Good afternoon and welcome to a workshop meeting of the Book of Ritone City Council as Monday, September 23, 2024. The time is 4.44. Our first item of business is proclamations today and I want to thank Drake, RCA, President of the Dipper Bank covering South Florida, not only for joining us today but also for her work, the work of her colleagues and her patients today as we went through several meetings beforehand. If you'll join me at the lectern please Ms. Garcia, while Ms. Sidden's reads a proclamation. Whereas diaper need, the condition of not having a sufficient supply of clean diapers to keep babies and toddlers clean, dry and healthy, can adversely affect the health and well-being of babies, toddlers, and their families. And whereas national surveys and research studies report that one in two families struggles with diaper need and 48% of families delay changing a diaper to extend the available supply and purchasing enough diapers to keep a baby or toddler clean, dry and healthy, can consume 14% of a low-age families post-tax income making it difficult to provide the necessary supply. And whereas without enough diapers, babies and toddlers risk infections and health problems that may require medical attention resulting in medical costs. And whereas a daily or weekly supply of diapers is generally an eligibility requirement for babies and toddlers to participate in child care programs and quality early education programs that enable children to thrive and parents to work. And whereas the City of Booker Aton is proud to have the diaper bank covering South Florida that plays a critical role in supporting families improving infant health and well-being by distributing diapers to families in need. Now therefore, I, Scott Singer, mayor of the City of Booker Aton, Florida. Do you hear by proclaim September 23rd through September 29th, 2024, as national diaper need awareness week in Bokoritone? And encourage our residents to donate generously to diaper banks, diaper drives, and organizations that distribute diapers to families in need to help alleviate diaper need in Bokoritone. Mr. Garcia, please. Thank you. Thank you, please. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Singer and Councilmember. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak here today and for this proclamation. On behalf of the Diaper Bank covering South Florida, I'm honored to accept this proclamation on behalf of us, the families we serve and our nonprofit partners. Quickly, why are diapers important to this community? Or why should they be important? They should be important because one in two families cannot afford diapers. Right here in Boqueriton, one in two families. That's pretty significant. They're having to choose between putting gas in their car, paying a bill, putting food on the table. The diaper bank covering South Florida fills that need. Dippers are not covered by food stamps or WIC. And you cannot drop your baby off a daycare if you do not have an adequate supply of diapers. If you don't have an adequate supply of diapers, there's no daycare, no daycare means no work, no work means no paycheck, no paycheck means you cannot contribute to society. And it's a vicious cycle. So we fill that need. We serve 3,200 children per month here in this community. So thank you for bringing awareness to this. We've been an independent 501C3 for several years now. We're honored to have the partnership and support of the city behind us, and we thank you for this proclamation and creating the awareness that we truly need, because there is so much need. We have waiting lists. Yes. That's a little bit of a forward. Yes. Thank you. Move the reads. Thank you. That concludes our the first card I have is from Mr. Kevin Meeney. Please come forward to give your name and address and you'll love to three minutes. Kevin Meeney, 192 North East Spanish Trail, Folk with Tone Florida, 3-3-4-3-2. I am here prematurely. Maybe some of you might think, but tomorrow there is a meeting, planning advisory, and there is a request being made to the planning advisory board to facilitate the development of a property on East Palmetto Park Road. And we have no opinion on the development of that property at this time. However, we do want to reinforce that making wholesale changes to the B1 to facilitate one building really isn't the best of all possible ideas. And also we have made several requests going back to 2017 because we are concerned about the piece of Palmetto Park road from the foot of the bridge to A1A which is Zoned B1. So I know that this will not be before this council for a long time but I just wanted to go on the record that we have those requests in. We've requested some zoning changes and we've been successful with some and that's all I have to say thank you for your time and have a wonderful day. Thank you very much. Anyone Mr. Johnson? Jonathan Nungy and 6501 Congress Avenue. So after a long time, I had a lot of patients today too, and keeping quiet on some of the things that I may have had opinions on. But the main thing I want to focus on, two things. One being as obviously you promote the circuit. I still say this area was the right best part of town to truly try things out as the city also contributes to a bus program that it's not the best, not the greenest. And I think the city can spend less and do better service for people that would be utilized, keeping people out of the rain around here, getting to try rail. So, but what I wanted to speak about is the special magistrate hearing that happened. And I'm sure you're all aware I was not given the right to speak as the complaint in and a neighbor right next door. Mr. Brown did apparently ask the special magistrate not to execute the agreement after the fact. And now for almost a week, I've been asking. I'm not sure if you can ask the staff to be prepared to ask the special magistrate not to execute the agreement after the fact. And now for almost a week I've been asking. Apparently I'm not allowed to speak to city staff anymore. Everything needs to be verbal. And Mr. Brown has an answer in about five six days of email and can asking three simple questions. Those were, can you explain why your position on this important code enforcement case has changed? Which impacts my property in this city by now asking for the agreement not to be executed? What is the city's position on this code enforcement issue now? What is the course of action this city will be taking on this long and overdue enforcement issue. Three very simple questions that according to the email that went to the special magistrate, it was the city manager who requested that the special magistrate were framed. So again, I would just like to understand as the concerned property owner who has pointed forward this issue, what is the city doing with this? Where do we go from here? Because the reality is I did just literally on Friday apply for a new business. So you're going to be getting a new business tax license. Congratulations. Because I will be the one who's defending people that go in front of the special magistrate from this point going forward. Because these people feel hopeless as they go in front of code enforcement and have leans put on their homes. And they don't feel like there is no defense, no attorney such as Miss Zacharitis is going to defend them. And the reality is, when you're a big developer, such as the Birmingham Group, there's a big business owner, or Danburg next door, you walk in there with four attorneys, and you get everything you want. And I just, I couldn't even speak as the complaintant, which again, I asked Mr. Brown as well, what other code enforcement cases was the complaintant, which again I asked Mr. Brown as well, what other code enforcement cases was the complaintant not afforded the ability to speak. And it's a true disgrace, but the bigger disgrace is what the city manager can be 30 seconds. The city manager not allowing me to communicate verbally with staff is unlike anything that's ever happened in the city that I'm aware of. This man was the chief code enforcement officer, the first city's first code enforcement officer. He was the development services director. And I think that some pretty terrible precedent is being set by this first city's first code enforcement officer who happens to now be the chief tyrant. Thank you, please. Thank you. Mr. Engineer out of water. Anyone else wishing to speak? That concludes the public request. We'll turn to review of regular agenda items Council members you have any questions concerning tomorrow night's regular agenda starting to Mr. Thompson no questions Exactly no questions miss darker. No questions. Thank you Mr. Rager no questions in order to I have any we don't have any future agenda matters or items of council concern So I've turned to city manager reports and we have a presentation today on prior prioritization of council sponsor Tex amendments Mr. Brown. Thank you Mayor Brandon Shatter development services director is going to be given update on the various Tex amendments that were sponsored by council members in the past and where we are with various other code amendment initiatives. Good afternoon Mayor and Council. As you know, every quarter we sit down and work on prioritization of code amendments that have been sponsored by individual council members giving the body as a whole the opportunity to prioritize those items. So back in May, these were the items that were on for prioritization. So I'm going to give an update basically. So many of these have been substantially completed. And when I say that, I don't necessarily mean that they're adopted or disposed of completely, but just simply that there's no further need to prioritize because the bulk of the work has been completed. So that's the case with the CAB process improvement, which is scheduled to be introduced very soon. The electric vehicle parking revisions do some legislation that the state undertook that is not needed at this time. The instructional schools amendment, based on discussions with council member Wigder, that's something we're gonna monitor going forward. No action required at this time. The car wash is in the RB1 district that's being introduced tomorrow night. And so of those items, that leaves the further streamlining of the downtown IDA approval process as the remaining priority. Just an update on some of the things that have been sponsored by the Council as a whole or that came directly from Strategic planning for this position of some of these things. So one of the council directed that we amend the comp plan and the code to allow greater density intensity for a affordable housing project at the monotryer O station that substantially complete An amendment to allow additional building height at the Bokeh Riton was withdrawn by the applicant. An ordinance delegating code enforcement lean reductions, the special magistrate was directed by the council and that has been introduced already complete. Medical office of parking rates were reduced via ordinance 5658. Some updates the staff is working on the Lib local act implementing ordinance based on changes made by the legislature is substantially complete under review and should be to public hearing soon. And then of course, as we mentioned last time, we have a potential amendment that's related to the damper of PMD that we don't know what is going on quite yet. So that leaves of that large bucket of council directed or strategic planning resulting amendments in process is the land development code rewrite. The downtown DRI ordinance number 4035 updates because that's expiring in 2028. A minimum multifamily dwelling unit size amendment is substantially complete, but we are pending a little bit of additional research to wrap it up. Incorporation of the ULDCs, the Unified Land Development Codes from Annex Series into the City Code, we have a consultant working on that, and the revision and re-adoption of PMD regulations is not yet started. That's the update, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Council members, any questions? Mr. Shad, in the memo dated September 17th, we talk about IDA process streamline, and the scope has been split into two different ordinances, both are in process, a consultant's addressing one staff's addressing the other. Could you just talk a little bit more about each flavor of those and where the timeline is on both, please? Sure. So the bulk of it is what staff is working on. And this is based on a draft ordinance that was provided when it was sponsored. And essentially, it's a note, as to what that includes. Largely, it would be about allowing administrative approvals in the downtown that are more or less in line with what's allowed in the rest of the city, including administrative approvals for up to 50,000 square feet of building construction, in up to 25,000 square feet for changes of use. Now that would not include transfers or conversions, which would still require approval by the CRA. Administrative approvals will be allowed for the addition or reduction of parking up to 10% and for parking layout changes. That would not require CRA approval. The addition or reduction of open space up to 10% assuming the minimum is still met. Things like changing the number of bedrooms in residential, bedrooms per unit and residential projects would not require the area approval. That would be administrative. And changes to architectural elevations would be approval administratively. Again, those are based on the draft that was provided to us when the amendment was sponsored. We also have a consultant working on a revision to the interim design guideline regulations. A requirement that the details are escaping me with respect to the requirement for minimum and maximum actually sizes of bays, this is kind of just an architectural requirement that has caused a lot of headaches and problems and delays for applicants and we and our urban design consultant believe that we can come up with a better solution that will preserve the benefits for the architecture but get rid of the process problems that come along with the requirement as it's drafted today. So those are the two things that are being worked on time line wise We're just beginning the streamlining part, but it's not too complicated I would say we should see that in the next few months and The architectural one is being drafted by the consultant. We're expecting to see a draft Any day now. So we should be moving pretty quickly on that as well. Do you expect to have those ready for our December meeting? Very likely in the architectural one if the streamlining one is not here in December, it will be very close. So January then? Close. All right. It's budget season. In fact, it's budget hour. Just want to check in while you're here. Do you feel that you've got the necessary resources to handle these and other things as they come through? I do. I think we've processed some very, very large amendments in the last few years. Like last year, for example, all the live local stuff, all the local affordable housing stuff, the amendment to facilitate the redevelopment of the Book of Retain Innovation Campus, the changes to the LARP, medical office parking, all those things, some very large initiatives. We seem to be able, at this moment at least, it seems like we're able to focus on the big picture Code rewrite and 4035 Changes that are coming up so I think that is Beneficial and we are working hard to get those things crossed off the list. Thank you I have a comment, but I'll yield for any questions. Mr. Reader Yes, thank you Regarding 4035 and the previous CRA meeting and the topic discussed of expiring or fully utilized OE's, do you feel Mr. Shad, it'll be necessary for us to do some sort of interim adjustment to the OE mechanism prior to the full 4035 slash TOD or whatever it is that's going to happen downtown to a full rewrite. Sorry, I apologize. Are you referring to granting additional development rights in the downtown? Yes. I think that's just entirely a city council policy decision whether to do that or to wait. I don't think there's any obligation to do so, but it's a policy decision the council needs to make. Thank you. Thank you. For the questions, I'll just add my comment now. There's a reason we talk about streamlining. We all know it here, but it does, it's not just good policy, it's what Americans want. And I found this out because, as past weekend, I was attending a conference where the U.S. conference of mayor's held a quarterly meeting. Housing and affordability were significant topics. We spent about half a day on them. And in the process of the conversation, they shared a 2023 Pew Charitable Trust survey, which talked about the share of Americans favoring each policy on housing. And some of the policies were allowing smaller lots, setback requirements, townhouses and multi-family on any lot, parking decisions left to owners, commercial residential conversions, all those scored well. The number one choice among Americans in this nationwide poll, nationwide poll, with 86% were saying having local governments stream writing permitting. That is the number one thing that American said in this poll on what they want to see to address housing. So when we have these conversations, they're not just academic and they're not just esoteric, they're meaningful policy results. So I want to thank you, Mr. Shad. I want to thank my colleagues who seem to share this vision. It's bears fruit in what the market's telling us. So thank you, any further comments? Mr. Brown, I just wanted to point out that Mr. Shaz memorandum deals with the subject as a code amendment sponsored by individual council members. This also updates you all on things that are general initiatives of the body and of staff working with you strategically to move things forward, particularly the last section on page two. And I think that even if we don't have council-sponsored amendments that need to be prioritized, we will continue to provide you with a quarterly update of where we are on these major initiatives with the code because all of them have either a streamlining impact or a future, you know, future, there's going to be future decisions to be made. Very good. For the comments or questions? All right, thank you to still your report, Mr. Brown. That's all I have for this meeting. Thank you, City's your report, Mr. Kailer. I have for this meeting. Thank you city's your reports, Mr. Kailer. I have no report council member reports, Mr. Thompson No report. Thank you, Ms. Nackles. No report. Thank you, Ms. Rucker I do have a brief report my apologies, but I'm just going to do it today. So we'll do it tomorrow So real quick I got a call from and I've had to discuss from Mr. Brown From the junior booker tone as we know we moved the community garden where today it sits because the bright line sits there today so we moved it close to Meadows Park and we renamed it last year. Pretty much all of us were there the Susan Welch will community garden. They're having issues you know leasing the plot so I know Mr. Brown's going to work on some activities are going to work on some activities, they're gonna work on other activities, so we're gonna get some of this advertisement. So I just wanted to put it up here. And if you have any questions, I'm gonna share this. Also, Mr. Brown, maybe you could put on our website, but it's a partnership with the city, the community garden. So we need to get people to, usually it was sold out always in the downtown. So it's maybe just getting the word out. So they've come to us because they're responsible for the garden as it stands today and it's a partnership with the junior league. So if you're interested in leasing a plot, sponsoring a plot for a family, volunteering, we're gonna have more information online. So I just wanted to bring that up. And as we get something moving to get some attention to the community garden and event there through the city, we'll share that information as it becomes available. Next. So this past week, can we go to the other slide? I think that slide. So read for the record is going to take place October 24th and I had the opportunity to attend the literacy of Palm Beach luncheon. That the mayor asked me to attend last week and they released the book for this year that we're going to be reading and there's going to be programming and as a council will be at the library. Some of us will be a Florence Fuller. Depends where we're assigned. But I wanted to just bring it up. I have a copy of the book for all of our council members that I'll give to you post-meeting. But this year's selection was Piper Chen Singhs. Philippe Basou, who is a Grammy winner in Tony nominee to actress from Hamilton. Alisa, if you've ever seen the show. And it's about butterflies. I don't usually read the book in advance because I like to read it when I'm there present with the children and the families, but that's going to be our read for October 24th, read for the record, and we're going to have some programming. So more to come on that. And then every two years, they also have the adult, next slide please. They also have, nope, the one prior to that, the book, thanks. They usually have adult read-along. So this year, the book that they picked was remarkably bright creatures. Shelby Van Pelt, there's one copy. I'm going to start reading the book when I'm done. I'll pass it on to my colleagues. And we do this every two years. I hear it's a great, great option. So there you have it. So start reading in the month of October. And then before you go to the next slide, and you can leave that there, just wanted to say a couple things in regard to the Transportation Planning Authority. Last week, we lost another one of our members on the TPA, Mayor Fred Pinto, from the Village of Royal Palm, a colleague that had very similar visions on public safety. So I just kind of wanted to give him a moment. He will be missed and very sad, very sad. Also, Brightline, we continue to have issues on the tracks. Remember to stop where the signs are there. Stay off the tracks. The issues we're having with Brightline are because there, stay off the tracks. The issues we're having with Brightline are because people are stopping on the tracks. I had an issue with an Uber that wasn't paying attention on our way to Louis Bosse, who stopped on the track at around 5.15 pm. And I literally almost had a panic moment. I know what to do. We were able to back up. But in the event that happens, usually, what we've told individuals, especially during the peak times. And I know the train schedule is get out of the car if you're stuck and walk away from your vehicle. So thankfully, he was able to back up and I kind of gave him a lesson on the tracks. But that was right off the Pomada Park Road. So just be careful, the trains are coming and they're coming often. There is a Vision 2050 draft for long range transportation to the TPA, they're looking for community input. Please go online and provide your vision, I know it's 2050, but that's how we plan, we plan far out. Also, Pom Tran has added, as of today, their new bus service called the Port Saint Lucie Express. That's coming straight from Port Saint Lucie, straight to the West Palm Beach corridor. And you could take it from the West Palm Beach corridor if you have to do business in Port Saint Lucie, so they wanted us to get the word out on that. And then lastly, I wanna thank staff and I know Mr. Beers, I've here today and I'll maybe say this again if he's here tomorrow, but the SS4, so the safe for all grants were announced again. And the city of Boca Raton out of all the cities in the entire state of Florida was received and has been the top earner in that award at $4 million. I want to take this opportunity to thank the council that has supported all of our policy initiatives. And I want to thank staff because they really did a tremendous job. So imagine the last, this time around we didn't apply for one in certain cities received. The last go around we applied and only two cities received, which was Boca Raton and Gainesville. But of all the cities that have been awarded, and I think this is the third round. We have the highest amount that was awarded to us. And that's a testament of what the city staff has done to procure that $4 million grant. So we should all be very proud of that. I know I am. So lastly, we could put up the last slide. Earlier today, the mayor and some of our council members, Mr. Wig members, Mr. Wake Derrissar, Ms. Knachos, was an attendant. We went to a Lynn University where we presented the Hispanic Heritage Proclamation to Hay, whose Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative, they work with small businesses and business throughout the county, actually now throughout South Florida and throughout the state, helping them understand how we do business here in the United States when they first come here. They have a lot of programming. It's Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th, or October 15th. This year's message is called shaping our future together as Hispanic myself, a first generation Cuban-American, a Latin woman, and also the first Hispanic to sit on this council in almost a hundred years. I was very proud and I thank you mayor for going out there and presenting the proclamation. Allowments are Commissioner Woodward was there, Dr. Ross was there this morning at Lynn, Torre McClendon from the Chamber. Thank you for bringing this attention to Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you. I think we're in a day. That concludes my turn. Nothing further for me. Thank you. Thank you. And I will save my report tomorrow night. I will remind everyone we will have our final budget hearing tonight at 6 p.m. If there's no further business to come before us we are adjourned at 5.11