It took a little checking around, but it seems the Polk legislative delegation has canceled Wednesday’s public meeting to hear from the public about the issues they feel legislators should address in the 2018 session.

If this is the first you’ve heard about it don’t be surprised.

The email blast that went out last Thursday announcing the cancellation was addressed primarily to local government and business interests.

Groups, such as Ancient Islands Sierra, which had formally sent an email asking to be on the agenda, were not included in the notice.

That makes one wonder just who the Polk delegation feels they are actually representing.

According to the email, the meeting will be rescheduled, but the date has not been determined as, apparently, has the method of informing the general public so it can participate in the process.

Part of the problem was that the venue the delegation had chosen, a meeting room at the Polk County Extension Office rather than the Polk County Commission chambers, had been affected by power and Internet outages in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

That site had seemed convenient before the storm because part of the legislators’ gathering had included an appreciation luncheon with the Polk County Farm Bureau, which is located nearby.

The Central Florida Expressway Authority public meeting to discuss the feasibility of four proposed toll roads in Polk, Osceola and Orange counties has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Poinciana Community Center, 445 Marigold Ave., Poinciana.

The meeting will be an open house format. Project maps will be set up and consultants and staff will be available to answer questions.

The four projects, if completed, would form a beltway around Kissimmee and St. Cloud similar to the beltway around Orlando formed by two other toll roads that feed to and from Interstate 4.

The projects have raised environmental questions because the proposed routes would bisect undeveloped habitat containing a number of protected species. Some proposed routes would also run near existing conservation areas, possibly making prescribed fire more difficult because of increase smoke management restrictions and cutting off corridors and disrupting regional migrations because of additional lighting and noise.

There has also been skepticism about the need for some of the new roads other than interest in developing more urban sprawl at new interchanges as has occurred along SR 417, the so-called “Greenway.”

The Peace River is flowing well above its average flow following last weekend’s rainfall from Hurricane Irma.

However, it was not close to flow this time of year in 2004, according to preliminary streamflow data at Bartow compiled by the U.S. Geologic Survey.

The flow recorded Wednesday was 2,150 cubic feet per second. A cubic foot per second flow is roughly equal to 600,000 gallons a day.

The 2004 record for Wednesday is 3,840 cfs.

Other readings include 736 cfs on the Peace Creek in Wahneta, which still appears to be rising (the 2004 record for this date as 902 cfs).

More impressive figures are coming from gauges farther downstream as the flow from tributaries accumulates.

Wednesday’s flow on the Peace River at Zolfo Springs was 17,300 cfs, which topped the 15,200 cfs record from around the time Hurricane Donna came through the area in 1960 during an already wet year.

Across the county, the flow on Tiger Creek was record-setting. Wednesday’s flow was 555 cfs, far surpassing the 120 cfs record from 2004 for this site.

The creek, as some of you know, flows through sandhills in Tiger Creek Preserve before emptying into Lake Walkinwater.

The USGS data also shows a 3-foot rise in water level in the creek.

Finally, the North Prong of the Alafia River in Nichols was flowing Wednesday at 693 cfs. The old record was 257 cfs from 2015;.

There was a time when it took quite a bit of effort to recycle in Polk County, if you could do it all.

You had to bag or bundle whatever you wanted to recycle and transport it to a recycling center somewhere.

Today curbside recycling is available in most parts of the county. It provided an environmental-friendly way to dispose of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, aluminum and steel.

This will continue in many parts of Polk County, but starting next month residential garbage customers in unincorporated Polk County, which is where the majority lives, will have a lot less to recycle.

All glass and most plastic will end up in the landfill even if you put it in your recycling container, a decision county officials say is dictated by changes in recycling market prices. Exactly which plastic will not be recycled is a little unclear, but Polk solid waste officials have refused to provide clear information on their webpage to make it easier for the public to sort things out. Other counties such as neighboring Hillsborough County have done a better job.

City recycling programs will continue for now to recycle this material and so will surrounding counties that have recycling programs.

Polk has a reason not to bother to collect unprofitable materials.

The county budget in a small way depends on the landfill’s turning a profit. That’s because the landfill fund is type of piggy bank for the County Commission. It takes a dividend of a few million dollars a year that can be used for various projects.

The change raises some interesting questions.

Polk’s recycling rate has never been stellar and there has never been a sustained campaign to persuade residents to increase their participation in recycling.

Recent policy decisions don’t advance that goal.

First came the decision to remove the recycling dropoff containers at the county landfill. The dropoff centers are convenient sites to get rid of large cardboard boxes that don’t fit into recycling bins and allows you to avoid advertising recent purchases of pricey merchandise. The stated reason for getting rid of the center was that people were dumping stuff other than recyclables—this was undoubtedly true– and it was inconvenient for county staffers to clean up the mess.

Then came the decision on distribution of new recycling carts to replace the bins that had been used for several years. Polk County sent cards to residents earlier this year asking them to respond if they wanted a cart for the new service that begins Oct. 2. The problem was that if you didn’t receive a card or misplaced your card and suddenly realized you needed to order a recycling cart, the official county policy was that you’re out of luck. You will have to wait until Jan. 1 for no other reason than some county official decided that was the way it ought to be. Residents without carts in the cartless interval have been advised to ask neighbors if they can put their recyclables in their carts.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how Polk’s recycling rate fares in the new recycling regime.

The state’s recycling calculation is based on weight and without heavy materials such as glass in the mix, it could change even though glass has little market value.

Also, it will be interesting to see whether Polk residents back off from participating in any significant numbers once they learn less of their household waste will be recycled.

The Central Florida Expressway Authority has scheduled a series of public meetings to discuss plans for pushing new roads farther south into the Orlando suburbs in Osceola County.

The meetings, which will be in the typical open house format with maps on the walls and consultants on the floor to answer questions, will kick off Sept. 14 at the Association of Poinciana Villages Community Center, 445 Marigold Ave., Poinciana from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. . Other meetings are scheduled Sept. 19 in St. Cloud and Oct. 5 in Orlando.

The stated purposes of the new roads, for which no funding but preliminary planning has been approved yet, are the usual list. It will reduce congestion, boost the economy and connect the region.

The main concern Sierra and other environmental advocates have raised is that the sections planned through rural areas—some of the routes involve more direct routes through already developed areas—is that the roads bisect wildlife habitat, encourage urban sprawl and make fire management of conservation lands more difficult.

The sprawl could be similar to what many have witnessed along State Road 417 over the past 20 years.

This is one of a series of road projects being proposed in the region.

State transportation officials last year pulled the plug on another proposed toll road called the Central Polk Parkway in eastern Polk County that would loop through rural areas surrounding Haines City to provide a roundabout route between U.S. 27 and Interstate 4 and in central Polk between State Road 60 and the Polk Parkway.

Transportation officials concluded the road would not generate enough toll revenue to justify its expense.

Local economic-development officials, who have consistently been the main supporters of these new roads, are still lobbying state transportation officials to revive at least part of the project. They plan their own meeting early next month with turnpike officials.

Another aspect of the ongoing discussion of the environmental impact of BS Ranch & Farm occurred during two different sections of Tuesday’s Polk County Commission meeting.

That involved a proposal to use some unreclaimed mined land owned by Florida Audubon to treat pollution flowing down Saddle Creek to improve the quality of water reaching Lake Hancock and ultimately the Peace River. The main source of pollution is stormwater runoff from a watershed that extends all the way to Lake Gibson upstream from the site.

The project has been recommended to proceed by Polk’s Stormwater Technical Advisory Committee.

But during citizen comments and again during a public hearing a proposed change in development regulations governing soil manufacturing plants, nearby business owner Kirk Sullivan questioned the consistency between the two votes.

Sullivan contended that allowing BS Ranch & Farm, which turns sewer sludge, treated septage and other wastes into soil, to continue to operate near the Saddle Creek floodplain, potentially causing a pollution threat to the stream, seems inconsistent with the idea of trying to establish a pollution control operation just a short distance upstream.

However, there so far have been no documented case of off-site water pollution of the creek or any water body that can be tied to BS Ranch & Farm. The main issues has been excessive odor and that plant operators misled county officials about the nature of the operation when it was being reviewed for an after-the-fact development permit, which the County Commission approved last December

Commissioner George Lindsey told Sullivan that although he’s unhappy with the situation, legal due process limits what the commission can do.

The changes in the development code would make BS Ranch & Farm a legal non-conforming use, which could perhaps affect the site’s marketability.

Meanwhile, there are still ongoing disputes between BS Ranch and Polk County over code enforcement citations and an administrative decision by county planners to hold up final administrative development approval for the operation. They are expected to resolved later this year.

This episode has reportedly changed the way Polk reviews developments and may lead to more emphasis on the public interest and less on greasing the skids for applicants, which has been the practice at times in the past.

Today the Polk County Commission unanimously approved a resolution proposed by Ancient Islands Sierra Club to urge funding of the Florida Forever program by the Florida Legislature.

Below is a copy of the resolution that might be useful as a guide to approaching elected officials where you live.

The time is soon because committee meetings begin in Tallahassee next month in advance of the 2018 session, which will convene in January.

WHEREAS, on November 4, 2014, Polk County voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution by a margin of 130,345 to 57,583; and

WHEREAS, the intent of the constitutional amendment, which was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of Florida, was to provide funding to finish the work of the Florida Forever program initiated by Governor Jeb Bush to further the work of the Preservation 2000 program begun by Governor Bob Martinez with support from the Florida Legislature; and

WHEREAS, the Florida Forever program has provided benefits to residents of Polk County through the purchase of Colt Creek State Park, and through the appropriation of $7,160,901 from Florida Forever’s Florida Communities Trust program to aid in purchases of conservation easements in land surrounding the Avon Park Air Force Range to protect Florida’s natural heritage and the nation’s defense; and

WHEREAS, the revenue authorized by the amendment would generate an estimated $750 million a year for the Florida Forever program; and

WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature in 2017 appropriated no more than two percent of the revenue authorized for the Florida Forever program and have instead appropriated the funds to other programs within the state budget; and

WHEREAS, some of the top-ranked priorities for acquisition under the Florida Forever program include the Bombing Range Flatwoods in Polk County and Lake Wales Ridge in Polk and adjacent counties; and

WHEREAS, it is important to accelerate purchases while land is still available at prices that make economical use of taxpayer’s funds.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners, Polk County, Florida, respectfully urge the Florida Legislature to appropriate funds for the Florida Forever program as mandated by the voters to complete the important mission of preserving Florida’s natural heritage and water resources for future generations. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

DULY ADOPTED this 22nd day of August, 2017