Broward County Planning Council Meeting - January 23, 2025
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Broward County Planning Council Steering Committee and Regular Meeting - January 23, 2025
The meeting began with a steering committee session focused on transportation technology and Broward Next updates, followed by the regular planning council meeting which included oath of office for a new member, election of officers, consent agenda approval, a discussion on redevelopment units, staff reports, and action on public hearing items.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was approved unanimously as amended, noting that Ms. Fernandez was absent and Mr. Rosinoff participated via Zoom.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No oral public comments were made during the meeting. The executive director reported on written comments received via constant contact and from interested parties, including a concern about densification forcing residents to live only where they can afford along corridors, and a comment advocating for adoption of multimodal level of service standards and prioritization of transit operations.
Discussion Items
- Transportation Technology Discussion (Steering Committee): The executive director presented an update on constant contact outreach (1,350 subscribers). The transportation framework includes updating multimodal level of service, complete streets, trails, the 30-year surtax plan, and technology policies. Two main comments were received: one from the SurTax Oversight Board about equity concerns regarding densification, and another from an interested party urging adoption of multimodal standards. Mayor Levy disagreed with the equity characterization, calling it a universal fact of life. School Board Member Zeman argued that historical inequities must be considered and highlighted the rapid pace of technology (data centers, autonomous vehicles) as crucial for land use planning. Mayor Castile criticized the slow pace of surtax project completion, advocating for borrowing to accelerate work. Mayor Gomez stressed the need for regional coordination and generational outreach.
- Affordable Housing and Resiliency Update: Staff reported a productive meeting with county climate officers and noted comments about food distribution. The plan's zoning limitations were recognized. The roadmap indicates a draft expected in March, with a potential June public hearing.
- Redevelopment Units (Item R1): Commissioner Fisher moved to initiate an amendment to the administrative rules for redevelopment units, potentially requiring affordable housing for all units (currently 500 units without requirement, 750 with 10% very low/low income). Discussion included workforce housing for seniors and young workers. The motion passed unanimously, with staff to bring proposals to the executive committee and planning council in March, aiming for county commission action in May.
- Election of Officers: The current slate of officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary) was retained unanimously. The executive committee members were also retained.
- Reports: The council report outlined upcoming legislative summaries on zoning issues. The executive director reported on the Monarch Hill landfill hearing (scheduled for January 28) and the Solid Waste Authority’s request for deferral until a master plan is completed. Meeting schedule adjustments were noted.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous retention of current officers and executive committee.
- Unanimous approval of consent agenda.
- Unanimous approval to initiate an amendment to the administrative rules regarding redevelopment units, with staff directed to bring proposals in March.
- Unanimous motion to move public hearing items PH1, PH2, and PH3.
- Solid Waste Authority executive committee voted to request deferral of Monarch Hill LUPA items until the master plan is completed; draft master plan expected end of January/early February, with workshops through April.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. If you're online, the meeting is beginning a few minutes late because we do not yet have a quorum. We should have a quorum by nine fifteen to nine seventeen. We will be starting promptly when the quorum arrives. I found who's out of my found out of the station. We are delayed in starting the meeting until about nine fifteen. And we will be starting shortly. As long as you're making a box on her. Not with the sides, not with the huge number of lots for kids that all on the stay up and the teachers stay after another. All right, everybody, I'm gonna I'm gonna call this meeting order. Um we are here to talk about transportation technology discussion. We're gonna start with that. This is our steering committee, which is also our executive committee. Madam Executive Director, you have the floor. Good morning, thank you. Um apologize to everyone online for the delay in starting the meeting this morning. Uh for today's agenda, I've added one non-agenda item at the beginning, just a constant contact and public outreach update before we get into the content of policy. So we'll jump right in. So I just want to give you, I know everybody's on the constant contact list, but I just want to give you uh another refresher of what the emails are looking like that go uh going out to our list on a regular basis. So, first you see this is the a reminder about today's policy discussion about transportation. So that's excuse me, Barbara if I may interrupt you. Could you put this on our screen, please? Is there is there ability to put this on our screen? Can I put it on the screen? No, can they today is there anybody back there? Can anyone hear me in the back? Can you put that on the uh member screens? Just so we turn around that way and looking. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, so um every email is formatted very similarly. Um, maybe it's a meeting announcement. I know you got a happy Thanksgiving, happy new year, happy holidays kind of thing. But also what's important is the content of what's in here. Visit our website, Broward Next to find all the meeting materials and information. That's on every email. Uh one at public comments, we're always taking public comments. Um there that's always available. So this we have a deadline of January 31st, which isn't a hard deadline, but it's just so that we can, whatever draft we bring to you in March, we can include some of that information and material um with that because we need to have a deadline, but comments are always accepted, no matter the date, and will always be considered and presented to you as such. Then the final part of the email is checking out the um the video that I sent out to you, uh, which is just the Boward Next kind of promotional video, less than five minutes that you can share with homeowners' associations, your elected officials, um, whatever groups of interest you may have, and that planning council staff is available for presentations uh to reach out to us and we'll and we'll set up a meeting. So I just wanted to show that format. We have about 1350 people on the email list. Um, we're having we have more ads than uh than removals um happening, so that's a positive thing. And I will say that we've been a little slow this go-round on uh invitations uh for public uh for public um input, you know, to go to meetings. So if anyone we make this announcement and reminder, that's why we put in every email that we're always available. Well, you haven't been slow, there's been responses been slow getting back to you. The invitations have been slow, but we're available and we're happy uh to come to our whatever meeting you meet. I want to I want to take just a second and say I've gotten so many compliments on how great the website is, how great that you all have been doing with the outreach.
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