Planning Commission on 2025-09-10 9:00 AM

agenda items and consider additions deferments withdrawals to the published agenda for the planning commission uh if there's any particular items of concern with planning commission member now would be the time to talk about it ian do we have any changes to the agenda no sir no changes

to the agenda just a couple of notes um under old business the water treatment plant remember this was open at the last hearing and then continue because an advertising error so i'll give a quick recap and go from there um number seven and eight on the agenda northridge sap picks uh text amendments those will be presented together items seven they will be heard together and we're going to do all of them that have been advertised yes right yes sir and uh also um sean is going to give a comprehensive plan update here at the end of the published agenda excellent all right anything else

to discuss during the workshop yes sir all right with that we'll close the workshop and we'll begin the public meeting at nine o'clock as advertised okay it's now nine o'clock we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order roll call mr bishop robert beltram president merle bishop i'm president

brooke agnini here mike hickman here penny heath i am here mike smith mike smith here society

linda schultz mr we have a quorum thank you uh let's stand for the pledge allegiance

okay uh we received the minutes uh electronically prior to this are there any questions or comments

on the minutes if not i'll accept a motion to accept them i move approval second we have a motion and a second all in favor all right there were no changes to the agenda so we'll go on to

explanation of general procedures mrs howard thank you mr chair i'll now go over the general procedures for today's meeting the land development case planner will introduce the case and disclose any responses to the notification which were not already provided to the planning commission in their packets the case planner will then present their staff report and recommendation anyone in the audience who wishes to speak and present testimony on a case will be sworn in the applicant applicant and others in support or opposition of the case will be given the opportunity to speak the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond to any opposition testimony the planning commission will then discuss the case and vote on the matter expedited hearing procedures may be used by the planning commission under the following circumstances there is no opposition to the case present at the hearing the recommendation of the office of land development is for approval and all of the commission members present wish to use this procedure with regard to level three reviews pursuant to section 906 of the polk county land development code the planning commission may approve the applicant's request deny the applicant's request or approve the request with additional conditions pursuant to section 921 of the land development code the applicant or any substantially affected interest may appeal the final decision of the planning commission to the board of county commissioners by filing a formal application with the land development division and paying the application fee the appeal must be filed with the land development division within seven calendar days of the planning commission hearing the board of county commissioners shall set a date and time for a de novo hearing if a party decides to appeal a decision made by the planning commission with respect to any level three review he or she will need a record and may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made the record includes all testimony and evidence given at the hearing each person or party that qualifies to file such an appeal must independently exercise their right of appeal in order to preserve that right a party cannot and should not rely on their right to appeal being preserved by someone else filing an appeal on the same matter please be advised that a party may withdraw their appeal to the board of county commissioners prior to that de novo hearing if one party withdraws their appeal and another party failed to file an appeal there will be no appeal or hearing on the matter before the board of county commissioners the application fee will not necessarily be refunded for such a withdrawal please further be advised that if a de novo application is filed with the board to be recognized during the de novo hearing as organized opposition you must either file the application for de novo hearing or recognize or receive written authorization from at least five entities or individuals to speak on their behalf against the application and they must waive their right to speak during the public comment portion of the public hearing regarding level four reviews pursuant to section 907 of the land development code the planning commission's decision is a recommendation to the board of county commissioners the board of county commissioners will ultimately decide the matter at a later date regarding ex parte communication the planning commission receives numerous communications from the public unless otherwise stated it should be presumed that ex parte communications have been made to the members of the commission regarding the matter during the hearing the applicant organized oppositions and the public may request the commission to disclose any ex parte communication or site visits they have had regarding the matter and question the members regarding their communications or site visits unless the commission member recuses themselves he or she has determined that they are able to hear the case and fairly and impartially make a decision on the matter based on the substantial competent evidence in the record mr chair would you like for me to swear in the witnesses for today's cases please thank you if you intend to address the planning commission on any case today please stand up raise your right hand and answer out loud to the following question this applies to all cases so if you believe you may speak today please be sworn in do you swear or affirm that the testimony and evidence you provide to the planning commission today is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you you may be seated i'll now go over some housekeeping items before we get started first we need to admit the county's land planners as expert witnesses they have all been accepted as experts in the past however if you would like to voir any of them as to their background or expertise then you may do so at this time without any opposition to their admission can we please have a motion to accept staff as experts in their field of land

planning i move we have a motion and second all in favor aye thank you secondly if we have any experts

of applicants then you may tender them at this time or you may wait until your case is called finally the planning commission must review quasi-judicial land use cases quasi-judicial means the action entails applying land development policies to a specific land development application in a fair and impartial manner the commission's review is limited to two areas consistency and compatibility regarding consistency the commission must determine whether the application is consistent with both the comprehensive plan and the land development code the staff report and presentation will provide expert analysis and opinion regarding the applicable criteria as well as a recommendation as to whether the application is consistent with those criteria regarding compatibility the commission must determine whether the application is compatible with the surrounding area the commission will be presented with testimony and evidence at the hearing both written and oral by law the only evidence the commission may consider is competent substantial evidence which means evidence that is sufficiently relevant in material that a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion the following items are competent substantial evidence evidence that is fact-based and relevant to the applicable criteria staff reports and staff presentations citizen testimony may be competent substantial evidence so long as it is fact-based and may include testimony regarding subjective matters that do not require expertise such as aesthetic and compatibility of a project with the surrounding neighborhood however popularity polls petitions testimony that is hypothetical speculative based on fear or consists of generalized statements that do not address the land development criteria are not competent substantial evidence for example fear that the project will cause increased traffic or crime is not competent substantial evidence lastly when expertise is required for technical issues like traffic engineering drainage wetland impact school and utility capacity light and noise pollution or the application's impact on property values citizen testimony is not competent substantial evidence unless the witness is qualified as an expert in that area that concludes my comments thank you thank you mrs harvard with that we'll start our

first case um just for the record i am recusing myself from the first item as i am employed by the engineering firm the ceo are on this project so i'll be involved in discussions but not necessarily involved in any kind of voting on this one with

that we'll start on the floor over to ian all right good morning ian nance land development staff recommends approve ldcu 2025 11 a conditional use request by polk county utilities to allow water treatment powder the 0.75 million gallon ground storage tank and supporting facilities on property located south and west of masterpiece road south of timberland road and north of lake wales in section 17 township 29 range 28. as a reminder this case was opened and continued from august due to an advertising error i believe there are a few questions from the public and commissioners regarding the decibel levels from this facility and representatives from pcu are here to explain that further but i'll go through a quick recap here the site is in a residential suburban land use district which necessitates this level review it's an aerial image showing some of the surrounding developments in the existing potable water lines in blue this receiving facility will blend alternative water supply water being provided from the polk regional water cooperative with raw water from a new upper floridian aquifer well and provide treated potable water across the eastern portion of this service area once constructed this facility will be operated via pcu supervisory control and data acquisition system from off-site requiring occasional visits for system and mate clearing for system cleaning and maintenance but otherwise requires little on-site manpower the primary compatibility consideration here is the ground storage tank it measures 36 feet to the top of the aerators well below the 50 foot height maximum in rs all structures will be 50 feet from the western and southern property lines in accordance with land development code standards type c landscaping will be maintained between the residential property lines and incorporate existing vegetation there's an overlay of the site plan on the property it is taking up a little over two acres of the parcel remnants of this parcel will be used for a planned roadway improvements on masterpiece the tank is well over 600 feet from the home to the northwest and over 300 feet from the home to the south again staff recommends approval finding the proposed site plan compatible with surrounding uses and consistent with the land of code and comprehensive plan thank you i'll stand for questions any questions for staff with that we're happy to welcome the

applicant name and address for the record please good morning my name is jim tully cip manager for

polk county utilities 1011 jim keen boulevard um thank you uh when we were here last month there were some specific questions about noise coming from our typical water plants such as what's being proposed here so um it was noted that you know at the property boundary based on land development code we are required to be uh less than 65 decibels uh but the question was you know what what tip what do we usually see coming from our facility so i went out to one of our existing uh water production facilities specifically the the cherry hill plant which is up in our northwest service area which is right next to residential neighborhood um i used a sound meter application from the national institutes of occupational safety and health niosh and just for context you know 65 decibels is uh you know kind of a typical conversational type of a noise level you know i've got the app running here and we're at about 70 decibels just as i'm talking about a foot away from it um so standing at the property boundary you know with houses just over the fence uh with you know none of our machinery running uh just kind of the background noise you know wind blowing birds chirping etc was about uh 45 decibels um you know i asked our plant operator to you know kick on the generator which you know sits in a sound attenuating enclosure um high service pumps uh well pumps etc uh the noise meter went from that background concentration of 45 decibels up to about 50 decibels so you know i would call it you know barely audible but uh certainly well below the the 65 decibels uh required by by code so um with that i'm available

for any questions thank you mr dolly any questions for the applicant seeing none we're going to go ahead and open this now to the public uh i welcome the public to please step forward if you'd like to speak for against this case where we'd like to hear your comments you can go ahead and proceed up yes sir just as a reminder please name name and address for the record when you get up here and you'll be

limited to three minutes for your comments good morning my name is john hare and i'm at 3130 masterpiece road in lake wales and i just have one question regarding this issue this property is uh habitat to the florida gopher tortoise and so as you all know that's a protected species here in state of florida i wondered if there's any steps been taken to address that issue yeah any questions can

be responded to by the applicant go ahead and proceed with your rest of your comments um okay well uh i know

that uh being protected you know requires permits to relocate and that sort of thing according to state law so i just wondered if uh if the county has done anything you know to locate this particular species and if any steps have been taken okay suddenly issue any other questions or comments no that's it

okay thank you sir anybody else here to speak for against this case please step forward all right seeing none we're going to go ahead and close the public portion we're back now to the applicant to respond to any questions or provide additional information as needed yes and the answer to the

question is uh when it gets time for construction what we will do is conduct a survey of you know wildlife on the property including gopher tortoises uh those identified uh will then proceed with a application process through florida fish and wildlife service for relocation and then we'll go through that process of relocating them to a an approved site thank you any other questions for the applicant from

the board seeing none we'll take the item back to the board for discussion or a motion mr chairman

moved to approve we have a motion a second roll call mr bishop uh robert beltram abstains uh merle bishop approved the motion brook agnini for the motion mike hickman renee heath for the motion mike schmidt or the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman the motion is approved thank you thank

you sir all right case please number two on the agenda and in answer for the record this is ldcu 2025 19 a county initiated conditional use request for a booster pump station with a half million gallon ground storage tank and supporting facilities for the polk regional water cooperators alternative water supply to the area this is proposed on an existing utility site that serves as an emergency interconnect between the cities of bartow and lakeland and polk county and is located at 4520 east county road 540a west of bartow highway north of bartow in section 13 township 29 range 24 for the record 38 mailers were sent to area property owners on august 27th one sign was posted august 25th and a legal ad was published on august 27th staff has logged no response and recommends approval here's a site northwest of the intersection of bartow highway and county road 540a this is in a transition area between a school neighborhood commercial uses to the east and residential development to the south and west this is in a residential medium future land use district in the us 98 selected area plan which calls for this level of review to the bottom left you can see again that it is used currently for water utilities the site plan is to the right a relatively modest facility this proposed water storage tank is 28 feet tall and 60 feet wide it will border a county stormwater pond to the north and a personal services business to the southeast the tank will easily exceed 50 feet from the nearest residential property to the west which has a home but is inhabited as with the previous case these facilities are designed to minimize noise and require very little manpower to the site this parcel is near three service areas and will serve a critical purpose to pump water when needed in emergency conditions because of the previously determined utility purpose it was thought to be both practical and efficient to co-locate the prwc's booster pump station on this parcel the site plan is compatible with surrounding uses and request is consistent with comprehensive plan and land development code can staff recommends approval i'll stand for questions any questions for staff on this one seeing none we'll welcome the

applicant to step forward good morning members of the board my name is eric de haven i'm the executive director of the polk regional water cooperative and i'd be happy to answer any questions you might have on this item the address to uh 3003 west church this building thank you i think that's correct this

building is a city right yeah in bartow any questions for him yeah that said i just appreciate the work we know water supply is the future of our county and what's happening so we appreciate all your efforts mr david thank you all right with that we'll open the floor uh to the public is there anyone here to speak for against this case please step forward seeing none we'll go ahead and close the public portion we're bringing the item back to the board for a motion or discussion mr chairman i recommend approval of

ldcu 2025-19 second we have a motion and second roll call for beltram for the motion robert bishop i'm for the motion brook ignini mike hickman uh renee heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman the motion passes thank you next case please all right number

three on the agenda is ldcu 2025-10 this is a request for a mobile home to go on a residential medium future land use district kyle roguis is your planner good morning kyle roguis for land

development presenting ldcu 2025-10 the mercado mobile home the applicant is requesting a conditional use approval of a mobile home to be located on 1.45 acres within a residential medium land use district in the urban growth development area on august 27th 27 16 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property august 25th a legal ad was published in the lakeland and winter haven sun august 27th we have received no response from the public staff finds this request compatible with the surrounding area and consistent with the comprehensive plan and land development code

so staff recommends approval mr chairman moved to expedite speaker is anyone here to speak for against

this case in the public seeing none we have a motion to expedite with the uh all in favor

please expedite so just to give a brief overview there are going to be two main subdivisions within the residential medium that is being naturally buried bifurcated from lake blue inwood unit 4 has 14 mobile homes and inwood unit 6 has about 19 mobile homes so with that the mobile home request is compatible with the surrounding land use area it will meet all setbacks in the land development code and all applicable requirements in the comprehensive plan and with that i will stand for questions any

questions for staff from the board seeing that we're under expedited procedures as the applicant here please step forward name and address for the record and if see if you have anything to add good morning

uh my name is angel mercado uh i address please address uh what i mean oh where you live don't don't

the video oh um i currently don't have any home right now i'm currently living with a friend

in 1306 green evergreens apartment i'm here to translate if it's needed my name is okay i can just swear

you in for the translation do you swear firm that the that you will truthfully and accurately translate spanish and english and english into spanish today i do thank you so anything to add to the comments

that were made by the applicant by the staff excuse me honestly i do not because i didn't understand what he said okay thank you very much have a seat you're good gracias with that we turn back to staff this is an expired procedure so we're going to have no other public comment uh or back to the motion for the board or discussion mr chairman moved to approve second we have a motion and a second

uh roll call please or beltram for the motion royal bishop i'm for the motion brooke agney for the motion mike hickman for the motion branny heaths for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion mr the motion passes all right thank you next case please number four on the

agenda is ldcu 2025-13 this is a conditional use request for an event facility on an agricultural residential rural future land use district andrew gruchowski is your planner good morning andrew

gruchowski with land development presenting ldcu 2025-13 the applicant is requesting a conditional use approval for an event facility in the agricultural residential rural land use district uh the proposal would include the construction of a 2400 square foot event facility on august 27th 17 mailers were sent to area property owners two signs were posted on august 25th and a legal ad was published in the lakeland and winter haven sun on august 27th with no responses from the public staff is recommending approval the subject site is located east of dundee on highway and highway 27 at the intersection of jennings road and lake hashnaha road at 5130 south jennings road the parcel is approximately five acres located in the agricultural residential rural land use district here's a context aerial of the subject site the area is rural in nature with most of the surrounding area being agricultural vacant land or large residential tracks to the east is a new county fire station on walkins road which was completed construction in 2024 here's another close-up of the subject site there's currently a single-family residence on the site which will remain in place the facility will gain access from the existing driveway off of jennings road which is a county maintained local roadway while single-family homes are found nearby the majority are buffered by existing vegetation to the east and southeast the facility will be required to upgrade the existing driveway to commercial standards the request is for the conditional use of a 2400 square foot event facility the applicant is proposing operations from 8 a.m to 11 p.m with approximately 200 attendees the frequency of the facility will be used between 14 to 18 times per year according to the applicant there will be no outdoor amplified sound music or live entertainment as conditioned within the staff report the applicant meets the buffering requirements and exceeds the required 17 parking spaces for the proposed project section 303 of the ldc states that the event management plan can be further restricted or lessened by the planning commission with your approval here's some site photos looking directly at the entrance of the property as well as looking to the north and south and here's the view of the site looking from lake hashanaha road to the west so staff is recommending approval the request is consistent with the comprehensive plan and land development code the acreage of the site natural and existing vegetation and required landscape buffers make this request compatible in addition public safety response is relatively short staff would like to stress that there will be no outdoor note noise or sound with this request any substantial changes beyond what is approved today such as outdoor noise or sound is considered a major modification and will require another level three review and with that i thank you and

stand for questions any questions for staff seeing none we'll open the floor to the public anyone here to speak for against this case please step forward can you i'm sorry sir i got out of order here are you the applicant by chance oh you were in the applicant okay then you're right on order keep going way to make me look good i appreciate that i'm gonna read if that's okay that's great it's a little easier for me name and

address for the record my name is travis whirley address is less than above 5130 jennings road south i'm requesting to rezone my five acre residential property to a business classification in order to establish a seasonal small scale wedding venue the natural beauty and open layout of the land make it a perfect setting for intimate celebrations and the property size offers ample space for parking without impacting nearby residents my wife and i both have careers in law enforcement and deeply understand the responsibilities that come with creating an environment that supports a peaceful atmosphere the venue will operate seasonally and host a limited number of events each year ensuring minimal traffic disruption traffic and disruption importantly the neighbors are family members who are fully supportive of this endeavor this business will rely exclusively on local vendors supporting the pope county economy and fostering community connections rezoning the property will allow us to responsibly develop a scenic and well-managed venue that enhances the area while maintaining a rural charm by converting the property to a permitted business use i intend to create a space that supports local economic growth provides a new amenity for the community and generates employment opportunities all while preserving the aesthetics and integrity of the surrounding environment thank you so much for taking the opportunity to consider this request we look forward to being business owners in polk county and we give our utmost thanks in advance travis and caroline worley thank you

and thank you for your service in law enforcement uh with that any questions from the applicant okay seeing now now we'll reopen the public hearing anybody here to speak for against this case please step forward all right seeing none we're closing the public hearing and we're back to the board for a motion and or discussion chairman move to approve second we have a motion a second roll call please robert biltrum

for the motion roll bishop i'm for the motion brook agnini mike hickman or renee heath or the motion mike schmidt or the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman motion passes thank you next case

please all right number five on the agenda is ldcu 2025 15 a conditional use request provide private lodging for staff in an agricultural residential rural land use district the tiger creek nature preserve uh

andrew grahowski is your planner uh good morning again andrew grahowski with land development presenting ldcu 2025-15 what we have today is a proposal from the nature conservancy to install five private cabins also known as private lodges according to our ldc definitions for the tiger creek nature preserve on august 27th 19 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on august 25th and a legal ad was published in the lakeland and winter haven sun on august 27th with no responses from the public staff is recommending approval mr chairman i move to expedite

we have motion expedite is there anyone here in the public to speak for against this case are you the applicant okay then we will not expedite go ahead proceed so the subject site is about 60 acres

and as part of the larger tiger creek nature preserve it is located at 674 funstein road east of scenic highway and wardlaw road south of murray road west of jewel lane north of sultan fuss road northeast of the city of frost proof in section 2 township 31 and range 28 so the tiger creek preserve is a nature preserve established in 1971 by the nature conservancy in total it consists of approximately 49 80 acres of conservation area the preserve is in its entirety is outlined in yellow the subject site is just a portion of the preserve and consists of 60 acres which is outlined in orange on the slide the site is to the west of um lake i'm gonna pronounce that wrong we are hot and w lake w we got it go lake w and east of cricket lake um so where you see the green area of preservation is considered a part of tiger creek preserve and over time and since 1991 adoption of the comp plan the nature conservancy has expanded the preserves conservation area there are a few parcels including the subject site that are in the agricultural residential rural land use district the subject site was previously a single family residence and was acquired by the nature conservancy on january 10 1997 according to the property appraiser here is another context aerial of the subject site in relation to the surrounding area tiger creek grove subdivision and homes along jewel lane are nearby here's the subject site taken from a 2024 satellite image tiger creek preserves boundaries are outlined in yellow meanwhile parcel boundaries within the preserve or orange the subject site gains access off of funstein road as previously mentioned tiger creek preserve has over 4980 acres of conservation area with such a large area to manage the nature conservancy would like to install five cabins on the 60 acre subject site which is part of the preserve according to the applicant the cabins are one bedroom mobile homes and will only be used by conservancy staff and workers and not open to the general public given these circumstances staff finds that private lodges and retreats is the best use category for this type of request the private cabins will provide on-site short-term temporary housing for nature conservancy workers scientists interns and volunteers examples of activities they conduct on the preserve include habitat restoration wildfire response and aid to lost hikers given the property's large size and the cabin's private usage the request is relatively benign in intensity with the site plan overlaid the large scale of the property is really emphasized here the five private cabins are outlined in red with the nearest home almost a quarter mile south besides this significant vegetation to the south and east as well as the surface water features provide adequate separation between the residential properties to the south it's important to note that the forested scrub land to the north east and west of the subject site is owned by the nature conservancy since these cabins are for private use only and for short-term temporary stays traffic generation and noise impacts are negligible large gatherings will not be not be applicable to this request so here's just the site plan submitted by the applicant the cabins meet all conditional use criteria for private lodges and retreats under section 303 of the ldc here's a picture of the entrance to the preserve another picture and these are what what the private cabins will look like that the nature conservancy would like to install on their preserve so through site design and conditions of approval staff finds the request is compatible with the surrounding area and consistent with the ldc and comp plan the preserve has been in active existence since 1971 and the request meets all conditional criteria the five private cabins are also sufficiently screened and buffered from neighboring properties to the south the improvements to these cabins will enable the nature conservancy staff to more efficiently operate and maintain the on-site natural conservation land by providing on-site short-term and temporary housing for some of the workers scientists and volunteers and with that i thank you and stand for any questions thank you any

questions for staff seeing none is the applicant here good morning mr chair randall only of mv5 11801 research drive alachua florida 32615 and i'm here to answer any questions you might have thank you any

questions for the applicant all right seeing none thank you very much anyone here for the public to speak for and against this case please step forward you're good all right so with that we'll close the public hearing and we're back to the board for a motion or discussion mr chairman i move approval of

ldcu 2025-15 okay we have a motion in the second roll call please robert beltram for the motion royal bishop i'm for the motion brook agnini mike higman or the motion bernie heath or the motion mike schmidt or the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman the motion is approved thank you next case please

all right for the record in answer land development staff recommends approval of ldct 2025-13 and apkin initiated ldc text amendment to add an exemption for film material excavation associated with phosphate mines and gypsum stacks on august 27th the legal ad was published with no response this is a level four review with board date set for october 7th and october 21st mr chairman move to expedite we

have a motion expedite is anyone in the public here to speak for or against this case all right with that we'll bring the item back to the board do we have a second to expedite we have a motion in the second all in favor of expediting aye please expedite all right last august you all saw this case at new

wales where they needed to dig a borrow pit for a gypsum stack expansion we kind of have a gray air in our code between what's required for site development what would be considered not a phosphate mine non-phosphate mines are really commercial in nature where you're selling that material this is for on-site development work so they had to jump through the level three hoop and then have to do another level two afterwards which we really had nothing to review since there's no impervious surface the trucks weren't leaving and going on the public roads and the state already monitors the excavation of these phosphate mine sites so this is just removing redundancy and adding some clarity to the code in the event that some situation like this arises in the future it'll stand for questions any

questions for staff all right seeing that we're under expired procedure is there an applicant here for this anything you'd like to add other than your name and address for the record good morning uh

annie barnes uh stearns weaver miller associate planner 401 east jackson street tampa florida 33602 staff did a great job presenting this um we respectfully request your approval um if you have

any questions any questions for the applicant all right seeing them we'll bring the item back to the

board for a motion and or discussion mr chairman move approval of ldct 2025-13 second we have a motion and second roll call please robert beltram for the motion royal bishop i'm for the motion brooke agnini for the motion mike higman renee heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz

the motion is approved mr chairman thank you very much next case good morning the next two cases are to

be read together first is ldcpa ala 2025-8 and ldct 2025-14 these relate to a text amendment to the conference of plan and land development code regarding some of the percent caps on retail for professional institutional in the northridge selected area plan and robert bolton not beltran

is this is this something that they're discussing through the comp plan changes with the the uh the

committee uh we will when we get to the future land use element which probably won't be until next year the pace we're going but so we would hold up this applicant if we waited for that okay but we are in terms of the general approach yes okay thank you mr bolton please good morning this is robert

bolton with land development and this is an applicant uh initiated uh presenting two related cases ldcpa l2025-8 a comprehensive plan amendment to section 2.131q uh the professional institution or pix in north ridge sap and ldct 2025-14 land development code text amendment to section 401-06-e or dot three also uh professional institutional pix in north ridge sap for the uh record legal ad was published in the winter haven sun on august 27th 2025 the applicant is requesting two text amendments one to the comp plan portion on 2.131 that's item number seven uh the ldc 28 2025-8 and the ldc ldc regarding uh for one point zero six point e point three that's item eight the ldc 2024-14 each of these sections cover north north ridge sap as well as the pix future land use uh with their respective codes within the comprehensive plan request change will change retail and commercial area limitation within each pix district from 25 to 30 percent with allowance to exceed that limitation with a level three conditional use within the ldc the requested changes include an increase in the area limitation for gas stations from 20 to 30 percent with allowance to exceed the 30 percent with a level three conditional use provided this provides relief for gas stations having to be at a signalized intersection providing that the internal cross connectivity of developments provide connectivity to a signalized intersection it also removes the pix from the retail portion that limits it to 15 percent and adds a new line which would put it at 30 percent so it's helping clear up a lot of conflict within the code uh and again it also provides allowance to exceed uh the 30 percent with the level three conditional use uh staff does recommend approval uh the requests are intended on providing consistency between the comp plan and the ldc uh these requests will be heard by the board of county commissioners on number 4th 2025 and february 17th 2026 uh do want to note there were a couple of typos on the cover sheets and the request that left out the level three uh conditional use and one referred to it as a pd everything would be uh uh going over the 30 percent would be level three conditional use this location uh of the overall north ridge selected area plan in northeast pole county these two maps the one on the left is the future land use districts within the north ridge sap with map on the right showing the five professional

institution districts those are the only pix districts within within the north ridge okay yes there are a total of five i thought so i just want to clarify and uh up here in the corner uh in the

staff report i mentioned it there are the acreages and alluded to it's why the changes winds up being fairly minimal to the whole overall district each district and the sap as a whole this is combined for both that map or is this just this is all this is the north ridge sap and we're only dealing with the that sap with the pix at this point oh yes the uh comp plan and the ldc they're quite a bit emerging between the two books we're trying to make the consistency yes hopefully i'll clarify the differences up in this this next slide the first for the ldc pal 20 uh 25-8 is the comprehensive plan uh policy change to 2.131q and it is specifically going to where it talks about retail and commercial unit uses are limited to and it was 25 percent the request is to go to 30 percent of the pix district we're striking out uh future extent expansions shall be required uh required review by the county to meet the then needed infrastructure improvements and replacing that with a higher percentage of the 30 percent of retail and commercial use shall be permitted through a level three conditional use so much of the infrastructure in northridge is already there that is the the one main change to the comp plan the uh ldct which is going to be going to the land development code section 401.06.e3i referring to the gas stations increases it from 20 percent to 30 percent um leaving everything else pretty much the same and giving again giving them the ability to go over the 30 percent with level three conditional use there was a there's a requirement that they be at a signalized intersection with the growth some intersection signalized intersections going away signal signalization being controlled by fdot plus the north ridge we're trying to get the interconnectivity side roads keeping some traffic off of roads we are putting language in that with the access via these internal road networks to a signalized intersection they could still be with frontage on us 27. then when the the retail this is another place where some conflict came about is in subsection r retail retail uses are limited to 15 percent of the total developed area of pix bpc and the industrial x were the it's being asked to strike that from the 15 percent add another section so just read retail use within the pi district pix district is limited to 30 percent higher percentage of the limited uh i'd have to look at that wording again will be limited to 30 percent of retail commercial use shall be permitted through a level three conditional use the it's it is recognized overall the request uh provides for an overall increase in the retail and commercial limitation within the north ridge sap this increase to 30 percent was compared to a similar land use district within the north ridge sap the employment center uh or the ecx compare a comparison use table was provided within the staff report as exhibit four these two future land use tables overall are similar but within the retail and commercial uses are very similar bringing a parity for the retail and commercial use within these districts provides clarity and uniformity providing efficiency and planning development and reviewing projects within the rapidly growing area of the county in summary agenda item number six cpal 2024-8 the comprehensive plan text amendment will provide consistency between the land development code and comprehensive plan with changes in the related ldct 2025-14 as well as consistency with the retail and office development with similar future land use districts in the north ridge sap agenda item 8 ldct 2025-14 the land development code text amendment will provide consistency with the comp plan as in consistency with the retail and office development with other similar future land use districts within the north ridge sap it also provides a mechanism to allow higher utilization of the required interconnectivity standards sought through within the north ridge sap i also want to note that each one of these requires a separate action and with that i'll stand for questions any questions for staff

go ahead go ahead thank you

go ahead sir yeah uh is this kind of marrying up with ecx so why can't you make them just one land use bix and the ecx together as one less confusion so that's one of the items we're going to discuss

with the comp plan committee i think part of the issue is now that i've been here for 30 years you've been here a little bit um just a little so we tried to get away from stripping commercial but i don't think it's possible so we tried when we created this sap to do that um i'm looking at merle because we had extensive conversations we tried to even reach out to people outside the county about is there a way to do commercial along a roadway that is more efficient better looks better better access etc and we tried that with this sap but it's not working um so the only thing we can really focus on it's been our approach lately as staff is access management having multiple access points being able to access the east west roadways instead of everybody going to 27 um but the idea is if we create a new land use what is it going to be what is it going to cover do we just strip it the whole thing there's a lot of questions to that so it may be easier on one level but to do it is not necessarily easy so but we're we're trying

to figure out how to how to get there yeah because the reason i ask that question is because i know that ecx land use is not really working i mean there's not not a lot of that this is being requested and

working well what's being requested is multi-family and retail right nobody's asking for office right so it um and it doesn't mean long term that's the best land use mix it's just all that the developers are interested in they're asking for um but um so obviously we need to respond to that change and focus on that and um the uh the access management so okay okay thank you mr schmidt i i didn't see any site

plans for any of this so i'm just taking conceptual um we've always required signalization at intersections and now we're which obviously clusters these locations at major intersections but now this will allow them to move on down the road somewhere and have direct access in uh seems like a a i i can i use the word dangerous impediment to traffic flow with uh from both sides of the street from both sides of the road um i i i don't see the wisdom in that personally i i just i'm i'm looking at um go ahead i i hear what

what you're saying part of what uh brought this uh to fruition is one specific location where on the west side of the uh of 27 uh walmart sam's is coming in there they are uh we've already i believe that we may have already vacated that right away if not we will be and there that was at one point in time a complete through strip cut strip it will be closed now their dot will not signalize basically a three-way intersection there it takes away development opportunities for that intersection because we do require the cross connectivity so that the people using that uh gas station can use the internal routing to get up to a signalized intersection that's part of what within the north ridge and actually all the sap's up in the northeast we've tried to build like shonda was saying is to help keep traffic traffic off and get them going in and out at the signalized and it does help and again like shonda said yes it does sort of do some stripping but it also allows for needed uses

uh by by utilizing that is that just this one location of those that's that's the when you look

if you look um this is a little bit larger uh view of that map out of the five there are two that are not on 27 but those are uh four and five less than five acres they would not meet grow locational criteria for a gas station to start with uh the this one down here it's listed as pix1 is just shy of 19 acres uh that is at this point in time there there is no signalization there that would be an area where a lot of cross connectivity between that almost 19 acres of development would be looked at required and if something happened there something happened there would be very good what brought this pix3 right over here is where the road is being um going to be uh closed for that development and it that that

like i said that is the one that is sort of driving this you don't have to get specific with each site

i i wasn't but you know it it's it there are there's limit there are limited areas where this is going to help development the concept of of signalization to me is more of a protection for

traffic flow uh to to prevent an impediment to abrupt stops and things like that when people are just you know pulling in off the road or crossing or whatever and um i i just i i've got a problem with that part of it nothing really about the specific sites i didn't see the sites but that was that this is i understand this is conceptual this is what we're going to be requiring of all five of

these and others in the future within the within the north ridge at this point in time we're only

dealing with the north ridge north ridge any other questions for schmidt you good no sir i'm good bishop

i think renee asked my question but sorry no that's okay great minds right yeah yeah surprising that renee and i can think alike sometimes it is surprising uh no i'm just wondering i'm not opposed to this i understand the need for consistency i'm just curious as to what this does for the pix the purpose of the professional uh designation was to help create mixed use and help curb some of the impacts that's happening on 27 of course the the whole economy and the impact of the traffic volume on 27 made that very difficult to do so with this change it's like is there any possibility of the pix that's there being developed as pix and i'm sort of like rennie i mean let's maybe it should be something else or is there any hope that the pix can be developed for some of the uses and for professional offices and in those districts and i'm not sure there is i mean it seems like the office the office development has occurred

pretty much around the hospital and i was going to say if you look at both polk county as well as the the municipality there uh the hospital is with located within city limits a lot of their development the city has annexed so much of right the basically the medical community there that and the two of these smaller ones they're on the outskirts because of annexations they got left behind uh this isn't necessarily a look at should we change these land uses that could be a beneficial discussion but right now we're trying to figure out how to help these land uses make i understand why you're doing it i

understand you know all of that i'm just can't help but ask maybe the bigger question is what is what are we doing here long term in terms of the pix and is i would like to think the pix can be used but i'm not sure it will be i mean if we did that what 30 years ago no uh 2001 was when the north it seemed like it

almost 20 okay four years ago all right no but i i think that the language that's being presented to you um tries to preserve the purpose by saying that there should be a mixture of retail and office uses and allows an out for the market to say that they want to try to make it all retail um so we're not getting residential and in professional institutional i think more based on where it's located employment center we're getting residential um and retail so but i think ultimately we can work on changing that land

use but um i'm not sure how to preserve the differences i put up the comparison of the the two districts we're not adding any uses we're not taking away any uses we're not changing any level

of review any other questions for staff and then are you the applicant or do we have an athlete justin

ham 109 south kentucky avenue lakeland florida 33801 here to represent the the applicant um just a couple of things i want to make mention as we've been working with staff on these changes we've been coordinating recognizing that the comp plan is going to be updated uh in the future however we recognize that it's going to be a little bit longer term than what we're looking at now um for our specific project so that's what's prompted this update for um for our project not only but also to help clean up the text in the comp plan for that consistency we're trying to match that ecx that was updated to that 30 the same 30 percent in the past um and then just to kind of talk to a couple of the items that were brought up here so you know the the part that we've been working on with staff as far as the adjacent to the traffic signals uh we're not changing the overall locations like they mentioned there's only a couple of places that this is really impacting whenever you look at the grand scheme of the pix in the north ridge and so it's pretty minimal and we're also still required to be located near an intersection we're just not going to be adjacent to it right so we still have that connecting road somewhere in between so it just kind of spreads out just a little bit but still allows for that connectivity to the road so that's um one of the things that i i wanted to mention and then as far as the consistency with the overall pix the the pix is still staying the same as far as the uses and the things like that we're just trying to increase the retail commercial that as we talked about we've seen that increase in the residential within this area we also have to have that commercial retail to support that so that's what's driving this slight increase uh that's effectively only impacting a very minimal amount of area within this here so uh also stand for any questions that you may have for that thank you

any questions for the applicant all right it seems that nearby signalized intersections like just past the signalized intersection as you are suggesting is even worse as far as an impediment to traffic flow people's people pay attention to the to what's going on at the signal and then go on through and i i spent first part of my career in traffic and and that's those things have just kind of been a no-no but i have no problem with the 30 percent and some of the other stuff but that just kind of jumped off the page at

me yeah and there still is allowing for that flow to get to those intersections uh driving to that it's just allowing for these smaller connect roads like for our project specifically that we're looking at we've got a road that connects through uh our project site that then goes to the intersection so it's a private access through there that's being connected so that's why it's not adjacent to the signalized intersection but we have a private access that then goes to that intersection so that's what

this is allowing any other questions for the applicant all right seeing none uh does anyone here in the public speak for against this case please step forward all right seeing no public comment we'll close the public portion of the hearing and we'll move back to the board for a motion and or discussion and i remind whoever's making the motion we have two items we have to vote

on both items seven and eight with this item mr chairman move to approve ldc pal that's 2025 that's

eight as presented today okay second we have a motion and second roll call our beltram for the

motion royal bishop i'm for the motion brook agnini for the motion mike hickman for any heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman motions approved okay do we

have a motion for the second item number eight mr chairman move to approve ldc t 2025-14 entirety

we have a motion do we have a second second motion second roll call please

our beltram for the motion royal bishop i'm for the motion brook agnini for the motion mike hickman mary heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion mr motion passes

thank you next case is ldc pal 2025-6 it's a large-scale comprehensive plan amendment to institutional and jp bulk jp sims case planner good morning jp sims of land development uh this is

ldc pal dash 2025-6 the point sienna bay bear street cpa this is a large-scale applicant initiated cpa where we're changing the future land use designation from development of regional impact and rural development area to institutional and utility enclave area on 72.27 acres that is right now part of the point sienna master plan the subject property is located south of bay barry street west of lake hatchinahaw east of marigold avenue north of county road 542 lake hatchinah road east of the hayne city city limits in section 14 township 28 range 28. staff does recommend approval of this change 17 mailers were sent to parity property owners on august 27th 2025 there's been no response from the public two signs posted on august 25th 2025 an illegal ad was published in the lakeland winter haven sun on august 27th 2025. so as i mentioned before we are going out to point sienna so we're going to be at the south end of marigold avenue where it intersects with lake hatchinahaw a little bit to the east you see lake hatchinahaw over there our subject site is outlined in yellow you can see from the context shot that there is residential currently developed to the northwest of the site everything else around is currently undeveloped the property to the south was part of ldpd-2023-12 that was part of a large development that was approved by the board but then later purchased by the state of florida for conservation right so looking closer at the site there is a small portion of wetlands here on the north part of the site but the rest of the site does not have any wetlands on it the site will access directly onto bayberry street looking at the current future land use you can see it's currently development of regional impact everything around it is as well other than the agricultural residential rural to the south so changing it to institutional would allow for the future development site of a potential high school this is part of the original poinciana master plan page you can see outlined in green the subject site this was originally slated for multi-family medium density duplex and single-family residential as part of the poinciana master plan so looking west down bayberry street the subject site is off to the left looking at the site again you can see nothing is currently developed there and this is further down the site because it is a large piece of property and then this is looking around the curve where it turns into i believe the road is called dogwood and the subject site is off to the right so because it is potentially going to become a school it won't generate any students of its own but it will have the ability to help alleviate any issues with capacity problems at the current high schools there are parks nearby it is within acceptable ranges of emergency responses the water and sewer usage is a little bit higher than what it would be with the residential that was originally slated for there but the the roads in the area do have available capacity for the pm peak hours but as you can see from bayberry the road itself will probably need to be improved upon development to handle any of the increased traffic flow that would go for the school the justification for approval land use changes for development of regional impact in rural development area the institutional and utility enclave area is compatible as of section 2116 of the conference plan does state the institutional can go anywhere in the county except industrial institutional is allowable use within the utility enclave area there is already available infrastructure available with water and sewer from toho water authority the road like i mentioned before will need to be improved to handle the increased traffic capacity and that would allow for the future construction of a high school which is needed to alleviate capacity problems the change is consistent with conference plan land development code and with that i'll stand for question any

questions for staff seeing none we'll ask the applicant to step forward name and address for the record good morning

commissioners john ryan adams rjwa inc eight broadway cassimie florida three four seven four one we're the agent for the applicant we're here this morning for large-scale comprehensive plan amendment to institutional from the old point santa dri we're in agreement with staff's report and thanks staff for working with us they've also recommended approval for this amendment this morning and we respectfully request uh your recommendation for approval as well be happy to answer any questions any questions for the

applicant i just i'm curious this is just being curious is there any timeline for developing a school on this site i mean is it is i'm i'm sure there's urgency there's urgency everywhere to answer your

question uh the school districts already identified this uh this project to be uh breaking ground within the year uh high schools typically take around 18 to 24 months for construction from you first start grading land to opening it for students so it is it is very in the near for future okay is is there any

from staff is there any indication that the surrounding point santa would develop soon uh the undeveloped portions i mean have you gotten any indication that something's going to come in i don't have any

indication that the area is currently going to grow more than it currently is all polk county is growing

so i assume eventually it'll fill out would this potentially serve um osceola county as well since there since ponciana overlaps the jurisdiction and there are students that would be nearby in osceola county

i think there is a joint agreement so currently you're correct mr bishop that there's currently a a agreement between osceola county school districts and polk that students can cross uh the boundary between the counties uh but i can share that based off of information that's been shared between our districts uh there's approximately anywhere between two roughly around 1700 to 2000 students that currently reside within this area they're already attending osceola schools so this school

probably going to be full when it's opened we anticipate it's it's going to get full quick i have a

question for the applicant this is it's me over here it's located is that located on hatch and hall

road no no sir it's uh south of bayberry and bayberry goes out to marigold so it's not clear my map's not clear that's why i was curious and then there's that state-owned land that a rr right to the south of it and that was approved for 1800 homes right plus two septembers ago and then the state

purchased that okay so you're north of that site that was bought by the state yes sir and you're going to access the school off of bayberry street yes sir and that comes off of marigold yes sir okay

thank you any other questions for the applicant all right seeing none we'll open the floor to the public anyone here to speak for against this case please step forward seeing none we'll close the public portion of the hearing we'll bring the item back to the board for a motion and we're discussion

mr chairman i move for approval of ldcpal 2025-6 second we have a motion second roll call please robert beltram for the motion earl bishop i'm for the motion brooke ignini for the motion mike hickman renee heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion mr chairman the motion is approved thank you thank you very much next case please good morning next case is

ldcpas 2025-15 it's a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment called crescent road and jp sims is

the case planner good morning jp sims of land development presenting case ldcpas-2025-15 this is an applicant initiated small-scale comprehensive plan amendment to change the future land use from residential medium to employment center on 17.42 acres of property in the transit that supportive development area tcco corridor and the north ridge selected area plan subject property is located south of minute maid ramp road one west of rawlins drive east of us 27 north of cottonwood drive in the north ridge selected area plan east of hayne city city limits and sections 20 township 26 range 27 staff does recommend approval of the change 158 mailers were sent to area property owners on august 27th 2025 there's been no response from the public two signs were posted on august 25th 2025 and a legal ad was published in lakeland and winter haven sun on august 27th 2025 so we're going over into the hayne city area north uh us 27 around the i-4 interchange subject site is outlined here in yellow with highway 27 running to the west of the site upon closer look you can see nothing is currently developed there uh there is stuff already approved to the west of the site so the brightly apartments are already constructed on the west side of us 27 and there are some other commercial developments that are coming as well in that area such as like a public's and walmart and sam's things of that nature so the subject site right now is listed as residential medium and what the applicant is wanting to do is change it into employment center so that it increases the contiguous nature of the ecx in that area so the plan is to initially develop out parcels with commercial on the west side of the property and then multi-family developments on the rest of the property going north up to minute made ramp road one they are indicating they're wanting to create a parallel connector road between minute made ramp road one down to cottonwood drive which would actually allow them for increased density in that area and a higher percentage of residential use inside the ecx so looking south on us 27 you can see our subject site is off to the left again it is currently undeveloped looking down crescent road you can see it is not currently paved so that's something that will have to obviously be improved with the development of the site going a little bit further down the road again you can see the site is undeveloped looking north on 27 so as far as what is anticipated for the ecx building that does have some impact to the schools in that area there are close by emergency response for both sheriff and fire the water and sewer will actually be i believe it was a little less intense actually find that real quick oh so the ecx would actually be more intense than the residential medium but the polk county northeast utility service area does show available capacity in that regard for both water and sewer the this road link for us 27 is currently a failing capacity there is no currently available traffic capacity for that link on 27 but you know as we've discussed before traffic concurrency is not typically an issue to deny a project so justification for approval the land use change from residential medium to employment center would be compatible as a site and those around it are slated to be developed with a mix of residential and commercial uses the sites abutting the subject site to the north and west are all residential or commercial in use with the brightly apartments across us 27 and a multi-family development without parcel commercial coming to the north a trucking company and fire station are to the south there's residential to the east and southeast which are higher density as which is compatible with ecx us 27 is a principal arterial which is appropriate for employment center to access onto and is in close proximity to interstate 4. parallel connector road as i mentioned before will be developed within the site as it is built connecting cottonwood from the south to minute made ramp road one to the north without having to get on to 27. so the future future land use change would allow for the construction of residential and commercial uses and this change is consistent with our comprehensive plan and land development code and with that i'll stand for question any questions

for staff all right seeing none we'll turn the floor over to the applicant good morning bill mackey

913 north pennsylvania ave winter park florida i work for the daily design group i'm a landscape architect and land planner um staff did a great job presenting this agenda item i'm here to ask for your support and answer any questions you may have any questions for the applicant all right seeing

none we'll open the floor to the public anyone here to speak for or against this case please step forward all right seeing none we'll close the public portion we'll bring the item back to the board for a

discussion or a motion i have a question so you said that this would entail or involve conducting crescent road with minute made road what um uh cottonwood uh cottonwood to the okay how we have

cottonwood down here to the south trying to follow that i'm i'm lost sorry let me go to a little bit it's my fault i'm sure so we have cottonwood just to the south of the site where the fire station exits out onto and then up here we have minute made ramp road one so what we've uh talked about with the applicant is creating a parallel connector road that goes all the way down to past the fire station down to cottonwood so like on the initial concept plan which is not binding but there is a roundabout that is scheduled to go like right here on crescent and then it will go north up to minute made ramp road one and south down to cottonwood so there's a right away set aside for that north of his property there was yes so uh the the right away in that section was i believe gifted

as part of the development for the site so if if i may add to what jp's saying so a couple of years ago we changed the text of the conference plan land development code for employment center to allow 25 dwelling units per acre as a level two review and not worrying about the cap of residential and employment center if they connect to east west roads as part of the development and this change gives them that ability so you'll end up seeing this developed residentially again it's our approach to worrying more about access management in terms than the specific mix of uses that's a good thing i

just wish we could make make it connect more than just that but i understand yeah thank you any other

questions all right seeing none having no public public comment any other promotion for discussion

for the board if not i'll entertain motion mr chairman i move to approve ldcpa ldcpa dash 2025-15

second we have a motion in the second roll call please our beltram for the motion earl bitcham

i'm for the motion brooke agnini for the motion mike hickman for the motion and he's for the motion i submit for the motion linda schultz for the motion motion passes mr chairman thank you all

right next case all right number 11 on the agenda is ldcd 2025-3 this is a future land use map sub-district change request from business park center one to business park center two to allow for outdoor storage alia and gleema is your planner good morning alia and gleema with land development

presenting number 11 on the agenda ldcd 2025-3 the hamilton road sub-district this is a future lane use map sub-district change from business park center one to business park center two to allow for outdoor storage 24 mailers were sent to area property owners on august 27 2025 two signs were posted on august 25 2025 and a legal ad was published in the lakeland and winter haven sun on august 27 2025 and there was no response from the public mr chairman moved to expedite anyone here in the public speak for

against this case seeing none do we have a second to expedite from second we have a motion in the second and we have no public comment all in favor aye please expedite so the subject site is located just

south of drainfield road north of medulla road east of county line road and west of the city of lakeland in section six township 29 range 23 the site is compatible with surrounding uses and is consistent with the comprehensive plan and land development code and i will stand for questions any questions for staff

i assume the city of lakeland was notified i just wondered if they had any comment or concern or

that's adjacent to the city were they notified i don't think so but they do um they if you look in the staff report um there is a sector plan that they had for this area that guided growth right and so um which did designate a lot of that area is business park so um this use would fit in

with their with that plan maybe the applicant can help do we'll have any other questions mr bishop or

can we have no that was okay come on up well if he's got anything that he could add yeah yeah yeah

well you can ask questions to him yeah yeah sure of course good morning uh for the record jason allie good with kenley horn and associates uh 109 south kentucky uh avenue lakeland florida i'm here representing the owner of the development uh for the request of change they're looking for potential for outdoor storage so that tenant and then user come along and want to have that use there that's what we're looking for now um i don't have the questions with the city by chance i'm not directly with them but i assume that it's been published and it's public

i assume they're providing utilities i'm sorry i assume lakeland is providing utilities they do

provide utilities that's correct water sewer we'll make sure the city gets notified before the

board hearing thank you okay any other questions for the applicant all right seeing none we're under expedited procedures uh we'll bring the item back to the board for a motion or discussion mr

chairman i move approval of ldcd-2025-3 we have a motion do we have a second second we have a motion

in the second roll call please robert viltrum for the motion roll bishop i'm for the motion

brooke ignini for the motion mike hickman for any heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion motion is approved mr chairman thank you all right thank you next case

all right number 12 on the agenda is ldcd 2025-5 the bowling green sub-district change from rural cluster center residential to rural cluster center commercial eric peterson is your planner

morning planning commission eric peterson for the land development division this uh case was uh advertised on august 27th 49 mailers were sent out to local area property owners uh three boards were posted on on the property on august 25th the legal ad was published in the polk winter haven lakeland sun on august 27th there's been no response from the public to this date this is a request to go from uh rural cluster center residential to rural cluster center commercial on 1.2 acres it's a very small request uh it is on the county's border with uh hardy county uh and also abutting the city limits of bowling green and yes they were both notified we reached out to them about uh providing water and wastewater in this area and uh we're we're given an explanation of why they do not now i can go into it if you wish but for now this side uh was platted as if it was a continuation of the city of bowling green many many years ago back in the 30s and um it never proliferated uh the same way as uh uh the city did because of the lack of water and wastewater connection uh this this strip along here uh has been changed to uh rural cluster center commercial uh this is a similar request uh there are currently are no commercial there is no commercial development the applicant did this in 2021 uh we have not seen a site plan yet uh the closest fire hydrant is right here so you can see how the lack of services hold back this area uh the site is relatively flat there's not much more to grade it has a good amount of vegetation between them and the residential properties to the west uh there's sidewalks along the frontage of 17 a good portion of this right-of-way frontage here is uh in the dot right-of-way because it is a drainage swale and could be enhanced for outfall if necessary this is the the most western limits of the property and the proximity to residential of course the 50-foot compatibility separation would apply uh that would in the end end up moving the building closer to the right-of-way the applicant has also submitted an application for a variance a setback variance from the right-of-way to the land use hearing officer so they can bring those structures as close as possible once again there's a lot of separation between the nearest residential units the area's relative intensity is low this site could be used for maybe two residential units but septic tank and well separation would make it problematic to really get much more uh it works better as commercial because commercial doesn't need that much and there's a lot of different commercial uses they don't really need that much in the way of water and wastewater uh depending on the size of the building uh they can be supported independently with a fire suppression system like a poly tank or things of that nature we have a several dollar generals out in the rural areas that are self-supportive on a on an acre or more uh because they only have you know one restroom and and a fire suppression system to support them so uh it could work here uh it makes more sense for this property to be commercial than for residential so staff supports the request with that

i'll stand for questions any questions for staff seeing none we'll turn the floor to the applicant

if the applicant please step forward good morning this is mona with her staff engineers uh one two zero zero hill christ street suit number 200 uh orlando florida three three two three or eight oh three i'm here i'm here on behalf of the client i'm here for any question from the staff

any questions for the applicant seeing none thank you very much uh open the floor up for public comment anyone here to speak for against this case seeing them we'll close the floor um bring the item back to the

the board for a motion or discussion mr chairman i move approval of ldcd-2025-5 motion do we have

a second second we have a motion in two seconds uh roll call robert beltram i'm for the motion

moral bishop i'm for the motion brooke agnini for the motion mike hickman for the motion brinny heath for the motion mike schmidt for the motion linda schultz for the motion motion is approved mr chairman

all right thank you very much next case please next case last case is a large-scale conference plan amendment ldcpal 2025-20 for um institutional for fire station eric peterson is case planner this

is a case to change 2.15 acres from residential suburban to institutional for a future county fire station 63 mailers were sent to area property owners on august 27th three boards were posted on the property on august 25th and a legal act was published in the polk winter haven sun lakeland news on august 27th so far we move to expedite we have a motion next by anyone here to speak for

against this case seeing none we'll go ahead and bring the item back to the board do we have a second for second we have a motion a second all in favor expedite fighting this case hi please expedite

in short of whatever in short south lakeland has been a part of our our efforts to improve the public safety uh system in south lakeland and you can see how the other stations that you've seen before you except this one this is in the city of bartow um how they all work together and this is an existing station but it's too small uh it can't fit all the trucks and the people that we need to serve the area so we've bought a larger site right there and it will go from this is a request to make it institutional there's the current site as you can see relative to the new site and superimposing our prototype fire station on the site gives it ample room to get good separation from any neighboring properties uh we probably won't lay out the site like this we'll probably access willow oak road which is collector and willis roads which are collectors so we're all amazed with your technology thank you yes

yes any questions for mr peterson seeing that we're under expired procedures um you are also the applicant so with that we'll close the public portion of the hearing and come back to the board for a motion or discussion mr chairman moved to approve we have a motion and and a second roll call

please or beltram or the motion bishop i'm for the motion brooke ignini or the motion mike hickman and he's or the motion mike schmidt or the motion lena schultz for the motion motion is approved mr

sherman thank you come on move takes good night good morning planning commission this is sean bennett with the folk county land development division so i'm here to give you a little review of where we are with the conference of plan update um we've gone through the intergovernmental element housing element economic element which we're now going to call the economic development element and the public schools facilities element and josh attended all of those and was very helpful with that and we have been successful so far at reducing the depth and the amount of policies in the conference plan and bringing it more into what we're really doing rather than what we thought we would do in 1991 and we're now in the middle of the infrastructure element and so now it's starting to get certainly more robust conversations within the committee so i wanted to give you a little update about what some of the conversations have been some of the easier items there was a conversation between entity versus agency miss howard was very involved in that there's been there's inconsistency in the comp plan of what that means but it's important uh in terms especially if you're talking perhaps legal issues um we had discussions about lists trying to reduce lists or make the more general lists can be helpful in terms of what you meant yes and you will all get into this detail too when you review especially the future land use element i'm sure sorry i'm looking mr hickman smiling you're i guarantee you're going to get in the conversation um we have a professor on the committee and we're really getting um uh educated on grammar it's really helpful let me tell you been very very helpful because now the consultant and i when we're going so what's mr smith's gonna say okay that okay fix that so it's it's helpful um and uh so getting into some of the more robust that was some of the easy stuff we're um having conversations with some of our committee members that really want to bring in natural resources more into participating in discussions about development not regulating but helping be more involved in what is this development really going to do to the wetland system or what is it going to do to our npdes rating and how is that going to affect the nutrient loads as it goes down downstream so and now we're having we're at a different development level than we were in 91 and so the development's actually more impactful for that so um there's some interest in that and when we get to the conservation element next we'll get into some of that in the future land use element um the um what's really happening in the infrastructure element right now we had a discussion about private versus public wastewater utilities uh and as well as water but the wastewater is a bigger deal in terms of how you treat it if you spray it and etc um so in the current infrastructure element you can have lot we allow private utilities water and sewer if you're going to do sewer you have to have uh permitted capacity of a thousand gallons i'm sorry a hundred thousand gallons per day treated uh on a daily basis and i'm sure that was intentional in 1991 there's more robust permitting requirements there's more robust management of the system because i'm sure the infrastructure committee in 1990 had a very big conversation on this uh because all of the waste smaller wastewater treatment plants and incorporated in polk county we take over we end up taking over a couple every couple of years we're taking them over so 100 000 gallons means you're more likely to maintain it on a regular basis we're not as likely to take it over uh so but the decision was made to go ahead and keep private utilities as an allowable option the interest is that our utilities department gets more involved in the review and oversight of the engineer that's preparing the paperwork for that plant so that we have somewhat of an idea of what their management is going to be to try to predict if we're going to have to take it take it over or not in terms of providing that information to the board when they have to make those decisions so that's the direction of the committee at this point excuse me shonda just a question that came up in

my head um during the discussion of sewer have they discussed anything about private lift stations

being that would not be a comprehensive plan discussion most likely it would more be a code discussion they could be i mean certainly people put detailed policies in the comp plan like that but we have not discussed that per se under just a real quick follow-up on that wastewater thing

is there a requirement for like some kind of bonding capacity or some kind of assurance for the wastewater to continue to be operated according to at least dp standards or whatever they're

being permitted for yes um we're going to discuss more of the infrastructure element this afternoon and i can bring up the bonding and i can also bring up the lift station item but um it's pretty

we do have those requirements in the code environmental you got to have some kind of assurance that you're going to have this system up and running and and maybe an issue yeah yeah that's a good thought and um

yeah yeah we're not completely done with the infrastructure element so and um and we haven't gotten to the future land use element but we've discussed a little bit today about some land use changes our goal is still to try to combine the three selected area plans in the northeast and then want to refocus on commercial enclave and linear commercial corridor but again i don't think we're going to get to the future land use element until january february the pace we're going we're usually we're getting about five pages an hour so it's a little tedious it's going to slow up as we get further down so might be food for thought for how you all want to get through the update to the comp plan which you might see in the summertime next year but again sometime next three four ish months i'll start getting giving you all copies of the um the elements that we've drafted i know mr heath uh you won't be on the planning commission at that point but i'll still happy to make sure you get a copy because i know you'll want one one way or the other so but anyway that's all i've got for

an update any questions all right seeing none thank you very much and i believe that's our last item for today just as a reminder at the next board meeting we'll be holding elections for officers so whoever's interested in taking over let me know or think about that and we'll talk about that at the beginning of next meeting we'll have our new board member we did lose our vice chair but mr daltman is no longer serving for us so just food for thought as we look at officers for next meeting that said i take a motion to close the meeting or adjourn move to move to adjourn all right we have a motion second all in favor uh meeting adjourned