http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/hillsborough-planning-chairmans-ideas-worry-growth-management-advocates/1135198
Hillsborough planning chairman's ideas worry growth-management advocates
By Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, November 19, 2010
In Print: Friday, November 19, 2010
TAMPA — A goal-setting memo from the new chairman of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission has put growth management advocates on high alert.
In an e-mail to the agency's executive director last week, Edward Giunta II laid out a series of cost-cutting measures he'd like to pursue. They include removing planning commission review of everything from historic preservation matters to community plans.
Anti-sprawl activists say he's pushing to dismantle some of the key responsibilities for one of the few entities they trust to stand up to unbridled growth.
"I was shocked at the tone of it," said Terry Flott, chairwoman of the United Citizens Action Network. "It's just so inappropriate. He's got an agenda. I actually fear what is his influence is going to do?"
Giunta, a real estate broker who has served on the commission for eight years as an appointee of the city of Tampa, said in the memo to executive director Bob Hunter that he isn't pressing a personal agenda. The e-mail underscores a desire expressed when he took over as chairman Nov. 8 to solicit the goals of other commissioners.
He said his ideas are shaped by a desire to stay ahead of budget cuts that are likely to come due to declines in tax revenue.
"I'm trying to achieve eliminating or reducing staff workload to where we can absorb the budget cuts without having to reduce work force and still maintain all responsibilities of the planning commission," Giunta said Thursday.
In the memo, Giunta also appears to advocate a Sunshine Law violation by asking Hunter to share with him other commissioners' goals outside of a public meeting. Giunta said he was alerted by Hunter and the commission's attorney that would violate state open-meeting laws and withdrew the request, noting that it was an error.
Giunta listed three goals in the Nov. 10 memo. The last one, with the heading "Simplify Overall Process," has activists most alarmed.
It is followed by two specific recommendations: removing community plans from the county's growth guidebook, known as its comprehensive plan, and "elimination of DCA" — the state Department of Community Affairs.
The county has implemented a series of community plans, which specify development rules for a given area and are crafted with residents' input. Giunta said they have been a disaster, taking years of staff time to create and getting shaped mostly by a few activists rather than representing the will of the community affected.
"It has created significant costs," Giunta said. "The name itself is a farce."
They are indeed the bane of developers, who regularly fight them. A number of community plans are in place already and residents from other parts of the county are waiting in line for the opportunity to have them created.
The reason is obvious, said Barbara Aderhold, a former planning commissioner who helped pursue a community plan for the Keystone-Odessa area.
"The communities want them implemented because they want protection from some of the crappy development that has occurred in the county," Aderhold said.
By getting included in the comprehensive plan, changes are permitted only periodically and must undergo multiple public hearings. Taking them out would allow changes at any time with just one hearing.
"I think it would substantially weaken the comprehensive plans," Hunter said.
As for activists' other concern, Giunta said he isn't seeking for the planning commission to push for the elimination of the DCA, which must sign off on changes to comprehensive plans from around the state. But he said he believes that either the Legislature or incoming Gov. Rick Scott will pursue that.
He said he wants the planning commission to figure out how much staff time is devoted to interacting with the DCA so it can prepare if the state agency is eliminated. His memo seeks similar reviews of the planning commission's work in areas where other agencies play a role in the review, from historic preservation to development permits at the Port of Tampa.
Todd Pressman, a government affairs consultant who regularly represents clients seeking changes to development rules, said he believes Giunta is making a reasonable request. And he agrees with his assessment of community plans.
"You may not agree with what he's saying," Pressman said. " To me, he's taking a fresh and new look at what the planning commission should be doing. That's good government."
Bill Varian can be reached at (813) 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com
Planning boss may have violated Sunshine Law
The new chairman of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission recently tried to communicate his goals for the coming year to fellow commissioners in an e-mail, an apparent violation of Florida Sunshine laws.
Edward Giunta II sent the e-mail Nov. 10 to the planning commission's executive director, Bob Hunter, and asked Hunter to forward it to the other 12 commissioners. The e-mail included several things Giunta wants to accomplish in the coming year, including eliminating the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the state's growth management agency.
Hunter balked at forwarding the e-mail, saying it would violate open meeting laws. Giunta wanted a second opinion, so he called the commission's attorney, Tracy Robin, who confirmed Hunter's opinion.
"It was clearly a mistake on my part," said Giunta, a real estate broker and developer elected chairman Nov. 8 after three years on the commission. "I thought if I sent something directly to Mr. Hunter to distribute, that made things OK. But when I included my three goals, that's where the problem came in."
The e-mail came to light through a public records request by Terry Flott, chairwoman of the grass-roots group United Citizens Action Network. Flott said she was more concerned about Giunta's opinions about the Department of Community Affairs and planning in general than the possible sunshine violation.
"He's out to destroy planning," she said.
Giunta said the DCA costs counties time and money by reviewing every change to local comprehensive plans. Developers have long complained that the DCA stalls growth, but several efforts by legislators over the years to kill the agency have failed.
This year, however, Gov.-elect Rick Scott complained about the agency on the campaign trail, saying it "impacted people who want to build things" and is "killing jobs."
Giunta said in his e-mail that he also wants to take community-based plans out of the county's comprehensive plan and let the county's Planning and Growth Management Department administer them. Hillsborough has 23 such plans, developed through meetings with residents in the planning area. The plans include goals for guiding growth, as well as design and architectural guidelines.
But Giunta said only five or six activists show up at meetings with planning commission staff to develop the plans, a process that can take several years. Once the plans are adopted by the county commission, their land-use guidelines can stop certain types of developments that the majority of residents might favor, he said. The county commission recently voted to let residents or businesses opt out of the plans, but then reversed the option. "They say they are just visions and goals," Giunta said, "but once you put a community plan into the comp plan, it's no longer a vision."
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(813) 259-8303
Edward Giunta II sent the e-mail Nov. 10 to the planning commission's executive director, Bob Hunter, and asked Hunter to forward it to the other 12 commissioners. The e-mail included several things Giunta wants to accomplish in the coming year, including eliminating the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the state's growth management agency.
Hunter balked at forwarding the e-mail, saying it would violate open meeting laws. Giunta wanted a second opinion, so he called the commission's attorney, Tracy Robin, who confirmed Hunter's opinion.
"It was clearly a mistake on my part," said Giunta, a real estate broker and developer elected chairman Nov. 8 after three years on the commission. "I thought if I sent something directly to Mr. Hunter to distribute, that made things OK. But when I included my three goals, that's where the problem came in."
The e-mail came to light through a public records request by Terry Flott, chairwoman of the grass-roots group United Citizens Action Network. Flott said she was more concerned about Giunta's opinions about the Department of Community Affairs and planning in general than the possible sunshine violation.
"He's out to destroy planning," she said.
Giunta said the DCA costs counties time and money by reviewing every change to local comprehensive plans. Developers have long complained that the DCA stalls growth, but several efforts by legislators over the years to kill the agency have failed.
This year, however, Gov.-elect Rick Scott complained about the agency on the campaign trail, saying it "impacted people who want to build things" and is "killing jobs."
Giunta said in his e-mail that he also wants to take community-based plans out of the county's comprehensive plan and let the county's Planning and Growth Management Department administer them. Hillsborough has 23 such plans, developed through meetings with residents in the planning area. The plans include goals for guiding growth, as well as design and architectural guidelines.
But Giunta said only five or six activists show up at meetings with planning commission staff to develop the plans, a process that can take several years. Once the plans are adopted by the county commission, their land-use guidelines can stop certain types of developments that the majority of residents might favor, he said. The county commission recently voted to let residents or businesses opt out of the plans, but then reversed the option. "They say they are just visions and goals," Giunta said, "but once you put a community plan into the comp plan, it's no longer a vision."
(813) 259-8303
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Giunta is exactly the politician that Amendment 4 supporters were hoping to marginalize at the polls. Big bucks got in the way from saving our State from these politicians, developers, Chamber, etc. Sickening. The voters really are sheep. They deserve what they get...we don't.
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