Development Involvement

The Commission has made a concerted effort to notify neighborhood associations. The City sends out notice within the required area. In-person forums are held to provide people the opportunity to give input so that they can come to commission meetings and give comments on the website. The City makes sure neighborhoods are notified well in advance of a project. The current commission is certainly committed to having set the standard that all citizens have an opportunity to have input.

It’s a mixed bag. Residents are getting notices and those notices come rather early in the development process. The real problem is that the notices don’t explain what actually will happen. For example, many residents of Killearn got a notice about the Canopy development in Welaunee, but it did not include that there will be a main road in Killearn that would connect to Canopy. The communication value of notices needs to be better, more direct, from the City to residents. What’s being done now isn’t working. Put the notices in real English and give a very clear description of the project and its impacts, especially the infrastructure impacts.

I am not able to comment on this. Neighborhoods do receive notice and they have an opportunity to comment. I served on the Homeowners Association Board two times. We received notices of proposed development and shared that with residents. We also used our Facebook page.

I don’t know if there is a problem in all cases of notification. I think the County really dropped the ball on Welaunee. I am perplexed why they would circumvent the public hearing process. I am not naïve, I understand that the property owner has interests too, but I am 1,000 percent for transparency.

Yes – the legal requirements and extensions to these requirements are fine. Notices are defined by the ordinances but could be better. Sometimes people say they don’t get notices, but I feel that current notifications are adequate.

I feel emphatically that there is not enough citizen input and give an immediate “No!” to the question. The Leon County community processes are flawed. Notifications like letters, emails, etc., are sent out but not in a way that is calculated to gain real attention. Citizens are busy living their lives and the county pays little attention in trying to engage with the citizens. Elected officials do not do a good enough job engaging with the citizens that they serve. For example, the recent Welaunee development where the Commission did not allow in-person participation and refused to delay the hearings. I also have a major issue with the thousand-foot notification process, which I feel is too small of a notification area. The solution is engagement.
I will make a point to attend meetings of HOAs, neighborhood groups, etc. I plan to be way ahead of the events taking place, not just a few weeks beforehand. I will engage the community and make it a meaningful dialogue. Developers currently get their way and citizens are dismissed or belittled.