MINUTES
SMART GROWTH
February 21, 2007
MINUTES
Time and Place:
Wednesday,
February 21, 2007 at 6-8 p.m.,
1st Floor, Lee County Administration Building at 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 6:05 p.m.
The following committee members in
attendance:
Ms. Whitney Gray
Ms. Carie Call
Mr. Brian Griffin
Mr. Jack
Luft
Mr. Bill Hammond
Ms. Ellen Lindblad
Mr. Neal Noethlich
Mr. Damon Romanello
Ms. Liz Paul
Mr. Ron Hamel
Mr. Steven Teuber
Ms. Jill Tyrer
Mr. Matthew Caldwell
Ms. Margaret Banyan
The following committee members excused
absence:
Ms. Liz Donley
The following committee member’s
unexcused absence:
Mr. Lee Ford
The following staff in attendance:
Wayne Daltry, Director
of Smart Growth
Commissioner Ray Judah
Don Stilwell, County Manager
John Fredyma, County
Attorney
Lucy Crook, Recording Secretary
Tamara Piggot, VCB
Dave Loveland, D.O.T.
II.
Administrative Matters
A.
Minutes of January 17, 2007.
Action Needed: Accept and approve the
minutes as amended by discussion of the members.
Ron Hamel made a motion to approve
the January 17, 2007 draft minutes as written; seconded by Bill Hammond.
They were unanimously approved.
Co-Chair Brian Griffin welcomed two new
appointments; Margaret Banyan works at Johnson Engineering and resides
in South Ft. Myers; Matthew Caldwell is a life long resident of Lee
County who lives in Lehigh Acres and is employed by Maxwell & Hendry
Real Estate Appraiser.
III.
Discussion
A.
Joint Work Effort with Visitor Convention Bureau/Tourism
Development Council. Tamara Piggott, Deputy Director presented a
power point entitled,
Sustainable Tourism Approach for Lee County.
A hardcopy is attached to see details.
Questions and Answers: Some of the
discussion follows:
·
The future protection of
the environment is a concern of VCB. The use of fertilizer to create
perfectly green lawns is not realistic for SW Florida soil.
·
Concerns with condo
conversions; “condomization” the process of
dividing or remodeling any house or building for the purpose of creating
condominiums. Refer to website
http://LEEVCB.COM for statistics. (Mr. Stilwell left at 6:40
p.m.). VCB’s consumer is a wildlife consumer that wants wildlife not
condomization.
·
Statistics can be obtained
at Website LEEVCB.COM. Pristine beaches do not exist today. It is
unknown how the Red Tide, etc. affects the tourism. There was discussion
that Visit Florida is not reacting to the economical disaster to
tourism.
·
Lee Water Facts ad campaign
is helping to stop fertilization of yards; has generated major hits, but
does not have the ability to track.
·
After the 1995 water kill
disaster, TDC gave full support to the legislature. TDC is
attracting tourism to the county’s interior and preserves. There
was talk to be aware of the new investor strategy buying groups of
properties in the interior of the county.
Break at 6:55 p.m. – Returned at 7:04
p.m.
B.
Preview of I-75 10 Laning:
Dave Loveland, Manager of Transportation and Planning for Lee County
Department of Transportation, Interim Staff Director with SW Florida
Expressway Authority. The Authority was created by legislature action in
2005 followed by Collier and Lee Commissions. Conventional state &
federal funding is not available until after 2030. There is a need for
an alternative funding source for $1.7 billion to add four lanes for a
35 mile stretch of I-75. The alternative would be six lanes.
Mr. Loveland introduced Kris Cella from
Cella Moinar & Associates, 337-1071. The following Power Point
presentation by Ms. Cella is attached. Some of the discussion follows:
Ms. Cella said the Authority was created
without money. Lee and Collier Commissions loaned money to get the
Express Authority started. They have been meeting since May, 2006. The
tolls will use electronic transponders that can read a transponder up to
70 mph. Ms. Cella said currently they are in the public involvement
phase through project newsletters, surveys, and group presentations.
Commissioner Judah asked the committee to
consider a resolution to Lee Commission to support
Public Transportation and to make two new toll lanes.
Steve
Maxwell made a motion to send a resolution to Lee Commission to support
Public Transportation with two lanes tolled; seconded by Carie Call.
Opened for discussion –
Jack Luft made an amendment
to the motion to extend the payoff period for construction so that 20%
collected is redirected to public mass transit projects.
Mr. Loveland explained the bonding
process. Mr. Luft requested that we break the cycle of cutting the
public transit budget, raise the gas tax and deal with this as a
transportation issue, not a highway issue. Ms. Cella said there are
models across the nation where excess toll funds are used for transit
and where bus rapid transit is favored over light rail. Mr. Luft said to
parallel the system within the city.
Amendment to the Motion Withdrawn by
Jack Luft.
Commissioner Judah requested dialogue
with the bond writer before voting on the motion. Some of the discussion
was; there are additional revenues available locally; encourage
community to be involved in the Transit Authority; (Ms. Cella said that
FDOT would be reluctant to toll those lanes without resolutions and
public support. It would not move forward with tolling fifth and sixth
lanes if both county commissions do not support); the express lane is a
high selling point and to include it as part of the process; regarding;
bonding wants detailed traffic studies to get handle on escalating road
construction costs; Ms. Cella agreed that it is essential to note in the
concept to use excess revenue for improvement by adding more lanes/turn
lanes concerning the debt coverage.
Mr. Griffin requested educating the
public and discussing a public outreach at the May 16, 2007 meeting.
Mr. Loveland confirmed that the SW
Florida Expressway Authority deals with 1-75 solely and if Collier and
Lee Commissions agree, it would not have to go back to legislature.
Commissioner Judah asked to investigate the potential of using surplus
revenue for multi-media transportation with bonds.
Co-Chair Griffin called for a vote to
send a resolution to Lee Commission to support Public Transportation
with two lanes tolled. (Mr. Luft withdrew his amendment to the motion.)
The motion passed unanimously.
Whitney Gray made a motion to send a
letter from Smart Growth to the SW Florida Expressway Authority
Committee requesting them to determine if the bond company would allow a
certain percentage of the revenue from the toll lanes to be used for
multi-mode transportation. Seconded by Ellen Lindblad. It passed
unanimously.
Neal Noethlich requested that Smart
Growth send a letter to Congressman Connie Mack.
Neal Noethlich made a motion that
Smart Growth of Lee County send a letter to Congressman Connie Mack
supporting the concept of use of tolls to pay for expansion of I-75 to
include that there will always be two or more toll lanes. Called and
carried. It was unanimous.
Jack Luft requested Transit give a
presentation on “Where they will be by 2030” at a future meeting.
IV.
Task Progress
a. Workshop dates – Possibly
in April before Hearing Examiner meets.
b. Checklists progress – Corridor Studies
– Mr. Daltry said most of the North and South corridors have been lost,
but still have option to connect with airport mitigation areas in the
East.
c. Other –Suggest that bonus density
credits could be a solution with Affordable Housing at ten percent
upfront.
Community Groups – We have over allocated
planning area in terms of units for planning districts. Cap is helpful
for the county to rectify. To think about; if they are in the planning
zone and someone has bonus densities, how does one make them up? Does
one raise the cap?
d. Member tasks- None
discussed.
V.
Public Comment
Dan Moser thanked Mr. Luft for flushing
out the issue of transit money and Commissioner Judah for making
resolutions.
Mike Raider touched on the DRGR study
that is due in May.
Commissioner Judah was concerned about
zoning requests for mining operations in the DRGR. He said he was
hopeful that a recommendation could be made to BoCC to amend the Comp
Plan. Mr. Daltry said that DCA response on Comp Plan submittal should be
back in March and through the Master Mitigation Plan, identify areas
most environmentally sensitive which becomes the basis to put overlay.
The Under Ground Resource Study is done.
Motion by Neal Noethlich to initiate the
process to recommend to BoCC to amend the Comp Plan in order to set up
an overlay in the DRGR to identify areas most environmentally sensitive
before mining permits go before zoning. Seconded by Bill Hammond.
Discussion - Mr. Daltry explained we are
waiting for a response from Community Affairs. It was advised not to
prematurely make a recommendation before all of the facts are retrieved
and to call a special Smart Growth meeting if necessary. There was
discussion on water permitting not adequate and effects on the water in
DRGR.
Motion - by Neal Noethlich that if there
is a reasonable chance to gain additional information by waiting, we
will do, but also do something in the interim. Send a letter expressing
concern over potential that mines might be brought forth to commission
for approval prior to the studies and follow up with something more firm
after we have another meeting. Seconded by Mr. Maxwell. It was
unanimously approved.
Carmen Monroy, Lee Transit, said instead
of bringing back the 2030 Plan, she could bring the Adopted Transit
Development and Visioning Tool Box to a Smart Growth committee
meeting.
Damon Romanello distributed a handout,
Turning Around Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization, for
discussion at the next meeting.
VI.
Set next meeting date (May 16), identify agenda items, and
Adjourned at 8:21 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Lucy Crook, Recording Secretary
County Administration
