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.