meeting just to visit. >> Could everybody make sure their phones are turned off on vibrate? being 5:38. Um, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Town Lake Plaza Town Council, the Local Planning Agency,
Regional Utility Advisory Commission, Community Redevelopment Agency as a joint workshop agenda. Um, Thursday, November 13, 2025, 538.
Please stand for the invocation, the pledge of allegiance by our town administrator. Please bow your heads. Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to come together to serve your people. We thank you, Lord, that we can
call upon you and that your word says that where two or more are gathered, that you're in our midst. So we know that you're here and we welcome your presence. We ask you, Lord, to give us wisdom and discernment as we have the conversations that will determine the growth of the town of Lake Placid, not only the town of Lake Placid, but even
the greater Lake Placid area where everybody lives and calls Lake Placid home. So we ask you, Father, to go before us. Let our conversations be seasoned with your grace. And Lord, let us be able to look to the future because we know that your word says that without vision, the people will perish. So we
give you all glory, honor, and praise. and we thank you in advance for what you're doing here and what you're doing in the whole region. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all for coming and participating in this um workshop. So um I would go ahead and ask the clerk to do
roll call for the town council and community redevelopment agency. >> I was going to go through and just name them do them all at just do all boards at the same time if that's okay. >> That's fine. >> Okay. So, we'll do the roll call for the
town council community redevelopment agency, the local planning agency board, and the regional utility advisory commission. >> Mayor Hullbrook, Council Member Hayes >> here. >> Council member Worley, >> yes. >> Council member Charles,
Council Member Eberart, >> here. >> Board me CRA board member Frank Hartzell. board member CRA board members Ken Leblanc on the LPA chairman Dustin Woods Jack Edgeman
Donald Clark >> Dr. Oxer Gary Freeman Chris Duncan >> Alex Ramos utility board Matt Elliot
John Draper >> here. >> Tal Rancort, >> Pam Brewer, >> here. >> Jack Conley >> here. >> Okay, thank you very much. And I'm going to go ahead and turn this over. Um, of
course, the the Central Florida Regional Planning Council is going to be the main center of this discussion, but I'm going to turn it over to our town administrator to make those introductions. Thank you, Vice Mayor Worley. So, the
workshop was called together so that we could have all of our boards come and discuss the challenges and the growth for the town of Lake Placid. Due to Sunshine rules and laws, we were unable to allow them to be able to discuss it any other setting. So, this made a perfect setting and we would like to
have all of the minds that be to be able to come together and to discuss what our plan and path forward is. So, um the we would want to hear from the public. Um Jennifer, I believe as we go through we'll allow opportunity in between for them to have public comment. We will
keep that limited to three minutes um as time give or take allows just because we want to be able to allow the board to be able to have good dialogue and discussion. So we'll see how that falls as we go through the process, but there will be an opportunity for the public to be able to speak. And I'll turn it over
to Miss Jennifer and her team. Jennifer with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Thank you so much for being here. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you all for coming together this evening. Uh we really did want to have a conversation tonight as as Charlotte said on that
path forward. I did want to introduce our staff who will be facilitating uh the discussion tonight. That includes Jeff Schmucker, our planning director, and Mary Beth Soderstrom, who's our transportation director, and then uh
Brenda Torres, um who oversees planning as well and community engagement is one of our planners. So, thank you for the opportunity. And I think that's my cue to turn it over to Mary Beth, but we'll see. This is very high-tech. Thank you.
Is that it? >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um, so I have the pleasure of helping facilitate this conversation today. And in order to do that, we're going to have a few different tools that kind of help us stay on track because we only have um
not that much time tonight and a lot of things that we could talk about. And so over here is my chart paper or as the image on the screen is a parking lot. So anytime we get to an idea or something that maybe would require a lot more
discussion, maybe it's entirely own workshop or we need more resources or information to be able to really discuss that in a kind of educated way, then we're going to put it on the parking lot. And so we promise we might not get back to it tonight, but we will get back
to it on the whole. And so every time we ask like, "Hey, could we put that on the parking lot?" Brenda's gonna add that to our chart paper so that we can keep moving. The other thing that we're going to do is use poll everywhere. So, um there's the
code where you can use your phone and take a picture to get to the questions. Uh you could also use your browser on your phone to go to polev.com and then it's slh2060. You can also text HL2060
to 22333. So, we really primarily want to get our our board members in these conversations. Um, but of course, anybody's welcome to join us and it'll just help us prompt conversation and see where where the pulse of the group is. So, to start the very first question,
and I'm going to have to switch it over in just a second um to open it up, but what is one thing you love about Lake Placid that you never want to lose? So, what is it about Lake Placid that is that one thing that is the most important to you that should never
change or lose? And now hopefully I'm technology challenge today. You guys ready? Okay. Okay, here we are again. There we go. So just
add what you think makes so special. Small business making a difference. Small town. Small town environment. There you go. Perfect. Thank you. All right. And while those continue to load, you can continue to think about
it. I'll leave this question open. Um, but I am going to turn it over to Jennifer to kind of get us started with our conversation. Okay, that that's my cue. So, every workshop has a little bit of ice breaking. So, hopefully we we broke some
ice on the uh technology feature there. And will I get to show the slides or we'll leave that up? We'll get there. >> Okay, we'll get there. All right, so tonight we really wanted to have kind of a an overall kind of Google Earth view
and when I think of you know a lot of details and then kind of rising above that and looking at the bigger picture. So as we as we look at the town uh and we look at the future, of course we have the core of the town and then we have
the greater area in unincorporated Highlands County. So, we'd like to to talk about both tonight and and get your feedback as you look at what's coming forward. And also, as part of that discussion, we're working in partnership with the town and the community to look
at the downtown area as well and come through uh to a downtown master plan. >> Yes, ma'am. And as as we look at that, just some uh quick facts. The town is um
almost five square miles in area. And as we look at our population, we're about 2,419 people uh according to to uh the statistics that are currently available.
And as we look to the future population, we're looking at actually growing and again these are projections um about 600 people to almost 3,000 people by the year 2050. So as we talk about growth and we look
at not only future growth but we look at infill development in downtown for example and then um so much kind of of the core area of the town that is undeveloped yet. We really look at planning and that allows us to look at
um preserving and providing orderly growth. uh looking at our neighborhood and business character and preserving that and enhancing that and also what comes with that infrastructure
uh making sure that we have adequate ways to get places whether it's by road or sidewalks or multi-use paths and then also providing consistency. So, if I want to uh look at making an
improvement to my home or business, knowing I can go to the requirements of the town and know that those are predictable and that I can move forward. Uh and then really as we look at not
only providing for our current population and future population, so much of what we talk about is how do we pay for that? And I'll figure out by the end of the meeting which way to point the clicker. There we go. Uh so this is kind of a
kind of a view of when we talk about visioning and and looking at that, but really it's true. We start out with that blank piece of paper and we start hearing it seeds and looking at the future of what will be. Um and then as
we put that to paper, we actually then start that unified direction. And a lot of times what happens is uh as we're looking at that direction, I know sometimes uh in even in our own office as we look at the path forward, Mary
Beth will say it's transportation or nothing and Jeff will say no, it's it's you know this land use or nothing. But it's that compromise in bringing that together for a balance. And so much of Lake Placid is unique and
really truly beautiful. So I'm adding some subject subjectivity to this presentation, but I've had the great opportunity to work with the town over the years. And when I first came, it was just amazing. the caladiums, the murals,
and everything that you all just said, that small town charm. Um, it's all here. So, as we kind of look up a little bit, kind of at that aerial view again, we're almost five square miles. And when you
look at that image there, you'll see the core. You can see the roadway network and where we've had a lot of development over the years. And then if you look to the west, we actually do have a lot of potential in the town yet itself.
So as we look at where we're growing and how we're growing, uh back in the year 2020, we had about 2360 people and that was the 2020 census. And then in 2025 today, about 2,419
people. And again looking to the future. Now these are projections for the town itself about 2,918. And that all depends on development and how much is coming. Um but these are projections that are provided by the
state at this time. And as we look at our population by age, our greatest age group is between the ages of 18 and 64. And then secondly is 65 and over. And then kind of our smallest group is under
18. And then as we look at educational attainment, um we have uh folks who are high school graduates at almost 28%. and then with a a bachelor's degree or higher about 24%
um and then you know higher level education of at least 25%. And then as we look at the types of housing that we have, the majority of our housing is single family, single family, detached. Uh but then we also
have multifamily as well. And we have a little under 3% of mobile homes. But that just kind of shows the housing stock that we have in the town. And then as we look at uh household
income um the majority of the population uh is uh over the 50,000 mark. The median household income and again this is US census American community survey the median household income is about
45,000. And then when we talk about transportation, um how folks are getting around and getting to work, the majority uh is about almost 70% driving alone. Um
but 12% carpool uh and then we have folks who can actually walk and then about 11% who uh telecommute or work from home. The average travel time for folks who
live in the town to work is um about 32 minutes. Does that sound about right? How long does it take you to get to downtown Sebring? 20 minutes. >> 30 minutes. Yeah. >> When you're in a hurry, it's even
longer. So, yeah. Or it feels like longer. So tonight, as we talk about the future and in each of the boards that you represent, you're faced with really addressing folks and it's really about my home, my
business, and my community or my town. But when we look at my home, when folks come in, if you already have a home, sometimes you are putting a fence up or putting in a shed or a pool. And those
regulations that we have in place tell you where, you know, how far from the front property line, um, how far from another structure. And then when we talk about a business, we talk about is parking required, signage, um, any
outdoor display. And then when we talk about the town itself or the community um overall looking at the administration of that and also um looking at enforcement as well. So, as
an example of my home, uh, which probably the local planning agency is you may review new subdivisions or variances, a lot of what you look at is what's required in the land development regulations and placement.
And then a big part of that is as we're looking at new development, looking at compatibility and making sure that uh exactly that and that actually happened somewhere
where uh you have um two uses that that may not be compatible or transition to one another. And the code addresses that along with buffering uh and separation. And uh this is another example something uh that really
your comprehensive plan and land development code work to prevent with regard to businesses. Um probably all of the boards have seen these site plans many times. Uh but again addressing where you're going to put parking, uh
where you're going to put storm water to make sure that we're catching the water and treating it before it's discharged and connectivity as well. And a lot of that also goes with where does it go. So if we're proposing for
example a new planning office, where can we put that? and we look to the the comprehensive plan and the code to look at what zoning we fit in and what level of approval do we need. And then with regard to the town, it's
really looking at administering those requirements, reviewing the applications, and going through the process, but also enforcement. If I built my fence, but I didn't ask anyone and I put it on Jeff's property
line, probably somebody is going to have to come and and cite me and tell me to move my fence. Um, but just a lot of the examples of the realm that you work in, whether it's development, existing
development with expansion or infill. And then do we have a question? So that that takes us to our next polling question. And what you see on the screen is through the visioning that we've done as we talked about the
downtown with the community. These are a lot of the key words that have risen to the to the top as we look to the future of the town. And is this one of the questions? >> Okay. >> Um well, I'll just keep going. Um so
that being said, as we look at the roles and responsibilities, uh we are grateful that the local planning agency has come tonight. the um Lake Placid Regional Utilities Advisory Commission, uh the Community Redevelopment Agency, Town Staff, and
Town Council, but the planning and zoning board or the local planning agency and the utilities commission, their advisory, and you provide your recommendations to town council and ultimately those policy decisions and
anything in the comprehensive plan that requires additional feedback. These boards make recommendations to the town council for their final decision. And we're uh back to continuing to break the ice on technology
and I think we have like competing mouses. So we're we're all over the place. But um so there will be a series of questions that are really just to get us started um thinking about where we are now and where we're headed. And so
for this first one, when it comes to serving residents, Lake Placid is strong and improving, strong but weakening, a weakness but improving, or a weakness and declining. So, you have to pick one of those four.
Um, and then if there's any comments or if the councils would like or the boards would like to talk a little bit about what the results are, um, we we can do that. All right, we've got four responses so far. I'm gonna switch to the responses
screen maybe. There we go. Okay. So, so far here's what we're seeing. So, when it comes to serving residents, Lake Placid is a weakness but improving. And we have a few that have a weakness and
declining. Um, we still have some more coming in. So, you'll see those those numbers change. I'm gonna kind of scan around and see. So, do you want to ask a question or two? >> I was I was just going to jump in. So
again, Jeff Schmucker, um we're going to just kind of jump around a little bit with our presentation, but is there anyone that wants to share their thoughts on that? Part of the reason for the polling questions is really to kind of get that engagement to figure out what are some of those thoughts? I mean, it's great to get a a poll and say, you
know, we have a weakness, but we're improving, but is there anyone that wants to share as part of their experience why maybe they chose that selection? Or if you want to stay anonymous, that's absolutely fine as well.
>> I'll share. >> Go ahead, Pam. Okay. >> Unfortunately, I put a weakness in my response. Um I think there is a great need for better communication. Um
rehaul of the Lake Regional Plan. I want businesses to have more opportunity, economic diversity. I want higher payable wages and I think we're missing out on that.
Any other thoughts on that? >> Is there anyone who put a weakness but improving? What do you see as the improving side of that equation? >> I guess I'll speak up. I'm seeing more businesses coming to the
main street and area. So I'm seeing more resic. So there is need for small businesses, even some that people don't think will make it. But I'm seeing more and more businesses, you know, coming to the area
and wanting to come to the area. The hard part um is in both main and areas. It's very inter retail area years ago and then you started getting more
attorney so there's a need for all that but it detail start So, we're seeing some expansion there. I also created a small incubator space that another small business
owning is more business. And so a perfect segue is actually when it comes to supporting our businesses, Lake Placid is so we kind of narrow in a little bit. We heard um from two different folks about kind of their
perspective with our businesses and how we support them. All right. And as we're seeing these results come in, kind of similar and they're going to jump around a little bit. Um, strong on the weakness side, but also really strong on the improving side. I
am looking around the room because I'm going to start calling board members unless anybody wants to jump in. Anyone from um maybe the CRA board would like to talk a little bit about this? >> I can't answer. I'm not going to talk to
that. But later on if um somebody would willingly say what how we're declining so we can fix it. >> I'm sorry. for whoever said a weakness and declining. Uh if they can tell us what declined so
we can fix it. >> Okay. So there is a an interest to know a little bit more about the declining um side of things and we might not have any speakers. So and again sometimes you know polling is
just a helpful tool especially to give voice to people who don't necessarily want to speak up in a big group. Um, and I think we we take all of these um these numbers just to kind of get a general pulse of where we are. And I think it'll help inform again as we
continue to discuss and go more into vision. So with that, I think um if we could switch back over and get back into roles and responsibility in the boards is probably where we are. There we go. Okay. Well, let me just
wrap up what Jennifer was discussing on the roles and responsibilities. Um, with all the boards and, you know, your planning and zoning board, your utility board, right? The town council as well. Um, does does everyone know their roles?
Is everyone comfortable with the roles? Do you know what your role is is here to fulfill um as your stewardship towards the town? I think part of the conversation um and we're going to get into a minute, we're going to look at some maps and
talk about land use and zoning and where things go, a lot of those things that Jennifer had mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, but how each and every one of you fall into this bigger piece of the puzzle. And I think it's important aside from, you know, where things go and how things come about,
what those roles are, um, and how you contribute to those. And I think somebody, I think Pam might have made the the the point earlier, um, communication. I mean, the communication of things, right? Um, as a planning and zoning board member, your role is a
recommending body. So when things come before you, you have a role to review things as they come through, provide that recommendation to the town council for them to make that final decision on something. Um, as part of our conversation, I'm not looking for any answers right now, but just want to try
to open that conversation. This should be somewhat of a informal conversation as we go through this, but if there's any questions on roles, if there's any questions on do we have the ability to do this, do we have the opportunities to do this? Let's get those questions and see if we can get those answers out in
the open. The idea here is to make sure that there's a comfort level amongst all the boards, amongst the town council. Um, as this as this all comes together, it becomes a more welloiled machine, if you will, uh, to make these things, you know, happen more fluidly. And especially for the business community as
they're coming in, when a developer comes into your community, they want to have that, I heard the word earlier, um, they want to have that predictability. They want to know when they come to the table, okay, what am I expected, you know, from this process? What am I expected to do? What am I expected to
submit? When I go before a board, am I going to run into hurdles when I get there after I've submitted all of these things? Um, to now only be told, well, we don't like this, or you know, you haven't done this, or tell me where it says that in the code. We were we're
trying to kind of vet out through this process, make sure everyone knows what those those roles are in the boards that you sit on, but also making sure that is the comprehensive plan where it needs to be. Is the land development code where it needs to be to make sure that there's predictability in the process. I mean,
that's a big part of being a good businessfriendly community. Um, so again, just as we go through this, if you all have questions about things, feel free to raise your hand and and let's get into some conversation. Um, and I'm going to try to learn this.
There we go. So, ju just briefly, you know, the town really has a lot of tools in the toolbox. And this is just a small sample of those things. As I mentioned before, uh, the city's comprehensive plan. I think everyone is familiar with what that is. Um, that is your vision.
Um, and then your land development code, that's how you implement that vision. Those are both tools in your toolbox. again, things that you can look towards to help guide the growth, guide the community, the my home, my business, my town looking into the future. Um, you
also have a community redevelopment agency area in the core part of your your town. Um, we'll look real briefly at opportunity zones. Uh, there is a an area of an opportunity zone, which I'll show you a map of in a moment, that that does touch a portion of the town. Um,
and then of course the Lake Placid Regional Plan, and we'll get into that a little bit more too. Um, and the the regional utility as part of that. But the reason these all of these things are so important, as you know, we're going through a downtown master plan update with the town, but that does not operate
in a bubble. That is just one piece, but that operates as part of the bigger part of the town itself. And then the town itself operates as part of the the bigger part of the picture being the Lake Placid regional plan and what's happening in the surrounding county as well. So all of these pieces have to come together and we have to think about
all of these things holistically. We can't think about them in a bubble. what's happening on the outskirts of Lake Placid as development occurs. Those are probably generally folks that are going to probably be coming into the town for services, using your roads, using your utilities, um using your
services, um all of those things. They they enjoy the benefits of the town even though they're on the outskirts of the town. But the Lake Placid Regional Plan um is part of that and we'll get into that a little bit more as well. But all of these things need to be thought about holistically and you do have a a great
series of tools in the toolbox already. Uh again, as Jennifer pointed out, town is about five square miles, but this is the future land use map of the town. I don't know if the pointer will actually Whoops. >> No, it won't work on there. So, I'm just
going to go back. Um I think everyone is fairly familiar with the uh the core part of the town there. But the land juice is really what guides that. That is your vision. So understanding your vision of where development is to occur is is really the first piece. And when we think about land use, we think about
it at the the umbrella, the the the the foundational level. Residential over here, industrial over here, your commercial corridors may be down 27. It's that that that big picture. I don't know that we provided a zoning map, but the land development code would
be the zoning map. So where your residential is, you might then have lowdensity single family residential. You might have some medium density multifamily development. Those are your zoning districts that then guide the development within um these properties
um within and around the town. Again, as part of that is your your uh roadway network. Uh the map on the left up there um shows the maintenance responsibilities. Um this is data from Highlands County. Um but it just gives
you an idea also about infrastructure when we think about connectivity. Um that's one thing physically there's a cost associated with that as well and there is an entity who's responsible for that cost to help operate that roadway
to help maintain that roadway. Um that is a big part of this. And when we think about land use, when we think about connectivity, when we think about roadways, infrastructure, utilities, we have to think about where these things locate, where these things develop. It's
fine if it develops on the outskirt of the town, but if that requires now a new roadway to go out to it, new utilities to go out to it, and then all of that is dedicated back to the town, that becomes a cost to the town at some point, too. So you have to think about these things in your roles when you're looking at
development, when you're looking at connectivity. Who's responsible for what? Is this financially feasible for the community to have something like this come in? If you've got a development out on the outskirts, and we'll talk about the uh the regional plan in a second, those
requirements for it to connect to utilities. That's important, right? Because those are going to be utility connections for you. There's dollars associated with that. There's also costs associated with that too. So these are things that you have to think about when we think about development as it's
coming in. Where is it coming in? Uh we talk a lot about infill development. That core area of the city is the area of the city that has the most close proximity to your utility, has the most close proximity to the greatest
connectivity of roadways. So when we hear these comments and in workshops about more walkability and bikeability and those types of things, generally the the best part of the town that could serve that would be in your
core area of your town. So if we're trying to really meet those goals, meet those visions, how do we structure and and try to find the those developments to really, you know, serve those purposes? And you have a lot of that um as potential infill in in the core area
of the town today. Um I had mentioned briefly the opportunity zones. Um the opportunity zones uh this is federal program. It is recognized by the state. Um it's that hatched area that you see uh that generally touches a portion of the southeast uh area of the the
corporate limits of the town. Uh but a lot of the southeast area of the Lake Placid Regional Plan area and then beyond into the county. Uh but essentially what that is is an area for incentivized non-residential growth that could bring in industry into the community. Uh we're not going to get
into the weeds on that, but we just wanted to highlight that that you do have a federally recognized area uh that does touch a portion of the town, the greater Lake Placid Regional Plan area, um that has that opportunity to incentivize non-residential growth in
the town, which can contribute to economic development, additional housing, uh appropriate housing in the right places. Okay. Okay. So, do we want to take a do we want to take a poll? Well, let me ask you this. Does does anyone have a question on any of the the
things that I'm discussing to this point in terms of roles, in terms of understanding the locations within the city, the town, the greater Lake Placid area. We're going to talk a little bit more about that in a moment. So the county has done a strategic
visioning plan and completed that after a year and August 2025 the county commissioners and approved it and it's on the development website you know report by consultant there is no
opportunity listed for so I have question about that I know the county interactive website did but its comes to where can lake develop or have industrial opportunities
in um they do not >> okay we can plan which is set up with mixed use and was really intended for industrial and You're right. I'm not even in the lake area. They had
nothing for the greater lake area. I think >> if I could. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Okay. There's um we have a lot of conservation land around Lake Placid and um it takes up a lot of acreage and I
don't it may be outlined here but I think that you almost have to. It's it's stateowned and it's state preserved and it will be forever. They're large corridors for our large animals to move around. So, we're
almost like they're trying to create corridors so they're around us. So, you have to include those with whatever you're doing because those will never be developed, >> right? And and those would be
recognized. So, as voluntary property owners come to the table um to put their lands into conservation or management, right? Um another way to think about that too is development in the Lake Placid Regional Plan area as well. Um my understanding is, you know, anything
that comes in in that area would come through as a planned unit development, right? Um opportunities to address things just like that in addition to um the housing, uh the infrastructure and everything else that comes with that. But that that is certainly um another
point um of part of the design as we think about development when it comes in those conservation corridors as well. >> Thank you. >> All right, let's let's do another question. Can we do another question and hopefully this one will will move
smoothly and and let's let's all jump to our phones real quick um and see if we can we'll get some conversation going. This one is really with regard to safety and it it could be um when we think of violent crime,
criminal uh safety, if we're thinking about I'm just crossing the street from a physical aspect of my safety concerns when my my you know son is walking to school. Um there's not enough lighting in the community. However you think
about safety in general, um, this kind of covers the whole gamut of that. And is there anyone that wants to share as they're going through? So strong and improving. Does everyone feel that Lake Placid is a
safe community to live in? >> Yes. Yep. Um the paper kids coming by change
but that's my And would you say that that would be generally a sentiment of the community as well? I mean, I when I think of Lake Pla, when I'm down here, I don't feel unsafe, you know, when I'm moving around the community. Uh, how about from the
standpoint of, you know, walkability? Is there anyone that moves around the town by foot, by bicycle? >> How about crossing US 27 from the east side to the west side? >> That's a little scary. You got to be
quick. >> You gota be quick. >> Yeah, we're going to have to wait and see when they finish all the new improvements they're doing. They're trying to make it safer not just for cars but for pedestrians. So, I think that's kind of wait and see when we figure out when they finally finish all
the new improvements because those all those improvements are supposed to be for safety. But I think one of our strong points in Lake Placid is that um we look out for each other. so that people know when they come into town that it'd be hard to get away with some
something without somebody intervening or helping somebody else because it's a community that cares and they're they're not going to stand by and let somebody, you know, get damaged, I don't think,
um, without intervening in some way. Jeeoff, if I could. Um, I know some of the feedback that we've received is that it's not lighted up. The light the lights downtown are not very friendly. Um, it is something that we're working on, but that's been some of the
complaints that we have had that the the lighting and then also our sidewalks. We've had some comments regarding the sidewalks and just the um the handicap accessibility for some of the heavier um wheelchairs. that has been a discussion
that has come up in some of the workshops which was interesting for me. Um but just a few that have come to me as a town administrator >> and those are all really good points, right? So again, when we think about development, when something's coming in, I know one of the biggest struggles that we have with a lot of our communities is
the developer comes in and says, "You're telling me you got to put sidewalks in with this development?" Well, you're putting in a new 200, you know, unit subdivision and you're along a certain roadway and there's a commercial center, you know, maybe a quarter mile up the
road. And while there might not be sidewalks today that lead from that commercial center out to where their development is, we say, "We'd like you to put sidewalks in." Well, those sidewalks lead to nowhere. Well, ultimately, they would lead to somewhere at some point. I think one of
the biggest challenges we have when developers come to the table are some of these very simple things when we talk about you need to add the sidewalks and a lot of them will say well show me where it says that in the code do I need to do that well a lot of times it's there sometimes it's not and we'll point back to well
it's a safety welfare concern and it's part of the purpose and intent of the community to make sure that there's connectivity between where you live and the services that you have. The reason that's important is you all are challenged with that every time a developer comes to the table. Either
it's planning staff, it could be your utility staff, your public work staff, whoever it is. If you don't get it then and then you hear from the community, I don't have a way to get from my home to this service, whether it's an ADA accessible sidewalk, whatever it might
be. How come we didn't get the developer to put that in? And as we all know, we're all financially constrained. No one's got the money. The town doesn't have the money to just go through and we're just going to start paving sidewalks everywhere we go. We have these opportunities when these folks
come to the table to ask them to put these things in to meet our goals to meet the vision. I mean, these things are in the comprehensive plan. We have them outlined there. If there's things that we need to adjust in the land development code to strengthen that to
make that predictability better, um that not only strengthens uh the need for those things to go in, but also the reality of getting them to go in, but it makes everyone's life a whole lot easier, too. And it it has a business aspect to it as well from a cost perspective, right? When we think about
it later down the road as far as capital improvements and where we're going to focus our dollars. If we can get the developer to put that in, that's fantastic. Um but again just kind of expanding on how these conversations when we talk about these things what is what is the reality of how the rubber
meets the road for all of all of the staff all of the boards when we're thinking about these things as development and growth is coming in. Yes sir. >> There's a moving target on these figures. The last one about his last
said and then 25% 90% then 9%. What was the final answer on that? We've got ambitious people that answer quickly and then right at the last minute somebody puts another answer and
>> we can we can go over maybe all of the the numbers at the end if we're interested. So 91% strong and improving for when it comes for safety for all and 9% said strong but >> for the final >> in in the downtown area at one time as
far as the walkability um and it was I don't know I don't know the whole history of it basically when you built a home you had to put in a sidewalk and I think in new developments that's how they built build sidewalks. They when you build a home, you put in a
sidewalk. Well, at some point, um, somebody complained about that. And if you look around town, you'll see there's a sidewalk and then in the middle of nowhere and then nothing. But if they Exactly. But if everybody had if that plan had continued, we'd have sidewalks
all over the downtown area, but it stopped. And I don't know that that's something we should maybe readress. So if you do build um in the downtown area where it's not a new development, which it is required that um we could maybe
start that policy again. So that that would be walkability and it would be no and basically it wouldn't be more for the homeowner to put in, but in the end of the day it makes their property more valuable because you have walkability and their kids can play on the sidewalk.
And I think it was a good plan, but if you It's kind of bizarre. If you look around, there's a sidewalk and then no sidewalk. And that's because it started and then it stopped. But that might be something that the town should revisit so that we would have sidewalks as as as
new construction comes. >> Yeah. And and especially with the the new construction. So when you get those developments that might come in, like when we think of Journal Plaza or we think of some of these developments that might come into downtown, that that requirement would be there. and now you're a homeowner that lives, you know,
maybe a block away and there's a gap or two in between there. Um, some of those connections might start to organically come together anyway because now they realize, wow, this is this is a connectivity opportunity. Um, but when you don't have anywhere to go,
it's kind of like the broken windows effect. If you see broken windows, you tend to then not care about it and then you don't do anything about it. But as things start to grow and things do develop um and then those opportunities present themselves, sometimes some of those things might also start to happen organically as well. But that's a really
good point. Yep. And we'll look at that. >> That's kind [Music] of down towards Tangerine. you have that that area there that was bought as development within the past few years. Is there any way to get that
developer to put sidewalks in to make that connectivity because we see you know people walking from 27 office, you know, baseball, whatever. >> But they've got a large section.
And then you're also missing the opportunity for those that was finished. Is there any way to reach out to that person that say >> Can I ask something on that?
>> Is that West inner Lake and Tangerine and North Tangerine that you're talking about? >> Um, >> it's Hartland. Hartland. >> Yes. For was Mr. Weimoth. He contacted me and so we're having some discussions right now about that property and some sidewalks.
>> Yeah. Change where the town has that property. >> I'll share that with you so that you have that for potential. >> So, so there's things in the works. Yes. Some of those conversations are very difficult to have, especially to try to retroactively go back and have those conversations. Well, you didn't tell me I had to do it before. Why do I have to
do it now? And that's difficult. But you do have an opportunity when you you draw a line in the sand, you say from here forward, we're gonna do this. Um but to that same point um when you are looking at your capital improvements plan and you're looking at expenditures for
improvements to your roadway network to your sidewalks where you have clear areas where there is that established connectivity but you've got some of those small gaps that makes it easier to then say let's prioritize and it's not very expensive to put some dollars into
that >> because that will then serve a bigger need. I have an answer for that because this has been a very hot topic because when you come down H Heartland, you see the whole Lake June Valley. It is the most beautiful. You ever want to come down, it's just beautiful and people
love to run and walk there and then it you come down and then it just stops. But our problem is is that when when there's a developer that was started developing and then the crash came, but there's not enough room that the town owns that you know that is government
property to put in the sidewalk. So that's the problem and that is a real hot topic as far as people coming to me and very upset like why don't you do I said well we don't have enough room so how do we crack that nut? Well I think
it could be cracked. We might have to go to the developer and say if you donate this land now maybe we could you know something something but it's we don't have any space there to put in a sidewalk. So we have no ability to put one in at this moment but it has been a
very very hot topic because it's such a beautiful place to walk and run and even bike. It's it's gorgeous. So um I don't know we could try to work on that but we don't own the land.
Just clarification in your require some would say. >> Yeah. And and the developer was so in there and I think that's probably the density for two men and then requirements.
or you know help community and it doesn't >> so let me ask the question and I'm just you know because we're just having an informal conversation we deal with this all the time and we have regulations in the plans and it says you will do this
and then you're coming in as a plan development and you can negotiate and the developer you know tries to tell you like I mentioned before well that sidewalk's going to go to nowhere. No, we did we did negotiate that development supposed to put it in but the development didn't happen. >> Yeah.
>> So, >> Sure. Sure. What what I'm saying though is you know it really becomes the enforcement of your code too and then following through with that and it's making sure and again this comes back to the communication too. It's in the plan
and if it should be in the plan then keep it in the plan. If it's something that shouldn't be in the plan, then you go back and say, "Let's revisit this." But if it's there and implement it and then enforce it, that's a lot a lot of times easier said than done when the
conversations start to happen. And staff will tell you that. Um, but when everybody's on the same page and that's what the expectation is and developers come in and that's what that expectation is to put that improvement in. Um, it's
like a snowball and it will continue to happen. But if it's not enforced and you don't do it, the next developer is going to come in and say, "Well, you didn't make him do it. Why am I doing it?" It doesn't connect somewhere. So, it's just an example. I'm not trying to point at any one particular area. Um, and and
you're not dissimilar from a lot of other communities in the region. It's the same thing. We all have to have these conversations. >> Can I can I add something really quick because Pam just touched on something she said to look like a Hilton Head. Um, I think that that is something that
we really have to think about and look at because when you hone in on our population size and the the salaries that our people are living on, the reality is is that most of them are at a poverty or under poverty level. And so
we're trying to develop a community that looks like it's very upscale. Martin County, St. Lucy County, you take your pick. But the reality is is our our tax base does not support that landscape. So how do we get there if that's what you
plan to keep? That's what we plan to have. How are you going to do that? And that's the true big question that we have to ask as the town of Lake Placid because we want to have this, but we don't have the tax base to give that to this community. And that's the reality.
>> All right. I think I'm going to just kind of breeze over development review process. I think most folks are fairly familiar with this with the boards, right? Your comprehensive plan again is your vision. You have your code of ordinances and your land development code. Um and then where the rubber meets the road is essentially your engineering
and design standards and your your building codes, right? Um any any questions generally on development review process as things come before the town? Okay. All right. Let's talk about the Lake Placid Regional Plan area. Uh
when we think about the greater area of Lake Placid. >> All right. So the first part of our conversation was really about the town itself, right? What is in the corporate limits and you know what are we facing and and that's really where we're going to see the need for core infrastructure
improvements where we have existing infrastructure that ages and needs to be replaced. And then a still a lot of the core of the town has not developed yet and planning for that future as well and bringing in utilities to serve that area
while again uh servicing the existing area as well. The Lake Placid Greater Area is actually in the jurisdiction of Highlands County, but it is a very unique area where both the county and
the town have really over time worked. It's really a joint planning area is what it's become and a lot of jurisdictions really work to achieve this. um you have development outside of corporate limits, but over time
eventually those areas will come into the local government. And one area outside of Highlands, but uh think of the city of Lakeland and the city of Auburnale, if you're familiar with those geographies, they're not too far apart and PK counties in the middle. And over
time, uh Lakeland would say, "Okay, you know, we're going to annex. We have an annexation agreement, but folks would come in and develop in the county and then the city would inherit it, but it wasn't consistent with city codes at
all. Uh, so then over time it was inconsistent and the city may have had uh additional standards. Uh, so those communities adopted a joint planning area. So if it eventually got annexed into Lakeland or Auburndale, it would
meet those jurisdiction standards coming in or be similar to that character. So this um in Highlands is probably the only overall joint planning area, but we do have another
a lot of communities in the state that try to really achieve this for consistency over time. And this area really came about as we did see growth coming towards the center of the state
and really wanting the community to plan its future rather than it being planned for it. And there's quite a bit of history to it and I just wanted to kind of give an overview. But in this map you'll see the
gray area is the town. The greater area or what's now called the Lake Placid Regional Plan is anything with that bright color on it that you see on the map. And that's almost 34 square miles.
And kind of one of the the easier ways to explain this, um, if you you think about development, if you develop an unincorporated Highlands County, for example, the image to the top has no design
standards with it. The image on the bottom does. So just kind of looking at those two images, is there one that you all and the public too have a preference on? >> That's the one we have now.
>> Yes. >> Which is >> the town. >> The town. So without that joint planning area that that bigger area um would not have any design requirements. So over
time you would see it develop with the top image rather than the bottom image. But that that greater area is a joint planning area that carries requirements for aesthetic treatments. Uh and we see
this in in communities and a lot of communities want to reach this but a lot of times you'll get the metal building dollar general or family dollar. Not to pick on them, but if you don't have guidelines or requirements, they will
put up the standard metal building. Um, but they do actually have a pallet for those communities that require the bottom picture. Um, and and they won't tell you that unless you bring it forward that that's your requirement or
a guideline in your community. So that greater area in unincorporated Highlands County, that Lake Placid Regional Plan brings forward that requirement. And there actually is a lot of detail in there to um help folks achieve that
goal. But that that's just one example. Um the other example, there were a lot of principles developed and we'll go over the timeline in a minute. But really, as you think of new growth in other areas, communities that you go
through, are there any areas that come to mind where you think, "Oh, goodness, that's a lot of growth." And it it looks like it's just kind of packed in. And uh you'll have neighborhoods, new
neighborhoods where you'll be driving through and then the road ends and there's a fence, but 5 ft from there is the next road, but you you can't get there from here. And there's no landscaping on the road, no sidewalks,
no paths, and and we see that where we don't have additional requirements. So part of the Lake Placid Regional Plan back when it came about was the property owners and the community came together to look at that
area and similar to what you all have said and some of you probably were here during that time. What do we love about the town and as this area grows on our periphery that the folks said we want to maintain
that character. So a lot of the character that you see in the town, the goal of the Lake Placid Regional Plan was to bring that forward to that greater area. But this is the timeline. It wasn't created overnight, but really
the initiation of that started in 2005. And then by the end of 20 or the beginning of 2013, that joint planning area, it mirrors itself in the Highlands County comprehensive plan and the Lake
Placid Lake um sorry, Lake Placid comprehensive plan. Why? Because at some point some of those properties will come into the town as well. So there's that consistency. Did I lose anybody?
So this is a better snapshot of the geography as we look at the plan itself. Um the north boundary is the Lake Francis area and to the south is State Road 70. And there are um some
exclusions which you'll see on the map. And there's a lot more detail to the plan, but I wanted to hit the highlights tonight. So also as part of the plan that includes uh as we look at growth to
the future services which includes water and wastewater but the bigger planning picture when we talk about safety it includes emergency services um health care all of those components that come with a new community. And
really over time what will happen is that greater area will become a new community with its identity tied more to Lake Placid and a lot of those folks even if they're further out on annexation will come to the town for
services and recreation and some of those developments will have their own recreation components. But the key to this is the Lake Placid Regional Utility and connecting to utilities as well. But these are some of the principles of what
that regional plan was founded on. And when you mentioned the wildlife corridor and when we talk about water quality and as we look forward to our quality of life and our viable f future
these are all components and planning principles not only general planning principles but principles applied to the greater area. So this is a snapshot. That blue shading with the the red outline is the Lake
Placid Regional Utility Service Area. And then you'll see kind of those yellowish green areas. Those are other utility service providers. But the overall goal of the county and the town
back in probably 2011 when the county went first and adopted the Lake Placid Regional Plan was the provision of utilities as we see growth in this area by the Lake Placid Regional Utility and
and that's how that kind of there's more history to that. I'm giving you the the highlevel version. Um but growth will be coming to this area. But as you see on that map, there are other utility providers.
Um but really the key is uh utilities as we look at higher densities and intensities and growth in that area. So, I'm I'm gonna stop there for a minute to see if there are are questions.
We see a lot of development across the state. And uh if y'all are familiar with some of your neighbors, um they're starting to see more growth as well. and they actually look at the components of this
type of joint planning area. But one example is South Hillsboro County, which is a little outside of our region, but they're pushing, right? They're pushing on Hardy, Manatee, Dodto, all those areas are pushing. But
it's this proactive time before it comes because I'll say the people in South Hillsboro are like what happened? Um, now that the development has come, a lot of it wasn't done with kind of these principles set forth and that
master planning. It was uh more like okay uh you're allowed five units an acre and these are your you know whatever 6 7,000 foot lots but not the requirement for a boulevard in a
multi-use path the provision for new parks and recreation facilities um or if it was it just wasn't like an overall master plan in this area whether it needs to be refined over time. Everything does, right? But we have to
start with something on a map. The overall intent of this was to have a community proactively looking at the future. So, you'll hear more conversations about this this area, but I know a lot of
times when we're out at the public, it it's very confusing. So, is it in the town or the county? And and what are the requirements? But the big thing is it's it's really your periphery and at some point could be a
part of the town especially those closer areas in the near future and you know helping guide what that will look like but also as part of the plans which are also in the Highlands County land development regulations and reflected in
the town as well. Uh, a lot of that development will come in with a planned unit development, but there's very specific requirements, but as Jeff had mentioned, that is more of a flexible zoning. As you all know from your
expertise and your experience, there's no property that is exactly the same and there's nothing always, you know, ever configured the same. But there are opportunities within that for better design which the planned unit
developments provide. But even without that, you can have specific guidelines. um in respecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a lot of folks are like, "Oh, no." Well, a lot of that follows uh some of our wetland corridors as well. So,
there can be win-wins, but those are some examples of planned unit developments, but also that design guideline and facet. So, there's a lot of components and thought that go into this.
So, that that's just kind of high level. Can I make a comment on utilities? Um, it's probably not the most famous conversation for us to have, but it's necessary that our utilities is an area that we definitely need to focus on and hone in more. I know our regional
utility board is very familiar with that and our um our utility director. But as you can see that we have a lot of area to grow and he said it perfect um Mr. Warner did is that you don't if you don't see it underground, you don't know
whether it's aging or not. But we have a very old aging infrastructure. He has been schooling me greatly on that that we must focus on. And so when we're planning the development, this is a hot topic that we have to focus on. And Councilwoman Irahart knows that because
she sits on on the board as well. So I just want to hone in on that. We've already started meeting with some individuals um individually, Eva and I have to talk about annexations because we've been asked why we haven't annexed in specific areas. The county has come
to us and we have a binder full of areas that we need to look at. But we're not just looking at annexing them in. We've got to be able to provide them with the services as well and the capacity for the town to be able to do that right now. And I will tell you, we are at capacity. There is no room for growth at
this point. Um, so we have to make some major changes, which is why we're thankful to be here. But to put it on your radar, if you have any questions, you want to meet with us oneon-one, um, Chris Duncan met with us and we reviewed some of this information and we also have met with um, Ken Leblanc. So just
putting that out there for anybody who wants to see it one-on-one. We can have a further discussion. >> Can I ask question or ask your advice? So you stated 60% of the residents in the time of Lake
their household household medium income is less than 45,000. So you got a population around 2500. You're projecting growth in the next 25 years to come to 3000 residents. Is that
sustainable for a a regional area of this size? Let's go with five square miles. Um, is that sustainable to have a municipality that has 3,000 residents taxpayers and a
lot of those homes aren't paying top property taxes and as you get I spent a lot of time on these different issues but the greater lake area it is seeing growth because you have lake the
four 1950s subdivision lakes lake south park and it's one house at a time. They don't have central sewer. They don't have the infrastructure yet. Everybody wants to come and use the town amenities. You know, a lot of a lot of
our time in in the council is spent on why don't we have better parks? Why don't we have why don't I live outside the town limits. Our my family's property is outside of Lake Regional. the kind I know the donut hole in
between there but um and we hope to stay out of it but how how does that work if if it how can the town grow and just this math utilities let's say anywhere in there somebody said okay I want to hook
up today I want to develop my 30 acres when when can I expect more I'm going to pay for it I'll pay the development fee the hookup fee and the answer would be 30 years, 40 years from now. Um and or you have to run your own line from Lake
Francis down to the um the current, you know, wastewater treatment plant. How does that work? How can we plan? I think these are the discussions you need to have and be realistic. you know, we can't grow. And it's great to have this big plan, this pile in the sky
development um thing with the yards that realistically can people grow, can they develuster, but most of Great question. How does that support um an area and even in wrap it up even
in the five square miles down is a main road in town hall. He doesn't have central sewer and so you got businesses that are trying to build a new building and there's no central sewer there. So I
think it's almost disingenuous to have a utilities service area map you got 34 or how many square miles but yet you can't get the silver water. So that that's twofold in the in the
core of the town where utilities are close, you know, really the town deciding what the the priorities are. And it does, as you know really well, it does take a village. Uh and a lot of other communities where we see this
planning, it's more than just the local government and it's more than one developer, but coming together through an overall developers agreement. Um and and the area hasn't popped yet where you see that, but there are opportunities
for that collaboration in utility extension for future growth. But it does take also private sector initiative as well because the local government cannot do it itself. Um
but it does take that initiative to bring lines further up and you'll see that in some larger developments where there is that collaboration and partnership for that extension. [Music]
>> Yes. Yes. It would you have to go through a process and follow Florida statutes and do a study. But yes, local governments can uh institute impact fees. Yes, sir. And if I could add one other thing is um we have the Duke site readiness um plan
that is another tool in our toolbox that we could leverage off of that we're starting to have conversations with the economic development council in Highlands County about. I want to talk about individual
parts of I see people building building homes there, you know, and they're spending, let's say, $20,000 to put in a septic tank in tile field, right? And
they don't know whether in two, three years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, we're going to get uh sewer hookup in there. You know, I think this the city and the utilities department needs to
come up with a plan. I realize they don't have the money to do almost any of this right now, but a plan of where they're going to do put in these sewers and approximately when. So, a person who's building their own, you know,
private home could say, "If I'm going to get a sewer hookup in two years, it doesn't make sense to spend $20,000. I'll either wait, maybe I'll wait to build, you know, if I don't have to build right now, or if it's going to be 15 or 20 years, then it's worth it for
me to to spend the 20,000 and, you know, junk it in 20 years down the road." So, I really think the city needs to, even though they they don't have the money to put in these lines now, they should come up with a plan of where they're going to
put them and in what sequence are they going to do it and then try and come up with a estimate of 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, whatever it is. Thank you. So, so kind of reiterating that back to you, a utility master plan for
water and wastewater specifically and a phasing plan because that's a good point. That's a significant investment. Um, and if it's coming next year, you like you said, you might hold off on building.
>> So, the water treatment plans to be going online is has laid out the order in which they're going toast >> based based off of the $40 million grant. Is that what you're referring to, John?
>> They have it. It's mapped out. I don't know if Bert you want to speak to that or not. Um, [Music] >> so basically with some of that $40 million grant, they did some basic designs, but they've never really put
anything forward, which way they want to go and how they're going to fund it. Um, so we've discussed getting a master utility plan, but that's the cost of that and the time it takes to put together. It's an ongoing thing and a
fairly costly amount. So we we we have been talking to some of our engineers in our library about putting something together like that. So like I said, we have partial plans or partial ideas, but funding wise, timewise,
>> grants. Yeah. Okay. Uh you know, the way things are going, hopefully they'll help on some, but we have to find a way to, you know, do some self-unding here. you know, even if we do small sections of it at a time. So, and then grants can help us, you know, as a tool, but it can't be
the main funding. >> Yes. >> Thanks, >> John. You're right. The council did identify more or less a schedule in the grant applications for the $40 million of where lines would go first um in the septic to sewer conversion. So, there's
a lot of that that has been started. converts right needs to be fleshed out and we've just got the starting part done. >> Voted on where to apply for the next hill which has
work done. So I mean there's there's three areas but in my opinion that doesn't give the town It's a lower income south is and I don't know how you discuss this thing like I'm it's a hard conversation to have go
after the rich people on the lake you know that's where I would annex I would put in the sewer line they can afford it that's not a very nice thing to say in public but south is is lowovery area lot of it
so I don't That's the council utility committee has voted the next hill and taken over their wastewater. So it's like it sounded good at the time
and so are somehow without our local input there needs to be a master plan. We don't know who owns what land, but this is where it should go. Here's the center. Here's the core. And then out from there. And I don't know how you get there.
And then and then balance with that the effectiveness of cleaning up old septic systems versus the length of line versus the water location, all those. Um, >> yeah, but we we had looked at that when
we had the $40 million grant and the county was kind enough to say, "Go ahead, Lake Placid, you take the whole area." And that's what got Lake June Point residents fired up. And Jack, you remember that that they they got all fired up because they didn't wouldn't know whether they wanted a grinder pump or another kind of pump. And this was
going to be terrible and it wasn't my septic tank that's that's impeding the lakes. And look, I was sitting here taking the arrows at that point. and and you know it too. You were there. >> I agree. Yeah. >> Yeah. And that's that's why I'm saying
that >> I think we have to determine what areas around the lakes are contributing the most to the high nitrogen content in the in the lakes. Right. Right.
>> Uh I looked at some uh uh I think it was the University of Florida that that does some studies. You know, they take samples every so often, a few times a year or whatever. And the the ones that I happened to look at today indicated that uh
Placid Lake and the uh Placid Lake canals there seem to have the highest concentration of uh nitrogen, >> right? And Lake Lake June was
significantly lower than that. I'm not saying it was perfect by any means, but it was lower. those areas, those two areas flow into Lake June. So if if they're high and it's flowing into Lake June and then Lake June flows north to
to wherever, you know, maybe it would be advisable to do those areas first. Those the the canal areas in in Placid Lakes, for example, they're relatively small lots.
All right? which means the septic tank and tile fields are closer to the to the water to in that case canal, right, than they are in a lot of the homes around Lake June itself,
>> right? I'm I'm not really familiar with uh all the areas, you know, but if you have older homes on smaller lots where the ground elevation of the of the lot
itself is closer to the water level, you know, it's maybe 4 feet above the water level or whatnot. I would think that those would be the areas that are contributing more to the to the problem. The the other thing is I I've I've
questioned several people on does anybody take samples of the water and test for fecal coli or whatever, right? And it's pretty much no, they don't, you know. Well,
if you don't know whether there's fecal coli in there, you don't really know whether the contamination is coming from the septic tanks or is it coming from fertilizer runoff from, you know, from
the lots, >> right? >> Right. >> Or a combination of both. Yeah. >> Mhm. Association does the canals that are coming out going down >> we just don't want to be part of that $4
million making recommendation council where we thought they mandated the guy just not piece of the money $40 million >> right well there is there is no money
right now basically we we pretty much spent the 40 you know most of the 40 million so so we we still need to decide which areas is should we do first? I mean, we're going to be uh picking up Tamoka.
Well, the other treatment plan you have to realize too is it maybe Placid Lakes is the is the key area, but do you do we have the money to take that to pipe it from Lake from Placid Lakes into the new wastewater treatment plant or could we pipe it easier from some place that was
local more close to the wa wastewater treatment plant like Lake June Hills and you know something that is of of some somewhat of a pollution you know problem but at least we could be able to pipe that >> well I think too that they have their
own utility out there um and we have um 20 minutes left before we're going to end this meeting so I think Mr. Harris has been standing up there. You have something >> maybe we should move on to the next finish wrap it up. >> Very brief if I may. I appreciate the
point of master plan but money drives the train particularly when you're retrofitting old sewer tank septic tanks into a sewer. The most expensive thing you can do in utilities is retrofit sewer to septic uh septic to sewer. My
opinion is this is going to be driven by our grants. Um just like the one the state paid to go out to uh the conference center, I think the state will continue to pay to go to these damaged areas even if they're not on a master plan. Um
and keep in mind they're in the county in most cases here. The county has said, "You take the lead, but we still need to go back to the county and say, you county commission, apply for these four grants." We've got one lined up, we think, still from the federal government
if the budget ever gets adopted. Um, SRF is still a good We've got options. We just need to apply and the county needs to help us apply. Thank you, >> Mr. Warner. I think Mr. Warner had a comment.
>> Hang on. No, no, no, they can't. They can't. We clarified and because they're not the utility owner, they cannot apply. They can't. We did. We clarified that. And then the other comment I have to make for the whole of the good of the group
is that grants are not a guarantee. If we are waiting for grants, we are going to wait forever. Mr. Harrison, I will argue on this one. So, we're not going to do that publicly. >> I'm going to tell you started it. >> I know. I know. I know. But I'm just saying I will win because I have written
grants and I have worked grants and I am telling you that if you are waiting on grants this will not happen. >> Well, it's happened before in this community and I understand I appreciate your point. If we're not the util if the county is not the utility owner that may
apply in some but it doesn't apply at all. I too spoke to FD and they said oh yes the county certainly can apply. I think that we could have hours on this meeting, but Mr. Warner, I think you had he's our utility director. >> Yes. >> I just wanted to say, you know, the the
easiest way for us to start, we have where the water lines are, which is Lake June Road. Um, we use the water lines, water meters to monitor the wastewater for charges. So, now if you're going down uh other areas, you're going to
have to run water and sewer. So, it's a larger cost. So if you start with infrastructure infrastructure that's already in the ground mostly water man down that way and then you add you know your your sewer that that's your
lowhanging fruit and you know master plan that would probably be the first thing they'd tell you in the master plan too. you already have some infrastructure, add your sewer lines, get those connections, and then as you build your system and everything connects, then you branch off them. And
where most a lot of places have water but no sewer, you you just keep building that. So, but like I said, you got to go with the infrastructure that you have and and then add your your sewer lines. You just can't add sewer lines because now you have no way to measure it. They
do make meters. They're expensive. So, you go on estimates. So to get your accurate and your funding correctly, you have to have a water line to go with it. >> Yeah. Maybe we need to have another workshop just on that. So thank you. >> Absolutely. I think let our good people here, they got a long way home.
>> Oh, no. We um we definitely captured that and I think um yes, utility master plan with a phasing plan is potentially very much one of the next recommended steps. Um if my friend in the back could switch us back over to the polling
questions. We have one left and um we kind of want to bring this home by by kind of going back to the big picture holistically. Let's see. Yeah. Oh, sorry. If you could jump all the way to Well, there you go. It should be six. So when
it comes to quality of life, Lake Placid is and our four options uh strong and improving, strong but weakening, a weakness but improving, and a weakness and declining. And while you
guys ponder that um and we'll we can kind of jump around just a little bit, but I did want to review some of the things that came up today. So, when we asked, "What do you love?" It is all about the hometown feel. It's our small businesses. >> It's our family environment, our
friendly atmosphere, and that the people make the difference. Um, when we talked about serving our businesses, for the most part, we're maybe not in a great place now, but three4s of this group said that we were improving. When it
came to safety, we feel really strongly and positively about that. So 91% thought it was a strength and still improving. Um walkability about half of us said that it is a strength and improving and the other half said it's a
weakness but it is improving. So either way we're improving with that one. Um the one that we had some challenges with really is when it came to serving residents. So twothirds of our group said that it is a weakness um but it's improving but also one-third said it's a
weakness and it's getting worse. So as we think about this quality of life question where what do we need to do to improve how we serve residents? What is it that would start to move that needle? Because that seems to be the one component of
the things we've discussed where maybe we feel like we're not quite there yet. any thoughts on how all of this comes together to serve our residents and our our town. I think >> we continue to get beat up about um what
what is there in town for the for people to do and what is there for the kids to do and what is there for the the people the senior citizens which are the majority basically of our population to
do. And now we we don't even have a golf course but it looks like uh we may have pickle ball before we die. And um we are hopefully we're going to have some playgrounds um for the kids, but we have playgrounds
that have to be I think they're going to come under the CRA and so Lake uh Lake Jun Park is not going to come in that. But but um I think those are the the things that we keep getting beat up on. At least I do. Any
other thoughts when it comes to how we kind of turn the tide on on that one and get stronger? Um or okay, so our results so far when it comes to quality of life, Lake Placid is so 67%.
Uh majority of this group thinks it is strong and improving, which is obviously the direction we want to go, right? There's a few folks that maybe have some differing opinions on where we are and it might be headed in the wrong direction or the right direction. Um, is there
>> Oh, Jeff wants to know what quality of life means. I think Jeff could explain what quality of life mean. What does it mean to you? >> Take pride in your community. I think you can people
you enjoy what you're seeing when you go up or when you're in late classes. I personally think it's declining in that you know citrus was changed for generations on the citrus we pushed our growth I think people northern people
and people used to love the citrus the trees the orange smell dead there are some new grow that was and pretty much it's not anymore. So
that aesthetically pleasing >> and so things were changing and growing and whole county is just a lot of different it's too much development or something you go up to like where all
the people come from. Um so how do we improve the quality of life here? I think you recognize that we are contin or that you can you talked about it in that one of the goals of the classic regional plan was expedited per it was
supposed to be a quicker turn around you supposed to get a bud that has not happened and you stated that but that's one thing that does need to be approved my you can still hold a lot of the LPR LS but you need the density to be able
to pay for it you need the infrastructure utilities if you per independent county a park it's not going to cash flow so if you want to continue look at basically the way we are now
keep everything as it is but if you want change and if you can say well see a park other they incentivize economic development in you know if you want that how do we get there how can we
we devel in our core downtown area. What do we do? >> I think our density is more than 32, >> but let's lay that discussion aside. If we need to address density, that may be one of the things we need to tweak.
>> Y >> I I just wanted to say too that I think I hear that they love that people are kind and good here, that they're very nice, and they don't get that. And the other comment is is our traffic that they go to the s they go to this they're
so refreshed coming here and there's not horrible traffic. So those are the two things that I hear mostly. And if I could make this comment um we know that Highlands County has primarily been a retirement community. That is the
reality as well. Um but in Lake Placid if you look at the median age it's running about 45 years old. Um, I put on here that we've been strong, but we're weakening. And that's been in my history of even just visiting the town of Lake Placid over the course of having my
first daughter. Um, it is a real concern because we want to not have growth because everybody is retiring to our community. And while we can appreciate that, the reality is is if you don't have other people here to contribute to your tax base, then we will die. That is
the reality. And so how can we appeal to all generations, but this is one of the first times if you look that the town of Lake Placid has had this age group that wants to be here. So how do we entertain that? How do we keep them here? Because
now you're talking it's your generation keeping them here in our location. And Pam has a good point again. citrus. A lot of them stayed because they wanted to be in this there. It's a family thing. It's carrying on that legacy of citrus and even in the cattle industry.
We're seeing it over from Okchobee County. If we don't do this, you're not going to have people to stay because they're going to move away. So now you're you losing your I'm 45, my daughter is 30, and then I have three others that are
here, and I have grandchildren that are here. The reality is if we don't do something they're going to leave. So then you will have no tax base to even maintain the town of Lake Placid and you're going to just go under the county. We will. That's what will happen. And that's the truth. That's the
reality. So I think it's something really to think about. >> Okay. Something to think about. I don't have an answer. I don't have one way or the other. But that was like we like the small town feel
but we need people to maintain taxes and then there's talk about high density but high density I don't think is typically high real estate taxes whereas spread out you have the people
coming from the coast with the incomes and the high real estate taxes. So, it's a dichotomy of which way do we go or maybe combine the two, >> right? Get a good balance. >> So, perhaps do we have um maybe some
sort of u conversation or I don't know a study but something on revenue and just how the town sees revenue moving forward. What does it look like now? Um what's what are the projections and then maybe what are some options?
Uh, so it's interesting. We have not all of the information yet. The actually the survey is still up on the town website um because we were in the middle of the downtown plan at the same time. And so I just pulled the results of where we are right now for this survey. And one of
the questions asked like what are the most important things that need to happen? And the number one answer right now is infrastructure. So, I think people are pretty realistic about yes, we want all of those other things. We want parks, we want um things to do, but
at the same time, infrastructure is critical, and it's kind of where we're we're at step one, and let's let's work on that as well. So, just kind of fodder for the group as we start to close our thoughts. And I think we I'm I'll close up the survey in a minute, but um
quality of life, so strong and improving 70%. and then um sprinkle through the other categories. And I think everybody has a little bit of their own reason for why they think things are going in a certain direction. Um but I think just the fact that you're everyone's here
tonight is on the improving side, right? Like the more we have these conversations, I think a lot of really good work came out of it related to um a number of the conversations that we've had in our individual boards. And so then to bring it kind of together and
discuss as a whole. So I think with that, Jennifer, Jeff, any thoughts? Jennifer and I were just talking. I think one of the other things we're going to look at as well is we're going to look at what do aging
generations right now really want? Do they want the communities on the outskirts, the single family homes with the yards where you've got maintenance and you've got things that you need to take care of? I don't know. In my opinion, that's what most of the aging generation wants right now. But we're
going to look into that. Why is that important? As part of the work that we're doing with the downtown master plan, when we talk about densities in the downtown where you're centralized and focused with the infrastructure that you have current in your downtown core area, there may be a market to really
tap into there. Those utility connections, the density that you can bring there um might help address some of these capital cost questions. What happens in the outskirts and the LPRP over time? There may be a market at some
point when that one developer comes in, the Nuland homes community with the uh national builder who says, "We know there's a market to hit this. We're going to put it in. It's feasible for us to do it because we know we're going to get the return on on our investment."
That may happen over time. And and and to to Pam's point, the size of the LPR, it it's very large, right? But it is an area that has the concepts. It has the guidelines. It has those opportunities for the town to shape the way that the
town wants to see things happen if something is going to come in at some point. If it's outside of the LPRP and it comes in and it's in the county, it's going to happen anyway. The town now has the potential to have it within its
growth area and have some control over that. So, just a point to be made that the LPRP, you all do have some teeth in the game, skin in the game, if you will, um, with the size that it is. But I think something we want to really look at is some of those demographics. Look
at some of those studies. What is the market really driving right now? I know my folks as they're getting older. My mom wants to live in the resort lifestyle. She does not want to have to mow a lawn. She wants to be able to access services easily. She wants to be able to walk to things. I think that there's a growing market for that. I
think as part of the downtown and the core when we think of the town there could be some incentivized focus um on that uh that might help drive some of the immediate concerns when I say immediate over the next 10 20 30 years as folks are starting to age and then we've got the next generation coming up
but what happens on the outskirts is going to eventually start to happen and these other conversations definitely need to be had when we look at density what is the feasibility you know two units three units an acre I mean you're not going to get the return on that and and most developers are going to say it's not really worth our time. The bite
at the apple is not worth it to do that. So that is definitely something that needs to be looked at. But I think we can offset some of this as well if we really try to look at the market. What do people really want? Do they really want to live out on the outskirts? We want to live in that small town that
that lifestyle um everything that Lake Placid provides. We don't necessarily want to be on top of each other. We like the rural feel, but do we need to be way out in the hinterland? You know, if I need to get into a service or a doctor's appointment or something, I'm farther
out now, right? I'd like to have all of that kind of at a at a stonethrow's distance from me. So, these are all, again, as I said before, they're all parts of the puzzle. They all work together, but these are some additional things that we'll look at as well. But with that, I think this has been really good. Are there any other topics just
generally uh um that we could add to the parking lot um that we didn't maybe bring up today that you've thought about as we've gone through this or just any other general questions that you guys have right now? >> I have one question um before we leave
tonight and and we thank you for your patience tonight. As you look around the other communities surrounding us, are there any aspects of those those cities for example that we don't have in Lake
Placid that you would like to see? I like to bring industrial area like airport tax base and jobs higher wages. They have the energy readiness study around the town hall
area, but it's different and there's no four years and it's got a long ways to go. I guess for me, time's running out. We can say Hars are coming in 20 years, 10 years. We all
have that amount of time for things to happen. What's happening right now leaves your legs different at a time that's you talk high density I think this your packet was very
misleading because you had low medium and high density it doesn't mean 40 units per acre so I think some there's a compromise somewhere in there I get all those
Florida seminars and you know you talk about urban planning and how much it cost to government when you have urban for you have these different things and it doesn't cash flow you need some high you need medium density the county is 4
to eight units per acre typically towns cities are much higher in density because that's the attraction pool lake is lower than the county that's don't understand. I mean, that's that's a part
that I would appreciate put that in the packet and explain. Okay, this is normal. Y'all are asking for 10 times as much as normal and the density. How will it cash flow? How will anybody that comes in?
>> And kind of just pulling off what you just said, right now the highest density in the town, and Dana can check me on that is 12 units an acre. in the greater area >> that is
12 units and it's very >> so as a comparison the Sebring the city of Sebring the highest density is 40 units an acre as a comparison and in Avon Park they just adopted 40. There'll
be 40 as well. Yeah, they were 16 and now they're they're going up to 40. Um, but as we work on the downtown master plan and thank you for highlighting that, will provide a comparison to surrounding areas. We are seeing a desire for higher densities in
downtowns. Uh, Lake Wula doesn't necessarily have the higher density, but they definitely have now the the growing demand for residential over retail in their core downtown, which adds life and
greater visibility. Uh, one of the the great um, I guess perceptions of a safe community is you see somebody walking their dog after dark or folks going through a stroll. And I think we see that here.
But it it's also a great market for taking advantage of what we have now. But through the codes you have, you have a lot of uh assets in there that help preserve your character. But it is that directed decision on looking at those
higher densities utilities and where they go and really that overall master planning. So yeah, thank you for that and and I apologize the the chart there on the the dent that's is the legend those are the land uses and what is
allowed in those categories. Um but you can see on the map as Miss Ventress said there are not a whole lot of areas but that's also part of the conversation. Do we look at possibly an overlay with greater densities or look
at greater opportunities? That's the solar park and it looks county because it's a little deceiving and then off the purple but that's far
acre development. excuse it means something different. >> I think too that we what we should do I mean we're past 7:30 now. I don't know how many people plan to actually leave at 7:30 but um maybe use your site if
you could set something up. I mean, we've if people knew when they wrote in they would you would get tons of information if they really thought they were going to be heard and that they you would take that information and I know you do and then people just need to get it. They need to and I need to write you
too because I haven't been and that's my my bad. So, I have lots of ideas now. I want to I'm going to send them to you. Anyway, but if we can encourage the public to use their sites and I just, you know, I mean, I don't know if you're done yet, but I just appreciate
everybody coming tonight. It's it's not easy to do one more thing in our busy lives and that sort of thing. And our staff came and you all came and I think it's been great. So, I didn't know how much more you have to go over.
>> I I think that that wraps it up. U Mary Beth gave it to me to wrap up and uh I think I threw out a few more questions there, but I I think just kind of leaving you with that and if anybody has anything else closing comments. Thank you. >> Well, I would like to thank you guys.
Central Florida Regional Planning Council. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] >> Is there anything else anybody has to add? Could I trouble y'all for a picture up here as soon as we're done with all
of our board members just right here? >> Oh, that'd be great if you all don't mind. Just a few more minutes and get your photo taken up here with us. Thank you. I'll adjourn the meeting at 7:37.