BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Bradford County commissioners unanimously chose to use two of its ongoing engineering firms for comprehensive planning services.
Earlier in the month, the commission chose to engage nine engineering consulting firms in ongoing contracts, with future work being farmed out to whichever was best suited to the job.
Staff looked further at their qualifications, selecting two with the ability to provide services such as drafting amendments to the land development regulations, evaluating proposed land use and zoning amendments, and site plan reviews.
The two recommended and approved by the board were North Florida Professional Services and CHW-NV5.
That means even at the bargain price of $13,000 a year, North Central Florida Regional Planning Council will no longer be providing those services. Commissioner Chris Dougherty said to stick by the planning council would mean receiving the same nonresponsive service. He said other government agencies have also experienced similar issues.
Commissioner Carolyn Spooner said there hadn’t been much detail on the planning council’s performance prior to the last meeting. County Manager Scott Kornegay said they have consistently received a lack of response when contacting council staff. Recently, they haven’t even been reachable by email, he said. Prior to that, there was “some back and forth, but never any results.”
“It’s public knowledge that the city of Gainesville and Alachua County both disengaged. There’s another political subdivision nearby that is about to disengage,” Kornegay said.
Addressing concerns about higher costs, he said, “Can I guarantee you that that we won’t spend more than $13,000 a year with one of the contractors? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, there’s a good chance we’ll spend more than that. But we can’t go on not getting anything done.”
Since both consultants will be paid for each job they perform, Dougherty suggested they get together and come up with a common fee schedule. He also said the county should reevaluate its development fees. When a Racetrac chooses to locate in Bradford County, as one has at U.S. 301 and C.R. 227, they pay much less than they would in another county, he said. Costs for planning services should be paid by the developers. Raising those fees would offset the cost of the consultants.
North Florida Professional Services project manager Clint Capps said they submitted a preliminary rate sheet, but it is not comprehensive.
“It’s not everything we do. It’s not everything we can do. If you ask our administrative team that works with grants, that works with the planning side of things, what they can provide, you name it, they will help out however they can. They will give you their full attention,” Capp said. That included helping the county reevaluate what its development fees should be.
“We work with a lot of different counties, municipalities across north Florida. That’s where our focus is, and we could easily compare what different municipalities and governments are doing and make recommendations for adjusting those fees here,” he said.
Commission Chairman Danny Riddick said he gave the decision a lot of thought. Bradford County has worked with the North Central Florida Regional Planning for more than 40 years, he said. He’s been on the planning council board for 14 years and has supported sticking by them. At the same time, he said he doesn’t want to hinder development in Bradford County.
“Our zoning director, Randy Andrews, he’s got a very tough job, as you all know, and seems like he stays under a lot of stress. And so, I just hate to put any more stress on Mr. Andrews,” Riddick said. “As much as I like the planning council and still will continue being on some of their boards, if this benefits Bradford County, then this is direction we need to go.”
The board agreed and voted unanimously to place planning services in the hands of these two consultants. Riddick said they can review the decision a year from now and determine if they’ve made the right choice.
