The Dunedin City Commission held its regular meeting on February 5, 2026, at Dunedin City Hall, 737 Louden Avenue. The commission approved a sustainability scorecard ordinance, hurricane recovery bridge financing, restructuring of an affordable housing loan, and design review for a 21-unit vacation home project, among other items. The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.
Let me try that again. Good evening. Welcome to the February 5th, 2026 City Commission meeting. I'd like to call the meeting to order, and we'll start with invocation and pledge of allegiance by our city attorney Jen. Let us begin this meeting by taking a brief moment of silence and reflection. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the Bible of the United States. One nation. Under God, individual with liberty and judges and sprawl. What happened to our Toronto Blue Jays logo? I wanted it left on until our presentation start. Because until then it's all about the Blue Jays. And hope, the Hope Spot. We love that. Okay. We're going to go to first item, which is Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot Day Proclamation. And I will turn that over to Commissioner Walker. Vice Mayor. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor Walker. Sorry, I slipped. Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot Day in Dunedin. Whereas February 28th, 2026 has been designated as Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot Day in Dunedin to educate our community about the Hope Spot and to promote actions that support the ecological health and marine heritage of our waters. And the City of Dunedin has been recognized as the home city of the Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot, and the Gulf Coast supports countless species, including shorebirds, sea turtles, manatees, whales, mangroves, oysters, and seagrasses. And the City of Dunedin is dedicated to being a leader in sustainability practices, and the ocean produces over half of the world's oxygen and absorbs 50 times more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere, and therefore protecting its health is paramount to the health of our citizens and the sustainability of our planet. And February coincides with World Whale Day, where we celebrate some 17 species of whales that live in the Gulf year-round, including one of the most endangered whale species in the world, the endemic rices whale, with a population estimated to be only around 50 individuals. And human threats such as oil spills, ship strikes, plastic pollution, warming temperatures, and seismic blasting from offshore drilling activities, negatively impact the species of the Gulf, and an unhealthy gulf will hurt economic growth and cause hardship for our citizens. And Denedin is the home of world-renowned marine biologist, oceanographer, and explorer, Dr. Sylvia Earl, who developed the Global Hope Spot Initiative. The City of Dunedin is partnered with the Dunedin History Museum and numerous local organizations to host the annual Gulf Coast Fest on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in downtown Dunedin. Now, therefore I, Robert Walker, Vice Mayor of the City of Dunedin, Florida, do hereby proclaim February 28, 2026 as Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot Day in the City of Dunedin. And call upon all residents of this great city to join me in supporting the aims and goals of this worthwhile effort. Thank you. In garb. We are going to kick off the event with a keep Pennell's beautiful cleanup at 9 a.m. Anyone who's interested, please sign up so we have enough supplies for you. This is an ocean-friendly zero-waste event celebrating that designation of our coast through Dr. Sylvia Earl and her International Mission Blue program. The designation recognizes the integral ways the golf and our local waters shape our lives, economy, and natural resources, and how important it is to protect, preserve, and to continue learning about their wonders. The connection of our land and waters is undeniable. In Dr. Earl's words, no water, no life, no blue, no green. This family friendly event is filled with educational booths, sustainable product and craft vendors, local expert speakers, live animal shows, music, and more. We will have lots of different aquariums there, Florida Aquarium, Clearwater Aquarium, Tarpin Aquarium, Mount Marine. We'll have uh different clubs from our local universities and many other great uh vendors. We'll have speakers there to showcase many documentaries, again, live animal shows, we'll hear from Sierra Club about the endangered rice as whale. We'll also hear from our 2025 Dunedin Environmental Hero, Beth Reynolds, to speak about Honeymoon Island. And then we will also hear from our city's team about Stormwater, and finally Terry Fortner, granddaughter of Myrtle Share Betts, who will speak to her family's history of her grandmother living on Caledy C. And that book highlighting those pioneering days will be autographed by Terry in a book signing. So there's more details on the city's event page. We really look forward to all of you joining us and celebrating this great event and achievement.