2005 Annual Report - Northeast Florida Regional Council

Technical AssistanceIn its role as a Planning Agency, the Council offers technicalassistance to its member governments. Someexamples of the assistance provided during the last yearinclude:! Conducted the Baker County Rural InitiativesStudy, which will assist the County in developmentof an alternate future plan.! Conducted an inventory of Northeast Floridamunicipality and county public beach accesspoints.! Conducted an inventory of the public boat rampsin the Northeast Florida region.! Town of Beverly Beach – Staff was appointed asthe Zoning Official for the Town.! Baker County – assisted County staff with thecreation of a development review committee(DRC), a staff level technical review committee forplanning and engineering projects; assisted theCounty in developing a local planning agency(LPA); provided technical assistance to the Countystaff on matters related to rezoning and the LandDevelopment Regulations; developed a MicrosoftPowerPoint presentation regarding impact fees fora joint workshop to the Baker County Board ofCommissioners and Baker County School Board;and met with developers on matters pertaining tothe creation of DRIs within the County.During 2004-2005, the Council issued a recommendationreport on the Twin Creeks DRI, which is a proposed multiusedevelopment on 3,050 acres in north-central St. JohnsCounty. The plan approved by the Council consists of5,000 dwelling units, as well as 2,000,000 square feet ofindustrial development, 900,000 square feet of retail andoffice development, and 175 hotel rooms.In addition to issuing a recommendation report on the TwinCreeks DRI, the Council commenced review on a numberof new DRIs in the region. These DRIs include the AshfordMills DRI in St. Johns County, the SilverLeaf Plantation DRIin St. Johns County, the S.R. 100 Project DRI in the City ofPalm Coast, the Ormond Crossings DRI, which is partiallylocated in Flagler County and partially located outside ofthe region in the City of Ormond Beach, the SaratogaSprings DRI in Clay County, and the Three Rivers DRI inNassau County.In addition to review of new DRIs, staff reviewed changesto a number of existing DRIs, including the Fleming Island(Clay County), Summer Beach (Nassau County) (Jacksonville/St.Johns County), Marshall Creek (St. Johns County),and the Consolidated Downtown DRI (Jacksonville).! Town of Welaka – provided the Town technicalassistance on matters pertaining to the rezoningof land within the jurisdictional boundaries of theTown.Developments of Regional ImpactThe Council is charged by the state with coordinating thereview of developments that could impact the health,safety, or welfare of citizens in more than one county toensure growth is consistent with the region’s strategicplan.Above is pictured the “new urbanism concept” which was a component ofexisting DRI’s reviewed by the Council.5