An Ordinance By The Board Of County Commissioners Of Pasco County, Florida, Repealing Pasco County Code Of Ordinances Section 82-1 (Roadway Solicitation And Commercial Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way Prohibited) And Replacing The Section With Regulations Relating To Dangerous Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way; Providing For The Prohibition Of Stopping Or Standing By Pedestrians In A Median; Providing For The Prohibition Of Physical Interaction Between A Pedestrian And An Occupant Of A Motor Vehicle That Is Not Legally Parked; Providing For The Prohibition Of Commercial Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way; Providing For Enforcement, Penalties And Remedies For Violation; Providing For Applicability; Providing For Repealer; Providing For Severability; Providing For Inclusion Into The Code; Providing An Effective Date

11:31Item P sixty two was published in the Tampe Times on February sixth, twenty twenty two.

11:36Thank you. Patrick Moore with the Pasco County Attorney's Office. Uh P sixty-two, this is a public hearing. It's a first and only public hearing on this matter. Um I'm gonna read into the record the title. It's in an ordinance by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, repealing Pasco County Code of Ordinances, Section 82-1, Roadway Solicitation and Commercial Use of Public Rights of Way Prohibited, and replacing the section with the regulations relating to dangerous use of public rights of way. Providing for the prohibition

12:06of stopping or standing by pedestrians in a median providing for the prohibition of physical interaction between a pedestrian and an occupant of a motor vehicle that is not legally parked, Providing for the prohibition excuse me, the prohibition of commercial use of public rights of way and providing enforcement Penalties and remedies for violation, providing for applicability, providing for repealer, providing for severability, providing for inclusion into the code, providing an effective date. And

12:37I'll open this up for public comment if there are any.

12:43Madam Chair?

12:44Um yes.

12:45I I'm just glad we're doing this.

12:47Yeah.

12:47It's we we need it done. I know when I first came on the commission, it was mostly the talks about the West Side, right? It just was. Well guess what? It's it's moved on over. It's we have we're seeing quite a bit of that in um in my district as well. even along the uh you know the fifty six corridor. Um so it's not um only again on the west side of the county. It's It's spread out. I think we're getting a lot of the people from uh Hillsboro that are moving

13:18Kind of a cross the county line. and uh coming into the and to the Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes and Lutz areas as well. So I mean kudos to you. Thanks for working on this. I know it's gonna obviously uh assist and help the Sheriff's Office as well, um, because their hands have been tied. So I'm sure they're very appreciative as well as we are. And I see some citizens nodding their heads going, We like this, so

13:43Commissioner Mariano and then Commissioner Fitzpatrick.

13:46Yeah, thank you. Uh you know I'm so appreciative that Lee County actually brought this thing forward to actually make it work. And Patrick, thanks for working with uh our staff. Jeff, thanks for helping move this thing along because this is a very, very important ordinance. It affects a lot of different things. Safety's number one. I I think you had the video I I sent over to you that shows a guy walking in the middle of cars on US nineteen. Um All the way through looking for it. There there are street corners everywhere. You hear some of them talking about making six hundred dollars a day doing it. Uh one

14:16guy watched some guy finish with a day, got through doing his Pan Hamlin and get into a new Cadillac. And went away. But here's a guy just just the other day, right down on You was nineteen. You play can play it, play?

14:41It was so fast he couldn't catch him on camera.

14:45Alright, So while while she tries to get that up, um, who can enforce this, Patrick? And by the way, thank you so much for bringing this forward.

14:53Certainly, absolutely. Um yeah, so so cordon for code enforcement could potentially enforce it, but the main enforcing tool would would likely need to be the sheriff's office. Um but just d due to the safety concerns of enforcing it along the roadway, the potential that it could be enforced. enforced upon um interactions with the drivers and pedestrians. Um you know obviously that's that's a question for the Sheriff's Office and and the Sheriff as far as what they intend to do and the way it's being enforced and what resources

15:23that that they'll spend towards um um enforcing it. So I I think the Sheriff's Office um does have the ability to enforce that.

15:33Okay. I mean I I plan to draft a letter for in my district for all the people at either have reached out to me or the civic associations out there to let them know this is now in place. Uh I would like to see my code enforcement officer in my district focus on this for like the next ninety days. I mean any time they see something, any time they get a call on it, they go out there. They let people know what's going on, just to like nip this early and I think it'll it'll solve it quick. If we just kinda like let it linger, it may not be s so good. So if our code people can

16:03go out, assist with the Sheriff's Office, so be it. I think it's something that if the when the people know they can't do business in the middle of the right of way, I think they stop. I think that's that that will solve the problem. When the when the source goes away of the of the money I think this this problem will get eliminated a lot quicker.

16:24It makes it regardless of the reason why someone's in the road, right regardless of the reason why they're in the median um or interacting with vehicles, it it m it's dangerous. So regardless of the reasoning for for that occurring, it it makes it prohibited, so

16:38Yeah. And I and I talked to Pat Phillips. I think Sally, you had a meeting with him a a little bit ago about this type of thing. And I and I think if we Can alert the people who no may not be aware this ordinance is gonna take effect and the the fact that it they cannot do business Some type of warning thing they can hand to someone that does it. We don't want to give them a ticket, we just want to give them a warning. This is now illegal. not to do it. I think that'll help get the word out, spread the word and hopefully this thing solves this issue.

17:10it's illegal for both parties. Um I think it's really important to focus on this also comes back with Vision Zero because when we ran the numbers for the top ten intersections for fatalities and serious injuries for pedestrians and bicyclists, so specifically to pedestrians, we had a hundred and six deaths last year with auto accidents and pedestrians, but six out of ten of those top intersections are on nineteen. So

17:40tr really trying to focus on safety as well as stop the interaction between the vehicles. Thank you.

17:47Commissioner Oakley.

17:49Yeah. I appreciate your bringing this forward. It's it's something that's need to be done for a while. On the east side I don't see it as much. I do see it every now and then, but it's not as bad as it is on the west side of Rock County. But it's something that needs to be done. So I I appreciate it. And with that, uh, uh you haven't taken public comment yet.

18:09Oh, okay,

18:10excuse me.

18:10Once so last night um Was it last night or the night before? Driving home up nineteen to Gulf Harbor's in the dark. There was an elderly woman. Walking the median. um dr and not dr you know, dressed in dark colors and it was hard even hard hard to see her. And then again, just like you, I had someone walking down In the middle of the road. And uh you know US nineteen has been labeled one of the most dangerous roads in Tampa Bay, if not the the state, if

18:40not the country. And um and I it is gonna come your way, so I'm hoping that I'm hoping that this ordinance can can help stop. Um the the tragic um things that are happening out on our roadways. But do we have anyone in the public that wishes to comment on this ordinance?

18:59No one had signed up for this um in person and we have no one on WebEx. Okay. Commissioner Oakley, your motion? Move approval.

19:05Second.

19:06All in favor?

19:07Roll call vote.

19:09District one, Commissioner Oakley.

19:16District two, Commissioner Moore. Aye. District four, Commissioner Fitzpatrick. Aye. District five, Commissioner Mariano. Aye. District three, Chairwoman Starkey. Aye.

19:26Okay.