Chairwoman Hudson called the meeting to order at 4:30p.m.
 

Motion was made by Commissioner Thomas Perona, seconded by Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr. Minutes from the December 14, 2021, and February 8, 2022, regular meetings

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Passed

There were no comments from the public.
 

Motion was made by Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Arnold Gaines to approve consent agenda

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Passed

Sabrina Taylor, Chairwomen of the CRA and Hoyt Murphy came before the board to discuss recommendations on the beautification of Orange Ave. Mr. Murphy explained that Orange Avenue is a critical gateway corridor. While several property owners in the past several years have renovated their properties, there are a lot of other properties that are in deplorable condition for multiple years.   Due to the substandard conditions of the properties, it gives a negative impact on businesses in the City of Fort Pierce and property values.

A local group of property owners and citizens of the City of Fort Pierce are going to create an Orange Avenue Corridor Association which will be meeting later this week.  The organization's goal is to encourage and help the city clean up and improve the corridor, over the next 12 to 18 months they will come up with an action plan.

Ms. Taylor commented that Orange Avenue is the only direct corridor to downtown and would appreciate support and advice on taking on the venture of beautifying this part of the FPRA.  Doing this will hopefully increase the tax base and more business owners will be willing to invest in Fort Pierce as well.

Commissioner Perona stated that this corridor was identified in their strategic plan as one of the key gateways into the city and is top priority for the city.

Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. expressed that Orange Avenue along with many other corridors were identified in the strategic plan. This will be an opportunity to welcome engagement from the Latino and Creole communities in that area. He is open to having more open doors, town hall meetings and making sure that there is engagement in all sectors of the community. There are some challenges due to the language and cultural barriers, and we want to make sure we are using the right terms and language to have them collaborate with us.

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson questioned what two main points they would like to tackle? Mr. Murphy stated that this is a private property issue and not something the city needs to solve. The CRA would appreciate a letter from the Mayor inviting the property owners to be a part of this new initiative. Ms. Taylor also commented that we want to approach this with both code enforcement and beautification elements. They want them to collaborate with the city and not see it as a parental position.
 

Shyanne Harnage, Economic Development Manager, introduced George Kramer, and Carrie Read representatives from S&ME. Mr. Kramer, began with information about S&ME and previous work they had done with the city. Ms. Read gave an overview of the process of creating the master plan for Downtown Fort Pierce. They will be providing public input opportunities through online surveys, community briefings, listing sessions, coordination meetings, interviews, and open houses. She also advised that the timeline would be approximately 6 months, with a kickoff in April and finish before the end of the year.
Chairwoman Hudson stated that the City of Fort Pierce already has a downtown, charette and multiple studies so what is S&ME going to bring to the table?
Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson questioned Items 2 & 3 which talks about not exceeding hour by hour expenditures and are contracts typically lump sum or an hourly not to exceed.
Commissioner Arnold Gaines questioned if the proposal is to gather all previous plans reviewed and implement it in our downtown.  How will they make sure that the community engagement will be available to everyone in the community?
 
Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. questioned if they are equipped to engage with both Spanish and Creole speakers and if that is included in the proposed fee? He asked S&ME if they have experience completing a master plan with an already partially formed downtown.
 
Mr. Kramer stated while the City of Fort Pierce has a great outline for Downtown, it lacks a strategy and action plan. The investment is in the collection of the data and developing an implementation strategy. He stated an hourly not to exceed is atypical for this type of project and are typically lump sum. They do perform lots of public engagement and there would be no cost saving in doing a not exceed hourly. They will be reviewing all previous studies, and they will be inclusive of previous ideas. Ms. Read stated that they will basically outline 3 or four projects that will take priority.
 
Mr. Kramer advised that their online engagement platform is only a compliment to their in-person engagement. They will be working with staff to identify individual groups that need to be targeted. Workshops will be held in different locations, and they will be going to specific communities to reach out to those who may not come to City Hall.  S&ME has experience in revitalizing the City of Sanford on the St. Johns River, the City of Kissimmee the county seat of Osceola and most recently they are working with Green Coast Spring.
 

Motion was made by Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr. to approve of the proposal submitted by S&ME Consultants to complete the Downtown Master Plan in the amount of $158,500

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Passed

Miriam Garcia, Redevelopment Specialist, presented recommendation of the Commercial Façade Grant award. A total of 30 applications were received and staff evaluated the application with visual impact, activation of a vacant building, business type and goals of the FPRA as evaluation criteria. 
A hundred thousand dollars was set aside for this project and of the 30 applicants, the top ranked properties were 809 Delaware Ave, 825 N Indian River Dr, 1105 Seaway Dr and 906 Delaware Avenue. If the board agrees to go with staff recommendation, they will come back to board in April to execute agreement. Applicants will have to obtain permits within six months, with completion of project within 12 months of the building permit issuance. At that time the check will be dispersed upon receipt of the written notification permits and then copies of their paid invoice.

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson asked if the score criteria are what caused staff to choose only 4 projects rather than more? Also, if there is any money left over that is not used by the approved business, what can those funds be used for. He also questions the timeline for the projects.
 
Commissioner Curtis Johnson, questioned if projects that scored lower on visual impact have to do with not presenting graphs and sketched of their projects?  

Commissioner Gaines questioned if in the future can they get more information out to the community on how to get these grants, especially to those who may not understand the criteria.

Mrs. Garcia stated that due to the highest scoring projects each requesting $25,000 of the available funds only those 4 would receive them, and at this time there is no plan for additional funds. Should there be any leftover funds they are willing to take any board recommendations on use of funds. She did confirm that each applicant has a total 18 months to complete the projects. She explained that since drawn plans are very costly, they did advise that applicants could a give a brief description.
 

Motion was made by Commissioner Thomas Perona, seconded by Commissioner Arnold Gaines to approve CRA Advisory Committee Commercial Facade Grant Award Recommendations

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Other:

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson (ABSTAIN)

Passed

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson filed Form 8B disclosing his conflict as required.

Linda Cox, City Clerk, introduced the Resolution, read by the title only, into the record.

A RESOLUTION OF THE FORT PIERCE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, A DEPENDENT SPECIAL DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF FORT PIERCE, TO CONVEY ELEVEN (11) PARCELS LOCATED NEAR 322 NORTH 2ND STREET, THE KING’S LANDING SITE, TO AUDUBON DEVELOPMENT, INC.; AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR, AGENCY SECRETARY, AND AGENCY ATTORNEY TO SIGN ANY DOCUMENTS NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE THE TRANSFER; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.



 

Motion was made by Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr., seconded by Commissioner Arnold Gaines to approve FPRA Resolution No. 22-02

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Passed

Nick Mimms, City Manager, explained that due to the Governor’s directives with the state of emergency an amendment was made to the lease agreement with The Lindsey School of Arts inc.  A provision for progress was moved from 12 months to 28 months.  As of February 2022, it is at the 28th month threshold, based on staff evaluation the tenant has not made substantive progress on building and recommends termination of agreement. Mr. Mimms has been in contact with Lindsey School of Arts and has advised them of the staff recommendation to terminate lease agreement and that they could reach out to the commission regarding staff recommendation. 
 

Motion was made by Commissioner Arnold Gaines, seconded by Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr. to approve termination of Agreement to Lease and Improve the Old St. Anastasia Catholic School with The Lindsay School of the Arts, Inc.

AYE:

Chairperson Linda Hudson, Commissioner Arnold Gaines, Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, Commissioner Thomas Perona, Commissioner Curtis Johnson, Jr.

Passed

Nick Mimms, City Manager, asked if they are able to update the RFP document for the improvement of the Old St. Anastasia Catholic School. There will be more of a guideline instead of an more open-ended RFP.

Shyanne Harnage, Economic Development Manager, gave a brief presentation of the Infill Lien Reduction Program to promote reinvestment and revitalization of vacant infill properties. She went over the eligibility requirements, application, and agreement process. The timeline for adoption of resolution adopting program policies and procedure is March 2022 and first round of development agreements in April or May 2022.  
Commissioner Perona questions if the lien reduction will be coming back to the commission consent agenda.  

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson wanted to confirm that it will be coming back to the City Commission not the FPRA Board and if the reimbursement will be from city budget or FPRA budget. He also questions the definition of hard cost and soft cost. Mr. Johnson also stated that there may be an option to expand this program through the FPRA to get development, new production, and homes on the market, in order to revive the neighborhoods.

Ms. Harnage explained that each development agreement will come back to the City Commission and they will need to approve each individual one. She also advised that it is a citywide initiative, so it will be coming to the city commission. She stated that the funds are the developers money that they are holding on to it like an escrow account. Once they complete all the necessary work they will be entitled to their reimbursement. The building department is not involved, but them getting their building permit is only a benchmark for their time frame. Hard cost is the money that is extended to rectify nuisance such as boarding up windows and lot clearing.

Mr. Mimms, City Manager, commented that the board will be advised on research to close the gap between homeownership in our community; 29% of the Lincoln Park area is vacant and is causing a deficiency of the tax base. The FPRA goals is to get compliance and start building neighborhood, this is one of the measures being used to stimulate growth and create neighborhood sustainability. Florida Finance Group will be coming before the board in April to present additional information.
According to Ms. Harange, she obtained a report of vacant residential and commercial properties and there are 1468 in the FPRA.
Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. also advised that the information needs to be further analyzed to separate the home based on ownership. Each type of ownership may have different circumstance whether property is owned by an individual, financial, or religious institution
Mr. Mimms stated that they are working on bringing this information to them March 21^st with a resolution to affirm policy and start moving with the applicants and with the participants of the program.
 

Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson advised that the First Methodist Church will be starting a Community Garden on Avenue A and will be having a groundbreaking soon.
Chairwomen Hudson reminded everyone of the Great American Clean up March 12, 2022.
 

Chairwomen Hudson adjourned the meeting at 6:44 PM