Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 12-11-07 regular minutes — reading text

249 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA DECEMBER 11, 2007 INTRODUCTION A regular meeting of the City Council of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was held on Tuesday, December 11, 2007, at 7: 00 p. m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, with the following members present: f""" Mayor Mike Anderson Councilmen: Mike Holmes, Virgil Miller, Dennis Reeves, Bill Garvie, Dr. Wayne Pullen, Jim Hartwell, and Mike Minich Also Present: Joyce Shanahan, City Manager; Helen Spencer, City Clerk; Lisa Absher, Finance Director; Toni Craig, City Attorney; Department Directors and Media. CALL TO ORDER The Mayor called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone. He requested anyone who wished to address Council to approach the podium after being recognized, then state his or her name and address for the record. INVOCATION Pastor Charles Sansom, Sr., Family of Faith Church gave the invocation. PLEDGE Youth members of the Family of Faith Church led in the Pledge of Allegiance. PRESENTATION - CHRISTMAS PARADE WINNERS The Mayor presented awards to the winners of the 2007 Christmas parade APPROVAL OF AGENDA The Mayor recommended moving Item 13, Consideration of a Development Agreement between the City of Fort Walton Beach and Fort Walton Development Partners, LLC, on behalf of the Landmark Center, from the regular agenda to the quasi-judicial portion of the agenda, making the item 9a. Mr. Minich moved to approve the agenda as recommended by the Mayor as the business of the day. Mr. Holmes seconded motion and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, Hartwell, and Minich in favor. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Minich moved to approve the following consent agenda items. Mr. Garvie seconded motion and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, Hartwell, r I and Minich in favor. If MINUTES Approval of the minutes of the Special Council Meeting of November 26, 2007; the Executive Session of November 27, 2007; and the Regular Council Meeting of November 27, 2007. REMOVAL OF FIXED ASSETS Approve request for authorization to record in the Council minutes, the removal of fixed assets from the City' s accounting records.  Regular Council 12/1 107 250 KNUCKLEBOOM TRUCK Award bid # 08- 105 Knuckleboom Truck, to the low, responsive, responsible bidder meeting bid specifications, Sterling & Western Star Trucks of Tampa, Mount Dora, FL, in the amount of 76, 300. FRONT LOADER REFUSE TRUCK Award bid # 08- 103 Front Loader Refuse Truck, to the low, responsive, responsible bidder meeting bid specifications, RDK Truck Sales, Inc, Tampa, FL, in the amount of $ 156, 539. I ANNUAL PESTICIDE BID Award bid # 08- 101 Annual Pesticide Bid, to the low, responsive, responsible bidders meeting specifications, for the purchase of herbicide and pesticide on an as needed basis, for the budgeted amount of $ 216, 372. 00, to control the growth of undesirable plants, the spread of plant disease, and the proliferation of harmful insects in the maintenance of the City' s Golf Club fairways, greens, tees, and rough; and the parks sports fields, sewer spray fields, and plant beds maintained by other city department, and for the annual mole cricket injection treatment for the Golf Club and city sports fields. COMPACT EXCAVATOR Purchase one ( 1) Compact Excavator under the provisions of the Florida Sheriffs Association Contract from Bobcat Company, West Fargo, North Dakota, for a total cost of $38,954.00. BEACH COMMUNITY STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS Accept the Grants of Easement from BCB Holdings, LLC and Beach Community Bank for streetscape improvements on their respective properties, approve the Highway Maintenance Agreement and Assignment with each property owner and authorize the Mayor to execute the agreement and assignment documents. QUASI-JUDICIAL: DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH FORT WALTON DEVELOPMENT Consideration of a Development Agreement between the City of Fort Walton Beach and Ft Walton Development Partners, LLC on behalf of Landmark Center, 223 Miracle Strip Parkway SE of the City of Fort Walton Beach. This Development Agreement pertains solely to specific issues related to the construction, use and maintenance of a parking garage for public and private use. The City Attorney announced a quasi-judicial proceeding and gave the oath to those who planned to testify on this matter. The City Attorney advised the proceedings are being transcribed by a court reporter and anyone who was not sworn in and wishes to testify will have to be sworn in. The Mayor advised that e- mails, letters, and other documents that have been exchanged between ciUzens and Council be entered into the record. The City Attorney advised she has a stack provided by the City Clerk, as well as an additional letter from the Chamber of Commerce. Bruce Houle, the developer of Landmark Center under the Fort Walton Beach Development Il Partners LLC, introduced David Smith of Moore Bass Consulting, civil engineers for the project. 1.: t: Mr. Smith presented an overview of the project site to be located on Perry Avenue and Highway 1.. . .:. 98 in the Mixed- Use Main Street District, and advised the project will include retail, office, and residential spaces. Mr. Smith provided architectural renderings and advised the project will include decorative side lighting, public access parking, a public plaza along Perry Avenue, and street furniture. The Mayor asked if there were any questions from Council.  Regular Council 12/ 11/ 07 251 LANDMARK CENTER ( CONT) Council received clarification that an elevator is proposed for the parking garage and that an interactive water feature is planned as well. Also discussed was the possibility of increased pedestrian traffic from Publix to the Landmark Center. Missy McKim, CDS Director, explained that if a pedestrian bridge is eventually built to the south across Highway 98, Landmark would provide an easement in the parking deck for landfall there; however, going east across Perry has not been pursued. r Mr. Houle reported on the significant economic impact the project will have to the City' s ad I valorem taxes based on the Economic Impact Analysis conducted by the Economic t Development Council and the Haas Center. l The CDS Director described the process of the site plan approval and reviewed the various sections of the Development Agreement, including lease of City property to the developer to include the term, rent, and maintenance of the leased premises; construction of the parking deck to include infrastructure, tree replacement, pedestrian skywalk easement and third- party agreements; purchase of parking spaces, to include the purchase of 107 parking spaces for a total amount of $ 1, 500, 000. 00, with the option to purchase 40 additional spaces each year beginning November 1, 2009 and ending on November 1, 2013, for a cost of $548, 923. 00 each year; and the condominium arrangement to include condo documents, developer ownership rights, city ownership rights, public rights, and management operation and maintenance agreement. Also included in the Development Agreement is insurance and other forms of security and default and remedies. The CDS Director continued that at the beginning of the project, bond payments were anticipated for the purchase of the garage, but due to recent State litigation which prohibits the CRA from utilizing a bond as a form of financing, a projection of the amount of TIF funds and the expected expenditures to ensure the completion of the project was developed by Staff. Council received clarification that the rent of $ 1. 00 per quarter stated in the Development Agreement is only for the one- year period of time while the garage is being constructed; once completed, the developer will give the City the deed to the 10, 000 square feet of Landmark property that the parking garage is on, and that the garage will contain 305 public parking spaces owned by the City. Further discussion ensued and clarification was given on various sections of the Development Agreement, including that while the City is in the process of purchasing the 200 parking spaces, the City has free, unrestricted use of all spaces except for the 38 reserved for the Landmark. Also discussed was the fact that in order to fund the parking garage, several projects within the CRA District had to be delayed; specifically, the undergrounding of utilities on Eglin Parkway, and that the CRA Board found this acceptable with their approval of the Development Agreement. Upon questioning by Council regarding whether the membership of the Condominium Board can be changed, the City Attorney advised that Council can recommend any changes to the r Development Agreement at this time. She informed that many of the questions asked by Council are of a legal nature and she will respond to those questions individually at the end of l the public input. The Mayor asked for public input with alternating views for or against the project. Lee McDonald, 10 Rue de Ie Roi, spoke in opposition of the project and stated his feeling the Finance Director should be more involved in the financing aspects of the project, and advised he has spoken with the Finance Director on this issue previously.  Regular Council 12/1 107 252 LANDMARK CENTER ( CONT) Chuck Kennedy, 39 Bay Drive, Vice- Chairman of the CRA, spoke on behalf of the CRA stating their support of the project, that it is key to the development of downtown and urged Council to approve the project. Doug Reed, 842 Santa Rosa Court, stated he is a member of the CRA but he was speaking as aprivate citizen, and spoke in favor of the project. I AI Sterns, 2 Ipswich Circle, was given the oath by the City Attorney, and mentioned the positive projects that are taking place in downtown Fort Walton Beach to make it a progressive, growing city, and offered his support of the project. As there was no one else who wished to speak, the public hearing was closed. The City Attorney requested that Council state for the record who they have spoken with regarding this project, and the content of their conversation. Mr. Holmes advised he spoke with Mr. Veach from Landmark, who called to ask if he had any questions; and that he received phone calls from Jim