San Felasco: Winter 2012

Alachua ▫ Bradford ▫ Columbia ▫ Dixie ▫ Gilchrist ▫ Hamilton ▫ Lafayette ▫ Levy ▫ Marion ▫ Suwannee ▫ Union

Winter 2012 In This Issue Sea level rise ….……….…….3 Professional development update…..………….…………….4 Section Lines….………………4 Outreach……….…...…………4 UF reaccreditation....…………5 Air potato roundup...…………5 Alachua County health element…………….......…………5 From the Chair.……...……….6 2013 Budget.………...……….7 2013 Activity Program.……....8

Upcoming Events January 16 – Zoning for Small-Scale Businesses webinar, NCFRPC 24 – Old Florida Heritage Highway Annual Meeting, Evinston UMC Fellowship Hall 26 – City of Gainesville Air Potato Roundup

February 6—APA Florida Public Policy Workshop, Tallahassee 13– Fracking and Resources Extraction and Community Planning webinar, NCFRPC

For updated event information, please visit our website: http:// www.floridaplanning.org/ sanfelasco/index.asp

North Florida Intermodal Park planned for Columbia County

By Allison Megrath, AICP Manager – Real Estate, Plum Creek Plum Creek has invested in Florida’s future, and committed to the long-term success of the communities where the company operates. In Columbia County, that commitment prompted a public-private partnership with local and state economic development leaders working to translate a global event into investment and jobs for North Central Florida.

The expansion of the Panama Canal will greatly increase the flow of international goods through Florida, providing an unprecedented opportunity for economic development for the region. Leading the effort to position Columbia County as an inland port to handle freight coming in through and out of the Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT) are the Columbia County Economic Development Department, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Enterprise Florida, Inc., and the Florida Ports Council.

Logistical Advantages The ability to move freight efficiently between trains and trucks is vital for an inland port. The North Florida Intermodal Park located on land in Columbia County promises to be a gateway for freight transit to points in all directions and provides valuable logistical advantages, including proximity to the I-10/I-75 corridor, Class I rail service, and Lake City Gateway Airport.

Progressive Land Use Designations The North Florida Intermodal Park is anchored by a 500-acre tract of land owned by Plum Creek. The State has designated the tract as the North Central Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern (NC RACEC) Catalyst Site, with the goal of creating jobs that will benefit a 14-county region. The Catalyst Site is part of a larger 2,622-acre Plum Creek tract that the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners adopted as a Comprehensive Plan Amendment designated as a Mixed Use District. With approval for development of up to 8 million square feet of industrial land use, 100,000 square feet of commercial land use, and 300 dwelling units, this District provides an opportunity for significant job creation within the region.

Legislation approved by Florida lawmakers during their 2010 Session provides additional incentives to attract business investment, including the establishment of the NC RACEC Catalyst Site as a Rural Enterprise Zone. This designation allows businesses that locate within the Zone an opportunity to apply for a variety of tax credits and incentives.

Additionally, in 2011 the US Congress acted to allow JAXPORT to expand their western boundaries Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ #64) to include all counties up to and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 1

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 including Columbia County. This will allow a portion of the North Florida Intermodal Park to become the magnet site for FTZ #64 in Columbia County. This designation links the site directly with JAXPORT, allowing duty free treatment for goods coming in through JAXPORT during processing/assembly in FTZ; deferred duty payment until goods leave Catalyst Site; and duty free treatment for merchandise shipped to foreign countries from the FTZ.

Plum Creek is currently in the process of having the North Florida Intermodal Park certified as a Mega Industrial Park by McCallum Sweeney Consulting, a leading expert in third party certification. This process will allow the site to be highly marketable by providing verification of all of our data and analysis that the property is shovel-ready.

Community Relations Public input has been invited and provided by a variety of stakeholders, including State and Federal agency representatives, local government (both County and City) representatives, private organizations such as CSX and FP&L, and neighbors. The inclusive and transparent public process resulted in a project design that opens the door for an array of opportunities with public benefits, including economic development, workforce housing, conservation and recreation.

Site Analyses Date collection and analyses on the 2,622-acre property has been extensive, including boundary and topographic surveys, preliminary geo-technical studies, Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, environmental constraints report, and wetlands delineation. A cultural resource survey has also been conducted on the 500-acre Catalyst Site. In addition to a variety of infrastructure analyses, including utilities and transportation (both road and rail), a thorough master planning effort has resulted in the preparation of a Conceptual Master Plan. The zoning process is underway with Columbia County and the site will be zoned Mixed Use District – Intermodal, to align with the land use designation.

Plum Creek is honored join with its public partners to help position Columbia County for economic prosperity that the North Florida Intermodal Park can provide to North Central Florida. For questions or additional information, please call Allison Megrath, AICP, Manager – Real Estate, Plum Creek, at (352) 333-3733 extension 211.

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Adapting to a changing coast in Levy County

By Sean Reiss, Juan Castillo, and Kathryn Frank UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning Florida’s coast is instrumental to our quality of life and economy. People come here to fish, swim, engage in business, and admire the beauty of the area. Much of Florida’s heart and soul is tied to its coast. Sometimes, we forget that coastlines are dynamic areas that have changed in the past and will continue to change, now and into the future. Changes to the coast have been well publicized recently with news reports discussing future sea level rise impacts to the U.S. coast and saltwater intrusion in drinking water wells. Florida tide gage measurements show that sea level is rising, and scientists are predicting the rate to increase over the next several decades.

Participants from the Cedar Key Summer Youth Program engaged in a box city activity and constructed two box cities, one with sea level rise and one without. The above image depicts the youth’s ideas for adapting to changes in the coastline.

Increases in sea level can cause significant impacts to coastal areas. Under such conditions, natural changes that occur along the coast can be intensified or the rates of change may be more rapid. Some of the first observed impacts may be increased flooding during storms and high tides, greater salinity in coastal aquifers, and changes in shoreline marshes and forests. Such changes to the coast may seriously affect Florida’s cherished qualities, assets, and lifestyles. Timely information about potential sea level rise impacts is critical for local leaders, businesses, and citizens to make wise decisions to protect public health and welfare, jobs, and financial investments, and to help their communities adapt and prosper well into the future.

The project team is partnering with area public officials, planners, and residents to understand the implications of the coastal changes and to identify potential strategies for adaptation. As part of this effort, last summer the team and graduate student educators provided curriculum on coastal change and planning as part of the Cedar Key Summer Youth Program. Cedar Key City Council Member Sue Colson called the curriculum “a wonderful opportunity for our community to have the university come and spend time with the children on a topic that is pertinent to them and their lives and share the things that may or may not occur in a fun and positive way.”

The planned response to changes in sea level and climate has been termed adaptation planning. Some urban communities along Florida’s coast, such as Miami-Dade and Broward counties, have already begun adaptation planning efforts. Rural areas and communities have often been overlooked, or not engaged, in adaptation planning efforts. Resource limitations in rural areas affect their ability to plan and adapt to future changes. This is problematic because rural areas like Levy County in Florida’s Big Bend region are also places where people live, work, and play, and they have significant social, ecological, economic, and cultural assets worthy of proactive planning.

This fall, graduate and undergraduate students in an applied course, offered through the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and led by Gail Easley, are presenting the technical findings to local decision makers, businesses, and the public, and asking for input about community assets, concerns, and planning priorities.

Students in a follow-up applied course this spring will collect oral histories of environmental change and synthesize the technical findings, public input, and literature of best planning practices to identify promising adaptation strategies. The Levy County project will conclude with a celebration of the arts, and a large public meeting to share all the findings and to inspire continued planning in Levy County and other areas. Shenley Neely, Planning Director of Levy County, welcomed the project and said, “the County Planning Department is very appreciative of the work done so far and we are looking forward to the next steps in the process.” The project will ultimately produce a guidebook for use by other rural coastal communities and counties to begin to proactively CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

As part of a Florida Sea Grant funded project, an interdisciplinary team of University of Florida researchers has gathered information and existing studies, and performed new geospatial analyses, to understand coastal change in Levy County and its small coastal towns of Cedar Key, Yankeetown, and Inglis. The team discovered that Levy County’s gradually sloping land has resulted in dramatic changes in coastal ecosystems over the past 150 years and that future sea level rise and storm surges will lead to even greater shoreline impacts in the future.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 plan for the significant changes already underway.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

It is crucial that communities engage themselves in the conversation on how sea level rise is changing their coast and how that knowledge can be incorporated into local decision-making to ensure the future health, welfare, and safety of their community. Let’s not leave for tomorrow what must be done today.

AICP Exam Study Group The next AICP Exam testing window is May 6-20, 2013.

The exam application window opens December 4, 2012, with an Early Bird Application deadline of December 18, 2012 and a Final Application deadline of January 29, 2013.

For more information regarding the project, please visit the project website at changinglevycoast.org, or contact the principal investigator, Kathryn Frank, at kifrank@ufl.edu. For more information on the student team’s public outreach work, please contact Gail Easley, at easleyg@ufl.edu.

If you are interested in participating in a study group for the AICP exam, please contact Leslie McLendon at lmclendon@alachuacounty.us; 352-374-5249. Dates, time, and location of the study group will be determined by those in the group. And if you are not able to participate in a study group, but would still like information on study materials, then contact Leslie.

Section Lines

Opinions Wanted for CM Opportunities Is there anything about Planning that you wish you knew more about? Do you have information that you would like to share with fellow fellows? Do you just need AICP Certification Maintenance (CM) credits? The San Felasco Section would like to host events that would provide AICP CM credits and be of interest to planners in general. If you have ideas for seminars or lectures, or if you think you would like to present information to fellow planners that would be applicable for CM credits then please contact Leslie McLendon at lmclendon@alachuacounty.us.

Mehdi Benkhatar was recently hired by Alachua County as a Development Services Planner. He previously worked as a Planner/Development Specialist for the land use consulting firm Trepanier & Associates, Inc. in Key West.

Jacob Kain and his wife Ashley welcomed a baby girl, Riley Lucille, on August 30th.

To submit a Section Line, email Jacob Kain at kainji@cityofgainesville.org.

San Felasco reaches out at Downtown Festival and Art Show Members from the San Felasco Section provided information to the community about the section, planning topics, and local projects at the 2012 Downtown Festival and Art Show, which took place October 13th and 14th in Downtown Gainesville.

The section hopes to participate annually in this event.

Special thanks to all who volunteered to work the table and to Leslie McLendon, AICP for organizing!

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SAN FELASCO NEWSLETTER Winter 2012

UF planning department reaccredited through 2019

Join fellow section members at 2013 Air Potato Roundup

By Kristin Larsen, AICP Chair, UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning

The San Felasco Section is soliciting volunteers to participate in the 2013 Air Potato Roundup, sponsored by the City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs. The event will be held Saturday, January 26th. Volunteers are needed to work both at Morningside Nature Center and in the community collecting air potatoes, an invasive species.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida has just received reaccreditation for a period of 7 years, the longest period available.

Members (other than UF students) that would like help are asked to contact Dean Mimms mimmsdl@cityofgainesville.org by December 5th 5:30 PM. Let him know if you would like to help Morningside Park or be in the field.

Thanks to everyone who participated in meeting with the Site Visit Team this past February. The enthusiastic support from our alumni and practicing planners made a significant positive impression on the Site Visit Team. Our faculty, students, and staff very much appreciate your support!

to at at at

UF Students that would like to help are asked to contact Juan Castillo jcgator1@gmail.com by December 5th at 5:30 PM. Let him know if you would like to help at Morningside Park or be in the field.

Alachua County addresses health in comprehensive plan update

By Kathleen Pagan, AICP Senior Planner, Alachua County Growth Management The Alachua County Comprehensive Plan: 2011-2030 consists of reinforcing strategies throughout the Plan’s 15 Elements, including new Community Health and Energy Elements, to achieve our community’s vision in the areas of land use, transportation, housing, energy, health, economic development and resource protection, and to help create a vibrant, healthy and sustainable future for all residents and businesses, and for many generations to come. A recent report by the American Planning Association (APA) includes Alachua County as part of evaluation of comprehensive and sustainability plans addressing public health.

A 2010 survey by APA identified 890 plans nationally as including the term “public health” somewhere in the plan. In addition, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention listed 45 jurisdictions with plans including goals related to public health. The final list of plans evaluated by the APA Planning and Community Health Resource Center for the Healthy Plan Evaluation Project was determined based on criteria including official plan adoption, inclusion of 10 or more health related goals and policies, and community population scales and geographic criteria. Alachua County adopted the Community Health Element in 2011, and was evaluated with other plans with adoption dates from 1997 through 2011.

The Alachua County Community Health Element was recognized for ‘robust’ policies in two categories: (1) Food and Nutrition- Access to Food and Healthy Food Options; Land Use; and (2) Aging.

The process County Growth Management completed to develop the Community Health Element included meetings facilitated by WellFlorida staff with the County Health Care Advisory Board to develop a draft for review by the public in workshops and at Public Hearings of the Board of County Commissioners. The Healthy Communities Initiative community was also requested to comment. Thanks to community collaboration with health care system providers, our County Plan is recognized nationally for community health leadership.

The Alachua County Comprehensive Plan is online at http://growth-management.alachuacounty.us/comprehensive_planning/index.php 5

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Chair’s Message

Here are a few ways that I believe we will continue to improve:

Overall, I would say that it has been a good year for our section. We came together and were able to participate in a couple community events, begin an AICP study group, improve the section website, host the APA Florida Chapter bi-annual retreat, have a few happy hours, represent the planning profession during the University of Florida reaccreditation review and improve our communications through the creation of an informative and collaborative newsletter that highlights the projects, planners and places in our section. Of course, none of these things would be possible without the hard work of our section officers and many devoted members who want to see us all improve at our profession and get more out of our memberships.

    

Expand participation in community events and activities that align with our goals and objectives Promote activities that enhance interaction between planning students and practicing planners Continue the AICP study group Build a forum for learning and idea exchange Collaborate with our allied professions

If you have ideas that will bring planners and planning student together to share knowledge, exchange ideas, get to know one another better and have some fun, please contact any of your section officers so we can begin organizing for 2013.

Happy Holidays!

As we look forward to 2013, let us not forget about our progress in 2012. Let it remind us of how much more we can do and how important it is that we participate to build on this past year's achievements.

Doug Doug Robinson Chair, San Felasco Section

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San Felasco Section American Planning Association, Florida Chapter 2013 Annual Budget Adopted November 28, 2012

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SAN FELASCO NEWSLETTER Winter 2012

San Felasco Section American Planning Association, Florida Chapter 2013 Section Activity Program Adopted November 28, 2012

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