The jury is in, and the Planning Commission's 29th Annual Community Design Awards Program is shaping up to be one for the records!  With about 40 entries this year, our judges had their work cut out for them selecting the very best in planning and community design in Hillsborough County.

In these extremely difficult fiscal times, it is very important to continue to recognize quality work and values that improve the quality of life in our communities.  A special thank you to our three judges who are from outside Hillsborough County (pictured below from left to right):

      ·   Kathie Ebaugh, AICP

          Principal Planner, Lee County Government

      ·   Merle Bishop, FAICP, CPM

          President of APA Florida, Lakeland

      ·   Mary Kay Peck, FAICP

          Principal MK Peck Associates, Clearwater

Winners will be announced Thursday, April 21st 2011 at Maestro's at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.  The reception will begin at 6:15 p.m.  Dinner and award presentations hosted by ABC Action News Anchor Brendan McLaughlin will begin at 7:00 p.m.  For more information or to register for this event, please visit:

 Event Information & Registration

4/2  8:00 am  Hillsborough County

                    Neighborhoods Conference

4/7  2:00 pm   EAR Scoping Meeting

       5:00 pm  EAR Public Meeting

4/12 6:15 pm  Keystone-Odessa

                     Community Plan Update

                     Advisory Committee

4/18 2:00 pm  Planning Commission

                     Regular Meeting & Workshop

                     (rescheduled from 4/11)

4/19 6:00 pm  Balm Community Plan Workshop

4/21 6:15 pm

Planning Commission 29th Annual Community Design Awards  

For more information on meetings and events, please visit our website:

www.theplanningcommission.org 

Missed An Issue? 

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners has directed the Planning Commission to update adopted community plans every ten years. The University Area Community Plan became effective February 2001; therefore, Planning Commission staff will initiate work with citizens and stakeholders in the development of the plan update beginning this summer.  The plan update will incorporate changes to the adopted community plan's vision, goals and strategies based on a review of changing conditions, and what has been completed and has not been completed in the current plan. Staff is beginning to develop a work program for the update including interviews with key participants and is coordinating with the County's new Development Services Department.

University Area Community Master Plan Study Area

In an effort to get as much citizen participation as possible, collaboration between the Planning Commission and the Hillsborough County Tax Collector's Office for notification of the upcoming University Area Community Plan update is scheduled to take place in summer 2011. This will be our pilot program for notifying citizens within a community plan area for upcoming meetings and seeking the broadest public input. If the new notification process proves well, we will use this technique for future community plan notifications.

Have a vision for how you'd like to see Hillsborough County grow?

We want to hear from you!

Please join us for an interactive public workshop

Thursday, April 7th, 5pm - 7pm

County Center Building, 26th Floor

601 E Kennedy Boulevard, Downtown Tampa

For more information, please contact Allison Yeh at 813/272-5940 or yeha@plancom.org.

In accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other nondiscrimination laws, public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status.