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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12152008ISBA WorkshopJOINT WORKSHOP INDIAN RIVER COUNTY CITY OF SEBASTIAN CITY OF VERO BEACH CITY OF FELLSMERE TOWN OF INDIAN RIVER SHORES TOWN OF ORCHID MINUTES MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008 - 5:00 P.M. SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA RE: INTERLOCAL SERVICE BOUNDARY AGREEMENT (ISBA) Mayor Gillmor called the Joint Workshop to order at 5:00 p.m, expressed his thoughts about how all participants in this agreement will be able to look back and be proud of how they charted this course for Indian River County's future and welcomed everyone to Sebastian. He requested in lieu of roll call that members of each agency and staff introduce themselves. 2. ROLL CALL The following individuals were present. City of Sebastian Mayor Richard Gillmor Vice Mayor Jim Hill Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Dale Simchick Council Member Eugene Wolff City Manager AI Minner Interim City Attorney Robert A. Ginsburg Growth Management Director Rebecca Grohall City Clerk Sally Maio (recording) City of Vero Beach Mayor Sabin Abell Vice Mayor Tom White Councilmember Debra Fromang Councilmember Bill Fish Councilmember Kevin Sawnick City Attorney Charlie Vitunac City Planner Timothy J. McGarry City Clerk Tammy Vock (in audience) City of Fellsmere Mayor Susan Adams (arrived late) Vice Mayor Joel Tyson Vice Mayor Pro Tem Fernando Herrera City Manager Jason Nunemaker City Attorney Warren Dill City Planner Rochelle Lawandales City Clerk Debbie Krages (in audience) Finance Director Larry Napier (in audience) ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Two Town of Indian River Shores Mayor Thomas Cadden Vice Mayor E. William Kenyon Council Member Frances Atchison Town Manager Robert Bradshaw Town of Orchid Mayor Richard Dunlop Vice Mayor Suzanne Joyce Councilmember Paul Johnson Town Manager Deb Branwell Indian River County Commissioner Wesley Davis, Chairman Commissioner Joseph Flescher, Vice Chairman Commissioner Gary Wheeler Commissioner Peter O'Bryan Commissioner Bob Solari County Administrator Joe Baird (in audience) Assistant County Administrator Michael C. Zito County Attorney Will Collins (in audience) Assistant County Attorney George Glenn Council General Services Administrator Tom Frame (in audience) Community Development Director Bob Keating Clerk to the Board/Recording Clerk Athena Adams (recording) 3. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 4. ISBA REVIEW PRESENTATION -City Manager, AI Minner Mr. Minner gave a power point presentation originally prepared and presented by Robert Keating to the County Commission at a recent Commission meeting with minor modifications to make it more neutral. The presentation recapped the Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement (ISBA) process from its beginning in April 2007 up to this point (see attached -for the record the first Sebastian Joint Workshop was July 23, 2008). 5. PRESENTATION OF UNRESOLVED ISSUES A. SEBASTIAN 1. Point to Point Contiguity Mr. Minner addressed the three concerns for Sebastian, i.e., point to point annexation or contiguity, keeping "new towns" away from City limits, and a request by a couple of members to include other services in the agreement such as water, sewer, transportation, etc. Mr. Minner presented a Sebastian annexation exception proposal map (see attached) showing parcels highlighted in yellow, blue and red. He recommended striking point to point language and instead state that Sebastian is exempted from those regulations in FS 171 2 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Three and references the map. The Growth Management Director provided copies of the map to each agency. He said if Sebastian is going to develop the Western Employment Center (WEC) it would be fair to have some exemptions from 171. Other Urban Services Ms. Simchick noted the Interim City Attorney was going to look into other issues the Council had with traffic concurrency and water, and said she feels like these are issues that need to be included in discussions of the ISBA. 2. New Town Location Ms. Coy said she recalled discussion of a five mile buffer for new towns and then it was changed. She said she hoped it can be further negotiated B. VERO BEACH 1. Comments Attorney Vitunac said the City of Vero Beach had concerns for mention of Citrus Highway in Sebastian's Western Employment Center, since it is used as a description of a location but Vero Beach finds that the existence of that road has not yet been determined and would argue against it being built therefore would not want it mentioned in the agreement. He said they do not have a problem with the point to point issue that Mr. Minner just explained, but do have a problem with Exhibit F and Fellsmere's description of how it plans to develop the 20,000 acres. He said Department of Community Affairs is currently reviewing it and will probably come down with a different set of regulations. Mr. McGarry further stated Exhibit F is still under review, that the County and Sebastian responded and there are objections from the State, and Vero Beach is encouraging all parties to work together to address the problems they see in Exhibit F. Mr. Vitunac also noted that water and sewer and other issues will be reviewed by the USAC under terms of the ISBA, and then recommended all applications using Exhibits D, E and F should be taken to USAC for official review and comment. C. FELLSMERE 1. Comments Jason Nunemaker said Fellsmere has been working on the agreement since 2005, described the genesis of the ISBA, and no matter whether you are pro-growth or anti- growth you will have some frustrations with the agreement. He said as far as moving forward, Fellsmere Council has said it is time to move forward, though Exhibit F needs some tweaking, stated that Fellsmere has been subjected to scrutiny that few other cities have been subjected to. He said they have the implementation of House Bill 697 that has not been properly promulgated by DCA which has to do with sustainability measures and efficient land use patterns they are trying to develop. He said they have tightened up sprawl issues. He said DCA has taken a much more stringent perspective on needs analysis, and they are fully prepared to deal with them on that. He said in the spirit of 3 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Four cooperation they can take another look at Exhibit F, but are reluctant if it is to be prolonged. Mayor Adams said at the last Fellsmere meeting there was discussion and they had no problem with point to point contiguity, they are concerned with dragging out the ISBA and recommended if we have issues we need to hash them out tonight and give staff direction so we are not in indefinite negotiations. She suggested appointing a member of each agency to attend the staff working group meetings if necessary. D. INDIAN RIVER SHORES Reserve the Right to Comment if Needed Mr. Bradshaw said Indian River Shores was in agreement with all others on the four outstanding issues 1) point to point, 2) Exhibit F, 3) Exhibit D the Citrus Highway issue and 4) the new town locations as far as proximity and would like to reserve comment to hear Indian River County's perspective. E. ORCHID 1. Comments Council Member Joyce said their only problem was the language of the "poison pill" the twenty years. Mayor Dunlop complimented everyone on their work on the agreement, agreed with not putting new towns on top of old towns, and after attending MPO last week agreed to taking Citrus Highway out of the agreement. F. INDIAN RIVER COUNTY 1. Point to Point Contiguity Bob Keating said both of the issues cited by Indian River County have been discussed tonight to some degree, noting Sebastian has withdrawn the point to point contiguity issue, County staff is generally in agreement with what Sebastian is proposing and identifying the Graves property as a property that can be annexed subject to allowances of 171 part II. He said there are concerns that the map passed around would create enclaves and about how these annexations would work, though he said with wording changes this could be resolved. 2. Section 10(f~ and Exhibit F Mr. Keating said the other identified issue is related to Section 10F and Exhibit F, the criteria of the development of the Fellsmere parcels that were annexed after May 22nd but prior to the date of this agreement. He said this was a topic of discussion for almost every group meeting, whether or not already annexed properties in Fellsmere would have any criteria that would relate to them. He said the way 10 F is written, the criteria in Exhibit F would not apply to current amendments under review by DCA and the County has substantial objections to. He said County staff has a problem with Exhibit F itself because it doesn't have good criteria to prevent urban sprawl, so would like to see 10 F beefed up so that Exhibit F criteria applies to all amendments for annexed properties and Exhibit F strengthened along the lines of the comments of DCA. 4 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Five Commissioner O'Bryan agreed with Mr. Keating on the Sebastian map submitted tonight, that it looks like a checkerboard of jurisdictional limits, expressing concern that it may cause problems for emergency services and other services and that this needs a lot of work. He said as to new towns, the County discussed a mile, and Mr. Keating said %2 and one mile were discussed and at the last working group meeting the group voted not to require a separation distance, and it was noted that since Sebastian was getting allowance to annex the Graves property, and if the Graves property wants to develop in the County it should not have constraints for separation distance to the City limit line. The City Manager said there was no quid pro quo as stated by Mr. Keating since Sebastian voted for the point to point and against the new towns. Commissioner O'Bryan expressed concern that Fellsmere had moved forward on its comprehensive plan amendment, and would like to keep Exhibit F, give it some meat, and have Fellsmere not proceed with comp plan amendments until this group has a chance to iron out Exhibit F and make it part of the agreement. Commissioner Flescher asked to see the three maps that show how the reserve areas have decreased in size over the period of time that the group has been working together and said it points out what we have done in these meetings, noted services will be ironed out during USAC review, and recommended that rather than unanimous vote, overall majority vote be required by USAC, because if one municipality has a problem with another there is possibility for a veto. He urged everyone not to rush through the process and a little more ironing out needs to be done. Commissioner Wheeler said changes to the document should be unanimous. Interim City Attorney Ginsburg requested inclusion of "or court order", at the end of Section 13, last sentence. Mayor Gillmor said we have come a long way, there are some sticking points, but we all want to preserve the quality of life in Indian River County, each City has its own vision but that should not preclude us from coming together and it should be unanimous, with enough latitude for a vision of each town. He said he had some concerns about new towns but that is a County situation and change is going to happen, the landscape is going to look different but the question will be did we manage it well. Vice Mayor Hill said it seems we have more in common on this document than we are apart, would like to see things ironed out, and said let's get it on the table and work it out. Council Member Fromang said she sees Exhibit F as the hardest issue and suggested starting with that. Mayor Dunlop said he sees three issues he has listened to tonight, maybe four. 1) Citrus Highway -can we throw that out -there were no objections 2) New Towns - suggested a resolution satisfactory for all parties -suggested 3 miles as a starting point. ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Six Mr. Keating said generally new towns are a good way to develop outside the urban service area. He said in Sebastian's Exhibit D they have an allowance for using the County's new town and in the agreement Fellsmere has the ability to use new town in its reserve area and from staff standpoint the separation distance is from the town itself, not the conserved or open space part. He said the separation should only be %2 mile so as not to constrain land owners. He further said east of 95 new towns would be 1200 acres, and west of 95 they would be 4000 acres, and that he did not know if you could put a new town east of 95 with a three mile separation distance and you may not be able to put one north of 60 and west of 95. Council Member Coy said keeping new towns close to urban services creates the problem of piling a town on top of another town, and some of us have a vision that we want a separation. She said she liked Mayor Dunlop's idea of 3 miles. She said it was initially five miles and it disappeared. Commissioner Solari suggested County staff come back with a map showing concentric circles showing what % mile, one mite, three miles, and five miles would do. Mayor Dunlop asked if everyone agreed with this and there were no objections. Commissioner Davis said it is important to do so and show what this will do to growth patterns of the County and whether it is practical or not. Mr. Keating said staff will do that. Mr. Minner said we used "Citrus Highway" as a local name to design the WEC, and as long as everyone is okay with defining it differently, or referring to the map, or giving us the flexibility to have different land uses within those reserve areas, we are okay. Mr. Vitunac said he was okay with this. Mayor Dunlop asked if Mr. Nunemaker and Mr. Keating could live with Exhibit F being whatever DCA comes down with. Mr. Nunemaker said we would certainly go in that direction, and Mr. Keating said if what DCA comes down with can be incorporated into that document that would be fine. Mayor Adams said that would be workable. Commissioner Wheeler said he heard a commitment from Mr. Keating and half a commitment from Mr. Nunemaker. Mayor Adams said that is depending on how we can work that into an Exhibit type of structure, she did not think Council would have a problem. Mr. Keating said DCA is going to approve specific amendments, and what you need to do is take the criteria out and incorporate them into Exhibit F, and the County is happy with doing that. Mayor Adams said we can take pieces out of what DCA comes back with and turn that into an Exhibit. 6 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Seven Mayor Dunlop reiterated, so we can move forward we will say that Exhibit F will be controlled by DCA requirements that come down so we can move forward. Mr. Nunemaker said we need to make sure that we get some final resolution, but not down to the nth detail that is not going to allow any flexibility in the future. He said there will be changes we will want to make in 15 years and that cannot be subject to unanimous approval of this board. He said DCA may not exist because it is under sunset review right now. He said there may be things they can do in regard to what DCA wants them to do but it must afford Council flexibility in the future. Mayor Coy noted the recommended inclusion "by court order" that recognizes the current situation between Sebastian and Fellsmere, and said we need to get concensus on that. Commissioner Davis said we are all bound by the courts, but he had no problem with its inclusion. Mr. Nunemaker said for the record, Fellsmere is in full compliance with the stipulated settlement and have met their part of the bargain, transmitted the AG amendment, so it should not be an issue. There were no objections to that language inclusion. Mr. Vitunac said Vero Beach has the issue of Exhibits D, E, and F coming before USAC in an advisory capacity, noting they are currently exemptions. He said though there was no formal vote, it was discussed that they should at least be reviewed by USAC. He suggested that the working group can meet after the holidays, and at that time they will have the concentric circles map. Mayor Dunlop responded that the elected officials should resolve the issues tonight so staff will have something to put together a final document. Commissioner Wheeler said Section 15 B 1, 2 and 3 should be resolved. Mr. McGarry said the way the agreement currently reads any annexation by the City of Vero Beach will automatically take USAC review because its densities are higher than the County's for almost every land use classification; and though they do not want to make this a tedious thing you have to take into account for instance that when you look at new towns that will have countywide consequences and perhaps we should take a look at it. Mayor Dunlop said personally he had no problem with that. Commissioner O'Bryan said while we are on new towns, we are allowing two units per acre on gross density and asked if we can make one unit per acre come from TDRs. He said if we are going to limit it to two west of 95, the only way some other land owners may get value is if they can sell their development rights. He suggested "maximum of two units per acre, but fifty percent of those units have to come from TDRs". Mr. Keating said right now Exhibit E is just a maximum, and the County will be going back this year 7 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Eight as part of the EAR based amendments which will include changes to new towns. He said right now the County's new towns does not allow two units per acre, and at that time you can modify the new town regulation as long as they are under the maximum that are here. Commissioner Davis said we have municipalities looking at using our new town requirements. Commissioner O'Bryan said on the Sebastian parcel, Exhibit D says the WEC shall have a minimum land area of 500 acres, and asked how they will make 500 acres with these small tracts set out on the map they provided tonight to satisfy the WEC requirement. Mr. Keating responded that almost all of the tracts portrayed are under the same ownership. Mr. O'Bryan asked how they will put together 500 acres when they are all scattered and Mr. Minner responded there are stronger restriction levels that require when you get your x amount of residential but then you can't get anymore residential until you move forward into other areas, and when you look at the minimum of the 500 acres, the bigger of the 500 acres we get the less jagged the edges and enclaves issues the less of a problem it is. He said if you go back and look at Fellsmere, the County didn't have this issue five years ago and Fellsmere did that annexation. He said Sebastian is looking to do better development under restricted guidelines, and when the developer decides how he wants to develop, either with the County or the City, that the City has the opportunity to be able to develop that way and gives the County or the City to develop it at the developer's choosing. Commissioner O'Bryan said he believed a mistake was made not to challenge Fellsmere's point to point annexation, and we shouldn't make that mistake going forward. Mr. Minner said he respects his opinion of not wanting to make that mistake again, but in that respect, Sebastian has limited its reserve area and everyone knows what the extent of Sebastian will be. He said the blue and red squares indicate different owners, noting all of the green area is Sebastian's reserve area. He said the City is just looking for flexibility within its reserve area, and in his opinion, if they get the area in yellow, they would not be able to jump down to the parcels further south unless the areas in between would come in. Mr. Keating noted that neither of the proposed County developments in yellow are final platted. Commissioner O'Bryan said he was fine with the entire reserve parcel as long as it is done in-contiguous steps. He said he did not have a problem with point to point specifically to this parcel they have identified, but did have a concern with general point to point wording in the document. Commissioner Davis said that is why they did this, because that took away the point to point and instead of calling it point to point we are just going to show you a picture. ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Nine Mr. Glenn said these were his concerns and wanted to make sure there are no blanket exemptions from 171 Part I, enclaves and the language will be important not to show any enclaves so it is not picking within different locations inside their reserve area. Mayor Dunlop cited page 14, #3 and asked if it should not be "either House or Senate". Mr. Vitunac said we mean by passage of either the House or the Senate. Mayor Dunlop said on #1 the Florida Statute states if a citizen group comes forward on petition for Charter it has to be done under Florida law, but that study should not mean you abandon ISBA and ISBA should only die if it came to a vote of the citizens for Charter. Mr. Nunemaker said we would not be bound to abandon the agreement, but could opt out of it. He offered as a substitute that if the County wants to change its government that is fine, but to the extent that you usurp the home rule authority of the municipalities we should have every right to take leave of this agreement. Mayor Dunlop said we can all agree that if the State mandates it we have no choice, but if a group of people come in and want to study charter, we should live under ISBA until such time charter is approved or not. Commissioner O'Bryan agreed with what Mr. Nunemaker has said, but only if the charter tries to usurp the provisions of the interlocal agreement, but if for instance, citizens want to make the tax collector anon-partisan office, we should not walk away from this agreement. Commissioner Wheeler asked how we can bind people not a part of this agreement to this agreement. Mr. Nunemaker said this language may too broad, and Fellsmere's position is that to the extent that County government doesn't pre-empt home rule authority, he did not think they have a concern. Commissioner Wheeler said he could see tightening this up, because any attempt at charter government by citizens could take up to eighteen months. Council Member Johnson agreed with Mayor Dunlop's position, and that if we are going to put this together it should stick. Mayor Dunlop said the sentence should be changed to "to continue this agreement while an attempt is being made to establish a charter form of government which would have a negative impact on ISBA or negate ISBA would be inconsistent" and the attorneys can come up with the correct language. Commissioner O'Bryan said he could work with that and would work with Mr. Nunemaker to come up with the exact language. Commissioner Wheeler said we need to define "negative". Commissioner Flescher said anything that would conflict with the ISBA would be a strong triggering mechanism. He said this language was written early on and some elements and mindsets have changed and agreed there should not be such a harsh triggering mechanism. 9 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Ten Mr. Minner suggested it read only when charter passes but any type of charter not just ISBA specific. Commissioner Solari said once you have one charter issue today, then you have the next change tomorrow. Upon further discussion, it was agreed that all could live with language whereby it would affect "home rule authority". Mr. Zito asked at what stage in the process would an ISBA member be able to opt out. Commissioner Wheeler said it should come with a vote to approve. Vice Mayor Kenyon suggested to say if the proposed charter doesn't have dual referendum in it then we can opt out. Commissioner Wheeler agreed. Mayor Abell said the term is twenty years, it is reviewed every five years, but there is no provision for extension. Mayor Dunlop said it can be extended at any time during five year review. Commissioner O'Bryan suggested adding that language to the agreement. Mayor Adams asked about the issue of USAC review for Exhibits D, E and F and asked if the provisions of those Exhibits would not preclude the need for review because they are exceptions to the ISBA. Mr. Vitunac noted it is to make sure nothing happens, for instance in the WEC, without USAC review. Mr. McGarry said he did not see a problem with giving it a review at zoning level to look at impacts. He said it is just an advisory review. Mayor Adams said Fellsmere would have a problem having something under Exhibit F coming to USAC. Mayor Dunlop asked if there are any other issues. Ms. Simchick asked if the planners are comfortable with the USAC, that the USAC has its place but was not sure all services are covered. Mr. Dill inquired about questions regarding unanimous vote. Mr. Flescher said each municipality must reach majority vote for something to pass USAC and it will only take one municipality or the County Commission to veto something going forward and perhaps majority vote of Council and Commission combined should be used. Mr. Dill noted that Section 12 is the only place unanimous vote appears. Commissioner Wheeler said he agrees with it as written. Mayor Dunlop clarified that when the League of Cities attorney representative spoke to the group the original intent was that it would take 18 votes to change anything, three out 10 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Eleven of the six agencies. He said we all need to work together to make this County the county it should be. Mr. Nunemaker said Fellsmere's attorney has acted as the gatekeeper of the draft agreements and Fellsmere has incurred approximately $30,000 for this, and asked that if this is going to be prolonged could another City take on the role. He said as to Exhibit F, he underscored they Fellsmere will take it back and revise with some finer resolution, but it is not meant to incorporate in total what comes back from DCA. He said it would be helpful to have an ongoing working group. Mayor Gillmor said there is accord, but there needs to be some tweaking, that we should have staff meet and see if they can work out the wording that we have hashed out and the next time we sit down we should have a document that we can all agree on. Mr. Vitunac said he would like to call another meeting of the staff working group for January to revise the document, have someone present the concentric circles map regarding new towns, staff will come up with a recommendation, and if Sebastian would host another meeting like this, we can give hopefully provide a final working document and the elected officials can possibly adopt the final version subject to each Council and Commission separately voting on it. He said he thought they could meet by January 15tH Mayor Adams asked if the elected officials could then meet by February 15tH Mr. Nunemaker said Fellsmere will be transmitting to DCA this week, and if it is the desire of the group to wait to use DCA comments as the basis for Exhibit F then they would have to wait the 45 days from the 18tH but that is assuming compliance, however if it is a settlement it could be a year out. He said they have gone to great lengths to address their comments. Council Member Coy said we need to wait for DCA because of past experience and because she wants it to match and wants loopholes out of it. Mayor Adams said if they want a response from DCA that is fine but then there is no point for the staff working group to meet because the main issue everyone seems to have is with Exhibit F. Mr. Minner said there were five or six issues: Sebastian contiguity, Fellsmere's Exhibit F, home rule, rewrite for extension language, and new towns. He said it is important for staff to meet again. Mayor Adams said she wanted a time certain for elected officials to meet. Mr. Minner suggested March, and she said prior to March 15 which is 90 days. Council Member White suggested the working group advise as to the time once they meet. Commissioner Wheeler requested clarification of the gatekeeper issue Mr. Nunemaker brought up and Mr. Nunemaker explained Attorney Dill has been keeping the draft agreement and it comes with a cost. 11 ISBA Joint Workshop December 15, 2008 Page Twelve Mr. Vitunac offered to take over the agreement, and commended everyone involved in the process. 6. PUBLIC INPUT Honey Minuse, Indian River Neighborhood Association, said they are impressed with the process, and recommended that when considering new towns, the anchor tenant be identified and contracted with prior to any adoptions, to assure commercial and industrial aspects of new towns, to ensure economic vitality, and to enhance marketing. Mike Ray, Vero Beach, representing the Graves family, said that this document has a lot of hard work in it but still has ambiguities in it that can cause it to be read in different ways, and challenged everyone during this waiting period to go back and consider if you wanted to do something in your own municipality, could you do it without unanimous approval. He asked if it was right to commit future Councils and Commissions to this document, because everything written is in stone once approved. Mr. Vitunac said this is not totally accurate because you have unanimous approval requirement only for changing the comp plan for land outside the urban service area, and annexing land within the urban service area or in the reserve area does not require unanimous approval even if some large scale annexations will be reviewed by USAC in an advisory capacity. Mayor Gillmor noted that the document also provides for review after five years, so it is not cast in stone. Joseph Palladin, President, Black Swan Consulting, suggested that the unanimous vote be changed to allow more than one agency to stop something. 7. ELECTED OFFICIAL DISCUSSION ON CONSENSUS FOR DIRECTION TO ISBA WORKING GROUP Mayor Gillmor recapped that staff will meet before January 15`", and this body will meet again sometime before March 15t" hopefully with a document that everyone can vote on. Mr. Vitunac scheduled the staff meeting for January 14 at 1:30 pm in the City of Vero Beach and elected officials will have a report from staff by the 15t" 8. Being no further business, Mayor Gillmor adjourned the Joint ISBA Workshop at 7:16 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Sally Maio, MMC City Clerk City e astian ~/~ ~j~ /%t ° Gr `/ Approved by Sebastian City Council at their January 28th, 2009 Regular City Council meeting. 12