An Ordinance by The Pasco County Board Of County Commissioners Amending The Pasco County Land Development Code, Section 905.2.E, Landscaping And Buffering; Landscape Acceptance, Maintenance, And Prohibitions; Appendix A Definitions; And Other Sections, As Necessary For Internal Consistency, Providing For Applicability; Repealer; Providing For Severability; Inclusion Into The Land Development Code, And An Effective Date.

2:30:50B-53.

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

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.

2:31:48Okay.

2:31:51Thank you. Your presentation.

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

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.

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

2:32:36I'm gonna

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

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

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?

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.

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.

2:36:57Correct.

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.

2:37:08Why would we not

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?

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.

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.

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

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

2:38:32Yeah.

2:38:33Okay.

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

2:38:38Do we need board action?

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

2:38:45Jennifer Sini.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

2:42:23No, sir.

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

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

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

2:42:34Aye. Roll call vote.

2:42:35Roll call vote?

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.

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

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

2:43:08Procedures?

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.