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address these deficiencies. Fruth identified tools that communities can use to improve their economies. Those tools include: a positive, "business -friendly" community attitude, good labor force, expedited permitting, and adequate public infrastructure. Subsequent to Fruth's initial presentation, a workshop for local government and private sector leaders was held to discuss the results of the study. One recommendation that came out of the workshop was to establish an Economic Development Public/Private Task Force to review the permitting process with the objective of expediting local, state and regional permitting for new manufacturing companies. On July 10, 2001, the Board of County Commissioners established the Economic Development Public/Private Task Force to review the permitting process and to identify ways to improve that process. That Task Force has formed and has convened three times. At its July 31, 2001 meeting, the Economic Development Public/Private Task Force discussed the development plan approval and permitting process. One issue which arose at that meeting was turnaround times for permits at the state, regional and local levels. Consequently, the Economic Development Public/Private Task Force decided to review the County's development plan approval and permitting process at its next meeting. At the August 16, 2001 meeting of the Economic Development Public/Private Task Force, staff presented a report on the County's site plan review and approval process. That process applies to construction of new industrial development projects as well as expansion of existing industrial facilities. At the meeting, the task force asked staff to compile information on staff -only approval thresholds for other jurisdictions in Florida and to draft an amendment to the County's Land Development Regulations (LDRs) to raise the threshold for staff -only approvals from 10,000 square feet of new impervious surface to an 80,000 square foot threshold for non-residential projects. At the September 5, 2001 meeting of the Economic Development Public/Private Task Force, staff presented a draft LDR Amendment to increase the staff -level approval threshold from 10,000 square feet of new impervious surface area to 80,000 square feet of new impervious surface area. At that meeting, Task Force members indicated that their original recommendation of 80,000 square feet referred to building area and not impervious surface area. Once that point was clarified, the Task Force recommended a higher threshold for staff level approval, and staff has prepared a revised proposed LDR amendment that raises the threshold for staff -level approval to 150,000 square feet of new impervious surface for non-residential permitted use projects. That proposed LDR amendment is attached to this report. PSAC and PZC Actions At its September 27, 2001 meeting, the Professional Services Advisory Committee (PSAC) considered and supported the proposed amendment with an additional and related LDR change. That additional change involves establishing a specific timeframe for staff decisions on site plans (see attachment #3). Staff supports this additional change, and that change has been incorporated into the proposed amendment (see attachment #1). At its September 27, 2001 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) considered and supported the proposed amendment on a 4-2 vote (see attachment #4). One of the two dissenting votes was due to that Commissioner's desire to have all permitted uses (no threshold limit) approved at a staff -level. At the September 27, 2001 PZC meeting, staff informed the PZC of the addition supported by the PSAC and staff. OCTOBER 23, 2001 -57- pit