BCC Minutes 10/27/2020 ROctober 27, 2020
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TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, October 27, 2020
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 9:00 a.m., in
REGULAR SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex,
East Naples, Florida, with the following members present:
Chairman: Burt L. Saunders
Andy Solis
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Donna Fiala
Penny Taylor
ALSO PRESENT:
Leo Ochs, County Manager
Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
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October 27, 2020
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
October 27, 2020
9:00 AM
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3 – Chair
Commissioner Andy Solis, District 2 – Vice-Chair
Commissioner Donna Fiala, District 1; CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5; CRAB Co-Chair
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO THREE
(3) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
REQUESTS TO PETITION THE BOARD ON SUBJECTS WHICH ARE NOT ON
THIS AGENDA MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING WITH EXPLANATION
TO THE COUNTY MANAGER AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF
THE MEETING AND WILL BE HEARD UNDER “PUBLIC PETITIONS.”
PUBLIC PETITIONS ARE LIMITED TO THE PRESENTER, WITH A
MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
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October 27, 2020
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED.
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-24, REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS
SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE
BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT.
IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY
ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING,
YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN
ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL,
SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380; ASSISTED
LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M.
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Reverend Sheila Zellers, Motivated By Love Ministries
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (ex
parte disclosure provided by commission members for consent agenda.)
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
C. RETIREES
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D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
4. PROCLAMATIONS
5. PRESENTATIONS
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. This item requires ex parte disclosure be provided by the Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance of the
Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida amending
Ordinance No. 04-74, the Orange Blossom Ranch Planned Unit
Development (PUD), to increase the maximum number of dwelling units
from 1,600 to 1,950; and providing an effective date. The subject property is
located on the north and south sides of Oil Well Road (C.R. 858)
approximately one mile east of Immokalee Road (C.R. 846) in Sections 13,
14 and 24, Township 48 South, Range 27 East, and Section 19, Township 48
South, Range 28 East, Collier County, Florida consisting of 616+/- acres.
[PL20180003155] (District 5)
B. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance 89-05, as
amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan, specifically
amending the Future Land Use Element to amend the Urban Mixed Use
Activity Center #7 to allow up to 265 multi-family residential rental
dwelling units in the Hammock Park Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development
in addition to commercial development, and furthermore directing
transmittal of the adoption amendment to the Florida Department of
Economic Opportunity. The subject property is located at the northeast
corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard, in Section 14,
Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida, consisting of
19.13± acres. (Adoption Hearing) [PL20180002804] (This is a companion to
Agenda Item #9.C) (District 1)
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C. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 07-30, the Hammock Park Commerce Centre
Commercial Planned Unit Development (CPUD), to allow up to 265 multi-
family rental dwelling units plus 80,000 square feet of commercial
development as an alternative to 160,000 square feet of retail and office
currently allowed; by changing the name of the CPUD from Hammock Park
Commerce Centre to the Hammock Park Mixed-Use Planned Unit
Development (MPUD); by revising the development standards; by amending
the Master Plan and revising developer commitments. The subject property
is located at the northeast corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier
Boulevard in Section 14, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier
County, Florida, consisting of 19.13± acres; and by providing an effective
date. [PL20180002813] (This item is a companion to Agenda Item #9.B)
(District 1)
D. Recommendation to approve by Resolution the single Petition within the
2018 Cycle Two of Growth Management Plan Amendments for an
Amendment specifically Proposed to the Golden Gate Area Master Plan
(GGAMP) Rural Golden Gate Estates Sub-Element to Establish the
Immokalee Road - Estates Commercial Subdistrict for Transmittal to the
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity for Review and Comments
Response. (Transmittal Hearing) [PL20160000221/CP-2018- 4]
(All Districts)
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. Recommendation to award Agreement No. 20-7708, Design-Build Veterans
Memorial Boulevard Extension, Phase I (County Project Number 60198), for
$10,065,000 to Quality Enterprises USA, Inc., and approve the necessary
budget amendments. (This is a companion to Agenda Item #9.B). (Jay
Ahmad, Director, Transportation Engineering Division) (District 2)
B. Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an
Interlocal Agreement with the Collier County Public School District for
certain costs incurred in the construction of the Design-Build Veterans
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Memorial Boulevard Extension, Phase I (County Project Number 60198) for
infrastructure and improvements, benefiting High School GGG and Veterans
Memorial Elementary School; in the amount of $1,382,720. (This is a
companion to Agenda Item #9.A). (Jay Ahmad, Director, Transportation
Engineering Division) (District 2)
C. Recommendation to accept the Phase 2 appropriation of CRF funding to
Collier County and approve additional allocations to the Collier CARES
program for distribution of the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) due to
changes in State guidance. (Sean Callahan, Executive Director, Corporate
Business Operations). (All Districts)
D. Recommendation to approve the proposed Collier County State and Federal
Legislative and Administrative Priorities for 2021. (John Mullins,
Government Affairs Manager) (All Districts)
E. Recommendation to approve the FY 2021-2030 Collier County Transit
Development Plan Major Update. (Michelle Arnold, Director, Public Transit
& Neighborhood Enhancement Division) (All Districts)
F. Recommendation to accept the East Naples Community Development Plan
and direct staff to implement strategies identified therein. (Michele Mosca,
AICP, Principal Planner, Zoning Division) (District 1)
G. This item was continued from the October 13, 2020 BCC meeting.
Recommendation to approve an Agreement with the United Arts Council of
Collier County in support of achieving the strategies outlined in the Board
adopted Collier County Arts & Culture Strategic Plan; approve a waiver
from the competitive procurement process for the United Arts Council and
make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. (Sean Callahan,
Executive Director, Corporate Business Operations) (All Districts)
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
A. AIRPORT
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B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
A. Future Workshop Schedule (All Districts)
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16. CONSENT AGENDA - All matters listed under this item are considered to be
routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of
each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Board, that item(s) will
be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
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A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water
and sewer utility facilities for Vi at Bentley Village – Multi-Family
Building, PL20190001458, and authorize the County Manager, or his
designee, to release the Utilities Performance Security (UPS) and/or
Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $19,367.46 to the
Project Engineer or the Developer’s designated agent. (District 2)
2) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water
utility facilities and accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable
water utility facilities for the Goodwill at Pine Ridge Road Utility,
PL20200001429. (District 2)
3) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the final plat of SkySail – Phase One
(Application Number PL201900001066), approval of the standard
form Construction and Maintenance Agreement, and approval of the
amount of the performance security. (District 5)
4) Recommendation to approve the selection committee’s ranking for
Request for Professional Services (“RPS”) No. 19-7663R, “Naples
Manor Stormwater Improvements Preliminary Engineering Study,”
and authorize staff to begin contract negotiations with the top-ranked
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firm, Kisinger Campo & Associates, Corp., so that staff can bring a
proposed agreement back for the Board’s consideration at a
subsequent meeting. (District 1)
5) This item was continued from the October 13, 2020, BCC
meeting. Recommendation to accept the Sub-Award and Grant
Agreement with the Florida Division of Emergency Management
(FDEM) for funding in the amount of $60,000 under the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant
Program for the design of the Big Cypress Golf and Country Club
Drainage Improvements and authorize necessary budget
amendments. (District 4)
6) Recommendation to direct the County Manager to review the Coastal
Advisory Committee’s proposed approach to addressing potential
water quality issues affecting the County’s bays, estuaries, inlets, and
shoreline and provide findings to the Board of County
Commissioners at a future meeting. (All Districts)
7) Recommendation for an after the fact approval to advertise and hold
a public hearing to be held on November 10, 2020, an Ordinance
amending the Land Development Code relating to a time period
extension of the Transfer of Development Rights Early Entry Bonus
Credits from Sending Lands in the Rural Fringe Mixed Use District
Overlay, to revise the procedures and approval process for
Comparable Use Determinations, to modify the timeframes and
process for review of applications for development orders in the
Stewardship Receiving Area, and to establish an approval process
and development standards for special events which take place in
County right-of-way as directed by the Board of County
Commissioners (Board) on October 22, 2019. (All Districts)
8) Recommendation to amend Resolution No. 2019-123 which re-
established the Property Assessment Clean Energy (PACE) for
commercial, industrial, and multifamily properties in Collier County,
revising the standard form membership agreement with PACE
providers and authorizing the County Manager or designee to
implement and execute non-substantive amendments to the standard
form membership agreement. (All Districts)
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9) Recommendation to adopt a Resolution amending Resolution 2017-
184, relating to the Stewardship Sending Area with a designation as
“CLH SSA 14”; approving the extension of certain dates to
November 18, 2021, in the Stewardship Sending Area credit
agreement for CLH SSA 14 and the Escrow agreement for CLH SSA
14. (District 5)
10) Recommendation to adopt a Resolution amending Resolution 2017-
186, relating to the Stewardship Sending Area with a designation as
“CLH and CDC SSA 16”; approving the extension of certain dates to
November 18, 2021 in the Stewardship Sending Area credit
agreement for CLH and CDC SSA 16 and the Escrow agreement for
CLH and CDC SSA 16. (District 5)
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
1) Recommendation to approve a Development Agreement between
Metropolitan Naples, LLC (successor to Real Estate Partners
International, LLC) (Purchaser) and the BCC, regarding certain
property benefits in connection with the sale and development of
5.27 acres of property located in the Bayshore Gateway Triangle
Community Redevelopment Area. (District 4)
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid (“ITB”) #20-7723,
“Uninterrupted Power Systems,” for preventative maintenance, to:
LBS Power Technologies, Inc., as primary vendor, Facility Gateway
Corporation, as secondary vendor, and Precision Power Services, Inc.
as tertiary vendor; and, for on-call services, to: Eola Power, LLC, as
primary vendor, LBS Power Technologies, Inc., as secondary vendor,
and Fakouri Electrical Engineering, Inc. as tertiary vendor. (All
Districts)
2) Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid (“ITB”) #20-7745,
“HVAC Supplies and Customized Parts,” to JSFM, Inc., d/b/a
Johnstone Supply. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to authorize a budget amendment for the Facilities
Management Division in the amount of $14,000,000 to fund two (2)
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Infrastructure Sales Surtax Projects under the following categories:
HVAC, Roofing, and Capital Equipment Replacement at Sheriff’s
and County Facilities and EMS Substations. (Projects #50214 and
#55212) (All Districts)
4) Recommendation to authorize a Budget Amendment in the amount of
$3,475,036 for Capital Improvements for the Collier County
Courthouse, Building L, and approve the utilization of Court
Maintenance Fee funding in Fund 181. (District 1)
5) Recommendation to approve the selection committee’s ranking and
authorize staff to begin contract negotiations with the top ranked
firm, Schenkel & Shultz Inc., concerning Request for Professional
Services (“RPS”) #20-7753, “Design Services for Collier County
EMS Stations,” so a proposed agreement can be brought back for the
Board’s consideration at a future meeting. (All Districts)
6) Recommendation to approve and execute a Fifth Amendment to
Lease Agreement with Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida,
Inc., to continue leasing space for the Senior Nutrition Program in
Immokalee. (District 5)
7) Recommendation to award Request for Quotation #20-5510, “CCSO
Jail Boiler Room Renovation,” under Agreement No. 19-7525,
Annual Agreement for General Contractor Services, to Capital
Construction, LLC., and authorize the issuance of a purchase order in
the amount of $418,080. (District 1)
8) Recommendation to approve an Agreement for Sale and Purchase for
the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Division to acquire 2.5
acres that adjoin County owned lands intended for its Resource
Recovery Business Park (“RRBP”) development. The total cost for
this transaction will not exceed $47,000 (Project #59012). (District 5)
9) Recommendation to award an Agreement for Bid (“ITB”) #20-7798,
Port of the Isles Hotel Demolition Project, to HONC Destruction,
Inc., in the amount of $388,444 and authorize the Chairman to sign
the attached agreement and related budget amendment. (District 1)
D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
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1) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign a
five- year Sovereignty Submerged Lands Lease Renewal with the
Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the
State of Florida at Cocohatchee River Park with an effective date of
June 25, 2020. (District 2)
2) Recommendation to approve a Budget Amendment for Facilities
Management in the amount of $13,344 for the renovations and
improvements at the Golden Gate Senior Center. (District 3)
3) Recommendation to authorize a Budget Amendment to recognize
interest earned for the period January 2020 through March 2020 and
April 2020 through June 2020 on advanced library funding received
from the Florida Department of State to support library services and
equipment for the use of Collier County residents. (All Districts)
4) Recommendation to approve one (1) Release of Lien for full payment
of $8,947.84, pursuant to Agreement for Deferral of 100% of Collier
County Impact Fees for Owner-occupied Affordable Housing
Dwellings. (All Districts)
5) Recommendation to advertise a proposed amendment to Collier
County Ordinance 2006-56, the Rock Road Improvement Municipal
Service Taxing Unit (MSTU), to amend the geographical boundaries
of the MSTU to remove properties that have been subdivided and
developed into a residential community and no longer derive benefit
from the MSTU. (District 5)
6) Recommendation to approve a Third Amendment to Agreement #18-
7243-NS with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office for the seasonal
traffic management services adjacent to the entrance to Delnor-
Wiggins State Park with an annual spend not to exceed $70,000 per
fiscal year. (District 2)
7) Recommendation to authorize expenditures for the sole source
purchase of Hoover irrigation pump systems and to approve the
attached Agreement with Hoover Pumping Systems Corporation.
(All Districts)
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8) Recommendation to waive contractual payment obligations for the
Barefoot Beach Concessionaire, Zack’s Food Cart Ministry Catering
Inc., from June 1 - October 9, 2020, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
(District 2)
9) Recommendation to approve a Second Amendment to Agreement
#19-7537 with Quest Corporation of America, Inc., to continue to
oversee the COVID-19 media campaign and related public assistance
and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached amendment.
(All Districts)
10) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a
Camp Host Volunteer Agreement for volunteers to temporarily reside
on property at the Conservation Collier Pepper Ranch Preserve.
(District 5)
11) Recommendation to approve: (a) Release of Lien, and (b)
Termination of Agreement Authorizing Affordable Housing Density
Bonus and Restrictions on Real Property as a result of full payment
of fees and satisfaction of the affordability period for Oakhaven
Apartments. (District 5)
12) Recommendation to approve the Amendment of Conservation
Easement with the South Florida Water Management District on
County-owned property at the Vanderbilt Beach Park. (District 2)
13) Recommendation to approve and authorize the chairman to sign three
(3) mortgage satisfactions for the State Housing Initiatives
Partnership loan program in the amount of $89,500 and the
associated Budget Amendments. (All Districts)
14) Recommendation to approve an “After-the-Fact” amendment and
attestation statement with the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest
Florida, Inc., Older American Act grant program for the Collier
County Services for Seniors to increase allocations, add services,
revise Attachment II Funding Summary, and revise Attachment IX
Budget Rate Summary and supporting Budget Amendments.
(All Districts)
15) Recommendation to approve an “After-the-Fact” amendment and
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attestation statement with the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest
Florida, Inc., CARES Act funding under the Older American Act
grant program for the Collier County Services for Seniors to revise
effective date and language, add Recreation Materials (Emergencies
Only) and revise Attachment VII Budget and Rate Summary.
(All Districts)
16) Recommendation to approve the Chairman to sign the First
Amendment to Agreement #045-2020 between Florida Housing
Finance Corporation and Collier County to increase funding for the
Coronavirus Relief Fund and authorize the accompanying Budget
Amendment. (All Districts)
17) Recommendation to approve an “After-the-Fact” amendment and an
attestation statement with Area Agency on Aging for Southwest
Florida, Inc., for the Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program to
increase funding in the amount of $23,329.35 and to extend the
contract period to March 31, 2021, increasing the annual benefit
amount and approve the supporting Budget Amendment.
(All Districts)
18) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign two
(2) State Housing Initiatives Partnership program agreement
amendments between Collier County and (a) Habitat for Humanity of
Collier County, Inc. and (b) Rural Neighborhoods Incorporated to
increase funding, incorporate additional Local Housing Assistance
Plan language and extend the performance period. (All Districts)
19) Recommendation to authorize expenditures exceeding the $50,000
competitive threshold in Collier County Procurement Ordinance
2013-69, as amended, for Robert Half International, Inc., and Premier
Staffing, to continue to provide temporary personnel services for
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
administrative assistance. (All Districts)
20) Recommendation to approve the submittal of an application, accept
the FY20-21 Florida Developmental Disabilities Council (FDDC)
Transportation Voucher Project funding for $150,000 to provide
same- day on-demand transportation service to persons with
disabilities and authorize the necessary Budget Amendment. (All
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October 27, 2020
Districts)
E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve an Interlocal Agreement for Mutual Aid
between Collier County and Hendry County for Emergency Medical
Services (EMS). (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to approve the administrative report prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for disposal of property and
notification of revenue disbursement. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to approve the sale and disposal of surplus assets
per Resolution 2013-095 via public auction on December 11 and 12,
2020; approve the addition of surplus items received subsequent to
the approval of this Agenda Item for sale in the auction; and
authorize the Procurement Director, as designee for County Manager,
to sign for the transfer of vehicle titles. (All Districts)
4) Recommendation to approve the administrative reports prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for change orders and other
contractual modifications requiring Board approval. (All Districts)
5) Recommendation to renew the annual Collier County’s Certificate of
Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) for Collier County
Emergency Medical Services to provide Class 1 Advanced Life
Support Transport (ALS) for one year and authorize the Chairman to
execute the Permit and Certificate. (All Districts)
6) Recommendation to approve the purchase of Group Health
Reinsurance through SunLife in the estimated amount of $346,872
effective January 1, 2021. (All Districts)
7) Recommendation to approve an Agreement with Braxton College to
provide EMS supervised skill training and experience to students
enrolled in Emergency Medical Services Technology Programs.
(All Districts)
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
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October 27, 2020
1) Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions or insurance proceeds)
to the Fiscal Year 2020-21 Adopted Budget. (All Districts)
2) Recommendation to approve a report covering two budget
amendments impacting reserves and moving funds in an amount up
to and including $25,000 and $50,000, respectively. (All Districts)
3) Recommendation to recognize Mona Vega, Public Services, Library
Division as the September 2020 Employee of the Month.
(All Districts)
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
I. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
1) Miscellaneous Correspondence (All Districts)
J. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
1) Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose
for invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of October
21, 2020. (All Districts)
2) To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the
check number (or other payment method), amount, payee, and
purpose for which the referenced disbursements were drawn for the
periods between October 1, 2020 and October 14, 2020 pursuant to
Florida Statute 136.06. (All Districts)
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chair to execute a
Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release in the lawsuit styled Cara
McElderry v. Collier County, et al. (Case No. 19-CA-2441), now
pending in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and
for Collier County, Florida, for the sum of $4,500. (All Districts)
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2) Recommendation to appoint a member to the Golden Gate
Community Center Advisory Board, and to declare a vacancy.
(District 3)
3) Recommendation to appoint four members to the Affordable Housing
Advisory Committee. (All Districts)
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17. SUMMARY AGENDA - This section is for advertised public hearings and
must meet the following criteria: 1) A recommendation for approval from
staff; 2) Unanimous recommendation for approval by the Collier County
Planning Commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present
and voting; 3) No written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the
Collier County Planning Commission, other authorizing agencies or the
Board, prior to the commencement of the BCC meeting on which the items
are scheduled to be heard; and 4) No individuals are registered to speak in
opposition to the item. For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all
participants must be sworn in.
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A. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 09-15, as amended, the Heavenly Community
Facility Planned Unit Development, to increase the maximum size of the
house of worship use to 35,000 square feet; to increase the accessory uses to
88,000 square feet; to remove the daycare and school permitted accessory
uses; to add outdoor recreational areas, playgrounds and playlots as
permitted accessory uses; to eliminate Tract A and Tract B references; to
modify the conceptual PUD master plan; to delete Exhibit G, depiction of
vertical building, Exhibit H, architectural renderings and Exhibit I,
conditions of approval; add a deviation regarding chain link fencing; and add
a deviation regarding paved aisles for the area utilized for grass overflow
parking. The property is located at 6926 Trail Boulevard between Ridge
Drive and Myrtle Road in Section 3, Township 49 South, Range 25 East,
Collier County, Florida consisting of 15.93± acres; and by providing an
effective date. [PL20190002323] (District 2)
B. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
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October 27, 2020
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve a Resolution for the
establishment of a conditional use to allow a sports instructional school and
camp for shooting instruction and training within an Agricultural (A) zoning
district in the Area of Critical State Concern and Special Treatment overlay
(ACSC/ST), pursuant to Section 2.03.01.a.1.c.19 of the Collier County Land
Development Code for a 10.77+/- acre property located on the west side of
State Road 29, approximately 8 miles south of I-75, in Section 7, Township
51 South, Range 30 East, Collier County, Florida. [PL20190001278]
(District 1)
C. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance No. 89-05,
as amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan for the
unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, specifically amending the
Future Land Use Element and Future Land Use Map and Map Series by
amending the Urban Commercial district to add the Greenway-Tamiami
Trail East Commercial subdistrict to allow development of up to 20,000
square feet of C-3, commercial intermediate uses and furthermore, directing
transmittal of the adopted amendment to the Florida Department of
Economic Opportunity; providing for severability and providing for an
effective date. The subject property is located at the northwest corner of the
intersection of Tamiami Trail East and Greenway Road in Sections 12 and
13, Township 51 South, Range 26 East, consisting of 2.81± acres;
[PL20180002507] [Adoption Hearing] (This is a companion to Agenda Item
#17.D). (District 1)
D. This item requires ex parte disclosure be provided by the Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 2004-41, as amended, the Collier County
Land Development Code, which established the comprehensive zoning
regulations for the unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, by
amending the appropriate zoning atlas map or maps by changing the zoning
classification of the herein described real property from a Rural Agricultural
zoning district to a Commercial Intermediate District (C-3) zoning district to
allow up to 20,000 square feet of commercial development for property
located at the northwest corner of Tamiami Trail East (US 41) and
Greenway Road, in Sections 12 and 13, Township 51 South, Range 26, East,
Collier County, Florida, consisting of 2.81+/- acres; and by providing an
effective date. [PL20180002374] (This is a companion to Agenda Item
#17.C) (District 1)
Page 17
October 27, 2020
E. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance No. 89-05,
as amended, the Collier County Growth Management Plan for the
unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, specifically amending the
Future Land Use Element and Map Series by amending the Urban
Commercial District to add the Bay House Campus Commercial Subdistrict
to allow development of up to 160 hotel rooms or assisted living facilities up
to 250 beds, and up to 400 seats of restaurant uses. The subject property is
located in the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Tamiami Trail North
and Walkerbilt Road in Section 21, Township 48 South, Range 25 East,
Collier County, Florida, Florida, consisting of 8.67± acres.
[PL20190000850] [Adoption Hearing] (This is a companion to Agenda Item
17.F). (District 2)
F. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance
amending Ordinance Number 13-65, the Bay House Campus Commercial
Planned Unit Development, to increase the number of hotel units from 50 to
160; to increase the height of principal structures to 75 feet zoned and 90
feet actual; to add assisted living facilities up to 250 beds as a permitted use
in addition to the allowed 400 seats of restaurant/cocktail lounge uses; and to
remove the accessory culinary school use; on property located in the
northwest quadrant of the intersection of Tamiami Trail North and
Walkerbilt Road in Section 21, Township 48 South, Range 25 East, Collier
County, Florida, consisting of 8.67 +/- acres; and by providing an effective
date. (Companion item to Agenda Item 17.E) (District 2)
G. Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating carry forward, transfers and supplemental revenue) to the
Fiscal Year 2020-21 Adopted Budget. (All Districts)
18. ADJOURN
Inquiries concerning changes to the Board’s Agenda should be made to the County
Manager’s Office at 252-8383.
October 27, 2020
Page 2
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ladies and gentlemen, the
meeting of the County Commission will please come to order.
We have with us this morning for our invocation Reverend
Sheila Zellers from the Motivated by Love Ministries. I want to
welcome you this morning and thank you for getting us started.
After the invocation, if everyone would please rise.
Commissioner Fiala, if you'd lead us in the pledge after the
invocation.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE –
INVOCATION GIVEN
REVEREND ZELLERS: Dear Heavenly Father, in the name
of Jesus, we come to you today on behalf of our Collier County,
County Commissioners and the people represented. We ask for
unity, health, safety, kindness for our leaders and our community.
We ask you to watch over those who serve in government,
armed forces, front-liners, service industries, schools, and businesses.
I petition your hope to cover our county and our country.
Proverbs 13:12 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick but a
longing fulfilled tree is a tree of life; penned by King Solomon in the
10th Century BC and still holds true today. With all the unrest in
our nation, may your liberty and justice come to us all saturated with
a healing love between all mankind.
In the '60s, Diana Ross sang a song, and it said, what the world
needs now is love, sweet love; that's the only thing that there's just
too little of. God, we pray today that you will give us bipartisan
decisions to the commissioners, that they will have wisdom beyond
October 27, 2020
Page 3
their years, in sight for next generations, and hope for our community
to still be the greatest community I've ever lived in and for these
people who are represented today, that they will feel that you are the
peace, the hope, and the love that we need to live in Collier County as
a community drawn together in one spirit to produce hope and
kindness for all.
In the name of the father, son, and the holy ghost, and Jehovah
God's name, I pray, amen.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And please put your hands over
your hearts and say with me:
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Ochs, good morning.
MR. OCHS: Good morning, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: If you would take us through the
agenda, we'll start off with -- if there are any changes or addenda to
the agenda.
Item #2A
APPROVAL OF TODAY'S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX PARTE
DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR
CONSENT AGENDA.) - APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED
W/CHANGES (COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL ABSTAINED
FROM ITEM #16C6)
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. These are the proposed agenda changes
for the Board of County Commissioners' meeting of October 27th,
2020.
First proposed change is to continue Item 9A to your
November 10, 2020, BCC meeting. This is an ordinance considering
October 27, 2020
Page 4
an amendment to the Orange Blossom Ranch Planned Unit
Development. That request for continuance is made by the
petitioner.
The next proposed change is to move Item 16A8. This is a
discussion of an amended resolution regarding the Property
Assessment Clean Energy Program for commercial, industrial, and
multifamily properties in the county. That item is moved at
Commissioner Taylor's question.
And I have one agenda note, Commissioners. Items 11A and
11B on the agenda today are listed as companion items, and that's
true; however, there's an incorrect reference in the agenda index titles
that those are companions to 9A and 9B. That's actually -- they're
companions to 11A and 11B.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Thank you.
Let's go to the Commission and see if there are any changes and
also if you have any disclosure -- ex parte disclosure on the consent
agenda and summary agenda. We'll start with Commissioner
McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you go to someone else.
My stuff's not up here, so...
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No disclosures and -- or ex
parte at all on the consent agenda, and no changes to the agenda.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Let's see. The only disclosure I
have is on 17F on the summary agenda. On the Bay House Campus
Commercial Planned Unit Development, I had some meetings with
the owner and the representative, and then I had a call recently with
the owner. I would just like to mention on -- maybe the manager can
help me on this. There's an item, I believe it's on the consent
October 27, 2020
Page 5
agenda, relating to the CAC.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. That's Item 16A6.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: 16A6, sorry. I didn't bring my
note and -- relates to some recommendations from the Coastal
Advisory Committee. And I'd just like to ask, if I can get a
consensus, to ask staff to bring that back, say, on our -- one of our
first meetings in January, beginning of the year to discuss. Those
recommendations have to do with trying to improve water quality and
that sort of thing.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me ask a question, if I might.
The agenda item is just directing staff to review that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We can have them review that and
put it on our agenda.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. That's all I'm asking is that
once they review it, to bring it back in January so we can have a
discussion.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. So we're not taking that
off the consent agenda?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No, no. I didn't want to take it off.
I just wanted to see if we can get that back to us sooner rather than
later.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. Ochs, any problem with that?
MR. OCHS: No, sir. We're happy to have that back to you no
later than the second meeting in January.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. That's fine. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Other than that, I have no other
disclosures or changes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. No disclosures on the
October 27, 2020
Page 6
consent nor the summary agenda.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. I have no changes and no
ex parte disclosures as well.
Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm ready now.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it was a lot of fuss for
nothing. I don't have any adjustments or disclosures except for one
abstention on C6, just in an abundance of caution. I'm on the board
of Goodwill, and we're entering into an arrangement with them, and
so I'm abstaining from voting on C6.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. That's Agenda Item 16C6?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Completely in support of it.
I just --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: 16, consent agenda. 16C6.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: C6, 16C6.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Good.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. So you're abstaining
from that?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: If there are no changes,
Mr. Klatzkow, do you have any?
MR. KLATZKOW: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I generally ask the Clerk if she has
any. I assume that you do not.
MS. KINZEL: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Then we're ready for a
motion on the consent agenda.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second.
October 27, 2020
Page 7
All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
October 27, 2020
Continue Item 9A to the November 10, 2020 BCC Meeting: This item requires ex parte disclosure
be provided by the Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants
are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance of the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida amending Ordinance No. 04-74, the Orange Blossom
Ranch Planned Unit Development (PUD), to increase the maximum number of dwelling units from
1,600 to 1,950; and providing an effective date. The subject property is located on the north and
south sides of Oil Well Road (C.R. 858) approximately one mile east of Immokalee Road (C.R. 846)
in Sections 13, 14 and 24, Township 48 South, Range 27 East, and Section 19, Township 48 South,
Range 28 East, Collier County, Florida consisting of 616+/- acres. [PL20180003155] (Petitioner’s
request)
Move Item 16A8 to Item 11H: Recommendation to amend Resolution No. 2019-123 which re-
established the Property Assessment Clean Energy (PACE) for commercial, industrial, and
multifamily properties in Collier County, revising the standard form membership agreement with
PACE providers and authorizing the County Manager or designee to implement and execute non-
substantive amendments to the standard form membership agreement. (Commissioner Taylor’s
request)
Note: Item 11A and 11B are companion items. The agenda titles incorrectly show they are
companions to Items 9A and 9B.
11/17/2020 10:22 AM
October 27, 2020
Page 8
Item #3D
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH - RECOGNIZING MONA VEGA –
LIBRARY DIVISION
Mr. Ochs, I think we're down to the Employee of the Month.
MR. OCHS: That's correct, sir. This is Item 16F3 on your
consent agenda this morning. It's a recommendation to recognize
Mona Vega, Public Services Library Division, as the September 2020
Employee of the Month.
Mona is a Library Assistant at the Golden Gate library branch
and has been with the county since 2000. During the early stages of
the pandemic, departments were authorized to consider alternate
assignments for people whose positions were affected by closures.
EMS requested help in their supply warehouse, and Mona
volunteered. She reported to the EMS supply team, bringing the
warehouse team to a total of three. The warehouse handles all the
uniforms and ambulance controlled and noncontrolled supplies
supplying all 25 EMS and fire stations occupied by EMS units.
Mona has been employed with the county for over 20 years, but
had no background in the EMS world. Her lack of EMS knowledge
was only temporary. The EMS supply team introduced her to the
organizational flow, and she embraced the new knowledge and
quickly made herself a valuable and contributing member of their
team.
Mona learned to operate the EMS online inventory system to
approve and poll station supply orders daily. She boxed up orders,
labeled them, and loaded them in the supply van. She also assisted
in tracking expired medications that get sent to the reverse
distributor, including maintaining the spreadsheets, pricing, and
quantities.
October 27, 2020
Page 9
Unexpectedly, both EMS supply team members were out sick on
the same day, and Mona rose to the challenge by handling the daily
activities of the warehouse by herself just like an old pro.
The EMS supply team is so grateful to have been blessed with
Mona's assignment to their department and her incredibly dedicated
service to their team.
Mona's made an enormous impact, and it makes her very
deserving of this award.
Commissioners, it's my honor to recognize Mona Vega from
your Library Division as the September 2020 Employee of the
Month.
Congratulations, Mona.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Too bad we can't see her and give
her a big congratulations. That sounds like a wonderful person.
MR. OCHS: Yeah, she sure is, Commissioner. Thank you.
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OF FUTURE AGENDA
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, that takes us this morning to
Item 7, public comments on general topics not on the current or
future addenda.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Just for the information of the
Commission, I don't have the little thing that alerts me to when
commissioners want to speak, so -- just yet. We're working on
getting that fixed.
MR. MILLER: I'm working on it, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: So, if I miss you, I'm not trying to
October 27, 2020
Page 10
ignore you. Just -- I'll try to keep up with everybody.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We must have worn it out.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We've had quite a few speakers,
so it could be.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It was the TDC meeting
yesterday.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Very contentious.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have -- under public
petitions -- or comments. I'm sorry. No. 7.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. We have a total of
five registered speakers, two here in the room and three remote.
Your first speaker is Kristina Hauser. She will be followed by
Laurie Harris, and then Hyla Crane.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And we limit the speakers to three
minutes.
MR. MILLER: That's correct, sir, yes.
Ms. Hauser, you have three minutes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MS. HAUSER: Thank you. Good morning.
This morning I was welcomed here in the lobby by being
instructed by your security officers that I'm not allowed to enter the
building without a mask. This is the first time I'm encountering this
issue in spite of you having your unlawful mandate in place for quite
some time now. I don't think that that's the way that you should be
treating members of the public that are coming to address this board.
So, I hope that you'll address that. Fortunately --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: You are in the building, so...
MS. HAUSER: Yes, because fortunately --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Successfully.
MS. HAUSER: Well, what happened was they called the
Sheriff on me, and the sheriffs seem to be the only ones in Collier
October 27, 2020
Page 11
County, other than the two liberty-loving commissioners, that are
operating with any common sense these days, and they permitted
me -- directed your security to let me in the building.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Congratulations on getting in.
MS. HAUSER: No thanks to you.
So, what I'm here to talk about is the illegal mask mandate, as
I'm sure you can guess. Last time we were here, on Thursday, you
purportedly enacted a new order, but it's interesting because you
advertised the meeting to be for consideration of an extension of the
prior order, and you never actually advertised a new order. In fact,
after the public comment had concluded, I watched you distribute the
order that you and the County Attorney drafted to your fellow
commissioners. So, apparently, they didn't even hav e it beforehand.
So, you never actually held a public hearing or heard public
comment on that revised order. And pursuant to Section 2-36 of
your Code of Ordinances, there shall be an official agenda for each
meeting of the board which shall determine the order of business
conducted at the meeting. The board shall not take action upon any
matter, proposal, report, or item of business not listed upon the
official agenda.
I have your agenda from the last meeting here, and it says,
special meeting to consider extending the emergency/executive order
of the Board of County Commissioners.
So, as I stated, since that was not advertised, that was not on the
agenda, that order is, in fact, illegal, null and void, and I hope that no
business in the county will try to enforce it.
In addition, the same section of the code, 2-36, says that prior to
the publishing of the agenda, matters placed on the agenda should
include as much supporting documents, information, and materials as
is needed to aid the Board in its preparation and deliberation of the
agenda item. Documentation, information, and materials will not be
October 27, 2020
Page 12
accepted by the Board following publication of the agenda unless
offered by a commissioner or the County Manager. Should
additional documents, information, and materials be presented to the
Board following publication, the Board may, by a majority vote of
those present, elect to either continue the agenda item to a future
board meeting or waive this requirement and hear the matter if it
determines the agenda item is of significant public importance.
There was never this discussion amongst the Board so, therefore,
once again, it's illegal.
Also -- I wish I had more time -- at the last meeting you stated
that you would give additional time to medical experts presenting
information contrary to that presented by your board of health;
however, you only stated that at the beginning of the meeting, so that
didn't give an opportunity for any medical experts to attend or to be
present. So, when you hopefully will hold this second public
hearing, you should make that announcement in advance to give them
that opportunity.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Your time is up. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Laurie Harris. She will
be followed by Hyla Crane and then Steven Bracci.
Ms. Harris, you have three minutes.
MS. HARRIS: Thank you.
Good morning, Commissioners. Sadly, you chose to extend
your illegal mandate for six months. I assume that's only because
you didn't want to deal with the public in three months.
So, since it's six months, this disease must be much more
infectious and deadly than we've been previously led to believe.
I sent you all an email cc'ing Commissioner Fiala and McDaniel
because, God bless them for their liberty-loving ways. For the rest
of you tyrants, you must know that this mandate -- the virus is much
more infectious than we've been made aware of. Why else would
October 27, 2020
Page 13
you extend the mask mandate? I'm sorry, face covering. Face
covering. It doesn't have to be a mask. It could be a face covering.
Any face covering. And when any face covering will do, it's no
longer about my health. It's about my obedience, and I will not be
obedient to an illegal face covering.
So now that we have these illegal face coverings, infected, used
face coverings, how do you intend for us to dispose of them?
Clearly, they are now a medical biohazard and should be treated as
medical waste.
So, do we keep them at home in a plastic bag and then take them
to a drop-off facility? Maybe one at urgent care places or the
hospitals. You know, those red, medical biohazard waste containers.
Will they be set up all over Collier County? What about the ones
that are now discarded in the parking lots? On the beach? I see
them everywhere. I can't come within six feet of it because it's
infected with the virus.
So, what is the plan for sanitation cleanup? Will there be a
special task force created? Training? Who's going to pick up these
biohazard waste infected mask -- face coverings?
And, finally, what will be the fines if we don't dispose of our
face coverings properly? Will they escalate?
So, what is the plan? I would like to know what the plan is to
discard of these infected, highest, deadliest virus we've ever known in
our whole lives that any face covering will do. I want to know what
the plan is to address the disposal of these masks. Where we go one,
we go all.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Hyla Crane. We have
Steven Bracci also registered online to speak after her. We don't
have him online right now. I'm going to continue to check on that.
But, Ms. Crane, are you with us online? Hyla Crane, are you
with us, ma'am?
October 27, 2020
Page 14
MS. CRANE: Yeah, I am, I am, but I need to be moved to, I
believe it's 11G. It has to do with the --
MR. MILLER: Thank you, ma'am. We'll take care of it.
MS. CRANE: Thank you, sir.
MR. MILLER: And we don't have Mr. Bracci on the line right
now, so that's all the registered speakers we have for Item 7, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. If there are no other
registered speakers, then we'll move on to Item 9A. Mr. Ochs.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. 9A was continued, Mr. Chairman, so
we're moving on to Items 9B and 9C, which are companion items,
and they'll be heard together and voted on separately. Let me read
both titles, sir.
Item #9B
ORDINANCE 2020-38: AMENDING ORDINANCE 89-05, AS
AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH
MANAGEMENT PLAN, SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE
FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT TO AMEND THE URBAN
MIXED USE ACTIVITY CENTER #7 TO ALLOW UP TO 265
MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL RENTAL DWELLING UNITS
IN THE HAMMOCK PARK MIXED-USE PLANNED UNIT
DEVELOPMENT IN ADDITION TO COMMERCIAL
DEVELOPMENT, AND FURTHERMORE DIRECTING
TRANSMITTAL OF THE ADOPTION AMENDMENT TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.
THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST
CORNER OF RATTLESNAKE HAMMOCK ROAD AND
COLLIER BOULEVARD, IN SECTION 14, TOWNSHIP 50
SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
CONSISTING OF 19.13± ACRES – ADOPTED
October 27, 2020
Page 15
Item #9C
ORDINANCE 2020-39: AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER 07-
30, THE HAMMOCK PARK COMMERCE CENTRE
COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (CPUD), TO
ALLOW UP TO 265 MULTI-FAMILY RENTAL DWELLING
UNITS PLUS 80,000 SQUARE FEET OF COMMERCIAL
DEVELOPMENT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO 160,000 SQUARE
FEET OF RETAIL AND OFFICE CURRENTLY ALLOWED; BY
CHANGING THE NAME OF THE CPUD FROM HAMMOCK
PARK COMMERCE CENTRE TO THE HAMMOCK PARK
MIXED-USE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (MPUD); BY
REVISING THE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS; BY
AMENDING THE MASTER PLAN AND REVISING
DEVELOPER COMMITMENTS. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS
LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF RATTLESNAKE
HAMMOCK ROAD AND COLLIER BOULEVARD IN SECTION
14, TOWNSHIP 50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF 19.13± ACRES; AND BY
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 9B is a recommendation to approve an
ordinance amending the Collier County Growth Management Plan
specifically to amend the urban mixed-use Activity Center No. 7 to
allow up to 265 multifamily residential dwelling units in the
Hammock Park Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development in addition to
commercial development and, furthermore, directing transmittal of
the adoption amendment to the Florida Department of Economic
Opportunity.
The companion item, 9C, requires that ex parte disclosure be
October 27, 2020
Page 16
provided by commission members, and all participants are required to
be sworn in. And this is a recommendation to approve an ordinance
amending the Hammock Park Commerce Center Commercial
Planned Unit Development to allow up to 265 multifamily residential
dwelling units plus 80,000 square feet of commercial development as
an alternative to the 160,000 square feet of retail and office currently
allowed.
And this subject property is located at the northeast corner of
Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's do our ex parte information,
and then we'll also swear in the witnesses. We'll start with
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Meeting, emails, and
phone calls.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Same; meetings, emails, and
phone calls.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Meeting with Mr. Yovanovich.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And, Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Meetings and emails, but I also
met with Rich Yovanovich and also David Torres a couple times.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I had the same
communications. I met or spoke over the phone with
Mr. Yovanovich and had emails and other correspondence.
Let's go ahead and swear in the witnesses, and we'll hear
testimony on both these items at the same time.
(The speakers were duly sworn and indicated in the affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning, Mr. Yovanovich.
MR. YOVANOVICH: I think where we left off the last time
was, we had finished the public hearing, and there was discussion
October 27, 2020
Page 17
amongst the commissioners about commercial square footage in the
area and restaurant space. So, since that time, we had an opportunity
to meet with Commissioner Fiala to further address her long-standing
desire to bring restaurants to this area of Collier County and District 1
in East Naples. And there was some questions about the amount of
commercial space available and future commercial space that could
occur and the concern about giving up approximately 140,000 square
feet of potential retail and office.
We had previously committed to providing a 5,000-square-foot
quality sit-down restaurant as part of the project, but we had not
committed to the timing of when that restaurant would occur. We
have provided a condition that would require that basically the first
certificate of occupancy for the project, before we can get any of the
residential units, we would have to have in place a quality sit-down
restaurant to serve the immediate vicinity.
Frankly, our hope is that this will actually be a catalyst to other
restaurants coming to the area because, as most of you know, most of
the national restaurants have numbers. It's purely a number game for
them. They don't really know the community.
So, our client has committed to invest in making sure a
restaurant comes to this area first. So that's the condition that's been
added.
Just from an overall how much retail is already in the area, how
much potential retail can be in the area, even if you gave up these
140,000 square feet, there's already, within the five -mile radius of
this piece of property, 3.9 million square feet retail. There's also
another 500 acres that would be eligible for retail. That would yield
approximately another 3 point -- 3,775,000 square feet. In the next
five years, the projected demand for retail in the area is
approximately 323,000 square feet.
So, the conversion of these acres to an apartment complex is not
October 27, 2020
Page 18
going to be a deterrent to future retail coming to the area. And as I
pointed out in the last meeting, we have, right across the street on
Rattlesnake, you know, a little less than 40 acres already programmed
for almost 600,000 square feet of retail and office.
So, with that, I'm hopeful that we have satisfied the concerns
that were raised during the commissioner discussion. Obviously, the
whole team is here to answer any questions you may have, but we're
hopeful that you can follow the Planning Commission's
recommendation of approval for both items as well as your staff's
recommendation of approval for both items.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, thank you. Yes. I've been
working closely with these gentlemen because we are -- as staff will
tell you, we are very, very low on any commercial properties in this
area, and that doesn't only mean restaurants.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We actually shop, too. But,
anyway, so I've been working closely, and because Mr. Torres owns
most of the commercial land in this area, but he also builds apartment
buildings, and he prefers to build apartment buildings, I was kind of
talking with them and kind of pleading wi th them to tell them how
much we need commercial but not more storage units. You know,
that's commercial, too, isn't it? So, you have to be selective in that.
Anyway, we've worked together well. They did guarantee that
they would build a restaurant, and I said, not another drive-through
because they're not going to work in that area as they've begun to
notice. And so, they did and they even gave the allowance that they
would get their CO before they even start to build the apartments.
And he said he wasn't going to convert any more of the -- of his
commercial land to more apartments because he recognizes the need
for this.
October 27, 2020
Page 19
And so, with that I'll make a motion to approve.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're taking a look at 9B and 9C.
So, the motion is to approve both 9B and 9C?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And there is a second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: May I just speak?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I didn't support this initially, but
I will support it now. But it's my understanding that the importance
of following a plan of activity centers which allot commercial is
critical as we go forward.
I understand the market is hot for residential right now, but I
think it is critically important that we put land aside for commercial
development. I'm very relieved to know there's 40 acres for office
development right there, but it kind of absolves you of this at this
point, and I will support it. But going forward, I think there is
consensus up here that commercial is critical for our future here.
And I respect the developer's need to follow the market, but we also
need to follow the plan. Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel, you had
a question.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I do. And maybe it's for
staff, or I can ask you. Did anybody apply -- did anybody apply the
CIGM to this particular area with regard to that? Because
that's -- no. Okay. Because that's an important aspect, a tool we
have to be able to make determinations of population/density and
then the needs to support that population and density.
MS. JENKINS: Good morning, Commissioners. Anita
Jenkins, your interim director.
We did not apply the CIGM to this project. This project has
October 27, 2020
Page 20
been in the process under review prior to the completion of the
CIGM. So at that time we did not have the CIGM to review this
particular area.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If I could ask, as we go
forward, when these conversions come about -- that model is an
amazing tool that we can use to make determinations as to what the
needs of the community are. It tells us a lot of things, where
commercial can be dispersed throughout the community and
infrastructure and such. So, obviously, I'm in support of the project,
but we have a tool that can actually help us make these decisions.
MS. JENKINS: And, Commissioner, I'm going to show you on
the next one how we did use that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And we're going to
have a chat about that on the next one.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
second to approve Items 9B and 9C.
I assume, Mr. Klatzkow, that the single motion will be
acceptable.
Any further questions or comments from the Commission?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, all in favor, signify
by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you.
October 27, 2020
Page 21
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Mr. Chair?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I got an email from
Mr. Bracci who said he was on the line, and --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- for some reason we –
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA – CONTINUED
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's revert back to public
comment. We'll go back to that. If you could get Mr. Bracci on the
line.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. I was just going to alert you to that.
We have fixed our issue, and we have Mr. Bracci available.
Mr. Bracci, are you online with us, please, sir?
MR. BRACCI: Yes, I am. Apparently, you guys will stop at
nothing to avoid the truth.
At the October 22 special meeting regarding masks, Chair
Saunders falsely represented that the meeting was a regular meeti ng.
No, it was a special meeting to address the expiring emergency mask
order.
Why did Chair Saunders make this false representation?
Because the county is becoming ensnared in its own tangled web of
procedural deception.
Florida Statutes provide that you cannot use an emergency order
to circumvent the four-fifths supermajority vote requirement to enact
an emergency ordinance, but the Board did so anyway on July 21.
Florida Statutes also provides that an emergency order cannot be
October 27, 2020
Page 22
renewed, but the Board did so anyway on September 3 to keep us in
masks.
Florida Statutes also provide that an emergency order cannot last
longer than 90 days, but on October 22, the 93rd day of the
emergency order, the Board renewed it for six more months. How
did they pull it off? First, the Board chair gleefully jumped on
Commissioner Fiala's suggestion that the emergency order simply be
allowed to expire. The Chair, in his infinite legal wisdom,
rationalized that if the order can lapse and then an almost identical
order is entered into a few minutes later, then it is a new order and
not a continuation of the same order. But this legal sophistry does
not hold water.
Florida Statutes provide that you cannot have an extension of an
emergency order on the same subject ma tter without engaging in full
rule-making. Does Commissioner Saunders really think that the
legislature is stupid or that he is so smart?
On October 22, County Attorney Klatzkow was asked if the
revised order was an emergency order. He stated that it i s not an
emergency order but rather a natural continuation of a prior order.
To further his point, he removed the term "emergency" from the title
as though we are all too stupid to see that it's still the same
emergency order.
Why did Mr. Klatzkow make that assertion that it's no longer an
emergency order? Because they know that an emergency order
cannot be renewed or last more than 90 days.
Not a single one of you commissioners asked the County
Attorney the next logical question: If it's not an ordinance and it's
not an emergency order, then what the hell is it, and what statute
allows you to enact it?
Mr. Klatzkow refuses to answer that. He simply falls back on
loose claims of police power. But a county board police power is
October 27, 2020
Page 23
not unfettered. It remains subject to the Florida legislature including
the procedural requirements that I have described.
On October 22, did anyone from the public even see a copy of
the proposed revised mask order before they voted on it? No, they
did not. This is how little Chair Saunders and his cohorts,
Commissioner Solis and Taylor, think of the public. We were not
even entitled to see the proposed order that would keep us in masks
for another six months.
The Saunders regime, backed by Commissioners Solis and
Taylor and the County Attorney, continue to run roughshod over the
procedural requirements designed to protect the Collier County
citizenry. To them, the ends justify the means. This is perhaps the
greatest threat to freedom imposed upon this citizenry since this
county's inception in 1923.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We'll move on.
Mr. Ochs?
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
Item #9D
RESOLUTION 2020-197: SINGLE PETITION WITHIN THE
2018 CYCLE TWO OF GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN
AMENDMENTS FOR AN AMENDMENT SPECIFICALLY
PROPOSED TO THE GOLDEN GATE AREA MASTER PLAN
(GGAMP) RURAL GOLDEN GATE ESTATES SUB-ELEMENT
TO ESTABLISH THE IMMOKALEE ROAD - ESTATES
COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT FOR TRANSMITTAL TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR
REVIEW AND COMMENTS RESPONSE – ADOPTED
October 27, 2020
Page 24
MR. OCHS: We move on to Item 9D. This is a
recommendation to approve by resolution a Growth Management
Plan amendment specifically amending the Golden Gate Area Master
Plan to establish the Immokalee Road Estates Commercial Subdistrict
for transmittal to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
for review and comment.
Again, Commissioners, this is a transmittal hearing.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MR. DAVIES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good morning.
MR. DAVIES: Noel Davies on behalf of the petitioner, an
affiliate entity of the Barron Collier Companies.
The project team is here with me today. Austin Howell is here
from Barron Collier; Wayne Arnold is our Professional Planner from
Q. Grady Minor & Associates; Norm Trebilcock is here from
Trebilcock Consulting Solutions, our Traffic Engineer; Bruce
Layman, with Peninsula Engineering, is our ecologist; and Russ
Weyer, with Real Estate Econometrics, is our economist.
This, as Mr. Ochs mentioned, is the transmittal hearing for the
large-scale Growth Management Plan. We do have a companion
PUD which is pending, but that is not before you today.
We are located immediately adjacent to the north of the
county-owned Randall Curve property. This here where the cursor
is the Randall Curve property. The subject assemblage,
approximately 20 acres, is comprised of these four parcels
immediately to the north.
This is our proposed master plan. Access to the site will be at
the existing signal at Orangetree Boulevard. We are proposing an
interconnection with our neighbor immediately to the north and also
an interconnection with our neighbor immediately to the south, the
October 27, 2020
Page 25
county-owned property.
We did hold a neighborhood information meeting. There were
some comments from the residents that live here on Fourth Street
Northeast relating to access on Fourth Street. We have
accommodated those concerns by eliminating any access from Fourth
Street. The only access will be from Immokalee Road. And this
finger parcel here, which is the only parcel that immediately abuts
Fourth Street, this area has been designated for water management
and preserve purposes only.
There were no public speakers at the Collier County Planning
Commission meeting, and your Planning Commission issued a
unanimous recommendation of approval. There is one caveat to that
recommendation which, frankly, is the reason that we are here today
on your main agenda and not on your summary agenda, and that's
20,000 square feet. That's why we're here this morning. Your
Planning Commission recommended transmittal to the state at
180,000 square feet, and we are requesting the 200,000 square feet.
So that difference, 20,000. Barron Collier did commission the
requisite market data and analysis. Mr. Weyer did that, from Real
Estate Econometrics, and we believe that analysis supports the
request for 200,000.
That concludes my brief presentation. I will t urn the floor back
to you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Are there any questions
or comments from the Commission? Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We had a discussion yesterday.
Do you have any visuals of what 20,000 square feet represent?
MR. DAVIES: So a representative example is a CVS or a
Walgreens. I believe that's between 15- and 18,000 square feet. So
just a little more than that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you. That's enough.
October 27, 2020
Page 26
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any other questions or
comments from the Commission?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have a few, but --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We do have some public
comment, so we can --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was going to say, we can
wait till after the public comment, and then I'll go.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I have one registered speaker,
Mike Ramsey. He was just here. Michael Ramsey.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He's out in the hall.
MR. MILLER: I knew if I said it loud enough. You have
three minutes, sir.
MR. RAMSEY: Good morning, Commissioners. My name's
Michael Ramsey. I'm the president of the Golden Gate Estates Area
Civic Association.
As you see, I've already sent you a letter. We were outlining
what we think is necessary for this with the residents of Fourth Street
Northeast.
We are a residential subdivision. The lots up and down Fourth
Street should be considered residential for single-family homes. The
one lot that I showed out on Fourth Street, the residents have
indicated and my group feels like this should not be used for
commercial retail activity, should not be used for any kind of access.
It does list in your amendment that it should be used for employees.
We disagree with that, too.
It should be closed off from any kind of access, ingress and
egress that relates to this operation. We do feel like it could be used
for a preserve or water retention/detention which would keep it in a
somewhat natural format.
In further discussions with the residents on Fourth Street
October 27, 2020
Page 27
Northeast, they would actually like you to consider not rezoning it.
I'm not going there yet. I'm going to listen to the residents.
So our recommendation is it can support proposed activity but
ingress or agrees or access from Fourth Street.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Before you go, Michael.
There was a discussion about emergency access out in the event of a
hurricane, tornado, natural disaster; a gated access out.
MR. RAMSEY: As I listed in my letter to you, if we got -- if
we need emergency access, we would agree that it should be gated
with only keys for an emergency vehicle or those issues.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We can look into that
between now and the actual adoption process. But it was a
discussion that I had with staff yesterday.
MR. RAMSEY: We understand that issue, but we don't agree
with any kind of access, ingress/agrees for the business.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Got it. Thank you.
MR. RAMSEY: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Is there a -- if you do, which I
understand is, at this point, contingent upon the next phase,
get -- access this --
MR. DAVIES: Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- interconnection from one
parcel to the other, would that not suffice for emergency exit?
Because I'm understanding this -- I'm looking at it as almost a T if
you could visually put this piece up here.
MR. DAVIES: Sure.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That is dedicated to water
issues; is that correct? Yes, water management. So that's not going
to be -- that's not going to have any kind of -- been able to use any
kind of transport over it, correct?
October 27, 2020
Page 28
MR. DAVIES: Correct, correct.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And so if you use these exits
on -- going north and south, wouldn't that suffice for emergency exit?
MR. DAVIES: I believe it would suffice, yes, Commissioner.
And, again, today is the transmittal hearing for the GMPA. So the
PUD is still in. And to the extent that staff's recommending
emergency access -- I mean, just to clarify the record, there is no
ingress and egress off of Fourth Street.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Mr. Casalanguida, you
and I had had a conversation, so I want you to indicate some of the
issues that you had.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sure. And I think it's an
opportunity, sir, thank you.
Noel, I think we'd talked about making sure, before this petition
comes back for adoption, that there's an interconnection agreement
completed and, you know, signed by both parties.
MR. DAVIES: Yes, sir.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: If we put that on the record, I think
the board members we've all spoken to will be a lot more
comfortable.
MR. OCHS: The abutting property.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: To the south.
MR. DAVIES: Yes, sir. And I believe that my client is
working through the detail -- the specific details of that agreement.
But with respect to committing today to enter into that agreement
prior to the second hearing, the adoption hearing with the companion
item for the PUD, that's agreeable, certainly.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Perfect.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have any further public
comment?
October 27, 2020
Page 29
MR. MILLER: No, sir. That was my only speaker for this
item.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I do have this device back here.
So if Commissioners have comments, just push your button.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Let's talk about
the -- well, first off, thank you. It was one of my notes,
Mr. Casalanguida, with regard to the signed cross-access agreement
with the property to the south.
MR. DAVIES: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It has to happen in writing
before we adopt this project.
There was some discussion about an emergency access. And I
understand that there's a lot of accesses coming and going, but you
just never know from an emergency perspective what, in fact, could
transpire, and that might be, again, gated and certainly never allowed
to -- one of the things we want to protect is Fourth Street and the
residents that are over there.
They all know that this has been a long time coming, that this is
going to be a commercial piece of property. But if it can be
facilitated, I'd like to explore it, but we don't have to -- I'm not
stomping -- I'm not stomping on that today.
I'd like to get to the larger looming issue, and that is the
Planning Commission's recommendation of 180,000 square feet and
your request for 20- -- or 200,000 and that 20,000 spread.
MR. DAVIES: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So why do you rationalize it,
and why is staff and the Planning Commission saying hold at 180-?
MR. DAVIES: Sure. So excellent question. First of all, a bit
about Mr. Weyer, who is here today. But I can summarize his
analysis. You know, Mr. Weyer, with Real Estate Econometrics,
October 27, 2020
Page 30
prepares these types of market analyses that you all have as a
requirement for your Comp Plan amendments. This is a very
specific detailed and nuanced analysis that applies to this specific
site.
Yes -- and, you know, I was watching the discussion on the last
item with respect to your county interactive growth model. You
know, that is certainly a very reliable metric, a very reliable system.
I'm not trying to cast doubt at that system today.
The distinguishing factor, in my opinion, really, is that this
is -- this is another layer of analysis. So, respectfully, if the
interactive growth model was the end-all, be-all for this specific site
or a specific site, I don't think there would be a requirement or a
need, frankly, for a private sector market analysis. And so the
thinking on that specific difference, Commissioner, is that there
are -- there are additional nuances and details that Mr. Weyer
provided in his analysis that go above and beyond the county model
as far as specifics to this precise area and the surrounding -- the
tighter surrounding geographic area, and that is -- that is the basis for
our position that the requisite data and analysis through Mr. Weyer's
report has been -- has been provided in compliance with your Comp
Plan requirements for amendments.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Now I have a
question for staff.
MR. DAVIES: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Does staff have a report on
this or --
MS. JENKINS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. JENKINS: Bear with me for just a moment.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And, Mr. McDaniel, as she's
preparing, do you want to hear from Mr. Weyer on that analysis?
October 27, 2020
Page 31
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, no. I'm okay with that,
unless somebody else wants to hear from him. I'm fine with that
analysis.
MS. JENKINS: Troy, can you help me get this full screen.
I'm not seeing the little "full screen" thing down here. Thank you.
Good morning, again. Anita Jenkins. Let me take this off. I
was accused of mumbling with my mask. We don't want to do that.
Staff is recommending approval of the Immokalee commercial
subdistrict, and we are requesting to limit the commercial to 180,000
square feet and also provide for the interconnections in the future,
both north and south.
A little bit more on the recommendation for 180,000 square feet.
We did use the CIGM to analyze this property. And the graphic that
you're seeing here is what we utilize from the petitioner in their
15-minute drive.
So just to orient you to this, the little yellow circle in the middle
is the proposed subject site, and then the yellow outline is the
15-minute drive. And they're capturing all the roads, and that's why
you see all the little squiggles.
You can also see that this captures nearly all of Golden Gate
Estates north in the rural area. So this goes -- you can see the lakes
at the bottom. You can see at the very bottom almost Golden Gate
City down there. So you're going down to Golden Gate Boulevard
and then all the way west of 951 for this 15-minute drive in analyzing
this area.
So what we found in the CIGM, that it identifies approxima tely
69,000 people in this area at this time, and there is 1.6, almost
1.7 million square feet of available commercial that is built and
vacant at this time in that area, and the CIGM captures that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Built?
MS. JENKINS: Built and vacant, yes.
October 27, 2020
Page 32
So we use the CIGM in five-year increments. So we can
analyze every five years what the projected population is going to be
in any given area, and then based on the CIGM and that relationship
between commercial need and population, we can determine what the
overall need would be in the future.
So when we analyzed this out to 2040, we see that population
growing to over 100,000 people in this specific area of this 15-minute
drive, and we also see that to support that 100,000 population, we
need additional commercial uses. These commercial uses are
analyzed based on community commercial, which is different than
regional commercial. And this is what the petitioner is asking for,
community commercial uses.
Very specific list that we went through with the petitioner, and
we agreed with the list of uses that they have. The CIGM told us
then that to support that population with those uses we need an
additional 178,000 square feet in this location for this population.
So that's where we came up -- the staff came up with a number
of 178,000. The Planning Commission made a recommendation to
approve the petition with the interconnections, also eliminating the
access to Fourth Street, and rounding it up to 180,000 square feet.
Also for your benefit, we are underway in a study that you
directed from the Golden Gate Area Master Plan for the Rural Estates
to study the area between Oil Well Road and Wilson, and the
differences in the transportation system that has undergone some
transformations and planning studies out there, we want to see how
the land uses and the transportation system are lining up now. That
study is underway, and so we're going to bring that back to you at
some point to make recommendations on changes -- further changes
to the land use in that area. But at this time the CIGM directs staff to
approximately 180,000 square feet for this particular location with
these particular community commercial uses.
October 27, 2020
Page 33
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I'm quite familiar with
the model, and I'm not familiar with this level of specificity for a
particular tract of land. And I'm wondering -- my question to you is
really quite simple, and it is, will the site accommodate 200,000
square feet and meet the zoning requisites, side -yard setbacks,
buffering, so ons and so forth?
MS. JENKINS: Commissioner, this is the transmittal hearing
for the Growth Management Plan. They have not brought back the
PUD. But if 200,000 square feet were approved, then they would
have to design the project to meet that requirement.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So we don't know yet until
we actually see what they're going to put and where they're going to
put it.
MS. JENKINS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. JENKINS: And this is transmittal.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I understand. I'm quite
aware of where we're at. I just was -- I was -- I'm just curious at this
stage where the spare is for an extra 20,000 square feet, and the
specificity of the model, in my personal opinion, is not that site
specific. It goes with a ring of a geographic area and an estimation
of population and the needs that are associated with that and to zero
back on one particular site with a 10 percent plus/minus on the
request and our recommendations and/or support, I think, is a minute
premature.
I also know -- I'm inclined to approve the project and transmit as
submitted at this particular stage. And then, do you have any idea
when we're going to have this study done with regard to the
infrastructure and the road system and so on and so forth?
MS. JENKINS: Yes. It will be coming back within the next
October 27, 2020
Page 34
six months.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. All right. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I have no particular
objection to approving this as requested by the petitioner, but when
this does come back, I'm going to have to have a good reason to vote
for the additional 20,000 versus the 180,000 that our CIGM would
indicate. So I'm going to need some real analysis on that. At that
point, Mr. Weyer will have to convince us, or at least convince me.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion for
approval as applied for.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
a second. Any further discussion on the motion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And I assume we have no other
speakers that have come up.
MR. MILLER: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. All in favor, signify by
saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. That passes
unanimously.
MR. DAVIES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you,
Commissioners.
October 27, 2020
Page 35
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. We'll move on to
Item #11A
AWARD AGREEMENT NO. 20-7708, DESIGN-BUILD
VETERANS MEMORIAL BOULEVARD EXTENSION, PHASE I
(COUNTY PROJECT NUMBER 60198), FOR $10,065,000 TO
QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., AND APPROVE THE
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS - APPROVED
Item #11B
AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH THE COLLIER
COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR CERTAIN COSTS
INCURRED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DESIGN-BUILD
VETERANS MEMORIAL BOULEVARD EXTENSION, PHASE I
(COUNTY PROJECT NUMBER 60198) FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
AND IMPROVEMENTS, BENEFITING HIGH SCHOOL GGG
AND VETERANS MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; IN
THE AMOUNT OF $1,382,720 – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. Items 11A and 11B are companion
items. We can take these separately for a vote. Item 11A is a
recommendation to award a contract for the design-build of the
Veterans Memorial Boulevard Extension Phase 1 to Quality
Enterprises USA, Incorporated, in the amount of $10,065,000, and
approve the necessary budget amendments.
Mr. Chairman, I'll read 11B as well, and that is a
recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign an
interlocal agreement with the Collier County Public School District
for certain costs incurred in the construction of the design -build of
October 27, 2020
Page 36
the Veterans Memorial Boulevard Extension Phase 1.
Mr. Ahmad will present.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MR. AHMAD: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners.
For the record, I'm Jay Ahmad, your Transportation Engineering
Director.
I have a presentation I can present, or if you have any questions.
I had the same presentation on -- within agenda item.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I would --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's go ahead and have the --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I would really like to hear this.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. Let's hear the presentation.
MR. AHMAD: Okay. This item is -- there are actually two
items. The first item is we're bringing an agreement for construction
and design of Veterans Memorial.
Just give you a location. Veterans Memorial Boulevard is a
proposed -- actually some of it exists to the elementary school,
Veterans Memorial Elementary School in this area. It extends
Veterans Memorial from Livingston all the way to -- Phase 1 to the
high school. The proposed high school, of course, is about to open
in 2023, in August in the fall of '23. So the need for this roadway
became somewhat urgent. It's always -- this project has always been
on the Long Range Transportation Plan and lately been on our
five-year work program.
So take you through the phases of the projects. We have
actually two phases, and the reason for that is the school urgency and
having to finish this project by -- before the school will open.
The first phase just from Livingston to the high school,
approximately 1.3 miles, and the second phase, from the high school
all the way to U.S. 41. There is a Phase 2A from Old U.S. 41 to
U.S. 41 but, essentially, that part will be designed from the school to
October 27, 2020
Page 37
U.S. 41 as one project. The last section dashed in green is currently
being evaluated for right-of-way and environmental.
The complex with Phase 2, of course, is there's a railroad.
There's environmental issues in here, and it will take a lot longer to
permit and design. Again, Phase 1 is from Livingston to the high
school. Phase 2 and 2A takes us to U.S. 41.
And the project, as I mentioned, is in the five-years program.
What we're building is a four-lane roadway. As you can see on
this sketch, an 11-foot lane in each direction, two lanes in each
direction, plus a bike lane five foot on each side and 6-foot sidewalks
on either side of the roadway.
Currently stormwater, there is a large area on the north side will
be used for dry detention, and there is a pond being proposed right
directly across from the high school that will take all that water from
our roadway into that wet pond.
The Phase 1, which you are approving the agreement today, with
Quality and Q. Grady Minor as a team of design-build. We are -- to
accelerate the schedule, we are designing and constructing at the
same time, and this methodology we can design and produce a
project before the high school.
We have today completed a noise abatement study. We got the
permit. Essentially no permits required from the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers. We also got permits from South Florida with our
in-house and with the help of some consultant sketches. We got
permits from South Florida Water Management District. And we
went out with a design-build contract with procurement, and you
approved the ranking of those three consultants -- or design
construction firms earlier, and today we're bringing a contract for
construction in the amount of $10,065,000.
So the schedule as follows: Today, hopefully we get your
approval for this item, and we intend to have a notice to proceed
October 27, 2020
Page 38
shortly after our folks from Risk, and contracting, before December,
a notice to proceed. There's a design stage phase to start with, and
then you'll start constructing shortly after with this team that we have.
One of the requirements that we have, essentially, in the
interlocal agreement is to have a temporary construction road to the
high school, about 30-foot construction road so they can build their
high school. By contract we have the substantial completion in
April of 2023 and a final by June of 2023 and, of course, those dates
are before the school opening of August 2023.
A companion item that Leo mentioned is an interlocal
agreement. We agreed with the school to build traffic lights that
serves the high school and also the elementary school, some turning
lanes, and signage and pavement marking, and some utilities. They
will pay approximately $1.3 million toward those improvements, and
they'll reimburse us about 60 days after they get it approved by the
school board, which is -- I think it's on the agenda of November 10th
school board meeting.
With that, I'm open to any questions.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes. Thanks, Jay.
And first, I'd just like to commend staff for the work that they've
been doing with some of the residents along this corridor. There's a
couple of neighborhoods. In particular, Imperial Estates there. I
know we've spoken with them. When Imperial was approved,
there's not much buffering. There's no -- there's no berm, really.
There's really nothing abutting or buffering the backside of Imperial
and where the road's going to be. And I just want to reiterate
that -- and I know you've spoken with them, that the noise mitigation,
they didn't meet the very strict guidelines for determining whether or
not a wall's required or not required, so there's -- they don't meet that
criteria for a sound barrier.
October 27, 2020
Page 39
But I'm urging staff to work through the design process for
Phase 2 with the neighbors to figure out a way to somehow mitigate,
you know, the proximity of the road to the back of the lots on
Imperial, because there's really no buffering or anything. You know,
nothing would be approved that way today. I think it was approved
so long ago. And I don't even -- when was Imperial approved? I
mean, that's been there for decades before I even got to Collier
County.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: At least.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's at least 40 years old, I think;
maybe 50.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was playing that in the early
'80s when I first moved here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I mean, it's -- so -- and I
know -- even looking at how we can assist with potentially even a
sound barrier if there was some contribution from Imperial.
So I just urge you to continue to do what you're doing through
this design process for Phase 2 to see what we can do. I know on the
other side -- nobody wants a road close to them, but there is -- I think
it's the Mediterra golf course and the maintenance facility. So see
what we can do to help the people that back up to Veterans in
Imperial, because I think -- you know, they're going to be the most
impacted by the road, and I hope that we can find a win-win solution
to this for everybody.
MR. AHMAD: Thank you, Commissioner. That is -- you're
definitely correct. We've been meeting with Imperial and Secoya
and all our neighbors, Mediterra on the north, and we are going to
continue to meet. We have scheduled public information meeting
once we have a designer on board, and some of the issues that they've
raised is essentially --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
October 27, 2020
Page 40
MR. AHMAD: -- what you described, the noise issues, the
maintenance of the canal, and others, and we will be looking at those
very closely, and hopefully we can come to an agreement with the
folks.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Has a neighborhood
information meeting been scheduled yet?
MR. AHMAD: Tentatively, once we have, in December, a
notice to proceed, we will allow the design team to come up with
some plans and -- design plans, and January/February time frame that
will work with season as well.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Well, just please let me
know when that's scheduled, and I'd like to put that in my newsletter
to make sure everybody knows when that's going to be scheduled.
MR. AHMAD: Will do.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you. That's all I have.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you'll go back to the
schedule screen that you have; if you'll jump back to that. Is that a
complete road, all three phases, or all of the phases, or is this just
one -- Phase 1?
MR. AHMAD: This is Phase 1 for approximately 1.3 miles. It
goes from Livingston to the high school.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you would go back to the
map that shows that just so we can delineate. This is just for -- this
Phase 1 goes, basically, Livingston to the high school now.
MR. AHMAD: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Estimate of Phase 2?
MR. AHMAD: Phase 2, we have it in our program for 2023.
It's essentially about $14 million. There are challenging issues with
permitting and the railroad and, of course, the right-of-way closer to
U.S. 41. We plan to solicit through procurement a design engineer
October 27, 2020
Page 41
not in this design-build process, a regular design, and then so we can
iron all these issues with environmental, railroad, right -of-way,
condemnation possibly, and 2023 we hope to be in construction for
those two sections shown in yellow and green.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Oh, boy, this has been a
long time coming. This is great to be moving forward.
Where is the railroad on this map?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Over here on Page 2.
MR. AHMAD: It's roughly right here. That's the railroad.
Right here; I'm sorry. This is the railroad. It's actually not an active
railroad. There had been discussion about abandoning this railroad
and whether the county can acquire that, so we are -- we are also
considering that issue, so that's why this Phase 2 moved to a later
date.
Hopefully we can make an agreement with the railroad and
acquire that right-of-way so we don't have to pay them for very
expensive crossing and permitting that they require, a lot of just the
fees --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good luck to you.
MR. AHMAD: -- hundreds of thousands.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, it's actually a question for the
Chair. I'm just wondering -- I know there was discussions with -- in
the Village of Estero and Lee County in terms of acquiring the
railroad or -- and returning it into a rails-to-trails kind of amenity for
the community. I'm just curious, because it's -- I think if we could
do something like that down here, I think it's something we ought to
look into as well, because -- well, it is now Goodlette-Frank Road all
the way down to the Government Center here to 41, but it seems like
October 27, 2020
Page 42
that would be a nice thing to do. If all of it was connected all the
way up to Lee County as kind of a greenway, that might -- that might
be really nice for that part of town.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. There's been a great effort
in Lee County to acquire the -- attempt to acquire the right-of-way.
So why don't we add this as an agenda item for just general
discussion just to give some staff some direction, perhaps, in that
regard.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That really would be great --
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yes.
MR. OCHS: Sorry. I can give you a little more information
on that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's -- I'll tell you, let's deal with
the two issues.
MR. OCHS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And then when we finish the votes
on the two issues, let's have a discussion on that. Any registered
speakers?
MR. MILLER: I did have a remote speaker registered, Tom
Harruff, but he is not online, and he's still not online, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any other questions or
comments from the Commission?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think we're ready for a motion on
Agenda Item 11A.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Move for approval.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
October 27, 2020
Page 43
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second.
Any discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
Item 11B.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and second.
Do we have any speakers on 11B?
MR. MILLER: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. If there's no further
discussion, all in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
Then on the rail issue, we can have a discussion on that now, or
we can wait until the end of the meeting, whatever is the preference
of the Board.
October 27, 2020
Page 44
MR. OCHS: I could just bring you up to speed real quickly.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
MR. OCHS: I've been working with both the Village of Estero
and the City of Bonita Springs in a joint effort that's been facilitated
by the Trust for Public Lands to attempt to acquire that railway
right-of-way for a multipurpose multimodal potential corridor, and
Ms. Scott from our office is working hand in glove with those two
communities. So we're already pursuing that, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Great. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Let's move on to
Item 11C.
Item #11C
PHASE 2 APPROPRIATION OF CRF FUNDING TO COLLIER
COUNTY AND APPROVE ADDITIONAL ALLOCATIONS TO
THE COLLIER CARES PROGRAM FOR DISTRIBUTION OF
THE CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND (CRF) DUE TO CHANGES
IN STATE GUIDANCE – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. Item 11C is a recommendation to
accept the Phase 2 appropriation of the Coronavirus Relief Funds to
Collier County and approve additional allocations to the Collier
CARES Program due to changes in state guidance.
Mr. Callahan will make the presentation.
MR. CALLAHAN: Good morning, Commissioners. For the
record, Sean Callahan, Executive Director of Corporate Business
Operations.
Today we want to give you an update on where we're at with the
Coronavirus Relief Fund, and we're going to be asking for board
direction on a couple different things. The first is to approve an
October 27, 2020
Page 45
amendment to accept the second 20 percent allocation of funding to
us, which amounts to about $13-and-a-half million. We want to talk
to you about potential enhancements to that -- to those programs to
include first responder reimbursements and then a couple other
enhancements that we'd like to move forward to.
So just to backtrack a little bit. Under the governor's plan on
June 16th, we accepted, in July, a 25 percent allocation as a direct
payment when the remainder was going to be reserved for
reimbursement requests. We were advised that we could accept an
additional 20 percent allocation at the beginning of this month, so
that's what we're asking you to approve today. So in total, we're
allocated a little bit over $67 million, and accepting that second
allocation would give us about $30 million cash on hand. On the
right side of this item is a reminder of what are the eligible
expenditures that that funding can cover.
Back at your July 14th BCC meeting, these were the allocations
that were made to the program amounting to that full $67 million.
Just as a brief update, on your community and health services,
which was that nonprofit community healthcare providers bucket, we
have opened for a second round; we were able to fund eight
additional applications for a total of about 15.8 million. Along the
way, we did have large allocations in that program for NCH
Healthcare System and Physicians Regional.
Back at the beginning -- on October 9th of this month, they were
notified by Health and Human Services that some of the expenditures
that they were seeking were actually covered by other CARES Act
funding, which would have resulted in a duplication of benefits.
We've, in a sense, recovered about $10 million that was allocated for
that funding.
Child care assistance, you can see we had $5 million allocated
there. We've obligated a little under half of that.
October 27, 2020
Page 46
Individual assistance and small business assistance are both
open currently for second rounds of applications. We've had quite a
few in on the individual assistance. We've received 11 on small
business after that. After opening for these second rounds, we do
think that the initial allocations of those programs are going to be
fully subscribed, and then on personal protective equipment, again,
we do expect to expend that $5 million on emergency food assistance
as well.
So this has been quite the project for staff. We've -- we
continue to get revised guidance from both the Treasury and FDEM,
who's the grantee for the state as we were a pass-through as a county
under 5 -- 500,000 people. So we've been provided updated expe nse
documentation deadlines, the first of which is November 16th when
we have to have our Phase 2 plan submitted and approved by the
state that obligates the funding for both Phase 1 and Phase 2, which is
the initial $30 million.
And then documentation deadlines are required to be met to
enter that Phase 3 reimbursement, which is the remaining 55 percent.
December 3rd we've been advised of another deadline, and that
is the last day to submit requests for reimbursement, so --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: When were you advised of that?
MR. CALLAHAN: On October 13th, so about two weeks ago.
I think it was during, actually, the board meeting at 1:00 on
October 13th. We had a webinar with our team of consultants. The
state's actually -- FDEM's brought on a team of consultants to help
them administer this program, and that's resulted in some changes on
the deadlines.
So December 3rd --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala, did you want
to ask a question now or wait until he's completed?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I can wait till he's completed.
October 27, 2020
Page 47
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel, same?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Me as well, yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
MR. CALLAHAN: December 3rd we've been told that all
requests for reimbursement need to be submitted. What that means,
we're still unclear. We're actually hoping for some further
clarification today at 1:00. We are hoping by December 3rd, if we
are still processing individual and small business payments, which we
expect to be, that we can submit that list up front of applications that
we expect and continue to process those through December 30th.
But we've been advised of those deadlines, and we'd like to ask
for your consideration in approving some additional enhancements to
those programs due to those deadlines, the first of which is expenses
for first responders. So that's police, sheriff, EMS, and fire. That's
always been an eligible expense under the CRF, and that will help us
get to those encumbrances that I mentioned up to the Phase 1 and
Phase 2. We expect that there might be about $5 million in expenses
that we could cover very easily for both our Sheriff's Department
here, our EMS services, and then police and fire both here and out in
the municipalities.
We'd like your consideration of approving an additional $5,000
grant for hardest hit businesses, so those businesses that are within
the accommodation and food services and retail markets that were
required to close because of the Governor's additional orders. These
would be businesses approved initially for a first round of funding in
the first round of applications, that we should be able to easily
process, get money out the door, having already had that approval.
The third pot is childcare services reimbursements to first
responders. So while school was closed, our first responders were
required to work. A lot of them incurred childcare expenses. We'd
love to be able to reimburse them for that.
October 27, 2020
Page 48
And then expanded PP -- personal protective equipment
reimbursement to other agencies. So our first responders, some of
the other agencies, have incurred a lot of expenses for PPE. That all
adds up to about $8 and a half million, a little bit more than that.
And like I said, we've recovered that back because of the hospitals,
unfortunately, having a duplication of benefits issues with some of
the funds they had asked for.
So with that, that's my presentation today, and --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have several questions.
MR. CALLAHAN: Sure.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. First of all, I'm glad to
hear that you were able to identify where expenses may be needed to
be brought together and wherever it wasn't filed correctly or
somebody else double filed or whatever it is. I'm worried about the
little guys' businesses. I don't know if the, you know, small
businesses, do they know how to apply for it? Do they know who to
ask questions of? Big businesses, they know how to do that. They
even have grant writers and so forth. But the little guys don't even
seem to know where to go, or do they have a class or anything to help
them? That's the only ones I'm worrying about, you know, the shoe
repair shops.
MR. CALLAHAN: Sure. So we have an online portal that
folks can apply through for small business. We also have a call
center to supplement. And any time, if somebody has questions
about the application process or a certain requirement, they can call
that call center, 311, and those 311 operators will eventually get them
to the right person that's working on their application to make any
clarifications that might be necessary.
In addition to that, the online portal does allow our processors to
send you a request. So if you've put in an application and you're
October 27, 2020
Page 49
missing a document, we can send a reque st to
DonnaFiala@gmail.com, or whatever your email address is, ma'am,
and say, you know, can you contact us? Can you upload your
driver's license or whatever it might be that's missing? So on that
front, I think we've been fairly successful. We've heard from folks
that they're having difficulties with the application process. We've
reached out to them as best we can and tried to resolve that. So
that's been our efforts on the communications front thus far.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm doing the math, and
we've got appropriations and approvals out supposedly for around
51 million, and you've accepted 30-some so far with the second
tranche.
MR. CALLAHAN: The second tranche would bring us to a
little bit over $30 million --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. And are we going to
have to look at this again to get us to the aggregate of the 67 million?
MR. CALLAHAN: I believe we will, sir, and we've got one
more board meeting on November 10th --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. CALLAHAN: -- that, having approved these, we can give
you better update of where we are. We're planning on doing that
anyways.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and my concern
is -- and I've had several folks call me. Actually, I had a long
conversation with Dawn McCavo [sic] over at -- the Executive
Director of the Guadalupe Center, and we have had several approvals
go out and then they've been rescinded back on their approval, and
that's causing a lot of strife.
And I -- you know, you're telling me -- or when I was just doing
October 27, 2020
Page 50
my quick math over here, I thought I saw 50-some-odd million
looking like it could be approved, which people are sitting there
thinking they're going to get that money, and we haven't received but
50 percent plus/minus of the aggregate 67 million.
I'm not throwing rocks, just so -- and it's a very difficult moving
target with the federal government and the state government and a lot
of layers of bureaucracy. But I've got concerns that -- with this
moving target. It's having a negative impact on our community.
I know -- and, certainly, you know, I was in favor of the last
time of moving forward with assistance for our first responders and
the like. But just, you know, with -- with -- there are a couple of
people, when we get comments from folks who have applied, I would
like to have some additional assistance offered to them.
I have another small business out in Golden Gate Estates. They
operate from their home. They're doing it legally. They don't bring
customers to their home. They're operating their business, but one
of the requisites to be able to apply for a small business assistance is
you can't have a home office. And so that -- that makes it -- that
makes it a precarious process as well.
So I just -- I'm -- I have concerns that we're -- I don't want to
ever be accused of running around and picking the low-hanging fruit.
I want to make sure we have, as a board, guided staff. And I know
senior staff and I had a conversation yesterday. We almost move
into a fear factor of a claw back by the federal or state government.
And I don't want to operate in fear with this. This is critical
money that needs to get to our people. And if we -- if it costs us
more someday because somebody didn't cross their I or dot their T, I
would rather -- I would rather budget for an appropriation of the
potentiality of a claw back and get the money out.
So two statements are: One, I'd like to -- I'd like to be able to
get some extra assistance for people that actually contact us and then,
October 27, 2020
Page 51
two, just ensure that we're not committing to people money that we
haven't gotten yet.
MR. CALLAHAN: Yeah. No, I understand. I think that's a
fair concern. We've -- we've worked our best -- we've had to do risk
assessments on some of the nonprofits that you've done. It's taken us
a little bit longer to get agreements in place with those folks, and the
moving target has led us to have to ask for some different
documentation ahead of the original deadlines that we had asked for.
So understood on your comment about more communication
when you have folks that reach out and contact you. I know we've
been able to assist a couple folks that have contacted your office, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And they have. And, again,
I wasn't criticizing by any stretch. This is a very difficult subject,
but if we -- we have had in the past moved into decision-making
by -- on a fear base of a claw back at some stage, and I don't want
that.
MR. OCHS: No, we're not operating out of fear, sir. We're
being aggressive, but we're also maintaining compliance. I mean,
it's public funds and subject to federal and state audit and clerk audit
which, by the way, the Clerk's Office has been extremely helpful to
us, and we appreciate that. So we get the message. We're going to
walk that line as best we can.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right on.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm going to, obviously, support
your recommendation. I want to congratulate and thank staff for
really working through this program and making sure we're
complying with all the federal guidelines.
I understand what Commissioner McDaniel has said in terms of
the claw back. We just have to be -- obviously, be careful and make
sure we're complying with the rules.
I want to thank the Clerk for her assistance on this. It's going to
October 27, 2020
Page 52
be very important to keep Ms. Kinzel intimately invol ved in this as
we go forward.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You took the words out of my
mouth. I've heard such great things about the Clerk's Office. I
mean, you just -- you soldiered up there. You got the -- you get
them in, you've got your experts looking at it, you get it out. And I
can't thank you enough, Sean. This has not been an easy, easy task.
I've also heard from the public, different public. I remember
one call in particular, "I don't understand what's going on." So we
called your office, identified the application, got the list of what was
missing, and, you know, the response was, what was my wife
thinking of? We did this before. What did she forget?
So we -- our office -- and I've said it to our County Manager.
Our office is here to help. So we will field, we will communicate,
because this moving target of the state is surprising, to say the least.
And I think you are really responding in an important fashion. But
we've got to have this money out the door at these dates. These
dates are unfudgeable. When we came into this, we always thought,
ah, December 30th, we can make this work, and they changed the
rules midstream.
So thank you for all the work you've done. I think your office
is doing a fabulous job.
MR. CALLAHAN: Commissioner, if I could just make one
comment, along with the Clerk's Office -- don't give me far too much
credit. Our group down in our Housing Division, Community and
Human Services, has been tasked with the yeoman's work of getting
this out the door, and they're doing that on top of their regular
responsibilities supplemented by staff that we've been able to hire.
So they've done a fantastic job as well, and I want to acknowledge
that.
October 27, 2020
Page 53
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I understand we even have a
former city council person working for us. Michelle McLeod, who's
really stepped up to the plate and is really doing a fabulous job. So
thank you, Michelle.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have any registered
speakers?
MR. MILLER: We do not, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think we're ready for a motion, if
there's no further discussion.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Pardon me. I did sign up.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have -- if you come
on up and --
MR. MILLER: I'm sorry. I took that as a G. Mr. Brechnitz,
I'm sorry. Erik Brechnitz.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Good morning, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Erik Brechnitz. I'm Chairman of the
Marco City Council.
And for those of you who are watching who are not -- who are
maybe geographically challenged, Marco Island is that little barrier
island on the southwest part of Collier County with 16,000 residents,
permanent residents -- or 18,000, pardon me, 18,000 residents. And,
by the way, that's only about 4,000 residents short of the population
in Naples. So it is the second largest municipality in the county.
And I watched your July meeting where you allocated the funds.
And in the allocation, it was clear that the municipality applications
were not funded universally, whether it came from Marco Island,
Everglades City, or the City of Naples. And I found that somewhat
surprising since there seemed to be ample dollars that were left
unallocated at that time. And what was even more curious is that
there didn't seem to be a lot of commissioner questioning of that
October 27, 2020
Page 54
methodology.
We applied for a $100,000, roughly, application, which was for
our first responder expenses that are directly tied to COVD-19 [sic],
and it was not funded. And we also have had, since that period of
time, significant additional first responder expenses. It's clearly an
eligible expense under the CARES program.
So I would encourage you to take a look at the municipalities
who have filed, not just the not for profits that exist in the county.
We have incurred approximately $450,000 of COVID-related
expenses from our police and fire departments, which is significant
for a small budget like Marco Island. Our total general operating
budget is less than $25 million, and half of that budget is police and
fire. Approximately $6 million for each of those departments.
So I have a couple of questions. First question is: Is our
application still on file and being considered? I'm not sure what the
answer to that is -- the original application. Do we have to re-file as
more money has become available? Can we file again for the larger
amounts that we've incurred? And if not, why not? So I have a
number of questions about that, and I'm not sure who can provide me
with the answers.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think probably Mr. Callahan can
do that, and perhaps you can do some of that now or --
MR. OCHS: Sir, I can take it real quickly. The request from
City of Marco is part of what we're recommending you approve today
along with the first responder reimbursements for the Sheriff's and
the independent fire districts. So we're ready to fully process that
application.
MR. BRECHNITZ: What about subsequent expenditures?
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Can we reapply?
MR. OCHS: Just submit?
October 27, 2020
Page 55
MR. BRECHNITZ: Resubmit?
MR. OCHS: Yeah. I'll reach out to Mr. McNees and make
sure he resubmits.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Well, Mr. McNees and I have had several
conversations in depth about this, so he knows I was going to be here
this morning.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. I know.
MR. BRECHNITZ: I appreciate your consideration, and thank
you, councilors.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: The rationale, quite frankly -- and
I know, Commissioner McDaniel, your light's lit up, but just real
quickly -- and you kind of led the charge on this as well, was we
wanted to make sure we got as much money into the hands of people
that were really desperate as we could early on. So there really
never was an effort to deny those applications. It was a matter of
prioritizing the real individual needs initially.
So as we go forward, we do have the resources to respond to the
municipalities. We treated the county the same way. It wasn't that
we were reimbursing Collier County for its expenses and not the
municipalities. We just deferred all governmental entities until we
got to this point towards the end.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Thank you. That was
what I was going to actually share and that additional communication
is warranted for some -- for some of the folks that are in the queue.
So thank you for coming and sharing with us.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Thank you. Appreciate it. Have a great
day.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. And I just wanted to say, I
guess we all kind of were aware that they were now going to get this
October 27, 2020
Page 56
phase, the second wave of payments, but I don't think we notified
anybody. So maybe that caused a little bit of a confusion. But here
we go. We're going to take care of it, and that's good. Thank you
for being here, Erik.
MR. BRECHNITZ: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Any other registered speakers?
MR. MILLER: No, sir. That was it, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I believe we have a motion and a
second; is that correct?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I don't know if we've made
one yet.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We need a motion.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Motion to approve.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. We have a motion and
second now. Any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passed unanimously.
Why don't we take a 15-minute break. Come back at quarter to
11:00. Give our court reporter a little bit of a break here. Any
objection to that?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Not at all.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're in recess until quarter to
October 27, 2020
Page 57
11:00.
(A brief recess was had from 10:30 a.m. to 10:46 a.m.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ladies and gentlemen, the
meeting of the County Commission will please come back to order.
If you'd take your seats. We're on Item 11D.
Item #11D
COLLIER COUNTY STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE
AND ADMINISTRATIVE PRIORITIES FOR 2021 - MOTION TO
ACCEPT REPORT – APPROVED; MOTION GRANTING
CHAIRMAN THE AUTHORITY TO DRAFT NECESSARY
DOCUMENTS GOING FORWARD – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, that is a
recommendation to approve the proposed Collier County state and
federal legislative and administrative priorities for 2021 legislative
session. Mr. Mullins will present.
MR. MILLINS: Good morning, Commissioners. For the
record, John Mullins, Government Affairs Manager. And it's that
time of year again where you consider the marching orders for your
Tallahassee and D.C. lobbying teams. But as a preface to your 2021
state and federal legislative and administrative priorities, I would like
to fulfill your request for an update on one particular priority: The
state veterans nursing home.
At a prior meeting you asked for an update on the process and
its progress as well as investigation of adult day healthcare as an
option or potential alternative.
Now, first, it's important to identify the venues from where our
veterans can use their long-term care benefits for skilled nursing
services in Florida. Now, this can be at a state veterans nursing
October 27, 2020
Page 58
home of which Florida is about to have eight once two new facilities
open their doors shortly in St. Lucie and Orlando, at a VA
community living center of which there are seven in Florida operated
at existing VA medical centers, or at private sector nursing homes
that have a contract with the VA to provide care to veterans. And
according to the VA facility locator map, there are a total of four
facilities between Charlotte County and Collier County with VA
contracts, including Lakeside Pavilion in Naples.
Now, via past actions of this board to provide potential land in
the state's 35 percent share of Construction Matching Funds, Collier
County is currently seeking to secure the next state veterans nursing
home. Of course, the federal government has been kind enough to
provide lots of definitions and instructions on construction and grant
awards, but this is the key passage for Collier County's mission . For
purposes of receiving the federal construction matching funds, we
must be building a new state veterans nursing home, and we'll revisit
this definition again in the adult day healthcare discussion shortly.
Now, as mentioned, thanks to your action, some of the initial
hurdles in securing the federal match are already cleared or
imminent. You've dedicated local funding of $30 million to
shoulder the overwhelming majority, if not all of the state's minimum
share of 35 percent construction funding, and you've dedicated a
portion of the Golden Gate Golf Course property as a potential site.
The next steps will be to obtain FDVA support of the proposed
site, cabinet approval of Collier as the next location for a state home,
state acceptance of our local construction funds, application for the
VA construction grant, and state budgeting of sufficient funding for
maintenance and operation once the doors open.
Now, Major General James Hartsell at FDVA, who's been
leading the agency since Danny Burgess resigned to run for the state
Senate, has committed to visiting the proposed site once his agency
October 27, 2020
Page 59
resumes statewide travel status. And Ms. Hurley is in regular
contact with General Hartsell, and we're hoping to have him and his
staff here prior to the legislative session that starts in March.
Now, if all goes well through the site selection steps and the
construction application is submitted by the State to the VA, how can
we expect to fare at the federal level? Well, first, you have to
evaluate our standing compared to other states that might be
applying, and that starts with need. Now, currently, Florida's a state
with great need of more veterans beds, which is the highest
unmet-need-priority ranking. In fact, there are only two other states
that are even close to us at this level of need: California and Texas.
Now, I've evaluated their comparative standing by using published
federal bed need projections and, per federal guidelines, backed out
their current number of beds in operation. In doing so, Califor nia
drops to a lower category of need, leaving Texas as our only
contemporary in this criterion.
Now, when the application period closes, the Secretary of the
VA makes a priority list, and there are eight priority groups. Now,
to qualify for Priority Group 1, the State must have their construction
match on hand or imminent, and it's safe to assume you have that
covered.
Now, however, once you're in Priority Group 1, you are still
subject to seven sub priority standards. The highest priority for a
construction grant is to remedy a life-safety issue at a current state
home, and just below that are states that have not received a
construction grant for a state home.
Great-need states are next. Priority Group 1, Sub Priority 3 is
where Collier County's project would be evaluated if submitted by
the State.
So the obvious question becomes, how much money is typically
available by the time you get to Priority Group 1, Sub Priority Group
October 27, 2020
Page 60
3 applicants? Well, the VA has received congressional
appropriations between 90 and $150 million over the last seven years,
and they can carry over any funds that are not obligated. For
example, in 2018, to try and address a backlog of construction
projects, they used carryover funds to award nearly $700 million in
construction grants that year. But assuming we only had 90 million
in any given year, how would we fare in obtaining funds in Priority
Group One, Sub Priority 3?
In FY 2018, had we been an applicant, there would have only
been $5.8 million for five life-safety projects ahead of us and, as
stated, they actually spent $700 million over 50 projects that year.
In 2019, there would have been $11.3 million spent before
getting to us in Sub Priority 3. And, getting a congressional bump
for clearing out the backlog, they were actually appropriated
$150 million for projects that year.
And in this last cycle, they were appropriated $90 million by
Congress. There would have been $53 million guaranteed to be
ahead of us. And with Texas also in Sub Priority 3, even though we
have slightly more bed need, it actually comes down to who applies
first.
Also, congrats to Wyoming. They're effectively closing out
Sub Priority 2 by being the last first-time applicant to receive a
construction grant.
So in all three years, at a minimum 90 million appropriation
level, we could have received the construction match from the VA.
Now, at the end of September, the Florida Department of
Veterans Affairs posted their long-range program plan. Goal No. 2
still states, expansion of state veterans homes as a priority. Florida
is the most veteran-friendly state in the nation and plans to keep that
title, and with a veteran population over the age of 65 being over
753,000, there is a need for more veterans services across the
October 27, 2020
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continuum of care.
But to get to a groundbreaking ceremony, it will take a little
time. I mentioned a moment ago Wyoming was getting their first
state veterans nursing home, but being nearly at the top of the priority
list, even trumping us as a great needs state, the Veterans
Commission director acknowledged it's still a marathon to get
construction underway. But it's a marathon with a clear path to the
finish line.
Now, I'm happy to pause here to take questions on the nursing
home portion, or I can move on to adult day healthcare.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I would like to say that this is
really a very simple process, and thank you for filling us in on it.
Is there any prognosis at all in terms of how things will progress
during the next 12 months or --
MR. MULLINS: Well, like I said, once DVA is freed up to do
statewide travel again, we're expecting General Hartsell to come to
Collier County to look at the proposed site and have a discussion, and
that news was updated just recently as yesterday. So I think he's
looking forward to getting out of Tallahassee as soon as possible.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. As soon as it gets cold
there, he'll come down.
Any questions or comments from the Commission before we
move on to the second part of this?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any questions, so...
MR. MULLINS: Okay. Moving on.
So staff was also instructed to look into the possibility of adult
day healthcare as an option or alternative to a nursing home to
provide care to our area veterans. Now, adult day healthcare, which
is a higher level of care than standard adult daycare, is a VA benefit
that can be accessed by veterans at VA med centers, at community
October 27, 2020
Page 62
organizations and, as of 1996, can be provided at state veterans
homes. The VA does not cover costs for veterans in standard adult
daycare.
And, again, a reminder that currently VA construction grants are
limited to expansion of existing buildings for providing adult daycare
in state homes. States cannot apply for the construction grant to
build a new free-standing adult day healthcare facility.
Now, currently, none of Florida's soon to be eight state veterans
nursing homes operate an adult day healthcare service even though
it's a logical venue for offering ADHC since skilled nursing facilities
may be able to leverage existing staff and equipment where possible;
however, federal regulations call for separation of ADHC participants
from the nursing home population during operational hours and even
mandate room sizes and restroom facilities required per number of
participants.
So for some state homes it may be difficult to operate a
decent-sized ADHC without an expansion of their current facility
footprint. In fact, there are only three states operating one ADHC
each via their state homes: New York, Minnesota, and Hawaii.
The largest facility, New York's, averages 37 residents per day, and
those are veteran residents.
In the past, the lack of participation by state homes has been
attributed to inadequate VA per diem rates which were improved in
2018 by congressional action. A higher-level per diem was applied
to the medical supervision model adult day healthcare, and higher
level of adult daycare. And since then, the VA has consulted with
several states on the medical supervision model program.
Well, this development prompted the state legislature to
commission an ADHC pilot via language inserted in the 2018 budget
bill. FDVA dispatched a memo to the VA with three possible
programs to reduce veteran nursing home admissions, including, one,
October 27, 2020
Page 63
to provide a medical supervision model ADHC at state veterans
homes. Their primary recommendation, however, was for adult day
healthcare services to be provided by contract at 20 existing adult day
healthcare facilities selected by FDVA and the Florida Agency for
Healthcare Administration. And as part of the contract agreement,
these facilities would have to provide for a minimum of 10 veteran
guests at each location.
Now, since there doesn't appear to be a license differentiation in
Florida, I can only tell you that there are 351 licensed adult daycare
facilities in Florida with over 19,000 slots, but I cannot tell you how
many of these facilities are offering adult day healthcare as an option
to their clients. And so far, after two years, none of FDVA's
proposals have gained traction at the federal level.
Now, this past March, the National Association of State
Veterans Homes provided testimony to a congressional veterans
affairs subcommittee on ways the construction grant program could
be improved, and one recommendation was to allow construction
grants to be used to build new facilities for ADHC programs for
veterans, and time will tell.
But in conclusion, in their memo to the VA, State Department of
Veterans Affairs commented, the need for nursing home beds far
exceeds our present and future capacity. And, again, with a
thousand beds and 750,000 veterans over the age 65, Florida likely
has the need for expansion at all levels of the continuum of care.
And with that, I'm happy to attempt to answer any questions you
may have on this topic before moving into the actual 2021 legislative
priorities document.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any questions from the
Commission?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, let's move on, then.
October 27, 2020
Page 64
MR. MULLINS: Okay. Sorry it's taking so long.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And thank you. That was a very
good presentation and, obviously, we're going to just have to wait and
see how things progress over the next six or eight months.
MR. MULLINS: Yes, sir.
The proposed 2021 state and federal legislative administrative
priorities are included in your meeting materials. This document
was produced in conjunction with the lobbying teams, county
management, and departmental staff and with your individual input.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and we'll bring you any
issues for which we cannot derive direction from this document.
The state appropriations project requests and other selected
issues outlined in the document will be presented by Commissioner
Saunders at the legislative delegation meeting on Friday,
December 4th, at North Collier Regional Park's exhibit hall.
Now, given you were previously provided this document for
review, I'm happy to forego a second slide show and simply field any
questions you have. But at the end we'll need a motion to approve,
and I would also ask that the Chair be authorized to draft, as needed,
any correspondence on behalf of the Board for those issues and
projects outlined in the priorities, including the letter that's in your
packet to FDOT Secretary Kevin Thibault seeking to accelerate by
two years the construction of the I-75/Collier Boulevard interchange
project.
Mr. Casalanguida, District Secretary Nandam, and I have been
discussing a conceptual financing plan that was first mentioned in a
meeting with Secretary Thibault last winter before COVID-19 set in
and state revenues took a hit.
This past July, construction of this interchange was delayed for a
third time until Fiscal Year '24/'25, four years later than originally
scheduled. Any financing plan borne of this letter and proffered by
October 27, 2020
Page 65
FDOT would be brought before the Board for review and approval.
And with that, myself and Mr. Casalanguida would be available
for any questions.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So would you please go through
this again. So they -- this was scheduled for this year.
MR. MULLINS: It was scheduled originally for FY 2021 --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: 2021.
MR. MULLINS: -- for construction.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And then they delayed it.
What were the reasons they delayed it?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Financing, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Financing.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It was reevaluated, their fiscal
program.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. And where was the
money that we were supposed to -- what did -- where did this
reevaluation go? What district did it go to, or where did it go within
the district? Do we know?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You know, it's a broad spectrum of
projects that they reallocate. The State takes an approach
that -- resurfacing and maintenance first. So whenever they see a
deficit in any maintenance, they swipe from programmatic -type
items. So it was spread across many needs that they had.
Our biggest concern and why we're bringing this forward is
you've approved the Amazon project, the Uline project. We've
acquired the Golden Gate Golf Course, this sports complex. That
activity center innovation zone right now is the most attractive spot in
Collier County.
If we don't get that interchange locked up pretty soon, my fear is
October 27, 2020
Page 66
they'll push it out again. So the district secretary, as well as the state
secretary, actually encourage us to do this. And I think it's important
that we have that conversation. We've actually spent $15 million in
utility relocations up front in planning for them. We were out of the
way now. Dr. Yilmaz has done an amazing job. So we've done
everything on our part. It's now time to lock this project forward and
bring it in.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And the ultimate decision is the
state legislature? It will be voted on?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Well, the state -- district secretary
will present this to the State Finance Office at FDOT. I think what
they're looking at and what we've discussed is a design-build finance
project. So if it's already programmed into Year '24 now, what
would be the carrying cost to bring this project forward. So that's
what we want to talk about with them if they do a design -build
finance, and that could be 10 to $15 million. But it would be to our
benefit to accelerate this project.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That we would shoulder that?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: They're going to ask us for some -- a
monetary amount to bring this project forward, yes, and that will be
paid for out of impact fees. Right now in that area we're collecting a
decent amount of impact fees for roadway acceleration.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any other questions or
comments?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Are you finished with your
presentation?
MR. MULLINS: I think so.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have any registered
speakers?
October 27, 2020
Page 67
MR. MILLER: We do not, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Then we need two
motions. One is to accept the report, the legislative agenda. So
we'll entertain a motion for that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Make a motion to accept the
report. And, by the way, you ought to be reading things for the
Naples Players, too. You're good.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have a second?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
second to accept the legislative agenda. All in favor, signify by
saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
And then we need authorization for the Chair to sign certain
documents. If you'd go through real quickly, and then we'll have a
motion.
MR. MULLINS: Yes, sir. It's a general authority given to the
Chair to draft any letter in support or opposition to issues identified in
the priorities document.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So moved.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
a second. Any discussion?
October 27, 2020
Page 68
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by sayi ng aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And that passes unanimously.
MR. MULLINS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, John.
Item #11E
THE FY 2021-2030 COLLIER COUNTY TRANSIT
DEVELOPMENT PLAN MAJOR UPDATE - MOTION TO
APPROVE TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, we move to Item 11E, and this is a
recommendation to approve the FY 2021 through FY 2030 Collier
County Transit Development Plan major update. And Ms. Arnold
will present.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning.
MS. ARNOLD: Good morning. Good morning. For the
record, Michelle Arnold, Public Transit and Neighborhood Division
Director.
I'm here today to present to you our draft Transit Development
Plan, which is our 10-year strategic plan for our transit system.
We've gone through an extensive public-participation process as
October 27, 2020
Page 69
part of this planning process. And I have our consultant, Tindale
Oliver -- Richard Dreyer with Tindale Oliver on the phone. He's
going to be making the presentation for us.
After that, what we're going to be asking the Board to do is to
allow us to transmit this to the Florida Department of Transportation,
which is a requirement, and they will review it and hopefully approve
it, and then we will have the opportunity to try to start implementing
some of the strategies under this plan.
But first, we've got Richard Dreyer on the phone:
MR. DREYER: Thank you. I'm here. I'm Richard Dreyer
with Tindale Oliver. I look forward to getting this opportunity to be
before you to present this Transit Development Plan.
If you want to go ahead and move the slide, I'll go ahead and get
started.
All right. Today, as Michelle mentioned, is to request your
approval of the Transit Development Plan. TDP is a 10-year vision
plan for the county. It covers the years -- this current Fiscal Year
2021 through 2030. It is usually due on September 1st to the
Department of Transportation, but due to COVID this year, there is
an extension till November 1st.
It does help with prioritizing services and projects. It is a
requirement that the -- it was -- the projects and the needs be looked
at unconditional with funding. In other words, without regard to
funding so that the full needs can be looked at, prioritized, and
assessed. And it is a requirement to receive the annual State Block
Grant Funding from the DOT, and other projects might need to be in
here to be funded as well.
Next slide.
The TDP, just a little bit of context so we're all on the same
page, it is -- as I mentioned, some projects need to be in here, if not
all projects, to be funded in some manner, discretionary grants and so
October 27, 2020
Page 70
on, for doing new facilities, new purchases, and new services.
The TDP requires a very meaningful community outreach,
stakeholder engagement process. Departments rules -- Florida
Department of Transportation doesn't set up what that means. It's up
to each community to do that. But at the beginning of the process, a
public-participation plan is reviewed and approved by the
Department, and we'll go over that a little bit more in the next slide.
But it was a very meaningful process.
It also is a collaborative process. One of the requirements is to
include certain agencies like the Workforce Development Board, the
MPO, and so forth. It does inform the MPO's long-range plan and it
works in cooperation, this year being that you're both due on the
same year.
A couple of things we always like to caution board members on
is that this is not a commitment. This is a strategic and visioning
plan. So it's not a budget. You know, you go through your annual
operating budgets and create your real budget. So you're not
obligated to meet any of the new or extended finances, but what your
approval is is that this is your vision, your plan, and where you're
planning to try to go in the next 10 years.
In between those 10 years, there's annual progress reports
between the five-year update that you get to adjust and show why you
have adjusted.
Next slide.
I mentioned the public outreach was fairly extensive and really
was. We reached around 1,400 people through a number of different
activities and strategies. We know it takes multiple approaches to be
able to reach different people. So we had onboard rider surveys.
We had public surveys online and in hard copy. We had discussion
group meetings with targeted audiences and some public meetings
with anybody who could get there based on advertising. We had
October 27, 2020
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some stakeholder interviews, and it was very, very tailored to your
community to get as many different walks of your community
involved as possible.
Next slide.
That tailored approach also carries over into the TDP itself in
that it was really trying to keep up with technology, changes that
have occurred over the last 10, 20 years in the way we do
transportation in this country, especially in light of COVID this year.
And so we were introducing some new modes, something different
on how we meet mobility needs, and it includes an overall focus on
mobility, getting people where they need to be in ways that may or
may not be traditional fixed route as well as keeping the base services
in place.
It provides a number of different options, so it gives some
diversity. It reflects a lot of new and emerging best practices that are
in the country, and it does meet a number of specific community
needs while keeping sensitivity to where you want to go, how you
want to get there within your community. And it is a very holistic
approach and network in the final results.
Move the slide.
So without consideration of funding, this is kind of a network
need. It is -- includes a lot of different services. And when we go
to apply funding, which you'll see in the next moment, some of the
things that we look like we can and -- can do within the existing
funding and move forward with, there are some restructuring and
some new development of hubs, which you'll see how those come in
handy in a moment, and they're important.
We do look at improving some frequencies and expanding some
of the hours, and there are a number of new services. And, again,
not all of these are able to be funded in the constrained plan or the
cost-affordable plan.
October 27, 2020
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Go ahead and move.
I do want to say there was some discussion with Marco Island
and the Express services and stuff, and I just want to mention that the
real services that were -- that are funded would be some additional
trips on the Marco Express from the downtown transfer center, and
those are really to meet needs of workers for the changing shifts that
they have, and then there was a trolley that is adding only i nternal
circulation in Marco Island, not going back and forth. So those are
the new services in Marco Island, if you will.
We've mentioned the mobility approach and tailored and
innovation, and these are some of the examples of that. The
mobility on demand, that MOD, and the first one we create zones and
take advantage of new technology to make it where it's on-call
services, on-demand services, and I'll explain that in the next slide a
little bit more.
But we're also looking at autonomous vehicles and how we can
maybe use driverless vehicles and technology to get us across that
Naples bridge, especially. We're looking at some shuttles that would
be electric and alternative fuel, if you will, especially to get us around
the number of the attractions in the Naples area.
And then there's the Bayshore shuttle, which is really to help
with parking management, but it does give a lot of opportunities for
connections.
Next slide.
Mentioned the mobility on demand and how it's a new
technology, and what it does and how it works is we create zones.
In these zones you'll have a mobility hub, but when you're within that
zone and you want to stay within that zone, you can call and get
service. It's on demand. And it's point to point. Like I want to go
from my home to the grocery store, and then you call for your service
to go back. And you use technology on your hand -held device or on
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your computer to make those connections and reservations and so on.
From there, if you want to go to other places, your connection is
through these new hubs, mobility hubs that are being created, and
there -- some of the fixed-route services go in there and express
routes and so on to take you to other places within the community.
So it provides a greater opportunity to provide mobility to more
people, more options, and it serves the greater general public as well
as a lot of those specialized trips for Americans with Disabilities Act
or Transportation Disadvantaged. So it makes those trips maybe
more in a cost-effective mode, if you will, and saves you through that
process of coordinating all those types of services, reducing duplicate
services in some areas as well.
Next slide.
Now, this is kind of the big-picture look at the finances but,
again, I remind you, this is not an operating budget. This is a vision
plan with some ideas of what you can and might be looking to do
over the next 10 years as well as what you can do specifically and
how you might want to prioritize those and strategically implement
those.
But to be able to reach additional riders, you're going to have to
expand services, obviously, and change some of the way services are
being delivered. So the 2030 plan looks at getting us up to around
the 1.4 million passengers from the current 812- or so that we have
each year, 112,000.
There will require doubling your revenue hours and 24 -- 25
new vehicles if we were to fully implement all of the unconstrained
plan. But we're looking at the existing cost of 128.5 million for the
existing service over the 12 years, so a little over 12.8 million a year,
and then there's a $42 million capital cost over that 10-year period to
build new facilities, bus replacement, and so on.
So that equates -- if we're going to fund everything, it would
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equate to another 134 million to 49 million in capital. So the -- I'm
sorry. That -- with the cost-of-living increases, excuse me.
And then unfunded operations are about 38 million to 26 million
in capital over the next 10 years, so that's what's actually in the plan
now.
So one of the things we wanted to highlight is some of the
opportunities and challenges. There's a lot of nontraditional transit
modes, you know, the fixed route, point to point, bus stop to bus stop
is not just included, but we do have these mobility on demand of,
some things that we want to test.
One of the things, I was at the Department of Transportation for
23 years, and when we funded those service development projects,
we always considered those as studies in motion so we could test out
new ideas, new technology, new services. And we think that's what
you're going to be wanting to do over the next 10 years as well.
And then there's -- alternative funding sources will be needed to
implement all of the initiatives within the plan. It does look
like -- and require a lot of cross-jurisdictional cooperation. So
prioritizing partnerships and continuing to build on the ones you have
are an important factor.
And it needs to be a little bit more proactive with some of those
to create even funding partnerships at a different level with private
sector as well as public sector. And then incorporating the rapidly
changing and improving technology and the mobility option has got
to be a continued emphasis, and your infrastructure has to be able to
handle that: Updates, upgrades, and the deployment.
Next slide.
So from today, we want to take and go get -- get your approval
and get it to the Department by November 1st, but what we've done
over the last few months is taken it to the various cities, through the
MPO process and board, and then we're here to get your endorsement
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and approval. But everyone so far has endorsed it and is satisfied
with the plan.
We have received a few comments that we've updated and will
incorporate as we moved forward with the final version and your
adoption.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
MR. DREYER: With that, we're open to questions.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We do have one light lit up.
Commissioner Fiala has some questions.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I don't have any questions.
Excuse me. What I wanted to say was there was a bunch of red
lights flashing around as this plan was exposed to everybody coming
from Marco Island, oh, my goodness, and there was a lot of letters, a
lot, and phone calls, but they had misunderstood what this was going
to be.
And I want to tell you, Michelle -- now, most of you don't know
me well enough to know that I work at night. By the time I get
home, it's 8:00, 8:30, 9:00 at night, and that's when I just start making
phone calls. Michelle is right there answering my phone calls. We
got it straightened out real quickly, and so they realize now this is a
benefit to Marco Island rather than what they had thought it was
going to be.
Secondly, it came before our -- I'm involved with the
Transportation Disadvantaged program, and everybody on that board
heard that, and they all agreed it was a good plan. So I'm just giving
you good stuff.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And I'm, as well, in
support of moving forward with this. My question is, do you
document every single rider trip length, where they're coming and
going to? Do you have documentation on all that?
October 27, 2020
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MS. ARNOLD: No, not the actual individual rider. We
document the trips, similar to how we document trips on the
roadway. But we have the ability, if everyone were to have
purchased their pass, to kind of track origin/destination, but we don't
do that. It's very difficult to, you know, track each individual
person, particularly if somebody's paying cash for their fare, they're
just, you know, putting in their fare and then possibly transferring to
another location. So, no, we don't.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'd like to do that at some
stage. I'd like to be able to explore the possibility of doing that. I
saw in this plan several innovative thoughts on pilot programs and
how we can attain better needs to service our community, and I think
if we have a better handle -- not better. If we have a more accurate
handle on our actual trips and who's going where, when, and how, we
can better assess the viability of what we're doing and how we're
implementing what we're doing.
So if it's at all possible -- and I know not everybody -- and,
again, there are no absolutes. Not everybody pays with cash. A
majority of our customers pay either with a prepaid card and/or a
debit/credit card, as the case may be. I would like for us to start to
document that, and that would allow us to apply a cost-benefit
analysis to a ridership and not just a bus going from A to B at a
certain time and a place just because we have a bus stop there.
MS. ARNOLD: Yeah. We do have the ability to track
origin/destination. We've got two systems. Our fixed-route system,
which is our, you know, general -- the bigger buses that are on a fixed
route, and individuals coming on and off. And we have
implemented technology on better count where people are getting on
and where people are getting off. So I don't want to m iss -- you to
misunderstand that we don't know when people are getting on and off
and where they're potentially going. That is something that we've
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incorporated and -- but we don't know who the individuals are is
what I'm saying.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was more concerned -- just
so you know, I'm more -- I'm not -- who they are is irrelevant to me.
MS. ARNOLD: Right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I want to know about bus
capacity.
MS. ARNOLD: Right. We have all that information. We
can track that information. And that's what we utilize, actually, to
analyze needs and that type of thing.
MR. OCHS: And your TD?
MS. ARNOLD: In our Transit Development Plan, we do have
that ability to track people getting on and off, origin/destination; yes,
we do.
On a paratransit side, we know exactly who the riders are and
where they're going because it's a door-to-door service.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And because that's an
on-need service. It's different than having a bus stop and a bus
station going from A to B --
MS. ARNOLD: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- and then reconciliation
with regard to the capacity of the bus and the location and where the
people are all, in fact, going. So if it's possible, I'd like for us to
explore, as best as we can without it being an absolute, what our
capacities are, what our trip requisites are, and so on and so forth.
MS. ARNOLD: Yes. And that's -- that's our goal, actually, to
improve using technology getting better ways of identifying that.
We're actually -- the next step with this is our comprehensive
operational analysis where we get into the meat of analyzing some of
the proposals that are introduced in here, and we will look at, you
know, where it makes sense to route the exact bus that is -- or route
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that is being proposed in the plan and looking at the actual origins,
residential areas or commercial areas, businesses, and those types of
things to better analyze what we would do or what makes more sense
in terms of capacity.
We're actually also looking at introducing more performance
measures in terms of loads. So, you know, knowing what the
particular loads would be and when does it make sense to increase the
frequency or add another bus on a particular route to service the
capacity that we're identifying, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and with the
on-demand pilot programs, people can, with their phone, hit a
button --
MS. ARNOLD: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- and say that they're going
to be at a bus stop, and they're not standing there forever waiting for a
particular point in time. And those are all things that are
technologies that are going to be -- I think will better enable us to
analyze the efficiencies of what we're doing.
MS. ARNOLD: Correct; yes.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just a point of clarification, is
this -- Commissioner Fiala, is this why we got all these emails about
don't bus people to Marco Island?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: They had thought that what we
were doing is taking a bus and starting at this point and bussing
people back and forth to Marco to go to the beaches and, of course,
that isn't it at all.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But I was glad so many people
October 27, 2020
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wrote so we could reply to them and put those fires out.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do we have any registered
speakers?
MR. MILLER: I do not, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And nobody's light is lit up here.
So we just need a motion to approve the Transit Development Plan.
Will that be sufficient?
MS. ARNOLD: Yes. Yes, please.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So move.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second to
approve the plan. If there's no further discussion, all in favor,
signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
MS. ARNOLD: Thank you very much.
Thank you, Richard.
MR. DREYER: Thank you. Good help -- glad to help.
Item #11F
THE EAST NAPLES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN
AND DIRECT STAFF TO IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES
IDENTIFIED THEREIN - MOTION TO APPROVE THE PLAN AS
October 27, 2020
Page 80
THE BEGINNING POINT AND INCORPORATE MAP CHANGES
AT THE RICH KING BIKE PATH – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 11F is a recommendation to accept the East
Naples Community Development Plan and direct staff to implement
strategies identified therein.
Ms. Mosca will make the presentation.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: By the way, while you're getting
ready, she's another one that answers her phone anytime of the day or
night. So is Leo. So is Nick.
MS. MOSCA: Good morning, Commissioners, Michele Mosca
with your Community Planning Staff.
Here with me today is Demian Miller. He is with the consultant
team of Tindale Oliver. He'll be presenting a brief PowerPoint
presentation to provide the key highlights of the East Naples plan.
I would like to thank Commissioner Fiala as well as the East
Naples community for their participation in the plan as well as thei r
support of the plan.
To provide some background, back in 2017 the Board directed
staff to prepare the East Trail Corridor Study. As part of that study,
the community identified their preferred land use as well as the
undesired land uses. In addition to that, the community also
provided their preferred design and development standards for the
corridor.
Following the Board's acceptance of that plan in 2018, the Board
directed staff to prepare a community development plan for the
community to identify the vision for the entire East Naples area.
The plan that's before you today is a community plan that
reflects the overall vision for development and redevelopment within
the East Naples area, and it reflects the consensus of the participants
involved. The recommendations identified throughout the document
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as well as specifically Sections 6 of the documents are recommended
actions to implement the plan. These are general planning concepts
that may require further study and analysis. It may be possible afte r
some additional analysis that some of the recommendations may not,
in fact, be feasible.
You're being asked today to accept the plan and provide staff
with the direction to take the necessary steps to implement the plan
outlined in Section 6.
And I'll turn it over to Demian. Thank you.
MR. DEMIAN MILLER: Demian Miller with Tindale Oliver.
Thanks for having us today to present.
I'll try to be relatively expedient because I know we're coming
up on lunch soon, but I'm happy to talk as long as you wa nt
afterwards.
As Michele said, this plan had several high-level goals:
Establishing a vision, thinking about land use and how that relates to
the development process, thinking about an inventory of what assets
and public facilities are in an area and what may or may not be need
to be added, thinking transportation options both for automobile
travel safety and then non-motorized mobility as well, thinking about
other topics that might be emerging, and then recommendations for
implementation.
The graphic here shows you both the specific study area for the
plan and then also a larger area of influence around it, but I think it's
important to mention that many of the strategies that came through
with this plan could be applied broadly to large sections of
unincorporated Collier County.
So while we did look at this particular area in terms of our
inventory of assets and things like that, some of these strategies are
more global in where they can be implemented.
In terms of land-use concepts, we looked at desired development
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types, and we had a firm called Plusurbia that was part of the team
that really dealt with the urban design aspects of this and thinking
about not just how much of a thing goes in an area, but what it's
going to look like, how it's going to interact with the existing land
uses and adjacent neighborhoods, and then also a discussion of
undesired uses and all the while thinking about, okay, now how does
this get implemented through the county's Land Development Code
and land-use planning process.
From a transportation perspective, bicycle and pedestrian
connections, thinking about some ways to make the major roadway
thoroughfares more approachable for pedestrians and cyclists to
interact, and then ways over the longer term to reimagine some of the
major thoroughfares. Again, to let these be -- remain high-capacity
roads but maybe bring the speeds down a little bit and make them a
little bit more urban and more inviting to the type of development
that the community was asking about.
Additional recommendations included green space. There's
private green space in this community but many more public, the
main green space. Branding and marketing the general need for
recycling drop-off center, housing affordability, and landscaping and
architectural style and signs and just making sure there's a consistent
look and feel and brand to the community.
The process had two sort of parallel tracks. One was a
technical track where we're looking at property values and densities
and square footage of different uses, parks and rec spaces and schools
and, you know, all the asset side of things, but then also a significant
public engagement track. We have very active community
associations in this area, and so that was a real benefit of the project
of being able to quickly reach out. Engaged over 600 people to
advertise a workshop. This project started as COVID was wrapping
[sic] up, so we had to get creative about doing virtual workshops
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rather than traditional in-person open houses. But we were able to
get good participation.
The first workshop was more of a needs assessment where we
really just tried to sit back and listen to what the community was
saying they wanted out of the process, and then the second one we
came back and presented some ideas and some development
strategies and things like that.
Also had some smaller stakeholder meetings, meetings with
other stakeholder agencies in the area and then some communication
with other county and even DOT staff.
Key takeaways, with some exceptions, generally good public
assets in the area, and I think this is something that the county has
worked on over the last few decades to make sure that this area is
reasonably well served.
As with much of suburban Collier County, there's a limited
roadway network. So you have a couple of big arterial streets, and
that carries all the traffic, and then the neighborhoods tend to be more
secluded and right behind that. That's great from the standpoint of
limiting cut-through traffic in neighborhoods, but it creates some
challenge in that all of those transportation needs have to take place
on a handful of streets. So you have, you know, big, wide roads, big
intersections, and that creates some -- and also limited opportunities
for some of the neighborhoods serving commercial uses because
they're all at the perimeter of the area.
There are several major roadways in the corridor, but U.S. 41
remains one with probably the most opportunity for mixed-use infill.
And so while we identified additional nodes away from 41, the 41
corridor was where we ended up focusing when we showed some
different scenarios. We looked at different designs and thinking
about not just how this can be accomplished from a regulatory
perspective, but what are some incentive processes, or how do we get
October 27, 2020
Page 84
the market to meet us halfway and deliver the types of uses that the
community is asking about.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Can I ask a question right now?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: On this last one, it says, concerns
about adding affordable housing. Does that mean -- does that mean
they -- you took as they want more affordable housing or they said
there's enough?
MR. DEMIAN MILLER: I think we've heard from parts of the
community that they feel like there's more than adequate affordable
housing in the area, and then we also heard comments that the
affordability of the area was one of the things that made it attractive.
And so different perspectives, but we definitely heard from groups
that they didn't -- they didn't want this to be the part of the county
where we just meet our countywide affordable housing needs in this
area. And so -- but we've gathered a few different perspectives on
that issue.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
MR. DEMIAN MILLER: Sure. And people said, and I'll
mention back -- I'm going to talk about walking and biking a lot.
Not necessarily that folks were going to travel vast distances walking
and biking. It's Florida. We know it's hot. But the idea that once
you got to one of these maybe more comprehensive commercial
areas, that you might get out and walk around; that you'd park once.
And it would be more of a destination than just dropping off from
shop to shop on your way home.
So from a vision perspective, balanced development. It was
interesting, I was watching some of the land-use items you-all had
earlier this morning, and each individual person or developer is
coming in with a piece of property that they have, you know, an
option on, and they're going to try to build what they think is going to
October 27, 2020
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be best for their business at that moment in time based on what they
can do with the land from a regulatory perspective, what they think
the market wants, what costs are for different things.
And all those decisions get made individually, and then a project
like this kind of comes back and says, okay, well, after 20 or 30
years, what did you have enough of and what did you maybe not
build enough of? And how do we fill in to create more of a balanced
community than a bunch of individual projects? And so that's really
how I think about what we're trying to come back and assess. So
you did a lot of fantastic things out here, but we missed a couple
things. How do we come back and fill that in after the fact?
Diverse and quality commercial. There's commercial uses, but
then these were things that would be assets to the neighborhood, that
would be attractive. That could be not necessarily regional
commercial. There's plenty of big box. You know, there's Lowe's
and Home Depots and all that kind of stuff, but things that are more
neighborhood-serving, thinking about beautification and green space,
and then transportation options.
What we did was we tried to look for areas that either had some
level of vacant commercial property but also areas that were
interesting from a geographic perspective, and so we identified three
different nodes along 41, U.S. 41 and the Naples Manor area, at the
intersection of Rattlesnake Hammock, and then further north at the
Town Center. And each one of these -- it's not to say that these are
the only opportunities in this area, but each one of these gave us a
chance to show a couple different strategies and give a few different
looks to the community on how we could fill these in.
Part of our technical analysis for this project was to come back
and say, how do you compare it to the county as a whole? And so
one thing we've seen is that overall Collier County is about 80/20 in
terms of 80 percent of its real estate is residential and about
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20 percent is commercial nonresidential uses.
When you pull out sort of the coastal Naples and say, okay,
unincorporated Collier County, that's about 85/15. And what we
heard from the community was that we're underserved by commercial
uses. And so we said, well, let's see if the math shows that. And
we found that it did; that while countywide you're about 15 percent
commercial, this area's only about 11 percent. So 4 percent doesn't
sound like a lot, but it's more like they've got about two-thirds of
what everybody else has.
And so we looked and we said, okay, if you were to break even
with -- if we were to bring your ratio up to the unincorporated county
average, what would that mean in terms of additional commercial
square footage? And you see that to the right of this graphic where,
as you start adding commercial, you start bringing that ratio in. And
3.4 million is a ton, and the plan that we're going to propose doesn't
get us there, but it moves us further in that direction.
So for each of these three locations, we had sort of a very light
touch in terms of a redevelopment scenario: Really just dressing up
the roadway a little bit, and maybe some small infill on some of the
surface parking are vacant; a more moderate scenario where we really
did look at building out these geographies, and this included a
multistory with a ground-floor retail component and then upper floors
which could be employment uses or potentially residential; and then a
more radical approach to the roadways; and then robust where it's
almost a full redevelopment where we're not only looking at infilling
some of the parking areas and other things, but actually coming back
in and redeveloping some of the existing sort of legacy commercial.
By far, when we brought this through the second workshop, we
had some real-time polling going through that and then also
comments coming back in afterwards and surveys. That moderate
option was clearly the most preferred, and it was the least offensive.
October 27, 2020
Page 87
So most people liked it, and the least person [sic] liked it the least,
and so that's where we went. And this sort of just illustrates what
we're talking about there.
This is Naples Manor where we've done some things to the
roadway, and then we've introduced some additional development in
there. You see it's a more walkable human-oriented design, and this
shows it from above. You can see where we've infilled and where
we've left things alone, and then also thinking about the context back
to the neighborhoods where we can make connections that are not
invasive from a transportation perspective but, nonetheless, make that
community retail more of an asset to the folks that are there.
Rattlesnake Hammock was interesting to us because it did have
some grid street structure that we could engage with, and so our
urban designers really keyed in on that and looked at ways to fill in
and tighten up around that intersection. And, again, here we were
able to add a significant amount of potential commercial space to
helping to move that ratio in the direction that the community has
asked.
And then the Town Center, these were sort of the biggest pieces
of property where we have these large parking outparcels developing.
This is complicated, though. When you start taking surface parking,
you probably need to add back in structured parking. We know that
creates a lot of complexities for the developers. But we still wanted
to illustrate this.
And I think it was really important -- and this came up in the
public outreach process that this isn't something we expect to see in
five years. I mean, you-all go could go and change your code and
try to do incentives, but it would take the market a while. And so
some of these things we think are longer-term prospects for the
community. But, nonetheless, we were able to illustrate this.
And, again, showing the ability to add that additional
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neighborhood-serving retail and commercial that this community
proportionally lacks.
In terms of standards and incentives, thinking about allowed
densities and intensities, a lot of this is in the coastal area, and so
managing how that works with those regulatory constraints.
Thinking about allowed uses that we want to encourage and
being -- positive guidance in terms of what we'd like to see built
there, making sure that we're thinking building heights appropriately.
We're told now that most retail wants, like, 25-foot-high ceilings in
the ground floor. That's the current, you know, style, I guess, and so
that creates height needs, setbacks, and buffers. So if we're going to
put this mass along the corridor highway, make sure that it interacts
appropriately with the existing residential behind.
Parking requirements, open space, connectivity so that these
aren't just completely isolated sites.
From a development review incentives, different ways of
looking at fees, faster permitting, and funding tools. This is based
on some conversations we had with developer stakeholders.
And then making sure that we're clear about undesired uses and
dealing with spacing standards so that we don't have just an overload
of uses that the community is not interested in having.
We talked some about better connectivity. This just shows an
example where if you're at one of these neighborhoods and you want
to get to this lovely park that we have or get to the elementary sch ool,
you have this very long drive all the way around presently, and if we
had been able to or maybe can go back and retrofit just some pathway
connections, not asking for big cars to cut through these communities
but just pathways for people on bikes. Then all of a sudden these
great assets that you've invested in become useful to the community
without having to drive their kid, you know, all the way in a circle.
Thinking ways to retrofit some intersections. And this is where
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DOT now is going, where they're looking at context, and then they're
looking at ways to make even more major thoroughfares more
walkable and safer for pedestrians.
So there are ways to come in and tighten up intersections and
then, longer term, thinking about the corridor, which is the three
nodes we looked at as about a 7-mile length between them all, and
coming back in and saying, how do we maintain this as a six -lane
arterial but design it in such a way that it encourages lower speeds
and really helps to fit with the type of development that we'd like to
put there and is safer and better for all the users. So still maintaining
the throughput but a safer thoroughfare.
Others things that we looked at were enhancements to green
space, parks, lots of great comments from the public on getting some
more regional trails in the area, branding and marketing to give more
of an identity to the area, the general need for recycling and drop-off
center location to be determined, and then continuing to think about
how housing and then Land Development Code for landscaping and
architectural style to make sure that the quality of product that the
community is asking for is what the development process delivers.
So, thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's see if there are any questions
or comments from the Commission. And do we have any registered
speakers?
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I have two registered speakers
here in the room, and then I have one more registered speaker online.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Why don't we go through the
registered speakers and then we'll get to the commission.
MR. MILLER: Your first speaker will be Jean Kungle
followed by Gordon Brumwell and then Jacob Winge.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Either one. That's okay. Either
podium will work.
October 27, 2020
Page 90
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You went the wrong way, but
that's okay.
MS. KUNGLE: Hi. Jean Kungle, and thank you for letting
me speak.
I just wanted to say thank you to Michele and to Anita and
Donna for pushing, pushing, pushing, and I'm hoping that we can
also put together some kind of a committee to oversee this idea
and -- so that it gets implemented properly, and I hope it all gets
passed through today so that Donna can leave on a good note.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Gordon Brumwell. He'll
be followed by Jacob Winge.
Mr. Brumwell, you can use this podium over here while that
one's being cleaned.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He was dutifully following
the arrows.
MR. MILLER: And I ruined that. I'm sorry, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: If you give that to our County
Attorney, then he'll -- right over here.
MR. MILLER: Do you want to show those while you speak,
sir?
MR. BRUMWELL: Yes.
MR. MILLER: Then Mr. County Manager, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm sorry.
MR. BRUMWELL: Hi. I'm Gordon Brumwell from Crown
Pointe in East Naples. The ENCDP is very promising, but a little bit
nit-picking; Map 5 on Page 16 should be edited and the text it
informs qualified.
So this is Map 5. The red circle's a park and greenway, but
there is only a bike path there and, wait for it, I can prove it. Let's go
October 27, 2020
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to Figure 2, please. It's not a destination. It gets you from Point A
to Point B. You can see we have Freedom Park in the upper
right -- on the left that's not really similar -- and a greenway, a
beautiful destination to go to and wander in the woods, is on the
right. And, again, the bike path is not that. And at the bottom is a
picture of a bike path, and I think those two match up pretty well.
So it's currently a bike path. It could be something else. It has
a lot of potential. It could be planted as a greenway. There could
be a park or two along it, but right now it's a path. And some of us
are asking if we can please correct the map to show that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Would you speak in your
microphone; move it over just a little bit. There you go.
MR. BRUMWELL: We're asking that we change the map to
reflect that that is a bike path, not currently a park or a greenway.
Also on Page 16, the text that that map informs reads: The area
generally has good coverage by public facilities and services. On
Page 3, the executive summary begins similarly. While the draft
suggests public green space meets technical requirements, green
space distribution does not meet the requirement of fairness.
Let's go to the last figure. There are only two small
neighborhood green spaces in the interior 33,000'ish acres of central
Greater Naples. There and there (indicating). Anybody in the
purple areas can walk to a green space in 20 minutes. Compare the
coverage of interior Greater Naples to the much greater coverage
around it.
As East Naples is part of this interior public space desert, it
follows we don't have good coverage either. Please qualify the
sentences referred to reflect our dearth of public green space prior to
accepting the draft.
The Crown Pointe master board, I'm not on it. I am one of two
residents asked by it to convey its concern East Naples will lose its
October 27, 2020
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natural character.
Thanks. Questions?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just one.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Could you give me your name?
I'm sorry, I've never met you before. Could you give me your name
and contact information.
MR. BRUMWELL: Gordon Brumwell.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, no. Not on the record. Just
write it down someplace and give it to -- yeah. Give it to Troy or
give it to Jeannie Kungle back in there. Yeah.
MR. BRUMWELL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you very much.
MR. BRUMWELL: Will do.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor has a
comment or a question.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. Just a question. You're
asking us to incorporate your observations, what you've presented
into this plan before we pass it? Did I misunderstand you?
MR. BRUMWELL: No, not -- not the whole spiel. Just to edit
the map to show a bike path where there is a bike path and also to
remove the greenway and the park, because there is no park there and
there is no greenway and then, because the text that is informed by
that map says that we have good coverage, implying of green space
also, to put a qualifier on there; something like, the area generally has
good coverage, comma, except for green space.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay.
MR. BRUMWELL: That sort of thing.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: All right.
MR. BRUMWELL: And I think that seems fair given these
maps.
October 27, 2020
Page 93
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. We have one more
speaker; is that correct?
MR. MILLER: That's correct. Mr. Chairman, I have an online
speaker, Mr. Jacob Winge.
Mr. Winge, you will have three minutes. Are you with us, sir?
MR. WINGE: Yes. Can you hear me?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. Please begin.
MR. WINGE: All right. Thank you. For the record, Jacob
Winge, past president of the East Naples Civic Association. Thank
you for having me -- some time to speak this morning on this really
critical plan.
The East Naples Civic Association did send a letter that I
believe that you-all received, and staff as well, and really just here to
communicate the two points in that letter. We decided to really try
and keep it short. We're asking that you direct staff to set an overlay
across U.S. 41. We believe that it's the most important kind of focal
point as it's, you know, set upon in the plan, some really important
kind of next steps as far as development, if there's any rezoning
priorities for green space and walking paths, bike riding, and then,
obviously, the major point of commercial need in the area.
And then to help expedite changes and recommendations that
are in at the end of the development plan asking you to direct staff to
set a plan for an oversight committee or an advisory board. I think,
you know, some of the concerns that the gentleman brought up just
before me are great things to consider as we move forward and any
needs to tailor the plan. I think it might be a little excessive, if there
become more as the plan develops and starts to take on some teeth to
it, if you will, to actually make, you know, changes or
recommendations, or not necessarily all those to come to the Board at
first, but I think they need to come through an advisory board. I
October 27, 2020
Page 94
think that helps you-all vet them and then, you know, be able to make
good decisions based on what the community likes to see as this plan
gets more and more fleshed out.
So that's just the two points that I just wanted to communicate
from our letter, and I'm happy to answer any questions, if you-all
have any, and thank you again for the time.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Commissioner
Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: No. Yeah, I don't think there are
any questions for you, Jacob. Thank you.
Commissioner Taylor, you had some other comments?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. I think this is an
extraordinary -- well done, Commissioner Fiala. Well done. It's an
extraordinary achievement.
I am a little concerned about the remarks of this gentleman from
Crown Pointe. I would like to endorse this today. I don't
know -- and I'm going to bow to my attorney friends here -- how we
can not discount what he says, but I don't know if we need to
incorporate it at this point, but I'd like to reserve his remarks so that it
will definitely be considered. I don't know how to do that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think that his remarks really
aren't going to the great substance of the plan. It's just some of the
technical issues, and I think we can make those corrections right now.
Just incorporate those technical corrections as we approve this
document.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Have those items been reviewed by
staff? And what's their opinion of them if they have one?
MS. MOSCA: Michele Mosca, for the record.
The goal is to encourage and develop new green space. We can
go ahead and make the change to the map. We can identify the map
October 27, 2020
Page 95
as currently it's a bike path but the overall annual inventory and
update, it's the Rich King Memorial Greenway. It's a regional park
so, eventually, as we move through this process, we do additional
studies, maybe we make additional improvements to it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think the point was that it's not a
greenway at this point, and the map should reflect that it's not.
MS. MOSCA: And we can make that note.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I have a couple of
questions. And in regard to that discussion, I think it's important that
we all remember that this is a plan, and this is the beginning of a
plan. Congratulations to you. This is --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And all of you, thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's a -- it's a plan. It's not
carved in stone. It's not going to be perfect. There's going to be,
suggested by the East Naples Civic Association, a committee on
oversight. I'm reading in the implementation processes down in
here, Years 1 through 2, what you're planning on doing, LDC
amendments in 3 to 5.
I do have questions with regard to the TIF. There's a
suggestion about some TIF funding at some stage. Some money's
going to be needed from this area, and I want to know if there's any
contemplation on how we're going to manage that or we're just going
to address that as it necessarily comes along.
So I would -- though the gentleman brought up valid points, it
doesn't discredit what's already been done, and what couldn't -- I
would rather we take what -- what staff has reviewed and submitted
and adopt it for now and know that we can make adaptations as this
plan continues to progress.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So you object to what --
(Simultaneous crosstalk.)
October 27, 2020
Page 96
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have no objection to what
he said.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, what our staff just said,
that they could just adjust it. I'm sorry. That they could just adjust
it. Right now they can make that --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have concern about making
that adjustment on the fly without their capacity to review and
overlook it.
And, again, I'm not discredit -- taking away from what the
gentleman shared with us. It's just this is a plan, and it's going to
ever evolve. There's going to be more people looking at this now
just because of this discussion than we've ever actually contemplated
before.
Now -- and so having said that, I would rather just leave it alone.
I mean, if staff's okay with making those adjustments, then fine, but
I'm always resistant on presentations that come in right over the
counter, if you will.
My other suggestion that I have that I would like to see as part
of the process is sharing with the public the existing uses that are in
place now and the capacities of those existing uses that are in place
now. Because when I was reading through here, I was looking at,
you know, some of the -- some of the adjustments in C-4, C-3, C-5,
adjustments in existing PUDs.
And so I would like to let the public know what those existing
uses and allowances entail and just -- so we have a comparison as we
go forward. I mean, everybody -- everybody has wants and wishes
and things that they want to see in particular areas, but I want to
make sure that we have information that's afforded to the public with
regard to what those properties are already zoned for and what their
intensities are.
One of the things, as the gentleman spoke -- and forgive me.
October 27, 2020
Page 97
I've forgotten your name already.
MR. DEMIAN MILLER: Demian Miller. I forget it all the
time.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How do you do?
One of the things is it almost -- individually, properties come
back to us over a period of time, and it ends up -- you've actually said
it before. It ends up looking like spot zoning when, in fact, there is a
plan that is in place, and then adjustments are made based upon the
requisites of the property owner, the marketplace, and so on and so
forth.
So I didn't see when I was reviewing this -- I know what C-3,
C-4, PUD and those allowances have, but I didn't see that comparison
delineated here, so...
MS. MOSCA: Commissioner, if I could just address just a
couple items.
So in regards to the first discussion about the map change, it's
the Board's prerogative, but it's not an issue for staff to go ahead and
make that clarification for the map. I think it is fair that we continue
our studies and analysis to determine how much more green space is
needed within the area and, as we continue that process, we'll be able
to determine that much better.
Additionally, you're correct, I don't think even in the technical
memo did we list the actual land development ranges of uses,
C-1 -- what does C-1 allow? Office and so forth. So we can do
that. In the technical memo it does identify at least the diff erent
commercial zoning along the corridor and throughout the study area.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, there were pictures in
the presentation that showed -- that showed different things than
necessarily exist now. And so -- and ideas of what could, in fact,
exist, and I just want to make sure that we're sharing with the
residents, because people see a picture -- our public speaker spoke
October 27, 2020
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earlier about the correctness of Map 5. People see a picture, and
that's what it becomes. And I just want to make sure that we're
expressing the allowances that are existent there today in comparison
to what could potentially be there.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. What you're asking for is a
true picture of today rather than what it's going to be. That's long
been a contention coming up from the East Naples people along that
corridor, because it is only a bike path. But I think what I'm looking
at, this particular thing, this is just our beginning.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: This is a starting point. And I
want -- I want us to get to be -- to have a plan in place like the
Golden Gate area -- yeah, their master plan is just outstanding, and it
covers everything, and that's our goal. It might take -- Michele, it
might take her years, though. But thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Fiala,
why don't you go ahead and make a motion. I think we're ready for
that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'd like to make a motion to
approve as the beginning point for this study.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: In terms of your motion, do you
want to add the map change, just the technical change?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Yes, thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion. Is
there a second?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and a second.
Any discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All in favor, signify by saying aye.
October 27, 2020
Page 99
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. Thank
you.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have two regular agenda items
left. One is the PACE item discussion that was moved at
Commissioner Taylor's request, I understand there's one registered
speaker for that item, and then 11G, which is the proposed agreement
with the United Arts Council. I'm advised there's 16 registered.
MR. MILLER: No, actually, we have that many registered.
We have six here in the room currently and five currently online with
us.
MR. OCHS: Okay. So 11 on that item. So just --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me ask what the pleasure of
the Board is. We can go forward with this and probably be finished
by 12:30, quarter to 1:00.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: With 12 speakers?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Do you want to take a
break for lunch?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, let's take a break.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, I think so.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Do you want to maybe
until 1:00?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Is that okay?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: It's okay by me. All right. We'll
October 27, 2020
Page 100
be in recess until 1:00.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good. Thank you.
(A luncheon recess was had from 12:01 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ladies and gentlemen, the
meeting of the County Commission will please come back to order.
Mr. Ochs has asked if we would take up the PACE issue since
that's going to be fairly quick, and then we'll get to the United Arts
issue.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, sir.
Let me just read that title, if I might, for the Board's edification.
Item #11H – Moved from Item #16A8 (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
RESOLUTION 2020-198: AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 2019-
123 WHICH RE-ESTABLISHED THE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
CLEAN ENERGY (PACE) FOR COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL,
AND MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES IN COLLIER COUNTY,
REVISING THE STANDARD FORM MEMBERSHIP
AGREEMENT WITH PACE PROVIDERS AND AUTHORIZING
THE COUNTY MANAGER OR DESIGNEE TO IMPLEMENT
AND EXECUTE NON-SUBSTANTIVE AMENDMENTS TO THE
STANDARD FORM MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT - MOTION
TO APPROVE AS PRESENTED AND TO INCLUDE PROVIDING
MULTI-LINGUAL FORMS/AGREEMENTS – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: This item was moved to the regular agenda at
Commissioner Taylor's request. It was Item 16A18. It's moved to
11H. It's a recommendation to amend the existing resolution which
established the Property Assessment Clean Energy, PACE, for
commercial, industrial, and multifam ily properties in Collier County
by revising the standard form membership agreement and authorizing
October 27, 2020
Page 101
the manager to implement and execute non-subjective amendments to
the standard form membership agreement.
Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. The issue I have I
had -- and, again, I'm at the beginning -- sorry, I just haven't pulled
this up yet -- is the bullet -- the one question I had and the one
concern I had is the bullet that had talked about it wasn't necessary to
give a prospective client a copy of the financial documents in the
language of that -- of that person. And so I brought that out to the
County Manager yesterday and asked that this be brought forward,
but at the same time I called Elena Mola, and we all know that she
was extremely involved in this, and she has written her concerns and
actually amended the contract, which I gave to Jamie ahead of time
so he had an opportunity to read it. But I think this makes great
good sense.
You know, when I learned and when I understood that the
commercial -- we always kind of said, oh, gosh, the residential's a
nightmare, but commercial is -- you know, is a pretty -- pretty easy
thing. These folks are pretty savvy; they're commercial. And then
they have to own their own property.
And then if you read the first paragraph of Ms. Mola's
comments, she said, according to the U.S. Census as of 2018, there
were more than 43,800 commercial businesses in Collier County that
were sole proprietors and family enterprises with one to three owner
employees. Sole proprietors and family enterprises like individual
homeowners do not have the resources nor the legal nor fina ncial
expertise to understand the very complicated and obscure financing
structures, terms, and conditions of PACE. Additionally, of these,
11,000 are owned by minorities, many of which are foreign born
where English is not their native language.
So I think, that especially with the background of COVID, I
October 27, 2020
Page 102
think PACE is a financing instrument of last resort, but I do believe
with COVID and the challenges businesses have to stay afloat, I think
they might be utilized more, which is not a problem, but I thi nk we
have to ensure that there is a standard by which everyone understands
when they sign on the dotted line what they're getting themselves
into, and this is what she has given us in terms of the exhibit and
the -- and I should -- I guess we could probably put this on the
visualizer, County Manager, of the amendments that Ms. Mola has
made. And I have a sense she's on the line. No? Okay.
MR. MILLER: Let me double-check that. I'll communicate
off-line here.
MR. OCHS: Commissioner, if I might, when we spoke, you
had a concern about one of the four proposed changes to the standard
form agreement.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Correct.
MR. OCHS: Is that still the case, or do you have more
changes?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: This amplifies my concerns.
MR. OCHS: But still with that one issue?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
MR. OCHS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: This is -- amplifies -- this
is -- even amplifies more what I was trying to communicate or what I
did communicate with you.
MR. OCHS: Sure. Mr. Chairman, if I could ask Mr. French to
just explain the --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Sure.
MR. OCHS: -- change on that one item having to do with the
literature.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Mr. French.
MR. FRENCH: Sure. Good afternoon, Commission. Jamie
October 27, 2020
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French, your Deputy Department Head for Growth Management.
Commissioners, this dates back pre-COVID. They had -- the
PACE providers had reached out to me probably around the first of
the year with about 20 or 30 different items that they would love to
amend. We narrowed it down to four that staff could bring forward.
On Paragraph 12, which is what Commissioner Taylor's
referring to, is -- and I don't necessarily know. I spoke with the
Commissioner even as of yesterday. I don't necessarily know that it
is a dealer killer -- I think that was the question I was asked -- for
PACE as to whether or not they had to have printed literature versus
making the literature available upon request.
And I think this was a cost-savings measure. I know Devesh
Nirmul from Counterpointe is here. He's a registered speaker as one
of the lenders, and I know he's worked very closely with staff and
with the Commission over the years. But that was one of the
questions that was brought up.
Staff has no opinion, quite honestly, whether it be printed
material readily available or whether it be available on request or on
their website or closing documents or their financial statements, it
would be -- we simply wanted to make sure that it was there for the
consumer should they need that in a different language, whether it be
Haitian/Creole and in Spanish.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Mr. Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I've got a couple questions.
How many of these have we had in a commercial context and
how many in a multifamily context; do we know?
MR. FRENCH: So to date, sir, after that resolution that I
brought forward to this board in July of 2019, we've had zero. We
have no agreements on record with any PACE provider.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh.
MR. FRENCH: So there's been no commercial loans -- lawful
October 27, 2020
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commercial loans that have been approved by this board; no
contracts.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No contract -- okay. And both on
a commercial side, and it also applied to multifamily?
MR. FRENCH: Right. That's correct, on commercial
structures. So although we have a great deal of respect for
Ms. Mola -- she's exceptionally smart and very well educated in this
field -- when she talks about those numbers, we would -- and I got
this document about 20 minutes ago. But we ran some just very
quick numbers off address points, and just at a range of C-1 through
C-5, actually address points that would be attached to a building that
would qualify for these type of loans, and we're roughly -- and these
are really rough numbers, about 5,700. So her numbers may reflect
business owners that are at-home businesses.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And the -- you couldn't -- because
of what we did before, it's not available to refinance -- or to finance a
roof or something on a residential property. It has to be a
commercially zoned property.
MR. FRENCH: So it can be residential, but it would be
considered commercial construction. So --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: -- if it was a fee-simple property where you
own the ground underneath of you like an attached single -family
structure, which -- like a townhouse, those would not qualify, but if
you were part of an association, a very large condominium building
or an apartment complex that is used primarily for residential use,
those would qualify, because we're really talking about an association
or an HOA that owns the shell of the building.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Well, that was kind of the
second half to my question was, as I recall, it applied to commercial
October 27, 2020
Page 105
properties and would be -- we would leave it available for
multifamily.
MR. FRENCH: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But you're just saying that the
multifamily is considered a commercial for this purpose.
MR. FRENCH: Under the building code, it's considered a
commercial structure for residential use.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. So whether it's just a
strictly commercial building or a multifamily, we haven't had a single
one of these?
MR. FRENCH: We have no contracts in place, and we've not
brought anything to the Board. We have three of them pending right
now.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh, okay. So there's three
pending.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think -- and thank you for that
clarification. And I think the issue is the language and the
requirement that whoever we -- whoever PACE signs up, signs up to
use their financing, that they understand clearly, clearly what it is and
what the payments are and allow them time instead of having it given
to them on an iPad and digitally, and they sign their name.
I believe the reason there's no more -- there's not any more
commercial involvement with PACE is their choice, right? Did they
not -- didn't you say that they didn't want to do business with us until
we changed this to the way they wanted to or something?
MR. FRENCH: I don't think that either of the PACE providers
or I fared very well over our multitude of different discussions that
we've brought before the Board, so I think maybe they took a pause.
I don't know. I don't know if they had to go back and make a
October 27, 2020
Page 106
determination as to whether or not Collier was a good market for
them or not.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And I believe the Ygrene's
name has now changed to something else. They're now another
entity.
MR. FRENCH: They very well may be. We've not heard
from -- the representative, I know her name was Kate with Ygrene.
She has reached out to us, and maybe Devesh can speak of that.
Maybe he's got more insider information than we do, but we did lose
all communications with them up until about the first of this year.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think my concern is in a
county where we have 67 different languages spoken in the schools,
the least a lender such as PACE, when they came in, could present
them written material in three languages, English, Spanish, and
Creole, and allow that to be part of their presentation and that it is
given to everyone, and there's a -- there's a lag time between when it's
given so to give the possible client time to review it before they
knock on the door again and said, okay, are you ready to.
Having lived in a foreign country for a period of time, I know
how you, as I did -- as I did. I'm not saying everybody does this. I
pretended I understood without understanding because I really
wanted to be accepted. I really wanted to do business. And
sometimes things can be misunderstood. And I think
giving -- giving someone time to review it and having it in three
languages that they -- it's a printed document and they have it in front
of them, I think that's a -- that's just a small thing to ask, and I can't
imagine it would be a deal breaker, but I guess we'll hear from
Devesh.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just kind of a logistics question.
So these revisions that we have, has staff looked at these, and has the
October 27, 2020
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County Attorney looked at these? I mean, I just hate to make a
decision if they haven't had a chance to review them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: This was just given to me this
morning.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh, okay. Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I've given everyone a copy, but
I'm not -- I would not presume that everyone had an opportunity or
even PACE had an opportunity.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Do you have an extra copy?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, I do.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And one other thing is, so there's
three applications pending. How would -- how would amending
this, even if it's just what staff's recommending, would this affect
those three pending applications? It wouldn't, right?
MR. FRENCH: No. Thank you, Commissioner.
For the whole, the program doesn't change. These are very
minor, de minimis changes just to the agreement language, but the
program in and of itself is untouched.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And if there's one -- there's one
more issue that I think is -- needs to be brought out also, if we have
consensus on this commission. I think because it's PACE and we've
had quite a -- spent a lot of time up here going through the residential
part and now the commercial, I think whenever there is any kind of
changes to the agreement, the membership agreement between PACE
or the provider and Collier County, that it just be put -- if it's de
minimis changes, they need to go on the agenda and not be left to the
County Manager's Office to make.
Now, they can make them, but give us an opportunity as a
commission to review those changes. I just think that's just a fair
way to go forward.
October 27, 2020
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Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, it is Ygrene Energy
Fund is the name of the Ygrenes that you were talking about that had
a name change. Their new name is Ygrene Energy Fund.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I, as well -- I think I
heard anyway. I've got concerns about making adjustments like this
on the fly. And my question is, is this something we have to do
today?
MR. FRENCH: No, sir. This was brought to you as a
request --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Could it be -- could we
continue this item, give staff and the County Attorney a chance to
look at this? I mean, it's -- I mean, I certainly don't see an issue
with, when requested, people getting the documentation in the
language that they're most familiar with. So I would feel a lot better
if we allowed our staff and the County Attorney to review these
adjustments and bring it back.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We do have some
speakers, or at least one speaker.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir, Devesh Nirmul.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Why don't we hear from the
speaker, and then we'll entertain a motion to continue if that's the
desire of the Board.
MR. NIRMUL: Good afternoon. Devesh Nirmul with
Counterpointe Energy Solutions, the agency administrator for the
Florida PACE funding agency.
Let me just -- if I could just first say, logistically, the reason we
have the item -- the industry wants the item to moved forward is we
have not done any projects since the opt-out of the PACE because
October 27, 2020
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part of that opt-out was a complete opt-out, and then it was going to
come back for commercial only. So with that guidance -- the district
takes that very seriously -- we were not, you know, offering any
projects up for consideration.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh.
MR. NIRMUL: So that's where we are, and this is
why -- we've been waiting on it. With COVID, we've had a delay.
Now, there's actually a project. I think, Commissioner Taylor, you
were on a call. We had a developer that was -- that had called in --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MR. NIRMUL: -- about two months ago, and they've got an
ALF project they'd like to get moving before the end of the year. So
there may have been a multifamily in the past. Multifamily is a
common sector.
And, traditionally, Commissioner Solis, that multi -- the
definition of commercial in most of our local governments we've
worked with includes multifamily residential. Anything
above -- over four units, I think.
And I will make the comment that I think, with the language,
commercial PACE is -- it's a scale that we work with in our district,
which are medium-to-large deals. We're talking 700,000 to several
hundred -- to several -- you know, maybe up to 50 million. Those
transactions typically deal with large owners of real estate or
companies that they own their own factory and manufacturing facility
type of thing, for example.
On the lower end, things that might look similar to residential
where you call a contractor, you've got a broken roof and they're like,
well, I can use PACE on your business, and if you own that business,
it's -- a $25,000 roof, it's a small little, you know, building, that
would function more like the traditional where, yes, you'd want to
make sure -- and I would -- I will say I don't work for Ygrene, but I
October 27, 2020
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know that they do multiple -- those three languages in South Florida
where they have smaller commercial projects. We don't really touch
those scale-type projects.
The marketing we do is really -- I'm very strategic. Our time is
limited. We go to commercial like NAIOP, ULI, organizations that
can educate owners, because residential PACE is demand-driven.
Commercial is very much an education piece. I just got off a call
this morning with Highland's County Economic Development. They
just opted into PACE. One of their investors in an old Georgia
Pacific building that's been sitting there for 10 years said, look, I've
used PACE before. I need it in order that I can retrofit this property
back to a level where I can get it working for my business.
So very nuanced, and there's high levels of understanding
if -- on the capital stack. If the bank knows that the PACE is on
there, there's lender consent above a million.
So I would just say that I think any of the providers, if the owner
of the business or the building has already gotten language for their
primary loan in whatever language they needed, we would be happy
to oblige. I don't think there's any -- but active creation of
documents is something that we don't typically do in any new
jurisdiction. We do work with economic development. We do
work with those partners on co-marketing to make sure we follow
their guidance; CRAs, et cetera, so...
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So would you object to making
sure that the -- I guess the terminology is the provider, correct?
MR. NIRMUL: The capital provider, yeah, the PACE provider.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The capital provider has on
hand the contract in three different languages in writing so that that
could be given to whomever they wanted to do business with?
MR. NIRMUL: Yeah. I would say that that -- if that's the way
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that -- I mean, just like small -- I don't understand the small deals as
much, because we do the medium/large. But I know from what I
know, those smaller deals, they involve minority ownerships that
require that language, they would be delivered a financial agreement
in those languages.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So this contractor is between
who you represent and Collier County, not Ygrene?
MR. NIRMUL: There are two PACE districts that are on
agenda -- that we're supposed to be on the agenda today. Jamie
here? Is Green Corridor on it, or is it just --
MR. FRENCH: At this point, I don't know.
MR. NIRMUL: I think it's just Florida Green Finance and
Florida PACE Funding. So Ygrene Corridor is not on the agenda
today, I don't believe.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And so you don't do business
with the smaller proprietors, sole proprietors?
MR. NIRMUL: We will do -- it's about the size of the deal,
typically. We're doing anything from, like , 150K above, typically,
and that 150K is typically smaller, in a small site. But yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So do you object to this, what
we're talking about, to have it in writing in three different languages
in printed form?
MR. NIRMUL: My -- all I can say is I think we need to go
back, because I think if there's a primary loan on that property with a
mortgage company and they've done that, the same thing, then I think
we need to meet that standard. That's my first instinct on this.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Can we delay this until our first --
MR. NIRMUL: I do need to check with our folks.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: If we delay this until our first
meeting in November, is that going to present any problems? I think
that's November 10th.
October 27, 2020
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. It's early November.
MR. OCHS: November 10th.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Is that correct?
MR. NIRMUL: I think it shouldn't affect the project. The
question would be then, would the agreements be done at the same
time, or are you going to go back and --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
MR. NIRMUL: -- will the agreements take another --
MR. OCHS: Yeah. We had two specific agreements that
were -- that we were waiting for action on this item to be able to
execute, and part of this recommendation was to allow the County
Manager to implement and execute non-substantive amendments,
which those were. So if the Board had approved this, I would have
gone ahead and executed those two specific agreements. But I heard
Commissioner Taylor and, I think, Commissioner McDaniel saying
they would prefer the Board approve all these, so --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No.
MR. OCHS: -- if that's the case, we'd bring them back. Oh,
I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You didn't hear me say that.
MR. OCHS: I apologize, sir. That was just Commissioner
Taylor then.
So the two that he's referencing are not on your agenda today.
They can come forward on November 10th if the Board doesn't want
to allow the administrative approval.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel, you're
lit up there.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I was looking for the
continuances just because of the new data. It ended up down that
way, but I haven't gotten it, so -- it might be there, but I haven't
looked at it. And I was recommending the continuance on the
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premise that our staff and County Attorney needed to review it or
should review it.
My question, I guess, that I have is, are you suggesting that
these lenders, irrespective of the language spoken, have preprinted
forms in all three languages all of the time, not upon request?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Not upon request. That
they -- that it is part of the package. Knock at the door, you want to
do business, here is the agreement. Give them time to review it,
come back, seal the deal.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: In advance of knowledge of
the language spoken by the customer that's wanting to do business.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, if they're English, you
give them English. But it's written and you give it in advance. If
they -- if Spanish is their native tongue or what they understand, you
give it to them in Spanish. Creole would be the same, but certainly
not three --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But -- and I'm just wondering
where you're going. It doesn't seem -- it doesn't seem functional to
me to go in advance and print in all three languages when you don't
know what the language of the particular customer is that's looking to
transact business, but upon request I can say, give me the language,
give me this information. I want these loan docs and this
information in a language that I'm comfortable in understanding.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I think -- I think -- I think
it's a foregone -- I think the proof is in the record, and I think it's very
important to have this in the language that the person that you're
trying to lend to can understand.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm saying the same thing --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- but I don't see the rationale
of forcing the lender to print it in multiple languages --
October 27, 2020
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, no, no, no. That was
just -- I was -- I'm a visual person, you know. Okay. English is
your mother tongue. Here it is in English. Oh, you know, Spanish
is your mother tongue. Here it is in Spanish.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And so the Paragraph 12
there, upon request, we're necessarily saying the same thing.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But not upon request. You
would just -- automatic, you give it to them.
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, if I could, I think what we're
talking about here is not just the contract. I'll ask Jamie to step up.
But all of their printed materials and their marketing materials
currently, I believe they're required to have all of that preprinted in
three different languages available, readily available, an d the
proposed change is to make that available upon request.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. OCHS: That's essentially the issue. So if we can get
directive one way or the other on what the Board's preference is, we
can at least bring this back on the 10th with what you want.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It was just another question on the
history of this thing. Has there been uptick in other areas that have
the PACE program for commercial properties? Has the use of it
changed since the pandemic kicked in or --
MR. FRENCH: We're unaware of any market condition
changes that would --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: -- other than current growth in our own
community, sir.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. And so the change is to
include printed literature. Must be readily available upon request in
the three different languages. That's what we want to change it to.
October 27, 2020
Page 115
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
MR. OCHS: Yeah, that's correct, as opposed to readily
available in advance, regardless of whether they request it. It's all
preprinted in three different languages.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. I mean, I think -- I see
Commissioner Taylor's point. I'm just -- I'm not sure that we're -- it
doesn't say the same thing. I mean, in order to have the right
language preprinted to give to them, they would have to tell you what
their language is. Yeah, I'm -- I'm good either way. I mean, I
really --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think I would go with --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: This isn't an issue. I mean, we've
only got one or three applications. One's in -- I heard one's a
developer.
MR. FRENCH: Yes, sir. So there's a development that is
interested in the PACE program that Devesh brought forward to us.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: Currently, we had two contracts ready to bring
forward, agreements and, like I said, we speak with PACE now more
than -- more often than ever, but it's only on the commercial side.
So we have two loaded up ready to be presented to the Board.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And none of these are like a
residential property, a single-family home?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: These are 150,000 or up?
MR. FRENCH: We don't know the value, sir --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: -- but what I'll tell you is that they're not
allowed to do one- and two-family structures.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right, okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: My view is that it should be
October 27, 2020
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available upon request; that there shouldn't be any need to just have
that available. A lot of folks that are going to be getting these loans
speak English and Spanish or Haitian and English. So let them
request whatever they want.
Now, I don't know if that's what -- kind of what the majority is
feeling, but what are the decisions you need us to make --
MR. OCHS: I think that's it, sir. We had four minor changes
or administrative changes proposed. That was the one area that I
think Commissioner Taylor had a particular concern about, and the
rest I don't believe there's an objection to.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: So if the consensus of the Board is
to have those available in those languages upon request, if that's the
majority of the Board, we make that motion, do we need to bring this
item back?
MR. OCHS: No, sir. The only other element you need to deal
with was whether or not you want the County Manager to be able to
execute non-substantive amendments or, as Commissioner Taylor
said, bring everything back every time to the Board.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me ask the Board, then, a
question. First, on the having this available upon request, is that the
consensus of the Board?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think that's fine, yeah.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: A reluctant yes from
Commissioner Solis. Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I think most people do have
something on that --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel. Okay.
So that issue, I think, is resolved.
Then the second issue is, do we want these minor changes to
come back to us? I personally have no preference one way or the
October 27, 2020
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other.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think they should be put on
the consent.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Could we just define what would
not be a minor revision?
MR. OCHS: Yeah, Commissioner. I'm going to ask the
County Attorney for some help on this one. He and I had a brief
discussion about this.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. For some reason, lenders just can't
sign a form document. They're over -lawyered, I guess. And what I
saw was just absolute knits as far as changes go. Nothing that was
material or subjective. Our office looks at these documents.
Anything that was substantive, we will say no to, and --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. That certainly would
satisfy my concern is that if it's -- if the County Attorney determines
that it's substantive, then it has to come back to the Board?
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So let's make a -- how about
if I make a motion to approve as presented?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. That includes the
"upon request" language?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. We have a motion and
a second. Any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Then I'll call for the vote. All in
favor, signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
October 27, 2020
Page 118
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Opposed.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. That passes 4-1.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #11G - Continued from the October 13, 2020 BCC Meeting
AN AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED ARTS COUNCIL OF
COLLIER COUNTY IN SUPPORT OF ACHIEVING THE
STRATEGIES OUTLINED IN THE BOARD ADOPTED COLLIER
COUNTY ARTS & CULTURE STRATEGIC PLAN; APPROVE A
WAIVER FROM THE COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT
PROCESS FOR THE UNITED ARTS COUNCIL AND MAKE A
FINDING THAT THIS EXPENDITURE PROMOTES TOURISM -
MOTION TO CONTINUE THIS ITEM TO THE SECOND
MEETING IN JANUARY, 2021 – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: That moves us to Item 11G. This item was
continued from your October 13th meeting. It's a recommendation
to approve an agreement with the United Arts Council of Collier
County in support of achieving the strategies outlined in the
Board-adopted Collier County Arts and Culture Strategic Plan.
Mr. Callahan will make a brief presentation.
MR. CALLAHAN: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the
record, Sean Callahan, Executive Director of Corporate Business
Operations.
To give you a little bit of background of how this contract came
to pair [sic], in 2016 we did an arts impact and economic study -- or
sorry, an arts and economics impact study that was led by the United
Arts Council and some of their partners; found out that the non -profit
October 27, 2020
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industry -- arts and culture industry generates about $107 million in
annual economic activity; supports a little bit under 3,000 jobs, and
generates over $10 million in local and state taxes.
So we contracted for a countywide arts and strategic -- or arts
and culture strategic plan to define what our role should be. It was
done over time with a large group of a task force that put this plan
together, and it was adopted by BCC in March of this year, at your
March 24th meeting.
At the same time, that contract was done with -- under the guise
of the cultural planning group, which was a consultant that helped us
with the countywide plan. In December of last year, we amended
their contract to place the CRA public art master plan, which is a
larger recommendation for the countywide plan to develop a public
art program, but this board approved in December to moved forward
with the Bayshore CRA as a pilot for that program.
So, largely, the plan is -- the Arts and Culture Strategic Plan is
built around building a creative economy on supporting cultural
tourism here in Collier County. You can see elements of that
throughout the plan, but some of the different goals that were
outlined, specifically Goal 1.2.2 of the plan, was to assign the State of
Florida designated Local Arts Agency as the county's official cultural
agency, which is currently the United Arts Council of Collier County.
And as -- a sub-recommendation to that goal was to establish a
contract for services with defined roles, goals, funding and
accountability for the county and that local arts agency again which is
the United Arts Council. So that's the contract that you have before
you today was that recommendation.
Throughout that, we crafted deliverables that were based on that
Arts and Culture Strategic Plan. The first of which was to
implement a cultural calendar management system, which was Goal
4.1.3 of that plan, and that was really to bring all of the different arts
October 27, 2020
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and culture events that were happening in the county into one
calendar so those could be featured and rolled up throughout the
ParadiseCoast.com website as well to help with having an in-sync
calendar of all the events that were going on here.
The second one was quarterly meetings with our arts and
cultural partners. As I mentioned, this plan was put together with a
wide swath of the community and this task force, and there's several
different quarterly meetings that will happen so tha t there's
coordination in between that community. It will roll up into an
annual state-of-the-arts presentation to the county for how we're
doing on that. So there were several goals within the plan that spoke
to that and recommended that.
Deliverable 3 was to establish a Collier cultural concierge
program which was a very wide partnership led by the United Arts
Council to develop different events and programming throughout the
county. That was Goal 2.11 of the plan.
Deliverable 4 was to develop a county public art program in
cooperation with the CRA. So, again, the larger plan recommended
that we come up with a countywide public art program. In
December the Bayshore CRA started to work on a pilot program that
could be replicable for the rest of the county.
Deliverable 5 was develop a cultural community space in the
Bayshore CRA. That is part of the CRA public arts plan that will be
coming to you at your November board meeting for approval.
Deliverable 6, Goal 5.2 of the plan, was to establish and manage
a Cultural Trust Fund for private donations.
So this first iteration of this plan is supported by both tourist
development tax funds and CRA funds in cooperation, since both of
those communities have an interest in what we're implementing here,
but we didn't want to rely just on government funding to be able to
implement some of the larger community events. So during the plan
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it was suggested that in conjunction with a local philanthropic -- local
philanthropic non-profit that we establish this Cultural Trust Fund
notated such as the Community Foundation of Collier County.
They, obviously, have a large interest in the arts as one of their focus
areas in their annual fundraising.
So, with that, to cover the funding in the plan -- so TD tax will
cover $50,000, the Community Redevelopment Agency will cover
$75,000 to implement those deliverables. The Cultural Trust Fund,
if this contract is approved, will be established. Moving forward
we'll solicit private donations for implementation of some of the
different strategies in the fund.
So with that, I'll take your questions.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Any questions or comments from
the Commission? We do have quite a few people registered to
speak. All right. Let's go through that.
MR. MILLER: Yes, Mr. Chairman. We have seven speakers
here in the building and six registered onli ne, and we'll alternate
between the two.
Your first speaker is Paul Gower. He will be followed by
Alyssa Haney and then Bill Drackett.
For the speakers here in the room, I'd like to remind you to
alternate between the podiums, if you would, please, and speakers at
home, please be ready to unmute yourself when your name is called.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And we do limit speakers to three
minutes.
MR. GOWER: Good afternoon. My name is Paul Gower.
I'm a resident of Naples in the Bayshore district.
MR. OCHS: Sir, excuse me. If you'd pull that microphone a
little closer. Thank you.
MR. GOWER: Better? Okay. Paul Gower. I live over on
Botanical Place in the Bayshore district, resident of Naples, local
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artist.
I've been a resident of Naples for two-and-a-half years now full
time. Came down here for my second retirement. And my second
retirement was my time to now focus on doing my artwork.
One of the first organizations that I got in touch with as of
coming down here was the United Arts Council to get a little bit of an
overview what the arts community was like and what the activities
were in the area. After that I became quite submerged in Naples Art
as a volunteer there. And if anybody of you -- any of you have ever
attended any of their receptions for any of their exhibits or shows, I
was one of the ones doing the food and hospitality for Naples Art.
Over the two-and-a-half years, a short period of time, relatively,
I've had the opportunity to exhibit the council chambers. I was your
featured artists during January of 2020 this year which I'm really glad
that I had the opportunity to do that.
So -- and with getting to meet the people around the area and
getting to know the people of the United Arts Council and being
involved as a participant and observer in the cultural and strategic
arts endeavor, the United Arts Council has been there every time and
has been a real core part of the development of that and their interest
in that.
So in that regards, I wanted to say I support their contract with
the Collier County to be accepted.
Recently -- and I don't represent Gulfshore Life or the editor, but
in her -- from the editor, Life and Art, the featured -- the article -- the
whole magazine, actually, was an -- featuring the arts in the area in
Gulfshore Life. The last sentence she makes a statement saying, as
such, art remains perhaps the most valuable investment we can make,
both personally and for our community.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Alyssa Haney. She will
October 27, 2020
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be followed by Bill Drackett and then Hyla Crane.
Ms. Haney, are you with us, ma'am? Alyssa Haney, are you
with us online, ma'am? You may need to unmute your mic.
MS. HANEY: Can you hear me?
MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am. Please begin. You have three
minutes.
MS. HANEY: Good afternoon. My name is Alyssa Haney,
assistant vice president at First Florida Integrity Bank and the
president of the United Arts Council of Collier County, a lifelong
resident of Naples, and I'm also a passionate arts advocate. I'm
thankful to you for this opportunity to voice my opinion this
afternoon.
The UAC's sufficiently detailed contract with the Board of
County Commissioners has identified key projects that can start
immediately and will attract visitors, result in increased revenue for
arts and cultural organizations, and impact Collier County's revenue.
As I'm sure you're all aware, the creative economy is one of
those sectors most at risk from the COVID-19 crisis. Arts and
culture is one of the three key sectors, along with science and
technology as well as business and management, that drives regional
economies. So any lasting damage to the creative sector will
drastically undercut Collier County's culture, well-being, and quality
of life.
Approving this contract, a collaborative contract that even prior
to this pandemic has been supported by some of the most recognized
arts and cultural organizations, individual artists, merchant
associations, businesses, the Cultural Redevelopment Agency, the
Tourism Development Council, the Cultural Planning Group, the
UAC board of directors, and the community will be not only a
long-needed lifeline for the arts and culture organizations in Collier
County, but a catalyst for forging a past -- a path, rather, out of the
October 27, 2020
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tumultuous unpredictability this pandemic has caused for so many
organizations.
Without the approval of this contract, the Cultural Trust Fund
established through the Community Foundation of Collier County
where private dollars will be directed toward matching public funds
will cease to exist. Your steadfast and forward thinking that allowed
this plan to develop and your continued support of the United Arts
Council and the arts in Collier County is immeasurable, and I am
thankful to each of you for your support.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Bill Drackett. He will be
followed by Hyla Crane and then Susan Gibsons.
MR. DRACKETT: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm Bill
Drackett. I am a resident of the Bayshore Culture Arts District, a
long-time resident of Naples, and a member of an extended family
that has been very supportive of the arts over the decades. I am also
past president of the Cultural and Performing Arts, CAPA, which has
merged with the United Arts Council.
I've also been in contact with Donna McGinness and the Naples
Botanical Garden and also Kathleen van Bergen of Artis Naples.
Both are very supportive of this contract and your long -term
commitment of the arts through this study and moving forward.
They both apologize for not being able to be here. Kathleen, in
particular, wanted me to point out that she's not able to be here
because they are installing the Chihuly exhibit that was partly funded
through the county and the tourism, so she's hard at work for you
already.
This contract, this process is very exciting. We all encourage
you to continue your support of the arts, and this is the first step in
that path, and I encourage you to approve it, as do Kathleen and
Donna, to get this process going as soon as possible.
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And it's a small sand in the beach of the size of the contract but
will have great return on investment. And I would be remiss if I did
not also thank Commissioner Fiala for her long service to this county
and her love for this county and for the arts. And I look fo rward to
getting this approved on her last official meeting.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Hyla Crane. She will be
followed by Susan Gibbons, and then Laetitia Dawson.
Ms. Crane, are you with us online, ma'am?
MS. CRANE: Yes, I am.
MR. MILLER: You have three minutes, ma'am. Please begin.
MS. CRANE: Thank you.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Hyla Crane, and
I'm the Executive Director of the Marco Island Center for the Arts.
Many organizations, including this art center for which I work,
worry about survival these days, and there's no doubt that some of us
will not make it in the end. We need help now.
The need to advance the operational plan by approving the
UAC's agreement is critical to ensuring the ongoing existence of the
creative sector in Collier County. Time is of the essence.
I believe the UAC's agreement has already identified key
programs immediately ready for implementation that will raise
revenue for arts and cultural organizations, attract visitors, and
increase Collier County's revenue as it becomes known as a cultural
destination.
Furthermore, I've been advised that the United Arts Council has
reached out to the Community Foundation of Collier County to
establish a Cultural Trust Fund where private dollars can be directed
towards matching the public funds coming from Collier County.
Without the Collier County UAC's agreement, there may be no
Cultural Trust Fund established.
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The UAC has also made a commitment that when raising funds
to implement the agreement's goals, they will be directing private
dollars to the cultural trust fund. It is my understanding that the
United Arts Council will not be competing with other cultural
organizations as it is their duty as a local arts organization to provide
services and support for all arts organizations, artists, and for this
local community.
I thank each and every one of you for your attention to this
matter.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Susan Gibbons. She will
be followed by Laetitia Dawson, and then Bryce Alexander.
MS. GIBBONS: Thank you, Commissioners, for the
opportunity to speak with you this afternoon.
And first, congratulations on your approval this past spring of
the Collier County Arts and Culture Strategic Plan.
My name is Susan Gibbons. I'm a 10-year resident of Collier
after moving here from New York City. As background, I enjoyed
an extremely rewarding career in the computer industry as a lifer with
a multinational doing marketing initiatives through business partners.
When I relocated or considered locating to Naples, the
availability of good arts was a mandatory requirement. So even
before I was unpacked, I had joined boards and committees of Naples
arts organizations.
I was very impressed with the variation of arts programs in this
incredible community. Performing, visual, culture, literary; it's
boundless. I've, therefore, been dedicated to contributing time,
talent, and treasure to many organizations as a philanthropic as well
as providing marketing efforts. I've even been told I hold an
informal award for most galas attended.
I'm evaluating this United Arts Council as a business case for
marketing visibility and economic impact. This comprehensive art
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plan has been applauded by both the public and arts group as an
effective foundation for much needed and long requested arts
programs across Collier.
This plan is a major opportunity to greatly enhance Collier
County's image as a cultural arts destination with serious nationwide
potential.
The UAC contract is a first step in implementing the arts plan,
recognizes a driver of economic growth and tourism, with
documented financially justified programs and benefits and,
therefore, this investment was unanimously approved by the Tourist
Development Council and the Bayshore/Gateway CRA board.
These programs are needed now by virtually all elements and sectors
of the economy in Collier.
Hospitality, tourism, arts, government, community, and
education, especially during COVID, we quickly need programs for
children to enhance learning, creativity, adaptability, and emotional
growth. The UAC can start programs now to attract visitors, boost
the economy, and increase revenue. And they're going to develop a
template so that these programs can be replicated across Collier.
To support this plan, the UAC has a new partnership with the
Community Foundation of Collier County. I've been working with
the Community Foundation to initiate this plan, and I will be working
and engaging the philanthropic community to drive contributions to
this fund. These programs are not competing. These are title
support programs that will benefit all arts organizations across the
Collier.
Thank you very much for your support of the arts and this
project, and I will continue -- committed to be involved in this project
as it deploys and enhances Collier's reputation as a cultural
destination.
Thank you very much.
October 27, 2020
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MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Laetitia Dawson. She'll
be followed by Bryce Alexander and then Sally Woliver.
Ms. Dawson, are you with us online?
MS. DAWSON: Good afternoon. Yes. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: You have three minutes, ma'am. Please begin.
MS. DAWSON: Thank you. My name is Laetitia Dawson,
and I'm a Bayshore Arts District resident and property owner.
Thank you for allowing me to address you this afternoon.
My family and I have lived in Naples now since the summer of
2016, and in a few weeks we're going to celebrate our four-year
anniversary living in the Bayshore Arts District.
We knew the area was up and coming when we purchased our
home here, but we didn't really understand the whole vision. As we
participated in the CRA and learned more, we really became excited
about the opportunity for growth and development of the arts here in
Bayshore.
So I'd like to address two key points today sharing my thoughts:
First, when I heard about the UAC contract -- honestly, I work in
finance and planning and budgeting, and I thought, well, why do we
need a contract? You know, is this really where we want our tax
dollars to go? So I read the arts plan. I started doing research. I
participated in the surveys online. I thought about cities and towns
that we've visited that really have a true presence of the arts -- we
have a lot of that over on the East Coast here in Florida -- and I
realized that that true presence doesn't happen by accident, and it
doesn't happen for free. It takes planning, it takes coordination, and
it takes execution. It takes staff with a responsibi lity and
commitment.
We're very blessed to have terrific county staff here in the
Bayshore CRA, and now we have the opportunity to have that same
caliber of staff with the arts expertise from UAC.
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And as Mr. Callahan presented, we've followed this process
carefully through to arrive here today. So as a result, I think there's a
well-constructed contract with very detailed deliverables and an ideal
handling of funds through the establishment of the Cultural Trust
Fund. And after learning all these details, I applaud the effort put
into crafting this contract so we can really have a vehicle to execute
the next phase here in Collier County, and especially in Bayshore as
the first pilot.
As I mentioned, I work in the private sector, so I had to adapt to
the processes and, you know, to my second point today, you know,
there's a lot of processes and procedures to make sure that the
commissioners and the county staff follow to be good stewards of our
tax dollars. And, you know, we appreciate that. We can't ma ke
knee-jerk reactions. And at the same time, I also understand very
clearly that the COVID-19 has reduced our tax revenue. So we have
to scrutinized spending more than maybe we would have normally.
We have to be careful, but we also have to continue moving
forward. We have momentum here in the Bayshore Arts District.
Now is not the time to stop and hold back.
Commissioners, I ask you to keep supporting the arts here
because the arts will have a creative effect on Collier County
revenues. Continuing to redevelop Bayshore will positively impact
Collier County overall.
Commissioner Taylor, as our commissioner here, I directly
implore you to please support the arts in Bayshore. You were there
for us when we needed you previously with some of the unsavory
actors we had in our neighborhood and negligent landlords. Please
give us your support now in this critical time so we can make
additional progress transforming Bayshore into the arts district. If
we want to continue to brand the Bayshore area as an arts district, this
is a pivotal step forward.
October 27, 2020
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Thank you for your support today.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Bryce Alexander. He'll
be followed by Sally Woliver, and then Laura Burns.
MR. ALEXANDER: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My
name is Bryce Alexander. I'm the CEO and executive artistic
director of the Naples Players, and I think by now you probably have
a sense of what I'm going to say. But just as a reminder, you know,
arts and culture in the United States is often very much overlooked as
an industry and yet it represents 5 percent of the U.S. economy. It's
$800 billion of GDP, which is more than agriculture in the United
States. It's more than transportation in the United States, and even in
the state of Florida it's a $40 billion industry, and if you don't believe
me, Google it. You can look it up.
You heard how many jobs rely on arts and culture in our county,
and yet there is no tourist funds for arts and culture despite the fact
that it draws tourism. There's no City of Naples tourism tax that
pays for arts and culture, nor are there any other municipalities in the
county. And the State of Florida is now 49th in funding in the
country for arts and culture. Just 10 years ago it was among the top
10.
So because of that, COVID-19 has hit arts organizations in this
county particularly hard. And the Naples Players alone is looking at
more than a $1.3 million loss of revenue just being closed the last 7
months even though we are one of the very few arts organizations
that has continued to operate and provide programs to the community
through this whole thing.
So the only reason I bring that up is because I think it's
important to know that in that same American for the Arts poll that
they did, 116 million Americans traveled more than 50 miles one
way, and 30 percent of those people extended their trips so that they
could attend an arts and cultural event, and 40 percent of those people
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said that they would go to another community if that arts and culture
event was in a different community.
And if you compare us now to Lee and our other counties across
the way, we're way, way behind. And what I don't want to see
happen is tourism money that we need today go up to Lee County or
go across because there's money here in our county to help bring the
arts together. The UAC is a perfect example. We're all bothering
you today because the UAC is that powerful.
So please support the UAC today and certainly for many years
to come. I know it's only a one-year contract, but hopefully you'll
consider its impact over the long term, and especially at the
drop-in-the-bucket amount of money that they're going to receive for
the huge amount of work they're going to do.
So thank you very much. Have a great afternoon.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Sally Woliver. She'll be
followed by Laura Burns and then Paul Arsenault.
Ms. Woliver, you may need to unmute yourself. Are you with
us, ma'am?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Hey, Troy. It's Paul Arsenault,
not Paula.
MR. MILLER: Oh, I thought I said Paul. I'm sorry. All
right. I'm getting a message from my Zoom person. I need to hold
for a second there. So let's go ahead and get Ms. Laura Burns. I
know she's here in the room. All right. Now, hold on. I'm sorry,
Ms. Burns. Now I'm getting word that Sally Woliver may be with
us. Ms. Woliver, are you with us now?
MS. WOLIVER: Yes, I am.
MR. MILLER: Please begin. You have three minutes.
MS. WOLIVER: Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the record, I am Sally
Woliver. I'm a 29-year Collier County resident. My non-profit
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management firm is under contract to the United Arts Council to
provide both fundraising and strategic planning services to help
implement the Arts and Cultural Strategic Plan.
This is a bit of an unusual position for me, because normally I
don't speak publicly in support of client projects. This has been the
first time I've done this in the 25 years I've been in business, but I
made an exception today because this contract with the United Arts
Council is a game changer for our community. It's important you
understand the behind-the-scenes work that has happened to assure
that implementing the Arts and Cultural Strategic Plan is a success.
So as you consider formally approving the contract, I've
received permission from the Community Foundation of Collier
County to share information on the work we have conducted with
them to establish the Cultural Trust Fund. In September we reached
out to the Community Foundation to establish this fund, and together
the UAC and Community Foundation staff have created a contract to
guide the management of that fund.
And I'm only going to read a few key points of that contract for
you to understand. Number 1, distributions are to be used t o support
projects and initiatives of the Collier County Arts and Cultural
Strategic Plan adopted by the Board here in March of 2020.
The UAC is designated, as you know, by the State of Florida as
your local arts agency, and they've been charged by this commission
to implement and manage the Arts and Culture Strategic Plan.
And this third point is really important from the contract.
Should the UAC cease to exist or cease to be the designated agency
overseeing the Arts and Culture Strategic Plan or for an y reason is no
longer involved with the Arts and Culture Strategic Plan and related
projects and initiatives, the fund will remain with the Community
Foundation of Collier County and will continue to serve the purpose
outlined in this agreement.
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So, in summary, establishing the fund means that private dollars
can be raised and used solely to support the Arts and Culture
Strategic Plan and the foundation of public funding that you are
providing.
So thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I'd liked to close
by saying, hey, Donna Fiala, thank you for all your wonderful years
of public service to the citizens of Collier County. And a PS here.
Paul Arsenault has been having computer problems. If he's not able
to get online, he has emailed me his remarks to read them to you.
And that's it.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Commissioner
Taylor, did you have a comment now or --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just a small correction; that the
City of Naples does support the arts. They've done it for year s, at
least, I think, from 2001, 2002, with a fee -- a fee that's applied
determining the size of the commercial development but,
unfortunately, it's not the performing arts. So I can see why, you
know, it's not as broad an umbrella as it possibly could be, but I think
it's going to change.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. Let's get back to the
public comment then.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Laura Burns. She'll be
followed by Paul Arsenault and then Maurice Gutierrez.
MS. BURNS: Good afternoon, and thank you so much for the
opportunity to speak today.
Laura Burns, executive director of the United Arts Council of
Collier County.
By now you've heard plenty about the economic impacts of arts
and culture here in Collier County and overall. And, you know, we
wouldn't be here if we didn't all work together through the plan,
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through the economic impact study, and the community investment in
moving forward for something that everyone can leverage to their
well-being and benefit financially and also their health.
Why do we need the contract approved now? Arts and cultural
organizations, as well as individual artists, need a lifeline. They're
struggling. They don't have the same access as a lot of other
independent businesses do to COVID relief funds. So it's been
really hard. And approving the contract means there's an immediate
path forward to establishing this Cultural Trust Fund and leveraging
dollars. We have interested parties already waiting to donate money
into that fund. That means we would be able to implement those
programs sooner rather than later. So every delay kicks the can
down the road weeks, and that means our artists and our
organizations are waiting more weeks if not months for these things
to take place.
With that bring -- with -- the contract approval will bring raising
the bar and our notoriety for arts and culture here in Collier County.
We already have a huge investment and huge relationship with arts
and culture and return on investment compared to other cities and
municipalities, counties in the country. So let's leverage that even
more with the investments that we have, right.
Also, we've made the direct commitment with the Community
Foundation. We're waiting to sign the papers until we have that
directive here today, or hopefully today, right. You don't need me to
tell you any more about the need. You understand it, I'm sure.
I've a quote here from Cath Branwood, who was not able to join
us today. And she gave me permission to share this. She said, art's
not scary; it's life. And I wish I could join the public meeting on
Tuesday. Now is the perfect time to push this. People need
something to look at and to think about. Art, especially more public
art, could change this community to be even better. It will bring a
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new wave of dynamic, creative people to join and build on the small
talented groups that are already here.
As artists, we should not have to work so hard to move through
the layers of bureaucracy and sameness. We are not just dreamy
artists; we are smart, business-minded, forward-thinking individuals
who want to make this place more interesting to live in, and
increasing the likelihood it would be a place people want to come to
in the future.
So let's keep the creative economy going and entrepreneurial
spirit. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Who was that person that you just
quoted?
MS. BURNS: Cath Branwood. Artful Alternatives. She's an
artist here in Collier County.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Paul Arsenault followed
by Maurice Gutierrez and then Heather Donlan. Now, we have
Mr. Arsenault actually online a couple of times, so we're going to try
this here and see if this works.
Mr. Arsenault, you might need to unmute, sir. Are you with
us?
MR. ARSENAULT: I am with you. Can you hear me?
MR. MILLER: Outstanding, sir, yes. You have three minutes.
Please begin.
MR. ARSENAULT: Wonderful.
Thank you, Commission. My name is Paul Arsenault. I've
been a resident of Naples since 1974. I've been active in the cultural
community for over four decades as a working artist and a constant
advocate for the arts and especially helping foster the collaboration
between arts organizations.
I have a gallery on Third Street. I pay rent. I produce many
fundraisers for nonprofits, and I feature other artists.
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My history with the UAC has been continuing. I served on the
Arts and Cultural Strategic Planning Committee and was excited to
see that the county was moving forward with the plan endorsing it
unanimously last March. The UAC ably guided the plan over the
past two years, and they are more than capable of delivering on the
goals of the contract.
The contract was way overdue. It was most comprehensive and
professionally presented with a lot of people, a lot of time, and it was
wonderful to see the coordination.
The contract has already been approved unanimously by the
TDC and the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle, the CRA. The
Commission's endorsement today will set the contract in motion, and
we will need to begin this contract as soon as possible.
The county's arts organization and artists are all continuing to be
heavily impacted by COVID, and no one has been spared this
economic hit. I believe that the UAC has created a contract to
achieve realistic goals and set the stage for post-pandemic
collaborative projects into 2022. If we don't begin the plans outlined
in the contract now, we will be -- we won't be ready for post
pandemic to emerge successfully.
The contract will also jump-start this Cultural Trust Fund at the
Community Foundation. By endorsing this contract, the
Commission will lay a foundation for private support to be added to
public funds. My wife Eileen and I are personally committed to
helping. Collier County has been our home for the past 46 years.
We want this project to succeed.
I will work with UAC to create a painting that can be used to
create prints for patrons who make donations to the Cultural Trust
Fund as part of a little commitment but that can grow in to much more
by so many people.
Please okay the contract and get it going as soon as possible.
October 27, 2020
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The arts for the community needs it.
Thank you so much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Maurice Gutierrez, and he
will be followed by Heather Donlan.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Is Heather the last speaker?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir.
MR. GUTIERREZ: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
Maurice Gutierrez, currently serving as CRA advisory board chair.
You know, isn't it interesting that great things start with an idea?
And we had a property owner a couple of years ago who decided to
paint flowers on the side of a building. Wow, how about that; in an
arts district. That has prompted the arts study. Bayshore has
impacted the county. Think of that. The entire count y, over an arts
study. Who would have ever thought, going from infamous to
famous in the Bayshore/old Kelly Road district.
But here we are. A lot of great information associated with this
contract which is another spark of initiative, because without it we
cannot continue our vision of a cultural center. The union of the
artists under the arts council now allows that to happen.
We always yield to the Commission board for ideas and
approval, and here we are again hoping that our ideas meet with your
approval so that we can continue the great things happening on
Bayshore.
It's something that, without the community, the effort of
everybody who has supported us, even when economic times weren't
with us, has brought us here, and request that you please app rove this
contract, and let us move forward and see what else we can achieve.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker on this item is online. It is
Heather Donlan.
Ms. Donlan, you may need to unmute your microphone. Are
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you with us, ma'am?
MS. DONLAN: Hello there. Can you hear me okay?
MR. MILLER: Yes, ma'am.
MS. DONLAN: Great.
Hello there. Thank you very much. I was in the -- I was in
person there for a couple hours this morning and just want to say I
have a newfound respect and gratitude for everything that the
Commission does. You've got a lot of time and effort you put in,
and I appreciate that.
My name is Heather Donlan. My family has been here in
Naples since 1978, and I am a fine-art photographer who has owned
and operated a brick and mortar photography studio here in Naples
for over 16 years. I'm also on the board of directors of the United
Arts Council.
The arts and culture industry in particular has suffered greatly as
a result of the pandemic. The United Arts Council along with, I
believe it's 62 other Collier County arts organizations, have either had
to curtail or shut down their activities and planned events due to the
pandemic.
Approving the UAC contract would mean key projects identified
by the BCC would -- excuse me by the BCC, we could get funds
immediately up and going for some of these organizations that have
suffered so greatly in the past few months.
The strategic plan itself was developed with the input and
support of cultural and arts organizations within the county,
independent artists, as well as merchant associations and businesses
in mind.
One aspect of the plan, as I understand it, is the creation of the
Cultural Trust Fund which would match private dollars with public
funds. But the fund cannot be created without a signed contract.
So, again, I come to you today as an artist living and working in
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this community and, like so many other artists, my livelihood
depends upon our city being seen as a cultural destination, and
approving this contract is key to opening up the positive channels for
the arts within the city again.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. That concludes the
public comment? Any questions or comments from the
Commission? Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I've got some questions. I
don't know if Commissioner Taylor or -- this is kind of your --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It is. It is. But I thought at
this point I would listen to my colleagues and then make my remarks.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I've got a series of questions just
because -- the creation of the master plan and the value to the
community of the arts is undisputed and, as the chair of the TDC, we
look at that, and we're focused on that. But what caught me by
surprise was this merger with CAPA, and I have to understand that.
One, you know, I was trying to find a merger, and I don't find
one. What I find is a dissolution of CAPA. So I want to
understand, because the whole -- my understanding of what this was
supposed to be was UAC was going to be kind of the agency, the
clearinghouse, so to speak, the chamber, for want of a better phrase,
for the arts that was going to, you know, advocate and kind of
manage the plan and make sure that we were doing things that would
accomplish the goals that were encompassed in the plan. So this
merger for me, I think, changes things, and I need to understand that.
Number one, when -- and I don't know who can answer these
questions. I mean, was staff aware of the merger prior to it
happening in this process with negotiating the contract?
MR. CALLAHAN: Commissioner, I believe that was
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announced last month that they were going to be merging.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. It was just recently, right?
MR. CALLAHAN: It was.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. CALLAHAN: I don't know -- Laura Burns is here, so she
might be able to answer --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I mean, and --
MR. CALLAHAN: The county's not really a party to the
merger between them and CAPA, so --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Again, I just want to -- I
just want to understand what all this means because of what I
understood UAC, the role it was going to play, because CAPA, as an
organization, as I understood it, had its own facility, right? I mean,
it -- what does the merger mean? And what -- CAPA used to have
its own events?
MS. BURNS: So CAPA also advocates or advocated for
performing arts and a performing arts center.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MS. BURNS: It did not have a physical location for those
performing arts. They partner with other organizations in
sponsoring programming, okay. And so their expertise comes in
fundraising for those programs as well as developing the programs
themselves.
The United Arts Council and CAPA joined forces, and it is an
official dissolution through the State of Florida, and the United Arts
Council was gifted -- CAPA donated a small amount of proceeds to
pay for our consultant, Sally Woliver, to be able to facilitate the
merger and the strategic planning and the fundraising plan for the
United Arts Council.
The United Arts Council has absorbed and vetted and adopted
three independent board members that were formally of the CAPA
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board, and they are now a part of the United Arts Council board. So
we really are just one organization that has grown with additional
board members from CAPA.
And the reason that we felt it was a good partnership is as we are
moving forward with the growth and development of the strategic
plan and working with the Paradise Coast Sport and Event Complex,
the expertise and knowledge in programming recommendations and
fiscally responsible budget -- budget-conscious programs in
performing arts and also visual and literary and culinary arts, of
course, are important for that programming and planning in order to
grow into this strategic planning process. And your assumptions of
the United Arts Council being the Chamber of Commerce is
absolutely true.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. So then -- so then -- I
mean -- and I apologize if I don't fully understand what CAPA has
done in the past, so this is why I'm asking these questions. CAPA
used to have or support somehow events in a facility that was off of
41 nearby, right?
MS. BURNS: Bill -- can we have Bill Drackett --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm trying to understand what it
means because I don't -- I can't say that I understand it.
MS. BURNS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And who -- I was always under the
impression that CAPA owned that facility.
MR. DRACKETT: Bill Drackett, past president for 14-some
years and board member of CAPA.
So Laura is correct. We did not have a physical location. We
did programming and advocacy of the arts; visual, cultural,
performing, all the arts. We have used a multitude of locations
around the county. Opera Naples being the most recent facility, the
Wang Center.
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And that's the one off of
Shadowlawn?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: On Linwood.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Linwood. Linwood. Sorry.
MR. DRACKETT: Yeah, being the most recent. We've used
Sugden Park. We've used a multitude of locations. And that is
partly because there are limited locations in Collier County. So you
have to be creative with using a variety of locations.
And we worked and hired experts to help us hopefully dream
and design on paper a cultural and performing arts center that we
hope to bring to East Naples.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
MR. DRACKETT: And as you know, we've had several
attempts at that, and it was felt that by joining forces with the United
Arts Council that we could better stewards to forward, as we've all
said, rising the tide of cultural and performing arts in the county.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. And so in regards to that
performing arts facility that we've talked about many times as part of
the redevelopment -- or the development of that county-owned land
off Bayshore, you know, what is the future of that and what is UAC's
involvement or vision for being involved in that?
MR. DRACKETT: Tag. You're it.
MS. BURNS: Well, the vision is to follow the lead of the
community and work in partnership with the CRA and the county to
identify an appropriate location, right. And then should that move
forward through that identification, it would be the commitment to
fundraise and have the capital campaign to build a facility
specifically for the cultural -- a cultural facility. So it would be
all-encompassing, not just performing arts.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Wherever that may be?
MS. BURNS: Yes, wherever that may be.
October 27, 2020
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Because the reason my
eyebrows went up with all of this is that the merger happens right
before we're asked -- or relatively soon before we're asked to approve
this. One of the deliverables is that the UAC will develop a home
for -- let's see. It's number -- No. 5, develop a home for the UAC in
the Bayshore Triangle Community Redevelopment Area.
I mean, I just -- this plan for me was to be a countywide plan,
and it was to support the arts countywide. And I just have to tell
you, I'm uncomfortable that the majority of the funds are coming
from the CRA. The deliverable is to develop a home within the
CRA. And all of the focus, while I understand it being a pilot
program, that there's an awful lot of focus just on the CRA. It makes
me uncomfortable because, I think, that was not my understanding of
what a strategic plan for the whole county was to be.
MS. BURNS: So the deliverable came directly out of the
survey results and the requests from the community, so it is
absolutely identified as an area that is looking for the development,
okay.
And the impetus for UAC to have space in Bayshore is twofold.
One, in response to the community asking for additional support.
Two, the CRA investment in a public art program and being able to
be on site to develop that pilot for the entire county, it requires being
able to embed in that community so people feel like they have access
and ownership for what those projects are. Part of that is being in an
area that can exhibit and manage the process.
So to my mind, the United Arts Council, while we're starting in
Bayshore, doesn't mean we're ending in Bayshore. It may mean that
that's a satellite location for the council once everything's up and
running. And we have another location, potentially, in Everglades
City that starts to do the same thing.
And then there's another small -- and when I say location, it can
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be a desk inside an existing office. It does not have to be a
multimillion-dollar facility. That is what the community in
Bayshore is asking for today, but that might not be what is feasible.
So there will still be a host of feasibility studies and economic impact
studies that would come with any type of facility development.
But the reason that Bayshore is selected as the initial location is
because that's what the community's been asking for. It is one of the
oldest designated arts and culture designations in our county, and the
CRA has given the directive through their -- through the strategic
plan with their land-use redevelopment plan and their new vision and
mission that this is what they were wanting and has -- have asked the
UAC to help implement.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. And so the UAC is not
going to be actively producing events? It's not going to be holding
its own events.
MS. BURNS: The UAC has always held events in our 40 years
of history, and so --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MS. BURNS: -- it depends on what that event would look like.
We are -- we hold art exhibits, we hold fundraising galas, we
hold art shows, we hold open mic nights, we also hold calls for artists
to produce work. That's what the United Arts Council does. That's
the benchmark of what a local art agency does by the definition of the
Division of Cultural Affairs of the State of Florida, as well as
Americans for the Arts, our national arts advocacy body.
We all hold events. And so when you say "events," we
absolutely will be doing those types of things in order to gain
additional funding and leverage to put back into that Cultural Trust
Fund. The commitment is percentages of dollars for everything
that's produced to go to benefit the entire community, not to benefit
whatever the impetus is of the Council at the time.
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We're here to be a partner, but the BCC has made it very clear in
the process of developing the strategic plan that you did not want a
division of cultural affairs within your government. You wanted an
independent agency to work in that capacity, and in order to do that,
it requires a certain level of investment and finances. And this
is -- the finances that come through this contract is a very small piece
of what will be needed to implement this plan.
So the Council should have the freedom to have a business plan
that lifts everybody up and to be able to harness that entrepreneurial
spirit of Collier County at the end of the day so that we are able to
fulfill those obligations. This contract in particular was reviewed
through the cultural planning group. They have written letters of
support to all of you. They have also expressed the opinion to me
directly yesterday in conversation again that you guys would be
getting a huge bang for your buck. It's a low investment for the
return with the well-defined outcomes and deliverables within that
contract overall. And, you know, there's always opportunity for
discussion, right?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I've got two more commissioners
that have comments.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm just going to wrap up by saying
this, for me, has somehow changed. And I think -- I'm not
comfortable moving forward with this today because I think I need to
think through some of the implications of what I just heard.
Whether it's good or bad, I don't know, but I think that if the UAC is
going to be holding events but also be the kind of administrator of the
plan -- I just think there's potential problems with that that I would
need some more time to think through.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, let -- I think
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Commissioner Taylor has comments for Commissioner Solis, and
then I'll -- and if you want to address me -- because I have a whole
'nother discussion point coming on.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think she -- you
actually -- forgive me. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth,
but you were hitting your light in response to some of the things that
Commissioner Solis had said.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: After you, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh. Okay. I'll go. I'll go.
Thank you, Laura. I'm good.
My question to you, Sean, is -- because I've read this -- this
agreement, and I have -- I have concerns about the deliverables, the
measurables and milestones. And they seem to be -- they seem to be
out there a little bit, but -- and I want to say this to you and to
everybody -- and I've actually said it to Ms. Laura. We had a Zoom,
what, a couple of week ago, I believe. These things -- the art
culture, that's not what makes me tick, but I also know and
understand there's -- I like it. I go to plays and operas and that sort
of thing, but I also know and understand there's a community
necessity. There is -- there is a benefit to having these things. I
just -- I'm concerned about the semantics of what's transpired. The
creation of -- one of my main concerns is the Cultural Arts Fund.
Who's administering it? What requisites are there for taxpayer
dollars to go in? Because I've heard about matching funds, but I
wasn't able to see where there was -- when this Cultural Arts Fund
was going to be established, and we were going to seek philanthropic
dollars into it but on a matching basis. Are we going to have that
requisite to come -- I'll get that. I'll get it right here. I'm good.
Are we going to have that -- are we going to be obligated to
spend taxpayer money when the philanthropic community comes in
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here and puts money into the Cultural Arts Fund?
MR. CALLAHAN: Commissioner, you're not obligating
yourself to anything besides paying for the deliverables of this
contract.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. CALLAHAN: The Cultural Trust Fund language was a
goal that was established in that strategic plan that the Board
approved back in March.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
MR. CALLAHAN: I think the language is basically identical
to what it said in the plan. So there's no intent of this contract to
co-mingle funds in any way, right? We're paying for specific
deliverables from the UAC.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I understand. Well -- I'm
good.
And I want to -- and this is -- this is the other side of that coin.
We have a CRA. We have an MSTU. I'm looking at the budget for
the CRA in '21. I'm looking at $4.7 million worth of expenditures
and 2.5 plus another 2.9 or so available in revenue, plus/minus,
depending on where we go. We've got an investment from Collier
County and $50,000 of TDC -- TDT, excuse me, tourism
development tax money, and we've got another $75,000 of taxpayer
money invested out of the CRA.
And then I go to the master plan for the Bayshore CRA, and I
look at -- I look at infrastructure costs, stormwater, water lines, water
suppression for fire, underground utilities totaling some $15 million,
and less than 2 million of that is appropriated out right now within
the next 11 years to be taken care of for the community that's
receiving tax money to be reinvested back into that community.
And so I'm not in opposition of this agreement, ostensibly, and it
is a rather innocuous amount of money at this stage, but I'm
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concerned about the priorities of what the CRA is going to do and
what the county is going to do with the available tax monies
associated with this portion of our community.
So, again, I said it at the beginning, I'm not in opposition of, but
I have reservations with how we're going forward.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
I'm going to repeat a couple things I heard from the speakers.
The first step needs to be the right step. And I'm going to repeat
what you just said: Art doesn't make me tick.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Say that again.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Art doesn't make me tick.
That's what Commissioner McDaniel said.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: What makes you tick?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I worked this --
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That's a question you don't have to
answer, but if you want to.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I worked as an artist, and I
understand -- and maybe this makes you tick, sir, the business of art,
and that's what I want to talk about.
The business of art in Collier County is greatly dependent on the
selling of art, selling of tickets. It's of private donations. It's always
been that way in the art community. And the art community in
Collier County thrives. It really does.
But COVID has hit it, and so there's a lot of need out there.
There's a lot of folks that are paying rent. They're working artists,
and no one's buying their -- their pieces, and they have rent to pay.
In good times people came to their place to buy the art. They didn't
have to have an exhibit. They didn't have to belong to an
organization that charges them a fee in order to be able to exhibit.
We have a very respected group in Collier County called
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the -- and it is the oldest art association in Collier County. It's the
Naples Art Association. They have proven themselves again and
again that they understand how to put on a street fair, a show, an art
show on the street. They sponsor and put on every year one of the
Top 10 art shows in the nation in Cambier Park. They've done it for
years.
Just Wednesday of last week the Naples -- the United Arts
Council got permission and contracted with an outside vendor to put
on the show. This outside vendor will make money on the show.
There was no guarantee that local artists would be used. There was
no guarantee that any money would be coming back to the artists that
were there or even the artists in the community. They did it
unapologetically.
This contract is not ripe to be passed today. I see it as a
contract that is written all for one instead of one for all. There's not
enough administrative language in it, and I th ink that's what we want.
I think we want to move this where it is an administrative role that
the United Arts Council plays, and that's not what's before us.
Now, why are we here today discussing it? Well, please let me
assure everybody. I tried. I really did. I had an hour-and-a-half
Zoom conversation with United Arts Council and their consultant. I
was told in that conversation, which was on a Wednesday, I would
hear from them. I did not hear from them. It went to Tuesday. I
got a call from the consultant, and we spent 45 minutes talking about
everything we talked about last week, and it was left, and I
understand they called Mr. Callahan.
I then called the cultural planning folks who created the
Strategic Arts Plan. I explained everything to them. And they said,
what if -- I said, we need to put more flesh on the skeleton, on this
framework so it's really clearly defined what the roles are. And they
agreed. They said, we will go through this. We will go through the
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strategic plan and do this.
They went to United Arts Council. They told them to stand
down, not to do it. They weren't going to cooperate. Now, this
comes directly from Linda Flynn.
So I'm here requesting my colleagues to allow me 90 days and
to go through this plan with the United Arts Council in collaboration
and to work on this. Just as an aside, I was not brought into this
contract until it was passed by the TDC.
I think that it is extremely important that our first step is the
right step. I am very appreciative of the work that the arts
community does and, clearly, the United Arts Council. And I
believe their business plan needs to change but not abruptly.
And, finally, I think we've all day heard from our clerk, and the
collaboration or the agreement with the Community Foundation and
the United Arts Council is very questionable in terms of the ability to
audit. Everyone knows that people give to the Community
Foundation because the donor is -- it's like Switzerland. They're
private. It's the Community Foundation that gives to the entity,
not -- not the donor. And that gives the donor that important blinder,
that important screen.
And, apparently, this has gone a little bit further than anyone
expected. But I believe the -- I've heard that there hasn't been a
contract signed. But I think it is the position of our clerk, based on
past experiences with private donations, that all donations, that the
clerk establishes a fund that people can donate and people
are -- people's names are made public, and it is put out as such. That
also needs to be explored and worked upon.
So at this point, this is my request; that I be allowed 90 days,
and I -- and that, frankly, brings us -- November is Thanksgiving,
December is the Christmas holidays, and come back in January.
Thank you.
October 27, 2020
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, thank you very much.
As I've quietly listened to everything, I think, basically -- maybe
I misunderstood, so let me just say what I thought the UAC was
doing is now they're going to try and get all the arts groups working
together but not -- not telling anybody who they can -- where they
can be or who they're going to be performing for or what they're
going to do, and they don't even want any of their money. What
they're talking about is an overall advertising plan.
And correct me if I'm wrong, because maybe I don't understand,
but -- and by doing that, you know, publishing things, whether it be a
form -- I think as they used to do, they used to send that form and tell
you when all of the arts, not just specific ones, but everybody is
having their shows so everybody can see at a glance what they've got
that month or coming up the next month or something like that,
which would be working out really well for everybody.
I think that there are a lot of other groups that do similar things.
For instance, the Philharmonic used to be -- you know, not only was
it the Phil -- I don't know the new name for it anymore -- the Phil.
But it also really gathered the people in the performing arts together
to work, whether it be the art shows there and so forth. There are
things that they can do.
The arts organization -- heck, when we used to have things
down on Bayshore, you know, they would -- not only would the
artists just get there to display their stuff, but then you'd have the
people in their carts. Way back they even used to have food carts
over there and stuff, and things like that.
I think we can all work together. Everybody -- everybody likes
to be in charge of their own shop, and I don't blame them. I want to
be in charge of my own shop, too. But at the same time, it's good to
work together so that you can make -- you can have a cohesiveness to
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make a better impact on the community, because that's what it's all
about. Artists know it's an important part, and if you can just work
together.
Like, for instance, the one over in North Naples that went all the
way down the street and they -- oh, my goodness. I go to their art
shows all the time.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Surely.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And I just love them. And they
have food and they have dance in there and they do all kinds of great
things, and so they represent, and I think -- didn't they call you and
were encouraging you also on this one?
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Just a second, Ms. Burns.
MS. BURNS: Oh, sorry.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're going to need to take a
quick break for the reporter.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Because this looks like it's going
to drag on a little bit longer. So why don't we take a 10 -minute
break.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let her refresh her fingers.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'm not finished, though, but you
can take your 10-minute break. That way everybody can enjoy a
few minutes together.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Let's recess until 2:50.
We'll be in recess until 2:50.
(A brief recess was had from 2:40 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: The meeting of the County
Commission will please come back to order. And I think we were in
the middle of a fight between Commissioner Solis and Laura Burns.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I was talking.
October 27, 2020
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner
Fiala was --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. I was busy talking when
he decided we were going on a break. Now, does that tell you
something? It's not even a hint.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I thought you were going to ask --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It's a great message.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I thought you were asking Laura
Burns to speak, and I just wanted to --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I could do that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: You don't have to. Don't have to.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Let's see. I'm trying to
remember -- I was talking about people working together. And
another one would be the Botanical Gardens. Each one has, like, a
specialty, but then they can branch off and work with other things.
Even though the Botanical is there showing all their gardens, they
still have people having art shows and music things and so forth. I
think we can all play together, and I think that -- this is such a major
subject, but it's something that if you could get some people who
want to play together and yet have their own separate identity,
that's -- people don't want to lose their identity. I don't blame them.
I understand that. They've worked hard for it. But yet -- and they
don't want anybody taking their money or spending their money. I
understand that, too.
I think we can all work together. We just have to try. And
that's -- I gave the example on -- off Pine Ridge Road: A whole
bunch of artists and different people and yet they all play together.
Well, I think that this is what this looks like.
And, you know, maybe we didn't understand what you were
saying before, so tell us. There was one other thing that we had just
talked about. Would you just mention that, please.
October 27, 2020
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MS. BURNS: Thank you, Commissioner Fiala, for that.
Laura Burns for the record.
I just wanted to speak to a couple of miscommunications or
facts, and one is the establishment of a Cultural Trust Fund. At no
time is it mingling government dollars with private dollars. It's
being able to say that we have a match, right.
So the Community Foundation and the United Arts Council are
in discussions, and the agency, which would be the United Arts
Council, would appoint a community committee to assist in
grant-making for the community, and it would be distributed to
support Arts and Cultural Strategic Plan projects as identified through
the plan and then approved through those committees.
And on it we would -- we were even saying that it would
initially have five people, including one appointment from the UAC,
an appointment from the Community Foundation of Collier County,
an appointment from Collier County with guidance from the
Economic Development Office, and two at-large appointments so
that it is a benefit for everyone. And we don't want to get into the
commingling of funds and that type of thing. T hat's not allowed,
right. So we want to be able to make that delineation.
The other thing I wanted to point out when Commissioner
Taylor was talking about an art show on 10th Street South and that
the United Arts Council did, in fact, solicit a permit that was
ultimately granted because the city had to have the city attorney
remind City Council they could not be making decisions based on a
business plan or business model of an independent company of which
the United Arts Council is.
And what they decided, ultimately, was that the plan, as laid out,
met all the benchmarks required for City Council in order to have an
event. The event, the Uptown Arts Show, was selected and
petitioned through United Arts Council because we received an
October 27, 2020
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abundance of communications from our own member artists and also
Naples Art member artists. We acted in response to community
need for alternatives to art shows that were managed by Naples Art.
They also wanted another opportunity for other management to run
shows.
And part of that was through the pandemic. They didn't get a
refund for their booth fees when shows got canceled, and they were
hurting even more, so they asked for help. The United Arts Council
sought help and worked to do that.
We're also developing a free art show for local artists that will
be up in North Naples in the shops of Village Green and that would
be also local artists that won't have to pay to participate.
Same kind of thing on 10th Street. We might get 100 booths.
We don't know yet. Twenty-five percent will be local artists. UAC
has a panel developed to do three to five emerging artists so that they
learn how to set up booths and to participate in art shows. That's a
specialized field, and we have a great opportunity here in Collier
County as one of the top in the nation for grooming that. It's -- not
every artist is set up to have these kinds of shows.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
MS. BURNS: So that type of thing, right.
And when it comes to collaboration and working, our
commissioners, we -- and with Commissioner Taylor, in particular,
because you've been such a champion for this project, we reach out to
you continuously and try to come up with a way forward that makes
sense and also allows independent businesses to form and not
be -- become a pseudo-government entity and a division of cultural
affairs, which would cost us a whole lot more.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: In other words, we all have to
work together. That's what it all boils down to.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you, Ms. Burns.
October 27, 2020
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Two commissioners have asked for this to be delayed.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'm finished.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I'm sorry. Are you --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's all right.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Are you finished now?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I just was talking about working
together.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Oh, yeah.
We have two commissioners that have indicated the desire to
delay this. And I certainly don't want to set up a situation where
we --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Two commissioners that what?
Say it again.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Have asked for this to be delayed.
Commissioner Solis and Commissioner Taylor do not want this to be
acted on today. I am reluctant to act on something when two
commissioners have said that they've got a problem with the contract,
and it can come back.
I have lights of two commissioners lit up. Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. Just very quickly. Yeah, I
would like some more time to review this.
I would like to say to Commissioner Taylor that this did come
through the TDC and, frankly, I incorrectly assumed that since
this -- you've been behind this from the very beginning, that you
had -- you know, that you had looked at this. And, I mean, that was
just my assumption, and I apologize if you had not.
So, yeah, I will make sure that in the future anything that comes
before the TDC that, you know, I'll check with staff to make sure that
you've reviewed it.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, I -- if you're going -- if
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we're going to continue it, I'll wait for another day.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Well, I think that that
would be the appropriate thing to do. Is there a motion and
what -- you asked for 90 days?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Ninety days, yeah.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I certainly have no objection to
that myself.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No. I'd second -- if it's a motion,
I'll second that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's a motion.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll second the motion.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Better that he does than me,
because I'm not going to be here.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: You'll be here in spirit.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I'll probably be in the
audience.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. That's even better.
All right. We have a motion to continue this. This would
be -- would come back, theoretically, at our second meeting in
January.
Any further discussion on the motion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, all in favor, signify
by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
October 27, 2020
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CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Mr. Ochs, I think that
concludes --
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir, that concludes our regular business.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. OCHS: We move to Item 15, staff and commission
general communications.
I have just one reminder for the Board. We have an upcoming
workshop on the status of our community mental health initiatives,
and that will be held on November 17th right here in this boardroom
at 9:00 a.m.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right.
MR. OCHS: That's all I have, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel, do you
have anything to add?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You're first now.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, I see that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I can start at the other end.
(Simultaneous crosstalk.)
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- County Attorney. I was
waiting.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: They caught you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. I won't be here for
that, so you only -- you don't -- I'll try to call in, but I'll be out of
October 27, 2020
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town, so -- and nothing else for the greater good.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: For what; for the workshop, you
mean?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you. Just a -- this is so
hard for me to talk about it, but just for a point of order, are you
going to be part of this workshop?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I'm not here anymore. My
last day is the 13th of November.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Actually, I think the last day is
November 18th; is that not, or is it that --
MR. OCHS: I believe it's the 13th and, actually, the new
commissioner would actually -- the term begins on the 17th, so the
new commissioner's term would begin that day, the 17th.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think -- not that it makes a whole
lot of difference, but I think -- I thought the term of the new
commissioner started on the third Tuesday of November. Not that it
matters. I mean --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, let's just get it figured out.
There's one thing that -- in my -- you know, this is kind of
Monday morning quarter-backing, Commissioner Solis. But I was
listening on the radio to a very effective group in Oregon that actually
related to this -- your mental health initiative, and they -- specifically
to deal with folks that have serious problems on -- they're homeless.
And instead of having the police come in and put them in jail and let
them out after a while, there's a social worker -- there's a cadre of
people. And I'll get -- I'll send this to you so you have it, but it's an
interesting -- very successful in Eugene, Oregon, group, and
apparently this is the way they have proven success over several
years of moderating the negative social effects of folks that may be
October 27, 2020
Page 160
off their medication or disturbing the peace, and they need some kind
of stability.
Just a couple of -- couple of things. I thought you'd talk about
it. I want you to know that Commissioner McDaniel and I, I think,
had a record for Zoom meetings a week ago Monday.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, Jiminy Christmas. The
length of a Zoom meeting.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A Zoom meeting. We have -- I
think we have the record. It was 13 hours.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: He never ended it?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And it finally ended; it was the
M-CORES.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh, it was an actual meeting.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thirteen hours.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thirteen hours Zoom.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And it ended because our
Secretary Nandam agreed to compromise because no one was willing
to vote for the very narrow areas that we had to vote on.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's not correct.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, you didn't speak up.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I did speak up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You were drinking coffee of
something.
Anyway. So he said, okay, you do not have to have consensus.
What we can do -- if you agree, what we'll do is submit this report
without comment, and at that point the meeting ended.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We prescribed with the
statute. The department erroneously thought they were going to get
consensus by only giving us the four choices, which you were fussing
about for quite some time, and the Conservancy wasn't going to
accept, but they tried to get 100 percent consensus and there wasn't so
October 27, 2020
Page 161
at which point, to fulfill the statute, they submitted a report as
completed. Boom.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep. So I think that was a nice
way to end.
So -- oh, I'd like to ask our county -- Assistant County Manager
Casaguida -- Casalanguida, "other financing." My ears picked up,
because I understand, you know, we wrote this letter as a commission
saying, don't -- don't take from Peter to pay Paul here. And their
response, the Secretary's response is, oh, it's a separate funding
mechanism, is that correct, for M-CORES?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes, because I think they -- they
don't want to talk about those funding mechanisms yet because they
haven't been put in place yet. So they're talking about some
discussion of toll facilities, some discussion of additional state
appropriations.
So they don't -- they don't plan to do an updated state
transportation improvement program funding allocation at this time.
But I'll tell you, from our history, that varies every single year. So I
would not be surprised if they take an allocation and say, we're going
to do this.
The good news for Collier, the location it's chosen is State Road
29. And so, to our benefit, whatever they do is on an already
approved transportation system that's already approved in our Long
Range Transportation Plan. So we're in a good spot for M-CORES
for us; not necessarily for our neighboring counties, but for us we're
in a very good spot for M-CORES.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So do we have any way of
monitoring -- and I guess I'll speak to our chair also who actually sat
as a senator there. Do we have any ways of tracking this?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes. All these budget amendments
go through two steps. The Florida Transportation Commission
October 27, 2020
Page 162
reviews them. Then it goes in front of the legislators to be approved
just like everybody else's state budget does. And our district
secretary has made a promise he'll keep us informed as this moves
long.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So we'll be able to see when
they take from Collier County and give to another.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: If they do, we'll be able to see that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Good.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: And you'll approve it at the MPO.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: All right. Great.
And then, finally, I just want, again, to put it on the record.
Given that -- I attended an ACUNE Zoom on Friday, which was a
workshop with Professor Sheng and Professor Savarese about the
ACUNE tools, which will be brought to us. And sea level rise is a
reality. So I just want -- again, on the record, we are building our
roads for the future, not for the present; is that correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Ma'am, all your hurricane
evacuation routes, arterials, and collectors are usually built two to
three feet above the base flood elevation. That number changes.
So, you know, when you say for the future, we do some forecasting
on 50-year projects, but right now we have -- no base flood
elevations have changed. But every road we've built now, especially
the one for Goodland, has taken into consideration higher sea level.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think it's -- I think it's
significant that -- I think it's -- I think it's the Army Corps of
Engineers and I think it's FEMA that have now decided the bathtub
model is out, and they are depending on models more similar to the
ACUNE model --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- where it's no more bathtub.
So I think -- I think maybe it would be advisable -- and I can contact
October 27, 2020
Page 163
them to maybe start incorporating their science into what we're doing.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Sure. And I think we'll ask Jay
Ahmad and Thaddeus Cohen to kind of touch those before those
design-build projects come forward.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Let me ask you a question about
sea level rise. Thank you.
They're talking about that, and they've said like in Miami and
California that they won't let people build close to the ocean anymore
or the Gulf of Mexico in our case, right. But we don't stop them.
Are we doing anything like that from our Growth Manage ment
Division to encourage that new homes that are being built in that area
must be moved back, or are we not paying attention to that yet?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Not back, ma'am. They have to be
built higher and they have to be built in a way that allows water to
pass through below them. So that's already in our codes right now.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Good, good, good.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you. That's it. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala, do you have
anything else?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, I do. I just mentioned
earlier today about -- I was thanking Michelle Arnold for, you know,
letting me call her at night, and then, of course, Leo, and then Nick,
they all answer my calls even though I'm calling kind of late, and
sometimes I do fax -- I mean, I do send them messages 11:00, 11:30,
1:00 in the morning. But I just wanted to thank them for being so
responsive and to all of our people who happen to be sitting in at that
meeting -- and I doubt that there's a soul anymore -- but I want you to
know what great staff we have. They're there for us, all of us, all the
time, no matter when, and that's going to be one of the hardest things
October 27, 2020
Page 164
to leave is our staff members. So I just wanted to say that on the
record.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, ma'am. That's very kind.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, thank you. And usually I
try to keep my comments short, but I have a little bit of something I'd
like to present today, because I think it's important and very re levant.
As the chair of the TDC, I thought it would be a right time to
present some things from the TDC, specifically the marketing plan
and how effective it's been. So if, Troy, somebody -- if somebody
can just run that --
MR. MILLER: Sure. I've got it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- for me.
You know, the strategy was to come up with a marketing plan in
light of COVID knowing that travel was going to be restricted, you
know, restaurants were closed, and ultimately to protect, as much as,
we could our season, the upcoming season.
So I thought I'd just share some of the strategy and what was
presented at the TDC meeting on Monday, because I have to
commend the staff. I mean, on a dime, the TDC staff came up with
a whole new -- and the partners came up with a whole new strategy
which I gave you a printout of. The numbers, I think, will show you
that it was very, very effective, I think. So it started out with the -- if
you can go back a second.
MR. MILLER: Sorry. Sorry.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Everybody's seen the paradise
pledge. The stickers are available. There's two aspects of it. One
was to keep you healthy and safe. The other one was to support
local businesses.
Go to the next one.
And so there was a whole local campaign, because the data
October 27, 2020
Page 165
showed that the traffic that we were getting was actually regional
travel, local travel.
Go ahead.
And so, you know, this is just an example, be their customer and
be a local hero. Take the paradise pledge. Take the paradise pledge
and support local businesses. Be a local hero. I don't know if
anybody has seen a lot of these. But, again, it's take the pledge. It
related to keeping everybody healthy and making everyone feel safe,
to support our local businesses.
This is some more. You know, be their guest and be a local
hero. Take the pledge. That had to do with, you know, the food
side, the foodie side, dining side of the whole marketing plan, which
is a big thing. Focus on the attractions.
Go ahead.
And then arts and culture. The museums. You know, be t heir
patron. Be a local hero.
And so here's -- here's just a video I would like to share about
the paradise pledge focused on the local -- local be a hero.
(A video was played as follows:)
It's happening in our hotels, our restaurants, and our shops; a
pledge to keep our businesses safe for the residents and visitors who
drive our local economy. And now it's your turn. When you take
the paradise pledge, you're making a promise to your friends and
neighbors, one that says, hey, I've got your back. Let's get through
this together.
So eat in their restaurants, shop in their stores. Be more than
just a customer. Be a local hero, and be the reason Collier County
emerges from this stronger than ever before.
It might be hard to tell with the masks, but these people are
smiling. They're smiling because they know their business is doing
everything they can every day to keep their customers healthy and
October 27, 2020
Page 166
safe. It's called the paradise pledge, and now they're hoping people
like you will pledge to do what any good neighbor should; support
local businesses in their time of need. So be their customer, be their
guest, be a local hero, and be the reason for their smile today, even if
it is tough to see behind the mask.
(Video concluded.)
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. So that's the TDC at work
and the staff at work coming up with a marketing plan to do what we
can to keep the economy going locally with local support.
And then there was also another aspect of it which was the
out-of-the-market campaign, and these are just some of the ads that
we had in relation to that.
It's "When you want a destination that's pledged to both your fun
and your safety, only paradise will do." I mean, I think these are
really well done.
This was some personalized advertising aimed at millennials.
This is, again, the dining aspect of what brings people to Collier
County. "Couples, for hand-in-hand memories in a place pledged to
your safety, only paradise will do."
Echo Adventure, right. That's another big aspect of the
marketing plan. And, again, this was families. For some -- that's a
tongue twister. "For sun-soaked fun in a place, pledge to your
safety. Only paradise will do."
You know, these are aimed at more of the regional travelers,
because the traffic at the airport is minimal. So it's been very, very
effective. I think there's a couple videos related to this one.
(Videos were played as follows:)
On our uncrowded beaches, we pledge to make every day one
you'll treasure forever. In our beautiful hotels, we pledge to follow
all CDC guidelines for your protection. In our award-winning
restaurants, we pledge to amaze you with creations you'll never forget
October 27, 2020
Page 167
in clean, spacious environments you'll never have to worry about.
So when you want a vacation that's literally pledged to your safety,
remember only paradise will do: Naples, Marco Island, and the
Everglades, Florida's Paradise Coast.
On our spacious beaches, we pledge to make every
toes-in-the-sand moment memorable. In our luxurious resorts, we
pledge to go above and beyond to keep you healthy and safe. In our
wide-open natural surroundings, we pledge the adventure of a
lifetime with experts who deliver all the fun you're looking for with
none of the worry. So when you want a vacation that's literally
pledged to your safety, remember only paradise will do: Naples,
Marco Island, and the Everglades, Florida's Paradise Coast.
(Video concluded.)
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And, again, a lot of these issues
related to masks started at the TDC because what the staff found was
that our competitors were using safety as a marketing tool, and it
was -- it was hurting us.
So I've given everybody a copy of this. And I apologize, it is
not your eyes, it's actually the copy.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did order new glasses
yesterday.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I don't know why it won't print out
better than that, but -- this is just a report on the TDT collections.
And the third -- I mean, it's all very relevant. But if you look at the
budget comparison, which is the third -- just above the graph, you
look at the budgeted collections which was pre-COVID, right; this
was the budget that the TDC set for this year.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And that's the blue line?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Third --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's the budgeted collections.
It's the third --
October 27, 2020
Page 168
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Third column.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- or the fourth column.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Right. But is that -- that's the
blue line?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So they set this before COVID,
this third column?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: He's talking about this line over
here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The budgeted -- I'm looking at just
the numbers.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. I was looking at the graph.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, yeah. If you look at the
numbers, the budgeted collections was the budget pre-COVID.
Then you look at the actual -- actual collections, and then there's an
actual-to-budget variance. But what's important is if you look at the
far right-hand column, that's the March COVID forecast when it was
clear that COVID was going to affect us. The budget was revised as
best it could with some projections for how far down the collections
would go.
And what I would point everyone to is if you look at beginning
in July -- in June we were almost a million dollars, you know, behind
where we were last year in collections, which was more than we had
forecast. And then -- well, I mean, it's about a million dollars, and
then in July, it went down to 218,000.
But in September we are actually, in terms of collections, ahead
of what the budget -- the original budget was.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Of the budget that was
established before the virus showed up on our --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Correct. And I think it's a
October 27, 2020
Page 169
testament to the marketing plan, the research that was done --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- the marketing partners that, on a
dime, pivoted and came up with a different marketing plan
identifying where -- where could we attract people from. I think it's
a great sign. And there's going to be more data. I think we get
October here shortly, so I'll try to provide that.
But I just wanted to thank the staff for the great work that
they've done. And coming up with this paradise pledge, you know,
it's a voluntary thing, but most -- I think most businesses have bought
into it, and it's really making a difference.
That's all I have. Thanks.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you for providing this,
because it's --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: This is a good-news item.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Very good.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, very good news.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You could do this more
often.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I know. I will admit to being
remiss. I should be doing this at least on a quarterly basis --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, you know, I get a lot of
questions. People ask me, what are our gas tax revenues? What are
our sales tax revenues? How are we doing with the TDT tax? And
I would think that maybe we could get a quarterly report or so, sooner
than later, on where we're at with these revenues just to better inform
our public as to where we're going and what the impacts of this really
are, you know. Because it's cumulative. The budgeted amounts
that you had in here pre-COVID were light, and the revenues
exceeded those budgeted amounts, which carried for some of the
deficits that happened when the shutdowns were transpiring. And
October 27, 2020
Page 170
now we're -- because of the market and I think you called it pivoting
of our staff to be able to reach people that are local travelers, it's
having a positive impact.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And one of the really interesting
things is it's -- the ability to do that, to pivot on a dime, is related to
how wedded we still are to print media, which we're not. I mean,
this is all digital. And it's -- being at the forefront of how marketing
happens and the best way to do it these days is -- it's showing up that
our staff is right on top of that.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't have anything else to add.
Mr. Klatzkow?
MR. KLATZKOW: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ms. Kinzel?
MS. KINZEL: Nothing. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: No.
All right. If there's nothing else, we are adjourned.
*****
**** Commissioner Saunders moved, seconded by Commissioner
Solis and carried that the following items under the Consent and
Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted ****
Item #16A1
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF POTABLE WATER AND SEWER
UTILITY FACILITIES FOR VI AT BENTLEY VILLAGE –
MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING, PL20190001458, AND
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE,
TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY
(UPS) AND/OR FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL
October 27, 2020
Page 171
AMOUNT OF $19,367.46 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT
Item #16A2
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF POTABLE WATER UTILITY
FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A
PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR THE GOODWILL AT PINE RIDGE ROAD UTILITY,
PL20200001429
Item #16A3
RECORDING THE FINAL PLAT OF SKYSAIL – PHASE ONE
(APPLICATION NUMBER PL201900001066), APPROVAL OF
THE STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT, AND APPROVAL OF THE
AMOUNT OF THE PERFORMANCE SECURITY
Item #16A4
SELECTION COMMITTEE’S RANKING FOR REQUEST FOR
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (“RPS”) NO. 19-7663R, “NAPLES
MANOR STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS PRELIMINARY
ENGINEERING STUDY,” AND AUTHORIZE STAFF TO BEGIN
CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE TOP-RANKED FIRM,
KISINGER CAMPO & ASSOCIATES, CORP., SO THAT STAFF
CAN BRING A PROPOSED AGREEMENT BACK FOR THE
BOARD’S CONSIDERATION AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING
Item #16A5
October 27, 2020
Page 172
ACCEPTING THE SUB-AWARD AND GRANT AGREEMENT
WITH THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT (FDEM) FOR FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF
$60,000 UNDER THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY (FEMA) HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT PROGRAM
FOR THE DESIGN OF THE BIG CYPRESS GOLF AND
COUNTRY CLUB DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS AND
AUTHORIZE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16A6
DIRECTING THE COUNTY MANAGER TO REVIEW THE
COASTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE’S PROPOSED
APPROACH TO ADDRESSING POTENTIAL WATER QUALITY
ISSUES AFFECTING THE COUNTY’S BAYS, ESTUARIES,
INLETS, AND SHORELINE AND PROVIDE FINDINGS TO THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AT A FUTURE
MEETING
Item #16A7
AN AFTER THE FACT APPROVAL TO ADVERTISE AND
HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 10,
2020, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE RELATING TO A TIME PERIOD
EXTENSION OF THE TRANSFER OF DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS
EARLY ENTRY BONUS CREDITS FROM SENDING LANDS IN
THE RURAL FRINGE MIXED USE DISTRICT OVERLAY, TO
REVISE THE PROCEDURES AND APPROVAL PROCESS FOR
COMPARABLE USE DETERMINATIONS, TO MODIFY THE
October 27, 2020
Page 173
TIMEFRAMES AND PROCESS FOR REVIEW OF
APPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT ORDERS IN THE
STEWARDSHIP RECEIVING AREA, AND TO ESTABLISH AN
APPROVAL PROCESS AND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS
FOR SPECIAL EVENTS WHICH TAKE PLACE IN COUNTY
RIGHT-OF-WAY AS DIRECTED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS (BOARD) ON OCTOBER 22, 2019
Item #16A8 – Moved to Item #11H (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16A9
RESOLUTION 2020-189: AMENDING RESOLUTION 2017-184,
RELATING TO THE STEWARDSHIP SENDING AREA WITH A
DESIGNATION AS “CLH SSA 14”; APPROVING THE
EXTENSION OF CERTAIN DATES TO NOVEMBER 18, 2021, IN
THE STEWARDSHIP SENDING AREA CREDIT AGREEMENT
FOR CLH SSA 14 AND THE ESCROW AGREEMENT FOR CLH
SSA 14
Item #16A10
RESOLUTION 2020-190: AMENDING RESOLUTION 2017-186,
RELATING TO THE STEWARDSHIP SENDING AREA WITH A
DESIGNATION AS “CLH AND CDC SSA 16”; APPROVING THE
EXTENSION OF CERTAIN DATES TO NOVEMBER 18, 2021 IN
THE STEWARDSHIP SENDING AREA CREDIT AGREEMENT
FOR CLH AND CDC SSA 16 AND THE ESCROW AGREEMENT
FOR CLH AND CDC SSA 16
Item #16B1
October 27, 2020
Page 174
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN METROPOLITAN
NAPLES, LLC (SUCCESSOR TO REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
INTERNATIONAL, LLC) (PURCHASER) AND THE BCC,
REGARDING CERTAIN PROPERTY BENEFITS IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SALE AND DEVELOPMENT OF 5.27
ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE BAYSHORE
GATEWAY TRIANGLE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AREA
Item #16C1
AWARDING INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) #20-7723,
“UNINTERRUPTED POWER SYSTEMS,” FOR PREVENTATIVE
MAINTENANCE, TO: LBS POWER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., AS
PRIMARY VENDOR, FACILITY GATEWAY CORPORATION,
AS SECONDARY VENDOR, AND PRECISION POWER
SERVICES, INC. AS TERTIARY VENDOR; AND, FOR ON-
CALL SERVICES, TO: EOLA POWER, LLC, AS PRIMARY
VENDOR, LBS POWER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., AS
SECONDARY VENDOR, AND FAKOURI ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING, INC. AS TERTIARY VENDOR
Item #16C2
AWARDING INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) #20-7745, “HVAC
SUPPLIES AND CUSTOMIZED PARTS,” TO JSFM, INC., D/B/A
JOHNSTONE SUPPLY
Item #16C3
October 27, 2020
Page 175
AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR THE
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION IN THE AMOUNT OF
$14,000,000 TO FUND TWO (2) INFRASTRUCTURE SALES
SURTAX PROJECTS UNDER THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
HVAC, ROOFING, AND CAPITAL EQUIPMENT
REPLACEMENT AT SHERIFF’S AND COUNTY FACILITIES
AND EMS SUBSTATIONS
Item #16C4
AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT
OF $3,475,036 FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE
COLLIER COUNTY COURTHOUSE, BUILDING L, AND
APPROVE THE UTILIZATION OF COURT MAINTENANCE
FEE FUNDING IN FUND 181
Item #16C5
APPROVING THE SELECTION COMMITTEE’S RANKING AND
AUTHORIZE STAFF TO BEGIN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
WITH THE TOP RANKED FIRM, SCHENKEL & SHULTZ INC.,
CONCERNING REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
(“RPS”) # 20-7753, “DESIGN SERVICES FOR COLLIER
COUNTY EMS STATIONS,” SO A PROPOSED AGREEMENT
CAN BE BROUGHT BACK FOR THE BOARD’S
CONSIDERATION AT A FUTURE MEETING
Item#16C6
A FIFTH AMENDMENT TO LEASE AGREEMENT WITH
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC.,
October 27, 2020
Page 176
TO CONTINUE LEASING SPACE FOR THE SENIOR
NUTRITION PROGRAM IN IMMOKALEE
Item #16C7
AWARDING REQUEST FOR QUOTATION #20-5510, “CCSO
JAIL BOILER ROOM RENOVATION,” UNDER AGREEMENT
NO. 19-7525, ANNUAL AGREEMENT FOR GENERAL
CONTRACTOR SERVICES, TO CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION,
LLC., AND AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF A PURCHASE
ORDER IN THE AMOUNT OF $418,080
Item #16C8
AN AGREEMENT FOR SALE AND PURCHASE FOR THE
SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT DIVISION
TO ACQUIRE 2.5 ACRES THAT ADJOIN COUNTY OWNED
LANDS INTENDED FOR ITS RESOURCE RECOVERY
BUSINESS PARK (“RRBP”) DEVELOPMENT. THE TOTAL
COST FOR THIS TRANSACTION WILL NOT EXCEED $47,000
Item #16C9
AWARDING AN AGREEMENT FOR BID (“ITB”) #20-7798,
PORT OF THE ISLES HOTEL DEMOLITION PROJECT, TO
HONC DESTRUCTION, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $388,444
AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED AGREEMENT AND RELATED BUDGET
AMENDMENT
Item #16D1
October 27, 2020
Page 177
AUTHORIZING THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A FIVE-YEAR
SOVEREIGNTY SUBMERGED LANDS LEASE RENEWAL
WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
AT COCOHATCHEE RIVER PARK WITH AN EFFECTIVE
DATE OF JUNE 25, 2020
Item #16D2
A BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
IN THE AMOUNT OF $13,344 FOR THE RENOVATIONS AND
IMPROVEMENTS AT THE GOLDEN GATE SENIOR CENTER
Item #16D3
A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO RECOGNIZE INTEREST
EARNED FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 2020 THROUGH
MARCH 2020 AND APRIL 2020 THROUGH JUNE 2020 ON
ADVANCED LIBRARY FUNDING RECEIVED FROM THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE TO SUPPORT LIBRARY
SERVICES AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE USE OF COLLIER
COUNTY RESIDENTS
Item #16D4
ONE (1) RELEASE OF LIEN FOR FULL PAYMENT OF
$8,947.84, PURSUANT TO AGREEMENT FOR DEFERRAL OF
100% OF COLLIER COUNTY IMPACT FEES FOR OWNER-
OCCUPIED AFFORDABLE HOUSING DWELLINGS
October 27, 2020
Page 178
Item #16D5
ADVERTISING A PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO COLLIER
COUNTY ORDINANCE 2006-56, THE ROCK ROAD
IMPROVEMENT MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING UNIT
(MSTU), TO AMEND THE GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES OF
THE MSTU TO REMOVE PROPERTIES THAT HAVE BEEN
SUBDIVIDED AND DEVELOPED INTO A RESIDENTIAL
COMMUNITY AND NO LONGER DERIVE BENEFIT FROM
THE MSTU
Item #16D6
A THIRD AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT #18-7243-NS WITH
THE COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE FOR THE
SEASONAL TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SERVICES ADJACENT
TO THE ENTRANCE TO DELNOR-WIGGINS STATE PARK
WITH AN ANNUAL SPEND NOT TO EXCEED $70,000 PER
FISCAL YEAR
Item #16D7
EXPENDITURES FOR THE SOLE SOURCE PURCHASE OF
HOOVER IRRIGATION PUMP SYSTEMS AND TO APPROVE
AN AGREEMENT WITH HOOVER PUMPING SYSTEMS
CORPORATION
Item #16D8
WAIVING CONTRACTUAL PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS FOR
THE BAREFOOT BEACH CONCESSIONAIRE, ZACK’S FOOD
October 27, 2020
Page 179
CART MINISTRY CATERING INC., FROM JUNE 1 - OCTOBER
9, 2020, DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Item #16D9
A SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT #19-7537 WITH
QUEST CORPORATION OF AMERICA, INC., TO CONTINUE
TO OVERSEE THE COVID-19 MEDIA CAMPAIGN AND
RELATED PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE AMENDMENT
Item#16D10
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A CAMP HOST
VOLUNTEER AGREEMENT FOR VOLUNTEERS TO
TEMPORARILY RESIDE ON PROPERTY AT THE
CONSERVATION COLLIER PEPPER RANCH PRESERVE
Item #16D11
A) RELEASE OF LIEN, AND (B) TERMINATION OF
AGREEMENT AUTHORIZING AFFORDABLE HOUSING
DENSITY BONUS AND RESTRICTIONS ON REAL PROPERTY
AS A RESULT OF FULL PAYMENT OF FEES AND
SATISFACTION OF THE AFFORDABILITY PERIOD FOR
OAKHAVEN APARTMENTS
Item #16D12
THE AMENDMENT OF CONSERVATION EASEMENT WITH
THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ON
October 27, 2020
Page 180
COUNTY-OWNED PROPERTY AT THE VANDERBILT BEACH
PARK
Item #16D13
THREE (3) MORTGAGE SATISFACTIONS FOR THE STATE
HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP LOAN PROGRAM IN
THE AMOUNT OF $89,500 AND THE ASSOCIATED BUDGET
AMENDMENTS
Item #16D14
“AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENT AND ATTESTATION
STATEMENT WITH THE AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC., OLDER AMERICAN ACT
GRANT PROGRAM FOR THE COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES
FOR SENIORS TO INCREASE ALLOCATIONS, ADD
SERVICES, REVISE ATTACHMENT II FUNDING SUMMARY,
AND REVISE ATTACHMENT IX BUDGET RATE SUMMARY
AND SUPPORTING BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16D15
AN “AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENT AND ATTESTATION
STATEMENT WITH THE AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC., CARES ACT FUNDING UNDER
THE OLDER AMERICAN ACT GRANT PROGRAM FOR THE
COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES FOR SENIORS TO REVISE
EFFECTIVE DATE AND LANGUAGE, ADD RECREATION
MATERIALS (EMERGENCIES ONLY) AND REVISE
ATTACHMENT VII BUDGET AND RATE SUMMARY
October 27, 2020
Page 181
Item #16D16
THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT #045-2020
BETWEEN FLORIDA HOUSING FINANCE CORPORATION
AND COLLIER COUNTY TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR THE
CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND AND AUTHORIZE THE
ACCOMPANYING BUDGET AMENDMENT
Item #16D17
AN “AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENT AND ATTESTATION
STATEMENT WITH AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC., FOR THE EMERGENCY HOME
ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM TO INCREASE FUNDING
IN THE AMOUNT OF $23,329.35 AND TO EXTEND THE
CONTRACT PERIOD TO MARCH 31, 2021, INCREASING THE
ANNUAL BENEFIT AMOUNT AND APPROVE THE
SUPPORTING BUDGET AMENDMENT
Item #16D18
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN TWO (2) STATE HOUSING
INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM AGREEMENT
AMENDMENTS BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND (A)
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF COLLIER COUNTY, INC. AND
(B) RURAL NEIGHBORHOODS INCORPORATED TO
INCREASE FUNDING, INCORPORATE ADDITIONAL LOCAL
HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN LANGUAGE AND EXTEND
THE PERFORMANCE PERIOD
October 27, 2020
Page 182
Item #16D19
EXPENDITURES EXCEEDING THE $50,000 COMPETITIVE
THRESHOLD IN COLLIER COUNTY PROCUREMENT
ORDINANCE 2013-69, AS AMENDED, FOR ROBERT HALF
INTERNATIONAL, INC., AND PREMIER STAFFING, TO
CONTINUE TO PROVIDE TEMPORARY PERSONNEL
SERVICES FOR CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND
ECONOMIC SECURITY (CARES) ACT ADMINISTRATIVE
ASSISTANCE
Item #16D20
SUBMITTAL OF AN APPLICATION, ACCEPT THE FY20-21
FLORIDA DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COUNCIL
(FDDC) TRANSPORTATION VOUCHER PROJECT FUNDING
FOR $150,000 TO PROVIDE SAME-DAY ON-DEMAND
TRANSPORTATION SERVICE TO PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENT
Item #16E1
AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR MUTUAL AID
BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND HENDRY COUNTY FOR
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES (EMS)
Item #16E2
THE ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
October 27, 2020
Page 183
PROPERTY AND NOTIFICATION OF REVENUE
DISBURSEMENT
Item #16E3
THE SALE AND DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS ASSETS PER
RESOLUTION 2013-095 VIA PUBLIC AUCTION ON
DECEMBER 11 AND 12, 2020; APPROVE THE ADDITION OF
SURPLUS ITEMS RECEIVED SUBSEQUENT TO THE
APPROVAL OF THIS AGENDA ITEM FOR SALE IN THE
AUCTION; AND AUTHORIZE THE PROCUREMENT
DIRECTOR, AS DESIGNEE FOR COUNTY MANAGER, TO
SIGN FOR THE TRANSFER OF VEHICLE TITLES
Item #16E4
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL
Item #16E5
RENEWING THE ANNUAL COLLIER COUNTY CERTIFICATE
OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY (COPCN) FOR
COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TO
PROVIDE CLASS 1 ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT TRANSPORT
(ALS) FOR ONE YEAR AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
EXECUTE THE PERMIT AND CERTIFICATE
Item #16E6
October 27, 2020
Page 184
THE PURCHASE OF GROUP HEALTH REINSURANCE
THROUGH SUNLIFE IN THE ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF
$346,872 EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2021
Item #16E7
AN AGREEMENT WITH BRAXTON COLLEGE TO PROVIDE
EMS SUPERVISED SKILL TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE TO
STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EMERGENCY MEDICAL
SERVICES TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS
Item #16F1
RESOLUTION 2020-191: APPROVING AMENDMENTS
(APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS
OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2020-21
ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16F2
A REPORT COVERING TWO BUDGET AMENDMENTS
IMPACTING RESERVES AND MOVING FUNDS IN AN
AMOUNT UP TO AND INCLUDING $25,000 AND $50,000,
RESPECTIVELY
Item #16F3
RECOGNIZING MONA VEGA, PUBLIC SERVICES, LIBRARY
DIVISION AS THE SEPTEMBER 2020 EMPLOYEE OF THE
MONTH
October 27, 2020
Page 185
Item #16I1
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
October 27, 2020
1. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS TO FILE FOR RECORD WITH ACTION AS DIRECTED:
A. DISTRICTS:
1) Ave Maria Stewardship Community District:
FY20/21 Regular Meeting Schedule
2) Cedar Hammock Community Development District:
Meeting Minutes 05/26/2020
3) Heritage Bay Community Development District:
Meeting Agenda 08/06/2020
Meeting Minutes 08/06/2020
4) Immokalee Fire Control District:
Resolutions 2020-012 thru 2020-015; General Fund Budget; Impact Fee Fund;
Schedule of Board Meetings; District Map and the Agent of Record for the
Immokalee Fire Control District
5) North Collier Fire Control & Rescue District:
Resolutions 20-027 thru 20-033: Adopting the Final Levy of Ad Valorem Taxes
FY20/21 for certain service delivery areas in Collier County; District Map;
Registered Agent List; Board Meetings Schedule & 5-Year Plan Facilities Report
6) The Quarry Community Development District:
Meeting Agenda 06/15/2020
Meeting Minutes 06/15/2020
7) Verona Walk Community Development District:
FY20/21 Regular Meeting Schedule
B. OTHER:
1) Bayshore Gateway CRA Public Notice:
Solicitation to Bid on Fire Suppression Grant Project Public Notice
Published August 14, 2020 in English& in Spanish
October 27, 2020
Page 186
Item #16J1
REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE
VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF OCTOBER 21,
2020
Item #16J2
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN OCTOBER 1, 2020 AND
OCTOBER 14, 2020 PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16K1
AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT
AGREEMENT AND MUTUAL RELEASE IN THE LAWSUIT
STYLED CARA MCELDERRY V. COLLIER COUNTY, ET AL.
(CASE NO. 19-CA-2441), NOW PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT
COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND
FOR COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE SUM OF $4,500
Item #16K2
RESOLUTION 2020-192 & 2020-193: APPOINTING WILLIE
BRICE III TO THE GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY CENTER
ADVISORY BOARD, AND A RESOLUTION DECLARING A
VACANCY
October 27, 2020
Page 187
Item #16K3
RESOLUTION 2020-194: RE-APPOINTING JOHN COWAN AND
MARY WALLER AND APPOINTING ELIZABETH JONES AND
JOHN HARNEY TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2020-33: AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER
09-15, AS AMENDED, THE HEAVENLY COMMUNITY
FACILITY PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE
THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP USE TO
35,000 SQUARE FEET; TO INCREASE THE ACCESSORY USES
TO 88,000 SQUARE FEET; TO REMOVE THE DAYCARE AND
SCHOOL PERMITTED ACCESSORY USES; TO ADD
OUTDOOR RECREATIONAL AREAS, PLAYGROUNDS AND
PLAYLOTS AS PERMITTED ACCESSORY USES; TO
ELIMINATE TRACT A AND TRACT B REFERENCES; TO
MODIFY THE CONCEPTUAL PUD MASTER PLAN; TO
DELETE EXHIBIT G, DEPICTION OF VERTICAL BUILDING,
EXHIBIT H, ARCHITECTURAL RENDERINGS AND EXHIBIT I,
CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL; ADD A DEVIATION
REGARDING CHAIN LINK FENCING; AND ADD A
DEVIATION REGARDING PAVED AISLES FOR THE AREA
UTILIZED FOR GRASS OVERFLOW PARKING. THE
PROPERTY IS LOCATED AT 6926 TRAIL BOULEVARD
BETWEEN RIDGE DRIVE AND MYRTLE ROAD IN SECTION
3, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA CONSISTING OF 15.93± ACRES; AND BY
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE [PL20190002323]
October 27, 2020
Page 188
Item #17B
RESOLUTION 2020-195: ESTABLISHING A CONDITIONAL
USE TO ALLOW A SPORTS INSTRUCTIONAL SCHOOL AND
CAMP FOR SHOOTING INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING
WITHIN AN AGRICULTURAL (A) ZONING DISTRICT IN THE
AREA OF CRITICAL STATE CONCERN AND SPECIAL
TREATMENT OVERLAY (ACSC/ST), PURSUANT TO SECTION
2.03.01.A.1.C.19 OF THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE FOR A 10.77+/- ACRE PROPERTY
LOCATED ON THE WEST SIDE OF STATE ROAD 29,
APPROXIMATELY 8 MILES SOUTH OF I-75, IN SECTION 7,
TOWNSHIP 51 SOUTH, RANGE 30 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA. [PL20190001278]
Item #17C
ORDINANCE 2020-34: AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 89-05, AS
AMENDED, COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT
PLAN FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE
FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT AND FUTURE LAND USE
MAP AND MAP SERIES BY AMENDING THE URBAN
COMMERCIAL DISTRICT TO ADD THE GREENWAY-
TAMIAMI TRAIL EAST COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT TO
ALLOW DEVELOPMENT OF UP TO 20,000 SQUARE FEET OF
C-3, COMMERCIAL INTERMEDIATE USES AND
FURTHERMORE, DIRECTING TRANSMITTAL OF THE
ADOPTED AMENDMENT TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT
OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY; PROVIDING FOR
October 27, 2020
Page 189
SEVERABILITY AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS LOCATED AT THE
NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF TAMIAMI
TRAIL EAST AND GREENWAY ROAD IN SECTIONS 12 AND
13, TOWNSHIP 51 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, CONSISTING OF
2.81± ACRES; [PL20180002507] [ADOPTION HEARING] (THIS
IS A COMPANION TO AGENDA ITEM #17D)
Item #17D
ORDINANCE 2020-35: AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER
2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH ESTABLISHED THE
COMPREHENSIVE ZONING REGULATIONS FOR THE
UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
BY AMENDING THE APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR
MAPS BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF
THE HEREIN DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM A RURAL
AGRICULTURAL (A) ZONING DISTRICT TO A COMMERCIAL
INTERMEDIATE DISTRICT (C-3) ZONING DISTRICT TO
ALLOW UP TO 20,000 SQUARE FEET OF COMMERCIAL
DEVELOPMENT FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE
NORTHWEST CORNER OF TAMIAMI TRAIL EAST (US 41)
AND GREENWAY ROAD, IN SECTIONS 12 AND 13,
TOWNSHIP 51 SOUTH, RANGE 26, EAST, COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF 2.81+/- ACRES; AND BY
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. [PL20180002374] (THIS IS
A COMPANION TO AGENDA ITEM #17C)
Item #17E
October 27, 2020
Page 190
ORDINANCE 2020-36: AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 89-05, AS
AMENDED, COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT
PLAN FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE
FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT AND MAP SERIES BY
AMENDING THE URBAN COMMERCIAL DISTRICT TO ADD
THE BAY HOUSE CAMPUS COMMERCIAL SUBDISTRICT TO
ALLOW DEVELOPMENT OF UP TO 160 HOTEL ROOMS OR
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES UP TO 250 BEDS, AND UP TO
400 SEATS OF RESTAURANT USES. THE SUBJECT
PROPERTY IS LOCATED IN THE NORTHWEST QUADRANT
OF THE INTERSECTION OF TAMIAMI TRAIL NORTH AND
WALKERBILT ROAD IN SECTION 21, TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH,
RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, FLORIDA,
CONSISTING OF 8.67± ACRES. [PL20190000850] [ADOPTION
HEARING] (THIS IS A COMPANION TO AGENDA ITEM #17F)
Item #17F
ORDINANCE 2020-37: AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER
13-65, THE BAY HOUSE CAMPUS COMMERCIAL PLANNED
UNIT DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF
HOTEL UNITS FROM 50 TO 160; TO INCREASE THE HEIGHT
OF PRINCIPAL STRUCTURES TO 75 FEET ZONED AND 90
FEET ACTUAL; TO ADD ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES UP
TO 250 BEDS AS A PERMITTED USE IN ADDITION TO THE
ALLOWED 400 SEATS OF RESTAURANT/COCKTAIL
LOUNGE USES; AND TO REMOVE THE ACCESSORY
CULINARY SCHOOL USE; ON PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE
NORTHWEST QUADRANT OF THE INTERSECTION OF
TAMIAMI TRAIL NORTH AND WALKERBILT ROAD IN
October 27, 2020
Page 191
SECTION 21, TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST,
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF 8.67 +/-
ACRES; AND BY PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
(COMPANION ITEM TO AGENDA ITEM #17E)
Item #17G
RESOLUTION 2020-196: APPROVING AMENDMENTS
(APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD, TRANSFERS AND
SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2020-21
ADOPTED BUDGET
*****
October 27, 2020
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 3:19 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
BURT SAUNDERS, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
estecta Chairman's
signature only.
These minutes appr y the Board on i e .ern bar' c6 , bV
as presented ove or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRI LEWIS, FPR, COURT
REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC.
Page 192
FORM 8B MEMORANDUM OF VOTING CONFLICT FOR
COUNTY, MUNICIPAL, AND OTHER LOCAL PUBLIC OFFICERS
LAST NAME—FIRST NAME—MIDDLE NAME NAME OF BOARD,COUNCIL,COMMISSION,AUTHORITY,OR COMMITTEE
McDaniel, William L., Jr. Collier County Board of County Commissioners
MAILING ADDRESS THE BOARD,COUNCIL,COMMISSION,AUTHORITY OR COMMITTEE ON
3299 Tamiami Trail, East, Suite 300 WHICH I SERVE ISAUNITOF:
CITY COUNTY ❑CITY dCOUNTY IDOTHER LOCAL AGENCY
Naples Collier NAME OF POLITICAL SUBDIVISION:
DATE ON WHICH VOTE OCCURRED Collier County
October 27, 2020 MY POSITION IS: lr ELECTIVE ❑ APPOINTIVE
WHO MUST FILE FORM 8B
This form is for use by any person serving at the county, city, or other local level of government on an appointed or elected board, council,
commission, authority, or committee. It applies to members of advisory and non-advisory bodies who are presented with a voting conflict of
interest under Section 112.3143, Florida Statutes.
Your responsibilities under the law when faced with voting on a measure in which you have a conflict of interest will vary greatly depending
on whether you hold an elective or appointive position. For this reason, please pay close attention to the instructions on this form before
completing and filing the form.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 112.3143, FLORIDA STATUTES
A person holding elective or appointive county, municipal, or other local public office MUST ABSTAIN from voting on a measure which
would inure to his or her special private gain or loss. Each elected or appointed local officer also MUST ABSTAIN from knowingly voting on
a measure which would inure to the special gain or loss of a principal (other than a government agency) by whom he or she is retained
(including the parent, subsidiary, or sibling organization of a principal by which he or she is retained); to the special private gain or loss of a
relative; or to the special private gain or loss of a business associate. Commissioners of community redevelopment agencies (CRAs)under
Sec. 163.356 or 163.357, F.S., and officers of independent special tax districts elected on a one-acre, one-vote basis are not prohibited
from voting in that capacity.
For purposes of this law, a "relative" includes only the officer's father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law,
mother-in-law, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law. A"business associate" means any person or entity engaged in or carrying on a business
enterprise with the officer as a partner, joint venturer, coowner of property, or corporate shareholder (where the shares of the corporation
are not listed on any national or regional stock exchange).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ELECTED OFFICERS:
In addition to abstaining from voting in the situations described above,you must disclose the conflict:
PRIOR TO THE VOTE BEING TAKEN by publicly stating to the assembly the nature of your interest in the measure on which you are
abstaining from voting; and
WITHIN 15 DAYS AFTER THE VOTE OCCURS by completing and filing this form with the person responsible for recording the
minutes of the meeting, who should incorporate the form in the minutes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
APPOINTED OFFICERS:
Although you must abstain from voting in the situations described above, you are not prohibited by Section 112.3143 from otherwise
participating in these matters. However, you must disclose the nature of the conflict before making any attempt to influence the decision,
whether orally or in writing and whether made by you or at your direction.
IF YOU INTEND TO MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE DECISION PRIOR TO THE MEETING AT WHICH THE VOTE WILL BE
TAKEN:
• You must complete and file this form (before making any attempt to influence the decision)with the person responsible for recording the
minutes of the meeting,who will incorporate the form in the minutes. (Continued on page 2)
CE FORM 8B-EFF.11/2013 PAGE 1
Adopted by reference in Rule 34-7.010(1)(f),F.A.C.
APPOINTED OFFICERS (continued)
• A copy of the form must be provided immediately to the other members of the agency.
• The form must be read publicly at the next meeting after the form is filed.
IF YOU MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE DECISION EXCEPT BY DISCUSSION AT THE MEETING:
• You must disclose orally the nature of your conflict in the measure before participating.
• You must complete the form and file it within 15 days after the vote occurs with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the
meeting,who must incorporate the form in the minutes.A copy of the form must be provided immediately to the other members of the
agency, and the form must be read publicly at the next meeting after the form is filed.
DISCLOSURE OF LOCAL OFFICER'S INTEREST
William L. McDaniel, Jr. , hereby disclose that on October 27 20 20
(a)A measure came or will come before my agency which (check one or more)
inured to my special private gain or loss;
inured to the special gain or loss of my business associate,
inured to the special gain or loss of my relative, ;
inured to the special gain or loss of , by
whom I am retained; or
inured to the special gain or loss of ,which
is the parent subsidiary, or sibling organization or subsidiary of a principal which has retained me.
(b)The measure before my agency and the nature of my conflicting interest in the measure is as follows:
On October 27, 2020, the Board of County Commissioners will consider Agenda Item 16-C-6, a
recommendation to approve and execute a Fifth Amendment to a Lease Agreement with Goodwill Industries of
Southwest Florida, Inc., to continue leasing space for the Senior Nutrition Program in Immokalee.
I am a member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc. and in an abundance
of caution, I will abstain from voting pursuant to Section 286.012, Fla. Stat. to avoid any perceived prejudice or
bias.
If disclosure of specific information would violate confidentiality or privilege pursuant to law or rules governing attorneys, a public officer,
who is also an attorney, may comply with the disclosure requirements of this section by disclosi e nature of the interest in such a way
as to provide the public with notice of the conflict.
October 27, 2020
Date Rled na ur
NOTICE: UNDER PROVISIONS OF FLORIDA STATUTES §112.317, A FAILURE TO MAKE ANY UIRED DISC OSURE
CONSTITUTES GROUNDS FOR AND MAY BE PUNISHED BY ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: IVFF E CHMENT,
REMOVAL OR SUSPENSION FROM OFFICE OR EMPLOYMENT, DEMOTION, REDUCTION IN SALARY, REPRIMAND, OR A
CIVIL PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED $10,000.
CE FORM 8B-EFF.11/2013 PAGE 2
Adopted by reference in Rule 34-7.010(1)(f),F.A.C.