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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08112010CRA1. Mayor Gillmor called the Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting to order at 5:00 P. m. 3. ROLL CALL Mayor Richard H. Gillmor Vice -Mayor Jim Hill Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Eugene Wolff Council Member Don Wright 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES None 5. NEW BUSINESS CM' Of HOME OF PEUCAN ISLAND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY (CRA) (CITY COUNCIL) MINUTES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2010 5:00 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN ST, SEBASTIAN, FL 2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Staff Present: City Manager, Al Minner City Attorney, Robert Ginsburg City Clerk, Sally Maio Deputy City Clerk, Jeanette Williams Finance Director, Ken Killgore Growth Management Director, Rebecca Grohall Police Captain, Mike Beyer Police Captain, Robert Lockhart MIS Senior Systems Analyst, Barbara Brooke -Reese A. Gateways Presentation Frank Watanabe, P.E., Neel- Schaffer, Inc. Frank Watanabe, P.E., Neel- Schaffer, Inc. gave a PowerPoint presentation of possible gateway concepts for the US 1 and Indian River Drive corridors (see attached). In response to Ms. Coy, Mr. Watanabe said the logo is actually colored asphalt imbedded into the roadway that will fade with time as the roadway material breaks down but may last as long as the asphalt, possibly up to ten years. Community Redevelopment District August 11, 2010 Page Two Mr. Hill said he had some comments to make but would like to hear from the public. Mr. Wolff said he thought Mr. Watanabe's idea of critical mass, repeating a design across the roadway where possible, was a good themed idea and worth exploring, and favored the idea of textured pavement across the roadway areas. Mr. Wright suggested enhancing or modifying the existing City signs instead of replacing them. Mr. Watanabe answered that the existing signs can be saved and modified. Mr. Wright asked how streetscaping could be achieved where there is no room to install anything such as on Indian River Drive or where there is no publicly owned property. Mr. Watanabe said you can use the sides of the roadway, co -share lands to create critical mass and work with FDOT to install higher landscaping as allowed. Mr. Wolff said the stone monuments such as the one in Vero Beach and in south Florida are nice but do not represent Sebastian, but the designs provided by Mr. Watanabe replicates Sebastian, and thought the trailblazer signs were a great idea and inexpensive. Mr. Hill discussed trailblazers signs he had recently seen in a small South Carolina town which made him want to explore the area. He said it would be insane for the City to replace the City signs that we spent thousands on only nine to ten years ago which contain important wording of historic value to Sebastian. He said he also liked the crosswalks and landscaping. Mayor Gillmor agreed the signs we have are wonderful, and noted if we installed new signs they may have to be moved if we change our City borders. ii. Public Input John Peters presented photographs showing 22 signs in the vicinity that say "Keep Off the Median an overabundance of poles and colored sprayed markings on Indian River Drive indicating location of County utilities infrastructure, and no parking signs. He submitted the photos for the record to the Clerk. He said he had spoken to Ernie Olsen with Indian River County Utilities who told him they may have gone a little overboard putting in poles. He then said he had contacted agencies such as Citizens for Scenic Florida, Florida Highway Beautification Council, Indian River Lagoon Scenic Byway, KIRB, and Commissioner Joe Flescher who knew nothing about the proliferation of signs and poles. He said he loved this place but did not understand the need for so many signs, citing the 510 causeway which went from 72 signs to 32. The City Manager said the poles are utility markers placed by Indian River County. Donna Keyes said she would volunteer to work with a member of staff and a member of City Council to look into these signs and would follow up with the County. Lisanne Robinson said there are "no parking" signs everywhere, said she did not see brick pavers near the parks but did see them at the Main Street intersection where people walk. 2 Community Redevelopment District August 11, 2010 Page Three She suggested stamped parking areas on US 1, and said she had concepts she would share with staff. She recommended looking at the district as a whole which will bring in business and people. Damien Gilliams said he had missed the past few meetings and Council had raised the millage while he was away, and asked why we are using CRA funds for individuals in the community and why we do not go out for bid. Mr. Hill called a point of order and said we are talking about gateways. Mr. Gilliams said this is connected and Ms. Coy asked that he be required to stick to topic. Mr. Gilliams asked how much money was allocated in the budget for gateways when roads in the district need repair, noting we are taking DST funds to fix roads. Mayor Gillmor said not a dime is set aside yet. Mr. Gilliams said the City Manager is shifting funds around, and Mayor Gillmor said Council allocates funds not staff. Mr. Gilliams said he did not want taxes raised for gateways, and before they construct gateways they should pave roads, and suggested getting rid of the occupational license tax. Mr. Hill pointed out that Council instructed the City Manager to proceed with a parking study and immediately thereafter go after funding to repair the streets. Mr. Wolff said he had a question for Mr. Gilliams. Ms. Coy said this is not a place for campaigning. Mr. Wolff asked where the newspaper got the idea we are going to spend $300,000 on gateways, and the City Manager said they got it from him in his attempt to create a gateway budget based on engineering estimates and the problem is that we don't know the parameters of what they are trying to accomplish and he is trying to plan in the public forum and folks should know these are estimated numbers. He said the $250,000 number is an estimate from Neel- Schaffer for landscape, potentially new signs, curb cuts, and embossing; it can be modified at Council direction; and by September 30 we will have a plan for FY2011. Mr. Wolff asked if the advertised number influences the people who bid on the work. The City Manager said it does but we are duty bound to be transparent. Mr. Wright said he hasn't seen any number for this type of work. The City Manager said last year there was $750,000 allocated for Cavcorp and based on the discussions from the last meeting where parking, survey, parking improvements, gateways and others were prioritized, he tried to express that all of those could be done at once. 3 Community Redevelopment District August 11, 2010 Page Four Council Discussion Mayor Gillmor said the current signage is good. Mr. Hill said there isn't a lot of difference with the proposed signs, he said moving the US 1 sign closer to the park with landscaping, using trailblazer signs will make a huge difference that won't cost $350,000. He asked for the real numbers for the items and he said it is a disservice for Council to act as the CRA when there are people wiling to find solutions for the problems in the District and he requested that be on an agenda soon. Mr. Wolff agreed the enhancement of existing signs could be done on a modest scale, textured paving can help identify parking, but cautioned on defining the district's boundaries as the City will grow. He said he didn't agree with turning the CRA over to Ms. Robinson. Mr. Hill clarified that he did not identify any person and he would look forward to the discussion at a Council meeting. Ms. Coy said she also looked forward to discussing the makeup of the board as she is also against turning the board over to appointed citizens. Ms. Coy recounted the following four enhancements: 1 Directional signs 2 Keep the existing signs but do better with the bases, add flowers, add a better sign at Riverview Park 3 Additional pavers for crosswalks and parking 4 Consistent landscaping plan In response to Ms. Coy's directional sign cost inquiry, Mr. Watanabe reported they would be about $200. -300. each. Mayor Gillmor suggested having the high school design a sign for the Riverview Park. Ms. Keys reminded Council that the Sebastian Fine Arts and Music Festival has pledged $10,000 to provide artistic directional signs. Mr. Wright agreed with the directional signs; a better riverfront sign; he volunteered to go with Ms. Keys to identify sign clutter along the corridors; agreed that the existing signs need enhanced and liked the curbed bump -out in the renderings. The City Manager said he would come back to the Board with a detailed budget figure with a whittled down DST figure. Damien Gilliams urged the Board to get three proposals from engineering firms. 6. Being no further business, Mayor Gillmor adjourned the CRA meeting at 6:13 p.m. Approved at the 9 22 /10 CRA meeting. ATTEST: Bch H. llmor, Mayor Sally A. Mai. MC City Clerk 4 ^0,14Ai-rufAtiivi Sebastian may spruce up "gateways" don't mind you spending $300,000.00 for beautification I have been here 5 years and loved the area Been going downhill last coule of years. Government graffitti Why spend it when the government is uglifiing the same area? See pictures of gateways on US1 Indian River Drive. There are more post coming. Purple for recycled water. The poles are the result of Ernie Olsen of the department of public Works. Quote "they may have gone overboard" by Ernie. Who is running the show? Waste of our money unless it snows. Did he let anyone go because of these poles? Citizens for a scenic Florida NOTHING Florida Highway Beautification Council NOTHING Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway MAYBE Keep Indian River Beautiful NOTHING They are promoting the indoor green market Joe Flesher NOTHING b Otyrz.(J w [A 4-(tout3, Ce C� c