A publication of the Pinellas Planning Council

April 2001

In This Issue:

• PPC Responds to State Growth Management Report
• Annexation News
• Upcoming Public Hearing and Meeting Schedule
• Tarpon Springs, County Team Up for Neighborhood Project
• PPC Welcomes Two New Members

---

PPC Responds to State Growth Management Report

The Growth Management Study Commission, charged by Governor Bush with examining Florida’s growth management laws, released its long-awaited final report in February. The report, entitled A Liveable Florida for Today and Tomorrow, proposed sweeping changes to the existing body of law.

The report notes that the existing growth management process has fallen short of initial goals. “[T]he quality of growth has not met our expectations, the strains on infrastructure have been only marginally reduced and, in essence, we have created a more complicated, more costly process without the expected corresponding benefits,” the report states.

The report contains 89 recommendations intended to correct identified or perceived deficiencies. Most reviewers point out that the report contains some good ideas, but critics maintain that implementation details are lacking and some recommended solutions are unproven and are, themselves, overly complex and bureaucratic. For example, one set of recommendations calls for local governments to implement “full-cost accounting,” in which any significant development would be evaluated for potential revenue, costs, infrastructure, and service impacts to the community. The report proposes that a single, uniform model be developed by the state and used by all local governments.

In addition to full-cost accounting, some of the most significant local government issues addressed by the report include the following:

•	Development of a “public educational facilities element” that integrates school board 5-year work program needs with local government capital improvements and comprehensive planning processes. The intent is to ensure the availability of public school facilities when rezonings or land use amendments increase residential densities.
•	Emphasis on increased public participation opportunities and community visioning.
•	Replacement of the DRI process with “regional cooperation agreements” administered by regional planning councils.
•	Support for urban revitalization efforts.

The PPC responded to the report through a resolution and position statement offering recommendations to the Legislature as it considers changes to the state growth management laws. A number of the resolution recommendations are presented here in abbreviated form. The entire resolution is also available online.

The PPC recommends the following:

•	The proposed vision statement should be included in, but not replace, the State Plan. Policies addressing “challenge areas” such as education, infrastructure, the environment and affordable housing should be added to the State Plan to provide policy direction.
•	The full-cost accounting model should not reduce the growth management decision-making process to a cost-benefit equation, but should provide local decision-makers with better information on the fiscal implications of development-related decisions.
•	The state must recognize and share in funding the current infrastructure deficit facing local governments.
•	The provision for enhanced public participation is valid, but a special master process for quasi-judicial proceedings should remain at the option of local government. The traditional remedy of certiorari review should be maintained for legal appeals.
•	The state should identify compelling state interests and how they will relate to local plan administration and development review prior to legislation that establishes new requirements based on unknown criteria or rules.
•	Additional details are needed regarding the regional cooperation agreements proposed to replace the DRI process. The revised process should permit existing countywide planning agencies with established multi-jurisdictional planning processes to fulfill mediation, plan amendment review, and conflict resolution functions to supplement the regional process.
•	Legislation should clarify public school facility plan element requirements and detail responsibilities and procedures for coordination between local governments and school boards. In addition, the standards to determine if “all reasonable options” to provide adequate school facilities have been exhausted need to be developed. Local governments and school boards should be protected from legal liability if factual determinations are made which require the denial of rezonings or plan amendments.
•	There should be a strengthened state commitment to provide new financial mechanisms and resources to both: 1) conduct the more sophisticated planning process; and 2) pay for new and deficit local infrastructure costs that will be identified as a result of the new planning process.

Subsequent to adoption of the PPC Resolution, the Governor’s growth management objectives were introduced in the Legislature. Please see the legislative summary web page for more information about growth management legislation activity of interest to local governments.

---

Annexation News

Implementation of the voluntary annexation process approved in the November 7, 2000, referendum has been accomplished and is working smoothly. Since the process went into effect, staff has reviewed 87 requests for voluntary annexation. Experience indicates that there has been substantial compliance with the intent as well as the letter of the approved process. Only two proposed annexations were determined to be not in compliance and were subsequently withdrawn from consideration. The process has been successful in bringing clarity and reasonableness to municipal voluntary annexation activities which previously had led to intergovernmental conflict.

Also in November, the PPC approved the distribution of an interactive computer program entitled “Comparison of Millage Rates, Taxes, and Related Fees in Pinellas County.” Known informally as the “Truth in Annexation Study,” the program allows households in unincorporated county areas to estimate changes in taxes and fees that would occur with annexation into a municipality.

A copy of the program has been provided to local governments with adjacent unincorporated land eligible for annexation. Users must be able to provide the assessed taxable value of their homes, and their average costs for utilities, sanitation, cable TV, and other monthly services. For more information, including a list of local government staff with access to the program, visit our Truth in Annexation web page.

---

Tarpon Springs, County Team Up for Neighborhood Project

In a commendable example of intergovernmental cooperation, the City of Tarpon Springs, the Pinellas County Community Development Department, the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority, and the PPC have joined forces to help revitalize a historic Tarpon Springs neighborhood.

The project centers on the Union Academy neighborhood, one of Pinellas County’s oldest and largely African-American communities. Located in the heart of Tarpon Springs, the neighborhood was originally settled by workers employed in the local lumber industry. It takes its name from the Union Academy Elementary School, which has historically served both as a school and as a center of community activity.

Over the years, the community has suffered from disinvestment, leading to low property values, poor housing conditions, overcrowding, unemployment, and poverty. The local government partnership hopes to reverse this trend, through a project that will rehabilitate dilapidated homes, demolish unsafe structures, construct new housing, provide loans to low-income homebuyers, and upgrade infrastructure.

The project has been spearheaded by the Tarpon Springs Planning Department and the Pinellas County Community Development Department, who have both been active for many years in efforts to revitalize the community. This year, the agencies decided to apply jointly for a state Urban Infill grant, a newly-created funding source earmarked for low-income urban neighborhoods.

The goals of the project were based on the recommendations of an earlier effort, the Union Academy Neighborhood Solutions Plan, which was commissioned by the city in 1996. The plan was directed by PPC staff, with assistance from the City of Tarpon Springs, the University of South Florida, local community group Citizens Alliance for Progress, Inc., and an oversight committee made up of residents and other citizen representatives. Because of their familiarity with the plan and neighborhood, PPC staff were called upon to provide technical assistance, and to facilitate meetings between the partnership and community representatives.

As part of the current project, the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority will coordinate its own affordable housing efforts with the partnership and contribute $400,000 toward a local match for the grant.

“It’s a pleasure to see so many governmental entities work together as a team,” commented Bill Compton of Pinellas County Community Development. Walter Fufidio, Planning Director for Tarpon Springs, called the effort a “high-water mark in intergovernmental coordination.”

As a result of these efforts, the partnership was successful in winning a $300,000 grant from the Urban Infill program. A total of $1.4 million will be raised as a local match. The project, which will be implemented over a period of two years, will fund construction of fifteen new houses and rehabilitation of forty existing homes, among other improvements. Funding will also be provided to thirty first-time homebuyers.

---

Upcoming Public Hearing and Meeting Schedule

Planners Advisory Committee			Pinellas Planning Council			Countywide Planning Authority
	May 7, 2001 June 11, 2001 July 9, 2001			May 16, 2001 June 20, 2001 July 18, 2001			May 1, 2001 June 5, 2001 July 10, 2001

---

PPC Welcomes Two New Members

	Councilmember Bill Foster, City of St. Petersburg Although new to the PPC, St. Petersburg Councilmember Bill Foster is no stranger to land use issues. Prior to his appointment to the City Council, he served on several city boards and committees, including the Community Focus Group on Downtown Development and the Codes Compliance Committee. A native of St. Petersburg, he holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration and a law degree, both from Samford University in Alabama. He has practiced law in St. Petersburg for 10 years, and is a partner with the law firm of Foster and Foster. He and his wife Wendy have two children.

Dr. Max Gessner, Pinellas County School District Dr. Max Gessner brings a diverse array of experience to the PPC, having served as a teacher, coach, principal, director of employee relations, director of accreditation and superintendent of four schools, as well as past chairman of the School Board. Dr. Gessner holds a bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Christian College, a master’s from Middle Tennessee State University, and a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi. He was the founding superintendent of Indian Rocks Christian School, and is active in a number of civic and service organizations. He and his wife Marti have two children and five grandchildren.

---

The Pinellas Planning Council

* Councilmember serves on this governing body.

---

The Countywide Planning Authority

---

The Pinellas Planning Council Staff