REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

A Quarterly Publication of the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council

Summer 1998

LEGISLATURE

WHAT'S NEW IN THE
ORIGINAL FLORIDA'S
HIDDEN COAST?

First Annual Birdfest--A Success!

The first annual Hidden Coast "Birdfest" went off without a hitch . . . if you don't count having to reschedule the event approximately five weeks from April to May due to the severe flooding of the Suwannee River and surrounding areas.

As advertised, the two and one-half day event, held in Fanning Springs beginning on Friday, May 15, and ending on Sunday at noon, May 17, offered a variety of activities—from educational lectures on birdwatching, bicycling the just-opened Nature Coast Greenways trail, canoeing the Suwannee River, to constructing and flying kites.

The Florida Legislature passed several amendments to the growth management acts governing comprehensive planning requirements for cities and counties this past legislative session. These amendments addressed Evaluation and Appraisal Reports, school concurrency, sector planning, transportation and land use, and the State Comprehensive Plan.

In regards to the Evaluation and Appraisal Report requirements, both substantive and procedural changes were made by the Legislature. The amendments clarified that the Evaluation and Appraisal Report is to serve as a summary audit of actions undertaken by the local government and identify changes that it may need to make to its comprehensive plan with emphasis on major issues regarding the community's achievement of its goals.

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REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES Summer 1998

NEWS FLASH!

THE ORIGINAL FLORIDA

COUNTIES ARE UNITED WITH

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE

STATE'S EIGHTH TOURISM

DISTRICT

PARTNERSHIP

PROGRESS

The North Central Florida Economic Development Partnership will soon be receiving from the printer its first full-color brochure which features the attractiveness of the 11-county region as a place for industries to locate their facilities.

Needless to say, the brochure highlights the region's climate, physical environment and recreational opportunities, its cultural and historical amenities, its highly-respected educational and medical facilities, the area's hard-working labor force, and overall accessibility (transportation facilities and strategic location).

In conjunction with the brochure, the Partnership is developing a homepage on the internet so interested businesses can gather information about the region with a click of the mouse. The Partnership is also designing an exhibit which members can carry with them to trade shows.

The Partnership has received a grant from Enterprise Florida which will be utilized to develop a regional data base of industrial buildings and properties that are available to expanding businesses. Since currency is critical to the success of the data base, the project will conclude with workshops to train realtors and local economic developers on how to update the data electronically.

Visit Florida, Inc., the state's public/private agency in charge of promoting tourism statewide, has united the 11 counties of The Original Florida region into a new tourism promotion district.

In establishing this eighth district, Visit Florida added one county to the southwest (Levy), and four counties to the west (Jefferson, Leon, Wakulla, and Gadsden) to the 11 counties of The Original Florida region.

WEB PAGES OF INTEREST

North Central Florida Regional Planning Council http://ncfrpc.org

The Original Florida - http://originalflorida.org

North Central Florida Local Emergency Planning Committee http://www.afn.org/~lepc/

North Central Florida Areawide Development Co., Inc. http://adco.org

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES Summer 1998

(What's New in The Original Florida Continued from Page 1)

CDBG NEWS

Overall attendance for this first occurrence was estimated between 800 to 1,000 people—a pretty decent start given the limited time and resources devoted to advertising the event and the concern over high water and resulting rescheduling of the event.

Given the potential market as noted in the winter edition of the Regional Perspective, it is anticipated that this annual event could attract thousands of visitors to the area in future years with more time devoted to advertising and as news of the event spreads by word-of-mouth.

Shellfish Producers Association Formed. . .

In other activities, Council staff, in conjunction with the Dixie County Board of County Commissioners, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, assisted clam farmers in establishing a not-for-profit corporation to operate the shellfish nursery located in Horseshoe Beach.

Named the "Hidden Coast Shellfish Producers Association, Inc.," the corporation will also be in charge of marketing the crop. In one of its first actions, the corporation agreed to market its crops as products of The Original Florida's Hidden Coast. Unfortunately, this spring's early floods, by lowering salinity of the Gulf waters in and around the clam leases, have hampered growing of the clam seed. Especially hard-hit are those leases located in the Cedar Keys area.

Council staff assisted 6 local governments with completing their applications for a total of $5.31 million of Fiscal Year 1998 Community Development Block Grant funds. The applications were submitted to the Department of Community Affairs by the June 30 deadline. A decision on the applications will be made later this year in November.

The funding requests varied from Housing Rehabilitation ($2.4 million), Commercial Revitalization ($1.8 million), to Neighborhood Revitalization ($1.11 million) as follows: Lafayette and Taylor counties and the cities of Live Oak and Madison $600,000 each for Housing Rehabilitation; cities of Live Oak, Madison and Perry $600,000 each for Commercial Revitalization; Suwannee County and the City of Perry $750,000 and $360,000, respectively, for Neighborhood Revitalization.

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES Summer 1998

(Growth Management Amendments Continued from Page 1)

In the area of school concurrency, the amendments require that if a local government voluntarily decides to establish a level of service concurrency requirement for school facilities, it must adopt a countywide school facilities element as part of its comprehensive plan.

A pilot program for up to five communities was also established for sector plans covering large geographic areas as an alternative to the Developments of Regional Impact review process. Finally, two

The Evaluation and Appraisal Report sections of Chapter 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code, were repealed and replaced with 11 major components specified in the amended statute. In addition, the review process and related procedural aspects were revised by the Legislature. Of particular interest to cities and counties is the requirement that all local governments, regardless of size, will now be required to complete an Evaluation and Appraisal Report of its comprehensive plan every seven years.

study committees were established by the Legislature. One study committee, to be jointly appointed by the Florida Department of Community Affairs and the Florida Department of Transportation, will study land use/transportation coordination issues and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature concerning highway concurrency and level of service methodologies. The other study committee to be appointed by the Governor will review the State Comprehensive Plan and make recommendations concerning the update of the plan.