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HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND
MINUTES
RIVERVIEW PARK
CAVCORP ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
PUBLIC INPUT WORKSHOP
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012 - 6:10 P.M.
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA
Present:
City Manager, Al Minner
Frank Hickson, Consultant Project Engineer, Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.
David Bennett PE, Consultant Engineer, Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.
Nate Willbur, PE, Consultant Engineer, Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.
City Council Members Present:
Richard Gillmor
The City Manager introduced himself, briefly outlined the purpose of the meeting to present to
the public the Cavcorp conceptual design, deemed best by the Council at this point, for
enhancements to boat trailer and car parking. He introduced Frank Hickson, who, he said,
would give a presentation on the proposed concept, after which they would take input from the
public and answer questions. He advised that there was a sign -up sheet in the back of the room
and a comment box for public suggestions at the front of the room.
Mr. Hickson introduced his associates, David Bennett, IE drainage expert, and Nate Willbur, IE,
who prepared the layout, and proceeded with a PowerPoint presentation (see attached).
He said Infrastructure Engineers was hired to design improvements in three phases, met with
City staff, met with individual Council members, talked to people who use the park, looked at 20
to 30 different designs, brought designs to Council and, with feedback received, came up with
the design presented tonight for public comment.
He said the site was put into the public for use primarily for boat trailers, however, there are
other activities which take place in the park, which meant that there needed to be
accommodations for cars, and other issues were considered such as preservation of oak trees,
landscaping to provide a sense of space, pavement options and stormwater retention, the
question of how can we convert and shut down roads for various events, and the location of the
clock tower.
He said parking on Coolidge and Indian River Drive was considered, safety and circulation
issues had to be addressed. He then exhibited the preferred concept with additional parking on
the south side of Coolidge and a crosswalk from the north side of Coolidge south to a Cavcorp
property inner sidewalk, and improvement to the Sebastian Boulevard and Indian River Drive
crossing.
Mr. Hickson said there are more trailer than car spaces, but there are additional parking spaces
than currently exist, the oaks were protected, they retained green space, briefly looked at
pervious surface but determined it would require a great amount of fill, concentrated the ponds
to keep their footprint small for better stormwater treatment.
Cavcorp Concept Public Input Workshop
August 29, 2012
Page Two
He said the engineers will take public comments and then meet with staff and determine if this is
the best design or if ideas presented need to be incorporated, then go before Council and have
a final design approved for construction bidding.
Public Input
The following members of the public spoke:
Jim Wendel said this is supposed to be a boat trailer lot, and the City Manager responded the
major focus is the boat trailers, with the concept of being able to shift over the lot for the major
events. Mr. Wendel suggested doing away with the islands in the boat trailer areas because it
will be difficult for larger boat trailers to maneuver, and would rather have them loosen up the
spaces with one -way traffic and maybe pull through sites.
The City Manager said his comments were well received. He said that concept was talked
about, but would cut down on the boat trailer spaces and affected the mixed use needs for
special events. He said his concerns would be passed along. Mr. Wendel said we would not
lose that much parking for events. The City Manager said there are multiple access points and
perhaps we can look at further angling. Mr. Hickson agreed we could maybe further angle, and
as to the islands, there is a need for some green space but maybe the curves can be
eliminated. Mr. Wendel said he is representing the boaters here and again said we are trying to
fit too much in there and maybe we can lose a few boat trailer spaces. Mr. Wendel asked if this
is all public parking or is any exclusive to the restaurant. Mr. Hickson said it is all public parking.
Lisanne Robinson, Director of the Sebastian Fine Art and Music Festival Foundation, first read a
letter from Anjani Cirillo, Sebastian Clambake Festival Chair, and signed by other members of
the Clambake Board, which expressed concern about the impact of the parking lot on the four
City events and stated they would have liked to have had a representative of each of the events
in the early stages of the conceptual planning and not be seen soley as a "fishing village ". The
City Manager asked when she received the letter and she said she had received it today and
was reading it on their behalf because they could not be in attendance. Ms. Robinson then
displayed an aerial showing 247 vehicles parked in the Cavcorp lot during last year's festival,
and said with the new design there will be a loss of 50 parking spaces for the event. She said
this is our only event park, and during most of the year, there are 20 -30 boat trailers on an
average day. She said the Clambake brings in 60K people, the Art Festival 30K people, and
Fourth of July festivities 20K people and she is hoping the town is going to grow and was
concerned this parking lot is going to tie their hands. She said the City has filled in 1/3 of the
parking area south of Riverview Park with amenities and while they have no problem with
implementing some of the infrastructure, parking for events here is a critical issue. She said with
proposed improvements to the swale, and the requirement of the Fire Department to have 19
feet between exhibitors, those exhibitors who set up partly in the road and partly in the swale
with a bigger and deeper ditch will be eliminated.
Mr. Bennett responded on other options available for the setup. Ms. Robinson said 50 parking
spaces is a lot to lose and asked if we really need the islands, the lot needs to be functional,
and said people come for the river and not for the parking lot. She said she wished they had
talked to people involved with the events.
The City Manager pointed out that the process has been very open for over a year, and has
been discussed by Council many times, and to insinuate that events people have been
excluded is unfair. He said on behalf of the Council we want to be sure this lot functions for
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Cavcorp Concept Public Input Workshop
August 29, 2012
Page Three
everyone, but those events are five days out of 365 days of the year, and we have talked in the
past about whether we want to spend millions to buy additional parking or make best use of
what we have. He said the City has an on -going agreement to use the old Wal -Mart lot for
events. He said if we move the islands out we can pick up a few spots, and said he will get
together with the sponsors of each of the events before he goes back to Council and if he had
known there were concerns he would have done it sooner. He reminded everyone that this is a
concept and it is never too late to incorporate changes.
Council Member Gillmor asked, if we pull out the green spaces out, would it change stormwater
calculations and he was told that would not affect retention. Mr. Gillmor thanked Mr. Hickson
and his partners, and said this has been one of the best processes from his standpoint because
so much has been put back in from the first concepts after them spending time with Council
Members and others. He said there is no hidden agenda and is still in the process of being
developed.
Karen Lampiasi, Craft Club of Sebastian, said she knows this has been an ongoing process, but
said she understands the concerns of Ms. Robinson for the need for car parking. She said she
has a vested interest for her vendors that people have access to the park, but this does address
they are working hard on this. She said this is coming closer than the design she had seen
previously.
Mr. Wendel inquired of Council Member Gillmor as to the general consensus of the Council,
whether this is what Council wants or are they still going to try to work with everyone.
Mr. Gillmor said Council agrees measure twice and cut once, that you are trying to balance car
parking for events with boat parking, and currently, because the lot is unstructured there is
parking available for events, but people then park cars where they should not be parking so
there are issues. He said the initial plan would have sacrificed quite a bit of parking for weekend
events, that the elderly will not park two blocks away. He said this plan comes as close to what
we need, that we are considering using parking on the southwest that can be used for car
parking during events, and we are going to gain car spots so that is a plus. He said he thinks the
Council is pretty happy with the concept the way it is, and maybe it can be tweaked and we
could pick up more spots and make it easier for boaters by moving islands.
Mr. Wendel again stressed the ease of pull- through parking for boat trailers.
Mr. Hickson encouraged people to fill out the comment forms.
The City Manager thanked everyone for coming, and closed by saying it is important to take
comments on major projects such as they did for the Main Street/Indian River Drive project, and
a need to create a sense of space and a downtown atmosphere, and capitalize on the riverfront
as our major asset. He said boat parking and car parking are both important, discussed a
previous idea to close a portion of Sebastian Boulevard, but following a public process such as
this, it was voted down. He said to create downtown ambience, landscaping requirements, boat
parking, car parking for events, and meet stormwater requirements have been a lot of demands
and there is no one perfect solution but we have done a fair job of it.
He told Ms. Robinson he would meet with her, Ms. Cirillo and members of the other event
groups and said, while we want to be inclusive, we are not going to make any one group happy
because of the need to blend so many things together. He said after meeting with everyone, he
would be back to Council in another month or so.
He adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
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