A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
AND THE
CITY OF
FEBRUARY 23, 2006
The
Lake County Board of
ROLL
CALL
Mayor
Jonnie C. Hale stated that Jim Myers, Senior Director, Finance/City Clerk,
would proceed with the roll call. It was
noted that the following were present from the City of
Ms.
Hale noted that everyone has received a packet of agenda items. She explained that some of the City’s big
concerns are developments that are coming into Eustis. They are receiving the City’s services, water
and sewer; however, they are building under the guidelines of
Cindy
Hall,
Amye
King, Deputy Director of Growth Management, explained that she put together a
JPA agreement for them to look at tonight; it is fairly lengthy; and it was
just distributed yesterday. Staff felt
that they had addressed most of the issues that were listed as concerns by the
Mayor including cooperation between the City and the County and ensuring that
applications for developments would be distributed to the City in a timely
manner for proper review. They also
addressed other items including inter-governmental coordination with Public
Safety and Emergency Services.
Alton
Roane, Senior Director, Development Services, stated that the City
thinks that the agreement represents an excellent beginning point, even though
they still need to address a few more details as to the specifics. There are a few things that the City would
like to see added to the agreement. Mr.
Roane stated that they want to make sure that the County has the most current
edition of their JPA and review procedures that they will be following and know
the extent to which they are actually going to be applied. Mr. Roane stated that so far they do not have
anything really objectionable.
Mike Stearman, City Manager, stated
that he feels that the proposed agreement is a good starting point, and it will
involve what the Board has faced with other cities, in terms of standards and
compatibility of projects. Mr. Stearman
pointed out the projects shown on the map that have been submitted to the
County’s Planning Department for review noting that most of them have not yet
requested water and sewer from the City and that this was a point of confusion
for a number of years. Even though the
City was providing letters saying that these services were available, they had
not yet received applications for them; the County was approving the projects
without the City having agreed to provide the services, but this has been
addressed and resolved with the help of Gregg Welstead, Deputy County
Manager. So the areas shown on the map
are projects that have applied for services, but the City has not yet committed
water and sewer. He explained that these
are examples of projects that are located on the City limit lines; some of them
could be annexed into the City in a year or two from now, as opposed to being
developed in the County. They are
concerned because they are getting developments faster than they can get the
changes in the JPA and standards that would satisfy both of them.
Commr. Pool asked whether the City
Commission agrees that they would still like the County to at least have them
come to them to make those requests because, after all, they are the provider
of water and sewer, rather than going in the direction of well and septic; Ms.
Hale explained that the City is under the sewer district, so they really have
to give them sewer.
Commr.
Cadwell wanted to know, out of all of those projects in the last several years,
what was actually happening historically, and the time frame that these projects
are annexing into the City.
Mr.
Roane explained that right now, because the City is having a discussion about
their open space, they are going to the County to get their land use change or
zoning change and getting their preliminary plat approval. When the City responds to the County’s Planning
Department telling them that they do not have a contract to provide water and
sewer, some of them are coming back to the City, and they are requiring them to
go to the City Commission for approval.
He noted that they were doing this at the staff level until these issues
started arising. He explained that right
now they are doing what they were doing in
Commr.
Cadwell explained that, in Clermont, they basically established a joint set of
Land Development Regulations (LDRs), and he asked if that is the extent of what
the City of
Ms.
Hale noted that the City would like to look at the same type of
regulations. She pointed out that, in
their packet, there is smaller map just like the one being shown, and it gives
them the number of lots that they want to put into those subdivisions, and it
shows which ones the City has already said yes to; but there are quite a lot
that they have not given approval to yet.
She stated that Ms. King and her department have worked very well with
them on some projects but, if it is zoned for five houses per acre, they come
to the County and say they want five houses per acre, they have low land, and
they will do clustering, a concept that is coming in the future. The City would like to see the County do some
of the things that they do in the City.
She explained that, right now, if the land use is there, they get
everything done through planning, and then it comes to the County on a consent
agenda, because the Board really does not have any input to make a difference
with their land use. She noted that the
City hopes to annex some of these, and some of them they are required to annex. The main thing is that they are developing to
the County’s LDRs and rules. When they
come to the City, such as the Charlie Johnson project that has three sides of
the City of Eustis, they develop using the guidelines of Lake County, and they
came to them because the City put off giving them water and sewer, and then they
agreed to do some active recreation and give a little bit of open space. Ms. Hale stated that, when people see these
projects coming that are surrounded by Eustis, they think it is something that
the City has approved. One project may come
in without all of the regulations; another may be required to meet all of the
regulations yet they are right next to them.
It would help both parties if they could work on this issue.
Commr.
Hanson stated that, as they move through the agreement, many of these issues
may have to come back for them to address.
Commr.
Pool asked whether the City meets before an annexation, and Mr. Stearman explained
that, when they come to the City and ask for a service, they require them to sign
an annexation agreement, and then it goes to the City Commission, which is
their main Land Planning Agency (LPA); they do not have zoning; they have land
use. The problem they are having is that
they are getting their approvals in the County and then coming to the City, and
then they are in a position where the County has approved a development that
cannot go in on individual well and septic tanks now because the County has
basically platted it, and there was no agreement to provide them services. So the next step is to move forward with the
JPA.
Lewis
Stone, Attorney for the City of
Commr.
Cadwell stated that, when the Clermont Council and the Board directed their
staffs to pick the most stringent rule, whether it be a County rule, or a City
rule, that rule was to be the rule incorporated into the JPA. There were a few areas that they could not
come to an agreement on but they had those items come back before the two
boards. The mindset that they had with
the City of
Mr.
Rotella stated that communication is a good issue between commission and
commission rather than just staff to staff, so that they are in agreement before
any kind of commitment is given to a developer, and that they are familiar with
the City’s LDRs; they do not get any final development order or any site plan
approval until they come through the City and go through a commission hearing.
It
was noted that right now the City’s open space requirement is 25% for suburban
residential or straight land use. Mr.
Royce pointed out that there is a sheet in the backup material that talks about
the City’s recreation space that they require noting that the recreation is in
addition to the open space.
Mr.
Stone pointed out that these projects are not fully platted when they come to
the City; they do not plat them until the infrastructure is in but they have
their development approvals and their preliminary plans.
Mr.
Minkoff stated that, if the developer comes in and says Eustis utilities, they
will not get platted until Eustis provides the utilities. They will never get a final approval when
central utilities are required. Even in
Mount Plymouth, when the phases come in for Sorrento Hills, they will check
with the City for each phase before they allow a plat to be recorded to make
certain that they have agreed and that they have the utilities that are there.
Mr.
Stearman stated that the City is starting to require the homes that are
adjacent to them, the ones that they know within the next year or two are going
to be in the City, to put up front the equivalent of their impact fees for
recreation and fire and other things, because those impacts are going to be
almost immediate. He noted that the City
has police, fire, library, recreation, water and sewer impact fees.
Discussion
occurred regarding topics that they want to decide on tonight, with it being
noted that impact fees is going to one thing that the City would like to
discuss with the Board and perhaps sharing the fees, or developing some way to
replace them, and they can also use some criteria on the timing issue. Another issue is enforceability of the
agreement, with Mr. Stearman noting that there have already been two bad
experiences, and they are certainly going to be looking at that; and they need
to look at other JPAs, and other outside water and sewer providers noting that
the 180 District does cover sewer.
Mr.
Minkoff explained that, in the past when they had cities disagreeing on the
boundaries of the agreement, they either asked the cities to resolve them,
which they did in South Lake, or they put the area in both of the cities JPA
and called it a three-party; Leesburg and Tavares did that. The Board has never really said Clermont
should go here and Minneola there, if they could not agree amongst themselves
where to go.
Discussion
occurred regarding the process that has been taken by the cities to resolve
issues, with Mr. Stone noting that the City of
Mr.
Rotella asked whether they are going to differentiate contiguous from
non-contiguous areas that are in the JPA, in terms of annexation.
Mr.
Stearman explained that, in terms of enclaves, the City did all of them that
were ten acres or less; they still have a lot that are larger than ten acres,
but they have not addressed those in State law yet.
Jim
Stivender, Director of Public Works, showed them a map identifying all the
enclaves.
Mr.
Welstead stated that there are two additional elements on the standards that he
would like to bring forward from their experience with Clermont. In terms of the reference made to the best or
most stringent, one of the things that they found difficult at the staff level,
for instance, was landscaping, and he feels that these types of items can be
worked out at a staff level and would be beneficial to all. The other element was the applicability of
these joint LDRs within the City of
There
was discussion about the County’s Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), with Commr.
Hanson noting that she would like to get a little bit more in writing in terms
of the regulations and requirements for PUDs so that the public has a better understanding
of the process.
Mr.
Royce pointed out that, in regards to the area that falls within the Wekiva
Protection Area, the City is having a workshop on February 28, 2006 to discuss
some changes to the report that they had to address from the Department of Community
Affairs (DCA) on their Comprehensive Plan and the Wekiva.
Mr.
Rotella explained that the City has different open space requirements based on
land use categories. It was noted that
the City did do an open space chart, but it has not been completed yet.
Mr.
Minkoff noted that Mr. Roane has been attending the County’s LPA meetings where
they are discussing open space, so he is sure that he is bringing the City
Commission that information.
LAKE
Discussion
occurred regarding the Lake County Fairgrounds, with Ms. Hale noting that the
City has a piece of land that will be a better access for the fair than what
the County has now, as shown in the backup material. The property is located on CR 44A and SR 19,
with some of it being wet; 58 acres total; 48 acres are developable and are
located in the jurisdictional lines; and two to three acres of wetlands could
be filled.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he knows that the County does not need to put $6 million
into the existing site, but they are going to have to come up with another
answer.
Mr.
Stivender explained that staff has checked their soil and flood maps noting
that there are not any great soils, but the existing site does not have any great
soils either, and the City’s property has the same type of clay as they have at
the existing site. They will have to
excavate those clays out of the site, so that they will not have cracks in the
buildings and foundations. There are
challenges with this site, from a soil standpoint, just like the existing site.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he would like to see them at least spend a little money to
do some research on it to see if it makes any sense at all. It was noted that water and sewer are
available at the City site, and a soil testing would be helpful. It was noted that the County would agree to
investigate it further.
In
terms of road maintenance, Mr. Minkoff pointed out that this is one of the
issues that they will work out in the interlocal agreement.
Mr.
Stivender noted that Mr. Roane attended the meeting that staff had a couple of
weeks ago about impact fees, and they discussed the issue of providing customer
service to the area, particularly in the residential areas that are either enclaves
or near the city limits and noting that the City can provide urban type
residential services easier than the County can. They need to work out some kind of agreement
so the customer can be served quicker and better and more efficiently. It was noted that this could be a part of the
JPA.
Commr.
Cadwell wanted to know if they should go ahead and have both of those
properties appraised or wait until they have the soil testing.
It
was noted that the Board wanted to wait for the soil testing results on the
City’s property.
FIRST
RESPONSE PROVISION FOR FIRE RESCUE SERVICE
Fire
Chief Roy Tremain stated that Gary Kaiser, Director of Public Safety, and Chief
Fred Cobb met this morning in regards to the interlocal agreement that the City
has had with
Mr.
Stearman explained that the City is moving to change their LDRs to address some
of the issues relating to emergency access.
Mr.
Kaiser noted that the IOS rating in the County is six to nine, and they are
working to get it lower. They fully
expect that number to drop even more in the next 12 to 18 months. The equipment and improvements that they made
towards the end of the rating and evaluation period were not part of this last
study. He stated that he would like to
compliment Chief Tremain and the City of
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they need to create a timetable, since staff is really in a
time crunch with the Comprehensive Plan, but they need to have a realistic time
to try and meet again. He hopes that the
staff, in knowing the conversation they have had today, if they find developers
trying to get around what may be the end product, that they let them know that
the Board is not going to look favorably on that. He knows that, with land use issues, it is a
little hard to say that they are not going to hear them, but certainly they
will send a message to those folks that they intend to work this out and that
they may want to wait. He stated that
their two staffs may be able to get together and bring something back to the
individual boards at the next meeting.
Commr.
Hanson noted that Ms. Hale had asked the Eustis Institute to set up the Traffic
Advisory Committee, and she thought it was a very successful meeting with the
folks from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) but, yesterday at
the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting, Commissioner. Rotella
made the motion that the MPO help with the writing of the RFPs to get a request
for funding, and to start that process, not only for CR 19 as it goes through
the traffic patterns of the City, but also the bigger picture regionally for
transportation, and not only just for Eustis, but bringing in Leesburg and Mount
Dora and that whole area around Eustis.
It
was noted that both staffs are going to get together, and then get back with
the City and the Board in a month to six weeks.
Ms.
Hall stated that she will talk with Ms. King and staff to make sure that this
timeframe will work. Ms. King felt that
the agreement could be done within that timeframe, but perhaps the LDRs might
take a little longer.
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the
meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
__________________________________
CATHERINE C. HANSON, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
__________________________
JAMES
C. WATKINS, CLERK