I love art like in any type of form if it's drawing tattoo graffiti haircuts anything so once I turn 16 I got involved with the program uh since then I've been working here at the barber shop and learning new things he comes in he helps out with a lot of just you know the basics from sweeping hair to standing behind somebody's chair asking questions and I think him seeing my actions and the way I move and how everything functions I think he picks up on a lot of that as well but the thing that I learned so far is the more customers you can gain in the barber industry by it's not just by cutting hair and like cutting good that's not what barbing is all about it's also having a connection with your clients and understanding them and they were just teaching us how to manage our money save it and just use it properly in the proper way from business owner to business owner if we can't help and the more people get involved the better the chances are that these young men growing up and young woman growing up you know they can change their life I want to be a barber and I also want to have my own business and the barber industry as well [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] trailing thoughts [Music] this is such a friendly neighborhood because people have been aggressively waving at me a lot today what is that sound I keep hearing behind me oh I'm dragging a child's kite how long have I been dragging that for and why didn't any of these nice people tell me [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] I've been waiting for this for weeks I gotta tell you I am so ready to do this I even have the bed ready so when you get home we can get really dirty [Music] gotta go hey here you go with all this compost we're gonna have the best plants in the neighborhood [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] trailing thoughts from airport Gap foreign [Music] if planes were like people would Jets be considered the jocks would they throw hanger parties when their parents were out of town if one plane said to the other I just flew in from the coast and boy are my arms tired would it be considered a joke or just normal conversation [Music] foreign [Music] people just say can you hold my hand please and you just you make a difference [Music] and you're helping them get through a bad day [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] thank you good afternoon and welcome to the May 15 2023 meeting of the Orlando city council we're going to begin today's proceedings with the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance LED today by commissioner Burns commissioner all right thank you man uh if we could all buy our heads they're wise and loving father first let me say thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here today thank you for the many and Abundant Blessings thank you for life itself for the measure of Health we need to fulfill our callings for substance and for our friendship thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities as we deliberate and conduct the business of our great City I ask that you graciously grant us wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times a sense of the welfare and true needs of our people a keen thirst for justice and rightness confidence in what is good and fitting the ability to work together in harmony even when there is an honest disagreement personal peace in our lives and joy in our tasks I pray for the agenda set before us today please give an assurance of what would please you to and what would benefit those who live work and play around our beloved city of Orlando it is in the Most Blessed name I pray amen amen thank you I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you commissioner Burns to call the meeting to order Madam clerk would you uh call the world determination reform please commissioner gray here commissioner Ortiz here commissioner Stewart yeah commissioner Shan here commissioner Hill here commissioner Burns here mayor Dyer here mayor you have a quorum with all members present thank you madam Clerk let's see consideration of minutes from the workshop of General review City Council meetings of April 24 2023 who had the motion boost my commissioner hell second by commissioner Stewart all in favor of the motion indicate so by saying aye aye as opposed and so the motion carries we do have one recognition today and as elected officials we have a role to play in making sure that our community is inclusive and helping the lead in battle against hatred and anti-Semitism proud to join hundreds of my fellow Mayors who are with the U.S Conference of Mayors and my colleagues to Proclaim May Jewish American heritage month and Doug Richards our director of community engagement Outreach and mayor's office will give us an overview of the proclamation in the monthly activities thank you mayor thank you Commissioners for the first time the city of Orlando is issuing a proclamation to recognize may as Jewish American Heritage Month by doing so we are celebrating Jewish culture and traditions many of which are passed down from generation to generation for me it's a love of traditional foods like matzo ball soup and the underrated gefilte fish at the same time we're showing support to our community's Jewish residents and we're also denouncing hatred anti-Semitism has been rising at an alarming rate throughout the U.S and even in Florida according to Anti-Defamation League there was a 36 percent increase in anti-semitic activity in 2022. today as we celebrate Orlando's Jewish community and remind them that we stand with them United against anti-Semitism and hate I want to thank Luis Martinez from our office of Community Affairs for bringing this Proclamation forward and for inviting some of our communities Jewish leaders to this meeting today I want to thank them for being here and it's so appreciate that you took time on your schedule for this mayor after you read the proclamation I'm hoping that you and the Commissioners can join these leaders for a photo okay city of Orlando Proclamation whereas the city of Orlando is proud to join the National recognition of Jewish American heritage month which celebrates the spirit tradition contributions and achievements of the Jewish Americans and whereas Jewish Americans have made a lasting impact on our country state and city and add to the diversity and vibrancy that makes our nation and Community stronger and whereas their faith resilience and commitment to shaping A Better Tomorrow Jewish residents in Orlando have helped our community grow and become a more welcoming place for all and whereas we celebrate the contributions the Jewish residents have made and continue to make in our community we also recognize that together we can all play a role in rejecting hatred and whereas the rise of anti-Semitism is alarming but our community stands United against it and understands that we have a collective obligation to continue to denounce bigotry and Prejudice in all forms and whereas in Orlando remain dedicated to putting inclusion kindness unity and compassionate performance of all we do now therefore we buddy dire mayor of the city of Orlando and the entire Orlando city council to hereby Proclaim May 2023 as Jewish American Heritage Month in the city of Orlando thank you guys oh [Applause] don't worry about me okay we're gonna go right into the mayor's update I just have a few things today is Peace Officers Memorial Day which is an opportunity for our nation to recognize law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty and in the last couple years OPD has lost two Heroes Lieutenant Debra Clayton and officer Kevin Valencia and their courage and service so our communities not been in will never be forgotten also next week is National EMS week which is an important reminder that our Orlando fire department personnel provide critical Emergency Medical Services to Residents and visitors and that we are grateful for their service and I need to support them those are First Responders are there to support our residents in their most trying times I'll invite you to state of the city next week at Harriet's Orlando Ballet Center 2023 state of the Orlando state of City address will be on Wednesday we will talk about the city's recent accomplishments you can go to visit Orlando or I'm sorry not visit Orlando visit orlando.gov soc for more information and then I do have one item of note that I want to mention on the agenda and that is j3 which is a funding agreement with lynx and we've talked a lot about autonomous vehicles so we are bringing an autonomous shuttle to create a village that'll be a partnership between links and the City of Orlando and beep so look for that coming soon with that we'll move to the consent agenda which are a number of items act upon through a single vote of council we give each of our commissioners an opportunity to comment on items on the consent agenda as well as to update you on important happenings in their districts we rotate the order that we do that commissioner Burns is first up today all right thank you again mayor uh good afternoon everyone May is full of a lot of different celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo Mother's Day Haitian Heritage Month Jewish American Heritage Month Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Memorial Day and as the mayor just mentioned Peace Officers Memorial day but may is also a mental health awareness month and this is a time for us to raise awareness about mental health mental health and wellness and the need for mental Fitness Together as we as a community community can fight the stigma Provide support educate the public and advocate for the policies that support the people in our community living with mental illness since my time on this commission we have made significant investments into programs as an initiatives targeted at mental health mental wellness and service utilization such as our crisis response team that respond to 9-1-1 calls regarding mental health concerns so I just like to applaud the mayor and my fellow Commissioners for your leadership and courage and trying to do something different to again bring about change to how we care for our community members who are in the midst of a mental health crisis so thank you again and I just want to encourage everyone to uh Foster positive thoughts uh give positive encouragement to your fellow community members because you never know uh what your words and how your words can impact someone in a positive or negative manner so now just give a few updates on April 26 I attended and gave greetings at the Route 7 financial literacy program held at Grand Avenue Community Center we've partnered with Route 7 for a number of years and they do some great work in our community so I'd like to thank them for all that they do also on May 3rd I had the opportunity to attend the annual law enforcement memorial ceremony had it held at the Orange County Courthouse city of Orlando and Orange County leaders joined law enforcement to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to honor their lives and Legacies of the Region's falling Law Enforcement Officers also on May 5th I had the opportunity to attend the Jones High scholarship and awards ceremony and my office was able to present certificates to District Six students who were awarded scholarships from our annual four Student Success scholarship program also on May 6 we had the opportunity to have a community Gathering a community celebration to recognize the life and work and Legacy of Mr Jose B sessler for six Decades of experience in the auto service industry hoses Auto Repair Service parts and service has provided quality and Professional Services to customers in the district six Community again for over 60 years and I said to celebrate him he's still living so I didn't want anyone to think that Mr uh Jose uh Jose pass he was there to help us to celebrate and it was great to see him and just hear from uh his family but also the community members who uh he has so much influence on also on May 6 I was a celebrity escort for the Run Race Runway to Hope Springs Soiree it was an honor to be a part of such a great organization uh raising funds to fight pediatric cancer also on May 12th I attended and co-sponsored the El Claudia Allen Mother Day luncheon uh we and we offered my office also sponsored uh lunch for several Teachers Appreciation celebrations throughout last week also last but not least for my updates mobile office hours my next mobile office hours will happen May 31st at the James R Smith Center from 10 a.m to 4 P.M and this is an opportunity for our community members to meet with me outside of having to to come to uh City Hall so I asked that anyone wanting to meet with me please reach out to my office and mayor on today's agenda I just wanted to highlight uh two items uh item C7 and C 15 business assistance program funding for Lloyd have mercy a black owned restaurant that will operate out of the diesel land complex on International Drive thank you mayor thank you commissioner commissioner gray thank you mayor and I'll be brief given the number of folks that are here but I want to thank everybody for coming as I always tell folks politics is a participation Sport and the more folks we have here with your ideas I think the better decisions we make as a council so thank you all for taking your time to come and share your thoughts with us later in the agenda a couple of quick announcements on last Tuesday I want to congratulate commissioner Hill and our housing staff we had a grand opening of the Fairlawn village community affordable housing project and commissioner Stewart was with us along with the mayor but the most important thing is New Quality housing and it's targeted for those at the lowest income levels and by all accounts it's a great project it looks great so congrats to commissioner Hill for spearheading that on Thursday I joined the mayor out at Lake non at the guide world Innovation Center we had a veterans business Summit the purpose being to help veterans either establish or continue to nurture the businesses they have so mayor thanks for coming out and uh in kicking that conference off and finally the folks at Tavistock out in Lake node have provided a community update to about 300 of our neighbors it was a virtual presentation I put that on my website if anybody is interested in knowing what's going on in the southeast part of our city I'd encourage you to look at that because there's some real exciting things that are going on in Lake Nona so if half of them come to fruition we're still way ahead of the game so that part of the city continues to be a growth engine for this for for us here at the city on the agenda two items I want to mention A1 or excuse me a11 which is us procuring a third party vendor to provide crossing guards it's really important not only for the safety of our children but as some of you know if we have crossing guards that can't make it don't show up get sick we pull police officers off the streets and unfortunately sometimes they get called away for other emergencies and some of our crosswalks are left open and that's not a good thing for any of us so I'm excited to support that that agenda item and also J2 the mayor mentioned it autonomous vehicles coming to downtown we've been lucky enough to have those in the Lake Nona area and the vendor providing out there and also downtown is beep and I just want to take a chance an opportunity to say hello to Mark Reed and his team and Mark if you'd stand up and just I'm going to give you a clap if nobody else does I'll clap for you foreign I'll tell you why it's important it it further demonstrates that we as a city continue on to want to be Innovative and creative and do things that that are you know kind of outside the box but beep has been a great addition to the Lake Nona area whenever we have any issues they're there to fix them and get them right so I'm confident they'll do the same here and I would encourage you all if you've never ridden an autonomous vehicle try it because the first time it takes off and you look up and there's nobody driving it's kind of a weird feeling so you ought to give it a try but I fully support that and that's a that's a great Initiative for our team so with that mayor that's all I've got and why don't we go ahead and introduce Tiffany Homer the executive director of links so there is the third partner in the partnership okay commercial Ortiz thank you mayor I want to welcome everyone and thank you for being here today but a little of the possibly a long city council today I'm going to reserve my comments and yield my time so there you go thank you commissioner I'm going to take the next 45 minutes no I won't do that but I do have some couple things that are very important um we have with us a celebrity today Jake Salas King is here let me share a little bit about what I'd like to have them come down we're going to have a photograph with him Jake is a fourth grader at Rosemont Elementary uh this school year is uh he's got a while I'm trying to read this this year is ending on a happy note thanks to Jake's quick response while in class one of his classmates started choking on a piece of candy a teacher tried the Heimlich maneuver didn't work teacher was not successful and called began calling 9-1-1 and while the teacher was calling 9-1-1 Jake stepped in tried the Heimlich maneuver again and got the candy out and saved the child's life so what's up so with us today are his mom Darlene and his teacher Althea Dixon from Rosemont Elementary mayor lewie come down take a photograph foreign thank you what a great name people make sure yeah he said somebody taught him thank you Jake thank you Darlene thank you I'll see you and with that I'll take the next 45 minutes to finish up the rest of my comments you know I I wanted to take that opportunity to remind us that uh um kids listen they pay attention and I'm so happy for that and Darlene congratulations um on the um some of my nose today let me say a special thanks to uh Alex England for putting together the state of The Village at Ivanhoe Village I'll go through these quickly thank you to Deborah um for doing the wellness for the city for the employees she did a wonderful job and even though I came second in the nine hole frisbee golf I'll just make sure that the other ones aren't employed next year when I run so I just just teasing okay just teasing uh in a great Spring Fest in College Park and also want to welcome Jennifer to Hollander to Lou Gardens as our new executive director on the agenda today one other thing um thank you uh commissioner Burns for mentioning the mill hellness medal mental health month um the last week the city was part of a mental Wellness skill shop we worked with United Way invited 100 people to come and and learn skills about how to detect mental health issues and our goal is to do that but every three months and try to get that out throughout the entire Community we kicked it off last week with Dwight Bain leading it and and being funded by Orange County we as a partner in the United Way doing that um okay we're going to open up the packing districts some of y'all are excited about it I'm not nearly excited as our staff is uh May 31st we get to cut the ribbon on it um and so we'll get some more details out to everybody and then that Saturday we're having a neighborhood community picnic commissioner Hill and commission and I are trying to host that for the entire community be over there for a few hours to have lunch and enjoy the games and see what's going on with the new park The Grove it's called um on the agenda today you mentioned J2 about beep thank you very much thank you for being here so honored to have you here I appreciate that um two other things the crossing guard is an important part of what we're doing part of that is as as commissioner gray mentioned is that um this puts somebody at the crossing guard all the time no matter what we're working with another Corporation and you'd be able to use our own people inside that Corporation and but have a standard substitute for crossing guards and we appreciate that and then also on B4 today um We are continuing the contract for Edgewater Drive complete streets plot project that will continue then we should have sometimes by the end of the summer a 60 percent plan available for Community discussion so I'm sorry for taking so long today mayor but thank you very much for for your uh your patience thank you thank you thank you mayor commissioner were there only two people in the frisbee golf competition [Music] yes this jacket all right commissioner yes there were thank you mayor Durham since I'm probably the reason why a lot of why we're going to be here a while um I will I will be brief as well um events around my city council home page and just encourage everybody the Orlando International Fringe Festival is is going to start next week it's one of the best things I think we do in Orlando really looking forward to that so encourage everybody to to support The Fringe on the agenda today on item B1 this is the Greenwood Cemetery ground maintenance agreement we want to make sure our Cemetery looks good item F1 is the cdbg Harbor House grant for domestic violence and also I was going to say how cool the autonomous shuttle was commissioner gray thanks for testing that out for us and look forward to that coming coming downtown and other than that I will be abstaining from voting on ordinance number 2023-16 which is annexing properties located at 2414 South Brown Avenue I've let the clerk know and I have filed the appropriate form and that's all I had mayor thank you thank you commissioner and commissioner Hill thank you mayor and since uh commissioner Grace stole most of my thunder I have received no you know the best form of flattery is imitation and I'm just so excited that Mark and his team and links have partnered together to bring uh beat to create a village Paramore and you know it's not just the transportation system but after speaking with Mark and his team on Friday to find out the opportunities that lie there are mayor with our rides program with Workforce training because those things have to be serviced they just don't they might run by themselves but they don't fix themselves so uh to hear about those opportunities there I just I'm looking forward to you know the transformational I would think uh change that's coming because of these systems there and create a village in Paramore when we start talking about future ready in the smartest City this is part of that puzzle so excited congratulations with what's going on in Lake Nona I'm glad to see it coming to the Paramore creative Village area and also the data collection that's going to be produced by that to see how we truly can move the city of Orlando forward in this Urban core with this uh futurated Transportation um also as was stated or a little bit earlier about the Fairlawn Village affordable housing component there in the Mercy Drive Corner uh mayor Dyer leadership is phenomenal you see the transformation that's happened in Paramore also create a village and I would dare you to drive down Mercy Drive I know at one point in the city's history that they call it murder Drive which was a for that corner but now when you go down there you would see Hope Drive because there's a multitude of affordable complexes with Village on Mercy also the basal uh Foundation has invested in preschool programs there so it's becoming that incubator of cradle to Career Valencia is there with the job training program that they have partnered with the city of Orlando we have industrial park that creates more than 500 jobs per day over there in the W.T judge Corner we've partnered with Windsor uh Wendover which is now creating affordable senior complex there so I'm just excited about the hope and of those families there through this Council and Mary dire leadership we have implemented a Mercy Drive Zone which truly focuses on mental health of those residents especially our youth job creation training graduation with the OPD we have created a community uh policing where they go into those apartment complexes and work with the residents work with our children to bridge that Gap so mayor I know about three years ago at a state of the city almost 3-4 you said that you're going to be laser focused on Mercy Drive and that is what has happened and I really appreciate you all for that mayor um then we have I attended uh with mayor Dyer and commissioner burns on May 8th uh through the office of State Attorney Monique Worrell where she's also focused on gun violence and Community leaders elected officials throughout Central Florida and all the Chiefs throughout that Ninth District came together to talk about strategies on not just incarceration but prevention and treatment I think a lot of great information was had we've toned it down to what uh commissioner Burns spoke about earlier it really is not making an excuse for these shooters and but it boils down to Mental Health treating it at its core before it manifests and violent Behavior so uh we're talking about services and funding and all those things cost but I'm just so excited that law enforcement the public defender's office the state attorney's office local government state government and our national uh Congressman Frost team was there to talk about Solutions versus pointing the finger I want to say about Fairlawn Village is that 166 of those units and we did talk about the 60 percent to 20 percent average medium income which is moderate to very low income that will be housed there but it was 20 percent of our Supportive Housing which will house our homeless residents which is important but this component at Fairlawn which we hadn't done in the city of Orlando that's in-house we'll have wraparound services so that is strong we don't just want our residents here in the city of Orlando to live a lifetime in property excuse me poverty we want to give them that support system to move them along into having productive lives that we all uh want for ourselves and our families and and these kids there so those wraparound services are going to be great because you want to see just low-income people living a lifetime in low income right you'll see children now going off to college because of the incubator program we have there in that quarter but specifically for those residents and with that mayor I'll move the agenda proof of legitimacy most of my commissioner Hill second by commissioner Shin all in favor indicate so by saying aye aye as opposed and so the motion carries we're gonna without objection recess the city council meeting and convene the CRA meeting uh the first three items are minutes so David I think I can handle those so the first one is the CRA minutes from March 20th is motion motion back to Mr Hill second by commissioner Sheen all in favor indicate so by saying aye aye as opposed motion carries second is CRA meeting minutes from April 3rd motion by commissioner Hill second by commissioner Stewart all in favor indicate so by saying aye aye those opposed motion carries number three is CRA Advisory board minutes from March 22nd motion by commissioner Sheen second by commissioner Hill London favor indicates so by saying aye aye those opposed motion carries all right number four David thank you mayor good afternoon Commissioners item four is a retail stimulus funding agreement between the CRA and gravity Tap Room you may recall that the CRA created the retail stimulus program in 2010 with the intent of getting more retail and quality retail at that established within downtown uh then we had the ability with your support to amend that in 2020 make it more uh pertinent to the situations that we have today in construction costs and have been successful in getting retail some of you will call the trophy room that's on Rosland Avenue Dexter's Birdland in our Paramore area we have gravity tap room before you today they are a full-service restaurant that is looking to take location in the north quarter area the sevens building 777 it's owned by Camden it's also known as Camden North quarter they are making approximately 735 thousand dollars worth of improvements to that space with HVAC and plumbing and electrical and so on so they do qualify for the full amount of the program which is 75 000 dollars in tenant improvements as I mentioned before and then twenty five thousand dollars in initial year rent abatement and I'm happy to address any questions questions or is there a motion by commissary second by commissioner Sheen discussion you're not all in favor the motion indicates so by saying aye aye those opposed so the motion carries David for the business that is all mayor and we will stand adjourned as the CRA and we will without objection reconvene the city council meeting let's see Madam clerk that brings us to hearings importance is on second read number one 3-16 an ordinance of the city council the city of Orlando Florida annexing to the corporate corporate looks of the city certain land generally located north of East Crystal Lake Avenue East of Mayor Street West of South Brown Avenue and south of Page Avenue and comprised of 0.161 acres of land more or less and amending the city's boundary description amending the city's adopted growth management plan to designate the property as residential low intensity on the city's official future land use maps designating the property as one to two family residential in the city's official zoning Maps providing for Amendment of the city's official future land use and Zoning Maps providing for severability Correctional scrivener's error permanent disclaimer and infected motion by commissioner Stewart second second by commissioner Hill this one Mr Sheen was abstaining from um is there anyone from the public that would like to discuss this Madam clerk no speakers mayor no speakers discussion hearing none all in favor the motion indicate so by saying aye aye those opposed motion carries all right number two ordinance number 2023-17 an ordinance of the city council the city of Orlando Florida relating to special use permit requirements for downtown businesses open past midnight amending Chapter 58 part 1B of the Land Development code entitled zoning tables in chapter 65 part 5A section 65.544 is William development quote entitled late night uses in the downtown entertainment area providing legislative findings and for codification correction and scrivener's error severability and effective date motion by commissioner Hill second Mike Mr Sheehan Madam clerk no speakers mayor discussion here none all in favor of the motion indicate so by saying aye as opposed series and number three ordinance number 2023-18 an ordinance at the city of Orlando granting extreme disposal Inc and a non-inclusive exclusive franchise to provide roll-off container collection and disposal of solid waste within the city of Orlando outlining franchisees duties and providing the terms and conditions under which such franchise shall operate providing preservability and uneffective date motion by commission Ortiz second by commissioner Sheehan Madam clerk is there any Eucharist discussion here not all in favor of motion indicate so by saying aye aye those opposed motion carries okay we've never gotten to the appeals section of our agenda as quickly as we have today so that's a great benefit to all of you who have come to discuss an important issue so we have one item left and that's a legislative appeal for the Saint James School easement abandonment this is an appeal of a legislative recommendation made by the municipal planning board to the council and it's meeting on March 21st 2023 the mpb considered abandonment of bicycle and pedestrian easements that bisect the St James school campus between Hillman Avenue and Cathcart Avenue after conducting and public hearing the mpb recommended approval of the application with several conditions related to The Pedestrian connectivity on March 27 2023 the appellant Christopher bet Shearer filed a legislative appeal of the mpb recommendation of approval section 2.179 of the Orlando city code gives the appellant and City staff 10 minutes to present their respective cases after which the applicant will also have 10 minutes to speak so let's begin with a presentation on the background from our City's planning manager Elizabeth thing and then we'll hear from the appellant and the applicant Elizabeth today to present on the St James easement abandonment request I could if I could ask for the PowerPoint to go up on the screen please so first up the project location is at 505 Ridgewood Street in the Lake Eola Heights neighborhood it's about a tenth of an acre and it applies to the two sidewalks that are located parallel to Ridgewood Street the requested action is to abandon the bicycle and pedestrian easements through the school campus between Hillman and Cathcart Avenues all north of East Robinson Street within the previously abandoned right-of-way this is an aerial photo showing the location of the two sidewalks with the northern part of the campus and the southern playfields shown as well the survey here shows the existing fencing and bollards within the property and the photo at the bottom shows the existing fences that are built today so this site does have a long history it was originally platted as a street in 1907. subsequently St James school was constructed on the north side of Ridgewood Street with additional buildings constructed about 10 years later on the south side of Richmond Street in 1996 the city council approved an ordinance to abandon Ridgewood Street between Hillman and Cathcart Avenues subject to retaining an easement for utilities bicycles and pedestrian access in addition there's an Associated deed restriction which requires the property to be used in conjunction with educational or instructional activities of the school property in perpetuity so the city code provides two requirements in reviewing requests for an abandonment the first deals with adequate public facilities and you know for something like a storm water pipe it's pretty clear that you need an alternative route and way to handle that sort of thing but with a pedestrian sidewalk it's a little bit less clear so we look to Our Land Development code which has a maximum block size for new development of 660 feet per side and the block length without those two sidewalk connections is 612 feet on both Hillman and Cathcart so that meets the city's standard so for that reason we recommended approval uh the second criteria relates to costs so any costs associated with moving utilities or any other changes associated with an abandonment has to be borne by the property owner and again if if this abandonment goes through then any Gates would be on private property at the expense of the property owner so the municipal planning board held a duly noticed public hearing on March 21st the original request was to abandon The Pedestrian and bicycle easements in their entirety the existing easements for utilities would remain and all other aspects of that 1996 ordinance would remain the same the applicant also proposed additional conditions of approval that would allow public access to the sidewalks during certain times and the board heard public comment from 13 nearby residents so the planning board unanimously recommended approval of the request to amend the easement subject to conditions in the staff report in addendum which they subsequently amended and so these are the six conditions of approval that the planning board recommended um the first one gives the school the right to install and lock the gates during times when the school is open or there are activities on campus the second gives the school the right to lock the gate at midnight on evenings prior to days when the school is open or has early morning scheduled activities the third one requires the school to unlock the gates during evenings weekends and holidays and other times when there are no scheduled campus activities the fourth condition requires that pedestrian access must be maintained along Hillman Avenue and along Cathcart Avenue so in other words where the the private area crosses that that access point has to remain which is currently public today and finally these last two deal with pedestrian gates and a vehicular gate which is an option and making sure those are placed in a safe location that meet city code requirements the board also did discuss the appropriate type of documentation for this type of request and they agreed to defer to the city's legal staff to determine what the best option was and we have today as part of the agenda item an easement encroachment agreement to memorialize these conditions yeah so abandonments are considered legislative matters which are policy setting actions and are conducted according to standard public hearing procedures and that's laid out in our city code chapter 62 article 24 that persons dissatisfied with a board recommendation May appeal the decision directly to the city council so on March 27th the city did receive an appeal from Christopher betcher and he met all the requirements to file that appeal so the findings here for purposes of the appeal is that they proposed abandonment is consistent with the purpose and intent of the city's growth management plan and Land Development code that the abandonment will not result in incompatible uses and that future development will continue to be subject to the city's concurrency management ordinance to ensure that adequate public facilities are available to serve the development so for today's actions available to the city council if the appeal is approved then the abandonment request would be denied and no further action is needed today if the appeal is denied the council would need to choose among the following actions either approve the mpb recommendation and the associated easement encroachment agreement that's attached to the agenda item second option would be to recommend approval of a full abandonment which would require two readings of an ordinance at a future council meeting and the third option is to recommend a set of revised conditions and direct staff to prepare an ordinance or agreement as applicable to implement those conditions so the staff recommendation today is to deny the legislative appeal except the mpb meeting minutes to approve the item and authorize execution of the associated easement utilization agreement in substantially the form that's attached to the agenda item subject to review and approval by the city attorney's office I'm available for any questions or comments uh questions for Elizabeth commissioner Burns uh yes thank you Elizabeth my question in your the analysis page of your presentation where you talk about LDC section 61.221 can you pull up that uh the mapping kind of explain you know what that looks like saying yes um so unfortunately I don't have a map that's zoomed out enough but uh the staff measured the distance between Robinson Street and Livingston Street on both Hillman and Cathcart and that's 612 feet so yeah so you so Robinson is just to the South here okay and Livingston is just to the north off the screen so that distance on one side of the block is 612 and 660 is the maximum but does that really relate because if we're talking about traveling pedestrians traveling in different in different um this I mean different areas because one is north and south and the other one is right so so the idea is that without the access you have to walk around and if there was no cross street let's say Livingston wasn't there and you had to walk a mile to the North or a mile to the South that might change the analysis but in this case it's about 300 feet in either direction to go around so they would have to walk up and then walk across and come back yes okay thank you Commission oh yes was there any um consideration Gavin because rep Robinson is frequently closed for events so if Robinson the sidewalk on Robinson is closing Robinson is closed as well as this street is closed how far then would someone have to walk to get to a sidewalk is there any consideration given to that so then that would be the north to Livingston so if they had to defer from Robinson that would be the full 600 beat that would be over 600 feet though 612 yep commissioner grave and commissioner Hill thank you Elizabeth I just want to confirm back in 96 when the council approved the ordinance they put a deed restriction that said I think quote in conjunction with it it requires the property to be used in conjunction with educational instructional activities of the school property that need restriction will still be in place that's correct yes thank you okay thank you commissioner Hill okay okay this is for clarity now the the abandonment the gates will only be closed during school hours and school events but it would be open back open for the public if there's no one on campus that's correct so evenings weekends holidays and the school would determine what their scheduled campus activities are and you'll hear from them in a minute but that does change a little bit from day to day so it may not be the exact same time every day but but they'll be able to monitor that and and open them when the campus activities have ended well this my understanding is that the applicant had come in for a total abandonment and I was under the impression that a resolution had been achieved with the homeowners association as it went forward in the MPP yes so those conditions those six conditions that I read out and the applicant will share a little bit more about this but you know they did come up with those working very closely with the neighborhood association hoping to get some support and and really leaving the planning board meeting thinking that a compromise had been reached and the planning board really thought the question was just down to how do we document this appropriately and and that was kind of the feeling as we left the meeting so I think it was a little bit of a surprise that those additional comments came in Commission yes Marin I think that the the problem with that was that um there were some additional conditions that the neighborhood wanted in terms of you know dealing with the pickup and drop off of students um that would that's a that's an issue that's that's affected the neighborhood as well as they just wanted it during school hours not this additional whenever the school wanted kind of thing because they could basically say they have one student on campus and that could be closed all the time so that's the concern that I heard that's why the neighborhood had had appealed so I want to make that clear too okay anybody else and thank you Elizabeth so we're going to hear from the Appellate and the applicant each will have 10 minutes then we will open it for public hearing it's a public comment each member of the public that wishes to speak will have three minutes I'm going to give the opportunity to both the Appellate and the applicant if you would like to reserve a portion of your 10 minutes let us know at the beginning of your comments and we will Reserve that for rebuttal which would come after the public testimony public discussion and then we would move to a motion and then discussion among commissioners so with that I'm going to call on the Appellate represented by Chris betcher just that okay so um would you like to reserve any of your time at the end or do you want to raise your 10 minutes yeah I'll reserve two minutes okay that's okay and clerk let us know at eight minutes and then if you just state your name Chris betcher um and I I wanted to make this very simple the appeal was because it was very unclear what happened at that board meeting actually today is the first time that I saw on paper what was approved so the reason for the appeal is is simply this whole process with the municipal planning board was unclear so as part of the appeal what I added to the appeal process which was um except for what I heard today that is what the applicant is asking to approve but the the original application was to abandon the easements during the board meeting they changed that application so I was a little confused why the the applicant didn't withdraw and re-apply so so the question or I think the simple answer was today is the first day I've heard of what was approved I I you know I I'm not sure what the public feels about this process but it was thoroughly confusing so that's the procedure part that I put um and I think some of those questions were answered but the second part of the appeal was to say substantively what do I think it was over 40 neighbors have said this is what we are willing to approve so or maybe the better way to say it is they wouldn't object to certain issues so what the the 40 applicants have signed off on is specific times and in enforcement mechanism um and essentially saying hey let's let's permanently add to this procedure that if the school sells it automatically reverts back which is the existing criteria from 96 was that the the city has to apply for that right to revert so we're simply trying to clarify that specific issue hold on let me understand that issue so if the school no longer exists and they sell their property to a developer what happens to the easement is that what's your the city would have to apply to get it back it's not automatic and that was the um you know whatever happened in 96 the I think there was an assumption that that would be automatic okay let's identify that as an issue okay you just want to make sure that if they no longer exist as a school and decide to sell the property to a third party that's going to do something different than a school what happens to the easement and you want to make sure it reverts to the city as we believe it would automatically yes Roy can you help us with that one seed restrictions simply says that area turn your mic on the dangerous restriction says that the city would would retake possession upon violation of of the deed restriction so um we would need to you know does talk about shall be entitled to obtain an order of a quarter appropriate jurisdiction that would be if the property owner objected whoever came in as a successor or whoever was doing something different with the property if they objected we would have to go to court to enforce the reverter but the reverter itself applies automatically once this this event occurs but there is provision in here that if we need to to enforce it because the the new owner doesn't want to acknowledge the reversion clause or whatever we could go to court and the authority is here to to do that now we could make this a smoother process as part of of an agreement if if the property owner was was willing but it exists today maybe a little more cumbersome than what uh what some folks would like but the right is there So the antenna is what you want okay I'm just clarifying the um I'll just letting you know that that issue we agree on I think they agree on as well that if they don't exist so if we haven't crafted in a manner that um is as Artful as you guys think maybe we can take care of that or maybe we can do that simply on the record here saying that that is the case yeah I think we could certainly just do that on the record here and then we could craft some additional language in the agreement that would already be approved by by our Council in this meeting so would not have to come back that would essentially streamline the reversion process so that you wouldn't have to go would necessarily have to go which I did in the addendum which was a draft ordinance it's not on the screen but you know 40 different neighbors have said I want times I don't want it to be discretionary I want an enforcement mechanism so that if the school chooses to close during non-school hours the residents have the ability to say hey this is this is in a Code Enforcement issue really is what we're talking about the residents shouldn't have to come to city council and say hey you guys have violated the agreement which was proposed at the municipal planning board actually the board members didn't really know how to enforce that so all the residents are proposing is specific times signs and um pick up and drop off use that street to um unburdened then the the surrounding Neighbors From issues that were created by closing the street so all they're saying is you have this street which you know was abandoned in 96 but you should use that for school purposes to pick up and drop off because that area which um borders Robinson it is congested during those times and it's going to become worse when that street is redeveloped so so I think what the neighbors are saying is that we're trying to be reasonable and here's the specific criteria which hasn't you know um hasn't been articulated to be able to enforce okay what type of signage do you want times the sidewalk will you know can be closed during these specific times that's it okay so we have the reverter we have times and we have a more difficult issue which is the pickup and drop-off issue yes okay which I actually um I'm not sure if it's available but I drafted an ordinance with those six or eight criteria so there's a draft okay further questions anybody okay so you have three minutes on rebuttal okay um any other questions I I just asked they didn't have any okay okay I think we know where your what your position is though okay thank you okay applicant representing St James yeah if you do the same thing do you want to reserve time for a puddle sorry Mr Mayor yes we would like to reserve two minutes at the end of the presentation as well please good afternoon Commissioners mayor my name is Greg Lee with the law firm at Baker and Hostetler 200 South Orange Avenue Orlando Florida I'm here today with a couple representatives from the school and a lot of people that are affiliated with the school but I'd like to introduce Jamie Hartman the principal of Saint James Cathedral School David Burns who's the head of the board for St James we agree with the city staff's recommendation to deny the appeal and we also agree with the recommendation to approve the mpb recommendations so in other words option one on the available options that Elizabeth went through with you today we acknowledge the existence of the deed restriction and reverter I don't have any issue with that you know the basis of our objections to the appeal are that mpb makes a recommendation to you all you all are the ultimate decision making Authority the due process and other things like that we feel we're not violated the substantive issues that were brought forward we think are an expansion on the conditions that we agreed to and then we presented and that mpb approved as we move forward in our presentation you'll understand a little bit more detail about some of those issues that were discussed and brought up Elizabeth did a great job of kind of going through the history of the ordinance and everything so we're not going to repeat that we do have a map here commissioner Burns this says have a wider view on this one that gives you an illustration where you might be able to see a better view of what your question was um recent history and background has alluded to during the city's presentation we've had a great deal of dialogue over the last three years with the association we've met several times we've met with their board we've met with the association in general um we've tried as hard as we could to see if there was some common ground and until recently there was never any common ground the school wanted the gates to be closed so that they they had a unified campus and the ability to close the perimeter of the campus the community wanted to have walkability and they wanted to have the sidewalks open so that people could Traverse through the campus of the school um walk their dogs and enjoy the sidewalks and and the right-of-way the trouble with that is that the school is positioned and oriented on both sides so you've got the sidewalks that run straight through the middle of the school I think the association has made presentations to say you could put a gate up and you could lock this out and create a corridor through the middle of the school it's a very unique situation that doesn't exist I think they've identified some similarities but they're not completely on point because this is a campus divided by these sidewalks and we have children every day that go out into the middle of this former right away that congregate change classes throughout the day and now you've got open Gates and pedestrians able to have direct contact with children all day and so that's what we're seeking to close and that's why we respect the views of the neighbors I empathize with what they're trying to preserve unfortunately we haven't been able to until recently come up with an agreement that everybody was willing to accept City staff recommended that the easements be vacated as Elizabeth pointed out in her presentation and after the community meeting on February 21st we identified a series of conditions that we agreed to and that the neighborhood agreed to that identified a way how we could work work out some form of compromise you heard today an insistence on identifying times one of the reasons that we wanted this to be discretionary is that we felt that the net impact would be that the gates would be open more frequently because of the variability of our schedules and things and Jamie Hartman will provide some additional information on this it's impossible for us to pinpoint a time on a schedule that changes school days don't change but after school activities do where children are still on campus children are actively participating in recreational activities and meetings and and different events and so if we were to say pinpoint a time we'd have to go with the most conservative window of time possible whereas if we have the variability of time I think it becomes a little bit easier the mpb decision was obviously subsequently appealed we were here today for that reason and I'm going to let Jamie Hartman talk a little bit more about the reason for the application and the conditions since 1996 in the yard and it's that closed the roadway there has been a significant increase in the incidences of school violence our research shows that there have been over 380 school shootings almost a few weeks after the mpb meeting was the Nashville shooting which gave an exam an example of what we are trying to prevent it was in the most recent news that the governor has signed the bill that permits concealed weapons to be carried without a permit all of this brings grave cause and concern to not only me as an administrator but also to our families and to those in the area Austrian easements have been reached that have been retained create an environment where we cannot secure our borders we cannot keep our children safe from the outside potentially strangers and possible dangerous individuals on a daily basis can have access to our students with the right to walk through the middle of our campus we filed this application in order to protect their safety and the security of those who work with our children Greg is correct we do have school days that are 181 days a year and they do have school hours but we offer before care aftercare sporting events and other community events for our school community on this campus all of those are areas that we would like to keep this campus secure sorry we worked with the neighborhood association to come up with recommendations that would give a little bit more leeway so that we wouldn't have to close those Gates completely and again like Greg said we believe that in good faith we will do our honest best to follow those expectations we have every intention of working with the association and the neighborhood we are neighbors and I know that Hillary who was here at the last meeting has really forged a relationship with us and we intend on working with Hillary and the rest of the association thank you just to wrap that up I think if if we were interested in trying to come up with an indirect way to close these Gates all the time we would have just stuck with the regular application that we filed the original application this is an attempt to try to find a way to keep these gates open when the school is not being used so with that I'll save the rest of our time in the rest of our presentation okay questions commissioner Burns yes thank you mayor so the um we thought about the utilizing that area for pickup and drop off is that feasible is that something that you have thought about um I just that was my question is that feasible what has that been looked at and thank you commissioner yes the in in terms of utilizing the the formerly vacated right-of-way from 26 years ago because we have buildings on both sides and because we have students that need to go in both directions it makes it incredibly difficult it's not as easy as as everyone thinks it would be what we've done is implemented an improvement to our drop-off and kickoff procedures we're going to continue to study that and during the mpb meeting we even talked about bringing forward a master plan at some point in time that might offer some additional encroachments onto campus that would be designed approved and considered by city council and the members of the community but right now the pressure that we've had and and the reason that we filed this application was frankly just because of the incidence of all the school violence we needed to make sure that we could secure the campus and we felt like it was appropriate to to do that but also offer a manner in which it could be open when the school's not being in use so so the utilizing it as drop off and pick up you all don't see that as being feasible at this point not in terms of reopening the old abandoned right-of-way that has it looks like a road because there's still bricks there but it hasn't been a road for 26 years and so no not in its current state and not currently with the way that children are dropped off and and picked up at the school but in the future would we be willing to consider a redesign of that and come back to the city and look at those other options absolutely but that's a separate application and and the trouble with this is that these are two very complicated issues and the one that we need to prioritize and the one that we're here today to talk about is the ability to secure this campus so we don't have people interacting with the children in the future coming back and addressing Transportation issues absolutely would be open-minded to that thank you further questions then I have one I assume you have a website would it be difficult on a weekly basis to say here's when the gates will be open and here's when the gates will be closed correct I know that there and Jamie can correct me if I'm wrong about this there may be certain activities that run long certain reasons that children are still on campus and campus activities are still going on where the gates would need to be locked but there actually is a schedule and it may not be the smartest security thing to publish that schedule and tell everybody exactly when the children are going to be there but what we are willing to do is commit to communicate with the city and commit to communicate with the association okay anybody else commissioner Hill yes do the association have a next-door site do you all do next door I'm asking a question do they have next door is it do you have next door you look like a pretty Progressive Association so I'm certain you have a lot of Technology there is it possible as the mayor was saying maybe not publicly but to Bear particular site do some type of communication when when there be after school activities because really it's about after school activities right and because if it's during the day school days we already know it's before school right those hours are what they are it's really about after school and weekend activities that we're addressing where they might not know that the gates are going to be closed is it possible to communicate with the HOA president and give them that information so that they can uh dispense it to the homeowners to where it's not a public component but just the internal component with the residents that's in their database I mean it seems simple your commissioner after the meeting Jamie Hartman the principal of St James met with the board representative Hillary Wyatt briefly after the meeting and committed to communicate with her and and there's been a an unfortunate difficult and strained relationship between the association and the school for many years one of the reasons that we wanted to bring forward a compromise and I understand it may not be perfect for everybody but the one of the main reasons for bringing forward a compromise is it is going to Foster communication and if the association wants to publish that or the association has a special reason why it would be important to have things open at a certain time what we're hoping is is that that's the future of the relationship versus the more adversary relationship we've had in the past okay I was hoping maybe we were to solve it right here but I don't think we have so how many speakers do we have 32 32 speakers okay I'm going to let the sure commissioner Stewart um Elizabeth and Roy on occasion when we have these legislative appeals there is a question of whether new information can be submitted I guess that's really only under other types of appeals this is a legislative appeal we can yeah there's no issue with with new information it's it's a it's a legislative matter it's up to this Council to as long as there's a rational basis for what you guys decide um yeah it's that's not an issue for this type of action thank you so I think we're aware Mr Lee's comment that there's been a long term adversarial relationship with the neighborhood and the school and a lot of times schools aren't good neighbors whether it's a university whether it's Community College or whether it's a private or public K-12 school and I'm kind of hopeful that we're going to have a Kumbaya session and everybody can get out what they want to say and maybe we can come to a point where everybody says wow this is really not a great thing having this animosity between the neighborhood and the school and maybe we really can find common ground because it really seems like there's only two items that are left and that's um a specificity at times and how those would be noticed and then the issue of pickup and drop off and I think we're all really sensitive to school shootings at this point and the safety of the kids in a school and um I know I wouldn't want to have blood on my hands if we let strangers walk through the middle of a school during the school day and something were to occur and unfortunately we can't just look the other way and say oh it'll never happen here because we've already had the worst nightclub shooting anywhere here in Orlando and those numbers are I think pretty spot on in terms of the number of school shootings that we would have so we're really more in the process of heartening schools than we are to leaving them open to the public but I want to hear from everybody and we were planning on being here until five anyways so we're all good and they're everybody deserves their opportunity to have their three minutes so the way it's going to work I didn't want to butcher the names today so I'm going to let the city clerk mess up names so you will when your name is called and she'll call a couple of people so that you'll know that you're next up after whoever is in the queue um you'll have three minutes but we'd like you to state your name and address and then if we get deep into this and somebody has already said the exact item that you are going to say you can certainly stand and say I suppose or oppose in support of and I wave my time so all right Madam clerk you're on up first is Mary Louise Schaefer followed by David Burns and Chad nicoloff my name is Mary Louise Shaffer I reside at 1024 Terrace Boulevard in the Park Lake Highland neighborhood for 27 years I'd like to start by saying that I completely understand the instinct to protect children while they are at school I have two children who attended K-12 Orlando Public Schools as parents our number one job is to protect our children from harm however the resources available to protect your child shouldn't depend on what school your child attends the Catholic Diocese of Orlando is very wealthy and powerful and able to influence the power Brokers of Orlando to get their way as evidenced by the fact that 505 East Ridgewood Street is no longer open to any traffic we are here as just citizens of Orlando battling against the expensive attorneys of Baker and Hostetler trying to fight the dangerous precedent of essentially giving away the sidewalk easements on East Ridgewood Street to a private school for the foreseeable future will this danger Dangerous precedent mean that Lake Highland preparatory school with its two campuses Sports Fields large parking lot a block from the campus be allowed to control the sidewalks around their property in my neighborhood um St Charles Borromeo and Bishop Moore high schools are right on busy Edgewater Drive what about the Christ school downtown those streets are dangerous too will you tell them no when they hire a powerful Law Firm to close their sidewalks meanwhile Public Schools like Howard Middle Lake Eola Charter and Hillcrest Elementary located just blocks from St James do not get basic safety precautions afforded to other Public Schools such as a flashing school zone sign slowing traffic to 20 miles per hours Howard Middle's campus is divided by Robinson Street just like St James is divided I guess they should be satisfied with the one Robinson Street crossing guard they get during drop off and pickup traffic is a little lighter during the middle of the day when the children are crossing Robinson Street to go to PE but since Howard's a public school it doesn't matter back in 2012 I headed up Hillcrest PTA Safety Committee I worked with Frank console and Jeremy Crowe of the city's Traffic Division numerous times to attempt to fix the traffic nightmare around Hillcrest we provided them with a detailed list and map of problems with remedies showed them 130 photos and videos of unsafe traffic conditions and violations and invited them to come to the school during traffic high traffic at times to see the problems for themselves all of that and the vast majority of the items were not addressed perhaps if we had hired Baker and Hostetler the city of Orlando would have addressed the needs of Hillcrest Elementary School it seems that private school kids are more valuable than public school kids this is a very ugly look for the city beautiful mayor Dyers team Commissioners thank you for your time today my name is David Burns I've worked in downtown Orlando for over 20 years I'm a parent of two children at St James and I'm the president of St James School Board I'm here today to talk to you on behalf of the parents quite simply we were asking for you to help us keep our children safe the situation with a wide open sidewalk easements through St James campus is an accident waiting to happen an accident you can help prevent 27 years ago when the city determined that the Ridgewood Street was no longer useful or needed and vacated land it retained The Pedestrian and bicycle easements over the area as a compromise that compromise no longer works the children need to diverse that area throughout the day date from class to class from class to the gym from class their Sports practices or extracurricular activities they're present in that area all day long some days that's from sunrise to sunset I walk my children on campus each morning because of the dangers I've witnessed from what's still on campus from those who visited overnight often that's people still lingering or sleeping on campus When the Children arrive other days as drug paraphernalia left there for children to pick it up the world has changed significantly the last quarter century it's no longer safe to allow the public access through the middle of a school campus public schools are not required to open their campuses up nor are they required to publish their schedule so anyone can see them that's because they're secure we realize that throughout this process you've heard from a lab minority of a few dozen people who do not support any closure of the gates and please know that there are hundreds if not thousands of other people including a list of hundreds of Voters we we provided to you in the petition that see this issue as common sense there's no need for public access to the St James campus it only takes about 100 steps in either direction to get around the area that's not too much to ask for children's safety the city staff report on this issue affects these states the same with its conclusion that there will be no material impact on connectivity and its recommendation to abandon the easements we are respectfully asking for you to please allow us to close the gates at James campus please help keep our children safe [Applause] hello and good afternoon my name is Chad nickeloff and my two children attend St James I'm here requesting that the council reject the appeal and sure sure sorry it's 1425 pinard Drive Orlando Florida 32825 um so I'm asking that the council reject the appeal and approve the recommendation from the mpb to restrict access to the campus during school hours this recommendation was agreed to by the neighborhood association at St James the question is why are we asking for this first I think everyone can agree that there's disturbing an increasing Trend when it comes to campus violence St James is a school that is located within miles of Pulse Nightclub a school that is located in the same state as Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in a school that shares a religious affiliation with the Covenant School in Nashville a school shooting that occurred in the time between when the MPV met and we're meeting here today secondly with over 400 students the St James campus is active throughout the year I witnessed this firsthand I serve on the school's Advisory Board and I coach several youth sports teams there are kids there as early as 7 A.M and way sometimes past 6 PM depending on the sports that night and you also have kids with ages ranging from 3 to 14 constantly Crossing Ridgewood to go to the gym go to the field go to the front office go to the library or even just go to dismissal so it is a sea of kids changing every 50 minutes on school so the question is that the council were to ratify the proposal from the NPP what would be the impact of the public well as discussed at the end if if this were to be passed an individual were to approach the school from the East they would have two options they could turn north walk about 100 Paces and Beyond Livingston or turn South walk about 100 Paces and Beyond Robinson Robinson Street where a project right is currently underway to make that street more pedestrian friendly it seems that these two measures would be working in harmony and lastly the Orlando Sentinel and opponents of this measure have attempted to portray St James as quote leaning into its sense of entitlement but that can't be further from the truth I live in close proximity to a public elementary a public middle school and a public high school one is brand new one is recently renovated and one is uh probably due for some Renovations but they all share one common characteristic each of those schools are locked down at all times so we are not asking for special privileges we're just asking that you allow us to protect our children the same way other children are protected in the city thank you okay how about if we do this the next speaker that represents the neighborhood you guys clap as long as you want after they're done and then how about if we don't clap for either one and we'll get through this quicker deal we know you support one side we know you support the other side so we've kind of got that but you get one more turn because I had two up next is Alicia Durgan followed by Joseph Eddy and Ted permenter so no clapping on this one no clapping okay good afternoon my name is Alicia I live at 1340 West Smith Street in College Park I've been a resident of the city of Orlando since 1985. today I'm representing the students Panther parents Association and employees of St James Cathedral School I'm here to express my sincerest disappointment that walkability through any school is Up For Debate I strongly oppose this appeal this is a common sense issue I was raised to believe that collectively as a society it is Our obligation to keep children safe regardless of their skin color socioeconomic status religious beliefs or whether their tax paying parents chose a public or private school for them as everyone before me has mentioned the world is very different and times has changed but for over 90 years this campus has been a safe space for children it's their home for over half of their day and I don't know about you but I lock my doors at night and on the weekends too my family was actually zoned for Lake Silver Elementary a public school in College Park under commissioner Stewart's District 3. when renovations to that school began over 10 years ago the city new and open campus was a liability and chose to close the entire school facilities off from public access for the obvious reasons we're mentioning today and many local families evening walks to use their playground simply ended no compromises or conditions see in 2013 college park already understood that our neighbors children's safety was Paramount the minor inconveniences of dog poop human excrement used condoms and drug paraphernalia left behind on our open campus is just icing on the cake to the bigger issue with our growing downtown area and unique needs of our community I've dealt with many aggressive transients walking through while I simply escorted children from one building to the next these daily threats are not conducive to a safe and healthy learning environment and while we require our parents to be fingerprinted and background checked to volunteer to help the children we Usher strangers straight through our campus to mingle with minors at snack time so we ask a lot of our kids they practice active shooter drills they shelter in place the catchy stop drop and roll has become run hide and fight and yet sidewalks other reason we can't properly secure our campus these kids are in fight or flight mode at lunchtime the safety of children will always outweigh the inconvenience of having to walk around the campus instead of bobbing and weaving your electric scooter full speed towards miners as they play The 15-yard Detour will get you a spectacular view of what makes us the city beautiful our flourishing Skyline and the iconic Lake Eola Memorial Fountain vacate these easements and sidewalks and let us secure our perimeter 24 7. please do what's right for the future of what actually makes our city beautiful our teachers and children thank you Joseph Eddie hi my name is Joseph Eddy I'm a 219 South Lasana Boulevard District 4. I'm representing pre-k-3 which is our three-year-olds who are youngest and most vulnerable kids at the school um you know I think the biggest thing I want to talk about is addition you know the violence that's spilling out of downtown um the 2021 Halloween shooting that happened part of it was downtown and that took a lot of the you know the brunt of the media but the the second part of it was there was three kids shot right at the school right the school kind of gates there right in front of a our gym and there was a 13 year old and a 17 year old shot there so this is not like a hypothetical idea this is real real violence right um you know I think it's insane that we're gonna let you know a lot of these School shooters that have been going through and and um you know casing the joints we're going to open that up um during you know basically announce to the World when they can go in or sabotage our gates um you know the number one thing and the Florida Department of of Education basically says the best practices is perimeter control and so I think it's very important it's not just as parents complaining this is a real thing that came out of the park side uh shooting um I think the second point is um you know giving access right away to a small piece of land or for a nominal you know amount for public good is is normal that's normal for for every local government and it's normal here in the city of Orlando um in 1981 the city gave away Palmetto Ave to the Christ school which is the First Presbyterian Church and that one they they had no restrictions they can sell it and they can sell it to developer they even can take away the um which they did the papers um and give it to the city um you know the second part is you know for Lake Highland Prep the city did give away and last year um access right-of-way to uh for a for a ramp for uh you know renovation they were doing in 2011 they also gave away a license to a land for Lake Highland Prep for for a a sports field and for um parking this is like such an easier ass than like this is security versus giving away for a sports field um you know or parking um because the last piece is exactly what one of the former you know speakers said is you know it's a 10 million Robin Street uh project that's a hundred steps away it's a 20 20 second bike ride according to Google I mean that's where the bikes are gonna go They're gonna go to Robinson Street this is not a crazy ask you know to compromise you know the safety of our children um for our three-year-olds I just asked you don't put them in a position where you know these kids are in temper tantrums they're very difficult to control um you know um you know I I want a full abandonment I think that's what it is and if we're not doing a full abandonment once we open up Robinson Street it really gives an opportunity for you know bikers and for for pedestrians to go 100 Paces and and avoid you know basically go where we where we're building or spending the money to do so I I appreciate you know the time and and thank you Karen Fisher and Kelly D'Amato good afternoon my name is Todd permitter my wife Danielle and our two sons live at 328 brassy Drive in the Dub Show area commissioner Stewart's District I'm here representing Pre-K 4 for Saint James Cathedral School and the ages in our class my science class was four or five years old I want to be perfectly clear that my position has nothing to do with the neighborhood in fact my experience with the residents has been nothing but positive this is only about the safety of our children we live in a much different world than we did 27 years ago I imagine no one here relies on the same safety measures personally or professionally as they did in 1996 and now they should our school unfortunately it took a child being hit by a car to vacate the street we've mentioned uh school shootings but my biggest fear is someone walking on the campus grabbing my son's hand and leaving you have 2X this is as you as you saw and never seen him again I've tried to justify one we should not close off the campus and I fell to come up with any rational reasons that supersedes to say if you have a child these kids are very vulnerable with these ages and as I said it would take hardly any effort to grab a child's hand walk him off of Campus and no one here finds that acceptable yeah here we are pre pleading our case to prevent that from happening the campus should be closed Beyond school hours because of all the activities that everyone's mentioned before and not simply 3 30 pm my five-year-old son's there till five o'clock in after school care he's not old enough to be in any sports but when he will be he would still be there probably even after five everyone here knows every school has it after hours activities this is another revelation we see Devastation every day in the country every day when we turn on the news I just hope we can come to some sort of agreement whether it's I personally prefer to vacate the sidewalks but I also understand we're in a great neighborhood and they want restrictions and understandably so I definitely get that somebody we can come to a good compromise to prevent any possible tragedy from happening thank you all for your time Kimberly kiss good afternoon my name is Kimberly whirling kiss 607 Shady Lane Drive I live and work in District 3. and I am speaking today on behalf of the kindergarten class at St James like many like many families at St James I'm not Catholic I chose the school for my daughter for reasons that were specific to just her and things that happened while she was a preschooler during a global pandemic we love the urban feel to the school and the many After Hours Sports and activities that are provided because we're both working parents my partner and I both work downtown very close to the office it makes them easier to scoot over there pick her up sometimes even take her back to work with me just so I can spend more time with her I'm new to St James but I'm not new to Orlando I've lived here for 30 years in fact I think I've seen most of you elected I'm an Orlando leadership graduate class 98. and I know how tirelessly you all work so I want to take a minute to actually say thank you because I know you have to be here time and again for these issues to hear everyone and to make the decision that's best for our community in fact my partner and I chose to stay here and raise our family because we love this city we love the creativity and we love the progress looking back I was a student at Howard Middle School around the time that the easement through St James was changed and I tell you I have no idea that was happening and I don't remember it what I do remember is being a Freshman at Boone High School when Columbine shooting happened then I was 17 When September 11th happened and my peers and I in this room the parents came of age in a time when events taught us the world was not as safe as we hoped fast forward and we are now raising children in a world that's even less safe in fact my 40 year old my 40 pound five-year-old came home at the beginning of the year and said Mommy it's really hard to do this hide and quiet thing we have to do at school why are we doing it and trying to explain to her why we do active gun drills at school was something that I was not prepared for never will be prepared for but you all know this we all know and we agree that the safety of our children is a top priority and I can tell you as a parent I wish I could just put my arms around the entire campus and close it off so that no one can get to our children and that they would be safe at all times because as a parent that is my most important job keeping my children safe I'm a parent but I'm also a lawyer and as a lawyer I've learned that most conflicts and most lawsuits settle somewhere around 99 of them and what I tell my clients is that everyone walks away a little happy and a little unhappy and that usually means you've done a good job at reaching an agreement I think that agreement was reached here between the parties and it was presented to be the missional planning board meeting on March 21st it represents years of compromise and negotiation and a handshake between the community and the school that we have not seen for years because of that I want to take a moment to thank St James and Lake Eola for doing that and I ask you to support the decision that they reached Karen Fisher good afternoon my name is Karen Fisher and I live at 12524 West tote Drive Orlando I my son is currently in middle schooler at St James we chose St James because of the high academics the central location I work right around the corner the neighborhood which I dearly love and the mission that it serves my son has cerebral palsy this can this condition restricts his Mobility greatly my son has been able to access the school and the campus through the use of either a walker or a wheelchair there are any at any given time at St James there are I can count most weeks two to five kids that have Mobility restrictions whether it's because of congenital conditions sports injuries surgeries we have some vulnerable kids there all parents send their kids to school each morning wherever they go to school entrusting not only their their child's education but also their child's safety to the school my child has witnessed and had to participate in lockdowns on campus sadly This Is Not Unusual for any school these days my child once asked me what should they do if there's a crisis situation on campus and he is changing classes I nonchalantly said you run and hide he looked to me and he said I can't I'm a Sitting Duck my kid is vulnerable and he realizes it he is vulnerable to not being able to protect himself should anyone and everyone have free access to the center of Campus where over 100 students are transitioning between buildings every hour I am not naive enough to think that a lot gay or fence will provide 100 protection for someone that wishes to do harm but what I do know is that a lot Gator offense will bite enough time for kids like my son to find shelter and feel safe a lot gate will allow my son and his classmates to transition more securely than they can presently a lot gate will provide kids like my son peace and security so they can focus on their education their friends and being a normal kid ambly asks that you deny the appeal and allow the compromise that was originally agreed to to proceed thank you Kelly D'Amato then Lindsey Kilgore David Martins and Diane Martins my name is Kelly D'Amato I live at 2202 red mark Lane in Winter Garden I have commuted for the last eight years to St James Cathedral School in downtown Orlando I am here as a parent of three children at St James Cathedral School and also as the assistant principal and the preschool director it is critical to prioritize the safety of elementary school children at St James Cathedral School particularly in light of recent incidents not just at our school but across the country the fact that the campus is divided by Sidewalk easements with buildings on either side creates multiple safety issues as people walk onto campus during school activities and are in close contact with children public access to children in a school setting is unacceptable as a mom and administrator I have seen specific instances of the public infringing on student safety each of these incidents can be avoided and could have been avoided provided the school had a secure perimeter any one of these incidents had the potential to be tragic a pedestrian approached children while they were having snack on the St James property The Stranger questioned them about why they were outside and what they were eating children have been solicited for food and for money by those walking through the campus we have also had people try to walk into the buildings with children as they change classes these people should never have had access to school children a man was riding an electric scooter through campus as a first grade class was exiting a gate onto the sidewalk to cross the campus he did not yield or slow for the children but rather cut through them and almost hit two of them at full speed this happens almost weekly with motorized bikes scooters and traditional bicycles these people should never have had access to school children during dismissal a man walked up to the Middle School building with many students present and began pulling on the door to get inside he stated he wanted to go in to get his medicine OPD assisted with removing the man he should not have had access to children on a school campus with the number of registered sex offenders in the area unregistered sex offenders and the number of transient people living at Lake Eola one block from the school we cannot decipher who is harmless and who is not but we know these people should not ever have access to children on a school campus again while students were outside all students a man appeared in who appeared intoxicated jumped out of some Hedges along the campus and entered the student area declaring that the sidewalk was public and he was from Puerto Rico and kills people that touched children children witnessed and heard this while another male entered the campus on the opposite end and approached me directly wanting to know what I said to his friend OPD intervened as the men were confrontational and too close to Children these people should never have had access to school staff or children recently a male entered the campus while students were present dropped his pants and proceeded to defecate the campus was told to lock down per OPD for a stabbing incident on a Lynx bus the problem at St James is that we cannot go on a complete lockdown like typical schools because the campus cannot be secured a bus stop is located directly in front of our school's playground fence causing more foot traffic through the school area not all of these incidents get filed with police because they happen so routinely be consistent find people on our campus and need the frequent help of OPD and resources these instances are deliberate and escalating on our school campus thank you Lindsay Kilgore mayor Commissioners good afternoon my name is Lindsay Kilgore I'm an Orlando resident in District 3 at 804 Seminole Avenue where I've lived and worked for over 20 years and I'm speaking on behalf of the 43 third grade students ages eight through nine at St James Cathedral I'm a parent to one of these third grade students as well as to a sixth grade student age 11. I stand before you today as a parent while each of us may present according to gender race political affiliation religious affiliation none of this has any bearing when we talk about children it's our desire to protect and care for the safety and well-being that of these most vulnerable it's innate it's built within all of us doesn't matter who we are how much money we make it's it's an innate capacity within us it is why I'm asking the council to deny the appeal it is my desire to completely vacate the easement but I'm I am wanting to come to an agreement I did want to reference a December 11 2000 Orlando Sentinel article written by commissioner Sheehan herself she describes how she took a stand for the safety of children by fighting for the installation of sidewalks around Orange County Schools she held firm against this opposition and she writes and I quote which of these children's safety does not matter would you feel differently if they were your children nieces nephews or grandchildren caring for one another and the safety of our children should be an accepted principle in our civilized society our neighborhoods and Orlando as well end quote and I agree with her allowing these sidewalks on bicycle paths to remain open is a security concern I am aware that vacating these easements and locking the gates do require a sacrifice you have to walk an extra 100 steps use sidewalks that are available around the school not through it you may have to take a few minutes longer in your commute but isn't this sacrifice worth it to prevent a child from the fear of being approached to her costed by a stranger because it's happened as you've heard is it not worth it to prevent our teachers from having to get In Harm's Way to de-escalate a situation on campus to protect their students because again it's happened is it not worth it to prevent our children from being exposed to drug needles used condoms and various other suspicious items when they walk and play is it not worth preventing what could happen we've heard about what could happen and oftentimes we ask could it have been prevented so I'll end with this if you feel that keeping pedestrian and bicycle easements open and unlocked poses no threat and children are safe I challenge you leave your house car and bicycle unlocked at all times don't wear your safety belt while you're driving it's safe you're asking us to abandon a measure of Common Sense prevention if you accept this appeal and uh you're preventing us from protecting our children thank you David Martins hello my name is David Martins and I live at 229 East Amelia Street Orlando Florida 32801 I am the current president of the Lake Eola Heights historic neighborhood association referred to in my presentation as Lena and I'm speaking today representing myself and as a member of the Lena's board let me Begin by saying that Lena's purpose has always and will be wanting the very best outcome for the safety of the children at St James the neighborhood and attendees to Lake Eola park period we voted and approved as a board the closure of the sidewalk access was for instructional hours only if you've heard anything other than that it's not true approximately from say 7 to 4 pm we don't have the exact times five days a week while school is in session but St James's attorney says it would be enforced until the last child or staff member was off campus no matter how few they also contend that they can lock the gates at midnight on school nights this was never part of our agreement the procedure followed at the mpb meeting was outside of the proper rules as outlined in the appeal therefore I support the appeal and ask the city council to support it as well and send this current request by the diocese back to the drawing board and get the best possible outcome for the children's safety here are the real unresolved issues fix the street remove the improper non-ada compliant sidewalk across Ridgewood and use the street for drop off and pickup of students orderly and safely number two build a fence all these stories about things they find in their yard build a fence basing the school entrance and front yard the only section of St James and the entire campus it would be secure as they wish without impacting pedestrian and bicycle access compliance who is going to be responsible for enforcing the proper opening and closing of the gates will fines be assessed when the gates are improperly left locked is there a consequence when the rules are not followed signage how is the general public able to know when they can and cannot pass through the gates so they can plan their day or weekend accordingly and precedent it is the city council that would be giving away public right-of-way to a private organization and creating a precedent of other private organizations can contend as proper part of their plans I hope that happened my time I have spoke to an executive at Orange County Public Schools 85 percent of the schools in Orange County have no fencing that you can go right up to the front door as a neighborhood leader I sense that this current Arrangement needs to go back to the drawing board for the safety of the children let's have some real negotiations which we haven't commissioner Hill I have helped with your district with black bottom Church commissioner Stewart I've helped with your district for an historical marker and mayor Dyer your Administration may be the 2022 neighborhood champion of the year and you presented me with the award accept this appeal and let's work accept this bill let's work to do better for the safety of the children thank you [Applause] up next is Diane Martin's followed by Tim Hayes Erica Knight and Christine Prasad okay good afternoon uh first of all I'd like to apologize I'm a horrible public speaker so if everybody could just bear with me I'm nervous as I could possibly be my name is Diane Martins I live at 229 East Amelia Street Orlando Florida 32801 I'm the treasurer of the Lake Eola Heights historic neighborhood association also known as Lena and I speak today representing myself and as a member of the lean aboard I've been a resident of Lake eel Heights since 1979. my house when I moved into it had been seven units it had running water in every room but the kitchen and that's the way downtown was at that time okay but we have worked very hard to upgrade and get it to a historic district status um the Lena board voted and presented to the MPP that as we as a neighborhood would support closing the gates only during instructional hours which would be sometime between 7 and 5 PM during the weekdays and open the gates outside of those hours on weekends holidays and summertime if they wanted to hold small meetings or have small groups they can easily move to the venue across the street at the gym that is completely fenced and secure why should a neighborhood and others have to suffer because they want to randomly stay after hours for various functions and again at this time I will remind you that it's a block from Lake Eola everybody likes to go down to Lake Eola with their dogs and walk around and everything and so it's would be a nice thing if this was still available because people love to walk through there and I'd like to know who's going to enforce this opening and closing at the MPD meeting they wanted us to let them do it in good faith rules and regulations are the way the city of Orlando operates and not in good faith okay last year the diocese poured a cement walkway across the Ridgewood Avenue they had a questionable permitting process by the city and all that it was approved eventually it is currently not add ADA Compliant this sidewalk needs to be removed and open access to drop off and pick up the children in an organized fashion and not as it's done currently because right now it's a nightmare when they come to pick up their kids after school um once construction begins on Robinson Street there's obviously reasons to use Ridgewood Avenue for staging in the cars previous attempts between the neighborhood and St James to negotiate use of the street to ease the impact of the neighborhood and make it safer for the children have now been hijacked with a cement barrier with no apparent purpose so my suggestion is remove it let's do really do everything we can for the safety of the children put up a fence in front of the school in open Ridgewood and thank you very much for listening to me I appreciate it I make my time yep thank you I'm sorry make an exception I wouldn't want the husband to get Applause and the wife not a good Applause okay now we're done with the Applause Tim Hayes hi my name is Tim Hayes I reside at 711 East Ridgewood Street just one block east of the St James campus the decision here relates directly to my family and clearly the parents staff and students of St James and the neighborhood association my wife and I moved to Lake Eola Heights from the Lake Como neighborhood due to the accessibility of downtown and walkable nature of the neighborhood by the sounds of it I decided to move into a war zone we have two kids a five and a three-year-old and we routinely walk through in the evening and the weekends of this beautiful property my kids use this area to run be free learn to ride their bikes and from time to time I walk and ride to downtown businesses sometimes during the school day I was an example of that was put up on the screen during one of the neighborhood meetings but I understand during the school day we can close it in fact I've even taken advantage of the Fairly regular appearance of food trucks on the abandoned roadway I do have two questions how is it safe for the kids to walk off campus when school is out statement was made that certain individuals should not have access to students especially homeless and destitute citizens in need around Lake Eola guess what they're outside the gates lots of condom wrappers needles and drug paraphernalia are in front of my house want to come by to help clean them up let me know when you want to organize that cleanup because I can't close off the sidewalk in front of my house I would like to remind some folks here that the city Commission the city commission and folks here that the Orange County Public School District routinely opens the gates and Fields and track and playground at Lake Como Middle School every evening and on the weekend after school is out when the playground was removed for the remodeling of that school we are asking for the same thing but this time from a private entity again the ask is simple close the access during the school day and open it in the evenings and weekends that's it for times on the shoulder of these hours the solution would be to provide security through the likes of an organization like the Orlando Police Department who do a wonderful job on your campus every single day simple Common Sense surely we can agree to something that keeps children safe while allowing neighborhood access outside of school hours thank you for your time Erica Knight good afternoon Commissioners my name is Erica Rodriguez kite I reside at 2297 Blackjack Oak Street in Ocoee and I work in Paramore at the UCF downtown campus thank you for the opportunity to share my concerns I am here to speak as the mother of a Fourth Grade boy who attends St James and a three-year-old boy who will start preschool there in August and I didn't want to have to include this detail but my quote private school kid attends St James on a state scholarship for kids with disabilities and as a PhD who studies message framing I reject the message frame that we are asking for special treatment or quote private school kids the safety of all kids is important with all the school shootings and mass shootings Across the Nation in recent years including right here in Orlando I know you all know how scary it has become to just leave our homes and try to live a normal life but life in 2023 is not normal on the way to school my 10 year old son has told me about all the hiding spots he has found on campus in case a shooter comes to school including outdoor locations like the playground and the cobbles it's hard to imagine what it must be like to be 10 years old and fearing that you or your classmates might be killed at school or at any moment he should be playing hide and seek not looking for places to hide to avoid getting shot but here we are in the reality of 2023 we drop our kids off at school and hope for the best meanwhile the governor signs a law that allows anyone to carry a gun without a permit given that scary reality it's also hard to understand how anyone can be against keeping children safe at a time like this this school has been here for more than 90 years we're talking about a small stretch of sidewalk that runs right through the middle of Campus just steps away from an alternate route the public does not need access to the middle of this campus the public does not need to be in close contact with children during school activities and the public does not need to be on the school campus overnight Commissioners I'm asking you to look at this situation within the context of our current state of the nation the safety of all children is important more than convenience real estate or politics please help protect our children thank you Christine Prasad followed by Jonathan Baker McBride McLaren climber and Jeff Thompson are you Christine Prasad Jonathan Baker McBride good afternoon everybody pure my name is Jonathan Baker McBride I reside in District Four I live at 312 South Forest Avenue I also own a business in the district at 1516 East Concord Street I'd like to first thank you for listening to the comments today I know there's strong opinions on this and I appreciate everybody hanging in with us my family and I own a woman of business inside the district our two kids attend St James and have been the last three years as a resident and business owner in the district I understand how important walkability and neighborhood connectivity is I walk and bike through the neighborhood multiple times a week I regularly deal with incomplete sidewalks and places that I can't walk through and I adapt to it as a business owner I also understand the challenges of securing my property in downtown it's a constant struggle to keep people from trespassing on their particularly after hours but it's important because we've got patient safety to watch out for and these are the challenges that come with living and working in downtown and again we adapt to them because we love living in downtown Orlando I feel like we've heard a lot today that we live in a different time and I think if we're being honest our kids are going to school in a different time than any of us have gone to school in and so the situation is different and we can't be ignorant of the fact that there are dangers that exist that quite honestly were not considerations when we were all in school and given that reality we as a community have to take steps to secure our schools and protect our kids it's not a duty that we want but it is something that we have to do I know there's no way to keep our kids safe in school at every hour of the day but I know that when they're in school I want to have I want to trust that they're safe and creating a barrier to prevent strangers from entering the campus is a straightforward and Common Sense measure it's nonsensical to allow people to wander through a school campus and I wish that there was more that could be done I'm not just speaking as an experi act I'm not expecting as a concerned parent or a neighbor but I have some experience in this area and past employment I worked for Orlando Health for 11 years including Logistics chief for their ambulatory emergency preparedness team I was there that night of pulse I was there the morning there was a shooting in the emergency room I've seen the effects of violence and it scares me and I can professionally offer the opinion that controlling the perimeter is the first step that you take in security for any organization if bad people don't have access the damage they can inflict is immediately minimized St James is doing the right thing here [Applause] I know there's frustration at the perception that the school is taking away something from the neighborhood and this may seem unfair and I hope as a parent the added safety of my children's incentive enough to tolerate the minor inconveniences of this and I hope that the city Representatives will Air toward the side of caution and side with the school on this matter [Music] hmm Karen climber good afternoon I'm Karen climber 305 East Concord Street I'm a true native of Orlando and a member of St James Cathedral I don't think there's anybody in this room who does not care about safety I think everybody cares about safety and but St James is the safest School in one of the safest neighborhoods in five years they've had 58 calls for service outside of their regular police officer on campus 38 of those were House business checks so that leaves 20 calls and seven of them resulted in cases one was a suspicious person a vehicle burglary an accident two suspicious incidences a trespasser and Non-Emergency assistance so if the teachers parents and kids are finding drug paraphernalia and they're not doing anything about it I would offer the services of our award-winning Neighborhood Watch program in our neighborhood if we see something we say something and safety isn't an issue but children's safety is important but and and their um you know citing National statistics and everything but what about the 19 year old that was killed at five o'clock this morning on Lee Road a pedestrian so pedestrian safety is equally important and to leave a private organization who's unaccountable to the public in charge of when the public has access to an easement I think it's just irresponsible I would suggest a a time frame I I don't know the exact time but let's just say you know seven a.m to 4 P.M and that might not work in all cases but the model across the country in every city in America it red lights that are near schools there are signs that say no tarno no turn on red 7 A.M to 9 p.m and then 2 P.M to 4 P.M or whatever now that doesn't mean that's the only time children are present but that's the reasonable compromise that that's what is safest for the kids and and still allows traffic to flow so that's what I would suggest is specific time frames I don't know maybe 7 A.M to 4 P.M where the the school is the the easement is open and if they want to have a Girl Scout meeting after that they can do that but just know that when they're scheduling the meeting consider that and I think the public deserves to know when it's going to be open because it's a public easement it's not a neighborhood easement it's the public so it shouldn't be on next door it should be available for anyone in the public so I would ask you to leave the easement open thank you Jeff Thompson Raymond Cox Jennifer Thomas and Jeff worth [Applause] good afternoon my name is Jeff Thompson I live at 600 East Amelia Street at the corner of Cathcart and Amelia which is like two blocks away and I'd like to say Echo everybody else here saying thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to us hear us weigh our concerns we really do appreciate it and I'd like to Echo the mayor's concern about maybe we could all get along a little better after this I would hope we could because over the years if we disagree with what St James wants to do with the school property we've been vilified we've been demonized we've been accused of not caring about children you get undertones of that tonight they say how can anybody not agree with us and think this is closure is a good idea we all care very deeply for the children in our neighborhood we all care very deeply for the children that come to our neighborhood we all care very deeply for the children at St James many of our neighbors have gone to St James many of their children are have gone there currently there's at least two families in our neighborhood who have children that go there one of those people is the guy that handles my retirement account we're good friends we care very much we have relations we get very frustrated when we're told that we don't care about children we're not sensitive to the needs of children we don't love children because we disagree with the best way to do that I was president of the association when the right-of-way was abandoned 27 years ago we were told first off when I met with Kevin Shaughnessy and the principal that the street would be closed off during the day when school's in session and would be reopened to traffic after that what came before the ordinance came before city council was that complete abandonment so we were very frustrated by that when um Tom Wilkes a county attorney who represented the diocese at the time said we will never sell this property we asked for a reverter clause that automatically returned the street to the city if the property was ever sold that reverter Clause mysteriously became a callback clawback cause where the city would have to request that and as the city gave it away the first time we have a whole lot of confidence the city might insist on getting that property back so we really think that's very important that there be a reverter clause that automatically Returns the property to the city if that has ever sold because as Tom Wilkes said the city uh the diocese never sells property since then they've sold the property just to the east St James just to the west of Saint James they sold The Bishop's house over by Lou Gardens and they sold the property where um the society apartment complex is being built in downtown Orlando largest department so we take all that with a grain of salt and I'd like to clarify it was a neighborhood association that suggested a partial closure of the of the easement instead of giving it all up that was our suggestion at the February 21st meaning that Mr Lee mentioned and they said no we will not accept that they only came before us not before us before the municipal planning board two days beforehand did they say they'd be willing to compromise not any time previous to that that was always our suggestion that's always what we proposed and it wasn't until that last minute so those are all things we wish you could take into account thank you Raymond Cox good afternoon my name is Raymond Cox I live at 600 East Amelia Street and I'm the secretary of the neighborhood association mayor and Council thank you for hearing all of us today um I'd like to point out that when the principal first came to the school years back I introduced myself as the secretary exchanged information saying I'm a good contact person you're more than welcome to send anything through me if there's an event at the school that you want us to push to the neighborhood if there's anything you want us to participate so that Avenue has been there since she's been there I've heard from a movie twice so that sort of leaves me a little you know surprised when we talk about Avenues of communication because we all have to agree communication is the fundamental Cornerstone of any successful dialogue uh it does sound like we live in a horrible neighborhood and I might have to start doing someplace else to live but when I moved there in 93 it was considered one of the worst neighborhoods in the neighbor cities in the neighborhood and if I remember correctly the census the census at the school is sort of low and it's grown since then as the neighborhood has prospered because I wouldn't want my kid to go to a school in a rough neighborhood we've worked really hard to bring this neighborhood to a safe place that not only we can live but we can have people come visit come do business bring their kids to school but we make it safe what it sounds like is the school is concerned for the safety of the students which I give them credit to that the neighborhood we're concerned not only for the safety of the visitors but also the residents that live there we have kids that go to school in the neighborhood other schools in the neighborhood too so safety is Paramount none of us here has heard anybody say they're opposed to the street closure doing you know instructional hours but let's keep in mind everybody keeps bringing all of these horrible horrific events out starting from Columbine all the way to the recent one in in Nashville if you look at it the threat has been perpetrated by people who've had reasonable access to the schools so basically inside they had access so let's don't use this Band-Aid I hope they're not using this closure as just a Band-Aid by not also working within the school itself but we're here to work with them I more than happy to share any dialogue with the school in the neighborhood but we're here we've always have been and we always will be so thank you Jennifer Thomas Jeff worth it's going to be followed by Val Mobley Jamie Hartman and George Fleming I'm Jeff I'm Jeff worth and I live at 628 Amelia and I think if I were to ask the people in this room if you were against protecting our children if you would raise your hand I don't think anybody would raise their hand I think it's really important that we learn to function truly as Neighbors because that's what we are whether whatever our beliefs are we are neighbors and as such it's important to have communication and the thing that I see missing in that the things that I have heard thus far has been an absence or perhaps just a deficit of communication if there is a way in which the communication can be established between the people who hold the various points of view I believe that there can be a solution reached from my understanding there was a something set of in good faith that to approve it in good faith when I was a professor out at UCF I had a Dean who once said to me Jeff if it ain't written down it never happened and having a measurable agreement something that can be understood by all the parties involved seems like it would be a step forward towards becoming good neighbors thank you thank you Madam Clarke how many more do we have we are on number 22 of 32 so 10 more Val Mobley good afternoon I'm Val Mobley 226 West King Street um I agree with everybody else here we are all concerned about the safety of children all children but closing the sidewalk um on their property is is unprecedented there are no gates in front of Edgewater High School and there are people that walk in front of Edgewater High School every day all day during the day while the children are on campus I go often down Highland Avenue by like Highland Prep and those children cross the street every day and people are walking their dogs and they're jogging down the sidewalk that has no gate um I just want to remind you that Howard middle school is on a four-lane road and those children cross that four-lane road multiple times every day there are no Gates on the sidewalk in front of Howard Middle School um I don't know any other school any school in Orange County that has Gates on their sidewalks if you allowed this to happen then what is to keep them from putting up Gates what would be stopping individuals from putting up gates at the corners of their properties so that people couldn't use the sidewalk in front of their property um I thought that sidewalks were public property we all pay for them and I thought that they should be open to everybody to use so I would hope that this Council would approve the appeal request so that another dialogue can happen where we can come to meaningful um agreement about how this should work out because closed Gates is not the answer Jamie Hartman I already spoke so I'm George Fleming hi I'll keep this as brief as I can my name is George Fleming I'm at 1729 repard road district 3. I'm a a father and a grandfather of three who attend Saint James but I'm also an advocate for the several hundred other children that also attend Saint James and the only way we are we are obligated as parents and grandparents communities and leaders obligated to protect our children they are our future so I I believe that the school should be locked down as best as we can and if that means closing the gate 24 7. and have you know somebody that might have to walk an extra 500 feet thousand feet whatever it is then so be it I walk a lot um there's a a charter school on Fern Creek and I walk all the time around it and if and if it had to be closed fine I I I'm all for it I'll walk wherever around the school that I have to as long as it's for the children and that's what this is about it's about securing our children and we are obligated to do that it doesn't sound like it's it's that much of an issue to me to have to walk around the school to get to the other side thank you [Applause] Margarita Montero Jeanette lemon Tracy Jacobs hello thank you for the opportunity to speak today I also was born in Orlando Florida and I actually lived on Robinson Street Lake Eola and walked to St James School along with seven of my siblings so I do have a history in Orlando and at St James I also live on Ridgewood Street my address is 1008. my husband and I have lived in our current home on Ridgewood for 32 years we raised our four children in this home that we purchased back in 1991. so that our children could walk to St James Cathedral School as parents our children's education and safety has always been a priority to us actually the education and safety of all children should be important to all of us whether at Catholic School or public school if our tax dollars are directed towards this purpose of keeping children safe and educating them in the public school system then can't we also support this to be accomplished even when the school is private or parochial when the section of Ridgewood between Cathcart and Hillman was closed off back in 1996. I believed it was for a good reason our neighbor Jerry sellers wrote a letter which was read aloud at that meeting in 1996. just so you know he was not a parent and not a Catholic simply a homeowner who lived on Ridgewood he said and I quote I believe as a good neighbor if I have something that I do not need or use why would I not give it to someone who needs it more than me I think it was true then and it is still true today that little section of Ridgewood is not necessary for anyone who lives in our neighborhood nor anyone who is visiting Lake Eola streets leading to the lake run north south that short block runs East-West if closing it permanently makes it safer then I say do it but my understanding is that the school offered to have it open for pedestrians from Friday evening until Monday morning I think that's an amazing option what you might call a win-win situation for everyone we also should remember that the school was built in 1928 before many of the homes that exist in our neighborhood today thank you could you repeat your name for the record oh I'm sorry Janet lemon thank you Tracy Jacobs followed by Albert yonfa clay Heinz and Heather sorensi good afternoon thank you all for your time I'm Tracy Jacobs I currently reside at 309 East Amelia Street speaking for myself I would ask that you accept the appeal of Mr basher thank you Albert yonfa foreign good afternoon Albert yonfa 1201 Sweetbriar here in Orlando Florida I've lived in the district district my entire life I've had a doozy of a speech prepared and I think I'm just going to spare everybody but it would have brought a tear to your eyes but um I think I'm just going to address some of the things that were said here today because I think that might be a little bit more relevant but you know just let me say that I think God works in mysterious ways and I think that this appeal may have been a blessing because I am completely of the opinion that this easement used to be completely abandoned now some people may have a different opinion on that and I understand and compromises need to be made but I just need to have that said um you know I was going to talk about crime grids something attorneys use to identify when there's a risk to a community a landowner knows I'm not even going to get into the crime grid situation here because I think um eloquently mayor Dyer acknowledged that no one wants blood on their hands I don't even want to go down that that road about that conversation this easement needs to be abandoned so what we have here is some comments made you know Howard Middle School is in danger this school's in danger that's good that's fine let's fix all the schools I I don't know why talking about the dangers with Howard Middle School have any effect on what we're trying to do here today let's fix them all let's keep all children safe so I I don't know how that's any of that's relevant as far as closing Lake Highlands sidewalks or closing First Press sidewalks is a hypothetical okay those sidewalks have nothing to do with the situation on hand because those sidewalks do not bisect those schools we're not talking about the same situation here apples and oranges and I don't think making comments about how much St James parents make or or or how privileged their children maybe has any relevance here at all other than to evoke really a a negative environment here for conversation we don't need to talk about what sacrifices parents made and what we all do here we're here for children all children um and let's be clear that um the people who live in Lakeview Heights are extremely privileged to live where they live in such a beautiful neighborhood and we're not worried about necessarily the residents and we've touched upon this and this goes back to the crime grids we're worried about the people we don't know about we're worried about people walking through the middle of a campus we're worried about guns we're worried about knives we're worried about fentanyl we're worried about pipe bombs and bags at night time we're worried about abductions we're worried about a lot of things and it may not necessarily be the the wonderful wonderful wonderful residents of Lake Eola Heights neighborhood and I don't mean that facetiously I mean let's be clear about what we're talking about here so one of the other things that was was said is that um you know Lake Eola being um the impeded access to it again as Miss lemon stated these sidewalks go north and south to Lake Eola it's not going to be impeded by a sidewalk that cuts through the middle of the elementary school campus with kindergartners through eighth graders for 150 feet that goes east and west that's just not going to happen so because if there's condoms and needles in another neighbor's house a few blocks away again so let's keep them out of the neighbor's yard let's keep them out of the school too just because a neighbor has condoms and needles in their front yard suddenly we're just okay we'll just let them be at St James School we're not going to do anything about that again I don't understand that so listen I I think we're all reasonable people here I think we're all good people here but let's not compare apples to oranges this is all about the children clay Hines hello Clay Hines 209 East Amelia I do live in the neighborhood um real quick comments something that's maybe not been shared is I do want to articulate the extreme chaos that the that the school has created in the neighborhood with regards to pick up and drop off um for an organization that is this passionate about the safety of children if you could see the close encounters that are taken every single day and then compare that to the number of kids that are injured in our country due to um Auto and incidents within neighborhoods then we would have this same Vigor to open up the street which is part of the proposal that we've given you open the street lock the doors let everybody know when it's going to be open and closed and we're all good and we can all go home Heather surrency followed by Brad Levine and Debbie Smith thank you Brad Levine hello everybody my name is Brad Levine my family and I reside at 632 East Livingston Street Orlando Florida I came here to speak before you today because I not only am a parent of one past and two present children at St James but I'm also part of Lake Gila Heights Community Association or Homeowner Association um I'll say first I have never had the neighbors throughout my entire life that I have had living the last two and a half three years in Lake Yola Heights wonderful wonderful neighbors and people um as we have all been saying we all agree we want to protect children at all schools I hate to hear things about Howard I have friends and neighbors that have children at Howard and Hillcrest if things are wrong on Richmond with Howard we need to fix that we all do and we will St James has an issue directly going through our school and it is not important enough to say that we need to document hours of closure one child one faculty member is all it takes for somebody to go missing and that will be documented that will be documented on a grave site so we need to have trust both sides if there's a trust problem my wife and I live in the neighborhood and we will work on that together with the school let's do that we have to trust our faculty to say when the school is closed when one child is present we all want to protect the children we know that so let's do that trust the school who cares deeply for all children and let's let this happen let's close these Gates When anybody is on that campus thank you Debbie Smith good afternoon Debbie Smith 830 Palm Drive Colonial Town North I attended the March 21st mbmpb meeting regarding an application to give St James Catholic School control of the public sidewalk when listening to the staff's recommendation and the discussion of the last minute conditions the attorney and staff presented the details were vague I couldn't believe that the board didn't send their application back and actually voted sitting in the audience I was like I have no idea what they just voted on I have no idea how this will be implemented as a taxpayer I was shocked shocked so that is why not that I don't want to compromise it's I didn't know what the compromise was that is the reason I co-sponsored the appeal because I was there I saw how it went down and it wasn't good and now I have a better understanding what the staff is recommending because they actually had it in writing and I could see it it's still vague in my opinion there should be specific times I was an educator for 17 years I taught at public school I taught at private school I taught at a charter school and I understand the safety of children I understand the due diligence of walking the playground before you let children out there so you pick up the needles the condoms and the pieces of handguns which I did at Ivy Lane every day when I taught pre-k through third so as a teacher and if you care about children you don't let them fan out at dismissal you walk them to the door the car pulls up you open the door and say hi yeah they had a great day or they need a little extra TLC and you make sure that child gets in the car so the fact that they're Fanning out in the neighborhood concerns me a great deal that's not good um so I co-sponsored this because I have common sense too there should be specific times for instance pedestrian restricted School 8 15 to 2 15. could be a sign I think that's somewhere in Winter Park at another Catholic School there's no problem putting it up a sign I went to their website and looked at their April calendar there are two events on Saturdays and Sundays so are they going to close it then too so I support the appeal that's all I have mayor okay then we have a couple minutes of rebuttal from let's see we'll go in the same order so Mr betcher you have uh three minutes and Mr Lee has two minutes okay can I ask can you come to the podium though let me ask you one question see it may be more than one question two two no applause okay if if we can handle the reversion issue take that off right sure and Roy we've got a way to make it okay I don't think we're going to be able to handle the pickup and drop off okay and as a course of what we're doing here so that leaves time that the gates would be closed and I pretty much have heard a consensus from a number not all but a number of the folks that have testified on behalf of the neighborhood association that between seven and five seems reasonable actually in the appeal I I listed specific times so the neighbor the the neighborhood association has already offered times what times are those I do you have the appeal can you pull it pull it up mayor I have a I have a copy of the ordinance here it's from 7 30 a.m until 3 45 pm say that again Roy I missed it at 7 30 a.m until 3 45 PM is what the proposed revisions to the okay there's somebody that you want to defer to in the organization to answer these questions I'm okay with that but I have a couple more do you feel like the neighbors use the sidewalks between 12 a.m and 7 30 A.M on any reasonable basis midnight to in the morning I do to go so the question is a reasonable time to close it so before school activities occur so that the grounds people and I'm gonna have to ask like our Lake uh Saint James about this what's a reasonable time in the morning for ground screw to come in and clean up the undesirable objects that you guys have described okay I heard five I'm gonna just is anybody walking there before five in the morning I do what time do you want to go to the Y to work out in the morning workout clap you aren't there five yeah which I probably shouldn't advertise that because we're trying to keep everything confidential I I do okay I think that's all I have for now okay Mr Lee do you have rebuttal yeah and you might want to respond okay hold on commissioner Ortiz has a couple questions for you I just had a quick question because I'm trying to catch the meaning behind all this oh objection here so the main purpose why you guys need this Road this tree the the sidewalks open is for for Transit regular transit in your in your case to go and work out in other cases for people that walk through to exercise that sort of thing is that what it is or I'm asking I'm asking I'm not stating I'm asking what was it okay and it's it's really well that's that's fine that's fine thank you I just want I appreciate it all right Mr Lee rebuttal and could you address the all right commissary Hill thank you mayor I had I had a question of the HOA president okay yes is that 3 45 a hard number I think it was um the best information we had so with the new information and understanding that youth have extracurricular activities it's not just the Scholastic Scholastic component but there's you know basketball soccer six o'clock isn't feasible and the campus is actually fenced there's there's two pieces of Campus I I understand that I I understand I've seen it I've seen the map I've seen the pictures seen the cut through right right I'm talking about time of Youth in that vicinity because we're well honest to a degree even though Public Schools you go through a front office you don't go through the school to the other side you go through there are Gates I have a grandson that I'm raising that's in public school system and they do have Gates around these schools there's no open campus anywhere in Orange County so I'm just asking a question except for Howard no I went to Howard Junior High I walked I'm a graduate I'm a proud Ranger uh the the feel the track is on the other side but there's no cut through through the school this is kind of unique right where there's a building through on one on one sector and yes there's another classrooms or whatever on the other side so there's no cut through through Power Robinson's run perpendicular of that but that's a little bit different than kids going to class that usually the coaches and everything are going across the street but that's neither here nor there I'm asking about a hard time is five or six o'clock it's an inconvenience to the neighborhood I I think um 345 actually gave extra school hours okay thank you okay Mr Lee do you have rebuttal thank you mayor and thank you all for your time today um I'd like to just respond to a couple of things that were said and I know that we've all been here for a long time um members of the Lake Eola Heights historic neighborhood association board indicated that they put their conditions forward prior to the community meeting and nothing changed since then and this has been kind of our our challenge because that's not consistent with you know the communications we had with a different board member but also the board member that testified was in the audience during the mpb meeting and supported the you know the approval and the recommendations that were made to mpb and so the one of the challenges that we've had is that everybody feels a little bit differently about this and I know that everybody's very passionate about it but it's hard for us to kind of pin something down and when we were asked can you come up with something that would be a form of a compromise what we put forward we felt was the most appropriate way because if you put these rigid times down in the Summers these summer programs May wrap up at noon it could be opened at noon uh you know it the variable times create challenges and the other challenge is that if we sh if we come up with a you know an arbitrary time frame to say it cuts off then there's a chance there's campus activities going on where children are there and and teachers and parents and and we're opening it up and we're creating the point of exposure that we're trying to avoid and so respectfully we were willing to try to go down this road and when we said good faith we weren't trying to be offensive by that we were trying to be held by that standard that if there's a scheduled campus activity um you know we can close the gates if there's not we can open them but if if we're not acting in good faith and we're shutting the gates when there's no activity there or we're trying to game this whole thing then then the city can put us into fault and I think the encroachment agreement allows for an enforcement provision there there's a default provision and this in my mind this is a great benefit it preserves the ordinance and preserves the easements so none of those things have gone away it's just an encroachment agreement that you all can come back and reconsider and you all can can put us in default and you could revoke so we ask that you please deny the appeal and uphold the npb recommendations Mr Lee um so on a normal day what are the after-school activities how late did they go hold on let I'm sorry so I and you can let the what is your title Headmaster I'll do my best yes there's Jamie I'm happy to yeah so we open our campus for children to come on the campus as early as 7 A.M and our after school program ends daily at 6 00 PM but we do have sports events that sometimes go until nine correct and in the Summers those schedules those hours are correct and we also Run summer camp um our hours for summer camp are generally 7 30 in the morning and summer camp ends at 5 00 pm uh what do you think no there are a couple of weeks during the summer that well you think five o'clock is reasonable for your people to have access to Lexus to the grounds no I mean some kids aren't safe then correct my children 5 a.m that's what I'm talking about I'm sorry 5 A.M that it would have to be closed at 5am is that what you're asking me it's open until 5 a.m closed so that your maintenance staff would have an opportunity to two hours of opportunity to clean up the campus to the extent it needs to be before seven o'clock arrival of students and closed at what time it opened at what time in the evening I'm just trying to get to the morning I'm trying to think logistically um I I here the issue is that you guys have been at each other's throat for years and years and years and there's not a level of trust So when you say good faith they don't trust that you're going to exercise good faith so give me some suggestions on how you meet together and establish that good faith or how do we set some parameters that no later than 6 p.m or whatever and you can that doesn't conclude you from closing it earlier if you guys are done at three o'clock or whatever I'll be honest with you I really want to take response response then at and I feel that um just like we don't want to take responsibility but city council did back in the 90s but we're here now what I what I'm going to make you guys have a group hug when we're done this gets resolved okay I I do I do believe that further communication between the neighborhood association and us that we could come to agreements um but I feel as if I'd have to have you know calendars in front of me and dates and times and all of that in front of me before I'd be able to give a definitive answer so Mr Lee what's your suggestion Amira I okay well let's we'll go we'll go back to that let's hear uh commissioner Sheehan's PowerPoint presentation thank you mayor and um you know I know it's I know it's uh Bill thank you for for this and if y'all will just bear with Bill and I because this is the first time that bill and I have ever done this but um I know it's unprecedented for a City Commissioner to give a PowerPoint but my frustration is has has led me to I think we need to have some historical background of how we got here and uh frankly I haven't really received a whole lot of help from staff on either and and uh my input has been pretty much ignored so that's why I think it's really important for me to um to give this PowerPoint and talk about this slide one to get a perspective we need to go back to 1995 and the St James School master plan this is from the Downtown Development board minutes from December of 1995. St James wanted to close Hellman and Ridgewood streets in the neighborhood the Lake Eola Heights historic neighborhood association appealed the decision to close Ridgewood and Hillman Street both parties agreed now this is an agreement that they had to close Ridgewood Street during the day and to keep Hillman open day and night and to widen Cathcart Street okay we're gonna now that's the first slide and we're going to go to slide two these are the municipal planning board many minutes from January of 1996. the closing of Hillman and Ridgewood are back on the agenda after it was after it was agreed to okay and then slide three these are comments from Dina Wilde the Urban Design and preservation Hillman Avenue is a link if abandoned it would become a parking lot and the grid pattern will be broken up Alternatives should be considered recommended in lieu of abandoning Ridgewood installing roundabouts city transportation engineer Harry Campbell recommended denial of the abandonments and we're going to go to slide four even though staff even though staff was opposed the municipal planning board approved the abandonment subject to and providing a reverter clause the necessary utility easements and leaving the roads open to a pedestrian bicycle traffic that was the road was supposed to be open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic okay now we're going to go to slide five the Lake Eola Heights historic neighborhood association appealed the mpb decision on the February 26 1996 Orlando city council meeting after much discussion and I disclose I was present and opposed to the street closure because it is one of the Saint James folks said I had a friend that was killed in elementary school he was hit by a car that will never leave me as long as I live and I feel that sidewalks are important so I was there and I was opposing the street closure along with the neighborhood and unfortunately commissioner hellinger made a motion with respect to Ridgewood only so that's when that Ridgewood closure passed Hillman was removed by a separate vote on the motion and the ordinance followed right afterward making the neighborhood feel like it was a done deal so I think that's where some of this distrust comes from okay now slide six the March 11 1996 meeting minutes of the Orlando city council second reading of the abandonment of Ridgewood Street Tom wilksey attorney for St James presented a restriction executed by Norbert Dorsey Bishop of the Diocese of Orlando to ensure that the abandoned right-of-way would revert back as a public right-of-way if the diocese change the land use or sold the property so that's where that's where this reverter Clause comes in it's actually there all right slide seven the ordinance passed by City Council on March 11 1996 the ordinance keeps any easements of record utility easements which are retained by the city we go to slide a the bicycle easement and The Pedestrian easement shall be maintained at all times by the adjacent property owner any physical improvements within the abandoned right of way shall be subjected to review and approval by transportation engineering Bureau and the appearance officer all right now we go to slide nine the actual deed restriction saying the city has the right to retake possession of the property if the adjacent property is sold that's why so frustrating the staff keeps telling me Oh it's a done deal we have no rights it's right here in the if they would just bother to look at the restrictions and the documents it's right here okay so fast forward to February of 2021 I met with representatives from the school and Mr Lee to discuss concerns over child safety due to mass shootings there was a request to move all pedestrian access I suggested a compromise to alleviate traffic in the neighborhood during pick up and drop off and for the safety of the children who are running out in the neighborhood and getting picked up all over the neighborhood which if it's a matter of safety why wouldn't we want the kids to be safe to alleviate I've listened to you all now please okay I've been I've been very patient and I've listened and so is everyone else all right and I took my time to present this as well okay I did a lot of research on this and I'm trying to let people understand why there's this history all right to alleviate traffic in the neighborhood during pickup and drop off open Ridgewood only for pick up and drop off of students and then close The Pedestrian access only during school hours this is what what we met on and and talked about over a year ago okay now we're gonna go to slide 11. site engineer permit denial of Code Enforcement action doing the same due to St James actually wanting St James to remove a six-inch flush tall to curbs walkway this was put in over a weekend without a permit replace the damaged bricks and to make walkway flush to match existing grade of the Brick Street with pedestrian ramps for ADA compliance what happened instead of working in good faith with me in the neighborhood St James installed a six-inch barrier that would prevent the street from being used for pickup and drop off and they did not follow the requirements of the review of the transportation engineering division and this is actually a picture next slide bill of that walkway now at least they did paint it yellow so people won't trip over it but if you if you TR if you try to get that approved as an ADA accessible walkway anywhere in this country people would say you were crazy that is not an ADA accessible walkway it was put there as a barrier after we were having conversation about possibly opening this to make the pickup and drop off safer so it wouldn't impact the neighborhood so badly and the other thing is we are going to be doing a complete streets on on Robinson Street right now the parents are queuing all the way back to Robinson Street we are not going to have the capacity to cue we're going to need additional pickup and drop off which is what we suggested as part of this whole you know situation okay we'll go to the next slide bill um this is the municipal planning board minutes allowing The Pedestrian access closure on Wedgewood Street which has been appealed Again by The Neighborhood and then we can go on the next slide Bill if this was truly about safety the school could simply construct a fence at the edge of the sidewalk like they did on this like on the like they did on the south side of Ridgewood this is the complete fence along Ridgewood which completely closes that off and there's a gate that goes across where that walkway is and you have to have card access to get across so that is completely closed on that side okay on the other side of Ridgewood Bill next slide this is the other side of Ridgewood where I fenced just like on the other side could be installed two properties could be linked together by a properly Ada accessible sidewalk that and walkway that would still allow for vehicular traffic for pickup only and drop off of the students for their safety but it would also provide additional safety for the children inside because you would have both sides you would have additional safety this is what I suggested and I was summarily ignored and then we had this weird walkway put in okay so this is why I'm kind of upset and this is why I feel a little disenfranchised because I tried to work with a neighborhood as a commissioner of the district to try to get this um this worked out and believe me nobody I mean I can't tell you how to feel about your kids but I know the effects of mass shootings I heard those parents Scream one after another they found out where their kids were dead when I was on that pulse when I was in that street after pulse I understand I'll never understand what it's like to lose a child but I know the impact and and horror of gunshot violence I've seen it firsthand I don't want that to happen to anyone but I also don't want it to be is used an excuse and I think that we can do some things here that makes sense for everyone we don't have to be at each other's throats and there has been a history of the neighborhood being run over by the attorneys and I'm just trying to make this fear for everyone and I want you all to understand something one of the first things I read as a child was one of my friends getting killed walking to school in the newspaper it's one of the first things I learned how to read so I think there's an another safety aspect that we're ignoring here about The Pedestrian safety of the neighbors and also the safety of the children as they leave the school that's why I thought we should address this all at once I'm not trying to be mean to St James parents I'm not trying to be mean to St James school I'm not trying to just you know try to come up with a compromise that works for everyone so I think that you know this I you know we went to a we had a community meeting you know and I really feel that the staff completely ignored the neighborhood and I'm very disappointed in them because I usually have a very good working relationship with the city staff so I'm hoping that we can work together try to come up with some some reasonable compromises I don't think we're going to get to it today maybe we can have some time to to to talk about it but you know this this ordinance is again following right this this ordinance right after we have this hearing assumes that we're just going to up that we're not gonna listen to any of the concerns of the appeal and that we're just going to move forward and I think again that disenfranchises the neighborhood and that's why they feel they haven't been treated fairly I'm here to fight for the underdog whoever that is that's just kind of what I've done my whole life and I think we should treat each other fairly with decency and I think we're close I don't think we're there yet but I don't want to see this ignored in terms of the safety in terms of the pickup and drop off which creates a huge problem in the neighborhood and I think there are some other things we could look at here but I I support the appeal but if we're not going to support the appeal as it is I think we need we shouldn't just go ahead and and adopt this as it is we need some more time to come up mayor with some time frames and different things like that that we can work on that makes sense but I also think there's a very easy solution here to just extend that that fencing down that sidewalk so that you can secure the campus even if it is open when there's a you know when there's a when the sidewalk is open you do you still can secure the the campus completely with that sidewalk I mean with that fence on along the sidewalk on the inside like they did on the other side I'm sorry Bill I'm making you stand there so poor thing but uh but thank you so much I appreciate your bill that's the end of my presentation and um and I and I I would like to uphold the appeal I know it's probably not going to happen but I think we should need to understand that while there is a lot of acrimony that's happened between the neighborhood and the school um that it's happened because folks have been treated unfairly and there's a there's not a lot of trust and the only way that you can I agree with Once one one fellow that said the only way to to uh have that kind of trust is communication I've tried to Foster that but then things have happened that I haven't been happy with I think we need to start working in good faith if we start all working in good faith maybe we could get this resolved that's all I have mayor on it you know I I would make a motion to uphold the appeal but I I doubt that's gonna go okay commissioner Sheehan's made a motion to up to own the appeal as a second ties for lack of a second okay you guys mind if I make a motion okay I'm going to move that we deny the appeal and Elizabeth can you put up the six conditions that are currently recommended would you go through the six conditions quickly first one is that the school shall have the right to install and lock Gates that block public access to the easement during times when the schools open and or there are activities on campus involving students teachers and or staff members which are referred to as scheduled campus activities number two is that the school shall have the right to lock the gates at 12 a.m on evenings prior to days when the school is open or has early morning scheduled campus activities number three is that the school shall unlock the gates and reopen access to the easements on evenings weekends holidays and during the summer when the school is closed and there are no scheduled campus activities number four is The north-south Pedestrian access must be maintained along the west side of Cathcart Avenue as well as the east side of Hillman Avenue to accommodate pedestrians traveling north and south through the former intersection with Ridgewood Street which has been changed to Avenue and the agreement excuse me to Ridgewood Street any alterations to accommodate the pickup and drop-off of students must provide for pedestrian access across the area and and this is where the actual agreement that's been attached to Canada Council agenda item has been revised to clarify along the public access along Hillman and Cathcart which are the two North South Street have to remain during all pick up and drop-off activities number five the pedestrian gates within the former right-of-way must be set back a minimum distance equal to that of the size of the vehicular gate so that when it swings open it does not impact or extend into the public right-of-way or sidewalk number six should a vehicular gate be added to the fence and Bollard area across the former Ridgewood Street right away then the gate must be set back a minimum of 18 feet from the adjacent right-of-way so that a vehicle may be completely out of the street and sidewalk when parked to operate the gate should the gate be intended to provide emergency vehicle access only then it may be located along the property line all vehicular Gates must either swing inward or be a rolling gate yeah those are the six positions there okay can you go back to the woman prior to this um the said Master could you come up for a second okay we're gonna have to come up with some set dates or set times and I think 5am is reasonable is 6 PM no later than 6 PM reasonable close the gates to open the gate to open the gates if there's no extra if there's no uh eventually if there were if there are not scheduled events well we're trying to get to a place where you're not happy and they're not happy but you're a little bit happy and they're a little bit happy so then six o'clock sounds good and I'm going to add another provision so here's what my motion is going to be I'm going to move that we deny the appeal we accept the mpb minutes and approval of the attached agreement modified in paragraph number two to have the right to lock the gates at 5am rather than 12 a.m on evenings prior to the days when the school is open and St James shall unlock the gates and reopen access to the evenings on evenings no later than 6 pm and then I'm going to add a number seven which has [Music] um either the neighborhood association or St James shall have the right after the passage of one year to ask the city council to hold a workshop on how this agreement has what it's done for the school what it's done for the neighborhood and whether there need to be modifications to that a second on that I'm trying to understand it 5 a.m to 6 p.m 5 a.m to 6 p.m okay Mr Lee thank you mayor in conferring with my client that their their concern is still that there's going to be time where they're going to be activities on campus and the I I understand that everybody's trying to come up with a compromise and I sincerely want you to know that we tried to do that too but if if we're going to do this we'd rather have you vote up or down the abandonment than put something in place like this where we're in the same situation and there's a period of time where children are not going to be safe and I I I know that you all are trying to find some middle ground and I um but I I've been asked to communicate that and and I would hope that you all would consider that okay I entertained discussion from Commissioners commissioner Hill thank you mayor and I'm in support of uh 5 a.m to 6 p.m but I do think there's need to be a provision where when there's children with after school activities we continue to keep that gate closed um well okay it's not my district but it is all of our children and right now the highlighting times such as this with people and pedal failure whether we like it or not right directly across the street we got transits that's running up and down and we don't know who they are at Lake Eola that Mike can come on to that campus and harm those kids we have here it is we're trying to even lock down downtown and keep guns out of downtown and someone walk on that campus and hurt those kids I want to support the 6 PM but I want to also put a clause in there to where they notify the community that if there's extracurricular activities doesn't happen all the time every day and there's only probably about three hours after school that those kids are gonna be out there even during practice or our ball days Even in our and our Sinners mayor when we got kids on campus we don't let adults come in we don't let adults come to our community centers inside the buildings when there's kids at the at our centers and there's activities um so and you all have to do better Staffing you're gonna have to put some extra money towards putting some staffers or parents volunteer to be on the campus to help us with that all right um but you're gonna have to communicate better with the commissioner I would say and work with her and also the residents of Eola Heights but I am at this time in climate really uncomfortable with people having access to these kids right now I just I don't want to go to sleep and wake up or get a call from from from Dave or the chief telling me that there's bit a mess shooting at an after-school activity over at St James shouldn't matter and everybody know I'm a champion for the underdog and especially the underserved but I don't think that that's because parents have resources and influence that they should be penalized also they want the same things that I want for my kids that might don't have resources and it's really about these these youth I think it's really and y'all forgive me I think it's real Petty that we're fighting here about a sidewalk you know people over in Paramore area fighting for a meal to eat they're fighting they're they're fighting for a quality education but here is we're fighting today about a walk through if we're all about exercise what's 400 more steps but taking 400 more steps versus bearing a child a mother that has buried a child I just don't think that it's the proper argument when our city got much more homicides our city has much more issues and we can record me are you recording but they recorded anyway you can pull it back to take back um that's just where I met Mary I I I I do want to support the six o'clock okay let's hear from other commissioner because the judge I've already impose something but I'm not I'm one member of seven so everybody gets the way in commissioner gray commission to Mr Gray I'll go I'll be quick um look I I support your motion but I I think I'm with commissioner Hill on the time at night in the morning I think is a reasonable night it just seems to me a lot of schools have after hours activities to things that jump to mind when my kids went to school we had Halloween parties at night you had drama and with more and more both parents working a lot more school activities happen after hours just so you can get more parental participation so I think the the morning seems reasonable to me but I I think we got to be careful with the night time we've got to push that later I think uh to me um at least eight or nine to me but that's my two cents but I do support your uh your motion there okay commissioner gray I mean commissioner Ortiz thank you mayor I'm a little surprised because I know most of you have lived through all kinds of issues around our nation and you have seen all kinds of things going on these are our kids and you already know our nation is changing drastically we cannot take a chance my motion would be for us to close friendly no access whatsoever because I was a police officer for 14 years here okay working your streets my streets around here and I still plenty and I don't know how many of you have picked up your child or hurt child from from the street I have I'm not gonna put my neck on this one see a catastrophe happening and then coming back and say we could have avoided that you guys think that this doesn't happen it only takes a few seconds for something like this to happen please think about this take it home think about it because this is a it's a no-brainer it's a no-brainer these are our kids there's disabled kids there for the love of God there's these stable kids in this school that wouldn't have the chance let's think about that for the love of God okay this isn't back and forth exactly there's no powers of Mayor I know that you made a motion my motion is for us to to close permanently okay commissioner Burns okay thank you mayor one thing I I wanted to ask was would there be any considerations for the summer hours because I'm I make an assumption that we don't have as many activities in the evening past six o'clock or seven in the summer so that was one thing that I would want us to consider do we have some summer hours where we would be able to close at an earlier time because less activities but also my my question uh the presentation that uh commissioner Sheehan um presented had a fence that went along the within the gate along the back end of of the property um and I see it to me it seems like that would be a logical additional um safety measure that can be put in place along with these uh these hours so my my suggestion would be to have some consideration for some summer hours um but also there'll be a requirement or a highly suggested that there's a fence on within the gate along the back perimeters of the two buildings that I think would add some additional uh some additional safety measures because I think we have to look at not just what the city can do what the community can do but also what are there anything additional that the school could do and I do see that that fence along the perimeters may add some additional some additional safety measures okay during summer when school is closed it's already included in that okay well I'm sorry you said when there's some during the summer when school is closed what are the hours it's open it's totally totally open okay uh commissioner Stewart mayor I I I'm I am perplexed I guess 1996 Columbine had not happened 380 school shootings have happened in there I am confessed that this answer question would have been answered in 1996 after Columbine the answer is shut the whole thing down because it's good safety it's a concern no so I I do like your idea about some kind of compromise I I would recommend this as a compromise that shut down from 12 midnight to 6 PM each day and that there will be no more than eight event extensions during the course of a month and those will be posted outside there's a you can put a little box out there you can post those events and go back to your point number seven that they come back a year from now and see if we're successful it allows us a chance we we have done these types of extensions on property uh especially like the use of a ballet and other things that that we require that they do for a certain time period that's you know and they've got to open up for two or three times a month for Community meetings here's a similar situation where we can set the extensions at no more than the eight of n extensions within a month come back and see if the community is working better that would allow all activity if if the schools so chooses to open it up earlier that would be their choice it's simply determined by the gates are open that's that's kind of seems to be kind of normal to me so if they shut down at three o'clock on weekends or summer time they just keep it open it's not a big deal um but the community would know that it's going to be open at six assuming there's not an event that's occurring that this allows essentially for a Friday night or Saturday night event or a Thursday night or and during the course of like two two events per week essentially as an extension and then you you and you figure out a schedule and work it for a year um but I I don't think I don't like the five o'clock idea because which essentially will create is an opportunity for somebody to come on the property find a hiding place and sleep on the property until five o'clock in the morning um so the idea is that that uh bars close at midnight are supposed to be in most of most areas let's not let guys roam in roam around there after midnight so that's what that's why I would recommend in terms of a compromise but I think you're on the right track of bringing them back a year from now and saying how did we do um so okay Saint James somebody get up and give me reasonable um how many activities you have after six o'clock in a week or a month or a year from September through May well we're trying to get out they don't trust you right say that again I'm sorry they don't trust you to have the subjective decision making on when you're going to close the gate so we're just trying to put in some type of objective standard so if you didn't close the gate then I don't actually like doing the eight or six or whatever because I don't want to count and I don't want anybody else to have to count and call commissioner Sheehan when they get to number nine instead of one through eight so come here give me something reasonable so between September and may the middle of may we have sports that are on our campus five days a week our what time do they go to I usually till uh 7 30 8 o'clock I have after oh hold on I I'll give you one more shot at it David I have after after school that's um every day is open until 6 pm and then we have after school activities that Athletics are generally what it what our after school activities are drama and um sports that go past six o'clock again I'd have to have a calendar in front of me to see but I would say 8 p.m at the earliest okay David I'll hear from you but I want to tell you I just listened to the Commissioners and there's at least four votes to have no restrictions and just do exactly what the mpb okay come on yeah come on do I need to State my name again nope okay the board negotiated when we when we thought we were facing total abandonment and we agreed that during instructional hours now when I'm saying instructional hours I'm talking about the bulk of the student body is in the school how many children are in the school student body hold on you you got to ask me questions I'll make it up 300 300 students I'm going to make it up I don't know so when they are there we want for their safety for the gates to be locked we know we haven't negotiated yet for the use of the street and that is very important they would be locked when those children are off the school campus completely safe however that looks then they have a completely secure gymnasium for all their sports for all of the Girl Scout Troops for all of everything else and they can simply use that facility that currently exists with a fence that's totally unlocked so what we're asking is as a compromise there are times when people know when they can walk on that campus or use the bicycle as they have done for 26 well longer than 26 years by law by city law for 26 years and when you agree as a neighborhood to make it totally safe lock it all up till whatever it is 4 30 she said three something I don't know the time let's come up with the time six o'clock that would be fine as far as the neighborhood is concerned I haven't talked to the board members but I think that would be reasonable and then move your activities to the total lockdown area the same type of lockdown area the 100 percent of Orange County Public Schools have and probably every charter school as well and they have to live by that why can't this school live by that they can move right across the street what okay we're coming through the chair we're coming through the chair and remember we're going to be civil with each other and like each other when all this is done waiting for the hug David the way I see it there's at least four votes to have no time limits and just let them on the trust Factor locket so I'm here in eight o'clock it is reasonable for you guys it's six o'clock is reasonable for you so I'm not going to go to seven I'm going to go ahead and ask the commission if 8 o'clock seems reasonable yes let's add the seventh condition yep okay then my motion has amended is to [Music] um amend the conditions number 2 12 a.m number three evenings till 8 o'clock and then Roy to add a seventh condition that either the neighborhood associate one the expiration of one year from the date this is done either the neighborhood association or the school can petition for us to come back and have a public hearing and have a discussion about whether this has worked or not worked and needs to be amended does anybody have an idea for requiring the uh Headmaster and who's the who from the neighborhood association wants to meet once a month with a school okay who from the school wants to meet with David okay and I'm we're also you guys good with that requiring once a month in that year that there'd be a meeting between Mr Martins and the Headmaster at the school um and you guys worked that out on your schedules we'll see if we can get some trust in that and I'll give everybody take down my cell number 407-342-0902 and if you guys don't meet in a month whoever couldn't meet call me and report on the other and I'll call the other and make sure that you guys meet you got my you got my cell number but if you're not programmed into my phone you're gonna have to leave a message as it turns out it would sort of think certain of July 1 of 2024 gives us the entire first score as opposed to one year from the agreement that's fine let's do July July 1. the entire school year yeah what's the end of your school year May 31st this year or May 26th what's the end of your school year June 2nd so July 1 it's good that gives you a month to okay make it July one you do you have that Roy yeah July 1 we all get back together if asked for if either all right and are we adding the automatic reverter requirement back in okay and then are we doing any eight eight events a month or no just just five to eight during the week and then weekend no actually we went back to midnight to eight all right midnight game okay is there a second second motion to Second discussion thankfully hearing none unfair the motion indicate so by saying aye aye those opposed okay it passes five to two um actually would everybody from St James Get Up and Shake the hand of one neighbor of the neighborhood association that is not a parent at St James yesterday I know you couldn't do this connection you think that's true um yeah feel good as happy as this is we've still got to do General appearances so if you guys could take the party into the Rotunda [Music]