The City Commission held a conference meeting on March 3, 2026, beginning in the afternoon and concluding with a closed attorney-client session before a scheduled evening meeting at 6:00 PM. The meeting covered communications from the Historic Preservation Board, commission and city manager reports, and discussions on the 2027 budget process and the Uptown Urban Village initiative.
Anyway. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission conference meeting this uh March 3rd, 2026. Um I see we have a full audience here today. Uh anyway, um so we made a few changes uh since the last time we met, and um we're going to be um right after this the uh communications to the city commission, we'll jump to the city commission reports. Our first communication, I believe, is from the uh historic preservation board, correct? And yep. So there was a communication on sent to us to recommend uh that we need to review and strengthen enforcement of city ordinances regarding the use of metal detection on the beach park. Uh hi. What do you have to tell us today? Hi, good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners, Trisha Logan, uh Principal Urban Planner. This is related to um an archaeological site designation for the beach park area, and the board um had a discussion with the applicant about uh people that are digging and metal detecting on the beach, and the board wanted to convey to the commission that it would be um good to make sure that we're enforcing any regulations that are existing. And what is that regulation now? Um I believe that we already have a regulation that says you cannot dig or metal detect on the beach. Is that true? So is it just enforcement then? Well, wait a minute, let's see. I want to hear what the law is. That's the law. Good afternoon, Chris Cooper, deputy city manager. So we do have a prohibition on digging in the bee on the beach, so particularly digging deeply. I mean, people can put in umbrellas, build sand castles and things like that, but we do not allow for you know really robust digging on the beach and in the sand. So somebody could metal detect, which often leads to digging on the beach. So if we wanted to go a little bit further and prohibit an activity, we could, but right now it really we really just regulate the actual digging. So how deep is deep. There's no there's no there's no precise measurement. I mean, uh you know, things that are typical beach activities, like I said, putting an umbrella in the sand, making a sand castle, digging around a little bit, you know, we just don't want to see really extreme digging because sometimes it can also become a dangerous situation when people dig in the beach sand too deeply. So all those spring breakers who bury themselves in the sand, that's gonna be forbidden. I mean, this is getting ridiculous. Yeah. Only if they hit a musket ball when they're gonna be able to do that. Yeah, I mean it's it's look. The reality is that yeah, there may be old things, you know, that find their way, you know, in the sand or anywhere in the city. And you know, these the the beach is a recreation area, okay. So uh it's either we either make it a recreation area or we we we rope off the entire place saying it's either for turtles or for historic preservation. This tiptoeing around this issue is not making any sense to me. So if if if people want to make uh sand castles, you're gonna be digging into the sand far deeper than an inch or two. Uh if you're going to put an umbrella in the sand, it's gonna be very deep. Uh what happens if you hit something? What is if you hit you go down two feet and you hit something, uh they they violate the law? I mean, it's this is getting absurd. Yes. So from staff's perspective, you know, we're comfortable with our current rules regarding the beach and what can be done there related to these types of activities. So, you know, I think if and I and I believe we've actually added some signage that kind of outlays some of those beach rules, so we're communicating it to the public, but from our perspective, a change probably isn't necessary. So let's hear from the commission. What are some thoughts on the commission? Let's see, district two is um part of the beach and district one is part of the beach. So what are your thoughts? Vice Mayor. So just one quick thought. Um and it's not necessarily with respect to to the historic preservation aspect.