Charter Review Commission  Minutes
Jan. 9, 2006

Handouts

Resume of Randall Holcombe

Supporting materials for his presentation
Mr. Holcombe's PowerPoint presentation (use your mouse to advance the slides)

Growth Management Task Force, Policies and Recommendations, Report to Governor Jeb Bush (Florida Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, December 29, 2004)

CALL TO ORDER/ ROLL CALL
The Charter Review Commission Chair, William Scovell, convened the meeting at 5:32 p.m. in the training rooms of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center at 123 West Indiana Avenue, DeLand Florida. The following members were present: Chair William Scovell, Vice Chair John Graham, T. Wayne Bailey, Joseph Benedict, Patricia Drago, P.T. Fleuchaus, Alex Ford, Richard Gunter, Pete Heebner, Charles Matousek, Tom McClelland, Patricia Northey, and Glenn Storch. Clarence Davenport was unable to attend. Also present were Dan Eckert, County Attorney, Michael Dyer, Assistant County Manager, Betty Holness, Assistant to the County Manager, and Prashant Patel, Administrative Intern. There were approximately 14 members of the public present.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FOR THE DECEMBER 12, 2005 COMMISSION MEETING
The first order of business was to approve the minutes of the Regular Commission Meeting of December 12, 2005. Tom McClelland moved to approve the minutes and Alex Ford seconded the motion. The Charter Review Commission unanimously carried the motion.

PANEL DISCUSSION OF SMART GROWTH POLICIES RECCOMENDATIONS AND CHARTER REVIEW ISSUES
Dr. Randall G. Holcombe, DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University in Tallahassee, gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding his views of the recommendations offered by the Volusia County Smart Growth Implementation Committee. Dr. Holcombe began his presentation by giving an overview of the problems that are hindering Smart Growth. One of the major obstacles to growth is government regulations. According to Dr. Holcombe, regulations such as Uniform Zoning Laws prohibit growth because of the different standards in determining what areas to be developed.

Dr. Holcombe continued by saying that local government has limited potential to regulate growth if the citizens are demanding increased development that would enhance their communities economic standing. Instead, local government should be setting certain policy objectives to encourage Smart Growth. This could be accomplished by encouraging the deregulation of development to dictate economic growth.

Dr. Holcombe stated that the objectives of many of Volusia County’s Smart Growth policies such as to encourage higher density development, are not consistent with a new market approach to development. Instead of trying to find ways to encourage alternative automobile travel, Volusia County should form its growth policies around the auto-centric nature of today’s society.

Dr. Holcombe suggested that the other justifications to encourage high-density development in Volusia County would hinder a free market approach to Smart Growth. Studies show that population density is not related to the per capita cost of government services.

Mr. Storch asked if there were mixed-use communities would this not create more traffic due to the rate of commuters going into town. However, fewer miles would be traveled, and this would this help reduce urban sprawl.

Dr. Holcombe responded by saying, if one lives in a smaller community, the traveling time is reduced. However, citizens in a larger city such as Miami are not going to go to the center of town to go shopping. This is not necessary because of the many small activity nodes such as malls or outlets near main service highways. Therefore, by creating activity nodes you reduce miles traveled. Dr. Holcombe stated that by creating a land use policy that does not conform to the automobile-centric view of society, it would increase traffic congestion and air pollution.

Dr. Holcombe then began to analyze how Volusia County is encouraging higher population density. According to the presentation, Volusia County is trying to accomplish this goal by using two major mechanisms. One method is Cluster Development, and the other is Urban Growth Boundaries.  

Dr. Holcombe stated that he saw three significant disadvantages in regards to Cluster Development:

• Cluster Development creates less-walkable communities and hinders Mixed-use communities because of open space between clusters, in opposition with the goals of the Volusia County Smart Growth Implementation Committee.
• It forces smaller lot sizes.
• It forces infrastructure to by-pass land that will never be developed. This will cause leapfrog development or strip development, which are generally viewed as undesirable from a smart growth point of view.

Later, Mr. Storch stated that he was concerned with Dr. Holcombe’s view of Cluster Development because Cluster Development has many benefits. One of these benefits is that it allows for greater flexibility in planning than zoning ordinances allow. This flexibility may allow greater freedom to deal with such issues as Urban Sprawl.

Dr. Holcombe responded to Mr. Storch’s concern by stating that he is not against Cluster Development if there is a great demand for it.

Dr. Holcombe continued his presentation by discussing the influence of urban growth boundaries on development. He suggested that Urban Growth Boundaries would restrict the supply of developable land, causing land prices to rise. This is primarily because land prices are directly determined by the principles of supply and demand. He then added anything that restricts the supply of developable land is going to cause the price of land to increase. This is true even if the rate of population growth is unaffected by the boundary, land prices  still rise because owners of developable land gain some monopoly power and can charge more for their land.

Mr. Ford asked if Volusia County annexed land outside of the Urban Growth Boundaries for environmental purposes, would that land be out of reach of a monopoly power.

Dr. Holcombe stated that in certain circumstances the land would be out of reach from monopoly power, however, the potential of developable land would be reduced. As a result, this would cause land prices to rise.

Dr. Holcombe further stated that if Volusia County eases its Urban Growth Boundaries, it would lead to “leapfrog development.” This would allow the peripheral part of Volusia County to experience economic growth, and in turn, it would create highly dense populated areas. This is conducive to future commercial development, and it would allow the local economy to grow.

Dr. Holcombe also spoke of the importance that transportation plays in facilitating economic growth and land use. He stressed the importance of having a major roadway near the economic center of town. Dr. Holcombe stated that stores and businesses want to be near major roadways in order to increase the amount of customers, this in turn, allows the value of land to rise and be sold at a premium.

According to Dr. Holcombe, market forces, along with an advanced planned transportation system, can be tools used in order to determine future land use. Dr. Holcombe suggested to the Committee that as Volusia County’s population increases the County would have to build adequate roads to accommodate increased automobile travel, and strategically build them to have access to the major economic centers of the county.

Mr. McClelland acknowledged that Volusia County has experienced difficulty when trying to implement similar recommendations to what Dr. Holcombe is advocating. This is primarily because a particular City might be reluctant to go along with a change to their transportation infrastructure. The City might hold an opposite view for the purpose of a certain roadway. 

Dr. Holcombe responded by saying that there are political considerations involved with Smart Growth. Volusia County must take the lead in the formation of an adequate policy.

Dr. Holcombe continued his presentation by offering his thoughts on the recommendations that were given by the Smart Growth Implementation Committee.   He  believes many of the recommendations seem to be at odds with the principles of Smart Growth as described in the report. Instead of implementing the recommendations, Dr. Holcombe suggests that the Volusia County Charter Review Commission create an alternative visioning process. He further stated that the County could form a build out plan as the basis for growth management. A build out plan can meet three major objectives in the area of growth management.

•  Protect the environment.
•  Guide transportation planning and the development and improvement of roads.
•  Give private landowners and developers information that can allow them to maximize the value of their property.

Mrs. Drago later asked how a build out plan differs from other plans that have been used in Volusia County to assist with growth management.

Dr. Holcombe answered that unlike other growth management plans that predict short-term problems such as sprawl, build out plans project five to ten years into the future. For example, the Volusia County Implementation Committee set aside land for environmental preservation. According to Dr. Holcombe, a build out plan allows Volusia County to select the territories that are going to be preserved.

Dr. Bailey asked how Volusia County could deal with inevitable market failures, combined with values of a particular community that go beyond the market.

Dr. Holcombe responded by saying, in the history of land use he did not see any significant failures of the market. However, he has observed poor regulatory mechanisms. One example Dr. Holcombe offered is the law of nuisance. The law of nuisance is defined as an individuals right to use their land any way they wish as long as it did not harm their neighbors.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Ordinance Review and Management Recommendations Subcommittee: Rich Gunter, speaking on behalf of Subcommittee Chair, John Graham, stated that this Subcommittee has heard from Doug Krueger, Director of Management and Budget for Volusia County, on how the budget process can be improved. Secondly, he stated that the Subcommittee plans on hearing from County Council members about their thoughts on the budget process.

Meeting the Infrastructure Needs of Smart Growth Subcommittee: Tom McClelland, Subcommittee Chair, stated that this Subcommittee has heard from a variety of individuals that are in the transportation field. They discussed the needs of the entire transportation system. In addition, they discussed whether the transportation system is integrated sufficiently. Later, Mr. McClelland stated that the subcommittee is reviewing a one-cent gas tax measure, and whether it should be included on the ballot. He also stated one significant concern of the public is the VOTRAN Bus system. VOTRAN is not affiliated with any of Volusia County’s cities. Mr. McClelland ended by saying that his Subcommittee has not reviewed any of the recommendations made by the Volusia County Smart Growth Implementation Committee.

Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee: Joe Benedict, Subcommittee Chair, started by saying that this Subcommittee will not be offering any Charter recommendations on the issues of the Americans With Disability Act or Ambulatory Transport. Mr. Benedict also stated that during their last meeting the members felt that they had not received enough information on the issue of the environmental relationship between the County and the Cities. On their upcoming meeting, the Subcommittee will be analyzing the relationship Volusia County and its Cities.

Structure of Government Subcommittee: T. Wayne Bailey, Subcommittee Chair, spoke about the previous meeting with Howard Tipton, former City Manager for Daytona Beach, and Thomas C. Kelly, former County Manager for Volusia County. Dr. Bailey stated the two speakers stressed the importance of reserving the County Manager form of government. Dr. Bailey also stated that the purpose of the previous meeting was to review the powers of the County Chair. The principal recommendation made by Howard Tipton was to provide the County Chair with veto power. Finally, Dr. Bailey stated that his Subcommittee has not had an opportunity to fully review the issue of Growth Management due to the fact that they are primarily concerned the structure of government.

Protecting the Environmental Core Subcommittee: Rich Gunter, Vice-Chair spoke on behalf of the Chair, Alex Ford.  He stated that the Subcommittee’s primary focus at the time is reviewing the issue of land acquisition. The Subcommittee has no recommendations for the Charter Review Commission at this time.

Integrating Economic Development and Education Subcommittee: Pat Drago, Chair stated that due to scheduling difficulties, the Subcommittee was unable to meet in December. However, they will be meeting on January 23, 2006, where a representative form Dr. Hank Fishkind’s office will be present to discuss the impact of the fiscal analysis model. Mrs. Drago also stated that she does not consider this a Charter recommendation.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Don Kanfer suggested that the Charter Review Commission should consider the structure of the various local boards and commissions. Mr. Kanfer believes this is necessary to encourage more participation on the part of the citizens of Volusia County. Secondly, Mr. Kanfer believes that the Charter should include an amendment-allowing citizen to recall public officials. He suggested that the public should not only have the ability to vote elected officials into office, but also have the ability to recall them as well.

SET AGENDA / ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Gunter along with Mr. McClelland suggested that the Charter Review Commission review the entire County Charter. They suggested that this is necessary in order to fulfill the mandate that the public has given to the Charter Review Commission. Mr. Scovell agreed and indicated that the February Commission meeting would focus on a discussion of the Charter. The meeting was adjourned at 7:41 p.m.

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