Workshop Topics

The next City Commission workshop meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, May 14, at 6 pm at City Hall. The agenda includes topics of current interest as well as topics regarding the planning for the future. Let’s review two of these topics:

1919 School Building

At the last workshop the project Construction Manager presented an alternative proposal for the next phase of the work. The City Commission’s direction to this point has been to complete the first floor of the building cost-effectively in order to open and begin using the building as quickly as possible. This has meant stretching grant dollars, which are not as plentiful now as they were a few years ago. A number of items originally included in the design, such as extensive lighting for large dramatic performances and an orchestra pit, as well as expensive finishes such as metal ceilings, had been laid aside. The next phase of the work anticipated using less expensive materials, such as vinyl tile in the restrooms rather than ceramic tile. The alternative plan drawn up by the architect and presented by the Construction Manager proposed to finish a portion of the first floor with the original, more expensive finishing materials in order to attract major donors to the facility.

The Commission will discuss the direction of the next phase of the work at the workshop. The funding for the next phase includes a $350,000 grant from the state historic preservation agency and a $300,000 match from the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) funds.

Review of City Growth Policies and the City’s Capabilities to Serve Growth in the Future

City staff is preparing an update to the Capital Improvements Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Every city and county in Florida must have a Comprehensive Plan as prescribed by the 1985 Growth Management Act. These plans include maps indicating the future land uses and zoning for all properties within the City, and a description of how the City will serve the needs of these areas.

In the last six years the City has made far-reaching changes to better prepare for growth. The first professionally prepared impact fee study was completed to ensure that new growth pays for itself as much as possible. The future land use map, the centerpiece of a comprehensive plan, and related growth regulations, were extensively overhauled in 2005 during a period in which the City Commission declared a “zoning in progress” period and stopped the approvals of new subdivisions until plan overhaul was completed. This re-write was long overdue, and was attempted twice in the past by hiring consultants. Those efforts were not adopted. The 2005 revision was prepared by City staff, principally City Planner Margaret Swanson and Assistant City Manager Judy Delmar, and adopted by the City Commission.

An example of the type of subdivision that is produced under the new planning regulations is Whispering Ridge. The first proposal from the developer was a plan with over 500 lots arranged in a grid (square blocks) system. The final plan, after many reviews and suggestions by the planning staff, has 349 lots, a bike/walking trail, and a “spine” road that has “neighborhood node streets” rather than driveways connecting to it. The neighborhoods feature a number of common areas in which the original pine trees were saved.

Those staff members also worked with the City’s Utilities Attorney Jerry Buhr in the preparation of the City’s first Concurrency Management Plan. The key provision of the 1985 Growth Management Act is to ensure “concurrency” – that fundamental public services such as capacity for transportation, water, sewer, garbage disposal, recreation/open space, drainage, and schools are available to serve new developments when the services are needed. The City’s concurrency management system now requires new development to pay a portion of their impact fees up front, in two steps, for the building of these new facilities to serve growth.

City Planner Margaret Swanson will review the staff’s updating of the Capital Facilities Element of the Comprehensive Plan, which projects the City’s ability to serve growth that is anticipated during the planning period.

The workshop will feature seven other topics of interest as well, and the agenda is listed on the City’s website at www.cityoflakewales.com and at city hall. Everyone is invited!

The Best Future for Our Community

My wife and I left Northern Kentucky in 1985 and came to Lake County just north of us for my first City Manager job. Shortly after my arrival several reporters from the local paper descended on me and asked what I felt was the biggest challenge facing that town. From my research, I did not hesitate to answer: Growth Management.

Over 20 years later and now in Lake Wales, my answer is the same. Growth Management is a multi-faceted challenge with effects for the long-term, one that begs for citizen participation. The questions to be answered include, what kind of community are we building for the future? Will it be a “bedroom community”, with most working adults leaving during the week-long daylight hours to work somewhere else? Or will we have industry and commerce here? When they reach adulthood, will our children have the opportunity to work here, or will it be taken for granted that they must move away to find career jobs? If we have a bedroom community, will it be sustainable? That is, will the revenues from that type of community be able to support the public services such as police and fire that are necessary to serve the community, or will it take a mix of industry, commercial, and residential in order to be sustainable? And if we develop a community with adults leaving to work, what about the children? Will they have to leave during the day to find a quality education? In such case, what is the mindset of the families in the community when family members spend most of their weekday time in another community, away from where they live? Will they be as willing to volunteer their scarce free time to contribute to the community where they live? Will they have true community pride?

These were some of the questions posed five years ago at the outset of the Polk Vision process. The planner hired by the then new, non-profit Polk Vision group went around the county and met with citizens in various communities. His first meeting in Lake Wales was at the library, and he commented that it was the largest community meeting in Polk County that he had had up to that time.

The fundamental concept that came out of the Polk Vision process was that we – as a town and as a county – do not want to be a bedroom community. We do not want our citizens to have to leave during the weekday for employment or education.

I believe that Lake Wales has exemplified this point more than any other city in our county, and the foundations for this concept were well in place long before Polk Vision came along. Ready examples of this concept can be found in the last 7 years: in the sale of the Lake Wales Medical Center, and the establishment of the Lake Wales Charter School System.

Shortly after I arrived here in 2001, I was invited to a meeting to discuss the status of the Lake Wales Medical Center. At that time it was owned by Winter Haven Hospital, and over time there were fewer services being offered. After a series of meetings it was decided that the group would approach the parent company to encourage them to sell the hospital to another firm that would provide us with an independent, stand alone hospital with many more services. I remember thinking that this mission seemed like a long-shot… but then - Mission Accomplished! Winter Haven Hospital sold the Lake Wales Medical Center to Community Health Systems, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, a company with one other hospital in Florida. Our new and improved hospital now features many services that have returned, along with new services including cardiac catheterizations and other diagnostic procedures that have been added. Success!

Similarly, many parents over the years have been concerned with the quality of education at the county district schools in Lake Wales. A group was formed through the Chamber of Commerce to explore the formation of a city school district. Interestingly, the city had its own school district many years ago before merging with the county district. After much work and discussion, a new charter school district was formed that converted four elementary schools and the high school into charter schools under one district, with a new charter middle school starting up in the fall. The results have been very impressive, with many improvements including new science labs in all five schools. There has been a refreshing new energy in the schools, with more community involvement. Another Success!

These are just two examples of what I and my family have found here: that Lake Wales is a very special place, and the fundamental concept conveyed in the Polk Vision effort has been demonstrated here. But, looking ahead, there is more to do. There is much interest in expanding and growing our community. In order to achieve our “best future”, we must have active citizen interest and participation. In this space next week, we’ll explore how that can be accomplished.

The City's Utility Systems

A number of times during the year, City staff members address citizen groups on the workings of City government. During these presentations I always take time to emphasize the importance of our City utility systems: water, sewer, and re-use water. While these systems are essential for every household and business, they are also one of the fundamental keys to growth and development.

Let’s review this topic and present a progress report on where we are now and where we are headed.

Our Current Situation

The City’s water utility serves 7.644 customers and pumps over 3 million gallons of water per day. This water comes from deep wells at three City water plants (Market Street, Burns Avenue, and Grove Avenue) that are capable of pumping over 17 million gallons of water per day. However, the amount of water that can be pumped from the aquifer is regulated by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). Our current “Consumptive Use Permit” (CUP) for this purpose is capped at 3.86 million gallons per day. While we are not exceeding this limit on an average basis, the demand for water is increasing with growth. For this reason City staff began serious discussions with SWFWMD on this topic over two years ago and then submitted a request to increase the City’s CUP in December of 2006. Since then, the City Commission has taken two actions to strengthen our position to have the CUP approved:

1. The City Commission approved a new water rate schedule that increases the price per thousand gallons as more water is used. This schedule, even more than the previous schedule, encourages water conservation; and


2. The City Commission approved a contract with SWFWMD that provides matching funds for the construction of the first substantial re-use project (see below). Re-use water is highly treated sewer water that is not at drinking water standards but is used for irrigation, thereby reducing the amount of water pumped by the City wells.

City staff expects that with these City Commission actions, the new CUP will be approved this year.

The provision of sewer service is, in many ways, more difficult than water. At present the City operates one sewer plant in the area of US27 and SR 60, with a capacity of 1.9 million gallons per day. It is currently treating 1.2 million gallons per day. The operation of the plant is regulated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)

FDEP requires that when the usage of the plant reaches 80% of plant capacity, the plant owner shall begin planning for plant expansion. Currently our plant is at 63% usage, but the City Commission has already taken action and the construction plans for the first phase of plant expansion are nearly complete.

Where We are Headed

It is not unusual for a city to issue bonds for the expansion of utilities, with the new developments paying the debt service for the bonds; however, in such cases, the existing customers, in effect, “co-sign the note.” In other words, if growth does not occur at the pace predicted, the existing customers are on the hook to pay off the debt.

Our City Commission has directed that, to the greatest extent possible, existing customers shall not be saddled with this expense. Therefore, the Commission approved a system whereby new developments line up in a “queue” and wait until enough developers are ready to commit to utility expansions and guarantee payments.

It is also important to note that some developers have existing commitments for all or some of the unused capacity in both water and wastewater. The City Commission approved the City’s first formal “Concurrency System” for City utilities to track the usage and availability of water and sewer service for new development.

The process for providing water and sewer capacity, along with a well-written Land Development Code, is the key to providing quality development. The City Commission has ensured that these items are now in place without requiring the existing residents to pay the bill.

Preparing for Growth

There is a feature that appears in this newspaper entitled, “Lake Wales in Motion,” which lists new developments. The City Commission has directed that the City must be well prepared for growth, and that existing residents not be saddled with the costs associated with new development. To this end, important steps have been taken in the areas of planning, impact fees, and utilities to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, growth pays for itself.

Planning

In 2005 the City Commission adopted a substantial overhaul to the City’s Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Regulations. City staff had recognized the need for this change for many years… in fact, the Land Development Regulations had been re-written twice by mid-2001, but each time the documents were not judged by City staff to be worthy of City Commission review.

In 2004 Assistant City Manager Judy Delmar and Director of Planning and Development Margaret Swanson took up this task. They each continued with their existing workloads while they wrote the massive document, which was then reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board and transmitted to the City Commission with a recommendation for approval. A number of public hearings were also held before City Commission adoption.

Some of the major changes in the new code include the following:

• Tree ordinance – developers are required to replace trees that are cut down on site, or pay into a fund to plant trees elsewhere in the city;


• Sidewalks – developers are required to build sidewalks, and if there are good reasons not to, they pay into a fund to build sidewalks elsewhere in the City;


• Commercial zoning strategy – existing commercial areas have a wide variety of permitted commercial uses, to encourage re-development of older commercial areas. Many new commercial areas have a new future land use designation: Limited Commercial/Industrial. This designation is more restrictive on the types of uses and discourages strip malls along state highways;


• Two entrances to subdivisions with over 50 lots – this provides for better access for public safety vehicles as well as residents;


• Density reduction – the prior code allowed for some areas to be developed at a density of 25 units per acre! The maximum density that can now be built is 12 units per acre; and


• Site plan requirements have improved – Large residential developments reviewed under the new regulations have a “spine” road that runs through the development. The spine road does not have driveways coming out onto it, but connect “neighborhood nodes” of houses. They also provide for open space within the development. (Example: Whispering Ridge, on 11th Street south of SR 60.)

Margaret Swanson has continued to recommend adjustments to the Land Development Code as new situations present themselves. The next amendment to the code to be proposed is the Historic Preservation Ordinance. This is a very important document for our town, as we are blessed to have many historic structures. The ordinance recommends that the downtown area be named a historic district under the terms of the ordinance, while any other area of the City must undergo a process in which a majority of the property owners vote to make their area a historic district.

The primary regulation for properties within the historic district includes a process for developing vacant properties and modifying existing buildings. The ordinance proposes that a technical committee review such developments or modifications, and make a recommendation to the City Commission. The goal is to preserve the celebrated character of our historic areas.

Impact Fees

Also in 2005 the City Commission directed staff to review the City’s impact fees. An impact fee is paid by new development (or an existing development that increases its demand for service) and it represents the cost of expanding a City service to accommodate the new development. For example, the water impact fee represents the cost of expanding the water system – the well plants and water pipes – to accommodate the addition of this new customer. Impact fees are collected for the following City service areas:

• Water


• Sewer


• Police


• Fire & Rescue


• Parks


• Library

As this is a technical and esoteric area that could bring lawsuits if the fee is proven to be incorrect, the City followed the industry standard and hired a consultant to do this work. The fees are now updated every year. In addition to these City imposed fees on new development, the City also collects impact fees for the County in the areas of Transportation (used by the County to improve County roads), Corrections (for jail expansion), Emergency Medical Service (ambulances), and Schools.

Next week’s column will feature a review of the substantial work that is being done to upgrade our City’s utility systems and prepare for the demands of growth.