12-09-1975 Regular Meeting
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MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
NQ 1213
A Regular Meeting of the City of the City Cooncil of the City of Clermont was held
in the Council Chambers on Tuesday, December 9, 1975. The meeting was called
to order at 7:30 P. M. by Mayor Claude E. Smoak, Jr., with the following members
present: Councilman Oswalt, Byrd, Schroedel, and Blackburn. Other officials
present were: City Manager Hopkins, City Attorney Baird, City Clerk Carroll, Finance
Director DeDier, Director of Community Services Smythe, and Chief of Police
Tyndal. Others present were: Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Perry, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfired Kropp,
and the Messrs. Czech, Holtzclaw, Williams, Kyle, and Groo.
The invocation was given by Councilman Byrd, followed by repeating of the Pledge
of Allegiance in unison by those present.
Mayor Smoak cordially extended a "Welcome Back" to Councilmen Blackburn-'.and
Schroedel, following their successful re-election to Council on December 2nd for
two years terms.
The Minutes of the Special Meeting held December 1,1975 and December 3,1975 were
approved as written.
Mayor Smoak announced the first order of business to be a Pu~lic Hearing to
consider the request of Mr. and Mrs. Wilfired Kropp for a Variance to Section
26-20 (E) (3) (REAR YARD SETBACKS) of the Zoning Ordinance in order to construct
a residence on their property described as Lot 1 in Block A of Winona Shores
Subdivision. Mr. and Mrs. Kropp appeared before Council in support of their request.
They advised that due to the size and shape of their property it would be best
suited to face the proposed residence on Johnson Drive, but in so doing, they
could not meet the required 251 setback in the rear. They further advised the
proposed residence could not be moved farther to the north where the lot is wider
inasmuch as it was now at the 251 setback from the high water mark of the Lake
Winona Canal. The amount of variance they were requesting was a 2.131 penetration
into the rear yard setback. Mayor Smoak advised that had'looked at the property,
and inasmuch as there were not other houses located on Johnson Drive in this
particular area, wondered if they would be equally as pleased to have a variance
to the required front yard serback and thereby have a larger rear yard with the
required rear yard setback being observed and the adjacent property owner would
have the normal setback between houses. Mr. and Mrs. Kropp advised they would
prefer having the variance to the front as they felt that would lQok even better,
if such were agreeable with Council. Following inquiry by Mayor Smoak, there-was
no one present who voiced objection to the request. An abutting propery owner,
Mr. Sam Holtzclaw, advised that he would have no objection to the request at all,
whereupon motion was made by Councilman Schroedel and seconded by Councilman
uswalt that a 2.131 varlance to tne requlred 351 setbac~ in frunL, b~ ~ranted.
Councilman Byrd advlsed tnat ne woula not desire to restrict and an;hiL~d Lo just
2.13 feet if he felt the house would look better farther back on the lot and
still meet the required rear yard setback, whereupon he offered and moved an amending
motion that a variance be granted allowing'a"JOisetback in the frunt. Th~ lIiutioirwas
seconded by Councilman Blackburn and carried, with Councilman Schroedel votlng
Naye. Councilman Schroedel advised he could not support the motion as he felt
the required 351 setback in that R1A zone should be upheld, but inasmach as this
property is of irregular shape and size he would be willing to grant a variance
of 2.13 feet as originally requested by the Kropps.
The REv. Ralph T. Kyle, a new resident of Clermont, appeared before Council and
advised as follows: That having been a former active participant in many inter-
denominational religious crusades, and greatly appreciative of the tremendous
impact resulting when many different churches join together, it had been his desire
since moving to Clermont that such a crusade could be held here; That he had been
meeting and working with representative of ten local churches toward this goal;
That in order to do something a little different in hopes of reaching the "unchurched",
. they had developed the idea of having an old fashioned tent revival on the vacant
lot adjacent to the Exchange Bank, which location affords ample parking; That they
felt such a program would be a great bi-centennial effort, and hopefully, greatly
affect the crime situation; That inasmuch as the location is adjacent to the South
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NQ 1214
Lake Shopping Center, they had contacted all the merchants in the Plaza as well
as officials of the Exchange Bank to get their endorsement, which they had been
successful in doing; That they had appeared before the Kiwanis Club to seek
their endorsement and it had been given; That a letter to officials of the
Gulfstream Land Development Company, owners of the vacant lot, had been drafted,
seeking permission to use the property and in order to impress upon them that
this was fully a community wide bi-centennial effort, they were respectfully
requesting that Council unit with them in th~ir effort by endorsing their proposed
crusade and sign the letter of request along with the signatures of those above
mentioned who had given their endorsement previously. The Council members,
individually, readily extended their cooperation, however inasmuch as possible legal
requirements for placing a tent and sponsoring that type of program in that
particular zone had not been investigated~ Mr. Kyle was requested to withhold
seeking permission for use of the property until the City Attorney and City Manager
Hopkins had opportunity to determine what requirements, if any, must be met,
and he agreed to do so.
Mr. Floyd Groo of Michaels-Stiggins, Inc., Engineers engaged by the city for
construction of the existing sanitary sewer system, appeared before Council
and requested final payment owed his firm for engineering services, following the
city's notification that EPA had approved the final grant payment. It was the
opinion of Mayor Smoak, and Council was in agreement, that inasmuch as the percolation
polishing ponds had never functioned as designed by Michaels-Stiggins, Inc.
resulting in various regulatory agencies requiring the city to go to spray irrigation
for its effluent disposal which shall mean the expending of considerable
addi ti ona 1 sums of money, that a meeti ng of Counci 1 and Mr. Groo be set to thoroug,hly
discuss the matter further before any action to be taken by Council. Mayor Smoak
further advised that the final grant payment from EPA had been approved for an
amount $5,907.68 less than the anticipated final payment due to the problem
of the ponds, and that recorded documents from the plant had shown the ponds
ineffectiveness, City Attorney Baird advised that there had been correspondence
found in the sewer construction files wherein the Attorney for Ardamann & Associates
Inc., the soil and lab experts engaged by Michaels-Stiggins, Inc. to make a
subsurface soil investigation and analysis of the proposed ponds and who had
asserted the ponds would percolate 600,000 gallons of effluent daily~ had requested
a meeting between Ardamann & Associates, Michaels-Stiggins, Inc. and the City
Council at the time it was first discovered the ponds were not functioning properly
It was consensus that such meeting be held as soon as possible, and the matter
was referred to City Manager Hopkins to make the necessary arrangements.
City Manager Hopkins submitted his report both orally and written, and a copy is
attached bereto. Mr. Hopkins reported orally that he had received a request from
the Tangerine Sports Assoication to again utilize the facilities at Jaycee Beach
on December 13th and 14th in conjunction with their Tangerine Sport Holiday Sailboat
Regatta. Motion was made by Councilman Blackburn, seconded by Councilman Oswalt
and carried ~hat the request be granted.
With regards the grant from the Kiwanis Club for improving the water quality of
the local lakes and to be administered by the Lake Improvement Committee and the
City Council, the matter was referred to City Attorney Baird for his recommendation
as to the best and legal method of administering the grant.
Finance Director DeDier submitted his report both orally and written, and a copy
is attached hereto.
Mayor Smoak reported that he had spoken with officials of the Lake County School
Board with regards use of school recreational facilities (gym-football field-
tennis courts, etc.) for organized youth and young adults of the City of Clermont,
and that it had been favorably received. He reported that they had requested that
Council correspond with them in writing, requesting that these facilities be
made available to the residents of Clermont, and that Council condones such use,
thought the City of Clermont would hold no responsibility nor liability in the
use of the facilities. Mayor Smoak suggested, if it be the desire of Council,
that he be given permission to speak on behalf of the Counil and correspond in
writing to Superintendent McCabe stating that it is the Council's poistion to
be in favor of this type of activity and mutual exchange between the two governmental
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NQ 1215
bodies. Council was in full agreement, whereupon motion was made by Councilman
Blackburn, seconded by Councilman Byrd and unanimously carried that the suggestion
tf Mayor Smoak be carried out.
Mayor Smoak reported that he and City Manager Hopkins had firmed up an order for
5000 bareroot seedling trees of sand pine, slash pine~ live oak, cypress, and red
cedar variety for delivery on January 13th and distribution on January 17th.
Councilman e1ackburn advised that the Jaycee Organization had agreed to cooperate
with the city in the distribution and planting of the trees. Mayor Smoak
expressed appreciation to and commendation of the local Jaycee Organization in
their many cooperative and worthwhile projects for the betterment of this community.
Councilman Schroede1 reported briefly on his recent attendance of the Cooper
Memorial Library Board meeting, wherein it was reported that the local Womans Club
is sponsoring a meeting of smaller children one Saturday each month, and that on their
initial meeting held in Novemb er they had an attendance of 75 who had checked
134 books from the library. He further reported that the new shelving
was being installed in the chi1drens section of the library, and that a charge of
$2.00 would be made for future bookbinding and mending of privately owned books.
Mayor Smoak advised of a communication which he had received from Matthew Rice of
the Grove1and Kiwanis Club wherein they solicited a financial contribution from the
City of Clermont toward purchase of fireworks for use in their annual 4th of July
celebration. Motion was made by Councilman Byrd, seconded by Councilman Schroede1
and unanimous 1y carri ed that Thanks be ext ended to them for the i nvitati on, but'
due to an extremely tight 75-76 fiscal year budget, the City of Clermont would
not be able to participate.
With regards the request of TelePrompter of Florida, Inc. for approval of the transfer
of the city.s franchise to TelePrompter Southeast, Inc. in order to facilitate
bookkeeping and other administrative and management aspects of furnishing cable
television, motion was made by Councilman Byrd, seconded by Councilman Blackburn
and unanimous1 carried that the re uest be ranted and the Cit Attorne be
requested to prepare the necessary documents, wit such documents to inc ude
all the necessary provisions that would protect the City of Clermont as in the
original and supplemental agreements with Teleprompter of~Plorida, Inc.
Motion was made by Councilman Schroede1, seconded by Councilman Blackburn and
unanimously carried that the bills be paid.
With regards a sample agenda and questionnaire for the proposed Town Hall meeting
which h~d been prepared for study and consideration by Council, it was consensus
that each member review the material and formulate ahy ideas which they might
have gards changes and/or additions for further consideration at a workshop meeting
to which city employed department heads be invited to participate also. Councilman
Blackburn advised that in his recent campaign for reelection to the Council,
interest in having such a Town Hall Meeting as proposed had been expressed by many
of the citizens.
With regards the request by officials of the recently constructed Seventh Day Adventist
Church that the city allow the retaining wall to remain in place which had been
constructed in conflict with the CUP approved plans, and with the assurance that
it would be removed at such future time it became a matter of concern to the existing
abutting property owners or future owners, motion was made by Councilman Blackburn,
seconded by Councilman Oswalt and carried that the request be granted as requested
with the provision that it be painted and maintained in like manner as the church
building.
Mayor Smoak called a workshop session of Council to be held in the office of the
City Manager on Thursday night, December 11th at 7:30 P. M. to discuss further the
proposed tree planting program, the proposed town hall meeting~ and problems
regarding effluent disposaT.
The meeting was adjourned by Mayor Smoak at 8:53 P. M.
WM.J ~t,~.
Dolores W. Carroll, Clty erk
Claude E. Smoak, Jr., Mayor