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1992-01-29 Leonard to Melita January 29, 1992 M. Dale Milita, County Manager Board of County Commissioners Okeechobee County 304 NW 2nd Street, Room 106 Okeechobee. Florida 34972 Dear Dale: I am pleased that Bill Miller is assisting you and the County Commission in assembling your materials for submission to DCA. I know he is familiar with the contents of the Plan and will be able to assimilate the changes quickly. I want to encourage you and Bill to meet with me to be sure there is a smooth transfer of information at this critical time leading up to adoption of the Plan. When you ask if the Comprehensive Plan, that is the Goals, Objectives and Policies, is "in completed form for adoption and submitting to DCA," I would respond that it is, if the contents of the Plan are what the Commissioners understand them to be. In other words, I believe that they should review the document in a workshop setting and receive explanations of the goals, objectives and policies they have questions about. I think that Bill Miller is certainly qualified to give the explanations, but I will be happy to attend one or more workshops to give them the benefit of my experience in negotiations with DCA. The response to the ORC Report is another matter. The response to the Capital Improvements Element is not complete, particularly in regard to the objections and comments from DCA on the data and analysis. They are requesting the update of financial information that I do not have. I believe that Bill Miller can work directly with you and your staff to supply the information more efficiently than I can. In addition, DCA has some concerns about two of the maps of environmental resources, particularly flood plains and wetlands. I do not know the history of these maps, but I can assure you that we do not have maps or the information from SFWMD to prepare the maps in the detail that is required. I am prepared to undertake this activity, if the information can be supplied in a usable form. The answer to your question as to further work is, "Yes, I believe there is more to do before the Plan is ready for ... submitting to DCA." To this end, I have attached a detailed list of Dale Milita January 29, 1992 Page Two the activities that require attention, and an original of the response to the ORC comments on the Capital Improvements Element. There are four objections to the data and one to the analysis, all of which basically require current information. From this list, I believe that you can make informed decisions about how to assign the activities for efficient completion. With your assistance and the input of the County Commission, I am prepared to complete all of the activities on the list, or to work with you and Bill Miller in any way you may direct. Concerning the conveyance of all of the written material on disk, I will be happy to do that at any time. I must admit, Dale, that I am curious about the tone of your letter. Were Ito simply answer yes to your question and the document were not complete in every way, what would happen? If it were complete, what then, would the contract between Okeechobee County and the Council be determined to be fulfilled? I hope you can see that there are some minor things left to do to prepare everything for submission. I expect to fulfill the contract. I await your direction. Sincerely, R. Douglas Leonard, AICP Executive Director • The following portions of the ORC report from the Department of Community Affairs need to revision: Future Land Use 1. Page 7 of the ORC, Objection 4. Historic sites are now listed in a tabular format, but are not depicted on the Existing Land Use Map since their location is unknown. 2. Page 8 of the ORC, Objection 6. Although Floodprone areas were depicted on a map in the Existing Land Use Map Series, DCA found them to be insufficient in their depiction of these areas. Flood maps from the SFWMD sent to Okeechobee County were never received by the CFRPC in order to create an accurate map depicting these areas. The time involved in creating this Map from FEMA Maps would be time consuming(estimated at 3-4 months in the making) to achieve the level of accuracy demanded by the DCA. It is suggested that Okeechobee County re-contact SFWMD and obtain another copy of this information. Indications are that even though the map from the SFWMD will not mimic the boundaries of the other maps already included in the Plan, the integrity of the GIS depiction of these areas will be sufficient. 3. Page 8 of the ORC, Objection 7. Although Wetland areas were depicted on a map in the Existing Land Use Map Series, DCA found them to be insufficient in their depiction of these areas. Wetland maps from the SFWMD sent to Okeechobee County were never received by the CFRPC in order to create an accurate map depicting these areas. If a hatch �... pattern were included on the Wetlands Map that was included in the Existing Land Use Map Series, this objection could potentially be resolved. It is the CFRPC's recommendation that Okeechobee County re-contact SFWMD and obtain another copy of this information. Indications are that even though the map from the SFWMD will not mimic the boundaries of the other maps already included in the Plan, the integrity of the GIS depiction of these areas will be sufficient. Please advise. 4. Page 67-68 of the ORC, Objections 1-5. As my letter indicates, these Objections concern the updating of financial information, the accuracy of which will probably be better if supplied directly to Mr. Miller by the your staff. 5. Workshops for review of the Plan by the County Commission. These are certainly optional, but I believe that they provide a vehicle for Bill to communicate with the Commission and for everyone to get comfortable with the contents and the review process that will follow. I am assuming that you are going to involve Tony Arrant in the final preparation process in some way. I encourage it.