Board of County Commissioners on 2026-02-24 9:00 AM

are delighted to have so many join us this morning. Um, I m calling the meeting to order. Please join me for a moment of silence, followed by a pledge of allegiance which will be led by John Sparks Barraga. Thank you I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under GOD indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Sara, tell us a little bit about your, ok. I thought I was sneaking off there. Oh, you, you re not letting that go that easily, yes, I get, I, I ve been known to be too brief, I guess, um, I served from 2010 to 2014 in the Air Force. Currently I work Martin County bocc as a veteran service officer. And we help veterans and their family members obtained va benefits that they might be entitled to as well as any state benefits. Uh, it s a very rewarding career, um, it s probably my, my favorite job that I ve had since getting out of the military is. I ve been able to get back to the veterans in Martin County. So I appreciate you guys giving us the opportunity to do that. Yeah Uh, there are a number of presets today. It s 9:30. We will have our legislative update at 9:05. We ll have public comment. At 1:30 we will have consideration of an unsolicited proposal for a public-private partnership. At 1:35 we ll have another evaluation of an unsolicited proposal for a public-private partnership. At 5:05, we will have a discussion on accessory dwelling units, text amendment at 5:05, we will conclude with public comment. Now we will take up public comment The first request to speak I form I have is from Jackie Thurlow Lippish. Would you like to speak now? Ok, excellent. Followed by Greg Braun. Hello, Honorable commissioners and uh staff. Jackie Thurlo Lippish. Uh, nice to be here again, I guess. Um, I am a long-term resident of Martin County. In fact, a lifetime resident. My family s been here since 1952. And my mother is the local historian for Martin County. I am heavily invested in Martin County. I have run for county commission in the past. I um served on the South Florida Water Management District for 4.5 years with my whole heart. And um I have grown up surrounded by the waters of the Saint Lucie River which brought me so much closer to GOD and to um the beauty of this place my whole life. I am very um excited to have joined the Guardian s board, uh, just recently, and I m back. And um I feel that that is a good place for me in my older age and um I d, I d like to just, you know, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is use the same words that were said by you. And so I m just going to say a few of the words to you that were written in a letter on APRIL 7th by MR. Donaldson to Drew Bartlett, who was my executive director. Um, when I was at the South Florida Water Management District about Chauny Bay Ranch, a slaughterhouse. That is, um, proposed on the edge of Lake Okeechobee. Um the reality is we all eat meat. And it is a kosher um site, which is better than most, of course. Um, however, that fdax would preempt this county from having any input into that. Is unacceptable. Unacceptable, and we are living in an age where from the top down, people are telling us what we cannot do in our local governments, and we ve always had that right. It s a constitutional right within our state. So i m just gonna use a few words, which I think for the public will be powerful if they haven t heard them. And these were from MISTER Donaldson. According to the epa, an environmental integrity Project, the meat and poultry project industry is among the largest sources of industrial nutrient pollution in the United States. Us risk from this slaughter from a slaughterhouse include. Water contamination, meat processing wastewater contains blood, feces, oil, grease, ammonia, and antibiotic residues which contribute to the ethification and harmful algae blooms, including toxic cyanobacteria. Cyanotoxins cannot be removed via standard wastewater treatment. It goes on and on and on. We know this Please speak up on behalf of Martin County residents for our good nature. Thank you. Greg Braun is next. Greg, would you like to speak now or the ok. Sam Hay is next. Followed by Barbara Birdsey. Would you like to speak now, MISS Birdie? Good morning. I m Sam. Hey, I have the privilege of living in Port Salerno. I am feeling alarmed at the reported prospect of a slaughterhouse being constructed on a ranch in the northwestern corner of our county. While I have no particular objection to the processing of meat, the location of such a facility in Martin County does pose the potential for significant environmental and health risk. My main concerns have to do with our water. Always a critical issue in our county. It has been reported that the South South Florida Water Management District has permitted the proposed facility to withdraw 6 points, 6.7 million gallons from the underlying aquifer over a span of 20 years. This, in spite of the increasing threat of saltwater intrusion in our poorest geologic geological structure. A related concern is of course the potential for the operations of an abattoir to generate further contamination of our water both above and below ground. The proposed abattoir would be located very near Lake Okeechobee, already the source of water woes our community has suffered for years on end. It is my understanding that the Florida Department of Agriculture has determined that our county is preempted from reviewing the slaughterhouse facility for compliance with our comprehensive plan and environmental regulations under state right to farm legislation. To me this seems illogical. It s, it s such a facility appears not so much a farming project as an industrial enterprise. I am not conversant with the complex network of laws and regulations involved with this issue, many of which have no doubt been adopted for the benefit of well-placed property owners to the disadvantage of the broader public good. I do believe, however, that the county government has a duty to exert his authority of oversight to ensure that the proposed abattoir if constructed, operates in such a way as not to contribute to the further degradation of our water resources. Particularly considering how lax state level environmental protection has been in recent years. I believe all Mountain County residents will be grateful to the commission. For your serious attention and oversight to this matter. Thank you. Barbara Birdsey is next, followed by Vera Casselbury. Good morning. I m Barbara Birdsey from Hope Sound. I ve been around here for quite a while, so, uh, lovely to see you all this morning. I m here to speak on a course about the proposed slaughterhouse. I have many concerns about it. You ll hear from many other people, I m sure what all of the pollutant and uh water issues are. I have uh another concern regarding such a huge project, and that is oversight um about the animal welfare part of this, there will be thousands of animals involved, uh, and I question where the oversight for not only cruelty to the animals, will be, but also for the workers it s a very um tough job. Many people get injured in this kind of work. And there s lots of opportunities for cruelty to happen and further concerns this morning. I got a, uh, a memo from the Center for Biological Diversity, uh, quoting a law that s in the works that would uh mandate that Florida State parks be open for cattle ranching. And I would love to have further input from this body, um, how that would uh affect Martin County, uh, it s House Bill 14201, and Senate bill 1658. So thank you very much. Thank you. You re a Castlebury is next, followed by Jim Moyer. The morning commissioners. My name s Vera Casselberry. I m a full-time resident of Hobe Sound for 23 years. And I would just like to read brief comment. Regarding Chancey Bay. I m here to speak about my serious concerns regarding the Chancey Bay slaughterhouse. It s a 26 acre slaughterhouse which is indeed an industrial complex. As you know, in NOVEMBER of 24, 63.93% of your constituents passed the referendum for the half cent sales tax. To fund Martin County forever. You know, Martin County is deeply, deeply caring about our precious environment. The lack of transparency of this development has raised serious and numerous red flags. One is the effect on water quality like others have been expressing to you. Like you, clean water is critical for our very existence. Clean water is a life or death issue for our treasured floor and fauna. Chancey Bay s slaughterhouse, according to position papers and investigative reporting, states that this facility would cause the degradation of our water quality for several reasons, but especially because it is situated in the Lake Okeechobee watershed, which is already designated impaired. As reported, this project has 0 water quality monitoring in place, 0. I believe you know what actions need to take place to prevent this type of situation from happening in the future. And uh ask you to please move forward with whatever is in your. Purview and let s not allow anything like an industrial complex. To be built and affect so many different areas of our community, but especially water quality. Thank you. Thank you. And Moyer s next, followed by Anthony Zunnino. Brown. I didn t know you are. You didn t know I was impaired. Um, good, good morning, commissioners. My name is Jim Moyer. I m a resident of Martin County, Rocky Point. I m also the Indian Riverkeeper. The Waterkeeper Alliance has almost 200 waterkeepers in the country, uh. Slaughterhouses, uh, packing houses, and capital lots have been identified as primary sources of nutrient pollution across the country and around the world. This is an industrial site that we do not have the capacity for wastewater treatment for. Nobody in the region has the capacity for the wastewater treatment this facility would require it s, it s important that when we start to think about, you know, allowing job creation in western Martin County, that we take into consideration what the capacity of Western Martin County is to handle the industrial waste that this kind of facility would provide. Clearly the complan has some. Stipulations that require that industrial processes on agricultural lands be cared for, and that s the county responsibility to do that. We are in an era of preemption across the, the, you know, federal levels as well as state levels. It s important for Martin County to take a bold stand here and designate those processes which are industrial, not be allowed on agricultural lands. If that is the case, then we need to make sure that we have the capacity to handle the waste and the water withdrawals that that these facilities would require. It s our, it our prerogative, it s also our, our imperative, and I urge you to take that into consideration and if it requires a revision of the comp Plan, and that s what it requires. But take a bold stand here because this is, this is not gonna be ok for the future of Martin County. In fact, it s going to be very devastating for the health of Lickapachobe and the water that we all share. It is not just the water that s underneath one landowner s property. It is our water, and we need to demand healthy and clean water for everybody in the county. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Anthony Zunino is next, followed by Marc Perry. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. Uh, my name is Tonynino. I PRESIDENT Of the Guardian Saint Martin County. I know you re all familiar with the Chauncey Bay Ranch situation, but Lloyd, I d like to talk about is what exactly this exemption actually means. If the fdacs lawyer s opinion stands. A multi-million dollar commercial processing facility will be constructed and operated in Martin County with no or very little development oversight whatsoever. No building permit, no site plan approval, no driveway permit, no mechanical permit for refrigeration. No electrical, no plumbing permit, no fire safety or sprinkler review. No windlord certification, and this is Florida where we design structures to survive hurricanes. No stormwater drainage permit from the county. No traffic impact analysis, no environmental review, no public hearing, no opportunity for a single resident of this county to ask a question or raise a concern before development begins. This is what a blanket agricultural exemption means when it s applied to a commercial facility of this scale. Every one of these requirements exists for a reason. And that reason is the health, safety, and welfare of the people of Martin County. However, the guardians support the Florida s right to farm Act. We support its purpose completely, but the law was designed to shield for small farmers who was not designated as a sword for well-funded corporate operations to bypass the local regulations that every other resident of this business in this community must follow. If the standard being set here is that a commercial operation of this scale can claim an agricultural exemption and bypass the entire local development review process, and this board needs to think about what that means for everyone else. Should the county go back and refund every small farmer, nursery operator who paid for development review, building permits, and code compliance. Should the county revise the fines that they are leveling on small agricultural operators who did not secure the required permits. But the guardians are asking respectfully for is that the board seek independent legal review of the fdaces s agricultural exemption claims. Before relinquishing any regulatory authority. We asked the board to proceed with its established development review process. Until these legal questions are resolved. And we ask the board to consider the fairness of this situation. not just for the neighbors of this particular project. But for every resident and business in Martin County that follows the rules. The Guardians support agriculture. We support businesses. We re not opposed to this facility. But we believe that everyone needs to be a good neighbor. Everyone needs to demonstrate that their operations will not harm public health or water quality, and everyone needs to pay their fair share. We all have to live together in this community and the rules would apply to some should apply to all. Thank you for your time Mark Perry is next, followed by John Nelson. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. Mark Perry, um, director of Floor Ocean Graphic, but also resident of Martin County since 1957. Uh, this, this project that you re becoming aware of or has been apparently going on for a while. There s a proposal for the slaughterhouse in the uh western part of the county up near the lake on Chauncey Ranch area that it just, I, I think it s just a terrible, terrible thing to happen in our community, in our county, particularly because of the potential for pollution to our waterways. Lake Okeechobee and also our groundwater and other water systems that are all around Lakeside Ranch. We spent a lot to try to help clean up the waters through the lakeside Ranch STAs and working hard to do that for many, many years and many of the county has been effortless efforts in doing that. You know, the letters that are in your packet from Don Donaldson in the County, particularly the one to,, to the applicant describing the fact that this is not an agricultural use. This is basically an industrial use of this property, and that shouldn t be allowed without proper permitting for sure, which is apparently being preempted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. So the county needs to stand up with that and then also that letter that Don put to the together for the district water management district and dep describing that this, this again is not an ag thing. This is really an industrial use that needs to be reviewed and permitted by those agencies but also by the county and not preempted the fact the county has no say in this matter and they can just go ahead and get this facility done. The pollution that ll come from this is, is incredibly uh massive to our waterways. Um, the water wastewater treatment facility. It should be permitted just like a water wastewater plant. They need to demonstrate that they can, they can handle all that for this industrial use, and they need to get the land use change from Martin County, not from fx, not permitted by the other agencies. They need to work with all the agencies to get a proper facility permitted if this is something to go forward. But I m proud of Martin County to stand up and and fight the state on this and say, look, you can t just come into our county and tell us we re gonna go ahead and permit this uh property use on this property in spite of your, you know, comprehensive plan or your regulations, and I m proud that Martin County can stand up and I hope we all do. And if you need more voices, we ll get them because this is not a proper use for this particular property thing. Thank you. John Nelson is next, followed by Frank McChrystal. Good morning, commissioners. This is kind of a weird situation for me because I actually grew up in a farming community. Uh, my family heritage since the late 1800s has been cattle ranching and potato farming in southwestern Oregon or southeastern Oregon rather, and uh I know intimately, you know, what goes on in the cattle industry because of my family, family heritage. That said, I ve been a, a Florida resident since 1990, and I ve been the PRESIDENT Of Audubon and Martin County for the last 10 years. I m also the voice of the Audubon moment on public radio. I have to close my eyes just to listen to your voice. Sorry about that. It s fantastic. Thank you. And uh I m also on the board of directors of Audubon, Florida. One of the things that, you know, you ve heard several comments about, you know, the, the wastewater and the environmental damage and that and everything, everything that has been said is absolutely true. What you haven t heard is the cost to our wildlife, to our avian species here in Martin County. You MAY not fully appreciate it, but environmental tourism is a big and growing industry throughout Florida and here in Martin County as well. For the last 13 years, Audubon of Martin County has led public tours to the lakeside Ranch Stormwater treatment area, which is immediately north of this proposed slaughterhouse, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the proposed slaughterhouse in that area would absolutely devastate the wildlife in that area. The lakeside Ranch stormwater treatment area is a critical migratory path for many bird species that come through or live in in our in our Florida habitat. And to have that type of a, of an environmental impact would absolutely devastate such critical species such as the the uh the Florida um snail kite which is going through an incredible stressful time right now. Uh, and many of these species again, are species that environmental tourists love to come down and see. But regardless of the economic impact, just the fact that something like this could happen to our environment is just beyond my comprehension, so I do, you know, again strongly recommend that you take any actions possible to negate this development. Thank you very much. Thank you. Frank McCrystal is next, followed by Jeff Whittman. MR. Whitman is the last request to speak form I have if you d like to address us. Please fill out one of these forms and hand it to the bailiff. Good morning. Thank you, Lord, for this day and thank you for those who have served our country. That allows me to have this freedom of speech. I m gonna cut into my normal time that I had planned, cause it s such a great opportunity to greet the finest of river greenies in our county. And remind them that the noise mitigation Plan after the illegal extension of runway 12:30. A big part of the noise mitigation plan was to reroute all jet traffic. Out over our rivers as soon as possible. So in reference to to the 23 acres of native habitat, mature trees that border the airport and the ymca and neighborhood to the north. The 2023 approved airport layout plan designates this parcel for future improvement. However, the potential improvement options for this parcel are not addressed explicitly in the alternative analysis of the 2023 airport master Plan update. The county participated in unsolicited meetings with various aeronautical developers over the past 6 months to discuss improvement plans for this parcel. Some of whom have indicated their ability to improve this area without financial support from the county. Shifting the capital improvements required to this parcel from the county to future tenants would significantly expedite the county s ability to make this parcel available for bid. Without tenant investment, the county anticipates the required infrastructure improvements and capital financing slash planning could take 5 years. The county s goal is to make this parcel available for bidding following the proposed selection criteria for break for vacant properties. The county will initially solicit respondents that are willing to invest in the required capital improvements. This feels like the swamp. And I ll say it right now. I m not comfortable with an assistant county administrator. Who lives and breathes. Who is an aviation enthusiast fanboy. In that position ok, and this parcel previous commissions have always protected. So doing what I do, I talked to some people on 10th Street. We re gonna be directly affected by this. Very troubling what I learned, because I lived just outside of the jet fume, the jet fumes plume. Ok The students at Saint Joe sucked down jet fumes on a regular basis. I cannot believe that this is the will of this commission. To expedite the development of this property. Thank you. Thank you. Jeff Whittman is next, and MR. Whitman is the last request to speak form I have. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioner Jeff Whitman, Hope Sound. Um, I opposed the uh slaughterhouse that uh. I m here uh today to remember and honor two environmentalists. One everybody knows and one not so much. Um, 4 years ago, almost to the day. We lost Maggie Herchala. She was a Martin County commissioner for 20 years and helped Kraft the blueprint which would become the Martin County difference. Martin County would not be what it is today without Maggie. She was my mentor and my inspiration, and I MISS Her greatly. 60 years ago Max Whitman brought me and my brother to Hope Sound. It was wild country back then. Bas were washing up on the beach. And panthers roamed the island, eating gnat Reed s ducks. Directly across from our house 88 North Beach Road Commissioner Capps knows it well. Was one of the most prolific prolific turtle nesting beaches on the east coast of the United States. Bon Airre Beach My father always thought it should be preserved and worked to that end. The consensus at that time in the town was that it was never going to happen The Coast Guard who owned the 14 acres had plans to develop it. And it would have taken an act of Congress. To facilitate the transfer. And get it preserved My father was friends with Senator Bob Graham, their fraternity brothers, and flying back from Washington, he asked Senator Graham to help him with the preservation. Senator Graham came through and got my father all the information that he needed. Architectural plans, deed, and the deed restrictions. The Coast Guard had plans to build 10 houses for the Coast Guard brass. This was in violation of the deed restrictions. When my father could not continue. He was in his late 80s. Um, he turned all of his material over to the town. Who picked up the baton Congressman Tim Foley led the transfer to the town in 800 page appropriations bill which was passed by the House and the Senate. Thank you, Tim Mahoney, wherever you are. Thank you to the town of Jupiter Island. Thank you to the mayor and the town manager, Joe Connolly. Uh. Thank you to Sarah Hurd, who was involved in this. You remember, you think you re at the Tangerine Theater that meeting. And, and thank you to my dad. Uh, and thank you to, well, Max Whittman. For his part in preserving the Bonnaire Beach Preserve. Not many people know about that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Commissioners, is there a motion to approve the agenda and we can approve the consent agenda at the same time. I ll move approval of the agenda, let s see. Consent agenda also moved for approval. Second, there s a motion in a second. Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. Now we ll present proclamations. The first proclamation is a proclamation declaring Charles Chapman s School of Seamanship Week in Martin County, Florida. Good morning, commissioners Martin County has always had a close relationship with the sea, both in terms of cultural influence and in terms of commerce, maritime discovery, exploration, development, conservation and recreation have at various times, all had an influence on Martin County. The Chapman School of Seamanship, a maritime center of excellence, offers va approved programs, career training programs, recreational boating programs, and summer youth boning programs. The school has been recognized as the maritime School of Florida by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the state of Florida da since 1983 and FEBRUARY 22nd through 28th is recognized as Chapman School of Seamanship Week in Martin County. And here to accept we have Jim Allen, who s the executive director of Chapin School of Seamanship. Right Good morning. I m Jim Allen, the executive director at Chapman School of Seamanship. So good morning, commissioners on behalf of the board of trustees and our staff, students and alumni. I like to sincerely thank Martin County for this proclamation recognizing Chapman School seamanship. We are especially grateful for the opportunity we ve had over this past year to welcome many of you to our campus. During those visits, we shared our vision for the future of the maritime workforce training, boating safety right here in Martin County. Those conversations were meaningful and reinforced that we are building what we are building aligns with the country s long-term priorities or with the county s long term priorities. Nationally, there s a renewed focus on maritime strength to the maritime action Plan, an initiative that emphasizes domestic workforce developments, credentialed mariners, marine technicians, and the resilient maritime industry. The maritime Industries Association of the Treasures Coast and Chapman School of Seamanship are proud proud to play a local role in supporting the national strategy in strengthening our regional maritime economy. For more than 5 decades and 4 decades being in Martin County. Chapin School of seamanship has worked to make our waterways safer while changing the lives through education. Today that mission is more relevant than ever. We are training the next generation of professional mariners, marine technicians, surveyors, and safe boaters. Individuals who will serve and protect our waterways for years to come. Martin County is a boating community and is part of our identity, and Chapman is proud to serve as a resource, not only for workforce training, but boating safety and education and our youth development. So thank you for your continued support. Yeah. Yes you want to join us Yeah I still, yeah on the Chapman board. Good Uh guys Thank you You get Ho your proclamation out. I Our next proclamation is a proclamation commending national engineers Week in Martin County. Engineers design, construct, and maintain the infrastructure and facilities that contribute to a high quality of life for all Martin County residents, and our community relies upon these engineers to execute innovative, creative, and high quality solutions to technical problems. Martin County engineers and members of the Florida Engineering Society are making strides to interact with the engineering education sector to prepare future engineers to maintain our economic leadership and quality of life in recognition of Engineers Week, FEBRUARY 22nd through the 28th. The board expresses appreciation to all members of this important industry for their contributions and here to accept we have County engineer Mike Rozeela along with a crew of his folks. Engineers, we To good will. Good morning, commissioners, um, Michael Grezak of the County engineer. Uh, I d like to thank you on behalf of engineers everywhere for this proclamation. Recognize the contributions of the engineering profession. Here in Martin County, our engineers across public works, utilities, and throughout the organization, play a vital role in shaping our community from providing our water and sewer service, reviewing development plans, and the issuing permits to inspecting and maintaining our infrastructure and protecting our roadways. The work insurers that our community is safe, compliant, and resilient. Engineering is often behind the scenes, but it s impact is everywhere. In the water we drank, the roads we traveled, the stormwater systems that protect our homes and the infrastructure that supports our daily lives. All of your Martin County engineers are proud to serve our residents each day and remain committed to building a stronger, safer Martin County for generations to come. Thank you for this recognition and happy Engineers Week. Guys Sam was technically an engineer. Put the toga under the tv. Don t hit your head, Sean. Yes, Sam and. Sean. He s so bossy. Yeah, that was a hard to drop out and the tv s right there. It s a smart group right now. Your license still good? It is right. Hey, it s time for commissioner comments. Commissioner Vargas. Ok, I ll make it as brief as possible if any other commissioner wants to talk at length. I m more than happy to do that. You can make the appointment with my aide. Uh, but for the public to know, uh, Senator Bob Graham, I m from Miami-Dade County, and he definitely was a strong advocate for what we re looking, what we were looking for. At that time, unfortunately, he passed just a couple of years ago. I also participated in the Chapman School of Seamanship as a safe boater. Back in Miami-Dade, my family was a boater and sailboater. So my father said, you will go to the school, and I did. Um, I remember Red Wrightt returning as you, you know, the buoys coming by to see Jackie s laughing. Ok, so, uh, just returned late last evening from Washington dc. I was at a naco conference and oh my goodness, some of the issues we talked about, there are just so many. I took some notes right here, um, but very important, we talked about that this morning preemption of our strength here at the local level for our Martin County citizens, that is definitely a crucial issue. Um, affordable housing, we spoke about that, of course, we ve brought that up and we ll be speaking about that later on this afternoon. The Adviorum tax debate too. And the ins and outs of that, uh, saving our rural lands. We spoke about that this morning. Uh, we, of course, have the program of buying development rights or outright buying the property with our 5 cent sales tax program, which you approved and also maintaining integrity and strength at our voting centers, um you know the news, you know what s going on. Workforce development, I had the pleasure of, um, participating in the ribbon cutting of, it s called reach, which stands for reimagining, reimagining education and career help. Uh, this is over at the airport property that was last week, so a lot of folks will be coming through to develop skills or hone their skills further, uh, for their benefit and the benefit of all of us at, at large. Data centers, that was discussed at length. Pros and cons, and we can t just give half baked dancers on things. We have to be where the information givers are and those that we speak with that have other opinions also. There are people across the country, small. Medium, and large counties, and this is predominantly for those that are large and medium. These are the growing pains and the struggles we all have. So I was able to speak with a lot of other County commissioners and county managers and city managers also, um, they also mentioned about Doge too, um, support personnel, a lot of them brought their support personnel, uh, chief of staffs, um, I also had a number of speakers that I was able to glean more information from and to give you an idea, uh, this is the us Congress, us Representative CHAIRMAN. Honorable Sam Graves. Uh, I also heard, uh, Bruce Westerman. He s from Arkansas. He s the CHAIRMAN House Committee of Natural Resources, um, us Representative Andrea Salinas, uh, she s from Oregon. Honorable Tom Perez. He s former us Secretary of Labor and the honorable Shigeo Yamada, the ambassador of Japan to the United States of America. Uh, these are big names and they certainly have a lot on their shoulders, and they want to give us the information. Um, I also had the opportunity to to tour our Pentagon. and that was a bit insightful. It took more time in order just to get the permission way ahead of time, weeks ahead of time, and then to pass through the security, which is very tight. Uh, of course, we saw the memorial and actually the room, the rooms, the area, that side of the building where the planes hit 9/11 and also toured our Secret Service headquarters. That was impressionable. They have a museum there and I heartily recommend if you know somebody, and that was a getting to know somebody to get in there, definitely take that up, um, so having said that, um, I think that I think that if you are not going to be involved. On this commission, making the best decisions You don t have the advantage if you don t attend both the Florida Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties Programs and Conferences. They are beyond a master s program, but again, these are real live people and I gained tremendous amount of information, contacts, and know where to go to get the information. I have brains on tap. This is invaluable. So that s what I did on my weekend Thank you. MR. Capps, I ll save my comments for later. Yeah, um, last week we had at our joint meeting, there was a suggestion that, uh, Maggie hammock Park, which is in Rocky Point, was in need of refreshing and I I m, I m a, a visitor there nearly every day of the week. And it s true that the, um, open area, the cleared area in the center of the park. It s by the way, it s a 28 acre park and there s about maybe a two-acre parcel in, in the interior that s cleared and bikes and e-bikes and scooters have absolutely torn up. The interior. It s not salvageable. It needs to be irrigated and it needs to be sodded. And those, both of those things need to be done in the summertime because this is, this is the wrong time of year to be planting sod, so I would put that on your list of things to inquire about. Um also commissioners, we ve had, um, a visitor speaking at at public comment here a number of times. Derek Powell. He lives on Cove Road and is really dissatisfied with um an encroaching development that was approved by the county, and I visited his, uh, property yesterday and certainly understand his dissatisfaction with what s happening in his immediate area. He has a beautiful site, a big site, 8 acres. It s in the heart of urban, uh, urbanized, uh. Stuart and pepper, pepperwood is surrounding him on two sides, and he s concerned about drainage and concerned about the lack of privacy and concerned about, and I m completely, completely sympathetic. He has valid complaints and we met there yesterday with Michael Grezeela, who was our county engineer and Jim Gordon, who s our, uh, director of public works and I couldn t be more proud of the professionalism that MR. Grisela and MR. Gordon exhibited. You know, MR. Powell had, was very critical of Martin County, very critical of those two gentlemen, and we re doing everything that we can within the regulations in order to make. Um his project more his property more and this project more tolerable. So just rest assured that we have really, really marvelous, uh, and, and sympathetic and helpful, uh professional staff here And lastly, we just lost a very dear member of our community, and that s Bob Matheson. Uh, just died and we re very sorry to lose him. Thank you. I am all set ok. Commissioner Kether going to yield my time, but just on Derek Powell, I too got an opportunity to visit his site and was concerned, particularly when he expressed the safety of his young children as that sidewalk transverses just directly along his driveway, and I always feel like if there s something that we can do to have some screening or privacy. Had I looked at that on the screen and realize what kind of impact that that would have on his property as far as that mobile path then that to me is the most concerning, as well as some of the drainage and the, the tree line behind them, but I look forward to and I know Jim and and Michael will work as hard as they can to resolve some of those things. MR. Donaldson. MS. Elder and we will take up our 9:30 preset, which is our legislative session update. Good morning, MISS Powers Good morning, Sarah Powers, Legislative coordinator. Here to give a mid-session update. We re just actually past the midway point Um, so we ll, today we ll go over, um, some bill statistics and, um, the budget that has been released, um, so highlights, um, and then we ll go into property tax and, um, some bills that we re tracking and working on and then if there s any questions on any additional bills or any of the bills we discussed, we can talk about it, uh, at the end. Um, so 2026, uh, session, we are in week 72 weeks after this left, uh, we re on day 43 of 60, um, 17 days to go. This session, 1800 bills have been filed, about 900 in each chamber. And just for context, um, last session, there was about 1900 bills filed, only 269 bills passed and 11 were vetoed, so it s about 13%, um, actually pass of these of these 18, 1900 bills historically. Um, the House and Senate released their budget totals, um, at $113 billion and the 0.6 billion in the house and $115 billion in the Senate. Um, included, excuse me, in both of those, um, is our prism project with the sheriff s office. Um, we have 7.5 million in the house and 350,000 in the Senate, which tees us up for, um, conference. That number can, can change, will change, we hope, um, but it s a good start for sure to budget conferencing. Um no, so some exciting things that have happened so far. Um, all commissioners came up at some point during week 2 to attend, um, important meetings. Charco stays, Florida Association of County Days, um, our fire rescue team was up last week, um, meeting with our dealt with various agencies across the state, um, and that was cool. We met with our delegation as well. Uh, having a strong Martin County representation in Tallahassee really, um, ensures that our priorities are heard and advocated for. Um, I appreciate it when I have visitors cause it, it, uh, makes Tallahassee feel a little more like home. And now for the fun stuff, um, so as, as you probably know, the House passed some property tax legislation, um, last week, um, 203, which is a um full elimination of non-school homestead property taxes instead of phase out, um, this proposal is gonna, will head to the Senate, however, um, the Senate has expressed no interest, especially in this form, of taking up um this initi ative in its current form. Uh, analysis from the Florida Association of Counties estimated that a full elimination of non-school property taxes will roughly, um, eliminate $9 billion in local revenue statewide. And, um, Stephanie is over here. I know, um, we might have, if you wanted to have some questions while we re on this topic, um, about property tax. Sure, MR. Capps. Good morning. Good morning So, uh, my first question for MS. Mirley as our obm director is what, what were our adviorum taxes last year. Our total ad for taxes for fy 26 adopted was $342 million. 342, and if we eliminated Homestead. Property taxes and Martin County, how much of that would we lose? So when we re talking about elimination of property taxes, it s important to keep in mind what our tax base makeup is made out of, um, for Martin County, we are 75% residential, um, of our tax base in about approximately 60% of those residential properties are homesteaded, um, so when we re talking about fy 26 adopted, and the 342 million, it would remove approximately 215 million from our um budget. At Beloum. So we go from 342 we, we take out 2:15 and that leaves 127 approximately, yes. And then how, how much did uh, well, first of all, the bill says that we, we, we can t reduce sheriff and fire rescue down below 24, 25, uh. Allocations and so how much did the sheriff cost us last year. So the fy 26 sheriff budget was 119 million. So we have $127 million to work with minus 119 million. And that by my math, that leaves $8 million and and the kitty. And for fire rescue. So how much did fire rescue, uh, cost us last year. So fire rescues a Valorum was approximately 78 million. So. We were short $70 million just to pay for sheriff and fire rescue and uh so that s a mathematical impossibility. We can t even pay for those first two things. And then let s think about all of the things that there would be no money for. Um first of all, fire rescue would be 70. Million dollars short as we just talked about. How much was the park s budget last year. Well, the park s budget, it relatively small in the grand scheme of things, but their budget s about $10 million and about 50% are revenue generated, so about $5 million of that would be Avalor. Ok So, um and then, uh, the uh, the other, there are 4 MSTUs as they re called, um. In our budget, the first one is fire rescue. We ve already talked about that and then there s Parks. Which would lose how much? About $5 million. About $5 million. And then roads, um. How, how, how much is that budget? Rhoads and stormwat are considered their own. They re the same taxing authority, and if I recall, those are also generally small funds, but the impact on those would be about 63% of those budgets, which i need to know the number off the top of my head, but the um roads and stormwater mstu is about $15 million combined. Mm. So we would lose 63% of those funds as well. But in my way of thinking we would lose, uh, I mean, there s no money left after sheriff and partially paying for the fire department. There s no money left, right? So, uh, in reality uh those just get shut down. And then let s talk about the constitutional officers. There s the tax collector, the property appraiser, the supervisor of elections. There s no money for them. And then the administration of the county government, everybody who works in this brick building here. Uh, and elsewhere in County departments they re all out of a job. Uh, there s no money for anything, uh, we MAY as well shutter the building and put a big banner out front that says Martin County government shut down. Because that s what it would be. This is really a ridiculous notion, and hopefully, our Florida State Senate. Will apply some common sense. I don t know if this is just political theater on the on the part of our House of Representatives, but it s totally irresponsible. I think I ll, I ll stop it there on, on this issue. Any other any other, throwing it down. You ve, you ve covered it. Thats how you really feel. Good for you. Uh ok, so moving on to some, some legislation that we re following. So what he s telling you, MS. Powers, is you need to stop that. Yes, we re trying, we re trying. We ve been, oh me, yes, ok, I ll try my best. I am Um, so, um, we ll get into some legislation that I know we don t, we re not going to like very much, but I just wanted to make a note to with 17 days left, anything can happen. Um, good, bad, worse, better, all of that. So, um, moving on to a bill, um, hb 691, agricultural enclaves, um, this bill has passed its 3rd House committee stop in state affairs and continues to move. The Senate companion has also cleared two committees. This bill creates a new public hearing and certification process, allowing owners of qualifying agricultural agricultural enclaves to seek designation and move forward with single-family residential development consistent with adjacent land uses. Once certified local governments MAY not impose. Regulations more burdensome than those applied to comparable uses or densities. This bill applies to counties with only applies to counties to the population of 1.75 million or less, which it does include Martin County, and the agriculture enclave provisions are set to expire JANUARY 1st, 2028, at which time statu would revert to current law in place as of JUNE 30th, 2026. And I have brought along Clyde to explain what this, uh, what the implications are of this, um, this bill Good morning, members of the board Thank you. Am I? Good. Uh, this bill has two portions of it. One deals with process, one deals with defining what is an ag enclave. Uh, first, to start with process, uh, it requires an applicant who submits an application that would require the Board of County commissioners to then determine if it meets the definition of an ag enclave. And uh if it does, then the applicant has a process to go through where it s somewhat negotiated how it would then be processed. It wouldn t go through our normal development review process. Uh, if it takes longer than 180 days, it s automatically deemed to egg enclave. Um, the process does not require a board of review or approval afterwards. Uh, if it s deemed to be an ag enclave by the board. The local government MAY not require the owner to agree to a process that as long as 180 days in duration or that requires further review of the plans in a quasi-judicial process or public hearing, that is also, it s a quasi-judicial, so you re not measuring discretion. You can only follow the law regarding rural enclave, so that, that process just wanna make clear. That it, it s, it s not that you have, if it meets the criteria, it s your job to. Approve it. It says a quasi-judicial process, not a legislative decision competent evidence. Commissioner Hetherington You maybe you are getting to this, but what is the criteria that s currently in the bill that would have a property meet, um, an agricultural enclave. There are a number of different paragraphs that uh. Could be applied in a number of different circumstances. I think this has been crafted to to fit different places in the state of Florida. Uh, one criteria says 700 acres or less and surrounded on 50% by urban development. Another one says 75% has to be made up of urban development that could be commercial residential, or industrial, and an interstate, uh, and then there are other paragraphs that have other criteria that different properties could fit into. So it s uh, it s rather difficult at this point to say with certainty uh exactly which properties are going to fit and which are not, but it safe to say that this could, if one of these is applicable or more or more than one are applicable to pop some pretty big holes in our urban service district. MR. Caps Um, I was wondering if you could, uh, show us a map of Martin County. Um and, um, and if you could. Let us know if there are any potential. Enclaves as as you see it. That could could come up, um. Do we have any places in mind that uh. Where this could be an issue Let me get our urban service districts on first. So this hatching that you see, this is the primary urban Service District, and this is the 2nd area ban Ser District. This is a freestanding urban service district. So any properties that are bordering the urban service districts. That comply with one of the criteria that s described in the bill could effectively apply for this, this, uh, to meet this criteria anywhere along the urban service district, if there s a property that is bordering multiple urban service districts. It might be more likely to uh to fit, uh, but you would have to examine that property and, and make sure it complies with each of the the requirements in the bill, which is a moving target. I mean, there s a House bill, there Senate bill. They are not exactly the same, and they have been changing almost day to day, uh, with little changes and adjustments, so anywhere along our urban service districts, you could have somebody, uh, who makes application and and seeks to uh. To fit the criteria So in my way of thinking, when I think of the about the Martin County Comprehensive Plan. The most important thing. About the comp Plan is the primary urban services boundary. That s the cornerstone of it all that, you know, basically we have a comp Plan that says that over in the the eastern part of the county. That is the urban area, uh, where we re going to have more population, more density, and we re going to preserve our western area, uh, by putting it outside the primary urban services boundary where people do not get urban services. It s agricultural land primarily Um, and that is the defining difference when you think about uh the coastline, eastern part of Florida. The, the the defining difference is what happens in the western part of those coastal counties. Uh, I understand and, and Broward County, it s fully developed all the way over to the western border. There s nothing left. They ve scraped it clean, and it, it all got developed and we know the story in Palm Beach County and St. Lucie County, uh, uh, they ve had a lot more Western development than we have, and so it, it seems that this enclave bill is kind of slipping in on us uh under cover of darkness here and I m, I m rather amazed that how our environmental community, statewide and even locally, they don t realize how big a threat this particular bill is to the Martin County difference and to the comprehensive Plan. Um, I, I think we all really need to take note. There s 3 weeks left in the legislative session and this enclave bill has got some serious steam. And it MAY, it MAY be thrust upon us here, um, that, and it seems to me like it s, it s the beginning of the end of the Martin County Difference and the comprehensive Plan and the primary urban services boundary. So let us all take note, um, are there, are there other, uh particular pieces of land that uh would jump out at us as um places where, uh, an enclave might exist. As I said, anything along the urban service district, uh. The um the language would permit anything where there, where you currently have an urban service district and where you have multiple portions of urban service district that kind of encompass a property so that it meets that 50% or 75% depending upon the particular text. Uh, it could conceivably fit uh the uh the definition. Another feature of it that I think, uh, is, is not well understood is that um the density that an applicant can apply for if they, if they are determined to be an agricultural enclave. The density they could apply for could be any density that s adjacent to them. So if, if something s determined to be an agricultural enclave and it has two units of the acre or 10 units to the acre or 5 units of the acre in the urban area. Well, they could apply for one of those densities and in their agricultural enclave, and it doesn t have to follow our comp Plan. In fact, it has to be considered conforming regardless of what our comp Plan and our zoning districts say. Mhm ok. Um, well, I would, I would encourage all of our residents to, to really take note of this, um. There are, uh surprising potential outcomes that could come from the enclave bill and, uh, I, I think that we all need to get really engaged and, and to think about the consequences. Commissioner Vargas, yes, ok. Commissioner CAs, I really respect what you re saying about that. Other counties MAY not be aware, they are totally aware. I will invite anybody personally to come with me to Neo or Flo Florida Association of Counties, and you will see how well positioned they are. Now we MAY have a few of our lobbying team, maybe 2 people. There we have 40 and more Everybody is on trepidation about this. We are not the only ones they love their cities and their counties. I mean, this is explanatory. It s alarming. It s alarming. I ve been to Tallahassee numerous times, you know that, correct? Um, sat in conference. Spoke with our representatives, our senator they re the ones that we put in office. Those are the ones that you need to pick up the phone and call or go visit them in their offices here. They have offices here or they can zoom with you, I guess. But there is a lot of information out there and people are not asleep. They are not asleep whatsoever. If we don t, if we don t. Voice our opinion loud, and that means us too, those that are up here, but you gotta, you gotta go to where they are. You can t just sit here and, you know, make a statement. It doesn t work. Face to face is far superior in any situation in life. So when there s a lot of complaints about doing this or that, well, those are the ones not doing it. So let s all join together, commissioners. Uh, I was very impressed at this last conference that I just arrived from about numerous commissioners going up there together with their support team also. To have meetings with those that are representatives at that level, federal and also their senators that s where the money comes from. There isn t any right now. You know how much we re in debt. Was it $38 trillion or is it 39 trillion, and we re printing money to pay our interest on that to our bondholders. So there s a lot out there, but we have to, you get out of this little, little bubble that we re living here and we have to see that they know more than we do, and they know what they re doing with this particular bill. MS. Elder, I m all set, MISTER Dolan covered it. Thank you. MISTER Doollan. Are there any current applications that are under development review in Martin County that might be eligible for the egg enclave. Yes. It took a long time answer. All right. Thank you. Let s continue. Okey dokey And on a bit of a, a kind of a, a promise from last session, um, sb 840, land use regulations for local governments is the promised glitch bill for 180, um. It has passed the Senate unanimously and is now awaiting its, uh, companion consideration in the house. This bill amends, uh, sb 180 from 2025, which restricted certain counties and municipalities from adopting Lane uses moratoriums or more restricted development regulations for one year following a hurricane. This bill allows local government to impose more terms when necessary to address stormwater or floodwater management, potable water supply, and sanitary water systems. And importantly for jurisdictions included in federal disasters for Hurricanes Debbie, Helene, or Milton, and the bill shortens the restriction period to JUNE 30th, 2026 versus 2028. Um, so those are some, some positive changes that we ve seen to 180, um, that I think, I think makes the bill much, much better for, at least for us here in Martin County. How does it look in the house Uh, it is moving. It has two stops. Uh, it has been heard twice, so. Ok. Um, and that, that s not to say they ll probably, I mean since it was a Senate bill, they ll either they ll probably take up the Senate bill just as, as is, um, like they did last year with yd. What s the number of the House bill Um, 840. 0, no, that s the House bill. I ll, I ll get it to you. And um last bill, I m just gonna turn this one over to Peter Walden. He s been, um, doing some research on this local land planning and, and development bill, um, that s gonna have some pretty, pretty serious implications here, um, in, in Martin County. Good morning, commissioners. Peter Walden, Deputy Growth Management Director, um, yes, there s two bills, companion bills going through the legislature right now. The hp 927 and the, uh, Senate Bill 1138. Both of them are worded a little bit differently, but are both trying to uh make it mandatory that we create a qualified contractor, uh, program. For the review of development applications. So a developer comes in and, uh, they would rather use a contractor rather than go through the development review process with our development team. Uh, they could do so. And we have to have that program in place by JANUARY of next year. And we have to have at least 6. Qualified contractors in this program. It s kind of like our continuing services program that we have with some contractors now. Um, the difference is, is that we no longer really follow Article 10 in our code. They would do the review. They would prevent uh present a affidavit along with an application basically saying that they ve reviewed it and it complies with our complan, or LDRs, and everything else. Staff would only be allowed to do an administrative review of that, basically stating that they have all the components of the application from our checklist. They have an environmental assessment, a stormwater report, but we wouldn t necessarily have the ability to review any of that. Before it goes to the final decision maker. So that, if that sounds problematic, it is because very rarely does anybody bring an application forward to Martin County and get it right the first time, let alone the 4th or 5th time. So, um, there s really nothing in the bills. That talk about what would happen down the road if these applications got it wrong. Um, and also, uh, the public hearing process and the approval process is kind of usurped as well because we re basically given an application and told to approve it and the language has been changing daily, just like the enclave language, uh, in fact, the House bill was revised yesterday at 1:30. Um, so it s kind of hard to keep up with it. I know Elise has been working on it as well. And uh it s very problematic to the development review process and it seems in the end. very litigious but we, it s, it s hard to say at this point. The Senate bill seems a little bit, uh, less arduous because it does have an out. It seems like we can deny applications. After, uh, as they get presented to the board. Where the House bill really doesn t leave that option out. So, um, we re following this as much as we can and uh it ll be interesting to see as these two bills. Get merged together for approval if, if the what language, you know. Is adopted. So, um, we re doing our best to keep an eye on it. So in the House bill, the uh applicant can initially decide to forego county development review in favor of choosing the developer, a qualified contractor, yes. From the beginning. Yes, and the, the qualifications for the county are not set very high. They have to have 5 years experience in a, uh, state license. They don t necessarily have to have any history with the county or be local, uh, they could be anywhere in the state and uh and if we don t get this program instituted properly as it says in the thing that somebody can just hire any any contractor they want to review the project, and we have to accept that. And are there deadlines for review? Once we get the application that they received from the applicant. We have 5 days to review it for completeness, and that s after the developers chosen reviewers have said this complies. Then we get 5 days. Ay ay aye and then within that 5 days it gets turned over to the decision maker if it s deemed complete. Is that business or? Weekends included. It says 5 days. And who s the house sponsor and who s the Senate sponsor? I don t know that offhand. I don t know it offhand. I can get Commissioner Hetherington So. If I understand it correctly, the developer then would be responsible to understand our