Dunedin City Commission Regular Meeting – October 9, 2025
Dunedin City Commission Regular Meeting – October 9, 2025
The City Commission met at 6:00 p.m. on October 9, 2025, at Dunedin City Hall. Mayor Maureen Freaney presided, joined by Vice Mayor Jeff Gow and Commissioners Tom Dugard, Steven Sandbergen, and Robert Walker. The meeting included presentations, public comment, consent items, and multiple action items, including approvals for floodplain regulation updates, a land use change for 1050 Main Street, and a major debris removal grant. The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Presentations
- City of Dunedin Pipe Band Recognition – The commission recognized the band's second-place finish in Grade 2 at the World Piping Championships. Band representatives noted a first-place win in Toronto, runner-up in Ottawa, and a successful youth camp with about 30 young pipers and drummers.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes from the August 5, 2025, workshop and August 6, 2025, budget workshop.
- Approved board and committee appointments: Architectural Review Committee (Lee Weintraub), Board of Finance (reappointments of Al Crossman and Christopher Krampert), Committee on Environmental Quality & Sustainability (Patrick Francois), Edgewater Drive Advisory Committee (Stefanie Sarkis moved to regular term, Lee Weintraub appointed as alternate), Stormwater Advisory Committee (Seema Balwani, Marilyn Ready, Karen Mullins).
- Awarded a General Engineering Consultant task assignment to CPH Consulting, LLC for $150,000 for Josiah Cephas Weaver Park shoreline improvements.
- Approved participation agreement with Tetra Tech, Inc. for debris monitoring and management services in the estimated amount of $136,380.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jenny English (260 Aberdeen Street) – Opposed the proposed historic district, arguing it infringes on private property rights and is an overreach; urged voluntary opt-in rather than forced designation.
- Ryan Saunders (250 Lyndhurst Street) – Noted over $37,000 spent on attorney and consulting fees for the historic preservation ordinance over two years. He asked the commission to use the state's feedback as an off-ramp to stop the ordinance, citing also the $22,000 reduction in funding to the Historic Society.
- Paul Gionis (159 Beltrees Street) – Expressed concern that surveys of 492 homes are not publicly available; argued that age alone should not dictate historic designation and that the process lacks transparency.
- Jim Cowger (2092 Valley Drive) – Raised drainage issues with Cedar Creek, asked about costs and timing of improvements, and questioned the purchase of a new fire truck versus retrofitting.
- Lillian Demetita (4526 Azul Way, student at St. Petersburg College) – Spoke in support of Ordinance 25-07, explaining it aligns with new Florida law (SB 180) removing the five-year cumulative substantial improvement period while maintaining one-foot freeboard requirements.
Discussion Items
- First Reading of Ordinance 25-07 (Floodplain Management) – Approved unanimously. Staff explained it is housekeeping to comply with state law effective July 1, 2025, removing the five-year cumulative look-back period and updating definitions and technical references to the Florida Building Code. The one-foot freeboard requirement remains as it is now part of the building code.
- Application LUP/ZO-2025-0001 (1050 Main Street) – Unanimously approved first readings of Ordinance 25-08 (Land Use Plan Amendment from Retail & Services to Residential Low Medium) and Ordinance 25-09 (Rezoning from Form-Based Medium to Mobile Home). The property, a landlocked 0.53-acre parcel, will be unified with the adjacent Golden Acres Mobile Home Park as common area; no additional mobile homes are planned. The LPA recommended approval unanimously.
- Debris Removal Agreement with Crowdergulf Joint Ventures, Inc. – Unanimously approved a $1,378,275 grant-funded contract (USDA NRCS Emergency Watershed Protection) for clearing debris from city drainage channels. Work will prioritize Curlew Creek, Jerry Branch, and Cedar Creek. Tetra Tech will monitor for grant eligibility. Staff noted the project is part of storm recovery and will not address gabions or other structural issues. Public comment from Jim Cowger requested attention to damaged gabions.
- Tabling of Historic Preservation Items – Items 3.c (Ordinance 25-02) and 3.d (Resolution 25-13) were tabled to a date uncertain. City Manager Bramley explained that the state and National Park Service flagged 100% owner consent for historic districts as inconsistent with federal guidelines, and the federal government shutdown has delayed resolution. The city is seeking a meeting to preserve the 100% consent provision. The existing 2019 ordinance remains in effect.
- Proposed Agenda for October 23, 2025 – Approved with a deletion: an item authorizing city manager negotiations for Pinellas County's Regional Resource Recovery Facility (RRRF) was removed after the commission authorized it immediately via separate motion. The motion to negotiate passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Consent agenda approved unanimously.
- First reading of Ordinance 25-07 approved 5-0.
- First readings of Ordinance 25-08 and Ordinance 25-09 approved 5-0.
- Debris removal contract with Crowdergulf (up to $1,378,275) approved 5-0.
- Ordinance 25-02 and Resolution 25-13 tabled unanimously.
- Authorization for City Manager to enter into negotiations with Pinellas County for RRRF approved unanimously.
- Proposed October 23 agenda approved unanimously.
- Commissioner Tom Dugard appointed to the School Transportation Safety Committee.
- Directed staff to bring a request for $5,000 to support Dunedin Middle School band kilt purchases to the next meeting.
- The city manager announced awards: Golf Inc. Public Renovation of the Year for Dunedin Golf Club and Lane's Lemonade Best Corporate Business from the Chamber of Commerce.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the October 9th, 2025 City Commission meeting. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We'll start with our invocation and pledge of allegiance, uh, starting with our city attorney Jen. Thank you. Let us begin this meeting by taking a brief moment of silence and reflection. Amen. I pledge allegiance. And to the Republic. For which it stands. One nation. Under Gods. Liberty and justice for all. So good evening, everyone. I want to uh before we go to our first presentation. I did want to say that here in Dunedin, our hearts and our minds are in Toronto with the Toronto Blue Jays. Uh Mark Shapiro, the president, uh I would consider a friend. Uh and uh, of course, he has a place here, and he uh they work hard, and uh it's so exciting for them to have gotten to the level that they will now be uh uh going for league championship. And uh we are rooting them on all the way, and you'll see a few signs of that around town. Uh if you didn't know it, this uh next year will be their 50th year as a franchise as the Toronto Blue Jays, and at the same time our 50th year as their spring training home, the only spring training home they've ever had. So uh they are in our hearts, our minds, and we are with them all the way. Go Vladdy, go Springer. And sorry to the Yanks, but sorry. Sorry, not sorry. There's nothing else to say. Okay. All right, I'm just gonna set the tone here for a minute before I call up uh some people for this first presentation. So you can see tonight that uh we're celebrating something that has defined Dunedin since its very beginning, our proud Scottish heritage. Our story began in 1885 when two Scotsmen arrived here, opened a mercantile, and petitioned the government to establish a post office. They chose the name Dunedin, the Gaelic word for Edinburgh, their hometown in Scotland. From that moment, our city's Scottish spirit began to grow. You can see it throughout the community in street names like Loudon Avenue, Highland Avenue, Aberdeen Street, Beltree Street, Braymore, Loch Lomond, Lake Highlander, and Stirling Heights, each one a proud reminder of our roots. When Dunedin High School opened in 1961, the bagpipe band became part of the school's identity. That same year, Dunedin became a sister city with Sterling, Scotland, deepening our cultural connection. And in 1967, the first Dunedin Highland Games were held, an event that continues today as one of the longest running Highland Games in the United States. This is our first uncovering, so uh and gatherings representing Dunedin with dignity and pride, from two Scotsmen who founded this community to the generations we've carried forward. It's music, symbols, and traditions, Dunedin's Scottish spirit indoors. And as we look to the future, we do so with pride in knowing that here in Dunedin, we don't just honor our heritage, we live it. And thank you all for being here. I really want to thank um Vice Mayor because he actually wrote this. He said, I don't think I could get through it, Mayor, so I'd like you to read it. Um but uh we're really all sitting here in these kilts tonight because this gentleman who has our liaison to the Scottish Heritage Groups, um, just wouldn't let it go. He just thought we really needed to do this as a unified commission and including our city manager. Um, and so we all did it. So we're just gonna stand just so you can see us in full garb. What do you think? So on that note, we do have a presentation to the City of Dunedin Pipe Band, and I am going to turn it over to our liaison, Vice Mayor. Really? I've got to follow that. Ian and Eric, can you please come forward? While you're doing that, I'm gonna grab my phone.
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