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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 03-08-2007 .. FORT PIERCE HARBOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes of Meeting March 8, 2007 Convened at 3:05 p.m. Adjourned at 3:53 p.m. This meeting of the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee (FPHAC) was held Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in Conference Room 3 on the 3rd floor of the Administration Building, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, Florida. 1. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken. Members Present: Mary Chapman, Chairperson Howard Conklin, Vice Chairman Jeanne Hearn Gerald Kuklinski Pieter Stryker (Arrived at 3: 1 0 pm) Members Absent: Councilman Christopher S. Cooper Commissioner Eddie Becht David Souza Bill Thiess Also Present: Heather Young, SLC Assistant County Attorney Michael Brillhart, SLC Economic & Strategic Development Charles Grande, SLC Commissioner Ken Roberts, Indian River Terminal Bob Bangert Larry Storms 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: After a motion and a second, the minutes from the February 8th meeting were unanimously approved with two changes. The minutes show Mr. Robella's name spelled incorrectly. It should be spelled "Mr. Ravelo". Ms. Hearn requested that "fly zone" be changed to "fly over zone" because it is an overpass. 3. OLD BUSINESS: Ms. Hearn asked if anything had been done regarding Commissioner Becht's suggestion of placing an R.F.P. (Request for Proposal) on the Harbor Pointe property. Mary Chapman said that the letter went to the County Commissioners on February 19th but had not heard any feedback. Ms. Hearn suggested having the Chairman of the Board, Commissioner Chris Craft, attend the next Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory meeting to speak with the committee. Howard Conklin asked if the minutes could be approved without a quorum. Mary Chapman said no. Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee March 8, 2007 Page 2 """,~~-~==-"~,, Mary Chapman asked Mr. Hearn if she had been to Tallahassee or if she spoke with Mr. Sole. Ms. Hearn said no. Ms. Hearn said she placed a call to an Aide, but spoke with a secretary. Ms. Hearn explained the situation to the secretary and was told that an Aide would call her. In the meantime, Ms. Hearn received a call from Mr. Vielhauer. He explained that he shouldn't be speaking with her because the Waterfront Council has an attorney. Ms. Hearn told Mr. Vielhauer that she did not call to speak with him. Ms. Hearn introduced herself and told Mr. Vielhauer that she was a citizen and an independent as well as a member of the Waterfront Council. Jerry Kuklinski said at Monday's City Commission meeting, Mayor Benton stated that Commissioner Becht mentioned sending a letter to the County. Ms. Hearn said that she thought the letter would be to the Governor. Ms. Hearn said that she would like the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee to make a recommendation to the County that they send a letter to the Governor, as well as the City of Fort Pierce, letting them know that D.E.P. should not accept information that is not correct. Mary Chapman asked if there was a motion. Ms. Hearn moved that the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee ask the County to send a letter in reference to items five and six on the request for extension of time to file petition for administrative hearing. Howard Conklin asked Heather Young if it should be a formal filing in the proceeding. Heather Young said that actually Terry Lewis, the County's outside council, is working on a formal filing, as well as Doug Anderson, the County Administrator. Heather stated that the committee's motion was certainly welcome. Howard Conklin asked if Terry Lewis and Doug Anderson were aware of the factual misrepresentation on the extension request. Heather Young said yes. Heather said her understanding of what happened was, Destin Beach filed their petition for extension on the 20th. The petition was not copied to the County or to Terry Lewis. On the 22nd D.E.P. granted the extension. Heather said that D.E.P.'s basis of granting the extension was saying that Destin Beach demonstrated good cause in their petition. Howard Conklin made a motion to "support the current activity of the council, to challenge the motion for extension, and also challenge the factual ground for the request on part of the applicant." Ms. Hearn seconded Howard Conklin's motion and withdrew her previous motion. Howard Conklin's motion was unanimously decided upon. Mary Chapman asked if any of the other committee members had anything to say regarding the letter requesting an RF.P. Howard Conklin said that when he suggested the RF.P. "many moons ago" Mr. Wazny, Assistant County Administrator, said they would not consider developing that area until the infrastructure was completed, Le. additional roadways, water, electric, etc. They would not develop it until that plan had been effectuated. Ms. Hearn asked if they were currently running water and sewer to the Harbor Pointe area. Michael Brillhart, S.L.C. Economic & Strategic Development Director, said that there is City water and sewer lines along 2nd Street and that the design of 2nd Street is currently being redone. Michael also said that there are bits and pieces of infrastructure that are available although there would have to be some updating. Ms. Hearn said that the Ritz Carlton people were willing to do their own infrastructure. Howard Conklin said that his original idea for bringing it up was, if the County was to place facilities on the Pointe that were totally inconsistent with cargo operations, it would be much harder for Mr. Bell's enterprise to get approved for anything that would deviate from the master plan. Ms. Hearn stated that the only opposite side she could see would be, if she was a "big time investor" would she take the risk to put a Ritz Carlton or something high class there and then have the County or the City fail and allow cargo operations next door by being lax. ... ! , Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee March 8, 2007 Page 3 Ms. Hearn also said that if positive things were going to happen north of the creek she would think that that's going to be a good indicator to people in the Harbor Pointe area that would be of interest. 4. NEW BUSINESS: Mary Chapman said that the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee had never addressed the "Sunshine Law". Heather Young said the committee is subject to the "Sunshine Law", which means that all of the meetings need to be noticed. The definition of a meeting consists of when two or more members of the committee communicate. Communication includes meeting outside or email communication on matters that are likely to come before the committee in the future. All records of the committee are open to the public. Also County Staff is not supposed to act as an intermediary between members of the sunshine group. Staff cannot go back and forth to try to come to a consensus outside of the public meeting. Heather said that sharing information is fine but that it needs to be sent through Stephanie Bush. She will make sure everyone receives the information. Howard Conklin stated that Heather Young mentioned future meetings and asked if it would be proper to talk about events and actions of prior meetings. Heather said that it could be done, but that this particular committee has long standing discussions over issues that are spanning a number of years. It would be hard to say unless it's something that is "dead and decided and will never come back." Heather Young introduced Michael Brillhart. Michael is the St. Lucie County Economic and Strategic Development Director. Mary Chapman mentioned the agenda for this meeting was very thin. Mary Chapman said that she felt as though the major hurdle for this committee took place in December. Ms. Hearn stated that the Waterfront Council would be open to any comments that citizens may have. Ms. Hearn also said 99% of the community do not understand the situation. The community thinks since the Cabinet ruled it was denied, it is all over with. She said that the Waterfront Council is trying to put together something for historical purposes, such as a timeline of events. Mary Chapman asked Ms. Hearn if she thought it would be helpful if the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee did something in terms of a letter. Howard Conklin stated that with Heather Young and outside council working on the legal side of the situation, he thinks that all the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee could do, would be to support their efforts and make sure their diligent. Mary Chapman asked Michael Brillhart if he was attending the meeting for any particular reason. Michael stated there was one item the County Staff would like to talk about, at the staff level, from an economic development point of view. Staff has been fortunate enough to talk with three developers over the last three weeks regarding hotel non-residential type development in the generalized Fort Pierce area. The area surrounding Seaway Drive is very potential. Michael said that one of the concerns regarding an RF.P. that has been brought to Staff's attention, again by outside developers, is when you are looking at the 20 acres the County owns the concern from the outside business entities is "What is realistically going to happen to the property adjacent to it on the South?" From the developer's point of view, they have to be cautious. They want to know what could happen to the property next to them. Howard Conklin asked Michael how old his information was now that the permit application .' Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee March 8, 2007 Page 4 ~._~~._""""-~--'--""""-"""""""'-~ had been denied. Michael said this is information from the entities that contacted him and that they have shared locational information. Michael also said that the developers do not know anything about what is taking place at Harbor Pointe. The developers are telling staff based on a business point of view. Ms. Hearn said that she though the Waterfront Council's concern was that when D.E.P. issued a 60-day extension, all that did was "prolong the agony". They cannot get to a resolution about Berth 4. Pieter Stryker said that something he thinks needs to be kept in mind is that "it's not really accurate to imply that our interpretation of the use, or the potential use, of the properties next to the location in question, our interpretation of what is going to stop any development that would be incondusive to a Ritz Carlton. It's going to be the interpretation of whoever is coming in to think about this. They may see what we think is a locked down situation to where nothing is going to grow there but cactus. That would be fine to them, only to find out that their interpretation of what their being presented with, relative to the potential of that property is much greater from their analytical stand point." Pieter thinks that the committee needs to keep in mind that it is not "our interpretation" of the restrictions on those properties that makes the difference. It is the person, persons or developers that actually have to be comfortable enough to say "Okay let's go ahead and do this." Howard Conklin said that this is a governmental function and a function of Bell's activity. He also said that "The perfect world is for an investor to even get assurance from Bell's entity that they would not do this, this and this." Bell might go for it if there was an exchange. That could be an assurance that would certainly convince a commercial developer that it would be okay to go ahead, if they had a written assurance from the adjoining property owner. It would have to be a binding assurance. Ms. Hearn said that there is an island in the St. Lucie River called Idabelle Island. She said that you enter the island from the east. Apparently this is a very environmentally sensitive island of about 22 acres. Ms. Hearn was unsure of all of the details. Michael Brillhart said that the County has been doing some research on Idabelle Island. Michael said that as many people know, there is a portion of the North Fork that was purchased several years ago through a County referendum. The County referendum was to help fund a grant through South Florida Water Management District, therefore the County was able to purchase a large portion of land. The County had some funds left over and they were used to purchase Idabelle Island. He also said right now the County is trying to decide whether or not they can go back through the bond referendum and use it as a "piece for sale." The County is currently reviewing the contract they have with South Florida Water Management District through their grant. Michael said that Bell does own a piece of property next to it and he is very interested in it. The property is on the island, but it was not purchased through the South Florida Water Management District grant. Ms. Hearn asked if the County were to negotiate on Idabelle Island, would there be rigid stipulations that it could not be used for perhaps, condominiums or something like that later. She also asked if the island would remain as a scientific use. Michael said he could not say at the time. He would have to go back and look through the legal documents and see when the title was transferred to the County and what types of restrictions or ramifications were in it. Ms. Hearn asked for a copy of the bond referendum. Heather Young said that she would get her a copy. Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee March 8, 2007 Page 5 Larry Storms said that he has thought about of all of the stated information. Larry agrees that the developer's need to know what could be next door to them. The developers need assurances. Larry said that he prefers to think of this in the context of, "What can you do as a permitted use?" and make a list of what those things are. Then he would think about what is noxious and what is not. Then he would think about the Rural Land Stewardship Program and the creativity in it. Larry said the "Rural Land Stewardship Program is really a system by which you essentially take off the permitted uses in layers and give credit for that." Larry said, "This doesn't directly apply to this situation but could you possibly begin to buy off layers of those noxious development opportunities?" Larry stated that he was thinking in more of a methodology type way. Maybe layers could be taken off and Bell could be given "something" for that so deed restrictions could then be put in place. The "something" mayor may not be money or maybe a development credit. Larry stated that maybe there was something that could be given as the noxious or obnoxious permitted use of the property to get it down to a level where Bell could do something with the property that still makes economical sense to himself, along with giving some assurances. Ms. Hearn said she would like to think "if Harbor Pointe was developed, we would be giving Bell a lot because the property would be much more valuable to an industry like positive development rather than cargo development." Ms. Hearn felt as though "we are always put on the what he's doing for us side. Just like his spoil site, Bell did it free. The man is getting a tremendous amount of fill polished; it was nothing but concaved holes when it began. He has had a tremendous amount of grading expenses free. But yet he did it free for us, but we don't do anything for him. I think he has faired pretty well. The Waterfront Council feels like we have made him a multimillionaire." Mary Chapman asked what Bell's last offer was. Howard Conklin said he heard from reliable sources that it was in the 70's or 80's. Howard Conklin spoke about the "Water Access Forum" that is scheduled for May 9, 2007 in Norfolk, Virginia. He said Broward County and Palm Beach County have taken action on this particular problem. Howard's concern is St. Lucie has not really paid attention to this creeping problem. He thinks sending a staff member to this would be very useful. The forum would go into the issues of what's happening around the Country, what's happening in Florida and what are the remedies that the government could do to solve the problem. Mary Chapman asked Heather Young if she could look into having a staff member attend. Heather said that she would give the information to Doug Anderson. Howard Conklin moved to recommend the County send a representative to this forum in May. The motion was unanimously approved. The committee members looked at an aerial of Idabelle Island located South of Midway Road. Mary Chapman asked where the Oxbox Center was in relation to Idabelle Island. Michael Brillhart said it was quite a bit away from Idabelle Island. The island is actually South of the Oxbow Center. Howard Conklin asked Heather Young if she could give everyone an update on Chuck's Seafood Restaurant. Heather said Mr. Angelos submitted plans to the City and the County and the plans were being reviewed. She also said the City really does not want to do anything with the plans until they have a signoff from the County. Howard Conklin asked if Mr. Angelos would be putting in any dockage. Heather said no, he basically wants to rebuild the restaurant building, which needs a lot of work. Mr. Angelos would also like to remove the tent structure off the back of the building. Pieter Stryker asked about the parking. Heather said she thought Mr. Angelos was going to go east with the parking and possibly a little toward the west side of Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee March 8, 2007 Page 6 the building. Howard Conklin asked if a roundabout was going to be put in. Heather said she was unsure. Ms. Hearn said when Harbor Isle was built, they put a pipe under A1A out into the inlet. The pipe is totally covered during high tide. Ms. Hearn said the pipe should have a marker or a light on the end. Ms. Hearn said she contacted the Coast Guard because she thought they might be able to get a temporary marker when it first went in. Ms. Hearn asked it there was anything the Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee could do to try to get somebody to do something about it. Heather Young said that she would get with staff members and see what could be done. 5. ADJOURNMENT: At 3:53 pm the meeting was officially adjourned. The next meeting will be held Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 3:00 pm in Conference Room 3, on the third floor of the Administration Building. Respectfully submitted: Stephanie Bush ~ - . INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA TO: Douglas Anderson, County Administrator FROM: Heather Young, Assistant County Attorney 9t1 C.A. NO: 07-0428 DATE: March 8,2007 SUBJECT: Harbor Advisory Committee - Working Waterways and Waterfronts Conference During its meeting of March 8, 2007, the Harbor Advisory Committee voted to recommend the County send a representative to the Working Waterways and Waterfronts Conference scheduled for May 9-11, 2007 in Norfolk, Virginia. A copy of the information provided regarding the conference is attached for your information. me. If you have any further questions with regard to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact Attachment HY/ Copy to: Harbor Advisory Committee ),,,//1 J . fl / fr j 1\% rill . /(1 (' p,J ¡-J'" ( if' ,J &(l. 9r/>'f'tJ,)J ¡7' rf . 'Water Access Is May Forum Theme . LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, COASTAL- management planners, legal scholars, and marine-industry representatives will gather at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia, on May 9 through 11, 2007, to discuss the loss of I Those who rely on waterfront access are increasingly losing out to development. 22 , I water access for recreational mariners, commercial fishermen, and water-depen- dent businesses. "Working Waterways and Waterfronts" is the title of the confer- ence that will examine the rapid conver- sion of working waterfronts to residential development and to businesses that aren't dependant on the water. Rising real-es- tate taxes and escalating property values are driving the conversion. 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