November 2022 Meeting Minutes

Freeport Merchants Association
Meeting Minutes
November 17th, 2022

Present:
Chase Barfield
Ethan Barfield
Aaron Ellis
Latilda Hughs
Bill Blanken
Amber Williams
Nanci Spears
Josh Spears

Next meeting: December 15th, 2022, 8:00am, Blount House

1. Announcements

• Current Membership Total: 67 Members

• Current account balance: $8,806.00

• Expenses:

o GoDaddy, Snyder, Membership works, Blue Host, Marion – check for morning food last month

Events Committee:

• Nanci Spears is Officially Events with Josh Spears
• Sports to Geaux will be hosting the December Social
• January on is open
• Possibly Latilda and the building department will host

Membership Committee:

• We need someone to replace Marion to help Bill with the Membership Committee

General Topics:

• Initial responses from Charity nominations

o Nanci and Josh nominate Freeport Christmas Angels.

o Latilda nominated – Continued Dev and maintenance of the Veterans Park

• Must be a local charity/non-profit that serves Freeport
• December 1st voting begins
• We can also use more volunteers for the committees. Josh and Bill will draw up responsibilities and submit them to Aaron.
• Aaron has been appointed Chairman of the Board
• We will be sending out an email asking for members to volunteer for the committees.
• Amber has been doing a great job at taking all the events and city events and putting them on our calendar and Facebook calendar.
• We have been working with Barbara from the city and others to become a central place for all events. Working on getting everyone to come to thefma.online for event information
• To submit an event to be on the calendars please submit it by the 15th of the previous month.
• Latilda will work with Josh on more locations for socials as there are many new businesses that need publicity.
• Owls Head – phase one – the apartments are underway.

Open Discussion:

• Latilda will speak at our morning meetings and wants to work with us. She will give city updates as they change from week to week.

o An email will go out saying that Latilda will be attending every morning meeting
o She will give updates, dispel rumors, answer questions, etc.
o You can email her at any time and say “Hey, I would like the latest development summary. Or “I heard this was coming to Freeport, is it true?” She updates it at the beginning of every month.
o Her email is: lhughes-neel@freeprotflorida.gov
o In front of city hall “Freeport Foodies” is coming with 3 spots for food trucks
o The city gives consideration to Private-public partnerships and the ability to communicate and be part of the process is very important and one of the reasons that Freeport is successful.
o There have been 34 development orders for new businesses this year.
o At each meeting, she will present on a different topic – Multi-family projects, Planned Dev Projects, and Advantages to the city and developers.
o What we can expect population-wise: Right now there is 22 Development projects in motion. If we move along at the current pace, we will double our population within 3 years.
o The city is actively looking for new school sites
o There will be a food court next to Props Brewery
o Other things you will see in Hammock Bay: a Pharmacy, Hair Salon, Full Spa, and a Dental Office.
o With regards to the middle school being built in hammock bay near Alcohol and a Brewery: 3 years ago a measure was passed by the legislature that in Town Centers that are designated as such in a master-planned community, you can have an open container regardless of what surrounds them. This statue has been changed in the entire state of Florida
o There is a new development at The Bluffs – This is a huge project on the east side of 331 south of Owls Head
o The floodgates are about to open – The new sewer line was paid for completely with developer fees and taxes. The new sewer main from Owls Head to River Walk will be finished by the end of the year.
o Also, the Car family has a project on 2000 acres.
o The new wastewater plant is due to be completed in the summer. It will process 1.5 million gallons per day. This will change everything on 331
o There will be service road connections all up and down 331 north so people can access the developments and commercial sites.
o Traffic signals at main entrances will limit the amount of access due to the designation of DOT.
o All will be walkable with very wide multi-access paths much bigger than Hammock Bay.
o The city has received over 30 million in grant funding for infrastructure because we have a city council that believes in economic development. They are allowing their team to plan far into the future to make sure we have the infrastructure.
o Construction for Marquis Way – we are finalizing the development agreement with the property owner in December. Plans are being drawn up and the city will own the roadway. The County is partnering – you will be able to get to Publix and 331 without ever having to be on hwy20
o One west bay Loop they will be installing a light – not sure if it will be county or city yet.