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10/17/1990 - Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force . . . MINUTES CLEARWATER BEACH BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE OCTOBER 17, 1990 Members Present: Chairman Deegan, Ms. Garris, and Messrs. Doran, Henderson, Homer, Keyes, Martin, McDougall, Seaton and Wellborn Members Excused: Ms. Tiernan and Messrs. Fowler, Gans, Little, and Rosenow Also Present: James M. Polatty, Jr., Director of Planning and Development; and Rev. Herbert Freitag The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Deegan in the Boardroom of the Sea Stone Resort. A motion was made by John Doran, and seconded by Walter Wellborn, to approve the minutes from the September 25, 1990 meeting. Motion carried unanimously. The Chairman read a letter (attached) dated October 2 which he had asked John Doran to send to the City Attorney requesting information with regard to 1) tax incentives to encourage property owners to make improvements; 2) elimination of private use of public property, e.g., pay phones and vending machines on sidewalks or right-of-way to the extent the law will allow; and 3) establishment of design requirements for vending machines and pay phones. Mr. Doran reported he had received a reply from the City Attorney (letter attached) stating 1) local governments lack the power to grant tax incentives; 2) news racks may be subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, but may not be prohibited; and 3) the City does not have design requirements for vending machines and pay phones and he does not foresee the establishment of an architectural review board. Mr. Galbraith further stated in his letter that Public Works Director Baker had developed some volunteer guidelines which are used to bring problem sites to the attention of publishers and distributors. Mr. Doran will follow up on obtaining the guidelines from Mr. Baker. Mr. Doran stated in further research he found it is possible to grant an exception to the ad valorem taxes for economic development. He found that a municipality has the power if approved at referendum to designate enterprise zones and within the enterprise zones to allow tax rebates for newly developed land or expansion, but not redevelopment. Mr. Doran stated this is an income tax rebate and one would have to incorporate to take advantage of it, and that he was not sure it would be worth doing. In answers to questions from the task force, Mr. Polatty stated: 1. There are certain state requirements to meet to become an enterprise zone. In order to receive some state incentives from the state income tax and sales tax, you must show the establishment of local incentives. He stated most of downtown Clearwater and the North Greenwood area have enterprise zoning, but it has been found generally throughout Florida that enterprise zoning does not work. 2. Vending machines for cokes, cigarettes etc. can be regulated quite readily by a City ordinance, but newspaper racks get into Constitutional amendments and there is more difficulty in regulating them. Mr. Deegan stated the task force was more concerned with aesthetics than removal of the vending machines and pay phones and suggested enforcement of the voluntary guidelines developed by Public Works Director Baker and the streetscape designs which were recommended by the subcommittee on beautification. . . . The Chairman gave the following subcommittee updates: 1 . He stated Anna Stefan had not yet formed focus groups to research a name for the style of architecture on the beach and encouraged Gordon McDougall and John Doran to follow up on that. 2. He encouraged the task force to continue researching ideas on incentives for the business people to become involved in the beautification plans for the beach. 3. He asked the subcommittee on transportation to concentrate on ways the task force could reach a consensus on whether there should be a toll on the Causeway and how to minimize bridge openings. Issue Three: Environment - Pollution was presented by the subcommittee and is on file in the task force document book. The report was divided into three topics and reported on separately by each member. OPENING DUNEDIN PASS AND PROBLEMS WITH STEVENSON'S CREEK - Major T. Martin Mr. Martin stated he was unable to obtain the date for the hearing on Dunedin Pass. Anne Garris stated she thought the County had planned to propose an entirely new project in September and that she would follow up on it and advise the task force if a new date had been set. She stated the problem is that the DNR will not allow the cut to be made unless there are retaining jetties and while the Department of Environmental Regulation does not oppose the cut, they will not approve the jetties. In discussion Ms. Garris related how aerators were used in Korea to clean up a dirty river in preparation for the summer Olympics. She stated this was also being done at the Moccasin Lake Nature Park, and thought it might be something worth researching. Mr. Homer also suggested the use of artificial reef by individual homeowners in the water around their docks as another way to help clean the polluted water. While purifying the water was thought to be important, Major Martin pointed out the main objective was to prevent flooding. It was agreed by the task force that both issues were equally important and while the storm water runoff should be controlled, it should also be made as clean as possible. The task force agreed the City should be encouraged to start secondary water supplies to houses. Mr. Homer reminded the task force that the Land Act states stormwater runoff must be 90% pure by the year 1992, and that the City is working towards this now. The subcommittee suggested the following recommendations be made to the City Commission: 1 . Continue to pursue the opening of Dunedin Pass; 2. Expedite the rehabilitation of Stevenson's Creek to maximize the cleanliness of stormwater runoff; and 3. Take action to assure sewage treatment of plant effluent and other organic and inorganic matter discharged into the bay meets established standards, includinG askinG the Countv to address convertinG seotic tank areas to City sewaGe with soecial emohasis on storm water runoff areas. The Task Force tentatively approved the above recommendations with the addition of the underlined language to No.3. Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force 2 October 17, 1 990 . . . TRASH REMOVAL AND CLEANING OF CLEARWATER BEACH - Herbert Freitag Rev. Freitag stated the litter problem lies with the people and not with the way the City is trying to handle it. He praised the Parks and Recreation Department for the good job they are doing in removing the trash from the beach. He further stated that sometime ago he and his wife had met with the Clearwater Beach Association and the Chamber of Commerce Long Range Planning Committee to find out what was being doing with regard to trash removal and as a result 20 additional trash cans had been put on the beach. In discussion Anne Garris stated years ago she told Chief Daniels if he would give some hefty littering fines, she would publicize them, but he had felt that would be spot enforcement. She thought if word spread that Clearwater Beach enforced the -no littering- law as they do the nno alcoholn law, they would soon get that reputation and eventually wouldn't have to do much enforcement. Mr. Wellborn stated littering signs should be placed on the causeway stating the maximum fine for littering. Ms. Garris stated another way to curb trash would be to prevent the use of glass or straws on the beach as had been done in North Carolina. She stated it was difficult for the machines to pick up that kind of litter, so the food establishments had been advised not to use glass or furnish straws to anyone on the beach. The subcommittee suggested the following recommendations be made to the City Commission: 1 . Motivate people to throw their trash in trash cans or take it home with them; 2. Increase enforcement of littering laws while also increasing penalties for breaking them; and 3. Increase the number of trash cans on Clearwater Beach for those days when volume is so heavy that they are filled and some trash of necessity thus winds up on the sand. The task force tentatively approved the above recommendations and added the following: 4. Institute a litter campaign educating the public; and 5. Train life guards to encourage or remind people to pick up trash. THE BAY - Jay F. Keyes Mr. Keyes prefaced his report by stating the bay had deteriorated tremendously in the last 20 years. He remembered the days when mullet came to spawn you could practically walk on them and when a bushel of shrimp could be netted in half an hour. With regard to the boat liveaboards, Mr. Keyes stated they are required to have a holding tank on board and keep a log of dates the tanks are pumped, which the Harbor Master checks. The subcommittee suggested the task force make the following recommendations to the City Commission: 1. Toughen waste water rules for development/redevelopment by using: a. porous paving in parking lots to soak up water; b. perforated storm water pipes that leak runoff into the ground; c. filters inside storm-water pipes; and Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force 3 October 17, 1 990 . . . d. underground retention ponds below buildings, especially downtown commercial buildings; 2. Designate parks and other public lands where storm water can be piped during rains, turning the lands into wetlands; 3. Widen problem creeks and create retention areas along the run; and 4. Construct a culvert system under the road along Memorial Causeway. The task force tentatively approved the above recommendations. Mr. Keyes stated all reference and back-up materials for the entire report will be kept in Don Seaton's office at the Sea Stone Resort. The Chairman complimented the subcommittee on their fantastic presentation and commented on the fact that it was one with which the task force was in complete agreement. Ms. Garris informed the group that an Environmental Advisory Committee for the City of Clearwater would be appointed by the City Commission on October 18. The Chairman reminded the task force the next meeting would be on November 7, 1990, at the Sea Stone Resort with the subcommittee on market niche/competition/attractions giving their report. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Arthur X. Deegan II, Ch Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force 4 October 17, 1 990 . . . john doran .l.i ,... October 2, 1990 ATIORNEY AT U\W 662 Mandalay Avenue Clearwater, Florida 34630 (813) 447-9579 AI Galbraith, Esq. Clearwater City Attorney P.O. Box 4748 Clearwater, FL 34618-4748 RECEIVED u t; r 2 3 1990 PLANNING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT DEPT. He: Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force Dear Mr. Galbraith: OUr s ubcanmit tee on rrheme, Beautification and Landscaping suggested that the Task Force recarmend, anong other items: 1. a general develcpnent plan for Clearwater Beach including incentives to encourage property owners to make Lmprovements 2. elimination of private use of public property, e.g. pay phones, vending machines on sidewalks or right of way, to extent law allows, and establishing design requirements for all exter ior pay phones and vending machines It was suggested that the city could not grant tax incentives to property owners in consideration of improvements made pursuant to a development plan. We ask for your counsel on the general question of whether the city may grant tax incentives to private property owners, and, if so, under what circumstances. It was also suggested that the city could not prohibit newspaper vending machines from public property. We ask for your counsel on the question of whether the city may prohibit vending machines in general, and newspaper vending machines in particular, from public property. we also seek your counsel on the question of whether the city may establish design requirements for exter ior vending machines and pay phones, and under what circumstances. we do not require the text of case, ordinance, or statute to which you may refer, but citations would be appreciated for those to which you do refer. ,- cc: A. Deegan 'jI~ r:.~~;~~~c,tl ,~'~.~:<i/t ___,'" C I T Y OF CLEARWATER POST OFFICE BOX 4748 . j. I I' l" C LEA R W ATE R, F LOR IDA 3 4 6 1 8 - 4 7 4 8 OHice 01 City Attorney (813) 462-6760 October 16, 1990 John Doran, Esquire 662 Mandalay Avenue Clearwater, Florida 34630 Re: Clearwater Beach Blue Ribbon Task Force Dear Mr. Doran: In response to your October 2 letter, let me respond to your various questions as follows: . 1. Tax incentives. Under the Florida Constitution, all ad valorem taxation is to be at a uniform rate. Also, local government generally has only those taxing powers which have been expressly provided by the Florida Constitution and by statute. For these reasons, local governments lack the power to grant tax incentives. The most recent Attorney General's opinion on this subject was addressed to Dunedin City Attorney John Hubbard on March 20, 1990. I do not have a complete copy of the opinion, but the question was whether the City of Dunedin could grant tax rebates to newly annexed property, and the conclusion was that they could not. Attorney General Opinion 90-23. 2. Newspaper vending machines--t>rohibi tion. .There have been a number of cases across t!1eCOU:ltry during 'the past ten years in which local newsrack regulations were challenged on a variety of Constitutional grounds, primarily the First Amendment. It is difficult to summarize the current state of the law in a few words, but my observation is that the objections to newsracks have been - based primarily upon aesthetics, and the regulations which survived judicial review fall short of addressing the aesthetics problem effectively. The courts are generally finding that news racks may be subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, but may not be prohibited. . The time, place and manner restrictions approved by the courts have not appeared to be much better than the voluntary guidelines which Public Works Director Bill Baker developed several years ago, which the City has been using successfully to address traffic flow and public safety considerations. These guidelines have not been "Equal Employment and Affirmative Action Employer" . . . . \. formally adopted, but we have used them to bring problem sites to the attention of publishers and distributors. 3. Newspaper vendinq machines and pay telephones--desiqn requirements. I have seen no cases involving design regulations for pay telephones on public property, but at least one city has attempted to regulate the design of newsracks. In citv of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co., 486 U.S. 750, 108 S.ct. 2138 (1988), the city ordinance provided, among other things, for approval of newsrack design by the city's architectural review board. The sixth Circuit found, among other things, that the design approval requirement was invalid due to the lack of express standards governing newsrack design. The Supreme Court did not reach that issue, finding instead that the ordinance was invalid due to the unfettered discretion given to the mayor to approve a newsrack permit application. - --- - ~- -- --- Clearwater has no architectural review board, and my observation is that we are not likely to create one in the foreseeable future. The question has been raised from time to time, but has not been given lengthy consideration. The last city I worked for, Boca Raton, has had such a board for many years. That board operates under a thick set of guidelines. (The last I heard, someone was complaining that all of the new buildings in town were pink.) Even so, Boca Raton did not regulate the appearance of newsracks on public property as late as 1985, when I left. There were some newsracks that complied with someone's idea of a uniform newsrack design, but I believe they were located on private property. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you. sincerel ~ M. A. Galbrait , city Attorney MAG: a 2