Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994 05 11 City Commission Workshop Minutes . . . WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COMMISSION MAY 11. 1994 The Workshop Meeting was called to order by Mayor Bush at 5:00 p.m. Roll Call: Mayor John F. Bush. present Deputy Mayor John V. Torcaso. absent City Manager John Govoruhk. present City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher. present Commissioners: John Ferring. absent John Langellotti. absent Cindy Gennell. present David McLeod. present Planning and Zoning Board Members Present: David Hopkins. Thomas Brown. Art Hoffmann. Carl Stephens. and Grace Anne Glavin Commerce & Industry Development Board Members Present: John Baker. Mel Glickman. Walt Dittmer; BOWS Board Members Present: Carol Morrison. William W. Fernandez. Gladys Zahand. Jean Jacobs. Mary Scott. and Jackie Adams. Also present was State Representative Marvin Couch. General Services Director Bruce Behrens and Community Development Director Carl Gosline. Attorney Kruppenbacher explained because this was a duly noticed meeting. the Mayor and Commissioners present could have a discussion but in no way make any decisions. Mayor Bush explained this is an information gathering session only. Bruce Behrens made a presentation. He pointed to the Future Land Use Map and described the land uses. He also explained the typical cross section of SR 434 which was given to him by Engineer George Pappas. He also discussed the generalized SR 434 corridor future land use map pointing out the schools. the park. the site for the new high school. the city hall and the post office. He explained this is the area in the Comprehensive Plan that is addressed as the town center. He said in talking with George Pappas of the D.O.T. that we have a six mile corridor that is broken up into basically three segments: 17/92 to SR 419, which is approximately two miles; SR 419 to Tuskawilla Road which is about two miles then Tuskawilla Road east to the Beltway which is roughly two miles. He said the right of way they are going to be taking in that section from SR 419 to the Beltway varies from 118 feet to 130 feet and we know the first phase will go from SR 419 to Tuskawilla and that it will commence approximately May of next year. He said we also know there is to be a 12 ft. inside lane and a 14 ft. outside lane to accommodate bicycles. Mr. Behrens said we know that there is to be a five foot sidewalk on each side of the road that will allow a child to ride safely from US 17/92 to the Beltway and there is to be a median the entire length of the corridor from SR 419 to the Beltway that could be what they call a convertible section to six lanes were it needed which would result, if they did the six lanes, into a 22 ft. median. So landscaping for the median is something we would want to look at down the road he said. . Workshop Meeting, May 11, 1994 Page 2 Mr. Behrens said we need to focus on'creating a vision for the future development in the corridor. He said we need to create a visioning process that involves a broad spectrum of property owners, developers, residents, board members, citizens and this process would result in recommended design principals for the corridor and these principals should address areas like building setbacks, street lighting treatments, roadway buffer requirements, whether it be 15 ft. or 30 ft. and this would be in addition to the right of way so you could put a streetscape. street trees like Winter Springs Boulevard already has, sign control, methods of con- trolling access per cut, whether we want to look at frontage roads or backage roads; provisions for utility service. He said he thinks the estimate for Lake Mary Boulevard which is six miles, is two million dollars to put it underground; street furniture, parking lot landscaping, canopy trees in that parking lot, lighting in there that would be sight specific; provisions for future mass transit services. He said if the Lynx Bus system were to come down SR 434 we would want to have attractive shelters and pullouts so that the bus would not stop one whole lane of traffic and provisions for pedestrian and bicycle access. Mr. Behrens said these principals should recognize the constraints of the existing development that exists now currently between US 17/92 and SR 419. He said the City should recognize it will likely have to spend some public funds in a variety of possible cost sharing agreements. There are cost sharing programs with D.O.T., Small Business Administration and Urban Community Reforestation kind of matching grants. . Mr. Behrens said he would like to have the City Commission direct them to initiate a visioning process for the corridor and report back to the Planning & Zoning Board and the various boards within 60 days with more detail about how this visioning process would work, the timetables, etc. Tom Brown and Art Hoffmann spoke in discussion. Mayor Bush asked what is going to happen if we continue to do nothing? Mr. Behrens explained on the right side of the big map is a long laundry list of permitted uses in commercial zoning category. Mr. Schrimsher explained they have a set of design standards which they require development standards to be guided by. He said it does not cost that much more to do things right and do them first class and the benefits are lasting. He said they have made that a policy that whenever you have design standards that effect things like your landscaping, finishes of your buildings" signage, site clearance on entrance and exits and all of those kind of things that fit together to create an environment that is desirable for people to live and work in and so in the long term that is beneficial to everyone. He said that is the kind of standard that they require of people they do business with. He said they are happy to work with Bruce and Carl and the City Manager and they are pleased to be a part of Winter Springs and look forward to the ultimate development of this corridor and being a part of it and being a part of having it done in a first class manner. Mr. Walt Dittmer, member of the Commerce and Industry Board said he has had his business here since 1971. He said all he did was landscape the front of his building and he said he gets compliments almost daily. He said he has gotten mileage out of landscaping, trees, landscaping. He said to consider in your regulations no fenced retention ponds. . . Workshop Meeting, May 11, 1994 Page 3 Mr. Dittmer said he just wanted to renew his crusade against fenced retention ponds. Representative Couch spoke in regard to the retention ponds. He said these retention ponds are really not doing what they were supposed to do in the first place and he said it makes a lot more sense to use that money for mitigation banking, buying parcels that are part of the ecosystem, and he said he plans to address that issue at the State level. Representative Couch went on to discuss the projects he has been working on. One is the Lake Jesup restoration task force which is going to affect Winter Springs. He said the task force is comprised of 15 members and is more citizen driven than agency driven. He said someone from the City of Winter Springs is going to be involved in that Board whoever is picked. He went on to explain Lake Jesup is the largest lake in Seminole County, 10,000 acres. It was polluted in the 1970s. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a well known lake for bass fishing. In the 1970s some of the cities were allowed to dump into it and they also cut off some of the flow. He said they are looking at ways to increase the flow and bring it back to where it was before. He said with bass fishing you can bring some healthy economy to this area, and at the same time look at ways to beautify the area around Lake Jesup and maybe have some trails for bicycles and walking. . He said the next thing is the Greenway project; That was set up in 1991 to allow large ecosystems to be hooked together so it could be preserved for future genera- tions of Florida. He said Florida is growing at such a fast rate, 1,000 people a day, and if we do not take the steps now to preserve some of Florida, he said our children and their children will not know what Florida really was like. He said this Commission is looking at ways they can set up large ecosystems and a lot of the plans are already in place. Right now from south Florida to the little Big Econ which is just east of Black Hammock, they have a corridor all the way down there and there is a large corridor from Wekiva Springs, all the way up to Ocala National Forest, and then there are some other big corridors in northern Florida. He said eventually they would like to have one large corridor connected all the way from south Florida to north Florida so you could hike the whole thing. There is one piece that is missing and that is right here in Winter Springs. They have been trying to find ways to connect the Little Big Econ with the Black Hammock with the south side of Lake Jesup hooking it up to Spring Hammock and then eventually from Spring Hammock looking for ways to connect the Wekiva, and that is what they are trying to do. He said they have had discussion with Mr. Schrimsher because their property and the Battle Ridge property are critical pieces to making this happen. He said he believes they can make this happen. He said they just have to have Winter Springs working with them to do that. He said it will be a good one for Winter Springs because Winter Springs does not have much rural area left, it is growing at such a fast pace, and he said this is an important piece that they need to save, so that people can enjoy it for generations to come. . . . . Workshop Meeting, City Commission, May 11, 1994 Page 4 Representative Couch said another project he has been working on is asking the Federal Government to appropriate some money so they can make a corridor underneath the Expressway. He said if they buy all this land and cannot walk underneath the bridge, it is not going to do any good. So he said he put in an ISETEA application for funding. Commissioner McLeod asked if what we are talking about should be in the Land Development Regulations. Mr. Behrens answered yes. Commissioner McLeod said the Commission needs to direct Bruce and Carl the direction to go with the LDRs. He said the Planning & Zoning Board has been working on them with consultants from outside, but he said he is not sure the Planning & Zoning board totally understands what the commission and the people of Winter Springs would like to see in those LDRs. He said once the LDRs are completed, we no longer have our zoning to drop back to. Commissioner McLeod explained this City's Comprehensive Plan was developed basically by a private consultant and some things in our Plan do not even relate to this City, other things are not necessarily in the best interest of what the people of this City want. He said he feels this is something we need to as a group move very rapidly forward or we are going to have the developers moving very rapidly forward ahead of us and we need these visions to be dropped as soon as we can. Once the LDRs go to the State we have to amend the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Behrens explained he and Carl are in the process of updating the zoning map and the future land use map. He said the draft of the LDRs contemplates doing away with the big zoning map and going with a colored future land use map. He said the problem is in going from that zoning map to the future land use map there were changes made and what they are going to do is to show you what those changes were so that if they do take away the zoning map and go with the future land use map, everybody understands what those changes were. He said they are not sure that everybody is comfortable with that. He said we need to have a workshop to make sure everybody knows what this draft envisions. Mayor Bush summarized that Mr. Behrens has asked that the Commission direct the Staff to prepare the vision or prepare the plan. Mayor Bush said hopefully one of the Commissioners will bring this up under their seat or ask that it be on the agenda in the near future. Meeting adjourned 7:00 p. m. Respectfully submitted, Mary T. Norton, City Clerk