Smart Growth Lee

Draft Minutes

SMART GROWTH MINUTES

April 19, 2006 Draft Minutes

Time and Place: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 6-8 p.m., 1^st Floor, Lee County Administration Building 2115 Second Street, Fort Myers Florida.

I.                   Call to Order, Introductions, Review of Agenda

Brian Griffin opened the meeting of the Lee County Smart Growth Advisory Committee at 6:00 p.m., in the First Floor meeting room of the Lee County Administration Building.

The following Members were in attendance:

Mr. Bill Hammond

Mr. Don Eslick

Ms. Carie Call

Mr. Lee Ford

Ms. Jill Tyrer

Mr. Ron Hamel

Mr. Jack Luft

Ms. Ellen Lindblad

      Mr. Jack Eikenberg

      Mr. Brian Griffin, Co Chair

Mr. Neal Noethlich

Ms. Liz Donley

Mr. Steve Maxwell (Arrived at 6:10 p.m. and Departed at 7:10 p.m.)

The following committee members were unexcused absent:

Ms. Whitney Gray

Mr. Rob Fowler

The following committee members were excused absent:

            Mr. Steven Tueber

The following staff was in attendance:

     Wayne Daltry, Director Smart Growth

Commissioner Janes, District 1

Don Stilwell, County Manager (Departed at 7:10 p.m.)

Tim Jones, County Attorney

     Lucy Crook, Recording Secretary

II.                   Administrative Matters-

A.     Minutes of February 15, 2006.

Action Needed: Accept and approve the minutes as amended by discussion of the members.

Brian Griffin entertained a motion to accept the February 15, 2006 draft minutes as written; Motion made by Jack Eikenberg.

Discussion: Neal Nothlich made corrections on page 2, first paragraph from “tax dollars Bill and Fishkind’s Model never considers” to “tax dollars and Fishkind’s Model does not appear to”. Page 2, second paragraph change “Brooke’s” to “the Brooks”. Pages 2, last paragraph, change “Best Manual Service Pack” to “Best Management Practice.” Seconded by Ron Hamel; called and carried.

III.     Presentations: US 41 Redevelopment in Fort Myers, Don Paight, Fort Myers Downtown Redevelopment Director.

Mr. Paight introduced Leigh Eby Scrabis, the Project Manager. Mr. Paight said the City Council requested focusing on improvements and congestion in the US 41 corridors. The City of Fort Myers hired EDAW, a national planning company, teamed with architects out of Washington to look from the downtown area to Page Field. The current status of the study is; EDAW has gathered data, conducted stake holder meetings with property and business owners along with residences adjacent to the main corridor commercial district to help with the mitigation changes.

Mr. Paight discussed some of the following changes to include Smart Village concepts:

Traffic: confirmed that constrained roadway expansion is limited because business location is close to the roadside. It is not pedestrian friendly and they are looking at narrow mediums and pedestrian shelter space. Uses - looking at same zoning, land, code, density, height restrictions as the downtown redevelopment. Mr. Paight described the four neighborhood/districts (outline attached). The study is looking at land assembly using mixed-use to combine designated properties into one large block. Example - workforce housing in the hospital District 1 area designed to include greenways.

Mr. Paight opened the floor for discussion:

Mr. Paight confirmed that the City is applying for TIF funding and state, federal and water management grants will also be pursued. The traffic consultant is studying origin/destination along that corridor. He responded that there is little difference in the current downtown redevelopment plan from the previous mayors’ downtown projects. He summarized the City’s accomplishments from the Duany checklist; 3,800 housing units, activating publicly owned property for private development and that retail will increase as the high-rises are completed.

US 41 - Cleveland area - a workable plan needs to be implemented; a vision created by the people to buy in to, resources to make it happen and to work with the property owners.

There was discussion about educating the public on the comprehensive plan transportation and sustainability and the Mayor’s Rehab Assistance Program.

Bryan Griffin thanked Mr. Paight.

IV.             Discussion Topic

A.     The reformatted Smart Growth Recommendations for the EAR based amendments to the Lee Plan.

The recommendations were distributed, noting that in the intervening two plus years many recommendations were carried out, and hence were deleted as done. The time frame for Smart Growth recommendations follows: 1) goes to LPA in May, 2) begin the Comprehensive Plan Amendment process for the December deadline and 3) file as Land Development Regulations.

B. Smart Villages, continuation - Wayne Daltry said the US 41 Corridor Redevelopment is an example of what we have been discussing. The County’s initiative for unincorporated areas is through the Community Planning process. The county has been working hard to educate the community planning organizations to have a positive outlook. He discussed how well North Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres community planning is doing. With the amended Administrative Code set last year, it has set more unfamiliar benchmarks that community planning has had to address.

          Mr. Daltry explained the term used on proposals for parts of the US 41 Redevelopment is “Smart Villages”. He described the importance of expanding mobility through transit, and mixing uses to enable bike/pedestrian opportunities. He described the flexibility needed with the planning approach of seventeen district communities with different needs.



            Mr. Daltry explained further through the Daltry Playbook attached; a vision of drawings and current photos to illustrate future redevelopment. He described community planning associations doing the same and the necessity of depending on citizen groups to help promote redevelopment.

MOTION – Chair Griffin asked to entertain a motion. Motion by Ellen Lindblad to present the Smart Villages Concept (attached) to LPA in May; seconded by Steve Maxwell. Opened for discussion:

            Neal Noethlich recommended the need for a strong county liaison with community planning groups. Mr. Daltry concurred.

MOTION – Carries unanimously.

(Break at 7:10 p.m.) – (Steve Maxwell, Don Stilwell departed at 7:10) (Meeting reconvened at 7:20 p.m.)

Wayne Daltry said, “What’s been happening with the recommendations you made”? (See New Lee Plan Objectives and Policies, Developed from Recommendations of the Smart Growth Task Force. Numbers provided are Temporary Placeholders).Wayne Daltry summarized recommendations from the birth of Smart Growth until now.

            The recommendations related to the Lee County Comprehensive Plan have gone to BoCC and pursued. The recommendations of the changes to the Comp Plan were taken to the LPA by a small subcommittee. This was followed with a strong discussion with the Planning Department where the policies were reviewed one by one. The policies not completed and the ones that are in the plan, not being used, will be taken to the LPA for amendment to the Comp Plan as described in this attachment.

            Mr. Daltry discussed initiatives that came from this committee that will go to the LPA May 22nd to start the process of amending the Comp Plan. The following are the reorganization of the initiatives: Infill redevelopment, Community Planning set, Build-Out, Carrying Capacity, Master Planning for the Environment – the Master Mitigation Plan, and Enhanced Mobility. Also the identifying pieces that were recommended years ago with no place to put them, are supplemented in the current policy. He explained that over half of the committee’s recommendations have been finished. He defined the composition of the attachment and to ask him if more clarification is needed.

            Time Frame Discussed: Each issue associated in this document will be revealed in the Comprehensive Plan process and the future land-use map as follows: No date means BoCC will give direction; a date means it is there as a policy until a recommended date is made to move it forward.

            Concurrency Document: He explained it is the measurement towards the objective piece to give BoCC a guide to pursue and its’ connection with the Goals & Objectives by County Manager.

            Feedback is requested by the first week in May.

            Bill Hammond recommended creating a matrix to check that new developments have met the updated policies and/or where they have gaps. He suggested having a county benchmark for those developers that would like to build above energy code.

V.              Other Business

A. Members identify those issues that may not have been addressed to date.

Action Needed: Issues to be forwarded to the next meeting.

Mr. Daltry said Animal Control is not the exterminator of exotic animals; there is a massive study as part of the Everglades exotic animals and plant life on the internet.

B. Progress on various projects, verbal, Wayne Daltry – Done above

VI.              Public Comment - None

VII.            Set next meeting date (May 17, 2006, identify agenda items, and adjourn.)

Mr. Daltry said he will bring foreword the following at the next meeting:

1) Evolving Redevelopment without Disaster Policy that was discovered when developing Smart Villages, 2) Chair Griffin asked that we address exotic animal control at the next meeting, 3) Mr. Daltry will give a commentary before going to LPA and a legislature report on progress of initiatives from Social Services that stemmed from this group, 4) Discuss presentation on the adopted MPO plan, 5) The pedestrian/bike opportunities tied to mixed use and transit, 6) Update on Babcock, 7) Ron Hamel requested discussing workforce housing and Mr. Daltry included 8) Local homegrown impact fees, 9. Chair Griffin mentioned PIP No Fault insurance is in the legislature, 10) The Council and Civic Association will have a two day symposium in June regarding environmental impact study that will bring legal experts and scientists to Fort Myers.

Chair Griffin entertained a Motion to adjourn at 8:15 p.m.; seconded by Ms. Lindblad. Called and carried.

Next meeting date will be May 17, 2006

Respectfully submitted by:

Lucy Crook, Recording Secretary