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The Mayor & The Manager - Facts About Stone Ridge - #024 · Providence Voice

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, Lake Wales.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode number 24 of the Mayor and the Manager.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast created by Providence Voice, which is the media ministry of High Point Church, and we created it for you, the citizens of Lake Wales, so that you can get to know the people that you hire and elect to lead you and you can be aware of what's happening in your city.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I am joined again here today with our city manager, James Slayton.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: James, it's good to see you.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good to see you, man.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: See, we caught you on a day when you're doing things around the house, so you're not suited up like you normally are, but I'm sure you still can talk with some level of intelligence.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So today we are going to talk once again about economic development here in the city of Lake Wales.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: The city is growing so fast.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of exciting things to happen.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: But we are in the news again because of the big Stone Ridge development out on Highway 60 West.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, in the last year, we approved Stone Ridge last September.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So just a little over a year ago.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And just shortly before that, we approved Lake Wales Commons.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: So big, two big developments, multi-use developments out on Highway 60.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Multi-use, did I say that right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mixed use.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, mixed use.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um so let's let's start off this way.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: We discussed this a few episodes ago, James, when we talked about our economic development plan in Lake Wales.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things we're really lacking in and trying to work hard to do is to attract some major manufacturing jobs, some big employers that pay really good living wages.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been real intentional about rewriting our zoning.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so why don't we talk about that?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna let you kind of take off on that.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: What are some things that we've done intentionally in our planning to try and attract some major employers to the area?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, to to begin with, you know, we've worked with the landowners and we've had several to uh you know request that their land be annexed into the city limits and then you know request the appropriate uh land use and zoning, number one, for commercial and or industrial.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's really you know the step one because you know absent those uh industrial zoning areas, you know, everything's residential, we then become a you know a bedroom community.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: So really step one is to identify those target areas that are going to be good for uh economic development for the other.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let me stop you real quick there.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You said that we are being proactive and intentional about reserving land for ek for industrial development.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons we do that is because if not, it gets gobbled up by residential development, which is one of the things that we have um heard a lot of complaints about.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, it's a problem.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this is actually if you if you hate the heavy traffic, if you hate seeing nothing but housetops, this is actually a good thing.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: It is definitely a good thing for a lot of reasons.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's just one people normally don't think about.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: No, they they don't.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um absolutely.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: We we could I could give you many examples on on why it's a lot a lot better, um, but but I don't think uh we we have time for that unless you want to get into that.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I I interrupt you.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to take the aside to say if you don't do this when growth comes so rapidly to an area like it has all of Polk County, uh, and you don't get ahead of it and have an intentional economic development plan, then all your city will be is a bedroom community for the larger employers.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So without question.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the motivations that drove us to this.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been working on this a long time.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: We we definitely have.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we've been working on the annexation, land use and zoning for those large-scale employers, and then you've got to make sure you've got infrastructure for those sites.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And most of ours, I'm happy to say, have the infrastructure in place.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's one area, um, Hump Brothers Road specifically, that we're um that is lacking some utilities, but that that's been an engineering design and construction will commence very soon.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, by the time those sites are ready, um, I think for employers, we'll have the utilities in place.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So we've got the you know, kind of the land use side covered, we've got the infrastructure side covered.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: So those are those are kind of the fundamentals, I'd say.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then you know, additional steps we've taken have been um you know creating various incentives programs.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Most of the cities do not have incentives, uh, quite honestly.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so we we've put together over the last two years three different incentives that we're able to offer large-scale employers to attract them to set up shop here in Lake Wales.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um then, of course, you know, we worked through uh two years ago with the Central Florida Planning Council an economic development strategic plan that we're gonna be working down and have been you know uh uh implementing.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um and uh of course, you know, working with our Economic Development Council and then and then coming up soon, we're gonna have an in-house economic development person that focuses on this every single day, quite honestly.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, those are those are some of the proactive steps that that we've taken.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And they're very well maybe more.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, our um land use code, we we changed that a few years ago to really streamline that that approval process for industrially zoned projects.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I it is because you can forever hope that reality will not knock on your door if that's what you want to do.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if if that's the way you choose, if you if you think that you can just shout and scream at the wind and tell growth to go away, uh, I guess that's one approach.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But what will happen then is land that landowners will sell and you will become nothing but overrun by these what what I've heard derisively called cookie-cutter subdivisions, even though I don't I think that's an unfair description of what we've done.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you want your city to maintain its unique identity and be strong and independent, you have to take this step.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be thinking this way.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of what's been our motivation because we want Lake Wales to remain Lake Wales and not just a a place where someone sleeps when they get up and go to Orlando or Lakeland to work.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So why was Stone Ridge?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why was this 1,300 acre site uh a perfect candidate for that kind of development?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: So good question.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, of course, the uh the developer made that made that ultimate decision.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, if I if I'm looking at it and guessing, number one, it's it's it's a it's a large parcel.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: It can accommodate industrial, you know, sized buildings, number one.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's right on Highway 60, just a few miles away from the Intermodal Logistics Center, right there in Winter Haven.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it's on a on a major uh you know state highway.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um and they can get access to uh highway 27 and they can run you know north, south, east, and west throughout Florida.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it makes sense from a logistics standpoint.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: It is uh right next to our airport.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: There are going to be some benefits and I believe some symbiosis uh with the uh airport and aeronautica activity out there.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's not a lot of residential, virtually none out in and around the airport.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I think folks uh may not realize this, there's already quite a bit of industrial land zoned around our airport, so it's absolutely compatible with the existing industrial uh zoning that's out there.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I think all of those likely are the reasons they they select that site.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And the reality is um there's been a Duke Energy site readiness study performed on that, on that parcel, I bet 15 years ago.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, I believe the the owners have been contemplating you know some industrial um activity out on that parcel for for a long, long time now.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's been a it's been a while, I'm sure.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it would be uh um a little bit naive for us to think, given the way that development has taken place all around us out there that someone wasn't thinking that way.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: So but they approached Lake Wales and they asked to be annexed into Lake Wales.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when we at our last meeting we had a commissioner say that we should have never annexed that land.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um often we will hear citizen outcry about Lake Wales annexing land.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But why is it why is it a good thing for us when a when a landowner comes and says, I would like for you to annex us into the city of Lake Wales?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm happy to answer that.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's one that you could certainly answer yourself as one of the folks voting on that.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, at the end of the day, if it's annexed inside the city limits, our planning department, our folks, our city commission, our planning board, um, our people have a say in how that project is designed and or developed, number one.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we have some control uh over that project, whereas you know, were it not annexed into our city limits, we would have no say.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Second thing is we will get the uh you know the economic benefits, quite honestly.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we we've uh we annex property inside the city limits, well then you know, we're gonna have to serve that property with uh you know our government services, and at least we can get the uh the tax benefit that comes along with that to pay for the services that it's going to need.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um and quite honestly, um going back to the you know my first point about control, if it's not annexed by the city of Lake Wales, doesn't mean the project can't happen.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: Quite honestly, they they can be either developed potentially uh out in the county uh with uh Polk County according to their rules and their laws, or another city, quite honestly.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: We're so close to Winterhaven.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um there would be nothing um on some of these projects we're talking about.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um easily could have been annexed into the city of Winterhaven.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Winterhaven would have all the control.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: They could receive all the benefits, um, or Polk County.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we'd still have to deal with, you know, whether it's the traffic that it generates, yeah um or you know, uh anything, any of the activity surrounding that project is still going to impact us, and yet we would we would collect none of the benefits.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's very difficult for us to stop it.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, all we can we can do is uh you know have some level of control over the project.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that goes back to do you want city government to just be reactive and constantly behind the ball, or do you want them to be um proactive in the way that they do these things?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't remember how many years ago it was now that we did the 180 utility service area, because we wanted to take control of what was happening around our city.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the idea being is that we don't want Lake Wales to simply become a feeder system for everybody else.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this is important for us to maintain our identity.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when you say um we get all of the benefits, well, you know, there's a certain level of benefit that you get if somebody builds a bunch of houses.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And houses are important.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not against housing developments, we need them.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a different level of benefits that you get if you bring in a major industrial employer into an area.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So talk about that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about the generational impact of that kind of uh just one.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: So so you know, for speaking for the the government, um, you know, we we get the direct benefit of the the property tax revenue.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um we get the direct benefit of the impact fees that will be generated by that project that are gonna help mitigate the impacts of growth and help pay for enhanced and improved infrastructure.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Those are direct benefits that we get here here uh at the city as the government.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: But the indirect benefits, I think, quite honestly, with these economic development projects are the most important.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Those econ and those indirect benefits are gonna be the amount of money circulating in our local economy that's going to our families.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that they are able to, you know, um provide um a good life, quite honestly, for for themselves.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it just keeps happening year after year after year after year.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Year after year after year.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so um not only that, but they do that, uh, the ongoing tax benefits of that business being in this area for a long time.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not to mention the fact that most of these folks, you know, I know that there's kind of there, there's this unfortunate gang green eye that people cast towards um business like this.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: But most of these kind of businesses, um, when they come into a community, they're pretty good neighbors.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're pretty good citizens.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now we give uh, for instance, I'm still hoping that things will come about with ADS.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: From everything that I've seen of ADS, every community they're a part of, they're very positive contributors to that community.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and most employers that come in like that, they bring a lot to a community.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've noticed anyway.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: They they absolutely do.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: And ADS would have done the same thing.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Those were conversations that we had had, and um, yeah, they they really wanted to get involved in the local community for a second.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not just that they say it, you can look at everywhere they've been, and that's been their track record.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: They they make big investments into the local community.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: They they would have made um, and and again, I've not given up hope on them yet, but they would have made lake they would have made great contributions to the city of Lake Wales.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if anyone from ADS happens to hear this, the mayor would still love for you to come.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh anyway, so just again, the just the downstream generational benefits of one one person like that, one one company like that coming.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we uh a landowner, a developer petitions the city of Lake Wales and says, hey, I want to come in, I want you to annex.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: We decide it's a good idea.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: So once we annex um a big piece of property like that, what responsibilities do we have to the landowner and to the developer?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you know, one once you've annexed it, um, you know, we have to respond to and apply the the land use and zoning, quite honestly.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm not the city planner, but um there there's a series of uh boxes that need to be checked, um you know, for compatibility, comp plan, and those those sorts of things.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um but we we we can't annex the property that doesn't have land use or zoning applied.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we work with those folks um on those you know appropriate land use and and zoning uh approvals.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So but I uh this comes up often.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Every landowner in Polk County, by right, can develop.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's an underlying right to develop.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And and we can't take those rights away from them.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's absolutely correct.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: So there's uh Bert Harris uh private property protection act here in Florida.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so you're exactly right.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have to work in good faith with them.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: If they if they annex in, they come in with an understanding that we're going to work with them to help them develop their property.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: They understand that we have rules, we understand that they have needs.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, you know, we've talked about this, and I again you're not the head of the planning department, but you understand this stuff.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole big long process that we go through.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this this project was a couple of years at least in planning and and that they've got to qualify for.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And once we have done all of that and they have worked with our city planner and they've crossed all the T's, dotted all the I's, they've followed all the rules, and that plan comes before uh the deciding bodies.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's our responsibility to that?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you you you all, the city government, that legislative is legislative body is bound by law uh with certain respects um on approvals related to that to that project, quite honestly.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: And um that you you can't um well, I'll say this.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: You have to have me stated this the uh the other night, you have to have a finding of fact uh to either approve or deny deny a project.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it's a quasi-judicial process.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So again, a developer comes, they have gone through uh with with a project the size of Stone Ridge, it's it's usually a couple of years that they have to go through.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: They meet with our planning department over and over again.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: They our planning department works with them, they work with us um to make sure that they meet all of our standards.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um then it is put for two hearings in front of the planning and zoning board of the city of Lake Wales.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Planning and zoning board can speak to it.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: We want this adjustment, we want this done differently.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: If the owner works in good faith and makes all of those adjustments, then they get approval.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, planning and zoning board signs off.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: It comes before the city commission at that point.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um you and I have talked about this.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have to sit through a four-hour ethics course every year in commission, and we are told this over and over again.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Once that project comes before us, we're in a quasi-judicial setting.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we as commissioners cannot reject that unless there is some compelling reason to do so.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So um you remember that the Stone Ridge hearing was pretty controversial.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: That was a heated night.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um there were a lot of people screaming things about they didn't like it.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we get this all the time.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be noisy, it's gonna be, and all of those things are facets that are um it's you know, we get people that I can't tell you how many times we get experts that show up out of the woodwork that graduated from Florida Southern with a biology degree or an anthropology degree, and they know about the the spotted breasted woodpecker that's sitting on a fence post out there somewhere.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow their expertise is supposed to override um two years of people working on this project, and we commissioners are supposed to reject based on the Well and you can.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: The truth is, and you use the term expert, um, but and I I mean the the I'm gonna say expert, but using a legal term.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um so you can't as a commissioner you're obligated to only consider expert, true expert witness testimony as it relates to uh quasi-judicial uh approvals.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so though folks may not like it, um that so that the using your term expert, um you're legally not even supposed to consider um their their their comments when you're making your decision because they're they're not qualified experts.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now citizens are are free to express their opinions.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: They 100%.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they do.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: But the one thing they have to keep in mind is that what you just said, that we're we if when we're about to vote on this, we're only supposed to consider, you know, expert testimony.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Which so that brings up another issue that we often hear um accusation that we always let the lawyer, we always let the representative of these um developers talk.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: They just get a get up, they we get five minutes and they just get a talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and that's not fair.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, why is that the case?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it happen that way?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they're entitled to.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're the applicant.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're the applicant on the on the project.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: They have standing to do so.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: They have legal standing to do so.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if if an attorney is there on behalf of the developer, they have the legal right uh by law to be able to respond to every statement that's made.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: They could stand up there for an hour if they want to.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that again, a lot of people just don't understand that that's the way that this works.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, a commission meeting's not the time to be able to explain that to them.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, though, no matter how often you explain it, sometimes it doesn't quite get across.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we're once once we on the commission do what we legally should do, follow the rules, and vote in favor of this, unless there was some compelling reason, which nothing happened with Stone Ridge that was compelling.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: What happens then?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: What happens to that plan?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, typically, uh certainly in projects of this guy size, they they go up to uh Tallahassee in the state of Florida.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: There's a state coordinated review.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: So then the state will review the project and provide any comments from you know the state level.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then, you know, once there's a uh, you know, uh say approval or comments from the state have been responded to, then it'll come back to city commission for that.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: The state does their own review.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I would and again, uh uh when uh because we're gonna get to why I'm why we're really why we're talking about Stone Ridge today.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: But um again, I would imagine that all there's a lot of environmental concerns they look at.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they want to look at congruency issues.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: They want to look at um so this thing, this project goes through a lot of things.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I bring it up because um it's not the job of the commission to decide the um environmental impacts of this development.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are state people that handle that.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the job uh of the state of the commission to determine whether uh this is wetlands or not.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: None of that falls under our purview.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and any commissioner that vote based on that is violating their responsibilities to do so.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That that's in the hands of someone else.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus It is.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: And and quite honestly, each of these projects aren't at that point yet.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: So the City Commission is making the initial kind of legislative approval.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: On the front end, all everything else that you just described happens during the site development review process, which comes later.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Much later after the City Commission review, after the site's, you know, typically been engineered, for example.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: But you're exactly right.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that that's a little bit early on to start making guesses on what the impacts are going to be.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's and I think that's very important that some of the things that people get so worked up about when it comes to impact environmental stuff, that may get dealt with later.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes does.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean we've seen projects that didn't come to fruition because of things that were discovered on the state level after it left our level.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then you know even here locally, I mean, well, so you remember, you know, once it's approved and assuming it makes it all the way through it enters into site development review and the entire site gets engineered.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well then those plans get reviewed again, by the way, by other state agencies and local entities, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that's when it gets reviewed for traffic concurrency and water concurrency capacity and school concurrency and all those sorts of things.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: So there are a lot of entities involved with reviewing the project.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: And by the way if the capacity is not available in any of those areas, all of those external entities and I'll include the the city in this for our part um they'll they'll provide comments and say okay you know um you don't meet whatever it is traffic concurrency unless you make X improvements.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: And if you make X improvements, go ahead and do that, resubmit your plans and they will get reviewed again and they have to agree to make those improvements to to mitigate whatever entity or whatever issues are created.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so and if they don't by the way if they can't be concurrency there isn't capacity available the project can't be constructed.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: It cannot move forward.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: So even when a commission votes in favor of a project that's not the last step.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the final word.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's probably you know uh you're you're on step two of probably eight significant milestone steps or so.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's important too that our that folks understand we have a we have a legal obligation to function according to the law and our approval is only one step and a large number of steps.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's when the real work begins quite honestly the real work there's a lot of front end work that happens but but the but the real real dirty work starts after it's been approved.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's talk about then in last month in September of this year, one year after we approved on our commission level the Stone Ridge development, the Polk County Parks and Natural Resources Division I guess took a tour of the site.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were invited to take a tour of the site by the developer if I'm unless I'm misunderstanding that but um I think they approached the developer.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway and it was recommended that a large portion of Stone Ridge be turned into used for land conservation.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think the ledger wrote about this and the Miami Herald picked up this story but that they had toured and decided that it it was indeed there were wetlands there were a lot of habitats there that that sort of thing.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: So am I understanding that right?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: How did that happen?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean and and what does that mean I guess for the project?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so uh Polk County Parks and Natural Resources actually approach the developer.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Again, we we're not and they're not obligated to uh discuss these things with the city but I've just recently found out because of some of the recent just this week public I'll say controversy.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: So they were actually approached about potentially bringing this land in for for conservation.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so they they agreed um and the classic board the conservation lands acquisition selection advisory committee recently uh you know voted to um to to get the the site on the the funding list.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: So what's all that's happened really is the classic is recommending to the county commission, hey this is an important site for consideration for conservation later.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's the stage that it's at right now.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean the land's going into conservation uh even if the ones the the county commission uh assuming they do um somebody's got to buy the property.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's tens and tens of millions of dollars.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so the funding has to be assembled and likely will take years.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: However that is a uh as I've been informed that's kind of a oh gosh I don't I don't know if backstop is the word but but that's that's a kind of a backstop for um in case the land can't be or isn't ever sold and or developed for example.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: So they're they're going to run parallel tracks.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: They've got this conservation thing kind of hanging in in in the background but they're going to continue to pursue future development of the property I've been told um and what I'll tell you that what I've I've been told is being contemplated is all the residential areas, which is the bulk of that site, um there's the there's the real chance that that's the area that becomes conservation.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Meanwhile the industrial piece um stays for future economic development purposes.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: All of this is being sorted out now.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh I think you know the there'll be uh more information coming out soon okay so the initiative on it then was taken by the pole county conservation yes they approached the developer with a request that this would be a consideration and the developer said yes.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I um and that that's not a done deal but it's in consideration.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know that um back in the mid-90s uh there was an approval of some sort of sales tax amount being set aside but whether they have the funding or not to do this is a is a big question.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um the my the um the article that that I read that was um credited to Gary White from the ledger but it was put in the Miami Herald was that um this ended the whole thing but that's not the case.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when when it was brought to our attention uh of course the the the statement was made that um you know people tried to warn us about this and um and that somehow the impression was given that these folks just swooped in because a terrible mistake had been made and snatched that all up and shut it all down.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's certainly not what happened here.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: No it's not it's not what happened.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um so I if I want to make sure I'm understanding that right then is that um the developer was approached the developer was open to letting these folks look at it.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think frankly I mean as a just as a citizen of Lake Wales and I think a lot of people in Lake Wales would say hey that'd be great if if somebody who has the money wants to buy a big portion of that land and not see it developed and we can say nobody can develop it not Winterhaven not Polk County and we can keep a big piece of green grass out there, wonderful.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think everybody'd feel great about that.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: But um again this was something that the developer was open to and and and was willing to let them look at it's but it's still kind of up in the air as to what's going to happen.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: 100% and my understanding also is uh if I want to make sure I'm hearing you right is that there's also a possibility that what sent what won't happen is the big housing development portion of Stone Ridge, but the industrial part still it's a possibility.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think you know at this stage a developer can do they still do anything they want.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact they don't have to put any of this into conservation.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact that they will likely uh but they certainly won't make nearly as much money by putting it into conservation there's nothing that says that they have to it's their property and if they want to build on every square inch of it they can.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay very good well all right I I just felt like given um you know what was happening given the importance um you know um I we needed to talk about this and I hope that a lot of people will listen to um to this podcast.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again I think the thing that sticks with me is just a few years ago we had a great opportunity economically here in the city of Lake Wales to bring um ADS in and the same sort of outcry and the same sort of misinformation came out and when people um you know spread this sort of information misinformation so quickly it can have impacts down the road um that are bad really bad for our city so I think it's important we talk about these it can and let let me um just quickly tie this back to amendment three okay because that environmental lands uh protection program here here in Polk County um by the way is funded by a 0.2 mil property tax.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: So the less property taxes that that are generated or come in the less money is going to be available for land conservation for that kind of conservation.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely so again I mean I think that's just it makes me smile as you say that because so many of the people that are you know that are um stomping so hard for this amendment three are the people that are very upset about overdevelopment.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And here you go um I I I in the story I read and again this is in the newspaper so probably 50% of it is is false.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um what I heard was that that was enacted in the mid 90s and that well they what the article said they had like$312 million that they could spend on land conservation.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if that's true or not.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know I I don't know um I really can't speak to that on the on the county level.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: But they they are they've uh they've been pretty active and uh you know they they've bought several parcels here in Lake Wales by by the way there's been a lot of land a lot of land taken and that's that's not a bad thing.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a bad thing.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: The Friedlanders property a couple years ago um was was approved and funded and that was 650 acres near Tiger Creek Preserve um there was the large ranch up near Lake Pierce and then multiple and I think that was about 1100 acres and multiple small parcels.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: So so for those of you interested and concerned about land conservation there there have there has been quite quite a bit uh here in the Greater Lake Wells area the last few years.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and again I just on a personal level and I think this would be true of almost I think almost every com all the commissioners we've grown up around here or have lived here for a long time and if if uh there is someone out there who has the means and can preserve that land, fantastic.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: But again, when it comes to this sort of issue we have a legal obligation and if that's not an option then we have to make sure to work really hard to take control of that situation and garner the best possible long-term benefits for the citizens of Lake Wales.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right the um the I'd say the as a city commission you will have the most flexibility during the annexation process.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: Then you you can exercise whatever reason whatever your reason is for for uh annexing or not annexing a a project but once it's annexed everything else after that then there has to be a finding of fact and legal basis for approvals and or denials.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so once it's annexed um then you're you know it's you have a lot less flexibility in terms of of denying things quite honestly we can still control how it's designed how it's developed but but in terms of stopping a particular project um you're you're legally uh restricted in doing that.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well James it's it thank you for coming in we I always look forward to these talks and I would just say as we're wrapping this episode up this Stone Ridge thing was a big deal but that's just it's just one example of what we deal with often and it's important.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I think these podcasts what we're trying to do is make sure that you folks that listen to us understand the process and um it help us disseminate good information.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Most of what you're seeing that's published by supposed news news sources in Lake Wales, they don't know what they're talking about.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And or they do know what they're talking about and they're just lying to you.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I would just say we invite your questions.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Our city manager is a very available person, our city planning department, our commissioners so if there's something that we've shared with you today that you would like to know more about or if there is a development around here that you would like for us to talk about.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you see a lot of earth being moved a lot of things happening in Lake Wales.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Please send your questions into Providence voice.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you that we will take the time to go through all of the details and answer any questions that you have.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this is certainly a better outlet for that information than you're going to find on Facebook.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: James I appreciate your time.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes sir thank you very much thanks for listening to this episode of the Mayor and the manager.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: The goal of this podcast is to keep you up to date on all that is happening in the great city of Lake Wales.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: To that end we would love to take questions from you and take the time to answer them.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have any questions just click on submit a question in the description above this podcast