Port Richey planning board reviews comprehensive-plan amendments on water, coastal resilience and wetlands

Port Richey’s Planning & Zoning Board spent its Feb. 11 workshop reviewing proposed updates to the city’s comprehensive plan prompted by the 2023 evaluation and appraisal report, discussing new coastal-resiliency policies, a reduction in the potable-water level-of-service standard, requirements for biological surveys on larger parcels, and language to promote living shorelines and dredging of local waterways.

Tammy Brown, the city’s on-call planner with Brown Consulting of Safety Harbor, opened the workshop by grounding the board in state law: “In the state of Florida, we have a Community Planning Act, which is in Chapter 163, Part II of the Florida Statutes,” she said, and summarized the purpose of a comprehensive plan as a long-range vision tool implemented through regulations, budgets and project decisions.

The board’s discussion focused on several substantive proposed changes. Brown highlighted a technical change to the potable-water level-of-service standard — lowering the per-capita planning figure from 105 gallons per day to 96 gallons per day — and said the change reflects the city manager’s new water-supply facilities work plan and regional water-supply planning by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. She also noted that a previous statutory requirement that comprehensive plans be “financially feasible” has been…