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• As publicly owned sites containing wetlands and native upland habitat, each of the subject properties meets those criteria. For those reasons, the request is consistent with Future Land Use Element Policies 1.5 and 1.6. As part of the staff analysis, all policies in the comprehensive plan were considered. Based upon that analysis, staffdetermined that the proposed land use designation amendment is consistent with the comprehensive plan. Potential Impact on Environmental Quality The sites' existing land use designations offer only limited environmental protections. Development of residentially zoned land would be required to preserve only 10 or 15 percent of the upland habitat of the sites Being exempt from the upland preservation requirement, agricultural development of agnculturally zoned land could result in the removal of all upland habitat on site. In contrast, under the proposed land use designation, the entire area of each Site will be preserved, and development will be limited to conservation and compatible passive recreational uses. Although the sites are publicly owned and could be developed as public parks under the existing land use designations, the proposed land use designation provides the sites with additional protection from development By prohibiting most types of development on the sites, the proposed request will ensure that the environmental quality of the sites will be preserved. For these reasons the proposed land use amendment is anticipated to positively impact the environmental quality of the subject properties. Rezoning Requirements As noted in the Description and Conditions section of this staff report, state law requires that the Board of County Commissioners hold two public hearings prior to approving county initiated rezonings of more than ten acres. Although normally applied to ensure public participation when the county initiates the rezoning of privately owned land, this requirement also applies to county initiated rezonings of publicly owned land. Because it meets the criteria set in state law, the portion of this request that would rezone the subject properties requires two public hearings. The November 14 2000 Board of County Commissioners meeting will meet state requirements for one of the public hearings The second public hearing then must be held at least 10 days after the first hearing. Additionally, state law requires that at least one of the public hearings be held after 5 00 p.m. on a weekday unless four commissioners vote to conduct that hearing at another time of day. In this case several factors indicate that holding the second rezoning public hearing at 9:00 a.m. at a regular Board of County Commissioners meeting would be sufficient to ensure public participation. Those factors include the following: • Although the state requirement for two public hearings is normally intended for rezonings of privately owned land, the subject properties in this case are publicly owned; and • The future use of these properties already have been discussed at numerous public hearings and public meetings, including Land Acquisition Advisory Committee meetings and other meetings regarding the subject land use amendment and rezoning requests. NOVEMBER 14, 2000 -43- BK 116PG055 1