July 13 City Council Meeting Agenda

Last updated on September 1, 2021

Below are some of the important issues that are going in front of the City Council tonight, starting at 6pm at City Hall

Breweries/Distilleries Ordinance

The Council will conduct the second and final public hearing on Ordinance No. 15-2021 amending Chapter 28 “Zoning” of the Land Development Regulations to add craft brewery/craft distillery as a permitted use with limitations in the Tourist, Community Commercial, Downtown Mixed Use, Shoreline Mixed Use, Regional Mixed Use and Urban Village zoning districts, amending the permitted use with limitations to require a conditional use permit in the Urban Mixed Use zoning district, and amending the definition and standards of craft brewery/craft distillery and removing microbrewery as a permitted use with limitations in the Downtown Mixed Use zoning district.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) considered this ordinance on June 2, 2021 and unanimously (7:0) recommended approval with the following recommendation to change any zoning category that allows residential uses to require a conditional use where the proposed brewpub is within 100 feet of a residential use, otherwise the brewpub use shall be permitted as a limited use.

On January 20, 2021 the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed a proposed ordinance related to brewpubs. At that meeting, the Commission expressed concerns with the proposed draft, and requested a simplified version of the ordinance.

The staff’s proposed changes to the brewpub ordinance are included on the attached ordinance, and are briefly described below:

• Expands craft breweries/craft distilleries as a limited use into several zoning districts, and as a conditional use in UMU.
• Amends standards for permitted uses with limitations and conditional uses.
• Amends the definition of craft brewery or distillery.
• Deletes microbreweries as a use within the code.

There are two (2) licenses issued by the State of Florida for manufacturing of malt beverages as described below. License for manufacturing of malt beverages in vendor premises (CMBP license) – limited to 10,000 kegs per year. Keg is equal to 15.5 gallons, or a half barrel. (Barrel equal to 31 gallons.) In essence, cap per year for CMBP is 5000 barrels (155,000 gallons). CMBP does not permit distribution of beer whatsoever, and product is for on-site consumption only.

License for manufacturer/brewer of malt beverages (CMB license) – allows brewing, distribution, bottling and tasting room on premises with no limit on the amount of product produced on site.

The Full, Proposed Ordinance can be read below:

Outdoor Seating at Businesses

On June 2, 2021 the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously (7:0) approved a motion requesting that City Council request advisability for staff to review outdoor seating and outdoor entertainment

During their discussion, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission expressed concerns about location of outdoor seating and outdoor entertainment, and noise impacts to adjacent property owners, especially along the Indian River Lagoon.

American Rescue Plan Funding

Pursuant to the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released guidance for the expenditure of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.

Per ARPA guidance, the City of Titusville is scheduled to receive approximately $8.6M in emergency funding to assist the city in its recovery from the adverse impacts of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

On June 09, 2021, the city received the first of two installments of these funds in the amount of $4,303,596. There are four eligible categories of expenditures for these funds:

• a) To respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality;
• b) To respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers;
• c) For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to the COVID-19 public health emergency relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year prior to the emergency; and
• d) To make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

On June 17, 2021, the Treasury released Compliance and Reporting Guidance which provides additional detail and clarification of every recipient’s compliance and reporting requirements and outlines the discretion the city has in utilizing these funds to best suit the needs of our stakeholders.

Staff is following this guidance in proposing the following initial allocation of ARPA funds per each eligible category:

a) Public Health/Negative Economic Impacts: $1,532,000

1. Utilizing an initial budget of $1,200,000, the Neighborhood Services Department will manage community and housing initiative programs to provide various human, social, and housing services to the those households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of job loss; income reduction; economic hardship, or who have been disproportionately burden by the effects of the public health emergency. The Department will provide oversight of these community initiatives and through subrecipients and housing developers, effectively disseminate these funds into the communities hardest hit.

2. Downtown Farmers Market: Utilizing an initial budget of $332,000 the City intends to contract with the Greater Titusville Chamber of Commerce to operate a Farmers Market Token Program with ARPA funds similar to the how the Farmers Market was held in 2020 with federal CARES Act funding. Fifty dollars in tokens are proposed to be provided to Titusville households that have been negatively impacted by the COVID pandemic which meet eligible household incomes based on family size. The Plan proposes up to eight (8) market days between August 13, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

b) Premium Pay: $350,000 Staff has identified approximately 350 city employees who meet the criteria outlined in the ARPA language. These employees are workers deemed to be performing essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain continuity of operations and protecting the health and wellbeing of their communities. Such workers include first responders and public safety personnel, sanitation, social services and other employees that had direct interaction with the public in maintaining essential services during the health emergency.

c) Revenue Loss: $0 Staff has not identified a loss in governmental revenue due to the health crisis as defined by the ARPA.

d) Investments in Water, Sewer, Broadband: $2,390,000

Water Resources – Four projects utilizing $1,800,000 in ARPA funding are proposed:

a.) Causeway Lift Station Improvement – This 50 year old lift station services the environmentally sensitive area near Sand Point Park and is showing signs of degradation which requires replacement with a new, duplex lift stations at a cost of $800,000

b.) Armstrong Chemical Addition Project – This project will enable Water Production to maintain optimum PH and Chloramir levels and includes construction of a permanent facility for the containment of chemicals, feed pumps and dosage control systems at a cost of $600,000.

c.) Backflow Preventers – This program will assist business owners in funding startup costs for backflow preventers which will protect the property owners water supply from contamination and comply with FDEP requirements for cross-connection control program standards. An initial funding of $100,000 to be administered via a grant program is requested.

d.) Grease Interceptors – A reimbursable grant program to help business owners offset the cost of purchasing and installing approved grease interceptor systems is proposed using $300,000 in ARPA funds.

Public Works – $590,000

Several Stormwater and Infrastructure Improvement projects serving the South Street target area are proposed using $590,000 in ARPA Funding.

External Auditing Verification – $31,596

Staff intends to contract with a third party auditing firm to provide program oversight, ensure reporting requirements are met and that ARPA funds are utilized in accordance with City Council direction and ARPA guidelines. A funding set aside of $31,596 has been allocated for this purpose. The above spending plan allocates the full $4,303,596 initial tranche of ARPA funding.

The remaining funding of approximately $4.3M will be received in the summer of 2022. All funds must be legally obligated or expended prior to December 31, 2024. Staff will use current City procurement, contracting and grant administration regulations and procedures in all programs approved by Council.

Each program or project will be brought before Council at a regular Council meeting for approval to ensure full and open transparency of the allocation of ARPA funds and implementation of approved projects.

Be sure to watch the Council Meeting tonight starting at 6:30pm

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