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CCMtg11-15-06WSMin-- LONGWOOD C`[TY COMMISSION ~ ]Longwood City Coraim:ission Chamlbers 1T5 West VVarr~~n Avenue Longwood, Florida WOF:KS1iOP MIIVTJT:E S NOVEMBER 15, 2006 7:00 ~P.l~VI. Present: Deputy Mayor Dan Anderson Commissioner Mike Holt Commissioner H.G. `Butch" Brzndy, Jr. Commissioner Brian D. S:~cketi: .Iohn J. Drago, City Admi'nistra.tor ..Sarah 1VI. Mirus, City Clerk Paul Sizemore, Interim Direcfor of Community Services Danielle. Adzima, Community ~lervices Coordinator Ryan Spinella, Executive Assistant Also Present: Nancy Smith, The. Gail Easley Company -~~ Troy Simpson, The Gail Easley Company _I`~. Absent: Mayor John C. Maingot, (Excused) Richard S. Taylor, Jr., City Attorney (Excused) Teresa S. Roper, Acting City Attorney (Excused) 1. CALL TO ORDER. Deputy Mayor Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Commissioner Bundy moved to suspend the. rules. Seconded by Commissioner Holt and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Mayor 1Vlaingot absent. 2. BUSINESS. A. The Community Development ]Division of the Community Services Department recommends the City Commission identify issues for evaluation of the Comprelhensi~~e Plan for an Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). Nancy Smith, The Gail Easley Company, said she wanted to hear from the Commission on the evaluation process. She stated they do what is required for the evaluation and this evaluation and appraisal process was not writing all the policies or data collection. The pw-pose of tonight's meeting was to discuss with the Commission the issues that will be the focus for the evaluation of the Comprehensive Plan. She said it was important to do an evaluation of the :Plan to CC 11-15-06/367 see how well it has performed for the City and to see what things have worked as --- well as what things have changed. She stated they will look at how they might J desire to redirect growth activities.. She said when they finish they will have a list of issues that will be sent to the: Department of Community Affairs for review. Recommended changes .come from looking at the Plan elements and doing a summary of what has worked and where the short comings are. The third area is changes the State has made to the. Legislation since the last Plan Amendment. She reviewed a flow chart and explained that was the process they would use to go through the report. She affirmed they were on Item #2 of the flow chart which is Workshop to clarify and identify issues. Following a preparation of a list of issues, they will schedule a seoping meeting. They will then go to a final issues letter for review and then it will be sent to DCA. This forms the basis for the City's evaluation. She referenced Item #7, Public Hearing on the Proposed EAR and said they recommended going through this process. She explained this was an optional step, but they felt it would be a good idea to take advantage of this option. Discussion was held regarding proposed revisions. Ms. Smith said they would work with staff and hold Workshops wifh the Commission before sending the proposal to DCA for the first time. She reviewed the timeline up to the final adoption public hearing. She suggested the issues be grouped to keep the discussion concise. She explained. an issue was a specific 'l topic, subject, or concern that should be addressed during the evaluation of the ~} plan. An issue was usually a narrow subject matter concerning growth and development in Longwood. She said she would like to go through what the Comil~.ission thinks the issues are; then look. at these issues and decide if they were in agreement on what the main issues were for evaluation of the Comprehensive Plan. She had a list of questions to review. She asked what they liked about Longwood. Commissioner Sackett said the smallness, cultural diversity, and the location was favorable about Longwood. Commissioner Bundy said they were centrally located and near everything, yet it maintains the small town flavor and atmosphere. Ms. Smith.. said they have used the neighborhood identity in the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Sackett said Longwood had fantastic schools. Ms. Smith inquired what they would change about Longwood. Commissioner Bundy said they were in the process of changing- State Road 434, and 17/92. He said County Road 427 was coming along fairly well He stated they 1( were working on the redevelopment along the corridors. He said they would not ~ want to restrict the imagination of architects, but his biggest concern was they CC 11-15-06/368 needed an overall cohesiveness with the redevelopment. He said what they allowed to be done over the next 10-15 years would shape the City for the :next. . 50-75 years. He said they needed th.e flexibility to allow a building such as the La Prensa building. He affirmed thE;re were various different styles of architecture in the Historic District. Commissioner Sackett said. they wanted it to be eclectic, but. controlled. Deputy Mayor Anderson said they ~Nante~i to have direction, but flexibility. Commissioner Bundy said he wanted to encourage creativity and imagination, but have balance. Commissioner Sackett stated he would like to see some control with signage as new development occurs. Deputy Mayor Anderson refere:nceel the signage along Lake Mary Boulevard and said it was not in your face and just felt right. Commissioner Holt said change was imminent as the Commuter Rail and the Depot were coming and would be in the. center of the City. He stated because of opening the. City to people from everywhere, it would allow the City to grow with them. He said with creativity, the City will be able to design something that will _ ~ look like it has been here for 50 years. He stated they would be innovated in a few years with various prospects of what the City can look like. 1Vls. Smith inquired how soon the commuter rail would be operational. Commissioner Bundy advised it was expeacted to be running by 2009. Commissioner Holt inquired if the Comprehensive Plan was a 5 year plan. Ms. Smith said it was a 5 year plan, but you looked at 10 years. She said this could tie into the things they were already worl{ing; on for the Downtown area and could be issues in the evaluation. Mr. Drago said something that impacts Longwood was how DOT takes property. He stated a strategy they would like to see; was for DOT to take enough property for road widening both now and in the future so if parcels could. not be used for development. purposes they could be tonne;d over to the municipality for passive parks or some other green space. Ms. Smith inquired about pedestrians. access. Deputy Mayor Anderson said he would like to see more pedestrian access rather !~ than being required to drive everywhere. He stated they needed to create more open spaces and suggested shared retention spaces. CC 11-15-061369 Discussion was .held regarding multiple-use developments and affordable ~ - housing. Commissioner Bundy said greater density would help in the price of housing. Commissioner Sackett said they could have this type of development, but maintain the Longwood character. Mr. Drago affirmed they were referring to moving away from the .single pod land- use concept. He said to allow multiple-uses to come into play they could have a blend of commercial, retail, and resid'enfial that if constructed properly, would give the. sense of community. Deputy Mayor Anderson said if they allow the mix, this would address a lot of the social issues such as senior initiatives and affordable housing. Commissioner Bundy said alienation of people from their neighbors was based on four things.; land-use decisions, architecture, fast paced lifestyles, and, air conditioning that keeps everyone inside. He declared the type of development they were discussing would create interaction. Ms. Smith said she was hearing. a lot about a neighborhood. concept. She stated she had written down four main issues: mixed use, corridor redevelopment along 434, 17/92 and 427, affordable housing, and the Commuter Rail and its impact. She stated some of the things that reoccur are the neighborhood concepts, ,getting away from the single use district and allowing the mix of housing types. She said the downtown was'~a big feature and design issues. could be landscaping, architecture,. signage, and overall density. Mr. Drago said ACi was working on form based design rather.than the engineered architectural. He stated form based design would give the flexibility and leave freedom for the developer and the architect to explore the outcome. He stated the City didn't have much control as they did not have much in impact fees other than water and wastewater and the County controlled most of it. He said they had a lot of empty box stores and if these go away and amixed-use is done,. the County wants more impact fees on transportation that have already been paid. He stated the new development could actually have fewer trips than the box store initially had. - Commissioner Bundy said these impact fees could be the deciding factor for developers. on whether to renovate or build new. He stated you shouldn't be able to penalize a developer today for a governmental entity's failure to do its job twenty years ago. He said the infrastructure already in place was what made it attractive for a developer to come here. Mr. Drago said if their vision on State Road 434 becomes a reality, it could improve the level of service on State Road 434 relative to transportation. ---~ CC` 1~1-15-06/370 ~` Deputy Mayor Anderson said being able i:o walk to the grocery store, to dinner,, ~,- and so forth was one less trip on'the road. He stated by providing these cervices in the hometown would also reduce trips and would not impact the major roadways. Commissioner Sackett said adding lanes just added to the congestion. He stated connectivity and tree lined areas would be; positive. Ms. Smith reiterated she was hearing there may be four central issues. She said there would be shared bullet points between these issues and they would be looking for process with all of them. Commissioner Sackett said when looking at the City they needed to be aware of the 4-6 mile range of people and. the. different needs on both ends of the City'. He stated they needed to make it a commtu~ity feeling for,the entire City. ~ i.. Commissioner Bundy said when disseetin:g the City the~people that would be the least positively impacted would be some. of the more fluent areas since they were a .greater distance from the corridors. Deputy Mayor Anderson said if the bike trails were extended throughout th.e years it would benefit in helping people get to areas without takuig a ear. Commissioner Holt said with friishing some of the dirt roads they have the opportunity to do the trails and the e-asy flow from one point to another. He stated when completing some of the projects they can go back and readdress some of the areas such as the east side of town v~rhere :it is more difficult to connect. Mr. Drago said he didn't think it was the Commission's intent to create one Dov~Tntown, but many Downtown areas relative to the population. Ms. Smith said if the Commission v~~as sai:isfied that these four issues would be the overall issues they would. prepare the list. She stated they would then schedule a scoping meeting with the other agencies and after that meeting they would send the letter back to the Commission t~ be sent to DCA. She said they would then be ready to start the Evahiation and Appraisal Report. Deputy Mayor Anderson said if they could add a layer into the GIS showing a. proposed future alignment layer the State could say, with 90% certainty, this was what they would need in 10-15 years.:FIe stated if they agreed when a parcel of property that crossed that line was being redeveloped, and if they would preemptively take the correct portion of that and pay for it in today's dollars, they could slowly ensure the parcels they may need would cost less. Commissioner Sackett inquired if there was strength or more value to any one of the four .issues. ~"' Ms. Smith said her sense was that there was not a priority on any one of the four items. She said they would be listed and they would look at the current plan. CC 11-15-06/371 Commissioner. Bundy said there was so much interconnectivify between the four ~~ items, that any one could not be isolated. 3. ADJOURN. Deputy Mayor Anderson adjourned the meeting at 8:33 p.m. ~J'agga . go yor ATTEST: ti Sarah M. Nliru~s, CMC, City Clerk ~i CC 11-15-06/372