public comment on agenda and county business
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It is a stretch of the recording that this archive identified as a separate matter — a call to order, a recess, or something taken up that the agenda does not list. There is no official title, no staff recommendation and no disposition, because the county never recorded one. Everything below is inferred.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Nov 14, 2023
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The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Nov 14, 2023
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 30m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 85% of 107 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Here. Now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board. And on any other business under the board's purview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First, we'll take public comment for all those who are here in person. Then we'll take public comment for those who are pre-registered for a WebEx link and currently on queue. We request that when you address the board, comments are not directed personally against the commissioner or team member, but rather directed at the issues. This provides mutual
respect between the board members and the public. After stating your name and address for the clerk, a three-minute timer will be activated. After two minutes, a single beep will indicate you have one minute left. When your time is up, two beeps will sound and you should close your comments. WebEx participants will be disconnected automatically when their time is up. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up for public comment?
Yes, we do, Mr. Chairman Mariano. First um first public comment is Richard Riley, followed by Michael Gor uh the Gorgetti, then Robert Butters. Mr. Riley, thank you.
The chart. I have a graphic.
Good morning. My name is Richard Riley. I live at [address removed]. We I I I now you can hear me, thank you. Um I live in the rural community of Trilby in northeast rural Pasco protected area. Essentially in the red uh triangle in the middle of the um uh upper corner of uh our county. This is a um plan out of the uh Wakuchi plan. This is
a map out of the Wikuchi plan, this is why I intend to speak on it. Later today in on item uh R 45, you will have a presentation of the Greater Lakouche Community Plan. This 33-page report was presented by staff to the Planning Commission last month at 8 p.m. at the end of a meeting to a packed audience of three people. Um today this will be also presented at the end of the regular session of this commission. I am
very impressed with the report and the ideas presented in in it. It reports on the history of our area and provides suggestions on how to improve the economic structure and quality of life for our area. I thank the Commission for authorizing this report. It suggests building up the population, the industrial base, and public and private services, and includes a vision map on page 33. Graphic number two, please.
S second map. Oh there's you're so so good. You have in in your agenda uh these materials and I'm sure you're aware of it. I would like to make a suggestion uh for a change in the report. This is the math. It includes a lot of possibilities for growth and improvement by Pasco and local businesses. It also suggests possible developments. Priority strategy C29 is to ensure the rural content of the study area. One
of these suggestions is not in the existing Trilby Lacouche area at all, but in the beautiful rural agricultural land to the right west that we refer to as the Trilby Hills, a lower part of the Brooksville Ridge, the green part on the left of the map up there. The map recommends in section C24 the total area along Kittering Road to be developed as a large-scale high-density housing development. It's presently owned by Evans Properties
Incorporated. The suggestion is um The s suggestion in the report is to cluster future development along the Hernando County line. I remind you that this is in the protected, the rural protected area that was established to balance the overdevelopment of Pasita Hills in 2005 and was approved by the Commission in 2015. This should not be allowed. May I offer a suggestion to this report? Tear
off the right the left side of this map. This is the report. This should be here. The uh big uh map is bad as development 4,000 homes. Thank you very much.
Next person.
Michael Gorigetti.
Hi, my name uh it's Mike Giorgetti. I live at [address removed]. Um I just had some questions or I I need to get some clarification on on my my taxes. I understand a homesteaded property is protected in Florida. It's only supposed to go up so much. However, mine went up almost 9%, which is triple the homesteaded protected value. Um thank you, Mrs. Starkey. I appreciate your help this morning. Um and I
know you told me to speak with someone. If I could just talk to them after afterwards, I'd appreciate it, but I appreciate you taking your time to help me out. Uh the second thing that I was kind of wondering about or just wanted to pass by you guys is uh Duke Electric between Duke Electric and uh FGUA water, I'm at about $1,000 a month in Trinity, Florida. Um I just I d I I don't quite understand how with this economy and how
terrible it is, how they could keep raising their rates and it falls upon the poor people of the communities. We have many elderly people in our community and how they could afford this is just beyond me. I just wanted to hopefully uh Ask your mercy if you guys could do something or if there's any plans in the future. uh to give the property owners of this county some relief because it's getting it's getting pretty tough to live here. So that's all I wanted to say. And thank you again, Ms. Sark. I
appreciate your help.
Um is there someone here from budget that can. I thought I saw him, but I thought he was there.
I think it can.
All right, next up we have Robert Butters, followed by Renee Rothenmeyer. Sorry if I say that again.
Birth.
Well you like.
It is, I can't say it, I'm sorry. And then Diane Krug. So Mr. Butlers Butters?
Good morning. My name's Robert Butters. I live at [address removed]. That's in the Watergrass neighborhood. Uh I've lived there for about ten years. I'm a retired professional engineer. I have 35 years experience in highway and bridge design, construction and maintenance. My concern is the permit application process and and its effects on traffic volumes and damage to our roadways. I believe the permit application
for any development must include two things. First a traffic study by a professional engineer to indicate the traffic generated by the new development and its effects on the existing levels of service. If traffic signals are warranted, they must be funded and constructed by the developer prior to occupation of any units. The intersection of Overpass and Angelstems. is going to become a large problem very
soon. The access road to the large development at the northeast corner of Curley Road and Overpass Road is directly opposite Angelstown. Without a signal. Making a left turn from Angelstem to Overpass will be extremely dangerous. Any crossing movements will be nearly impossible. The second requirement for getting a permit. Because it's the bond. A bond should be obtained by the developer
to fund repairs to roadways caused by construction activities of the development. The repeated loads of heavy trucks on streets that were not designed for them causes the base failures that we see on Old Bridge Road. The reason you don't see the damage on overpass road is because as an arterial it was designed to higher standards. Videotaping the roadway before and after the development is an easy and cost-effective way to
document the damage. What concerns me most is that taxpayers are being held responsible for paying to repair this damage. not the parties that caused it. I'm asking the commissioners to review their permit application process, to require a traffic study, and funding for warranted traffic signals and a bond to cover roadway repairs. It's time
to place these responsibilities on the developer and relieve the taxpayers of this undue financial burden. Thank you for your opportunity to speak to you today. No clock.
Renee Worthenmeyer?
Good morning. I'm Renee Wertheimer. My address is [address removed].
I'm a native Floridian. I was born and raised in Miami. I also lived in Palm Beach Gardens for twenty plus years. I've made Dade City my home for the last twelve years. I'm a daughter of the American Revolution, an accountant and tax preparer with my own business for close to thirty-five years. However, my true love is being a farm owner. Believe it or not, Miami used to be rural just like Dade City growing up. That is what attracted me to this area. The rural and beautiful rolling hills. Palm Beach Gardens was also
like Dade City when I first moved there. However, What pushed me out of both towns was the growth and destruction of the rural areas. This meeting is not about me. What I came here to say To our commissioners is this. Once you start allowing the building of homes and businesses, you can never get back the beauty and wide open spaces that we have. To be specific. The Evans property, the drive on 575 between Trilby and Blanton really should be designated
a scenic drive. The thought of it being developed with thousands of homes makes me sick to my stomach. We will lose our farming capabilities. Are we going to eat the businesses and homes once there is no more land left to raise cattle? I'm asking the commissioners that were voted on by the people to be for the people as you swore on your oath when you took office. I know there is a lot of money to be made, however, please do not put profits before people and don't allow the money to control your
vote. Keep our area rural. In closing, I just want to say thank you all for all you do. I know you have a very difficult job. And just remember Some people will remember you for the good you did, however most people will never forget the bad you do. Thank you.
Diane Krug, followed by Lisa I think it's Movetti, and then Joey Resnick.
Good morning, neighbors and friends and commissioners. My name is Diane. I live in [address removed]. And I came here today not to hear what land grabbers proposals are for our communities, but to oppose it. I've worked in downtown Tampa for thirty-nine years. and witnessed the cont constant addition of buildings being constructed. High rise
apartments amidst high rise businesses, which meant constant noise, Traffic fast paced, etcetera. Anything but calming. After working ten hours a day, I would drive one hour to enter into a different world I call home. peaceful, quiet, able to sit outside till dark and unwind, interact with my family and my animals.
I'm sure most of you can relate to this lifestyle. We need to preserve our agricultural land. which I thought was protected under the protections of the Northeast Rural Area Overlay in the Comprehensive Plan for Pasco County. The very land that produces our wholesome food. Supports our local farmers. Future farmers of America. And protect our freedom and liberties. Wholesome
food does not come from a big box store. An Agricultural Commissioner's obligations as a constitutional officer is to conserve soil and water resources, manage state forests, ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of our food, not to mention wildlife. That's why we collectively need to hold our electic officials accountable to their oath to serve
we the people Not special interest groups. That is the only way our votes will count. In closing, I have one question for this audience. Audience. Where is our duly elected Agricultural Commissioner, who is a farmer? and lives in our community. I for one would like to know where he stands on this issue. Thank
you for listening.
Name and address.
I'm
sorry, my my first and last name my Diane Krug.
And your address?
And my address is [address removed]. I live in [address removed].
Address. We can't make up that.
All right, we have the next up is Lisa Movetti and Joey Resmick, followed by Steve Blank.
Good morning, my name is Lisa Moretti. I live at [address removed]. I'm a founding member of the CASCO Communities Network, and I'm here to speak about the Greater Lacucci Community Plan. You will be reviewing this afternoon as agenda item R eighty-five. While this plan used significant time and energy from the residents of the Lakuchi, Trilby, and Hunters Point areas, their overwhelming response was that they wanted to stay part of the Northeast Rural Area Plan and the protections that affords their communities. I stand here in support of those residents and their desires for their communities which are being ignored.
You have the time and energy but have you have used their time and energy but given them no assurances that you will even abide by the plan or their wishes. Instead, we have people walking about bragging about how they're going to build high-density million-dollar homes in the area. Further, the areas proposed for that high density development, which are not congruent with the Northeast Rural Overlay, have begun to ooze and sprawl across the Evans Group properties. The land was purchased many years ago as agricultural land. The Evans Group has no right to expect that they can abuse the
Northeast Rural Overlay and develop the area at high density, nor should they have an expectation of flipping it to others once they have their way. Okay. While I repeatedly hear you cannot tell people how to do things with their land, that simply is not true. You can't build a strip club next to a kindergarten. It's called zoning. Well One commissioner has envisioned himself as a savior of the Lacouche area by staving off solar installations. And while I do not find that the Wilton Simpson Tico Rural Degradation Solar Fields
Project is acceptable or congruent, I would rather have solar on that land than miles of high-density crappy housing. At least a solar field done correctly with proper conditions from the planning department that would allow for agriculture and give wild like a quarter to move through the area would be better than what you've got planned. Once it's paved and blighted, there's no coming back from this plan to destroy Lakuchi and its surrounding areas and the northeast rural overlay. We don't have the water for this and you're putting us on a bullet train for toilet to
tap. From our experience, our commissioners are dedicated to getting everything that protects the rural overlay. A model held up nationally as a way to bring widely different stakeholders to the table and create a plan that works for everyone, except for those driven by greed at all costs. To the residents of Pasco County, I remind you, this is an election year. When you go to the voting booth this year, you have a choice. If you want better, then vote better. Incumbents and large landowners see
Pasco as their ATM machine and do not have your concerns at heart. Thank you.
Next
No no clapping.
Uh next um next for public comic is Joe Z Joe sorry, Joey Resmic.
Perfect, you got it. Thank you. I could change my name. Thank you very much. Joy Restic uh address is [address removed]. And I am here representing Premier Community Healthcare Group. I am the CEO. Um we provided and we've been providing health care services at Pasco County for forty-four years and I'm here to really say thank you for and I'm gonna make sure I get it right on R87, the approval of the opioid treatment prevention recovery fund awardees. Um,
I will say the process that you guys set up with the committee was impressive. Um, it
was
there for the day presentation. We are lucky enough to be a recipient of that. So I wanted to come here and publicly thank you for setting up that committee and awarding us those funds. Those funds will be used for no Make sure again behavioral health therapy, medication management, as well as support recovery. And from our model is that we are a patient-centered medical home. So we want to take these patients that are coming in with the opioid and manage their entire health, ranging from dental services to medical services, to if it happens to be, we have women's services
as well. So just want to come here and publicly thank you. Also, last thing is that. I know there's some conversations coming up about the base bay care, urgent care on the mental health perspective. Just letting you know that we have started very, very preliminary conversations with them about potentially for us to partner in that center so then we can provide more services to the residents of Pasco County. Thank you very much. Thank you.
And your building's looking so nice.
Thank you very much. I
gotta come get a tour. I have a
whenever you want.
Yeah.
Whenever we have the other one and we have two, so you I know which one you wanna see. I'll take you to both. Perfect.
You
let
me know. Okay.
Thank
you. Thanks, Joy.
Steve Blank, followed by Carol Cruz, followed by Mike Trepper.
Good morning, Commissioner. My name is Steve Blank. I am the Vice President for West Care. My address is [address removed]. Uh but West Care operates two locations. One is 6448 Ridge Road in Port Ritchie, and one is 15,000 Citrus Country Drive here in Dade City. I am here also just to say we appreciate the efforts that. Have gone into developing the Pasco Opioid Task Force. We are being considered for an opportunity to
provide a resource here in Pasco. We just wanted to say that our vision is uplifting the human spirit as a result of the opioid epidemic. Millions of people have lost sense of their human spirit, and millions of people have also lost their lives. Uh we've been doing this for a long time. We understand there's no easy way out of this. We've prov provided a proposal that includes overdose awareness, prevention, distribution of Narcan,
case management, utilization of peer support, and using people that are in long-term recovery, and also giving kids here from Pasco County continued access. To Camp Mariposa, which is a camp that we run six times a year for children who have been impacted by addiction in their households. So I wanted to just mention that we do operate this camp. We've been operating it since 2016. The camp is operated
actually in Manatee and Parish, so it's not here in Pasco. But we've been bringing kids from Pasco since we've been in Pasco. It just so turns out that the uh facility that we use, the uh Episcopal Retreat Center, is located in Manatee. It's a beautiful facility. I've had the opportunity to mentor there with the kids and to see um just what these kids have been through and how much they appreciate being able to be kids. Um the end
result of what happens with the kids that go through these camps is they are um ninety percent not likely to to um move towards addiction and use that has tons of uh impact in regards to their kids and their kids' kids. So we just appreciate being considered a resource for Pasco County. We want to continue to be a resource and just appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
Thank you. Um Ms. Carol Cruz, followed by Mike Trepper, followed by Jay Vogel.
Carol Cruz, [address removed]. And I've been in Pasco County for 53 years. And fifteen of those years, actually 20 of those years, I worked with a group of people, I was one of the originals, to put a protection on a rural area where people can go live in peace and have that beautiful feeling of peace in a rural area. If any of you have ever lived in a rural area,
you know what I mean. But for the word northeast protected area, protection means protection. And protection means not allowing high density go into that area. To have a high density put into that is almost unconstitutional because it is rural and it is Trolley Road is one of the most scenic, beautiful roads in our protected area. So I'm asking you, as we the people, who
put each and every one of you in this office, please stand by the word protection. Thank you.
Mike Trepper?
Good morning. My name is Mike Trepper, president and CEO of Pasco Kids First. My address is [address removed]. I am here also to speak in favor and support and a thank you of the opioid abatement plan and project and the innovative way that you are dispersing, hoping to disperse funds in this community. It's been a long time coming, and I know we we all rely on The impact of this. Pasco Kids First, as you may know, is our child advocacy center here in this county. We deal with over
5,000 cases of child abuse and neglect each year that come through our office for medical assessment, forensic interviews, and therapy and healing services. And our small piece to this abatement project is really to make the connection between opioid and substance abuse and the impact on child and the connection. And the impact on child abuse. You know, when individuals are under the influence and not supervising their children, or unfortunately, we've seen cases where the parents have passed away and children are left to their own selves, or the
impact on trauma that kids have seen parents overdosing and using and selling in front of them, it's a major impact. And so that's our small piece to this project. We're really fortunate to be considered for Funding in this plan, and uh we'll look to do our best. And in rel in relation to also the partners that have come through uh this plan as well. So thank you very much. I am only a couple months new into this position, and I hope to meet with all of you and talk about and thank you really in person about the great work that you're doing in support of Pasco Kids First and the Child Advocacy Center
here. But again, my support, unwavering support for this opioid abatement uh plan and project, and thank you. again um for bringing this to the uh to to our organizations but also to the residents of Pasco County. Okay.
Okay. Jay Vogel, followed by Karen Barfield.
Good morning. My name is Jay Vogel. I live at [address removed]. I'm the mayor of San Antonio and I'm here today to speak about the Orangebell Trail. At a time when we have an unprecedented assault on Home Rule from Tallahassee, my hope is that the county and the elected city governments of Pasco can work hand in hand on this project. This is one issue in which my constituents have spoken with a unified voice. We are not opposed to the bike trail. We just feel strongly that it should not go through any of our residential neighborhoods. Our streets simply can't
handle it, and we do not want to go through eminent domain of the county. Later today I believe you'll uh hear a letter that more directly states our position that our city commission sent to all of you. I have directed my staff to work closely with the county on this matter, and if the commissioners or county staff have any questions or concerns, please reach out to any one of us. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Thank you.
Karen Barfield.
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners. My name is Karen Barfield. I'm a Pasco County resident. My personal address is [address removed]. But I'm here today on behalf of Central Florida Behavioral Health Network, which is your managing entity. Our offices are actually located at 719 South U.S. Highway 301 in Tampa. I'm a and um CFBHN is Florida's largest and oldest managing entity specifically
created by the Florida Legislature to develop and manage the publicly funded substance abuse and mental health safety net systems. system of care. We are here in support of the opioid task force and use of funding for services for constituents of Pasco County to support continued community efforts for this public health epidemic. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, that's all that I have signed up. I am aware that um at least one person did not have the opportunity to sign up and would like to speak.
Okay. Anyone else here would like to speak, please um please line up behind the behind the mic.
Hi, I'm Heidi Taylor, [address removed]. I would like to ask you to all consider all future development to please follow the Pasco County Northeast Rural Area Overlay. Please make yourselves aware of that document and follow it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, I'm Justin McPadden, [address removed]. I am the president of the Hope Shot and we're here with uh the opioid task force and the abatement funds. Um I just want to say that we're uh we represent the recovery community and uh we are extremely grateful to the county commissioners for approving or thinking about approving the funds for the Recovery Resource Center and the Sover Living Scholarships that we have a proposal in for. Your decision clearly shows that
you recognize the significance of investing in the well-being of our community. These funds play a crucial role in creating a stable environment for individuals, enabling them to sustain their recovery and achieve long-term success. The center will serve as a safe haven for those battling addiction, providing them with the necessary support, resources for their journey towards recovery. Your dedication to our community is truly commendable, and we feel privileged to have you as county commissioners thank you for your unwavering
support. Thank you. Thank you. One other thing, I do have a letter of intent to attach to the appropriation.
Second.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. You can give it to the clerk?
Thank you.
All right. So anyone else here for public comment? This time was closed public comment in the audience. Anyone on WebEx?
There's no one on WebEx.