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CC02-06-17MinLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida MINUTES February 6, 2017 6:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Joe Durso Deputy Mayor Brian D. Sackett Commissioner John C. Maingot Commissioner Ben Paris Commissioner Mark Weller Dan Langley, City Attorney Jon C. Williams, City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk Troy Hickson, Director of Public Safety Chris Capizzi, Leasure Services Director Lisa Snead, Financial Services Director David Dowda, Interim Police Chief Chris Kintner, Community Development Director Richard Kornbluh, Division Manager Utilities CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Durso called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. OPENING INVOCATION. Pastor Eric Scholten of First Baptist Church of Longwood gave the invocation. 3. THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 4. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS. Ms. Longo read the following announcements. A. The "Downtown Longwood Cruise -In" Car Show will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2017 from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. in the Historic District of Longwood located off of Church Avenue. B. Senior Matinee will be held on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., Longwood City Hall (Chambers),175 West Warren Avenue. This month's feature is Denial CC 02-06-17/1 C. The City of Longwood will host the Historic Longwood Farmers & Artisans Market weekly on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., in the Historic District of Longwood located at the corner of North Ronald Reagan Boulevard and West Church Avenue. 5. PROCLAMATIONS / RECOGNITIONS A. Proclaiming February 6, 2017 as "Lewis E. (Eddie) Smith, Jr. Day". Mayor Durso read the Proclamation and then presented it to Eddie Smith, Jr. Photographs were then taken. B. Presentation of the 371 Annual JOY (Juvenile of the Year) Awards. Neveah Jones-Carrasco Markie Shellhammer Sophie Allen Maria Whalen Daequan Moody Ricky Cole Jacqueline Sierra Maze Jemima Leroy Makayla Long Altamonte Elementary School Greenwood Lakes Middle School Highlands Elementary School Lake Mary High School Lyman High School Milwee Middle School Rock Lake Middle School Winter Springs Elementary School Woodlands Elementary School Mayor Durso read the history of the JOY Awards. Each student was announced and presented with a framed certificate. Photographs were then taken. The Commission recessed at 6:21 p.m. and reconvened at 6:31 p.m. C. The City of Longwood would like to recognize the organizations that volunteered their time and/or services for the Celebrate the Season and Tree Lighting event which occurred on December 2, 2016. Mr. Capizzi, Director of Leisure Services and Ms. Coad, Parks and Recreation Board Member presented the organizations that volunteered their time for the Celebrate the Season and Tree Lighting event with a certificate. Photographs were then taken. D. Nomination of the Beautification Award. Commissioner Weller nominated the Longwood Green Subdivision on Longwood Hills Road for the Beautification Award. Nomination carried by a unanimous voice vote. CC 02-06-17/2 1 6. BOARD APPOINTMENTS. None. 7. PUBLIC INPUT A. Public Participation. None. 8. MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' REPORT District #3. Commissioner Paris said he did a walk-through of a local business, listened to the owner talk about their growth. The business is Refresh Computers. He said they are wanting to expand and are looking forward to working with the City. He said it is always great to hear positive feedback from local business owners who are doing well, looking to expand and intending to expand within the City. He loves that we are cultivating this sort of development and growth within our City. District #4. No report. District #5. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he really appreciates our City Manager. He said there was a resident who had many questions and met with him and the City Manager and they were able to answer all of them with a positive outcome and the City Manager was very accommodating. District #1. Commissioner Maingot said he attended the Council of Local Governments in Seminole County (CALNO) Meeting on February 1' and it was hosted by Casselberry. He said they did a presentation of their impressive Pace -Making Development, which involves two restaurants to be built, and 750 residential units. He said there are fountains and three ponds, an amphitheater, and bases for statues done by local artists, which they will rotate around along a walking path, and is in a garden setting. He said connectivity is their main focus and was an excellent presentation. He said it is all done within a much larger area than what Longwood has, and a much larger budget also. He said this morning they placed a special tonic, fertilizer and mulch around the Senator H, which is our clone from the 3,500 year old original Senator that got burned down. He complimented the two staff members that assisted him, Juan and Edwin. District #2. Mayor Durso said he also went on the tour of Refresh Computers and it is amazing the square footage that this business owner wants to expand to. He said the owner wants to find a larger facility inside the City. He praised staff for the work they have done over the years since he has been elected. He said Habitat for Humanity has a "Day of Service" that is coming up in April and are looking for volunteers to do about six hours of work. He noted tomorrow morning he will be leaving for Washington D.C. for the Federal Action Strike Team for the Florida League of Cities, which he is Chairman of that Committee for the Sate League. He said they have meetings with almost every Congressmen and will be meeting with the entire state delegation about issues that are of interest to cities, including the municipal financing, municipal bonds, the CC 02-06-17/3 tax re -status of municipal bonds, some water and right-of-way issues cities have been facing. 9. ANY ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA. None. 10. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve Minutes of the January 16, 2017 Regular Meeting. B. Approve the Monthly Expenditures for January 2017. C. Approve a change order in the amount of $16,366.98 to purchase order #0160355 for Blue Ox Enterprises related to the construction of the sanitary sewer near Peninsula at Island Lake Subdivision. D. Consider waiving or reducing the rental fees at the Longwood Community Building for Josh Marlette, an employee of the City of Longwood. Deputy Mayor Sackett moved to approve Items I OA through 1 OD as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Maingot and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Read by title only and adopt Ordinance No.16-2106, a Large Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA O1-16) for a property on Bay Meadow Road (continued from the January 161 Meeting). Mr. Langley read Ordinance No. 16-2106 by title only. Mr. Kintner reviewed the Item and stated staff recommends approval of Ordinance No. 16-2106. Mayor Durso opened the public hearing. Ian Crawford, 1805 Meadowbend Drive, Longwood spoke in opposition. He said he has lived next to this property for thirty- seven years and owns a business on Baywood Avenue, south of the property also. He stated he is also the director of the Meadowlands Association, which is the property to the west. He said our zoning is deed -restricted for one house for five to ten acres. He said the density proposed is roughly five houses per acre and this is a factor of 25 times. He said there is a single, long entry road with trees on one side, and he is concerned that in a fire situation there would not be access for emergency vehicles. He stated there is only one way in or out, so it is a hazard if the road is blocked. He said it is a sand road and not a suitable road for lots of traffic. He said it CC 02-06-17/4 needs to be rebuilt with proper drainage if it is going to handle more traffic. He said the junction with Ronald Reagan Boulevard with one-way access is very difficult. He said there are four roads that come together within a hundred feet off this proposed entry, and there is also a rail line. His employees have to exit from Baywood Avenue and it is very dangerous, especially making a left hand turn because there are no traffic lights. He said his recommendation to the City is to consider reducing it to low density, which is still four houses per acre and is still a huge factor of increased density compared to the houses all around. Mr. Kintner addressed his comments stating, regarding the access and the state of the road at Bay Meadow, our engineer has looked at this project in a preliminary basis. He said if there is further growth on that road, which is a County road, we would need to coordinate with the County for improvements, but our engineer is not concerned at this time for supporting this development. He said as far as traffic and the intersection, Bay Meadow is just south of that main intersection with Longwood/Lake Mary and the railroad track and we are not as concerned about that. He said as far as the density goes, the current low density residential for this which the County allows is four units per acre. He said the applicant is seeking Medium Density Residential (MDR-7), which will take them up to seven dwelling units per acre. He said the applicant is going to do less than that partly because they are limited by site constraints. He said they are looking at seventy-two dwellings an acre, over twenty-three acres that would take them under the four dwellings an acre. He said the reason they are seeking the MDR-7 is because of the setbacks, which are five feet from the side. Mayor Durso made comments stating that because of the constraints on the property, the applicant is targeting three to four units per acre based upon what they can do. He said under the County Code, they are allowed to do up to four units per acre. Mr. Crawford said he had one final point, that is one should look at what has been built around it and not just look at the maximum but look at the environment as well. No one spoke else spoke in favor or opposition to the Ordinance. Commissioner Maingot moved to close the public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Weller and carried by a unanimous voice vote. CC 02-06-17/5 Commissioner Maingot moved to adopt Ordinance No. 16- 2106 as presented Item 11A. Seconded by Commissioner Weller and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. B. Read by title only and adopt Ordinance No.16-2107, a Longwood Development Code Amendment increasing impervious surface ratios in residential districts, allowing more flexibility in design review, and other general updates. Mr. Langley read Ordinance No. 16-2107 by title only. Mr. Kintner reviewed the Item and went over an amendment offered by Commissioner Maingot, regarding LDC 3.9.0 C and when retention ponds are located in the front that they be landscaped rather than have a fence. He said it was suggested we put a preference in there for rotunda holly to landscape those retention ponds. He wanted any approval to reflect that amendment and it will be included in the Ordinance. He also went over the impervious surface ratio changes and addressed the concerns expressed at the first public hearing. He said all new subdivisions are required to provide their own stormwater management systems that address stormwater runoff at any impervious surface ratio. As such, the actual amount of impervious surface is essentially immaterial from a stormwater management perspective because the project will need to be designed, reviewed, and approved at a number specified by the City. He said for existing properties, there will be situations where lots that were previously limited by impervious surface ratios from having pools, additions, etc. will now be able to increase the amount of impervious surface coverage. This will result in an increase in impervious surface from what was previously allowed; but in the estimation of the City Engineer and the former Acting City Engineer whose firm prepared the stormwater master plan, any realistic amount of development potential would result in an impact so small to the overall stormwater master plan that it does not warrant any further regional study. As is the case with all current applications, technical review by City staff will ensure that localized impacts to adjacent properties will not occur as a result of any site changes for properties that are already developed. He said as the determination has been that the impact of the proposed ISR increases on the stormwater management system will be negligible, it will not be necessary to subject permits for pools, sheds, additions, and other impervious surface to an additional layer of review related to their individual impacts on the stormwater management system. To truly impact the system, the increase would have to be so dramatic as to be unrealistic. As such, staff believes the review of residential projects will be equitable and will not result in certain subdivisions being shut out CC 02-06-17/6 from the benefit of the increased impervious surface ratios (except in the rare instance where an existing home already exceeds even the proposed allowable impervious surface ratio). Discussion ensued and questions were asked and answered. Mayor Durso opened the public hearing. No one spoke in favor or opposition to the Ordinance. Commissioner Maingot moved to close the public hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Paris and carried by a unanimous voice vote. Commissioner Maingot moved to adopt Ordinance No. 16- 2107 as amended to include the added verbiage to section 3.9.0 Stormwater management C. (4) "rotunda holly the preferred landscape material". Seconded by Commissioner Paris. Discussion ensued and questions about fleet vehicles and outdoor displays/storage were asked and answered. Motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 12. REGULAR BUSINESS A. Commissioner Weller requests a discussion on establishing a procedure for requesting code enforcement lien reductions. Commissioner Weller stated before starting on this discussion, he wanted to be clear that when enforcing code enforcement fines, he wanted to make sure the City will ultimately have tax -producing properties that have been brought up to code. He wanted to be certain when we are using a ten percent rule to reduce the code enforcement fines, that the citizens of Longwood are not subsidizing a property owner that has shirked their responsibility in maintaining their property. He said in future agenda packages, he would like to see a breakdown of all costs the City has incurred for a property owner looking to have code enforcement fines reduced. He said from the City staff costs, special magistrate costs, attorney's costs and miscellaneous costs so when we are considering reducing code enforcement fines, we will know what a minimum reduction in those fines should be. He said when an owner comes before this Commission looking for a reduction in fines, they need to show a need. He gave an example of a property dodging the responsibility of maintaining the property, in some cases, for years. He said this property owner's irresponsibility over the years has potentially affected all the other properties around theirs that have been playing by the rules, possibly CC 02-06-17/7 affecting the surrounding property owners' property value, etc. He said then this owner comes before the Commission claiming if we do not reduce the fines, they can't sell their property. He stated, say the fine was $16,000, and we reduced the fine down to $1,600; then we find that owner, we reduced the fine for, walked away from a closing in excess of $100,000. He said in his opinion that is a bad deal for the citizens of Longwood. If an owner is looking to have his fines reduced, the citizens of Longwood should be able to see how much money the owner is receiving from the sale of his property. He said a real estate transaction typically takes place at a title company or an attorney's office. Before an owner comes to the Commission asking for a reduction in fines, they produce a notarized copy of the closing statement showing what their net proceeds will be. He said where the closing is weeks or months in the future, attorneys and title companies can do a fairly accurate estimate of the sale proceeds we should be able to accept and use it to make a more informed decision on how much the fine should be, or not reduced. He said additionally, he thinks any amount of fine that is over the City's cost is placed in a special beautification fund that could benefit the surrounding property owners of the City maintained property. He said if that is not practical, then use that money to beautify other areas of the City. He said as for buyers looking to buy foreclosed properties and the buyer is looking to have fines reduced for the sale to make sense, then we should treat them differently than a negligent owner and continue to reduce those fines as we have done in the past; taking into consideration covering our costs and/or waiving them with the goal of having a tax -producing property. Commissioner Weller made a motion that requires City staff to include all related costs in the agenda packet for property owners looking to have the code enforcement fines reduced. Property owners that are requesting the City Commission to reduce their code enforcement fines present to the Commission a notarized closing statement prepared by the closing attorney or title company showing what the property owner's net proceeds will be at the closing of their property. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Sackett. Mr. Langley asked, in circumstance where a property owner comes forward for a lien/fine reduction when they are not actively trying to sell their property and do not anticipate there being a closing, that wouldn't be a requirement. Commissioner Weller said hopefully it won't get to that point, but if it does, we are going to have to deal with it like we are dealing with it now. He said his goal is to keep properties up to code, and also, they have the tax producing properties in the City, but he is CC 02-06-17/8 having a real problem with property owners coming before the Commission that are selling their property and it seems like they always come at the last minute, and I don't believe the City is covering our costs. He said fines are supposed to be punitive, and we are letting people off scot-free. If there is truly a need for them to make that sale, then prove it. We owe that to the citizens of Longwood. Commissioner Paris stated he does appreciate where he is coming from. He said this comes up quite a bit, but he would like to caution against a slippery slope here, if we start asking for property owners to release their financials, that is a bit of a reach. He does not think that is going to go over well with most of the businesses and property owners in the City. Second, it is kind of a slippery slope because now we are creating more work for staff, and they will have to bill more work for the cost of doing this work. He thinks what we should do is modify this a bit and have a provision that if staff sees it is fit, they can make a recommendation that we pursue further for large, egregious fines on large pieces of property. He said this may be something we need to go into a little further. He said if we are talking about a duplex on Maine that has $30,000 in fees and just wants to sell, he doesn't know if we want to be committing our staff to that kind of background work, and at the same time, requesting the property owners to bring in proof of what they are going to be making off that sale. He thinks that is a good way of making not only business and property owners in the City upset, and those wanting to come into the City questioning our overreach in that information. He said he is 100 percent in agreement that we need to consider these things moving forward, but these fines and fees are not an income string. He said they are a means to get a property into compliance. He understands we need to cover our costs. He said that is why we have been generally going down to the ten percent rule. He said maybe some are getting off a little scot-free, but what he does not want to see occur is a business or property not sell because we do this, and we affect all the business around it continuously because a piece of property does not get developed. He said if it does not get brought back into compliance, all we have done is exacerbated the problem. He would like to take that into consideration before we make this vote. Commissioner Weller commented that he agrees as far as the businesses having a problem, but would like to consider the business owners around the property that is not in code compliance, and what that property is doing to those business owners that potentially are losing customers and losing money as far as property value because of this rundown property. He also commented on why they have fines and the intention is to have an CC 02-06-17/9 income -producing property and have the property in compliance. He stated in order to protect the citizens of Longwood, someone looking for the Commission to substantially reduce the fines, needs to show a reason why. Commissioner Maingot said he once was on the Code Enforcement Board, and knows that these fines don't accumulate just like that. He said the person is given every opportunity to reconcile the situation long before the escalation occurs. He said when we have people coming before us with such accumulated fines, they decided they were not going to comply. He said the fines being levied are very reasonable. When people don't see fit to make a reconciliation of the fine, the fines just keep multiplying. He stated just to give a ten percent reduction is not proper because we are not really covering our costs. He has listened to both sides of the argument, and he certainly goes along with Commissioner Weller. He stated people expect us to correct situations when they occur and if we have a Board, let us apply what the Board recommends. Commissioner Weller asked Mr. Williams when this comes in front of the Commission, how difficult will it be to have the information on what the City has spent. Mr. Williams said we are going to have to keep an accounting of our time on each one of these situations as we go forward. He stated the change would apply to any new cases and anything that has been on the books for some time, we will have to note when these requests come in. Commissioner Weller said he wants to be clear that if they come with a closing statement, we can still negotiate because ultimately, we want to sell the property. He said we owe it to the citizens if we are going to be waiving substantial fines, we need to see what they are walking away with. Mayor Durso said he agrees in covering the City's costs, and that is something we have needed to quantify for a while. He said what would put him in a better position to support this is if we had a more defined policy for it, not to just bring in the costs and we will talk about it. He also agrees with Commissioner Paris on the overreach of it. He said we owe the citizens the enforcement of the law, and if bringing people into compliance is part of that, that is fine. He said we don't owe them the entire profit off of the sale of a property. He said while this Commission can be reasonable and reasonably -minded toward certain things, I have been very cautious about voting on things that can be used ten years from now by people we don't know yet sitting up here who can CC 02-06-17/10 L maximize whatever we write down. He said those are real things that can happen. He said we have been fixing things for ten years that were done twenty years ago. He said he would be a lot more comfortable if we asked staff to bring forward a formula and a process. A formula that dictates exactly how much the City is asking for service -wise, and if you want as part of the negotiation, to add a penalty on the end, so it is the City's costs, as well as the punitive penalty. He stated flexibility is the most important thing. Discussion ensued on the aspect of the City's overreach asking for a closing statement, as well as asking staff to create a process. Commissioner Weller withdrew his motion. Deputy Mayor Sacket withdrew his second. Commissioner Weller moved to have City staff bring back to the Commission a recommendation for a formula and a process for the Commission to use when mitigating code enforcement fines. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Sackett and motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote. B. Hear a waiver request from Mr. Leonard Nolan of Connolly's Pub for a Temporary Use Permit (TUP O1-17) for a St. Patrick's Day event to be held on Friday, March 17, 2017. Commissioner Maingot moved to approve Item 12B as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Paris and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 13. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Williams said he distributed a budget calendar with dates highlighted. He stated we believe they will work out with your schedules. He said we will have staff contact you to establish consensus on this calendar timeline. If we run into any troubles, we will bring it back for a formal agenda item at the February 20t' Commission Meeting. 14. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT. No report. 15. CITY CLERK'S REPORT. No report. 16. ADJOURN. Mayor Durso adjourned the meeting at 7:41 p.m. CC 02-06-17/11 Jo r o ayor ATTEST: Miche e o Clerk J CC 02-06-17/12