County Commissioners Vote to Send 2030 Comprehensive Plan to State for Review

As described in the article below from the Orlando Sentinel, the public hearing for transmittal of the 2030 comprehensive plan was intense but everybody was well behaved. More than 50 people spoke for and against the plan. Developers and homebuilders spoke against the plan. Retirees, environmentalists, and the general public that has been concerned about the eroding quailty of life in Lake County due to overbuilding, spoke in favor of the plan.

Elaine Renick and Linda Stewart worked hard to try to ensure a number of important issues were retained in the plan. The plan recommended increasing the protection of the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern by prohibiting the expansion of sand mines and new mines but allowing for mining the existing site plans which would last for approx. 10-15 years. The mining industry lobbied hard to ensure they could keep mining the Green Swamp. Commissioners Renick and Stewart supported the recommendation. Commissioners Cadwell, Hill and Conner did not support the recommendation so it was removed.

Commissioner Cadwell then recommended (and the Comimssion approved) inserting language in the plan to keep the existing policies in place and to form a committee to make recommendations on the issue within the next 18 months. During this period of time there will be no expansion of mines or new mines.

There were a number of other issues as outlined in the article. In general the meeting went well. No groups got everything they wanted but the 2030 Plan has a good balance of land for economic development (not focused on houses) and protection for rural areas, sensitive areas, and quality of life in Lake County.

By Stephen Hudak, ORLANDO SENTINEL

3:08 p.m. EST, January 19, 2010

TAVARES - TAVARES – Lake County commissioners voted unanimously this afternoon to transmit a massive planning document that is expected to guide the county's growth for the next two decades to the state Department of Community Affairs.

Earlier, commissioners heard arguments from about 40 people who came to the all-day meeting to make their cases about the plan, which grew out of dozens of meetings with the public and was strongly supported by the environmental community. It was generally opposed by developers, who believe that too much property will be too tightly restricted under the provisions.

Among the topics discussed were whether to expand mining in the Green Swamp, considered one of the state's primary recharge area, and whether to lift a rural protection area from nearly 11,000 acres south of Clermont along U.S. Highway 27. Private property-rights advocates also had their say on the 388-page document known as Planning Horizon 2030.