County confident it will meet deadline
BY ANN HENSON
Citizen Staff
The county has a lot of
work ahead to meet the state's order to complete the state-mandated
tasks by March 21.
The governor and Cabinet
on Tuesday set a final date for county compliance. The county must
finalize and approve land use maps, finalize and approve land
development regulations, conduct public hearings and send the documents
to the state all within the next six weeks.
County Administator Tom
Willi on Wednesday said it was a tall order, but doable.
He's already set the date
for the public hearings: March 15, March 17 and March 21. The county has
the required legal ads with meeting dates, times and places ready to go.
"I have confirmation from
board members that they also are ready to go," Willi said.
The county has groundwork
to complete before the public hearings begin.
Land development
regulations must be finalized for the Tier System and maps developed to
support the regulations.
The county has tweaked
and developed several versions of the maps after agreeing that only U.S.
1 would constitute a break in wooded areas.
Nelson invited DCA
Secretary Thaddeus Cohen for a field trip to view some of the wooded
areas affected and Cohen, according to Nelson, said the county could
have some leeway on the contiguous issue, which means more questionable
lots can be built upon.
But the state dictated
Tuesday that the county go back to the maps dated Nov. 29, which show
only U.S. 1 as a break in hammocks, voiding Nelson's agreement.
"It really doesn't affect
a lot of properties," Willi said. "It will come down to a few that will
have to be surveyed. If they are under one acre, they will be considered
[unbuildable] Tier 3," he said. "If they are more than one acre, they
will be considered Tier 3A" and be more difficult to build upon.
Willi said the county
staff is working on the maps and the proposed LDRs were sent to the DCA
for initial review.
He thought the Planning
Commission would have to chime in on the maps and LDRs, but the
County
Attorney said the
county can bypass that level of government.
"A version very similar
to what we have now did go before them previously and they didn't make
substantial changes," Willi said.
Environmentalist Debby
Harrison commented that she did not think the county would make the
timeline.
"They just don't have the
political will," she said following the Cabinet meeting.
"I know differently,"
Willi said. "I don't doubt at all that this will be accomplished."
ahenson@keysnews.com |
