12-20-2001 Workshop Meeting CITY OF CLERMONT
MINUTES
COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING
DECEMBER 20, 2001
Page 1
A Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Clermont was held Thursday, December 20, 2001, at
the Police Department Community Room. Mayor Turville called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Council
Members Caputo, Mullins and Renick were present. Also present were City Manager Saunders and Tim
McNicholas and Nathan Butler of C.T. Hsu & Associates.
City Manager Saunders stated that Mr. McNicholas and Mr. Buffer were there to present the site plan and
landscaping plans for the new City Hall project. Diagrams of the site plan and landscape plans were distributed
and explained in detail by Mr. McNicholas and Mr. Butler. Carpet samples were reviewed and Mr.
Mc ~Nicholas and Mr. Butler noted the recommendations made by the City Council.
City Manager Saunders then recognized Mr. Ken Norquist, who stated that he was present at the meeting to
discuss the environmental report that was provided for the property currently under contract to be purchased by
the City. He stated that funds had been placed in escrow from the first closing to cover any problems that may
arise from the results of the report.
City Manager Saunders reported that the City Public Services Department has recently retested the Palatlakaha
Recreation Area playground area for arsenic and had not found any problems with the area.
City Manager Saunders then informed the City Council that he had recently met with Dan Hessburg, who had
purchased the sand mine property west of the current City limits on the north side of S.R. 50. He stated that
Mr. Hessburg had presented a conceptual plan that included the mixed use of single and multi-family
residential and a Town Center commercial area. City Manager Saunders asked what direction the City wanted
to take at this point as Mr. Hessburg had indicated that he would be interested in discussing provision of water
and sewer services and annexation with the City of Clermont. City Manager Saunders went on to explain that
in recent discussions with the City of Groveland it appeared that Groveland was willing to provide service and
annex the project into the City. City Manager Saunders stated he thought this project would be developed, the
question was whether our City wanted it to be a part of Clermont or a part of Groveland. City Manager
Saunders further explained that the preliminary plan presented to him was for between 200 and 300 homes
with several thousand feet of commercial as well.
Council Member Renick stated that the City of Groveland would be experiencing the same constraints and
problems with their Consumptive Use Permit that Clermont is now having and wondered how they would be
able to provide services.
Council Member Mullins stated the question before the Council is should this development be a part of
Clermont or Groveland, since in all likelihood it will be developed.
Mayor Turville stated he was concerned about the water capacities already committed for projects within our
City and service area, and that most of our expansion efforts have been to the east.
CITY OF CLERMONT
MINUTES
COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING
DECEMBER 20, 2001
Page 2
After considerable discussion regarding the impacts of this project, Council Member Mullins asked if City
Staff should be directed to take time to analyze the impacts on our utilities and report back to the Council.
City Manager Saunders stated that City Engineer Richardson had provided the requested allocation to the St.
Johns River Water Management District as a part of our permit process and it would not take a lot of time to
determine where the allocations were generated from to see how this project would affect our overall provision
of water services in the furore.
The City Council then discussed additional water related issues, including lake levels and the permitting
process, as well as the direction that the St. Johns River Water Management District has been taking with the
review of cun'ent Consumptive Use Permit requests.
Council Member Caputo then stated that he had received a call from a resident stating that he was not aware he
could have his water turned off while he was gone for the summer and suggested that additional information be
provided to customers.
City Manager Saunders stated that this could be addressed on the information provided to our new customers.
Council Member Mullins then discussed with the City Council a water bill issue with the English Laundry and
how the new tiered schedule is impacting a business that has apparently tried to do everything possible to limit
the amount of water being used.
It was the consensus to look at this further at a furore meeting.
City Manager Saunders then stated that he had not received clear direction regarding the sand mine property.
Council Member Mullins stated the question is do we want to look into the provision of services and work on
this potential project or ignore it at this time.
After additional discussion there appeared to be a consensus that no action should be taken until after the City's
Consumptive Use Permit has been issued, which would give the City additional information regarding future
allocations.
Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
J~q~h E. Van Zil~lerk