5.21.24 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Afternoon Session)

I'd like to call back to order the board of County Commission meeting of May 21st 2024 please silence all electronic devices and mute your microphones um we will proceed with public hearings starting with uh ordinances item p49 adver that is me good afternoon everyone it it's so skinny hold on one second all right I couldn't find it worries no worries at all she all right so p49 um was advertised in the Tampa Bay Times May 5th 2024 I apologize that's okay good to go cool this is um ordinance of the Pasco County code of ordinances amending chapter 14 section 1427 definitions uh 1436 disposition of animals 42 dangerous dogs the div all of division 2 with the advisory committee section 1476 vaccination of dogs cats and ferrets against rabies uh 14100 micr chips required 14 103 impoundment 106 appeal of revocation for the suspension or Deni or permits uh 108 prohibition of the retail sale of dogs cats and rabbits providing for uh providing for applicability providing for repealer providing for separability providing for inclusion into the code and providing for an effective date uh this was first presented to you all on April 23rd for approval and uh it was a advertised in the Tampa Bay Times on May 5th would you all like a presentation I wouldn't how about to you good good I'm good okay we're good so it's public hearing it's a public hearing is anyone here to speak to this item and there is no one signed up and no one on WebEx no one signed up no one on WebEx and I see no one coming for I close public hearing on it appr second I got a motion and second all those in favor and I believe it's roll call Vote Yes sir District Two commissioner waitman I District three commissioner starky you have a paper clip District three commissioner starky hi District Four commissioner joerger I District Five commissioner Mariano I district one chairman Oakley I motion pass uh 5 Z thank you all okay we move on to p50 okay p50 was advertis in the Tampa Bay Times April 24th 2024 May 1st May 8th and May 15 2024 good afternoon Mr chairman Naros pitos planning and economic growth item p50 is an ordinance establishing the Magnolia Island Community Development District pursu to chapter 190 Florida Statutes providing for authority and power of the district providing for powers and duties of the district providing for the Board of Supervisors of the district providing for the District budget providing for functions of the district and providing for miscellaneous Provisions providing for an effective date and this comes to you with a recommendation to adopt the ordinance by roll call vote we can do a presentation if you all like pleasure the board on presentation chair I have a question question uh I guess go for carala projects like this on my

reclaim is a is a project like this we're going through it are we going to what's the reclaim water plan here it might be this might be for different conversation but I just this is an example of if purple pipe's necessary or not Mr chairman yes sir if I can that would be a great question for the zoning okay this is and I don't know whether this pro project has already come through as an MPD but this is a financing vehicle this is this is the creation or the establishment of the Community Development District so that the infrastructure can be paid for through the assessment of the residents which leads to why I'm asking this question okay and and you can I mean but it's not that this isn't the right I so I don't I don't know what they've petitioned for in this particular one about what infrastructure they're doing but all utility infrastructure structure is normally turned over to the county for it for us to operate and maintain it yeah and I think commissioner if I'm hearing you right you're asking more of the broader general question we approved to create what a CDD here and if within their bylaws they have to have be able to water the landscaping and whatnot right that yeah correct we're not creating our rules don't prohibit you know make it more difficult on the homeowners if we don't catch it early sort of thing yeah I I don't I don't believe so I mean and you know generally speaking with with Rec as it comes to reclaim water uh reclaim water has become more and more popular um in in recent years it used to be uh I remember when I started working here at the county we we couldn't give it away um and uh we really had to be a little more forceful in our policies with regards to new development and uh showing them the light if you will well they have seen the light and I will say that um you know even even right now as you may be aware we are experiencing shortage of reclaimed water just due to the the dryness and and the drought conditions that we're seeing but we we typically see that in May and and we'll we'll bounce back the you know the short answer to your question is is I you know are we are dialing back a little bit and being a little more strategic in where we put reclaimed water because you do not get one for one so for every gallon of waste water that that is produced it does not produce one gallon of reclaimed water so therefore not everyone can have reclaim water on a you know from a water balance perspective so um you know water service we typically enter into utility service agreements with larger developments anyways where we propose to provide them with water sewer and potentially reclaim water service um and and you know if if in this case they're creating a a new development if it doesn't have reclaimed water it certainly will have pable water uh and portable water can be used to to water water the grass it's not ideal uh and certainly we we've seen that in the development and the use of water for for

Tampa Bay water uh reclaim water is is if it's available um and we we come to an agreement the developer certainly is is advantageous so I I I can't speak specifically for this development an MP you know Terry tells me that an mpud may have already been filed in which case um you know those I I'm pretty sure our standard mpud conditions include all three now whether or not we actually provide it is again dependent upon availability so the board recently adopted and approved earlier this year a reclaim water um an update to the reclaim water supply models which will help our utility team uh be able to figure out where where we're going to source as well as distribute reclaim water in the future I would be happy to have the utilities team you know come back and present at some later date what our plan is and our thoughts are on reclaim water and reclaim water use whether that's uh at a workshop whether that's here at a board meeting or just individually to brief you I'm happy to do that because it is you know it is a precious commodity and and water resources are important especially being here in state of Florida Mr chairman yes sir based on the petition that was filed in this project they are constructing water Wastewater and reclaimed wow yeah all right yeah I mean this is utilities for the Bop is where it's coming to good deal okay well this was just an example of what we were talking about earlier with reclaim so all right you okay I'm good okay uh is anyone signed up to speak for this item uh no sir approval any wait anyone in the audience wish to speak to this item seeing no one we'll close public comment yes move approval second got a motion and a second by roll call vote District Two commissioner waitman I District three commissioner starky I District Four commissioner gagger I District 5 commissioner Mariano hi district one chairman Oakley I motion pass 5 Z Now we move on to public uh hearings uh would County attorney wish to U go through the procedures I don't think this requires procedur you're going to climb today you don't have any resoning you need proof of publication though oh then then okay well I was picking up only got this I'm picking up my normal spill there so all right see P51 be P one it was advertised in Tampa Bay Times May 8th 2024 thank you Mr chairman welcome commissioner jger thank you um David Goldstein Chief assistant County attorney this has been a long time coming this resolution um so a lot of work getting to this point a lot of people to thank I would like to thank the Pasco County legislative delegation commissioner Simpson Senate president's office Governor D santis for signing the bill um Ralph and sha uh County administrator Mike carala who was very instrumental towards the end in helping us get this across the finish line but

most importantly all of you um you know there was countless you were all on the front lines with trips to Tallahassee phone calls texts letters press briefings maybe a few prayers um there was a lot of work for you all I mean I get calls probably once a week from other jurisdictions thanking Pasco County for what we did with this legislation so you all were the tip of this spe a lot of local governments are very thankful for what you did and so I wanted to thank you um we couldn't have got I'm 100% positive we could not have gotten this legislation done without your tireless efforts so thank you if I could give you a round of applause I would but um so I have a full presentation where I get into the weeds I don't know if you want me to do that or not it's really up to you all I think it's good to hear it okay so just to going to give you history where have we got here so if you recall and you're going to hear this at our next Workshop this is actually a good lead into the affordable housing Workshop um one of our biggest issues with the live local Act was just it wasn't providing affordable housing that was affordable to our citizens it basically gives a tax exemption to the 80 to one 80 to 120% Ami and we're going to hear later what that means but it's basically rents that are above $2,000 a month these are not rents that our school teachers our employees our firefighters our police officers can even afford so it didn't make sense to us to be giving this very large tax exemption to these apartment complexes that were basically charging market rate rents there's also a big Financial impact to us we calculated just the first two apartment complexes to apply would be 38 million doll impact if they get this exemption for the next 35 years um so as I mentioned we're subsidizing basically market rate rents these the first two that applied they're they're applying for a tax exemption they're not even reducing their rents at all these are the same rents that they were charging before they sought the tax exemption as what they're charging now we raised the number of issues with this um we raised some constitutional issues our position was this is not a charitable purpose to charge market rate rents um the Constitution requires that you have a charitable purpose to give tax exemptions and our position is this is not a charitable purpose so we as you all know we went very public with these concerns some of you were quoted in the paper many pap multiple times including South Dakota's paper yeah I mean this this made Statewide national news um when we did this and so we did and we threaten litigation so finally at the end of the 2024 session somebody actually listened to us um not sure who to thank for that oh probably multiple people um but we finally got some traction at the end of the session um and this we worked with the Senate president's office they did

include this opt out provision which we're going to talk about today in House Bill 7073 and now to be clear it only applies to the 80 to 120% tax exemption that you can opt out of it does not apply to the below 81 exemption but we don't really have a lot of people that are seeking it below 80 because that's actually really affordable housing when you get below 80 um the other key thing is it does not currently address the land use zoning preemption and I know we still have a lot of concerns with that um that's kind of where a lot of our concern started but we're hoping this is a springboard gen next session where we can get some relief on the land use and Zoning issues as well just to go into the details it basically says that you can opt out of that 80 to20 tax exemption if the latest shimberg report shows that you have a surplus of rental housing in the 80 to20 range um you have to do this annually has to be advertised and so every year I'll be coming up here as long as we qualify I'll be coming up here asking you to opt out again um it does not apply importantly to the 2020 it only starts for 2025 and Beyond so the first two that applied for 2024 not much we can do about those um those are still we're still waiting on the property appraiser to make a decision on those two we don't have word yet he did say it would be closer to June 1st before he makes that decision um it does have to be approved by two-third votes so at Le need at least four votes um one key clarification is that it only applies to Pasco County taxes so it does not necessarily this resolution we're adopting today does not necessarily allow the school board opt out mosquito control the cities so what I done is I sent an email to all of them I sent it to the school board I sent it to the cities I sent it to all them saying we're adopting this resolution today I encourage you to do the same thing and I think they will I I already spoke to the mosquito controls Council I know they're going to I know Betsy ke has told me they intend to do it for the school board the school board is the big one because they have the biggest taxes besides us um there are some downsides with the shimberg report and Mike is very familiar with these he's he learned a lot about affordable housing there at the end um so unfortunately it relies on random sampling from the American Community survey which is the update to the census so it has a margin of error associated with it in addition it's always two years behind and so the problem with that is that if we have a recent apartment complex that we've built and we have a lot of recent apartment complexes um it's not counting those in the Surplus inventory and so we did raise that as a concern it's hoping something that we hope to get to next session to kind of refine whether you have a surplus or not because the problem with shimberg is it

may show that we have a deficit but in reality we have a surplus on the ground um it also doesn't deal with fee simple housing that's in the 80 to 120 range it only deals with rental um and it doesn't include County specific data which is an issue because let's just say that Pasco had a surplus but Hillsboro had a deficit or panel's had a deficit our their deficit May outweigh our Surplus and the Tampa Bay MSA may show a deficit even if we have a surplus so there's there's issues we feel like this is something we need to address in future sessions but currently we have the ability to opt out because the Tampa Bay MSA is showing a surplus and I'll just give you you probably can't read this but no no we can see it here okay you can see it so Tampa Bay MSA I think is showing a surplus of let me get the exact number here read read that 3,994 units in the 80 to one they say 0 to 120 but that's really 80 to 120 so we currently have a surplus but this is actually a very interesting chart if you look at the page before it soor are you going to at the page on it before to get to the I don't know what I'm doing here I want to get to the page before so if you look at the page before and you look at that 0 to 120 column you'll see there's a lot of numbers there but the important thing is that if you look at it there's really only two counties in the State of Florida or two msas that have a real deficit in the in the 80 to 120 range it's is it Monroe it's well Monroe and Miami Dade okay which was the where the uh author of this bill lived so Miami dat and Broward okay so Monroe my name Miami de and Broward are the only ones that have like a really big deficit in the 80 to 120 range so my opinion this tax exemption was mostly done for Miami day and Broward counties and the rest of the state basically got caught up in it fascinating and so I think until they come up with and and and I feel bad for certain counties like look at Valia County okay Valia county has a 357 unit deficit well that's basically one apartment complex they can make that up in a year but they're not able to opt out because they have this very small deficit that they're showing in that range so my position would be the legislature should just say this tax exemption only applies in Miami D Monroe and Broward County and just leave the rest of the state out of it that's my my my position but but yes commissioner Wayman chair chairman yeah thank you sir um we met with apartment Lobby local apartment Lobby I forgot the their that the guy's names a couple months ago yeah Pasco County does not have a shortage AG there's a healthy supply of apartments in Pasco County and they made it to us in our office so I just think that's important to have on the record oh I think we absolutely can demonstrate that we I mean even the Tampa Bay MSA is showing the Surplus currently my point is when you take into account some of these other factors like our recent

we needed through this bill we still have the standing direction for you our office to litigate on the L side um so far we haven't had anybody apply in the L side that's going to force that litigation but that's still a standing directive which we recommend remain in place at least until we can get that part of the law changed um again we recommend that you prioritize live local fixes next session we still have work to do as you me mentioned commissioner Mariano so I think we're kind of halfway there and we should you know be happy that we got halfway there um but next session let's try to get this P all right pleasure of the board one question for David yeah so the two that are going times of the Ence yeah no well this this like the one we got the two that have applied to get the exemption it goes before the property appraiser to make the decision correct yes so what you said and what you said and I agree with if it's not a charitable cause I shouldn't be able to apply does that still hold ground so we have given that argument to the property praiser he's fully aware of that argument I can't tell you definitively what he's going to do with that argument but yes I sent him a seven-page brief about all the arguments about why it's not a terrible purpose okay so do you think we should be sending as a board a letter it to him saying here's why we think you should be denying those based upon these instances Jeff do you thoughts on that issue I I mean I've sent him our arguments about why it's not a shable purpose I don't do you think it's helpful at all have the board do that too okay I can guarantee he's fully aware of them because I've had multiple conversations with him and sent him our legal arguments so but okay it's up to the war I guess it's I mean he is a separate elected stitutional officer and he makes his own decisions if the board wishes to weigh in they can but I don't know that that that it's going he's going to make his decision based on facts what he thinks is the state of the law okay this is a um public hearing do anyone in the audience wish to speak to this item I think commission okay Mr way thank you chair yeah I uh so don't mind supporting a letter or what we need to do considering one of these sites is an existing apartment complex at Wes of Chapel Boulevard in 56 that's been around for a number of years and was never intended to be an affordable housing product it was classified to be Class A multif family living with amenities in the heart of the district 2 in Wesley Chapel area right next to the outlet malls and all the action that's going going in so I just felt the need to say that Mr M chairman no my turn my turn all right um if if if these apartment complexes are successful and coming up our tax roles is it only for the one year so it's an interesting question um they have to apply for this every year we'll tell you that there's at least an argument based on the language that's the wording of the existing language

that because you're adopting this resolution be before it's granted if it's if it's granted it does give us an argument that they don't get it this is the last year they would get it the only year it gives us an argument I can't tell you if it's a definitive argument because I it's new territory I've spoken to the property prayers attorney it's something he would evaluate next year is what he told me so he didn't want to speculate on the answer but at least this is why I've been kind of in a rush to get this adopted as soon as possible because it helps us with the argument that this is the last year they would get it okay Mr Mayor honor so I I think I reemphasize I think it's important we do send a letter that we've consulted where our attorneys feel strongly that this does not apply as a charitable agreement and as far as the one of Westy Chapel the one in Trinity uh has got a putting green on it certainly not affordable so I think we need to send a letter stating why we don't think it's appropriate or for it based upon what our attorneys have told them and let them have that in front of them and let them decide because I think if you allow these two to come in what's going to stop the others it's precedent for the following years well hopefully they opt out so I mean I will say the good news is that the only ones that may get grandfather is the two that applied in 2024 the opt out basically stops any future ones as long as we continue to qualify for the opt out so so last question would be if in fact the property praiser grants it can we still go Sue and fight it I think that I would feel better fighting 2025 and the reason I is for the reason I just mentioned is because I think that if we adopt this resolution before the property prer grants it that we have an argument strong argument besides our constitutional arguments we have a strong argument that they're not even entitled to it under the statute so if you're asking my opinion I'd want to litigate 2025 not 2024 okay and one one quick question do you recall the amount that will come off our tax roles if these two are successful well if it's one year um their total taxes I think that they paid last year was about a million 7 so it would be 75% of that I'm not good at math but for each one no that's a total total one was a million and what the other one was about 700,000 so 75% of that number I'm not good at math it's definitely a seven figure number commissioner yeah that's the downside these are not these tax exemptions the reason they're hurt us so much is this is not the same as tax exemption for same elderly person who's making right you know very low weight these are some of our biggest taxpayers in the county right the money's leaving the county it's going right into a corporate pocket out of state these are both out ofate these are both out of

state owners both both of these apartment complexes TR okay okay so I would move to approve well I think you need to take public comment this is a uh Public public Workshop meeting and this item is there anyone in the audience wish to speak to it chairman there is no no one there is no one sign up no sir WebEx no sir move to approve this could be a roll call vote because it requires four votes I just want to make sure it's done by roll call okay I got a motion in a second by roll call District Two commissioner waitman I District three commissioner sty I District Four commissioner y I District 5 commissioner Marano I district one chairman Oakley I motion pass 5 now we're going to go to a shortened o business Mr chairman can I make a motion you of what yeah I would like to make a motion that we draft a letter from our from US based upon our attorney's recommendations as far as why it should not qualify and why the we don't feel the property PR should Grant the exemption a second Mr chairman yes sir only one one clarification is do you want it to come you want to authorize the chair to sign that letter or do you want five signature block chair is fine okay okay all right I got a motion in a second for the letter um all those in favor say I I I motion pass 5 to write the letter so okay now we're going to have a short no business and um uh I'm going to let Miss jerger go she has something she needs to bring up and let her speak and then I'll speak to one item I need support on a letter for Tampe water okay M Jagger well as you know um District floor lost an amazing man Gary Bradford um with his dedication to Public Service I want to carry that torch for him and uh make Gary proud um I know I have big shoes to fill but um I'm ready to work for District 4 so I'm very thankful to be here and thank you for all your kind words and welcomes okay thank you um I need a uh letter of support for Tamp Bay water on um their Federal funding uh request regarding feasibility study um oper operational resiliency study and Lake Bridge Water Treatment Plant uh pump 4 project okay second I got a motion in second all those in favor say I I I motion pass 5 Z okay and those letters are already ready to go so with that approval at this time do we need a break between wait we didn't do commissioner items we're not doing commissioners cuz I have to I have to appoint two people to to the T let's have them okay um so I would uh like to uh put forward two names for fill vacancies on the chch development board I'd like to recommend the appointment of Mr Ward wait I think Mr Ward would do here um two different see we'd like um to appoint Mr Ward and councilwoman mother's head to our uh TDC Board second all right I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I

I motion pass 5 okay anything else that's it well I'll say my for okay you got to hold on to other stuff I know you got a lot of things so all right do we need a small break before we start I think I recommend a five minute recess just five minute recess and uh we'll adjourn the regular board meeting and we'll start back back after 5 minutes for the workshop which will end definitely at 4:00 Sonia just keep all my photos so I'm going to let my team how are we how are we situating the workshop but you need to sign that do we have a copy of anything [Music] oh