Public comment on county business and agenda items
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
It is a stretch of the recording that this archive identified as a separate matter — a call to order, a recess, or something taken up that the agenda does not list. There is no official title, no staff recommendation and no disposition, because the county never recorded one. Everything below is inferred.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Aug 8, 2023
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Aug 8, 2023
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 18m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 90% of 69 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Here. Thank you. Now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board or any other business before the board's purview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First we will take public comment from those who are here in person. Then we will take a public comment from those who are pre-registered for our WebEx link and are currently on queue. We request that when you address the board, comments are not directed personally against a commissioner or team member, but rather directed at
the issues. This provides mutual respect between the board members and the public. After stating your name and address for the clerk, a three-minute timer will be activated. After two minutes, a single beep will indicate you have one minute left. When your time is up, two beeps will sound and you should close your comments. Webex participants will be disconnected automatically when their time is up. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up for public comment?
Mr Chair, we do have um individuals signed up in person. No one is on WebEx for public comment.
Okay. First person.
All right, we have John Tomsu, followed by Chelsea Waller.
I'm sorry, you may begin.
Um John Topsew [address removed].
Okay.
Thank you. Um so I'm here to talk about uh items C ten and C fourteen uh on the consent agenda. Um basically before I begin I just want to reiterate like I always do uh special thanks to Tammy Snyder, Mr. Nandez, uh Mr. Goldstein. Um they put up with a lot of questions from regular citizens who don't know the process, don't know the ins and outs of the the planning and building departments, etc. Um so I just wanted to say thank you to them. And then also thank you to the commissioners. Um there's one message that I can leave for all of the constituency
and the citizens of Pasco County is how easy it is to reach out to the commissioners and work towards solving problems and obviously trying to come up with amicable solutions. Uh this is one of those cases where with Seven Oaks we've had a long time working on this, even before I became a member of Seven Oaks. Um but obviously there's a lot of people in Seven Oaks that I represent that still feel um the uh the mediation or the agreement um doesn't meet what they believe is how Seven Oaks was supposed to be from
a character and consistency perspective. Uh they still believe that the way that things are is the way things should be going forward. Um of course we still recognize property owners' rights and individual rights. For property owners. Uh but this is one of those unique situations. Um the only thing that I wanted to bring up on this is the special language that's used. Again, citizens sometimes don't understand the nuance of why things are written the way they are. Um but one of the special characteristics in the agreement, the settlement agreement, is in the last paragraph where it continues
to talk about a site plan that's two decades old. Um I don't know when site plans expire. To figure out if this one ever did or not. Maybe we just don't know the right questions to ask, but there are some questions about what it is that the site plan reference always comes up means. Maybe there's something hidden in that definition that the citizen just doesn't understand. And we always welcome your input and review in these types of matters. And again, I just wanted to thank you all. again for being so
patient and understanding and working with us. Take care.
Thank you. Ms. Waller followed by Doris Carroll.
Good morning, Chelsea Waller Dothard with Waller Law on behalf of Seven Oaks D D D. My address is 380-38 Meridian Avenue, Dade City, Florida, 33525. I'm here on C10 and C14 with Seven Oaks. In 2018, this Board of County Commissioners denied the applicant's request to rezone S12B from recreation to professional office use. A few of those reasons for the denial was that number one, the proposed office use wasn't compatible with the
existing development patterns of Seven Oaks. But the office use doesn't meet the criteria for a small-scale office development and a residence. residential future land use designation. And that the denial accomplishes a legitimate public purpose recognized by the comprehensive plan because there was public reliance upon the existing recreational center zoning. Here we are again, five years later, and the applicant is requesting the exact same relief they did in 2018 that was ultimately denied. What is different now? What's
different is after the board's denial, the county and the applicant entered into a mediated agreement that created a list of primary and accessory and ancillary uses that they deemed recreational. Some of those uses under the agreement for primary was a pool hall and a bowling alley, and one of the accessory and ancillary uses is a dry cleaning facility. So those are commercial uses and this agreement scared the residents of Seven Oaks. They don't want a main event type business in
the middle of Seven Oaks, next to the clubhouse, in the middle of their residences. And this is the reason some residents reached out to you all and said they would prefer to have office, because the original mediated agreement was far worse than office use. But that's not the test here. The reasons the Board of County Commissioners denied the request in twenty eighteen still stand and the applicant's request should once again be denied. Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Ms. Doris Carroll followed by Jodie Armstrong.
Good morning, Doris Carroll, [address removed]. On uh Saturday, August 5th, the County Commissioners and County officials received an email from the American Indian Movement of Florida, that's Florida AIM, as well as the Florida Indigenous Alliance, which is a coalition of Indigenous organizations working for the rights of Indigenous peoples. I'm here about the Anclope River Park development. Uh
I will speak about some of the highlights of the email. It is appreciated that the Pasco County and Parks placed a hold on the development plans. However, I have a meeting scheduled this uh on August 15th with Christina Porta about the draft uh proposal, the uh data three uh recovery uh plan. So The two indigenous organizations are quite concerned. They uh believe that it would
not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of Pasco County ordinance, to wit, Pasco Ordinance 809.7 requires avoidance, minimization, and mitigation in that order of preference of adverse impacts on significant archaeological resources. The report provided by Stantec referred not only to the five sites within the development plan area, but also the likelihood of indigenous cemeteries within the footprint of
the planned development. Moreover, Pasco County Ordinance 809.9 deems that if an unmarked human cemetery is identified by a qualified professional, then the cemetery will be protected pursuant to this section. Stantec was hired by Pasco County as qualified professionals, and they have advised you that indigenous human remains are likely within the footprint of Development. Be further advised the Antiquities Act of
1906 prohibits excavations or destruction of antiquities which would require, which would occur should development proceed as originally proposed on the Anclo River Park. The American Indian Indian Religious Freedom prohibits prevention. preventing indigenous peoples from access to sacred and ceremonial sites, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act calls for the protection of indigenous cemeteries. In
closing, I want to say to you, how would you feel? If there was a decision made by a group of people to bulldoze the National Arlington Cemetery. To the indigenous, this is the same thing. Please respect their sacred burial grounds and stop this development. Thank you.
Thank you.
Jodie Armstrong file followed by Michael Siafoni.
Hi, I'm Jody Ar Jodi Armstrong, Director of Outreach for Disability Achievement Center, located at 12552 Belcher Road South in Largo. Disability Achievement Center is the Center for Independent Living that serves Pinellas and Pasco County, serving people of all ages with any type of disability. One in seven people have a mobility impairment and I don't know about you but I moved here because of our pr pristine beaches and one in seven people aren't getting out to them. I was one of the advocates behind the push behind the beach access mats that
you have uh really I'm so excited that you've done this. Um it provides equal access to anyone uh to anyone uh to be able to w uh enjoy our world class beaches. This effort began over four and a half years ago and now there's a total of twenty nets in Pen in Penellas and Pasco with five more to go. I specifically want to recognize grant writer Katie McMillan for being so proactive by reaching out to the Forward Foundation shortly after the funding announcement
was made. And the funding announcement was originally offered to Pinellas County only, but Katie took the initiative to reach out to Pasco, to the for to the funder and said, hey, would you fund a couple for Pasco? And they said yes. So we're here now and Northside Engineering did all of the engineer drawings pro bono. So there was a lot of effort behind this push to get these mats in. Um prior to this effort, Pasco County had only one at Sunwest Park. And thanks
to the generous funding from the Forward Foundation, you have now have five access mats at Hudson, Strickland Park, Moon Lake, Ancloak Key, and Reese Key Park. Um and as part of the funding agreement, Pasco County agrees to maintain the mats so they can be used to their fullest extent. There's a lot of things that Penel that Pasco County can do to be more inclusive. And the beach access map was just one leap forward in that effort. Want to plant a seed for future efforts towards all-terrain vehicles
for the nature trails and haptic vests for uh the deaf so they can hear uh and experience concerts. So those are couple ideas that are just out there. And um Well hopefully that you'll be open to other suggestions and things that uh may be may help make Pen Pasco County more inclusive and I'm willing to help you in any way possible. Thank you for supporting this effort to make Pasco County more inclusive. This initiative
shows that every single person in Penellas in Pasco County counts. Thank you.
Before you leave, ma'am, if you would call in My assistant? Would you just give her your card so I can get w get with you? You brought up a couple of ideas I want to talk about. Thank you.
Michael Siafoni followed by Dylan Rich.
I would l first like to thank you for having me. I have a mobile out speech because I'm the person I Came up with the movie map thing down in Pasco uh
excuse me.
I'm sorry, sir.
First
before you start, uh just your name and address for the record and then you can begin.
Michael Chafon. Okay. Uh [address removed].
Thank you.
All right. In the great state of Florida, people come from near and far to enjoy our Gulf beaches. Moby Mats are a nonstick permanent pathway to the beach safely and easily for people with disabilities and our aging community. According to the C D C twenty-eight percent of adults in Florida live with a disability or
are mobility challenge. I've learned To never give up on something you truly believe in. That's what us TBI people do. Think of how many children, veterans, and civilians alike would be able to take these mats down to the water and sit with their families in wheelchairs and comfortably enjoy the beaches of Pinellas
and Pasco County. I am the whole I and the whole disability community will use these 15 mats in Penellus and five in Pasco. That was just stated by by uh Jody. Thank you. Thank you to the Forward Foundation for funding them all. They believed in me. Thank you. I
just wanted you guys to hear that 'cause they never put it on T V. I always try to give it when I'm giving a presentation at the beach. Thank you. Thank you.
Dylan Rich? And Mr. Chair, that's the last one I had signed. Okay, right. Mm-hmm.
I have a PowerPoint sent to Gina.
Okay.
Is there someone else I can try to send it to?
Jim Scoot access to genetics.
I'm gonna find it's not
Yeah.
No, I gotta look forward, so you guys gotta move on and come back to new parents.
Do you have to move on and come back to meeting out?
Is there anyone else with public comment?
PowerPoint to come. Is anyone else in the public like to address the board?
Does it?
Good morning. Jennifer Kerouac, Pastor Jen, Shady Hills Mission Chapel, 15925 Green Glen Lane. I just come before you today and I had the pleasure of of speaking with, you know, some folks last night that you know I'm very thankful that I did and Some of the perspective of the Shady Hills community and and the road situation within Shady Hills. We had gained some learning, and and
so I come to you today, and what was put on my heart was simply let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. And so I just come before you today asking that your yes be. Yes and your no be no for the greater good of the people of Pasco County. um you know that that where there are monies that that come from um particular developments where there are you know monies that are out there that are um
to go to improvement of roads that where there is a need for infrastructure that it would be done. And um because it seems that you know the information that we received last night was that the significant issue that the community has with regards to the roads is an accountability and a responsibility for Pasco County and that I was encouraged to come before each of you here today
to request that that the that the county uh step up to um do the roads to get a road study Um someone who had been in tr the traffic situation for a long time had encouraged us to ask Commissioner Chairman Mariano to um get the engineering folks involved, the head of engineering and uh the county administrator. And so that's all I'm here today
um with a smile on my face, knowing that I am putting my faith in in this group here, that that I know that your yes will be yes and your no will be no. Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, sir. PowerPoint and out we need to get going. Sir?
All right. Anyone else for speak to public comment? Uh so this will be the last speaker.
Did you want to speak anyway, sir?
No, I