EAGLE VAMPIRE RISES AGAIN!RESCIND ORDINANCES # 61 AND #62
NEXT HEARING DECEMBER 15, 2009
9 AM
County Board Room, Sebring
There
is a change to the planned agenda for the afternoon workshop for the
Highlands County Commissioners and Planning & Zoning Commission to
review the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Highlands County which they
will be proposing to adopt in the future. Don Hanna of the Planning and
Zoning Department called this morning and said that it appears now that
they will not be reviewing the Land Use Element of the Comp Plan. The
issue will most likely be addressed in another meeting in January (date
to be determined later). The morning agenda remains the same: we need to rescind County Ordinance #62. .Two additional pieces of legal/legislative action need to be taken to kill the Eagle Training Center.
1)
County Ordinance #62 changed the land use from Agriculture to
Agriculture/Training Center for the Eagle/Southern Farms property. This
Ordinance MUST BE rescinded in order to kill the Venus Paramilitary
Training Center (formerly Eagle Training Center.)
Ordinance
#62 was passed last year, but never became effective because the DCA
objected to it, and because the Highlands County Board of Commissioners
voted against the Settlement Agreement (which would have settled the
DCA objections. Currently there is a court case involving this
dispute which Southern Farms wants to keep alive. By rescinding this
ordinance, the court case becomes "moot," and no action can be further
taken, at least in this arena.
Please write, call or email
your commissioners and tell them to vote to Rescind County Ordinance
#62. Contact information for all the commissioners can be found HERE.
2)
County Ordinance #61 sets up the land use category for
Agriculture:Training Center and was found to be in compliance and was
passed. This ordinance specifically references setting up of a
military/paramilitary training center. This land use is now LAW in
Highlands County, leaving open the door for this training center or
another one to be put into ANY AGRICULTURE land. We need to REMOVE this
land use designation from Highlands County Comprehensive Plan.
The
afternoon of December 15, 2009, the Highlands County Commissioners will
have a workshop on the Future Land Use Elements. We will be asking the
Commissioners to rescind at least that part of Ordinance #61 that
pertains directly to the Paramilitary (Eagle) Training Center.
THIS
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP agency item discussing the Future Land Use Elements
has been postponed. No future date has been chosen yet.
A
workshop is NOT the same as a public hearing and the Commissioners are
NOT required to allow the public to speak. This is because the workshop
is for discussion of issues and not for passing legislation or taking
any formal actions. However, the Commissioners have been known to
permit public speakers for the purposes of getting public input into
the planning process.
There are good reasons to ask for
Ordinance #61 to be removed entirely. Ordinance #61 increases the area
allowed for nonpermeable surface (paving, buildings) in Ag lands, which
could create water runoff and conservation problems. It allows allows
of "overlays" giving developers "entitlements" which undermine the
current Comprehensive Plan. It puts developers in a better position
than citizens of Highlands County to make land use decisions.
Other News:
Reportedly,
attorney Burt Harris is no longer representing Southern Farms in its
bid to get the paramilitary training center built. Instead Ron Weaver
from Tampa is counsel for Southern Farms.
Reportedly, Greg Eagle
is involved "only periferally" in the Eagle Training Center and
Southern Farms has removed the Eagle name. Therefore we may be seeing
other names for this same project arising again.
Fund-raising:
We still need to raise about $8000 in order to pay off our legal
expenses in fighting this project. (We have currently raised some
$22,000.) | VENUS CELEBRATES
About
80 people gathered at the Venus Clubhouse on Saturday November 7 to
celebrate our Victory against the Eagle Training Center. A
potluck lunch was organized, with donations of all meats, beverages,
disposable plates and silverware and rental of the Venus Clubhouse.
Also
donated were cakes, pies, cookies and some jewelry which were auctioned
off to help pay our legal fees incurred while fighting the Eagle
Training Center.
All told, about $900 was raised that day and a good time was had by all.
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