POLK COUNTY (Florida) DEMOCRAT

March 18, 2008

Hardee County Denies Farmworker Housing Request

The Hardee County Commission has denied a site plan to build a 150-bed farmworker housing complex near Crewsville Road. However, the debate over migrant housing has only just begun in Hardee.

By TOM STAIK, Staff Writer

WAUCHULA — A controversial plan that would have placed a 150-bed farmworker community in the heart of the sleepy, close-knit communities of Sweetwater and Crewsville received a fatal blow last week.

The proposed development, which was spearheaded by Hardee businessman Joe Davis, Jr., of Davis Enterprises, met with massive public outcry when it was presented to the county’s Planning and Zoning Board last month.

The planning board was locked in a 4-4 impasse on the matter, which set the groundwork for Davis’ March 6 appeal before the county commission.

Thursday’s public hearing to determine the fate of the proposal to construct seven dorm-style housing units with a mobile home at its center, on a 40-acre orange grove on Crewsville Road, drew a large crowd of well-organized residents. Signs noting opposition to the project littered the entrance to the government center, and many Sweetwater and Crewsville residents donned red lettered T-shirts proclaiming “No Labor Camp.”

Citizens presented a myriad of complaints to commissioners concerning the threat posed to their way of life.

During an electronic presentation, Will Waters, a Crewsville Road resident, took aim at claims the project would be of primary financial benefit to Hardee County.

“Sixty-two percent of the Davis fruit farms is outside of Hardee County, with the bulk in Polk, Highlands, and Arcadia,” Waters said, noting he had gathered the information though public records. “You can’t tell me they aren’t going to be using men at the camp for their groves outside here.”

Davis did not dispute Waters’ figures, but noted he would provide Hardee officials with documentation showing at least 50 percent of the work done by residents of his proposed camp would occur in-county.

Countering public outcry at the hearing were a team of lawyers representing Davis, who explained in detail how in their opinion the proposed project conformed to all current regulations for the development of agricultural land.

However, at the end of the day, it was public opinion that prevailed, with a vote to deny the site plan.

“The public’s will was what decided the case,” Commission Chairman Dale A. Johnson said.

Though on the ropes, the issue of farm working housing — and even Davis’ project — may not be down for the count just yet.

Commissioners are set to discuss their land development regulations during a planning session March 14, and Johnson says he expects farmworker housing to be a major topic of those discussions.

“Farmworker housing is not only approved, but encouraged, by our code,” Johnson said. “I guess the courts are going to have to decide.”

In January Polk County commissioners unanimously rejected a plan that would have allowed Tri-Ben Groves to build dormitory-style housing for 132 male migrant workers in the Lake Buffum community

The project called for a 55-acre, three-unit, 5,000 square-foot housing facility for agricultural laborers. Showers, shared kitchen facilities, and recreational facilities also were included in the plan.

Neighbors stridently opposed the facility, and the Polk Planning Commission denied the request 3-2.