AP9 Nest Hockey Academy MPUD rezoning

1:58:14Um the last item is A P nine. It's on your addendum agenda.

1:58:20Okay.

1:58:22Good afternoon everybody. Jamie Snyder, Planning and Development.

1:58:25Hey Jeremy.

1:58:26Happy May the Fourth be with you.

1:58:31That's right.

1:58:34I was wanna say and also with you like the Catholic Church.

1:58:37Yeah, you know you're you're right with me, yeah.

1:58:44Alright.

1:58:47I have for you today the Nest Hockey Academy, M PUD, PDD 237624.

1:58:56Here is their location map. That's kind of a close view. So I made another one for ya. The um subject parcel is up at the top in the light blue color. We have the I-75 on the west, Overpass Road, up into Elam Road on the south.

1:59:15Proposed as a rezoning request from an AC Agricultural Zoning District to an MPUD Master Plan Unit Development District to allow the development of a hockey academy with a maximum of 150 students and associated infrastructure. The Henderson Ice Rink was approved under a special exception designation to allow the use, but it did cap the student and employee population until such time as a property is rezoned to the requested MPUD to allow a hockey academy with the associated activities and the infrastructure. The

1:59:46applicant is also seeking the following variation from the Land Development Code. Section 402.5D requires a 1,000-foot distance between a school, place of worship, or a park for alcohol consumption and sales. And as this academy expects to host tournaments and other such sporting functions where alcohol may possibly be served, the applicant wishes a waiver from this requirement.

2:00:11The PDD has no concerns recommending approval of this distance waiver for this MPUD. The waiver is for the distance requirement only. If alcohol sale or consumption is to occur on the site, the applicant must still obtain the administrative use permit per section 402.5. D. This MPUD is within the business core of Connected City and the Connected City Comp Plan requires a true mix of uses within walkable distances and that could be hindered by a distance requirement such as

2:00:41that. So as such, the MPUDs within Connected City are typically granted this particular distance waiver. Additionally, the unique nature of this site is likely to promote tourism by hosting. events that may benefit from or require the availability of alcohol either at or near the site.

2:01:01And here's our master plan and we have a vision road. Uh running along the um west there, going diagonally.

2:01:13The surrounding area is in transition via existing development approvals. We have the Murata Connected City MPUD, Epperson Ranch CC MPUD, April CC MPUD, LSCC MPUD as planned pursuant to the Connected City Overlay. Vision Road AF bisects the property and the applicant is required to dedicate the right-of-way for it and to connect to it once it is constructed and open to the public. And that roadway AF, also known as Boyot Road, once constructed,

2:01:44will contain at least one multi-use path within its right-of-way per the Connected City Master Roadway Plan. The applicant will improve McKendry Road from the project entrance north towards Tyndall Road. The proposed request is consistent with the Pasco County LDC Chapter 400, Subsection 402.2 zoning amendment and PUD and with the applicable provisions of the Pasco County Comprehensive Plan. And with that, the PDD recommends approval with conditions.

2:02:15All right, thank you. Tammy, do you have a map of the road network? You can I mean 'cause your M P D plan shows like a tiny piece of the Vision Road and I'm not sure it gives the Planning Commission a good feel of where McKindry goes and where the Vision Road goes.

2:02:33I do not have one of those in my presentation. I apologize. Um

2:02:39Maybe it's on the map, right?

2:02:48Yeah, we'll work on bringing it up for you.

2:03:02Do we have anything that shows all of these other appe approved connected city MPUDs in relation to this?

2:03:11Mapper can show we could pull up the MPD layer.

2:03:13That'd be helpful.

2:03:14Yeah.

2:03:43So Tammy, well that's being brought up, so McKendry's gonna be improved north. Correct, up to up

2:03:49to Tyndall Road, yes. From the project entrance.

2:03:54But not south, so north. So the expected traffic's coming from the north to the Correct. Okay.

2:04:01But part of the reason for that, Mr. Poole, is that the county's long term vision for this area is the Vision Road, not McKinjury Road. Correct. That's why I wanted to see a map so you could see what why that is.

2:04:24So I prefer if you zoom down a little bit, but basically this vision road connects from the new overpass interchange area

2:04:36It goes up. through this area and then eventually connects into Pasco Town Center, which I don't know if you all remember when you approved it, but it was it's a pretty significant yes project at the southeast corner of the interstate and in Stereo fifty two. That's why I asked if we could see a map that shows those So if yeah this is a good map because it shows you why The Kendry is sort of almost a temporary road. in the long term vision of

2:05:06this area.

2:05:08But our code does require that you can't put this level of density on a substandard road. McKindre is a substandard road, so that's why they're improving it. But the reason the condition says that they'll connect to the Vision Road once it's built is because that is the me that's gonna be the main road that connects Overpass Road up to State Route fifty two.

2:05:29Did you want the M PD layer on too, John?

2:05:32That'd be helpful. I think it'd be helpful some some context. The staff report said that this rink was located in the central business district of the connected city plan. So I was trying to see how that

2:05:48But that won't be reflected on the M P U D layer. Just the existing M P U D as well.

2:05:54Is there something that would show that?

2:06:00I anticipated that. Uh yeah, the uh the development patterns, as you know, usually it's rooftops and then the businesses come in and what's happening is the rooftops are typically to uh the eastern side of this area. Um and then from this area over towards the interstate is your business core and your urban core. Uh those projects most of those are under discussion and under review. Pasco Town Center obviously is in. That's a little bit of a different one. That is not an MPUD,

2:06:31so it's not going to pop up on the MPUD layer like that. There's a development agreement with them and some other things that are that are done there. So it doesn't necessarily show here but this area is is where these types of higher densities and intensities are proposed for the future.

2:06:46Brad, where does Pasco Town Center come down to? Does it come down to does it?

2:06:50It comes down to the middle if you if you could zoom in there a little bit.

2:06:58Okay, you see the little kind of box of grids there? Uh right in the middle of your screen. where McKendree Road curves and and turns and goes north. Mm-hmm. Uh, that little point at the bottom right there, I believe

2:07:16Where the two roads intersect? Yeah,

2:07:19McKindry and I can't read the letter. Which road was this?

2:07:22H

2:07:23Dangle. A G.

2:07:26Yeah, if you come down to the south.

2:07:30There we go. See where the where the two make that little V? I believe Pasco Town Center is just I remember that. that piece that comes down is where they're going to stop. So it's just north of this problem.

2:07:49And then I

2:07:50think are they going to be required to construct the Boyette Road, Vision Road?

2:07:58Uh believe there are ag agreements in place collectively between the developers and or the county to construct the the very self-exception.

2:08:11Okay, yes.

2:08:12Well at least the northern portion is Well, okay. It's a start. And then I will also tell you on the south side near Overpass, there's two MPUDs. So you haven't seen them yet, but they're in the System. Um at the interchange of overpass and I seventy five. That intended to build the road. from Overpass north up to their northern boundary. So At some point, yes, you will have the board in the fairly near future you will have the road built on the north side and the south side and there will be a gap in the middle.

2:08:42Yeah, if you if you look on this map you see the little lake kind of on the bottom there in the middle. that's about the northern boundary of where the the r the southern MPUD that David is referring to is gonna come to. And then you can see there's this a very small gap there. Um So that's going to be built down to that and then up to that piece. So it's moving pretty quickly. Uh we're not talking twenty, thirty years down the road. We're talking Near future.

2:09:12And is there a plan to fill the gap or

2:09:16yes, as all the projects are coming in and the developers are coming in, uh that that area is transitioning. We realize that now uh it does exist as very rural uh farmland area, uh but the comp plan and the connected city plans do reflect that as something different in the future. So as it's moving towards that, it's moving towards that at a its own pace depending on land acquisition and whatnot.

2:09:40If if a no developer comes in in the middle area, then it would be up to the county to build it and possibly have to use eminent domain. That's where I was built. Yes, we're going to be able to do that.

2:09:59So Pasco Town Centers are gonna be required to build Boy at to their southern boundary, not beyond Uh

2:10:06yeah, they're not required to build south of their boundary. Nor is the are the MPs to the south required to build north of their government. Right. Well they don't have that power. They don't have MM Domain Power is the biggest reason. Right. They might have been willing to but they're not gonna be condemned. So the so

2:10:23the gap in the road is essentially gonna that angle piece that's that's between the that kinda where where the vision road Bends up to the north there.

2:10:33Yes.

2:10:36In theory somebody could use McKinjury to drive on that gap temporarily, but it's n as you can see, McKinley is not An ideal alignment for a roadway.

2:10:46Are there any pending development plans on any of the adjacent parcels? to this project.

2:10:55So I believe there are some discussions and pre-application meetings that have happened. I'm not sure if if there's a plan. There's one that's about two sites down for a camp area.

2:11:10Again, this this area in the future is anticipated to be larger scale business type of area. So there it's gonna be higher intensity. Um and that just you know the the sites right now don't accommodate that the way the landowners are. This this is something that likely a developer would come and assemble some properties and and do something and bring an MPUD in at which point we would address the road through that. They would have to build their portion to access their site. And then you know obviously the CIP it

2:11:40is an important road. If the county decided that they they needed to fill in any gaps we could with that.

2:11:48But there are no large projects in right now that would be able to accompany that type of improvement.

2:11:57And as a general concept, this road is trying to fulfill the same function as Old Pasco Road on the other side of the interstate. It's basically the county's parallel road to the interstate system.

2:12:16My apologies. I've gotta take a step back in history here. I'm trying to understand fully what's going on out here. So I don't know if it's a question for Tammy or for you, Brad, but As I look at this and I I know I see reference in the in the actual memo itself that once the MPUD is approved that this facility is gonna be given a C O. My understanding is is there's a building there now. Is the building just not being used? So

2:12:40my understanding is that the the building was approved. Through the process there was a cap placed on the number of people that could actually use the building through the special exception. It's only the number of people. So it's not being used to its full potential right now. This MPUD would allow it to be used to its full potential.

2:12:59So just process and procedural question. Why are they not asking for a modification of the special exception? Why the

2:13:11MPUD? Th that was actually a county request um because this is Connected City and and Connected City has a lot of special uh features and ideas uh that you can employ and that you can work on uh both currently with the MPUD and the types of uses and the mixes of uses but also downstream uh and how you do the designs and some of the ability to to do some unique things on the sites in the future. So can you so we have

2:13:38any examples of the conditions that may have been imposed that would reflect that?

2:13:46Uh

2:13:49Not sure I can off the top of my head. Um

2:13:57I'm just not seeing anything here that particularly is a requirement because of Connected Cities. I'm not saying we can't approve it as an MPUD, just curious why not the special exception.

2:14:13Well, I could tell you one reason. Special exception does not go to the Board of County Commissioners and we do believe there is some public opposition to this item and I think the board wants to hear it.

2:14:24Well

2:14:24okay.

2:14:25Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna kinda go step that's another step further and I I guess as I look at the M P U D approval I see that there's The building there now, which I'm assuming's the hockey rank, there's parking spaces, I'm assuming there's the the site plan things that would have been required. 'Cause I think this thing's kind of stepped through. I think and not I don't even know that it's followed the the normal protocol. I think they built the building and then they came in and asked for the special exception if I asked for if I understand correctly. But now the building's out there and they're asking for M P U D, but the M P U D they're asking for is for an academy for

2:14:55one hundred and fifty students. Are there other additions and there are other things that they're asking to build on this site? I mean w what is it completely that they're asking for? They asked us to be able to use the rink for 150 people?

2:15:07No. It's 150 students and accessory uses. So they do intend to have um some tournaments that may where other people come in that are not just the students. There could be s I mean, so I don't know that it would be just

2:15:24so what does the special exception allow them to do today? That's what I'm trying to figure out. What what what are they what entitlement do they have and what's new? What's new?

2:15:34I don't remember. I think Denise or

2:15:39the facility today. Uh but

2:15:41are they running a school?

2:15:42Yes, they can they can do instruction, uh private instruction.

2:15:45Okay, so that's what I'm trying to understand. So we're not giving any many different entitlement to run a school, it's just a number that can attend

2:15:52the the big issue was that when the special exception came in, they were trying to stay under the threshold that was needed to know. not improve McKinley Road. That that's the that's the main re trigger that happened. And so they intentionally came in with a very low number of students so they would not have to improve McKinley Road. At some point they said, We want more students and we said then you need to improve McKinley Road. Okay. So that's if you're asking the main driver for now could that have been done through a special exception, possibly. Or amendment to the special exception, but the main driver

2:16:22was McKinjury Road. Okay. No part attended.

2:16:26So the master fund that shown in our agenda packet essentially includes so we see that the existing building that shows in the aerial. Then there's other so were these other facilities approved under the special exemption? 'Cause there's another twenty eight thousand square foot building that's down by the cannery which based on this aerial is not constructed unless the aerial's older. It is old.

2:16:48Yeah, these are twenty twenty areas.

2:16:50Okay. So are So all these facilities are built that's shown on the master plan? Is that is that accurate? Okay. Yeah.

2:17:01Yes, the the MPUD really uh allows for it to be used uh to host some events. Um you know this uh uh a sheet of ice is a fairly unique feature. Um you can't just go, you know, down the street and find one of those. So it's something that that we felt in this area of Connecticut would be would be a good type of draw uh for both economics, uh potential for tourist type of things, uh and having a location in this area uh especially for youth sports, uh

2:17:31for tournaments and other things like that they can do that. So

2:17:35I saw the site plan and I saw it looked like the parking requirements or calculation was based on student count. What's the plan to handle parking if there's tournaments?

2:17:53So we uh has

2:17:54there been an estimate done or some kind

2:17:56of study

2:17:56to determine that that's adequate parking or

2:17:58well if you if you read the the conditions there is a specific condition that requires them to have shared parking agreements uh with other areas to provide adequate parking. Um the hockey arena at downtown. They don't own all of those parking spaces that the hockey arenas downtown use as well.

2:18:17submit a new site plan that adds more parking space.

2:18:19Or they have to submit a site plan that it that does more themselves if they want to eat that. Or accommodation of both.

2:18:25Well I guess the question is are they if we were to approve this M P U D as presented today, can they host a tournament?

2:18:44What stops them from like

2:18:46parking on the grass on their site?

2:18:50Uh same thing anywhere else. anywhere else in the county. It would be a code enforcement issue if they violate that.

2:18:58But I will tell you that sometimes when they have these tournaments having just gone to big one, um th a lot of times a bus brings in a whole team. Yes. I mean so and the the parents aren't even there. So it it's possible that you could have a tournament where just three buses come in Well I'm not

2:19:18guessing that's likely 'cause we want to serve alcohol, so I'm guessing we're not serving Yeah. And not that I'm opposed to them serving alcohol here either.

2:19:31For example, um this is a site that could host uh companies' holiday Christmas parties. You know, come and do a holiday Christmas skate with your company or something and and then you can serve alcohol at those events. So there can be other things there that can help support the programs that are going on.

2:19:45Potentially a nice figure skating or

2:19:48It could be any any number of things. And that's one of the things about Connecticut.

2:19:54Not a violent. Yeah, let's not recommend that for the county. We need our staff to come to work the next day. But um, you know, that's one of the things about Connected City is we want to try to promote those those types of opportunities that are that are fairly regional, we're local, close, nearby. And this this would provide that.

2:20:10Brad, let me ask a question. There's I see this is listed as a school. So I look in Land Development Code definitions for school. And in my opinion this doesn't meet the definition of a school. It's not really an educational facility. It seems more like it's a business, so Am I wrong? Or is this So

2:20:28Denise if if you would talk about that briefly? Just the same situation that happens with karate and and other people.

2:20:34Sure. Absolutely. So there's a definition in the land development code for a term called a specialty school. Um and I will get you that definition in a second. And it falls under it would fall under that definition. So I mean if you would prefer that we use the term specialty school, we can do that. But I mean that's what we call it a school. Um

2:20:59Yeah, I I would like that 'cause it's sure seems like it's more of a business than a school, in it. Karate schools like that are usually located in a commercial area.

2:21:07Are these they're not like full time eight hour a day no

2:21:11students.

2:21:11This is, you know, after school.

2:21:13Yeah.

2:21:14Yes, so Specialty School is defined in the LDC as a school primarily devoted to giving instruction in musical, dancing, dramatic, artistic, linguistic, athletic, or other similar special subjects.

2:21:25It seems more like yeah.

2:21:27Okay. It it may not hurt to include that language for consistency to define as defined by

2:21:34Okay.

2:21:35Yeah, we

2:21:35can add.

2:21:48Any more questions for Bran? I don't.

2:21:52Mm-hmm.

2:21:54So

2:21:54we still need to hear from the applicant. All right, thanks Brad. So any applicants present, come forward and state your name and address, please.

2:22:05Good afternoon. My name is Russ Henderson. My address is uh [address removed]. Um so honestly what I just witnessed is exactly kind of what's been going on. There's a lot of confusion. So I'd like to tell you kind of what we are and what we really are. We're registered with the Florida Department of Education. We are a school. We're actually doing state testing currently. Our students are going to be finishing up school here in the next couple days. But we are as a school that also teaches hockey. So So you are a school. I mean we teach read

2:22:35reading writing

2:22:35arithmetic absolutely we'll have full accreditation within a couple years. Gotcha. So which is why we want to increase our student body. Student body right now is thirteen students and that's because of the uh the special exception. The special exception itself um We actually when we submitted the the current building that's on site as well as all the parking and the existing buildings and the existing asphalt that's on site was all part of our submission back in June of 2021, whenever the Planning Commission voted to allow the special exception. So everything

2:23:05you see now that's on our site was uh part of our submit submittal to you the uh the uh planning Commission back in 2021, whenever it was voted on and approved. So nothing new has been added, nothing new was built after the fact. All of our permits were solved in accordance with that special exception and the way it was built. I'm trying to think of anything else. Feel free to ask any questions you have.

2:23:31Well I I might withdraw that language request then uh because it may not be a specialty school, so maybe we should make sure that the the definition fits exactly what they are.

2:23:42If you're going on the record that is a school and I can check on that too with the

2:23:45Yes sir. You can check with the Floor Department of Education. It's registered. Thank you. Yes, sir. And actually we had one of uh Pasco's fire marshals out last week doing his inspection just to ensure we were following all the guidelines to ensure our accreditation with the county as well.

2:24:00So could you address the parking question because um I mean you're aware of the condition that says you're limited to your fifty eight species that you have. How do you in fact intend to deal when you have a

2:24:14larger group come in, what what is your plan? Well, currently whenever we develop a site, when you look at the site plan uh that we submitted, we had some existing asphalt and everything that was used for parking. I mean we use it today. Every landscaper to come our landscapers to come out to maintain the property, other maintenance folks that come out to maintain the property, they don't park within our school parking lot that you see within the MPUD or with our within our site plan development. Um We're a single sheet. You know, we're an NHL sheet, you know, two hundred by uh eighty five like you know every other ice

2:24:44rink should be. But we can only play one game at a time. A tournament We've never been asked to host mini tournaments. Um Advent Health has reached out and a few others have reached out asking us to co-host, meaning when they can't fulfill the need, then we're able to help them. But it would always be one game at a time. So you're picturing 30 kids at a time that are in and out of the building. So uh you know, during those tournament weekends, well I'll take that back, probably sixty kids or so. So you kind of factor that in with traffic. Uh my hope would

2:25:14be that I would be able to follow kind of examples in President Senate by Wiregrass Sports Ranch. If you go down there on a soccer, volleyball, basketball weekend, you're parking way down one of the roundabouts trying to get back to the venue and you're using all the backdoor grass space. That's not what we're designed for. We are primarily a school. We're a school first. Uh there was a lot of attention given to the alcohol stuff. That is not something we really genuinely uh care to explore too much. That's gonna be done by third party, the waivers or permits

2:25:44that have to be sought if there's any. We're not seeking those as a school. That's gonna be done by a foundation that is set up to support the school or like you guys said, if someone wants to host a special venue or something with us they would be required to do those by our rules because we are also a Christian school. But we do have a venue. We do have something that's uh very sought after in the state, especially with you know, three time Stanley Cup champions that like to keep repeating and disappointing us lately. But you know it's um

2:26:10let's not talk about that.

2:26:11No, I know, I'm sorry. But if you want I can introduce you to a couple of guys once in a while. So but um our our purpose primarily is a school. We were at school seven thirty to four thirty every day. Within those hours, we don't do public skates, we don't do anything else. The only thing that we plan to do outside of that normal s well, nothing different within the school day. We are looking forward to the MPUD being pushed through so that we can partner with the Tampa Bay Lightning and start attacking girls' hockey development, which they love our plan for, but we gotta get there. So

2:26:40I just wanna I'm not sure you fully answer my question. Actually have I realize you're a one game or one you only one sheet, but if you had a game on that one sheet, do you think you can accommodate them all in your existing spaces?

2:26:54I yes,

2:26:55sir.

2:26:55Okay. Yeah.

2:26:56How m

2:26:57is there

2:26:57seating inside this arena?

2:26:59Uh there is not yet, and the reason being is because it was kind of pointless to spend 150 grand on stadiums without approval of going over to twenty people in our building. Is there I mean are you planning to put C Yes sir, we already have a bid for it and we're uh kinda just waiting for them to give us a timeline. So then well I'll let you finish and then I'll ask staff. Traditionally, just so you know, if you go to Advent Health, they have four sheets of ice sorry, they have five sheets of ice, two of them have seating, the other three are

2:27:29just standing rooms.

2:27:32And the scene you're planning to put in is commensurate with the the spaces that you're

2:27:36yes sir. We designed for it ahead of time. Everything we did designed ahead of time. The only reason we sought the special exception, as opposed to doing MPUD beginning, is because of the election results of 2020. We'd already designed our building, already planned to get our building, and as we were walking through this process with the county, we were told the fastest way to erect the building.

2:27:59Our building still sat in the dirt for I don't know, eight, ten mont well longer than that before we could erect it. Um but that was the only reason we went that way 'cause we were told that these uh special exception would be a faster route than the M PD. And it was. So and we're thankful that they allowed us to do it and the the bullet we had to bite was for the first year, twenty you know, thirteen students as opposed to what we can really uh hold.

2:28:28Okay. And any other questions? I think somebody asked a question about a CO earlier. You do have a remodel permit that you've submitted?

2:28:37I do. So um people use the word CO and it can f I think depending on who's using it, sometimes you don't understand we have a CO. Uh we have a certificate of occupancy. You can't op you can't operate inside of a home or a building without one. We obviously have one. All in ours there's that stamp of twenty person max. Within the building. Um, so we do have a CO. We currently are going through a remodel uh plans review with the county because the existing buildings you see there, we want to utilize that as classrooms. So we're going through it uh and they're they actually we use

2:29:07private providers, it kind of takes some stress off the county as well as speeds up the process for it. However, with this being a reclassification, they're doing an in-depth uh review of the uh life safety measures and make sure structurally it's gonna be sound uh as we remodel it. But I believe they're gonna issue a new CO when you're done with that, correct? For that building they would have to. Once we start construction on that building it would no longer be usable. But to be quite honest, I bought uh I bought it in November, December of twenty nineteen. We've never used that building for anything other than storing some furniture from my

2:29:37buddy that can't get his house built.

2:29:44Okay.

2:29:44Any other questions? If not, is there anyone here in opposition?

2:29:52So

2:29:52these are all your friends you brought? No, sir, these are the parents of my kids. Okay. Hallelujah.

2:29:59Do any of them want to say anything? They don't have to be in opposition, with all due respect to the Chair. If they want to say something they can.

2:30:08They're too bashful.

2:30:11Yeah, I've never let 'em in the building and never seen their kids play, you know. Gary here would complain quite a bit about me but uh you know you know it's just it's it's unfortunate, you know, it's hard to have a hockey club that we don't play. We had our first game in Clearwater uh two weekends ago and it was phenomenal. We took some boys in Chicago a week ago and actually had uh junior scouts trying to f get our kids numbers already. So we're building something pretty cool and be great to share it with more people. Okay. Well thank you. And I think you got one

2:30:40volunteer here.

2:30:47My name is Jens Johansen. Uh my address is we live we moved here a year ago. It's in Saint Petersburg. Um and I was one in together with the rest of the people here. Okay. We we came as you can probably hear from the accent from Denmark and we have a son who's attending the school and uh we've been playing high level U. with hockey in Scandinavia, mostly in Sweden, and I would say this program is second to none. Both from we attended it from a

2:31:17hockey perspective. But during the year we have been amazed with the schooling perspective. So I would really, really love it if you could continue there and if you could keep building this because it will attend some great hockey talent, help the Tampa get into some potentially n not a great years in the future. We really, really, really are amazed by the programme that indoors have made out there.

2:31:43Well, thank you very much. And where did you say you came from? Uh Denmark. Denmark okay, I thought it was Georgia.

2:31:50Well should have been, but we moved over here and and and are uh part of the American Southern Denmark. Southern Denmark, yeah. Okay. Thank you.

2:32:04So can I just ask that one question? Tammy, since we don't have any opposition here, do you know why this was on regular? Did we get some written opposition?

2:32:18Um I didn't necessarily opposition necessarily

2:32:21like per se. Um, just somebody who

2:32:24is

2:32:25vocal. And so I figured just to play it on you know, put it on a safe side, put it in a regular.

2:32:30Is there anything did

2:32:31not

2:32:32show up in this M P U D that cannot be approved inside a special exception.

2:32:47Since you can condition a special exception, probably not.

2:32:53Okay.

2:32:53What do you think, David?

2:32:57Uh I think you should be real careful. That's what I think.

2:33:06I think you have a right to remain silent. You

2:33:08probably

2:33:08oughta use

2:33:09it. I think it it it's possible. I mean I it it's hard for me to answer that question without going through every single condition in the MPD and trying to figure out whether it's something that's appropriate for a special exception or not.

2:33:23Right.

2:33:24Right. And I I don't do special exceptions myself, so I'm I'm not all completely versed on what is appropriate for a special exception since I do M PUDs.

2:33:35Okay.

2:33:39Pasie. if there's nothing in this application that couldn't be approved outside the special exception, I don't personally find it fair to the applicant to force him into the MPUD process to get the approval he seeks. Just so that you can you You don't get to say, well, we have this process over here or we have this process over here and we're going to deny you this process because we want to force this

2:34:09to the board. He has the right under our code to use that process and have it stop right here. That's not fair.

2:34:19So I can staff address it because I don't I wasn't involved in this conversation. Yeah

2:34:23I can I can speak to that briefly. Uh Two become part of Connected City and avail yourself of all the options related to Connected City you need to do the MPUD.

2:34:34Okay, but I asked was there something specific to Connected City that they

2:34:39So a lot of the things are not necessarily conditions of approval. Connected City has a different land development code associated with it with different allowances and different ways of doing things, uh different types of things that can be done downstairs.

2:34:55Not required necessarily, but Can certainly be available.

2:35:00Then I maintain my position. That's not fair.

2:35:03The only thing I don't know and I am not again, I was not involved in this discussion, is there is a threshold a trip threshold where if you exceed that number of trips you have to be an MPD and there are if that's the case. I just don't know if I don't know if th if the with a hundred and fifty students they may have gone above that threshold. I don't think Somebody'd have to answer that question. I just know I know there is a threshold in the code that says if you're above that number of trips you have to be an MPV. Because you're going through a traffic analysis

2:35:33for typically there's more stringent type conditions when you're doing a bigger traffic analysis, but again and they did do one in this case. So that may be the reason part of the reason. I just don't know if they hit that threshold or not.

2:35:50Anybody answer?

2:36:04We do have transportation folks on the right-of-way.

2:36:06There was a time in the basic analysis done for this project, so somebody probably would know the trip trainer.

2:36:14Daphne is the key purpose. Transportation Planning is due to planning and development. For the private school, they are for the 150 students. They are at the Delta trip of 372 trips. So that's trip duration for this program.

2:36:31And what what is the

2:36:35amount that triggers an MPUD.

2:36:38If I'm not mistaken, I believe it's 1200.

2:36:42So they're not above the threshold.

2:36:45Correct.

2:36:47Yeah, well I guess that's not the reason.

2:36:53Does does the M PUD provide potential future um I guess future abilities to do things that you can't do under exceptions. In other words, if i if he wants to grow the school more in the future uh or do different things that are currently allowed under exceptions. So

2:37:17it does give you more flexibility to add uses if you're an existing MPUD. And there may be he may

2:37:22he may want to do

2:37:23that.

2:37:23I'm just saying at the outset of the hearing when I asked why this wasn't done under the special exceptions. Yeah. The answer we got was 'cause we wanted to force it to the commission.

2:37:34I said that could be a reason. I don't I mean I w again I wasn't in those conversations when that staff asked for the impact.

2:37:41Yeah the the the reason was the the long term benefit of doing a connected city MPUD versus doing a special exception under the existing code is very different. The long term benefit allows you to avail yourself of the connected city land development code items for any changes that you make on your property, any development that you do on your property and all those other things, whether you

2:38:03I understand that. Back in November

2:38:07The commissioner that put me in this seat hosted a session with the new county administrator of problems in the construction industry and I see Mr. Sheerbaum's here and This gentleman I met both of them actually Mr. Sheerbaum's my client over there. Um And what I met was a very frustrated gentleman that day. He was frustrated with the process, he was trying to get there, and he expressed to me that at every time he tried to turn around there were being obstacles thrown

2:38:37in his way and what I'm seeing today is Well, I figured well I I didn't know what all the facts were and I couldn't very well tell from the staff report. I'm not gonna get into that. But It sure looks to me that that's what happened to 'em. And I Now he has to go I know he spent a significant amount of legal expenses. I'm actually curious as to where council is today. Um But he's put out a lot of money. He's been put through a lot of grief. And

2:39:08it was unnecessary. There was a simpler process and a less expensive process to do that and the county from what I'm hearing, could have gotten Everything. I have no objection. With him being required to provide the corridor or or construct a portion of the Vision Road to correct the substandard road conditions, those are the things that are required him. But to force him into a process that our code doesn't, that's just not fair. I hope that doesn't

2:39:38happen again. Uh clearly we're here to vote on this particular case today. But I don't ever want to see that happen again.

2:39:47So I I respectfully disagree with that because

2:39:53I respectfully disagree with that because Connected City is a very unique area with unique governing documents and regulatory documents that allow for

2:40:01anything here today that is

2:40:04specific to

2:40:04Connecticut.

2:40:11is not a part of the M PUD. But you haven't told

2:40:13me he can't do this without being part of the connected city or do that under those regulations. You haven't said he

2:40:19can't do it understand

2:40:21development regulations.

2:40:25He avails himself of that other land development.

2:40:28I understand that, and that may prove to be a benefit in the future to him. I'm not saying that may or may not be. What I'm saying is he had a choice and the county attorney suggested. I'm sorry, David, if I'm not trying to put words into your mouth, but the way I understood it was, Yeah, you needed to do this because we're forcing this to go to the board for

2:40:49Well I said that could be a reason because special exceptions don't go to the board for a vote.

2:40:54Well nonetheless that's not a re the staff doesn't have the luxury of deciding, well, I'm not going to offer you the process that's legally allowed to you because I've decided that you should have to go to the board for the vote.

2:41:06So we provided the options in the beginning of the special exception with the pros and cons of going that route. as with the C C M P D many, many years ago when this first started. So we've we've done that. the special exception route was taken and they've run into some hurdles there. This option Is a better option overall for the long term of the project. So we recommended that.

2:41:35You get to ask questions just like I do. You should be asking the chair that, not John. Okay. Well yes. But that's okay we can share it.

2:41:47I

2:41:47don't know,

2:41:47let

2:41:47me

2:41:48ask John. No,

2:41:50you're

2:41:51the chair and

2:41:51you're gonna remain there.

2:41:53So can can you weigh on weigh in on that, what your what the process was that was offered to you and and um where you where you fully explained those options and and chose to do what you're doing now based on that?

2:42:06Um for sure. First I'd like to say one thing. Tammy and Brad and all All the staff have been fantastic. They are I mean, I have about three people that maybe we should research, but the rest of them have been absolutely lights out. I I I mean, top to bottom, I've been very impressed and very happy. Um one of my favorite places to vi visit is uh West Pasco Government Center. You got some great people there, really. I mean you're understaffed, but it's not your fault. It's just uh uh post COVID I guess. But um, you know, there were tons of discussions. So when

2:42:36our pre-application meeting that occurred in November of twenty nineteen, we went in there with the idea of building something different. We really did. Once we were uh told what we were building in the middle of, um, we figured eventually we're gonna be imminent domains or they're gonna make us tear it down or something because it wasn't what it is now. And I would love for every one of you to come visit. Um but we also were kind of answering a calling that was given to us that we didn't quite understand yet. So as we were walking through the process with Brad and Denise and the other folks involved, there was talk

2:43:06about Connected City and there was potential um potential um uh gains to being uh I think the term that was being used was opting into connected city. Um I don't know what those are honestly. Um I know that Brad has uh mentioned it before whenever I I s whenever I had counsel um I had asked them you know I've been told we should opt in opt in or some benefits to it but never have we really documented anything that I can recall. I'm happy to search my emails or go

2:43:36through public records and and see if that's different but I don't I don't recall anything that's been specific to our project um as far as how we operate or how we built it. I would happily have taken some credits in the process if that was possible, but you know, I don't recall anything. And Brad can send her with me, uh if he remembers it different, but I I don't

2:43:58Well, I mean one big advantage of Connected Cities you can get credits for building certain roadways, but he's not building the Vision Roadway, so th that's not And that may have been part of the early discussions, is there maybe been some early discussions about him maybe building part of the Vision Roadway and getting credits for which you can only do if you're in Connected City. But somehow this morphed into where he's he's not building any of the vision road, he's doing McKinley instead. So

2:44:26Yeah, some of some of the I don't I don't I wasn't in these prior conversations, but I can tell you that as a general rule, that's the main reason people do opt into connected cities. They want the r the credits for building roadways. In this case that's not much of a benefit. There also I believe is a longer build out date for the MPUDs. I tell me or Brad.

2:44:49Well, but if he was building more um yeah it well sounds like he's got a lot more to build, honestly. I mean I he may have more to build, but the But he's captured 150 students currently, so he'd have to probably come back through the process anyway to To to build more. So you

2:45:08you have no objection to going through the process that they've set out for you, is that

2:45:12correct? Well, to answer honestly, if I had to skip the process and get the same rights as everyone else as I heared, I'd love to take that option.

2:45:19Well unfortunately you haven't applied for a special exception, so we have to vote on I th I think we have to vote on the matter that's before us. But I'm just sending that out as a warning in the future I'm Don't do that. That Right, and that's not fair. He's not a land use expert.

2:45:39No, and in in in all honesty, if you read through the COAs, for the most part, I seem uh they seem to be agreeable across the board. Um I'm no attorney, I don't understand some of the legal jargon and y you know and I know uh David's fantastic, but uh you know outside of being able to park on my own grass, I don't see any op uh we don't seem to be in opposition of anything. So I mean it's it's really either way. Uh the only thing that scares me about the next meetings, you know, I know that we have some people that support us and have visit us and there's some that won't even

2:46:09show up to our gate. So that does make me very nervous. The they didn't show up here.

2:46:14Yeah. So it's like you got plenty of support.

2:46:18Yeah, the the conditions I don't think would have been materially different with a special exception versus an MPD. Okay. Either way he would have had to improve McInjury, either way he would have had to dedicate right away for Division Road. I don't I don't think those would have been materially different.

2:46:36All right. So if there are no are there any other questions?

2:46:39Chair Ms Chairman Mariano did ask to speak. Oh I'm

2:46:43I would like to say one more thing before uh Miss Priscilla comes up. Um it has been a a very tough journey. You know. We um we had hopes of dates that were gonna hit that never hit. You know, you know there was always the guesswork of MPDs take about twelve months, so plan for twelve months. Sometimes they're faster. We're literally uh Month 15, 16, and that's if you don't count the six months we spent doing uh timing and phasing that had to be done to be able to go to where we're trying to go to. Um, so it's been tough. When you're a school, you do enrollment typically

2:47:13in February, March. So we miss that window. When you're a hockey club, you do tryouts on May 1st for your upcoming season. We missed that date. We have tons of kids that were optimistic about being in our school now that are probably gonna have to play. for another hockey club and miss out on another year of what we do as far as our development. And then depending on how this plays out, I don't know. Um you know, hop June sixth is a big deadline for us. You know, June twenty eighth is an even bigger deadline 'cause that's kind of the axe. So whatever decision is made, I mean, it's it's uh it's kind

2:47:43of a big deal for us, so I appreciate you guys letting me talk.

2:47:46J just for the record though, the the existing facility that's out there now, the only thing that's been used for since it was constructed are the thirteen kids in your school?

2:47:54That is incorrect. The way it's set up now, uh it's primary you the the way the special exception reads is we're only allowed to have twenty bodies associated with our school. It didn't and didn't place I literally doesn't say occupancy or capacity. capacity restriction at all for my building. My building under Life Safety Code of Costco County is actually 1209 people. The note itself was placed on RCO by a staffer.

2:48:22Okay, 'cause I I had a different and I didn't go back and review the record, but I I had a different recollection of the special exception that was approved. I thought you were limited to twenty people using the hockey rink at one time.

2:48:32No, sir, it was written to limit us to twenty people associated with the school.

2:48:37Okay, so

2:48:38you so that means students, faculty, janitors,

2:48:41the

2:48:42and that's the way my attorney approach uh interpreted it at the time. Literally whenever we were building and we had a note placed on our permit that we were gonna be limited to a twenty person occupancy, I sought counsel and they said that's not how it reads, so you don't need to worry. August twenty wh seventeenth or whenever, whenever we got that note on our C O. It was it was a shock.

2:49:04Okay. I I again I don't have the special exception in front of me. I didn't remember it that way, but if that's that's what

2:49:09you're representing. And according to code enforcement that's

2:49:10what you represent under oath, I don't I don't have a problem with that.

2:49:12Understood. And according to code enforcement uh who was uh sitting out front of our gate for about six weeks, um they cannot restrict anyone that drives in and out of our gate. Their their rule was they had to restrict the amount of people that walked through the front door and were in the building at one time.

2:49:27Okay, let's give this young lady a chance to speak.

2:49:30Mm-hmm.

2:49:34Priscilla Julian [address removed].

2:49:39Priscilla Julian. [address removed]. So I'm up here on behalf of the Nest parents. We

2:49:50could you speak her hand under that microphone? I'm

2:49:52on back.

2:49:53She's recording it,

2:49:54that's why. I'm just sharing on behalf of best parents. We are beyond blessed to have this opportunity and Nest Hockey is not only amazing coaches and the opportunity to to do something that our boys would never get anywhere else. The education is incredible. My son wakes up every day and he wants to go to school. What eighth grade boy wants to go to school? He never did ever until this year. go to school he would like school all year round if we could have

2:50:24school in the summer. So That being said, we drop our kids off in the morning, we leave in the you know, we have to come back in the afternoon, we leave, we don't get to see their progression, we don't see What are they working on? Oh look, I he's grown. I see this, you know, great, you know, growth that, you know, we hear about but we don't get to see. And we don't get to volunteer. We don't get to help. We don't get to do the things that at a normal school as a parent you'd be able to do. So

2:50:54we implore you. Um this is a a great mission. The Henderson's an amazing family. all of the boys are are, you know, being trained to be men of character. And and we just, you know, thank you for this opportunity and your consideration.

2:51:12All right, thank you very much.

2:51:16Okay, anybody else? I guess that's it. So and I

2:51:20hear a motion. I've moved to approve item AP9. As presented.

2:51:27I will strongly second that.

2:51:30Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion of the motion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, like, signed. Motion carries.

2:51:44Very good. Congratulations and you flew somebody all the way in from Denmark to speak on your name.

2:51:53Probably a little warm here for him,

2:51:55huh? That's right. Thank you everyone.

2:52:00Yeah. All right, Denise, where does that put us?

2:52:06We're done? done.

2:52:07Alright. You wanted to hear more?

2:52:12Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's about