|
Rural/Small Cities: Evaluation and Appraisal Reports (E.A.R’s) The Central
Florida Regional Planning Council (CFRPC) has secured technical assistance
funding from the State of Florida Department of Community Affairs under the
Rural Communities Initiatives to assist several rural/small cities, towns and villages
within DeSoto, Hardee and Polk Counties
in developing an Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). In accordance with
Florida Statues Chapter 163, each municipality is required to periodically
update its comprehensive plan through the preparation and adoption of an EAR. What is an Evaluation & Appraisal Report? Under state law,
a local government must evaluate its Comprehensive Plan every seven years. The
purpose of the EAR Process is to: 1)
create a composite set of critical issues regarding growth management that a
local government will evaluate during an update and amendment to its
comprehensive plan; 2) identify alternatives that the local government will
evaluate with regard to each of those issues; and 3) evaluate the effectiveness
of the local government’s current adopted Comprehensive Plan in achieving
the City's established goals, objectives and policies. How can Residents be Involved? Evaluation and
Appraisal Reports focus on the major planning issues within a community. The public is encouraged to participate in
the EAR Public Workshops and EAR Discussion meetings to identify the major
issues they feel should be addressed in the EAR Report. The CFRPC staff will
hold an EAR Public Workshop or an EAR Public Work Session for each municipality
to determine the major growth related issues.
We encourage residents in each area to participate in the EAR process by
attending the meetings and or by completing the Major Issues Survey. The
schedule and location for these workshops for each municipality is provided
below as well as the major issues survey, or the summary of major issues that
were identified. Letters of
Understanding (LOU) Each local
government must prepare a list of major issues and ask the Department of
Community Affiars (DCA) to concur that these are the issues on which the EAR
should focus. The CFRPC will prepare a “Letter of Understanding” for each
municipality that will acknowledge the list of major issues that were
identified at the EAR Public workshops and agreed upon by the local government
administration of each municipality. Entering into a
"Letter of Understanding" between the DCA and the local government
will help avoid misunderstandings during the review of the Adopted EAR. As each
LOU is issued, the letters will be posted under each local government heading
below.
Hardee County
Rural/Small Cities EARs Polk County
Rural/Small Cities EARs View a flow chart summarizing the major steps in preparing and adopting the E.A.R. For more information about the EAR process please visit the Department of Community Affairs Website at http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/dcp/EAR/index.cfm |