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Planning Process Losing Participants

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By TOM BRENNAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 16, 2008

BRANDON - The number of people drafting the Brandon Community Plan would barely make a household.

Attendance at the monthly steering committee meetings has dropped so precipitously that county staff members now outnumber residents.

The drop-off alarms planners and the few remaining committee members.

"Decisions are being made that will have long-term affects on this community, and only a handful is making those decisions," member George May said.

County officials created the community planning process to give residents and business owners some control over future development. Such plans have been adopted in Riverview, Apollo Beach, Ruskin and other communities around Hillsborough County.

Since August, when the Brandon community planning process started, 95 people have attended at least one meeting. The largest group was 33. By June, the number of committee members had shrunk to eight.

Some blame county planners.

"From the get-go, they weren't able to organize a meeting," said Richard Bennett, who stopped attending meetings in November. "People got very frustrated very quickly because nothing was happening."

Others point to a select number of people repeatedly overtaking discussions.

"The same people voiced their same complaints time and again, never offering solutions and apparently not even willing to listen to possible solutions voiced by others," said Victoria Moore Tennero, who last attended in December.

Those overseeing the process are apprehensive about seeing all the empty chairs.

"We are conscious that there are fewer people providing guidance and input, and very concerned," said Joe Incorvia, the county's community planning chief. "We are absolutely concerned."

Jim Hosler, a former executive planner with the Hillsborough Planning Commission and now a private consultant, said attendance is typically tied to dissatisfaction.

"Usually, it is the people with an ax to grind that show up, unless there are issues that have a broader appeal," he said.

For example, the largest attendance was at a meeting in January about transportation and traffic - topics near and dear to Brandon residents.

Hosler surmised many people in Brandon may think there is little left to plan.

"Brandon is already built," he said. "There isn't a crisis to take care off."

Hosler said a general distrust of government could be discouraging residents.

"There is a lot of cynicism that government won't implement what people want them to do," he said. But he said the steady decline in attendance is contrary to his experience, including the shepherding of the Ruskin Community Plan.

"Usually attendance builds over time," he said.

Vivian Bacca is the only Brandon steering committee member with perfect attendance. She said she has tried recruiting new members, but it is a tough sell.

"At the beginning, people are really charged up," she said. "But a lot of those seem to get frustrated. And now that we are entering the real meat of the process, they have lost interest."

Terry Hicks said she stopped attending meetings because she couldn't keep track of when and where they were taking place.

"I went one time and no one was there," she said. "They should have a better way to keep everyone notified."

Incorvia said residents on the county's e-mail address list missed some meeting notices because a glitch in e-mail system dumped them into people's junk mailboxes.

"We got together with our IT department to see what we have to do so we're not identified as a spammer," he said.

Incorvia also said a switch in meeting places from the Westminster Presbyterian Church on Lumsden Road to the new Brandon Regional Service Center at 311 Pauls Drive may have caused some confusion. People also may have been thrown off by meeting date changes caused by holidays or other conflicts.

Incorvia said if attendance doesn't pick up, planners will start posting the familiar yellow meeting announcement signs on local roadsides.

He defended not limiting speakers' to specific times and topics to move meetings along.

"People have to have the opportunity to vent their concerns, and we are there to listen to them," he said.

But some committee members said that enough quickly becomes enough.

"People go off on tangents, and the county staff lets them," May said.

Some members also rebelled over continuous boundary disputes with people drafting community plans in neighboring communities.

"Instead of having civil war battles over where to draw boundary lines, we should all be working together," Bennett said. "There is a greater Brandon. What they do in these other communities is going to be a major impact to Brandon."

Bacca said it is tougher planning a community with few tracts of undeveloped land left than starting with a blank slate.

"It's tricky," she said, noting the county has a long-range comprehensive plan. "So it is not like going from ground zero," she said. "You have a system in place, but you have to tweak it."

Bacca is still optimistic.

"Anyone can come and express how they want their community to work," she said. "A community plan is an opportunity to protect the character of your neighborhood."

LOOKING FORWARD

These are proposed goals for the Brandon Community Plan as written by the plan's steering committee:

1. Through thoughtful planning and forward-thinking development practices, re-establish Brandon's historical and hospitable character to enhance its sense of community.

2. Preserve Brandon's small-town qualities by promoting and enhancing the sense of place and community.

3. Enhance Brandon's natural environment by identifying, acquiring and preserving existing natural resources and environmentally sensitive areas.

4. Revitalize Brandon's older infrastructure and ensure that concurrency requirements are met on new development.

5. Recreational assets need to be provided to support our family-friendly community.

6. Establish a balanced transportation system by prioritizing options to serve local and regional needs and facilitating modal choices.

7. Advance Brandon's economic competitiveness in the region through a diversified economy and broader employment base.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Monthly meeting of the Brandon Community Plan steering committee

WHEN: 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 28

WHERE: Brandon Regional Service Center, 311 Pauls Drive

CONTACT: William Lamboy at (813) 276-8337 or go to www.hccommunityplanning .com/brandoncommunity

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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