Public comment on citizen concerns
What the county recorded
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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, Sep 28, 2021
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The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Sep 28, 2021
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 1h 6m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 64% of 197 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Uh now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any item coming before the board. And own items to be placed on future board agenda or other business under their preview. 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 public comment. From those who Have
registered on WebEx Link and are currently on Q. This format does not waive your request that when you Address the board. Comments are not directed personally against a commissioner or team member. But rather than the right-of-way. Directed at the issues. This provides mutual respect between the board members and the public. For WebX and in person participations after starting stating your name and address for
the clerk. The timer will start. Um a countdown after two minutes a beep will sound letting you know you have one minute to finish after your time is up. Two beeps will sound indicating that three minutes have passed and you should end your comments. WebEx participants will be automatically cut off. The following have signed up to speak this morning. Madam Clerk.
Um I do have about uh twenty-one individuals who signed up. So what I will do is I'll call three at a time and if you if you're able to to just line up behind the person at the podium. So the first three, I have John Russell. Followed by Jean, is it Safeli? Okay. And uh the third one would be Cindy Fargo. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Russell. Name and address for the record, please.
My name is John Russell. I live at [address removed]. in [address removed], District Four.
I attended the meeting uh in Dade City and I learned some interesting things that there's a difference between east and west. Now we are on the west side, so that's good. I also learned from the our county attorney here that the MSBU on the Oaks Park is a thing. It's a re was passed, it's done, but it's never been implemented. So there was a discussion as to why it wasn't implemented. Commissioner Mariano was the only one that
responded and he said, I don't know. I don't know why it's not a little bit more. So it is what it is and the motion was passed that they moving this M S B U to the property appraiser would be at this meeting. So that was moved and passed and that's what we have is R sixty eight I think is Mm-hmm. All right. So that was what happened at that meeting. Now there seems to be a little bit of com confusion going on about how this is going to be
implemented. Somebody had said to me that this is gonna be Backcharged to two thousand fourteen and everybody's gonna have to pay one third or a million dollars up front. I don't think that's true. Cause you said at that other meeting it it'll go on the twenty twenty-three is the earliest the property appraiser can get it on there. So that's my understanding of it. Um
Okay now I'll keep it pretty short. I got two l last things here. One I've been in public office. I've served two terms on a school board. I know what it's like to serve. But we gotta we always try to remember that we serve the people, the community that we represent, and we don't serve ourselves. And I don't see anybody serving their self there at all, but I'm Just wanna say that in general. Uh the last thing I have I sent all of you emails with
four questions on it. and I got one response that just acknowledged that I had that they had received my email. But I n don't get any answers, I don't get anything. So I assume you have your emails on the web for a purpose and in the future I would hope that we can get some answers. I don't have time to read those questions to you, but I know you all have them in your emails. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments.
Good morning. My name is Jean Safeli. I live at [address removed], and that's in the Southern Oak Subdivision. I ask the Board of County Commissioners to postpone their vote on the Oakes Park MSBU until we are all notified in writing of the ramifications and costs to each homeowner and to the possibility of
other options to consider. Southern Oaks homeowners are not aware of the pending vote by the BCC, and they have never been notified by the County or our Homeowners Association. We never met with our District 4 County Commissioner as our two meetings scheduled with her by a group of several Homeowners Association board members and concerned homeowners.
Many seniors have been sequestered at home for two years because of COVID. They have no idea that a vote is being taken today. The assumption that everyone is aware of this vote is false. Secondly, I want to ask the Board of County Commissioners exactly what essential services they are providing to Southern Oaks property owners. We pay a homeowners association fee of $300 a year to
provide for the maintenance of over 50 acres of conservation areas. Stormwater retention ponds, and landscaping services to these areas. As Southern Oaks is over 30 years old, we will undoubtedly be assessed for paving improvements in the near future. This would be a truly essential service. The MSPU being considered on top of this would be an unnecessary additional burden to all
of us. Our community abuts Starkey Park. We need only cross it in the new traffic light, giving us access to miles of biking and walking trails as well as 8,000 acres of Starkey Wilderness Park. In 2012, Southern Southern Oaks property owners entered the movement against overdevelopment of the 41 landlock acres in Riverside Village because we feared they
would be open up the Amazon stub and allow heavy traffic from the proposed 240-unit high-density rental development to flow through our residential streets. If other communities require essential services, they should be allowed to petition BCC for a new MSBU to cover these community-specific essential services. Let's take the opportunity
to have a fair and equitable solution to this issue rather than a rushed and flawed fix. We do not wish to develop an adversarial relationship with our BCC or our neighborhood communities. We only want to determine the facts and offer that. Hopefully, we'll be able to do this. Yes.
I would like to present for the record
file.
Second.
Got a motion to receive and file. You can probably in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. Motion passed.
So after um Ms. Fargo I have the next three is Madeline uh is it uh Cap Bolano? And Conchetta uh San Filippo. And Diane Kobernick. Thank you.
Good morning. My name is Cindy Fargo. I reside in Southern Oaks, [address removed]. I respectfully ask the board to delay any actions relating to the Oaks Park MSBU pending county written notification to all 1,600-plus targeted property owners. This special assessment has been dormant for seven years. According to data provided by the Pasco County Property Appraisers Office, over 70% of MSBU targeted properties have transferred ownership since 2014.
How many of these new property owners were made aware of this pending special assessment? I would venture none. How can this board justify taking further action without proper notifications to all affected targeted property owners? It appears only selected HOAs were in discussions with some commissioners regarding resurrection and activation of the MSBU. As was the case in 2014, Southern Oaks property owners were once again left out of any such meetings and discussions. Based on recent fact-finding phone
calls to commissioners and other county officials, we understand the county wishes to recover the $3 million they expended from the general funds to purchase the Oaks property in 2014. Two options were verbally set forth. One, initiate the MSBU, or two, the county can sell the property in these favorable market conditions with deed restrictions placed on the property to adequate Address the compatibility concerns of the surrounding existing communities. I was also told by a commissioner, County Administrator was drafting
a letter to all HOA boards outlining these options. All targeted property owners deserve to have proper notice with details of the options available to them. It is concerning the same commissioner suggested a vote by HOA board members from each of the communities wrapped under this MSBU would determine the county's actions on options available. This suggests a voting procedure would be beyond the authority of HOA board members to act on issues resulting in special assessments to individual property owners
beyond their HOA assessment. There was a backroom deal in 2014. We don't need another backroom deal today. All targeted property owners also need to be made aware of the long-term financial burdens that would be assessed under the establishment of this MSBU. It is not a one-time special assessment. The current board can move forward on this issue with more flexibility as they now own the property. They can ensure compatible development with the surrounding existing communities with no out-of-pocket costs to any property owners. We
notice the purpose of this assessment within the current MSBU document has been modified from the county's initial notice to targeted parcel owners in 2014. When was this modified and by whom? And why were targeted parcel owners not notified of this material change? In summary, this MSBU was flawed from the beginning and should be voided. Further, questions still remain on the ethics and propriety of using establishment of this MSBU to essentially fund the settlement of a land use compatibility conflict between the county,
the developer, and affected establishment communities. Thank you. I'd like to enter a Stein statement from a neighbor who recently purchased a property. 2019 and the seller had no disclosure about this MSP. Motion to approve. No, motion to receive.
Okay. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Thank you.
Hi. Can you?
Maybe if if you take that end of it and just bend it down like this, maybe the gentleman here will help you. I'm sorry. He's gonna help you. Okay. There you go.
That's because I'm short and going to the ground. That's where I'm going. That's where I'm going. That's where all of us are going. Okay.
I hope. My name is Madeline Cappadano. I live at [address removed], in Riverside Village. I have been there since 1933. I'm still there, God's willing, I'll be there for a while yet, okay? I am upset because somebody says we have a homeowners association in Riverside Village. We do not. We never have.
I've never paid any dues. I've never been approached about going to a homeowners association meeting. So I want you to know. that I talked to some of my neighbors. They never even know, knew about this meeting. The only way I knew about it was that somebody living in another development told me about it. So I don't know who that person is, but they're they must be living in some other riverside village because it
sure isn't mine. Okay? I just want you to know that. But it's un American not to know that. Okay? Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm Connie Sanfilippo and I reside within the Lakeside Village section of Heritage Lake Subdivision. at [address removed]. I requested delay in any further actions relating to the activation of the Oak Park MSBU. Until all property
owners are properly notified and fully informed of the options available to us. A friend of mine residing in Southern Oaks made me aware of pending board actions. When I attended my own village meeting on September 22nd, I asked for an update on
this matter. and board members were not made aware of this matter and could not provide any information. So I'm asking you to delay any further actions until all the citizens in this area. are notified and That's that's all I have to say. And I hope your decisions are good.
Thank you.
So following Ms. Cobernick, uh the next three signed up are Pastor Troy Peterson. Ron Orchard and Cheryl Orchard. Mm-hmm.
I will also be speaking on R68. I'm Diane Kobernick, [address removed]. Uh in [address removed]. So I want to point out some facts here that many of the of you board members do not know about. Facts. This property's value was artificially increased by the same individuals buying it at a higher price through different entities. The county purchased only one of the two parcels of this property for
three million dollars, paid ten and you and on the MSBU you're including ten thousand including closing costs, as well as charging twenty thousand dollars of staff time. for the purchase of the ad for this MSBU. County's own interoffice memo admitted that there is a large category two wetlands on approximately seventy five percent of the parcel. Yet the County's presentation showed that a hundred and two units were approved. That's in twenty
fourteen. This gear tactics is one that the county seems to be using a lot. The County's own documents admitted that this project was not located was n not located in the great location for multifamily. not compatible to the surrounding area, and will cause significant traffic, yet it was approved. Representative Richard Cochran agreed that state would pay one point five million towards the purchase, and also stated
he was hoping to get more money in twenty fifteen state budget. There would be no need for the assessment. So I'm asking, where do the one point five million go to? Your purchase agreement was contingent on a clean environmental report, yet this was never tested. But the county purchased the property as is again. Resolution fourteen two thirty, state Commencing with a twenty fourteen-twenty fifteen fiscal year, The
ca so I'm asking you, if this resolution is saying commencing in twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, when this resolution was done, Is the county back taxing all of these people up to twenty fourteen? This project was started in November 25, 2013. That's eight years ago. Current property owners have no idea of any of these facts. Do you believe
you owe it to your constituents, and most of all the ones that'll be paying for this, to get the facts straight? Thank you.
Thank you.
No clapping. No clapping.
Good morning, Commissioners and Staff. Pastor Troy Peterson, [address removed]. Um First off, I want to thank everybody for what you guys do for our community. I want to personally Thanks Christina. Fitzpatrick for coming out and uh helping with our care fest to see you get your hands dirty and just to go over and above. Uh what the homeowner was asking for uh really sure is
your shows your heart and compassion and serving leadership. Um last Meeting two weeks ago, I presented with you guys with an opportunity, and I'd like to make a motion here today. That I and the Somebody Cares Pastors Association would head up the invocation of the prayer for commissioners' meetings. Last month I shared with you out of Colossians
1:3 that we give thanks to God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we're always praying for you. So even right now over at the Oasis Coffee Spot, there are Pastors praying specifically for you guys for this meeting today. Pastor Dick Maxwell and I just came from there, they prayed over us. And and so we wanted to let you know that we are praying for you guys, that that God would give you guys wisdom to run to run Pasco County. I also shared with you last month uh
out of uh John 14:1, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. We know that that me is talking about Jesus Christ. And in verse 6, as I shared with you, Jesus said. Said, said unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come to the Father but by me. And so that's what I'm saying. I I'm seeing, I'm not trying to point fingers or anything like that, but the only way to truly get your prayers answered is to pray to Jesus Christ,
to the Father. And so So Jesus addressed this in Matthew 6, starting in verse 5. He says, When you pray, You should not be as the hypocrites do. Then pray see, they pray that they may be seen amen. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And in verse seven, Jesus said, When you pray, don't use vain repetitions. So in other words, not written out prayers that are just always the same prayer, but praying according to God's Word, praying in Jesus Christ's
mighty name. And so when you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they uh they think their words are many, that they be heard uh that they will be heard for their many words. And so I'd like to make that motion that we would like to come in and do the invocation for you guys as we continue to pray for you. Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Good morning. Ron Oakley, [address removed]. The green key. Neighborhood.
Like one of you in the past said. Not that water issue again. Well yes, this is the water issue again. By now you all know or should all know about the issues that are going on in the Green Key neighborhood. Some of these issues have been going on for over twenty-five years, some for less. Can anybody tell me why we are always pushed to the bottom of the pack when things are to be done? Okay. Are we Pasco's little dirty secret? Oh no. We've
been told. That Pasco cannot do anything right now due to funding, et cetera. Okay? But What can you do for us now? To help us in this situation. We've been told that we're gonna try to have a meeting with New Port Richey, the city of, okay? It has not been happening yet, as far as I know nothing is set up yet per deciding. Okay. I'd asked it if the county was a very good idea. Board, whoever? You can give me some dates that are good for the county, times and places.
I will go to the city and see if we can get that set up for a meeting.
Okay?
I would hope that we'd have representation from the county. From the city and from the neighborhood. Okay. that we can discuss these issues and possibly come up with some answers for the fixes going forward. Okay? It would be the best interest of everybody to solve these problems because we are not going away. Thank you.
Following Ms. Orchard, we have Gail Schledgeberg, Tom Summers, and Tanya Saulyer.
Hello, my name is Cheryl Orchard. I live at [address removed] in [address removed]. Today I'm here from last meeting we talked. After we had the last meeting. Our rain and our water was so bad All our drainage From the dry weather, has not dried up its sludge. They've been out there a couple years ago, tried to get a camera in there. All the drainage pipes are completely blocked. During
a week after the last commissioner's meeting, A little girl had to have a canoe to take her home from the bus stop. This is getting ridiculous in there. There's elderly people in there that can't get out. There's cars that get stuck up in the road in that salt water. The flap. was not working the last time. We ended up with fourteen to sixteen inches of water just on Manor Beach and we're higher, so and that's because the elevation was changed. and it flows into them other streets and they're just they can't even get out of
their driveways, they can't go to work. Well, my husband got a pair of waders on, and he went down to the flat on Manor Beach. It was closed. It wasn't open to let the water flow back into the bayou. he called public works, Public Works called him, said I'm here. It's working. Now it's working. My husband said I was there ten minutes ago. It was not working. He took a pipe to pry that open. That's not how it's supposed to work. That put a lot more water
in the neighborhood than it should have. The deterioration of the roads in there If you go down from where the bridge goes over to the island, and come back to my address The road is in good shape. Because the water don't lay on it because it runs off on everybody else. Okay? The deterioration of those roads is created from all that water from nineteen ninety four that has been flowing after they put the sewers in. Pasco's uh sent out A
flood plan, public meeting to discuss flooded drainage and water quality issues, has determined that an overall plan is needed for effective bandaging. This was back in nineteen ninety four. They had a plan. Nothing's been done. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman Mariano. Wayne? Uh just wanna say Cheryl Ron, uh the pictures that I just showed were from your neighborhood just from yesterday. Um I'm gonna have a legislative ask coming up for Green Key area. area to deal with the stormwater drainage. By the way, I think the pipe we put in with your area. was the one area that was actually dry. Um but I'm gonna but put a legislative ask in for addressing the stormwater. To get that fixed in the paving assessment and actually even bring it up to Green Key coming up to share. So you're not forgotten.
Okay, got that.
One one thing on that.
Please let's talk later. I want to interfere this.
Good morning. My name is Gail Swedberg. I live at [address removed] and that's in the Green Key area as well. Um I just kind of wanted to do a follow-up. on the meeting that I attended August twenty-fourth where we discussed the Green Key issues. I know a lot of trucks are down there and they're putting asphalt in the holes, but what happens is when it rains and it's flooding, they pop out. So, you know, over and over again you're doing these band-aid fixes and it's costing
money and they're not lasting. Um You know, and I'm not gonna repeat a lot of the issues that have already been discussed. Um what I would like to request is that the meeting that we were talking about getting the city and the county together could possibly be put on the agenda for the upcoming meeting uh November the second. Um I went to the city meeting last week and I requested that they also consider putting it on the agenda for that meeting. Um
so that we can finally just address it. I think some of the frustration comes when You know, you can't update everyone on every single little detail, but when we can't get responses, sometimes we all get agitated because we wanna know. You know. Um these are things that are on everybody's mind and so many people we've had meetings, but not all of them are here today. So it's not just you know, it seems like it's us that comes to the meeting, but so many people wanted to be here and they just couldn't
be. So um I know when I did go to the city meeting, they really weren't aware of any type of special meeting for this, except for uh Mike Peters did mention that he had spoken with uh Jack Mariano about the issue. So I just wanted to again reiterate that To see if we can possibly put that on the agenda for November the second. Thank you.
Thank you.
My name's William Gillis. I live at [address removed]. In Riverside Village Estates, briefly there's some confusion. There's a Riverside Village, which there is no HOA, which the lady spoke of before, and then there's Riverside Village Estates, which does have an HOA, and we pay dues annually to take care of our ponds and drainage.
I'm praying for you too.
I guess The old saying, if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. I think we're here. I think it's time to put the shovels down. Seven years have passed. That should have never passed. And this thing should not be where it's at now. I mentioned at the last meeting that we're gonna be right back where we were in 2014. We went through all this. All the neighborhoods.
We're um allowed to speak at that time, We had I don't know a hundred and fifty, two hundred people here at that last meeting when you guys passed the MSBU. So Again, put the shovels down. Now I think there's some options we can look at that may alleviate some issues that the other neighborhoods are concerned about. For one, opening the Amazon. to Southern Oaks, in
my opinion, is a bad idea. It's just gonna create traffic both ways that neither one of us want.
The other thing is drainage in our area is pitiful. Some of it's probably the HOA's fault and some of it's the county fault. We have uh store culverts that cross. Elvernon Road that run into another piece of property That is being proposed to be developed. that don't flow very well. Right now our ponds are about four foot higher than they should be. So we have issues in
that area all the way around, okay? Now, the property I was talking about, Elvernon Drive, Yeah.
being proposed to change that zoning. To multifamily. We went through that in 2014. Multifamily doesn't belong there. But if I don't have any other avenue, I propose that that property which takes all the drainage from Heritage Lakes through Riverside Village. Crossed Alvernon. That with the MSBU, you put a stipulation in there to look at maybe trading that property. And if you decide to
build on the Amazon property to do something, You limit it to 50 single family homes. That's what that road will handle, period. It could set back far enough, you could take the wetlands, you could maybe donate it through the state or something like that to alleviate some of the cost to us. I think there's a lot of ways we can solve these issues. without just putting the burden on the neighborhoods. Thank you.
Mr. Gillies? Mr. Gillies. Um you signed up his bill, is that correct?
Yes, fair enough.
Will you? Yeah.
Mr. Gilles is my dad.
And um is Tom Summers does he want to speak? Has um I had called his name.
I'm sorry?
Tom Summers, is he does he want to speak here too? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Uh you wanna call a few more people?
Yes. Um so thank you. After Miss Sawyer, I got it right this time. Um Curtis Marsh, Bob Mitchell, and Renee Rivard. Thank
you. Hello again. I'm Tanya Salier, [address removed], not Green Key, but still flooded. Um last time uh they said that they were going to do something. Um they have I don't know if you guys did this or if uh the um some of the homeowners got together but you're ri LimeRocked a part of Meridian. Um meridian is not filling. Filling is still very well underwater. Um you guys talk about
a paving project and elevating our roads by two feet are is not going to do anything. You guys tried that way back when Um, I think it was like fifteen years ago. twenty now. Um we flooded once and you guys were out there paving, you paved. Um and now we're kind of back in the same situation. What elevating the roads will do. is let everything drain towards our houses. Which, sorry, not okay.
Um The person who I was asked to speak with, uh, I have emailed. I have not received a response other than Mr. Mariano saying that um to asking people to check on the situation. Um In the beginning
You guys actually look like you guys were gonna do something. But um I've it seems like now you guys are waiting just for the water to recede naturally, this problem to go away for about six months, and then Next April I will be back here saying, Hey, can we do something about this? Um we have driveways we can't drive out of. We have a road we can't drive down. Our mail trucks barely get down it. Um and We're all kind of frustrated. Now I'm the one
here talking to you because you guys have meetings at on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and the majority of people work or um can't get out of their homes. Uh we have our um co Our tenant, who lives at [address removed], has not been able to use her driveway in months. So it's getting to the point where you guys don't look like you're going to do anything. And I feel sorry for the people in Green Key, um, but we're not The same. Uh I know you're
doing a watershed study. That's going to take till 2025. What happens next year when um we can't get vehicles through again? uh the back their combs flooded. So kind of waiting for you guys to do something. Anything at this point. Um you guys have a very nice day. Sorry to bother you again, uh, but until something gets done, you're gonna gonna keep seeing me. Thank you. Thank you.
Good morning. My name is Curtis Marsh. I live at [address removed]. I'm here for a completely different topic. Going to be asking to get have rabbits added to the band sale along with cats and dogs. and be working towards that goal in the future. Uh rabbits, if you don't know, are the third most popular pet, which makes them the third most dumped pet. This year alone, because of COVID, we've taken our small rescues taken in in twenty-five
rabbits since the first of September. There have been a total of sixty six rabbits we've been talked uh spoken or contacted about either dumped Or someone's about to dump them. That's the new thing is to call the rescues and threaten to dump the rabbits. We feel that if you could cut down on the rabbits being sold in pet stores. That Hopefully. There wouldn't be so many people buying them at twenty five dollars and then throwing 'em out a week later. This year's been
horrendous with Rabbits fo baby rabbits dumped on Tuesday that were obviously bought over the weekend. It's just gotten that bad. So you'll be hearing more from us. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Thank you.
Thank you.
My name's Bob Mitchell. I live at [address removed]. I've been here for 31 years. Uh I've seen a lot of development. I worked for the Sheriff's Office for 29. Seen a lot of development here in Pasco County. but also seen a lot of problems. in floods in nineteen ninety three, the great flood on the other side of nineteen, two thousand sixteen. My wife had a walk from Little Road up to our house on Sacramento Drive and three feet of water. And now
you want to put
two blocks further in the back of that so we can have more water. What are you gonna do with all this? The traffic is going out that on Saint Lawrence. Anymore. It takes a little bit. eight to twelve people to get through a light. which only that's three at a time. We got so much traffic coming from Uh River Chase. The back of our development. And anybody else that's cutting through if that gate's open from the side of the uh condos back there. We
don't need any apartments. If it's going to be zoned, it should be zoned just for single family houses to the amount that can hold it. Not two hundred apartments which would be almost extra four hundred cars. Also when you build those, I just paid my last assessment. From Marboroads. From back in five years, six years ago. So When them trucks go back to start building those houses. Who's gonna repair our roads? Am I gonna have to pay again? For
their problems? Why? Shouldn't be back there. Another layer there also should be a construction lane going back if there's even new houses back there. Not like it was when you built River Chase and tore our roads up. That's all I gotta say.
Thank you, sir.
After Miss Rivard, I have Marlita. Lassiter, Drew Bocetti, sorry if I pronounced that wrong, I'm so sorry, and Miriam Butler.
Renee Rivard, P.O. Box 81 Cortez, Florida. Good morning, commissioners. We work with some of you on the dog chaining law for Pasco County. It's nice to see you again. Um we're coming to you today with another issue, unwanted pet rabbits. First and foremost, rabbits should not be pets. You can easily break their backs if handled improperly, say so they are definitely not suited pets for children. Secondly, judging by the
number of pet rabbits given up, rabbits are an impulse by with not much thought of the expense and care that goes into having a rabbit as a pet. We are working on this issue with five counties that make up the greater Tampa Bay area, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota. Not a single county-run animal shelter takes in pet rabbits. Only four nonprofit facilities accept pet rabbits. Bishop SPCA and
Manatee County took in 76 rabbits last year. The SPCA in Pinellas County took in 246 pet rabbits last year. We don't have the statistics yet from the Humane Society in Pinellas, but we'll get those to you. And the Humane Society in Tampa took in 190 pet rabbits as of July this year. There are no facilities that accept pet rabbits in Pasco
County. A couple of your local Good Samaritans, the Schwartzes, started the Suncoast House Rabbit Rescue in 2019. Since then, they have taken in over a hundred rabbits. Relying on fosters to help them, they cannot keep up with the overwhelming number of calls they get from people who are turned away from the nonprofits because they have no space. The Schwartzes told me that they turned away over sixty pet pet rabbits just this month. The
Schwartz spend a lot of their time chasing rabbits that have been let go into our neighborhoods by individuals who will no longer want them. Pet rabbits are not native to Florida, and they can easily die in temperatures below fifty degrees and above eighty degrees. They also don't know how to find food and shelter. Commissioners, we are asking for your help with this issue. As far as we can see, we have two options: either provide a facility to take in unwanted rabbits or ban the retail sale of rabbits. It's not fair for that private citizens citizens
have to pick up the mess and pick up the tab for this problem. These good Samaritans are losing enjoyment of their lives and being boredom with the problem that pet stores are creating. At the very least, consider a seasonal ban in March and April to curb the impulse buys of rabbits for Easter. Thank you for your time and for all of that for all that you do. Thank you.
Okay.
Good morning. I am Marlita Lasseter and I live at [address removed]. and the Oakes M SBU backs up to my property. Um In Riverside Village, we do not have an HOA, but myself and five volunteers walked the neighborhood and collected 134 signatures in favor of enacting the MSBU, and we had one person who
opposed, and that was presented to you at our last meeting. The um MSBU was established in 2014 after many public meetings and much conversation and Um We were happy to see that it was enacted at that time. Um Today. I can tell you that the rain Storm damage is terrible. I presented pictures of the flooded streets
when we had seven inches of rain and that one rainfall last month. Um, our streets were totally flooded. the the drainage does not take away the water that we have in that neighborhood. And my fear is if there's any development on that property, which is part of our watershed. that we're going to have some serious problems. I have FEMA. Uh for my house because I'm, you
know, a conscious homeowner. And I started out paying three hundred and forty dollars a year. for FEMA coverage. It's now up to eight hundred and eighty dollars. Um I think that we've had a lot of uh development in our area and they're they're the experts on um flood control. Also, my daughter, who lives on Amazon, called out the county, the Mosquito Control people
came out, and sprayed her backyard. Which is not you know, public property, but it's flooded because of all the water that we have. Um So the other thing that we have is we have inadequate traffic control at our exits onto uh n onto the highway. at Little Road and uh Saint Lawrence. We have maxed out on traffic volume. Little
Road and Heritage Lakes don't have deceleration lanes or acceleration lanes to handle any additional traffic coming through our area. And it has been a problem for quite a while. Uh in the morning at seven eight thirty, from seven thirty to eight thirty you wait through two traffic lights to get out if you're on Saint Lawrence Drive. We have numerous accidents at those intersections because it's unsafe. Yeah
the FEMA ten year plan did order for a reduction of uh pollution going into the Anclock River basin. yet there were thousands of acres that have been developed since. And my fear is the flooding is very dangerous during hurricanes in our area. We had did have a car go off in one of the ditches and it sunk. Um thank you for your comments. Your time's
up.
Oh thank you. Okay,
thank you.
Good morning. My name is Drew Bochetti. I live at [address removed]. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my concerns. As a human, a renter, a small business owner, and a US veteran, I'm addressing this these issues. The concern is it took five phone calls since August 10. to achieve getting communication to the commissioners. The septic problem that I have for my neighbor has been since Hurricane Irma. There is no record of it at all because state of Florida
and the County don't keep previous complaints. I'm a technology guy. We need to keep back orders of technology on how we take our complaints into the systems, and that goes for county and state. Um County Commissioner Service seemed to have no idea which department handled septic. Whether it was code enforcement, stormwater, road and bridge, nobody had an idea. Um no county septic policy. Septic, I'm sure, has been around for years. We don't have a septic policy. When
houses are built with septic, I'm sure we we inspect for the septic to be put in. But on the flip side, when somebody buys a house, we don't worry about the septic problems. Um Again, no one knows whose district is. I'm told it's Ms. Starkey's, Ms. Fitzpatrick's, Mr. Mariano's. Um this should be a team commissioner problem to address whose district district it is. Public health is our elected officials' problem. It's not just my problem as an individual, but I'm asking for your help. It seems we're putting it off on the state from a county perspective. Um When
there's a hurricane, safety related items sink holes, the county works with the state to get accomplishments done. That's not how this is happening. I've sent emails, I've only got two responses, one Ms. Fitzpatrick, one Ms. Starkey. I have asked and yes I spoke to Rich Jenkins, I've spoken to Sonia, I've spoken to I think her name was Desiree. Um Again. No response from nobody. I'm sending to commissioners. There's no email nobody's responding at all. I mean I guess it's I guess it's not your district so you're not gonna wanna handle it, but irrelevant. Um If this were your neigh
if this were your neighbor's septic leaking, I'm sure it would be addressed appropriately. I'm a human individual and so are the people behind me, I'm sure they wouldn't want raw sewage flooded in front of their driveway. Uh No attempt was made to contact the daughter, which was a phone number I provided to Mrs. Miller, which is Mr. Oakley's assistant. No phone call attempt was made. It is not a crime scene. The state is asking for pictures of the raw sewage. Are we serious? Is is this how we handle things as pictures? It it seems a little irrelevant to me. It's raw sewage. It's a public health issue. Um
and because of the eviction situation It's difficult to find another place to live. Now I have typed here, thank you for not helping this human. Renter, small business owner, And US veteran. I don't know what it's going to take to ask for help, but I'm asking for help. Please. It's more than just my neighborhood. We all share neighborhoods, and I'm sure none of us want raw sewage, as well as you probably wouldn't want, next to you living it. The smell may not be to kill you, but it's horrendous and it's
it's sad to see that we all
Sir. Yes, excuse me, sir. I remember speaking to you directly on the telephone and it is a health department. It is my district and it is a health department issue. And I have reached out to our health official Mike Napier Mike Napier about this and we do need to follow through with the health department.
I'll continue to be in touch. I've already spoke to Mr. Napier and Mr. Crompton myself.
Thank
you.
Following Ms. Butler, I have Nina and last name is I can't really read. Is it Perino? And um a Charles Eldred. And those are the last that I have to sign up today in person.
Good morning. I'm Miriam Butler. I represent Riverside Village Estates Homeowners Association. I live at [address removed] in Riverside Village Estates. And I'm here first of all to say that on behalf of the members of RHOA, we want the MSBU to be enacted. I have not heard from any residents within our community of 96 homes who have said they do not want to be assessed and have that begin. They
feel that if we had been assessed starting in 2014 or so, we would be halfway through that assessment already. And it is not the fault of the residents that it wasn't enacted. Mm-hmm. Um I heard some people say that it was a backroom deal, or I heard someone say that today, and I just want to reiterate It's understandable that some people may not have known about it, but this was a highly publicized campaign
with a great deal of involvement from over, well, the group was called 5333, I believe, and that was the number of voters who were impacted by the MSBU issue on Amazon Drive. Five. So we feel strongly that we want what you promised to be enacted. Um I've heard mention of other multifamily Possibilities. This
community is all single-family homes. If you put in multifamily, we're talking about hundreds of more cars. It would probably entail maybe opening up Amazon Drive, which would mean thousands of extra trips every day from people that are cutting through, not only the residents. Yeah. You have to wind through five neighborhoods or so, depending on what direction you go through. through single
family homes on single family streets to get to Little Road or Starkey. It's the density Uh the traffic. would change the quality of life in the neighborhood. And we just want you to honor what was agreed to in 2014. Thank you.
What happened?
Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Nina Perino. I live in [address removed]. I'm just here to say I support a retail sale ban of rabbits. In pet stores. As Renee pointed out. And the rescue has pointed out it's a huge problem. I myself didn't know. A lot of non profits did not take in rabbits, and I've been doing animal advocacy for twenty five years. I did not know that. Um, but it's I follow a lot of small animal rescues across the nation.
And it's a problem everywhere. And when these bunnies are found, Outside living on their own. People just leave them in their cages. Rained on They don't know how to eat. They don't know how to find food or shelter. and they're diseased, full of fleas, anemic, sometimes they can't be saved. If you want an animal, any animal be a responsible pet owner, but most humans are not able to do that. They're just impulse buyers for
Easter. and whatever, buy chicks and ducks and bunnies for their kids and then dump them a couple of weeks later 'cause they don't want to take care of them. and kids don't know how to take care of them. And the parents don't have time to take care of them, so don't buy them. It's time to stop. catering to human Wants. And greed. and think about the animals that suffer. as a problem of that as an extension of well we should have our choice of what we want, well
too bad. Because You have to be responsible and you can't force t people to be responsible. So just cut at cut it out. Don't give them the opportunity to buy rabbits. It's it's ridiculous and they can y you know how they can breed and becomes a ongoing issue. All across our state. And in Pinellas County. Because we're next Pinellas County will be next to do the rate retail sale ban of rabbits and dogs and cats. So if you care about animals at
all. Or even if you don't. It doesn't matter if you care if they if their lives matter. It matters to them. Their lives matter and they only get one. Thank you. Thank you.
Yes, good morning. My name is Charles Eldred. I live at [address removed]. in Heritage Lake. Just a little background, I moved into Pasco County in two thousand and five. So I was there when the streets flooded and and Saint Lawrence was closed for over a week. Heritage Lake Boulevard was closed for five or six days because it was flooded Also in two thousand and twelve. Uh Saint
Lawrence was closed for another week or so. Heritage Lake for another four or five days because it was flooded. Uh I was very active in that fifty-five thirty-three from day one. And the people at Heritage Lake uh our committee We've met a number of times. And I'm here to concur with the
honor what was written in two thousand and fourteen. and move forward. Uh I think everyone in Heritage Lake or most people in Heritage Lake have been aware of this. And uh we'd just like to move forward with it. Uh Only you can tell us why we weren't charged our uh fees for the last seven years. We had no idea. I know I talked with Mike Fasano on two different occasions early on. And
he said, I can't charge you until I get the bill from the county. Well I'm asking you now to submit that bill and we'll start paying our fees. Thank you very much. Have a great day. Thank you for
your service.
Thank you.
He's uh the last one we had sign of. Does anyone else in the room wish to sign speak? Come forward right now.
So Yeah. Is this the last one in the room that wishes to speak?
Hi, my name is Janine Dombrowski. I just moved to [address removed].
My concern is mostly holiday. Just like everybody else, we have lots of flooding problems. Grand Boulevard floods, and there's a lot of traffic on it. People swerve to avoid those big puddles and they don't even care about the other line of traffic. Um I know obviously everyone is having flooding issues. There's also septic tanks, a lot of them in holiday, so I didn't even realize that could be such a good a concern. Um I've only been there three months. My
other concern is all the panhandling. I understand that these are hard times. I'm a single mother. I've come from a one-bedroom house or mean one-bedroom apartment with my daughter to owning two properties in Pasco County. I understand how difficult it is to survive, and everything is going up. But these panhandlers, I know there's organizations out there that try to help them and give to them and donate them. But these people don't want the help, and they're really becoming a nuisance on the
corners. They're hitting the traffic signals, harassing people. I care for them, I really truly do. But it's becoming a serious problem so much that I don't. Want to bring my 12-year-old daughter to a convenience store with me to go get a shake because of all the harassment. I don't walk in fear. I'm not afraid of them, but other people are. It's also what everyone that travels down 19 from Pinellas County gets to see when they come to our county. It should be slightly embarrassing
for all of you. It's great that we're growing and there's people moving here from out of state. And there's nice beautiful homes down 54. But yes, the traffic, it's horrible. We have lots of infrastructure along uh up and down the corridor of 19. I'd really like to see some of those builders being forced to take the dilapidated areas and build them up, maybe affordable housing for that single mom that is trying to survive.
I'm trying to cover a lot of bases here. I want to find solutions. I just realized you have some organizations on your county website. I'd like to know what those organizations are doing, like to solve the problems. We can't just keep donating to these people and expect it to go away. It's a band-aid. Also, I want to make everyone known that Pasco County is number two in human trafficking. This concerns me highly and it should concern all of you. There's also I found an organization towards that. I would really
like to know what they're doing about it. Now with the open border and everyone flocking here from out of state. My I'm I don't live in fear, but my concerns are really high. We need to be very proactive on ending this. People are going to be trafficked here even more now. Um and this is gonna affect years to come. So um I love Pasco County. I've lived um in this county for a long time. I don't like to bash it, but some of the things that people are talking about on social media are
actually true.
Thank you for your comment. We if you would email me, KStarky at Pasco CountyFL.net, I will get back in touch with you and we'll go have coffee and we'll talk about a lot of the things and I'll explain to you what's going on of the things you covered. I really appreciate that. There are a lot of my hot buttons too. Okay, awesome. I appreciate that. I'll
enjoy working with you. Okay. So that that uh leads us to WebEx and we have two people to speak on WebEx.
The first person signed up um in in WebEx is Nancy Gray.
And yeah.
Ms. Gray, if you could state your name and address for the record and then you can um go ahead with your comments.
Yes, good morning. This is Nancy Gray.
I
live at [address removed]. Is that volume okay? Yeah.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Wells Spargo at Little and Ridge had been permitted to drain. They're roofed their driveway into the lake as they're grandfathered in. This has caused the lake to overflow onto our property since the rain started again in July. The water's come up more than a hundred feet. The home next door has flooded their garage. Residents on grave have lost at least half their backyards. One homeowner's been calling public. Work since the beginning of September and can't get anywhere. We're being told our home, not our property, has to be
endangered before the county will pump. Tax records show the lake belongs to Pasco County, but they've chosen to maintain it when they choose. The Florida Administrative Code clearly states a water runoff is not to be directed onto another's property. I contacted Swiftwood. They contacted Woodworks by email saying I requested pumping a lake and attached a 2019 emergency permit. I've called and can't get a return call. I don't believe Ms. Fetch Patrick
has heard back either. As we've lost thousands of dollars in plants, trees and crops since July and have had to move what remains. I wonder what's happening in Crane's Roost.
The property appraiser site shows all of those lakes are privately owned. However, the county has received a permit from Swift Mode a month ago and has been pumping their lakes since that time. The residents have no water rising out of their lakes onto their property. I c can I get the county to remove their water from my property but residents in Frain Roos to have pumps in every lake to keep the water level down in the lakes? Are we being penalized because we pay less than property taxes on a retirement home? I'm
requesting that the county pump down the lake to its level before the bank dumped their water run off and it The county in turn flooded our property. Then keep it down and come up with a permanent solution to the problem. Swift Mud's already determined that the county can get a permit. To run. The bank's runoff into the drains at Ridge and Riddle and over to the retention pond. It would take adding curbs at the bank as Ms. Fitzpatrick had suggested in our
private meetings. I can't get a call back from the building department to determine if county permits required. I don't believe anyone in the county has looked into this solution. The problems were created by allowing the bank to dump their runoff into the lake. Again, I'm requesting that our county commissioners address the problem before we incur more damage than we already have. And at this point, it's going to take nine to twelve months to get that water back down in the lake if nothing is done. We need
relief. We need our yards back. We need our our property back. Is there anything you can do to cause public Did calculate?
The next individual is Michelle Jimenez.
Hello, good afternoon. It's Michelle Jimenez from [address removed]. Uh my concern is also Beer Lake. Uh currently the water is 100 feet across my property and 50 feet into my property. Um and it's also I have a six foot privacy fence. It is four feet. Um in depth. at the end of my fence. and
currently twenty feet away from my septic tank system. if the water continues to rise and nothing is done my home would completely be submerged in water soon enough. um seeing that there's four feet already down there of water. And my septic tank will be submerged as well. Uh I've called public service. public works. Uh they also have told me I've given them service number that they can't do anything. um that that is
considered private property. Come to find out the county does own that. So I don't understand why it would be s such a hassle to just pump the lake and maintain it as It is property of the county. I also Have had mold, serious mold issues in my house due to the moisture and the water that has come from the lake. I can't do anything for it. I can't stop the water. I've tried to s Slow
it down as much as possible. Um my neighbors uh as well as Nancy's In the middle, the water is up to their porch at this point. I peeked over their fence. They haven't been here in a year. and the water is up to their home. They just aren't here to acknowledge it or know that it is. So they're They're olderly couple as well, so I'm sure they're gonna come home to mold and can't even no longer live in their home. Um the service number that I had put in with the public works office was 47255.
I haven't heard anything back. I called five several times and they told me somebody was gonna get back to me. Nobody has. I'm just here to ask that the water gets pumped and as a disabled veteran I didn't spend six years overseas serving my country to come back home and have to fight for my own home that I worked so hard for. I'm just asking for like Annie to do their part and pump the like Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else on WebEx? No one else on WebEx, sir. So that and concludes the public comment portion of our meeting. We'll move on now. Is the time for resolutions?
Yes, sir.
All right, Madam Clerk.