P&Z No More?

At Wednesday's Land Use Hearing, county commissioners will discuss the merits of replacing the planning and zoning board with a paid hearing officer to review zoning cases.
Escambia, Hillsborough, Lee and Pinellas are the only counties in Florida that currently make use of an officer. Hearing examiners' salaries are appointed by the board of county commissioners and their salaries range from $75 an hour in Pinellas to $145 an hour in Escambia.
Planning Director Ron Pianta's staff has done preliminary research into the matter and found:
There are no statewide professional entities or agencies that certify hearing officers, although there are generally accepted qualifications.
Findings of fact and recommendations are issued after the hearing.
The use of a hearing officer can lead to a loss of local input and perspective that planning commission members bring to the zoning process.
Absent from Pianta's staff report is a recommendation to county commissioners.
Although it wasn't on the agenda at Monday's P&Z meeting, Planning Chairwoman Anna Liisa Covell urged her colleagues to attend Wednesday's Land Use Hearing to voice their opinions.
Covell said the move to dump the volunteer board for a paid hearing officer smacks of politics, and that bodes badly for the citizens because it could inject bias into the decision-making process. If county commissioners are paying that person's salary, there would be a negative perception, she said.
Covell also said it makes no sense to pay a hearing officer when the county is going through budget problems.
"I don't see what the advantage would be to a hearing officer than a volunteer board," said P&Z Commissioner Lisa Hammond.
P&Z Commissioner Anthony Palmieri said the decision is not his or the board's to make and hesitated bringing it up during Monday's meeting.
"I don't think it was appropriate for us to do anything today because it's not really on the agenda," he said.
In May, County Commissioner Diane Rowden got board consensus to look into potential ways to improve or streamline the planning and zoning process.
At the time, Rowden said the controversy over a proposed RV resort near Hernando Beach "brought the issue to the front burner."
At the April 14 P&Z meeting, a dozen or so residents showed up to protest the proposed RV beach resort in Hernando Beach, fearing it would destroy animal habitat, interfere with hurricane evacuations, cause traffic congestion and disturb their rural tranquility.
Planning and zoning commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the rezoning of 24 acres on the northwest corner of Osowaw and Shoal Line boulevards for a 100-space RV park, resort and general store.
But the issue never made it to the county commissioners' Land Use Hearing because the developer withdrew the request.
The issue didn't die. Rowden questioned why planning staffers recommended approval of the controversial RV resort in the first place.
"It's grandstanding on her part," Covell said of Rowden. "She ran the last two times on the (platform) of absolutely no growth in this county. "So this is an effort to jump-start her campaign."
Currently, Hernando County uses an appointed P&Z board to review zoning and code amendments, special exception uses and conditional uses.
The members are appointed by the county commissioners for four-year terms.
The Land Use Hearing is at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in downtown Brooksville.