A
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
JANUARY
22, 2008
The
Lake County Board of
INVOCATION
AND PLEDGE
Mr.
Ken Harley, Public Transportation Manager, gave the Invocation and led the
Pledge of Allegiance.
AGENDA
UPDATE
Commr.
Renick stated that she would be discussing an item concerning the Groveland
annexation under her business.
MINUTE
APPROVAL
Commr. Stewart stated that in the
Minutes for December 11, 2007, page 17, line 6, the word “even” should
be taken out.
On a motion by Commr. Stivender,
seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously, by a 5-0 vote, the Board
approved the Minutes of December 11, 2007 (Regular Meeting) as corrected and
December 18, 2007 (Regular Meeting), as presented.
CLERK OF COURTS’ CONSENT AGENDA
Commr.
Renick wanted confirm, regarding Tab 4, that if the Board approved an item on
the Clerk’s Agenda, they were just acknowledging receipt of the item and not
giving tacit approval of it.
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously,
by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the Clerk of Courts’ Consent Agenda, Items 1
through 5, as follows:
List
of Warrants
Request to acknowledge receipt of list of
warrants paid prior to this meeting, pursuant to Chapter 136.06 (1) of the
Florida Statutes, which shall be incorporated into the Minutes as attached
Exhibit A and filed in the Board Support Division of the Clerk's Office.
City
of
Request to acknowledge receipt of City of Leesburg Planning & Zoning Division Notice of Public Hearing for January 10, 2008 at 3:30 p.m., at Leesburg City Commission Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall, 501 West Meadow Street, Leesburg, to consider a request from Christian Worship Center for an amendment to the Future Land Use Map of the Leesburg Growth Management Plan, changing the future land use designation from County Urban to City Low Density. The property’s general location is west of County Road 468 and North of Veech Road.
Tourism
Development/Resort Tax Chart
Request to acknowledge receipt of Tourism Development/Resort Tax Chart and attached memo noting that Fiscal Year November 2008 revenue is up 5.7 percent compared to Fiscal Year November 2007 and up 2.3 percent compared to Fiscal Year November 2006 and that the next TDC regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 19 at 5:30 p.m. in Commission Chambers in Tavares.
Notification
from City of
Request to acknowledge receipt of
letter from the City of Mascotte serving as notification of the re-publication
of Notice of Public Hearing Proposed Annexation Ordinances for applicant, Greg
Beliveau, AICP, LPG, on behalf of Maury Carter & Associates, Tuscanooga
Investment Company, Inc. and Florida State Missionary Baptist Foundation
properties, along with the attached copies of these Notices of Public Hearing
for Ordinance No. 2007-12-455, Ordinance No. 2007-12-456, and Ordinance No.
2007-12-457.
Monthly Distribution of Revenue
Request to acknowledge Monthly Distribution of Revenue
Traffic/Criminal Cases, Month Ending December 31, 2007.
Disbursements due to Board: $149,999.57
Same period, last year: $159,429.10
Commr.
Hill stated that she wanted to pull Tab 3 for discussion, explaining that there
had been some questions in the community regarding that item, so she had asked
the Department Heads of Procurement and Tourist Development if they could give
them a short explanation as to the process and where the items would be going.
Mr.
Barnett Schwartzman, Procurement Director, explained that this award
recommendation to Tip Tops of America, PromoConcepts, Inc. and Promotional
& Advertising Products to provide promotional items to the County was a
result of competitive action, and they were recommending the award to the
bidders who were the lowest on any specific item. He also explained that this was basically a
contractual vehicle to use at their option, and the contract itself did not
require any specific quantity to be ordered.
He clarified that this was just to set it up for future orders as needed
on an as required basis.
Commr.
Stivender pointed out that this has been done yearly.
Commr.
Cadwell asked where the funds to pay for it came from.
Mr.
Schwartzman responded that it came from Tourist Development Funds.
Commr.
Hill commented that she wanted to clarify where the money was coming from for
citizens in the community.
Mr.
Greg Mihalic, Tourism and Business Relations Director, added that all those
expenditures from his department come from Tourist Development funds, but the
reason they did it was to market the community and to bring people to their
website. He reported that they had been
using promotional items for about three or four years, which has helped to
greatly increase the number of people who visit the website. He also stated that about 20 percent of the
materials they used were distributed to other internal departments to use for
their functions.
Commr.
Renick brought up that the economic development consultants stated that they
needed to better market their county to promote business, and this was one way
they did that.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously,
by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the
Procurement
Request for approval to award to Tip Tops of
America, PromoConcepts, Inc. and Promotional & Advertising Products to
provide promotional items for
FOR INFORMATION ONLY- NO ACTION
REQUIRED. The Procurement Policy revisions enacted by the BCC on September 27,
2007 delegated authority to the
Public
Works
Request for authorization to accept the final plat for Mt. Plymouth Club Estates
and all areas dedicated to the public as shown on the Mt. Plymouth Club Estates
plat. Mt. Plymouth Club Estates consists of 4 lots and is located in Section
32, Township 19 South, Range 28 East. Commission District 4.
Request
for approval and signature of Resolution No. 2008-6 to advertise Public Hearing
for Vacation Petition No. 1114, to vacate a portion of a right of way known as
Appaloosa Trail, and two utility easements, in the Plat of Trails of Montverde,
located in Section 10, Township 22 S, Range 26 E in the Montverde area. Commission District 3.
Request
for approval and signature of Resolution No. 2008-7 to advertise Public Hearing
for Vacation Petition No. 1129, to vacate a portion of right of way known as
Mink Road, according to the unrecorded plat of Astor Forest Campsites, located
in the Section 19, Township 15 S, Range 28 E, in the Deland area. Commission District 5.
Request
for approval and signature of Resolution No. 2008-8 to advertise Public Hearing
for Vacation Petition No. 1130, to vacate a portion of a drainage easement, in
the Plat of Lake Dora Harbor, located in the Section 35, Township 19 S, Range
26 E, in the Mt. Dora area. Commission
District 3.
RATE
INCREASE FOR OUTSIDE COUNSEL
Commr.
Renick had a concern about Tab 9 regarding the first page of the contract with
Nabors, Giblin & Nickerson which stated that time spent in travel would be
billed at one half of the specified hourly rate. Her concern was that the attorneys would be
on their cell phones doing other business during that time, and she thought
that the traveling cost was high.
Mr.
Minkoff stated that typically some attorneys will charge more than one client
at a time, but he thought that if the attorneys in this firm were traveling and
working on the phone and billing other people, he would expect they would not
be billing the County at all for that time.
He noted that because it was a
Commr.
Stewart stated that she also wanted to know whether they could negotiate it.
Mr.
Minkoff commented that the rates for that firm were very reasonable compared to
what other outside counsel was charging, particularly for litigations.
Commr.
Renick stated that she was not concerned about the basic rates, just the
travel.
Commr.
Cadwell requested that they pull this item and reschedule it so that Mr.
Minkoff could go back and see if he could negotiate that.
PRESENTATION
– CR 455 SCENIC BYWAY STUDY
Mr.
Jim Stivender, Jr., Public Works Director, stated that this was an introduction
to a study that was started and funded through the Regional Planning Council on
the Scenic Byway. He mentioned that they
had been working on their master plan for trails and would be incorporating a
lot of that information into that trail master plan, and they all would be
working together on that.
Ms.
Patty Hurd, Senior Associate, Transportation Planner, Glatting Jackson,
explained that this study was done through the East Central Florida Regional
Planning Council with funds from the Florida Department of Transportation. She related that they were going to present
an overview of the project and a summary of the recommendations that came out
of it. She stated that the Green
Mountain Scenic Byway was located in Orange and Lake County and ran through the
Town of Oakland beginning at CR 438, extended along parts of Old State Road 50,
and then hit CR 455 and traveled north until CR 561. She explained that it was designated as a
State Scenic Byway in 2004, and through that process a grass roots community
group came up with a vision for the corridor which retained, enhanced,
preserved, and expanded all the natural and intrinsic resources and viewscapes along
it. She pointed out that this byway had
a natural ecosystem that was not seen anywhere else in the State. She specified that it ran through the Town of
Mr.
Dan Manley of Glatting Jackson stated that one of the first things they did was
to develop some principles that guided the master plan, and the first one they
denoted was to preserve small town identity by preserving distinct places along
the corridor as well as the decompression areas or spaces between those
places. They also wanted to provide
opportunities to learn and experience natural resources such as lakes and
hills, create a design authentic to the Byway, facilitate appropriate local
businesses, and create safe facilities for all users. He also mentioned that they had identified a
trails network that included both bike trails as well as the development of
multi-use trails, nature trails, and a blueway kayak or canoe trail.
Ms.
Hurd named some elements that they thought needed to be addressed in the overlay
zone as the County moved forward with the Land Development Regulations, such as
landscape buffers along the roadway, tree preservation, zoning, cluster
development, and viewshed protection ordinances. She related that they used GIS to find out
the areas that were the more visible locations along the corridor so that they
could emphasize the preservation of more significant locations and
viewscapes. She mentioned that the Town
of
Mr.
Manley presented a couple of ideas that they came up with through the public
workshop process that could be introduced to help to enforce the character of
the byway, such as landscape buffers, particularly through current and future
development in those space areas, and shelters at transit stops using
architecture whose character was consistent with the rural character of the
area.
Commr.
Stivender asked where the money was coming from to do this and whether there
were grants to apply for towards this project.
Ms.
Hurd pointed out that this was a 20-year plan, and they hoped that this would
be done in cooperation with St. Johns River Water Management District as they
developed restoration efforts and with the towns as private development
occurred.
Commr.
Renick recognized Mr. Glenn Burns and Ms. Mona Phipps, who were in the
audience, for all of their hard work on this project.
BUDGET
AMENDMENT
TO FY 2008 FEES
Ms.
Eve Reynolds with the Budget Office informed the Board that this item was a
request to revise the Lake County Health Department fees relating to plans and
project reviews under the categories of water, sewer, and environmental
health. She explained that currently
they have six fees, and they had expanded these into the fees that were listed
under Exhibit A.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008
Health Department fees as shown under Tab 11 and Resolution No. 2008-9.
COMMUNITY
SERVICES
JOINT
PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT WITH FDOT
Mr.
Ken Harley, Public Transportation Manager, stated that this item was their
Public Transit Block Grant funds request for initial funding from the DOT
(Florida Department of Transportation) and unanticipated revenue in the amount
of $275,244. He explained that their
Block Grant funds were currently used to help provide fixed route
transportation and
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried
unanimously, by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the Joint Participation
Agreement with Florida Department of Transportation for funding under the
Public Transit Block Grant Program and approval of related Resolution No.
2008-10 for unanticipated revenue in the amount of $275,244.
PUBLIC
HEARING
ADOPT-A-LAKE
PROGRAM AND ORDINANCE
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CREATING CHAPTER 21, ARTICLE VI, LAKE
COUNTY CODE, ENTITLED “ADOPT-A-LAKE PROGRAM”; ESTABLISHING AN ADOPT-A-LAKE
PROGRAM; ESTABLISHING DUTIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES; PROVIDING FOR
CONDITIONS OF ORGANIZATION AND INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION; PROVIDING FOR LITTER
PICK UP BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES;
PROVIDING FOR ISSUANCE OF ADOPT-A-LAKE PERMITS; PROVIDING FOR LIBERAL
CONSTRUCTION; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE CODE; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY;
AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Ms. Cathy McGwier from Environmental
Services, the Adopt-a-Lake Coordinator, gave a power-point presentation about
the program, and began by informing the Board that their mission statement was
protecting, preserving, and restoring the County’s natural water resources
through community education and volunteer participation. She went through the conservation elements,
which were objectives regarding surface water, springsheds, and habitat and
wildlife preservation. She related that
the goals of the program were to increase the coverage of their current water
quality monitoring, provide water quality and shoreline protection education,
inform citizens about the differences between beneficial and nuisance aquatic
vegetation, and remove trash from the shorelines. She stated that this program would include any
waterbody that was listed in the Lake County Water Atlas, which included lakes,
springs, rivers, and creeks. She
mentioned that an individual or group could adopt an area and choose to do
water quality monitoring, education outreach, and/or pollution prevention. She showed an example of what an Adopt-a-Lake
sign would look like, but assured the Board that signage would only be put up
where appropriate, such as boat ramps, marinas, and public areas. She requested $1,500 from the Environmental
Recovery Fund for funding sources for FY 07/08 to be used for operating
supplies and promotional activities. Ms.
McGwier anticipated that 30-40 sites would be adopted this year from the
interest in the newspaper article that had run, as well as another 30-40 sites
next year, and that it would continue to grow from there.
Commr. Renick asked if they needed a
second sample using this program in addition to the Lakewatch data that was
gathered from the
Ms. McGwier responded that the
Lakewatch data was on the Water Atlas and was already being credited to
Lakewatch, so they would not need additional information from the Adopt-a-Lake
volunteers regarding those sites. She
clarified that they would only get data for the lakes that still needed coverage,
since there were so many lakes in the county.
Commr. Hill commented that this was a
great program, and she was glad to have help with Ibini Tera.
Ms. McGwier reported that the Ibini
Tera clean-up event this year would take place March 1, and if they approved
this program, they were planning a kickoff event for Monday, February 25, which
was right before Ibini Tera. She added
that they were looking to publicize both of those events together. She also commented that except for the litter
component, the other two components of the Adopt-a-Lake were things that they
were already doing to some extent as staff, and they were just trying to market
it, promote it, and get even more participation in the program.
The Chairman opened the public
hearing.
There being no one who wished to
address the Board, the Chairman closed the public hearing.
On a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded
by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved
Ordinance No. 2008-1 for the creation of an Adopt-A-Lake Program and approved
funding from the Environmental Recovery Fund reserve for operations in the
amount of $1,500.00.
REPORTS –
DISCUSSION REGARDING CONTINUANCES FOR
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Mr. Gregg Welstead, Deputy County
Manager, stated that several months ago, there were some issues regarding a
number of continuances for public hearings for zoning and that the Board had asked
for some input regarding that.
Ms. Amye King, Deputy Director,
Growth Management, mentioned that the Commissioners had asked on November 27
for staff to examine the procedure for continuances, and they had four
recommendations based on this research for applicant-requested
continuances. One of the recommendations
was that the number of continuances initiated by the applicant be limited to
one and that additional continuances should only be granted by the Board upon
showing of a good cause. She related
that their second recommendation was that a minimum notice for these
continuances be ten calendar days prior to the hearing, and their third recommendation was that a mailed
notice of the continuance to the affected property owners be required, which
would avoid any inconvenience and cost to the public. Staff also recommended that the applicant pay
any cost incurred by the County caused by these applicant-initiated
continuances, which would include the cost to advertise, the postponement fee,
and the cost for the postcards and mailing.
The final recommendation was that the applicant be required to either
proceed with the scheduled hearing or withdraw their application if a
continuance was not granted by the Board.
She stated that if the Board agreed with those recommendations, staff
would prepare an ordinance for their review.
Commr. Hill asked whether these
continuances only applied to the Board of County Commissioners meetings and not
the Zoning Board.
Ms. King answered that it was for the
Board of County Commissioners only.
Mr. Sandy Minkoff,
Commr. Cadwell thought that they
should try this for the Board meetings first and see how it worked.
Commr. Renick stated that if the public
felt strongly about something, they would feel like they needed to be at both
Zoning and Commission meetings.
Commr. Cadwell noted that some of the
delays on the Zoning Board level have helped work things out before it even got
to the Board Meetings.
Commr. Renick stated that the
applicant found out what a lot of the concerns were at Zoning, and then it came
to the Board. She explained that she was
talking about those that got their case put on the agenda and continued it
before it was heard.
Mr. Minkoff explained that he
understood that the first continuance was automatic, so if they were scheduled
for the hearing, decided they wanted to change the hearing date, and did it ten
days in advance, it would automatically be continued; they would not have to
come to the hearing at all, and the notice would go out to the owners. He added that if they did not do that and came
to the hearing, they still could get the postponement if there was good cause,
but they would not be entitled to it. He
also explained that this policy would be an advantage to people even on the
Zoning Board level, because if the applicant realized they needed a
continuance, they would get it automatically.
He noted that it would also be an advantage to the citizens who wanted
to attend, because the applicant would be required to give ten days notice, and
the citizens would not have to come. He
related that the current Zoning Board rules were that they were not ever
entitled to any continuances, and they had to justify and request it.
Commr. Cadwell recommended that they
direct those policies to everyone.
Ms. King clarified with the Board that
they wanted these recommendations to apply to the Board of County
Commissioners, the Zoning Board, and the Local Planning Agency.
Mr. Welstead asked if they wanted to
limit it to one 30-day extension or whether someone could ask for a longer
extension such as for 60 days if they knew it would take longer.
Commr. Renick stated that she did not
think the time of the extension would matter, as long as the public knew what
day the hearing would take place.
ADVERTISEMENT REGARDING AMENDMENT 1
Mr. Welstead related that the item
they brought up at the meeting on Friday, January 18, was the Florida
Association of Counties’ advertisement related to Amendment 1, and he asked if
the Board had had an opportunity to look at the DVD of the advertisement and
whether they wanted to be part of that.
Commr. Cadwell stated that they gave
them a couple of options, one of them was opposing the amendment and one was
just supposed to be informational, but he thought that Lake County did not need
to be a part of that and to let voters make up their own mind regarding this
issue.
REPORTS
– COMMISSIONER RENICK – DISTRICT 2
GROVELAND
ANNEXATION
Commr.
Renick mentioned that Groveland was considering a unique annexation that she
thought they had withdrawn and that may come forward again that would create an
enclave, which created a problem for the County. She pointed out that even though creating an
enclave was illegal, Groveland could still approve it if no one objected, and
she thought the County needed to take action to let Groveland know that
creating an enclave was illegal.
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
On
a motion by Commr. Renick, seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board moved to place this item regarding the Groveland
annexation on the Agenda.
Commr.
Cadwell commented that Mr. Minkoff was very familiar with the annexation laws
since he had helped write them, and if Groveland’s annexation would create an
enclave, he thought they should send Mr. Minkoff to Groveland to object on
behalf of the Board.
Mr.
Minkoff related that the original proposal created an enclave, but he did not
know if it had changed since then.
Commr.
Cadwell noted that the Board as a general policy usually did not get involved
in those kinds of matters, and it was on a case by case basis, but he thought
they needed by motion to direct Mr. Minkoff to do that.
On
a motion by Commr. Renick, seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board moved that Mr. Minkoff attend Groveland’s meeting
to convey the Board’s objection to the creation of an enclave.
CITIZEN
QUESTION AND COMMENT PERIOD
Mr. Roy Hunter, Northeast Lake
Chamber of Commerce, stated that with the assistance from the Sheriff’s Office,
they collected cell phones for people that needed them, such as domestic
violence victims and the elderly, and he asked that if any one had any old cell
phones, to please drop them off at Walgreen’s at CR 19 and CR 44A or at the
Paisley Library. He added if that was
not convenient, the Sheriff’s Department might have some drop-off places they
could use instead. He also mentioned
that they would be having their next Chamber meeting on Valentine’s Day,
February 14, 6:30 p.m. at
--------------------
Mr. Bert McDonald, a resident of SR 44 in Casia, expressed
his frustration and opinion about County regulations involving open-air
vendors, specifically regarding a man that had been selling produce for a
number of years and had been told continuously by code-enforcement officers
that he was in violation of County regulations and that he could not operate in
the many locations he has tried to operate out of. He explained that after the Casia Community
Club had given the man use of their premises and the man had gotten the
appropriate license, lease, keys to the bathrooms, and everything else that was
required, the County told him he could not be there. He commented that it appeared that the County
was trying to run the vendor out of business because someone had made an
anonymous complaint, and he felt that his tax money should not pay for
investigating anonymous tips that were not regarding abuse of children, the elderly,
or similar types of domestic problems that had a cause for anonymity. He also complained that he could not get a
delineation or definition of how a structure or a building was defined by the
County. Mr. McDonald pointed out that
long ago
Commr. Cadwell commented that they were trying to fix this situation and understood that there was a problem and that it did not make common sense. He added that they needed to find a way to still take safety and those types of things into consideration, but still make it so people such as that vendor could make a living.
Ms. Amye King, Deputy Director, Growth Management, informed the Board that this subject would definitely be coming up on January 29 and that staff agreed that the way the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations (LDR’s) were currently written, it has caused a question that has put Code Enforcement in an awkward situation. She related that they would like to resolve that on January 29, with the Board’s direction.
Commr. Stewart commented that she also has been frustrated with this, but believed they were taking some positive steps to resolve the situation. She stated that the vendor that was referred to was doing a service to the County and bringing money into the County, but was getting hit with road block after road block.
Mr. McDonald addressed the Board again to point out that the existing interpretation of the County ordinance would allow that when any place or person got an open air vending license, it would preclude anyone else from having one issued for that same location for over a year, which could also potentially create problems. He also noted that the problem he alluded to earlier was affecting many other vendors in the County as well as the one he referred to.
Commr. Cadwell assured Mr. McDonald that they were going to work on writing a better law.
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the
meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
____________________________________
WELTON
G. CADWELL, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
__________________________
NEIL
KELLY, CLERK