what time
frame, and there are also several policies in the plan. Basically
Policy 5.5.1 --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Just before you go too far,
I -- I don't know where you are, and I'm sorry. I just want to have
it in front of me while you're talking. Is it in this book? Is it in
a handout? I -- I seem to be lost.
MS. CACCHIONE: (Tendering document)
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thank you.
MS. CACCHIONE: That -- Those are the policies related
to the Jolley Bridge, and what it is is Policy 5.5.1, which is, within
one year of the plan's effective date, the county will conduct a
cost-benefit study regarding the county taking over ownership of the
Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge. The study should include projected revenue
earnings from a toll based on different fee structures, projected
maintenance cost, including replacement and expansion costs, uses of
funds, and the timing of the transfer.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And that's being deleted?
MS. CACCHIONE: Basically that is a study that is
unfunded in the plan. The board could -- could -- There are two
options. One is to delete that policy. A second option would be,
until funding is available to conduct that study, it will not be
completed until funding is available.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'd like to delete it for two
reasons. One, I -- I think it doesn't make much --
Yeah, it's -- it's absurd. Commissioner Mac'Kie, I
agree.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: It's absurd.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The sole purpose for
collecting revenue should be to pay -- well, we have a gas tax to pay
for roads and so on, and -- and to try to put in a new fee -- Even the
idea of studying this is -- is beyond me. Why we would create
something new to -- just to try to generate revenue that might then be
spent elsewhere, you're penalized for using a public road. It doesn't
make any sense. It appears to me to be a thinly veiled attempt to try
to put tolls in and discourage people from coming onto the island. I
don't have any interest in pursuing that particular one. I'd like to
see it deleted.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Obviously the -- my
little "absurd" side comment there -- I agree with that. I can't
imagine why we would -- I -- I don't even think it's thinly veiled,
frankly.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I -- I also happen to know a lot
of people who work on Marco but don't live there, and that -- that,
again, becomes a concern that the improvements would be solely on
Marco and the people who may work there but don't live there -- you
know, not all of them make great salaries. So there -- there is
another side to that that concerns me.
MS. CACCHIONE: Basically what was handed out to you
just now were those policies related to the Jolley Bridge, and there
are four of them and an objective -- if that is a motion, all of those
policies would be deleted if -- if that is the wish of the board.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That would be my preference.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: And mine.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm going to -- I'm going to --
Again, I'm going to wait for public comment before making any final
statement, but I -- I'm leaning that way myself.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Do you have more,
Miss Cacchione?
MS. CACCHIONE: Just to answer questions.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: If there's no questions, we could go
to the public comment.
MR. DORRILL: And I believe we have just one,
Mr. Chairman. Mr. Coriaci.
MR. CORIACI: My name is Joe Coriaci. I'm acting
chairperson for the Marco Island Planning Advisory Committee.
Commissioners, thank you for allowing me to be here today, and
Commissioner Norris, thank you. Dr. Fay Biles who's also on our
committee is -- is here today and -- and if -- if I need support, I'm
sure she's more than capable of giving me that support. I'm not going
to go into a --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: She's taunting us with a slip
right now.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: She's got it in her hand.
MR. CORIACI: I'm not going to go into a lot of detail.
I think the staff has done a tremendous job, and what I wanted to do,
particularly for the record, since this has been a two-year project,
is to get a couple of thank yous into the record because I know we
always hear the -- the other side of the fence, and we rarely hear the
positive side.
My first thank you is to -- to you, the board, for
allowing this project to go forward and having the foresight and the
vision two years ago to recognize that 25 and 30 years of
infrastructure that hasn't really been dealt with, something needs to
be done, and that was the whole purpose in putting the group together.
A lot of work has been done, and thanks to county staff,
and this goes throughout the county, not just the planning staff, but
we've had a great deal of input from a lot of different people, and --
and that has all been very, very helpful to us.
Your comments in April were very -- were very, very
helpful to us, and I think Barbara has just covered the fact that you
were insistent that Marco Island pay for those things that are above
and beyond the normal service levels offered and provided by the
county, and the referendum that she talks about appears throughout the
report now, and that was in there when it went up to the DCA for their
review and approval. Any project that we have that goes beyond the
county's normal service levels would have to go to referendum, and
those referenda are tied to regular election periods. So we're not
looking for extra money to go.
And -- And one of the things that I heard a little while
ago and I'm a little bit confused, but we're not trying to link all
projects into one. That is not the intent, and we talked about that
at our very last board meeting or committee meeting. The concern we
have is, if we go forward with -- let's say we need to do something at
a particular intersection and we need to go get a vote to get that
funded and all the things that go along with it. Mr. Archibald and
his staff may say, well, you know, you might be better off if you also
dealt with some lighting at this time, and -- and you need to do some
drainage at this time, and maybe we need to expand some things. So
what is one single project may turn out to be three, four, five pieces
of a project. So we didn't want to limit it to just one project and
have to wait two years every time to get one thing done because even
as young as our new birthday commissioner today, a lot of these things
wouldn't get done in your lifetime, and -- and my concern is that we
look at prudence and determine what things need to be brought together
and those things that make sense to do at one time we would do at one
time.
Really what wewre asking for today is for the commission
to adopt the master plan with the proposed changes, and we did
incorporate all the changes you recommended back in April and that
this plan be incorporated as a separate element of the countyws Growth
Management Plan. Thatws our primary focus. Thatws our primary goal.
Certainly we would like to see some up-front funding to
get the plan started, get her off the ground and get some of the
things started. But the way the ordinance was passed in February of
1994 -- no, w95, Iwm sorry, when -- when this project first started,
our committee goes out of being if you folks approve the plan today,
and staff and county will determine the time table, will determine the
priorities, and will determine the funding mechanisms as we go
forward.
So I would like to represent our committee and the
residents of Marco Island in the sense that we need the plan approved
for the improvement of Marco Island to deal with the infrastructure
problems that we have on Marco Island.
Insofar as the funding of studies that are needed, wewve
identified a couple of studies that would get this off the ground and
get this started. I would like not to muddy the water of the plan
with that. Certainly I would like to see both of them approved by
this -- this board today.
Let me just very quickly again for the record review
island participation, and then Iwll answer any questions you might
have.
Wewve -- We believe wewve had close to 4,000 residents
of Marco Island participate in one form of meeting or another, and
thatls without the double counting. As you know, we have people show
up at multiple meetings, and itls kind of hard to weed out how many
have been there, but we think welve -- welve come pretty close to
4,000.
Certainly county staff involvement, guidance,
leadership; certainly Commissioner Norris being our representative has
given us a great deal of counsel and advice as welve gone forward.
We sponsored a three-day design charrette where we had
over 1,000 people participate over the course of those three days. We
held 32 open committee meetings. Some meetings we had one or two
people -- Iim almost done.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. CORIACI: We had one or two people. Other meetings
we had as many as 25 and 30. Newspaper updates, press releases almost
every single week; two extensive detailed phone surveys were
conducted; and 13 community workshops.
So I think welve -- welve given it a real good community
effort. Not everybody agrees to everything, but certainly I -- I
think the whole island is in agreement that we need to do something to
update our infrastructure. Iill be happy to answer any questions you
might have.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you. Questions?
COMMISSIONER MACIKIE: I have one. Just on the -- I
certainly donlt have any questions about the plan itself and whether
or not it ought to be adopted. I think the only issue is the funding.
And I just wonder if youlre familiar with -- In the City of Naples
they have the forty-one ten redevelopment program, and they had the
Fifth Avenue South where they did something similar and at
forty-one -- in the forty-one ten program they need about $100,000 for
studies to get the -- the design and get the program off the ground,
and the City of Naples has told those property owners to raise half
the money, and then they might match half the money, and I just wonder
if there's been any discussion of something like that with the -- with
the Marco group.
MR. CORIACI: We've talked about various forms of
funding, but we were primarily focusing on the plan itself since our
timetable was starting to run a little bit short, and with the
holidays coming into play, we obviously have to deal with the issue
of -- of these studies up front, and -- and that's where we've been
looking to staff for their assistance and guidance. I was not aware
of the forty-one ten program, by the way.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I have a question. Mr. -- Mr.
Coriaci, you -- you had mentioned that tied to the general elections
there will be ballot -- ballot questions regarding various projects.
Is it your concept that the electorate will have the option to say yes
or no on individual projects or even subcomponents of those projects?
How -- How far down the ladder are you going to take this?
MR. CORIACI: We had some considerable debate at our
last committee meeting as to the definition of a project because,
again, if we're looking at one particular element as I used the
example before of a road renovation, it might be prudent to include
other pieces. So do you now call the drainage, the lighting, the
signage, the road, the bicycle paths, the crosswalks all part and call
it one project, or is that five or six separate projects? So we -- we
were getting into a matter of semantics as to what you call it. It
may start out with a need for a particular intersection to be
renovated as we are going to have to have done very shortly because of
the Winn-Dixie coming in on a -- on a very busy street already.
And -- so -- so we got into a give-and-take as to what is defined as a
project, and we felt that we would like to be able to include the
drainage and the signage and those things if it's all part and parcel
of one, if it makes sense financially to do it, economically to do it,
and not have to tear the road up two, three, four times to get a job
done. So I'm not really giving you an answer, but I'm trying to
answer your question. It's a very hard one to answer.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: I think what you said is that in
your -- in your concept and the committee's concept of what people
will be able to vote on, if you want to renovate an intersection,
they're not going to have the choice of saying, yes, we want a traffic
light but, no, we don't want the drainage improved. You're either
going to renovate the intersection or you're not. And that's what I
think I just heard you say.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, I -- Mr. Coriaci, let me maybe
give you a little help. I don't think we -- MR. CORIACI: Help me -- Help me out.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- know that until we come up with our
comprehensive transportation plan. I don't think we know the answer
to that question.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yeah. That -- That was just an
example of a type of project.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah.
MR. CORIACI: Yeah. That was -- That's why we're having
difficulty in defining projects. We had a resident at our last
meeting who was trying to get that word changed around, and we were
really having a very difficult time in determining what constitutes a
project, and we just felt it's going to have to be dealt with on a
case-by-case basis.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I -- I'm in a position to start
crafting a motion for approval, but do we have any more public
speakers on this item?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: What I'd like to do --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: If -- if we're going to --
MR. CORIACI: Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I'll close -- Thank you, Mr. Coriaci.
MR. CORIACI: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I'll close the public hearing then.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: I'd like to move approval of the
Marco Island Master Plan with the following changes: Objective 4.1,
the underlined phrase, "any possible," to be deleted. Is that the
direction?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah, yeah. Will encourage.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: I thought we wanted to change
the word "assure" to "encourage."
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I apologize. Okay. "Assure" in
the first sentence will be changed to "encourage."
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Right.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: The rest remains the same. Was
that the gist of the discussion earlier?
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mmm-hmm.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. That's the first element.
The second element of the motion is Objective 7.2 is
to -- instead of at the end where it says "by 1997," it shall read
that .... The plan will be selected by referendum by the residents of
Marco Island," period. "All referendums will be scheduled consistent
with countywide election cycles."
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Any objection to that?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: No. That sounds fine.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: No.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That will be part of the motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: The third part of the motion is
to eliminate --
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Objective 5 -- 5.5.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- Policy V.5.1, 5.2 --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Just take out the objective --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. The third element is to
eliminate Objective V.5 regarding the toll situation for the Jolley
Bridge.
I'd like to see Policy V -- I'm sorry -- 6.2.4 and 4.1.5
moved into the same category as those projects identified and
dedicated but funding sources have not been identified that are
directly above it on page 33 of your packet and to be identified that
they are to be determined by referendum.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Which policies? I'm sorry.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Stop on that one.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah. I'm not sure I understood what
you said on that --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- on Policy 6.2.4 and 4.1.5.
COHHISSIONER HANCOCK: Under -- on -- And let me make a
reference to page 33 in our packet that shows that there are three
projects where funding has not been identified, and I believe these
are two of those three.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: One of them would go away because
it has to do with the Jolley Bridge.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: No. It -- No. It -- One of
those three; you're absolutely correct.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Okay.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: It's the other two, investigation
to connect -- connection of northwest and southeast waterways and
reporting on technologies for wastewater treatment and collection. I
think those need to remain as options to the citizens of Marco but to
be determined by referendum rather than being deleted by us here
today. That's at first blush my response on those two and a part of
my motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Let me ask Miss Cacchione a
question. On our comprehensive transportation plan, do we know what
that's going to cost?
MS. CACCHIONE: The conceptual plan we know
approximately it would cost between a hundred and $150,000.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. But we don't -- we haven't
natrowed it down anymore.
Let me make a suggestion. Why don't we leave that issue
for another time when we can get a little more detailed analysis of
what we're going to do there rather than try to -- to pass that today.
There's no time -- real time constraint that we need to decide that
issue today, is there?
MS. CACCHIONE: No.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That we could hold that separately
and, say, in a couple of weeks come back and talk about it again?
MS. CACCHIONE: Basically you would include that policy
to do the conceptual plan in the master plan, but we would decide
funding at a later point in time.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Yeah. Well, that's the same
thing really.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yeah. I -- I will include that
change in the motion with the understanding that we will address
funding and not leave it solely as a referendum issue. We have
utilized staff time on other master plans throughout the county to
achieve some type of design scenario, and I would like to see us use
staff resources to some extent on this plan also. I believe that's
the intent of your statement also.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, I -- It is. I -- I want to make
sure that Marco's master plan is treated the same as -- as the other
communities who -- in the county who -- who had their own master plan
developed, and we want to make sure everybody gets treated equally
so --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So my motion will --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- but I'd like to have a little -- I
don't think we have the detailed information to start to decide that
one today.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: My motion will include leaving it
in the plan but not specifying the nonbudgeted resource amount. That
amount will be determined at a later date.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: That's a second.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: That was the completion of my
motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That was a second?
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: (Nodding head)
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Is that -- Is that misplaced,
Miss Cacchione, as I stated it?
MS. CACCHIONE: No, but there is one policy, 8.1.2, that
we may want to change the date or -- or take -- It says it's to be
completed in 1997. I think we might want to remove that date from
that policy just to give us more flexibility in terms of time frames.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: I think it's safe to say we can
get that plan -- I -- I don't want to leave it so subjective that it
may not get done, but I think "initiated in 1997" would be a -- would
at least put it on a time-line that it will be initiated next year.
MS. CACCHIONE: Basically it says "completed by '97." I
will change that to "initiated by '97."
COHHISSIONER HANCOCK: I'll revise my motion to include
that.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second amends.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Second amends?
Okay. If there's no further discussion, I'm ready to
call the question, but I'd like to just take a second and -- and to
acknowledge and to thank all the people on the committee who worked so
hard, and our staff as well, over the last couple of years. I know
there's been a lot of discussion on this plan, but it's finally here
to the point today that we're getting ready to adopt it.
I know it had a great deal of citizen support, and I
hope we can find our way to implement the plan in the future and do
some good things for Marco Island. I appreciate all the -- the work
of the citizens. I know that -- that the community will appreciate
those as well so --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I want to echo
that, just -- I know a couple of them are here, but there's a huge
participation level, just a very impressive process but also an
impressive document we came up with at the end. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Hmm-hmm.
With that I'll call the question.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you very much. That passes.
MR. CORIACI: Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you.
Item #12B1
ORDINANCE 96-69 RE PETITION PUD-82-11(4), C. DEAN SMITH OF Q. GRADY
MINOR & ASSOCIATES, P.A., REPRESENTING AUDUBON JOINT VENTURE REQUESTING
AN AMENDMENT TO THE AUDUBON COUNTRY CLUB PUD FOR THE PURPOSES OF
ESTABLISHING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILDING REGULATION AS IT APPLIES TO
TRACTS "B" AND "E", LOTS 1 THROUGH 22 OF THE AUDUBON COUNTRY CLUB
SUBDIVISION PLATS - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Take over for the next issue.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
(Commissioner Norris exited the board room.)
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Next on our agenda is Item 12(B),
Petition PUD-82-11(4), C. Dean Smith of Q. Grady Minor, regarding an
amendment to the Audubon Country Club PUD. Do we have the applicant
or agent for the applicant here today?
MR. NINO: For the record --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Nine, if you would proceed.
MR. NINO: -- my name is Ran Nine. The petition that is
before you asks you to amend the Audubon PUD document to provide -- to
change the spacing between buildings on two specific tracts within the
Audubon PUD that are now largely developed.
The PUD provided administrative discretion to allow
spacing less than 10 feet, and through that process two areas of
Audubon were appreved for development of single-family houses with
spacing of 8 feet between the residences.
As a consequence of surveying those properties in
connection with potential resales, it was found that certain of those
buildings were even closer than 8 feet.
(Commissioner Norris entered the board room.)
MR. NINO: Lending institutions have advised some
parties who have -- were attempting to sell their residences that
they're not prepared to be comfortable with a PUD document that
administratively sets the standards and prefer a definitive standard
in the ordinance that addresses the situation that has developed;
namely, the buildings that are now less than, in fact, 8 feet, in some
cases 7 1/2 feet.
The planning commission in reviewing this petition
unanimously agreed that the PUD ought to be amended because, in fact,
the residences are constructed. We mailed notices to everyone within
the PUD. No one objected to establishing a spacing requirement of
7 feet between the residences. As a matter of fact, I guess one --
one of the residents who are attempting to sell their house spoke to
the commission and prayed to the commission that indeed this amendment
would take place so that they could sell their house.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Mr. Nine, why isn't this an
after-the-fact variance? Why aren't these a series of after-the-fact
variances?
MR. NINO: The -- The administrative discretion was
utilized to establish a spacing of less than 10 feet. It was
established at 8 feet. In fact, some houses were constructed then
closer to that. And you're correct that one way of handling this
would be to pursue variances from the definitive requirements from the
administrative application; however, lending institutions have
indicated that their preferred mode of dealing with resales is that
the PUD document be amended, and that's what has precipitated this
application on the part of the entity that has controlling interest in
Audubon.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: This -- It appears the problem
here is we have been giving administrative approval on something that
would prohibit future issuance of title insurance in all likelihood
because the condition hasn't existed -- I think it's for seven years
in the State of Florida. The companies will not issue title insurance
or issue it at a much higher rate.
So we need to make a decis -- two decisions here today.
One is, do we approve this. And the second is, should we continue to
allow administrative decision on setback issues that vary from the
minimum in the PUD. It's written in the PUD. It's not -- You know,
it's not like anyone did anything wrong, but obviously we're creating
difficulties that we have to come back and fix down the road.
I would assume from this point forward we would much
rather have them amend their PUD than put ourselves in the position
of -- of the administrative approval of these types of setback
reductions. It's more of an editorial comment. If this case should
arise again, we may want to make that recommendation to -- to the
applicant. I don't think we have a lot of choice here except that --
You said we did not receive any letters of opposition?
MR. NINO: Did not receive any letters of opposition.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: And what's the total acreage of
the two areas we're affecting? How big are these areas, and how many
homes are we affecting?
MR. NINO: There are two platted areas each of which
contain 1 to 22 lots, so that's 44 lots and 2 -- 2 separate tracts.
Two lots are vacant in one tract, and five lots are vacant in a -- in
the second tract.
I might add that the -- the res -- the amending
ordinance is structured to require 4-foot side yards on all of the
vac -- on the vacant lots, so that on the vacant lots there would be a
minimum spacing of 8 feet which would be consistent with most of the
buildings.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: What about exterior side yard?
In other words, if you were on a corner lot -- Well, that's a front
yard, isn't it, if you're on a corner lot? MR. NINO: Yes.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: We're not -- We're not impacting
adjacent --
MR. NINO: No.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- development with this decision
at all, are we?
MR. NINO: No, we're not.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: This just --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- applies to the gaps.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Unless the --
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I've got one question before you
make a motion.
Mr. Nino, are any of these constructed homes -- I mean,
if we're talking about 7 feet, are any of them closer than 3 1/2 feet
to the property line?
MR. NINO: I don't believe so, but Mr. Dean Smith can --
MR. SMITH: For the record --
MR. NINO: -- discuss that situation.
MR. SMITH: -- C. Dean Smith from
Grady Minor & Associates representing the applicant. There are only a
few cases where it's less than 4 feet at all. The -- The reason that
the -- the deviation from 4 feet came into play is that some of the
buildings have surface treatments that added some depth to the
surface, a banding on the building or stucco treatments. It's -- It's
generally a few inches where it's less than 4 feet. So there would
not be any that would be less than 3 1/2.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay. I -- I just wanted to
make sure that somebody wasn't 5 feet from their property line and
their neighbor 2 feet and by way of doing that we're allowed to build
a much larger square-foot house.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Do we have public speakers on this
item?
MR. WEIGEL: There are none.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: If there's no questions for
petitioner, I'll close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to
make a motion we approve Petition PUD 82-11(4).
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'll second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
(Commissioner Mac'Kie was not present on the dais and
did not participate in the above vote.)
Item #12C1
RESOLUTION 96-507 RE PETITION SNR-96-9, COLIER ENTERPRISES REQUESTING A
STREET NAME FOR AN UNNAMED INGRESS AND EGRESS EASEMENT TO BE NAME
COLLIER WAY WEST LOCATED BETWEEN NORTH HORSESHOE DRIVE AND SOUTH
HORESHOE DRIVE AS PART OF LOTS 7 AND 21, EAST NAPLES INDUSTRIAL PARK -
ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item is 12(C)(1), Petition
SNR-96-9.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I'm just
curious if there are objections or public speakers and, if not,
wondered if you might close the public hearing.
MR. WEIGEL: There are no public speakers.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'd like to make a motion we
approve Petition SNR-96-9.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'll second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion and a second. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
(Commissioners Hac'Kie and Hancock were not present on
the dais and did not participate in the above vote, although
Commissioner Hancock was in the board room talking with someone.)
Item #12C2
RESOLUTION 96-508 RE PETITION SNR-96-8, COLIER ENTERPRISES REQUESTING A
STREET N~ME FOR ~N UNNAMED INGRESS ~ND EGRESS EASEMENT TO BE N~ME
COLLIER WAY EAST LOCATED BETWEEN NORTH HORSESHOE DRIVE ~ND SOUTH
HORESHOE DRIVE AS PART OF LOTS 5 ~ND 23, EAST NAPLES INDUSTRIAL PARK -
ADOPTED
CHAIRM_~N NORRIS: Petition SNR-96-8, similar circumstance. No
public speakers?
MR. WEIGEL: There are none.
COMMISSIONER M_~TTHEWS: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a
motion we approve Petition SNR-96-8.
CHAIRM_~N NORRIS: Okay. I will close the public hearing
so that you can do so.
COMMISSIONER M_~TTHEWS: I'm sorry. I thought you
already had.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we approve
Petition SNR-96-8.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
(Commissioner Mac'Kie was not present on the dais and
did not participate in the above vote.)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next, 12(C)(3), is a scrivener's
error.
MR. WEIGEL: Excuse me. Mr. Chairman, for the record
could you go back and can we confirm the vote on 12(C)(1), the first
of the street name changes?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: 12(C)(1) was -- did you --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: 4-0.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Did you vote in the affirmative?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: He was in the room.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I was off the dais so --
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: You were in the room though.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You were in the room.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I was in the room. My vote was
affirmative. Yes.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay.
MR. WEIGEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: It was a for vote.
MR. WEIGEL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We had an affirmative vote there.
Item #12C3
ORDINANCE 96-70 AMENDING ORDINANCE 95-15 CORRECTING A SCRIVERENR'S
ERROR IN THE LEGAL DESCRIPTION OF LAND AREAS BEING REZONED FROM C-1/T
AND RSF-3 TO C-3 BY SAID ORDINANCE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED IN SECTION 12,
T50S, R25E - ADOPTED
12(C)(3) is an ordinance concerning a scrivener's error.
(Commissioner Hac'Kie entered the board room.)
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Mr. Chairman, if you would like
to check if there are speakers and close the public hearing, I'll make
a motion.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: No speakers?
MR. WEIGEL: There are none.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I guess not, if we closed it.
I'd like to make a motion to approve Ordinance 95-15 to
correct a sorivener's error.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion and a second. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #12C4
ORDINANCE 96-71 CONSENTING TO THE EXERCISE OF SPECIAL POWERS RELATING
TO PARKS AND RECREATION AND SECURITY FOR THE NAPLES HERITAGE COHMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: 12(C)(4), a recommendation that the
board consider an ordinance consenting to the exercise of special
powers relating to Heritage Community Development District.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Help me out with this one because
are -- don't we keep getting little piecemeal amendments on this one?
I'm -- I'm just -- Are we building something -- building to something
here that we can't see if it all comes at once?
MR. CONRECODE: Commissioner -- For the record, Tom
Conrecode, public works, and the Chapter 190, Florida Statutes, which
governs the application for community development districts allows the
establishment of the CDD with certain basic powers. And then section
190.012(2) allows you to come back and request special powers for
security, recreation, mosquito control, and I think there's one or two
others. And so what you're seeing is, subsequent to the establishment
of a district, you come back and request those additional powers.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. CONRECODE: And it's consistent with half a dozen
other applications you've seen.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: If there aren't any public
comments on this one, I'm ready to make a motion to approve. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll make a motion we approve
the item.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Then I'll second it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: There is one speaker.
HR. WEIGEL: You have one speaker for 12(C)(5), and
that's a Mr. Fred Rotman, Riman. (phonetic)
MR. RAIHANN: That's Rayman. (phonetic) That's for the
next one though.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: We're on 12(C)(5)? Well, he
would be --
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: We're on 12(C)(4). We're on
12(C)(4).
MR. WEIGEL: Excuse me. I got ahead a number.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. He's on the next one. Then we
have a motion --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: And a second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- and a second. All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #12C5
RESOLUTION 96-509 RE PETITION AV-96-027, FRED AND JOANNE RAIHANN,
OWNERS, REQUESTING VACATION OF A PORTION OF A 10 FOOT DRAINAGE EASEMENT
AND A PORTION OF A 12 FOOT MAINTENANCE EASEMENT LOCATED ON A PORTION OF
LOT 8, BLOCK A, OF THE PALT OF HIDDEN HARBOUR AT VICTORIA PARK -
ADOPTED WITH CHANGES
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next one is Petition AV-96-027.
MR. HULLER: Good afternoon. For the record my name is
Russ Mullet with transportation. Item 12(C)(5) is Petition AV-96-027
for the vacation of portions of a 10-foot drainage easement and a
12-foot maintenance easement on Lot 8, Block A of the plat of Hidden
Hatbout at Victoria Park, Plat Book 19, pages 52 and 53.
We've received letters of no objection from all
pertinent users. The petitioner, I believe, is here. They're
requesting to build a pool. A resolution was prepared and approved by
the county attorney's office in accordance with Florida Statute
177.101, and staff based on the recommendations is recommending
approval based on letters of no objection.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. This doesn't get us into
setback concerns?
MR. HULLER: No.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Two questions. The item
says, "Portion of a 12-foot maintenance easement," but the actual
maintenance easement is 20 feet; isn't that correct? Shouldn't it
read, "Portion of a 20-foot maintenance easement"? Because the
remaining setback from edge of pool to edge is 12 feet.
MR. HULLER: That's right. You're correct.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. So we need to make sure
that correction is done.
And was one of those letters of no objection from the
association responsible for maintenance of the lake? MR. HULLER: Yes.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. If we can make that
change, that will answer my question.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. We'll give Mr. Raimann a chance
to come up here and talk us out of it if he likes.
MR. RAIHANN: Well, I just -- For the record my name is
Fred Raimann. It's R-a-i-m-a-n-n. And that's what I wanted to just
point out, was that it was incorrectly stated as 12 feet instead of 20
feet. We just wanted to get the -- you know, for the record straight
on that.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you for that.
If that's all, then I'll close the public hearing.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm going to move approval with
the correction; that is, the -- a portion of a 20-foot maintenance
easement.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion and a second. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #12C6
RESOLUTION 96-510 RE PETITION AV-96-026, EDWARD R. GRIFFITH, P.E., AS
AGENT FOR OWNER, WCI COHMUNITIES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, REQUESTING
VACATION OF PORTIONS OF TWO SEVEN AND ONE-HALF FOOT DRAINAGE EASEMENTS
LOCATED ON A PORTION OF THE PLAT OF PELICAN HARSH UNIT 12 - ADOPTED
WITH CHANGES
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item, Petition AV-96-026.
MR. HULLER: Item 12(C)(6) is a public hearing for
Petition 96-026 for vacation of two 7 1/2 drainage easements in
Pelican Marsh, Unit 12, Lots 35 and 36.
A person has bought both lots, and they want to move the
drainage easement from the center of the lot to one side of the lot.
They've repiped the lot. Staff recommends approval.
One thing -- I've got drainage easement -- the
replacement drainage easement that needs to be replaced in the -- the
original drainage easement.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Mr. Mullet, let me ask you, are
they making one parcel of property out of this, or could at some point
in the future these two properties be sold separately? MR. HULLER: One parcel.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: One -- They're making one parcel.
Okay.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And -- I'm sorry. You said that
the replacement easement, the -- the relocation and dedication of that
as a drainage easement is going to occur when?
MR. HULLER: Today with this item.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. It's inclusive?
MR. HULLER: Right.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Both are included. Okay. I
understand.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Motion to approve AV-96-026.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Motion and a second. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #12C7
RESOLUTION 96-511/CWS-96-13 CONFIRMING THE PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ROLL
AS THE FINAL ASSESSMENT ROLL FOR THE ROYAL COVE SANITARY SEWER
IMPROVEMENTS - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: 12(C)(7), recommendation to adopt a
resolution confirming that the preliminary assessment roll is the
final assessment roll for the Royal Cove sanitary sewer improvements.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: We might be able to save Mr.
Clemons some time here. Any surprises, Mr. Clemons?
MR. CLEMONS: None, Commissioner, other than I was
asked -- asked to point out that the funding that's identified in here
would -- would begin immediately and that any interest on that would
be returned back to Fund 341. Other than that, you've been going
through this one for quite a while now.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yes, we have.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I've got one -- I've got one
question, please.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a speaker as well. Go ahead,
Ms. -- Ms. Matthews, with your -- COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: The -- the -- it -- It says here
the assessment on a 60-foot lot will be approximately $37. I'm -- I'm
presuming that's per month.
MR. CLEMONS: Yes, ma'am.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: And for how long a period of
time?
MR. CLEMONS: This is set up for a 20-year period.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Twenty years?
MR. CLEMONS: Yes, ma'am.
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay. I -- I just wanted to
clarify that because it's not in the executive summary.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Let's have our public spea -- speaker.
MR. WEIGEL: Mr. Boyce.
MR. BOYCE: My name is Tim Boyce, B-o-y-c-e. We've been
on this issue for quite a while now.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We sure have.
MR. BOYCE: I don't know what I'm doing anymore, to be
honest with you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, that puts you right at home here
with this group.
MR. BOYCE: Yeah, it does.
My wife and I, we moved to Naples about four years ago
after Hurricane Andrew. We bought a business, went into business for
ourselves. One of the preclusions that we made was the investment in
our business as opposed to the cost of our housing. The property
assessment to this property is approximately $42,000. The current
assessment on our lot, which happens to be a 90-foot frontage, is
$8,035. That puts about -- the ratio of about 20 percent on that --
on that property.
Obviously where we've chosen to live is less than a
desirable neighborhood but yet neverthe -- nevertheless still a
quality neighborhood, especially from areas that we came from in Dade
County.
Where do you go from here? About -- Basically it boils
down to a cost factor versus a service which I feel that -- prudently
that you all took very objectively and cleared these things up.
My tax roll assessment has gone up $8,000. My neighbor
directly next to me is on septic. As a consequence, resale value of
my home is such that it makes it a hardship. In order to establish a
resale, I'd have to ask for a higher price for the same equivalent
parcel of land and home quality.
All the rest of the homes on the street are assessed at
fifty-three, fifty-seven at this point in time. That's a total of --
it's questionable at the moment -- 28 lots, including mine, which
would make it 29.
I realize that the county has made every effort here to
rectify this. We're very happy to be on line. I don't think there's
a problem there. Being a Florida native, I understand quite in depth
a lot more than maybe a lot of people who've come to Florida in recent
years about the quality of the water, the shallowness of our aquifer,
and the importance of this. At the same time, we still have the
greater portion of Royal Cove subdivision or Unit 1 which is still on
septic.
A lot of people are skeptic in Unit 1 that the sewers
will not come down their way some day in the future. I think this was
handled as appropriately as possible by the county, but it's awful
hard for me to swallow it at a 20 percent cost ratio. Ideally there
is no perfect solution. I don't know how I proceed in getting that
number down, but investing everything I've got into a business that is
thriving at this point that is still a long way from highly successful
is digging into my pocket even further. It's raised my property
taxes. Now I'm on a monthly sewage fee. After financing for 20 years,
that raw number comes up to $12,000. All these things considered, it
kind of puts me in a position where -- what do you do and where do you
turn. It's difficult at best.
I happen to like Collier County very much, have been
coming here for many years, wishing to leave Dade County behind, which
I so did.
In a nutshell it's a -- it's a strong impact. We want
to stay in Collier County, and I think if you check out our business
and our backgrounds, that you will realize that we're very committed
to the area, and we're very upstanding in the community as well as to
the business community.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That -- That was your time, sir.
MR. BOYCE: Yes. I realize that.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Boyce is --
MR. BOYCE: I've been here since 9 a.m.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: So have we.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Boyce is very -- done a very
good job of framing the decision we were put in. When Mr. Vetter
abandoned his situation and abandoned your neighborhood, our list of
options went from one to none in a heartbeat.
What we tried to do in this, knowing that the dollar
figure is going to be fairly high, is looked at what you would have
paid if you'd continued on Mr. Vetter's system in a monthly bill
versus what you would pay if we went in and did the repairs that had
to be necessary to ensure you the service that -- that you deserve. I
believe those numbers are fairly similar as they're presented here
today.
You've hit the issue that we can't solve, and that is,
how do we -- how do we eliminate that $8,000 nut if you would go to
sell your house, and there just isn't any way for us to solve that.
Mr. Clemons racked his brain on that, as did I with the county
attorney at times when we were going through this initially and just
couldn't come up with a better answer for you. So as much as your
situation is -- is appreciated and understood, our options are -- are
extremely limited.
What we did try to do is keep that monthly bill down
about where you would have paid had Mr. Vetter not abandoned his plant
and abandoned you as a community, and that was really the only goal we
could latch onto to try and make sure we didn't price you out of your
house but we would --
MR. BOYCE: Well, that effectively has already taken
place per se.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, we weren't given a choice
just like you weren't.
MR. BOYCE: Right. Obviously I'm here to labor this
point as far as I can. Obviously the only thing it's doing is coming
directly out of my pocket. As a result, I don't know what to say
either. I mean, as -- as one -- as one citizen it's a position where
I guess I'm the odd man out. I just -- By the grace of God or a
thunderbolt -- I don't know which is stronger at this point -- this is
where I stand. As a result -- I mean, I don't -- I don't know how
unique my circumstance is as a whole. It's -- It's definitely not
washing well with me or my wife. It's a conversation that we don't
even like to engage in.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Understood, Mr. Boyce. I'm just
trying to convey to you that we have the same options you do: None.
MR. BOYCE: Well, I'm just trying to realize that if
we're in this as a whole and this is a special consideration, this
whole package, then why am I being subjugated to being put out as one
individual on that whole 29 of paying $3,000 more than anybody else?
Why shouldn't we go ahead and wash this in a percentile basis or --
whatever the total number is?
MR. CLEHONS: Tim Clemons, wastewater director. Mr.
Boyce, I believe, is -- is one of two 90-foot lots in that whole
assessment. The rest are smaller. Therefore, his assessment per
front footage is higher which was the method the board chose to go
with.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: That -- That's true. I mean,
we -- we chose to go with the front-foot benefit program, and that's
what we went with, and you and a neighbor have 90 feet.
My question is this -- this 20-year debt and pay-back on
this, is that on the property owner, or is that running with the
property?
MR. CLEHONS: It runs with the property.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: So if -- if he were to decide
two or three years from now to sell his property, he's not required to
pay the debt off with the sale of the property? His new owner will
merely pick up the remaining life of this assessment?
MR. CLEHONS: What we have generally seen on assessment
projects is that it becomes a negotiating point between the buyer and
the seller as to who pays what.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay. But, I mean, it --
MR. CLEHONS: It runs with the property.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: It runs with the property --
MR. CLEHONS: Yes, ma'am.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: -- and not with the owner?
MR. CLEMONS: With the property.
MR. BOYCE: Thus lies the problem in the fact that part
of the street has been singled out now. There's higher property
values for something that can't be sold for anything less on the rest
of the street. It creates a unique circumstance.
This is supposed -- This is a single-access street that
only has one access. The last 29 homes, particularly mine, have been
hit with a financial burden that makes it virtually unsellable. I'm
going to take a loss. If I was to sell today, I'd take -- I'd brunt
the -- the loss of it. It's not the fact that this note carries on.
The burden is with the property, and as a result I have to sell the
property, and they realize that that property is -- is escalated in
whatever -- whether it's a realistic value or not.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, thank you, Mr. Boyce. I think
you -- you've stated your case very well.
MR. BOYCE: And what is the result of that?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, the result is you need to sit
down, and we'll take a vote on this. MR. BOYCE: Okay. Appreciate it.
MR. DORRILL: That's all, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's all the public speakers?
I'll close the public hearing.
MR. CLEHONS: Commissioners, one other thing I'm
reminded to advise you of is that there will be some additional
administrative paperwork as a part of this item reimbursing one fund
from another as just part of the overall financing, and as that
financing is put into place, you may see some budget amendments
associated with this.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Clemons, at such time that
Royal Cove 1 -- if they should get a 50-percent-plus-1 signature
campaign to go onto sewer, would there be any reimbursement to the
folks in Royal Cove 2 for those costs that -- that are -- that they
bore by themselves that may have been shared?
MR. CLEHONS: The way it's set up today, Commissioner,
no. It was -- It's something we could look at at that time. Remember
that if we serve Royal Cove 1 in the future, they're going to pay an
assessment cost for all of the improvements that go on in front of
their homes at that time.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Well, seeing as how we weren't
really given a choice by Mr. Vetter -- and I appreciate Mr. Boyce's
situation but can do absolutely nothing about it here today. I cannot
ask the taxpayer to pay his bill for him.
So with that I'm going to move adoption of resolution
confirming the preliminary assessment roll.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
THE COURT REPORTER: Mr. Chairman, was that a unanimous
vote?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yes, it was.
MR. CLEHONS: Thank you.
Item #13A1
RESOLUTION 96-512 RE PETITION SV-96-4, HR. GENE VACCARO REPRESENTING
SWAMP BUGGY, INC., REQUESTING A 90 FOOT VARIANCE FROM THE REQUIRED 150
FEET OF ROAD FRONTAGE REQUIRED FOR DIRECTORY SIGNS TO 60 FEET - ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item is 13(A)(1), Petition
SV-96-4. Hr. Vaccaro.
MR. HULHERE: Good afternoon.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Hulhere, before you get
started --
MR. HULHERE: Yes, sir.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- I just -- I highlighted
one line in the executive summary, and that is, the applicant is
requesting to replace the existing sign within this easement with a
similar sign. Is that --
MR. HULHERE: That's --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- accurate?
MR. HULHERE: That's correct. And your staff supports
this request based on the fact that there's high volumes of traffic.
A lot of people are unfamiliar with the location of the Sports Park,
and they just have the long 60-foot easement.
MR. DORRILL: No speakers, Mr. Chairman.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is anything --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: No speakers?
MR. DORRILL: No, ma'am.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is anything being done to improve
the sign in some way?
MR. HULHERE: There's a -- it's not a color
representation, but there is a representation. It would be a
directory sign. If it was a pole sign, we'd be asking for a pole
cover, but as a directory sign, no.
Mr. Vaccaro may want to speak to the issue of what
they're going to do to -- to actually improve it, but by virtue of the
fact that it will at least be a new sign and -- and --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: The drawing is better than what's
there so if it's the board's -- COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: If the chairman would close --
care to close the public hearing --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'd like to make a motion to
approve Petition No. SV-96-4.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you, Mr. Vaccaro, for your
enlightened presentation today.
MR. VACCARO: Thank you.
Item #13A2
PETITION A-96-5, APPEAL OF STAFF'S INTERPRETATION OF THE PARKWAY CENTER
PUD DOCUMENT (PUD-94-3-1) WITH REGARD TO SPECIFIC USES AND WHETHER OR
NOT THOSE USES HAY BE DEEMED PERMITTED USES WITHIN THE PUD UNDER THE
LANGUAGE CONTAINED IN SECTION 3.3, PERMITTED USES, NUMBER 21, WHICH
READS: "ANY OTHER COHMERCIAL USES OR PROFESSIONAL USE WHICH IS
COMPARABLE WITH THE FOREGOING USES" - APPEAL GRAiNTED WITH CHANGE
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item, 13(A)(2), Petition A-96-5,
an appeal of staff's interpretation on the Parkway Center PUD.
MR. HULHERE: Thank you. For the record again, Bob
Hulhere, current planning section manager. This is an appeal of
staff's interpretation relative to the Parkway Center PUD which is
located within the Golden Gate professional -- Golden Gate Parkway
professional office commercial overlay district, and the restrictions
on -- on uses that are placed in that district are -- are found within
the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, and they are mirrored in the
Land Development Code, and then again when the PUD was adopted, those
same restrictions are found within the PUD.
Basically the restrictions limit the uses to
professional office-type uses. There is, however, a standard phrase
that says "any other use which is comparable with the foregoing," and
I believe in June we received the request to take a look at that, and
staff did look at it. Most of the uses that were requested were of a
retail nature. On -- In your agenda package, page 3 is a list of
those uses in a table that talks about -- that -- that relays the
staff's position on those.
We did find that a few of those uses would be
permissible as sort of accessory to office; however, the majority we
did not feel could be considered comparable to the -- to the permitted
uses, the professional office-type uses.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me ask you a couple of
questions, Mr. Hulhere. Some of these clearly don't fit in with the
office -- professional office-type you're talking about; however, some
of them -- and I'm thinking like the hearing aid center -- the very
first one says would be permitted but only in conjunction with
physician's office, and I'm wondering, would a hearing aid center
actually generate more traffic than a physician's office?
MR. HULHERE: No. I don't -- I don't think it would.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And as I worked down the
line, some of these I agree shouldn't be permitted, but medical
supplies again permitted in conjunction with the physician's office.
I don't know. Eyeglass shop -- I don't know that's going to generate
any more traffic than a physician's office. So I -- Those, I guess,
I'm looking for some rationale. Let me tell you about two others too,
but those three all seem like -- At my glance anyway, they kind of fit
in with what was intended here.
The other two, TV office and radio office/studio --
MR. HULHERE: Right.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- if there's no tower
frankly -- and I don't know. Maybe a studio for some people is
considered an office but -- you know, if -- if someone is going in and
cutting commercials or doing things, as long as there's not a large
antenna there, I don't know -- That's certainly not going to generate
a lot of traffic and -- and -- so I -- I don't really have -- even if
you had -- You don't necessarily have to have your tower immediately
connected to your broadcast studio, and -- and I don't really have any
objection -- I'm not sure I see that as anything other than
professional use if you have someone in a studio recording a
broadcasting as long as there's not a big tower out on Golden Gate
Parkway.
MR. HULHERE: I think that we agree with that and --
and -- and that was our finding, that we said permitted as office
only, studio as well. Just so long as the tower and those types of
activities weren't going to be on the site, we would permit those.
With regard to some of the other ones that you'd
mentioned, the hearing aid center and the medical supplies sales, part
of what -- we really looked at less the traffic generation, although I
would agree with you. Those would not necessarily generate any
more -- Some doctors' offices generate a lot of traffic.
What we looked at more was the -- the language that
created the overlay district that -- that called for professional
office-type uses, and I think some of these could be interpreted
certainly by the board to be more accessory to a professional office
district and others not. Others are purely retail. So that was our
rationale more so than looking at the office -- the traffic
generation.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: In an attempt to get specific, I
went down, and my -- my criteria was turnover; you know, which of
these do you pull up, go in, get what you want and leave. That's
obviously retail, and that wasn't the intent of the district. Which
of these offer services that are similar in nature and time commitment
to what a professional office may be, and what I came up with is
hearing aid center, massage therapy. Those are things that have
similar time frames, and the optical have similar time frames. Many
times a doctor is involved in the -- in an optical shop where they
give exams on site and so forth. I don't have a problem with those.
Travel agency, medical supplies, TV office and radio
office studios with no towers, those are the ones I came up with that
all seemed, you know, similar in nature that didn't have a much
different approach to them.
The rest I can see where they're, you know, kind of
in-and-out, pure retail-type situations, and those I'm less
comfortable with.
You were -- Commissioner Constantine, were more involved
in the formulation of this district, and I'll rely on your -- your
history of that, but that would be my --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Why -- Why don't we do this.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- first comment.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Why don't we hear from the public
speakers, and then we can amend these suggestions if necessary. MR. WEIGEL: Okay. We have one. Thomas Grant.
MR. GRANT: Good afternoon. My name for the record is
Tom Grant. The reason that we've come back to ask you to expand our
usages there is because over there -- actually, the 13, 14 years we've
been at this, originally when it was adopted there was a whole
different theme and criteria we were working with whereas now we've
dealt with -- We've got a couple of shopping centers out there where
they have taken the professionals from us that we probably would have
had in our district that are now located in the shopping center
because I've been personally contacting them over the last two years,
and the whole market condition has changed out there drastically.
We're not trying to ask for, you know, a really high
turnover thing or a high turnover retail business out there. We're
just looking for something that would be a compatible mix with what is
across the street from us and basically down the street and we -- or
personally I've talked with staff, and -- and throughout the years,
you know, what we've tried to do out there is do exactly what -- what
we felt we've done. Number one, we've stopped everybody having a
driveway. We've combined that. So I'm one lot owner out of six, but
I share one driveway. That was a very big stipulation back when this
all originally started.
Number two, the architectural theme, we've already had
that in place. We've already gone over that with tile roofs, color
themes.
The third thing that basically we're all concerned about
out there was the mix of the use so that it didn't become -- What
everybody was scared about was 40th Terrace. When that went, it just
went like wildfire, and all of a sudden you had ten buildings just
stacked up right next to each other.
We have never from the intent of this ever tried to do
that. All we're trying to do is we want to blend which we feel is the
main street of Golden Gate, and we are at the beginning of it, and
we're not trying to do anything. All we're trying to do is get a mix
in there and get something developed and started in there and get
those duplexes out of there and basically that's --
All this criteria we've met with the county, and we've
done. It's just that some of the businesses we're asking for -- some
of the other business mix we're looking for is just to help the
projects because I can't put, let's say, an eyeglass center in unless
there's a doctor in that PUD the way, I think, I understand it. And
I'm only one lot. I'm only one building. I'm less than 4,000 square
feet, but that doesn't necessarily mean I can't conform with the other
five lots and make a beautiful complex there. We've got the
pedestrian pockets. We've got little satee areas for the people to
sit and eat and all that. You know, we're trying to do what's right
there, but then yet we're all trying to do it all together, and that's
the only thing I've asked, is appeal to open it up maybe a little bit
so that again we can accommodate some of the businesses that would
probably come to the area whereas -- Like I say, I mean, I've tried
doctors, dentists. Now the medical, that's a -- that's, as you all
know, in a big turmoil, so how many medical things are we going to get
out there? I've already contacted a lot of them.
So, again, that's kind of our situation. And, again,
I'm just asking if there's a possibility to be with staff and try to
open it up a little bit. We're not looking for the 7-11, and we don't
want that theme because it can't be there anyways.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Some of the board knows the
history, and some may not, but the parkway was originally zoned way
back when for multi-family, and the Golden Gate community in the
late '80s, as we saw what happened to Sunshine and some of the others,
made it very clear that's not how we wanted the gateway to the
community to develop, and with the Golden Gate Master Plan, we've put
in zoning for professional and office-type things.
I -- I disagree with Tom only on one thing, and that is,
when he says we want to have the same uses that perhaps the neighbors
across the street have and -- MR. GRANT: Well --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- and -- I don't agree with
the tavern or some of the other -- MR. GRANT: Right.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- things that are across the
way, but I think we can stay within the intent of the Golden Gate
Master Plan, and that being professional off -- an office space and
include a number of these, and -- and some we've mentioned. And some
I'm going to go ahead and mention the ones I've -- I think and see if
there's any objection. The hearing aid center, the massage therapy,
TV office/studio --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Massage therapy?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Well, I would like to see that
to be only physical therapy offices.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, that's fine, and I
think in terms of that -- MR. GRANT: That's -- That's what it's intended as part
of the chiropractors and some of the doctors now have --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I don't know what you guys are
picturing but --
MR. GRANT: I don't know, but that's the way it's --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: New Orleans.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That's illegal no matter what.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: There's a lot of neighborhoods
that have camcorders going on outside of some of these establishments
and just as soon keep that from happening.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I think -- I think we can
probably include that -- include it -- if we include massage therapy,
we can make that very clear that it's a licensed massage. And what I
think of is with acupuncture and massage and chiropractic and so on.
MR. GRANT: Right.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Certainly not a massage
parlor.
MR. GRANT: No. Excuse me.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: TV office/radio, radio
office/studio, travel agency, medical supplies, and eyeglass shop. I
think with anything -- any -- any of these others on here we do cross
the line into the retail, but I think all those I mentioned can easily
be categorized as office professional.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And another reason for not
crossing that line is the parking requirement. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: If we start getting retail
establishments in there, it changes the parking requirement for the
structure. So we -- we want to be very, very careful -- MR. GRANT: Well --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- that what we're proposing
generations are similar, and I think they are. CHAIRMAN NORRIS: So you named six items?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Seven? What was the seventh?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Did you get eyeglass shop?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Medical supplies?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Hearing aid center, massage
therapy --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get eyeglass
shop. Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- TV office, radio office --
Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I've got it.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Are you specifically eliminating
beauty and barber salons? Since they're on the same line, I just want
to clarify that.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yes, I am.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. GRANT: How about the photography and that type?
Again, I think that if -- if -- if any type of a retail that would be
allowed in there, if -- if there's expanded parking, that makes a
building smaller, so it wouldn't actually I don't think hurt the lots
if there was -- again, because again they're low density, some of the
things we're trying to ask for.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: How -- how is -- Under art and
frame studio, how do we come up with tax return preparation services?
I know it's an art form to some, but they usually wind up in jail.
MR. HULHERE: No, no, no, no. I'll explain that. I'll
explain that. Where you see in the "similar uses permitted in the
PUD," under that SIC code --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I see. Okay.
MR. HULHERE: -- those uses also fall in and we -- and
obviously those are permitted within the PUD. COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I was going to say along that
same line, maybe Commissioner Matthews wasn't so far off because the
photographic studio is on the same line as massage therapy.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- massage therapy.
MR. HULHERE: And -- And that is a permitted use --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
MR. HULHERE: -- right now --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. So --
MR. HULHERE: -- in the opinion of staff.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. So you understand,
photography studios are a permitted use, Tom. So that's -- that's
already in there.
I -- I'm -- I'm comfortable with -- with that list, and
the rest I'm -- I'm not as comfortable with because, again, I think we
cross the retail line which is what we don't want to create as a
retail center there, as I understand the history. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Right.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Do we have any further questions from
the board?
MR. DORRILL: No other speakers.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I'll close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to
make a motion we grant the appeal in the parts of hearing aid center,
massage therapy, TV office/studio, radio office/studio, travel agency,
medical supplies, and eyeglass shop.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'll -- Will you clarify no tower
with TV office/studio and radio office?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'll be happy to stipulate to
that.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #13A3
RESOLUTION 96-513 RE PETITION CUP-96-16, DR. NENO SPAGNA OF THE FLORIDA
URBAN INSTITUTE, INC., REPRESENTING THE APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLY OF THE FAITH
IN CHRIST JESUS REQUESTING CONDITIONAL USE "1" OF THE "E" ESTATES
ZONING DISTRICT FOR A CHURCH AND CHURCH RELATED FACILITIES FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED ON THE EAST SIDE OF SAN MARCOS BOULEVARD - ADOPTED WITH CHANGES
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next item, Petition --
MR. GRANT: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- CU-96-16.
MR. NINO: My name is Ron Nino, your current planning
section. The petition that's before you requests your approval of a
Conditional -- Conditional Use 1 of the E estates zoning district.
Conditional use 1 is a conditional use for a church and church-related
facilities.
The property is located on the east side of San Marcos
Boulevard. Here's Radio Road. We're about midway between Santa
Barbara and Airport. The property is zoned E estates. Property to
the north, east, south, and west are zoned E estates, and for that
matter, this entire piece of geography in here is all zoned E estates,
with one exception. This property was platted and rezoned a couple of
years ago to an RSF-2 district. (indicating)
All of the land in this area is within the
urban-residential designated area, and that presumes that the land
will be rezoned to some urban-residential classification. So it's not
unreasonable to expect that eventually all of the land in this area
may indeed take the form of that RSF-2 zoning district.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Unless, of course, we alter
the future land use element as requested by this board -- MR. NINO: I stand --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- during some public
hearings.
MR. NINO: I stand corrected.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Nino, there doesn't seem to be on
the map -- there doesn't seem to be a road to this property.
MR. NINO: San Marcos Boulevard.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Where does it go?
MR. NINO: This is San Marcos Boulevard.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Oh, okay.
MR. NINO: This is St. Clair Shores. Yes, there is a
roadway system --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay.
MR. NINO: -- public roadway system.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. That goes down to Radio
Road only about -- what? -- a mile or so? Just plus or minus. I'm
just --
MR. NINO: It's -- It's about 3/4 of a mile from Radio
Road.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. NINO: Churches -- As you know, churches are allowed
uses in the urban residential -- residentially designated area;
therefore, when we talk about consistency with the future land use
element should you approve this type of conditional use, that that
action would be consistent with the future land use element of the
Growth Management Plan.
Specifically when we deal with conditional uses, there
is a finding of fact that is precedent to any recommendation to
support or -- support the granting of the conditional use. That
criteria is the direction of the staff report under the same criteria
that the planning commission must address in making a recommendation
to you.
Basically we find -- the planning commission -- and the
planning commission agrees -- that while the church is a relatively
passive use of land, nevertheless it has peaks -- peak-usage periods
within it that do present incompatible relationships with adjoining
property, particularly as that adjoining property or neighborhood
begins to fill in as a more standard residential development as most
would suspect would be the condition on San Marcos Boulevard and
St. Clair Shores Drive.
The planning commission feels that -- that churches
ought to be within close prox -- ought to go on arterial roads or
collector roads or at least very close to the intersection of an
arterial road and a collector road so that that traffic can be
diffused very quickly and -- and have minimal impact on -- on nearby
residential areas.
That was basically the findings of the planning
commission, that the weight of the findings of fact bore more heavily
on a recommendation to suggest that this property ought not to be
approved for a conditional use due to incompatibility.
There were a number of persons present at the planning
commission meeting who expressed opposition to this petition. Your
executive summary package contains all of the letters and -- and --
and the -- and petitions in objection to this -- this petition. The
planning commission at their public hearing unanimously recommended
against approving the conditional use.
I would be happy to attempt to answer any questions you
may have.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, now might be an
appropriate time to point out that I have had communication on this
item; however, as required by Florida State Statute, I'll base my
decision solely on the information provided during this public
hearing.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And I will do the same.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: As part of that, I also want
to introduce these two letters into the public record.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Other than receiving letters,
that's the only -- I'll base my decision on information presented
today.
COMHISSIONER MAC'KIE: Exactly. Ditto for me.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Nine --
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: That's all I've received also,
is -- is some letters.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have nine public speakers on this
item. Our court reporter needs a short break. So we'll let her have
a five-minute break, and then we'll come back and hear these public
speakers.
(A short break was held.)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We'll reconvene our county commission
meeting. Are we ready for the public speakers?
MR. WEIGEL: Okay. First speaker, Mr. Neno Spagna.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: While Mr. Spagna is coming up, I'd
like to remind the public speakers that we allow five minutes each,
and if you're going to be repetitious, if you could hold it shorter
please, we'd get the message a little quicker than you might think, so
we'd appreciate it.
Go ahead, Mr. Spagna
DR. SPAGNA: Okay. My name is Neno Spagna, and I'm here
in behalf of the petitioner, and with the permission of the board, I'd
like to withhold my comments until after everyone else has spoken so I
will be in a position to answer some of their questions.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, Mr. Spagna, you know, if we have
some questions, we could call you back up and ask you, but we'd prefer
for you -- We've given you your five, if you -- if you'd go ahead,
please.
DR. SPAGNA: Okay. Well, I'll be happy to if that's
what you'd prefer. I have some drawings here that I'd like to use.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I have one question. What's the
street? St. Clair Shores Road, where is it in relationship to San
Marcos?
UNKNOWN VOICE: The next street parallel, right parallel
with the next street over.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I'm sorry. That's got to be on
the record. Mr. Nino, where -- where is --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Next street over, parallel.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: -- St. -- St. Clair? It's
behind the church?
MR. NINO: St. Clair Shores Road?
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yeah. St. Clair Shores. Okay.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: The next street.
MR. NINO: Directly east of San Marcos --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We need you on the record, Mr. Nino.
MR. NINO: Sorry. Directly east of San Marcos. These
are original 5-acre tracts. It's 660 and 660, so 1,320 feet directly
east of San Marcos Boulevard.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Okay. Thank you. I -- I just
wanted the record to show that the petition we have in the packet
here, that there -- these people are relatively close.
DR. SPAGNA: First of all, I would like to just say a
few words about the setting that this church is proposed for. You
probably can't -- probably can't tell too well from the drawing, but
this isn't a very rural type of a setting. Host of the lots in there
are 5-acre lots.
As Mr. Nino had mentioned earlier, there is a small
subdivision to the northwest of the subject property which was rezoned
to single-family homes, and I believe there are four homes on the
original property.
The closest house -- This property is completely
surrounded with the trees, mostly pine trees. There are a few other
trees in there. The closest house is approximately 800 feet from the
center of the subject property. The area -- All of the vegetation
will be left in place as a buffer against any of the surrounding
areas. The total coverage of the property will be less than 50
percent of the amount of area in the entire parcel of land. The --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm sorry to interrupt, Neno.
Will you just say that last sentence again? I didn't hear you.
DR. SPAGNA: I think the -- there's -- about 50 percent
of the property will be cleared for parking for the buildings, etc.,
and the rest will be left in its natural state -- COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Thank you.
DR. SPAGNA: -- to afford separation and privacy.
If I might just recap a little bit some of the things
that happened at the planning commission because to just say that they
turned it down, I think, gives the wrong picture.
I think they were very hesitant to turn it down, simply
because churches do belong in a residential area, number one.
Number two, this is an area that is sparsely populated.
The church will begin with approximately 30 parishioners. Eventually
we had to show the complete buildout which will probably occur within
the next five to ten years, and I think this concerned many of the
surrounding neighbors as much as anything else because they thought we
were going to go in there initially with a church with a capacity of
400 seats, which we will not. It will start out as a very small
building, as you can see on the plan, and eventually they will have a
facility there that at buildout will accommodate hopefully 400 people.
Some of the things that were -- that were brought up by
the people who spoke against it was that this -- the people who will
be using this facility do not live in the neighborhood, and I wish
that it could be that we could build a church for every neighborhood
just for the people that live within that service area but we can't.
I don't think I've ever -- Is my five minutes up already?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, we asked some questions during
your five minutes, so we'll -- DR. SPAGNA: Oh.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- let you go on for another minute or
so.
DR. SPAGNA: And what I wanted to say was, I've never
belonged to a congregation where everybody that went to it lived
within that neighborhood, and I still don't today. And on Sundays
right now I have to stand up in the aisle instead of being able to sit
in my pews and kneel as I usually do because we have a large influx of
people. Host of them don't even live in Collier County, but I'm glad
that they're there, and I'm very happy to be able to make
accommodations for them.
The point I'm making is that I doubt that we will ever
see a church built that will be used exclusively for the people that
live in that immediate area.
Traffic was raised. I just don't -- In my mind, I'm not
able to see this as being any kind of a detrimental traffic impact
since it's such a small congregation and since Radio Road has built --
four-laned, and I just don't see once a Sunday having services having
an impact on this intersection. As a matter of fact, there will be
more people living in this area in single-family homes that will have
a greater impact than what this church ever will have.
I did talk with Mr. Archibald prior to the meeting,
and -- and they had mentioned that normally they require participation
in signalization if it's ever needed at Radio Road, and we certainly
have no objection to that. If the day comes when it will require
signalization, well, then we will be able -- we will be willing to pay
our fair share of the amount.
I guess the last thing I want to say since my time is
almost over since you've been generous enough to give me extra time is
that I don't want to minimize the feelings of the views of the people
that live in that area. Certainly they have every right to be up here
to express their views, and we have every right to try to contribute
or try to minimize whatever impact we might have on them. We have
done this.
The second thing though -- and I don't want to minimize
their right to be here, but I don't at the same time want to lose the
right that -- or lose the fact that we have a right to be here too.
The comprehensive plan says we have a right to be here.
We have met all the requirements. Nowhere in the report is there
any -- any statement in which it says that we're not compatible with
the neighborhood, that we have not done everything that we possibly
can to fit in harmoniously and be an asset to the neighborhood.
So with that in mind, I still feel very strongly that
this church will fit into this neighborhood. We're willing to meet
whatever requirements are necessary to do that, and I certainly do
want to thank the board for their consideration of our petition, and I
will be back if you have any questions.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Mr. Spagna, I do have a question.
You said that ultimately at buildout you would anticipate a sanctuary
that would hold 400 people. The drawing before us, how many seats
would that sanctuary hold?
DR. SPAGNA: I would say probably -- You mean the one
we're currently contemplating?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: The one that's a part of our
package that we're looking at that has a 50 percent site coverage, how
many seats does that sanctuary -- is that sanctuary anticipated to
hold? It's the exact same drawing you have right up there.
DR. SPAGNA: I would say probably in the neighborhood of
100.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: So what -- And here's the problem
we have in some of these, that if -- if what we are talking about are
neighborhood churches that have 100 seats and they stay that size, I
have a real difficult time with -- with a lot of people saying this
doesn't fit in because they really are in -- in scale and character
fairly non-intensive.
The concern I think that's valid is we're talking about
a quadrupling of what the initial sanctuary size and impacts are, and
that's -- that's what we have to, I think, consider here, is the
ultimate buildout of this -- this facility. We understand you will
have to come before us for that to happen because an expansion of any
conditional use has to be readvertised, but by the same token, if that
is a goal, I think we need to consider that in the initial adoption of
any conditional use.
DR. SPAGNA: Mr. Hancock, it is considered. Everything
that is in the report applies to the final development. It does not
apply to the initial development. We have to do the traffic impact
statement. We have to do the layout, the parking. Everything -- the
water and sewer -- is based on the final buildout.
So, yes, you're correct. It should be considered since
it will not be coming back again before the board if it's approved,
and we have done that, and it has been reviewed in that manner and
approved in that sense by everyone that's looked at it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: You said something important to
me. If we approve this today, it will be approved for a 400-seat
sanctuary?
DR. SPAGNA: That is correct.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Where -- What are the boundaries
of that sanctuary? Because what I have in front me shows two
buildings. One is a church, and one is a multi-purpose meeting room
with offices.
DR. SPAGNA: The -- it will be -- The multi-use facility
will be used as part of -- to accommodate the 400 seats.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: So this is the physical
limitation of the building footprint?
DR. SPAGNA: That is correct, unless we come back in and
you all approve something differently.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Next, please.
MR. DORRILL: Reverend Aldana. And then Ms. Mata,
Elizabeth Mata, you'll follow this gentleman.
REVEREND ALDANA: Good afternoon. My name is Reverend
A1 Aldana, A-l-d-a-n-a. I represent the church as the pastor.
I came here from Miami about five years ago, and one of
the reason that I had is to buy a piece of land to build a church in
the meantime, and I still have my vision.
This is my third time that I find a piece of property,
and it's been pretty tough. I tried Golden Gate Estates, and I
couldn't do it there because there were no more churches allowed
there. We tried Sabal Palm Road, and it was wetland. So we could do
nothing about either. And this is another piece that I find, and we
submit the petition according -- with the stuff. This property met
all the requirement of the county. It's on a paved road. It's on an
estates zoning. That means the church can be built there. And it's a
5-acres parcel and also the price because of our budget. So those are
the concerns that I had to submit the petition.
Last time -- Last month we were here in a meeting, and I
took notes of the concern of some of the people that are here, and I
would like to mention some of them.
First of all, they mentioned about the children.
Children is one thing that I love. I brought some of the children
today, even my own child, because we love children. So this church
will be to serve the -- the community and to serve the neighbors, and
we're going to take care of our children, also the children of the
neighborhood. So that concern, it concern me also.
Also, the property value. The building we're planning
to build is going to cost about $250,000. So this is not going to be
a shelter. That means whoever is adjacent to this property is not
going to lose any value of the property. It's going to increase the
value, to my knowledge.
The noise. Somebody was concerned about the noise.
Well, we planning to put the building about 150 foot from the -- San
Marcos Boulevard, but if we have to put it farther away, we -- we will
do that. We will do that. And adjacent to the -- to the neighbors,
the building is going to be about 300 feet to the neighbor. So the
noise is -- is another thing.
The traffic. We're going to use the building, let's
say, twice a week; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., which most of the people here
are going to be home resting, and then Sunday from 1:00 p.m., which
most of the people at that time are -- are resting. But the traffic,
as I mentioned, I don't think it's going to have a big impact because
we might have about 15 cars right now.
Also, when we're going to build. It depends. It
depends on the decision today, and it depends how many more members
we're going to get, let's say, in another year because I cannot build
with only 25 people. I need more money than that. So it might take
us a year or two years. I don't know. We're just going to buy a
piece of land so we can have it there. We're going to pay for it with
our money, so in the meantime when we're ready we'll have something
because everything is coming so expensive, as you know, here. So
that's -- that's our goal.
How we're going to build. The first phase is going to
be 50 foot by 100, and that's going to be used as a Sunday school,
teaching office, and a small sanctuary, and then it might take us
eight years -- I don't know -- to reach more people. And then we're
going to be in a position to build the main sanctuary which is going
to hold about 400 people. It might take ten years. By that time
Naples is going to be so different. Airport Road is going to have six
lanes. I don't know. And hopefully San Marcos Boulevard is going to
have a bridge so it will -- it will connect to Golden Gate Parkway.
It can happen. It can happen.
So this decision is very important to us. All I ask for
the board is to consider this petition. Whatever decision you make,
I'll take it as a sign from God. If it's the will of God, we're going
to build this church here or someplace else. I don't know. I know
I'm going to build it so --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Let me ask you a question.
REVEREND ALDANA: Sure.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: You mentioned that you're going to
take care of your children and the children of the neighborhood as
well. Now, does that mean that you're contemplating a day-care
center?
REVEREND ALDANA: Not exactly, but we're planning to
put, like, a playground so the children can use it too. They want to
have the children come into Sunday school, we're going to teach them
values. We're going to give them love. So basically this building
and us moving into this area is a service to the community.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Thank you.
REVEREND ALDANA: Sure.
MR. DORRILL: Ms. Mata.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Your -- Your time has expired, sir.
REVEREND ALDANA: Okay. Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: And Mr. Sanchez, if I could have you come
up here and stand by also if you're still here.
MS. MATA: Good afternoon. I'm Elizabeth Mata and I'm
just here -- I'm a member of Apostolic Church. I'm a little nervous.
I've never been in front of all these important people -- CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's okay.
MS. MATA: -- but we're asking for this petition, our
property. We -- Like our pastor was saying, we've been turned down a
few times, and we're thinking of our members, our children. You know,
that's the most important thing. You know -- You know, a while ago,
like they say, the children are noisy. I wonder, all these people
that have been going to fireworks hearing all that noise, they love
it. You know, I think they can stand at least once a week if they
hear a little child crying.
But we're asking -- We really need that property in the
future to build our church. We're not asking, like, a whole $100,000
or grants or nothing, just your permission to have the property to
build our church. You know, that's the few words that I have. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Sanchez --
(Applause)
MR. DORRILL: -- and then Samuel -- I believe it's
Espino.
MR. SANCHEZ: Good afternoon, Board of Commissioners,
Pastor Aldana, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends. My name
is Cesar Sanchez. I'm -- I'm the youth minister of the Naples --
Naples Apostolic Church, and we're here today looking to our
application to be accepted by the board and answer some concerns from
the commissioners, neighbors, and friends.
Basically I want to say that we want to build a place of
worship, and we believe that it not only going to be a blessing for
the membership of the church but also for our neighbors. Our
intention is not to disturb the tranquility, peace, and the living
standard of the neighborhood because the fact is that we're only about
a 25-member church, and -- and we want to build a facility of no more
than 400 people in 10, 15 years down the road. Obviously it will take
years for that to take place.
Ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon we -- we want to
give you a peace of mind. A place of worship is better than -- than a
shopping center or any other type of commercial facility in that
neighborhood. Obviously on Radio Road we have plenty of commercial
facilities, and we have a huge industrial place on -- on the following
street, I think. I don't know exactly the name of it. A -- To the
best of my knowledge, there's not even one place of worship on Radio
Road. A place of worship not only is less noisy, but it will bring
less traffic to -- to the area. The church only holds about two
meetings a -- in a week.
We want -- We will and we want to be good neighbors. We
want to be a helping hand, a good Samaritan to our community. We want
the neighbors to feel good about us and count on -- on our church in a
type -- in a time of need. We are -- We are hard-working people.
We're good people.
Today we're asking for -- for your support to build a
place in which we, our families and our children and the neighbors,
may feel free to worship our Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you for
coming, and may the Lord bless you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Espino. Samuel E-s-p-i-n-o, I believe
it is.
REVEREND ALDANA: He stepped out.
MR. DORRILL: Okay. Mr. Morris.
MR. MORRIS: I have a little thing I'd like to stick up
on the board here too. I think you can tell more on the neighborhood.
This is a sanctuary --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Identify yourself for the record,
please.
MR. MORRIS: I'm sorry?
MR. DORRILL: Need your name.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Identify yourself for the record.
MR. MORRIS: Oh. My name is Earnest Morris. I own my
home at 1011 St. Clair Shores Road.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MR. MORRIS: Off Radio Road -- Now, North is actually
down this way but Radio Road here shows -- These are trailer mobile
home parks all across here, and to get down St. Clair Shores Road,
you've got to drive down between the two -- between two trailer parks
which are fenced off and make a turn to the right and then another
turn, and this is St. Clair Shores Road. This is the main Golden Gate
canal down here. So these roads are dead-end roads. (indicating)
Now, San Marcos Boulevard actually goes straight to
Radio Road, but going through those trailers, this one mobile home
park, there's 13 streets that come into -- from the trailer mobile
home park into San Marcos to go to Radio Road. These are driveways of
existing homes. (indicating)
The neighborhood is an off-the-beaten-path, country-type
residential neighborhood. The -- the -- The 5 acres that was rezoned
is all within one family, the Collins family. There isn't -- There
wasn't any idea of selling any property or -- or rentals or anything
else on that rezoning. It was strictly for that family that wanted to
live together, and I think there's three houses there.
The -- The owner of the property now which there's --
there's a -- there's a sale contingent on this petition, and the owner
of that property is an out-of-county owner, and they don't have a lot
of interest in the neighborhood other than to sell the property. Of
course, Dr. Spagna's interest -- he gets a fee for representing the --
the church folks. And, again, the people that are going to use that
church will be coming in from other neighborhoods in the county. It
has nothing to do with our neighborhood. We -- We just don't feel
that it's in harmony at all with the neighborhood.
The vegetation that Dr. Spagna mentioned he was going to
leave there happens to be melaleucas trees, and I think the county
requires that they be removed when they develop that property.
The -- I believe that the staff and the planning
commission did an excellent job researching this situation. They -- I
can assure you that the planning commission had absolutely no
hesitation in their unanimous vote to deny the petition or to
recommend that you deny the petition.
There were a couple of things in the staff's report that
I -- that I don't think are accurate. They mention sparsely
developed. As a matter of fact, there's three pieces of property on
St. Clair Shores Road that doesn't have a home on it, and I believe
there's four on San Marcos, and these are fairly long streets. They
go from Radio Road all the way to the canal.
There were -- again, you -- you -- you know, you --
we're really in question about the 400 seats on a 5-acre piece of
land. Also the petition doesn't just say a church. It says related
facilities. That's pretty vague too but -- and -- and I don't think,
you know, with 400 seats and -- and it's got to be at least a couple
hundred cars on a 5-acre -- With the building taking half of it, I
don't know where they're going to park them. The -- And, of course,
as they've already mentioned vaguely, that the activities won't just
be on Sunday. They'll be other times.
The -- The planning commission brought out that there
has been two of these petitions granted. One of them was on a main
artery road, and the other one was to the second block -- the second
lot off the artery, and the first lot was -- was zoned commercial.
As you can see, that this -- their proposed site is --
well, it's over a half of a mile into the neighborhood off the artery.
We're not -- You know, we don't care what kind of facility it is or
anything else. We're not interested in that. We just -- We just feel
that a church would be appropriate [sic] For that neighborhood. And I
will finish up.
I understand you have a packet. We have another
objection to this description of being sparsely developed, as we have
petitions. I have the latest one just in case you didn't have the
ones we gave the planning commission, and there's 75 signatures on it.
So for that little two-street neighborhood, that -- I -- I don't think
that would be considered sparsely. And I also have some pictures if
you like --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Morris, we're going to need you to
wrap it up.
MR. MORRIS: Yes, sir. We have other people here
that -- I hope that -- that don't --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yes. Yes, we do and --
MR. MORRIS: -- go over the same thing.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: -- so far everyone but -- but the
young lady in -- in the back has gone over their time, and I'd like to
ask, once again, that we stay within our five-minute time period,
please.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Layton. I believe it's Joseph Layton.
I believe the name after that is Ms. Nua -- Nuiez, N-u-i-e-z.
MR. LAYTON: Joseph Layton, L-a-y-t-o-n. I live on
St. Clair Shores Road. The property he's talking about that the house
right next to the property is mine. It's 20 foot off of the property
line. When the house was built before I bought it, that's how it was
built there. The county -- I don't know how they let it be so close.
When I was trying to buy a house out there, that's the only place that
came up, one reason buying it so close to it, but it's going to be
right next to the -- to the facilities. I'd just like to make it
clear that --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Was your lot flagged? In other
words, was there two homes on what would be a 5-acre piece? You have
a driveway back to your lot in the back? Is that the way it's set up?
MR. LAYTON: Yes.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Use that -- use that -- Use that
microphone, Mr. Layton, right behind you there.
MR. DORRILL: Use the microphone right there.
MR. LAYTON: The house that sets right here --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes.
MR. LAYTON: -- this is mine. (indicating)
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: You have 2 or -- 2 acres on the
back of that piece, and then you have a little skinny line that's your
driveway? Is that about -- Oh, it was split down the middle. Okay.
MR. LAYTON: The house here was -- was half of this 5
acres behind it coming through here and another house sits --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. LAYTON: When it was built, it was built right back
at the rear.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You've seen that drawing that
you're pointing at before, or is this the first time you've seen that
drawing?
MR. LAYTON: First time I've seen it.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Do you realize as it's
drawn -- and I realize that nothing's been confirmed or etched in
stone at this point, but as that's drawn it looks like you're still
about 800 feet from the middle of their property but maybe --
MR. LAYTON: It's going to be hard --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- 1,000 -- maybe 1,000 feet
from the facility itself.
MR. LAYTON: The lots are only 630 foot deep.
COHHISSIONER HANCOCK: Yeah. I'm reading his house is
450 feet from the center of their property as I count the rings
outward --
MR. LAYTON: Yes.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- which would make it about --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah. I'm sorry.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- 500 feet from the actual
sanctuary but --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Still, it's not exactly on top of
it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: No, but he's going to have --
MR. LAYTON: Well --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- a caretaker's house within a
hundred and change.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Which you would have
anyway --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Which is a house.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: In other words, I'm just trying
to clear that up.
MR. LAYTON: Okay. The trees itself there at the back
of it, is this something they're going to plant or -- because what's
there is melaleucas.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Probably be a question we can
ask Mr. Spagna after all the speakers have -- MR. LAYTON: Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That's a good question.
MR. LAYTON: Because everything that's there is -- is
melaleucas. It's going to have to be taken out per county, I believe.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yeah. There's no -- no pi -- not
a lot of pines back there?
MR. LAYTON: Not right in there. Host all of it is
melaleuca.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
MR. LAYTON: Everything that it shows there.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you, sir.
MR. LAYTON: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Ms. Nuiez. And then, Mr. Barbuto, if I
could have you stand by, please.
MS. NUIEZ: Good af --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Ms. Nuiez, could you pull that-- yeah.
MS. NUIEZ: Good afternoon. As I -- I want to thank you
first, you know, for letting me -- giving me the opportunity to be
here this afternoon and I'm here -- one of the members from our pastor
and our Apostolic Church, and I have this very deep feeling, you know,
about -- that we have been trying to get our land, you know, for our
church in the future. Our church is, you know, very -- you know,
small people, and we haven't been any trouble to any other -- the
places where we have been because we've been renting, you know, and we
want to get ourself start with our own church, and I don't think
there's any, you know, bad reason or why we can't because there has
been other churches that we -- I've seen that has been built, you
know, and we're a small church.
So we're asking for your help because we need our land
for the future of our children, and we all stuck to each other
together, you know, for our church, and we there, like, twice a week
only, and I'm here just to, you know, ask you for -- to help us
because we really need it. Okay. And that's all my words for today.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MS. NUIEZ: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Mr. Barbuto. And then, Ms. Ogden, if I
could have you stand up here, please, ma'am.
MR. BARBUTO: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My
name is Robert Barbuto. I live at 4141 Family Circle Court, and we
took 5 acres and subdivided it into one single-family community, and
we're not really against the church or -- We're against any kind of --
anything that's going to bring an influx of traffic to that area. Up
in the trailer park there is a lot of children that play on the road
itself. There's no sidewalks. There's no big road there. So we're
concerned about the children being, you know, exposed to a lot of -- a
lot of traffic per se. And besides, you know, our house --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Use that microphone there, please.
MR. BARBUTO: Our house sits -- Our house sits right
here in this corner. So our front door would be facing this proposed
church and we're concerned with -- they want 400 seating. I mean,
that's a -- that's a lot of people and a lot of vehicles for that kind
of road, considering it has to go through all this to get here. I
mean, it's over a half a mile down -- down the road.
So we just would hope that you'd feel and go with the
zoning commission and deny it. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Ms. Ogden and then Ms. Guess.
MS. OGDEN: Good afternoon. My name is Joyce H. Ogden.
I live at 1483 San Marcos Boulevard and have since 1969, so I feel
that I have a vested interest and certainly grave concerns for my
neighborhood.
I have submitted in writing a letter with an attached
statement that I had titled "Reasonable Objections and Real Concerns
Relevant to the Conditional Use 1 of the Estates Zoning in our Area,"
and I'll just briefly go through it.
I feel it's inappropriate land use for our neighborhood.
We are a single-family residential, working-class neighborhood. It's
my understanding that a church is basically a business, and related
facilities would not be a single-family dwelling.
Mr. Spagna referenced to no more than 50 percent -- In
other words, 50 percent would be left in its natural state. I
personally don't understand how that would be possible on
approximately 4.86 acres when you have support documentation stating
that there would be an ll,000-square-foot church building, a
residence, and a multi-purpose building in addition to that which
would require, if my computation is correct, parking spaces of 171.42.
Yes, churches start out relatively small. My church
sits right next to this building, and I'm sure you have seen East
Naples United Church grow. That is what churches do, and their
activities do increase thereby increasing traffic, noise, congestion,
threat to safety, and it would require somewhere down the line in all
likelihood improvements to be made by way of utilities and what have
you.
I face Radio Road every morning going to work to Golden
Gate Middle School. I make a left. And I do not feel that our
neighborhood, and especially that intersection, not to count all the
intersecting roads from the mobile home park, could stand the
additional traffic.
I also feel that it would impose a financial hardship on
we, the property owners, in that we would probably bear the cost of
the needed improvements down the line, and many of us cannot nor do we
desire to have or have a need for such improvements. I also feel,
despite what was stated here today, that it would lower the current
and future property values in the entire area, and many of us that
reside there and have for a considerable length of time, this is all
we have, and we could not bear to lose not only the value of our
property but in all likelihood, as I stated, bear the cost of
improvements that would be needed in the future for this particular
facility.
We, the residents, ask that you would consider the
property owners and our families, the peace, the tranquility, the
time, the money thatws been invested in our area. We have a
neighborhood watch. We do not want to see a huge increase of people
and/or vehicular activity that would pose a possible criminal threat.
Any time --
COMMISSIONER MACwKIE: Excuse me. The church might pose
a criminal threat?
MS. OGDEN: What Iwm saying is --
COMMISSIONER MACwKIE: Iwm having a little trouble with
that.
MS. OGDEN: Not the church itself. Iwm saying any time
that you have large numbers of people gathering and when this happens
to be in the middle of a neighborhood, it poses the threat of
increased crime.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Thank you.
MR. DORRILL: Ms. Guess. And this lady was your last
registered speaker.
MS. GUESS: Thank you for hearing me, Commission, and my
name is Alise Guess for the record, and I live at 1479 San Marcos
Boulevard, and I brought letters in for you guys this morning. I
apologize for the lateness, forgetting yesterday was a holiday.
First of all, Iid like to say to the church and to the
pastor, I am an Evangelical Christian also, and I would pray that your
church would grow but not in our neighborhood. I wouldnlt want my
church to build a mission in our neighborhood. Iim very active in our
church, and I know for a fact that as you grow therels more and more
activity.
And, Commission, I am a member of the church and --
where there are dinners Monday evenings and Wednesday evenings. There
are meetings. There are staff meetings. There are council meetings.
There are numerous activities. Itls almost every day. So itls not
just -- It might be for the time for this church thatls proposed.
And I hope that they can find some land, but I donlt
think our neighborhood under the conditions -- This is a small road.
It doesnlt even have a center line. I mean, you know, it -- it --
itls just -- It has no lines on the outside of the road. People use
it to walk for exercise. They ride bikes for exercise. Iive seen
handicap people riding bicycles down our road because itls so
untravelled, especially after you get back from the -- past the mobile
home park. There is -- The first part after you pass the mobile home
park, there are nine streets before you get to the -- I mean, nine
sidewalks, excu -- I -- driveways after you pass the mobile home park.
That makes a total of 23 from the proposed site to Radio Road which
creates a lot of people going in and out to work and -- and it just --
Really I donlt think that the neighborhood can stand that much of an
increase in traffic and that would -- I would see down the road and
just -- I would plead with the commission to please deny this proposal
and encourage this church to look for land elsewhere so that it would
be more compatible. This is a long way off the beaten path, so to
speak.
And -- And, like I said, I pray that your church will
grow and that you will have more members and that you will see your --
your vision come true. Thank you for hearing me. MR. DORRILL: That's all, Mr. Chairman.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I have a number of questions
for Mr. Spagna. Mr. Spagna, the question about the type of vegetation
on the property was raised and suggested that a great deal of that is
melaleuca. You would have some responsibility to clear the melaleuca.
I just want to hear what you have to say about that.
DR. SPAGNA: Well, it is true. There are melaleucas on
the property, but it is also true that there are a lot of pine trees.
I believe -- I'm trying to recall. There may have been one or two
Florida hollies, not the Brazilian pepper but the red-berried hollies.
There are other trees in there as well, and I stand pat we will leave
as much of the vegetation there as possible to act as a buffer. The
melaleuca trees will have to be taken out, I'm sure. If the county
allows us to leave them in there, we'll leave them in there where they
are. So I don't want to -- What these people have said is true, but
also what I have said is true.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: A great deal of concern has
been raised about, quote, "related facilities." Do you intend to have
any type of homeless shelter or a soup kitchen that is an accessory
use to the church?
DR. SPAGNA: No, sir. The only thing -- The related
uses would be things like perhaps the pastor's office where people
could come to him and get advice and where they could teach their
children Sunday school, but there will be no soup kitchens or anything
else like that.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You'd be willing to stipulate
that as part of the record? DR. SPAGNA: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Earlier Commissioner Norris
inquired about plans for a day-care center, and the pastor indicated
there were no plans for that.
DR. SPAGNA: No, there are not.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You'd be willing to stipulate
on the record --
DR. SPAGNA: No.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- there's no plan for a
day-care center --
DR. SPAGNA: No.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- nor will there be one?
DR. SPAGNA: There are not.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: One of the questions I heard
raised -- and it appears from your drawing that it would be addressed,
but I'd like to make sure, and that is parking and -- and whether or
not there would be adequate parking. Obviously the county strives as
part of our Land Development Code to assure there's adequate parking
as part of any plan. You'd stipulate on the record that your parking
will take place only on your own property, not on the public
right-of-way?
DR. SPAGNA: That's correct. And also we will leave the
parking grass, if -- if that's the desire of the county, in order to
allow the water to percolate through. This is a normal custom, and we
will follow that.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: One of the final speakers
talked about future expenses and figured that the neighborhood might
end up paying for those. I thought I heard you say in your initial
presentation that if there was an impact down the road that required
traffic signalization or other expenses, that the church would pick up
the tab for that.
DR. SPAGNA: That's correct. We will pay our fair
share, and also I'd like to say as far as the -- as far as this
lowering the values of the surrounding properties, I think this is
about, like, the thirtieth-plus church. I don't know of a single one
where it's lowered the values of the properties. I don't know of a
single one that have come back later and complained about having a
church as their neighbor.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: And that's -- If you ever want to
use my house as an example, I live in -- in Park Shore. I have
Seagate Elementary School and Seagate Park in my back yard and two
churches in my back yard, and I assure you it's the most -- it's the
nicest thing about my house, that I have that -- I have that for
neighbors.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Interesting comment you just
made because I was thinking almost exactly what you just said. We
deal with church requests fairly frequently. I live in the Golden
Gate community, and we have a number of churches within those
neighborhoods. I can't think of a single church in Collier County
that has lowered the property values surrounding it.
Traffic impacts -- and I -- Thank you, Mr. Spagna I
think that concludes my questions for you.
But just some comments, and that is, traffic impacts,
the final woman said -- talked about the nine driveways and the other
streets and the traffic going in and out of work every morning, and I
thought I heard the church say its primary activity was Sunday
obviously and -- and Wednesday night, and those aren't going to
conflict with the traffic going to work -- to and from work every day.
It's directly opposite of when the traffic would be.
And the -- I was glad Commissioner Mac'Kie spoke up on
the other one. Really a stretch -- I understand there's some
objections, but it's really a stretch to suggest that a new community
church is going to increase the criminal threat in -- in a community,
and there may be objections, and we may disagree on them, but I think
that's really a stretch. I'm going -- just going to dismiss that one
out of hand.
Other than that, I don't know if there's other questions
from the board. I -- I have a -- CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Yes, there are.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- comfort level with
Mr. Spagna's --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Commissioner Hancock.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- comments.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Many times -- and we've dealt
with several church applications recently in which the neighbors
living around it were very upset with it, and a lot of them are
red-herring issues, and I think the crime issue is exactly one of
those; it's a red herring.
However, the difference I draw -- and I guess I'm going
to ask my colleagues to consider this -- I don't recall any of those
applications where the church location was very far removed or removed
at all from a roadway with a higher volume and capacity to handle
traffic. I don't recall one at least in the last two years where it
was on this type of a local road. I looked at the -- the lots that
are remaining, and I think 76 homes could be produced on them.
Mr. Spagna said they would pay their fair share of improvements, but
when you look at 76 homes versus what is eventually 170 or 180 cars in
a parking lot, I think the burden falls on the church.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: May I ask -- May I ask the
question of where you came up with the 76?
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I --
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Is it on both streets or --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: No. It's just on San Marcos. I
wasn't combining the two. Just looking at San Marcos, the people that
really have to use this street in and out, I took the 5-acre lots,
counted them up, figured, you know, what is -- what is going on out
there right now you can get four units an acre, as one gentleman did,
but the likelihood of that happening on every 5-acre piece out there
is pretty rare. So it's just a round number, and if it's -- if it's
120, it's 120. But I'm not sure that -- that the amount of traffic
that the church will actually generate --
I have confidence in this man's vision. He's going to
build a church, and he's going to have 400 people fill it some day.
There's no doubt that's going to happen. He's asking if we should
approve it in this location, and my only concern is the distance from
this church to Radio Road. Do we have --
You know, I -- I was sitting here trying to think of a
similar situation somewhere in the county where a church of a 400-seat
sanctuary is -- is that far off the main road. I -- I know you go to
St. Elizabeth Seton. I was having a tough time coming up with a
similar situation because I always try and picture the impacts, and
I'm having a difficult time with this because I'm not aware of any.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: We've got at least four in
the four square miles of Golden Gate. We approved one down on
Bayshore Extension, whatever that little road is down there.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Exactly.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's only a block off the --
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: That's only a block off anyway.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: But -- I mean, this is -- I
don't know how far a block is, but this is 1/2 mile -- 6/10 of a mile
I'm going to guess.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: And what about that Baptist
church over behind the -- the proposed Site gas station location?
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Are you talking about First
Baptist?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: No, no. This is a little
bitty -- I think it's a Baptist church, a little Baptist church, you
know, where the --
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Off of Whippoorwill where the
Hospice is?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yes, where Hospice is. I mean,
that's back in on a tiny little road that, frankly, needs a lot of
work but --
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Is that approved for 400 seats
or '-
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: I don't know.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Again, I'm just trying -- I'm
trying to picture the impacts and am having a tough time with it.
I'll -- I'll let you continue. I just -- that -- That's my only
concern. Churches do not provide -- we haven't found provide negative
impacts to neighborhoods.
I grew up next to one and loved it because in my -- you
know, when you wanted to fly a kite or whatever, there was always an
empty space next door to do it. But I am -- I am a little concerned
about the distance between Radio Road and this site, and we just
haven't developed significant criteria for this yet, and I think we
need to because we're going to get these questions.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me ask a couple of
questions. One, did the county get them ahead -- there are four --
and maybe I've missed one, but there are at least four in the Golden
Gate -- 4-square-mile area in the Golden Gate City area that are set
off, set in neighborhoods and off, and -- and I would say perhaps it's
a little more of a complex situation because you don't have a straight
shot -- With the exception of one of those, you don't have a straight
shot to a main --
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Main road.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- road. I guess the
question is, if it were scheduled to be a smaller facility, if
buildout was not going to be as large, would that give you a better --
better comfort level?
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: It -- It would easily. As I
mentioned when Dr. Spagna first stood up, if we're talking about
100-seat sanctuaries where you're dealing with at most 50 or 60 cars
at the busiest peak time, on a local road that's an acceptable impact,
but when you start looking at 170 or 180 cars within -- and
understand, when church lets out, all 170 are on the road at the same
time impacting the same time. That's where I'm finding my -- my lack
of comfort. It's not the church. It's not the existence of a church.
It's the magnitude at buildout and the impact it's going to have
between there and the street and --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me ask a question
because --
DR. SPAGNA: Could I --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Let me ask a question,
Mr. Spagna.
DR. SPAGNA: Okay.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm just picking this number,
but at a sanctuary of 250, you end up with maybe 90 or 100 vehicles at
maximum if you build out to that, you know, realistically when you get
families and whomever going to -- to it. I don't know. Maybe that's
more of a workable number than 400.
DR. SPAGNA: Can I comment on that, please? As you
probably know from past churches, most of them are 300- or 400-seat
capacity, and the reason why I've sort of gradually worked up to 400
is because if this is approved, that will be it, and I'm just trying
to avoid them having to come back in at some future date and amend the
approval to go from 300 to 400. But this does seem to be a problem,
and it does seem to be something that the neighborhood is very
interested in, and -- and we would be very happy to reduce the
capacity to 300 seats if that would give them as well as you a greater
comfort level.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: That would allow, I suppose,
a chance to -- if you got to a point where you had to grow beyond
that, they'd have to come back to the board and they see what the
impacts were at that time.
DR. SPAGNA: They'd have to come back to the board.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: And we're back up to 150 parking
spaces or 130 parking spaces. Again, I don't want to belabor it. I
may be the only one that is having a tough time visualizing this.
Commissioner Hac'Kie, you live next to a church with probably more
parking spaces than that.
So I -- I'm wrestling with it myself. I don't want to
sway anyone else off of what is otherwise a sound position. I just --
I, for one, am having difficulty, and maybe I need to find solace in
developing specific siting criteria in the future. That's where I
think I'm wrestling with it the most right now.
COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: I -- I -- But with all respect,
does this, Mr. Weigel, require three or four votes?
MR. WEIGEL: It requires four.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: You know, one -- one comment
that we may want to consider -- because this is a residential area, it
is a residential local street, and so forth. I -- I could be well
persuaded to approve a smaller sanctuary which would give this church
and its congregation time to work with the neighbors.
And if they -- if they did grow that -- that much
larger, obviously a 25-member church today is going to take them any
number of years to grow to -- to a 400-member church where they're
going to need 400 seats, and I -- I would like to give the church and
the neighborhood time to work together and see that it really can work
out with -- with the smaller sanctuary permitted at this time, even
knowing that at this time they're only going to -- DR. SPAGNA: Yes.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: -- build about 100 -- a 100-seat
church right now and -- and to accept the fact that it -- that it
would be -- would be a smaller church now.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Any more questions from the board?
We'll close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, I'm going to --
MR. MORRIS: Mr. Chairman, you had him --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: The public hearing is closed.
MR. MORRIS: -- come up here twice. I would like to say
something, make one more quick comment.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, you -- you've used up your time,
and no one asked you a question. There was a question asked to Dr.
Spagna. That's the difference.
MR. MORRIS: Well --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman --
MR. LAYTON: There's one street coming in and out of our
place. All --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, sir, you're out of order.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, taking into
consideration both Commissioner Matthews' and Commissioner Hancock's
concerns, I'm going to make a motion we approve Conditional Use 96-18
but with a 25 percent reduction in the approved sanctuary size of what
was initially requested.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm sorry. I -- I read the
wrong number there. That would be nine -- CU-96-16, not 18.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
COHHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And that will bring it down
to 300.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: There were other stipulations that
Mr. Spagna --
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: And -- And with all the
stipulations --
DR. SPAGNA: Yes.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- that have been agreed to
on the record by Mr. Spagna
DR. SPAGNA: That's right. Including the participation
and the signalization?
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: All -- all of them. Yes.
All.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Any further comments?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed?
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Aye.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That motion passes 4 to 1.
DR. SPAGNA: Thank you very much.
(Applause)
MR. MORRIS: Commissioners, why do you have a staff, and
what do you have a planning commission for?
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: To give us --
MR. MORRIS: They looked into this thing thoroughly.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Sir, would you like the deputy to take
you out of here?
MR. MORRIS: I don't need anybody to take me out. I'm
happy.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: I'll take you out of here myself if
you keep it up.
UNKNOWN VOICE: What'd he say? He'd take us out
himself? I think they're all paid off.
(Laughter)
UNKNOWN VOICE: I'd like to see somebody take me out
that damn door; I'll tell you that.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: The church has so much --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yep.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- money to offer, I'm sure.
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: That big church paid us off.
That's it. That's it.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Well, all except you.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That was -- well, I'm not -- Can
I change my vote after that --
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: -- display?
COMMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Really. I can't say as I blame
you.
Item #13A4
RESOLUTION 96-514 RE PETITION CU-96-18, F. ALAN MICHAEL REQUESTING
CONDITIONAL USE "1" OF THE RSF-3 ZONING DISTRICT FOR PROPERTY LOCATED
ON THE OUSTH SIDE OF TRADE WINDS AVENUE - ADOTPED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Our next item is Petition
CU-96-18.
MR. BELLOWS: For the record, Ray Bellows of current
planning staff presenting Petition CU-96-18. Petitioner is proposing
Conditional Use 1 of the RSF-3 zoning district to allow for a boat
house for property located at the south side of Tradewinds Avenue.
The petitioner proposes to build a 20- by 43-foot-long boat dock [sic]
on an existing boat dock facility.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Were there any objections to
this petition?
MR. BELLOWS: No objections. The planning commission
approved it. No adverse use from -- impacts on adjacent properties;
therefore, staff recommends approval.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Any public speakers, Mr.
Dotrill?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Mr. Chairman, if you'll close
the public hearing, I would love to make a motion.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I just -- I want to make sure --
Mr. Bellows, is this consistent with what has occurred in the
Vanderbilt Lagoon area already?
MR. BELLOWS: Yes. There are some existing boat houses
on the -- off -- off of Tradewinds and also across the canal.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. Right across -- right
across the canal?
MR. BELLOWS: Yes. There's, I believe, one on -- I
think it's Lot 20.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: I want to be consistent because
in Bonita Shores we had someone come in for one that would actually
set the tone for a different character along the canal, and -- and we
denied that and I think rightfully so. What I don't want to do is
start a trend that either doesn't exist already or is adverse to the
neighborhood and I --
MR. BELLOWS: No. There are existing boat dock --
houses in this area on this canal.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: Okay. This does extend out into
more of the open lagoon so it's not blocking the adjacent view of the
neighbor?
MR. BELLOWS: Yeah. He's on the end corner, as you can
see, so it's kind of on the open end of the lagoon. I believe the
petitioner has some photographs if you'd like to look at them.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We would.
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: It would be helpful for me just
to help me picture it so I --
MR. MULHERE: Mr. Chairman, while the applicant's coming
up, I just wanted to mention that this was the first conditional use
that we had -- By the way, for the record, Bob Mulhere, current
planning section manager -- first conditional use we had come forward
for a boat house, and as directed by the board, I just wanted to let
you know that we are looking at the criteria specific to boat houses.
Obviously the criteria for traffic impacts and the like relative to a
normal or other conditional uses don't apply here, and we're looking
at drafting for your consideration some specific criteria, but that
probably would be in the next LDC amendment cycle.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: The boat house section is to
cover the lift portion only, not the balance of the dock? It's --
It's just the lift?
MR. BELLOWS: That's correct. Just the --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I just want to have a -- a mental
picture of what it was we're -- we're approving here. This is one
that looks like -- right across the canal that looks exactly the same.
MR. BELLOWS: Yeah.
UNKNOWN VOICE: There's also one right behind it.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Unless you're on the microphone,
we can't -- Sorry about that.
Okay. I haven't received any corres -- You've received
no correspondence against this?
MR. BELLOWS: No correspondence.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: All right.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: The adjacent property owners were
notified?
MR. BELLOWS: Yeah. We mailed -- had our mailing, a
sign posted on the site just like every other conditional use, and the
notice in the newspaper.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: That's a very active association
in that neighborhood too, so I'm sure if there were a lot of people
upset about it, I would have known by now.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: No public speakers?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Close the public hearing.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm going to move approved of the
item.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Second.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
Opposed?
(No response)
Item #14A
TRAVEL FEE REIMBURSEMENT - COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS WAITING FOR DEFINITIVE
ANSWER FROM COUNTY ATTORNEY
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That brings us down towards the end of
our meeting here. Commissioner Matthews, do you have anything
further?
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: No, I don't. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Commissioner Hancock?
COMHISSIONER HANCOCK: I'm going to bring up -- just ask
for an unsavory topic, a report on that. We had discussed regarding
travel fees, and I just wondered if there's any development on that.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: David Weigel and I met today at
lunchtime, and he's got one or two more questions to get answered for
me, and he will get back to me I hope within the next couple of days.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess -- What are the
questions? Again, it's a matter of there's money being spent after
you've left office, and should the taxpayer have that money back or
not, and -- and I don't understand what legal questions we're trying
to track down with that.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Well, there are legal questions
involved since this has become a political issue, so we now need to
seek a political answer, and I -- I will leave it at that. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm not seeking a political
answer. I'm seeking an answer. And -- And last week it was you
hadn't known in time, and this week it's you met with Weigel today,
and -- and it's 2,000 public taxpayer dollars that are out there.
There's nothing political about that. That's factual. And -- And I
think a week ago we talked about doing the right thing, and it doesn't
sound to me like -- that by seeking legal answer on that -- I mean,
either you're going to give it back or you're not and -- and -- Is the legal question to bolster that you don't have to
give it back? Is that why the question is being asked?
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: No. The legal -- The legal
questions being asked are to answer or an attempt to answer the
political question that's been raised.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Which is?
COMHISSIONER MATTHEWS: Which is, is it -- is it
legal -- is it right for a board to arbitrarily and without board
action decide that a previously constituted public purpose expenditure
is no longer that.
COMMISSIONER HANCOCK: That was -- That was never asked.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I'm not sure who asked that.
My question was, are you giving the taxpayer back their money?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I hope to be able to answer that
in the next day or two.
COMHISSIONER CONSTANTINE: You don't know right now?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: No, I don't know.
COMMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: So as of now you don't have
any intention of giving back their money?
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: That is not what I said.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Commissioner Mac'Kie.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Thankfully nothing.
Item #14B
CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS' REFUNDING FEES - DISCUSSED
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Commissioner Constantine.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: One item. I just want to
kind of throw the idea out there or float the -- the question. I've
heard two different items since election day talking about that they
could be paid for --
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Yes.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: -- with the turnback cash.
One was with sheriff's turnback money, and one was with the -- Guy
Carlton's turnback money, and I think all of us understand it, but I
hope the public understands that that money is budgeted. We
anticipate getting money back from Guy Carlton every year, and we
anticipate getting money back from other constitutional officers, and
we can't simply say, "Well, Guy brought us a check for $2 million.
Now we can spend that on something." It's already been budgeted, and
I -- I think there may be a misconception or a misperception in the
public that that is suddenly money readily available, and hopefully
that perception will disappear.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Was -- Was there an excess
turnback above budgeted amounts in those?
MR. DORRILL: In -- In a number of cases there was, and
I've sent personal letters of appreciation because I had made a plea
that this was going to be a difficult cash year, and so I have thanked
them personally on your behalf for making an extra effort into the
last month of the fiscal year. I can -- I -- I'm not able to tell you
what it is today, but -- but in four cases that I'm aware of, it was
higher than what we had forecast.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: I guess considering our --
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: But it usually is though.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah. Considering our
ad valorem picture this past year and what we anticipate for the
upcoming year, I'd suspect most of the board's probably not ready to
go on a spending spree with the extra.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: More importantly, we may want to
know how much of the 972,000 intergovernment services fee deficit
it -- it replaces because, you know, I'm operating every day under the
assumption we have $972,000 of budgeted revenue that's not going to be
realized.
COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: I -- I do have one question. I
got a fax that was on my desk at lunchtime regarding $969,000 in
returned health benefits that apparently Anthem Health has been
holding for seven years. Is that budgeted this year?
MR. DORRILL: That was -- was not budgeted and was
something that was uncovered as a result of an audit as part of an
acquisition of that former insurance company. We're trying to get
some indication as to whether that money is actually there and what,
if any, claims against that may have occurred in that same interim
period of time. I don't even know that we -- Those, it's my
understanding, were reserved for run-on claims, and we're trying to
get a better handle on that. That -- That could be an unbudgeted
windfall for the commission if we actually receive that money.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Yeah. This letter indicates
that subsequent plans are usually only for a period of two years, and
this is now seven years.
MR. DORRILL: It looks good.
COMMISSIONER MATTHEWS: So I'd say it looks good. This
is $970,000.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: That's not bad. Mr. Dorrill, anything
else?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir. Not at all.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Mr. Weigel, anything else?
MR. WEIGEL: Yes, briefly. Naples Park drainage
project, on an almost annual basis, we have amended the moratorium
ordinance on culvert permitting just to keep this going further into
the project, and I would ask that the board recognize the county
attorney and staff to bring back an amendment to extend the moratorium
until the end of June 1997 to finish out the project.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Agreed.
COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: Agreed.
COHMISSIONER MAC'KIE: Okay.
MR. WEIGEL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Okay. Miss Filson, anything else?
MS. FILSON: Yes, sir. I believe you do have one other
item.
Item #14C
PRESENTATION OF PLAQUE TO COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: Well, today is Commissioner Matthews'
last full meeting day, and we want to wish her the best. And we have
a little plaque here, actually, to present to you, and good luck in
the future.
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: Well, thank you.
(Applause)
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: And with that, we are -- unless you
have some long-winded speech to give --
COHMISSIONER MATTHEWS: No, I don't. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NORRIS: We -- We are adjourned.
***** Commissioner Hancock moved, seconded by Commissioner
Constantine and carried 4/0, (Commissioner Hatthews absent)
that the following items under the Consent Agenda be
approved and/or adopted *****
Item #16A1
RESOLUTION 96-504 AUTHORIZING PAYMENT OF LIBRARY SYSTEM IMPACT FEES,
PARKS AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEES, ROAD IMPACT FEES,
EMERGENCY HEIDCAL SERVICES SYTEH IMPACT FEES AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
SYSTEM IMPACT FEES FOR A HOUSE TO BE CONSTRUCTED BY JESSE BRAWLEY AT
2649 47TH TERRACE S.W., GOLDEN GATE CITY - ADOPTED
Item #16A2
BID #96-2584 FOR HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION CONTRACTOR -
AWARDED TO CITY ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC. OF FLORIDA IN THE
ESTIMATED A_MOUNT OF $84,520
Item #16A3
RECORDING OF FINAL PLAT OF "BRIARWOOD, UNIT FOUR" WITH STIPULATIONS,
CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND LETTER OF CREDIT
Item #16A4
CHAIRMAN AUTHORIZED TO SIGN SATISFACTION OF MORTGAGE IN THE A_MOUNT OF
$3,025 FOR PROPERTY DESCRIBED AS LOT 13, BLOCK 5, NAPLES MANOR LAKES,
5361 GEORGIA AVENUE - PROPERTY OWNER: JANE BLACKBURN
Item #16B1
ACCEPTANCE OF VARIOUS EASEMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE NAPLES LANDFILL
OFF-SITE GROUNDWATER MONITORING PROJECT
Item #1682
ACCEPTANCE OF DRAINAGE EASEMENT OBTAINED FOR THE NAPLES PARK DRAINAGE
PROJECT
Item #1683
CREATION OF THE LANDSCAPE SERVICES OPERATIONS SECTION WITHIN THE
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW COST CENTERS IN FUND
101 AND HSTD FUNDS 102, 103, 104 AND 106, APPROVING BUDGET AMENDMENTS
FOR RE-ALLOCATION OF EXISTING FUNDING FOR PERSONNEL/MATERIAL/EQUIPMENT
LINE ITEMS AND APPROVAL OF ALL NECESSARY BUDGET TRANSFERS WITHIN THOSE
FUNDS
Item #1684
APPROVAL OF AN EQUIPMENT PURCHASE PLAN FOR THE ROAD AND BRIDGE SECTION
OF THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1996-97
Item #1685
ACCEPTANCE OF A CONSENT AND JOINDER OF EASEMENT FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD
OF COLLIER COUNTY AND AN EASEMENT FROM REAL ESTATE SOUTHWEST, INC.
REGARDING SOUTH NAPLES COHMUNITY PARK
Item #1686
RECOGNITION OF CARRY FORWARD FOR THE SOUTH COUNTY WATER TREATMENT
CHLORINE ENCLOSURE PROJECT #70031
Item #1687
APPROVAL OF UTILITY RELATED CONSTRUCTION CHANGE ORDER FOR THE
RATTLESNAKE HAMMOCK ROAD FOUR LANING PROJECT IN AN A_MOUNT NOT TO EXCEED
$100,000
Item #16C1
CONTRACT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND TECH OF COLLIER COUNTY, INC.
(FORMERLY TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER FOR THE HANDICAPPED, INC.) TO
PERFORM LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1996/97
Item #16C2
BID #96-2504 RELATIVE TO THE OPERATION OF A HARINE FUEL CONCESSION
FACILITY TO BE LOCATED AT THE BAYVIEW COUNTY PARK SITE - REJECTED
Item #16D1
FORMAL BID PROCESS WAIVED; APPROVAL OF ANNUAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION IN THE A_MOUNT
OF $57,782.00
Item #16D2
AGREEHENT PROVIDING FOR A HAXIHUH EXPENDITURE (REALLOCATION) OF $10,000
FROM THE GAC LAND TRUST FOR ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH
THE NORTH GOLDEN GATE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FACILITY (HEDIC 12)
Item #16D3
APPROVAL AND EXECUTION OF SATISFACTION OF NOTICE FOR PROMISE TO PAY AND
AGREEMENT TO EXTEND PAYMENT OF WATERAND/OR SEWER SYSTEM IMPACT FEES
Item #16D4
APPROVAL OF HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT BETWEEN ANTHEM LIFE INSURANCE
COMPANY AND COLLIER COUNTY IN EXCHANGE FOR A REFUND OF PREMIUM IN THE
A_MOUNT OF $969,887 PLUS ACCRUED INTEREST
Item #16D5
APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT WITH FIRST HEALTH, INC. AS THE COUNTY'S GROUP
HEALTH CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION COMPANY UNDER A JOINT PURCHASE PROJECT
WITH THE CITY OF NAPLES AND THE COLLIER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
Item #16D6
APPROVAL OF REQUIRED ADVERTISEMENT TO SELL THE PROPERTY FORMERLY KNOWN
AS THE LANDFILL EXTENSION PROPERTY
Item #16D7
LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND ROGER CARVALLO FOR OFFICE
SPACE AT COURT PLAZA III IN THE MONTHLY A_MOUNT OF $1,376 FOR TWO YEARS
WITH ONE ADDITIONAL TWO YEAR TERM
Item #16El
APPROVAL OF AIRPORT AUTHORITY BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $20,000
Item #16E2
BUDGET AMENDMENT APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD AND EXPENDITURE BUDGETS
FOR OPEN PURCHASE ORDERS AT THE END OF FISCAL YEAR 1996 IN FISCAL YEAR
1997 IN THE AMOUNT OF $34,747,293.05
Item #16E3
APPROVAL OF BUDGET AMENDMENT 97-029
Item #16G1
CERTIFICATES FOR CORRECTION AS PRESENTED BY THE PROPERTY APPRAISER'S
OFFICE
1993 Real Property
No. Dated
248 and 250 1/29/96 & 9/30/96
1994 Real Property
209/210 10/29/96
1994 Tangible Personal Property
142 10/14/96
1995 Real Property
257 and 260 10/29/96
1996 Real Property
8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 1017, 1018 10/29 & 11/01/96
1996 Tangible Personal Property
1, 2, & 16 10/14 - 10/28/96
Item #1662
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE - FILED AND/OR REFERRED
The following miscellaneous correspondence as presented to the
Board of County Commissioners was filed and/or referred to the various
departments as indicated below:
Item #16H1
ACCEPTANCE OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEHENT BLOCK GRANTS PROGRAM AWARD FROH THE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, APPROVAL OF THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE PROGRAM TO
PROCURE EQUIPMENT TO REDUCE CRIME AND IMPROVE SAFETY IN COLLIER COUNTY
AND APPROVAL OF THE RELATED BUDGET AMENDMENT
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 3:51 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS
CONTROL
JOHN C. NORRIS, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK
These minutes approved by the Board on
as presented or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF DONOVAN COURT REPORTING
BY: Shelly Semmler and Christine E. Whitfield