August 30, 2007

Special Session

Bonifay, Florida

The Holmes County Board of Commissioner met in a Special Session on the above date with the following members present: Commissioner Kenneth Williams, Commissioner Monty Merchant, Commissioner Jim King, Commissioner Phillip Music, Commissioner Raymon Thomas, Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Greg Wood, County Administrator, was present.

Angie Jonas, Deputy Clerk, was present and kept the minutes.

Chairman Thomas opened the meeting and led the prayer and pledge.

Pursuant to Public Notice, the Board held a planning workshop with West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC) members: Bruce Stitt, Kevin Wagner, Steve Ulman, Alan Gray, and Karen Thompson.

Bruce Stitt opened the presentation by explaining that WFRPC acts as a liaison between the County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). He presented the relationship of the Evaluation Appraisal Report and the Comprehensive Plan. He stressed the importance of the visioning process to plan for future needs as well.

Commissioner King made a motion to apply for DCA grant funds to do a study of the entire County to develop a consensus for future land uses. Commissioner Williams seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Alan Gray explained that the relationship between the WFRPC and the County is essential in order to maintain the balance between future land use planning and resident needs. He stated that topics like the level of service for roads within the County must be considered when planning future land developments in order to meet transportation needs of residents as well as to meet State of Florida compliance needs.

Mr. Kevin Wagner highlighted the elements that must be included in the Comprehensive Plan as well as the elements that may be "add-ons" to the Plan. He explained the importance of planning and stressed the key concepts of "preserve, protect, preserve and improve".

Karen Thompson, Senior Planner presented the section of the presentation regarding issues of statewide interest which included school coordination, land stewardship and water supply coordination. She highlighted some new elements that the County will be expected to address in the December 2008 final draft of the Comprehensive Plan. She noted that these added elements are a product of the last revision of the Growth Management Rules that passed in the Legislature.

Chairman Thomas asked the presenters to inform the Board of the ramifications of omitting certain items from future Comprehensive Plan amendments. Mr. Stitt stated that omitting certain elements of the Comprehensive Plan would cause the County to incur penalties. Such penalties include a freeze on any revisions of the County Comprehensive Plan which would hinder future developments.

Alan Gray presented the topic of urban sprawl and the costs incurred by such. He stated that several costs such as running water and sewer lines to outlying areas must be considered when visioning. He stated that neighbors must work together regarding property rights and that individual property rights affect Counties as a whole. He cited examples regarding hunting land and developments being next door to one another to illustrate his point.

Steve Ulman presented the Graphic Information Systems (GIS) technology section. He stated that there are several real life uses for this type of mapping like emergency planning and conservation services. He also stated that it was a very efficient way to organize large amounts of information in a central location. Alan Gray stated that WFRPC is working to secure grants to bring this technology to Holmes County.

Bruce Stitt presented the section concerning Comprehensive Plan Amendment process. He stated that amendments to the Plan can only be done twice a year because of the large amount of time it takes for an amendment to be reviewed by the DCA. He also stated that an item that is sent in for review can be withdrawn or resubmitted as an entirely new item. He stated that in some emergency/special cases, called regional development impact, another submission may be requested.

Citizens who spoke regarding land use were:

Felton Miller Hubert Hendrix

Carlton Treadwell Benny Little

The meeting was adjourned.

_________________________ ________________________________

Clerk Chairman