Housing Proposal Will Get Review

By Tom Palmer
THE LEDGER

BARTOW | County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to send a growth plan amendment governing farmworker housing to state planners for review.

Commissioners are scheduled on March 16 to discuss specific development regulations that are proposed to implement the amendment in a joint meeting with the Polk County Planning Commission and the Farmworker Housing Task Force.

Formal adoption of the growth plan amendment is scheduled for June 17.

The plan amendment caps a year of discussions that arose out of a proposal for a farmworker housing complex in the Lake Buffum area near Fort Meade.

Commissioners turned down the request as a result of strong opposition from nearby homeowners, but quickly agreed to set up a task force composed of various interest groups to devise a way to locate farmworker housing that is compatible with surrounding development.

Planner Erik Peterson said the amendment would allow farmworker housing in industrial and phosphate areas as well as agricultural areas where it is now allowed.

The proposed plan change did not draw any opposition. Heather Nedley, executive director of the Polk County Farm Bureau, said she thinks the debate will occur at the March 16 meeting. That debate will involve whether to allow farmworker housing complexes to be developed without a public hearing if the plan includes apartment-style housing rather than the barracks style, she said.