morning everyone uh just stay seated for a minute uh amber's got we got an it problem this morning and she wants to explain what's going on time we're going to go ahead and get started thank you so much for your understanding we appreciate that and thank you uh will everybody stand please for the implication and then remain standing for the pledge let's bow together holy and righteous god we once again come into your presence with thanksgiving being grateful for your grace and mercy that we're able to live in a nation that has been blessed by your hand we pray that you will continue to have mercy upon us that we will learn to be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to anger when difficulties arise and differences become apparent and that by your sovereign grace give our elected leaders the wisdom to lead knowing that all authority has been given to them by your sovereign power and authority alone and it is that you that raises and lowers powers on this earth we lift this prayer up to you in your holy name amen amen to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right i know uh presentations and recognitions i'm gonna turn it over to bill yes sir good morning mr chair members of the board public if i could ask dr jackson and erin kessler to come to the podium please uh mr chair members of the board members of the viewing audience uh we've known this day was coming pretty soon we've known for about 12 or 15 months we've been working with the department of health uh to to address dr jackson's planned retirement uh i think dr jackson had planned to go a little sooner than you are because but she was committed to staying as long as she could to help with the state's transition uh this is part of that state transition so uh joy you and i've had this conversation before you earn this enjoy this but please talk a little bit about your plan and introduce erin thank you very much and um i want to say that in my 13 years of public health and my nine and a half years as director this has been a very fitting into my medical career i have enjoyed for the most part our journeys together we have weathered storms literally we have weathered pandemics we've weathered the good and the bad together and for that i'm infinitely grateful for the opportunity that i've had as mr beasley said they're having a little difficulty finding a replacement i want to just give you guys a bit of an education about the lingo we use in public health every county health department all 67 counties have a county health department and they're led by a health officer the health officer if a physician is called a director a health officer that is a non-physician is an administrator right now we only have about seven counties that are led by a physician so this is a trend and i'm just planting the seed and that's okay they're just different is tomato tomato but everybody still does what needs to happen in public health so as i step down from my role next thursday we are very very blessed to have an interim health officer and i want to introduce mr aaron kistler who is the current administrator he's he's an mph but very well versed in public health he's the current administrator at doh lake county so he's a neighbor and he gets us and we get him so i'm very pleased to introduce him to the group uh and i will be quiet and pass it over to him to introduce himself thank you dr jackson good morning commissioners and thank you very much for having me and i've had a great opportunity to work with dr jackson over the years and really have enjoyed working with her and definitely are going to be some tough shoes to fill i've been in public health for 25 years i'm currently the lake county health officer and i would before that i was in gadsden county and i've been in the interim role in osceola county citrus county brevard county and volusia county and now polk county and i'll be working closely with your folks and mr beasley trying to find a good a replacement for dr jackson although she is irreplaceable so i look forward to working with you all and i'll be here as long as you all need me thank you thank you sir dr jackson mr chairman yes dr jackson i just want to say thank you very much for your leadership especially when we stormed like you said the pandemic of covid and we appreciate everything we do and i just want to say enjoy your retirement thank you very much i appreciate that i got uh dr jackson we had a lot of good times during the covid uh crisis uh as as i recall but uh you did a great job you're a great person you are irreplaceable obviously and uh we appreciate your service thank you so much and anyone else the same you know ditto like he just said you know it was some tough times but we've had some good times also on the other part you've done an outstanding job you know i appreciate what you've done and you're going to be hard to replace so thank you very much and we're replacing you with a tomato all right okay at this time a request from the general public i have a glenn smith is he here okay please come forward and state your full name and address and you got three minutes mr smith my name is glenn smith 730 farmer brown roads lakeland florida i wish to thank the uh county commissioners and all the heads of the department uh when i first signed up for to speak today i had several questions over the past uh two or three days i've been getting answers to those questions so i want to thank the commissioners for their hard work i know uh being a governor uh being a governing body is not easy you're doing i believe you're doing the best uh job humanly possible so i want to thank you for that the only question i is remaining is that i have called different departments at different times to get answers to different situations that have popped up throughout my life but anyways um the only time that i've been able to get those questions answered is if i make a call to uh the government body here the one of the commissioners uh commissioner brasswell and i apologize i mispronounce names all the time sir but um anyways um the general public needs to be able to pick a phone and call a department straight up and receive an answer within two three four five uh business days and uh like i said the only times that i've been able to get answers to questions um about the ordinances things like that in this community is if i you know make a call to this governing body but that's you know again it's kind of hard to talk to every uh department and with all the personnel that is involved throughout the county making all the departments functional and serving the general public at large i think you guys are doing a want a heck of a job and i thank you very much for that and i thank you very much for your time sir thank you sir your check will be in the mail thank you much all right uh miss garrett morning my name is sharon garrett i live i live off of carl boozer road uh my mailing address is po box 1332 haynes city um i live on approximately 300 acres it's an elongated piece of property that's over sections 13 14 23 24 in township 27 range 27 it's a long rectangular property my dad bought it shortly after parts of it shortly after world war ii with his combat pay as a p51 pilot my parents resided out there since around 47 i have lived out there since 1951 73 years my husband 54 years there's a lake three creeks uh all sorts of wildlife foxes deer bobcats and my husband uh fishes and hunts coyotes he's up to 109 uh recently there was an eagle sitting on the bridge uh in the future the toll authority has designated where i live as one of the routes b b and c uh the original route was a that was selected the first go round and i asked when when it was selected of the people then what happens if development occurs on it and he said it remains selected well uh i was in a discussion with uh rennie heath about crosswinds west and uh stop signs and uh stop lights and he said they've been in discussion with the toll authority on crosswinds east they have crosswinds west and west was approved before east um and because the toll road goes through some of their property well crosswinds east is that property on a route i believe that he went out they went out there not necessarily him but the group went out there in the fall of 2023 and started developing the infrastructure so a cannot go through there uh so when i found out they were in discussions i went and visited the toll authority i also visited ryan kordak and uh the toll authority told me and i took the four by eight maps i had from the first first go around in maps of our property and uh and the four by eight showed the routes and uh they said i was premature in discussing routes the first i heard of a route was when my brother got a mail out on the trust property which doesn't have my married name on it and uh i never got anything on the six different parcels that i own that b and c and d also run on d is on some non-contiguous properties um i've lived out there all that all my life it means a whole hell of a lot to me my husband says he's not moving and he says he'll commit suicide before he'll leave that property and at that point then i get to put a headstone on his grave that says here lies a good man that was killed by the greed of developers and the lack of planning from all levels of government uh i think a better i think a better route would be to connect to the 538 which which you could travel on poinciana parkway four miles versus seven miles that goes through my property there's enough right away on the cypress parkway to go along there and mr cordack suggested that was a possible route uh when i went to m course they said they would use existing roads um miss jason gave a tvo presentation and mr music on tpo said did you take into consideration bach tower and the resident and she said yes we took in consider we may only need 60 acres of the residence property well that goes up to the middle through the middle how do you make me whole money doesn't make me whole you know it's heritage and love of the land and most people move every 11 years i've lived out there all my life you want to take maybe not you necessarily but you guys are interested in the toll road you you want to take something away from me that means a lot miss garrett i can tell you we don't we heard this last and we appreciate what you're saying yeah i there's a little different variations at time very much but we understand that you know and and as we said the last time i mean we still there's still a lot of stuff's got to go on yeah find out where it's going we hear you it's not up to us but we hear you and we'll go from there so thank you very much okay thank you all right mr palmer good morning uh tom palmer you know 526 street northwest where even uh there used to be a policy when you appointed committees that have some idea who the people were on the committee i noticed on the agenda item coming up for the 15 members on the uh comprehensive plan review the ones point of a stand we know who they are but the ones appointed by the board we don't know who they are and uh i just didn't know whether that policy had changed or or what just and a point is just to give public an idea of what kind of mix i mean you're you're obviously free to appoint whoever you wish i'm not disputing that uh but just let people know you know you know who's who's who on these committees i think it would be a you know a good thing and also i want to thank whoever put together the agenda for uh adding the uh public care tonight on the uh management plan for creek ranch because i normally on the mailings from fwc and so i missed that one so that was very helpful thank you thank you tom anyone else mr chair just to respond there is a policy in place i think the board is familiar with everyone's nominees and stuff anyone has questions regarding but because there was 15 nominees i believe that they did not put all their resumes and stuff um on the agenda item so unless the board doesn't want to move forward with that but i think everyone's familiar with those who were nominated and we can make that available for you john will make it miss richards i see you richards 23 57 freeland the road lake wells florida i just want to say thank you thank you thank you we are making progress we couldn't have got it done without you you are doing such a great job i understand more now that you actually have to go through a lot of different hoops things you don't know you get to learn to know and i appreciate that i know about the toll road and everything in buck tower but that's out of our hands it's out of your hands it's uh department of transportation uh job and we can talk but we can't make it happen and i understand that and i understand you all can't make it happen you all have a load on your shoulder and i don't know if i can handle it if i were you so i know that you're doing a great job because i'm here every county commission today and i see how you all operate and i want to say thank you thank you thank you thank you ma'am another check going out yep another check going out okay all right uh anyone else all right seeing them we're going to move on consent agenda move approval got a motion in a second any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries miss butterfield good morning morning today we have for you to approve and ratify payable checks zero three seven seven one through zero three seven seven zero and the amount of thirty five thousand two hundred twelve dollars and seventy three cents and we have direct deposits two thousand eight hundred and three direct deposits in the amount of four million three hundred nine thousand seven hundred seventy five dollars and thirteen cents those are dated march 21 2025. we have wire and electronic funds transfers of thirty million three hundred ten thousand four hundred fifty three dollars and 69 cents those are dated march 18 through march 31 of 2025. we have invoice checks numbered four seven nine eight nine zero through four eight zero six nine zero totaling 15 million three hundred seventy two thousand seven hundred eighty six dollars and 94 cents those are dated march 18 through march 31 2025 for you to approve and ratify please move for approval second got a motion in a second any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries we also request the approval of your board minutes um from your meeting that was held on march the 18th of 2025 please motion for approval second got a motion in a second any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries all right do you have one thing um as several of you know um last year i may lose track of time i took on a project where we digitized all of the deeds for polk county from the inception of polk county in 1861 forward we already had from 1947 forward but we took the original deed books and digitized them making those available to everyone's use um so now you can search any deed in polk county from its inception and that was part of our preservation of those historic records i just want to congratulate the county because your commitment to the historic preservation has been recognized i saw the recent public announcement by um secretary bird's office that polk county is now a certified local program uh certified through the national park service so i just want to say congratulations for your commitment and your recognition for that program so thank you very much you're welcome it was great i remember that good good i just want to say recognize that all right anything else that's it okay uh randy yes i do have the item um to adopt resolution creating the comprehensive plan advisory committee and approving the 15 omnis that are attached to serve as the labor appointments on that committee it is recommended approval as spoke as that was pointed out earlier the resumes weren't attached but i believe each one y'all have seen these individuals before and familiar with it so unless one anyone has objections to that i would um recommend an approval question for you since public has some concern do you have the names available that you could read today at least provide the names and if they want to do some research yes ma'am just read the 15 names uh shama shama lot um marisa barman barmby stephan miller joshua mecklemore kim long and then for the commissioner nominees for miss troutman is bart allen brian hunter for commissioner broswell is blair updike and larry walters for commissioner santiago suzanne lindsey and edward smith for commissioner scott kelly quinn and ronnie hedrick and for commissioner wilson rob harper and kyle story do i have a motion so moved second and a motion and second any further discussion all in favor oppose motion carries thank you that's all i have mr chair all right mr beasley good morning mr manager mr manager that'll work you got demote mr mr chair members of the board uh the manager's office will have five items for board consideration this morning uh the first item out the gate this morning i i think represents really a solid good governance attitude about the county and how we relate to the municipalities i think it's really uh indicative of the strong working relationships that exist today across polk county between county government and those municipalities and frankly i think it's what the citizens expect of us and uh i i think this will bear out just how productive we can be item number h1 is to request the board to approve an agreement to construct and maintain the new highland city joint use fire rescue station created between the city of bartow and polk county the project design engineering permitting and construction cost totals 12 million dollars with polk county's share set at six million 780 000 and the city of bartow share set at five million 220 000 in july of 2023 the board approved a four acre land purchase agreement with lakeland regional health systems as the designated site for a highland city fire rescue replacement facility to be located at 2421 smith lane over the past eight to 12 months polk county and the city of bartow have been reviewing the merits and operational details of a proposed joint use fire rescue station to be constructed at the smith lane site in february of 2025 the city of bartow approved the proposed agreement for polk county to be the lead agency to construct and maintain this joint use facility the proposed agreement includes the broader details including design engineering construction respective fiscal responsibilities the agreement term facility maintenance and utilities respective furniture fixtures and equipment project payments insurance and other related contractual matters funds for the county's portion of the highland city joint use rescue station are budgeted in the county's general capital fund currently set at 5.3 million dollars after completion of the architectural and engineering design construction documents and bidding services polk's share of the remaining funds 1 million 480 000 to complete the highland city joint use fire rescue station will be budgeted as part of the fy 2526 community investment program budget process mr chair this really all means that i uh in keeping what i think is the board's priority commitment to public safety i would request that the board approve the proposed agreement to construct and maintain a joint use fire rescue station between the city of bartow and polk county to be located along smith lane with all rights and responsibilities as stipulated in the proposed agreement to reflect anticipated initial bartow costs totaling five million two hundred twenty thousand and polk county costs totaling six million seven hundred eighty thousand and mr chair we've got representatives here chief chief robinson chief smith we've gotten uh uh the mayor from the city of bartow the city manager from the city of bartow uh if they matter mayor if you can't want to come up and say something about the joint use agreements uh city manager her if you care to say anything about it while she's on her way i got a question this thing's costing the same as two's individual fire stations will there be two full complements of fire trucks yes and an ambulance the whole kit and caboodle our share will be what we've typically built and then we'll add the complement consistent with bartow's requirements thank you and we are excited about this uh co-location station um station um i think it is a good use of resources and land and um where we needed to locate in the northern part of the city so uh just grateful that y'all were open to that and that we were able to work it out between our fire chiefs and um uh just look forward to getting that thing online because uh we uh we can use it right away so we're asking for a another fire truck in the appropriations for the legislature so far it's in the line item so hoping that doesn't get cut you never know um but just thank you again for um your partnership on this uh station anyone else you know it's a good thing because i'm glad that we you know we planned this for a while but this is going to work out good especially with all the homes you're putting out there y'all are leading the way anybody else all right did we make a motion no move for approval second got a motion to second any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries mr chair members of the board item number h2 and h3 are companion items item number h2 is to request the board approve to department of justice fy 24 cops technology and equipment program invitational solicitation grant awards in the total amount of 1 million 559 000 to include the requisite budget resolution and project appropriations for these unanticipated federal revenues the u.s department of justice has approved grant funding for local emergency management initiatives through the fy 24 cops technology and equipment program invitational solicitation grant awards the two grant awards number gg02137 totaling eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars and number gg02140 totaling seven hundred and nine thousand dollars have been awarded to the polk county emergency management division specifically to fund polk's public safety radio systems resiliency project these funds will be utilized to add motorola hardware and software to enable dynamic system resilience which ensures the public safety radio system is seamlessly switched to a redundant core in case primary core failure the focus of this resiliency project will be to create a redundant communications core process processor site at the auburndale radio tower location subject to approved extensions both grant awards are set to expire in march on march 31st of 2026 upon approval of the budget resolutions funding in the total amount of 1 million 559 000 will be available in the special revenue grant program so mr chair members of the board i think in keeping with the board's priority commitment to public safety i would request that the board approve the u.s department of justice fy 24 cops technology and equipment program grant awards by authorizing miss terry saltzman who is the polk county grants and community investment manager to accept the grant awards on the board's behalf and for the board to approve the budget resolution necessary to establish the program budget for these unanticipated federal revenues in the total amount not to exceed one million five hundred and fifty nine thousand dollars do i have a motion so moved got a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries mr chair members of the board item number h3 is the complement to the previously approved agenda item number h2 and is to request the board to approve the purchase of motorola dynamic system resilience equipment and implementation services in connection with polk's public safety radio system this action will be a one-time contract expense not to exceed one million five hundred and fifty three thousand nine hundred ninety four dollars and eight cents as previously stated the u.s department of justice has approved grant funding for polk's emergency management initiatives in the fy 24 cops technology and equipment program to implement dynamic system system resilience for polk's public safety radio system this dynamic system resilience ensures the radio system is seamlessly switched to a redundant core in case of primary core failure the implementation of dynamic system resilience requires the purchase of equipment and technical services for implementation to meet the federal department of justice grant requirements two proposals from motorola are required the dynamic system resilience resilience equipment will be purchased totaling seven hundred and four thousand nine hundred ninety eight dollars and eight cents and the implementation services will be identified at eight hundred and forty eight thousand nine hundred and ninety six dollars this dynamic system resilience initiative is fully funded by the federal department of justice grant awards with board approval of agenda item number h2 funding for this initiative is available within the county's special revenue grant fund so mr. chair members of the board as a complement to the agenda item number h2 and in keeping with the board's commitment to public safety i would request the board approve the proposed purchase of motorola dynamic system resilience equipment and and those related implementation services in connection with polk county's public safety radio system redundancy initiatives in the total amount not to exceed one million five hundred and fifty three thousand nine hundred and ninety four dollars and eight cents motion for approval second got a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries mr chair members of the board item number h4 is to request the board to approve an infrastructure agreement with pdmg buckeye llc in connection with proposed roadway improvements at the intersection of buckeye loop road and dundee road the total cost of planned road the total cost of planned road improvements are fixed at 780 000 615 dollars and 39 cents pdmg buckeye llc or is the developer uh and is under contract to purchase and develop a circle k facility on property located at the northwest corner of the buckeye loop road and dundee road intersection during the county's concurrency review staff determined that certain transportation improvements were needed at the intersection to mitigate existing level of service deficiencies the developer has agreed to enter into an infrastructure agreement with the county to design permit and construct needed off-site transportation improvements specifically turn lane improvements along buckeye loop road this agreement will allow for the improvements to be made to be expedited by the developer and possibly at a reduced cost than if the polk county were to program and construct those improvements independently the total estimated cost of the proposed transportation improvements is seven hundred and eighty thousand six hundred and fifteen dollars and thirty nine cents the developer's contribution for the project's impact total seventy four thousand nine hundred and thirty nine dollars or about nine point six percent of the total cost and the county's reimbursement responsibility for the improvement shall not exceed seven hundred and five thousand six hundred and seventy six dollars and thirty nine cents or about ninety point four percent of the project cost funding for this project initiative is available within the roads and drainage fy 24 25 community investment program so mr. chair members of the board i think consistent with the board's support for infrastructure agreements where appropriate feasible and in the public's best interest i would request the board to approve the buckeye loop road infrastructure agreement between pdmg buckeye llc and polk county with those financial contribution limits as noted commissioner brass yeah can somebody explain what are we getting for 780 000 we're getting uh i guess repavement and a new turn lane or just redesignation of a turn lane so basically the exclusive right um bound uh turn lane is going to be shifted over uh we're adding a um a shared uh left-bound turn lane and um and so it's it's basically the widening and the internal lane improvements at that intersection and do you know how deep how far back that that turn line will go 200 feet 300 feet okay all right thanks anyone else all right need a motion move for approval second got a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries mr chair members of the board final item from manager's office this morning item number h5 is to request the board to approve an agreement with geosyntech consultants for professional engineering services in connection with the southeast landfill remedial measures initiative expenses not to exceed 424 297 will cover identified phase one and phase three professional services the county's southeast landfill located off gulf review cutoff road in lake wales closed closed in 2008 and has been monitored and maintained in accordance with florida department of environmental protection permit regulations in february of 2019 the solid waste division submitted a groundwater assessment plan to the florida department of environmental protection to assess exceedances and groundwater standards for several of the on-site monitoring wells after review by both the solid waste division staff and the florida department of environmental protection it was jointly determined that engineering controls and remedial measures are required to mitigate the impacts of certain of specific groundwater areas these controls include the installation of impermeable final cover on the eastern portion of the unlined landfill as well as other remedial measures to include a potential groundwater treatment system as a result of these site conditions polk county's solicited proposals from professional engineering firms to design permit and provide construction administration support to construct the final cover and address other remedial measures to ensure appropriate groundwater treatment controls request for proposal number 24654 was issued and two vendors submitted proposals in january of this past year the board approved committee's recommendation to enter into contract negotiations with geosyntec consultants this project is broken down into four distinct phases phase one would be the assessment phase phase two remediation phase phase three would be the design enclosure design and permitting phase as and phase four would be the construction quality assurance phase the proposed agreement will cover this proposed agreement will cover phase one and phase two services only phase one services includes but it's not limited to field planning and site reconnaissance fdep meetings supplemental assessments and report submittals phase three services includes but it's not limited to closure alternative evaluations cost estimating and final closure design and permitting professional services for phase one and three will run concurrently an amendment will be brought back to the board for subsequent phase two and phase four services once sufficient information has been developed and presented to the county upon completion of phase one and phase three services it is anticipated that all four phases will be concluded by september of 2027 funding for this environmental compliance initiative is budgeted and available within the solid waste operating fund so mr chair members of the board i think in keeping with the board's strong commitment towards environmental regulatory compliance i would request that the board approve the proposed agreement with geosyntex consultants for those professional engineering services in connection with the southeast landfill remedial measures initiatives specific to phase one and phase three services in an amount not to exceed four hundred twenty four thousand two hundred ninety seven dollars commissioner scott you have to spend for this one yes board members and madam clerk i need to abstain from voting on this item as i do have a business relationship with geosyntex consultants all right and i just go uh i know i asked this question the other day but i forget the answer it's you think it's 30 40 feet deep of garbage down there the burden depth is fairly shallow approximately 30 feet yeah i mean my hope is it makes sense to dig the whole thing up and haul it away and and do something else with the land that that option has not been discounted from the scope so we'll uh we'll see if that does come back come up and that that is an option any further questions all right any motion so moved second got a motion and a second any further discussion see none all in favor opposed motion carries that's it mr chair thank you all right commissioner troutman just wanted to remind everyone that sun and fun is underway so that's a great event for our area both economically and just that it's cool to go to i want to say to mr jarvis sitting out there though it is a stark reminder that pipkin road is still not finished mr if i add to commissioner troutman's comment if you notice the intersection at wearing and drain field is closed it has nothing to do with polk county that's a major intersection that closed and has been closed for quite some time associated at the timing of sun and fun who closed state the state in the city they're creating a roundabout at that intersection oh my god very true in that intersection and the work around is is challenging for sure commissioner broswell i don't have a thing commissioner sandiago nothing this movement commissioner scott uh two items one uh this past week was the uh the state science and engineering fair that was at the rp funding center and just wanted did you win i didn't when i was judging but i was i was the nice judge um but it's a lot of middle school and high schoolers that come around from the entire state of florida for those that aren't aware of it it's a great program for us locally but heads and beds they do a tourism day prior to the fair and we just highly encourage anybody that's out there to judge at the state science fair and it's a great impact i was a participant when i was in high school i had one not so nice judge which i still remember but that's okay but there was a lot of great judges a lot of great projects this year and our future certainly looks bright with those and the only other comment i had is i visited station 23 yesterday out of the kathleen road the fire department one of our newer stations and it was just great to talk with the uh the folks that were there and how appreciative they are of the assets that we put forth to them and i really am excited to see how much more we can grow as that ultimate nationally recognized fire department but great to see the men and women at station 23 and i appreciate the hospitality yesterday and the conference room to meet with a concerned resident about a project so thank you all right and i don't have anything so let's move on to the expedited hearings yes sir mr chair before we go into the expedited hearings i will go over the public 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 a public comment section of a matter will be strictly limited three minutes the board is experiencing these matters and is able 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 terms shouting out from the audience disrespectful 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 that such purposes you may need to ensure a verbatim record other 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 or 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 question do you swear or affirm that testimony or evidence you provide to the commission today is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you mr chair at this time i'll go over to expedited hearing procedures expedited hearings are held pursuant to resolution number 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 at the public comment the board will consider the land use case at any time a full presentation of staff can be requested from a commissioner the applicant or members 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 individuals on the list of experts attached to the agenda item are deemed experts for the purpose of land use case at this time i'll turn it over mr ziscoll to present the expedited hearings thank you thank you mr mink for the record ben ziscoll land development director there are three items on today's expedited public hearing agenda item number 01 is an expedited public hearing for case ldc pas 2024-34 orchid springs cpa to consider a future land use designation change from residential low to residential medium on approximately 2.55 acres the subject site is located on the south side of overlook drive just to the east of the city of winter haven uh notice on the screen uh the request is to change just the northern two and a half acres of the almost six acre site the southern portion is heavily wetland and will not be requested to change the request is to change the northern two and a half acres from residential low to residential medium to facilitate the development of townhouse community the planning commission unanimously recommended approval of this item staff is recommending approval and following any questions or comments uh we recommend adoption of this hearing uh any questions uh ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to come forward and speak on this matter please come forward and give your state your name and address and you'll be given three minutes seeing none i'll bring it back to the board for a couple move for approval second got a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries item number o2 is an expedited public hearing for case ldct 2024-28 i4 sap land development code text amendment proposed to remove outdated criteria and requirements for residential development within the i4 selected area plan the i4 selected area plan was adopted in 1991 at the time that the original comprehensive plan was adopted and since then there have been significant changes to this area first and foremost a a large portion of the area that was once unincorporated polk county is now within either the city of lakeland or the city of auburndale second this area was also informative to the creation of the polk commerce center cra which has since dissolved and third our codes have evolved since 1991 and now the language that is being questioned is in conflict with some of our recent changes to residential development so for these reasons the applicant has requested that this language be removed from the land development code staff has recommended approval and your planning commission recommended unanimous approval 70 and following any questions or comments today this is a first reading so no action is required by the board all right do we have to do a public hearing on that yes okay uh ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward state your name and address and you'll be given three minutes seeing none we'll bring it back to the board who's the applicant who's who's the applicant the applicant is um mr tim campbell uh this is an item this is really an applicant um initiated amendment due to timing this item would most likely be a part of our comprehensive plan and land development code updates that we're currently going through but in order to facilitate development now and not wait for the county to make those changes uh tim campbell has the applicant got it thanks all right all right next item number 03 is an expedited public hearing for case ldct 2025-2 institutional 2 land development code text amendment to allow vehicle service mechanical and outdoor storage in the institutional 2 land use district again this is a minor change to the land development code to allow these two uses most of the land that has an institutional 2 land use designation is some sort of government or quasi government user including utilities fire rescue sheriffs school board and most of those uses have the need for some sort of vehicle storage vehicle maintenance and other outdoor storage so this is a minor change to the land development code staff finds that it's consistent with the the comprehensive plan has recommended approval the planning commission unanimously recommended approval and this is also uh first reading so following any questions action is required today all right any questions ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward state your name and address seeing them bring it back to the board and any questions or anything all right and that concludes the expedited portion of today's agenda good morning sorry for the delay getting set up uh for the record my name is shonda bennett with the land development division excuse me i'll be presenting p1 and p2 together that is ldc pal 2024-15 and ldct 2024-24 their county initiated cases related to indian lake estates both cases were advertised in the polk sun on march 19th 2025 the conference of plan amendment is a text amendment to two policies in the indian lake estates section of the conference of plan to allow duplexes in the area highlighted as the oc area of concern there's a yellow arrow pointing to it and allow up to four dwelling units per acre to be on septic if sewer is not available where current development at two dwelling units per acre and more are required to connect to sewer land development code text amendment is very similar in terms of implementing those same regulations i'm sure you all know where indian lake estates is but just in case anyone viewing uh it's east of lake walk in the water uh where state road 60 and 630 come together this is an aerial of the indian lake estates development ile is divided between um a gate which we've highlighted in yellow approximately here and so in front of the gate is what we call outside the gate and behind the gate to the west is behind the gate and it's all residential behind the gate but on the east side of the gate it's a mix of different uses also wanted to point out canopy oaks to the south there's been several hearings on canopy oaks over the last several years this amendment started with a pre-app from two property owners one on deland avenue which is in that office center designation as well as another property owner who owns those these small parcels highlighted with a star so that's why there's two parts to this you can see on these land use maps that the lots behind the gate are residential suburban again to the west in the suburban development area which is a section of the county where sewer is not expected outside the gate on the east side you can see a mixture of different land uses like community activity center neighborhood activity center residential low with a sub-district of four office center residential medium and institutional certainly a mix of uses that in many places in the county does need sewer however they can development if sewer is not there it's just a lower intensity the land avenue has a future land use designation of office center and you can see the see the white areas on some of the parcels which are all duplexes there's no office uses in that office center and that's eight out of 23 lots developed with the duplex the current policies in the comp plan and the land development code prohibit the construction of duplexes in office center which is normally appropriate however the requested change is to allow a proposed duplex next to an existing duplex at least that's what one of the property owners wishes to do if and the proposed changes if not next to an existing duplex the proposed changes in ile will require a level three review in the office center designation this makes bringing a use table into ile in chapter four of the land development code important so that it's clear with all of the customer service that we do provide in our office the property owner of the starred parcels is in the residential low four category and residential low four normally allows four dwelling units to the acre currently the code says that a duplex can be approved if approved by the planning commission so it's a level three review today however the sewer limitation is prohibitive as i think you heard on friday that all of these lots in here are about a half acre in size there are 379 of those lots that you see in the rl4 the black circles display where duplexes currently exist in ile and did by 1994 but since the lots you see in the rl4 are half acre the requested change to allow densities of up to four dwelling units per acre on septic will allow property owners in the rl4 to request a level three review for duplexes and i will stop and mention that in rl4 and other places of the county normally same thing you would have to connect to sewer but you can be exempted from the sewer if it's not available and you can achieve up to four dwelling units to the acre on septic depending on soils and other different factors environmentally speaking a few important facts for this case are duplexes onto land and in the rl4 have existed since the 1990s the office center designation was given in 2009 with a comprehensive plan amendment case which was initiated by the ile board at the time with the intention of providing sewer at some point indian lake estates is the platted subdivision of residential and non-residential lots consisting of 8 000 units on approximately 5 000 acres the number of lots again outside the gate is 379 in the rl4 ile was given the pre-dri future land use designation in 1991 because it was a vested development against the development regional impact statute so we came in 2009 to make that update i pointed out canopy oaks due to the history of this area with avon park air force range and the compatibility areas on this map we call them military impact planning areas mipas you can see the ile is in the two different areas mipa one or zone one and zone two the so what of the mipas is the closer you get to the range the more concern with impact to training performed at the range for example the military branches that train at the range must adjust their height upwards the denser an area becomes however the base understands that ile will be a dense development as it develops out and have made the appropriate training adjustments this is basically what the letter states that's on the screen that we received from the range this just highlights some of the changes within the comprehensive plan at the top mentions the duplexes only in that block for office center so if you're in another section of ile that has office center you're going to have to go through a level three review to have that allowed this bottom section talks about if sewer is not available the maximum density permitted can be no more than four dwelling units per acre and similarly in the land development code we just reference the water and sewer connections in the comprehensive plan we've restated the item regarding office center and duplexes and then we added the use table that we have in chapter two of the code but the policies in the comp plan do have a list of prohibited uses so we've had to reflect that in the use table so with that um justification for approval is really since there were duplexes in the area and trying to make the rl4 consistent with other places of the county and there were two property owners that we have been in contact with staff initiated this comprehensive plan amendment for your consideration any questions yeah let me back up to like the very first slide now the one you just were on so the this is planning commission vote uh was i'm a little confused there was this the one voted for denial actually the majority of them did vote for denial um the concern was the doubling the thought of the potential doubling of the 379 lots and to double that amount and it being in the um wildlife corridor and it also being in the um the area where there are enhanced subject tanks required now and and i think that's a valid argument i mean so theoretic i'm granted we're just doing one piece of that but it would certainly be arguable that why wouldn't you let all those lots become what do you call them duplexes with septic tanks which would turn out 800 almost septic tanks which seems to fly in the face of what the state's trying to accomplish especially in a environmentally sensitive area like that i i i you know if if there was a way to uh stop it at this point you know that would make sense to me but to i think this just opens up the door for uh more of the same now the other question i have is uh duplexes are not allowed in ocx correct they're not normally allowed in ocx anywhere in the county but this that particular area got designated with ocx and it had a majority of was it ocx before they built the condos or yes no no no no no the townhome the duplexes that you see in india lake estates were there prior to 1994 oh okay okay and we didn't we didn't give these land uses that you see here till 2009 i i wasn't part of the team that worked on this particular land use change right and um i would imagine the ile board didn't want the trend of that but so the designated office center but it's not changed since 2009 it's not changed since 1994 we're not seeing more duplexes and i completely understand your but we could i mean if we if if we approve this and you know some guy wants to come in here and argue you gave it to them but you're not giving it to me what's your justification it's it's hard to justify that's where we struggled yeah especially for the property owner that owned a parcel in the office center right next to a duplex yeah it's it's we struggled with that so and then the other there are some duplexes right here between these two stars there's duplexes there as well and every duplex though in the rl4 will be a level three review it will have to go to the planning commission so the odds that every all 379 lots will be a duplex i i struggle to believe that 100 of them will be 200 i mean i mean yeah i hear what you're saying uh it just seems like we're you know letting the the horse out of the gate there and and the potentials there um if i can offer one other thing yeah the areas where the enhanced septic tanks are required are the colors that you see the colored areas that you see on this map these are where um we call them the b map areas the basin management action plans so basically almost a third of the county and that includes the northeast that includes all the city dundee like hamilton lake wales everything there that you see will have to have the enhanced system the other part that staff was thinking about is that we have to plan for 250 000 unincorporated residents by 2050 so the thought that it's india lake estates and not a new development that's changing arr to something that's more intense it's somewhat of an infill but certainly the board has i think enough information to approve this request based on the information presented or based on other environmental concerns uh well i mean the the other 8 000 lots that are in indian lake estates are half acre yes and they're all single family home lots right everything behind the gate right yes sir okay yes sir and all the roads again um as you had mentioned at the transmittal hearing commissioner broswell all these roads are all managed by the indian lake estates development they're so they're private not public okay and of course ile has to issue has to be has to agree to issue a meter for any duplexes that can construct it if they're rental so so ile does have some additional control and there's no there's no sewer plant anywhere out there um it's the conversation i had with utilities is they do not have sewer anywhere in ile and nor are they planning on it any idea how far away our closest line would be long ways so far i don't think i can oh god okay yeah it's very far all right thanks just for for me for clarity on the we're showing the proposed duplexes on the right side of our ocx area those could without our approval today those go in anyways correct they have a large enough lot to allow the duplex or not are you asking the starred lots yeah the starred lots those no that's i just started those because those are the three lots i had we had two customers come in for pre-apps and the starred lots are the ones that that second customer had owns currently in the rl4 i was just marking them so each of those would have to come in with a level three review to be permitted even if the board approves the text amendment today right but if we didn't approve it they still are in that they're outside of the pink area so they're they're not contingent on this approval today is that correct or did we fold it all into this approval they they'd um they'd end up being four units to the acre and if the amendment today isn't approved the planning commission couldn't approve them because they can't connect to sewer okay so the the orange just for clarity the orange area is still contingent on having sewer to get to the density that a duplex would require correct as it's written today right okay so shonda really we have language that's conflicting for this situation right we have a the code allows a property owner to make an application for conditional use that they can never achieve by the comprehensive plan policy so it is conflicting yes so obviously staff went the direction of being consistent with what we do in the rest of the county versus how this has been approached recently there's a setup i'm sorry it's okay good does this set a precedent when you talk about how you know this would be different than what we do in the rest of the county so if this is approved today does that now put a line in the sand that's now further on down that somebody else can come back in other parts of the county and then use this as a well they did it over in indian lake estate so i want to do it here i don't think so the reason is um because indian lake estates is different than the rest of the county because the rest of the county nile for an rl4 if sewer is not available and they wish to construct a duplex can use septic tanks if approved by the health department and usually you know as engineering standards if it's the right soil types etc but that's not available to property owners in indian lake estates martha i just want to know how how many duplexes do we have that were built in that particular area before and what 1994 you said yeah the circled areas that you see on this map have duplexes on them now and how many are that's about um i think about i didn't i didn't count the unit counts them the units themselves but the parcels are about um 15 or so so the other areas probably are waiting to see what happens today before they move forward with a request yes in fact i know the the a representative of the starred parcels was hoping to be here this morning because they are working on if this is approved today making an application what or level three review what about the other areas that are not circled i have not spoken to those property owners so i do not know what they're aware of or what they're not aware they could build duplexes once if they make an application depends on what we do today they can also request duplexes yes on that with a planning commission approval correct yes well again important parts to consider is again are we going to utilize an area that's already quote developed even though it's not built out or are we going to say no to this and force them somewhere else it is a consideration of what we're doing here today and i think another thing going back to what commissioner scott was saying is that i guess a lot of times staff thinks about well when an area was given a designation and it had an established density maximum that it could have achieved so the idea in 2004 was that what's in our rl4 could achieve four dwelling units of the acre that was the plan that was the expectation that we gave the property owners that they might be able to achieve that i think this recommendation allows them to have that ability to achieve what was done in 2004. i mean that's part of our our thinking they're on they have supplied water or they're wild water out here public water there's public water throughout the whole thing is public water yes yes i do know this is in the you know something unusual but uh what's going on out there and has been going on out there has been unusual uh not unusual but uh i think they need all they can get and uh because i have dealt with with those out there was lack of certain services they have and you know their infrastructure there and it's you know they need all the help they can get yeah this is unusual but this is an unusual thing to look at for me so that's all i got to say well for me it's just you know when i think of septic tanks i think a low density and this flies in the face of low density okay what mayor what was the lot size out here for the ones that we're talking about half acre they're all at least a half acre right so a duplex would bring them to four units to the acre which is what rl4 is is four units to the acre correct it's the sewer component again that was put in i'm not sure i mean do we know how that got put in knowing that it was so far removed from any public lines at that time i do not well i i would think that back in 1960 when they started thinking this thing out and 70 when they started developing it they anticipated a sewer a package plan or something uh operating there uh and and that was the premise behind the whole development nobody i don't think anybody came in here and said we're going to put in eight thousand septic tanks and another two thousand in the front i think there was a there was obviously a thought of of sewer correct which which is uh i think which is why private utilities is a difficult situation and why the county is such a large utility provider all right however this is so far removed that i don't even know how they even thought they could get some uh sewer in there because it's really out there on 60. i don't know i'm just saying this is a good example of um sprawl and what we try to avoid here all right we've uh any other questions uh is an applicant here it won't say anything or do you know don't see none so ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to come forward and speak on this matter please come forward and state your name and address and just as a reminder this is for p1 and p2 yeah p1 and p2 thank you mr chair seeing none i will bring it back to the board for any further discussion maybe not i think we pretty much beat this horse and uh take a motion or what i'll move to deny p1 second i got a motion and a second to deny all in favor all right all opposed a motion is motion to deny passes passes yeah that's all we need on that all right oh we gotta do p2 too yeah right right yes sir on that one okay i'll move to uh deny p2 uh we don't have to go back to public uh no sir because you had a public hearing for both okay and p2 all right we got a motion we got a second any further discussion again my concern is that we've told these people they could have rl4 and shauna my question i guess to you is can they come in individually and ask in essence for a variance for their individual lots since they're not able to achieve rl4 i didn't read that ability to do that in the indian lake estates section okay is it possible that i've missed something yes but this i didn't see that again i just i feel for the people because we've can we've got a conflicting situation here that's allowing them not to use the designation of what their property is i'm not a fan of septic that many septics but um i also look at they have rl4 and not able to utilize it okay anyone else all right do i have a we do have a motion a second we do have one okay okay two to deny uh all in favor aye uh opposed me uh motion to deny carries thank you mr chair thank you the next item on the board's agenda p3 is a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance providing procedures require procedure requirements to close polk county owned roads the proposed ordinance requires road closures exceeding five days for roads classified as collective roads and road closures exceeding 30 days for local residential roads to be approved by the board of county commissioners that's the change that you all asked us to make on friday uh with that is recommended for approval and this is a public hearing uh ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward state your name and address be given three minutes don't see anybody bring it back to the board for a motion move for approval second got a motion in a second uh all in favor aye opposed motion carries commission uh scott lowry uh real estate services support manager i have two items here today uh the first one is a petition received from umberto torres to vacate a portion of a platted public retention drainage and retention easement shown on the plot of pine view estates phase 2 in mulberry the platy pine view estates was filed in 1992 and dedicated all rights away and easements to the use of the public the petitioner is the owner of lot one and originally requested the vacation of the entire 60 foot foot foot wide drainage easement on the north boundary of his lot in order to construct a pole barn on the property after a review of the request the county's roads and drainage division staff and the county engineer stated that the north 25 feet of the easement was needed to accommodate drainage however they had no objections to vacate in the south 40 feet of the easement the petitioner reviewed that response and he's agreed to vacating only the south 40 feet vacant the south 40 feet of the platted drainage retention easement will remove the public's interest in the area and allow for the pole barn construction staff recommends the board adopt the resolution to vacate a portion of a platted public drainage and retention easement shown the pad of pine view estates phase two is fully described in a legal description contained in the resolution and i will stand for any questions any questions ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward state your name and address you'll be given three minutes seeing none bring it back to the board for a motion move for approval second our motion in a second all in favor aye opposed motion carries oh this is the one we've been looking for p5 last one no last one uh uh the next item is a petition from stanley and pat erickson and michael and curry and sewer to vacate any public interest the county may have in a 30-foot wide strip of land lie adjacent to their properties multiple deeds in the petitioner's chain of title going back at least 70 years have lest out strips of land with a statement that they are to be used for public highway purposes the property appraiser has the strip mapped as right-of-way but no evidence was located that it's ever been conveyed or dedicated to the county however it is presumed to be public right-of-way at this point just from the mapping it is also unclear whether the strip has ever been utilized for road purposes the petitioners have requested the vacation and remove any public interest by the county that may exist in the strip of land in an attempt to clear any clouds on their titles the county recently approved a release of easements for recorded easements lying adjacent to it that was a couple of meetings ago in conjunction with proposed development the subject area is not being used by the county for roadway or any other purposes approving the vacation will remove any interest the county or the public may have in the subject area in an effort to clear any clouds on the petitioner's titles the appropriate county divisions and utility providers were notified and no objections were received staff recommends the board waive the petition fee in this particular case to the adjacent and extenuating circumstances and adopt a resolution to vacate any county or public interest in the 30-foot strip of land as more fully described in the legal description contained in the petition and the resolution and i'll remain standing for any questions any questions ladies and gentlemen this is a public hearing if you wish to speak on this matter please come forward state your name and address and you'll be given three minutes see now and bring it back to the board for a motion motion got it did i hear a second second okay got a motion and a second all in favor aye opposed motion carries and we are done