Loading...
CCMtg02-18-08Min ILONGW00~ CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Connmission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, :Florida M[INUT'ES FEBRUARY 18, 2008 7:00 P.]VI. Present: Mayor John C. Maingot Deputy Mayor H.G. "Butch" Bundy, Jr. Commissioner Brian D. Sackett Commissioner Dan Anderson Commissioner Mike Holt Teresa S. Roper, City Attorney John J. Drago, City Administrator Sarah M. Mirus, City Clerk Tom ..Smith, Division Manager ~of Streets/Fleet Laurie Mooney, Fire Chief Tom Jackson, Police Chief Don Castner, Fire Marshal Paul Sizemore, Director of Community Services Ryan Spinella, Executive Assistant Donovan A. Roper, Roper & Roper, P.A. 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Maingot called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. 2. A moment of SILENT MEDITATION was followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 3. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS.. Ms. Mirus read the following announcement: A. Senior Matinee will be held on .February 20, 2008 from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., Longwood Community Building, 200 West Warren Avenue. This month's feature its Honeymoon in Vegas. 4. RECOGNITIONS. A. District #1 Nomination of the Business Person of the Month Award for March 2008. Mayor Maingot nominated Bill F~yrd, M.D., Family Physicians of Longwood/Winter Springs located at 500 East State Road 434 for the Business Person of the Month Award for March 2008. Nomination carried ~ by a unanimous voice vote. ' CC 02-18-08/37 B. Presentation of the Employee of the Year Awards. Deputy Mayor Bundy, Commissioner Holt, Commissioner Anderson, and Commissioner Sackett recognized the following employees and each were presented with the Employee of the Year Award from their respective Departments. City Hall Complex Linda Goff, Deputy City Clerk Fire Department David Martin, Lieutenant Police Department Ryan Bruce, Detective Public Works Jeff French, Maintenance Worker II Photographs were taken following the presentation of each award. Mayor Maingot presented the Annual Employee of the Year Award to: Detective Ryan Bruce. Photographs were then taken. C. Presentation of Service Pins to the City of Longwood Employees. Service pins were awarded to the following employees: Five (5) years of service: Richard Griffin. Police Sergeant. Forrest. Price Police Officer 'Ten (10) years ofservice: Ryan Bruce Police Officer Kristopher Burnham Police Officer Craig Dunn. Computer Services Manager Richard Gael Public Works Maintenance Specialist I Matthew Kleinmann Police Officer Fifteen (15) years of service:.. Troy Hickson Police Lieutenant Twenty (20) years of service: Harold Armstrong Public Works Maintenance Specialist I Lance Borows Police Officer George (Pat) Smith Backflow Program Coordinator Twenty-five (25) years ofservice: Tom Jackson Police Chief Thirty (30) years of service. ~..J Michael Hockenberry Fire Battalion Chief Cathy Price Code Enforcement Officer CC 02-18-08/38 ~ 5. BOARD APPOINTMENTS. None. 6. PUBLIC INPUT. A. Public Participation. Paul Lovestrand, 500 Preston Road, said he wanted to talk about the proposed tree. ordinance. H:e state;d there previously was a tree ordinance for single family dwellings in Longwood. However, a former City Commission had the foresight to get rid of it. This- was causing problems with angry homeowners and City Planners were wasting too much time going out to residences to see which trees could be cut down. He declared a man's home should be his castle and no one knows better than the homeowner what trees to keep or cut down. He said city officials all over the State, including Longwood, have angered taxpayers for too long. He affirmed that eoimtless people have come to him complaining about over regulation and that is what this tree ordinance does. Now, because of a person complaining about their neighbor cutting down a tree, the City was considering expanding the tree ordinance. He stated he drove by the house and it was landscaped beautifully. He declared there was a tree stump in the yard of the person making the; complaint. He said there was a beautiful tree that fell across Preston Road during a wind storm, due to the tree being hollow on the inside. He stated he had three trees fall in his yard during the last hurricane. He said when you take away the right to cut down their trees, they were talon;; away some of their property rights. Louis Canarelli, 610 Chelsea Road, said he has lived in Devonshore for 35 years. He stated when they moved in, the. trees were not nearly the size they are now. Over the years trees need to be trimmed, and they get old and. die. He said they have been doing this by themselves for 35 years. He stated they slid not need the City ~~oming in telling them which trees 1:hey should trim and what trees they can cut down. He declared that any ' proposed arbor ordinance would :increase the cost to the homeowner. He said cutting down trees was not cheap. He stated he learned from his insurance company that if a tree i:alls and hits his neighbor's house or damages his property in any way.; if the insurance company determines the tree was dead, they woll not cover the damage. He inquired who would be liable for a tree that falls if he requested a permit to cut a tree down and the City denies the request. He said this would put a financial liability on the homeowners. He reiterated they did not need an arbor ordinance. Claire. Connell,. 635 Chelsea Road, said her opinion has been voiced by the previous two. gentlemen. 7. CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPOR'C. Mr. Drago reported there is a car show o.n April 19th by the Explorers. In the past the City Commission has granted permission to close a portion of West Warren CC 02-18-(18/39 Avenue and Wilma Street from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. He requested a consensus for the road closure. It was the unanimous consensus of the Commission to allow road closure of a portion of West Warren Avenue and Wilma Street for the ear show. Mr. Drago said there was a burial in the Cemetery recently and unfortunately a different gravesite was marked and opened, other than the correct gravesite. He said a person owns three lots in the Cemetery and the decedent specifically requested Lot 17 and was laid to rest in Lot 18. The options are for the decedent to stay or the City pay for disinterment and re=interment in Lot 17 with the permission of the next of kin. He advised the owner of the lots had reviewed the options and has asked for the City to consider giving him Lot 20. He specifically wants two lots together for a husband and wife. Under the current situation, the couple would be split. He said the owner was told this was only a decision the Commission could make. Commissioner Anderson inquired who did the burial and who's mistake was it. Mr. Drago advised this was the City's mistake. Commissioner Anderson inquired why moving to the correct location was not acceptable and there was a request for giving an additional lot. Ms. Mirus said the gentleman wanted Lot 20 to allow for the husband and wife to be buried side-by-side. Deputy Mayor Bundy suggested they give back Lot 17 and take Lot 20 which still provides for the three lots. He inquired if this was proposed to the family. Ms. Minis responded in the affirmative. Deputy Mayor Bundy said giving them Lot 20 was a settlement and payment for a mistake, not a correction. Ms. Mirus.said the individual that owns the lots does not want anyone buried in Lot 17. . IVIr. Drago said the owner wanted to keep Lot 17 and they would control not having anyone buried there. He reviewed a map of the area and pointed out that the Family Estate was next to Lot 17. . Ms. Mirus said .Lot 17 was next to a tree and the Family Estate. Mr. Drago said the decedent wanted to be buried next to the tree. He stated he would be next to the tree if disinterred and moved over. ~ Ms. Mirus advised they.would need arthorization from the family. CC 02-18-08/40 r Commissioner Anderson said he would be happy to give Lot 20 if Lot 17 came ~ back to the City or the City is obliged to move him to the correct location anal honor what was sold.. Commissioner Holt inquired what the cost of the lot would be. Mr. Drago advised this was purchased b;~ a resident for $625 each lot. Mayor Maingot inquired what the cost for re-interment would be. Mr. Drago said if they wait for another burial to occur, it would be $500. Commissioner Holt said there was not that much difference in the cost and he had no !problem with the request. He stated the family went through the trauma of burial. He suggested. they give them Lot :?0. Deputy Mayor Bundy moved to €;ive the family Lot 20. Seconded by Commissioner Holt and carried by a unanimous voice vote. 8. MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' P:EPORT. District #2. Commissioner Anderson reported CALNO had an interesting presentation last week by a gentleman on. irrigation. Through the course of his presentation, he demonstrated that throw€;h proper planning and design of i irrigation systems you can reduce SO% o:~f of the total residential and commercial water consumption. He stated he talked with Mr. Drago about this and the City could take pieces of the proposal s~.ich as when the zones nm and the geometry of the irrigation heads. He said we already require permits on the installation of irrigation systems. He declared if we checked these to make sure the zones were set up correctly there could be a tremendous savings in water usage without much effort. He said the average home could save anywhere from 4.0.,000 to 80,000 gallons of water a year. He stated this would go a long way with the consumption permit through St. John's Water Management. Commissioner Anderson said they discussed the repercussions regarding the budget cuts they were all going to i:ace. C?ne of the significant things that many people did not think through was what this does to things like Kid's Hoiise and all of the other community organizations that receive funding from the. cities and the County. Vice Chairman McLean said the County was going to cut most of this out. He suggested they really needed to partner with the County and other cities to create an awareness of this issue; and to invite people from the community to step forward and volunteer at these places. He: said he would like for Longwood to start talking with the County and other cities regarding, how they can call attention to this matter and get people involved. District #3. Commissioner Holt wished Happy Sweet 16 Birthday to his daughter, Amanda. He extended congratulations to the Longwood Police Department. He said there was a robbery at Washington Mutual in Longwood and an arrest was made and a great majority of the money recovered. CC 0?_-18-08/41 District #4. Deputy Mayor Bundy said, to follow-up on what Commissioner Anderson said, he has gotten involved with a group of people through one of the ~ trade associations. He stated people don't understand that governments give a great deal to organizations like Kid's House. He said he was on Kid's House Early Learning Coalition Board and they would face cuts not only from the County, but also from the State. He stated they were trying to do something in conjunction with one of the trade associations and they were tentatively calling this the 60 Minute Club. They are encouraging people to give 60 minutes a month. He said if one-third of the people in the United States gave an extra 60 minutes a month, this was 1.2 billion volunteer hours a year. Commissioner Anderson said .giving 60 minutes would be more valuable than writing a check. Deputy Mayor Bundy reported Publix responded to the invitation: They would like to defer not coming to the March meeting. There is a meeting set up with all of the people involved with the Publix and the Developer that owns the property in the back to .see if they can take the scope of the project and work together to blend the projects. He said the Publix deal is very much alive. He stated they have told the engineers to wait until after the meeting as there was some potential for stoimwater retention sharing and infrastnicture sharing. He advised they were very interested in meeting, but they would like to have something laid out prior to meeting with the Commission. Deputy Mayor Bundy said he was talking with the City Administrator prior to the ~ meeting regarding the Longwood Hills Project and the concerns Mr. Towers had regarding the initial agreement of the permitting being done by the County with approvals by the City. Now that the property has been annexed, the County does not have the authority for permitting. He asked the Commission's permission to have Mr. Roper address these issues. Mayor Maingot said he also asked Mr. Sizemore to prepare an update of the status of 131 Longwood Hills Road. Mr. Roper said to refresh everyone's memory; there was a meeting between Chairman Carleton Henley, Mayor Maingot, Michael Towers, City and County Staff on May 7, 2007 regarding the issues that were going to be involved in this enclave becoming annexed into the City. The minutes reflect the fact, very early on in that meeting, the issue of who would be the permitting agency; and the end result was discussed. According to the minutes, Mr. Drago stated the City feels, there would be some type of continuation in the future of this type of dual processing procedure because of the enclaves. The: City would ask the County to consider that the City be the complete review agency,. add anything extra the County requires, and that the County be the permitting agency. At that point in time, the City did not object to the permits and inspections being issued by the ' County. He stated that, obviously at that point in time, Mr: Towers had not yet recorded the deed to the property, so it had not yet become annexed into the City. Later on, November 9, 2007, Mr. Towers was considering recording the deed to CC 02-18-08/42 the property and wanted some additional confirmation as to what the City's position was relative to what had been offered in May 2007. He said inane-mail ~ he sent. to Mr. Towers on November 9th, he told Mr. Towers he had reviewed the minutes from the May 7, 2007 j oint meeting. After discussing the same with Mr. Drago, he had been asked to advise him., the City of Longwood would continue to abide by Mr. Drago's assertions contained in the last few sentences at the bottom of page one of the minutes to the affect 1:hat: 1. The City would ask the County to consider the City be the complete review agency,. add anything extra the County requires and that the County be the permitting agency. 2. The City did not object to the perrr~its or inspections being issued by the County. Mr. Roper said the Master Development Agreement that Mr. Towers signed-off on and the City was also signed does noi: speak to or address that issue.. He received an e-mail today from Dori DeBord with Seminole County to Mr. Towers that sums the County's position at this time stating; "In my previous e-mail to you dated February 14, 20Q8, I clearly stated that the mechanism to allow the Cozmty to issue permits and conduct inspections for a project within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Longwood would be ccn Interlocal Agreement behveen the City and the County. To refresh your memory, I (Dori DeBord) have included the body of the e-mail as referenced: " He stated she went on to quote an earlier e- mail of Febniary 14th that said the County did not retain any rights to.permit this project through the Building Division that the City would need to initiate this effort through an Interlocal Agreement. 'Che City is the only entity that can issue this authority. He said, in essence, the County was saying they did not. have the jurisdiction now that Mr. Towers has recorded the deed; and it has been annexed into the City. At no point in time did the County agree previously to remain 'the permitting agency after annexation: Deputy Mayor Bundy said there was some expectation. the City had and knew that annexation was imminent. However, the; still agreed to allow the County to issue. the permits with the City doing the inspections. He stated this has created some confusion. Mr. Roper said there was some presumption of the May 7; 2007 meeting that Mr. Towers was going to be pulling permits rNith the County. He stated a certain number of limited permits. were pulled with the County and this presumption continued on into November. As it turned out, he recorded the deed without pulling the majority of the permits beforehand. He affirmed, from a legal perspective, he did not have a problem with entering. into an Interlocal Agreement t if the Commission so chooses. Deputy Mayor Bundy said this would have to be an Interlocal Agreement that deals with a specific property and expires at completion so there is no continuation. CC 02-18-08/43 Mr. Roper responded in the affirmative. He said it would be limited to 131 Longwood Hills Road. ~ Commissioner Anderson said if the City has agreed to the whole framework and the County does not have the authority to issue permits, just have the City issue the permits for what has already been agreed upon. Mr. Sizemore said the property has been annexed and it has .been assigned a future land use designation. He stated it was subject to the City's Land Development Regulations. He said one of the concerns they had with the project moving forward, realizing it would need to be permitted through the City, was to make sure they would not be duplicating site plan reviews. This process has already been done and was very successful the way the. County and City coordinated this aspect of the project. He said Mr. Roper reviewed the Development Code- and the Developer's Commitment Agreement. He stated the variances would be applied for and would be before the Board of Adjustment later this month. He affirmed that since the Development Order was issued with the concurrence of the City, this Order would be honored by the City and they could proceed directly to accepting building permit applications. He said if the Commission wanted to proceed with permitting. through the County, as indicated, there would have to be some kind of Interlocal Agreement to grant them that authority. He stated the only other issue to consider would be how to address the platting of the property. ~i i i Mayor Maingot said, from'his point of view, entering into an Interlocal Agreement would fiirther delay the matter and complicate the issue. Deputy Mayor Bundy said an Interlocal Agreement was two-sided. He stated Commissioner Henley was going to bring this up before the Board of County Commission. . Mr. Roper advised the first time he heard of an Interlocal Agreement was at 5:36 ~p.m. thus evening when he received Ms. DeBord's e-mail. He stated he did not have a problem with it, but all of these issues would need to be included within the agreement. He said Mr. Towers has expressed a preference to stay with the County in the permitting process. Michael Towers, 754 Fleet Financial Court, said since they had already started the platting. process with the County, changing this back to the City would delay the project. He stated there were also impact fee considerations, as they submitted their permits prior to Febniary lst and the increase of impact fees. He advised there were some very large financial concerns on their part. He said the largest delay would be with the preliminary plat that has already been started with the County. He stated he has spoken with. Commissioner Henley, Commissioner Dallari, and Vice Chairman McLean. They were all under the same impression that they would be the permitting agency through the entirety of the project, regardless of annexation. He has not had an opportunity to speak with Chairman Carey or Commissioner Van Der Weide. He said he has talked with Ms. DeBord CC 02-18-08/44 and she was going to retain the documents. They are not going to issue permits until this aspect is cleared up. He stated 'the Interlocal Agreement would be the ~ mechanics to make this matter move forward. Mayor Maingot inquired which authorit•i would be .granting. the variances. Mr. Towers said the. City would grant the variances. Mr. Sizemore said this was on the Agenda for the Board of Adjustment meeting of;February 27, 2008. Mr. Drago said he could only .speak to the mechanics of the City. He stated during alI of the meetings held with the County, City, and Mr. Towers, it was always represented that this development was .going to remain under the County jurisdiction until such time it was near c~~mpletion. Even though it is not in the Development Order; that is why the City did not object to the permitting by the County. In return, Mr. Towers agreed to build according to City standards knowing it would be annexed in the City. Commissioner Anderson asked for the Administrator and the Attorney to provide their opinion on how to get this done so that it is not before the Commission again. ~ Mr. Roper said there were, two options. The first option would be to enter into an Interlocal Agreement, as the County wol.ild need to agree to, making them the permitting agency. The second solution would be to have the City be the permitting agency, but again, Mr. Towers would not have to start from square one. He said there was a specific exception in the Longwood Development Code that will allow the City to honor this. Commissioner Anderson said the City, iii the spirit of cooperation, .should honor this understanding and get it done. Mr. Drago said the City does not charge road impact fees. The County sets the rates for impact fees. and the City is the <;ollection agency. Mr. Sizemore said that was correct, except for the utility impact fees.. - Mr. Drago said Mr. Towers has already paid some utility costs for tfie lines being extended. He would have to pay the City utility impact fees regardless. He said the only thing that could be different would be the amount ofthe building permit fees relative to the County. ~ Mr. Towers said the. County raised their impact fee on February 1St from $1,360 to ~ $5.,000 per residential unit. If they were 1o move this over and have. to apply again, they would be subject to the highE;r impact fee rate. CC 02-18-08/45 Mr. Drago said if he paid the impact fees prior to a certain date that would be done. The only difference would be in pulling the building permits with the City ~ and the fee structure compared to the County. Mr. Towers .said the impact fees are charged at the time the permits are issued. They are calculated when the package is submitted. He reiterated if he is required to reapply for permits to the City, he is subject to the higher impact fee rates. Mr. Drago suggested the City and the County enter into an Interlocal Agreement granting Mr. Towers the impact fees at the lower rate and the City be the permitting agency. Mr. Towers said this would create more paperwork than necessary. ~He stated the County already has a form in place:as they have agreements with other cities. He said the County would have to adopt an Ordinance to exempt him from the higher impact fees. He declared he would be uncomfortable asking for this. Commissioner Holt inquired if Mr. Towers was locked in with the County for the lower impact fee rates. Mr. Towers said they were officially locked in with the County for the lower impact fees and they have stamped documents. Commissioner Sackett inquired if they could put forward the second option where ~ everything. would move into the City with an Interlocal Agreement that seeks to obtain the impact fees at the reduced rate. Mr. Roper said the City could ask the County to honor the impact fees as of the date of the Development Order. Commissioner Anderson said the City could choose to honor the application submittal date of all the permits to the County. This would allow moving along with the process as started. Deputy Mayor Bundy suggested they instruct the Administrator and the Attorney to come up with an agreement.'Thstyould have to come back to the City Commission for approval. Deputy Mayor Bundy moved to instnict the City Attorney and Mr. Drago to work an agreement with the County and bring it back to the Commission at the. March meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Sackett and carried by a unanimous voice vote. Mr. Towers said he was simply asking the City to honor what they committed to in May and reaffirmed in November of this past year to allow the County to be the permitting agency. ~ CC 02-18-08/46 Mr. Roper reiterated excerpts from the e-mail and said it was up to the County to agree to this. He stated the reason they were discussing this tonight was because the County has not agreed to issue the permits and has sent the matter back to the City. Mayor Mangot said there was no reason why the City cannot work with Mr. Towers to move this project along. Commissioner Holt left the meeting at 8:57 p.m. and returned at 8:58 p.m. District #5. Commissioner Sackett said he liked the information provided on the water and irrigation issues.. He inquired ~~here the installer education was regarding this matter. He said they already had mentors and good people volunteering. He stated this was really a funding cut and it could not be replaced with people becoming involved as workers: He said when looking at cuts, people need to be asked what they can and cannot live with. Deputy Mayor Bundy left the meeting at 9:02 p.m. and returned at 9:03 p.m. District #1. Mayor Maingot reported on February 6th, he participated in a luncheon meeting regarding concerns on State Road 434, the bus transit system, and the Longwood Station. On the same afternoon, he met with Commissioner Henley and went over these same caricerns. The evening of Febniary 6th, he ~ attended the LYNX Transportation meeting at the Community Building where there was confirmation of fitnding for two years of bus transit service on 434. He attended the opening of the Seminole County Fire and EMS Training Center on February 7th. He attended a meeting on Water Conservation by UCF and Friends of ;Wekiva on the evening of Febn~ary 7th. He attended the Seminole County Prayer Breakfast on February 8th. On Febniary 1 lth, he participated in the Longwood Area Chamber meeting. The evening of February 11th, Jerry Eisinger, Host of a PBS Program on WMFE, conducted a live interview in the Chambers focusing on the Longwood Transit Villal;e. On February 13th, he and Mr. Sizemore reviewed the City's CAPP Program with a professor from UCF. On March 28th, he and Mr. Drago will participate in a fonim at UCF dealing and expanding on the values, virtues, and utilization of the CAPP Program. He reported there was a presentation at the Mayors and Managers meeting. on February 14th by the Director of Transportation Planning. from MetroPlan Orlando. They have agreed the Mayors and Managers Committee will continue to remain active. He said they also recommended the County sunset the Joint City/County Board.. He attended E`nvisio~i Seminole on Febniary 15th where they agreed to develop a plan to address the increasing homeless situation in Seminole County. He was interviewed by a UCF graduate the morning of February 15th who was doing her thesis on water conservation. He presented a Proclamation to ! the Lyman High School Coach Bob McCullough who is retiring after 35 years of ~ service. CC 0.2-1.8-08/47 9. CONSENT AGENDA. A. Approve Minutes of the February 4, 2008 Regular Meeting. ~ B. Finance Division of the Financial Services Department recommends payment of approved and estimated bills for March 2008. C. Finance Division of the Financial Services Department recommends approval of the Monthly Financial Report for January 2008. D. Streets/Fleet Division of the Public Works Department recommends the City Commission approve a purchase order with Apolonio Espinoza Father & Son, Inc. in the amount of $32,450.00 for sidewalk construction services and authorizes the City Administrator to sign all appropriate documents. E. The Streets Division of the Public Works Department recommends the City Commission approve a change order to Davey Resource Group for the amount of $14,000 to complete a city wide tree inventory and authorize the City Administrator to sign all appropriate documents. Commissioner Holt moved to approve the Consent Agenda as submitted. Seconded by Commissioner Sackett and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. ~J 10. PUBLIC HEARINGS. None. 11. REGULAR BUSINESS. A. The City Clerk recommends the City Commission read by title only, schedule March 3, 2008 as the public hearing date and approve the first reading of Ordinance No. 08-1861, submitting the proposed Charter amendments to the voters at the November 4, 2008 General Election. Ms. Roper read Ordinance No. 08-1861 by title only. Deputy Mayor Bundy made a motion for discussion purposes. Seconded by Commissioner Anderson. Deputy Mayor Bundy said they received correspondence from the City Attorney regarding the fourth Charter Amendment that the proposed percentage would be in conflict with State Statute. Deputy Mayor Bundy moved to amend the motion to delete Charter Amendment four. Seconded by Commissioner Anderson and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. ~ CC 02-18-08/48 ~ Deputy Mayor Bundy moved to approve Ordinance No. 08-1861 ~ and set the public hearin€; for March 3, 2008. Seconded by Commissioner Anderson and carried by a four/one roll call vote with Commissioner Dolt voting nay. B. The Community Development Division of the. Community Services Department recommends the City Commission discuss a possible amendment to the arbor regulations for owner occupied single family residential properties and give staff the direction deemed appropriate. Mr. Sizemore said there was discussion held at the last City Commission meeting regarding arbor requiren.tents for owner occupied single family residential homes. The Commssion requested an item be brought forward for discussion. He advised there were arbor regulations in Longwood, but single family homes, that a~~e occupied by the owner are specifically exempt from the requirements. H:e reviewed a comparison chart of Longwood's standards to the City of Winter Springs standards. Commissioner Sackett said he did not believe they had the right to tell a homeowner what they can do with their property. He said there was a responsibility that a diseased tree is taken care of correctly. He suggested the Homeowner Associations could create some type of rule regarding trees. i Commissioner Anderson said he can sympathize with. the goal of preserving the tree canopy. He concurred that regulation was not the way to accomplish this. He stated they could put something together describing the benefits of a quality specimen shade tree and encourage people to preserve their trees. Deputy Mayor Bundy said he agrees with what has been previously stated. He affirmed the Historic ,Society was stniggling with the issue of replacement of two fairly large tries what were dead or diseased. He suggested looking into a tree for i;ree approach. Commissioner Anderson said ideally you want one quality shade tree on a lot. He said the design needs to take into consideration what would happen in twenty (20) years. Deputy Mayor Bundy suggested r~ tree bank. Mayor Maingot said part cxEthe problem was a lack of knowledge. He stated the City can educate the homeowner through media. He suggested they continue with the current requirements. It was the consensus of the City Commission that the current arbor requirements. remain in effect. CC 02-18-08/49 C. The. Fire Marshal of the Fire Rescue Department recommends the City Commission discuss a possible adoption of an Open Burn ' Ordinance and give staff the direction deemed appropriate. Chief Mooney said at the February 4~' meeting the Commission asked that an Open Burn Ordinance be drafted for discussion. Commissioner Sackett inquired if there was a problem with what the City did not have. Chief Mooney said there were numerous issues. Mr. Castner said they receive numerous calls from people inquiring if they can burn in their.backyard. He stated the City currently has no :guidelines. Chief Mooney said the document before the Commission would meet the City's needs and restrict certain types of burning. She requested direction from the Commission regarding how stringent they would like the Ordinance to be. Commissioner Anderson said his preference would be to have the least amount of regulation they can. He can understand the burning., of yard debris. He stated there was a legitimate safety issue of how much to burn at one time and the amount of smoke or ash generated. ~ j Chief Mooney said most of the complaints received were due to health issues from the elder population or those who have asthma. Commissioner Holt inquired what was included in the fifty feet (50') or more from woodlands or brush. Mr. Castner said fifty feet (50') was for a bonfire and the industry standard was fifteen feet (15') from a stricture. He stated a bonfire would require a permit.. Commissioner Holt said he would like to see the Ordinance more . stringent. Chief Mooney said there was a stipulation that the yard waste had to be generated from the property it was being burned on. She inquired if by saying more stringent he meant to prohibit more types of burning or making it more, stringent on the types of burning they're allowing: • ` Commissioner Holt suggested they would know better where to make this more stringent. ~ Mayor Maingot said this was a step in the right direction. He said he would not want to restrict property owners from burning yard waste. CC 02-18-08/50 Commissioner Holt said there w;~s yard waste pickup on Wednesdays. ~ Mr. Castner said when you have open burning of yard waste there would be multiple people burnint; on a Saturday and this could become an issue. He stated most cities do not allow burning of yard waste. Mayor Maingot agreed the fine for the Fire Department to be called out should be higher. He suggested $250 fee. Commissioner Sackett said negligence needed to be defined very clearly. Chief Mooney said her preference would be not to allow any burning in the City. It has been practice in i:he past to allow bonfires. Mr. Castner said some cities only allow open burning for land clearing of construction sites. Deputy Mayor Bundy agreed the fine was not heavy enough and should be $250, plus-the cost of response. IIe stated it should not be due to negligence. They should add lanl;uage stating that should the Fire Department services be renuired to extinguish a permitted burn. He said they had to go under the assumption people were going to be honest. However, they have to plan for the fact that they are not going to be honest. He declared this was a good starting point. Mayor Maingot said they have enough comments to proceed with an Ordinance. 12. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT. No report. 13. CITY CLERK'S REPORT. No report. 14. ADJOURN. Mayor Maingot adjourned the meeting at 10:00 p.m. f c-~ got„dVIayor ATTEST: ~ ,/6!/.~ Sarah M. Mirns, C1VIC City Clerk I . CC 02-18-08/51 This Page Left Blank Intentionally. ,I I I CC 02-18-08/52