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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.17.2024 - City Council MinutesCity of Clermont MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP December 17, 2024 CALL TO ORDER The City Council met in a workshop session on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 in the Clermont City Council Chambers. Mayor Murry called the workshop to order at 3:15 pm with the following Council Members present: Council Members Howard, Strange, Myers and Petersen. Other City officials present were Interim City Manager Van Wagner, Interim City Attorney Waugh, and City Clerk Howe. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Guiding Principles and Comprehensive Plan Council Member Strange stated she requested this discussion to receive an overview of the Comprehensive Plan, the current policies in place and where we are in the process with the consultant. Development Services Director Henschel stated that the Comprehensive Plan is a long-term planning tool that defines the visions of the community. The process sets the goals, objectives and strategies for the next twenty years. The East Central Regional Planning Council is working with the City on the Comprehensive Plan. The process started in late 2023 and are close to halfway through the process. There have been two workshops and a survey presented to the community to get a consensus on what they would like to see moving forward. The raw results from the survey came in and started to work on the goals and policies prior to being placed on hold. Development Services Director Henschel provided Council with the Comprehensive Plan visioning survey and reviewed the results. The Council discussed traffic and Interim City Manager Van Wagner stated that he is working with the County on synchronizing the traffic lights that were broken, construction on Hartwood Marsh and contacting CFX to perform a traffic study on State Road 50 with the possibility to add an expressway on State Road 50 from 455 to the Turnpike. Discussion ensued regarding what is driving the traffic in the area. Driving out of the area to work as well as parents driving their children to school were discussed along with possible ways to decrease traffic throughout the City. Options on different ways to relieve traffic around schools within the area were discussed. Topics included smaller neighborhood schools that were walkable, having pathways for children to use to bike or walk and utilizing school buses. Council spoke about the kind of community they want Clermont to be, a community with expanded highways or a community with a small town feel. Council Member Strange stated that the City needs to hire the right people who have experience with traffic, parking and design to help move the City in the direction the community would like. 1 City of Clermont MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP December 17, 2024 Discussion ensued on upcoming communities within the County, surrounding Cities and Wellness Way that will impact Clermont's traffic. The growth in Wellness Way was talked about and Council Member Howard suggested asking legislators to make Wellness Way its own town. De -annexing Wellness Way will remove the city from any issues and give the residents that live there the power of their community. Council Member Strange asked for insight on setting requirements for developments as well as outside agencies within the Comprehensive Plan. Interim City Attorney Waugh stated that the Comprehensive Plan sets the stage and then zoning, site plan and then permits. It can have policies, objectives and goals regarding things such as education. Council Member Howard spoke about the Joint Planning Area agreement with Lake County. The city needs to have a data driven conversation with the County regarding annexations and which parcels are smart for the City to annex. Council Member Howard stated that he spoke with State Representative Taylor Yarkosky about Wellness Way getting their own entity. There is time at the upcoming delegation meeting to speak about de -annexing and he would like to get a consensus from Council if that is something Council would like to move forward with. Council Member Myers spoke in support of de -annexing. Mayor Murry feels that there needs to be a conversation with the residents in that area. Interim City Attorney Waugh cautioned Council that this issue was not noticed on the agenda and to bring the discussion back to the Comprehensive Plan. Council discussed golf cart lanes and the desire to have a walkable city and if that is something the community wants. Mayor Murry opened public comments. Valerie Schuett, 931 W. Montrose Street — would like to see the City invest in itself and reverse course to create the city we want to live in. Samii Yakovetik, Hartwood Reserve — expressed concern regarding what was promised with Wellness Way. Jenny May, 4062 Greystone Drive - start talking about the future; not the past. Require developers to save trees or pay into a tree fund. Jimmy Crawford, 702 W. Montrose Street — we have limited ability to implement certain concepts but we can still move forward toward it. 2 City of Clermont MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP December 17, 2024 Bret Jones, 700 Almond Street — spoke about school concurrency, and the elements of the comprehensive plan. Local government can set guidelines. Make sure you are not restricting rights that take away the ability to utilize the property. Interim City Attorney Waugh stated that property rights have to be considered in a Comprehensive Plan. Vincent Niemiec, Regency Hills — expressed concern regarding traffic and the need for sidewalks. Mayor Murry closed public comments. Council discussed their views on the future of the City, such as the look and defining areas for certain uses. Looking at attracting sustainable businesses for the community. Council was presented with the idea of doing a request for qualifications to find another firm to assist with the Comprehensive Plan. Council consensus to move forward with Request for Qualifications and keep the East Central Regional Planning Council on hold. Development Services Director informed Council that the East Central Regional Planning Council have completed two out of three and a half tasks for the Comprehensive Plan and have spent 5150,000 on the project so far. Discussion ensued on the Request for Qualification process and the timeframe it takes. Consensus from Council was to move forward with the process in place. Interim City Manager Van Wagner asked Council if they are in agreement on sending a letter to CFX. The consensus was to send the letter. Interim City Manager Van Wagner also inquired about the direction Council would like to go on current construction projects. Councils consensus was to pause all capital projects. ADJOURN: With no further comments, this workshop adjourned at 5:59 pm. ATTES Tracy Ackroyd Howe, MMC City Clerk APPROVED: Tim Murry, Mayor 3