Polk Growth Cap Amendment Draws Fire

LAKELAND | Local environmentalists' plans to persuade Polk County voters to cap residential growth drew fire Thursday night from developers and farmers in the first public forum on the proposal.

The proposal, called the Growth Cap Amendment, would cap residential development at what was allowed on county and city growth maps at the time the proposed amendment to the county charter is approved by voters.

Proponents see it as the only method to keep urban sprawl from devouring more of Polk's countryside.

But at Thursday night's forum sponsored by Polk Vision at PCC/USF's Lakeland campus, people questioned the logic, wisdom and the consequences of the proposal.

"There's no way to look into the future and draw a line," said Art Erickson, president of Florida Lifestyle Communities.

Erickson, Merle Bishop, former county growth management director now employed as a planner for a development consultant, and Larry Black, a citrus grower and vice president of the Polk County Farm Bureau, were on a four-member panel with Winter Haven environmental consultant John Ryan, one of the amendment's backers.

Bishop said the amendment will accomplish the opposite of what's intended, arguing alternately that it would either freeze bad land-use zoning in place and prevent innovation or encourage cities to expand their growth boundaries deep into rural areas in anticipation of the amendment's approval, causing even more sprawl.

Black said he's worried it would harm farmers, whose land the amendment is billed as trying to protect, by diminishing their property values.

Ryan disputed the criticisms, arguing under the current system there is no way to look at the cumulative impact of city and county land-use decisions comprehensively.

This amendment provides that tool, he said.

"If there were a productive alternative, we wouldn't be here now," Ryan said.

During the audience comments after the four panelists' presentation, other issues emerged.

One recurring issue was whether voters are smart enough to vote intelligently on something as complicated as the outline for the future growth of Polk County.

Ryan said there are provisions at all levels of government in the United States for citizen initiatives, which he described as the only way to get things done that elected officials refuse to do.

The Polk County Growth Cap Coalition launched a petition drive in mid-March to get the measure on the November ballot after the County Commission refused to place the measure on the ballot. Supporters need to gather an estimated 22,000 signatures of registered Polk voters by Sept. 1 to make the ballot.

For more information on the amendment, go to www.growthcapcoalition.com.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. ]