BCCA-20-0107

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TranscriptWhat was said at each appearance is below it. Machine transcription, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 100% of 79 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.

1. 1Jul 14, 2020
   Board of County CommissionersR2Regular businessNo disposition in the minutes

   Open this item →▶ Play from 50:38
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   Mike Moore

   50:38Well thank you. Um great things happening. We appreciate all your efforts. I know it's challenging times and we Again, we appreciate everything you and your entire team are doing. So thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, members of the board, R2. Presentation, Landscaping Enforcement, Commissioner Starkey.

   Kathryn Starkey

   50:57Um A mute. So I think y'all know my uh legislative assistant Danny McAuliffe and um this is one of the projects Um he has been working on and Some of you may or may not know that Danny is heading off to law school. So I always knew I had him just temporarily. Unfortunately I've I've tried and tried to get 'em to stay and not go to law school in New York City. They just wait another year.

   Talk

   51:24Uh no, Fordham. He's going

   Kathryn Starkey

   51:25to Florida.

   Talk

   51:27Okay.

   Kathryn Starkey

   51:28It's in New York City. Yeah. It's right by Columbia. Oh I thought you said

   Mike Moore

   51:31Florida first thing you went to Florida. Okay, good.

   Kathryn Starkey

   51:34Oh yeah, I'm very familiar. Congratulations

   Mike Moore

   51:35for that.

   Kathryn Starkey

   51:36So um we would have normally waited a little while for this COVID stuff to die down, but since Danny is leaving um August first, um um we're gonna go ahead and give you this presentation and then Talk a little bit about it after.

   Talk

   51:54Before I get started, may I approach and give you a copy of the landscaping code? Yep, you may.

   Mike Moore

   52:01Yeah, if you want to, yeah, just make it easy for yourself.

   52:07Thank you. Thanks.

   Talk

   52:15Oh wow. So today's presentation is obviously about landscaping. Um The landscaping code or the our modern landscaping p code applies to developments uh built after or pro Submitted proposals after feb february twenty sixth, two thousand two. And the intent of this code is actually written in the ordinance itself. Um And as you can see up there on the second bullet point, it reduces the visual impact of development. So that's paved services,

   52:45um, large buildings, et cetera. It screens conflicting uses from one another, uh residential, commercial areas, provides buffers. things of that nature, and it helps establish a harmonious relationship, I like that phrase, uh between the natural and the built environment. We also know that uh the cars, parked cars, cool down uh quicker. when they're under shade and so therefore there's an admiss admissions benefit to this. And then also In our landscaping code, we

   53:16incentivize Planting of non-native spe or planting of native species, uh drought resistant plants and water efficient plants, things of that nature. Next slide, please.

   53:28But there are some problems with our landscaping code, and on paper and in practice is where the discrepancy exists. So inside that code there's a There's mention of perpetuity. All required landscaping shall be maintained in a healthy condition in perpetuity and accordance. Uh that means forever. Um but Out in the around the county we see missing and deteriorated trees, shrubs, and ground cover. So obviously there's a problem between what

   53:58they proposed on paper many years ago and what they're actually doing in practice. Uh one of the problems to that is that when you have a business that is keeping up their landscaping and taking the effort and the money and the resources to do it. they're looking around our county and seeing that other businesses aren't doing the same. I know the commissioner is very involved in this and she's heard Complaints of that nature before. Another problem on our end is that enforcement is kind of difficult. It sort of takes a trained eye, I'll be honest. When I started doing some research on

   54:28this issue, I didn't really know what a landscaping violation looked like. Now I kind of do and I kind of know what to look for. But I also have a bit more knowledge about planning material. And I found out how to get access to site plans, which are sometimes hard to track down, and understand once you have them. Um so that's just one other problem to keep in mind. Next slide, please.

   54:50So before 2002, uh we did have some landscaping requirements, believe they've been difficult to track down. Um But I did take an image of a site that we know. uh was built before then. I'm not sure whether they've had remodels or not, but that's just to give you an understanding. Of what maybe something might have looked like before then. There are also some other areas where a business all they really have is grass and They were built in the eighties or the nineties and things like that nature and they're not not required to do the same things as today. Uh but next slide please. Uh

   55:21before we get into the examples, um it is gonna be an example of businesses in the county. I did try to obscure their name. Uh today is not really about slapping them on the wrist or the individual business itself. So hopefully you might not be able to tell. Some of them is sort of hard, but hopefully we won't spend too much time thinking about that individual business and more about the fact that this is happening in the county and that it's sort of rampant. We did survey t dozens of businesses, uh, but the ones that I'm

   55:51showing you today are just some examples where I thought I could briefly get the point over to you all about what's happening. So next slide, please.

   56:01So this is our first example. It's in holiday And it was approved in 2004. On the right side, it's kind of difficult to see, but in that red rectangle, you can see a row of circles. And those circles in the landscape plan, which was approved in 2004, are wax myrtles. And then the tinier circles all around the perimeter and throughout that landscape plan represent shrubbery and a whole lot of it. In fact, on this one, Yeah. There's three hundred and nine shrubs.

   56:32Just lining that front perimeter on the far right side, which borders a main corridor in the county. Uh next slide, please.

   56:42So we saw in paper and now here's what is actually happening on the left side and you can see a similar right uh right red rectangle and obviously To the left of that sidewalk there you can see a lot of gaps along that row. And I mean I we didn't even have to go out there to know that they're obviously missing some shrubbery. So you can see the ground itself. um and a whole lot of missing trees. That photo on the right shows the gaps in the shrubbery. Um next slide please.

   57:14And then we have one more image of the front of the business and you can see there's no way that twenty wax myrtles um are still along that perimeter. The island itself in the parking lot, uh You should should see twenty shrubs and there was a total of six different winged elms planted around this particular parking lot. Obviously you can see the shrubs are no longer there, but the winged elms are. Next slide please.

   57:41Our second example is the landscape plan in Trinity. Uh I individually marked the trees on this one. So the red rectangles over those tiny circles are trees. Um so just pay attention to that and then on the next slide I'll explain why.

   58:00Yeah. Uh You can see on the aerial there are no trees along that road. Um and it it's the same image as the one before, so we're looking right at where it abuts the road itself at the top of the image. That's where you should be looking for trees and there aren't any there. One more slide, please.

   58:20And that's a final image of the business itself. You should see 53 various shrubs planted in staggered rows. You can kind of see on the right side of the image one of those staggered rows in front of the other, but gaps between it. So obviously some things have happened here. And the eight magnolias that were on the landscape plan are no longer anywhere along that perimeter. Next slide, please.

   58:45This is another plan uh in the same area as the last one. It was approved in 2003. Now those circles along the edge are elm trees. This business actually does have them, um, but they're missing a lot of shrubs. So next slide please. You can kind of see the looking in from the road, there's a massive gap, and that's sort of disturbing, I think, what the intent of this landscape plan was, which is to shield some of the development from the corridor, you know, giving

   59:16that, like I said earlier, a harmonious relationship between the natural and the built. Uh next slide please.

   59:25I gave you some examples from 2002, 2003, 2004, and we know it's hard uh for businesses, you know, to upkeep their original landscaping plans over decades. So we also wanted to show you some more recent examples. This one is approved in 2019. If you look at the top of that red rectangle, you'll see an area on the next slide that I'm going to talk more about.

   59:49Next slide, please. Thanks.

   59:52So that area. is a landscape bed um that was outlined in the plan. In it itself, there should be nine shrubs of two different varieties, and a crate myrtle, uh, which was required to be six feet tall at insulation. Uh that crepe myrtle's not doing too well and I don't see any of the other shrubs in that area. It's just a blank planting bed. Um next slide please.

   1:00:18This is another image of the front of the business. Along this row we should see thirty-seven different shrubs and two trees, one dogwood and one Florida maple. Uh those two trees are not there. And the shrubs are looking like they're struggling to Thrive. Uh next slide, please.

   1:00:36Here's another recent example uh in the holiday area. Along this row, this is I wanted to include this because it's more about deterioration and there are some language in our code about proper maintenance of planting material and upkeep, et cetera. So you're not just putting seeds or uh saplings into the ground. Um but those are four crate myrtles that are lining that row. They're actually supposed to be ten feet tall and then shrubs spaced in between. Now on the next slide. Uh next slide please. Yep. We see that

   1:01:07that area or th those b those shrubs are basically dead and those crepe myrtles were about as tall as I was and they're supposed to be ten feet tall on this particular site plan. Uh so it's just not it's deteriorating. Or it's you know. It's it's not getting what it needs, uh but the intent was there. On the bottom I show what Petasporum, which is the Required shrub that's supposed to be there. That's what it can look like. That's the potential. And then that's it in practice. Um so next slide please.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:01:37And most of those were dead, right, Danny?

   Talk

   1:01:39Yeah, they're mostly dead. You can't really see it, but there's definitely brown and Um we can talk about that afterward. Uh but I want to include this example right here. Uh Because People sometimes do things up after their landscape plan that sort of renders the point of them moot. Uh so shade trees are in our landscape plan um with the idea that their average mature spread would be greater than twenty feet. in other words, providing shade. Um W it didn't look at the particular site plans

   1:02:09for these properties. But when you're not going to be able to do prune uh trees in that way, it sort of defeats the purpose. It basically turns them into a hedge. Or a shrub. So we wanted to talk about that. Next slide, please.

   1:02:24And that's just an example of general deterioration of what we're seeing around the county. You can see that probably at one point that was a continuous row and those shrubs were uh since pulled and uprooted and it obviously invites some other litter and other activities around the area as well. Uh next slide please.

   1:02:44Today's not all bad. Uh this is an example of a business that I believe the county worked with before my time. Uh so it's all hearsay, but I did hear about this. Um before you can see on the left that's the images from 2012. If you look at the left corner at where that business meets the intersection, you can see just all brown. Uh then the county I guess had a conversation with them, educated them and they willingly uh brought their landscaping up to code and that's the same look angle looking in from that left top corner on the

   1:03:14right side. And you can see on the satellite it's a lot more greener. greener um in general than it was before. And that's

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:03:21the Verizon at Trouble Creek and Little. So so it looks wonderful.

   Talk

   1:03:24We'll share them because we're very happy with them. So Uh next slide please.

   1:03:31So this is more of a conversation starter. I wanted to also qualify a few things. We're very sensitive to the economic hardships small businesses and businesses in general have been facing. I in theory w was prepared or ready to do this presentation before COVID nineteen hit. And uh with my time here coming to an end, I still wanted to do it. But it's not about slapping businesses on the wrist. Uh we really think that maybe they're unaware of it. Uh they don't have the education about it. They they've maybe forgotten. Um I mean, you know, they're

   1:04:01not willingly breaking the law. Or breaking code. And we don't really want to fight with them. So uh to that end I'll turn the conversation over to you. I think we want to give Or maybe talk about how we can add an enforcement wing to our gray code. Um an extensive code and code that's hard to read. Uh that that conversation's for you all, not me. Thank you.

   Mike Moore

   1:04:26Thank you, Danny. Thank you, Danny. And all the best to to you.

   Talk

   1:04:30All the best. I'm sure you'll do great. Think it was a great year to get involved with local government. Thank

   1:04:40Commissioner

   1:04:41Starkey.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:04:42So um this is uh a problem that you know we're seeing around the county and I I really see it in the And the businesses that have been up and running for ten, fifteen years where they you know, they're not being held to the standard that they're supposed to. um when they when they built, when they came in. And so, um It's it's it's a a strange um well, it's hard for code enforcement to take this on because They're not this is not part of

   1:05:12their wheelhouse in my opinion. This is more building services. And I've talked to the Administrator Biles about this, uh about how we How we can start um making sure that we're not letting our county slip back to where we were in this eighties and before. Because a really bad landscaping job with broken, you know, unli unbroke with a broken string of hedges and dead trees looks worse than nothing.

   1:05:42And um it will come to your area and all the new stuff if we don't stay on top of this. And um and so uh I think Dan you said that in the business plan you have a plan to um be able to start enforcing This In the next year.

   County Administrator

   1:06:01Well we have the ability to take a couple of the positions that BCS has asked for and adjust to make to have them do more conditions of approval compliance, not

   1:06:14Site plans get approved with conditions of approval to make sure people are staying in compliance with the conditions of approval. Yes. Which would include landscaping, but there's also other things that are

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:06:22other things too as well. Yeah, and so uh you know, an example of what um he's talked about too is if you remember we had that business that came to to U. S. nineteen in holiday, the towing company, Pete's towing, I think, and we denied him his own. Is um his uh permit to remodel and do a um towing and storing on nineteen because we don't want that kind of look when we're trying to, you know, revitalize the area to make it a s have a a towing facility right there on nineteen.

   1:06:52And so Um they appealed and they came back in, they said, Let us come back in with a great landscaping plan And we said, okay, with that lam landscaping plan plan, a six foot opaque fence and really nice plantings in front of it, you can operate that kind of business. uh on US nineteen. And then three years went by and they never did it. Um and I and I would be the one calling and w w what's going on? Where's the landscaping? So uh and the fence. So no there there isn't there we

   1:07:23don't have someone who goes around and double checks on conditions of approval. And so I think that's really important. And that's not something code is able to do because they don't You know, they don't know what the conditions of approval are. They're out looking for trash and

   David

   1:07:37it's different everywhere.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:07:38Yeah, yeah. So um we wanted to bring this to your attention and uh and we do want our business businesses to know too that we have the ability to help you with your landscaping. Um we have the tree mitigation trust fund and and you can get grants up to ten thousand dollars each. So um We so, you know, we think education is the first thing that we should do is is there should be a letter written and actually Christy Sims has written that letter um that we can send out to businesses to say, Hey you may not realize that you're required

   1:08:08to keep up your landscaping and you need to put back in the landscape that's missing and dead and then um and you know we're here to help you. So we d we don't wanna be you know, big bad government, but we we don't want this to continue. So Anybody else?

   Mike Moore

   1:08:27Any other questions, comments at this time? Commissioner Mariano?

   Jack Mariano

   1:08:29It might be good to do a workshop on it. Um you know, I look at some of the pictures, I remember we talked about berms are hard to maintain.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:08:36Yeah, we got rid of those. Hey, turn your mic on.

   Jack Mariano

   1:08:40So maybe that's something that can be brought up like they can lower it down so maybe those things don't die 'cause the water can't get to the bottom. Um When I look at the s shielding of the corridor sometimes again it might have signage issues, so maybe a good chance to look at that as well. And I saw some of the trees they were well under the power lines, but I know if you drive down Lake fifty two coming over You'll see other areas where they just have to chop these big trees that are underneath that you know might might look at maybe changing that as well. Um so I mean we got some opportunities to take a look at it and maybe even take a look at

   1:09:11this used to be the landscaping and irrigation ordinance. And water was designed to go into the planters and if you saw the all the curbings you see most around there. The curbing blocks any water from going in there. It usually goes into a drain somewhere else, so maybe that's something to take a look at too. But I'm I'm happy to go down the road looking at it and find out let's let's go find out what the business community wants us to do and how we can try to make it so we make everything look better at the same time. Work within their requirements too. Thank you, Commissioner Oakley.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:09:35And I'll I'll double check, but Jack, I do think that um when we when we went into this before Um we got rid of the berms. berms because those are really hard to maintain and um and then I think DOT uh or the the power companies already have um a rule that you cannot plant a certain kind of tree under a power line. And I think what we're seeing with those oak trees that get trimmed very strangely is is before that ordinance came came into effect. But that

   1:10:05was a good change. And I think that was statewide actually. And then what was the third thing you said? Um the irrigation. Yeah I don't know I don't know about what we have with the irrigation.

   1:10:18But n nothing's good. Nothing works unless you enforce it.

   Jack Mariano

   1:10:22Right.

   1:10:24The intent is really good. And I think if we look at If you go back to the requirements that were done twenty years ago to that building, well Now we've made changes with the berms and the trees, so maybe we need to go look at how this has changed too, so maybe educate them a l along the way as well.

   Talk

   1:10:38Exactly. I think a big part of it is education.

   Jack Mariano

   1:10:40And if we have the money in the tree mitigation fund to go help them with the expense, now it makes it even easier to get it done. Yeah.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:10:46So first thing I think we should just let them know that they're in violation.

   Mike Moore

   1:10:52Commissioner Oakley or Commissioner Weightman?

   Ron Oakley

   1:10:56I'm good.

   Mike Moore

   1:10:57Okay. Okay. Thank you.

   Kathryn Starkey

   1:11:00Thanks, Danny. Great job.