by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City Council voted 16-2 to support Mayor John Peyton’s recent decision to veto two pieces of legislation Monday in what proved to be an equal parts special meeting and airing of grievances.
Related to future land use in Baymeadows and on the Northside, Peyton said the bills would negatively affect traffic and future developments in those respective areas.
He informed the Council of his decision via press release last week. Confusion and bruised egos were left in the wake.
Absent at the special meeting, Peyton sent Policy Chief Adam Hollingsworth to defend his actions to the agitated Council.
For over an hour Hollingsworth attempted to do just that while carefully placating personalities, responding to a steady line of questioning and, above all, apologizing for failing to alert the Council of Peyton’s plans ahead of time.
“It is clear that we did not do a good a job of communicating as we could have,” Hollingsworth said. “For that we apologize.”
However, Hollingsworth repeatedly maintained that, in killing the bills, Peyton was simply doing what was in the city’s best interest.
Council members Sharon Copeland, Suzanne Jenkins and Lake Ray were among the most vocal at the meeting. Each expressed dissatisfaction over Peyton’s lack of Council consideration, but were more concerned with how the Mayor arrived at that conclusion.
In regards to both pieces of legislation, Copeland said that Peyton’s appointed staff, including the Planning Department, had already favorably reviewed them. Additionally, in the case of the proposed Baymeadows residential development, she said she and others on the Council had been led to believe that a lawsuit could develop if that Fair Share Assessment was not approved.
“We thought we were following the law,” Copeland said. “We thought we were going through the process that had been set up for us, no matter how flawed it might be. To have the Mayor come back with something totally different gives me serious concern. We rely, and have always relied, on the informed and accurate opinion of the departments that work for him.”
Hollingsworth said the City’s legal opinion left room for interpreting the controversial assessment that would allow developer D.R. Horton to build 1,200 residential units near the notoriously crowded road.
When Council president Elaine Brown called for a vote, all but two on the Council who were present supported Peyton’s Fair Share veto.
Peyton’s veto of the resolution that would have sent a land use amendment application to the Florida Department of Community Affairs was also supported. Up for review was a change from Light Industrial land use designation off of Heckscher Drive to one of Low Density Residential. If granted, eventually 965 new homes would be developed on the 376-acre parcel.