HomeMy WebLinkAbout12022009SpecialCity Council Present:
Mayor Richard H. Gillmor
Vice -Mayor Jim Hill
Council Member Andrea Coy
Council Member Eugene Wolff
Council Member Don Wright
CWY OF
HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND
SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 6:00 P.M.
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA
1. Mayor Gillmor called the Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
3. ROLL CALL
Staff Present:
City Manager, Al Minner
City Attorney, Robert Ginsburg
City Clerk, Sally Maio
Airport Director, Joseph Griffin
Growth Management Director, Rebecca Grohall
Police Chief, Michelle Morris
MIS Senior Systems Analyst, Barbara Brooke -Reese
4. PRESENTATION INDIAN RIVER COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN,
PETER O'BRYAN
Commission Chairman O'Bryan gave a brief presentation, congratulated the City of
Sebastian on passage of the tax abatement question, reviewed the County's incentives
packet, citing page 15 of the agenda packet, which is a tool to encourage relocation and
expansion of businesses in Indian River County and incorporated softer language into its
regulations.
He said he had provided a copy of the County's tax abatement draft ordinance, noting
one of the important components to be determined is length of time for the abatement
and the levels of the abatement program. He said Mayor Gillmor expressed concern for
State Statute focus on manufacturing jobs, and used as a positive example a software
technology company that sells to areas outside of the State of Florida. He encouraged
them to move forward and offered his assistance.
Mr. Wright said the first step is the ordinance and secondary to that is the matrix.
Chairman O'Bryan recommended working on a workable matrix. He said the County is
putting this on the ballot for November 10, 2010 and Vero Beach and Fellsmere are
considering it as well.
City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Two
In response to Mayor Gillmor Chairman O'Bryan said the County draft matrix is a three
level abatement program, the first level is five years, and the highest is ten and the
middle is a hybrid of the two. He said the County's ordinance was modeled quite a bit
from St. Lucie County's language.
In response to a question from Mr. Wright, the City Attorney said the Statutes don't
currently contemplate any additional ten year extensions beyond the first two ten year
programs at this time, but perhaps the legislature will be looking at this.
Mayor Gillmor said he had obtained a copy of the April 4, 2007 City Council Economic
Development Workshop DVD at which Bill Fruth made a presentation to Council, and
suggested we review at least ten minutes of that workshop in a power point presentation
at this time. The DVD was reviewed.
1 -12 5. REVIEW SEBASTIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
(City Manager Transmittal, City of Sebastian Economic Development Plan)
Mr. Wright noted a change in Policy 2.1 which should read 75 The City Manager said
75% was correct and noted the policy in the package may not be the final version.
The City Manager said staff could bring back a resolution that markets Policy 3.1 and
which can get the word out.
Mr. Wright cited Policy 3.1 and asked why we have 60 days in here, whereby other cities
have adopted two week or thirty day turn around. He said Bill Fruth had recommended
two weeks. The City Manager said his recollection was to be quick but be reasonable
taking into consideration our special districts and regulation requirements. He said two
weeks would not be wise, but we can be silent on that issue and use words like "as quick
as possible and if you want to revisit we can do that. Mr. Wolff noted that it says
"within" 60 days not that it will take 60 days. Mr. Hill agreed 60 days may be too long
and that is how it will be read by someone coming in. Mr. Wright said you can express if
everything is in there you might have it within two weeks. Ms. Coy agreed but not to go
all the way down to two weeks. Mr. Wolff said we don't want to misrepresent ourselves.
Chairman O'Bryan suggested fourteen days upon complete application submission. The
City Manager said if it is administrative determination that can be quick turn around and
suggested in the first sentence striking "expedited" and replacing with "fast track" and
end after the word "issuance" and we can spell this out in a resolution. Ms. Coy asked if
we want to remove the word "formal Mr. Hill said we also need to have a staff person
to assist. The City Manager said we are targeting using Airport Director Joe Griffin due
to his experience and that he is a good talker with the type of personality you want, and
split his office hours where he will be in City Hall between GMD and Building part of the
time.
Mr. Hill suggested including software design in targeted industries in Policy 1. Mr.
Wright suggested including the County's list of targeted industries and Mr. Hill suggested
just using the County list. The City Manager said staff will cut and paste the County list
into ours.
Mayor Gillmor asked if it was necessary to have retail on our list. Mr. Wright said he has
heard from many people that retail could be better in Sebastian and perhaps it should
remain as a secondary target.
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City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Three
Ms. Coy asked if everyone agreed to add "completed application" and "assistance can
be found from the director". The City Manager suggested adding to the beginning of the
sentence "Upon completion of a completed application" and then adding language about
being assisted by the Economic Development individual at 1225 Main Street.
Mr. Wright cited Policy 3.3 and said only the County has impact fees, and the only
impact fee we have is Parks and Recreation impact fee. Mr. Hill said he thought our
impact fee only applies to residential.
Mr. Wolff asked why the category "surfing /fishing equipment" is different than
manufacturing and Mr. Wright said surfing /fishing was considered retail by the
committee. Mr. Wolff said if it is retail it is retail and it needn't be listed separately. It was
noted that automotive could be retail or repair.
Further discussion took place on whether Policy 3.3 was appropriate but there was no
consensus to remove it.
Mr. Hill said the changes made tonight will have to come back to Council, and the City
Manager said changes to the Economic Development Plan will come back to Council on
December 16
Mr. Wright talked about the need for Economic Development marketing tools, and this
should not be forgotten. Mr. Hill said Council should be given recommendations. Mr.
Wolff suggested use of the internet for downloading available information. Mr. Wright
said we need to improve our websites for Economic Development. Mr. Hill agreed. The
City Manager said we have volunteer help working on the City's websites, and we can
agendize in January for review of those efforts.
Mayor Gillmor said the tale of two counties cited by Mr. Fruth is interesting, and
recommended we need to track high tech and web -based businesses, noting St. Lucie
has gone ahead of others, and we have an opportunity to do that. He said Mr. Fruth
also noted we have an aging population which is bringing pensions which will help fill our
bucket and we should look to attract folks to the area. Mr. Wright said the overall
promotion of the community is important and the Chamber does a very good job of that.
Mr. Wolff said it is two paradigms, having ease of using the website and what does the
LDR say, is different than saying we want a website that attracts people to Sebastian.
He said the key will be going after content and if we have that someone can get all the
information they need. Ms. Coy said we can set the trails up on one site that takes you
to all the connections you need. Mr. Hill said we have two sites, the Chamber and the
City sites. Mr. Wolff suggested building pages that are already there but make them
content rich. Mayor Gillmor said the Economic Development page was born on 2004
and it needs to be updated. Mr. Wright said you need a sale and marketing site and Mr.
Wolff asked him to explain that. Mr. Wright said we have to have a method of getting
people to the Sebastian page and then we can work on content. The City Manager said
we have some capable staff, and we have tackled some of these things, we have the
City site, and in addition we have Sebastian business.org and that is the site we are
working on. He said we did an updated Sebastian airport site this year, and will try to get
back to Council in January with a review of the updates. He said he was not very
computer literate, said staff has modified some of our search engines so now you don't
have to be as specific as you have been. He noted Ed Herlihy has been one of the
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City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Four
volunteers who has assisted, but there is money involved in some of those searches,
and if we want some of this to change we need to look at some of our financial blocks,
not rely so much on staff, and maybe go to some outside people.
Mr. Hill said we need to have a site that is friendly but you can't force someone to go to
the site, Google is not going to do it, that a comprehensive marketing plan is what we
need, and maybe that means working with the Chamber. Mr. Wright said the content of
the Economic Development website has to be first class.
Mayor Gillmor said updating the website is part of a marketing plan and money has to be
spent to do that. Mr. Wolff said web creation and design will absorb whatever you throw
at it, so you say obviously we don't have the resources we need, a volunteer has taken
the lead in this, perhaps we need to think about more volunteers or a committee of
volunteers. Ms. Coy said the school system is teaching web design and perhaps you
can work with them. Mr. Wolff suggested asking teachers to tap some of their talented
students.
Beth Mitchell, Sebastian Chamber of Commerce, said the committee recommended that
the County list be adopted, and then we came up with a favorites list and hoped some of
these categories would not be taken out. She said the primary list would be eligible for
incentives, and the others we recognize are coming but would probably not be eligible
for incentives.
Chairman O'Bryan cited Policy 4.1 on page 10 said it is critical to put a due date in there
to achieve the policy. Ms. Coy said a marketing plan will require a professional and the
City Manager said in thirty days he can come back with a number. Ms. Coy suggested
putting an asterisk so we don't forget. The City Manager said he can bring back
numbers to the December 16 meeting.
David DeVirgilio said he was concerned about taking the time frame out of the site plan
review, in the event we get busy again and can't meet the time frame, we get back
logged. He suggested a 90 day maximum, and we not be vague. He asked if it was 60
business days or calendar days. Ms. Coy said a lot of back log was in the residential
area, and this is about commercial, and that if we have a complete application packet
we can expedite it. Mr. Hill said he thought 60 days was too long and staff has its
direction.
The City Manager said we have two different divisions, the construction side and the site
plan review side. He said on the construction permit side we are doing better, but the
site plan side is different, so as we venture down this discussion of fast tracking we need
to focus on the Growth Management side. He said we want to protect Sebastian
because it is special and some of our land development codes make it that way, and we
need to support the staff who keep it that way. He said if we put hard numbers in there
we lose our uniqueness, citing requiring monument signs as an example. The City
Attorney explained what he has heard from staff about concerns individuals express with
the procedures required for submittals, that staff goes over deficiencies with the
applicant, and a month later the party comes in with the same thing, and they say I don't
need it even though law requires it, and she brings them to me and wants to move
forward but applications are incomplete.
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City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Five
The City Manager said the Economic Development person will not have aye and nay
authority but is there to assist people through the process. Mr. Wolff said 90% of people
who will qualify for incentives will be professional people and will know how to submit.
Mayor Gillmor called recess at 7:50 p.m. and reconvened the workshop at 8:05 p.m. All
members were present.
Beth Mitchell said it is disturbing to hear about an adversarial role with businesses, we
are talking about creating a partnership and the mindset needs to change a little.
Dami en Gilliams, 1623 US 1, said he was listening at home, said he had been in the City
over 23 years, and it seems like it takes forever to get things done, keeping jobs that are
here is a first priority, and asked what Council is planning to do to create jobs in
businesses that are already here.
Mayor Gillmor said existing businesses will be part of the tax abatement program.
Mr. Gilliams said small business owners could have been invited to tell what they are up
against, and incentives should be geared toward existing businesses. He said Council
can create a Sebastian dollar to see that dollars are re- circulated in the City, noting it is
working in another city and people spend locally. He said we need to get things in order
before we bring people here, suggested moving the Chamber to the City Hall complex
for the betterment of the City to work hand in hand with the City, and said we are losing
more jobs by the day.
Joe Scozzari, Sebastian, said he was amazed that no one on Council has any computer
skills, the City should not compete with businesses that want to come in, said the City
website was all about Economic Development but when he got here it was not like that,
that Council was saying we do not want people coming here. He said throwing up signs
on the highway is not going to do it, and we need to get on the phone and call the
businesses.
13 -20 A. Indian River County Economic Development Incentives
(IRC Incentives)
21 -67 6. REVIEW DRAFT TAX ABATEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ORDINANCE
(Pertinent Florida Statutes Concerning Tax Abatement, Draft City of Sebastian Tax
Abatement Ordinance, Model Tax Abatement Regulations from Melbourne [from which
our draft is derived], Palm Coast, Miami /Dade, St. Lucie County, Model Tax Abatement
Granting Ordinance, Melbourne ED Tax Abatement Program Steps)
Mayor Gillmor asked if there was any reason staff picked five years for tax abatement,
and the City Manager said we used a Melbourne ordinance as a model. Mayor Gillmor
cited the St. Lucie ordinance and suggested we go with a ten year program.
Mr. Wright said that correction to ten years is critical, and we need an application form,
we need to adopt guidelines, and then we can move ahead with this.
Ms. Coy said we need to look to the County and the Economic Development Council on
this, to be very cooperative with the agencies and link it all together. Mr. Wright said if
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City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Six
we do something and then it needs to be corrected, it can be corrected at a later time.
Mr. Wright said he has been looking mostly at St. Lucie as a model. Ms. Coy noted
Indian River County language is based on St. Lucie.
Mr. Wright said we need to get this done, and then discuss where we go with an
application and other guidelines.
The City Attorney said this ordinance is adapted from the Melbourne ordinance, it should
be streamlined, the first change would be to make it a ten year abatement, so that
Sebastian should have the full benefit of the State law but not put restrictions on the City.
Mayor Gilimor asked if he had looked at Palm Coast, and noted it is a page and a half,
and asked if he could get it streamlined for us.
The City Attorney said he is glad they have the Melbourne model to review, because it
has everything though it does not need all of it, and the ordinance should have very few
impediments and issues that would slow someone down. He said definitions are all in
Florida law, and instead of putting them in the ordinance we can reference the law and
say "as may be amended from time to time He said similarly there are time frames in
the model ordinance that are not in State law so why put them in, that we can remove all
of subsection 5 on page 36, and paragraph i. on page 37 should be removed so that
Council can look at each application on its merit. He said he would like the opportunity to
redraft the Ordinance so it complies with State law, and leave some of the guidelines to
the application process rather than in an ordinance. He said he could have it ready for
first reading on December 16
Mr. Wright cautioned that when we adopt this, we want to include guidelines that we can
show to people that shows we want to administer this in a responsible fashion.
Chairman O'Bryan said when your criteria is set out in the ordinance you are pre-
screening the applicant, and when you have what Palm Coast has you haven't pre-
screened them, and then if you have to tell them "no" you get the reputation of not being
business friendly.
Mr. Hill said the criteria should go along with this ordinance, though not necessarily in it.
Ms. Coy said as long as we are clear in the ordinance that it is tied to the matrix and
application she is fine with it.
Mr. Wright suggested we not modify this Melbourne ordinance so severely that we have
to create another document, maybe take this model and cut it down a little bit, but not so
much that we have to create another eligibility document, but take out some of the things
that are onerous and not required by State law.
Mr. Wolff said he agreed with Chairman O'Bryan, because maybe we are only going to
have two or three people who come in during the next twelve months.
Mr. Hill said this document does not say how many employees you have to hire, how
much, so 1 think the City Attorney is spot on because this says nothing.
Mayor Gilimor agreed, and said he would be ecstatic if we saw two applicants, we are
going to create some guideline people can be referred to. Mr. Wright asked haven't we
already set out target industries.
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69 -101 7. CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONAL ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
(Recent IRC Incentive Actions, IRC Memo and Proposed Amendments, Proposed IRC
Resolution, IRC Memo Fast Tracking Target Industries, IRC Memo and Proposed
Amendments)
A. Land Development Code Exemptions
B. Establish Economic Development Office
C. Fast Track Permitting
D. Consideration of Temporary Suspension of Other Regulations
Approved at t D
Ric
ATTES
Sadly A.
City Council Economic Development Workshop
December 2, 2009
Page Seven
Joe Scozzari, said he did not think we will get even one business here, this is a bedroom
community, there is nowhere to put businesses.
David DeVirgilio asked if all of this will be on the website and Mayor Gillmor said it would.
Mayor Gillmor said he liked the streamlining idea, Ms. Coy suggested making it easy to
read. The City Attorney said Council will consider this at first reading.
Chairman O'Bryan briefly described the incentives the County has adopted to ease land
development regulations which are set out in the agenda packet.
Mr. Hill said we should do the same, noting these are not safety issue items.
Ms. Coy said in looking at the wording, she was at first concerned, but noted Sebastian
is special as Mr. Minner said, but those things that make it special are not affected by
this. Mr. Wright said we need to modify and adapt it to Sebastian. Mr. Wolff asked if it
applied only to commercial and the City Manager said it did.
Mayor Gillmor said if we had a company coming in and reviewing what had to be done,
and they suggested an alternative, could the Board of Adjustment approve that. The
City Manager said the City goes beyond what is required for itself, using the road at the
Airport at the road was built with FAA money by staff working creatively for you as an
example. He said if we break it down to reality, it will filter down to smaller commercial
which might help.
Mayor Gillmor said we need to look at our land regulations, agreed Sebastian is special
and cited its connectivity.
Mr. Hill said the City's Land Development Code regulations have made us a great
community and we should be very cautious about making any drastic changes.
8. Being no further business, Mayor Gillmor adjourned the Workshop at 9:05 p.m.
mor, Mayor
City Clerk
Regular City Council Meeting.
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