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RLAAOC Minutes 04/23/2001 Final-Approved 5.21.01t RURAL LANDS ASSESSMENT AREA OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MINUTES April 23, 2001 MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT Joseph Boggs Stephen Bortone Floyd Crews Ron Hamel Rodney Harvey James Howard Dawn Jantsch Andrew Mackie Grady Miars Ann Olesky David Santee Neno Spagna Fred N. Thomas, Jr. Sonya Tuten COUNTY STAFF PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT Linda Bedtelyon, Planning Services Nancy Linnan, Esq. Bill Lorenz, Natural Resources Director Bob Mulhere Margie Student, Assistant Co. Atty. Jeff Perry David Weeks, Comprehensive Planning Al Reynolds Michael Simonik Richard Woodruff Michael Kirk Mike Duever Tom Jones Mike Taylor Jack Sullivan George Vamadoe *Note:And others, names unknown CALL TO ORDER (Item I.) The meeting was held at Corkscrew Middle School, 1165 Oil Well Road (C.R. 858), Naples, Florida, with a quorum present. Chairman, Ron Hamel called to order at 6:35 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Item II.) The meeting minutes of March 26, 2001's approval was tabled until next meeting, pending revisions. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (Item III.) A motion to approve the agenda with additions to "Old Business"was entered by Fred Thomas, seconded by Floyd Crews, and passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS (Item IV.A) Staff Support Update: David Weeks: Due to Bob Mulhere's resignation from the county, Ron Hamel inquired about staff support to the Rural Lands Committee. David responded by saying that there is a contract pending to retain Bob and presently, a process is being worked on to provide a support team, with David acting as liaison; (Item IV.B) Briefing on Natural Resources Workshop/BCC of 4-17-01: Ron Hamel: Ron circulated the original meeting notice and agenda, citing his explanation to the BCC of the makeup of the committee, WilsonMiller's involvement and role of providing technical support and data, and the goal of the committee to meet the requirements of the Final Order; Floyd Crews comments that if anyone has any data additions/deletions to WilsonMiller's findings, bring it to the committee for consideration; Joe Boggs questions Ron about the committee's "posture" since the approval of the Community Character& Design Resolution and the re-insertion of language that was originally deleted from "Exhibit A"; Bob Mulhere comments that the Board of County Commissioners"endorsed guiding principals, called Setting the Course and the language in question stated that "new urban development should be kept within the current urban boundary"; David Weeks comments that the BCC approved a resolution that sets the stage that will ultimately lead to Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code amendments, just as the work of the Rural Assessment Committees will; Joe again comments that the decision of the BCC seems to be an indication that "half-way through this process, (Rural Lands Study)we (BCC) are going to tell you what we want"; Nancy Linnan, attorney and outside consultant comments that the language used "didn't cross any lines" and she had"written a letter to the BCC asking them to not act precipitously", ruling out the work of the Rural Assessment Committees and not to make any amendment changes until the Rural Lands and Rural Fringe Committees have completed their work"; Fred Thomas comments that he thinks a letter needs to be written to the BCC asking them to tell us specifically what they now want us to do, now that they have developed what the community character is going to be"; Ann Olesky questions, " if the County Commission has already decided what they want, in their minds, not on paper, if we come up with different thoughts than what they've got, where is that going to put us?" Nancy Linnan responds that what the Board did is "accepted the findings of the Dover- Kohl report, they did make an intent statement that urban development should be primarily in the urban area; that was the language that they adopted"; she also goes on to say that she's" suggested to Chair that when they act on those amendments they not include the Rural Area until such time as it reports and that they not include the Fringe Area,just exclude those areas on the map"; Joe Boggs requests the county attorney give the committee an opinion (written) of what the Board adopted and were the stance is...resolutions in this county are as good as law"; Margie Student, assistant county attorney responds that"we would be happy to provide that( a written opinion) to the committee; again our opinion's the same, that resolutions don't have the affect of law, they just endorsed and accepted a report; resolutions can implement an ordinance and therefore, internal housekeeping processes"; Dawn Jantsch remarks that she would like to see a letter written by this committee asking that along with the consultants recommendations, this committee's lands not be included in that plan; Joe Boggs motions that"we formally make a request of the county attorney of the status of the County Commission's resolution on the Community Character Study and its impact on our activities",Ann Olesky seconds the motion; Neno Spagna comments he has no problem with a clarification, but" I think the Board appointed us as an advisory group to tell them what we think about the future growth and development of the area and if that happens to disagree with them, then I think it's up to them....I'm willing to just forge ahead and just do our job and send them our recommendations and let them do whatever they want to do with it"; Motion passes 14:0; Dawn motions that,"this committee sends a letter to the Board asking that the Rural Lands not be included in the Community Character plan until the conclusion of our study"; Fred Thomas motions to make that more general, "not be included into any changes, until we complete our study"; Dawn accepts changed motion and Fred seconds; David Weeks asks for clarification of the motion, "The motion is to say, ask that the Board not approve any type of code amendments whatsoever in the rural lands?"; "No, I'm only referring to Community Character", Dawn replies; Fred says, "I'll accept that; he knows exactly where I'm going, but I'll be nice"; Dawn refers back to Nancy Linnan's letter of recommendation to the Board, asking that"they exclude both the Rural Lands Areas and Rural Fringe Areas from any sort of implementation of the Community Character Plan"; Ron Hamel calls the question and the motion passes unanimously; (Item IV.C) Final Order: Ron Hamel reads excerpts from the Final Order saying he" sees that as our mission as trying to accomplish this and just wanted to bring that to the attention of the committee"; NEW BUSINESS (Item V.) Ron introduces Al Reynolds who informed the committee that WilsonMiller will be scheduling a workshop with the BCC in September, 2001 to give them a full update of the Rural Lands Committee's work; there is also a workshop scheduled with the BCC on June 13, 2001 to discuss the Rural Assessments progress, but it will focus primarily on the Rural Fringe Area; Al presents Power Point program: Stage II: summary of existing data, focusing on land use, population and demographic statistics, employment and transportation figures of the study area; (this report has been made available on the Rural Assessment website: www.nasites.com/collier); Jeff Perry of WilsonMiller presented the Transportation element of the data. In summary, 1) Rural Lands Study Area has experienced minimal change since 1985, 2) Growth is occurring in Orange Tree and Golden Gate Estates, 3) Immokalee Urban area experienced modest growth in last decade, 4) Of the total Rural Lands Study Area of 195,000 acres, there are 138 parcels that are 40 acres or smaller in size, and 5) To date, there is no significant agricultural land converted to non-agricultural uses in Rural Lands Study Area; GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT (Item VI.) Chairman Hamel calls for comment from the audience without response FUTURE MEETING DATES (Item VII.) The committee decides to meet on May 21, 2001, same time and location; Fred Thomas and Floyd Crews have scheduling conflicts and note they will not be able to attend; ADJOURN (Item VIII.) Fred Thomas motions for adjournment, Floyd Crews seconds, and the meeting officially closed at 8:00 p.m. A taped and hard copy of these minutes in final form are available at the Clerk of Courts, Minutes and Records Office, Building F, Collier County Government Complex;minutes may also be viewed on the website: www.nasites.com/collier