Greater Palm River Area Community Plan
The Planning Commission, with assistance from the Hillsborough County Planning & Growth Management Department and Office of Neighborhood Relations worked with Greater Palm River Area residents, civic leaders, business owners, and organizational representatives in assessing current characteristics, future aspirations and methods of bringing about desired change.
The Community Plan became an official policy document on August 26, 2008 through a Vision statement and implementing Goals and Strategies into the County’s Comprehensive Plan. The Plan will be recognized in future development, redevelopment, economic, environmental and other decisions affecting the Greater Palm River Area. It does not create projects that must be funded by the County and does not circumvent the Board of County Commissioners’ budget process. It is to be implemented by citizens through a variety of public, private and public/private partnerships.
For further information contact Pedro Para at the Planning Commission, County Center 18th floor, P.O. Box 1110, Tampa, Florida 33601-1110; call (813) 273-3774 ext. 356; or by email at pparra@plancom.org.
Project Information
The Planning Team began work with stakeholders of the Greater Palm River Area in March 2006. Through their active participation, a Community Plan will be developed to reflect the community’s values, provide guidelines for local development and address quality of life issues in the Greater Palm River Area. Advisory Committee members are self-appointed citizens, who sign up through attendance sign-in sheets. They are a mixture of individual citizens, individuals representing respective organizations and individuals representing identified interest groups with interest and/or expertise in one or many of the various components under study in the Plan.
Role of the Advisory Committee:
Advisory Committee members collectively assist the planning team to formulate a plan that accomplishes the following:
Reflects a broad spectrum of community opinion and perspective
Reflects extensive community involvement during the preparation of the plan - not simply a response after the plan is complete
Represent - to the extent possible - a consensus among diverse community interests
Each committee member is expected to:
Actively participate in the process
Communicate with various organizations or interest groups to fully understand their issues and perspectives
Freely express their interests and perspectives during the process
Provide comment on and review choices among available alternatives
Advisory Committee Organization
Formal organization is not required nor recommended. The planning team, with committee consensus, will prepare agendas, conduct the meetings and prepare documentation of the Committee's activities.
Conduct of Meetings
Meetings and workshops are intended to be inclusive. A quorum is not required and participation is not limited to Committee members. Committee members may invite interested parties (e.g. family, friends, neighbors). All opinions offered in writing, email or otherwise documented in the process will be included in the public record and considered during the formulation and review of the Community Plan.
Decision Making
Formulation of the Community Plan progresses through a concurrence / non-concurrence approach. Each Committee member may - at their individual option - concur or not concur either in whole or in part. The planning process reflects a choice among available alternatives.
Committee members electing to not concur either in whole or in part are encouraged to document their rationale for non-concurrence and identify their preferred alternatives. Documentation should be provided subsequent to the next regularly scheduled meeting in the event the rationale rises to the level of an agenda item for the next meeting. The Greater Palm River Area planning initiative is committed to the formulation of a plan that has broad community input and consensus. While total agreement can never be expected, the decision making process cannot be considered complete without a high degree of concurrence on the Plan and its various aspects. The concurrence / non-concurrence technique is designed to quickly identify areas of disagreement and to facilitate their resolution.
Documentation of Proceedings
The Planning Team is responsible for the documentation of the proceedings of the Advisory Committee. All Advisory Committee meetings are recorded and meeting summaries will become part of a public record of the project.
Staff will also provide assistance to Advisory Committee members with the preparation or reproduction of information or opinions they may desire to be made part of the record.
Plan Status
The Greater Palm River Area Community Plan was officially adopted on the August 26, 2008 into the Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan.
Status: Adopted
(what does this mean?)Contact Information
- Name: Pedro Parra, Principal Planner
- Email: parrap@plancom.org
- Phone: (813) 273-3774
- Extension: 356
