Fort Lauderdale City Commission Conference Meeting - March 4, 2025
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Fort Lauderdale City Commission Conference Meeting - March 4, 2025
The Fort Lauderdale City Commission held a conference meeting on March 4, 2025, starting at 1:30 PM. The meeting covered a range of topics including updates from advisory boards, neighbor presentations on leaded aviation fuel and a missing person case, the presentation of the city's Net Zero Plan, a business tax study, budget engagement, and an update on the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) Phase Two project. Commissioners also discussed several administrative and policy items during their reports.
Communications & Reports
- Charter Revision Board (CRB): The board's representative, Richard, updated the commission on plans to revisit prior work section by section, incorporating public outreach from the beginning. The commission agreed to receive recommendations in sections subject to discussion.
- Beach Business Improvement District Advisory Committee (BBID): Ina Lee, speaking for the committee, requested that when the Parks Department reevaluates event application fees, they weight high-economic-impact events (e.g., Tortuga Music Festival, Boat Show) more heavily. The Tortuga festival alone generated $40 million in economic impact with 94,000 attendees and $364 average daily room rate. The request was noted.
- Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB): Chairman David Blattner strongly recommended the commission adopt the Net Zero Plan by resolution, stating the board had thoroughly reviewed the plan over several months.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Michael D. Ray (Neighbor): Presented on lead contamination from unleaded fuel at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE). He stated soil tests showed levels within regulatory limits but argued there is no safe level of lead for children. He criticized the city for not implementing Resolution 24-218 to incentivize unleaded fuel and called for a ban on leaded fuel sales. Airport Director Rufus James responded that FAA/EPA do not expect a ban until 2030, unleaded fuel is not commercially ubiquitous, costs are higher, and no grants are currently available; the airport has surveyed tenants and no one has requested unleaded fuel.
- Patrick Reeder (Neighbor): Did not present; Commissioner Sorensen provided an update on the disappearance of his daughter, Sophie Reeder (missing since May 20, 2017), encouraged public to contact police, and noted a $25,000 reward.
- Public on ISHOF Phase Two: Approximately a dozen residents and swim community members spoke, raising concerns about the proposed West Building's height (120 feet) overshadowing the dive tower, potential heat reflection affecting pool temperatures, safety and privacy for swimmers, loss of land training facilities for divers, traffic congestion on the peninsula, construction disruption, parking adequacy, the need for better community engagement, financial viability of the aquarium, and the private-public partnership structure. Commissioners acknowledged these concerns and committed to ongoing dialogue.
Discussion Items
- City of Fort Lauderdale Net Zero Plan (CF-1): Sustainability consultant WSP presented the plan, a 168-page roadmap with 15 strategies and 55 actions to reduce community emissions 97% by 2050 and municipal emissions 96% by 2050 (with an aspirational goal of net zero by 2040 for city operations). The plan relies heavily on FPL's decarbonization of the electric grid. Vice Mayor Glassman and Commissioners Beasley-Pittman and Sorensen expressed support; Commissioner Herbst strongly opposed, citing doubts about FPL's timeline and reliance on foreign solar technology. The commission took no vote but directed staff to return with implementation timelines, cost impacts, and transparent information for residents (e.g., solar panel costs and insurability).
- Business Tax Study (BUS-1): HDL Companies presented findings: Fort Lauderdale's business tax rates are in the middle of comparable cities, with 636 categories and $3 million annual revenue. Recommendations included consolidating categories into 245 supergroups (no rate changes) and implementing up to 5% biannual increases over 9 years (potentially generating up to ~$900K/year). Commissioners favored consolidation but declined to advance rate increases at this time; staff will bring back an ordinance for consolidation only.
- Public Engagement in the Budget Process (BUS-2): Budget Director Yvette Matthews outlined opportunities for residents to engage: Budget Advisory Board meetings (starting late March), Revenue Estimating Conference, public hearings on September 8 and 12, online budget simulation tool, and informational website. Former Budget Advisory Board chair Brian encouraged early involvement.
- International Swimming Hall of Fame Phase Two Update (BUS-3): The Hall of Fame Partners team presented updated plans for the West Building, which will include a 20,000 sq ft aquarium, International Swimming Hall of Fame Experience (museum), event space, public cafe, parking (about 308 spaces), and a water taxi stop. The building was reduced in height from earlier concepts to better expose the dive tower. The team committed to ongoing community meetings. Commissioners emphasized that the project is under a comprehensive agreement from 2023 and cannot be fundamentally altered, but final design will go through the Development Review Committee (DRC) process. Concerns about traffic, construction impacts, and swim program compatibility were acknowledged.
Key Outcomes
- Business Tax: Consensus to consolidate categories (reduce from 636 to 245) with no rate increase; staff to draft ordinance.
- City Hall Relocation: Consensus to focus only on the existing City Hall site for the new city hall, dropping the former police headquarters site (Mayor Trantalis dissented). Staff to proceed with owner's rep selection and site analysis.
- Net Zero Plan: No formal vote; staff directed to develop implementation plan with timelines and cost transparency, including impact on residents, for future consideration.
- Charter Revision Board: Agreed to receive recommendations in small sections and to incorporate robust public outreach from the beginning.
- One-Way Pairs Study: Staff reported that based on public feedback and analysis, the recommended alternative will retain bidirectional traffic on SE 3rd Avenue and Andrews Avenue, focusing on multimodal improvements. The concept of one-way pairs for a potential transit circulator is effectively abandoned.
- Historic Designation Process: Commissioners discussed requiring property owner notification before a historic designation application is filed; staff will bring back a recommendation to amend the code.
- ISHOF Phase Two: No action taken; discussion held; project to proceed to DRC review with continued public engagement.
- Meeting Schedule Changes: Commission agreed to move the October 21 meeting to October 23 (for Chamber DC Summit) and the July 1 meeting to June 30 (Monday) to accommodate a conference. The September 16 meeting was moved back to September 16 (original date) after earlier tentative change.
- City Manager's Report: Noted Fleet Week reception April 23; Las Olas paving March 10-28; upcoming employee events.
Commissioners' Reports
- District I (Herbst): No report.
- District III (Beasley-Pittman): Highlighted Sistrunk Historical Festival success, the debut of the "I am Sistrunk" branding video, and honored the legacy of community activist Gloria Gwendolyn Barr Jackson who passed away.
- District II (Glassman): Announced upcoming events including Broward Workshop State of the County, Women's Trailblazers event, St. Patrick's Day Parade, and a new historic district proposal for three buildings near South Andrews and SE 7th Street (staff to research).
- District IV (Sorensen): Raised issues including a request for a height limitation in the downtown RA-C zone (staff to research and bring to a future conference meeting), discussions on historic designation process changes, and updates on FXE/W Aviation lease negotiations (closed session pending).
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the City Commission conference meeting this March 4th, 2025. Well thank you all for being here today. We have a lot of exciting things to discuss and uh might as well get started. Uh we can begin with communications, but I don't have my computer to know what the communications are. So I'm sorry? Okay, but I don't know what they were because I don't have I don't have my computer just yet. So uh maybe Mr. Clerk you can recite to me what the um communication is. Okay, so for charter number one, are we working towards some sort of deadline that they have in mind as to when our work will be done? And two, would they like all of our work to be presented at one time, or would they like us to present one or more sections and incremental progress reports as we get through? Okay. Uh well I'll let everyone I'll let everyone on the commission respond if they want to. But I think the first question uh clearly is you know, since these have to be voted on by the public, the next uh the next public uh vote is not going to be until 2026. 2026 for the midterms. So I think what we need to do, Mayor, is have David figure out working his way backwards with the supervisor of elections when it needs to be to them, and then a couple of months for us to kind of thresh it out and and work on it. Right. So that would probably be the answer. So but the sooner the better because making a presentation to the commission and then having go back in the community in the back and the fourth before we finally agree on final wording and final elements. I think that the first round that was presented to the city commission last time, there were a number of non-controversial items that we could probably um uh uh reoffer uh this time around. There was some cleanup uh provisions and and there were some other provisions regarding parks and so forth that that uh we might be able to agree on without uh much controversy. Uh and then there are other provisions that I think the the commission during its uh goal setting session had indicated that they would like to see the charter review uh charter revision board um consider and then present again to the back to the commission. So so again to Commissioner Herp's point, we can work ourselves backwards, see what the deadline is, and that would be the we try to get uh get ahead of that number so that we at least have something to put on the next uh ballot, which should be March of 2026. Mayor, could I offer uh another suggestion as well? So one of the problems we ran into last time, as you all probably recall, was we got a fairly large batch of items to review and it proved to be probably too much for us to digest all at once. So you know the old expression about how you eat an elephant, it's one bite at a time. So my suggestion is we go along with the idea of having the uh the committee bring it to us as they discuss one and come to a consensus on it when they do their communications to the commission, they could say, okay, at our last meeting, we thought this one was something that we want to bring forward to you. They can bring it to us, we can discuss it in this format and say yay, nay, or modify it or or whatever. But I think if we over the course of the next you know twelve months are looking at these one at a time, it'll be an easier conversation for us to have, and I think it would give more direction to charter revision. Because I've been talking with you know my appointee, Mr. Weiss, about this, and and they want to make sure that that they are executing on our direction and don't want to go through all that again to have everything summarily rejected at the end. So in order for us to keep everybody engaged, I think ongoing feedback on a consistent uh and regular basis will be more valuable for them. So do you think that should come in the form of of just a communication or maybe do quarterly workshops or both? Well, I I think uh you know, I certainly I'm always open to both, but I think as I said, if if they have a meeting and they and they take a vote on something and they want to communicate that to us, that gives us an opportunity to sit down at our next workshop and or I'm sorry, next conference meeting and simply bring it up for discussion and decide if we want to move forward with it. So I just think that one bite at a time it will be easier and a much more effective and efficient process of thought. And I think and and not so much one provision at a time, but maybe like a group of a sure group of provisions like a tranche, like maybe a whole section we can discuss at a time, and that way we can uh we can uh uh respond to the board and and and if we decide to make any uh recommendations uh we can do so at that time. So yeah, taking it taking it in in steps might be might be the the best way. Any anyone else have any other comments? Good with that. Yeah, that that that all sounds good. Just um one question and Richard I see you you hear. Just um one question and Richard, I see you you hear um the it's my understanding the city commission shared with the charter revision board some items they'd like the charter revision board to address. Is that right? Great. So it is that are the is that on your list to review, Richard. I just want to check to see if you need further guidance from the commission or suggestions, or you've got what you need. Thanks. Good afternoon. Um first of all, I want to tell you that I'm here because I was requested to be here. I'm not the chairman of the charter review board because you've been subpoenaed, Richard. Probably subpoenaed, yes.
openpublica.com