DRD-24-0209

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Each appearance carries the official title above. Where the county’s wording changed, the change is marked: added and removed. Steps with no marks were worded identically.

TranscriptWhat was said at each appearance is below it. Machine transcription, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 68% of 397 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.

1. 1Aug 8, 2024
   Planning CommissionPC17Public hearingApproved

   An Ordinance by The … Sections, As Necessary For Page 6 of 7 Internal Consistency, Providing For … And An Effective Date.

   Approved minutes

   Approved the item per Staff’s recommendation with the modified Ordinance language consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.

   Open this item →▶ Play from 2:59:04
   ▶ 2:59:0454m

   Biggie Brian

   2:59:04Good afternoon, Chair. Good afternoon, board.

   Charles GreyChair

   2:59:07How you

   Biggie Brian

   2:59:08doing? Good to see you again. Um here for PC 17.

   2:59:19And that is uh An ordinance by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners amending the Pasco County Land Development Code, Section nine oh five point two point E, landscape and buffering, landscape uh acceptance, maintenance and prohibitions, appendix A definitions, and other sections as necessary for internal consistency, providing for applicability repealer uh providing for several ability, inclusion into the land development

   2:59:49code, and effectively. Um

   2:59:55We go to the next slide, please. Actually, two slides, one more. So this is the Land Development Code Amendment number 69. It was uh on July 11, 2024, the LPA requested to revise the invasive education amendment and replaced by an amendment of section 905.2 uh of the Land Development Code. The previous invasive education was version uh DRD 24036

   3:00:25and it had been withdrawn. On July 17, 2024, the uh this amendment was discussed with the interested partners in the horizontal round table group and this invasive vegetation version, the DRD 240209, was delayed in the And properly advertised in the Tampa Bay Times on july twenty fourth, twenty twenty one. Next slide please. This amendment is uh requesting consistent with the following comprehensive

   3:00:55elements. Uh Chapter three, conservation element policy con one point eight point two landscaping with native plant species. Uh Pasco County shall continue to require the use of native plant species and non non native or non-native species uh Proven to be non-invasive in the landscaping of new development projects and additions to existing projects. Next slide, please. So this amendment is for Chapter 900, specifically

   3:01:25905.2. Landscaping and buffering landscape acceptance, maintenance and prohibitions. And this amendment requires the proper disposal of invasion vegetation and identity. identifies future property owners that are required to maintain landscaping free of invasive vegetation. It also amends the definitions by adding a new definition for invasive vegetation or invasive plant species. Uh and the new definition for invasive vegetation um or fungus as proposed.

   3:01:56Next slide please. So uh We are Um respectfully asking the board to fight the proposed ordinance amendment consistent with the Pasco County Comprehensive Plan and recommend approval to the Board County Commissioner.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:02:16Okay. Any questions from Highest.

   Jon Moody

   3:02:21I guess the first question I have is what's the proposed language of the ordinance? When I came to sit down this afternoon, it was being changed as we sat here, so it would be helpful to know what the actual language being proposed is.

   Biggie Brian

   3:02:37All right. So for the record I would like to introduce these uh this is the language. Uh it it changed uh a little bit and so

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:02:48Do you want to put it up or do you have a copy for everyone?

   Biggie Brian

   3:02:52I have a copy for everyone.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:02:53Okay.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:02:57Motionary received and file. Second.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:02:59All in favor? Aye.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:03:01Aye.

   Biggie Brian

   3:03:15So as that is being distributed.

   3:03:19Um

   3:03:22It pretty much is gonna stay the same as it was um distributed earlier. We just said in the last uh paragraph uh there was a request made to include uh some of these hogum grass language.

   3:03:40Um

   3:03:43And as we uh discuss with the team, we identify that the Department of Agriculture uh already has a prohibition for uh distribution of coven grass. It's very specific, so it's already a state uh uh what should I call it uh i just say sorry taking uh part in these these issues. So we added the paragraph that's highlighted in yellow that the Department of Agriculture

   3:04:13and Consumer Services recognizes that the colongrass is both the state and the federal noxious weed and it shall be illegal to sell hay or sod from colournrass and festival fields in Pasco County. All sod used for site development uh we produce through a license salt form and certify as a colon grass free and human movement of the grass is any f in any fashion is illegal. That's what has been added, just these uh A few uh hours,

   3:04:44I guess.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:04:45Roberto, what does the last sentence what does that mean? Human movement of the grass in any fashion is illegal?

   Biggie Brian

   3:04:53So you you cannot transport it, you cannot distribute it, uh you just need to get rid of it. Then how does one get how does one dispose of it?

   Unidentified speakerVoice B

   3:05:00Right.

   Biggie Brian

   3:05:01Well

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:05:02what grass. What grass? What grass?

   3:05:06Probably grass from the sod farm? Well coke and grass.

   Jon Moody

   3:05:10Okay. I I make the presumption that you're talking about coke and grass. My question is if human movement of the grass is in any fashion is illegal, then how does one dispose of it? I think we need to

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:05:20make it edit there. I think that needs some help.

   Connected City

   3:05:22Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:05:26I think we we know what it was trying to be achieved,

   Connected City

   3:05:29but it needs to be written better. Outside of disposal of coke and grass in the fashion so we get

   Jon Moody

   3:05:35I mean I think there's Elizabeth, when we were working on this before, there was a Florida Administrative Code section that five J something or other that actually had language about transporting it in this stuff. Can't we reference that? Wouldn't that be the better way to do that.

   Ava Ruscom

   3:05:55Yeah.

   Jon Moody

   3:05:58And then Roberto, I the one question I have, I have no issue with Making sure that we're not buying sod or hay and I've heard the stories about buying sod and hay from Kogan grass infested fields. But do licensed sod farms actually certify that they are Kogan grass-free? Like does the state have a program if you're a licensed sod farm that requires them to do such things? My concern comes from

   3:06:28are we making a requirement that's impossible for somebody to fulfill? If a licensed sod farm won't guarantee that it's Cogan grass free, then we've made a requirement that our citizens can't comply with. I'm not saying that we want Cogan grass in the sod, but is that something that the state regulates on sod farms? Do we know how that works?

   Biggie Brian

   3:06:50Yeah, this is already regulated by state uh state and that statement. I'm not sure you answered the question. That that already is regulated. That's a that that this comes from the state, straightforward from the state. So they regulate that. They have a website.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:07:09Is there some kind of certification that can confirm that they are authorized sellers of Kogan Tree grass. I

   Jon Moody

   3:07:19I have to look into that. I don't know the answer. But so that's that's my hesitancy. I don't I have no issue with making sure we have a war with Kogan grass. I got no issue, but what I don't want to do... is create Oh law. that is impossible for the citizenry to comply with like the last time we talked about you wanted them to get a certification that the fill dirt was free of wheat seeds. Well from somebody who's in this business

   3:07:50that's regularly buying fill dirt, I can tell you you can't buy fill dirt and get a certification that that's the case. Nobody's gonna do that. So what I'm asking is do sod farms do that? If they do that That's great. I'm all for this.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:08:02Yes.

   Jon Moody

   3:08:02And we got

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:08:03we had a um we had D O T and Swift Mud here. Kathryn Starkey, [address removed]. Um And maybe they they just don't recall that we did have D O T and Swift MUD come um report give us a report on how they manage Coke and grass on their property and this is straight from them. They require Um sod be come from certified SOD farms only and they have they

   3:08:34monitor them for three years. And I drove the State Road 52 corridor with the guys in charge of this program.

   Jon Moody

   3:08:40There's a nuance in what you said. I have no issue that they require that the SOD come from a certified SOD farm. My question had to do with Does a certified sod farm guarantee that it's Kogan grass free? I understand the monitoring and I'm all good with that.

   Connected City

   3:08:56They must. I mean So that's part of the certification I think is what he was asking.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:09:00Gig and I have witnessed and I've had calls from developers and landowners who Said commissioner, they are selling coging grass as sod right now off of State Road 52. And I feel so bad for the developments that just got that coconras. um sod uh because they're g they're gonna have a humongous bill when they go to change all their grass out. But so but to answer your question, yes, and this is straight out of state language

   3:09:31and it's what other counties require. Okay.

   Jon Moody

   3:09:33And then Maybe Elizabeth can oh it is still in here. It says best management practices for maintenance shall be included within the development review manual. So what are those?

   Connected City

   3:09:49That's what we were talking about last time that we would re use this ordinance to refer back to that manual.

   Christopher Poole

   3:09:54Mm-hmm. And I do like the language was in in the what we're reading here was changed to say as the standards for implementing this section versus just for reference. Right. But yeah, what what are the big

   Jon Moody

   3:10:07management practices? It you're never going to be successful at a program if you don't have something that's understandable by the public. on what to do. When I researched this issue

   3:10:24There's not a whole lot of science about what to do. There are some people that say, well, we can go spray it with glyphosate, but that's they say that it takes multiple years of application of glyphosate to do that, and I'm not sure that anybody who knows anything about glyphosate wants that sprayed all over the county. Then there's this chemical called And I'm gonna mispronounce it. Immazi in a zip appear. And this is from the

   3:10:54Nature Conservancy, by the way, and this is used sometimes to control Cogan grass. And then it talks about this particular pesticide. Um That its exudate and the ability of a mazippap here to move intertwined root grafts may therefore adversely affect surrounding desirable vegetation with little to no control of the target species. So what I'm trying to figure out is what do I tell my client, what is the best management

   3:11:24practice for he or she to get rid of the Kogan grass? What is that? And what is the county doing? Because the Comf plan says that the county was supposed to do that in Policy CON 184. You were supposed to develop a program on county-owned or lease lands to eliminate exotic nuisance plant species. So I'm not saying you're not doing these. I'm asking what is the method? What works? What can people do?

   3:11:51So

   Keith

   3:11:52Hello again, Keith Wiley, Director of Parks Recreation Natural Resources. So if the question is specifically directed to Cogan grass, it's herbicide, herbicide, herbicide, herbicide, herbicide, herbicide. Which herbicide? So you typically glyphosate, right? Or or some something stronger that's more systemic, but to the to the actual whole list, the B and Ps depend on the actual species in question. I think we talked about this last time. So instead Creating a very robust, you know, uh a guideline we're referring to the B and Ps that's referenced actually

   3:12:22I think in the existing LDC uh language that then gets to University of Florida is to the food and agricultural sciences, which I think would be the experts on what those BMPs would be. So

   Connected City

   3:12:34science is advancing at all times, so those B and Ps can change

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:12:37And and s we had Cogan grass on Starkey Boulevard, um especially on the right hand side recently, in the last two years. Staff went out there and sprayed it three times, gone. Um we had Cogan grass years ago on the left hand side um bordering some of Swift Mud Edge and some of the um I guess DOT you know. Duke right away and uh our family did a trade and we we got them to get rid of

   3:13:07something noxious on our property. We got rid of the Coven grass there. So yes, you you can treat it uh and the county just needs to start getting a plan. But I'm I'm gonna speak again later on my three minutes. Come back. It's in my three minutes. It's in my three minutes. Um But yes, we we have treated it successful. We have treated it successfully.

   Jon Moody

   3:13:31And what I'm good with is just it's

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:13:34put the piece

   3:13:34of the

   3:13:34switch but takes it out of all their property. I

   Jon Moody

   3:13:37I just want to make sure that w if they amend the development manual to include BMPs, that they're practical BMPs that people can achieve.

   Keith

   3:13:47Absolutely. And and to your point, Commissioner, it's this n it's not an easy thing to do, but yeah again there are methods that have proven results that you just have to continue to do and apply over and over again. We're not saying the complete eradication is a hundred percent possible. It's difficult Brazilian pepper is difficult to get rid of. So Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah. Some people like it. Yeah,

   3:14:10they do.

   Jon Moody

   3:14:11What I will tell you is from personal experience When we clear development sites that are infested with Cogan grass and I've got one that's under construction right now. It's over in west of US nineteen in the seaforest area. What's the parcel ID?

   3:14:28When we cleared it and grubbed it and took the first six inches of dirt off, it's never come back. Right.

   Unidentified speakerVoice D

   3:14:37Three three. That's the cheapest way to hear it.

   Chris Williams

   3:14:43So back to your point though, you mentioned sod farms, but it also mentions hay here. So You know, I drive by and see, hey, for sale, are we creating some kind of thing where people won't be able to do that without getting Some kind of test or I mean, hopefully they're not selling it out of cogn and grass infested fields, but But there's not necessarily a test, but I also want to make sure we're not driving

   3:15:13them out of business by not well that's creating some regulation. I

   Jon Moody

   3:15:18share your concern. That's Why we have a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services who's happens to be headed by a Pasco County resident, citizen. Um I don't know whether the county has the authority to regulate the sale of agricultural products or not. I'm not sure we do or don't. I that's question for the lawyers.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:15:49I don't have an answer for that. But um

   Jon Moody

   3:15:52But I mean w I we do know that the state does they have there's a there's a rule in the Florida Administrative Code. In fact I think it was in the last version of this ordinance it was cited.

   3:16:07And I have no problem that following what the state law is on that. And I agree because then all of a sudden some future commission or some future administration comes in and wants and see so and so with a I've got hay for sale sign and they're down there knocking on their doors demanding to see their certifications.

   3:16:28Right. Right.

   3:16:31All that being said, from what I understand, cows won't eat cognrass, so if you sell 'em hay with cogn grass in it, you're not gonna be in

   Connected City

   3:16:38business law. But it could be cross contaminated with seeds and things like that, so

   Charles GreyChair

   3:16:44So are we are you are we writing up new language now that we need to talk about or?

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:16:50Well what I'm suggesting is that There'll be a c couple of edits made to this and he's I mean s certainly this is in furtherance of that Comp Plan policy that he put up there on the PowerPoint, though it does need to be wordsmith. I mean, like I would probably Can we put the language back up?

   Connected City

   3:17:24Maybe we still have to take public comment to know.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:17:27I mean I I for example would take the reference to in Pasco County from that first sentence and switch it over to be illegal in Pasco County, but moving that around. And then I think what needs to be done is the word coven graph but needs to be inserted into that last sentence under human movement. Human movement needs to somehow be modified to allow for disposal as you have pointed out. There needs to be some reference to that other than appropriate disposal. And then maybe

   3:17:57incorporating the Florida rules for disposal as the rule you're referring to is the disposal rule. Right,

   Jon Moody

   3:18:03does that talk about transport?

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:18:05Transporting, right, and disposal. Incorporating that rule in there and then the research project of whether or not we have an issue with prohibiting the sale of some kind of agricultural product, but I would certainly think that us prohibiting the sale of tainted Haynes Sod probably wouldn't run a fail of some kind of department regulation because it's in furtherance of their own regulation if you were to prohibit that. But I can look into that. As for any additional amendments to this, I I don't know, but that's what I would do to fix that

   3:18:35additional language. Okay. And furtherance of that common policy. What you're saying.

   Christopher Poole

   3:18:42Did you get the last sentence on that, Elizabeth the Human movement of Yeah, I expect

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:18:47other than some kind of the appropriate disposal pursuing to best management practices or or whatever. Yeah,

   Christopher Poole

   3:18:52because that's kinda confusing.

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:18:54If there's a state rule, do we need an additional rule? Can we just reference to say that

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:18:59It it's sometimes best to give your reader the concept instead of making them go research something else. You know what I mean? But it it's it's okay to cross-reference and repeat things at our state level.

   Jaimie GirardiVice Chair

   3:19:09Okay.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:19:10And

   Jaimie GirardiVice Chair

   3:19:10you just include the rule, the text of the rule. Remember it

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:19:13was a

   Jaimie GirardiVice Chair

   3:19:14fairly short

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:19:14thing.

   3:19:16That's possible too.

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:19:17And then the the second qu with the definition we're including we're we're proposing to include an opinion. Are we can creating a conflicting definition of what invasive is because we're defining it by UFIFS list in the E5, but then we've got a different definition than appendix A.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:19:37That's not a question. And then I'll

   Jon Moody

   3:19:39just say that none of that's consistent with the comp plan. PolicyCon one point eight six says Pasco County shall utilize the Florida Exotic Best Plant Council's list of exotic nuisance plant species as amended that are likely to occur in Pasco County.

   3:19:57Well I may not like that, but it is what it is. The comp plan is what it is.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:20:01But that's out of day, right? But that's out of date. That terminology one I understand is out of date.

   Jon Moody

   3:20:06It may be, but are they now the FISC, the Florida Seth? Yes, that's Company. Yes. Okay, but that's what the comp plan says. I may not personally like it, but that's what it says. Right.

   Keith

   3:20:18And as far as I think one of the commissioners brought up the definition underneath Appendix A, I mean quite honestly if it really that it is you could say that the definition is actually underneath E five referring to the to the database, but that's I guess that's up up to you all to consider that

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:20:34piece. But I'm just saying down the road somebody goes, Oh well I think that this plan is extensively uncontrollable and

   Keith

   3:20:45I mean it's fairly consistent with most yeah, most of the definitions that refer to that, but um yeah, to your point it's could be probably defined elsewhere. So

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:20:53Yeah, yeah, Keith, and I think I I I had raised that question in conversations with staff earlier, and I I just didn't know I know before we were talking about the category one plants, right? And then it was just whether this was are the category one plants can actually be listed in the

   Keith

   3:21:05Del manual. Not I mean I think the intent is to use the reference that's in the existing code language. So we wouldn't we wouldn't be creating an additional list. We would use all the existing references and make it as simple as possible. And I will say that um I mean that database is rather extensive, but you can filter it by the type specifically called out in the existing code language. So I think that's safe territory. Well that I

   Jon Moody

   3:21:29got one last

   Keith

   3:21:30question.

   3:21:33Well

   Jon Moody

   3:21:33no, I I'm all good with that. But the last time I was here I asked has anybody gone over to Marata and asked them to please remove the Cogan grass along with the Ludwigia Peruviana and the Brazilian pepper, because it's still there today when I pass by. And we added your parcel too, the E reference.

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:21:52I don't have any Cogan glass. We got rid of some next door to

   Keith

   3:21:55Marata.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:21:57Okay. And with the pleasure. What do we what do we want to do? Uh yeah,

   Christopher Poole

   3:22:03take public hearing. Yeah.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:22:04I thought we did. I thought Kathryn gave it to us.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:22:08Not yet. She didn't use her three minutes yet.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:22:10Oh that's right, that's right. Okay, so who would like to have public comment? Is there a list or is that?

   Denise

   3:22:18For this one the only person is Msini that has signed up to speak.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:22:22Okay.

   Unidentified speakerVoice F

   3:22:31Jennifer Sini, [address removed]. This time I'm here to speak to PC seventeen. um the newly proposed invasive ordinance based on section nine oh five point two. This ordinance amends one single paragraph Buried deep within section nine oh five point two. The section actually runs approximately

   3:23:01seventeen pages, but this is just one paragraph. This board expressed their opinion that we already have an invasive ordinance through 9052. If that were the case, why hasn't it worked so far? This paragraph has existed for decades. but has not done anything to stop the invasion. Now why? Because it's an afterthought. It is a reactive

   3:23:30if you will, paragraph, to a situation. It is not proactive. It is not prioritized. For example, here there is no required inventory of species, just a vague, if you find them, remove them. There is no requirement for management plan, there's no oversight, there's no process or procedure to implement it, and there is no reporting. Essentially, it is relegated to an unsupported code compliance

   3:24:00function. I find it very interesting that it references IFES assessment of non-native plants and flowers natural areas. You know, that is a list of over 900 species. But who no ma'am. It is nine hundred species plus. And but who cares because we're gonna let staff do any work. With this ordinance anyway. So what does it matter if there are hundreds of species that don't relate to Pasco County? And who

   3:24:30cares what are those pesky invasives that make our county commissioners crazy aren't emphasized here. The proposed ordinance puts this whole program on the backs of staff. most likely cold compliance, And it will not be prioritized. Unfortunately, you all directed staff away from Pasco County Commissioner's Directive. And I will say I've watched both meetings and please forgive me, but it you

   3:25:01guys were bullying staff and you know what? They gave up. and they gave you 905. I say this proposed ordinance should be scrapped and we go back to the original attempt to put in a real proactive program. Thank you.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:25:16Thank you.

   3:25:19Okay, well I think we have one other person who wants to speak.

   Cindy Buckle

   3:25:25Sydney Bartman. [address removed]. There are actually 1400 invasive plants in the state of Florida. Most of these plants are sold in every nursery that you can find. One of the most popular ones are fountain grasses, which are coming red. They have the feathers on them. They

   3:25:56grow wild.

   3:25:59Camp for trees. Um There's a whole there's a whole lot of them. My question is are you all going are you prepared to go to the Home Depot in Zephyrhills, the Lowe's in Zephyrhills, the nurseries throughout the county, and tell them they no longer can sell these plants that have been sold for years and years. Palm Beach County also uses these in landscapes. Um

   3:26:30right now camper, the fountain grass, um, the Australian pines that grow along our beaches, um These are drought tolerant plants. Okay, now the weeds that Sarkey talked about. they can be somewhat um problematic. But Are we to burn the entire county down to get rid of

   3:27:00all the weeds and are we going to tell the nurseries that they can no longer sell these plants for landscaping? I have these plants in my own yard and they grow wild, and I allow them to grow wild, because I live on five wooded acres, near the airport in Zephyrhills, which is a whole nother story, and they cause no kind of problem at all. My concern is why all

   3:27:30of a sudden Commissioner Starkey decided to start attacking the invasive Weeds. I didn't hear anything about it until That came up, and then the fires. that caused the smog and then got out of control and then someone was arrested for starting a fire which they did not start. I have all of this documented. I've

   3:28:00been doing this for 35 years. This is the first time I've been in front of you all. But the commissioners know me very well. And that's my concern. Campor trees are huge, they provide shade. They are not A bad tree. And if you can cut down a 36 inch or bigger grandfather oak And burn it. But you're gonna Want to

   3:28:30cut down and burn Lantana grass and everything else that these Home Depots, Lowe's, nurseries, all throughout Pasco County South. What's the plan? You ca it's not gonna be able to be stopped. They're first of all they are perennials and they will come back over and over again.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:28:54Okay, thank you.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:29:00Thank uh Kathryn Starkey [address removed]. Um Thanks for taking this on. I know it's a really tough ordinance, but we have been talking about dealing with coke and grass at the county level for a number of years now. And um We have got to get a little proactive on it or our county's gonna be eaten up with it. And um Swift MUD and DOT have

   3:29:30very active programs to stop it in their property, as I mentioned. And we we have done really nothing to stop the spread, and there are things that can be done to stop the spread. And if you research it, you'll see no animal eats coconrass. It cuts their tongues to to pieces. And to walk through it You can't you can't walk through it. It'll cut cut up your your legs. So to have it in your yards, to have it in your open spaces,

   3:30:00um, it's just very detrimental. It burns at a higher rate. It's got a lot of oil in it, so um it can uh cause um uh control burns to burn at a much higher level. and you'll lose your trees. Um, it will actually um overtake a a lot of new growth in um in and pa well takes over pastures and And I would say to you, can you get a nag exemption

   3:30:31for a pasture of Cogan grass when it's no agricultural purpose? I'm not sure that's legal to get an ag exemption on a on any acreage of coding grass. So if we don't get proactive on stopping the spread, we're gonna look like a lot of parts of what Hernando County looks like. And um so it's just time that we we put some rules down and uh one of the things I suggest suggest to staff and

   3:31:01I've been um starting conversations with our um secretary of ag Wilton Simpson is is there a way that we can help fund um with grants the removal of some of this stuff in some of our neighborhoods because I think it's gonna be a long hard fight to stop the the spread but I think we have to try. Otherwise we're just gonna be overrun with it. Ever every piece of grass we have in the county will be Coven grass. Yes. So

   Charles GreyChair

   3:31:32are Catherine, are you pr primarily your concern is Cogan grass? Yes. Not not camper trees.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:31:38I I you know camper trees trees

   Charles GreyChair

   3:31:40and

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:31:40not stuff like

   Charles GreyChair

   3:31:40that.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:31:41Here here's my problem with Cogan grass, we're spreading it through new development. Pretty much. I don't think we're spreading Brazilian pepper through new development. That's coming right from the birds, maybe eating the seeds and then spreading it that way. That's that's a harder nut. I do want the county to have a program to start getting rid of Brazilian pepper and I'm pretty sure Keith Uh when they get Elamp properties, Key still here behind me?

   3:32:08Um when they get property they remove invasives. We're we bought the Gulf Harbor's um defunct golf course and we're gonna be working together with the pro the Gulf Harbor's residents and the parks department at Elamp to get rid of the invasives and it's mostly Brazilian pepper off that property. Um but to go and try and get rid of all the Brazilian Piper and Pasco County. I that's that's a that's a hard thing to do. I used to drive to Miami all the time. and

   3:32:39I watched the state spend I don't know how much money getting rid of Malauca. But they they did do it. They got rid of it. A lot of also Australian pines they they got rid of. But if you do nothing. it's gonna be so much more expensive for us in the future. So, uh we just have to start somewhere. I'm not will have I don't really want it to be on the backs of code enforcement 'cause they're just not equipped to do something like this, so we'll have to figure that out. Um but let's, you know, Let's

   3:33:10start somewhere. So

   Charles GreyChair

   3:33:13So the thrust uh right now for you is cograss.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:33:16Yes.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:33:17It's not camper trees.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:33:19No. Um I did hear um at the last planning commission a woman speak about development happened near her and there were air potato plants. And then through that development process her air potato plants got worse. Now I don't think that's fair. I don't know how to deal with that one. I've not researched potato plants.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:33:40Yeah, and I know some of the ranchers over here complain about uh terrible um soda apples.

   Unidentified speakerVoice C

   3:33:47Yes, and we used to have those on our ranch and I can tell you that was a great job for my kids when they were in high school and before high school to drive around in a little ranch vehicle and we sprayed all our soda tropical soda apples 'cause those are terrible. And we got we got rid of all of ours. And uh we didn't have Brazilian pepper, we didn't have soda apple and we did not have coconrass on any of the Starkey Ranch property. Can't speak for camp for trees. I don't think we had any but I know those three. We worked very hard and very diligently

   3:34:17to make sure we had none of those invasives on our property. I think what the um Cindy was speaking about is not anything near what we're talking about with Cogengrass. Cogan grass is one of the ten most evasive plants in the world. Okay. It's out.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:34:33Okay. Thank you.

   3:34:38No no I'm sorry, he can't not unless somebody wants to ask me a question.

   3:34:47Well we can't speak from the audience.

   3:34:52Okay.

   3:34:56Okay.

   3:34:59So what's the pleasure of the group?

   Jon Moody

   3:35:02Well are we gonna get like updated language

   Charles GreyChair

   3:35:05we're just gonna continue this or

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:35:07Well you could continue the item or you could find the draft language as written and the proposed amendments to it consistent with the comprehensive plan, which is the only motion that you're required to make as the LPA. Um so it puts you not in the position of recommending approval until something that you haven't yet to see the final product of. So that would be my suggestion that you just do that. That way it keeps moving forward and we can certainly send to you for courtesy and curiosity

   3:35:37what the final thing looks like before it even goes on the board agenda. You know, it's whatever your pleasure is.

   Jaimie GirardiVice Chair

   3:35:43I'd rather see the language.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:35:47Well if c we continue it we will see the language, right?

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:35:50Well you don't have to continue, but you can't and this is at your old plenary question.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   3:35:54I I he can't I mean I think this is an important issue. I mean I I know that I was pretty vocal against what was being said and what was brought to us last time. I think this is an important issue and I think this is a good compromise. I like John would like to see the language. Uh I'm a little uncomfortable not seeing the language, but if it's a Pasco County before around after a certain word, I I'm not too concerned about that part of it. Um I think we need to get something in place and something where we can start moving forward and and I and I think really it it does like Catherine said, I I think it does come it's n not really

   3:36:24so much on on code enforcement. This kind of goes back to even when site development plans are submitted and when site development plans are reviewed. When there's inspections at the end of construction, when the contractor or the builder's getting ready to leave the site. I think that's an important port my opinion, I think that's an important part of the inspection process. The natural resources needs to be going out and making sure that The stuff that was supposed to be removed was in fact removed. Um, 'cause I I I I mean, I hate the the story of the HOA that was burdened with the air potato. I mean that that's that's a bad story and that's a big thing that they have to tackle down the road, so

   3:36:55Um I is there any way we can just finalize the language or Elizabeth you're just not comfortable with

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:37:01the only thing is I don't have a reference to that rule number. Oh, that specifically and

   Connected City

   3:37:24I was warned.

   3:37:27We don't want to be here any longer than necessary either. Yeah, yeah.

   Jon Moody

   3:37:31It's Florida Administrative Code 5 J and I'm gonna try to help you.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:48:34Okay, let's go back to murder.

   3:48:40I think uh we can get the new language up on the screen.

   Unidentified speakerVoice G

   3:48:59share that mix.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:49:02There we go. Does that look right?

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:49:13And then the definition is modified to reflect that to give direction to the reader.

   3:49:22Yeah, that it's because that's actually in the body of of the ordinance and so I thought it might be useful, Keith. Okay.

   Connected City

   3:49:33Can you scroll back up?

   3:49:37I think he missed a word. I didn't. Yeah. All side use for site development must be procured through a licensed side farm.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:49:46There's

   Connected City

   3:49:46an extra county in the beginning of that

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:49:48one.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:49:48Okay, that's exactly. Yeah. Yeah, see it.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:49:57Just wanted to see if you're afraid of tension.

   Connected City

   3:50:02There

   Charles GreyChair

   3:50:03will be a test.

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:50:04Okay, with those two changes, is that appropriate then for You Mr. Moody? Well I think you wanted

   Jon Moody

   3:50:12to make a

   Chris Williams

   3:50:13ready for a motion. I'll move. Well I just I'm sorry, I have one more question. So back to your question though. I know it came up last time. Is does this now there seem to be concern that they couldn't go out and check the places like Murana? Does this give them the At least the backbone to do that, correct?

   3:50:36Keith

   Keith

   3:50:36Wiley, yes, that is correct, Mr. Williams.

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:50:38Okay, thank you.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:50:40Make

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:50:40it easy. So I move we recommend approval of the ordinance modified

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:50:47finding it consistent with the comprehensive plan.

   Unidentified speakerVoice E

   3:50:49Okay. So yeah, move we find the modified ordinance plan looks consistent with the comprehensive plan. Second.

   Christopher Poole

   3:50:56I will uh one thing I'll say since we're a discussion on this is that I think um this certainly goes beyond our purview, but the B and Ps and the Development Review Mandel and the like, to get to Massini's point, I I think there that's an opportunity for us to have a more robust program. Um and attacking invasions in general, I think it's that's the right place for this to obviously be, not within the within the ordinance but um I encourage Keys Group and others to reach out to whoever those experts are to develop

   3:51:27that 'cause there's a lot of really good folks in this in this space that can help with that. But I think that we can get to to you know, it may not be necessarily as ordinance driven and robust as what Hillsboro has, but I think that we can get there with the uh through the development review process.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:51:45Okay, any other discussion?

   Jon Moody

   3:51:47I'll just say that money spent on the actual removal is better than money spent trying to prove you've complied with some bureaucratic process.

   Charles GreyChair

   3:52:02It's true. Yeah. Are you just saying dig it up?

   attorney to the tourist development council

   3:52:06Is that like add it when

   Charles GreyChair

   3:52:07you don't kill it?

   3:52:12Okay, we have a motion. We have a second. We've had discussion. All in favor of the motion signified by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Like signed? All right.

   3:52:37I carry.

2. 2Aug 21, 2024
   Board of County CommissionersP65Public hearingNo disposition in the minutes

   Open this item →▶ Play from 39:52
   ▶ 39:5223m

   Unidentified speakerVoice H

   39:52Item 65, we have proof of publication in the July 24, 2024 edition of the Tampa Bay Times. Okay.

   Ron OakleyChair

   40:05Uh item P sixty five is DRD 240209. Uh this is an ordinance by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners amending the Pasco County Land Development Code Section 9052E. Landscaping and buffering, landscape acceptance, maintenance and prohibitions, appendix A definitions and other sections is necessary for internal consistency, providing for applicability, repealer, providing for severability, inclusion of the land development code, and an effective date. Uh this is the first hearing and Mr. Brad Tippen is here for a presentation.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   40:34Okay.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   40:39Good afternoon everyone. Brad Tippen, uh Planning Development and Economic Growth. Uh we have the basic presentation on this. Uh just to give a little history on this item, uh we we did have a much larger uh kind of plan in place to deal with invasive species. Uh but after we got into it we realized that that was going to be something that we were gonna need to work on much longer. So uh we decided to dial that back and we worked with the Planning Commission uh in the County Office

   41:10and came up with some language to make what we currently have in the code now a little bit more usable. It creates a little bit more balance where it helps our code compliance folks to be able to work with people that want to voluntarily fix some situations that may be happening on their property that they didn't really have the ability to do well before. And it also clarifies a few.

   41:44So that's basically the the history I just kind of talked about. We did discuss this with the various stakeholder groups.

   41:52And we did withdraw the the prior one, which was what you heard earlier today.

   42:01So this is a really related to a comprehensive plan element to to use native species and to avoid introducing invasive species into what we're doing as we're developing here in the county. The language that was previously in our code did not really address how you would dispose of these invasive species. And we have a few different ones, Cocengrass in particular. uh that really needs to be disposed of in some very specific

   42:31ways or else they can create problems for neighboring abutting roadways, county lands and and their neighbors in general. Uh so that's what the the language was changed for.

   42:55That's too small for me to read, so I'm gonna have to read off of this one.

   Charles Eldred

   42:59Same.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   43:02Yeah.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   43:03Got it? So essentially what we did was we had two separate pieces that we we changed. We added some language to section 905.2e, which is a code language that exists today that allows uh requires people to remove invasive species from their property, whether they're developing or whether they're an existing landowner. Uh we put some language in there to clarify what that means and how That occurs. And then we also updated the definition, actually, we provided a new

   43:33definition because the definition of invasive species wasn't clear before. So those are the items that we actually changed and you have the red lines of that in your packet. I did we did not put that in a slide here.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   43:46Okay.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   43:47And again, no action is required today. This is just the the first discussion on this item, first reading. If anybody has any questions or anything they would like to discuss related to it, I can answer some questions.

   Ron OakleyChair

   43:58Okay, well my agenda says it to approve, but uh

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   44:01yes, yeah, the agenda was mistakenly said to approve. This is the first reading, however. Uh it will be uh scheduled on the nine three hearing for action.

   Ron OakleyChair

   44:12Does there anyone have any questions?

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   44:14Well I'll I'll reserve my comments until after some of the public speaks here. Mr.

   Jack Mariano

   44:18Chairman Mariano. So I'm glad we're adding Cogan grass and and dealing with that that's a s specialized thing and I'm glad we're addressing that. I think that's where this all started. But I've gotta tell you, we the county own lots of property that have lots of let's say Brazilian peppers, Australian pines, et cetera. Right. There's some on right aways or road that actually holding vegetation in. Uh, that's not a bad thing. I just had a guy in Hudson actually tear some Australian pines down and he's actually getting fined. Which uh we'll address it and fix that, but I'm not sure. It's it's hard to do all these

   44:48things. And right now I've got a development Highlands. Where we took down some trees this past year that were on our property hanging over people's property that might have damaged fences uh before the storms came in. We took care of that. But right now there's actually Brazilian peppers parallel to that on the same type of plot of land and we're saying, well we're not responsible to remove that. So I think any time you pass a law to exempt yourself from it is a bad thing. And until we're ready to go remove every single one that we've got as well. Uh we really gotta take note

   45:19of that.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   45:20D are we exempt

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   45:21from

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   45:21this?

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   45:23So I don't know that we have exempted the county from this, and I believe our public works team actually has their own policy that they've done that's that's in line with with what DOT does related to these things. I don't know if they're here to speak to that or not.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   45:36Well I I I guess I am gonna have some questions and and um I'm gonna ask Keith Wiley who heads up or natural lands to what they do with the property they buy. Because I can tell you. Um just bought Gulf Harbors with them. The com come on up keep the community um the you know, the old um golf course and we are working with natural lands to Uh jointly take out the invasives and the Brazilian pepper. So I've never asked

   46:06what you do on other properties, but I think you guys have a management plan for invasives on county properties.

   Keith

   46:12Keith's got an answer for you right now. I have an answer. Keith Wiley, Director of Parks Recreation, Natural Resources Department. So it's it's mixed. So in our parks we have BMPs, integrated pest management plans that we put in place. Same thing with the environmental. And a Lands property that we purchased, same thing. Not an easy task, not something you can do quickly. Uh it's very costly. So, yeah, we I think in, and I know Public Works is not here, but they also have an SOP that Brad mentioned that they're attempting to do what they need to do in the right way. I don't think

   46:42that the focus of this change is saying that this is an easy assignment. It's just giving the staff and the team the ability to address. It if I if I'm correct, Brad, during the development application process. It's not necessarily to target single-family homeowners, necessarily. It's how you would do this through the development application process. And there's a lot of other programs countywide that in terms of education and just that single family resident that I think are also in place that that assist. This is just one

   47:12one piece of of a very large um overall program. Mr. Chairman Mariano. Yes.

   Jack Mariano

   47:18So don't we already have these provisions in place to not allow invasive species on new development?

   Keith

   47:24So yeah, so that that kind of evolves through this whole process. I don't know if Brad wants to speak to that, but um but I as my participation in this is that the section that I think we're talking about amending right now, it it lacked the clarity to necessarily it it provided m the ability but lacked the clarity for us to pursue it. So the the proposed changes in front of the board today is to just add a little bit of clarity to that. Uh Is that pretty much correct?

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   47:49Yeah. Uh you're exactly right, Commissioner. There was language that that was in there previously. Unfortunately it was it was more if you think of the the carrot and the stick, it was kind of the stick type of language. Um and what we've done is we've changed it to allow a little bit more the carrot. So this allows for if something does come up and and and code compliance needs to actually have a discussion with somebody, uh there are some ways to to better do some voluntary fixes uh that don't turn it into a formal procedure and proceeding.

   48:20Uh that wasn't in the language previously. Uh this does also exempt the residential single family lot owner.

   Jack Mariano

   48:28So is this whole thing all about development? It's not about existing properties?

   Keith

   48:32Yeah, let's let's try to share let's try to share this because I think that would be helpful.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   48:36You can put that on the L M L.

   48:43And you all have this in your packet as attachment A?

   Keith

   48:49Commissioner Mariano, yes, that's correct. It's it's not intended to to to create a large overreaching program, it's to be very specific to the developmental application process.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   48:59Um and you know. We we didn't have anything that anyone anyone was looking out for and I I got a call Well, you know I've been talking about the spread of coconut for a while and that let's try and get it before it gets so bad like some other counties are eaten up with it. Um I got a call from a landowner in from Dade City and and developer that said, Hey You've got someone on fifty-two that is selling Cogan grass as sod. And you guys need to get out there and

   49:30stop them right away. And you know what? We couldn't do it. We didn't have any rules to stop them. And so I don't know where that those rolls of Cogan grass went, but they went to some development. And um And uh and now someone's gonna have a big headache and it and it's really g not gonna be fair to the citizens in that district, in that if it's a C D D or whatever, they're gonna have to clean it up because the state law does tell you You have to do something with it. You can't just turn your eye to invasive species. So Um So

   50:00we want to try and, you know, raise awareness and let and let people know if you have something, especially something as invasive as cognass, you can't go spreading it around and um and certainly can't sell sod as grass that is infested with Kogan grass. So um I think it's a baby step Um I think we'll talk about more things later and we'll see what other counties do. Cause I had um one of our engineers that works in the county told me that He got um they have property

   50:30in Hernando County and they got red tagged for Brazilian pepper. So Hernando County doesn't allow you to have Brazilian pepper on your property. So Um and I'd be very interested. We have two former Swift Mud members and I was Swift Mud member. Swift Mud doesn't allow it on uh invasives in their properties, right?

   Unidentified speakerVoice J

   50:49Nope.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   50:50Nope. And neither does D O T. So Um You know, at least we're doing something, getting a little more proactive I think. But it's not an overkill by any means.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   51:01And yes, we are coming in line with with those state agencies as well. There's uh Department of Agriculture uh and also DEP, Swift MUD and F DOT all have regulations that are are similar to what we've we've put in here.

   Unidentified speakerVoice K

   51:19Yeah.

   Jack Mariano

   51:20Yeah, Mr. Chairman Mariano. Um You know, Cogan grass, I I know we need to address it. I'm glad we are. I think it's important. The other things you get into, I mean Brazilian peppers I think we need to add I'm okay addressing that too. But keep in mind we do have a lot of it

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   51:33We do.

   Jack Mariano

   51:34Some of the other trees that are on there. Um Was it Camford Tree was on there? I mean just

   51:42They're not great trees, but the trees that are growing to ha to removing everything. And I will tell you, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a ton of calls all on Little Road with all the development just got cleared out. Oh. We could have left a lot of stuff there. Um some of those could have been camper trees, other trees, but as we look at that I'm I'll look at this over the next two uh next two weeks, but um I'm gonna be I'm gonna be conscious to go forward.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   52:05Yeah.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   52:06I I do think we already have something in place does that doesn't allow The pl the planting of camphor trees. That is not on our approved list for developments, right? Correct. Yes. I mean we don't allow them to plant Australian pine, Brazilian pepper, camphor trees. They're they're not allowed to plant those.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   52:24Yes, we have a a specific list of of the natives and certain exotics that are allowed to be planted with new development. Uh and then everything falls under those categories of federal and state uh related to the invasives that you cannot plant. So we don't necessarily call those out today. Um that's what's part of the pieces that's missing from from what we have in our code right now.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   52:46Yeah, and remember that with Kogan Grass. Um It's gonna it's gonna take over and it's gonna everything else is is gonna be gone because No trees are gonna grow in it, no other grass is gonna survive in it, nothing else will grow in it. Nothing eats it. It cuts you up when you walk in it. It's not a good thing to keep spreading in the county. Mr. Chairman Mariano.

   Jack Mariano

   53:11Has the Tampa Bay Build Association looked at Center and and put a comment to it?

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   53:16Yes, the Tampa Bay Builders Association was involved in some discussions. We had these uh talks, they've seen this, and we didn't have any negative feedback directly from them.

   Jack Mariano

   53:25I'd like to get something from them before the next meeting to see if they approve or disapprove.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   53:29Yeah, and I had lunch with them last week and they were fine with this.

   Ron OakleyChair

   53:32Yeah.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   53:34Yeah I believe I they they verbally did say that they would be reaching out to the commissioners, but I I didn't didn't receive anything. Okay. But I could get something from them.

   Ron OakleyChair

   53:43All right, so this is the first reading

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   53:47comment

   Mike Carballa

   53:47then. So I received an email last night. Is this item fifty fifty nine? Remember the right one? Yeah, sixty five.

   54:00Yeah, they

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   54:00may have put it on the

   Mike Carballa

   54:01I can read this out loud if you would like to hear it. Good morning. On behalf of the Tampa Bay Builders Association, we would like to express our support for Item 59, which pertains to invasive species ordinance on today's agenda for first reading. TBBA has been working closely with the staff over the past few months on this issue, and we appreciate the balanced approach that the staff has presented. The approach focuses on the main issues with invasive species, especially as it relates to Cogan grass. TBBA is committed to doing all we can with our builders and staff to eradicate this invasive. We kindly request you continue to move on to move this

   54:31on to the second reading. We are more than happy to answer any questions. Sinceriously, uh sincerely, Edward Briggs, uh Vice President of Government and Relations.

   Ron OakleyChair

   54:39Well she's

   Mike Carballa

   54:40Yeah.

   Ron OakleyChair

   54:41Okay. Uh is anyone signed up to speak to this item?

   Unidentified speakerVoice H

   54:44Yes, sir. We have two uh folks signed up, uh Laura Starkey.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   54:51Well this is a first. I think.

   Ron OakleyChair

   55:00Oh they can speak the next time?

   Unidentified speakerVoice L

   55:03This is the land development code. They get two two bites of the apple in on these. Well good.

   Unidentified speakerVoice M

   55:07Laura Starkey, my I have a residence at [address removed]. Okay. Um Yeah, I I'm Laura Starkey. I'm owner of Hartwood Preserve Conservation Cemetery in Trinity and the former Director of Conservation Lands at my family Starkey Ranch back when it was still a ranch. In both of these roles, extending over the past 20 years, I have been responsible for managing invasive species on our lands. I'm really happy to see this ordinance being brought up.

   55:38It's long overdue. Management of invasives is crucial to caring for any la natural lands, as any land manager knows, whether if they're from a public or a pr public agency or from a private landowner's perspective, which is my experience. Our developments line up to these natural areas that land managers are managing. So we don't want to ignore the problem thinking it's just an issue for Swift Mud or uh fish and wildlife or parks and wrecks and natural resources. That only e exacerbates

   56:08the problem. Protecting these border areas, what we call the wildland urban interface, are like protecting your borders from invaders. So even though we do have the agencies, we have you know Keith Wiley and we have Swift Mud doing a lot of work to manage invasives, it's really important that we manage them in the in these uh development areas. Just taking from a personal ex example and personal experience. also as a resident and business owner in in Pasco County.

   56:39The Starkey Ranch Development, which has done such a beautiful job with landscaping using Florida native plants. It's just beautiful there. Their parks, their lakes, their walking and biking paths. They're enjoyed by so many people, myself included. But when I walk past the wetlands, which were very dutifully protected as they were supposed to be, they're just choked with Caesarweed, Peruvian primrose, Cogan grass, other other invasive species. So So it's

   57:09happening and we've got more development coming. I want to commend Commissioner Starkey for her work and and bringing this up and I'm seeing other support for it as well on the Kogan grass. But I would just say It's great to c target Kogan grass, but let's I would really recommend you don't stop there because while it's currently number one on the top ten and s list of invasive species worldwide, um it's not the only one. So I wouldn't urge the the the um language

   57:39to reference not just a definition of invasives, but to also reference uh the Florida invasive species. Species Council, which maintains a science-based list of what's up to current, you know, up to date at the time, which right now is Cogan grass and a number of others. But that's going to change over time. Hopefully, we'll get you know globally a better handle on Cogan grass, but you know, 10 years from now it may be something else that we don't, we're not even looking at right now. Um, so that change that list is going to change. Change and

   58:09growth. So I would just encourage that uh the language use um You know, a reference that's science based. What was the name of that, Laura? The Florida Invasive Species Council. It was formerly called the exotic Florida exotic something, but they ch they've updated their name. for it. So

   Ron OakleyChair

   58:31Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

   Unidentified speakerVoice H

   58:33Jennifer Sini.

   Ron OakleyChair

   58:37Name and address of the clerk.

   Unidentified speakerVoice F

   58:42Jennifer Seney, [address removed].

   Seth Weightman

   58:48Hey there, Miss Seney. How are you?

   Unidentified speakerVoice F

   58:51I'm well, thank you. Don't take that off my time.

   58:58Um my opinion of this invasive ordinance today. Amendment to section uh uh nine oh five point two. I gotta put my glasses on. It has some flaws that I think we could address. And the flaws, I believe, could lead to some unintended results. In other words, I think this can be strengthened. Number one, although it is good that the best management practices for maintenance shall be included in the development review

   59:28manual, there is no indication of when such practices are to be applied. Initially. The action of identifying, listing, and planning for removal should happen in the site planning stage, and I believe we should state it in the ordinance. Number two. If you call out one invasive, then call them all out. And the reason that's important is we have invasives like soda apple, air potato, Brazilian pepper, and others. Or

   59:59better yet, as Laura said, specifically reference the Florida Invasive Species Council Category One list. These are the worst of the worst. This would be more focused than the current reference to the IFIS ag list, which is too broad and doesn't rank according to damage done. My friend Eva Bailey. a scientist who is serving on your ELASC committee and who is out on an assessment

   1:00:29today said to me, and I'll quote, The justification for naming the list is that it is based on science and evolves with new data and stays up to date. So the third thing I want to say is, yes, Cogan grass is bad, But as the revision stands right now, only naming Kogan Grass will lead to the permission by omission behavior that some attorneys and developers will not hesitate to

   1:00:59use. And finally, where is the follow-up in this ordinance? Will it be possible to condition the invasive action required? Who's gonna check? When will we check? And for how long will we keep watching? I'm glad you're attempting to address Pasco's invasive plant species. I think this is a good start, but I do believe we could tweak this and do a little better. Thank you. Thanks a lot,

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   1:01:26Jennifer.

   Ron OakleyChair

   1:01:29Anyone else signed up or

   Unidentified speakerVoice H

   1:01:30no one else signed up and no one online?

   Ron OakleyChair

   1:01:34Okay. Anybody in the audience wish to speak to this item?

   1:01:40Uh No action requires any discussion we'll have before we move on.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   1:01:44Can I um can I suggest though that you take into heart some of the suggestions that were given and then um let's talk about them at our second reading and um you know see if we need to make these changes. Because they they make sense to me.

   Seth Weightman

   1:02:02I I agree. I agree too.

   Jack Mariano

   1:02:08Mr. Chairman Mariano. Yes. You know, we were briefed on the other item that was gonna come that got pulled to be replaced with this, so I think we shall be get briefed before this comes back to us as well. With the changes.

   Unidentified speakerVoice L

   1:02:21Do that.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   1:02:22All right. Thank you.

   Unidentified speakerVoice L

   1:02:23So this is the first of two public hearing. The second hearing will be held on September third, twenty twenty four, at one thirty PM in Dade City. Yep.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   1:02:33And as you're driving, look at all the Cogan grass. It's popping up. Okay.

3. 3Sep 3, 2024
   Board of County CommissionersP53Public hearingAdopted

   Approved minutes

   Approved to adopt by a roll call vote.

   Open this item →▶ Play from 2:30:50
   ▶ 2:30:5014m

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:30:50B-53.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:30:51We approved the publication of the hearing of this matter in the Tampa Bay Times July 24th, 2024.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:31:02Item P 53 is DRD 240209, which is an ordinance by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, amending the Pasco County Land Development Code, Section 9052E, landscaping and buffering, landscape acceptance, maintenance and prohibitions, appendix A definitions, and other sections as necessary for internal consistency, providing for applicability, repeal or providing. for suburability, inclusion into the land development code, and an effective date.

   2:31:32Uh this comes with a recommendation.

   2:31:36to accept public comment and adopt the proposed ordinance amendment uh by roll call boot and authorize the chairman to execute it. And there's a presentation of messages.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:31:48Okay.

   2:31:51Thank you. Your presentation.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:32:03Good afternoon. Uh Brad Tippen, Planning Development and Economic Growth. This was presented previously. Did you want to see the full presentation again? And then we've met with each of you individually. Or did you just want to speak to some specific questions?

   2:32:23I know I know we've got a long agenda today. There's still a lot on there and we got a five fifteen, so

   Jack Mariano

   2:32:28I I'd like to do the presentation 'cause some of my objections they just changed and just put 'em into one phrase.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:32:35You gonna open up that door?

   Jack Mariano

   2:32:36I'm gonna

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:32:39Okay. Sure. All right. Two cokes.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:32:43So this is what we refer to as the invasive vegetation ordinance. We met with several different groups of stakeholders in different forms, including horizontal roundtable, TBA, and internal and other external stakeholders. Not bad. I assume that's not what you want to question correctly.

   2:33:09So there are there are actually a number of of references to invasive species. Um I know there was a question about this last time. Uh in in the the current comprehensive plan and current land development code, there are a total of 18 different references to invasive species. So one of the things that we did when we went through here was to make sure that what we were putting forward today in this one is not in consistent with any of those others. The majority of those others simply reference that you can't plant invasive

   2:33:39species. This is the one that that generally has the it's the larger paragraph that kind of goes into a little bit of explanation.

   2:33:53So This all stemmed out of concerns with Cogan grass. Um however our ordinance doesn't specifically address Cogan grass alone. It addresses invasive species. Uh we had to do it that way because that is actually what's consistent with the the state and federal legislature. Uh that the different laws that are out there currently, the different regulations that are out there, uh all tie back into people people that are developing property cannot go and plant bring put

   2:34:23forth invasive species into the land. That's essentially what the goal of all this all of this was. Our original code was very short, very succinct, um and did not really go into a lot of explanation and did not provide any benefit or assistance to somebody that may want to actually try to figure this out, do this on their own. There was no quick reference point that anybody could point to and say, hey, just look at this section of code, it's there, or look at this manual, it's

   2:34:53there. So we added that and included that language. in the ordinance itself to reference exactly where these these folks can go to find that information. We heard the board. The board was very specific about wanting us to directly reference the BISC list instead of using the kind of somewhat awkward chain that exists from the Florida Administrative Code through ac ca through the Agricultural Department through UF. to FISC. So we did that, we made that change. So

   2:35:23that's what you see here as well. We also changed the uh def well we added a new definition for invasive species to make sure that that was consistent with all of the other uses.

   2:35:36We since you saw this previously, we shifted the the paragraph related to Cogengrass down and created a separate paragraph just for that because that one does have very specific Ford Administrative Code about how it is to be removed and destroyed basically. So we referenced that piece separately from the other pieces that we have. Like on the uh invasive species and I think.

   2:36:05That's generally it? Is there uh So

   Jack Mariano

   2:36:11All right. So why would you have to take the Cogan grass but not the other things? I'm sorry? To why would you separate the Cogan grass compared to the other invasive species?

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:36:21B because of the extreme invasiveness of Cogan grass, there is a very specific uh Floyd Administrative code as to how it is to be destroyed, how it is to be it involves the transportation and other things with the the Cogn grass. So that will be referenced specifically. The other invasive species simply say you can't do it. Don't plant invasive species. So that's why we didn't go into as much detail on those. We referenced the list. And that list does change periodically.

   Jack Mariano

   2:36:51I'm a little confused because if you can't plant 'em we all agree and that's that nothing's changing there.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:36:57Correct.

   Jack Mariano

   2:36:58But as far as having to highlight the removal of Kogan grass compared to, let's say, Brazilian peppers, why would you highlight out Presenting peppers.

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:37:08Why would we not

   Jack Mariano

   2:37:09Why wouldn't yeah, why would you not because there's a specific process give us a Brazilian pepper as well. Why would you highlight why would you highlight that too?

   Unidentified speakerVoice I

   2:37:14So we do have uh we do have references to all the best management practices for removal and and destruction of those all of the different invasive species that are the the key ones like that. Uh the again coke and grass is is very detailed in the Florida Administrative Code. I don't know that Brazilian pepper has that level of detail in it. Uh but th there are different means and and depending on what combination of invasive species you have on your property, there may be a a better way to do it. Uh when you look at collectively over a

   2:37:44site that may have several different types. So we didn't want to call everything out and then have one conflict with another and exclude a way to do something.

   Jack Mariano

   2:37:55Okay. And I do like the extra extra coke protection by not being able to sell it with hay, et cetera. So good addition there. Okay. Okay.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:38:04You know, this is our first step into dealing with this. I think that in the future there'll be some more discussions. I think staff has gathered some ordinances from other counties and we'll in a in a more of a workshop setting you can look at it and see, you know, how what we want to do. But we we have to get the coting grass under control because people are

   Jack Mariano

   2:38:31It's a good addition.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:38:32Yeah.

   Jack Mariano

   2:38:33Okay.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:38:37All right, any other questions?

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:38:38Do we need board action?

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:38:39Public hearing. Today is a board action. Public hearing. It was public hearing. So we have anyone signed up for this, huh?

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:38:45Jennifer Sini.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:38:55Name and address and if you've been sworn.

   Unidentified speakerVoice F

   2:38:58Thank you. Uh Jennifer Sini, [address removed]. And you've had me sitting here so long I might just sit down again just to be

   2:39:11Just kidding. I know these things can go on forever. Um you're gonna be pleased with what I have to say about this. I can see in this final version of the amendment that we're basically at the let's stop, wait and see how this works stage. I'm okay with that. Um there are some concerns that I still hold and I will continue to Tell you about. I am concerned that we don't call out when we put the

   2:39:41best management practices into effect. I would prefer to see that in the ordinance, and I would prefer to have it say at site planning stage. But this is not a killer. None of these things are going to kill what you're trying to do. Again, I feel that if you call out One invasive you should call them out all. Um the reason being each one of us has, I don't know, an air potato hatred. or

   2:40:11a Cocongrass hatred or a Brazilian pepper hatred. This is your way of saying in this county, these are really important. So I would call out all of them. But again, it's not a showstopper. Um I still don't see anything that addresses when, how, and for how long follow-up inspections should occur upon discovery and removal of invasives. I

   2:40:41truly hope that the much-referenced growth management manual actually covers all this. I'm going to have to assume that it does. Thank you for including the Category One invasive. Species from the Florida Invasive Species Council. It is based on science and it is reviewed every two years, which is a very good thing for us because we will have a reliable list that we can look to. Its greatest service as a list

   2:41:12is it it names the baddest of the bad and Basically, if anyone thinks we're only concerned about coting grass the way we've written the ordinance right now, this list will dispel that assumption pretty quickly. Um, bottom line, I'm okay with this amendment. It's more than we have ever done before to address this vicious cycle. Um it's a really good start. I believe we will begin to meet the challenge of restoring our native environment.

   2:41:43And I truly, sincerely thank you for caring.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:41:47Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. And you know, for me one of the differences we're not selling Brazilian pepper and we're not selling air potatoes, but we are literally selling Cogan grass's sod. So it's got to stop. Yeah.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:42:03Okay. That was the only person signed up in advance?

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:06All right, so there's no action, right? No,

   Unidentified speakerVoice L

   2:42:10this is if this is an adoption.

   2:42:14Is there any anybody else in the audience that wants to approach it? Does anybody

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:17in the audience wish to speak to this item? Anyone else? Okay. Seeing no one? Anyone on Webbacks?

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:42:23No, sir.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:23No one on WebEx. Okay. So it's up to the pleasure of the board. Move

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:42:28to approve. Do you have a motion?

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:29Second. Okay, you got a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye.

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:42:34Aye. Roll call vote.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:35Roll call vote?

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   2:42:37Okay. District one, Commissioner Weightman. Two. I'm sorry, District Two, Commissioner Weightman. Smaller land mass. But my trying to give you my in District 3, Commissioner Starkey. Don't give my

   2:42:50area with the

   2:42:51District 4, Commissioner Yeager. Aye. District 5, Commissioner Mariano. Aye. District 1, Chairman Oakley.

   Ron OakleyChair

   2:42:57Aye. Okay, motion passed 5-0.

   2:43:02We will move on to public hearing.

   2:43:08Procedures?

   Unidentified speakerVoice L

   2:43:09I'd be happy to, Mr. Chairman. There are two rezoning agendas, regular and consent. The staff will present each application to the Board of County Commissioners if staff or planning commission has recommended approval or if there is no opposition to the application. The application will be considered by the board without further presentation. If staff or planning commission has recommended denial or if there's opposition to the application, the applicant will be given five minutes for presentation. The opposition will be given three minutes for each individual or

   2:43:40five minutes for a group representative. And the applicant will be given three minutes for rebuttal. Any individual disagreeing with staff of planning commission recommendation or anyone wishing to object to any condition of the rezoning may at this time request the petition be pulled from the consent agenda, in which case that application will be heard under the regular agenda later on during this meeting. Otherwise, all rezoning applications on the consent agenda will be approved by a single motion and vote. If

   2:44:10you wish to speak to any petition, please give your name and address and whether or not you've been sworn for the record. These are quasi-judicial public hearing. The law in Florida is that mere public support or opposition of an application is insufficient for this board to take action. Please limit your comments to those criteria found within the Board's Land Development Code.