ARPC July ’09 Report

The Apalachee Regional Planning Council (ARPC) held its regular meeting yesterday, July 30 at the Ramada Inn Conference Center in Tallahassee.

The twenty-seven member council is comprised of local elected officials and appointees of the Governor that work with citizens and local government on a host of issues including, but not limited to economic development, growth management, reviewing local comprehensive plans and large-scale developments in the region.

One item addressed by the council of particular interest to the Franklin County area was a proposed amendment to the Coastal Management Element in the City of Carrabelle’s Comprehensive Plan.

Carrabelle city officials proposed to reduce the setback from the mean high water line from 50’ to 20’ in areas designated as Velocity Zones on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map.

According to an ARPC staff report, in 1993, the City of Carrabelle adopted an ordinance establishing the 50-foot setback; however, the city’s original comprehensive plan only required a setback of 20 feet, for which city officials used to review and approve development within the city. In 2006, during a comprehensive plan update, the city changed the 20 feet to 50 feet, to resolve the conflict between the two documents.

However, landowners negatively impacted by the 50-foot setback began raising issues surrounding private property rights. Citing, the City of Carrabelle was in violation of the Bert J. Harris, Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act, when the city changed its comprehensive plan after the effective date of the Act, which then Governor Lawton Chiles signed into law on May 18, 1995.

Skittish over the potential liability from conflicting with the Act, Carrabelle city commissioners sought to reestablish the 20-foot setback by proposing to amend their comprehensive plan.

However, local conservationist Lesley Cox joined with former Carrabelle Mayor Mel Kelly and former City Commissioner Gathana Parmenas in leading opposition against the proposed amendment. In addition to sending email letters to the ARPC opposing the measure, Parmenas appeared before and addressed the council at the July meeting.

Both Kelly and Parmenas were instrumental during their term in office of changing the setback from 20 feet to 50 feet during the 2006 comprehensive plan update.

In their emails, the trio cited among other things water quality issues with Kelly writing, “I believe the need to preserve and protect that small margin of frontage should and must take precedence over any individual right or developer’s want… The minimal 50’ required by the current Carrabelle plan is scientifically considered to be barely adequate for the protection of water quality, aquatic life, and erosion reduction, but that measurement was accepted and approved by the City’s public at the time the current Comprehensive plan was passed.”

In their submittal, the City of Carrabelle was vague on details as there were no maps indicating affected properties nor did the city provide any scientific data justifying the amendment.

On a motion made by ARPC member Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson and second by council member and former Franklin County Clerk of Circuit Courts Kendall Wade, the council voted unanimously to recommend that the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) not approve the proposed amendment to Carrabelle’s comprehensive plan.