Port Citrus and more in comp plan

It’s Wednesday, so let’s dive into Part 2 of JWC’s comprehensive look at the Citrus County Comprehensive Plan.

And…I never thought I’d be writing that statement in a million years.

But the response from Tuesday’s comp plan part one was so encouraging (at least in my head) that I’m continuing on.

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First, a few thoughts.

I mentioned the comp plan is outdated. Few people disagree with that. One way to tell is it makes references to various county departments and divisions that no longer exist. Or, it refers to deadlines that have since passed.

Someone asked if it’s even worth doing a consultant-based rewrite of the comp plan. Will it be outdated by the time it’s done?

That’s a great question. The answer is, if done right, that won’t be the case. The comp plan starts with a snapshot of today and looks decades forward. It shouldn’t be a situation where we adopt something one year and it’s no longer a priority the next year.

Here's the entire plan. Some highlights:

— “The County shall ensure that, by the year 2010, every residential unit and nonresidential establishment shall be serviced by a County-operated or franchised solid waste collector.”
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This is what I’m talking about. The plan is rife with policies like this that never panned out. We don’t have franchised garbage collection, and we probably never will.

Short version: Voters in 1988 approved a non-binding referendum for universal garbage pickup. It never materialized as commissioners were tripped up by the details. Mainly, the detail of how much it’ll cost each homeowner.

The franchise idea returned about seven years ago for all the right reasons. By then though, a law was in place that required local governments to give three years’ notice to garbage haulers who would lose business if not awarded a franchise.

Well, our political attention span resembles a 4-year-old in a candy store. When the three-year clock expired, commissioners found virtually no community support to move ahead with the plan, so they ditched it. (This blog explains it well.)

And that’s why we don’t have franchised garbage collection. Despite what our comp plan says.

— “Leverage the extension of the Suncoast Parkway as a primary means to attract businesses and encourage economic development.”

I’d say that’s panning out as planned. And then some.

— “The County shall coordinate the CR-491 widening with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in development of the Suncoast Parkway 2 interchange at SR-44.”

I’m not 100% sure what this refers to. Would that be the C.R. 491 now being widened, or the C.R. 491 north of Beverly Hills that we want widened, or even the section of 491 that was already widened?

Doesn’t matter. This one sticks in my craw. The ONLY reason we’ll have a parkway interchange at C.R. 486 is because the county was worried that 491 wouldn’t be widened (which it wasn’t) when the toll road opened at S.R. 44.

The public has numerous questions about the parkway’s impact on our local road network. Let’s hope a revised comp plan addresses them.

— “By the year 2001, Citrus County will achieve a reduction in the amount of dilapidated homes to no more than three percent of the total County housing stock.”

No clue if that happened, or even if it exists today.

— “The Citrus County Port Authority should determine the economic feasibility of a public/private partnership in the development of Port Citrus.”

The County Commission has a June 23 workshop on Port Citrus. There was talk at a recent meeting of buying property on the Cross Florida Barge Canal to begin developing a port.

After sitting in mothballs for 10 years, it seems like a cart-before-the-horse thing to buy property without deciding a vision first. The comp plan says we need an economic feasibility study before we do anything. So…are we following the comp plan?

That’s just a two-day glimpse into the comprehensive plan. I encourage readers to look through it. 

It’s not only up to five commissioners to set our future. That role rests with us all.

Have a great Wednesday, friends.

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