Board of County Commissioners on 2024-01-23 9:00 AM

Everybody, welcome to the January 23rd BSEC meeting. If you would, please rise for the invocation and the pledge. Good morning. Good morning. Let us pray. Our Lord, please instruct us and teach us in the way that we should conduct this meeting. Please counsel us with your loving eye on us. Let our aims in this meeting be aligned with your direction. Let our plans be orchestrated by you. Let your will be done in this meeting so this can be a meeting based upon your desires for us. Whenever it is that you want to result from this meeting, Lord, let it happen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic to which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, we'll do the employee recognition. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. I'm Jeff Foley, public and media relations officer for communications. Today we are recognizing four employees for their service to Pulp County. I'd like to invite the employees to come to the front as their names are called. And then if the honorees will remain standing at the front while the commissioners return to the dais behind them, we will take a group photo at the end. First, Betty Cannons. Betty has worked for Pulp County for 30 years. She started as a solid waste customer service rep in the special assessment section in 1994. She then became a recycling specialist before taking on the role of recycling coordinator. Currently, Betty works as a unit clerk in facilities management. Betty is on the board of Keek, Pulp County Beautiful, and she volunteers at many of the organization's events. She also enjoys reading. What Betty really loves, though, is spending time with her grandchildren. Betty's husband, Russell, works in Pulp County's utilities division. Betty plans to travel around the United States when she retires. Next, Travis Carr. Travis has served Pulp County's residents for 30 years. He began his career as a service worker at the Recycling Division in 1994, and he currently works as a Parks Caretaker II in the Parks and Natural Resources Division. He has also worked as a roads maintenance service worker and a Parks Caretaker I. Travis has a CDL Class A license and a pesticide-certified public applicator license. In his free time, Travis enjoys ATV riding, traveling, and spending time with his family, which includes his wife, Regina. He is a member of the Vine Street Church, and he looks forward to traveling more when he retires. Karen Campbell. Karen has been a custodial worker in Pulp County's facilities management division for 20 years, since December 22, 2003. Karen's daughter works at Pulp's Clerk of Courts, and one of her granddaughters works for the sheriff's office. Karen is a stewardess at her church, St. Paul AME in Fort Meade. In her spare time, she enjoys decorating her home and sewing, a skill she attributes to her time after high school at the Polk Vocational School. Karen's future plans include working in her garden and participating in church activities. Eric Russell. Eric has worked in Polk County's Parks and Natural Resources Division for 20 years. He is currently a Parks Senior Caretaker, and he has worked as a Parks Caretaker 1 and 2. Eric enjoys spending time with his wife, Summer, and his son, Asher, and he attends Berkeley Chapel Church in Auburndale. He is also a coach of an 11-and-under baseball team. Originally from the Tuscaloosa area, Eric loves Alabama sports and the Miami Dolphins. Before Eric retires and moves to the mountains, he plans to continue climbing the Parks and Natural Resources ranks. I'm going to have time next time. Are you ready? I'm three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Last one. Perfect. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you all. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. All right. It's time for a request from the general public. First up, I have Mr. Abercrombie. You here? Mr. Abercrombie? Oh, okay. Hot traffic area this morning. My name is James Abercrombie, 2737 Gibsonia-Galloway Road. I was in here two weeks ago. I had questions about my permit. I have heard nothing as of two weeks from anyone, any place, anywhere, anytime. So my next step, I wanted to congratulate Mr. Braswell. I think that was the speech you made last session about listening more. I certainly hope you meant that because I'm here to tell you folks, I've been waiting on this for a year and a half. I started with your planning division. I did what I was supposed to do. I did my due diligence. I went to the county attorney's office. He helped get things started, and he dropped it. Now, one thing you did say, Mr. Braswell, that the planning was not so important last weekend. Well, it is. They have my properties tied up. They have all my equity tied up completely. They had a UCC lien put on my property before the permit even ran out. So it does affect me tremendously. I was affected in 2000 by a couple of commissioners sitting on this board, too, and destroyed my family for 10 years. I'm serious about this. I need to do something. I have some Florida statues here that you really need to read, and I wished you would read them and not allow the county attorney to give his opinion because 90% of your decisions are made on recommendations. They're not your decisions. You haven't taken the time to look at the paperwork, understand what's going on, and make your decision. You haven't done it. You depend on that county manager to make your decisions. You were talking about the fire the other day at the last meeting, the fire department and all that stuff going on in there. If you really was to watch the media, private media, there's people talking about having to work double shift, being forced to work double shifts on the fire department, whether they want to or not, with the consequences of firing if they don't. I think that's something else you can start with when you start this investigation. It needs to be investigated. This planning division as well needs to be investigated. There's something not going on right here. There is no management. There's none. I really need somebody to get with me and get this done. I want it all done in public, though, too. I'm so sick of this, everything behind closed doors. I had a meeting with Mr. Vogel, an assistant county attorney. Had five employees in the building, or five employees in that office. I requested that it be recorded. He refused. I said, I will record it. He said, I won't be there. And I asked him why. He didn't answer. But during the meeting, talking to the four or five that were there. Thank you, Mr. Abercrombie. One of them did say he would be hearsay of evidence when he gets to court. Next up is Sharon Garrett, and I understand you want to speak for you, and then you want to speak for your dad, and that's fine. Brother. Sorry. Thank you so much. Before I start speaking, could you bring up, you've done it before. I don't know if you can do it. The aerial map for the area of township 2727 showing Powerline Road. Oh, your time is running, and we weren't prepared for that. So I'd suggest you speak. Okay. Out where I live, there's a whole lot of development. We have not very much improvements in the roads. I mean, the last time there was a gas tax, I voted for the nickel, but I never saw much of the money applied to it. Crosswinds West, Crosswinds East, phases one and two of East. When you total all the lots together, there's 4,360 lots. If you have three cars per lot, I also did it for two cars, and two trips a day, that's 26,160 trips per day on a two-lane county road. And you can't get out in certain places. There's only one stoplight. That's Johnson and Powerline. The only reason we got that was because somebody, a few people died there. October the 19th, there was an accident down at the end of Carl Boozer Road, and a lady died. And I couldn't get to work for two or three hours. We need some improvements. I understand you have an agreement with the Cassidy organization, which I have a copy of it here on phase two of Powerline Road. And I read through it, and it says, you know, they'll do the initial design work for the four lanes. They get impact fee credits for $8 million, which they can sell or keep. But it has to be used within the Northeast District area. That doesn't mean Powerline Road. It goes on down. The county and the developer agree that the road needs to be improved. They do say that. It goes on down to development approvals. And it says the agreement, the developer can pursue proportional share agreement with the county. And I guess the way I understand it is they can give money, the county, they give money to the county for the impact they have on the road. But the next line is the most, the last line is the most important. The county agrees the developer shall be entitled to develop its property without regard whether Powerline Road phase two expansion is actually constructed. That means, and you guys signed this, somebody in your organization, that means we may never get any improvements. All I'm asking for till this road is ever four-laned is we get a few stoplights. Just one simple stoplight here and there, a four-way stop before more people have accidents. I have a master's in business, and I've studied some law courses, and you have a duty owed in law. Your duty as commissioners is to protect your citizens. We have a right to safe access. We have no safe access on this road. Most of the money I've seen from the other gas tax that we voted on the nickel a gallon was spent more in the Lakeland area. You've got more four-lane roads over there, and Haines City has no four-lane road except maybe U.S. 27. 1792 comes in and stops at the four-lane at the old railroad bridge with the city of Haines City owns. If you talk to the city, the city blames the county. If you talk to different ones in the county, they say, well, the city shouldn't be approving all these lots. The city say they have to approve it, or they get sued. But we, as citizens that live out there, we have always lived, a bunch of us have always lived out there. I grew up out there. We need a way to navigate the city. There's just no way to get around. You've got gridlock. And there's no streetlights. There's no streetlight at the end of Carl Boosie Road where that girl was hit. You've got no sidewalks. You've got no bicycle path. People walk and ride in dark clothes. You can't see them. So it would be wonderful if you guys would do something about, I just want some traffic control, because it doesn't look like any time that road is going to be paved. I understand phase one is supposed to be done where it goes from South Boulevard to 1792, but you've still got to get there. The other thing is that whole road is three and a quarter miles long. It is two and three quarter miles to South Boulevard from Johnson where the stoplight is. It's hilly. In fact, where I come out at the end of the road, I'm down in a valley. You have to look this way, and there's two hills that way, and there'll be a car down in the bottom in the valley. And then you've got to look back this way, the close hill. You hope there was nothing in the valley on this side before you make your move, or you can get hit. I mean, if you want to knock the hills down a little bit, that'd be good. But it's just, there's no safe way. And if we put 26,000 more people on that road, it's just unusable, basically. My dad used to grade Carl Buzer Road. He graded part of Powerline. I'm just asking for safe access and some kind of traffic control stuff. And by the way, I would be glad to run for our district for county commissioner and work on roads the next time commission comes up. Just ask me. Thank you. Anyone else caring to speak? Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. Name and address, please. Forgive me, I don't do this very often, but this is, is this on the same topic or is this on a different location? Whatever topic you want to talk about, unless it's a land use case, we'll hear those later. Pardon me? Is it for a land use case or just something you want to talk about? No, sir. It's basically on the same situation. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Name and address, please. My name is Dolly Clements. I have several addresses. This is my husband, Frank Garcia. I'm from Frostbrook, Florida. That's my original location. My mom and dad live on 1192 North Lake Rady Boulevard. I'm at 4300 Highway 630 Frostbrook, Florida as well. Today, the reason why I'm talking is that I'm concerned about 4200 Highway 630 East Frostbrook, Florida. It's a new development that's going up in my neighborhood, which belongs, my husband's gun range is right next door. And the reason why I'm here today is because I'm concerned, just like this young lady, about the traffic. And you'll have to forgive me on this, but I'm concerned that the last meeting before, they approved non-paved roads in this development. And my concern about that is that, you know, we've got a lot of neighborhoods right now in Frostbrook and in Lake Wells that are non-paved. And it causes a big concern for a lot of the citizens driving on that road. It's a safety issue. It causes a lot of damage to different vehicles. And the other thing is, is that there's not, my concern is if there's going to be a turn-in lane, because this is currently a 50 to 55 lane to turn into this development. My concern is for the people. I've been an insurance agent in the insurance business for 27 years and an insurance agent for 22 years. And I've seen a lot of accidents. And this is, to me, just screams future accidents. So I want to make sure that the turn-off lane is going to be done in regards to that location, because there's a lot of people out there. I don't know if you've been to River Ranch, but there's a lot of recreational out there. There's a lot of people driving that road, very high speed. But I just want to make sure that we address that issue and that I do believe that this needs to be paved, this development needs to be paved. And I believe that we need to do some safety features to make sure that people are safe. And like this young lady just said, you know, our responsibility in the community is to make sure people are safe. The other concern I have, obviously, is that my husband has a gun range and that we are putting a subdivision in the middle of a gun range. I can't imagine putting a gun range in the middle of a subdivision, okay? I mean, we wouldn't do the opposite, so why are we doing it now? So I really would like some help on that. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Garcia, you know we're going to talk about this later. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Anyone else? All right. Moving on. Consent agenda. Move approval. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed. Carries. Ms. Butterfield. Good morning. Morning. Today, we have for you to approve and ratify payroll checks number 02550 through 02561 in the amount of $13,053.72. We have 2,615 direct deposits in the amount of $4,215,232.77. Those are dated January 12th of 2024. We have wire and electronic funds transfers of $8,781,812.42, dated January 9th through January 22nd, 2024. We have invoice checks number 451858 through 452596, totaling $11,521,330.44, dated January 9th through January 22nd, 2024. For you to approve and ratify, please. Move approval and disbursement. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed. Motion carries. We also ask that you approve the minutes of your regular board meeting that was held on January the 9th of 2024. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed. Motion carries. What else? I know you have some. I do. Thank you. I'd like to highlight two events that my office is hosting in the month of February. The first one is a Saturday passport application event. On Saturday, February the 3rd, I will be hosting anyone that wants to come in on Saturday for a passport application. That will be held at our branch courthouse locations, which is in Lakeland and in the Northeast Center in Lake Alfred. And the time is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. So I know it's difficult for some people to get to us on normal business hours. And we hope that people will avail themselves of this opportunity. The other event in February is our annual Valentine's Day group wedding, the sweetest day of the year. So on February the 14th, this will be held at the beautiful historic courthouse or the History Center. Thank you for allowing us to use that facility on the courthouse steps. Anyone interested in participating in the group wedding can visit our website. And Mr. Chairman Braswell, thank you for agreeing to greet everyone and open the ceremony for us. So we look forward to that and invite anyone that would like to watch the event or attend the event to come on out and watch the couples. It will be Polk County's finest newlyweds that day, and it's always a joyful event. So we have all of the information on both events on our website. All right, great. And Polk County's birthday is coming up on the 8th of February. That's true, so thank you. All right, thanks. It is. The amounts for both the cost for expedited and regular for adults and people, well, 16 and older is one price, 15. This is from immigration. And then there's a $35 execution fee, and then we will also have passport pictures available for $15 on site that day. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. County Attorney. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have two items that were placed on the agenda based on discussions from the agenda review. The first item is a request for the board to adopt a resolution to find that it is necessary to deviate from the Polk County Procurement Ordinance and Purchasing Procedures Manual to allow for an independent review of the Polk County Fire Rescue Division. The proposed resolution will authorize the Board Chairman to inquire about services from consultants to review the Fire Rescue Division to include review of the general management of the Fire Rescue Division, review the standard operating procedures, determine if such procedures are sufficient to operate the vision and the application of those procedures, review the discipline process and issues to determine if discipline is consistent and what type of employee actions result in discipline, review the management structure, review the leadership programs, review the communication process, provide a workload analysis, and review the communication process. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If the Chairman selects a consultant, the County Attorney's Office will work with the Chairman and the Consultant to bring back an agreement back to the Board for approval, and it's recommended for approval. Chairman, motion for approval. So moved. So you mean second. I thought you asked for a motion for approval. He moved. You'll second, right? Second. I got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? George? Yes, sir. Your preamble mentioned the necessity to deviate. What is the necessity? To provide an independent review. The procurement process normally falls under the County Manager to allow for complete independence from the County Manager. This allows us to deviate from that process. And knowing you have RFP or some type of selection committee, this allows the Chairman to deviate from that. And that's really the necessary necessity, but the independence, I believe, is the real necessity. How does that jive with the charter that provides that the Board is the policy makers and the managers, the administrators, which falls in the administrative category? This is only an inquiry and gathering of information to report back to the Board of the processes and so forth. This is not going into specific and interfering with the duties of employees that fall under the County Manager. So I believe you can counter both of those, or balance both of those. I'm unsure as to what the Chairman is expected to do, to interview. Right now, it's yes, to interview different consultants. I believe he's interviewed at least one right now. I'm not sure if he's going to look at others, but only once he's selected someone that he'll bring back to the Board for final approval. I've talked to three and selected one. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Got a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Opposed? Aye. Motion carries. G2. All right. The next item is a request to authorize the County Attorney's Office and the County Staff to take the necessary actions to prevent commercial truck traffic on Bryant Road and adopt a resolution set in truck restrictions on Bryant Road near Lakeland. This is recommended for approval. Move approval. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any comments? Yes. Mr. Chairman, we've had this discussion, but for the benefit of the public, Bryant Road is a public road, but it's a substandard, old, narrow, no-shoulder, dead-end road, and the plan was, or at least the request was, to use it as a haul road for a significant development, and it's just not appropriate. There's young families, small children, kitties and puppies, and gopher tortoises, and not a lot of room to work out there, so there's got to be a better way. So I appreciate Bill and Jay and Randy for helping put this together, and hopefully things will work out for the folks who are needing to haul the dirt, but hopefully they can find a way better than Bryant Road. All right. Anybody else? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carries. All have, Mr. Chairman. All right. Mr. County Manager. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, members of the public. The Manager's Office will have four items for board consideration this morning. Item number H1 is to request the board to execute a local government-deficient bridge program agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to include the approved authorizing resolution and amending the Roads and Drainage FY23-24 Community Investment Program budget to establish the County Line Road over Peace River Bridge replacement project. This will be a one-time capital project expense not to exceed $4,956,658. In 2017-18, the County Line Road over Peace River Bridge site was selected and adopted into the Florida Department of Transportation local government-deficient bridge program due to its overall conditions, which are rated as structurally deficient. Under this program, the Florida Department of Transportation has fully covered the design, permitting, utility coordination costs, and will partially fund the construction costs up to $3,750,000 or 75% of the construction costs, whichever is less. The Florida Department of Transportation proposes to enter into a construction, locally-funded maintenance and ESCO agreement with Polk County. The proposed agreement stipulates that Polk County will be responsible for an advanced deposit in the amount of $4,956,658 in support of the anticipated costs in excess of the state funds provided for construction and construction engineering inspection services. The Board's action today will need to include a Community Investment Program amendment and budget transfer from the Transportation Millage Fund to establish the County Line Road over Peace River Bridge replacement project within the Roads and Drainage Division's FY23-24 Community Investment Program. Upon approval of the Community Investment Program amendment and the budget transfer, funding in the amount of $4,956,658 will be transferred from the Transportation Millage Reserve for Future Capital account into the designated project account. So, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, I realize this is a heavy lift but a necessary road lift. This is a project that will probably cost about $8.7 million to replace that entire bridge of which the state is going to pay about 43-44% of those costs and the county will bear about 56-57% of those costs. I would request that the Board authorize the Chairman to execute the proposed local government deficient bridge agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation as well as to adopt the supporting resolution and approve a Community Investment Program amendment and budget transfer to establish the project within the current year budget. Any questions? Move approval. Okay. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like a sign, motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the Board, item number H2 is to request the Board approve a grant agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to provide funding for the phosphorus remediation in Lake Deason and the Bayer Branch tributary projects. This is a one-time revenue source totaling $870,000. Through Polk County's water quality sampling program, staff has identified numerous areas in need of enhancements. The phosphorus levels in Lake Deason and the Bayer Branch tributary are both above the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's water quality standards. The county has developed a water quality restoration plan for Lake Deason with the priority project being sediment treatment. In many lakes throughout Polk County, legacy sediment is the main cause of poor water quality, whereby sediment is constantly being released, is constantly releasing phosphorus into the lake water and the water columns. Lake Deason project will apply a phosphorus binding material to the lake, thereby inactivating the phosphorus in the sediment, thus improving water quality. Additionally, the Bayer Branch tributary has very high levels of phosphorus that then flow directly into the Peace River. The Bayer Branch pilot project, in partnership with the City of Bartow, will test an automated injection system that will apply a phosphorus binding agent, thereby reducing phosphorus levels and loading it directly into the Peace River. In response to these identified projects, Polk County submitted a grant application to the state's Innovative Technology Grant Program in 2022. Polk County was awarded the competitive grant to implement these two projects and produce a report detailing the results of both studies. Through this agreement, FDEP will award Polk County $870,000 towards testing these innovative technologies and producing summary reports. This project requires no local matching funds. Approval of this grant agreement is the next step towards moving these innovative technology projects forward to improve the water qualities within those designated water bodies. This project has been reviewed and is coming to you with the endorsement of the Stormwater Technical Advisory Committee. Project costs totaling $870,000 were anticipated and are included in the adopted FY23-24 Division budget. So, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, in keeping with the Board's commitment to environment and natural resources, I would request the Board to approve the grant agreement number INV-37 with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to provide $870,000 in state funding for the phosphorus remediation in Lake Deeson and the Bayer Branch tributary project studies. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Yes, sir. I don't want to derail this. And obviously the state of Florida is interested in doing it and Tabitha is coming up. But the thing that I sit here and I don't know the answer to or I wouldn't be asking the question, but that area is rich in phosphorus. Phosphorus naturally occurred all along the Peace River, Saddle Creek, around Lake Deeson. It was phosphate mined in the 50s and the 60s, although the lake wasn't mined. But it seems like it's just something that would naturally occur there and maybe leach in, especially, you know, from all directions around the lake, because obviously it wasn't mined right up around the lake. Is it something that we're trying to knock it down or is it likely to come back in, you know, in future years, the out years after the treatment wears off? So, you know, you bring up some really great points. And these particular phosphorus levels are above what would we consider the natural occurring. So these are additional loadings coming in. Each of these scenarios are a little different. I'll start with Deeson in particular because I think that may be where you're focusing. We understand the sediment is something that we, this is the only way we can treat the sediment. So this is one tool to look at treating that sediment layer. We'll have additional discharges from the outfalls that are coming into this lake. And if we don't, you know, look at doing improvements to those as well, then, yes, we'll have additional sediments over a year that lays on top of that. And we'll be back in the same situation. But it'll take a while to reload then. Yes, it'll take a while for it to reload at that point. So the idea is to do this, get good water quality started back up. And then those smaller inputs are much lower loading into the system. We've actually done water quality sampling each of the outfalls to determine which of the outfalls are having the highest impact on the surface water coming in. So we'll target those, the next step. So it's just one tool and one step. This is a challenge with water quality over a large surface area. There's lots of things coming into the system. Well, in the words of Bill Beasley, this is a good news project. I believe it is. Thank you. Anybody else? All in favor, say aye. Aye. What does it look like? Motion carries. Mr. Chairman of the Board, item number H3 is, I think, another good news item. This is to request the Board approve a contract with the Central Florida Health Care Organization to provide funding for supplies and equipment in connection with the expansion of the frostproof facility. This is a one-time expense not to exceed $538,856. The Central Florida Health Care Organization is a federally qualified health center providing primary and specialty care, dental, and behavioral health services throughout Polk County, inclusive of areas in the Davenport, Dundee, Frostproof, Haynes City, Lakeland, Lake Wales, Mulberry, and Winterhaven areas. The Central Florida Health Care Organization is currently building a new facility to expand those services in the frostproof community. The Central Florida Health Care Organization has multiple ongoing contracts with Polk County to provide services to low-income Polk County residents, including Polk Health Care Plan members. The Central Florida Health Care Organization is having a newly constructed facility built in the frostproof community to expand procedural office space as well as patient rooms. This contract will become effective January 1, 2024 through September 30th of 2024 and will provide funding for the purchase of medical and dental equipment, furniture, and supplies for the frostproof facility. The funding for this request was presented to and is provided as an endorsement by the Citizens' Health Care Oversight Committee. Funds are available in the Indigent Health Care Fund to cover these one-time expenses. So, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, in keeping with the Board's priority commitment to public health, I would request that the Board approve the contract with the Central Florida Health Care Organization to provide funding for supplies and equipment needed in the expansion of their frostproof facility as recommended by the Citizens' Health Care Oversight Committee in an amount not to exceed $538,856. Motion. I've got a motion and a second for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign. Motion carries. Mr. Chair, members of the Board, item 4, another good news item. But as I read this item into the public record, if I could ask Mr. Ryan Kordak to step to the podium, please. Item number H4 is to request the Board confirm the County Manager's appointment of Mr. Ryan Kordak to serve as the Executive Director of Polk County's Transportation Planning Organization. The Polk County Charter does specify that the County Manager's appointment of Executive Service employees is subject to confirmation by the Board of County Commissioners. I have indeed appointed Mr. Ryan Kordak to the position of Polk's TPO Director, effective February 5, 2024. Mr. Kordak has 27-plus years of local government experience in transportation planning, all of which is with the Polk County TPO. Over his 27-plus year career with Polk TPO, he has served in every planning role, from a basic transportation planner, a principal transportation planner, the transportation planning administrator, and is now currently serving as the interim TPO Director. Ryan has extensive experience in the preparation and execution of the TPO's unified planning work programs. He has served as the Project Manager for the development and adoption of the 2035, 2040, and 2045 Polk Long Range Transportation Plans. He has also prepared numerous grant applications that Polk County has indeed received funding for that include County Road 557, the Fort Frazier Trail Extension, and the North Ridge Trail Roadway Project. Ryan also has significant experience in the TPO's geographic information systems, their Complete Streets, Bicycle, and Pedestrian Plan programs, the Multi-Use Trail, and Scenic Highway programs. Mr. Kordak earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography from the Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He is a Florida-certified public manager and holds a professional certification in Geographic Information Systems. The TPO Director is an authorized position in the adopted FY23-24 budget. The existing appropriations are sufficient to cover the negotiated base salary of $135,255 and the anticipated benefits valued at $37,440. So, Mr. Chair, members of the board, it is an honor and a privilege, and I want to say we are truly blessed to have the character, the stamina, and the commitment of people like Ryan Kordak. So, I would request the board to confirm my appointment of Mr. Kordak to serve as Polk's next TPO Director, effective February 5th, 2024. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second, but before we vote, I want to hear from this man. Thank you, sir. Again, thank you, Mr. County Manager, for those kind words. It's a little humbling to hear your resume come across like that, but it has been a career's worth of work here and something I'm very proud of. You all know I can give long speeches. This won't be one of them. I'll keep it short. But I do want to thank you for your support. I'm looking forward to leading the Polk TPO, really, really looking forward to that. I want to thank my predecessors for putting me in positions over the years to grow and learn, again, to be able to do a job like this, and making this a successful organization, the Polk TPO. In particular, I want to thank Tom Dierdorf for hiring me back in 1996 and teaching me a lot about this profession and what this job is about. Chandra Frederick, Ronnie Blackshear, as well as our outgoing director, Praag Agrawal. People that have supported me during the years that I want to acknowledge and are here today, seated right behind me to my left, first and foremost, my father, Wayne Kordek, who's here. My mom couldn't make it today, Valerie Kordek, but I think she's watching from afar. To the right of Shonda is my mother-in-law, Charlene Bennett, and, of course, Shonda Bennett, my wife. This is a family decision. We've kind of made this a family affair here at Polk County. I think Shonda's got me beat by a year or two, but between us, we have, I think, almost 60 years of planning experience here at Polk County, the two of us. We're proud to live in Polk County. We raised our son in Babson Park, and we're proud to do that. I think he's in science class today, right now, or he would have been here as well. Again, we're proud to live in Polk County. We're proud to work for Polk County. Obviously, I didn't want to state that. That's something that's very important to me. And, again, thank you. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the board in this new role. Thank you very much. Ma'am. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've had the privilege of working with Ryan for a lot of years, off and on. But would you give a one-minute or 90-second description of what the TPO is for people who may be watching, like, what are we doing here? Sure. It's complicated and can seem, you know, bureaucratic. It's another one of those governmental processes. But I think I can even do it shorter than that. This is what I tell my mom and dad. Ryan, what is it that you do there? The short of it is we collectively, and it's not just the county. The TPO is really all the jurisdictions in Polk County, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City, everybody else. We all come together in this room. And we essentially tell Florida Department of Transportation where to spend the state and federal transportation dollars that come to Polk County. That's the crux of what we do. And obviously there's a long planning process that gets us there, but really that's our... We tell them where to spend the discretionary stuff. Yeah, the things that we have control over, of course. That's the key. We don't get to tell them what to do with all of it by any means. We do sometimes. We try to do that. Yeah, we try to. It's really the discretionary. That was a good description. Thank you. Martha. I just want to say congratulations from the beginning since I started here. You're the one that I went to for questions, concerns, or just when I was confused about things. So it's good to see you in this position, and I look forward to working with you in this position. So congratulations. Thank you, ma'am. Yes. Ryan, you know it's congratulations on my part. I mean, just like Martha just said, you've been my go-to man when it came to this. And, you know, you got me the answers that I didn't have a clue on. And, you know, when this job was becoming available, I said, this is the man that we need here. And we appreciate everything you do and the things that you will do. Thank you, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. All right, Ryan. Good job. Thanks. Glad you took the job. We appreciate it. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed. Motion carries. Congratulations. Anything else, Mr. Beasley? No, sir. Not from the manager's office. Yes, Commissioner Lindsay. Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm not sure if the other commissioners received it, but I got a pack of probably 12-plus letters from students from the Aerospace Academy regarding the accident out on the west side of the county near the Aerospace Academy. I would like the – this is a convoluted situation where the county is going to be the ultimate responsible for that traffic signal in that area, along with the improvements to the roads that's going on right now. There were certain improvements mandated by the city for nearby developments, and that developer had agreed to make certain improvements, including the installation of a traffic signal. And once all is done, then we're going to wind up maintaining it. So that tri-party understanding, along with supply line issues, has delayed this implementation for these safety features. What I would like – did you have the letters? Yes, sir. – is for the staff to respond. I think these students deserve an answer as to the bureaucracy that we deal with, and this is an important issue for all of us. Respond to the students explaining the situation, what is being done, and the timing. And if you prefer, we can have all the commissioners sign the letter, or it was written to me. I'll be able to be glad to sign it. But the request is to ask the staff to consolidate the elements and respond to the students so that they get an answer from their elected officials. All right. Jay? Jay, you want to give maybe a quick update on what we know about that interception? A light is going to go there. It's just the timing is delayed, correct? Okay. Go ahead, Jay. Yeah. Good morning, commissioners, for the record. Jay Jarvis, Roads and Drainage Director. Commissioner Lindsay summarized it very well. It was part of a developer's agreement. What we're currently working on now is the county actually has – the big issue is the control cabinet. Those are delayed pretty much 12 to 18 months once you place the order. And so what the county has agreed to do is we actually have – we preorder some. We finally got some in here recently. And we've agreed that we're going to give one of those control cabinets to this developer to place the light there. They've got all the infrastructure in place. Currently, they're trying to get the power, electricity, and the poles set. And then once they have that, they're good to go. We're hoping sometime this month that they'll have that installed. Supposedly, they've got the poles. They're working with Lakeland Electric on the power. And then this is basically a plug-and-play thing with the cabinet to get it set up. So our hope is sometime later this month it'll be in place, not early next month. You said you're going to give it, then you're going to sell it to them. We've agreed that since they have one ordered, once theirs comes in, we get it from them. Yes, sir. So they will have paid for the one they ordered. Yes. Advancing them just to expedite the process. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. Bill, you'll make sure that letter happens? Yes, sir. Take it. George, you can sign it. Very good. All right. Anything else? That's it. Thank you. Great. Can you answer my question? Oh, I don't have a thought. Okay, Martha. No, thank you. Neil. And I don't have anything, so we will move on into our expedited hearings. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before we move to the hearings, I'll go over the public hearing general procedures. We ask that you please turn off your cell phones or other devices that may distract from the public hearings. Please adjust the microphone and state your full name and address for the record before you begin speaking on a topic. Individuals speaking during the public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited to three minutes. The board, the experience in these matters, is unable to discern what is legally relevant to an issue and what is not. Information that is relevant or repetitive only serves to frustrate and necessarily prolong the day's business. The commission expects civility at all times during all public hearings. Speaking out of turn, shouting out from the audience. Disruptible sounds or utterances while another is speaking are unacceptable, and you will be asked to leave the chambers for the remainder of the day. If any person decides to appeal any decision made by the board with respect to any matter considered here today, you will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purposes, you may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony evidence upon which the appeal is to be based, which you must gather at your own expense. Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak and present testimony today must be sworn in. All testimony given during public hearings shall be deemed to be sworn. At this time, if you're going to address the commission or speak on any case today, please stand, raise your right hand, and answer out loud to the following questions. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony or evidence you provide to the commission today is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Mr. Chairman, at this time, I'll go over the expedited hearing procedures. Expedited hearings are held pursuant to Resolution No. 2022-089. Expedited hearings are used when no opposition was present at the Planning Commission hearing. The applicant agrees to the expedited hearing, and recommendation of the Development Review Committee is for approval. Expedited procedures are the following. After staff briefly introduces the case, the hearing will be open for public comment. If anyone speaks during public comment, the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond. After public comment, the board will consider the land use case. At any time, a full presentation from staff can be requested from a commissioner, the applicant, or a member of the public. All documents attached to the agenda item are deemed part of the record of the land use case. Unless removed from the list of experts by motion of the board, all the individuals on the list of experts attached to the agenda item are deemed experts for the purpose of the land use case. At this time, I'll turn it over to Mr. Siscoll to present the expedited hearings. Thank you, Mr. Mink. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board and the public. My name is Ben Siscoll, Land Development Director. We have four items on your expedited public hearing agenda today. The first two are related to the same property. Item number 01 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2023-25, Bella Vista LR to BPC-CPA, for consideration of a future land use change to the map designation from Leisure Recreation to Business Park Center on approximately 42.47 acres. The subject site is located on the north side of I-4, just to the west of Kathleen Road and north of Bella Vista Road West. The request is to change the land use designation from LR to BPC. This subject site was changed from BPC to Leisure Recreation in 2007. It does not currently have a Leisure Recreation activity on it. It is currently being used to store construction aggregate, and the request is to change back to the Business Park Center designation it previously had. This was recommended unanimously by the Planning Commission. There was no public opposition, and staff recommends approval of this item. Any questions? I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing. Bring it back for a vote. Move approval. Second. Got a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, item number 02 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-D 2023-9, Bella Vista Sub-District Change, BPC-1 to BPC-2. Item 02 is a companion item to item 01 to change the sub-district from BPC-1 to BPC-2 on the subject site previously described. Again, this was unanimously recommended for approval. There was no public opposition at the Planning Commission hearing, and staff recommends approval. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Motion for approval. Got a motion and a second for approval. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, item number 03 is an expedited public hearing for case LDC-PAS 2023-22, ABC Road, CPA, to consider the adoption of a small-scale comprehensive map amendment to change the future land use designation from agricultural residential rural to employment center on a subject site located on Alturas-Babson Park Cutoff Road. The subject site is approximately 1.46 acres and contains a 5,000-square-foot building that was once used in the agricultural business. The agricultural business is no longer in operation, and the request is to change the land use designation to reuse the existing structure for an employment center type of use. This item was recommended unanimously by the Planning Commission. There was no public comment, and following any questions or comments, staff recommends approval of this item. Questions? Seeing none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Got a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, item number 04 is an expedited public hearing for case LDCT 2023-18, livestock and fowl in residential neighborhoods to consider a request for modification to section 222 to clarify the county's code on non-residential farm buildings and structures and to allow variances to setback distances. The current code requires any structure used for the sheltering or feeding of animals in any district except for the agricultural districts or phosphate mining districts to be set back 50 feet from the property line. The code provides a variance process for any subject site that is less than a half an acre but does not allow a variance for any site greater than an acre or greater than half an acre. So this amendment would provide that variance process uniformly across all properties regardless of the size. This was recommended unanimously by the Planning Commission, and following any questions or comments today, staff does recommend approval. This is your adoption hearing, so we will need a vote. Questions? See none, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Seeing nobody, I'll close the public hearing. Bring it back to the board. Move adoption. Got a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries. Mr. Chairman, that concludes the expedited portion of today's public hearings. Eric Peterson for the Land Development Division. Our first item on the regular public hearings agenda is item for a Scrivener's Error Correction to a CDD that our Community Development District that was adopted back in January of 2022. This is just a minor amendment. It didn't affect any of the properties within the Community Development District. It just corrects some errors that were found in the legal description and the overall acreage. With that, I'll stand for questions. Any questions? See you none. I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. My name is Sharon Garrett. I live off Carl Buser Road. This CDD surrounds the road I was talking about before, and the highway issue you'll potentially have. With 43,000, I mean 4,360 lots, and that's just some of it. I don't think I have all of it. And the potential with three cars a day of 26,160 trips, I mean three cars two times a day. Mr. Lindsey was very into a half a cent sales tax to improve roads. I voted last time for the last tax. I'm not sure I voted this time because I really haven't seen anything where the money was spent in our area. And if you're going to put part of it in mass transit, it really doesn't improve our roads. You have to get somewhere within the system, and we can't get somewhere in the system. A new toll road or mass transit is not really going to do lots and lots. With transit, you've got to have parking. And when I was asking one of the engineers about stop signs and stoplights, it was over a year ago. I think it was Mr. Schiller. He not died. He retired. He said there was nothing on the books. And he said the only time they do anything is when it's warranted. I said, what do you mean by warranted? And he said, well, it has to be warranted. I said, does that mean somebody has to die? And he said, yes, that's warranted. So we are getting to the point where we can't move within the system. And, you know, I'm just not going to support a tax that's not going to do anything in our area. I mean, I've supported the last one, and I haven't seen anything out of that one at all. Oh, and the other thing is there's a pond that we call Condon's Pond. It is just north of the intersection of Power Line and Johnson. And you widen the area to add a left turn lane. And they put no retention area when they filled in part of the pond. Half the road's falling apart. If I'm falling apart, I have mentioned this before, it's getting worse. When you are going the other way and a semi doesn't want to drive down the big dip, he's in your lane. That's rather scary. So at what point is the county going to fix this part of Power Line and get somebody that can engineer it properly? Thank you. And thanks for all the other opportunities. Thank you. Anyone else? Good morning. My name is Savannah Hancock, address is 517 East College Ave. in Tallahassee. I'm here on behalf of the petitioner. Like we've already stated, this is not changing anything within the district. It's just correcting the boundary so that it will be easier to deal with going forward as the area is developed. So if there's any questions I can answer, that would be great. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Seeing none, I'll close the public here and bring it back to the board. Move approval. Got a motion and second for approval. Any further discussions? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like side. Next. Our next request is a waiver request to Section 705B, Access v. Easement. On December 20, 2023, 42 mailers were sent to area property owners. Five boards were posted on the property. On November 9, 2023, a legal ad was published in the Lakeland Ledger on January 10, 2024. This is a level four review. It is for access only. The site is located in the southeastern portion of the county. The future land use is agricultural residential rural. They are doing eight lots on 62 acres. That falls within the requirements for one unit per five acres. The site is accessing 630 directly. This will consolidate the access of the eight lots into one driveway, and it will go to a private easement from that point. This is the site plan. This is the site plan put up against the aerial photo. It is next to the Universal Shooting Academy. There is also a cell tower on the western side. This is how the lots lay out. These are the environmental limitations of the area. There is no floodplain or wetlands on the properties in question. There are mainly upland parcels, former citrus groves. This request, the reason why we're here, is because of Section 705B limits access via easement to no more than four lots. They are requesting eight. This is a portion of that easement access standard that is eligible for waiver before the Board of County Commissioners. Staff recommends conditions. We've added one additional condition that a note be placed on the plat with indeed restrictions and other instruments similar, informing future buyers that there is a firearms range immediately to the east. It's our justification of approval. It consolidates the access into one central location rather than having eight individual driveways. And with that, I'll stand for questions. Any questions? Yeah, is there, hang on a second, so there's not a D-cell lane that's required or proposed, Eric? Not for eight lots. A D-cell lane wouldn't be required until at least 96. Would, as it's proposed, the access easement, would it have something beyond a typical single-family driveway? The access will be very – yes, there would not be a further requirement for – Well, John Bodie and I have had conversation about this. Some lots that have been developed on the old Polk City Road – well, the lots have been prepared, but they haven't been developed. But speed limit, you know, 45, people driving 55, same thing that she was talking about. Actually, you're going to talk about it again here in a minute – is they have just a standard driveway. And the concern that I have, because it's serving multiple lots, nobody's built. These were built for one lot, but they're redeveloping the property. And the concern I have is the same concern she has. Somebody's going to have to stop to turn in. And if you've got, you know, you've got a resident coming out and one going in, then we've got a problem, because somebody's going to have to wait until they come out. So that's an issue I have. I don't have any problem with the easement. I don't have any problem with it serving eight lots. In fact, I support that. I think it's a wonderful idea. Regardless of the shooting range, that's a, you know, a separate issue. But we should be able to – or we should ensure that people are going to be able to get in and out without having to stop in the middle of the road. John, this is similar – we've talked about this. So I don't know what the width on the proposed easement is and the improvement, but you've got to be able to – it's got to be more than one car wide. It's at least 20 feet, right? Yes, sir. The width of the easement is at least 20 feet. We can specify a residential driveway can be anywhere from 12 to 30 feet, but we can specify that as a condition that the driveway be at least 20 feet wide if you'd like. If you've got a single car driveway coming out and somebody's coming out, one of the eight homeowners, when one of the other eight homeowners is trying to come in, then you've got a problem. So you've got to have it at least able to accommodate two vehicles, you know, in and out at the same time. So where I'm losing this, I think, is you're talking just easement and you're talking driveway. Yes. Okay. So what you would like to see – and it does make sense. Off the road. Yeah. That the driveway be at least 20 feet wide. Anybody else comments on that? Yeah, right here. Yeah, and, you know, I think it should be also – you know, I live on Highway 60. When I'm coming from the east, you know, I don't have any turn lane. I have a small driveway. And you'll get – you know, it gets kind of hairy. But there's places like that all over the county. But, you know, if we can make the driveway wider where they've got more room to get in and out, I mean, we certainly can't start justifying turn lanes in every driveway when you have a major road. But, you know, it's a problem. But, you know, maybe we can do something where it can help the situation out. George. What does the current code, land development code, require as far as an apron, a culvert, and the width up to the right-of-way? Is it not required to be at least concrete or permits? Yes, sir. Residential driveways are – There's no, no driveway. This is an easement in this condition, not less than 20 feet. What would be the code required in this condition? The – Okay, easement. The easement would be 20 feet. Okay. The flare associated with that? Yes, the driveway flare is a five-foot on the width of the driveway. So if it's a 12 or let's say if it's a 20-foot-width driveway, there will be a five-foot flare to either side. So it will be 30 and it will taper down to 20 at the right-of-way line. And that's required to be concrete or some impervious surface from the edge of right-of-way to the edge of the – Pavement, yes, sir. Concrete, yes. With the appropriate culvert size. Yes, sir. Yes. And that's a precondition of going forward. Yes, that is. If you condition the 20-foot minimum width. Like I said, the minimum width on a residential driveway is 12 feet. With the five-foot flares, you can condition it to be 20 feet wide. All right. Neil, does that satisfy you? So far, so good. All right. Any other questions? I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Good morning again. I'm Dolly Clements. I'm at 1192 North Lake Reedy Boulevard and 4300 Highway 630 East. I have a question about this. Has there been a road study done in regards to this project? Ma'am, this is your opportunity to talk. It's not really a time to ask questions. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, that would be kind of, okay, that's kind of my concern, whether or not a road study has been done on this project, because, again, there's River Ranch area, and basically there's a lot of recreational vehicles going 50 to 55 miles per hour down this location. The other thing is I'd like to see whether or not there's been an actual survey in regards to paved roads or not paved roads in regards to subdivisions, and the reason why I say that is because I'm from Frostproof, I know a bunch of developments that have no paved roads, and it creates a mess. What later happens if developers are not held accountable, the people end up paying for it, you know, and if the developers are going to develop, then let's hold them accountable. You know, this location specifically, I think there needs to be a road study done. I think there needs to be a red light put there. Like I said, I'm an insurance agent of 27, in the insurance business for 27 years, insurance agent of 22 years, seen a lot of accidents. I've seen a lot of things unnecessarily done that could have been prevented, and I think that this is a perfect case for that situation, that let's make a great decision, let's make sure that people are safe, and that's what I have to say. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Good morning. My name's Wesley Mills with Mills Shorten Associates. I'm the engineer record for the project. I did not get sworn in if that happened earlier, so I don't know if I need to do that. If you would, raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony and evidence that you give to the commission today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Yes. Thank you. So I just wanted to provide some clarification, understand your concerns with the driveway. So what we're proposing is a 22-foot-wide driveway with large radiuses, something that you would see in commercial applications. So by no means is this a single family driveway. This is something that would go in for in a commercial application, and like was mentioned earlier in staff's report, our trips generated by this project is 76, which is de minimis from a development standpoint. We are also paving the driveway within the county's right-of-way. So it will look like a commercial driveway with 35-foot flares, which would be sufficient for trucks to turn in, although this would all be pedestrian traffic to the sites. So I hope that that satisfies some of the concerns along the driveways. Thank you. Anyone else? Good morning, Commissioner. My name is Frank Garcia. I live at 4300 Highway 630 East Frostproof, 33843. I'm the founder and owner of Universal Shooting Academy, Better Accuracy Technologies Corporation. I've lived at that location for over 30 years. A sub development next to this facility is totally not compatible to the location. that is a gun range, that you're considering a development right next to a gun range that has a lot of activity. There's going to be concerns on noise, and we'll talk about that in a second. There's going to be safety concerns as traffic, and there's a lot of other things, et cetera, et cetera. Next thing, Universal Shooting Academy is part of its partnership with Polk County Sports Marketing. In 2014, we brought in the World Shoot, brought in about $15 million worth of economic impact, which the rest of the county doesn't need this economic impact, but we do in Frostproof. This is a very low-income area, and every time we have an event, it helps our area. In 2014, we did the World Shoot. We're working right now very closely with Polk County Sports Marketing to bring in the 2029 World Shoot. This is going to be a 30-day event. 150 countries are coming back to our area, 3,000 competitors. Estimated economic impact on this project is about $30 million to our area. This is a big deal. This type of project takes years, and we've been working on that already for the last three years. Noise is a big deal. We shoot, to give you an idea, this event, it's 30 days, but it's two weeks of shooting. You're going to hear probably about 15 million rounds go off in that short period of time. The problems that we're seeing is beyond traffic, beyond everything else. It's something that needs to be looked at very closely. There are safety issues here that is involved with this, totally against this sub-development. I'm totally for the growth of Polk County, but in this particular case, it's a concern. That's what I wanted to bring to the table here. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Mr. Chair, if I may just clear up hopefully some confusion here. The board is not, at this point, approving this development. The issue before the board is regarding the waiver of the easement. I think some confusion is going on with Mr. Garcia as far as what the board is actually being asked to do today. Four to eight. Sir? Four to eight. Four lots to eight lots. Right. But ultimately, the driveway, the issue before the board is whether or not they can access using this easement compared to going through the regular, having several different dryways here for the development and so forth. So that's just want to make sure we clarify what's before the board at this time. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. I'll close the public here and bring it back to the board. Yes, sir. I understand Mr. Garcia's concern. I don't know that I would want to live there with 15 million rounds. But, you know, I think the folks have a right to do something with their property as a property owner. I'm sure you understand that. And I don't know what kind of use you would think would be more appropriate there. I'm sure you like the use that's there right now, and I understand that. If it was great producing orange trees, that would be great for you and great for the folks that own the property. But the grape produce and orange trees seem to be a thing of the past right now, and I know folks are looking for other opportunities. We wanted to make sure the board discussed this yesterday about making sure that folks knew what they were getting into. It seems pretty obvious. I've not actually seen your place, but I've heard about it. I rode to Denver on an airplane with a guy that was, you know, giving it rave reviews. He was there for some contest he was having. I had no idea that you were there. I had no idea of the economic impact. Until this guy who came from Denver and said people were coming from all over the world there, I'm like, are you sure you're talking about Polk County? And he's like, yeah, Polk County. I'm like, okay. So thank you for what you do. Thank you for the commerce that you create by being there. But at the same time, I don't think we have any option. And again, we're only talking about the easement here now, but I don't know how we could deny anybody the use, especially one unit per five acres, which is, you know, our lowest classification for residential and ARR. Isn't that right, John? There's no other place for us to go or for this landowner to go. So I understand. I hope that, you know, everybody can find a way to get along. But I support the request, and I think it's a good idea. All right. Anybody else? Yes, Mr. Garth. I'm going to, you know, resonate what he's just said. You know, we've talked. I mean, you know, property, people's property rights, you know, sometimes just because they have it don't mean they make good decisions. Putting homes right next to your deal would be not a very good decision on people that we've got to make them aware of what they're moving into. It'd be all right for some of us to live beside you because we'll be over there shooting all the time. But the decisions, you know, that some people make it, it's going to be a problem. And we need to make sure that's not a problem for you as much as we can. So being said that, I'm ready to make a motion to approve LDWA 2023-55 with the condition that a notice shall be recorded in the public records and a note placed on the plat providing notice of the property's close proximity to an outdoor shooting range. Okay. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. What was like saying? Nay. Nay? Okay. Got one nay. Did I cut you off? Oh, okay. All right. Moving on. Next item. Our next item is a first reading. It requires no action. This is the plan development revision. We've discussed it for many years now. We've made modifications. We've had a public process. It started back in August of 2022. We brought to you concepts. We developed the draft. We held citizen meetings. We held stakeholder meetings. And then Senate Bill 2250 came in and upended our process. Senate Bill has since been revised. We've begun the process again. It went before the Planning Commission with a vote of 5-1. Our first reading is today. Our final adoption is February 6th. There, I'll go over the highlights of the ordinance. There are six major sections. First one is the applicability and purpose. This covers all the types of plan developments, with the exception of rural residential developments. It changes the application requirements to four basic things. A site plan, an open space plan, amenity plan, and a project narrative. It requires that to apply for a plan development, you must be within the area where water and sewer is available. If you're in an urban district or in the suburban development area where water is available. There are three main things that we evaluate the plan development. First is timing, internal design, and external design. Our logo here is where it is, what's in it, and how it fits. The location eligibility score is based on a scoring system that takes into account all the public and private infrastructure in the area and other environmental features. It equates to what the maximum carrying capacity would be for the property, given the area, the infrastructure that surrounds it. This is eligibility, it's not entitlement, it's a location score. It gives us the indication whether it's proper timing or not. The minimum open space and recreation area requirements are much like other developments because these items, the 20% open space, how we calculate density and the size of the required recreation elements, were adopted in December of 2022. The internal design requirements here in the amenity plan address the types of recreation that are provided based on the population within the development. It also lays out four types of recreation for which they're awarded different points due to their cost and effectiveness within the development. Each lot that's in the development requires one point, so you have to accumulate enough points to cover your lots. Here's an example. This is a standard development. There's a walking area over here and a playground. There's plenty of open space. There's also a community center. This would generate a number of points. That would be 25 over there. The top lot would be 75. If they were to do a dog park instead of the community center, it would reduce the number of points, but based on the number of units in the development, only 175 points were needed. This was 153-unit development. They wouldn't have needed the community center. If there were more units, they would have needed something more substantial. The remaining area of the recreation requirement is just open space that can be used for tossing frisbees, footballs, things of that nature in the development. The other requirement that you asked us to address in plan development was parking, and with that, we added additional parking requirements for the more narrow lots that are requested. The last item of the evaluation is really the meat of what the Planning Commission decides on these, which are level three reviews. Transition of the lots or the intensity from the property to adjoining properties and existing development, how the development integrates the green infrastructure, the wetlands, the floodplains, and things of that nature into their development, and lastly, where they place their access and its impact on the surrounding area. That is the focus. Compatibility is the focus of the Planning Commission's review. All the other things take into account are more objective, and with that, I'll stand for questions. Questions or comments? I have one question. On the type 2 recreation, what would trip that? Does it have to be a combination of anything or just simply a number of lots within a development? Yes, it's based on the number of lots. If you have more than 25 lots, if you have 26, you'll need a type 2 recreation facility. Okay. And so forth and so on. Now, a larger development can choose to do different small passive type 1s and type 2s all throughout the development, or they can achieve their points from a much larger or more intense facility, formal recreation facility, central to the residents. Well, that brings up another question. Is the intent to design it where they can meet all that in one, say, clubhouse, or to scatter it around, or is there any intent on your... There are requirements in the distance from each lot to a recreation facility. Oh, okay. If they were to get all their points with a clubhouse, they may need an additional recreation facility because some of the lots are too far from it. Okay. All right. Thanks. Anybody else? Okay. See you then. I'll open up a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please come forward. Good morning. Tom Palmer, 1805 26th Street Northwest. I'm speaking on behalf of Ancient Islands Group of Sierra Club. I'm really addressing the... They didn't address here about the level two proposal where you wouldn't require a public hearing. It's been withdrawn. Beg your pardon? It's been withdrawn. That's not part of it. It's been withdrawn? Okay. Okay. Well, that was my main issue is the... Another thing, I just... A lot of this stuff, they're getting extra points for stuff that a developer could do anyway if they chose to. I mean, developers pretty well know the market, know what's, you know, what will sell, what will not, and that... And that was the only thing. Okay. Well, level two's gone. I'm fine because that was the... Well, I think... That was on the... That was on there the other day, and now it's not there. Yeah. On your second concern, part of this whole process is to eliminate or reduce just what you're talking about, getting points for doing something you've got to do anyway. And that's part of the objective of this. Okay. Yes, that's fine because, I mean, it's the market... I think the market will dictate what people are going to propose. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next. We need a little elevator music or something here to... What about humming for it? Um... No, no. Oh, maybe. All right. Enough of that. Just so you know, in the future, we'll be happy to load this in advance. Chairman Braswell, if I could just say a few words before the clock starts. Start talking. Um... I'd just like to commend staff because this was a huge undertaking. And the next three minutes, possibly four, if I beg the commission's indulgence, I've spent a great deal of time on this, too. I'm only pointing out my concerns. There are a lot of positives in this. Okay. We got you. Okay. Thank you. Oh, and your name and address. Okay. Now I can start. Wait. Not yet. I'm... Seriously. Please start it. I'm going to run over. Just keep going. It's okay? Don't worry. Okay. My name is Sue Nelson. I live at 2920 Cruise Lake Drive. This is a major undertaking, changing the entire language in our land development code for plan developments, especially when we learned from staff that after analyzing 11 countries, counties, and two municipalities, very few address the location of a plan development at all. There were no bonus point systems to compare to, to evaluate allocations of higher densities. Here are some of my questions and concerns. And I don't mean... Is it location? I don't mean to start out with a minutia of points, but the difference between three points and four or five points is easily three dwelling units per acre versus five dwelling units per acre in residential load. So we were talking a huge increase. And looking at the comparison of these two locational charts dated months apart, back in November, the applicant would receive three points each for a lift station and a reclaimed water line, but no points for potable water and sanitary sewer lines. Now, two months later, the applicant now receives only two points for a lift station and reclaimed water and the addition of one point each for a six-inch potable water line and a four-inch sanitary sewer line. Connection to potable water and wastewater is now required in the ordinance language itself. Why does the applicant receive any points for connection? External design. Why did it change? Back in November, there were specific site standards for buffering. If the proposed lots were within 100 feet of residential lots that were greater than twice the size of the ones proposed, there was a specific criteria, such as install a type B landscape buffer. Suddenly, two months later, in this language, there are no specific standards. I literally copied this language right out of the staff report. Now, the applicant is given the opportunity to design the correct amount of buffering, and then it becomes the Planning Commission's responsibility to determine whether the applicant property address the intensity differences. Looking at the ordinance language itself, nowhere does it state in black and white that upon completion of the checklist, the applicant is only eligible for these densities. They are not entitled. Suggestion. Suggestion. Add this text to your ordinance. This locational score reflects an eligibility, not an entitlement. We've all seen the word not in entitlement everywhere, except in the language. In this slide, what precludes an applicant from achieving their desired densities by using mostly private investment items? This slide is a perfect example. If the proposed development was one mile from a Publix and a CVS, they would literally receive 11 points. Access to the development collector road would be three. The required water and wastewater, one each. An open drainage basin, one. No adverse wetland disturbances, one. And a Walgreens across the street from the CVS. The applicant would already receive a total of 20 locational points, even before receiving points for sidewalk connections to retail, schools, or fire stations. 20 points will already get the applicant approximately five homes per acre in the residential low land use category. Just one more slide. I want to ask you to wrap it up. I know. Okay. Okay. Last slide. Concerning the changes to Chapter 9, Section 903.G, This ordinance will remove the impact assessment statement requirement for plan developments. Why? As you all know, the purpose of an impact assessment statement is to provide information on the effects a proposed development or land use action will have on the existing neighborhood and general area, on the transportation facilities, on the environment and natural resources of the county itself, or the public facilities for water, sewer, solid waste disposal, fire, police, public education, et cetera. Thank you for your time. Thank you. You bring up some good points. Anyone else? Seeing nobody? I'll close the public hearing. Comments? This is first. Yeah. No vote. But, Eric, maybe you can tell us, because I guess to somebody who doesn't live, eat, breathe planning, which is most of us, what's the rationale for points for connection to water and sewer? Those points are a little different. It's not just for connection to water and sewer. It's the proximity of existing lines. We're trying to encourage development to go where we have the infrastructure in place rather than requiring further extensions. Wouldn't that necessarily naturally occur if you want to develop? You're going to try to get where there's water and sewer. Otherwise, you're going to be left with wells and septics and larger lots. It's a matter of proximity. Those first scores were within quarter-mile, half-mile distances. That means that it's very close to the development and in place. We have a lot of areas where still, even though it meets the terms of availability, there is a long extension necessary. In the urban areas, you have to connect to sewer. And, of course, everybody needs water. Those are elements that have to be there, but we want to encourage development to locate in areas where there's already lines in place so that we don't have additional extensions and things of that nature to hold the development back. Would normally those extensions would be at the expense of the development and not from the pocketbook of the utility and the customers, right? Yes. It's not bonus points for the development. Understand, it's an indication that the area has reached a point where this type of intensity is advantageous. The score is really just setting forth, okay, this is our framework. The request is totally different. When it comes down to it, the Planning Commission is evaluating whether that request is too intense for the neighboring properties. This timing score really just sets the stage. Which is the infrastructure and timing there to support the development as a community as a whole. So, going back to the grocery stores and things of that nature, once a grocery store is locating in an area, there's a certain amount of population present. So, that is an indication that this area is really prime for more intense development. Anybody else? All right. Yeah. I closed the public hearing. That's it. We're done. adjourn. Have a gavel. Amen.