KH 7 years late for comp. plan update
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A consultant for the City of Keystone Heights told the city council during its March 3 meeting that the municipality should have updated its comprehensive plan in 2018, but she could find no record of the required revisions.
Florida law requires each local government to draft a comprehensive plan that addresses future land use, traffic circulation, housing, community facilities, conservation, recreation and open spaces, intergovernmental coordination, capital improvements, and public school facilities.
Janis Fleet told city council members that since part of Keystone’s cemetery and airport are in Bradford County, a written understanding of how those properties function should be part of the plan’s intergovernmental section.
She also said the section on public school facilities should be drafted in conjunction with the school district, considering the comprehensive plans of Green Cove Springs and Orange Park.
Fleet said Florida law requires updates to incorporate any state statute changes that may impact the plan and account for local changes since the plan’s last iteration.
She added that since the city’s last plan, drafted in 2011, Florida law has changed the design elements for residential dwellings, the permitting requirements for electrical substations, and the planning period for comprehensive plans.
Fleet said that although the city’s current comprehensive plan is over 200 pages, many parts of it will remain the same. She added that council members may choose to delete parts of the current document and add some parts.
The city must notify the state by June 1 that it intends to update its plan. Fleet will assist the city in the process. She charges $125 an hour, and the city has budgeted $30,000 for her services and other planning fees for the current fiscal year.
