Gulfport City Council Meeting Summary - January 6, 2026
Gulfport City Council Meeting Summary - January 6, 2026
The City of Gulfport held its first meeting of 2026, featuring the Holiday Decor awards presentation, reports from the Senior Advisory Committee, and a detailed review of the city's three-year vulnerability assessment alongside a watershed management plan update. The council also addressed public comments regarding resiliency strategies, discussed potential rezoning for affordable housing, and recognized local community efforts including the Operation Santa program and recent grant awards.
Consent Calendar
- Ratification of meeting minutes from December 2nd and December 16th, 2025 (unanimous).
- Resolution 2026-01 passed authorizing the City Manager to enter an interlocal agreement with the City of St. Petersburg for intersection improvements along the 49th Street corridor, funded in part by the federal Safe Streets Program grant ($800,000 awarded, with Gulfport budgeting $500,000 for a $1.25M total project).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Dean Hay (Gulfport Environmental Team) announced the team's launch and the upcoming first volunteer tree inventory training on January 17th; he expressed support for community-enhanced natural balance projects.
- Laura Oldaney expressed concern regarding the speed and reality of climate projections, requesting a community reckoning with 2040 maps specifically rather than jumping to 2100 scenarios; she questioned the viability of renovating existing coastal assets like the casino and recreation center under rising sea levels.
- Bob (resident) expressed support for the presentation's data but raised concerns about the timeline for grants, noting the need for temporary emergency measures like rental pumps to address immediate flooding risks in the southwest low-line area during the transition period.
Discussion Items
Senior Advisory Committee Report:
- Karen Schwartz and Brad Brunner highlighted the success of the "Discover Gulfport" walking trail system, noting the launch of the Red and Yellow trails, the addition of signage, and community engagement. Brad expressed full support for the project's accessibility and noted the involvement of multiple city departments and the Senior Center staff in its execution.
- The committee formally requested that the council consider allowing Resolution 92-12 to sunset, citing difficulties in maintaining a quorum, complications regarding Sunshine Law compliance, and a desire for more efficient collaboration. City Council expressed interest in reviewing the pros and cons with the City Attorney.
- Vice Mayor Thanos suggested collaborating with the Florida League of Cities to feature the trail system as a model for other municipalities; Councilmember Jackson and the Chair expressed support for utilizing grants for future enhancements like QR codes and physical brochures.
Vulnerability Assessment & Watershed Management (Advanced Engineering):
- Justin Keller and Cody Stewart presented findings from the 3-year vulnerability assessment, distinguishing it from the Watershed Management Plan (WMP) by emphasizing the VA's focus on extreme long-term scenarios (2040–2100) versus the WMP's immediate stormwater readiness.
- Cody Stewart presented exposure analysis indicating worst-case sea level rise (2100 Intermediate High) could impact up to 32% of the city, with storm surge scenarios potentially covering 73% of the area if no action is taken; he expressed support for using the "C-Score" methodology to prioritize assets based on submersibility, essentiality, and amplitude rather than just flood depth.
- Justin Keller clarified that while stormwater pump stations are not currently recommended as primary fixes due to uncontrolled upstream runoff, they remain an option for future adaptation strategies if upstream controls are first implemented; he expressed support for maintaining compliance with FDEP to secure future implementation grants.
- Council members (Shaw, Early, Love) questioned the necessity of a new study given the current WMP data, the timeline for grant implementation (likely 2028 for projects), and the potential for the study to include fire and wind risks, which the engineers confirmed are not the focus of this specific state-mandated study.
Affordable Housing & Rezoning Discussion:
- Vice Mayor Thanos proposed rezoning all R1 zones to R2 to facilitate the construction of duplexes and triplexes, expressing support for increasing affordable housing stock by allowing density on existing lots regardless of size, provided setbacks and height are met; she noted that many existing smaller duplexes are currently non-conforming.
- Mayor Love and Councilmembers Shaw and Early raised concerns, expressing opposition to prioritizing this rezoning over the more immediate implementation of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). They argued that the proposal lacks clear resident demand, could increase staff workload without guaranteed affordability without additional regulatory steps, and might face community resistance regarding neighborhood character.
- The council agreed to defer the rezoning initiative until further consensus is reached, prioritizing the completion of the ADU ordinance process.
Sunset City Statement:
- Councilmember Shaw requested that the city issue a formal statement or apology acknowledging Gulfport's history as a "sundown city," arguing that acknowledging past systemic exclusion is necessary for healing. Conversely, Councilmembers Jackson, Early, and Mayor Love expressed reservations, stating the current Human Rights Ordinance already serves as a strong declaration of welcome and that an apology might imply an institutional endorsement of past behaviors that the council did not codify at the time.
- The council agreed to ask the City Attorney to draft a statement that acknowledges the historical context of excluded practices while affirming the city's current and future commitment to diversity and inclusion, to be reviewed individually before a final vote.
Key Outcomes
- Grant Awards Confirmed: City Manager Nichols reported the successful awarding of an $800,000 federal grant for the 49th Street Corridor safety improvements and a perfect score (100) for the city's NFIP compliance regarding elevation certification.
- Operation Santa Recognition: Chief Farron reported the program serviced 352 children from 152 families; Council unanimously recommended Francine Whitten for the "Spirit of Gulfport" Award.
- Permit Fee Waiver Inquiry: Council asked City Staff to investigate the potential for waiving permit fees for homeowners (specifically homesteaded properties) who are demolishing and rebuilding post-disaster and had not responded to initial outreach by the June 1st cutoff; Staff will analyze the financial impact on the permit contractor and return with criteria.
- Upcoming Events: Council approved a town hall for January 17th at the Neighborhood Center (tree inventory), waived fees for the League of Women Voters candidate forum on January 29th, and announced a town hall on February 17th regarding the Marina (formerly Lions Club) property.
- Next Steps: City Attorney to draft the sundown history statement; Staff to provide a list of active demolition permits to inform the fee waiver discussion; Staff to continue developing the ADU ordinance as the primary housing strategy; Council to schedule a future discussion on the R1 to R2 rezoning proposal.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Good evening and welcome. Let's see. This is the January 6th, the first meeting of 2026. I'm sure we'll say it wrong a couple times tonight. And we are going to start tonight with an invocation by Councilmember Jackson, and then that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. So please stand if you will. Hi everyone. So we're in the new year, so I thought I'd do a funny kind of light, light hearted invocation with a quote from Dave Beard. Many years ago, I resolved never to bother with New Year's resolutions, and I've stuck with it ever since. Councilmember Jackson. Here. Councilmember Early, present. Vice Mayor Thanos? Here. Councilmember Shaw, present. Mayor Love? Here. City Attorney Salzman. Here. City Manager O'Reilly. Here. City Clerk Carico is present. All righty. And I don't see Mayor Bell in the room, so you want me to proceed? All right. So today it's my pleasure to announce the winners from the decoration uh holiday decor decoration contest. I understand that the judges are the team council, but they're not here, and Meravelle wasn't able to make it either. So we have two categories that we do each year. One is called the general theme, and one is called the commercial theme. So I will start with our commercial winner, which is Mr. Gary King. If you saw it, he's had a beautiful display on 49th. But I said, wow, that's really pretty. So if you'll come up, I'll give you your little plaque. It's a contest between 20,000 Christmas lights and 770 happiness lines. All right. Thank you so much for um making our city beautiful. It was my honor, believe me. My pleasure. I actually left some of them up too on the power polls. They're staying up all year. Thank you very much. Thank you. And when you talked about 700,000 lights, uh I think my friends who won the second category, which is Eddie Smith and Patrick Mortimer, um, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say they probably had somewhere between 700,000 and a million lights. Um not uh not an exaggeration, the front yard, the backyard, way up high in the trees. He's got the flying pigs, the whole thing. So um, and Eddie's the one that does most of it, so I'm disappointed they're not here because I wanted to uh have my picture taken with them acknowledging and also to acknowledge at the same time that they do all this. They're one of the biggest collection sites for Operation Santa. So they throw a huge party every year, and everybody is encouraged to bring toys with them.
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