Public may gain access to development reviews

Wal-Mart's bid to build a supercenter at U.S. 19 and Spring Hill Drive woke up many Hernando County residents.

Three proposals to bring affordable apartment complexes to the Seven Hills, Silverthorn and Regency Oaks subdivisions hammered home the point: Most people did not know the details about the types of developments slated to rise all around them.

With growth on the fast track, that's just not acceptable, said Arlene Erdrich, founder and president of Coalition for Anti-Urban Sprawl Efforts, or CAUSE. Residents deserve easy access to development information, Erdrich argued, and the right to comment about related issues before they are over.

So about eight months ago, the group started agitating to get inside the government meetings where developers review their projects with planners, engineers and other county staff members.

Next week, they might just get their wish.

Commissioners will consider Tuesday whether to open the development review process to public viewing and input. Under a recommended rule, the county would conduct upon request a public workshop on any nonresidential construction and any residential development of more than four units.

At that meeting, county staff selected by the building official would answer questions and receive "relevant input" about the application in question. Notices of these workshops and any related decisions or meetings that follow would be publicly posted to keep interested parties informed.

Chairwoman Nancy Robinson welcomed any opportunity to afford residents more venues to ask questions and raise concerns about pending development.

"It is the responsibility of local government to provide answers to the public," Robinson said.

Many times, projects never come to the commission for review, Commissioner Chris Kingsley noted. So access to the development review process might be residents' only way to effect change, or to understand the details about a project they know nothing about, he observed.

"If you have the ability to get your concerns heard early, maybe someone will listen," Kingsley said.

But entry at this point in the process has limited benefit, Robinson cautioned. Development review usually consists of determining whether a development meets the details of county code, she said, and not considering philosophically whether a project fits the surrounding community.

"If somebody has concerns about the land use even being there, then this is beyond that point," Planning Director Larry Jennings said in agreement. "This process lets people know how the county is going to regulate the development."

If residents want to make more meaningful changes, County Attorney Garth Coller suggested, they should get involved in the efforts to amend the comprehensive plan and to rezone pieces of property.

"The clear best opportunity to be part of the process is the earliest phase of the project," Coller said. "This workshop does not accomplish that. However, it allows people to understand the functions they assume take place at development review are merely fact-finding and not decision-making."

Erdrich said her organization's members understand that activism in planning and zoning matters is key, and they will push for improved correspondence over proposed developments in those areas.

"There are times when it has gone beyond zoning," she continued. "Unfortunately, development review is the next line of defense."

At that level, she noted, residents still can see things done improperly and get them fixed before the permits go out. That happened in the case of the Spring Hill Wal-Mart Supercenter, Erdrich said, and it can happen again.

County staff members had been reluctant to alter the development review process and worried that opening it to the public might render county employees unable to talk to one another outside the sunshine. Coller said the workshop idea would allow workers to do their jobs, and many staff concerns vanished.

Developers' representatives, meanwhile, said they would challenge the initiative as meddlesome into functions not open to debate. They also argued the added step could delay a project, which would cost the developer more money.

The commission intends to review the proposal Tuesday afternoon. The Coalition for Anti-Urban Sprawl Efforts plans to discuss the results at its meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Spring Hill Regional Hospital enrichment center, 1244 Mariner Blvd.

-- Jeffrey S. Solochek covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6115. Send e-mail to solochek@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright