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All of which sends a clear message. The County intends to make it difficult for residents to have any meaningful input into land use decisions. Given this obvious disdain for citizen participation, I will be brief. I am astounded at the cavalier approach to the major change in the land use designation represented by this proposed development. In the County's General Plan, medical related uses were designated for the undeveloped portions of the large tract of land bounded by Indian River Boulevard to the east, U.S. Highway 1 to the west, 37th Street to the south and 41st Street to the north. Given the location of the regional hospital on 37th Street, this designation makes a lot of sense and was obviously intended to meet local needs over a long period of time, certainly several decades, and perhaps longer. Accordingly, one would expect significant reasons to be presented to justify changing the land use designation to residential for what appears to be the largest single parcel within this tract of land. Yet no such significant reasons are referenced in your staff report. Rather, it is stated that recent medical related uses have occurred on the south side of 37th Street, and that this land has remained undeveloped. This represents nothing more than market forces at work. It is obvious that vacant land closer to the hospital will be developed before this land. This was known and obvious when the General Plan was adopted. As more people move to the area, and as the population continues to age, it is equally obvious that the need for medical related uses will not diminish with the passage of time, but will increase. It is not just that no significant reasons have been presented for this zoning change, it is that. no reasons whatsoever have been presented. Only the land owner will benefit from this rezoning. One does not have to be a real estate expert to realize that land in this area zoned for housing will sell faster, and for a higher price, than land zoned for anything else. Absent this rezoning, the Virginia W. Russell Family Limited Partnership and Segment Markets 85, Inc. would have to wait for the free market to function as intended. Eventually, their land would be sold for medical related uses, and they would receive less money. This is exactly how the free market is supposed to work. Instead, the landowner seeks government intervention in the form of a rezoning to give them an immediate financial windfall. My questions are simple. Why is the County complicit in this process? Why does the County propose a rezoning that will provide no benefit the County's residents, and most likely result in a future detriment? Why does the County seek to provide a significant financial benefit (most likely several million dollars) to a private land owner? While your staff report is virtually incomprehensible in places, it is clear in its intent to use a great deal of boilerplate and planning jargon to create the impression that this rezoning offers public benefits. Close examination, however, reveals no public benefits that are not standard requirements for any new development of any kind whatsoever. Having the developer contribute the land (at no cost) for a public right-of-way for any public streets is standard operating procedure. So, too, is requiring that the developer pay for sidewalks, street lighting, a storm drainage system and a landscaping buffer. Accordingly, all such infrastructure costs would be paid by the developer of medical related uses in the future and represent nothing more than standard benefits that result from standard requirements. The comment that the rezoning will provide housing for the nearby medical workers is laughable. One of the primary benefits of the area is the proximity of all levels of housing within a short drive of the hospital. This is not an urban area where local workers must commute for an hour or more to find suitable housing. In summary, this rezoning makes no sense whatsoever. It offers no benefitsto the local community. It contravenes the General Plan. It removes land for medical -related uses that will most assuredly be 2 62,,43-