Board of County Commissioners on 2023-12-05 9:00 AM

Pour a cup of coffee. Good morning and welcome I d like to call our DECEMBER 5th 2023 Board of county commissioners meeting to order This morning. We re going to start with an invocation by pastor Miles hunter from the Treasure Coast Community Church. Followed by the Pledge of allegiance by we re honored to have Mr Andrew Mantovani here and his lovely wife. He is a u. S. Marine. I. Don t believe when you quote unquote retire from the Marines you ever really retire from the Marines, so he will lead us in the pledge. So if you would all please stand Morning, pastor. Morning. Guys, let s pray. That, your word says for a child is born to us. A son is given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor. Mighty GOD Everlasting, Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor, David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven s armies will make this happen. Lord Jesus. We come to you. Thanking you for these words because they were written during a season when hope had faded away. When conspiracies ran rampant and when wars raged, and nevertheless these words brought hope to the people of GOD and I pray that they will bring hope to us as well. I asked that we would trust the wonderful counselor who knows our every struggle intimately and personally. I asked that we would relinquish power to the mighty GOD who was really in control. I. Pray that we will find a home with the everlasting father, the one whom are so truly longs for. For science even tells us that within eight within us as a desire to know that someone is chasing after us pursuing us and loving us And some of us never got that from our earthly mothers and fathers. And, So I pray and I ask that we would know that from the beginning of time there s an everlasting father, Our creator who has been in hot pursuit of us I. Pray that we will know you, father as our peace amid the chaos that we would find peace in your son for his name is Jesus and Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hmm. Awarded I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands One nation under GOD, with liberty and justice for all Sir if you could share first off Good morning and thank you for being with us If you could share a little bit of your life experience. 92 year old Marine I, uh Joined the Marine Corps in 1949 of JULY. And, uh, Ah! I went to Camp Lejeune for a while. The water was dirty in 1952. What. Unfortunately, I don t qualify for the benefit. Uh And then, of course we went on a Mediterranean cruise and we were, uh, a parked in cans. I was on the uss late And if you saw the picture devotion, it part of my life, because, uh, Uh, the light was a an aircraft carrier, and they didn t have a Navy good Navy pilots, so they practice on those on on that on that ship, and that was part of the operation. We didn t know at the time they were training to go to Korea. And so I was Part of a of a team that was called Anglican. Oh air and naval gunfire. So. We directed fire from a ship s 20 miles inland and never after we switched to, uh, air support and We were in a team where, uh, we will. Radio operators actually in a each person carried a different piece of equipment in order to put the operation together quickly, because otherwise, especially when you broke up if you didn t break up fast enough, they would have a back as meth. And. They, would you know fire back at you? So. I was in, uh, once on Hong Nam. I landed on Inchon on the Douglas MacArthur. We went up to the chosen Reservoir and I turned to bronze battle stars and I had one last interesting thing which probably saved my life. I was the only child. Uh, the only boy child. I had two older sisters and my mother just loved me so much to death and when she knew I was in combat, she had a very serious illness. She had a nervous breakdown. And. I was lucky where the Red Cross read the reports the medical reports and they got me back from the chosen reservoir and probably saved my life. I was up there just before the Chinese came over the Manchurian Border, So I have to thank the Red Cross. I have to Thank, uh, those who felt it was serious enough for humanitarian transfer, And so they transferred me to the Brooklyn Navy yard and I was the best medicine for my mother because she did well afterwards, and not she wasn t normal ever. But? She. She was, uh, saved, I would say. We will both saved But that s As part of my my past. I. Don t you introduce your wife to us and tell us how you met my wife. Is here. Uh, unfortunately, she s not well as she used to be. I met her when she was 15 years old. She was my next door neighbor. And. Uh uh, We had 10 Children show GOD was generous to us in that way. In fact, my birthday was in SEPTEMBER when we had six. Born in JUNE, so I always got a birthday present from the Lord. Yeah and, uh, they re all doing well and, uh, We also have 33 grandchildren. Uh, four of which are our rug, Great great grandkids, and we had a full life story, though, that Dan McKendry wants me to tell you what which he was most impressed with, so I have to do it. I know I m taking too much time time, sir. Uh, When I got out of the Marine Corps. I. I went to school for 20 years at night and in between trips for informal because we always had a lot of Children and, uh, show Uh um I worked very hard and got a number of degrees and, uh, Also, uh, professional letters like I m a chartered underwriter with the insurance business. I have a another professional certificate where I could use letters in insurance accounting in which you studied the annual statements of insurance companies and had to have a good understanding of them. Before. They gave you the the letters And, So I did a lot of those things and and then I read it along the lines that you can become a lawyer if you clerked and I had an opportunity with a lawyer who said he would he would do me that favor he would allow me to come in and he thought that I would be good enough for his firm anyway, to get some more business and so forth, So there was a little mutuality there back and forth. And. So I did clerk for a period of four years and I passed the bar exam and I m probably now MAY be the only person alive in New York that that is that way. There could be one other younger men show their maybe two of us left because they changed the rules. You can t do it anymore. Now. I think you need at least one year of law school, you know, but But. That s the story that that Dan wanted me to tell the board. He he was impressed with it, and I said, You think anybody else will be? He said he thought you would be so. Thank you, sir. Thank you again for having me and I want to thank Dan, who also helped me with an increase in my compensation. You know, he said, I deserved more. And. I was a little worried. I said, you know, maybe I better not do this because I don t want to lose what I have. You never know. You know, but he said no. Go forward you got you got enough in there that that will help you so But thanks again for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate that. Welcome. Okay, well, a lot going on this morning. Um I will the agenda is 905 public comment? 130. We have a preset for presentation and requests for adoption of a draft impact fees studied departmental number. 4505 is public comment. We have one additional item on the consent number five. Adopt, a proclamation declaring a year of celebration of the 125th anniversary of All Saints Episcopal Church and All Saints Cemetery in Martin County, Florida. There is one request to withdraw departmental number three. The bright line request for proposal It will return on DECEMBER 12th. There are no consent polls. Commissioner Smith approval of the agenda with the two additional items consent five or one additional item rather consent five and the request with draw Bright lines. Request. Department Item number three. Thank you very much. We have a motion by Commissioner Smith to accept the agenda as presented seconded by Commissioner Heatherington all those in favor of those opposed that motion carries unanimously. Now we can do one of two things we can take public comment or do the reorg you want you do since you gotta have it all. Okay? I have all of the request to speak forms. There s there many Some people wrote agenda items on them. Others did not. So. Um if you would like to speak during general public comment, which is now you can if you are going to speak to an agenda item that we re going to hear later in the day if you speak this morning is perfectly fine, but you cannot then speak again on the item. If I. Call your name, and you would prefer to wait until the item. Just let me know and I ll Put your car, decide if you have not filled out. One of these cards are bailiff has these. There some in the back in the lobby, you can fill them out. Prior if you feel like speaking and you haven t filled one out, you can just come forward at the end. When I call for the last group and you can speak first and call it out. Fill it out afterwards. The. Last thing I ll say about it is you have three minutes to address us on it. Any topic that you like. Please keep the comments to the board as a whole. We do not I. Don t love individual comments to individual commissioners, if you will, at the two minutes and 45 2nd point, you re going to hear a tone. That doesn t mean you need to stop. That means you have 15 seconds to finalize your thoughts, so we don t just Shut you off. I know some people would like to speak longer than three minutes. But I would tell. You probably have 20 to 25 speaker forms and more coming in now, so we try to keep it fair to three minutes so that we can hear from everyone. And with that we will begin. With MISS Diane. Meyer. Good morning. Commissioners, Um I would certainly like to go back to our original comp Plan. But We have growth management that is, um rubber stamping all muscle. Building permits. Then it goes the l p. A, who says everyone has the right to build regardless of zoning and comp Plan, and now we have the commissioners who are supposed to be are good stewards for Martin County comprehensive land use. I have, um Several things I d like to bring up. One is I have mentioned many times before. I d like to have moratorium on building Ah, until we have a cost of infrastructure of all these new developments that are going on. Um, we have issues such as water usage, flooding issues, drainage, sewer and trash facility over usage, traffic and congestion. It seems like Miami and, uh Palm Beach now, Um and we also have the interior adherence to the original Urban services district to the benefit of all citizens, not just the developers and the returnees Fear tactics are being used to buy developers. It shouldn t be considered for these critical votes. Um, you need to listen to your contestant, constituents and not your lobbyists putting money into your reelection campaigns. We really hope that you don t do that. I m voting asking you to vote No on the change in the comp Plan. And vote no for amending the growth management plan and vote no for future. Land use regulations, switches. Thank you? Thank you very much, ma am. Our next request to speak for MISS Kayla Shea. I. Guess you filed one You put them in one after the other. Good morning. Morning. I m Kyla say I m the PRESIDENT Of Trailside Homeowners Association, and also a longtime resident of trailside. You know years back when you extended the city water and sewer to Southfork High School. You said it was just for Southfork High School. Yeah. Here comes high point. The congestion out by us is incredible. Nine years ago, I asked the commission for turning lanes in a traffic signal for trailside. We were told We didn t meet the criteria. The criteria is five deaths. Coming out of our neighborhood most mornings now between 630 the morning at 830 in the morning, it takes each vehicle approximately 18 minutes to turn to head north on practice. We have high point We have the rants. We have story lurking around. At what point are we going to stop the insanity boy? Vote? No, no, no, no, he said 20 Acre parcels West 95 where? West. I 95 clustering doesn t count. Let s go back. Let s take a look at what we re actually doing. No. For all the changes. Let s look at the infrastructure. Let s look at what we really need to do. This is urban sprawl. It s not a rural lifestyle. Thank you thank you. Our next request to speak for him as Mr Walter Lloyd. Sarah. Good morning. Good morning. Morning commissioners. Uh, I m here to ask you to vote No to protect our comprehensive plan and to protect our urban service boundaries. Many of us moved here. For The reasons that we ve enjoyed and that s the small town. The comp Plan was legacy with forethought to create an environment which was desirable for many of us to come to If I had Protections for the environment. It had considerations for the quality of life. It was thoughtfully and over many, many years built into a legacy that we ve enjoyed. And I would ask you to honor it. I d ask you guys to honor that legacy. And please stop. Allowing the money from developers from Wherever the Northeast To override the concerns of the people who live here. It s not about the money. It s not about the development. It s about your representation to us. So please. Honor that. We voted you in for that reason. We expect you to live up to it. Thank you? Thank you, sir. And next request to speak for MISS MISS Eaves samples. Good morning. Good morning You moved me to the top of the stack. Thank you for taking my public comment? I m, Eve Samples executive director at Friends of the Everglades, we were founded in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Miami are now based in Martin County because we see the environmental value of advocacy here. Last year when the rural Lifestyle amendment first came to you for consideration. Friends of the Everglades stood against it because we believe it undermines the very philosophy that Martin County is comprehensive plan was founded upon and which makes it more environmentally protective than comprehensive plans to the north and south of us, and that is the philosophy that Development should occur within the urban Services district until the urban services district reaches capacity that is not occurred. The majority of you approved the rural Lifestyle amendment anyway, and we re here today to say that was a bad idea then, and it remains a bad idea today. So, please. With the amendments you re considering on the agenda today, do not support them. These amendments are even worse than what you were originally considering last year. Um, this this Effects of erosion is exactly what the public was concerned about. When. You approve this amendment so please vote. No, thank you. Thank you, ma am. Next request to speak is Elizabeth. P Pale peel. Good morning. Good morning. Um every man, woman and child and baby in the United states has glycerin fate in their blood. You do I do. It s we ingest it in our water and in food. It s the chemical and Monsanto s roundup and it does cause cancer and its, which is, um But the point is how we get it when you create a golf course. Uh, you remove the native troubles in the trees. And you put in specialized grass and you spray herbicide on it to keep the broadleaf plants from growing up in the grass. Then you put in chemical fertilizers. And then you water, So any golf courses that are permitted to be put west of the urban boundary where our water comes from? These chemicals and those golf courses are going to be seeping into our water system. And I think you really should think about that when you decide whether to permit Golf courses to be built. West of Of the urban boundary where we have 35 golf courses and Martin County, but that s on our side, and I think it s just for the quality of water because water is so important with all the people living here. Thank you so much. Thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for him as MISS Karen Ray side. Good morning. Thank you for Allowing me to speak today. I d like to speak on the Collusive Creek Project. I live in western Martin County and spend quite a bit of time outdoors. I m, a member of the Pump City Farms Trail Association. I do mostly horseback riding, camping and spending time. A lot outside. Preserving our natural trails while I acknowledge that the county puts a lot of effort into maintaining our public lands also want to point out the importance of private conference conservation. I m here today in support of the ranch project. I admire the careful planning To conserve open space and reduced density. I also admire that they will continue the cattle ranch and preserve agriculture and Martin County. I m here to support the ranch. And I asked the commission to please approve the project. Thank you thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for him is MISS Robyn Cartwright. Good morning. It s a long walk second wait for a minute starts. Do. Good morning commissioners. I could stand here and share all the logical logistical reasons why you should not approve cpa 22 Dash c or six c p a 23-12 another items, But it won t matter. So three items before I begin one all land purchases or speculative to donations to your campaigns Impacts public record The majority of You received donations from the rural lifestyle applicants, including today s applicant who didn t even know the land until MARCH of 2023. Weird how they know to whom to contribute. And development does not produce less cars than agriculture. So. You have no real concerns about casting a vote because even if you re sued, the applicant will intervene and one administrative law judge rules against you, the governor in Florida Cabinet will rule in your favor. In fact that s exactly what happened when you ruled on the rural lifestyle last year, the same rural lifestyle vote that you stated projects must touch the Urban Service district. But. Apparently, that was just a placeholder because now a vote is coming before you. So that applicants who are within 6000 ft, which is semantics for 1.136 miles, stating that they don t even have to touch the Urban service district, and then you ll vote on a land use for a developer who one lp member insisted he knows best because his family has been here longer. And one who voted Yes, because he felt quote unquote sorry for the developer because he hasn t made any money on the project. Even though it wasn t purchased until this last MARCH. So what will you do? You could vote no to the text amendment to the land use change to any of this. If. You insist on invoking the names of previous community leaders like not read, then honor your alleged friendships and his legacy. If you say that you have concerns than ask for a better text amendment and applications in line with what s allowed residents who you say aren t experts aren the ones pointing out the blatant deficiencies and discrepancies. You say you care about this community in the Martin County difference. Than uphold your statements that you made when you were running for election that you believed in the comprehensive plan. In. The. Meantime the only Martin County difference that we feel for those of us shouldering the burden financially and emotionally for your decisions as you ignore us in favor of those who don t even live here. Logic and sustainability have been replaced by intentionally ambiguous wording and your justification of quote unquote. It could be worse. Martin County resident and voter. I m not sure how being ignored while being built year after year for an ever increasing tax bill to support whatever this is possibly be worse. Please do better. Thank you very much. Our next request to speak for MISS MISS Sharon McGuinness. Good morning. Good morning and thank you and I am also talking about cp 22 06. When. I was reviewing the application by the developer. And are your staff response to that? I was discouraged to understand that the set the st Lucie Basin Management Action plan. Is. Is it being considered. I mean, we have Ah! Dedicated ourselves to be stewards of the waterway. And yet that area out there right next to the canal with golf courses and everything else is not going to, uh, have The ability to filter their wastewater if they re not connected to city utilities, this growth that is allowed to Daisy chain itself. From one rule lifestyle to another rural lifestyle. How is Martin County going to say that they can protect our water supply from our aquifer and the wastewater that is going into our community if we re allowing these rural lifestyles not to be cooked up to our city, water and sewer. How, are you going to maintain the aquifer and know how much is in there? Saltwater intrusion. How. Are. You going to plan for 2030 2040, you know each and every time you add one of these developments out there and you allow them to be independent. Of our Sewer and water and at some point are you going to come back to us next year and say that these rural lifestyles are now considered part of our urban service boundary? I mean Where are we going to stop? We have to protect what we have in an in final in closing. The amount of money that these people their taxes that they generate. They re saying they re going to generate a lot. I would think that you would try to consider that when some of the tax dollars that they have these developers they need to commit to taking some of that tax dollars and not Just conserving more land becoming into our rural area and revitalizing neighborhoods that could be better. And attract low income families and families to live here by fixing up these things or investing in vacant lots in areas that most people won t buy into because the neighborhoods on a decline and revitalize those neighborhoods. You know we have vacant lots and we have Decrepit Housing and Urban Service boundary. Why don t you ask them to fix that so that more people can live within our urban service district and not have to feel like they have to go out for that sprawl, so please vote no at this point and bring more information to the community and how we re going to protect it, And I would really like to see that these communities Look up to our utilities. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next request to speak for him as Mary Straczynski. Ma am. Good morning. CHAIRMAN Conditioner staff Morning My name is Mary stairs and steep Please reject the proposed Colusa Creek grant amendments to our comprehensive Growth management plan. We are stunned in a part that you would even consider eliminating the requirement that land designated for the parole lifestyle be adjacent to an urban service boundary. The proposed amendments World out parcels of 3000, plus acres to be designated for rural lifestyle use of an urban service boundary is within 6000 ft. The Calusa Creek Grant amendment takes real lifestyle More than a mile, but I m still upset about this miles outside the urban service district, farmlands, wetlands and categories. England and wet Western Martin County. It s a short This will change our comp Plan and development patterns forever. You gave us your word for all of us all that time you gave us your word that the rural lifestyle would be upheld, and the projects like this would not be permitted. Please don t disappoint us by cutting off the head of our comp Plan after its feet, legs and torso have already been amputated. The demise of Martin County is what you wish to be the legacy of this commission. You will be successful if you vote No on cpa 22 that there are six and c p a 23. That s zero. 12. Sorry. Just say no. Thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak to him. His MISS Dottie Lanzi. Good morning. Good. Morning commissioners. I want them dot delancey from Hutchinson Island, and it s good to be here with you again. Um, I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas this morning and I hope that you have a really nice holiday season is I m going to have with my family, so enjoy it with your family and your friends and, um, that being said. I have another reason for coming here today to and that is to express my opposition to the amendments that you are considering this morning for the comp Plan. Um I hope you will give your constituents are you hearing me? I Hope you will give you a constituent constituents in a memorable Christmas gift today. I. Hope you will give us the gift of voting No for these amendments that are coming forward. Most of us are hoping and were actually praying. That you will listen to what on The voters want In your heart of hearts, You know, you know what the voters want here. They do not want their comp Plan destroyed and on the last time I was up here And I spoke about this very issue of the real lifestyle. You promised us that you would look into it. We know that eventually we re going to have to decide on what to do with all this land that we have preserved all these years out there in the western part of the county. We know that And we want you to see that, um Do your duty and and see what what options that we have out there. We don t want you to be directed by the developers, and that s what s happened if I did in the this real Lifestyle amendment, and now you re letting the developers to decide what to do out there, and they are deciding to develop it anyway, that they see fit. So anyway, I m here to ask you to please accept your duty and responsibility. We voted you in. We elected. You and everyone of you campaign on preservation. Of our, uh Our lifestyle here in Martin County. That s why we re Here. You live here. You know it. We all enjoy it. And we love it, and we want to keep it. So. Just do your duty, vote No today and then decide on what we want to do with the the Western lands out there. Um And be assured that the visit the that the voters here are going to really appreciate it. If you do consider our wishes and your legacy and vote in your hearts. What you know is the right thing to do. Please do the right thing today and vote No. Thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for MISS MISS Virginia, Sherlock. Good. Morning. Good morning. Thank you My name is Virginia. Sherlock Livin Stuart. I m here to ask you to please do not transmit the proposed comp Plan amendments submitted on behalf of Colusa Creek Ranch. There were all lifestyle. Land use designation was created only last year and a developer is already attempting to change it to extend suburban development further into our agricultural lands. There has been no good reasons cited to expand the land use designation that has proven to be extremely unpopular as written. Lp, a members who voted to recommend approval set a property owners should be able to make as much money as possible on land and it will likely be more profitable to build high end homes and operate golf courses and docking facilities than to farm the land. But. That s not the test that you should apply commissioners. The applicant in this case is not asking for a minor tweak in land use regulations that govern his property. The applicant is asking you to apply new regulations to make a significant change in those resignation in those regulations that will weaken our urban services boundaries and adversely affect critical aspects of our comp Plan. For, all citizens of Martin County. No changes should be made to the rural life. Student Lifestyle land use designation without adequate and credible data and analysis. Please don tell us. You must approve these amendments to generate more taxes. You re raising our taxes, not decreasing them despite approving virtually every development that comes before you. Please don t tell us that Colusa Creek Ranch will decrease traffic on can or highway and bridge robe. We re not traffic engineers, commissioners, but we re not stupid. And please don t tell us. This is only a transmittal vote, not a vote to adopt. We know that virtually every amendment, you vote to transmit you later vote to adopt. Now is the time reject these applications now? Thank you thank you, ma am. Next Our next request to speak for him is Mr Rick Hartman. Good morning, sir. Merry Christmas to you. And. Thanks for allowing me to speak. I hadn t notes here. Um, but after listening to people, I thought I was in a different place. Every time. I ve come to one of these. We talked about the environment, preserving the environment Less density, protect wetlands. I hear that, But. I didn t hear that from anybody yet. So. You got an applicant? I m, a realtor, Anna rancher. And. I have no no. Tired of this property except 50 years ago, I worked on that ranch for about six or seven years. So. Do I like building Hilton s on it. No, I hate it. I think it s horrible. But going back to my where I started. We ve got an applicant that s less density. The wetlands have been identified. They re going to be protected. What, the applicant could do Is built 20 Acre ranch yet. 20 acre ranch yet. Wetlands. Are allowed to be part of that lot. So you could have 200. Lots out there. Managing the wetlands by themselves, which means they could mow him. They can burn them. With. No oversight, and that s that s part of the deal. So you gotta you gotta know opportunity to say okay. These wetlands are identified. P u d is going to make the applicant Maintain them. And. We will talk about few scapes. Well. My understanding is there s gonna be 1000 Acres along Highway 76. And that s going to be pasture. So your view State does not going to change. So your alternative is turning down. Let him sit 10 years. 15 years. And you re going to have another harmony coming to be on your doors because 2015 years ago. We could have had half a harmony and conservation. And no issues, but we turned him down, and now he s gonna be back and we re not going to get the free land. So. This is an opportunity to do some planning. Reduce the number of units that are gonna be on it. And protects them environment so please vote for it. Thank you. Thank you, sir, are next request to speak for MISS, MISS Carol and Leonard Leonard? Yes, ma am. That s you. Would you like to have a microphone and stay in your seat or uk coming up to the front. Okay give you your options. Good morning. Good morning. Eyeglasses just broke and see if I can read it. What is suspected. The County and developers are going to try and change the real lifestyle amendment. Now they are with the Colusa Creek Ranch project. Please don t pass ph to indict him. 24-0317 c p a 22-06. I don t want expansion of the rural lifestyle. We don t need to change the text of the rural lifestyle to allow 3000 acres. To be 6000 ft from a principal urban service boundary or freestanding Urban service boundary. Stop trying to overdeveloped or agricultural and open lands. People have spoken numerous times that they re opposed to this at the public speaking section at the Blake Library, many said they are opposed to overdevelopment, increased traffic and more. You asked us to fill out the e a. R e Survey. The owners knew the type of land they were buying. They no doubt worked hard to make their farms work if they need to find new crops or do environmentally sound cattle raising, which is possible then they should be able to perhaps either grants or a county program to help them change over would be beneficial. In my opinion, the landowners are being enticed by developers of mega mansions, golf courses, golf cottages and more. The developers seem to think they can sell for big prices so they can pay the land loner owners large amounts of money and make a big profit for themselves in the past, and county commissioners expected to get mega taxes from mega mansion owners with few county expenses. The same statement was made about Colusa Creek wrench taxes. There s no guarantee on taxes. There will be county expenses, Road expansion. The County, possibly having to pay for the expansion of the sheriff. Fire rescue ambulances in schools, I was supportive percentage of taxes from current rural lifestyle projects to buy environmentally sensitive and conservation land. Don t add new areas to do this Holistic Creek Ranch adds residential, multi slip docking facilities to access the st Lucie Canal. This could lead to the leaking of gas and oil into the waterway. Boat owners not using the free Martin County sewage pump out service. Please Don t pass Agenda ph three Agenda item 240318 c p a 23-12 this I don t wanna let out 3902.64 acres to change from agricultural to rural lifestyle, allowing up to 20 units per acre, one county report states as possible for 195 single family homes to be built on these acres. Alyssa Creek Ranch is outside the u. S, d, the county states that Martin County utilities will have to evaluated evaluated they can serve it. Developers MAY have to do well sites, transmission and treatment plant components, They say if the extension of the water wastewater utility services too costly for the regional utility or the applicant is not want to connect to sanitary sewer lines. Enhanced nutrient reducing sewage treatment and disposal items. Plants MAY be needed. We don t need a future without 33,000 Acre developments to possibly build such things. They are also questionable in construction traffic is a huge issue. Your time is up. Thank you so much. Our next request to speak for MISS Mr Sam. Hey. Good morning. Good. Morning. I m, Sam. Hey, I live in Port St Lucie Arna. Since 1982 Martin County has had in place a comprehensive growth management plan. Comp Plan was intended to protect the environment and our quality of life and it s been largely responsible for protecting us from the horrors of overdevelopment, which have despoiled somewhat of South Florida. Yet in recent years. Our County commission has steadily voted to chip away at these protections. Only last year did you commissioners approved the euphemistically named Rural Lifestyle amendment, which many warned would open the floodgates to further urban sprawl, Environmental degradation. Nor did it escape notice that the vote was shamelessly scheduled after elections to evade losing votes from an irate public. It was suggested at the time you approved rural lifestyle that this will be the last attack to weaken the comp Plan, at least for respectable interval. But as many of us expected it didn t take long at all, just over a year. Now. You have before you two more amendments, which would further weaken the comp Plan. And. That s why this thing looks like a It reeks of a done deal when the originally approved rural lifestyle where the plans already afoot to greatly expand it for Colusa Ranch and other exploitative projects we haven t even heard of yet. We know from Chip Barney s letter to the newspaper that the developers require the land about three years ago, even though the property wasn t it was not eligible that time for the kind of development that had in mind. Both the proposed proposals before you Today. We re clearly written specifically for collusive ranch. I can t help getting the distinct impression that the public has been deliberately misled all along. Both amendments would inevitably lead to more traffic ingestion. Natural Habitat loss increased levels of crime and higher taxes. Does anyone still believe that development pays for itself. For the past several years. We ve seen development absolutely booming, but I can our taxes continue to rise year after year? I urge you to reject both proposed amendments Today, approval would poke such a huge hole in the comp Plan as to render it practically meaningless. Please don t allow our beautiful Martin County to be further blinded by the overdevelopment, which is already resulted in constant congestion on our streets and roads. Please don t place the profit motives of the few above the long term interests of us all. Please preserve our quality of life and what remains of the Martin County difference. Please protect our county s natural heritage for future generations. As our elected commissioners. You have a duty of stewardship to our county. A vote to approve these amendments would be a betrayal of the public trust. Thank you, sir? Are next request is for making candy candy. New Good morning. Good morning. Hi. My name is Candy new. I am a resident in Palm City. For the record I wanted to read my letter I submitted on NOVEMBER 30th. My family first moved to Martin County in 1924. In fact my grandfather would sail across the st Lucie River to the farms and Palm City where he worked as a sharecropper as a third generation resident. I ve seen my fair share of change over the course of my lifetime, and I spent a good Bit of my time working to preserve our natural trails. I fully believe that Collusive Creek project promotes smart growth in Martin County and should receive your support. With 91% open space and more than 1200 acres of bona fide agriculture. This project safeguards the natural landscape we all know and love as we face new development projects here in Martin County. I suggest we support projects like these that aim to preserve and promote the natural environment opposed to replacing it. Thank you? Thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for, um is Mr Tom Pine Good morning. My name is Tom Pine. I live in Jensen Beach presently live in Jensen Beach. I ve been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Another Typical County Commission meeting today where our county commissioners, we used the consent agenda to hide from the taxpayer Martin County exactly where our tax dollars are being spent today s consent to general total to 16,687,000. $514.82 spent between NOVEMBER 7th and NOVEMBER 19th 2023 with then identifying the payees or the purpose of the payments at the last county commission meeting, there was a sweetheart deal for rough pin l that was hidden in the consent agenda and pulled by the CHAIRMAN Of the Board of County Commissioners because of the controversy created Our camp. More Martin County government is in a race to the bottom to give fp and l a 60% discount on their tangible personal property tax because of the way our state government has set up the way corporations pay their tangible personal property taxes the next time this contract comes up for renewal, another county offers to charge fp and l only 35%. Instead of the 40%. We charge them this time. We, then drop our bid to 30% and claimed it s a great deal for the tax payers Martin County again. At one point the CHAIRMAN Of the board proclaimed that Martin County and mpo have a real good relationship. Is that why the commissioner from Hobe Sound is having so much trouble getting fp and l to install streetlights at west on Bridge Road. Words just dark as death at night because of fp and l. Today. I feel we are here to watch Mark, the Martin County Chamber of commerce backed county commissioners vote once again to destroy the Martin County difference by increasing the area of the rural lifestyle. Why you ask, because they the Martin County Chamber of commerce views money as the only way to value quality of life While many Martin County residents View the quality of life through a Different lens, such as first and foremost preserving our county growth management plan. Today. This county commission will pick a new chairperson to leave this commission for the next year. And one county commissioner that will not be chosen is the commissioner from District four because she is the only Martin community commissioner that is not endorsed by the Martin County Chamber of commerce. This is what happens when voter turnout stays below 50%. What you permit. You promote what you allow you or encourage what you condone you own. Thank you Thank you, sir, are next request to speak for him. Is Mr Joe Flanagan. Okay. Thank you, sir. Our. Next request to speak is MISS Joan Bosch. Good morning. Alright I m Joan bows from Stuart haven t haven spoken into commission meeting and quite a long time. Um my main concern this morning is breaking the urban boundary. With, the wannabe amendments that pretend to be rural enhancements. We need to understand the implications of breaking that boundary. Please vote No on the changes that create sprawl and the problems that come with it. Thank you thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for MISS MISS Jenny Yingling. Good morning. Good morning commissioners and staff. I live in work and Martin County and have raised my Children here. When I learned about the proposed the ranch project. I reached out to their team to learn more and get project details. From what I learned. I feel like there are several attributes to this project that are good for Martin County. The ranch is going to keep more than 3500 acres and open space and 1200 of those acres will be active Cattle Ranch. The project is reducing density to more than 175 homes. As you ve heard many say earlier today. Meanwhile, the 660 acres of wetlands, which we all know how important that is. Are going to prove be preserved and protected, which will help improve the natural environment. Lastly, the analysis projects and it is a projection. I m a banker, I know all about projections are 336 million. In positive fiscal impacts from Martin County over the next 30 years. This will be a win for Martin County and positive fiscal impacts for us and as a taxpayer since 1980 in this county, I appreciate your thoughtful consideration for this project. Thank you. Our next request to speak for MISS Mr Jeff Whitman. Mr Whitman. Hold his card. Our next request to speak form is Jeannie Long term. Or Janine Longtan. Oops. Attracting Oh, And, Please take your remove your hat before you come forward. We don t allow props for or against, Okay. I appreciate that. Please do not. We don t allow that if you were for it or against it, we don t allow that. Morning Welcome. I haven t learned that evil does not care. If it s called out. In fact, it seems to relish it. So. I m going to call out the good Sarah heard. Thank you address us individually. Please speak to us as a collective group. That s for Everybody. District four. That s not what I meant. Thank you the only one trying to keep Martin County. What. The people want it to be As. I walk around town. I talked to people. No One is happy with the majority of this commission. And their votes. No one is happy with the traffic having to watch fire rescue trying to navigate its way. Do some of these intersections. Makes me want to cry? They re dead animals on the road all the time now because of all the construction that you all are allowing When. I speak with people. No one is happy and I am letting them know that there was only one person on this commission. That is trying to do the right thing. Trying to do the right thing. Again. I Think a single commissioner On this commission. Thank you very much appreciate that our next request to speak for him as Mr David Hafner. Mr Hafner. Good morning. Morning commissioners. Thank you My name is David Hafner. Um I am a passionate advocate for agriculture. And, um, have been before you guys many times to seek your assistance in agricultural issues, and I appreciate what you have given in the past here today to talk about the ranch, the ud when I drive around, and I love watching, looking at agricultural lions, I d love to see cattle grazing. I love green Rose Rising I love Citrix blooming. I don t want to see more development. But. I also understand that the preserve our green spaces and agricultural spaces we have to sometimes be creative in the things that we do, and I think that the ranch could be one of those projects. I think it is one of those projects. Um You know I really like. About this project. I really like that they will build fewer homes on it than what they currently could build if we were to be developed today, and I appreciate that those homes will be put on septic. I m sorry sewer instead of Sepik, which is better for the environment. I appreciate that 1200 acres will be put into agricultural easement as a cattle ranch. And that 1200 acres in in addition to the rest of the green space in this project Will be used for water capture and recharge and habitat for native wildlife, and I appreciate that when the project s done, we ll still see green spaces and cattle grazing from the road. Um, you know, one more so we re going to see growth. Let s make sure it smart growth and I really do believe that this project is smart growth. Thank you, sir. Thank you our next request to speak for him is Gail lad. Gail, lead. Good morning. Hi. My name is Gail lad. I m from Jupiter. But. I am on the committee of the x Common Conservation Committee of this year Club, which represents Martin County, st Lucie County, Okeechobee County and Palm Beach County. I m here to ask you to oppose they come. Comp Plan amendment and the rural lifestyle. Change to the comp Plan. There are many infrastructure issues that I hope you re really looking at carefully water issues As. Always There s rural lifestyle is a misnomer. It s obvious that this amendment is if it s approved the financial benefit of a few will adversely, in fact, Affect impact the quality of life of many and it will encourage more development. Just a little while ago last year you approved this land use designation and developers could have developed tracks of 1000 acres are larger adjacent to the urban boundary, but it seemed like the way to limit the number of opportunities developers would have to build housing subdivisions. And. What have been historically agricultural areas in the western part of the county, but that has not even been evaluated long enough, and this is already being asked to be changed. So I would ask that you would please oppose both of these amendments. Developers will continue to line up there will be no end until there is no more true rural land left. Thank you thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for him is Jeff Whitman. Mr Whitman. Getting out. Mr Whitman. Good morning. Good morning commissioner is good to see you. Jeff Whitman, Hobe Sound. Most people don t realize. How many threatened and endangered species resided Martin County. A Black bear was spotted on 138th Street. Manatees go for tortoises. Cinema Tetra Mera. Thank you, Commissioner. And the Florida Panther. Yes Martin County still has Florida Panthers and I have seen three Once you see one? You will never forget it. Just because you don t see them doesn t mean they re not here. My brother in law was a wildlife officer here for 30 years and never saw one. And They ll, Florida Panthers ranges 50 square miles or more. And. They re coming into Hobe Sound. A Male Panther was hit by a car and killed At the north gate of the corporate area and the beeline a Wildlife corridor is needed to connect all the natural areas. Pre Corbett area Salapata. Atlantic Ridge. Jonathan Dickinson see branch and others. The rural Lifestyle amendment has already caused thousands of acres that we re going to be bought for cerp to be canceled. Because the owners can get more money from developers. The text amendment and the future Land Use Amendment. If they re past Will make it even harder to preserve Panther and other wildlife habitat. The way the law world the way that rural lifestyle amendment is unfolding. There are soon be four story hotels and gas stations and I 95 and Bridge Road. This is not what the people of Hobe Sound and Martin County want. Are. You going to vote for the developers. And their donors. Are. You going to vote for the people of Hobe Sound and Martin County. I hope it is the latter. I fear. It is a former. Thank You thank you, sir. Our. Next request to speak for MISS Tom d Alessandro. Morning. Morning, everyone. My name is Tom Dalesandro. I am here to support the ranch Project Inclusive Ranch project and all. Projects that are west of I 95. My family has been here for four generations now, and we have watched the Western communities get over developed and to me, not a very smart way. They ve never done anything about preserving our environment. And keeping low density homes. Closer Creek project in particular, they very smartly of Proposed to build this property out, preserving the environment, Very few homes, golf courses, and I applaud your all. In Martin County for doing this in all the Western communities here. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Our. Next request to speak for MISS MISS Linda Smith. Good morning. Good morning. Linda Smith, Jupiter, Florida and you might ask, Why. Am I speaking before you I m, the current executive committee chair for the Sierra Club blocks ahead, she group and I do represent Martin County residents. Engaged to the Caloosahatchee Collusive Creek Ranch Text amendment sets a precedent, which is immediately being followed by ph three. The ranch and who knows how many others? Colusa Creek owner probably should have bought land adjacent to the urban the urban corridor. What a concept play by the rules. The rural lifestyles was not popular with the public in the past, as you MAY recall, but unfortunately we lost that battle. I understand that. But. That wasn t bad enough. Developers want even more Where is And these are questions I ve read through the information that was online. Where is the Martin County school district Capacity analysis, whereas the in depth environmental analysis, whereas the traffic analysis, whereas the utilities report and potable water analysis This is just for the transmittal, you say. But once you get these reports, it will be too late. Why should the commission and why should individual citizens make it easier for developers to build large developments? So I guess bigger is better. But. Who. Is it better for If. It was profitable for the owner of this project to build these ranchettes, which everyone has been mentioning. They would have done it without coming through this process. It s not that profitable so they re not going to do it. But if you let them do this, that s going to be more profitable for them, and it will get developed. There are numerous economic studies indicating that developments do not pay for the necessary infrastructure improvements through Texas or the fees. Developers costs Developments all cost. Existing residents and future residents more in the future in taxes, more firefighters, more police And. Do. We really need more services for the rich? Yes. This will spur development. What we need is more restaurants, I guess and more bars and more nightclubs and more things for people with a lot of money to do. I think there s enough and I think, um, the people that own the current restaurants really don t want You know? All that development outside the area. Rural lifestyles has nothing to do with rural Or quality of life styles. These amendments are sprawl. Pure and simple. Thank you? Thank you, ma am. Our next request to speak for him, Mr on Rose. On rose. But his card aside, Mr Jim Moyer. Okay? Thank you. Mr Scott Fay. Good morning. Scott Fate Hobe Sound. Nice to see you all. Thank you. Um first and foremost, I want to say These people have stood here today and Accused this commission on all kinds of bad things from Martin County. I think about all five of you. Probably carried as much about Martin County as anybody here because you ve proven that with your service. So I thank you. I really do believe you have our best interests at heart. And I think every one of us would like to think we re the center of the picture. But. It s a whole community. And as you look at all these things I would just ask for one thing. That we don t Use exceptions. We use amendments. And. The comp Plan is great. But. It was written in 1982. Nothing has stayed the same since 1982. And every one of us in this room lives someplace that was At one time. At. One time was rule at one time was used for something else. Hobe Sound was pineapple farms all up and down. Gomez Avenue. And if people had stopped Growth at that point. I wouldn t get to live where I live. But see, i m happy because I get to live there, but I don t want somebody else to have the same freedoms. I have I have six kids. Have a Several employees. That have a very difficult time finding affordable housing. I ve sat on housing commissions. I ve sat on the bdb. I m not the big deal here. I m just saying I ve heard both sides of the issue and I would just ask you to continue. It s a good do good policy. But. Let s not make exceptions. Exceptions, There s no end to where exceptions can go. So if we need to change things to make it for a healthier community change change with amendments. Keep us on a good track for the big picture. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Our next request to speak for him as Mr Bruce onto Fusco. At the time of the item. Thank you, sir. How about Mr Larry Mueller. This year. See Larry Mueller. In the background. Getting down to the end of the stack. Believe it or not, if you are interested. I m Sorry when the agenda Yes, sir. I apologize. Um Mr Greg Braun. Region items. Thank you. Is that the same for Mr Brian Swain. Brian Swain. Would you like to speak on the agenda? Thank you. How about Diane? Hilton. Pretty sure what you re looking to speak about is not about what we ve heard thus far. Good Morning and welcome everyone. I m, Donna Donna Hilton. Um I guess some of you might remember me from the Bible Radio Marathon. It went wonderful again this year and the largest lead me to come here today and I really didn t know what all you were talking about, But actually this past weekend I ve been horse riding. I heard somebody talking about horses. I love horses and observe some if you do But I do want to thank you for this. The Proclamation, you and the county and the city and the Lord spoke to me several times that the Bible marathon about things and I m just going to mention a couple of things, But first thing I want to mention because I ve been listening to this meeting and I love Martin County. I lived here. My husband and I, who is now in with the Lord. And I came down for the Bible marathons. I ve been here since the beginning of NOVEMBER. I m being blessed to be in Martin County. I love this place and I went to the city commissioner meeting and, um I love Martin County, and I know you all love Martin County as well, but I want to read this one thing here, it says here in Proverbs 47, it says Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all getting get understanding. So. I think that the the the Lord will give you wisdom on all the decisions that you make and that he has and with this is probably the most wonderful county in the whole United states and I said the very same thing at the city commissioners. I love this place. I My Heart is still here in Martin County. I do live in Jacksonville with my daughter. And. Um, but I would come back here in a flash. I love the Martin County. But the one thing that I want to mention to which I didn t mention at the city Commissioner. I haven t heard you mention here, but I had a word for them that the unity of the city and the county would come together, not just holding hands but connecting with arm to arm as you make agreements. With the things that happened because I know it affects city, the city people and also the county and the and the Treasure Coast. This. Whole area is you re a representative for the nation. I believe, because this is a wonderful place to be and people who are here are blessed to be here. But what I m going to say has something to do with the trained because 2020 14 I had a vision while I was standing at the Bible Marathon facing the Bandshell and I heard the train was so come by, and they said, and I heard the Lord say to me, and you MAY think I m foolish but the glory train and I said, Wow Glory train. I said. That sounds pretty good. And you hear the triangle by all the time if I lived here in Stuart, I would come down and live downtown where I could hear the train all the time. And I thought I thought, Well, that s just going to be. That means a wonderful thing. That people you know the glory of the Lord is here and people that love the Lord or here and there s a good change here, and this is a blessed place. I know I m going to speak, but one of the thing I saw which I mentioned at the city was I saw you all coming together. And I saw actually, after I heard the word glory train. I heard the Lord say there ll be a station right over there and I at that time when I Thank you ma am, Ma Your Time is up station in one. Thank you so much. Brandon Tucker. I see yours, says 24-0317. Do. You want to speak now or you want to wait for the item? Thank you, sir. Ron Rose. Our last one. Then if anyone else is looking to address us during general public comment, meaning something I got yours. Um Something that we re going to hear later that you can stay for Mr Bush. Would you like to come forward now? And fill out a form afterwards, sir. Good morning. I. Gotta. Talk about insurance, Okay? Uh, you re going to get your insurance bill Speaking to the mixer. You should get your insurance bills. Within the next couple of months, maybe sooner. Anywhere from 50 to 100% increase. We have. Where. Can. We go to get relief. To go to the government. Insurance companies are not going to Who deal with this right into the mixer. Insurance companies are not going to help us. Our assemble meant Toby, even somebody State. Rep. Uh, you have otherwise, No one can hear what they re saying. You have to talk to the Legislature to get some kind of Legislation where we get more insurance companies. So we have competition. I mean citizens. Ah, it s the last resort and those their premiums first, just escalating. Uh, One of the things that Growth has created. At least it would seem in this area. It s more expensive housing. So When I first moved here and the late nineties cost. Replacement. Per square foot was around. $200 I m Sorry, $2000. Now. It s it s It s five times that And Insurance is based on the replacement course. So you Therefore, insurance goes up. Ah! And it s I think it s going to start really impact the growth of Florida? And another thing that was really interesting. Ciampi, each county Brought the growth. And all their tax revenue. They don t have enough money now to run a county. There. There there. Projects that were started and you know, 345 years ago. What has a 10 year. Ah! Life cycle in terms of building You don t have enough money to finish these projects. And. They either stop them or delay them. Or cancel them. And I fear that this could happen here. What? When. We can t look at two years or three years down the road. We ve got to look at 1015 years down the road for some of these county projects. Be able to fund them so please He s here. Maybe you can talk to him later today and see if the if the Legislature can do anything to help us with your insurance goes, I think it s going to kill Thank you, sir? Very much. Thank You appreciate it. Our Last request to speak for him as Mr Terry Gibson. Are. You looking at one second, Mr Gibson will take MISS Scott first. Are. You looking to come forward. Ladies first. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Ann Scott. I ve been sitting here watching this and most of you are doing a pretty good job. Of looking like your paying attention, but I keep seeing these little conversation bubbles appearing above your heads. That s a yard iata. But we re paying attention. You re going to vote today. We re going to vote in AUGUST. Thank you very much. Mr Gibson welcome. Good morning, all on my plan to test two to speak at the hearing by really have to go to Tallahassee. Hopefully we ll get done enough just for me to come up twice. But anyway, I again. My name is Terry Gibson. I live in Jensen Beach.