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Jason E. Brown <br />County Administrator <br />Indian River County <br />1801 27th Street <br />Vero Beach, FL 32960 <br />772-226-1408 <br />VIA E-MAIL: jbrown@ircgov.com <br />May 12, 2020 <br />Mr. Brown: <br />Please accept this correspondence as a formal Appeal of the County's decision to disallow a Traffic Impact <br />Fees Credit related to the Vero Beach MOB project being developed on the west side of Indian River <br />Boulevard between 37th Street and 41st Street (project number 2006100078, the "Project"). For <br />reference the original application was submitted on April 15, 2020. <br />Vero Beach MOB, LLC is a partnership between Optimal Outcomes, LLC and the partners of Vero <br />Orthopaedic & Neurology ("VON") — a leading, well-respected provider of orthopaedic and related <br />services. VON serves more than 100,000 residents of Indian River County and provides immeasurable <br />charitable care for residents who otherwise go untreated. The Project, anchored by VON, entails a new <br />66,000 sq. ft., two-story, Class -A medical office building and surgery center that will improve access and <br />quality of service for thousands of Indian River County residents. <br />We have previously expressed our concerns with the approval process and its impact on our schedule and <br />budget. While this Appeal relating to the Traffic Impact Fee Credit Application is entirely separate and <br />distinct from those matters, I think it reasonable to consider and be aware of the entire history. Placing <br />blame is not relevant since we cannot go back in time but I do want to state that the excessive turnaround <br />times from the County, compounded by the last minute requirement for additional and not previously <br />mentioned traffic improvements, have placed the entire project in a tenuous spot. Since the traffic <br />improvements are obviously the issue at hand, it must also be noted that we were not made aware of <br />those requirements until February 14, 2020. Please note that we had our first staff meeting to discuss <br />the TIS methodology on June 17, 2019 and the methodology was approved in June 19, 2019. There were <br />multiple subsequent submittals, telephone calls and in-person meetings between the County and our <br />engineering team that addressed all aspects of the site plan. Somehow, not until February 14, 2020 - <br />more than 240 days after the initial meeting to discuss the plan - was there any reference to any of these <br />required traffic improvements. (Please see the attached Exhibit for a more detailed schedule of events, <br />submittal reviews and days to get permits.) <br />As stated, we have not and will not ask for any special treatment or entitlement. We simply want <br />equitable treatment for costs of work that we are being required to undertake which we believe are <br />related to capacity and therefore should be covered by Traffic Impact Fees. On that basis, we believe <br />these costs should be credited against the total customary Traffic Impact Fees being requested. The <br />161 <br />