Judging from the lack of people in the audience, many residents expected the City Council Special Meeting on October 28, 2010 to be boring. As in the past, the second reading of an ordinance is pretty uneventful and predictable, with no objections voiced and the adoption of the ordinance is approved by council. This was certainly not the case this time.
On the agenda as part of the Public Hearings was:
Ordinance 1268 describes the development of +/- 133 acre property located on the West Side of SR 33, south of Country Trails Drive. This area will be divided as follows: 98.81 acre Business Park, 8.13 acre Conservation area, and a 26.17 acre Convenience Center for Retail Businesses.
Ordinance 1269 - Seeking approval of Phase I of the Polk City Business Park to build a 554,000 sq.ft warehouse/distribution building.
The City of Lakeland also has serious concerns as to the sewer and wastewater disposal of this planned development. Currently the Cardinal Hill WWTF is a temporary facility which is not in close proximity and is only approved for approximately 80,000 Gallons Per Day. This capacity would have to be more than doubled to accommodate these new land development changes.
The City of Lakeland was asking the Polk City Council to postpone their vote on these ordinances until these issues, and the impact burden this development will create on Lakeland could be studied further by the City of Lakeland. Councilor Adorno posed the question if there were rules in place for adjacent municipalities to discuss proposed land use changes in properties that are in close poximity to each other. Attorney Cloud replied that it is a very common and growing practice to extend this courtesy between municipalities for quite a number of years.
Mayor LaCascia stated that so much work had gone into this project since 2007, that he was concerned any postponement in approval of this development could put it in jeopardy. Postponement may also create added expense for the city if Amendment #4 would be approved in next week's November 2 election. While these discussions were ongoing, Attorney Tom Cloud authored an agreement that would notify the City of Lakeland of any future development plans in addition to Phase I, and presented it to the City of Lakeland representative and all parties involved. This seemed to pacify her a little, but she still expressed the original concerns that Lakeland had with the large acreage designated for retail and the high impact costs this development will create. When Mayor LaCascia asked her if Lakeland would be considering future legal action, she said that would be a decision that only the Lakeland City Attorney could answer.
Let us remind the public that the previous Polk City administration made an agreement with these developers to waive all impact fees for this development. This means that the total cost of the impact on our community will fall on the shoulders of Polk City property owners. Their reason for doing this is stated in a Memo from City of Polk City, City Managers Office to the Planning Board, dated May 20, 2008, regarding the Coleson Properties and Browning Investments development. "The Coleson site is one of two properties that Browning has been looking at developing. The secondary site is in Hillsborough County. In all of our discussions with them, a major stumbling block to this development coming to Polk City has been the impact fees and the site plan modification. It is simply not financially viable, in these economic times to add approximately $8.50 per sq. ft. in cost to the cost of construction for impact fees."
"Because there is competition for this development, staff has researched the other site and what is being offered by the community. With the exception of impact fees, the Coleson site is far superior. The other site has offered to waive all impact fees there in order to bring jobs to that community also." At the May 13th, 2008, City Council Meeting Staff recommend to council that the City waive all City impact fees, Council voted unanimously to waive all impact fees."
"Because there is competition for this development, staff has researched the other site and what is being offered by the community. With the exception of impact fees, the Coleson site is far superior. The other site has offered to waive all impact fees there in order to bring jobs to that community also." At the May 13th, 2008, City Council Meeting Staff recommend to council that the City waive all City impact fees, Council voted unanimously to waive all impact fees."
After a lengthy 3 hour meeting addressing ordinance 1268 & 1269 on Oct. 28, 2010, Mayor LaCascia brought the ordinances to a vote respectively, and both were approved.
In my opinion the City will be annexing more property within the "180 bubble" I believe I have used the proper term, to annex properties up to the boundries of other cities in the surrounding area and forced annexation of same. In any area that the City serves with Utilities, either water, sewer or both I see forced annexation and utility connections for landowners in this area with little to no regard for the ecomomic impact it inflects on the citizens in these areas. The reason for this is to infuse the Polk City coffers with new money for taxes and impact fees. The cost of litigation is of little to no concern to Mrs. Block as this was her statement during the August 23, 2010 special meeting "Vice Mayor Block feels the Attorney fees are irrelevant in the decision to move forward." I believe the City will also raising the millage rates and utility rates to the allowed maxium to provide more funding for their exploitation of the taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteIf my memory serves me correctly this property was to be a subdivision much like Fountain Park on Mount Olive Road. The four developments planned were named Holly Cove,Carpenter, Arnline, and Gill.
ReplyDeleteWhy would someone purchase a home in Fountain Park, knowing a 500,000 sq ft warehouse development was being placed across the street? If you look at the information provided in the site plan you will see dates of 2010. I do not think this project was in the planed in 2007.
I don't believe the City of Lakeland had heartburn with a residential development,however; but developed severe acid reflux with this commericial park with the changing of the land use.
Waiving impact fees is a slap in the face to every taxpayer in incorporated Polk City limits. Impact fees can be utilized to offset the economic impact placed on the taxpayer to enhance the infastructure of the community with out having to raise taxes for the upgrades.
As I stated to the council at a previous meeting the current wastewater facilities are not currently permited to accept industrial waste.
There are two way this could be achieved: 1. The City could upgrade and re-permit their facilities to meet the industrial wastewater standards at substantial cost to the taxpayer. Side Note: the Impact Fees on this project could have been utilized for this.or,
2. A clear cut agreement needs to be reached with the developer/builder for a pre-treatment facility to be construted and permited, at the developer/builders cost. At the meeting when it did not appear it this issue had been discussed.
You are absolutely correct about the subdivisions previously planned for this property. It was changed to warehouses/light industrial shortly before Don's term as Mayor ended.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember why the previous administration beautified downtown Polk City's Commonwealth Ave. a few years ago? They wanted to discourage all the heavy truck traffic from driving through our downtown area, so the medians were installed to slow traffic down.