Planning boss may have violated Sunshine Law

The new chairman of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission recently tried to communicate his goals for the coming year to fellow commissioners in an e-mail, an apparent violation of Florida Sunshine laws.

Edward Giunta II sent the e-mail Nov. 10 to the planning commission's executive director, Bob Hunter, and asked Hunter to forward it to the other 12 commissioners. The e-mail included several things Giunta wants to accomplish in the coming year, including eliminating the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the state's growth management agency.

Hunter balked at forwarding the e-mail, saying it would violate open meeting laws. Giunta wanted a second opinion, so he called the commission's attorney, Tracy Robin, who confirmed Hunter's opinion.

"It was clearly a mistake on my part," said Giunta, a real estate broker and developer elected chairman Nov. 8 after three years on the commission. "I thought if I sent something directly to Mr. Hunter to distribute, that made things OK. But when I included my three goals, that's where the problem came in."

The e-mail came to light through a public records request by Terry Flott, chairwoman of the grass-roots group United Citizens Action Network. Flott said she was more concerned about Giunta's opinions about the Department of Community Affairs and planning in general than the possible sunshine violation.

"He's out to destroy planning," she said.

Giunta said the DCA costs counties time and money by reviewing every change to local comprehensive plans. Developers have long complained that the DCA stalls growth, but several efforts by legislators over the years to kill the agency have failed.

This year, however, Gov.-elect Rick Scott complained about the agency on the campaign trail, saying it "impacted people who want to build things" and is "killing jobs."

Giunta said in his e-mail that he also wants to take community-based plans out of the county's comprehensive plan and let the county's Planning and Growth Management Department administer them. Hillsborough has 23 such plans, developed through meetings with residents in the planning area. The plans include goals for guiding growth, as well as design and architectural guidelines.

But Giunta said only five or six activists show up at meetings with planning commission staff to develop the plans, a process that can take several years. Once the plans are adopted by the county commission, their land-use guidelines can stop certain types of developments that the majority of residents might favor, he said. The county commission recently voted to let residents or businesses opt out of the plans, but then reversed the option. "They say they are just visions and goals," Giunta said, "but once you put a community plan into the comp plan, it's no longer a vision."

msalinero@tampatrib.com

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