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BCC Minutes 01/21/2020 W (RLSA) January 21, 2020 1 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORKSHOP MEETING Naples, Florida, January 21, 2020 LET IT BE REMEMBERED the Board of County Commissioners in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 A.M. in a WORKSHOP SESSION in Building “F” of the Government Complex, Naples, Florida with the following members present: Chairman: Burt L. Saunders Vice Chairman: Andy Solis Donna Fiala (Telephonically) William L. McDaniel, Jr. Penny Taylor ALSO PRESENT: Leo Ochs, County Manager Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager Jeff Klatzkow, County Attorney Thaddeus Cohen, Director, Growth Management Division Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations COLLIER COUNTY Board of County Commissioners 01 1 I r 'toads (JI RURAL LANDS STEWARDSHIP AREA WORKSHOP Board of County Commission Chambers Collier County Government Center 3299 Tamiami Trail East,3rd Floor Naples,FL 34112 January 21,2020 9:00 AM Commissioner Burt Saunders,District 3 - Chair Commissioner Andy Solis,District 2 -Vice-Chair Commissioner Donna Fiala, District 1; CRAB Co-Chair Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4 Commissioner William L. McDaniel,Jr., District 5; CRAB Co-Chair Notice: All persons wishing to speak must turn in a speaker slip. Each speaker will receive no more than three(3)minutes. Collier County Ordinance No. 2003-53 as amended by Ordinance 2004-05 and 2007-24,requires that all lobbyists shall,before engaging in any lobbying activities(including but not limited to,addressing the Board of County Commissioners),register with the Clerk to the Board at the Board Minutes and Records Department. 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 2. WORKSHOP TOPICS 2.A. Rural Lands Stewardship Area 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS 4. ADJOURN Inquiries concerning changes to the Board's Agenda should be made to the County Manager's Office at 252-8383. January 21, 2020 2 Any persons in need of the verbatim record of the meeting may request a copy of the video recording from the Collier County Communications and Customer Relations Department or view online. 1. Pledge of Allegiance Chairman Saunders called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Commissioner McDaniel moved to allow Commissioner Fiala to participate via telephone due to an extraordinary circumstance. Second by Commissioner Taylor. Carried unanimously 4 – 0. 2. Workshop Topics a. Rural Lands Stewardship Mr. Cohen reported the purpose of the meeting was to provide an update on the “Rural Lands Stewardship Area restudy”. He provided the PowerPoint “Rural Lands Stewardship Area Workshop – Board of County Commissioners January 21, 2020” which will be presented by various Staff Members incorporating the elements of Transportation, Environmental, Affordable Housing and Zoning. He noted:  On October 22, 2019, the BCC directed Staff to:  Bring forward Growth Management Plan amendments for the Rural Lands Stewardship Area Overlay, as prepared by the 5-year Review Committee and presented in the RLSA White Paper.  Develop a regional water partnership.  Draft Land Development Code (LDC) amendments to address SRA. characteristics as outlined by the 5-year Review Committee and the RLSA White Paper.  The objectives of the plan are to provide a landowner incentives for preserving natural resources, protecting agriculture, improving the pattern of growth in the area and developing a regional transportation system to serve needs.  The RLSA provides a working relationship with environmentalists, landowners, community advocates and representatives, and to date has preserved 55,000 acres of land at no cost to the public. David Weeks, Growth Management Manager provided an overview of the program noting:  It is an overlay to the existing Agricultural/Rural FLUM designation and a Stewardship Program utilizing a form of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) with 226,404 credits available through voluntary incentives. The development credits are awarded based on technical analysis with land preservation occurring at no cost to taxpayers.  The developed areas are envisioned as villages, with connectivity and walkability, and with areas in a concentric ring concept (land use with the more intense uses in the center and uses a decrease in activity as the development moves outward).  Landowners are still allowed to develop their land as provided in the underlying zoning district, which provides a checkerboard style land use of 1 dwelling unit on a 5-acre lot. Trinity Scott, Transportation Planning Manager, highlighted the transportation aspects noting:  The concept is for developing walkable, interconnected areas though the following policies: January 21, 2020 3  Policy 7.3: All new and existing developments shall be encouraged to connect local streets and/or interconnection points with adjoining neighborhoods or other developments regardless of the land use type and;  Policy 7.4: The County shall encourage new developments to provide walkable communities with a blend of densities, common open spaces, civic facilities and a range of housing prices and types.  Examples of this concept are Golden Gate City and Ave Maria.  Existing roadway networks would be utilized with the only newly proposed major arterial being Big Cypress Parkway. Jamie Cook, Environmental Specialist noted:  The program goal is to protect agricultural land and prevent premature conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural use.  It includes directing incompatible uses away from wetland and upland habitats (FSAs, HSAs, WRAs), enabling the conversion of rural land to other uses in appropriate locations, establishing Stewardship Sending Areas (SSAs) for preservation of lands and Stewardship Receiving Areas (SRAs) for development of qualified properties.  It quantifies the number of acres by Index Values; Lands scoring an NRI (Natural Resource Index) Value of 1.2 or greater are deemed appropriate for SRA Development.  Any lands with an Index Value of less than 1.2 must be retained as open space.  NRI values are reviewed with each application to confirm the current value. Cormac Giblen, Housing Operations and Grant Development Manager noted:  The goal is for the applicant to provide a diversity of housing opportunities both in type and price ranges within the developed areas (the Growth Management Plan (GMP) and Land Development Code (LDC) have policies addressing housing).  GMP Policy 2.2 states “Partnerships shall be encouraged between private developers, non-profit entities, local governments and other interested parties to ensure the development of housing that meets the needs of the County’s very-low, low, moderate and affordable workforce income residents.”  LDC Section 4.08.07 - SRA Designation J. Design Criteria. 3. Village Design Criteria. a. General criteria. iv. Offer a range of housing types and price levels to accommodate diverse ages and incomes. Accessory dwelling units shall not count towards the maximum allowed density support this concept. Ray Bellows, Zoning Manager noted with the elimination of the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) process, a developer can now submit separate SRA Village applications (piecemeal development) instead of one unified plan of development, as previously required, when two or more developments must be “aggregated” and treated as a single development for the purposes of the DRI. The following was noted during BCC discussion with Planning Staff and the County Attorney:  Concern on the wording in the County requirements i.e. GMP policy 2.2, and others where the term “shall be encouraged” is utilized and what the County’s options for requiring the housing opportunities or other standards.  With DRI requirements eliminated, the County can develop its own requirements and definitions for “diversity of housing” January 21, 2020 4  The underlying zoning allows development of 1 unit per 5-acre lot and environmentally sensitive lands could be developed if the owner meets the State and Federal requirements for construction of a home.  Any statistical data utilized for planning purposes (i.e. the standard of an average of 2.39 persons per household) should be separated by region in the County and applied as needed, based on the projected land use as some areas are characterized by retirees and others by families.  If the criteria are not met by the applicant, the BCC may deny the application. The BCC does have the latitude to review projects in totality for meeting the criteria outlined in the program and make a decision based on their findings.  Staff noted, if a proposal does not meet the goals of “encouraging” certain uses, the BCC will be notified whereby they are able to make a final determination on the application (connectivity, housing, etc.). The feasibility of interconnectivity will be considered, as in some instance there may be barriers (existing canals or preserve lands, etc.).  The current estimated construction cost of Big Cypress Parkway is $50M, however a detailed analysis has not been completed as it is in the conceptual stages. The purpose of the roadway would be to lessen the chance of disturbing existing roadway networks where many of the streets contain access points, such as residential driveways. April Olson, Conservancy of Southwest Florida presented a PowerPoint which outlined concerns on the program, highlighting the following:  The existing program has not met the goals as outlined by Staff, including the statement on the estimated amount of preserve lands to date (55,000 acres) and if they are truly lands in a “preserved state.”  Many of the lands proposed for development are located in important wildlife habitat areas.  The traffic impacts and costs of the infrastructure required to serve the areas and ongoing maintenance.  The concept for the vast majority of individuals residing in the area, “staying where they live and not traveling westward for work or other activities”, is not feasible,  The housing diversity will not come to fruition based on existing language for the “requirements.”  The 11 owners proposing the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) will obtain a major amount of the credits available, leaving the remaining landowners to develop, as permitted, in the underlying zoning of 1 dwelling unit per 5 acres. She recommended the following substantial changes: 1. Move development out of primary wildlife habitat 2. A major recalibration of development credits made available to landowners Others recommendations include: 1. “Conservation”: Use term only when taken down to conservation layer or call it “agricultural preservation.” 2. R-1 credits: Get rid of R-1’s as they increase development, but provide no environmental benefit; R-2 credits awarded only after restoration is complete and successful. 3. Road Network: First, evaluate costs of vulnerable infrastructure/roads to SLR, next 50 years, then evaluate need for network w/o HCP development. Ensure taxpayers are not January 21, 2020 5 paying for a large road network at the desire of a few landowners. Roads determined a public need must be part of LRTP process. 4. Over inflated Credits: Hold off on approving any SSAs until max credits are calculated and the true development potential is understood (What happens to non-HCP lands?). 5. Housing Ratio: Require projects meet County average ratio and include minimum number of affordable housing units. 6. Water Resources: Collier County should hire a consultant to determine impacts to water quality and water resources from a 45,000-acre development footprint. 7. Economic Analysis: Collier County should hire a consultant to determine net costs to taxpayers. The following was noted during BCC discussions:  Clarification on the statement and status regarding the 55,000 acres of preserve lands to date and whether this includes land in agricultural uses – Staff to review the data and provide an update to the BCC.  The one dwelling unit per 5-acre development is currently occurring in the area.  The County could revise the credit cap to a higher number, but cannot reduce the number given the vested rights of landowners – Staff noted they will review the concept of recalibrating the number of total credits before bringing the item to the Collier County Planning Commission. Speakers The following persons spoke and raised concerns on the concept, as proposed, including: severe traffic impacts to the local road network given there are only 2 major thoroughfares east and west (Immokalee Road and Vanderbilt Beach Road), negative impacts on environmentally sensitive lands, the degradation of surface waters, reliance on unenforceable standards given the “incentive style language” instead of imposing “requirements”, the NRI values should be revised as the current standard for development is too low, lack of analysis on the total costs to the existing tax payer and environment: Rae Ann Burton, Kevin Burke, Dr. John Dwyer, Dr. Karen Dwyer, Lynn Martin, Ted Rojahn. Doug Hartman, Patricia Forkan – League of Women Voters, Gaylene Vasasturo, Bobbie Davenport, Ted Raia, Van Williams, Judith Hushon, Elena Mola, Diane Flagg, Loralee LeBoueff, Amanda Koenig, Donna Knapp, Matthew Schwartz and Merideth Budd – Florida Wildlife Federation. Brad Cornell, Audubon of the Western Everglades and Michael Dalby of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of the concept and work by Staff to seek solutions to the issues noting the area may be developed at the 1 unit on 5-acre style of residential use, which is not in the best interest of the County’s residents. 3. Public Comment None ***** January 21, 2020 There being no further business for the good of the County,the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 12:45 P.M. COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS /4,f)1%. ,e4/..eirawaa— Chairman, Burt L Saunders ATTEST: CRYS ,1 KINZEL, CLERK .b ©,, • ttest te' % atuteo y These minutes approved by the Board/Committee on ai\--nap as presented Vor as amended 6