Palm Beach County moved Friday to initiate a county text-amendment process to update its water-supply facilities work plan, a step county staff said is required by state law after a regional water plan update.

Jeff Gagnon, deputy director of planning, told the board the initiation step authorizes staff work on text and map amendments and does not itself approve changes. "The initiation step is really the first in the county's text amendment process," Gagnon said. "Importantly, initiation of an item does not equal board approval."

Gagnon said the update is required by Florida Statutes 163 and is tied to the South Florida Water Management District's adoption of the Lower East Coast water-supply plan. He said the district adopted that plan last year and that the county must complete and adopt its revisions within 18 months of the district action; staff noted the county is "well ahead of schedule." The item would guide strategies to meet future water demands and evaluate water-source options while considering environmental protections.

The panel voted unanimously to initiate the amendment work and asked staff to prepare a full analysis and staff report for future hearings. Gagnon described the initiation motion as a transparency step to allow public participation ahead of formal proposals.

Speakers
[{"name":"Jeff Gagnon","role_title":"Deputy Director of Planning","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Palm Beach County Planning Division","first_reference":{"timecode":"00:28:01","transcript_line_range":[1681,1690]}}]

Authorities
[{"type":"statute","name":"Florida Statutes Chapter 163","citation":"Fla. Stat. ch. 163","referenced_by":["Jeff Gagnon"]},{"type":"other","name":"South Florida Water Management District — Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan","citation":"SFWMD Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan","referenced_by":["Jeff Gagnon"]}]

Actions
[{"kind":"other","identifiers":{"agenda_item_id":"round-26-water-supply-initiation"},"motion":"Initiate county text amendment process to update the water-supply facilities work plan as recommended by staff","mover":null,"second":null,"vote_record":[],"tally":{"yes":null,"no":0,"abstain":0,"absent":null,"recused":0},"legal_threshold":{"met":true,"notes":"Recorded in meeting as unanimous initiation vote."},"outcome":"approved","notes":"Staff will prepare full staff report and analysis; initiation does not equal adoption."}]

Discussion_decision
{"discussion_points":["Initiation step not approval; it authorizes staff work and public outreach","Update required within 18 months of SFWMD adoption to revise county water-supply facilities work plan"],"directions":["Staff to complete full analysis and return with staff report for hearings"],"decisions":["Commission voted to initiate the county text-amendment process (unanimous)"]}

Clarifying_details
[{"category":"statute","detail":"Update required within 18 months following South Florida Water Management District adoption of Lower East Coast water-supply plan","value":18,"units":"months","approximate":false,"source_speaker":"Jeff Gagnon"},{"category":"deadline","detail":"County must adopt revisions by March 2026 following SFWMD adoption schedule","detail":"adoption by March 2026","value":"2026-03","units":"date","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Jeff Gagnon"}]

proper_names
[{"name":"Palm Beach County","type":"agency"},{"name":"South Florida Water Management District","type":"agency"},{"name":"Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan","type":"other"}]

community_relevance
{"geographies":["Palm Beach County","Lower East Coast service area"],"funding_sources":[],"impact_groups":["residents","businesses","environmental stakeholders"]}

meeting_context
{"engagement_level":{"speakers_count":1,"duration_minutes":6,"items_count":1},"implementation_risk":"low","history":[]}

searchable_tags
["water supply","South Florida Water Management District","Florida Statutes 163","work plan update","Palm Beach County"]

provenance
{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"t1681.1","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Okay. Thank you, Tweed. Good morning, Board. Jeff Gagnon, Deputy Director of, Planning. And I'm filling in for David Willock, who is the project manager for this item.","global_start":1681.1,"global_end":1700,"tc_start":"00:28:01","tc_end":"00:28:20","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"t1866.7151","local_start":0,