Here's the problem, they don't want to address all of the already allocated residential units

They just rationalize adding more and more density in the name of  the latest catchphrase "walkable commuities"
http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2010/nov/16/must-decide-whether-to-appeal-comp-plan/

Must decide whether to appeal comp plan


By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

One of the first questions the new commissioners will decide is whether to appeal the state's rejection of Highlands County's comprehensive plan.

Among the county's options:•Schedule an administrative hearing and force the Florida Department of Community Affairs to accept Blue Head Ranch, Lake Placid North and South, and Lake Placid Groves, along with the rest of Evaluation and Appraisal Reports amendments.

•Resubmit the rest of the EARS but leave out the four subdivisions, which DCA has identified as sprawl.

•Go to mediation.

First, said Development Services Director Mark Hill, Highlands County will wait. Three new commissioners will be seated at the Nov. 16 meeting, and the newly elected Gov. Rick Scott, will take office in January. Scott has claimed the DCA kills jobs; the Republican-dominated Legislature has threatened to disband or sunset the agency.

Locally

All three new commissioners first want to educate themselves on the issue and examine the possibilities.

"I don't know yet," said Jack Richie, who will represent District 4, the Lake Placid area. "We need to find out exactly what we have to do, and then look at the cost. And then I think we have to have input from the community."

"As I understand it, and I know I don't have all the information yet, we have no choice but to address DCA's issues, so we can't do nothing," said Don Elwell, who lives in Spring Lake and will represent Lorida and eastern Highlands County. "The extent of the appeal is debatable."

Greg Harris, who will represent Sebring, isn't willing to give up yet.

"I know a lot of work went into it," he said. The EAR amendments include antiquated subdivisions, water supply issues, and how many buildable lots Highlands County needs for the future.

The county has about 200 subdivisions, said planner Don Hanna, which include 85,000 lots. "We have about 55,000 lots available."

However, he added, "we need to remember that these lots have, in most cases, no water or wastewater service. In some cases the roads are not in. They lack the amenities that would foster a mixed use, walkable, modern subdivision. As such, their desirability and marketability is lessened."
Highlands County's EAR amendments would direct new development away from what the planning department calls antiquated subdivisions by limiting building permits. New development should be directed to subdivisions with developer-paid amenities, Hanna said.

Another side

Paula House and other local environmentalists have opposed the four new subdivisions.

A fourth option, House said, would be to propose only the EAR amendments that Highlands County needs to adopt the comprehensive plan required by law. Then, the county could work on Blue Head, Lake Placid North and South, and Lake Placid Groves.

"It seems to me that certain projects are holding it up," House said.

Going to mediation, House said, "suggests these issues are solvable." She doesn't believe they are, with the four subdivisions still in the county's plan. One reason: water.

Two October 2010 water management district letters to DCA "say some pretty shocking things," House said. Planning Manager Ran Frahm wrote that withdrawals from the Floridan Aquifer in the southern part of Southwest Florida Water Management District "have resulted in salt water intrusion, cessation of spring flows, and lowered lake levels."


"How do you mediate that issue?" House asked.