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Drowning in the Tidal Wave debate

11/28/2023

 
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The most important portion of any type of writing is the start.

In the news biz, we call it the lede. And, yes, we spell it that way on purpose.

I’ve had some really fun ones over the years. The School Board was discussing school dress code, and how some cheerleader uniforms exposed the wearer’s midriffs. Board members didn’t like that. This was my lede:

“Two, four, six, eight, what do school board members hate? Bare midriffs!”

I literally laughed out loud during the meeting when that lede came to me.

And that’s a long way to say I have no lede today. I spent Tuesday at the County Commission meeting, and my brain lacks imagination.

— For all the hype, Commissioner Diana Finegan’s border resolution was a dud. Very few citizens, maybe four or five, weighed in. They congratulated Finegan on her leadership.

It passed unanimously with very little discussion. Now the world knows: Citrus County wants borders secure! 

Politically, it’s a wash for Finegan. She got a positive vote, but the fact that we didn’t have a full room or even anything close suggests residents grew bored with this issue fairly quickly. When John "Library Guy" Labriola is your top supporter, the wheels have fallen off the bus.

Maybe — just a guess — citizens want commissioners to concentrate on county issues and they don’t care if we have a border resolution or not. Or maybe they were out Christmas shopping.

Either way, I doubt “border resolution” makes the county’s 2023 highlight reel.

— In every commissioner’s first turn as chairman, he or she needs to establish control. While there are processes in place, the chairman runs the meeting and it isn’t unusual for other commissioners to challenge that authority.

Sure enough, it happened right away. Commissioners were having a rather lengthy discussion about the Tidal Wave car wash property (more in a moment) and Finegan, who as we explained Monday's blog has a special connection with Team Tidal Wave, wanted the company attorney to have a second chance to speak.

The rules are simple: Everyone gets his/her 3 minutes, 5 minutes if representing a group. One time at the mic per subject. Not two.

Finegan was incredulous that Davis wouldn’t succumb.

“When you’re chair, you can make the decisions,” she said to Finegan.

The board chose Finegan as second vice so barring something odd, she’ll be chairman in two years.

— The Tidal Wave car wash issue is complicated and heavy, heavy government. What I mean by that is it’s not the stuff you and I talk about over a frozen hot chocolate at Cattle Dog. Terms like “plat” and “quasi-judicial” are eye-glazers.

So I’m going to skip all that and break this down so someone like me can understand it.

The car wash is under construction. The property owner wants to subdivide 6 or 7 acres into individual commercial lots. As Just Wright Citrus mentioned in August, plans include a Chick-fil-A and Chipotle, but that can’t happen until the lands are divided.

Commissioners would rather see a planned unit development, or PUD, which spells out development details. No surprises with a PUD. Developers are not fans, and for the same reason. Developers don’t like getting that locked in.

Twice this developer has asked for a plat. The board majority said no, it wanted a PUD. The developer agreed, filed the application and it’s coming to the board in January.

Well, he still wants the plat. I’m not smart enough to know why that’s important, but commissioners had a healthy 45-minute debate about it that ended on a 3-2 vote against the developer.

So, here’s the question: At what point does the County Commission’s insistence on smart commercial growth become too hands-on? Should commissioners focus on the details of someone’s project, or the details of the Land Development Code that regulates how projects are developed?

Doing this piecemeal is no different than hodge-podge zoning. Neither is effective in the long run because there’s no continuity, no organization to it. It’s just five people voting with nothing but their views of the world guiding them.

Plus, this Tidal Wave thing is just weird. Can’t put my finger on it. We’ll get there.

That’s a wrap. Have a great Wednesday, friends.

Join the discussion on our Facebook page.



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    Author

    Mike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 37 years.

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