published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

County moves to update comprehensive plan

By ED BALDRIDGE

ed.baldridge@newssun.com

SEBRING -- The Highlands County Commission voted 5-0 to approve a contract with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council to update the countywide comprehensive plan.

Opponents to the contract claimed that the county did not need to expend the extra $250,000 for the contract, and that the action was directed at moving forward a couple of large development projects around the Lake Placid area.

"Our track record with DCA is not very good. That is one of the reasons why I asked CFRPC to come in and assist us with our comprehensive plan," said County Administrator Michael Wright.

"Another reason is that we are required by statute to update our comprehensive plan, and we have less than a year to do that. Currently, we can not go forward with any of our amendments until we update our plan, so we are for all effects stopped for any future development," Wright said.

But some citizens at the meeting voiced their disagreement.

"It's a joke. It's a scam. That it got this far is evidence of misconduct. There is no reason what so ever to pay the regional council $75,000 on April 1. They have done nothing yet. Don't you pay for what you get? The scope of work is an absolute mess. This is going to require that you put on more people anyhow and this kind of spending without proper planning is ridiculous," said Preston H. Colby.

Citizen John Drennan agreed with Colby's comments. Drennan further alluded that the need to spend the extra money right now as tied to the Atlantic Blue development project in the south part of the county.

"Atlantic Blue was in here are few months ago and said there would be no charge to the citizens of the county. Now you are telling us that this will cost us $250,000. Why are we doing this for private developers? They can pay for their own development," Drennan said.

"I agree with Colby on every part of this," Drennan added.

On the affirmative, Ray Royce, director of the Heartland Agricultural Coalition, informed the commission that the county has gotten behind in planning and encouraged them to get up to date.

"You are behind in performing the roles that you are required to do. Now you have to get yourself caught back up. A comprehensive plan does not just benefit property owners, it benefits commercial development as well," Royce said.

"This is a chance to get our county caught back up where we need to be. Strongly encourage you to take this action and move forward."

According to Wright, the cost for the extra work would come from the fuel trust fund. During the last county budget process, when fuel costs were at an all-time high, county staff figured the costs and put aside $400,000 to take care of increased fuel expenses. Since fuel has dropped considerably, that extra money is idle and still a part of the general fund.

"Since gas is below $2 per gallon, we have this money unencumbered and available," Wright said. "Taking $250,000 from that money will not hurt the budget at all."

An additional item arose about the vote surrounding this contract by Councilman Jeff Carlson, who is the president of the Central Florida Planning Council (CFPC), the controlling board for the Regional Planning Council.

Wright assured the public that having members on the commission who represented CFRPC had no bearing on his decision to hire CFRPC as the planners. Chairperson Barbara Stewart was a member of CFPC, but no longer sits on the board.

"We ensure that what we put in the plan is what the state and county requires. The Planing Council does vote on the contract, but is not involved in the actual planning," Wright said.

Ross McBeth, attorney for the commission, assured Carlson that since he was not paid by CFPC he did not have to abstain, and asked for the lunch break to be moved up so he could confirm that conclusion.

Bill Youngman, another citizen activist in the county, was confused at the duplicity that commission was presenting on different issues about growth.

"We were in here last week talking about sheriff's department. It was presented by Commissioner Carlson that we did not need to do the sheriff's department because the population of Highlands County was decreasing. I have four projects in my neighborhood that is scheduled to have 2,205 housing projects planned on the 1,800 acres. We do not need Lake Placid North, Lake Placid South and Bluehead. Let the developers pay for it," Youngman said.

Another issue raised by Colby concerned access to the records are the planning took place.

"Some of these records that the taxpayers are paying for will not be public record, is that correct?" Colby asked in his extra time allotted after Jack Ritchie of the Highlands Homeowner Association deferred his granted time for questions to Colby.

"Some of the documents, especially those form private consultants, will not be public records until the project is finished," McBeth said.

"We must update the comprehensive plan. We had 18 months to do it, and we are already six months into it, and we do not have the staff to do this. This project is not being driven by Lake Placid North, Lake Placid South or Atlantic Blue. We have to update this plan. One point I would like to see is a deliverable dates for the scope of the plan," said Commissioner Don Bates.

In response to citizen concerns, Carlson assured the public that this not a housing-based project.

"This is a comprehensive plan. This is not directed specifically to just housing, it is for economic development as well. We could see a stop to economic development we could see five years of commercial development not happening," Carlson said.