By REID TUCKER
One thing was for sure by the end of the March 9 DeFuniak Springs City Council meeting: everybody in the room had mixed up “pervious” and “impervious” at least once.
The matter before the board was a request from Twin Lakes/Piggly Wiggly supermarket owners Louie and Rebecca Hayle to waive the $450 needed to make a variance request. The Hayles needed to make the request after undertaking a renovation project at their store, laying gravel slag around the back of the building for use as an employee parking area, which could have inadvertently brought them into conflict with city code regarding allowable surface materials. It took the better part of 40 minutes for the Council and the Hayles to get things sorted out, due in no small part to confusion over the definition of pervious and impervious surfaces, as that applies to the city code.
Though the Hayles had received written approval from former Planning Director Greg Scoville as far back as 2012 to use not more than 4,000 square feet of impervious surface for the purpose, the possible conflict with code arose after they actually completed the project. The city code defines impervious surfaces as concrete, asphalt, cement, concrete or interlocking pavers, so the Hayles thought they were in the clear when they used Florida Department of Transportation-approved gravel. Turns out that gravel, even clay, can go from pervious – that is, a surface that allows water to pass through it – to impervious by the act of compacting it, which is what the Hayles’ contractor did for them upon finishing the job.
“We were totally unaware that we went outside of the codes, which we weren’t familiar with,” Rebecca Hayle said. “We were caught and our hand was slapped, and we were told we could not park on a pervious surface.”
After several rounds of questions and answers on the part of the property owners and the Council, it was ultimately decided that the opinion of an engineer was needed to settle the issue. The burden of proof being on the applicant for a variance, the Hayles opted to hire their own engineer, with the results of the examination being brought back before the Planning Board and eventually the City Council. If the results come back that the surface of the parking lot is pervious then there will be no need for a variance, but the Hayles will have to go forward with the request if it is determined to be an impervious surface of more than 4,000 square feet.
Another problem popped up when it came to the date of the next available Planning Board meeting. Because 30 days notice are required before any variance request can be heard by the Board and because the Board’s May meeting is usually cancelled due to its proximity to the Memorial Day holiday, the Hayles would ordinarily have had to wait until June to present their case. The City Council voted 5-0 in favor of having the Hayles work out a scheduling solution with newly hired Planning Director Kelly Schultz.
In closing, Councilman Kermit Wright offered his explanation for the Council’s caution at moving ahead too quickly to grant an exception in the Hayles’ case.
“What worries me is setting a precedent that will come back and bite [the City Council] later,” he told the Hayles. “Let’s work together and see if we can salvage what you’ve done and see what we can help you all make out of it.
“We’re not that far apart. Let’s find out exactly what a remedy would be.”
The other main item on the agenda turned into a lengthy discussion with Air Centers of Florida CNG (ACF CNG) Business Development Director Jim Hayhurst regarding the compressed natural gas provider’s plan to develop fueling stations for fleet customers throughout the state. Hayhurst explained that ACF CNG is willing to build a fueling station on city-owned property with no capital outlay for infrastructure and at no cost to the city. If a deal is struck, ACF CNG and St. Cloud-based Team Energy CNG would purchase and maintain the necessary equipment, including pumps and storage units, as well as the station itself, and would also share revenues generated from outside-fleet CNG sales with the city.
This would require an agreement from the Council to convert a certain number of fleet vehicles to run on CNG in order to justify the expense, Hayhurst said, but the federal and state incentives for such an operation are promising. Thanks to newly passed Florida House of Representatives legislation, the state will cover 50 percent of the costs associated with converting a vehicle to run on CNG or other biofuels or a cash rebate of between $50,000 and $60,000 for an OEM CNG-powered vehicle. Furthermore, the state is offering a max rebate of $250,000 annually per fleet as well as a tax rebate of 50 cents per gallon of CNG– and all this is available on a first-come-first-served basis through at least 2018.
Hayhurst asked the Council to sign a memorandum of agreement with AFC CNG, but the Council members didn’t bite just yet, citing their concerns over what Wright said are insufficiently powerful pumps as listed in the proposal. A motion was made initially made to accept the memorandum on a non-binding basis until more information could be furnished, but Councilman Mac Carpenter advised that city staff, including the city attorney, review the agreement for conflicts with state statute regarding public-private partnerships before the Council voted. That suggestion resulted in a withdrawal of the first motion and a 5-0 vote on a second one, tabling the issue until the next regularly scheduled Council meeting, giving the board some more time to consider the workings of the unsolicited agreement.
