BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — The issue of Bradford County’s planning services has been settled for at least a few months.
A split vote renewed the contract with North Central Florida Regional Planning Council through Sept. 30, 2024, over objections that the agency is less responsive and may be understaffed.
Some commissioners and county staff wanted CHW Professional Consultants to take over planning. The engineering firm already has a continuing services contract and successful partnership with the county.
Some members for the public following the process to update the county’s mining regulations saw this as a bad time to change planning consultants and worried about potential conflicts if a firm with private clients was also drafting the county’s land development regulations.
The regional planning council has provided these services for 30 years, according to Executive Director Scott Koons, who cut Bradford County’s costs to $13,000 in the new contract based on the reduced number of applications and amendments processed in recent years. It continued providing services, even though the prior agreement expired Sept. 30 and Bradford hadn’t committed to another year.
Commissioner Danny Riddick was in full support of sticking with the planning council, having served on multiple boards for the council over the years. If determined to change consultants, Riddick said the county should be professional by waiting another year and give the agency adequate notice.
“Mr. Koons, you’ve been great. I’ve worked with you a lot. We’ve been to a lot of meetings together. And you know, I just appreciate you,” Riddick said.
“It’s the right thing,” Commission Chair Carolyn Spooner said, listing the agency’s many services, which the county would receive for a reduced price. It is a more conservative approach for the county’s budget, she said, and staying the course would allow the board to complete work on pending amendments to the comprehensive plan and land development regulations.
Commission Chris Dougherty said the county previously had a tenured engineer, but staff would agree that the services provided since contracting with CHW have been “next level.”
According to staff, Dougherty said the planning council’s service level has not been satisfactory.
Because they are already under contract with the county, he said the board could take advantage of the engineering firm’s planning services without having to advertise a request for qualifications from other providers.
“I just have no doubt that they’ll continue to provide the next level services for us as we move forward,” he said.
Spooner, however, said to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest, the board should keep its planning and engineering services separate.
Commissioner Diane Andrews said one of the reasons she had considered changing is that she didn’t feel like she received honest answers to questions about proposed revisions so mining regulations — a matter that still hasn’t been resolved.
“I think it is extremely important that when we discuss these things, that the truth be known about what’s going on in these policies. Since this subject has come up, all of a sudden, it’s become a conspiracy, and that’s not what it is at all,” she said. The board is just trying to determine if there is a better way to get the work done, she said.
“We’ve always worked to provide the county our best professional recommendation,” Koons said, “but at the end of the day, most of the decisions you make related to comprehensive planning and zoning matters, land develop regulations, are policy decisions by this board. It is the responsibility of this board to oversee those for this county. And at the end of the day, if you need to make revisions or feel revisions are perfect for your community, we will assist you making those revisions. We’ve always done that. We’ve given you a recommendation. If you haven’t accepted a recommendation and you want to change it, we change it to meet your final policy decision.”
County Manager Scott Kornegay said the commission has made economic development and job growth its top priority. In addition to helping fund the extension of Starke water and wastewater to the bypass, he said the county would also like someone to help envision what that multiuse development could look like. He asked Koons if the planning council was capable of that.
Koons said the planning council is already working with the city of Starke on the zoning and future land use amendments to make way for development at the interchange of S.R. 16 and the bypass.
“The regional planning council is a U.S. Department of Commerce designated economic development district. We maintain and develop an economic strategy for the region that’s reviewed and updated every five years, which does focus on diversifying the economy of Bradford County and surrounding counties,” Koons said.
He said it would ultimately be up to the private landowners to determine what type of development in which to invest, but the county could rely on its engineer to envision what that could look like.
There were also questions about size and location of the planning council’s staff. They have eight staff members, Koons said, and they work in a hybrid remote scenario, which includes time in the office, traveling and working from home. Over the past three or four years, they have found it to be an efficient approach. Their clients are the counties and cities they serve in north Florida. They provide support to county staff in the background rather than work directly with the public.
Dougherty was concerned both about paying for unutilized office space and the inability to get information unless it first comes through Koons.
Commissioners did not agree on the responsiveness of the planning council or on the feedback they’ve received from other governments working with the council,
Craig Brashier, director of planning for CHW, said they would love the opportunity to grow their relationship with Bradford County, highlighting the firm’s many disciplines, including planning, engineering and construction services. Master plans and renderings like the one Kornegay mentioned is something they do regularly, Brashier said, mentioning a downtown plan they are working on for Crescent City.
“Not only can we provide the graphics that we have in house landscape architecture and design, as well as engineering and planning, but all those come together to make sure that the images we produce are code compliant, constructible product,” he said.
Spooner pointed out CHW could provide that service as the county’s engineer without taking over planning services. As for Spooner’s concerns about additional costs, Brashier said their services are provided on an as-needed basis. A greater need could lead to greater cost, but the county isn’t committed to spending anything.
A motion by Dougherty and seconded by Commissioner Kenny Thompson to use CHW for planning services failed with three votes against it. Spooner, Riddick and Andrews instead voted to retain North Central Florida Regional Planning Council.
Andrews said they could take the year to evaluate the planning council’s services. Riddick said they could begin discussions in June. Dougherty said when that time comes, they should advertise a request for qualifications and use the time to evaluate the options before the next contract cycle begins.
Addressing his former employment by CHW, Dougherty said he is a commissioner now and hasn’t worked for the company for years. However, he can advocate for them as “an outstanding firm in everything they do.”
Despite the decreased contract cost, he said the board would still expect a high level of service from the planning council, and Kornegay said he would work more closely with the planning department and the management of this contract.
“That way, I think there might be some might be a better relationship. We might get more effective and efficient service from them,” Kornegay said.
