Commissioner reports on trails, cogongrass, Anclote park

1:10:25That'll close our regular business. Now we'll go to committee reports. Commissioner Weightman.

1:10:28Passed.

1:10:29I uh sent Sonia some photos. Um I don't know which one's gonna come up. Um okay I did my uh CEO tour. I guess I'm not getting my picture from my husband. I know he sent it to me somewhere. So um this is us actually on the roof of the Duke Power Plant over there in Enclote. We first went to um Amp skills, 'cause some of these manufacturers had not been there. You might recognize Dan Tang from Uh yeah yeah

1:11:00and um Art Hadekee who used to be vice president of Westinghouse Corporation um so former uh manufacturer um And uh we've got Mettler Toledo, we've got a lot of other companies represented. The woman in the front is uh U S. Water. Salia. And um at Amskills we're working on tailoring a program for US water and other water utilities. So that they can keep their talent

1:11:30pipeline going. Um That was pretty crazy going up that high. And uh so after Amskills and after the Duke power plant, um which is now a natural gas plant. It used to be oil. Um We went to They enclowed uh Include um Lighthouse. And okay, this just blew my mind. That is the bulb. That runs the lighthouse, the the beam, which you can't see for 14

1:12:00miles, 16 miles on a clear day. Is that isn't that insane? I I I just had to take a picture of that. Um So um these are some townhomes. After our last meeting Uh I was went to shops at Oakley Groves. Um I just I actually went to look at the apartments that have been added back there. And Um I saw these townhomes. They're not connected in any way to all the retail there, which is a very sad. Oh, I think there's a pedestrian

1:12:31gate. Um but I had to drive all over the place to figure out how to get into these But I wanted you to see what a single car garage with a double car driveway What that kind of community ends up looking like. And I want you to notice the trees that are in there. Those are crepe myrtles. And so if it if this is You know, if this was sixty to eighty percent AMI workforce housing. I'd say, uh but this is market rate.

1:13:01And this is not good for us.

1:13:04These are case of the old rules?

1:13:05These are just uh wait, uh can you go back? These are under development now. I think Brad looked it up. Um

1:13:15Um but I think we allow the great myrtles right now. So

1:13:21Hi, Brad, Tipp and Play. Uh I don't even know where I am anymore. Beltman Reed apartment. Um yes, uh crate myrtles are not allowed in the buffer along the roadways as a shade tree, but they are still allowed on lots where they want to use them as decorative trees or understory trees.

1:13:38Okay, so I don't even call that even shouldn't be a tree. So I would like to say now we need to strike that from that opportunity. Because that's what that looks like. There only have leaves on it through the summer. And the rest of the year they are bare and bald. Um And That is just I n for me that's a that's a Okay, I'm known for just hitting it with a hammer. Not the most attractive townhome complex.

1:14:09Um then this is in Wesley Chapel. There's another picture. Not the not that one. Didn't I send another one? You don't like that one? Uh there so there's another view of it. And you can just see. What we've done and Okay, now you can go to their marketing one. Which is the one with that's what they That's what they show is what they're gonna look like. That's not what we got.

1:14:36Um So just uh if I can just clarify that, I understand your concern in that, but these were literally just constructed and those they're still under construct. Brand new plants. They take time to mature. That's not what it's gonna look like forever.

1:14:50Brad, they only have leaves on them during the summer. Does crepe myrtles drop in September, October? And they don't come back till May.

1:15:00I disagree with that because I do have a crepe myrtle tree in my front yard that is higher than my house and

1:15:08There are there are certain species that there are

1:15:11a few species. I have one in my front, a queen, and Sally got um cost me f you know, four hundred dollars for that tree. That's not what they're putting it in here. Um and it did get hit by the frost. But I just

1:15:23Our our issue in these types of spaces and we we've talked about this pretty repeatedly is we've we've tried to move the the powerful root trees to places they won't destroy the infrastructure, um which pretty much leaves you with the understory trees and stuff like that. Yes. So the roots of these we don't have a way right now to say it has to be a palm. Or it can't be a crepe myrtle in in the way our code is written. So if that is something that you want to pursue. this board wants to pursue,

1:15:53we can do that. I will say the development community generally pushed back on us when we kind of talked about that originally because they're they are a very useful tree and they're very colorful tree and and they work as an ornamental tree in lots of locations where other trees just can't work. Um so uh you know if you want to pursue that we can certainly I do because when it's

1:16:14the only thing, it's not enough. It's just not enough. Um palm tree will fit just fine right there.

1:16:22Is that uh I mean I could we can talk about it.

1:16:24Does anyone else agree?

1:16:25Well I'll agree with you as far as I think if uh if it is a understory tree that doesn't carry height, it loses its leaves. I mean I look at There's Lugust.

1:16:37Like all these trees, they're dead. in the prime of the winter season. Right? And I I like that we put all the palm trees we did because they look better all year round. So I I I do agree with that point. I will say this though, as Brad you just touched on a little bit. when you have limited amounts of concrete around you or limited amount of open space around you, the palm trees work better. And frankly, I think that's a great look right there.

1:16:59Yeah. Makes a huge difference the way.

1:17:01So we're okay with palm trees on no front.

1:17:03Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

1:17:05You heard that. Yeah, I was I was

1:17:09w the best if we make it as an option

1:17:13I I think it's a mandate's worthy of discussion.

1:17:19Well or if they wanted to offset every other. I like this look, but I mean if both of them work for whatever reason

1:17:26I I think you could I think there are understory trees as well that don't drop their leaves like a Lugustrum tree. Um there is a bottle brush tree. There's other Well I have 'em

1:17:38Yeah no. Invasive. We don't want them.

1:17:41Bottle brush ours? Okay. But a legustrum isn't. And um I you know, but certainly not a crepe myrtle, not a tree that drops her Not a understory that drops their leaves. And Um but if you know, they can do it with palm trees. There's there's little maintenance in this kind of situation, I think that's what they should be doing.

1:18:01So we can we can start working on that as as far as a a code change, um that will take time. So the way to address that would be in the MPUDs as they come through. Yeah. Um, you know, adding that language to say that, you know, in these spaces in front of townhomes they should be something else, whatever it is that the board wants. But

1:18:22Mr Chairman if if I can add on on to this, 'cause there's another issue that that is is been bubbling up, which is what your and this is a perfect example, what you are shown in pictures at hearings, what Brad is shown on final site plans, when it gets over to Nick's section at survey. And engineering Well. Transportation engineering department.

1:18:53Um They only bond the l land development code required Landscaping. They don't bond what they are showing on their plans.

1:19:03Yeah.

1:19:03So there's no

1:19:08if they don't put it in other than a code violation for not filing their site plan There's no there there is no bonding mechanism for those trees to be installed and When the inspectors go out They're inspecting Not what's I'm What I'm told is they're inspecting for what is land development code required, not what they have promised on their MPUD.

1:19:33So what I'm hearing is we might need a bond for the separate bond for the landscaping.

1:19:38Well most of them are posting separate bonds for landscaping, but what they're posting is

1:19:46I see the engineering estimates all the time that it's only that which is required for the land by the land development code.

1:19:52So how do you recommend we fix this problem?

1:19:56I

1:19:57this is a this is a pretty large scale problem because the the bonds would be related to individual properties that are sold with those homes. Uh those units. Well no that they're they're posting

1:20:08they're posting for their subdivisions.

1:20:10Right, but they have to carry that bond until it's all done. Right. And all done. And they may be selling units before their last building is done. They're not gonna do really bonds on these very individual units like that. It's a complicated issue. We've had some discussions about how to deal with it, how to deal with street trees too, in front of these locations where you have driveways because they get damaged in the construction of the home. If you put them in early, if you bond them, you can't get rid of the bond until everything is built at the very end. Uh so there's some kind of complex issues and we've been working with the the stakeholders

1:20:41on how to figure that out. We don't really have a good solution yet, but we're still working to try and figure that out.

1:20:46You know, um I get that it can be very hard for staff to go back out, make sure every tree front has a I mean a tree in it. Look look what happened in our county administrators development in Bexley, where Blocks of trees never made it in, right? I mean no one caught it. So How do we hold someone accountable until everything is done?

1:21:13So I'm not sure exactly where you live in Bexley, but most of most of Bexley was actually done back when our code still allowed for those lot trees to be anywhere on the line.

1:21:22I think. They went back in after we

1:21:27Yeah. But it was years later.

1:21:32So Commissioner Starkey is asking a great question. How do we make it so that when someone's gonna m move into one of these homes that the landscaping, at least in front of their house, is done.

1:21:45Want and have well we'll work with the building

1:21:49construction team. I see Roy Royce got some thoughts.

1:21:53Mr. Chairman

1:21:53Mariano Right now. When a single family building application comes in, they supply plot plan that shows all the trees, which is verified when the application is accepted. So ads.

1:22:11And we're checking to see if the recorder's picking me up there.

1:22:14I think we need to change those. I don't know why you have to press the button.

1:22:19So we don't have money.

1:22:21Well I want that too. Whisper at Randur, you can tell the wake up.

1:22:30Rolling a bus. So final inspection before CO, our structural inspectors go out and and get that plot plan out of the permit box and go, There's three trees on here. Okay, there's there's your three trees.

1:22:48But obviously they're not doing that.

1:22:49They are doing that.

1:22:51Oh.

1:22:51What is missing? And we had this discussion with the Builders Association this this past Monday, or excuse me. One day was the plot plans don't go in the right-of-way, they go to the back of the sidewalk. And so the street trees that are included on the engineering plans aren't captured in that plot plan. So we had a discussion with the four or five people in the building set. And ask what you know, what's the expense for you to extend your

1:23:21survey to take in the whole lot, including that four foot or six-foot collar around the street that's technically in the right-of-way? And the answer was it costs us like an extra eight dollars. So we're working with the Builders Association to get the word out to when they make their plot plans, it will have those street trees. on the plot plan so our final inspection we're captured.

1:23:45Okay, that's good.

1:23:46Now that that's just one step. I will tell you also a major discussion for what we're having right now. We're having this this this process mapped through my team. is is to how we create a database everybody can see when MPUD conditions are made, how are those then transferred and accessible to the people doing the horizontal construction plan review? And then how are those conditions and the approval letter can those be seen by the BCS

1:24:16people who are doing the final uh the final assessment of the mobility fees? So we we want to have a unified condition of approval database that is accessible for everybody. And and right now we we kinda have that, but it's not great. And so that doesn't answer your entire question, but it it gets us moving in that

1:24:38direction. Sounds good. I'm happy. Good. Good job. Thank you, all of you.

1:24:43Uh before we go a little further, I'm leaving just item th R thirty-eight. Uh Keith Iowa's gonna be presenting that today. But with Commissioner Oakley not here, Mr. Bradford not as well, uh he's gonna bring that back at another time.

1:24:55Yeah. Um okay, and then I have trails. Let me think what I was gonna say about trails.

1:25:04Gosh, I can't even remember what I was gonna say. Oh, yes. So I went and had lunch with my with Charles Hines from Trust for Public Lands, and and Nick joined us. And I and how many people does Sarasota County have?

1:25:19Population?

1:25:19Yeah.

1:25:20Three fifty.

1:25:21Are they as big as us?

1:25:22No, they're not as big as uh they they never were as big as

1:25:25us.

1:25:26I think they're they were

1:25:31Okay, so I said, you know, that was a really pretty bike pad. Overpass that you showed us, how did that get who paid for that? And he said that they paid for that one with Obama dollars because they had a shovel ready project. And I said, Is that the only one you have in your county? He said, No, no, we have at least four or five with two more getting ready to go. And I said, and who paid for those? And he said, D O T. 'Cause they don't they they they don't want their people crossing at grade

1:26:01on busy highways and roads. So what is wrong with us? What is what is it about us? Are we not asking right? that our citizens have to pay Out of our own penny for Pasco.

1:26:19State Road fifty two, State Road fifty four. Um, it's just I don't get it and I'm really hoping something's gonna change here. And if we have to go to Tallahassee and speak to the head of DOT. Actually, I'm having dinner tomorrow with Secretary Prasad, who used to be head of DOT. and I just wanna understand what Why? We Have three times the population, maybe twice the population.

1:26:46Four eighty nine is their is their current population. They are the fourteenth largest county in the state.

1:26:54But they're behind us.

1:26:56So he's getting me all the information on who paid for those. Nick Nick's gonna work on that. And um also in Pinellas County, where they have more of them under construction as we speak, and I think the state is paying for 'em. um on the uh coast to coast trail. And so I just Willie I'm gonna bang that gong until the cows come home or whatever. Um So um I did drive State Road 52 with um DOT last

1:27:26week. Uh we started in Angeline and went all the way almost to 301 looking at the Kogan grass. And um they're gonna come and make a quick presentation to us in Dade City. And I already talked to the county administrator and we'll have some staff there and they're talking about how they deal with it. And they had some good ideas for us and W um and you'll hear their plans for how to deal with it, but The problem is getting worse and worse and worse and we we really have to address it. I put holiday oh,

1:27:56holiday park. Okay, so Um we did get our thirty percent uh drawings now of the Anklet River Park. As I mentioned before and Um Keith and I will be holding a um what's probably gonna be a very raucous town hall um at the Civic Center on April fifteenth. So and we'll go over the plans and I think everyone will be happy to see Four hundred parking spaces have come out of there. And there's a lot less pavement and a lot of trees

1:28:27going in being saved. And um so we'll try and move that ball forward.

1:28:32Oh my god.

1:28:33Yeah.

1:28:34Hello?

1:28:35I I think there was something else but I'll reserve the right to come back in a second. Oh yes, Ralph Lair. Can I can I go on? Go ahead. Um I heard from Katie who I think left left a little early, she went to the Kona meeting. And she said there is a bill going through that preempts us from regulating Trucks. and commercial vehicles and people's front yards. And I wondered if you'd had a chance to do any more research on that one.

1:29:03Okay. That was the H O A bill.

1:29:05I'm not sure if that's it. Oh it is? Okay. Because what if you don't have an HOA?

1:29:11It only addressed HOAs. For the first time ever, the legislature actually addressed an HO uh HOA issues. Uh and within that They did put um uh an issue in there regarding parking that HOAs could not um deny uh individuals bringing in their work vehicles. Crazy I think it was geared toward Law enforcement vehicles. But the way they wrote the uh the legislation was up to 26,000

1:29:42pounds. and a certain class category. But I think it's uh you know, it it's gonna be your individuals that may have like a county car or a work car or or police you know, like I said, a police vehicle. Uh those were being denied by HOAs in their name.

1:29:58Okay, so I thought Katie uh and Nat Kona they had they were alarmed because it could be the front cab of a uh

1:30:05it could go up to that

1:30:05height because it went up to twenty

1:30:07six thousand y feet in a certain category that they

1:30:11allowed to so f if you drive, you know, what do they call those long haul cab things?

1:30:20No, like if you you're you're hauling uh merchandise.

1:30:23But

1:30:23it had to be a

1:30:24two axle vehicle. Now that the if it's over the two axles it was not.

1:30:27But you could have the front of it in your driveway now in a neighborhood. Ralph. I think we should oppose this.

1:30:32Ralph.

1:30:33Yes.

1:30:34Was it a preemption strictly on HOAs or so their land development code would still control? Right.

1:30:42It only mentions HOAs, you know, within it. So

1:30:44So we can still say they can't be in a neighbour any neighborhood?

1:30:49if it only preempted HOAs from regulating it then then your land development code wouldn't be affected. If they if they did both of us then.

1:31:01I mean and she said school buses and I mean great these are pretty big things. I mean the Kona was very alarmed. So I n I I don't want to see that in the neighborhoods.