Mass
Transit Backers Seek Funding To Get Agency Off
Ground
By
RICH SHOPES The
Published:
Jun 6, 2007
The
governor two weeks ago cut a request for $1 million from the state
budget that would have paid for an executive director, secretary,
legal costs and office space.
That
prompted the Tampa Bay Partnership, a coalition of businesses that
lobbied to create the authority, to send "A Call to Action"
to its 175 company members, urging them to send letters and e-mail to Crist
last week to ask him to reinstate the funding.
"Other
regions have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars for
transportation. Now it's our turn," partnership spokesman Joe
Smith said. "This is just a huge opportunity to work
together."
The
partnership has pushed for three years to create the agency, called
the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority, after business
executives cited transportation as the No. 1 obstacle to economic
growth.
The
authority would develop intercounty plans
for toll roads, rail and express bus systems.
State
legislators last month passed a bill to create the authority, and now
all it requires is the governor's signature.
The
partnership expects that to happen in the next couple of weeks, even
though the funding issue remains up in the air.
If
Crist won't come up with startup cash, the
partnership and local legislators are running through some backup
scenarios.
First,
it would ask the Florida Department of Transportation to donate
technical assistance to create the authority's regional transportation
plan by July 2009, the deadline for the plan.
Don
Skelton, secretary for the state transportation district that includes
DOT
engineers are developing a master plan for roads and transit. The
department also can arrange meetings, he said.
Next,
the partnership would turn to businesses to donate office space and
possibly pro bono legal advice to cut costs further.
At
least initially, the authority might have to get by without an
executive director and secretary, which shouldn't be a problem, Smith
said.
"We
may not need them anyway until later on," he said. "You have
to understand this funding was for the first year of operation. Next
year, we could come back with another funding request."
A
spokesman for Crist said the governor
vetoed the request because it was made under the Transportation Trust
Fund, which pays for bridges and roads, not authorities'
administrative costs. Funding
The
bill's sponsor in the House said he hasn't given up on asking the
governor for funding this year. Rep. Bill Galvano,
R-Bradenton, said he might request money from a fund that aids
communities.
If
Galvano doesn't succeed, he said, he will
turn to local governments in areas covered by the authority - Citrus,
Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee,
"If
this issue is that important, then we need to show the governor and
others in
Reporter
Rich Shopes can be reached at (813)
259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.
Growth
Headed For The Hills?
Published:
Jun 6, 2007
The
region between
On
Tuesday, planners for the first time revealed to county commissioners
their vision for the 22,000-acre region - a vision crafted over the
past few months with the help of local residents.
The
plan, as laid out for commissioners, sets aside about 12,000 acres of
wetlands and development "rural enclaves." The remaining
land would be developed by concentrating future growth in about a
dozen villagelike centers spread from
The
scale and scope of the project will mean adding miles of new roads,
sewer lines and other utilities to an area largely devoid of them.
That,
planners said, will be expensive.
No
one offered a price tag for the work, but for the first time planners
laid out ways the county, landowners and developers might pay for the
new infrastructure.
The
most likely way would be to create special taxing districts to draw
the funds for construction from the areas that will benefit directly,
said Bob Nabors, a consultant hired to analyze the project's financial
feasibility.
The
region could also benefit from an impact fee created specifically for
it and from assessing existing residents to help pay for road
improvements.
With
no dominant landowner to focus growth, the project could benefit from
having several smaller landowners join forces to build a few of the
future town centers as a way of inspiring others, Nabors said.
"My
experience is, people have a hard time visualizing these
concepts," Nabors said.
Nabors
was quick to remind commissioners that the financing plan is flexible.
"These
are all ideas to generate thinking about how to get from here to
there," Nabors said. "They're not set in stone."
The
Pasadena Hills plan has drawn little, if any, opposition from
residents, hundreds of whom gave their input on what should be done
with their area.
Critics
from northeast
"This
is something
Reporter
Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813)
948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
With
plan, county can take control of growth
St.
Pete Times
editorial
Published June 6, 2007
Take
a look at east
Now,
take a look into the future. The same area could be 28, 000 homes on
5- and 10-acre lots. It would be cost prohibitive to provide central
water and sewer utilities so wells and septic systems, and the
accompanying environmental problems, would prevail. The road network
to serve all those vehicles driving 10 miles just to get a gallon of
milk at the nearest commercial outpost would require eight lanes of
traffic on Handcart and Curley roads and U.S. 301. It is the
definition of sprawl.
Or,
it could grow as much of the county has. There would be 45, 000 homes
amid a sea of subdivisions on former farmland that has been rezoned to
allow up to three homes per acre. We've seen that already and it is
not particularly appealing.
Still
better is an area with the same 45, 000 homes clustered among 14
villages amid the pleasing landscapes that draw people there in the
first place. Residents would shop and dine and, hopefully, a few of
them would even work, at the central business districts within each
town center. Instead of walled communities and streets ending in
cul-de-sacs, homes would line connected streets leading to open spaces
at the edge of each village. The planned grid system eliminates the
need for widening existing highways to six and eight lanes.
That
is the vision for the Pasadena Hills study area, 20, 000 acres between
State Roads 54 and 52 from
The
resulting Pasadena Hills plan is a much more palatable way to turn old
One
idea is the tax increment financing method usually reserved for
redevelopment. The county could designate the Pasadena Hills area as
its own special district, persuade property owners to commit their
land, and then ship back a portion of growing property tax revenues to
pay off bonds that financed the improvements.
But
even before the nuts and bolts are worked out, the private-sector
landowners and public governments (already acquiescence from the city
of
Here's
an idea to help build that collaborative spirit. Drive around
south-central
Mapping
out a different long-range plan for Pasadena Hills is smart.
Charlotte
leaning toward water wells
By
ZAC
zac.anderson@heraldtribune.com
If they follow through, it would be a major change from last year when
the commission was ready to relinquish control of water resources to
the regional water authority.
A consultant identified four prime locations for new wellfields
during a presentation to the
The wellfield proposal was embraced by
commissioners, who have blamed the Peace River/Manasota
Regional Water Supply Authority for water quality problems and wonder
if the large regional agency would be nimble enough to quickly develop
new sources for overstressed areas such as the
But a decision to develop county water sources could have consequences
if state officials view the move as a rebuff to their regional
approach.
"I think I'm regional and I think our board is still regional,
but love starts at home," Commissioner Tom Moore said.
The county currently gets 95 percent of its water from the Peace
River/Manasota Regional Water Supply
Authority, which draws water out of the Peace River near
The water authority recently began a major plant expansion, and
But county officials said Friday that it makes sense to have
alternative sources of drinking water, especially in light of the
recent drought, which found the water authority struggling to meet
water quality standards.
"When I was pressing for" the water authority "to be
our sole provider, we weren't in the worst drought in recorded
history," said Commissioner Tom Moore.
State water officials have been pushing a regional approach to future
water supply issues, and have threatened to withhold grant funding
from counties that do not follow that approach.
A spokeswoman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District said
agency officials understand why some of the wellfields
might be needed.
"We anticipated they'd be doing a project like this because
they're quite a distance from the regional system in some
places," said Swiftmud spokeswoman
Robyn Hanke.
The water authority always will be a major water provider in
"We can move quicker on some of these projects than the water
authority can," he said.
And timing is important, especially in growing areas such as the
Charlotte Utilities Director Jeff Pearson estimated Tuesday that the
It will take about that long to develop new supplies if the county
starts now, officials said.
"We need to make a decision fairly quickly, and this is something
we have control over,"
Handling the project locally also could increase water quality.
Because the Water Authority's
And the well water might actually be cheaper because it would be piped
shorter distances and require less treatment chemicals, Pearson said.
"Chlorine's not cheap," he said.
If the numbers look good, some commissioners want to move ahead
immediately.
"I say go for it," Commissioner Adam Cummings said.
"The clock is ticking."
Officials:
'No' to paying for study on water sources
Payment
may be given later
BY
CHRISTOPHER CURRY
STAR-BANNER
OCALA
- Marion County Commissioners say they are not ready to help pay for a
proposed alternate water sources plan they believe will allow pumping
the Ocklawaha River to pipe water to other areas of the state.
"It's
like we're buying an axe to cut off our own head," County
Commissioner Andy Kesselring said.
The
St. Johns River Water Management District asked the county for up to
$585,816 over three years to participate in the study to identify
future sources for drinking water other than groundwater withdrawal.
Those proposed sources include surface water from the Ocklawaha in
Kesselring
dissented. He said the water management district seems to already have
concluded the Ocklawaha is a source for future water supply and he is
not convinced it should be.
Already,
"The
design of this whole exercise is an effort to provide water to
jurisdictions that are in imminent danger of losing their public water
supply,"
Fisk
tried to alleviate commissioners' concerns. He said SJRWMD still
follows the "local sources first" policy and that means
It
remains to be seen if commissioners decide at a later date to put
money toward the study. Commissioners Barbara Fitos
and Stan McClain and the county's Water Resources Manager Troy Kuphal
said participation might be necessary for
"There's
a saying, you're either at the table or on the menu," Kuphal
said. "I think it's important for us to be at the table in this
process from the very beginning."
County
Administrator Pat Howard said
"The
law looks at that as not our water and they are not taking it from
us," Howard said.
Christopher
Curry may be reached at chris.curry@starbanner.com or 867-4115.
Golf
courses hit with fines for water usage
Thirteen
golf courses have been slapped with fines by state water officials
after failing to meet irrigation targets.
BY
CURTIS MORGAN
cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com
State
water managers have hit 13 golf courses in
The
Country Club of Miami in Northwest Miami-Dade carded the single worst
water-use score, reducing irrigation by 0 percent in April, according
to figures released Tuesday by the South Florida Water Management
District.
The
target cutback for each of the 177 courses in Miami-Dade, Broward,
Grande
Oaks in
Country
Club of
He
said the county-run course had already petitioned to appeal the $6,000
violation notice, which arrived Tuesday in the mail.
The
fairways, Montesino said, prove irrigation
has been cut dramatically. ''Oh yeah, you can take pictures. It's
brown,'' he said.
Overall,
golf courses did better than asked on water cutbacks, said Jesus
Rodriguez, spokesman for the water district.
Courses
typically pump about 2.5 billion gallons in April, but beat the target
number by a half-billion gallons, cutting back to 1.4 billion.
''They
ought to be, as an industry, applauded for their water conservation
efforts,'' said district spokesman Jesus Rodriguez.
It
was the second round of fines the district has levied against golf
courses.
More
than 80 were charged $500 in April for
failing to file reports showing weekly water use, which were required
when the first drought restrictions went into effect on March 22.
Golf
courses aren't the only affluent playgrounds getting dunned.
Owners
of some of
James
Clark, co-founder of Netscape Communications Corp., received a written
warning, then was fined $100 after he was
accused of breaking rules on lawn watering.
''The
lawn is pretty much dead,'' he said. ``Next year, we will have to
plant a new lawn if we want one.''
Kass,
founder and president of Palm Beach-based Seabreeze
Partners Management Inc., was given a warning for hand-watering of
some new plantings at the building, said Christopher Brandon, who
handles the firm's operations.
Kass
wasn't aware of the restriction, he said.
Nederlander
didn't respond to phone messages left at his
Similar
''blatant'' violations prompted Stefan Ferentz,
a
''It
is an arrogant attitude,'' he said. ``There is an
ends-justify-the-means attitude.''
Montesino
said the Country Club of Miami shouldn't be lumped in with scofflaws.
He said it appears that when the Miami-Dade Parks Department took over
operations from a private management firm several years ago, no one
looked at the fine print in the course's water-use permit -- at least
until the violation notice arrived.
The
permit lists the course as 177 acres. The club's two courses actually
cover 288 acres, he said.
''I
have two 18-hole courses here, that's one of the main issues,'' he
said. ``We're in the process of modifying the permit now.''
Steve
Matthews of Bloomberg News contributed to this story.
Martin
won't require developer disclosures
Wednesday,
June 06, 2007
STUART
Prospective land developers in
County
commissioners rejected a proposal Tuesday to beef up disclosure The
changes would have required developers to reveal who is applying for a
land change or a rezoning request for a piece of property. Rules
require the name of a company making the application.
Local
attorneys Virginia Sherlock and Howard Heims
suggested that
"You
know why you need this," Heims said.
"You could have corporations, and for all you know, one of the
principles in your corporation is one of your staff members."
Sherlock
and Heims also have said they want
"You
can't hide behind a corporation,'" Heims
said. "You're seeing applications come in under the name of
attorneys or land planners."
Martin
County Commissioner Sarah Heard, who supported the disclosure
requirements, said they would increase residents' trust of public
officials.
"We
want to make sure we are not sponsoring developments whose owners are
terrorism cells or drug launderers," Heard said.
Commissioner
Lee Weberman questioned whether such
requirements violate state constitutional privacy laws. State laws do
enough to govern the issue, and nothing can stop everybody from
breaking the law, he said.
"If
you have people intent on breaking the statutes, it doesn't matter how
many laws you have," Weberman said.
"This is one of the most silliest
things I have ever seen."
"Justice
is supposed to be blind," she said. "I personally do not
want to know who owns the property."
"I
can see where these insinuations are going," DiTerlizzi
said. "Some people who are 'anti-everything' say that if you are
a businessperson, you must be a developer and you must be
crooked."
Fireworks
flew between Heims and Weberman
after the meeting.
"You're
making our case for us about the lack of trust," Heims
shouted at Weberman.
4,000
homes to be built in Port St. Lucie
Wednesday,
June 06, 2007
PORT
ST. LUCIE Despite a prolonged housing
slump, 4,000 new homes will be going up west of Interstate 95 on land
that started the city's westward expansion long before Tradition or
New
owners of the storied LTC Ranch, whose development roots date to 1992
and a developer's plans for 10,000 homes there, told planners Tuesday
they plan to build an active adult community where the golf cart, not
the car, is king.
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|
Centex
Homes unveiled plans for Phase 1 of the 2,068-acre project at a
planning and zoning board meeting Tuesday, with a proposed
55,000-square-foot clubhouse with such features as a ballroom dance
floor and spa, a fitness center and possibly a small community
theater.
Kenneth
DeLaTorre of Centex estimated about 2,800
of the 4,000 homes and townhomes on the
property west of
Despite
LTC's early entry into the world of
western development in Port St. Lucie, plans for the mixed-use
development never got off the ground except for a small industrial
park.
A
contract dispute waylaid plans for homes in 2003, just as nearby
landowners like Core Communities, PGA and G.L. Homes were announcing
dreams of building their own mega-communities on vast tracts of
farmland west of I-95.
With
the court battle settled and Centex paying $110 million for the land
last year, developers said they are eager to break ground next spring
despite the slumping housing market.
"We
think we'll have a unique product to offer the active adult who wants
to be surrounded by nature," DeLaTorre
said. "There's a lot of lakes and
wetlands, and we're going to use that as an attraction."
Three-fourths
of the 4,000 homes will be single-family, with the others townhouses
and owner-occupied apartments. No price range has been set, but DeLaTorre
said value will be a key factor in attracting buyers in a lackluster
market.
Previous
owners secured the right to build up to 4,000 homes, 2 million square
feet of industrial space and 725,000 square feet of retail space.
Centex is seeking some changes to the non-residential figures and will
present its overall plan this summer.
The
developer also must donate 120 acres to the city and school district
for a regional park and a school. The proposal will be discussed by
the city council later this month.
Couple
requests rezoning to build home
BY JESSICA RAYNOR
FLORIDATODAY
Peter and Lynn Pearson will appear at the planning and zoning
commission meeting at 7 p.m. The two have regularly attended city
council meetings within the last several months, questioning the
council on the citys methods for determining wetlands by using
seemingly outdated maps.
The Pearsons previous attempt to build
on the property failed. The city will discuss the issue at its June 26
meeting.
In other business, the planning and zoning commission will discuss
naming a street in the Timber Trace apartment project, look at a Tire
Kingdom project, and discuss an ordinance that would transfer
development rights within the central business district.
Contact Raynor
at 360-1016 or jraynor@floridatoday.com
Impact
fee vote delayed as builders ask for time
Joshua
Davidovich
Staff
Writer
TAVARES
- A controversial vote on the first of several proposed increases in
impact fees won't happen until at least August.
The Lake County Commission voted Tuesday to delay action on
transportation impact fees for 60 days at the request of the Lake
County Home Builders Association, which asked for the time to review
and challenge the study supporting the fee increases.
"We just received the final report from Tindale
Oliver on May 21. We have a consultant on board," HBA president
Jim Bible said. "It's just really become known in the last week
or two what the significance of the numbers are."
The vote was taken before a standing room-only crowd of builders and
others at the county commission chambers in Tavares.
Many
were on hand to oppose the proposed rate increases which would make
Commissioners expressed hope that with the delay, they would be able
to vote on both transportation and school impact fees at the same
time.
"By then the school impact fee should be ready," Commission
Chairman Welton Cadwell
said. "By then the special session will be over."
The state Legislature will determine how to provide property tax
relief during the special section. How that is accomplished, and to
what extent, may affect county revenue.
The initial school impact fee study called for similar fee increases
that also would be the highest in the state. Though that study had
already been approved by the school board, it is under re-review by
the study's authors.
Commissioner Debbie Stivender drew large
applause when she told the crowd she opposed the fee increases.
"I came into this meeting wanting to deny this proposal,"
she said.
Officials had originally hoped to have the fees in place by Oct. 1,
the beginning of the fiscal year, but said they may have to delay that
until Jan. 1.
Bible said he would deliver a list of homebuilders' concerns to the
county commission later this week and hoped to meet with them to
discuss the issues before the vote in early August.
"It's not our intention to delay getting something adopted,"
he said. "We don't want to let this languish."'
Commissioner Linda Stewart waited until the end of the meeting to
voice her support for the fees, which she said were being presented in
an unfair light.
"I'm rather sick of the grandstanding and scare tactics,"
she said. "The fact about impact fees is that they are
necessary."
County
Allows ApplicationFor Stewardship Program
By
JIM KONKOLY
Published:
June 6, 2007
SEBRING
- Highlands County Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to allow the
county's two biggest landholders Atlanticblue
and Lykes Brothers to apply for the
state's new Rural Land Stewardship program as a development option.
RLS
allows development of a new, self-sustaining town in a rural area if
the landowner makes permanent commitments to preserve surrounding
areas for conservation and agriculture.
Atlanticblue,
which operates the 65,000-acre Blue Head Ranch west of Lake Placid,
and Lykes Brothers, which farms on 68,000
acres surrounding
Spokesmen
for both companies said they have no immediate plans for development
of a town but want RLS as an option to concentrate development in a
confined area while maintaining large portions of their land for
agriculture and conservation.
Commissioner
Barbara Stewart cast the lone "no" vote on declaring the
county's intent to consider the two sites which collectively
account for 20 percent of the county for RLS development.
Stewart said she supports RLS as a planning tool for rural development
and land conservation but wanted more detailed information in the
county's letter to the DCA.
Lykes
Brothers and Atlanticblue have agreed to
pay the county's costs for reviewing their RLS applications. J. Ross
Macbeth, county legal counsel, said details of those agreements are
being worked out while county officials look into hiring
transportation, environmental and planning consultants for RLS review.
Macbeth
advised commissioners to invite the cities of Sebring and
The
DCA has said development of large-scale RLS projects could decrease
the amount of development allowed by the state in other areas of the
county, Macbeth said.
"How
much that (RLS) precludes moving ahead with other development plans is
not known," he said.
Mark Morton, senior vice president of Lykes
Brothers Land Investments, Inc., said the company has no immediate
plans for a new town but wants RLS designation in case such a project
becomes viable in the future.
"This
(RLS) is a long range planning tool," Morton said. "If there
were a market for somebody to want to do a new town, if a new town
made sense, we would be able to react to it. And the county would be
in a position for lands to be be in
conservation and for agriculture lands to be set aside."
Lisa
Jenson, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Antlanticblue,
said her company views RLS as an important development option but has
no immediate plans to develop a town.
Mobile
home parks given reprieve from development
Wednesday,
June 06, 2007
STUART
Mobile home parks cannot be bulldozed into condominiums in
Commissioners
unanimously approved a temporary moratorium barring the owners of any
mobile home parks from applying to change the use of their land or
rezone it in order to redevelop it.
|
|
Mobile
home parks provide affordable housing for low-income and retired
residents. Commissioners instituted the moratorium because owners of
several mobile home parks have expressed interest in closing their
parks and turning them into more expensive permanent homes and condos.
"We
need low income housing," said
Bloomfield
Meadows park owner Art Palma is evicting residents such as Tower
because he wants to redevelop the park into condos. Tower said the
moratorium is needed because lower-income residents like her deserve a
place to live in the county.
"People
who live in parks are not white trash or poor people," she said.
"I work every day, so I don't consider myself a poor
person."
Some
mobile home parks in the county's seven community redevelopment areas
will not have to follow the moratorium. Mobile home parks in
Commissioner
Doug Smith supported the moratorium but said it may not do much to
help low-income residents because it does not stop a park owner from
evicting residents and closing a park, only from trying to redevelop
it.
"This
won't stop an owner from dissolving a park," Smith said.
Quigley
agreed that
The
moratorium bars any new applications for at least 15 months, Quigley
said, and commissioners will use that time to create ordinances to
preserve mobile home parks or create affordable housing.
Terry
McCarthy,
Commissioners
have proposed solutions that would require owners who redevelop mobile
home parks to build more mobile homes elsewhere.
"In
the end hopefully we'll have some solutions for housing," said
Commissioner Lee Weberman.
Resident
Debbie Cooper, reading a letter for Indiantown mobile home park
resident Art Madsen, said elderly retired residents living in mobile
homes deserve to be protected as an "endangered species"
just like rare animals.
"Suddenly
they have become expendable and the land is getting sold out from
under them," Cooper read from the letter. "They do not have
as much protection as a tree frog or a turtle."
Fertilizer
laws to get hearing
By
PATRICK WHITTLE
patrick.whittle@heraldtribune.com
That is the date of a public hearing for
According to county records, the ordinance would:
Prohibit
residents from using fertilizers that contain nitrogen or phosphorous
between June 1 and Oct. 1.
Create
a fertilizer-free buffer zone within 10 feet of any body of water.
Create
a "no-mow zone" within 6 feet of any body of water.
Require
completion of a training course for all professional fertilizer
applicators.
Require
rotary fertilizer spraying devices to include a special shield.
County leaders have spent more than a year crafting the new law.
"There's no way we're ever going to be able to restore the bays
to the state which they were before" the widespread use of
fertilizers, Thaxton said. "We're
shooting for the best that we can get."
The county's proposed law takes some cues from an ordinance passed by
the city of
Sanibel and
The county's proposed law also encourages residents to use
slow-release fertilizers rather than quick release fertilizers that
are prone to wash down drains.
The county commissioners added an exemption that allows residents to
use fertilizers in the rainy season on "damaged, diseased or new
landscaping."
The commissioners capped the use of nitrogen at five pounds per 1,000
square feet per year.
The commissioners also put a 2 percent cap on the amount of
phosphorous that can be used in fertilizer blends.
Fertilizer industry representatives have expressed concern that
The ordinance states that a strong law is necessary as "part of a
multi-pronged effort by
Good
roads don't come cheap
By
JOHN DAVIS
NORTH
PORT -- Experts are telling North Port's leaders the city will have to
charge people more for upkeep if it wants to stay ahead of maintenance
on hundreds of miles of roads and the city's massive drainage network.
This is the latest proposed fee increase in
In the past, the City Commission has been reluctant to increase city
taxes and fees, even when experts and city staff recommended it.
But
Today, two consulting firms will tell city leaders that
"It's a difficult thing for people to see and us to do,"
said
According to Public Works Director Branford Adumuah,
if
Today, Adumuah will likely recommend an
increase of about 30 percent for most homeowners, who now pay the city
$120 a year for repaving.
"We're going to advance slowly," said Commissioner Richard
Lockhart of the road fee proposal.
Last month, the consultant Government Resources Group recommended that
the city increase garbage pickup fees to $300 next year for residents,
up from the $209 residents now pay.
The commission has yet to make a decision on what next year's garbage
fee will be or whether the whole department will be turned over to a
private company.
This month, the commission will also talk about whether to go through
with a planned increase in construction impact fees. Beginning in
October, the impact fees the city charges to build a house will go
from $6,861 to $9,809, but with the massive slowdown in home building,
city leaders are rethinking the plan.
The city is spending $13 million on an unprecedented road repaving and
drainage rehabilitation program that will cover about 130 miles of
roadway. The city has hundreds of miles of roads and drainage networks
left to rehabilitate, but is short of the money to do it.