Phosphate Update - On November 20 the Board of County Commissioners approved a tentative compact regarding phosphate mining.  The agreement, between Charlotte, Sarasota, and Lee Counties, Peace River Water Authority, and Mosaic (one of the world's leading producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate) establishes safeguards for protecting water quality and environmental impacts, and limits future litigation.  The agreement must be approved by all parties.  On November 27 the Sarasota County Commission voted to reject the compact.  Lee County Commissioners are scheduled to address the issue in December.  A full report on the phosphate compact is available on-line.

Impact fees - The Commissioners voted to reduce commercial impact fee rates by rolling them back to 1998 levels. The Commissioners had previously reduced residential impact fees to the same levels.  Both actions were taken to aid the local building industry and it is hoped the reduction will stimulate both residential and commercial construction.

Site Selection Made Easy for New Businesses - Charlotte County Economic Development Office (EDO) received the 2007 IT Florida Excellence in New Business Recruitment Award for its innovative, GIS-based e-tool which is designed to facilitate the site selection process for new and expanding businesses. As part of the EDO’s overall mission of recruiting high impact industry to the county, and in response to an increasingly competitive field of economic development marketing, Charlotte County EDO, with support from Enterprise Charlotte Foundation, made the task of site selection more efficient and effective for industry site selectors and other professionals tasked with identifying suitable sites for business relocation and expansion.  This goal was accomplished by providing an easy-to-use yet powerful web application capable of sorting through massive amounts of information on more than 215, 000 parcels in Charlotte County using various parameters, and accessing all available public databases in the County including the Property Appraiser’s office, Charlotte County GIS and EDO’s commercial Property Listing.  Charlotte County’s visibility has increased dramatically since this e-tool became available in May 2007. To check out this new feature visit www.PureEconomics.org and click on the Charlotte County properties link.

County Begins Weekly Radio Show - Want to know more about County operations?  Want an opportunity to speak directly with Commissioners, administrators and County staff?  Here's your chance! This Is Charlotte County airs each Monday, 11:05 a.m. on WCCF 1580AM. Weekly guests will discuss a wide range of topics relating to the programs and services provided by County government, as well as take calls from listeners.  Can't listen to the radio on Mondays?  All shows are available for on-demand listening on the County website. 

Public Hearings - The Commissioners are soliciting public input on proposed ordinances governing mining and excavation.  The ordinances would create a new zoning district and a new zoning classification for excavation and mining.  The intent is to permit the Commissioners more flexibility in approving locations for mining operations and to ensure that these activities do not conflict with neighboring land uses. The second series of public hearings will be held on December 11, 2:00 p.m.

Departments Reorganize - At this time of reduced revenues, the County is carefully reviewing levels of service.  In looking at ways to create efficiencies, we have reorganized two departments. Building Construction Services (BCS) included the functions of building-plans examining, contractor licensing, building and building-related inspections, building-code compliance, and related support. The Community Development Department incorporated the functions of Development Review, Land Information, Land Development, Zoning, Planning Services and non-building Code Compliance within its span.  In more recent years, the BCS demands have exponentially decreased to levels not previously anticipated.  At the same time, increased focus must be given to the County’s Comprehensive Growth Management Plan and to concurrency management.  As a result, the Code Compliance division has been combined under BCS.  The Land Development section, including inspectors and plans examiners, has also relocated to BCS. The reorganization included the elimination of several positions at a net savings $180,000 per year.  The Community Development Department has been renamed Growth Management Department, more in keeping with its current mission.  Jeffrey Ruggieri has been named as the new Director.

Social Services has closed the part-time satellite office at the Community Career and Services Center (One Stop) and moved it to the Family Services Center (FSC) on Gibraltar Drive in Port Charlotte.  The move will save approximately $8,500 each year in rent and will give the Human Services Department a more coordinated service delivery among the non-profit agencies located at the FSC.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

MEETINGS

Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners holds its regular meeting at 9:00 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.  Land use issues are addressed on the third Tuesday and Commissioner's Roundtable is held on the first Tuesday of each month. These meetings are held at the Murdock Administrative Complex, 18500 Murdock Circle, Port Charlotte, Room #119.

To view the agenda for the Board meetings click here: Commission Agenda.  The meetings can also be viewed live on CCTV-20, (Comcast Channel 20) or can be viewed via live stream on our website - Streaming Video. 

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A variety of government meetings are archived for on-demand viewing. Check out our inventory here: On Demand Video.

Charlotte County has dozens of official meetings and activities each month.  For an itemized listing click here: Meeting Calendars

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