Title
Implementation of the Countywide Visioning and Planning Committee Recommendations (B)
This item seeks to review implementation efforts associated with the Countywide Visioning and Planning Committee's Countywide Vision and Conceptual Plan over the past two years and seek future direction from the City and County Commissions.
Explanation
The Countywide Visioning and Planning Committee (CVPC) formally endorsed a countywide vision and conceptual plan on June 29, 2005 and submitted it to the Board of County Commissioners and each municipality for consideration and action. Since that time, annexations by the City of Gainesville and other municipalities have proceeded within their respective, designated Reserve Areas pursuant to the Boundary Adjustment Act. In July 2006, Alachua County hired a consultant to facilitate a joint planning agreement process to address issues related to the preservation and conservation of environmentally sensitive areas in unincorporated, eastern Alachua County. The participating local governments were Alachua County, the City of Gainesville, and the municipalities of Micanopy, Waldo and Hawthorne. A kick-off meeting was held on August 24, 2006, and individual meetings between the consultant and the process participants were subsequently held.
On December 14, 2006, at a meeting in Waldo of representatives of the participating local governments, the consultant reported that she had concluded from the individual meetings that there is common interest in protection of environmentally sensitive areas, particularly those within the County's designated strategic ecosystems. She also reported that she had concluded that the municipalities were not interested in developing joint plans for the unincorporated areas. However, there did appear to be consensus that an interlocal agreement could be an appropriate mechanism for helping protect the above described environmentally sensitive areas, but there was no consensus as to what the contents of the interlocal agreement should be.
Since the December 14th meeting in Waldo, rather than proceed with previously contemplated workshops when there was no consensus as to the substance of an interlocal agreement, the consultant conferred with senior County management and legal staff. A revised approach was agreed upon, and a new contract with the consultant was signed by Alachua County in July 2007. The new approach is to develop an interlocal agreement for intergovernmental coordination on proposed Alachua County comprehensive plan amendments in the eastern part of the County. What is contemplated is a review process in which the County would send the complete plan amendment proposal to the affected local government's review staff (with copy to a senior official such as a municipality's mayor or city manager), and request comments from the review staff of the affected local government. Those comments would become part of the County staff report on the proposed plan amendment.
On August 27, 2007, the City Commission renamed this referral item (previous title was Update on Informal Negotiations for Modification of Urban Reserve Area), referred it back to the Community Development Committee with participation by County staff, authorized the Mayor to send letters to her fellow Mayors, CVPC members, and County Commissioners requesting the reconvening of the CVPC, and requested that this item be placed as a topic on an agenda for a Joint City/County Meeting.
The original Countywide Visioning and Planning Committee's Countywide Visioning and Conceptual Plan's Guiding Principles and Action Strategies are attached as well as back-up from Plan documents.
Fiscal Note
None
Recommendation
The City Commission discuss implementation of the CVPC recommendations with the Board of County Commissioners at the Joint City/County meeting on October 29, 2007.