Agenda Item #1 12/12/05

Transcription

1 Agenda Item #1 12/12/05 Council Minutes November 14, :00 a.m. REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT Chair Commissioner Jane von Hahmann, Manatee County Vice Chair Mr. Robert Kersteen, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pinellas County Secretary/Treasurer Ms. Jill Collins, Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County Past Chair, Commissioner Steve Simon, Pasco County Commissioner Scott Black, City of Dade City Mayor Larry Bustle, City of Palmetto Commissioner Robert Daugherty, City of South Pasadena Commissioner Bill Dodson, City of Plant City Mayor Ward Friszolowski, City of St. Pete Beach Mr. Julian Garcia Jr., Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County Dr. Lois Gerber, Gubernatorial Appointee, Manatee County Mr. Michael Guju, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pinellas County Mr. Kenneth Hoyt, Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County Commissioner Deborah Kynes, City of Dunedin Deputy Mayor Bob Langford, City of New Port Richey Mayor Mary Maloof, City of Treasure Island Councilman Bob Matthews, City of Seminole Council Member Janice Miller, City of Oldsmar Commissioner John Morroni, Pinellas County Council Member Carlen Petersen, City of Clearwater Vice Mayor John Phillips, City of Gulfport Councilman Ed Taylor, City of Pinellas Park Ms. Barbara Sheen Todd, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pinellas County Ms. Kathleen Wolf, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pasco County Vice Mayor Keith Zayac, City of Safety Harbor Ms. Janet Kovach, Alternate, SWFWMD REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT Mr. Richard Albrecht, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pasco County Councilwoman Mary Alvarez, City of Tampa Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier, City of Largo Mr. Housh Ghovaee, Gubernatorial Appointee, Pinellas County Reverend James T. Golden, City of Bradenton Commissioner Ken Hagan, Hillsborough County Council Member Ken Halloway, City of Temple Terrace Ms. Angeleah Kinsler, Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County Councilwoman Virginia Littrell, City of St. Petersburg Commissioner Peter F. Nehr, City of Tarpon Springs Mr. Philip Waller, Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County Mr. Bob Clifford, Florida Department of Transportation Ms. Michele Miller, Enterprise Florida Ms. Brenda Williams, Florida Department of Environmental Protection 1

2 OTHERS PRESENT John Healey, Planner, Hillsborough County Trisha Neasman, Planner, SWFWMD Joanne McClellan, Planning Liaison, SWFWMD Robert Pesgolizzi, Principal, Gulf Coast Consulting, Inc. Randy Cohen, Coen & Co. Jason Collins, Engineer, GC Inc. Debra Zampetti, Attorney, Figurer-Harrill Joe Grimail, Crimail Crawford Barbara Leiby, Special Projects Manager, HCCPC Kelly Lore, Planner, Heidt Andrea Zelman, Attorney, FWBB STAFF PRESENT Mr. Manny Pumariega, Executive Director Mr. Roger Tucker, Legal Counsel Mr. Avera Wynne, Planning Director Ms. Wren Krahl, Manager of Administration/Public Information Ms. Suzanne Cooper, Principal Planner Ms. Lori Denman, Recording Secretary Mr. John Jacobsen, Accounting Manager Betti Johnson, Principal Planner Mr. Bill Lofgren, Principal Planner Mr. John Meyer, Principal Planner Mr. Greg Miller, Planner Patrick O Neil, Senior Planner Mr. Gerald Smelt, Principal Planner Mr. Mike Spina, Senior Planner Ms. Jessica White, Senior Planner Call to Order - Chair von Hahmann The regular meeting of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council was called to order by Chair von Hahmann on November 14, 2005 at 10:05 a.m. The Invocation was given by Mr. Robert Kersteen, followed by the pledge of allegiance. Roll Call - Recording Secretary A quorum was present. There were no voting conflicts. Announcements: The 2006 Committee Assignments form, Personal contact information form, Invocation form and the meeting schedule FY 2006 were in the Council folders and members were requested to complete and return by December 6, Also included in the folders was a Future of the Region Call for Entries form. The deadline for entries is Friday, January 6, Members were requested to submit projects and to consider nominating an individual for the Herman Goldner Award. It was announced that the event will be held separate from the March Council meeting. The date for the Future of the Region Luncheon is Friday, March 31 st. The event will be held at the Quorum Hotel in Tampa. 2

3 Chair von Hahmann recognized Mr. Robert Kersteen for arranging the Flyover at MacDill AFB and presented him with a framed picture of the event for all his efforts. 1. Approval of Minutes - Secretary/Treasurer Collins The minutes from the October 10, 2005 regular meeting were approved. (Black/Miller) Ms. Collins announced TBRPC has implemented the Windows version of the GMS accounting software and extended thanks to John Jacobsen, Nancy Harrison, Karen Wilfong and Marshall Flynn for their efforts the past two months in successfully completing this task. 2. Budget Committee -Secretary/Treasurer Collins The Financial Report for the period ending 09/30/05 was approved. (Taylor/Zayac) 3. Consent Agenda - Chair von Hahmann The consent agenda was approved. (Black/Morroni) Mr. Julian Garcia, Gubernatorial Appointee, Hillsborough County filed a Voting Conflict Form 8B in connection with Consent Agenda Item 3.E.1. Notice of Proposed Change Report DRI #148-The Pavilion, Hillsborough County and 3.E.2. Notice of Proposed Change Report DRI #170-Citrus Park Mall, Hillsborough County, and refrained from voting on these two items. 4. Item(s) Removed from Consent Agenda and Addendum Item(s) ADDENDUM: Agenda Item #4.A. Local Government Comprehensive Plan Review Subsequent Submission. The City of Seminole has submitted an adopted amendment (05-1) which was received subsequent to the mail-out. Due to timing established by the Department of Community Affairs for the submission of Council comments, it is necessary for the amendment to be considered at this time. Motion to approve forwarding staff report to the Florida Department of Community Affairs (Hoyt/Miller) 5. DRI Final Report DRI #259 Lake Hutto, Eastern Hillsborough County ADDENDUM: The applicant notified TBRPC staff of three necessary revisions to the transportation improvement tables contained on pages 38 and 39 of the Lake Hutto Final Report. The revisions were provided to the Council members. Mr. John Meyer, Principal Planner, DRI Coordinator, presented the Final Report. The Lake Hutto DRI is predominantly a residential development located on three non-contiguous parcels, totaling 1,129 acres, in eastern Hillsborough County. The project is adjacent to the Fishhawk Ranch DRI and in the vicinity of Boyette Road, Fishhawk Boulevard and Lithia Pinecrest Road. This single-phase project is scheduled for buildout in 2012 and will contain: 3,460 residential units, 185,000 sq. ft. of retail and 180,000 sq. ft. of office and a combination elementary school & middle school site. The project is subject to consistency with the Council s former Strategic Regional Policy Plan and corresponding map of Natural Resources of Regional Significance. The reason being that the project has been undergoing DRI review since submittal of the Application for Development Approval in September Some of the more notable Development Order conditions include: the extensive list of transportation improvements and corresponding $57 million dollar proportionate share calculation; the committed Resource Management Plan; a requirement for surface and groundwater quality monitoring programs as 3

4 well as a non-potable water use plan; the requirement for bi-annual traffic monitoring reports; and the committed dedication of a combination school/park site. The proposed Land Use Equivalency, presented on Page 42 of the report, would allow the developer some flexibility in entitlements within each parcel. Council staff recommends approval of the Final Report and forwarding to Hillsborough County for consideration and incorporation into a Development Order for the project. Ms. Andrea Zelman of Fowler-White, representing the applicant, was introduced and provided additional information. Lake Hutto is three non-contiguous parcels because the land used to be all a part of the same parcel but portions have been sold to the Elap program. The property is unique because of the Elap property which has land that will be preserved in its natural state and allows for connections to Lithia Springs Park and allows the project to include hiking trails that will connect to trails within the Elap property. The land that was sold to Elap was developable land but it was important to the developer to make that sale to Hillsborough County. Hillsborough County had long been eyeing the property but was not able to reach an agreement with the prior owner. Regional Impacts Summaries Economy: Mixed-Use Development 1,000+ jobs Over $7m in impact fees $2.6m value park & school land dedication Annually at Build-Out: $10m in property taxes $20m in school board taxes and other fees, grants & revenue sources Environmentally sensitive development: Approximately 200 acres of conservation & preservation area Preserves 99% of on-site wetlands No residential structures, offices or retail within 100 year flood plain Commitment to water conservation measures Water quality/stormwater management: No residential structures, offices or retail within 100 year flood plain Groundwater & surface water quality monitoring programs Utilities: Available water/sewer capacity Housing: Variety of housing choices within the community: single family, townhouses, villas, apartments East Central Florida Regional Planning Council Housing Methodology Project is not deemed to have a significant impact on affordable housing-no mitigation required Transportation: Mixed use internal trip capture Bike/pedestrian trail system $58m in proportionate fair share contributions: Fund Park and Ride Lot Widen FishHawk Blvd - 2 to 4 lanes Widen Gornto Lake Road 1-75 Gibsonton Interchange Improvements 4

5 Bell Shoals Road Improvements Education: Project build-out estimates 1,283 students Close coordination with Hillsborough County School representatives District requested 32 acres for elementary/middle school co-located with park facility Developer/Pulte Agree to: Providing 32 acres Build access roads to schools in first phase of construction Manage stormwater off-site Historical Resources: Archeological and Historical survey Florida Division of Historical Resources No sites or structures qualify for listing in the National Register of Historical Places Lake Hutto DRI Summary: Consistent with State, Regional & Local Planning goals, objectives & policies Agree with TBRPC report findings Working out details of Development Order Language with Review Agencies Community is a asset to Tampa Bay region Questions & Comments: Did you receive an impact fee credit for the donation of the 32 acres? If you did you can t really say you gave the 32 acres to them. We ask our developers in Manatee County to dedicate land and some are willing to do that without impact fee credits and others are not. Ms. Zelman: Mayor Bustle: Ms. Zelman: Ms. Zelman: Mayor Bustle: Mr. Wynne: We will get impact fee credits but with the low impact fees in Hillsborough County they don t amount to much. Hillsborough County impact fee credits are $196 per unit. You stated that you use the East Central Planning Council Affordable Housing Methodology, what is that? There is a lot of discussion about Affordable Housing and fiscal impact and transportation methodologies and essentially that is the accepted state methodology that DCA supports. I think that is being questioned now because it doesn t have a tendency to remove units once somebody already applies them to a project. It doesn t remove them, it leaves them in the bank. Fishkind & Associates revised the East Central methodology to remove the double counting which is included in this amount. That was a discussion we had at the pre-application meeting. Are the specifics on the methodology available on-line or someplace? The question specifically is what is the methodology. Basically you generate head of household count from your project, from the employment that you will have. Then you look at the income ranges of those heads of household and see what range of houses you think they may be able to afford, and then you compare that against the affordability of the housing stock that is in the area to see if there is an excess supply or deficit of housing 5

6 available for those households. Mr. Wynne: Ms. Kovach: Ms. Zelman: Ms. Kovach: Ms. Zelman: But there is no requirement for the 1,000 jobs that you say you will be creating. There is no requirement in your DRI order that says you need to provide some percentage of houses to those 1,000 jobs. If the methodology shows a deficit of affordable housing units, and in this case it would be a deficit greater than 150, then the applicant would have to mitigate. Whether they chose to mitigate on-site by putting a product on the ground that then fills that gap, or if they go outside with other mechanisms to be determined - it is flexible. Each county varies. The area that fills the supply has to be within a 20 minute commute or 10 miles. There were several individuals in the neighborhood that had concerns. Were you able to meet with them over their concerns? Yes. You may have been at the first planning commission workshop and unfortunately we hadn t yet met with the neighborhood, which was a mistake. Since then there have been a number of meetings with the neighborhood at large, with the FishHawk Area Networking group, and in addition a representative of Pulte has gone door to door. We have been sending a lot of informational letters and have encouraged people to call us with any questions. One of the groups that was angry at the beginning were the people on Lithia Springs Road. We thought the access road we were providing would be a benefit but it turned out they didn t want that and that was removed from the plans. Another group that raised some issues was a Girl Scout Camp and we met with them about alleviating their concerns and they are happy now. On page 37 of the final report you have wonderful ideas for conservation. It would be a good idea to provide literature to Pulte on water conservation to educate your populace before they landscape. There is a condition in our development order requiring Pulte to provide that information to not only the homeowner association, but all of the property purchasers and tenants. On page 20, it refers to 28 acres of public park system and then on page 21 it refers to 32 acres for an elementary school/middle school and a parking site. Those aren t the same acres are they? It would be a total of 60 acres between the two. Ms. Zelman: Ms. Zelman: The 32 acre school site, 8 of those acres goes to the park and the remainder goes for the schools. So 28 of the acres are the same. And then another 20 acres of park that will be attached to the county district park that is being built. The inclusion of all the information about how much is being contributed to government over the years is an interesting concept. It doesn t address the cost side and it opens an interesting avenue for future explanations between this Council and applicants. The strong implication is that the development pays for itself. You really do have to break it down between capital and operating because government is restricted. They have sources of 6

7 capital funds and they have sources of operating funds. When you talk about a fire station or sheriff s office that has to put 4 additional deputies, to get those deputies the sheriff s office has to go to the Board of County Commissioners and get that budgeted and that s not a guarantee. On the one hand I compliment you on the outstanding job on this development but maybe there is a cautionary thing in not getting trapped in the future in having to produce a real cost and benefit analysis. I think that SB360 and the Fiscal Impact Analysis Model (FIAM) are trying to address exactly that. Motion to adopt the Lake Hutto Final Report and transmit to Hillsborough County and the Florida Department of Community Affairs (Hoyt/Black) Commissioner Simon: By definition you can t possibly have residential structures that come to a cost benefit analysis with a wash and at the same time meet some level of affordability. It doesn t work. 6. No Guest Speaker 7. Council Members Comments Commissioner Morroni complimented the Chair and the staff on the Work Force Housing Think Tank for providing a great meeting with good coverage. The speakers were outstanding. 8. Program Reports A. Agency on Bay Management (ABM) - Mayor Mary Maloof, Chair Mayor Maloof reported on the October 13 th joint meeting of the Natural Resources/Environmental Impact Review Committee, the Habitat Restoration Subcommittee and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program s Tampa Bay Dredge Hole Assessment Advisory Team. The sea grass mitigation project for the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport expansion was presented by Tom Pride of URS Corporation. The proposal is to create 4.2 acres of shallow water habitat by filling two areas of the Big Island Cut dredged hole just north of I-275 near 4 th Street. There was considerable discussion by those present. The group voted to send a letter to the permitting agencies with recommendations for success criteria and minimizing adverse impact. David Dale of the National Marine Fisheries Service described efforts to address the conflict between marsh restoration and public health (mosquito) concerns. The Draft Habitat Restoration Plan, an initiative of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, is being prepared. Dr. Randy Runnels presented the process and preliminary results of the work effort and asked people to provide comments. The 2005 House Bill 759 included the requirement for the FL Department of Environmental Protection to prepare a report on how the state could assume permitting responsibilities from the US Army Corps of Engineers in wetlands less than 10 acres. The TBRPC s Legislative Committee had requested input from the Agency. The Agency has serious concerns about the proposal to consolidate permitting into one agency; and wants to continue to participate in review of this issue and any legislation that might ensue in It was suggested that the two agencies be invited to participate in a discussion of this issue at the next meeting, and that the Legislative Committee be invited as well. 7

8 Chair von Hahmann stated the issue has been raised at the Florida Association of Counties. The attempt is to shift the power to permit for wetlands to the State of Florida at DEP rather than the Corps maintaining that job. We have issues with that. Mayor Maloof replied that this issue was also covered at the November 10 th ABM meeting and took no position at that time. Two important topics were fully discussed at the November 10, 2005 meeting. Potential state assumption of the federal wetland permitting program was described by Jim Stoutamire from the FL Department of Environmental Protection. The US Army Corps of Engineers Permitting Section did not have a representative at the meeting. The Agency voted to formally invite the Corps to present their perspective on the State s report about possible methods for assumption at a near future ABM meeting. If I recollect correctly, the initiative for this is from the State of Florida, not from the federal government and in fact, the Corps of Engineers is opposed to this initiative. Mayor Maloof: There was discussion that the federal government will probably never change their requirements to allow the state to do this. Hurricane preparedness at the Bay s industrial ports was presented by a number of industrial and shipping stakeholders. Representatives from the Tampa Port Authority, Port Manatee, the US Coast Guard, CF Industries, Citgo Petroleum, and Martin Gas were on hand and described the planning efforts, preparedness measures, and goals for the ports in general, the individual facilities, and navigation. The port community works together to minimize damage and to recover quickly from a hurricane that impacts Tampa Bay. The next Agency meeting will be December 8 th. Committee will meet on that day. Mayor Maloof announced that Rich Paul, a member of the founding group of people that organized the Agency on Bay Management, passed away. Information on his memorial service will be provided. B. Clearinghouse Review Committee (CRC) - Mr. Robert Kersteen, Chair No Report. C. Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) No Report. D. Emergency Management Ms. Betti Johnson provided Council a brief overview of the impacts of Hurricane Wilma. Hurricane Wilma had winds up to 175 miles per hour, and was the strongest storm on record when it was just off the Yucatan. The storm stayed in the Carribean for 4 or 5 days, and the projected track was right on. The evacuation participation in the Keys was about 5%, Southwest Florida about 20-25%, and no one evacuated on the east coast. Property damage - there was a lot of roof damage. Mobile home vulnerability - there were about 5,000 destroyed. Probably older mobile homes, not built to the current code, however, it was a benefit that everyone was able to evacuate beforehand. 8

9 A lot of folks that are not in emergency management or emergency response will have a lot of demands placed on them for recovery. Our residents have a growing expectation in terms of emergency response. Power outages and the loss of traffic lights was significant. 3 million south Floridians were without power. It took a long time to get power restored. The cost to deliver a bag of ice on the 10 th day was about $9 per bag to tax payers. Impacts on the elderly will be significant. When seniors were interviewed they said when they go to the grocery store they only pick up food for a couple of days. They do not stockpile. They don t have a way of bringing home 5 gallon jugs of water. In our public information campaign this year we will work with the Area Agency on Aging and get the message out to our seniors. Wind damage to high rise structures was another lesson that needs to be learned. The Hispanic community and the Mexican Consulate was out helping with human resources and family services to make sure there were no communication breakdowns. There were problems with moving people from shelters to temporary housing which is to be expected and will also happen here if our region gets hit with a storm. Obviously, businesses were affected which means people are not getting a paycheck. Getting that recovery, getting people back to work, and getting children back to school is crucial for recovery. Lessons were learned not only from Katrina but also from Rita and Wilma. Staff is updating the evacuation study and are totally re-looking at the public education campaign which has not been working. An update on results from focus groups will be provided in the near future. Ms. Johnson: I think back to all the communications and I don t think we have set expectations in terms of letting people know what they can and cannot expect. People expect first responders immediately, not understanding the need to keep them safe until the maximum danger point has passed. You have this creeping escalation to the point where people believe that the minute the eye of the hurricane has passed through my area, my lights are going to be back on. That s not realistic. Dick Fletcher, Channel 10, said the rule of thumb for power is: take the category of the storm and add 1. That s how many weeks you can be without power. Maybe those are the key messages we need to get to our public so they realize they need to be more self-reliant. Vice Mayor Phillips: The Manatee information that was released in February 2005 did not request people be prepared for 72 hours. I sent a note to them that I wanted across the top of the page, in bold letters and underlined, you may not have county services for up to 3 days, be prepared to care for yourself and that has been done. It bothered me that we have had this discussion in Manatee County for three years and when I get my most recent update to citizens and they still didn t bother to emphasis this information. That is the education that needs to happen 72 hours/3 days. Whether you are in shelter or you have decided to not evacuate, you must take responsibility for yourself. I sit on the executive board of the Area Agency on Aging and I am personally setting up a CERT program in one of the major elderly areas, 1327 units, and it is going to be starting in February We are going to try to incorporate an idea of self responsibility to the elderly, but there is a drawback. Many of the elderly find it impossible to prepare for 3 days. They have their meals brought in. This is not something that can be handled in the ordinary run of the mill way. It has to be 9

10 handled very carefully and with a great deal of thought and foresight. We cannot make a statement that this will be three days. These people living in these apartments or condos don t have that concept. That condo is their safety. It is their nest and they don t want to leave it. We have to practically pry them out. It s a problem we have to face and we cannot face it by making a nice easy statement. For these people we have to develop a totally new approach. I don t pretend to know what it is, but I am trying. I don t promise to succeed, but I will try. Commissioner von Hahmann: CERT means Community Emergency Response Team. At the TBRPC Hurricane Forum that specific issue was number one or two amongst the discussion. These special needs people include the elderly, financially challenged, as well as health needs. It is one of those things that needs to be addressed. Mayor Maloof: We had a program at our Rotary Club, the Neighborly Care Network, and they produced a 3 day supply of food in a plastic tub at a very minimal cost. It was a great idea. The food was high in protein, but you have to add water. Commissioner Morroni: Not to belabor this point, but Dick Fletcher did bring up that we need to spend less time talking about the spaghetti models and where we think the storm is going to go. I think if Dick Fletcher, John Winter and all the local weathermen said ladies and gentlemen, you need to quit watching me if you are in this area. You need to get out of there the public will believe them more than they would believe any elected official saying the same thing. They need to hear it from an expert. Dick Fletcher is looked at as an expert. I would like to see more of them saying something like that. Mr. Garcia: On that same point we have to be careful not to evacuate people that don t need to be evacuated. I saw that in Texas. People were clogging the interstates. We need to be careful. Commissioner Morroni: That was brought up. We don t want the City of Clearwater where it is high to evacuate and clog up the roads. The people of Pinellas County can look at their water bills to see what evacuation zone they are in. E. Legislative Committee - Commissioner Deborah Kynes, Chair The Legislative Committee met on November 7 th and took action to oppose the Proposed Pinellas County Local Legislative Bill because it does not describe the evolution of the two DRIs and takes away the local, regional and state agencies ability to assess impacts such as workforce housing, transportation impacts, etc. Mr. Gerald Smelt stated the proposed bill contains two revisions. The first revision is to the Gateway Areawide DRI and it would assign the designation of a Regional Activity Center (RAC). This is not the RAC which this Council assigns through the Strategic Regional Policy Plan (SRPP). This is a RAC designation that comes through Chapter 28 of the FL Administrative Code (FAC) that is reviewed by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). TBRPC does not see it. It also requires that the City of St. Petersburg amend its Comprehensive Plan to assign the RAC designation to this area. The second part of the bill would assign not only to the Gateway Areawide DRI, but also the Gateway Centre DRI, the transportation concurrency exception area designation and it 10

11 requires that the cities of St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park amend their Comprehensive Plans to place the TCEA designation on the two DRIs. Closing sentence of that particular wording of the bill is significant. It also exempts the exception areas from the requirement that they develop mitigation measures in order to receive that designation. In reviewing the bill, staff and the Legislative Committee identified major issues. First, by this particular action it removes from the elected officials the ability to control growth management within the Gateway Centre and within the Gateway Areawide DRIs. It also precludes any type of public comment that would be received through the growth management process. Another provision is that both are requesting the RAC designation and the TCEA designation. Both are permitted statutorily so they can receive what they want without going through the legislature. Finally, they are exempting themselves from the requirements of the bill regarding transportation concurrency. If the City of St. Petersburg and the City of Pinellas Park was thinking about developing transportation concurrency they would have to go to FDOT and together, identify what type of mitigation measures are going to put in place; the type of plan developed in order to mitigate for the impacts on the area. This is particularly important because under SB360 that was adopted this year, FDOT has a major play in these areas, particularly as they affect the state s Strategic Intermodal Transportation System which contains, in this particular case, US 19, Gandy Blvd., and I-275. The request not only wants an exemption from transportation concurrency, they want an exemption from mitigating for the impacts of that designation. Mr. Smelt: Who proposed this bill? Frank Farkas office. I haven t heard of a sponsor as yet. Mr. Pumariega: Time is of the essence. We are meeting with the staff of St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, and Pinellas County on November 15 th. We also have a meeting scheduled with the developer on the 20 th. I m not so sure that we can articulate beyond the face value of this local bill as Mr. Smelt stated. Motion to authorize the Chair to send a letter opposing the Pinellas County Local Legislative Bill for the reasons as stated. What is Pinellas County doing? When did they find out about this? Mr. Pumariega: Pinellas County, St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park and TBRPC became aware of the bill two days before the Pinellas County Delegation meeting on November 2 nd. At first blush, when I spoke with them at the delegation meeting, they are against it. There is an issue of constitutionality of that local bill. Motion to authorize the Chair to send a letter opposing the Pinellas County Local Legislative Bill. (Hoyt/Simon) Commissioner Simon: The only thing I would add is that I don t have a problem with the letter as suggested. I would be more specific. The thing that I find of real alarm is the area of transportation exception. Just the concept of that is so ludicrous. How do you 11

12 disenfranchise the entire planning, the entire cost associated with the man hours, the human resources and the entire intent of complete levels of county government or whatever political subdivision it is, their planning relative to transportation? I think it should be a strong letter and I think it should reiterate some of these points. We are trying to strengthen growth management and local control as a result of SB360, and then the first thing we do is turn around and try to slip through a bill that strips local government the authority to act. It doesn t make any sense on the part of the legislature. Commissioner Kynes moved on to the Emergency Preparedness FY 2006 Legislative Issues. Ms. Betti Johnson stated there are two proposed bills which staff would like to support. The first one deals with the issue of Special Needs for medically needy residents. This bill requires all health care, including home health care to come to the table to deal with this issue with county and county emergency management. It doesn t allow anymore granny dumping. If you accept funds to take care of your clients on a day to day basis, if there is a hurricane threatening the area you cannot pack them up and drop them off at a shelter. This requires people to take responsibility for their client(s). The second bill would allow for an increase in the surcharge for the Emergency Management Preparedness Trust Fund. This trust fund has been pivotal in terms of the development of our emergency management program at the state and local level. It has funded programs and has enhanced the emergency management program in our area tremendously. We have received literally millions and millions dollars to retrofit schools to serve as shelters, for hurricane evacuation studies and it is a tremendously positive program. What this does is allow the emergency management community to keep up with the population growth by increasing the surcharge on your homeowners policy. The current rate is $2.00 per year and this would increase it to $4.00 per year. Neither one of these bills are a shoe-in. Obviously an increase on your homeowners, even though it is only $2.00 per year for each family, might throw up red flags. The special needs has a strong lobby against it, however we are pretty sure the Florida Association of Counties, League of Cities, FRCA and the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association will support the bill. Ms. Collins: Ms. Johnson: Ms. Collins: Who is sponsoring the bill for increasing the surcharge. We do not have a sponsor yet. We have to find another way to do that other than to just increase fees. That is something that is going to be a problem for a lot of people and I don t think you are going to get a sponsor. I would like to see if we can find another solution or work with you to find some other way to get that money. This is actually the straw on the camel s back. I agree with Ms. Collins. The news that we have heard in the last couple of weeks about Citizens Insurance and the impact it is going to have on all of us. I can afford $2.00 and so forth, but I m not sure I can afford a 110% increase and so forth. I would say what this does, on one side you deal with the human aspect and the first responders and on another side we deal with the cost. The cost not only to government but the cost to you and me who aren t even in an evacuation zone and yet we are going to pay the bill for all those people who are. It is a very difficult situation and it s going to force more and more people to go bare on homeowners insurance or shift to catastrophic 12

13 policies. The State of Florida and all this apparatus is going to have to deal with this issue. I would hope they would address this need and figure out how to fund these kinds of activities. Ms. Collins: Ms. Johnson: Is there another option that we could work with you on? The trust fund has worked well because there is a statewide committee made up of local people who determine how the money will be spent. That is one of the reasons it has been successful. Also, everybody pays just a little bit, it s just another $2.00 per family. I understand the feeling since my own homeowners insurance went up significantly. Commissioner Kynes: Did you say you have support from the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties? Ms. Johnson: Yes. From what I understand. I received an late Friday because we were concerned about this issue and we had assumed we had a sponsor for it. We had a discussion and we aren t ready to give up on this bill yet and they said we don t think Florida Association of Counties is ready to give up either. Commissioner Kynes: The next meeting is November 30 th. I think it would be a good idea to bring this back to Council for discussion after that meeting. We can bring this issue back to the December 12 th Council meeting for more discussion. Motion to support the proposed Emergency Management Bill for Special Needs (HB 89 Harrell) bringing additional agencies and private sector health care providers to the table to address the issues of continuity and appropriate levels of care for special needs clients and persons with disabilities. (Matthews/Black) Commissioner Simon: Commissioner Simon: Commissioner Kynes: I guess it s not politically correct to be in opposition to these types of bills but I don t think they are going to address the issue. I think they are going to be just another administrative band of cost in the provision of services in a desperately overpriced arena. These people are under-cared for now and you will provide more bureaucracy and it will not get you an answer. All you do is price the cost of ownership further out of the poorest hand. To expect that by taxing $2.00 here, $4.00 there is going to correct this is ludicrous. We re not actually addressing the fee portion. This is to provide for additional agency and private sector health care providers to come to the table and address continuity of special needs. That should be addressed by civil suit. One has cost associated with it and the other has administration, record keeping and mutation of action. Neither will provide the answer that you are seeking to provide. I don t see why you have to take something that is predominately a local matter and push it at the state level. If we consider it important locally why can t we do it? The problem is that people are not being cared for, they are being dumped in shelters. This is happening all over Florida. 13

14 Ms. Collins: Ms. Johnson: Commissioner Black: Ms. Johnson: Vice Mayor Zayac: Ms. Johnson: Ms. Collins: Mr. Tucker: Dr. Gerber: I m not inclined to favor continuous state level intervention anymore than I m inclined to favor continuous federal intervention. These things are important to us locally and maybe we are the ones that need to talk to these home health care providers and find out why they are doing what they are doing to understand the situation better and craft a solution that will work for us. I was under the impression that this is what this bill is attempting to do, to force them to the table for a discussion. Commissioner Simon shed some light on this and said some interesting things. I would like to see some more information on HB 89. It sounds great but it doesn t explain what measures are going to be taken and how it is going to be administered. I can provide the whole bill to you if you would like. What the special needs bill does is authorize local and state government to work with the different agencies and require them, as part of their license, to participate in the planning to care for residents with special needs. The problem is that government can t do it alone. We do not have teams of health care professionals on the government payroll. Our health departments are limited. Most of their nurses are used to handing out contraceptives and giving vaccinations. They are not used to caring for people that have real special needs. What this does is require an industry that takes care of about 100,000 people everyday to come to the table and help us plan on what we are going to do if a disaster occurs and these people either have to evacuate or they have no power. How are we going to make sure that we are going to take care of them? It s putting the responsibility on a huge private sector industry that has a huge lobby presence in Tallahassee. That s what I meant when I said this would never be a shoe-in. It has died out of committee before, even after an unprecedented hurricane season. Is this a concern of granny dumping into public shelters? It was one of the things. Also, it would be a benefit to them in that it will allow nurses to be sent to the special needs shelter and they will get reimbursed for that. Is there a problem with the industry coming to the table? Is that why a bill is implemented? Yes. I have a question for an attorney. Is this going to be a liability issue from a doctor or medical standpoint if this is put in place? Would they have additional liabilities placed on them? Not any additional. I think that every nursing home should tell the families of the patient what their emergency plan is. When my husband was in a nursing home I had to ask them what they would do if a hurricane came. As a private school, I have to give as part of my accreditation, every parent my emergency crisis plan, including a lock down. I don t see why a nursing home doesn t do that. I can see home health care being a problem, but nursing homes shouldn t be. As the health care methodology changes and as governments try to significantly reduce costs, home health care is going to continue to grow. The problem is not going 14

15 to get easier. I would like to take the vote for Item 1 - support for the proposed Emergency Management Bill for Special Needs. (15 yeas, 6 opposed). Motion passed. Item 2 - support a bill to increase the surcharge from $2 to $4 for residential homeowners policies and $4 to $8 a year for commercial insurance policies and protect the intent of the Emergency Management Preparedness and Assistance Trust Fund will be carried over to the December Council meeting for further discussion and action. Commissioner Kynes: Legislative Issue FY 2006: Funding for Regional Planning Councils. Motion to maintain the funding for Florida s eleven Regional Planning Councils to at least the $3 million level established in the 2005 Legislative session. (Kersteen/Friszolowski) Commissioner Kynes: Item 4 is the Senate Interim Project Report The staff will be analyzing this document and will present findings at the December Legislative Committee meeting. F. Regional Planning Advisory Committee (RPAC) - No Report. G. Telework Tampa Bay - No Report. H. Economic Development - No Report. Chair von Hahmann complimented staff for putting together the Affordable Housing Think Tank. I. Regional Workforce Housing Symposium Mr. Avera Wynne provided an implementation proposal resulting from the Workforce Housing Think Tank. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff s recommendation at the November 7 th meeting. Mr. Wynne referred to the 4 page session recap that was included in the mail out and mentioned additional information was available on the TBRPC web site The audience response system that was utilized at the symposium worked out so well that TBRPC purchased their own system. This will be a useful tool for community visioning and other forums. The Workforce Housing Think Tank panelists were: Greg Awad, Regional Director, Single-family Business, Fannie Mae Nicholas Brunick, Esquire, Applegate & thorne-thomsen, Chicago Anthony Downs, Senior Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution Ronnie Duncan, Commissioner, Pinellas County Stan Fitternman, Senior Researcher, Florida Housing Coalition Brian Hammond, Architect, Urban Studio Architects, Tampa Dan Hoffman, Independent consultant focusing on employer-assisted housing, Philadelphia Rex Jensen, President & CEO, SMR Ranch, Inc. Rhea Law, Esquire, President & CEO, Fowler White Don Martin, Planning Director, City of Winter Park Earl Pfeiffer, Executive Director, Florida Home Partnership John Sabatier, Vice President, Bank of America-Community Development Corporation Dr. Robert Stroh, Director, Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing 15

16 Robert Trigaux, Business Editor, St. Petersburg Times Don Upton, President, Fairfield Index, Inc. - Moderator At the afternoon session there was a litany of things. Of ten items six were chosen for further study. The attendees were asked to rank the six items in order of feasibility (politically and financially) resulting in the following order: 6 Increased density/mixed use (8.18) 6 Rental community incentives (7.66) 6 Community housing/land trust (7.63) 6 Shared equity partnerships (7.50) 6 Inclusionary zoning (7.22) 6 State Housing Trust Fund (6.82) When we came back to the office to prepare for the presentation to the Legislative Committee staff looked at the ten tools that were mentioned. We asked ourselves if this was local or regional. 6 Increased density and mixed-use is a land use decision, that s local government. 6 Rental community incentives is a taxation policy. 6 Community housing and land trust benefit from some of the non-profits and other types of housing entities that have developed around the country. 6 Share equity partnerships fits in with the tool above. We felt that was local as well. 6 Inclusionary zoning ordinances: the development community said that if you want them to support inclusionary zoning you are going to have to show what the cost offsets are. That is a local land use. 6 State Housing Trust Fund fits both ways. It is policy, local and state. There are a lot of folks that support the concept of full funding. 6 Employer assistance involvement programs are considered regional. It wouldn t make much sense for Pinellas County, Hillsborough, Pasco and Manatee to individually develop programs where they get outreach with the employers. Much better from a regional approach, similar to Telework Tampa Bay where we provide assistance. You would build up all the necessary forms, paperwork and different meetings/seminars that would be necessary with the employers to get them involved. This would really benefit from the regional approach and hence will be a platform for one of our legislative proposals. 6 Innovative building techniques, flexible codes that is local government. 6 Education and marketing programs all of the ten tools benefit from the concept of education and marketing. This would help them understand what workforce housing is and what inclusionary zoning might do for them. Until we get employers and all the other people that help make these programs work understand what it is we are trying to do in Workforce Housing, none of these ideas are really starters. We think education and marketing benefits from the regional approach. 6 Workforce transportation this one scored low when it was discussed. This one is local, but could be regional. Our primary workforce transportation delivery tools are local (county). Our transit systems currently do not cross borders much. Our transit disadvantage programs are primarily county based. They do cross lines and make trips to hospitals, but they are really located within the county. Opportunity is there but right now it is a local matter. Mr. Wynne referred the Council to Agenda Items 8.I. - the Affordable Housing FY 2006 Legislative Issue and the Workforce Housing FY 2006 Legislative Issue. The distinction is that Workforce Housing tends to be a little bit above the traditional subsidized housing that we think of. Affordable Housing is a little 16

17 bit more requiring our standard studies that have been done and more traditional affordable housing developments and properties that have been delivered. There is a feeling that supporting additional money from the Doc Stamps that has been earmarked for the Housing Trust Fund is a good idea. People support that. But they aren t necessarily comfortable at this moment with full funding. If the legislature appropriates more money this year than they did last year how do we want to spend that? The second part of this is that we want to support affordable housing but we want to know what it is that we will be spending the money on. There is a lack of understanding on what is being delivered for the money. We need, not so much better accountability, but we don t understand the magnitude of the amount, the quantity and the quality and location of where they are being built. With that, the affordable housing is essentially the same platform that was supported by Council last year except that we have scaled back. Instead of supporting the concept of full funding, this supports additional funding for the State Housing Trust Fund. Motion to support additional funding for the State Housing Trust Fund. (Kynes/Simon) Vice Mayor Zayac: Mr. Wynne: Commissioner Simon: Mr. Garcia: What is the price point you mentioned for Workforce Housing? Manatee County just designated it at $192,000 and it is probably slightly higher in Pinellas County. How many people have actually seen a business plan for affordable housing by a company that is proposing to do it? I have seen zero and I am in a position that would be exposed to it if one were to exist. I was fortunate over the weekend to actually have the opportunity to read the 3 volume plan for a new development that is going in another county outside of this region, here in the state. These were units that would have a rental of $776 per month and is primarily intended as rentals. These are about sq. ft. in each unit. From a price standpoint they would probably be in the $108,000 range and the total project cost is around $32 million. There is a cottage industry of people that serve as consultants, accountants, attorneys and planners for these kinds of projects and they all take 1/4 million here, ½ million there and it s a very nice living to participate in that industry. The contractor would take approximately $ ,000. The developer would walk away with about $5.5 million. When you look at it and take all of those things out - and they put it on a 40 year mortgage, it s a profitable business. This particular company has probably done 8 of these in the state of Florida. They currently have 2 more on the drawing board. There is subsidy in it. I have put together proposals for developing affordable housing projects and have been doing affordable housing for about 30 years. The market is squeezed. Land cost is a very big issue and that s why community land trust is a good idea. I run a non-profit corporation and we cannot, as a non-profit, and even a non-profit has to take a profit or you don t stay in business we cannot put a home on the ground right now for less than $135,000 which takes you up to 120% of area medium income in Hillsborough County. You will be housing poor. I was involved in writing the Sadowsky legislation. I sat on the Governor s Ad Hoc Committee on Housing about 10 years ago. There are some issues in housing that we discussed at our meeting that were very valid. What we are going to run into is that there is not the political will nor the public will to do what needs to be done. That s why I think the educational part is very important. I m very much in support of getting it increased - I would say full funding of the Sadowsky Act and to 17