Ordinance No. 14-019 - Amending Chapter 9, Article IV - Peddlers, Solicitors and Canvassers.  SECOND READING
 
City Clerk Linda Cox introduced the ordinance, read by title only, into the record.
 
Ms. Peggy Arraiz, Code Enforcement Director, appeared with a brief commentary of the changes requested by Commission.  The City is ready to begin accepting applications upon approval and as we go through the next three months staff will be actively assessing the process.  She stated she will be prepared to come back with some amendments in January.
 
Mayor Hudson opened the Public Hearing.
 
Mr. Paul Schall finds it upsetting the ice cream trucks cannot play their music when near a school, church or hospital.  He does see a problem with vendors, it's people trying to make a business.
 
Mr. Roy Darby does not see where there should be rules about vendors in any park.  He stated he is here to ask the Commission to stop these proceedings for discriminatory reasons.
 
Ms. Brenda Delong-Benary feels there could be 20 different types of vendors and the issuance of 20 licenses limits the vendors.  She would like to see the permits first go to the people of the City, that our money needs to stay in Fort Pierce.  Ms. Delong-Benary asked for clarification of what is considered an abandoned site.
 
Mr. Frederick Jackson is concerned with the City getting into the business of what he feels we have the judicial system to do already.  His reason for this concern is because he feels it is very important to know that when you do a crime there is a system already in place that says we determined this amount of punishment.  As that person serves and completes their punishment they need to have access to the necessities of life. He requests the Commission consider previous laws that may have been instituted, and question is it a civil rights violation, is there already a state law.  We are here to make a difference.
 
Mr. John Divas stated the regulations will be cutting people out of growing their business. He feels the regulations have gone too far.
 
Mr. James Brown commented there should not be 20 permits that it should be open to any legitimate person wanting to work in a business. He agrees there needs to be regulations but feels the Commission should revisit the limit of 20 licenses.  He also stated there are some who have made a mistake and want to correct their lives and need to be given an opportunity, a chance. 
 
Ms. Lisa Fasnacht commented she would like to see the ice cream trucks stay in the parks, vendors be awarded spots in the areas where they reside and to see felons given a chance the same as everyone else.  If they can acquire the insurance and state license it would seem they have paid their debt to society.  She stated she has confidence the Commission will have a solution to lead Fort Pierce into a thriving, surviving status.
 
Mr. Rick Reed does not like the division of the community and questions restrictions placed on vendor applicants. He commented on a public records request he received from the FPUA, he stated within the last twelve months 322 commercial accounts had terminated their utility services and in the last 6 months there has been 81.  He asked if they can pay their insurance and they can get their state license, why limit the amount of permits to 20.
 
Seeing no one else, Mayor Hudson closed the public hearing.
 
Ms. Arraiz stated the 20 vendor permits was a recommendation to keep it within a manageable level and is set by Resolution and can be amended by the City Commission. The limit requirement applies to the food and merchant vendors only.  She responded the lottery portion had been removed during previous readings of this item.  She stated there was a lot of discussion about the felony requirement and reiterated that the Ordinance states ‘may’, the Clerk does have the right to use common sense with the applications.  If the City Clerk does deny the application, the applicant does have the right to appeal to the City Manager. 
 
Ms. Arraiz responded to Commissioner Sessions, if the distance from a park was reduced from 300 feet to 150 feet it might open up a few spots on the beach side.  However, linear park is a park that runs right along Seaway Drive.  As for the number of churches within the City, she stated this is on commercial properties only.  This will not have that much of an impact because most of the City’s churches are in the residential neighborhoods.  The 300 foot setback for schools and churches is a very common ordinance element to establish protection buffers around these particular types of institutions.  It is a safety buffer.  As to the noise of ice cream vendors, they are the one vendor that is permitted to make noise except when they are stopped.
 
Mayor Hudson explained the Commission is addressing this issue because there was no ordinance in place that stated a person could be a vendor, anyone that was vending within the City limits was breaking the law.  The City did not want that to happen, which is why the City is going through this process; to make it legal.
 
Commissioner Becht stated the Commission is attempting to strike a balance and suggested to make a commitment to approve with the opportunity to revisit in January or February 2015.  Revise it so moving forward the City will be balancing the interests of those opposed to vendors and the entrepreneur creating a business.