The Polk County Planning Office is hosting a series of meetings related to the 2011 Growth Management law changes. League members Celeste Deardorff, Joan Verrett, Ann & Jerry Weeks attended the first two of these Community Planning Strategy meetings held in September and October.
The first meeting was attended by about 50 people and included a slide show by staff and round table discussion by small groups of attendees aided by local planners. The discussion focused on transportation and school concurrency and mobility fees. Concurrency is a term that refers to the need to have in place the public services or facilities like roads or schools, around the time that new development requires those facilities (or within about 3 years of a new development project starting.) Input from the public included local officials, city managers, planners and citizens. County staff sent out a summary of the results of this first meeting just prior to the second meeting in October.
The first meeting results may be roughly summarized as follows:
· Attendees thought roads should not be the number one priority for transportation improvements if the area in question was urban/city area.
· If the area was urban, bike paths, sidewalks and transit/bus service should be emphasized.
· However, if the area was not urban, then roads should retain priority in funded improvements for those areas.
· Most attendees wanted to leave school concurrency in place without changes; a few thought some changes might be needed.
· Most attendees wanted more information regarding what mobility fees meant and how they might be used or compared to transportation impact fees.
The second meeting in October utilized a panel of speakers who presented 2 minute responses to a prepared question; audience members then were able to raise questions to the panelists. Panelists included Merle Bishop, former director of County planning and consultant with Kimley Horn and Associates; Mike Britt, director of lakes management for the City of Winter Haven; Gaye Sharp, environmental lands manager for Polk County, Pat Steed, Exec. Director of the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, and Jennifer Stults, a planning manager for FDOT District One. Discussion focused on issues of water resources planning, intergovernmental coordination for common standards, and other topics.
The last meeting will be held on December 8.
