Loading...
BCC Minutes 12/03/1991 W Naples, Florida, December 3, 1991 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners in and for the County of Collier, and also actinG as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts a~ have been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on th~s date at 11:30 A.M. in WORKSHOP SESSION in BuildinG "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Patricia Anne Goodn:[ght VICE-CHAIRMAN: Michael J. Volpe Richard S. Shanahan Max A. Hasse, Jr. Burr L. Saunders ALSO PRESENT: Annette Guevtn, Deputy Clerk; Neil Dotrill, County Manager; Dave We~gel, Assistant County Attorney; Bob Blanchard, Growth Planning D~rector; Barbara Cacchlone, Chlef Growth Planner; Sue F~lson, Administrative Assistant to the Board; and Deputy Byron Toml~nson Sheriff's Office. Page December 3, 1991 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP Bill Barton, Chairman of the Collier County Economic Development Council (EDC), stated the purpose of this workshop is to discuss the Economic Development Element of the Comprehensive Plan. He introduced Nell Sipe, stating he is an independent consultant currently seeking his Doctoral in Urban Planning at Florida State University, who has had six years at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida, three years with an economic consulting firm in Orlando, and most recently has authored "Preparing the Economic Element of the Comprehensive Plan" for the State's Department of Commerce. Neil Sipe advised in 1989, the Department of Commerce decided to encourage communities to prepare an Economic Element, which resulted in a handbook that provides a guide for local government planning departments. He said an Economic Element, although required in lg75, became optional through an omission in the Growth Management Act adopted in 1985. He mentioned of 46 County Growth Management Plans he has reviewed, only nine have an Economic Element. He said in his opi- nion, this Element provides the vision which a Growth Management Plan serves to implement, and without such an Element, it will be difficult to envision what a county will be like in 10 years. He advised an Economic Element should include an analysis of the economic base, identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the County, a stra- tegy to take advantage of strengths and mitigate weaknesses, and adop- tion of goals, objectives and policies to promote the strategies. He said a frequent question that arises at workshops is whether an Economic Element encourages more growth and congestion. He said the answer depends on the community's view of itself, because the Element should be unique to each community and envelope each community's deve- lopment priorities to encourage, maintain or slow down development. M]:. Stpe provided the Board with background on some of the various strategies used by the nine Counties in develop/no their Economic Elements. He said Martin County's Element was prepared by a con- Page 2 DPcember 3, 1991 suitant, and Jointly funded by the Martin County Economic Council and the County with an approximate cost of $40-60,000. He said the Economic Element prepared in Palm Beach Gounty was a joint effort bet- ween a consultant and the County, however, the $200,000 expended for that effort was funded solely by the County. He mentioned Collier County should be able to prepare an Element for much less. Mr. Sipe concluded that an Economic Element is Implied in Collier County's Growth Management Plan, however, adoption of such an Element is Important to put the County into a proactive rather than reactive mode to development proposals. Commissioner Volpe questioned if Collier County should have a separate Economic Element for the Golden Gate and Immokalee areas? Mr. Sipe indicated the issues in Immokalee are clearly different than those in the coastal area, therefore, he would not suggest an overall strate~ that would work for the entire County. Commissioner Volpe inquired if the State has an Economic Element? Mr. Sipe replied the State has two economic goals, but not an Economic Element per se. Gommtssioner Volpe asked if other States experiencing explosive growth have Economic Elements? Mr. Sipe stated to his knowledge, there is currently no statewide planning being undertaken in other areas of the country although there may be instances within States such as California, Arizona and Colorado where they are working on Economic Elements in an attempt to integrate with their planning efforts. Mr. Barton stated the various Elements of Collier Count¥'s Growth Management Plan, such as Future Land Use, Environmental, Transportation and Utilities, are reactive in nature. He said if undertaken, the Economic Element is the one area that would be proac- tive and could help direct and influence the type of growth in the County. He commented the Economic Element is important for the com-- munity in order to guide and direct the growth. He reported the Economic Development Council Is asking the Board to direct the County 0 ooo , , 03 Page 3 D~cember 3, 1991 Manager to bring back a recommendation of the means of forming an advisory committee. He said the purpose of the committee would be to work with County Staff in creating an outline of an Element along with an estimated budget for preparation costs. Commissioner Saunders commented he has been opposed to developing an Economic Element in the past because of the workload imposed on Staff in dealing with the many compulsory elements of the Growth Management Plan. He said the substantive elements have now in large measure been completed, and it would be appropriate at this time to direct Staff to provide the Board with information on the cost of developing an Economic Element as well as how to receive public input on the process. In response to Commissioner Shanahah, Mr. Barton indicated Economic Elements prepared by consultants rather than in-house Staff have cost between $40-60,000. Commissioner Shanahan asked ]f the Economic Development Council is prepared to enter a Joint financial effort with the County7 Mr. Barton advised the EDC does not have a budget for those types of costs, and the Council also feels the Economic Element is no dif- ferent than the compulsory elements of the Growth Management Plan, in that it benefits the entire community. Commissioner Saunders said it is his intention to direct the County Manager to come back with a plan to prepare the Element in- house without hiring consultants. Commissioner Shanahan stated his reticence to initiating another advlsory committee because of the g~eat many commlttees Staff is lnvolved with at the present time. He agreed with Commissioner Saunders to direct the County Manager to pursue this issue. Co~tsstoner Volpe supported the suggestion made by Commissioner Saunders and the concerns of Commlssioner Shanahah with another advi- sory committee. He recalled that Staff time was included in the pro- posed FY 92 budget fo~ an Economic Element to the Growth Management Plan. Page 4 December 3, 1991 Barbara Cacchione, Growth Planner, clarified that Staff prcposed a policy be added to prepare an Economic Element, however, due to budgeting constraints and the loss of personnel, that proposal was withdrawn. In response to Gommisstoner Volpe, Ms. Cacchione advised an amend- ment to the Growth Management Plan has been transmitted to the Department of Community Affairs. She said the amendment will be pre- sented to the Board of County Commissioners for final adoption in March, 1992, and it may be possible to bring the policy for preparing an Economic Element back into that round of amendments. In answer to Commissioner Volpe, County Manager Dotrill stated a realistic timeframe for Staff to return w]th more information Js the end of March, 1992. He said at that time, the Board will be able deliberate as part of the budget workshops whether or not to fund any or all of Staff's proposals. It was the consensus to direct Staff to report back on a methodo- logy for the development of an Economic Element, to include an indica- tion of the cost, what can be done in-house and what, if any, consultants may be needed, with the understanding there is a bias agalnst the use of consultants. There being no further business for the Good of the County, the meeting was ad3ourned by Order of the Chair - Time: 12:15 P.M. 05 Page 5