Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04072010CRA WorkshopMayor Richard H. Gillmor Vice -Mayor Jim Hill Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Eugene Wolff Council Member Don Wright Staff Present: City Manager, Al Minner City Clerk, Sally Maio Records Program Manager, Donna Cyr Airport Director, Joe Griffin Finance Director, Ken Killgore CJNOF HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY (CRA) (CITY COUNCIL) WORKSHOP AGENDA WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010 5:30 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN ST, SEBASTIAN, FL 1. Mayor Gillmor called the Workshop to order at 5:35 p.m. 2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Roll Call 4. Review Community Redevelopment Master Plan (CRA Master Plan, Riverfront Charrette) Mayor Gillmor asked for consensus that Council members take five minutes and give input on the Community Redevelopment Master Plan (CRMP) and then allow public input on the plan; then as we proceed through the rest of the agenda we can allow public input as it is indicated on the agenda. Mr. Wright said he would like to come back to the Community Redevelopment Master Plan after the first round of public input for Council comments. There were no objections. Mr. Wright said he had spent time reviewing the CRMP, Charrette, the annual budget and CIP plan and prior projects. He noted that page 43 of the CRMP requires updates on a regular basis every three to five years using a standard updating process, noting that though adopted in 2003 this is the first time he had seen it before CRA for review based upon current trends and where we are today. He said we have accumulated a substantial amount of money in the district and wanted to be sure as we spend that money we get it right and hear what people have to say. He listed items important to him as follows: vessel mooring project, use of City docks, Cavcorp project though not as presented last time, utilities, gateway treatments (which he noted were addressed in 2001 and 2003), placement of the clock, landscaping, bump outs and speed limit on US 1, the entire area south of the splash pad, parking areas on streets north of park, and the area from the Archie Smith fish house west to US 1. He said we need to prioritize and decide how and where we will spend the money and CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Two whether we can do that without a more extensive process and analysis. Mr. Hill agreed with a lot of this, noting the estimated capital projects would cost in the area of $5M and we need to get it right before we spend all that money. He said he recalled the master planning process and said they had done it right, but he agreed it should be reviewed because times change, noting economic development was different in 2003 than it is today and there may different people here. He said a lot of what Mr. Wright says should be in the plan, and it has become clear to him there should be more public meetings on this document, and noted the plan did not include the Working Waterfront. He suggested before Council talks about spending millions of dollars it should receive much more public input with the assistance of an outside facilitator, stating we should spend a little bit of money before we spend a lot of money the wrong way. Ms. Coy said she was unsure how much of the plan needs to be revised, and said Council had done a very good job following the CRMP, did not know how long and drawn out the review process needs to be but before we spend millions, it needs to be done properly. She said she would consider a facilitator, noting the Charrette process was long and quite expensive. She said the Community Redevelopment Agency Committee could not decide on anything because of its size and she did not want to go way down deep, but have a professional come in and talk to the community including businesses and the residents. She asked Council to consider asking Indian River County to turn the Archie Smith fish house property over to the City along with the remaining Land Acquisition funds to allow the City to clean it up and make it part of the Working Waterfront project. She agreed that the plan is due for an update. Mr. Wolff said this was the first time he had read through the CRMP and it struck him that there needs to be a very close relationship between the market and the government, because if government is the sole initiator of the projects it will never resemble what is in the CRMP. He said the plan is a work of fiction, citing it's anticipated data for 2010 such as median household income at $75,000, need for 600 -700 new residences annually, developing heavier density residential along the railroad tracks with water views, etc. He said we have to realize this is not a gold measure to develop our town by but there are some nice ideas, and instead we need to focus on what we can afford to do, such as the items that Mr. Wright read. He said he was worried about the Archie Smith house, but thought it would have been the logical start of the Working Waterfront project in the beginning. He said the Charrettes are nice but are just a starting point and not based in reality. He agreed it is important to hear what the public has to say. Mayor Gillmor agreed the plan is to a certain extent a work of fiction and someone's vision for Sebastian, and was based on facts they had when it was done. He said in reading over Vision of Sebastian for the Future done in the 90's, the same things written back then hold true for today and we have much the same core values, but in looking at the Charrette it is obvious the City can't be putting up these buildings shown in the conceptual drawings and it has to be a public /private partnership. He said he guessed it was possible for the City to look like what was in the Charrette, but we'd need massive amounts of capital flowing into town. He said the process we need to go through is we need to itemize what we can do and come up with a laundry list, and the folks who pay into the CRA fund should have an oar in the water as to how the money is spent, because it is their tax money and those people in the district have to give input and vision of what is important. He said we could bond out for money to fund all the projects but it 2 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Three would be twenty years to pay it off and not prudent at this time. He said some projects such as landscaping and bump -outs are pretty cheap right now and we could give the town a decent facelift without spending too much money. Mayor Gillmor then opened the floor for public input. Ms. Coy asked to make an additional comment first. She said while it is important that CRA folks have major input on the plan, she pointed out that the City does lots of projects that benefit everyone, and that no input is more important than another and we all count. Mr. Hill said this discussion shows Council pretty much agrees, stating again we need to prioritize the projects and then take public input in subsequent meetings on whatever projects Council agrees upon. He said numbers cited in the plan were based on different economic times from 2003, which in itself shows a need for update. Lisanne Monier, Sebastian, said she was a part of the process in 2003 and the reason it took so long is because there was so much involvement and input, but things have dramatically changed and it does need updating, citing the importance of the Working Waterfront project. She said the City is dying in an economic sense and businesses are folding and citizens are hurting. She urged Council not to get caught up in a bureaucratic planning process. She cited page 31 of the plan which provides that creating a district will create a viable sense of place for the residents of Sebastian, noting that City residents hold Sebastian dear to their hearts, they want to be a small town with a qualify of life. She said that is why it is important, with x amount of dollars, to start prioritizing the biggest impact and things we can do immediately and make a difference and entice businesses. She agreed the plan needed upgrading but urged them to come up with viable options we can start on in the near future. Ruth Sullivan, Sebastian, spoke on the proposed Cavcorp project, noting this is the fourth time there has been a proposal to close Sebastian Boulevard adjacent to Riverview Park and the people have always said it is a bad idea. She said closing the road would reduce parking, the clock would be displaced, driveways would be closed, ramps will be backed up and access for Indian River Drive residents to US 1 south would be eliminated. Adrina Davis, Sebastian, asked what the anticipated cost was. Mr. Hill advised that this meeting is not about Cavcorp specifically or the closing of Sebastian Boulevard. He said long before a shovel hits the ground on any project there will be more meetings. He said again we need to first prioritize projects with the assistance of a facilitator and then we can proceed to hold public meetings on specific projects. Mr. Wright noted he had been advised by the Finance Director there is $600,000 in uncommitted CRA funds. Mr. Davis asked what we will pay for a facilitator. Ms. Coy responded to him that this is unknown at this time, that Council is not yet sure who would be best to do this. She said she would not be opposed to a facilitator as long as business and residents were brought in. She also said she did not want to close Sebastian Boulevard either and advised him Council was switching gears to prioritize projects first. 3 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Four Sal Neglia, Sebastian said he thought obtaining the Archie Smith fish house was a bad idea, due to unknown costs to fix it up which the County should have done already and because they are hedging on cutting CRA funding. Louise Kautenberg, Sebastian, said the Community Redevelopment Committee did not work because there were 15 members and the membership changed by 1/3 after every election. She described the "area of disinvestment" concept, whereby people start to think along the lines of "if you don't clean up your property, I won't clean up mine She advised Council she had tripped on a US 1 sidewalk where a hole had been left open after the electric company had moved a pole months ago. She said nobody cares, that businesses are working hard to make ends meet and that we as a City need to work in concert with them to make sure we are not on a downward spiral. She suggested a parks master plan with an overlay and said there is no atmosphere on US 1 except that provided by a smattering of businesses here and there. Damien Gilliams, Sebastian, said he was part of the Community Redevelopment Committee and he would like to think 12 -15 people could get along. He said from day one he saw the CRMP ball was dropped and the money in the accounts was used for special projects for special people, said special events is not development, that we need something at our entrances that says "welcome to the district money has been poorly invested, roads and sidewalks should be number one and landscaping number two, stating Indian River Drive north and south should have entrances to give the impression that you are there, said Mr. Wright was correct that we had failed on mooring, and that people are fighting at ramps. He said the Archie Smith fish house is a disgrace and asked where is the leadership. In response to Mr. Gilliams, the City Manager said two years ago the Council decided to transfer funds from CRA to the general fund to cover maintenance costs. Mr. Gilliams continued urging Council to fix up the necessities, that we are not ready to invite people to the community if people are tripping on sidewalks, get rid of special deals, and to think of the district as a subdivision. Chuck Mechling, Collier Club, Sebastian, said there is a lot of credibility in what Mr. Gilliams says, suggested it was time to bring in a professional to update the plan, cited his time on the Riverfront Committee many years ago, said hardscape and landscape work can be done at a minimum amount of money and that there are a lot of good professionals out there who can be part of a new Charrette and could stretch a dollar and get others involved. He said it has to be a joint venture between government and private industry, citing his work with Indian River County at Pointe West which brings the community out to events and said funding from CRA for Riverview Park events is appropriate. He said Sebastian has the river district that no one else in Indian River County has and Archie Smith could be a great thing at the north end. He said this could be a great start to a visioning process and suggested getting the Regional Planning Council to send someone up at a zero or minimal expense to facilitate. Mr. Wright said he also studied the Riverfront Charrette and cited item 4 of 8 items listed on page 1, "celebration of public entrances to the City' and said he heard a lot about that tonight and said there should be such entrances on Indian River Drive and US 1 north and south and on CR 512. He said we've talked about the DOT studying the speeds on US 1, and about plans for bump -outs and landscaping. He said we will not 4 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Five realize our vision until we deal with those five gateway entrances and that should be our highest priority. He said we want people to come to Sebastian and say "this is really nice" and want to shop, eat and walk the park and that would be his highest priority, not closing 512 because that project does not have high visibility as you drive through. He suggested wrapping together the gateways with Archie Smith at the north end to US 1 with the improvements to US 1 to slow down traffic and be safer. He said bicycle lanes on US 1 are not safe, and would rather see them on Indian River Drive. He said we need a vision and to present ourselves well to the public, and agreed while a lot had been accomplished we've missed the visible vision. He said the paperwork show us pictures of how to improve our appearance. Mr. Hill agreed and said the triangle area plans on 512 and the 512 overlay district show a tremendous amount of landscaping, said he puts a lot of stock in these fictional documents and if they are current they will be beneficial in the future. He said we can get this process done in a month or two, bring in input and then go forward and prioritize. He described the process used during the Charrette when the community came together to envision the City and created the documents. Mayor Gillmor suggested we look to Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, maybe they can look at the plan and update it. He exhibited a drawing of US 1 showing how landscaped bump -outs and simple striping could delineate parking spaces on US 1 which are confusing to people today and could be done for very little expense. He said he wanted to move forward with a vision because people in the district are dying and he is all for getting professionals in but moving forward with getting speed limit down and getting help for the businesses without waiting for the grand plan. He said he hoped we can agree we don't have to wait six months. Ms. Coy said US 1 is not ours, and we have to get permission from FDOT. Mr. Wright cited the letter from FDOT regarding their speed study and willingness to consider a slower speed if there was a plan for bump -outs. Ms. Coy said that letter does not give us carte blanche to proceed. Mayor Gillmor said it doesn't get done until it gets started. Mr. Hill agreed we have to have numbers first. Ms. Coy said we have to come up with a plan for US 1 as well as Indian River Drive and CR 512, it will not be instantaneous and needs to be discussed. Mr. Hill said he agreed with bump -outs and Council can direct the City Manager to come back with real numbers for all these things and some we can do sooner than others. He said we have to get the number and then go through the process. Mr. Wolff said he has heard from the public the importance of entrances. He said US 1 is what it is, it runs the east coast of Florida and people won't flock here for it, but it would be beneficial to dress up US 1. He said we have to find an enforceable speed limit that doesn't pit the citizens against the Police Department, noting we were known as a speed trap. He said if you drive Indian River Drive there is a vibe there and that is why people come to Sebastian and understands people want to incorporate US 1 into that, but investing in US 1 has to have a payback. He said the vibe on Indian River Drive can be extended to the Archie Smith fish house and to Riverview Park and that will ring cash registers. He said he always felt we should have incorporated the marina next to the Yacht Club into the riverfront and Archie Smith as the Working Waterfront. He said we 5 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Six have done a lot to Cavcorp and only need to clean it up, and address parking for the Yacht Club boat ramp. He said we have $600,000 so let's get the most bang for the buck and that will have the most impact and Mr. Hill is correct, it doesn't have to take so long. He agreed the CRMP needs to be updated, appreciated the people who came but said he wished all the seats were filled. Mr. Hill said probably fifty people were involved in the creation of the Charrette and were from every sector of the community. He said we must do advertising and it would be up to the facilitator to bring the public in. He said TCRPC and Florida League of Cities have opportunities for this. Mr. Wolff suggested working with the Chamber to have them bring their members out to meetings. Mr. Wright said a professional facilitator would be good at advance publicity and making everyone aware. He said he'd like to see the plan updated but wondered if we can start with the concept of the gateways and US 1 at the same time, noting it is going to require architectural plans and designs, and though it may be two separate issues could we do them at the same time. The City Manager said today marks a change in our planning, citing page 43 (C), noting we do have updated data but have been weak in long term revisits. He explained why the proposed triangle gateway project was not completed. He said he sees direction to staff tonight as: 1) hold off on long term big projects; 2) get Joe Schulke to expedite the bump -out concept; 3) get with Frank Watanabe of Neel- Schaffer under their continuing engineering services contract to get gateway concepts for a cost of approximately $2000 and then bring a gateway and bump -out concept in one month to a CRA Meeting. He said US 1 is going to be tough because we don't control it and any designs have to be within FDOT bluebook standards. He said he can contact Greg Viday at Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council about a facilitator and report back to Council. He said during May through June CIP Planning we can look at big ticket items. Mayor Gillmor said this makes sense, there are things we can jump on right away to fix up the curb appeal of US 1 and approaches to the district. Mr. Hill said we don't know the cost of a facilitator, but a couple thousand dollars out of the CRA is well spent, and the potential is to do both things simultaneously. The City Manager responded it is important on the gateway to spend some bucks on concepts. Mr. Hill said this goes back to "can you plan something without having the input and said he is looking for input from the public and the public will provide us with the information to give to the engineers, because if the engineers go forward with a plan like they did for Cavcorp, they can come back with a plan that is inadequate to what is in the minds of the people. 6 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Seven Mr. Wolff added that we have to consider how all of this will be maintained with the City staff. Chuck Mechling said it is important to move this forward, but people are frustrated and suggested the City bring in a variety of firms to come in and conduct presentations on what they do workwise, suggesting use of hardscape features with softening landscape and then they can work toward a vision with input, and in the end we can pick the design that works for everyone. Ms. Coy said this is difficult for her because for the past year, Council has been focused on helping the business community which is struggling terribly and we want to have quick fixes, but for every business struggling there are 100 residents out there struggling and we have to be very frugal with our dollars. She said we have to get professionals in here and do it once and not twenty times. She said she is frustrated because all of the emphasis is on business and there are finite resources in the CRA. Lisanne Monier said she was frustrated because her perception of this CRA meeting was to take public input on prioritizing projects in the Riverfront and Council wonders why business people don't come in. She said she had the FDOT e-mail from August 5, 2009 and had approval for a conceptual bump -out, cited public safety and public perception of fear for US 1, said she invested in the City eleven years ago because she was promised there would be a CRA District. She said on bigger capital projects we need to update the plan but we need to do things now because all businesses are in dire need. She said she is going to proceed with FDOT, and is closing her business as it stands next month. She suggested setting another meeting where we can all sit and really prioritize. Mr. Hill said he appreciated her comments but the fact of the matter is that we told the City Manager to go forward not even a year ago with the CIP and get those roads paved and a couple of weeks ago he brought us plans for Cavcorp which was the next priority and budgeted for next year and we said we are not sure this is our priority. He said he agrees we should take a breath, take a couple months and give the City Manager real direction on how these funds are going to be spent. He said we need to prioritize and get the input and the public will wrap their arms around the project. Mr. Wolff said suddenly the bump -outs appeared and asked someone to show him the history of that. Mr. Hill said bump -outs have been discussed for years and this Council directed our staff to do something. Mayor Gillmor said at the CRA meeting in November 2009, Ms. Monier talked about bump outs, this is not new and noted there are bump -outs on US 1 north of Main Street and it is not rocket science or a major expense. He said at that meeting the City Manager said he could have Mr. Schulke look at bump -outs in conjunction with the Cavcorp design when Council approved Cavcorp in the CIP budget they approved $750,000 and now it is $1 M plus but a lot of that was for dosing the street. The City Manager concurred. Mr. Wright said he heard a couple of ideas; bringing in firms and having them bring back plans as the basis for a meeting, said he did not see why we couldn't do limited work on US 1 at the same time with striping and bump -outs. He said this would not have any conflict with the overall process. 7 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Eight Mr. Hill said the process for the bump -outs is already underway and said to Ms. Monier that we are not stopping or starting any thing tonight and when they get a number they can make a more educated decision. The City Manager he had been directed by Council to do a concept of Cavcorp and in looking at the old Neel- Schaffer design with the reflecting pool and it was stated it looked awful but maybe with the closing of Sebastian not a bad idea and at the same meeting the bump -outs came up and he said he would get with Schulke and have him roll that into the project. He said Schulke would not roll that into the project without more money so under his spending authority he approved an additional $2,000 to Schulke to include bump -outs. He said we can get a concept on bump -outs rather quickly, and on the gateways we can bring a reinvigorated concept. He further explained governmental agencies are limited by the Contractors Competitive Negotiations Act of Florida Statutes in bringing engineering firms and that is why he is suggesting going to the people the City has on retainer. Mr. Wolff asked if he was not interested in having the competitiveness and transparency that Mr. Mechling was discussing. The City Manager said he was not saying that at all and reiterated that the CCNA does not allow you to procure based on price, you cannot talk to an engineer about cost and only based on experience in the public sector. He said let's spend a couple thousand bucks and get happy with a plan, then decide kind of what it's going to cost, and then figure out how much cost to design and build it. Chuck Mechling said he thought it best to open up the process and bring in several firms to make presentations, which could be scheduled in two weeks and said it is not a price thing but a vision thing. The City Manager said you can go back and look through City files and you are going to get the same thing from every firm, their pamphlet with their cover, and what they have done with other communities, and this is why we work with the same engineers so they can speed up the process to get concepts and not spend a lot of money. Mr. Mechling said he had an issue saddling up to one firm when he doesn't know what the cost will be, and it works best when there is transparency, they come and make a presentation, and then you move forward with the product. He said people don't support projects because they don't feel they are part of the transparency of where the project is going. Louise Kautenberg said she was here when we first bought the Cavcorp property and we turned a grass parking lot into a grass parking lot, that it is okay to change things out every once in a while, that every month the same people show up for these meetings and Council should listen to them because people who don't show up are the people who don't care. Ruth Sullivan said many years ago the City put together 35 people to create a Vision for Sebastian which is still on file in the Clerks office and it contains what people still want for Sebastian, said those in the audience are concerned, and urged them to do the bump outs, said people are hurting. Mayor Gillmor said the projections in the CRA did not happen but at some point in time in the future the district will throw off $10 plus M, and we need to look at projects as a continuing resource, and the idea is we sit on the board and we are channeling this 8 CRA Workshop April 7, 2010 Page Nine Richar: H. Gillmor, Mayor ATTES money to develop our downtown area, and the revenues will increase each year, and we need to decide what is the biggest bang for our buck. He said for large projects we need to take time but for the smaller items, not a big deal. Ms. Coy said she would still like to see costs for the total bump -out projects including landscaping, and drainage, so let's see. Mr. Hill cited the Schumann Drive project was a good example, the decision was not to install irrigation and then the landscaping failed and then the irrigation had to be put in so we want to do this right, everyone needs to wrap their arms around it. Ms. Coy cited all the meetings that were held on Main Street which received lots of input. Mr. Gilliams said Main Street looks nice but doesn't benefit all the businesses. He recommended buying thousands of palm trees and lining the streets with them, address parking in the district, and said this is about redevelopment in the business community. Mr. Wolff said Schumann median is in sore need of landscaping again and it wouldn't be bad idea if we buy trees in bulk. Mayor Gillmor said he had been after the County to put palm trees in 512 for a long time and it has been difficult based on their rules for drainage because without curbs you have to go 18 feet in which puts you in the swale. Mr. Hill said government runs slow but there are processes we have to follow, but with proper planning we can get there. The remainder of items were not addressed and Mayor Gillmor adjourned the workshop at 8:04 pm. 5. City Manager Review Operating and Capital Expenses (City Manager Transmittal) A. Operating Expenses Review General Expenses ii. Business Analyst Position Special Events iv. General Fund Transfers B. Capital Expenses Underground Electric Utilities ii. Underground Stormwater Indian River Drive US 1 Improvements Landscaping and Bump Outs iv. CavCorp v. Continuation of FSL Program 6. Public Input 7. CRA Board Discussion Approved at the ir 1 ,A CRA meeting. Sally A. Maio, MC City Clerk 9