Light-up McIntosh December 15
Light-up McIntosh will begin at the Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. The event will host Santa Clause and an area choir from six local churches will sing.
09.13.07 LPA approves land rezone Wright,, Glass applications
Friday, September 14, 2007
Land Planning Agency chairwoman Charlsie Stott recommended to the council on Thursday night two rezoning applications that would rezone about 34 acres combined of agricultural and conservation land to residential.
The two zoning applications were submitted by Bill and June Glass for a 18.32 track of land and Danaya Wright for a 15.84 track of land on the south edge of town.
Earlier this year, Council Vice President Howard Walkup and Mayor Marsha Strange rezoned their land that runs alongside both the Wright and the Glass land for rezoning. Walkup had been turned down by a council led by Wright for in previous years for this rezoning.
The council will have two public hearings during a rezoning process. Since two council members are most not running again, the new council may have the final decision for this rezoning.
Check out the planning reports prepared for the council: Glass rezone Wright rezone
that the Wright and Glass rezones were approved
by the citizen committee while June Glass looks on.
(Photo by Cher Phillips)
Labels: agricultural land, Danaya Wright, Glass, Howard Walkup, LPA, rezoning
posted by Cher @ 3:02 PM,
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04.12.07 -- REPORT: Town shuts reporter out of town-DEP joint meeting to discuss water
Thursday, April 12, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
At 10 a.m. this morning, I was shut out of the McIntosh-Department of Environmental Protection water meeting by the town and the state department.
When I drove up this morning to the town office, town clerk Debbie Miller turned the open sign over to closed.
She asked what I was there for and I told her I wanted to observe the meeting between the town and the DEP.
I first learned of the meeting late last Friday from a concerned resident who called my home to ask if I knew there was a closed meeting planned between the town and the EPA. I then called the town council president, Frank Ciotti. The meeting is actually with the Florida DEP -- rather than the EPA - a federal environmental agency.
In a phone interview, Ciotti said that he didn't think they would have a problem with someone observing. At that time, he said several council members were planning to attend, which would have made the meeting subject to Florida's open meetings laws.
On Monday, Ciotti sent an e-mail to me saying only one council member would be attending an didn't want any guests. He did not reply to my follow-up e-mail asking if I could attend the meeting or not. Town Clerk Debbie Miller forwarded an e-mail from Dan Shideler, Environmental Specialist for the DEP.
"This is not a town meeting where I am involved in a Q&A with the town members. This is me coming out there to let the people in charge of the municipality know what their responsiblities [sic] are to DEP and the public," Shideler wrote.
Shideler said this morning that he was there to let town officials know what they needed to do with there was an "issue."
I asked if there were any "issues" in McIntosh. He said no.
The town has suffered from a water system failure and problems in the last two weeks resulting in periods of zero water pressure.
When I asked Miller, Shideler and Council Vice President Howard Walkup each if I could attend this meeting and observe, not asking questions, I was told no and turned away.
I specifically asked Walkup, "As a Council member, will you allow me to observe this meeting for the town?"
Walkup said, "No, this is not a public meeting."
Labels: Debbie Miller, EPA, Howard Walkup, McIntosh, water system
posted by Cher @ 11:06 AM,
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03.23.07 -- REPORT: Rezoning public hearing raising concerns of fast-tracked rezoning
Friday, March 23, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
(This is the first of two stories on the upcoming rezoning public hearing. The first explores the basis for resident concerns, and the second is a Q & A Style e-mail interview with Council President Frank Ciotti addressing the issues.)
A rezoning public hearing planned for April 12 will be reconsidered after it came under scrutiny by the Mirror when concerns were raised by residents who feared the hearing was premature because it cut into the council's decision-making power and put a rezoning process on the fast track.
In February, the Land Planning Agency approved two planning reports belonging to the James and Marsha Strange, the town's mayor, and Howard Walkup, the town's council vice president. The proposed changes would rezone agricultural land to residential which would go next to the town council as ordinances proposing changes to the land development code.
Rezoning agricultural land to residential land was already a contentious issue before the public hearing was called into question. Two years ago, Walkup's request to rezone his land to a zoning classification that would allow him to put one house per acre on his nearly 10 acres was denied by the town council in 2005. The Strange's withdrew an application that same year. Both town officials are now seeking a zoning classification change for their agriculture property to two homes per acre, which would open up zoning for potentially 36 new homes on the two parcels of land.
After the LPA approved the planning reports on March 13, the committee's next step would have been to present their findings at the next council meeting in April. Then, the council would decide whether to have a workshop or hold a public hearing.
In an e-mail in late February, the town's hired planner Bruce Day explained the zoning process step-by-step to town officials at Council President Frank Ciotti's request. Day, who works for the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council, wrote that after the LPA approved the planning reports, "at the next town council meeting, the Council should decide if they want to set up a workshop or if they want to go ahead and go ahead and set a date for a public hearing at the first reading of the ordinance." (Day's e-mail)
But one day after the LPA meeting on March 14, the town clerk, Debbie Miller wrote to three council members EvaJo Callahan, Lee Deaderick and Ciotti, the mayor, LPA Chairwoman Charlsie Stott and Day. "The date of Tuesday, April 3 (7:00 pm) has been suggested as a possible date to schedule the first of two required Town Council public hearings on the AG - R1 rezoning," Miller wrote.
Miller said in an e-mail to the Mirror today that she chose April 3 because it was a good date for the planner, the Civic Center and town officials.
On March 15, Miller wrote another e-mail to the same town officials telling them she'd received the LPA reports and the council would need to schedule two hearings within 45 days.
"We need to schedule the first of two Town Council Public Hearings on the AG-R1 rezoning. I've been doing some research on this issue. Per Code Section 8.04.02 (g), 'If the Town Council does not act upon the LPA recommendation regarding a proposed change or amendment within forty-five (45) days of the date of its receipt by the Town Council, the application upon which the report and recommendation is based shall be deemed to have been denied.' I have received the signed recommendation from the LPA. Again, I will schedule Tuesday, April 3 (7:00 pm) as the first of two public hearings, unless I hear from you by this coming Monday, March 19, as the ad will need to be submitted to the Ocala Star Banner at the beginning of next week," Miller wrote.
In fact, Miller was correct that the Land Development Code out procedure for dealing with rezoning land in McIntosh.
The full text of section G of 08.04.02 says that upon receipt of the LPA's report, the Town Council shall hold a public hearing, with notices sent out to owners with property within 300 feet of the proposed amendment.
Ciotti pointed this out to Miller on March 16, saying that he did not think that the process began until the council received the report.
"I am not rushing this for any reason but I also see no reason to delay," Ciotti wrote. "I do believe that a hearing and a hearing, between Town Council meetings, appears hasty and will not schedule a public hearing before the next Council meeting. I think we need to have Scott present at the public hearing, and I don't want to expend additional attorney hours and money by having it on the 3rd, as we have done in the past we can have the meeting prior to the regular time on April 8th meeting, at 6 PM if Lee can make it, if not then start at 7 PM and have a short agenda."
Miller has not yet replied to a follow-up e-mail from the Mirror asking what the impetus was and who initially directed her to schedule the hearing before the LPA reported to the council at the April monthly meeting.
Council President Frank Ciotti answered questions from the Mirror in a Q & A style interview about how and why he made his decision to follow the town clerk's lead and schedule the public hearing before the town council meets. (Read interview here.)
In the Q & A interview, Ciotti said that he thought it was the council president or the mayor's duty to call a public hearing. Since the mayor's property is in question, he said he went ahead and planned for the hearing.
But the McIntosh Town Charter does not mention calling public hearings as a duty of any individual council member. The land development code contains the rules guiding public hearings, specifically for rezoning.
In a phone interview this evening, Ciotti said he did not realize his scheduling the public hearing may not have been correct. He said he's contacted the town's attorney and if it is necessary, the town can cancel the public hearing and reschedule it after the council can meet together.
Ciotti said he was not sure if the town had already arranged to run an advertisement in the Ocala Star-Banner for the meeting. If so, a cancellation and reschedule might cost the town more money.
But Ciotti's financial concern were similar to concerns brought to the Mirror by residents who asked to have their names withheld.
The council has never voted on who is paying for this rezoning process. The Mirror has reported and documented that the council actually voted to table this process in February, and the town officials seeking rezone have done it against the will of the council's recorded vote.
Further, the LDC very clearly says that "no application for zoning amendment shall be heard by the LPA until such fees and charges shall have been paid." (LDC 8.04.02, section A) If the council never determined what the fees should be for Walkup and Strange -- another duty the code gives the council -- then how can those fees have been properly paid?
Other concerns expressed were that the rezoning process has been taking place in a way that's contrary to the code, skipping steps and speeding up the wait time and perhaps shutting out time residents who oppose the rezone might have to garner support. In some cases, shutting out the council from making decisions in the process.
For instance, the LDC says that the town council has the role of sending zoning applications to the LPA when they receive them. (LDC 8.04.02, section A) That combined with the hearing being scheduled before the council meeting stands to shorten the wait time by one or two months.
However the council president said he does not feel the process is being fast-tracked since this is not the first time rezoning has been on the town's agenda. Read what Ciotti has to say about residents getting a chance to be heard in the rezoning process next.
Labels: Frank Ciotti, Howard Walkup, Marsha Strange, rezoning, town council
posted by Cher @ 1:09 PM,
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03.10.07 -- REPORT: Public hearing to consider large-scale land rezone in McIntosh set for Tuesday
Saturday, March 10, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
The LPA will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. to discuss rezoning that could open up agricultural land in McIntosh for the potential development of 36 new homes, according to planning reports.
The posting at the town office has been corrected to reflect that the March 13 meeting will be a public hearing, as opposed to the previous posting of an LPA meeting, to discuss rezoning of agricultural land.
Two applications to rezone agricultural land to residential use have been filed, and two planning reports have been completed by Bruce Day, Planning director with the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council and provided to the LPA Chairwoman Charlsie Stott and town council members.
The applications from Council Vice President Howard Walkup and McIntosh Mayor Marsha Strange and her husband, James are for almost 20 acres of land along the southern town border of McIntosh.
The Stranges own 10.20 acres of land and the WRPC report says there is potential for 19 new homes, located on the south end of McIntosh.
The Walkups own 9.2 acres of land belonging to Howard Walkup with the potential for 17 additional homes, behind his home on the south end of McIntosh.
Day has prepared a list of considerations the LPA should be assessing at next week's public hearing in an e-mail to McIntosh town officials.
Those considerations include the impacts potential growth will have on the town's comprehensive plan, living conditions and traffic in the neighborhood, and ask if granting this change would extend "special priviledge to an individual owner as constrasted with the public welfare."
In January, Walkup initiated this process by asking the town clerk to place this zoning issue on town's agenda. He also took part in the council's vote to send this matter to the Land Planning Agency.
During the February monthly council meetings, the council discussed the town footing the bill for this process. The mayor suggested the individual land owners pay for their own land. However, this has not been voted on by the council.
After the LPA hears the zoning requests, if passed, the amendments to the comprehensive land use map will go to the council in which they can set a date for a public workshop or set a date for a public hearing for the first reading of an ordinance.
Labels: agricultural land, Howard Walkup, LPA, Marsha Strange, public hearing, public records, report, rezoning
posted by Cher @ 1:09 PM,
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02.14.07 -- REPORT: Rezoning issue comes full circle
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
Last week, the McIntosh Town Council heard a recommendation from the LPA that they could rezone agriculture land belonging to Mayor Marsha Strange, Council Vice President Howard Walkup and Bill and June Glass to R1.
Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 12, the LPA meeting, in which the citizen board voted to recommend rezoning, became an "unofficial" meeting. Before board chairwoman Charlsie Stott gave her findings to the council, she asked if she should since the LPA did not have a public hearing on the issue.
However, at no time during the LPA meeting was the committee informed the subject matter they were voting on was "informal." This determination was made after the fact.
While the meeting wasn't a public hearing, four of the town's five council members were present. Two council members commented during the rezoning portion of the LPA meeting. Council President Frank Ciotti's questioned the amount of development that could be potentially opened up by the rezone. Councilwoman Eva Jo Callahan asked if the land was within the city limits. The three property owners in question were present at the meeting, while other property owners were not present, nor were they included in this first "testing-the-waters" phase of the process.
This point was not brought up in either February council meeting.
While the matter of rezoning isn't as pressing as it seemed two weeks ago, it seems to remain a potential agenda item for McIntosh. After Stott made the LPA's recommendation on the first day of the February council meeting, Councilman Lee Deaderick tabled the issue of rezoning, saying that ultimately the subject could take up an entire workshop meeting.
This tabling came after a discussion launched on who should pay the rezoning fees. If the town initiated the rezoning, then it would have to take on the burden of advertising the changes, paying a planner -- Bruce Day -- to look into the impacts of such zoning and other administrative fees that come up.
If the property owner posted it, he or she would foot the bill.
Initially, during the Feb. 8 meeting, council members batted around the idea of the town paying to rezone land belonging to two elected officials and one citizen board member. This drew the criticism of one town resident, Steve Race, later in the meeting. Race was meeting some resistance when asking the council for financial assistance solving a drainage problem the board had previously voted to help him with. He made note during the meeting to the council they were willing to entertain the town paying to rezone their own land, but not willing to help him with his problem.
Later, during the continued meeting, the mayor asked to readdress the issue and told the council that as long as the town was having financial difficulties, she suggested any rezoning be paid for by the property owners.
Looking at the question of rezoning in McIntosh requires looking back at the issue over the last two years.
Just going back a month begins to tell a little more about the story.
In the January 2007 town council meeting (Jan. 11, audio file 2:11:38 to 2:16:00), Walkup asked Town Clerk Debbie Miller to put agriculture rezoning on the agenda. Councilmen Ciotti and Deaderick both questioned in that meeting how that topic got on the agenda.
Ciotti said, "I have no idea where that came from."
"Where did that land density come from?" Deaderick said.
"That came from Howard," Miller said.
"A long, long time ago, we asked the LPA to consider changing the Land density from 110 to 2 in 1, then they hashed it back and forth and came back with a 1 in 1 with 150 frames, I remember all that," Walkup said. " I don't know whose court it's in now. I spoke to Scott about it the other day and he was almost of the opinion that we needed to start over.
Attorney Scott Walker said he couldn't remember if it was turned over, or denied.
"If it's in the council's court, maybe the council can go ahead and vote on 1 in 1 with a 150 foot frontage and that sort of thing. If that's what the council wants to do," Walkup said. "If it's in our court. I'm in favor of sending it back to the LPA and asking them to start over with it and do what they originally recommended."
"Residential estate is what we called it," Ciotti said.
Deaderick made a recommendation that the LPA look into rezoning and bring them any recommendations they might have. He said for them to "send us something of what they'd like to see. "
A motion passed unanimously to have the LPA reconsider zoning from Agricultural to R1, with Walkup voting to have the LPA looking at rezoning his own land.
In the past, when the issue of rezoning this land came up, minutes show that Attorney Scott Walker advised council members not to vote when their own land was involved. For this reason, many of the votes over the last two years show Walkup and former council member Danaya Wright abstaining from the decision-making process.
Why Walkup initiated rezoning and voted to have the LPA consider what to do with his land this year is not known.
What is known is a story told through the McIntosh public records.
In the March 2005 meeting of the town council, when Danaya Wright tried to vote against a general rezoning of land from agricultural to residential, then Council President Charlsie Stott and Attorney Scott Walker stopped her. (March 2005 minutes)
At that time, minutes show that Wright expressed concern because the rezoning was bring fast-tracked. Mintues show she said she wanted the LPA to establish the standards in the McIntosh codes for development before the land was rezoned.
At the time, Day had been hired to help bring the codes up to date.
That year, public hearings were held to consider rezoning to a special land use called residential estate. (May 12, 2005)
Different zoning types were considered and argued back and forth including agriculture 2, residential 1 and something called residential estate.
On June 21, 2005, letters were sent out to the five property owners about the AG2 rezoning. (July meeting) This set in motion another recommendation to the LPA that a new AG2 category be created. When an issue of rezoning is being considered, neighboring property owners must be notified.
The issue at the time was not unlike the current struggle over the historic ordinance.
Council members Wright and Strange read letters into the record from the following residents showing concern over the zoning at the August 11 meeting: (August 11) the DiMellas, the Phillips', the Westergards, the Fellmans, the Glasses, the Weitners, the Aults and Sean Dowie and Tammy Flagg.
Even back then, Marsha Strange said she had no intention of developing her property.
Eventually, the original intent to rezone changed from three owners seeking a zoning change together when Walkup decided to seek zoning on his own that fall.
Yet, even that came to a halt only days after the new council took the helm. During the Nov. 10 council meeting, Wright, Ciotti and former Councilman Joe Phillips voted to deny Walkup his zoning change. (Nov. 10, 2005)
Labels: agricultural land, Danaya Wright, Howard Walkup, Marsha Strange, R1, report, rezoning
posted by Cher @ 8:06 PM,
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Editor
Editor and Publisher:
I'm Cher From McIntosh, FL I'm a graduate student at the University of Florida working on a master's degree in Mass Communication. While I was finishing my undergrad degree in journalism last year, I reported on McIntosh, Fla. for an in-depth reporting class. I figured that the reporting and the public record files should go somewhere people can access them. Reporters don't report to keep the information they find to themselves. Some of that reporting is included here in a forum that allows response. McIntosh suffers because with no news coverage, the local government and the rumor mill have too much potential to run rampant over residents. I moved to McIntosh in the fall of 1999. My profile
About This Blog
The primary purpose of this blog is to accurately reflect what happens in town public meetings and dispel rumors. I record the meetings and make them available for download. One of the goals of this blog is to offer residents a place to voice opinions. The comments, views and opinions expressed there are not necessarily those of the editor.
