PPpp
Polk’s County Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday shut down plans to potentially allow more development on low-lying pasture bisected by Gator Creek at the edge of the Green Swamp.
They were unpersuaded by the assurances by the engineer representing the property owners–whose official identity has changed from one anonymous company to another in the course of the plan review, according to public records– that nothing will happen until he figures out what the flood elevations are to determine how many homes can be built where on the 39-acre site on Old Polk City Road.
Neither were they persuaded by the upbeat staff report from the county planning staff that blithely referred to the site as “a challenging and an opportunity.”
Instead, they were persuaded by a procession of longtime local residents who argued cramming urban-density development in what is really at the edge of rural Polk County was bad enough, but doing it in a flood plain makes it worse.
The recent memories of the floods following Hurricane Irma last fall reinforced the point for Commissioner John Hall, who represents that area of the county and spends enough time there to see the problems first hand.
No one really trusts the alleged standard that no more water will leave the site after it’s developed than was pouring off of it before it was developed.
County regulations, according to the testimony, require an engineering design to deal with a routine 25-year storm, not heavier storms that can and do overwhelm engineered drainage systems.
Commissioner George Lindsey argued Tuesday’s vote should only have been about whether the applicant had the right to seek more dense development, not whether any plan based on that request would actually work.
Hall responded that the problem is that if it is built and it doesn’t work, the taxpayers will be on the hook to try to alleviate any of the misery it causes.
That isn’t worth the risk, Hall argued.