In a second major item, industrial development was approved.
On May 12, at 7:30 p.m., Mayor Nate Kilton called to order the Regular Meeting of the City Commission. Vice-Mayor Jason Jones, City Commissioner Mary Thomas Mathis, City Commissioner Bill Dodson, City Commissioner Mike Sparkman, City Attorney Kenneth Buchman, City Clerk Kerri Miller, and City Manager Bill McDaniel were all present for the meeting.
Reginald Page, Elder for Greater New Hope Ministries, gave the invocation. The assembly followed by standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
The city commissioners proceeded to present a proclamation which read, in part, “I, Nathan A. Kilton, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Plant City, Florida, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2025 as Water Safety Month in the City of Plant City and call upon citizens, businesses, and organizations to make water safety a top priority and to support activities that advocate for an optimal environment and safe, healthy families and communities.”
In addition, the City Commission read a second proclamation recognizing “Peace Officers Memorial Day, and Police Week in Plant City.” The proclamation encouraged “the citizens of Plant City to commemorate law enforcement officers, past and present, who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered dedicated service to our community.”
The routine items on the consent agenda were voted on together and passed 5-0.
The city manager brought the following items for discussion and vote:
25-218 –The former post office property development agreement extension and revised development plan. This item generated lengthy discussion and debate. Plant City Development Group, LLC agreed to develop the location in 2021. This developer has asked for several extensions since that time. This time, the developer reduced the scale of the plan to obtain financing from a private investor. The original plan was to tear down the current building and build a new project with 120 apartments. The structure would have had parking on the ground and second floors, a swimming pool on the third floor, and a sky restaurant on the sixth floor. The changes will remove the sky restaurant and the fifth floor, and build only one structure with a ground-level parking lot. The new plan is to build 70 units, with a gated parking lot. The change will also reduce the project cost from $30 million to $15 million. To demonstrate its ongoing commitment to the project, Plant City Development Group offered a contingency to pony up $600,000 in design costs and permitting within the next 10 months. Otherwise, the deal is off. Commissioners Dodson, Mathis, and Jones expressed their unhappiness with the developer’s delays. Dodson made it clear that this is the last extension he would agree to. “I described the situation to the city commission as a win-win,” Bill McDaniel said. “In the sense that you have a developer that has come back and said, ‘We need this 10 months to actually design our project, and we are willing to put $600,000 into that process, and obtain our permits to build the building we are telling you we will build.’ So, if they do that within that 10-month window that they have been given, that is a very significant commitment, investment, and achievement on their part. The theory being that nobody is going to spend $600,000 to plan and permit a building that they then do not build.” This item passed with a 3-2 vote.
25-052 – A resolution authorizing the purchase, installation of a new, and removal of an old, generator for Lift Station 20 from Tradewinds Power Corporation under Florida Sheriff’s Association contract No. FSA23-EQU21.0.
25-196 – A resolution authorizing the replacement of ballfield fencing at Mike Sansone Park by Witt Fence Co., under Hillsborough County, FL contract ITB-23-24318.
25-174 – A resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with Unifirst Corporation for city-wide employee uniforms under Sourcewell Contract RFP011124.
25-194 – A resolution authorizing change order No. 4 with Kat Construction, Inc. for rehabilitation of a service well at water treatment plant No. 5.
25-200 – A resolution authorizing a construction contract with Vogel Bros. Building Co. for water reclamation facility aeration basin mixers and clarifier scum pumps replacement.
The commissioners proceeded to address public hearings. The two following items for the Stalwart Planned Development District generated an even longer discussion than the post office development.
25-197 – A legislative public hearing on a future land use designation of Plant City industrial for a 410-acre site located north of Knights Griffin Road, west of Bailey Road and east of Paul Buchman Highway; and 25-198 – A quasi-judicial public hearing on an ordinance to rezone these 410 acres from residential to the Stalwart Planned Development District. The project would build 3,400,000 square feet of industrial uses—plus a rail spur—“excluding any uses dealing with adverse impacts (i.e. dangerous liquids, materials, or gases), bottling plants that require a high volume of water, or any use that creates any nuisance, including unreasonable dust, odors, noise, vibration, or glare such as, but not limited to, recycling facilities and concrete plants.” In addition, 190.5 acres of the land would be left as open space and enhanced buffers and screening would be placed completely around the development. City commissioners spent more than an hour of back and forth with the applicant to, among other things, obtain clear assurances on traffic safety, screening and buffering the development, and making sure construction and trains would not block traffic.
With the exception of the 3-2 post office vote, the agenda items passed with 5-0 votes. The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m.
