Amended Agenda Item 1C- 7-22-17 Draft Minutes Town Hall MeetingIN ATTENDANCE:
CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
TOWN HALL MEETING
July 22,2017 at 10:00 AM
STAFF:
Mayor Mitch Reeves
Mayor Pro Tern John Stinson (Absent)
Commissioner Jimmy Hill
Interim City Manager Kevin Hogencamp
City Attorney Brenna Durden
City Planner Derek Reeves
Commissioner Mitch Harding (Arrived@ 10:07 am)
Commissioner Blythe Waters (Arrived@ 10:34 am)
Recording Secretary, Joanie Bowman
ABSENT:
Mayor Pro Tern John Stinson
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Reeves called the meeting to order at 10:00 am.
WELCOME
Mayor Reeves explained the purpose of this Town Hall Meeting and thanked staff and the citizens
for taking time out of their Saturday to attend the meeting.
Mayor Reeves explained the process for public comments.
Mayor Reeves introduced Interim City Manager Hogencamp to open the meeting.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp briefed everyone on the City Manager position. He stated they
are very close to hiring a City Manager and explained the finalists will be invited to town for a
public meet and greet on August 3rct, followed by interviews on August 4th with the City
Commission and a final decision will be made within a couple of weeks.
Mayor Reeves explained they have added Item 3A. City Manager selection process to the
Commission Agenda. He stated they will narrow the candidate pool to the three top candidates.
HR Director Cathy Berry and Interim City Manager Kevin Hogencamp will then skype interview
the top three candidates. A reception will then take place Thursday, August 3rd so the public can
have an opportunity to meet the top three candidates and they will interview them on Friday,
August 4th and the Commission will make a final decision at the next City Commission on August
14th.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp explained this meeting's topics for discussion are the
Resolution creating a Parking Advisory Resource Committee as he referred to his handout (which
is attached and made part of this Official Record as Attachment A), and notice requirements for
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the Land Development Regulation Modifications. He spoke about the parking issue and
Commissioner Stinson's proposal that the City Commission establish the official Parking
Advisory Committee. He explained that its scope and purpose would be to review and collect
parking data, conduct related field inspections, evaluate the data and make recommendations to
the Mayor and Commissioners. Under this proposal there would be eleven (11) members of the
Committee, two (2) each appointed by the Mayor and the four Commissioners and the eleventh
(11th) member would be one of the City Commissioners or the Mayor. The Committee would be
supported by staff as delegated by the City Manager.
Mayor Reeves inquired about the upcoming Safe Routes to School public meeting that would take
place.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp informed everyone that the Safe Routes to School meeting
would take place Tuesday, July 25th at 5:00pm. in the Commission Chamber and would give an
overview of the latest design and update on the status of that project.
Mayor Reeves asked the citizens if they had anything they would like to share.
COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Dennis Winkelman, 1977 Seminole Rd., spoke about the parking issue on 19th Street and
expressed that it needs some attention.
Mayor Reeves explained the Parking Committee will cover parking issues city wide.
Nancy Whittington, 1861 Beachside Ct., spoke about the parking committee and suggested
tackling the parking issue in phases rather than city wide.
Commissioner Hill explained that the parking problem in Atlantic Beach is based on the population
of Jacksonville, which predominantly uses Atlantic Beach as the beach to visit and the bulk of
Jacksonville will go to Hugenot Park on the Northside. The parking problem is compounded every
time the City of Jacksonville does something environmentally to limit their residents from being
able to go to their beach. The other reason parking is a problem internally within our own city is
that residents utilize parking for their visitors. He suggested coming up with a plan where we still
meet our responsibilities to our County visitors but do it in a park way. He suggested one of the
ways our residents can better access our beach is by using bikes or low speed vehicles (LSV).
A Resident, suggested charging a fee for parking to alleviate some of the parking problems.
Mayor Reeves spoke about parking solutions for non-residents and residents. He explained that
parking meters are a viable option and suggested that residents may be issued a parking permit that
gives residents privileges to park at a discounted rate.
Dale Wappes, 1885 Beach Ave., spoke about the parking problems concerning traffic and safety
issues on 18th Street and suggested having a shuttle service to the beach to alleviate the parking
problems.
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Commissioner Hill spoke against shuttling people into a residential neighborhood and explained
that there is a direct correlation between crime and transient people and would be of concern to
him in that respect.
Pamela McCrary, 226 pt St., spoke about concerns regarding parking and safety issues with cars
parking on sidewalks. She suggested taking back the sidewalks and making it standard that
wherever there is a sidewalk, there is no parking.
Lisa Herrold, 659 Sherry Dr., spoke about concerns with Safe Routes to School on her street,
and stated they are going to lose the green space and poses safety issues for the children.
Chris Thomassy, 176 Ocean Blvd., spoke about the parking situation leading to friction within
the community that could potentially lead to violence. He suggested that the parking committee
write down their ideas and present them as well as having representatives to be the advocates from
the affected areas, such as the 19th & 20th Street area but also look at 1-4 or Ahem-4th Street and
5th -9th Street. He suggested some ideas from other beaches, where residents buy stickers for your
car for a low fee as well as building a parking garage or setting up parking meters. He mentioned
that we might ask Neptune Beach, as a good neighbor, to remove their center island at Orange
Street and stated that there needs to be a sharing of the traffic coming into our area.
Mayor Reeves explained that strict enforcement of parking and littering fines would act as a
deterrent and could eliminate the parking problems as well as address visitors trashing up our
beach.
Commissioner Hill stated our parking areas do not look like a park or recreational area. He
explained that he would like to adopt signage at our end zones designating our beach as a park and
have public works personnel collecting the trash, dress like park rangers. He spoke about
sidewalks and the need to make it safe for kids so that they are not forced into the street.
Commissioner Waters stated signage is a concern as it trashes up our City and is not pretty. She
explained part of the solution is street-scaping and suggested using landscaping and impervious
spaces to designate parking in a beautifying way.
Commissioner Hill agreed there is a signage problem and needs to be addressed.
Rick Moyer, 1238 Beach Ave., suggested offsetting the signage by planting trees and beautifying
the environment, particularly around the Town Center area and by encouraging residents to ride
their bikes or walk thereby, creating more parking.
Mayor Reeves inquired about the bike racks at the Town Center.
City Planner Derek Reeves explained they have talked about contracts and have not moved forward
yet.
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Mayor Reeves explained there is an Ordinance in place now requiring new businesses in Atlantic
Beach to provide a bicycle rack.
Dale Wappes, 1885 Beach Ave., inquired about hiring a part-time meter maid to monitor parking
accesses.
Mayor Reeves suggested that our new Police Chief Michelle Cook make a proposal to have the
people who volunteer for the COPS program write those tickets.
Commissioner Waters stated, historically, that is something the Town Center area has proposed
and have been willing to chip in with funding. They have proposed a number of systems.
Commissioner Hill voiced concern about using the COPS program, because COPS level training
is not sufficient for interacting with non-residents and could pose a danger.
Commissioner Harding spoke about non-sworn citizens who can take a course to issue parking
tickets, but can also take a verbal judo class that teaches them how to talk to people that become
irate. He spoke about the parking committee and diversity, and would like to see representatives
from all over the city establish priorities.
Commissioner Hill spoke in favor of having someone like Scott Shine, a School Board
Representative, be on the Parking Committee. He explained he is also our beaches district school
board representative and has been involved in Ponte Vedra's reclaiming of access and could put a
voice of knowledge and experience on the subject matter relating to the Parking Committee. He
inquired whether non-residents could sit on the Parking Committee in an advisory mode.
The citizens were in agreement that non-residents could serve on the board in an advisory capacity
but should not be permitted to vote.
A resident spoke about solutions to right of way issues that might be resolved by carefully looking
at traffic patterns and creating one way streets.
Commissioner Waters stated she liked Commissioner Hill's idea about having representatives on
the Committee from outside the community that can provide an outside perspective of what is
reasonable.
Commissioner Hill stated Mayor Reeves is in communication with the Duval County
representatives regarding parking issues. He continued stating that Hanna Park is completely
empty and could provide a partial solution.
Some citizens suggested making a sign on Mayport Road that directs people into Hanna Park and
voiced that they do not want one-way streets, but also do not want their streets blocked by illegal
parking.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp introduced City Planner Derek Reeves and Brenna Durden,
matter experts on the notice requirements for the Land Development Regulation Modifications.
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City Planner Derek Reeves explained they have already started advertising for the Mayport Road
Business Proposal, notifications go out thirty days in advance and then it goes to the Community
Development Board (CDB) in August. He stated they mailed out seven hundred thirteen (713)
letters, it took six staff personnel and thirteen hours to complete at $16.00 per hour equaling
$208.00 and .046 cents postage per envelope equaling $322.00 in postage, another $23.00 in
envelopes and labels, plus printing costs. The mailers total cost was $553.00 in staff time and
materials. We are looking at estimates of three-hundred (300) signs under our current code to be
posted. It will take about four (4) staff people about twenty five (25) hours to produce and post
all of those signs. The costs are higher because of who has driving privileges and estimating
$500.00 in staff time in addition to the twenty-five (25) hours. He stated they did find cheaper
signs at $5.50 per sign including the stake, and another $1,600.00 when you have to add in the cost
of materials for tape, markers and gas. The estimate comes up to $2,100.00 for signs on this
project. Add in the required newspaper ads, those are $313.00 a piece to run in the Beaches Leader.
This Ordinance affects somewhere between two hundred to two hundred fifteen (200-215) parcels
and there are approximately fifty seven hundred (5,700) parcels in the City. City Planner Reeves
explained that if we were to do an ordinance affecting every parcel like Land Development
Regulation (LDR) rewrite, or something as minor as allowable projections into a side yard, you
are talking about multiplying those costs by seven (7), for what could be potentially a major code
rewrite.
City Attorney Durden explained that there are two ways State Statutes are required: 1) Text
amendment and 2) Re-zoning a piece of property. She stated that the conversation that they are
having today is simply about text amendments and under the State law for text amendments, it
only requires publication in the newspaper for each public hearing. Two public hearings are
required at a minimum under the State law and you have to publish in the larger font, two columns
wide and not in the legal advertisement section of the newspaper. Our Code also requires us to
comply with the statutory requirements, a map change such as; change of permitted uses, change
of zoning. A sign will be placed in the yard and everybody within three hundred (300) feet will
get noticed of that. Our Code, for a text change to our LDR, requires the same thing. She stated
for our Mayport Corridor Business Overly District we need to follow those rules. Notice is one of
those things that is a due process issue, so if our code says we have to comply with this, we must
comply. It is a very sensitive topic, because people want to know what is going on in their
community. She stated there may be a middle road where we do not need a thousand signs
scattered all over our City for the exact same ordinance that is being proposed. She suggested
maybe the City consider keeping the requirement for the letters to go out to every single person
but not the signs. This would only be for text amendments. Those are the minimum requirements
and we are only talking about text changes to the LDR's or to the comprehensive plan.
A resident spoke about a concern with public notices for the Town Hall Meeting and stated that
the notice came out on Thursday and there was no other notice of addendum on Facebook. She is
in favor of the letters going out to citizens whatever the cost because not everyone is on social
media. She stated that the citizens of Atlantic Beach deserve to know there is going to be a
significant change.
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Interim City Manager Hogencamp explained that the overlay district changes are being noticed;
they were sent out and the signs are going up.
Commissioner Harding explained how communication has improved since Hurricane Matthew
through the Agenda, City Manager's Report, Calendar, Newsletter, and City's website. He stated
staff is doing their job and making appropriate notifications. We take great strides to keep the
community involved.
Commissioner Waters stated that we hold quarterly Town Hall meetings and bi-monthly City
Commission meetings. If the Land Development Regulation affects fifty two hundred (5,200)
homes, we have to stick a sign in every yard. We are going to have to change the Land
Development Code because it is literally what the requirement states. She explained the City's
desire to notice appropriately and offered suggestions. She stated we are trying to gamer from the
citizens what is appropriate notification for these big items that affect the citizens' of Atlantic
Beach.
Commissioner Hill stated that notification is not the issue, communication is the issue. He stated
that the Interim City Manager Kevin Hogencamp is a communication expert and will be freed up
to communicate more effectively as soon as a City Manager is in place.
A resident stated that communication is not the problem in the City and has received excellent
communication. She believes noticing is extremely important, the Safe Routes to School project
was delayed because of a lack of noticing, but we do not need five thousand (5,000) signs. We
need leader road signs at high traffic intersections in the City. She wants to make sure that whatever
we do, we do not take away the noticing requirements in terms of snail mail or signs for affected
areas.
Commissioner Hill spoke about two distinct citizen groups; engaged and not engaged. We have
to notice both equally. We have to focus on the non-engaged citizens.
Mayor Reeves agreed with Commissioner Hill that communication is going to get better.
A resident suggested using the water bill as a way for citizen's to go online to voice their opinion
or poll on a particular subject matter.
Closing Comments
Commissioner Waters stated it is good to hear input from everyone about the issues that the City
is tackling. At times citizens get frustrated when government takes longer or seems to be slow
moving. It seems to inspire the fiery rhetoric of, "if you do not do something now", "somebody's
going to get hurt." She explained that long term planning is what they, as a Commission, are there
to do.
Commissioner Hill thanked everyone for taking time to attend the meeting on a Saturday and stated
that community involvement makes this place the livable City that it is. The community groups
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that are formed around certain issues are critically important. These are the groups that find out
"Vhat is ~?Oing on and the Commission is involved in these groups.
Commissioner Harding thanked everyone for attending this meeting on a Saturday. He stated the
Town Hall meetings are held quarterly and the next one will be in October. These meetings are
good to get information out and to receive input from our residents creating an open line of
communication with our citizens. Everything that they do as a Commission is representative ot
our residents.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp thanked the citizens for coming out on their Saturday. Recently
on Facebook our local government has been accused of doing things in secret. He clarified that
nothing is done in secret and the City government of Atlantic Beach is transparent.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp addressed parking, beach access and pedestrian safety,
explaining that the Commission is taking action regarding this issue. He has a list of potential
committee members and stated please contact a Commissioner or the Mayor directly if you ar~
interested in that topic. The pedestrian safety issue at 18th Street is an emergency and does not need
to wait for this committee, as it is unsafe and is a priority. He asked that the citizens please stay
in touch as we continue to do our jobs and strive for opportunities to improve our community.
Mayor Reeves thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for the important questions and
input. He explained that this Commission is in unison whether they agree or disagree on topics.
He mentioned that there will be a meeting regarding Safe Routes to School on Tuesday, July 25th
and hoped everyone would come out.
Mayor Reeves adjourned the meeting at 12:30 p.m.
ATTEST:
Donna L. Bartle, CMC
City Clerk
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Mitchell E. Reeves
Mayor/Presiding Officer
July 22, 2017
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AITACHMENT A
RESOLUTION NO. 17-08
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH, FLORIDA CREATING
A PARKING ADVISORY RESOURCE COMMITTEE; PROVIDING FOR
PURPOSE, MEMBERS AND SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES OF SAID COMMITTEE;
AND PROVIDING FOR SUNSET OF COMMITTEE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the Boards and Committees established by the Mayor and Commission of
the City of Atlantic Beach provide many valuable services to the community by enlisting City staff
and citizen volunteers to provide input and consideration upon several important issues that affect
the daily lives of citizens in the community; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission deems it to be in the best interests of the citizens of
Atlantic Beach to create an advisory committee to review parking and collect parking data, conduct
field inspections and make recommendations to the Commission regarding parking issues in the
City.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH:
SECTION 1. Creation. There is hereby created and established the PARKING
ADVISORY RESOURCE COMMITTEE.
SECTION 2. Purpose. The purpose of the Parking Advisory Resource Committee is to
review and collect parking data, conduct related field inspections, evaluate the data and make
recommendations to the Mayor and Commission as to changes and revisions to the current parking
system which will eliminate confusion and safety issues.
SECTION 3. Membership and Staff Support
(a) There will be a total of eleven (11) members on the Committee. The Mayor and
Commissioners shall each propose two (2) persons who are residents of the City of Atlantic Beach
to serve on the Committee. The eleventh member shall be an elected official whose responsibility
will be to chair all meetings of the Committee but not to direct the work of the Committee, and to
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vote only in the event of a tie between the ten other members. All members shall be appointed by
the City Commission.
(b) The Committee shall be supported by the following persons:
1. One senior staff member from the Public Works Department, to be selected
by the City Manager;
2. One senior staff member from the Public Safety Department, to be selected
by the City Manager;
3. One member (past or present) of the Community Development Board, to be
selected by the City Commission; and
4. One recording/noticing clerk from the City Clerk's Office, to be selected by
the City Clerk.
SECTION 4. Scope of Activities. The Committee shall undertake the following
activities:
(a) Utilize traffic counters to dete1mine demand loads on available parking placed at
locations with the City to be determined by the Committee for a period of two (2) months,
beginning in August, 2017;
(b) Collect data from the counters weekly to fully understand traffic loading and any
increases experienced;
(c) Collect data twice daily for a one-week period at a midpoint in each time frame to
better understand peak periods of traffic loading;
(d) Evaluate the data and prepare a written report containing recommendations to
modify and improve the safety and efficiency of the cunent beach access parking system and
design no later than October 1, 2017, or as soon thereafter as practical;
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(e) Make a presentation of the written report to the City Commission in October, 2017,
or as soon thereafter as practical; and
(f) Undertake such additional work as requested by the City Manager or City
Commission.
SECTION 5. Meetings and Notice. The meetings of the Parking Advisory Resource
Committee shall be set at regular times and will be open to the public and notice of meetings shall
be provided in accordance with state law.
SECTION 6. Sunset. The Parking Advisory Resource Committee shall exist and be in
place for a six month period beginning on the date of the first meeting of the Committee and,
unless extended by the City Commission by further enactment, shall automatically sunset, expire
and cease to exist after said six month period.
SECTION 7. Effective Date. This Resolution shall take effective immediately upon its
final passage and adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Commission of the City of Atlantic Beach, Florida, this
24th day of July, 2017.
Mitchell E. Reeves, Mayor
Attest:
Donna L. Bartle, City Clerk
Approved as to form and correctness:
Brenna M. Durden, City Attorney
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