City wins more awards than any other entity.
The Hillsborough County Planning Commission held its 43rd Annual Planning & Design Awards on October 23 at the Shanna & Bryan Glazer Jewish Community Center in Tampa. Winning entries foster a better quality of life, or improve economic development, or enhance natural and historic assets. The initiatives should also serve as models to learn from and emulate. Three Plant City departments won awards; more than any other entity in the county.
The County Planning Commission started the design awards to recognize and celebrate excellence in planning and design. This initiative aims to inspire and promote good practices that can turn the challenges of growth into opportunities for the community. The awards program is open to all planners, residents, developers, builders, architects, community groups, design professionals, local governments, students, and others. The award entries require a narrative explaining how the proposed entry meets the judging criteria. City of Plant City staffers, Mark Hudson, Planning & Zoning Senior Planner, and Director of Planning & Zoning, Robyn Baker, authored the three applications that won awards that night.
The Plant City Police Department (PCPD) won an award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community. Chief Richard Mills Jr., Deputy Chief Justin Duralia, Captain Alfred Van Duyne, Lieutenant Tiffany Tester, Sergeant Steve Carmack, and Sergeant William “Billy” Harvester were on hand to accept the award. The honor recognized the department’s ongoing commitment to community engagement with residents. Officers’ heroic relief and rescue efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton demonstrated to Plant City that PCPD is connected to the community for them. In addition, PCPD’s Coffee with a Cop and Pizza with Police are ongoing initiatives to build bridges with residents. They provided several informal settings where law enforcement is more approachable, and residents can interact with officers outside of emergency situations. In more formal venues, PCPD held community meetings where citizens could air concerns and complaints, have immediate discussions with officers about options and solutions, and often get swift responses. PCPD intends for all of these gatherings to foster authentic dialogue, build rapport, and allow for real-time feedback from residents. “It was truly an honor for the department to be recognized for our efforts to not only provide the highest level of law enforcement services but also to be an active and compassionate part of the community we serve,” PCPD Information Services Division Captain Alfred Van Duyne said.
Another side of PCPD’s engagement with the community is fundraising to help Plant City residents. One tremendous program was last year’s Back the Beard. In this program, officers who want to grow beards pay $20 monthly for permission to do so. The proceeds are given to local charities that support vulnerable families. The Christmas Holiday Toy Drive engaged the community to gather hundreds of toys for children who could otherwise go without. “Plant City is a caring community, where citizens look out for one another, and the police department is proud to do our part in maximizing outreach and support,” Van Duyne added. “Being acknowledged among such extraordinary recipients was a humbling experience for our team. Special recognition goes to Lieutenant Tiffany Tester and Sergeants Stevie Carmack and Billy Harvester for their leadership and dedication in organizing and managing these community initiatives. We are deeply appreciative of this recognition and remain committed to continuing our partnership with the citizens of Plant City.”
The Utilities Department won for its Video Outreach Program. The team took a creative and humorous approach to attract attention to educate residents on serious topics to maintain healthy water systems, because negligence by residents can make people sick or cause deaths. For example, the should-have-been-nominated for the Music Television Video Awards, “Backflow Preventer,” featured three old guys (Mike E. and Billy B. from Environmental Compliance, and Murf from the Utilities Operations) rapping about how residents can keep contaminated water from entering the city’s potable water system. The videos are watchable on YouTube and Facebook. The city has produced 12 videos that have garnered 90,000 views. “Winning this award means that we are doing a good job at reaching out to our public and having a successful dialogue about water resources,” Lynn Spivey, Director of the Utilities Department, said. “Building trust with our community is key to achieving this goal, and we believe we are on the right track with our PSA video series, featuring Mr. Patrick Murphy, our Chief Plant Operator for Utilities.”
Plant City’s Planning & Zoning Department won in the Planning Category for its work to develop a new Northeast Master Plan (NEMP). The purpose of the NEMP is to establish long-range planning to address growth, anticipated to be rapid in the area north of I-4. Planning & Zoning has done a lot to draw public input for the plan through a web site, a technical working group of stake holders, a February public forum, and a survey for citizens to give input on what the vision and direction for Plant City should be; including getting their opinions about land use and where to locate more intense development in the northeast area.
To date, the plan’s direction is to set clear guidelines while also creating flexibility for considering commercial, industrial, and residential development,” Baker said. “Approaching the plan in this way allows the market to determine what sorts of things are built. Then, future specifics can be altered on an as-needed basis. P&Z’s acknowledgement for the NEMP update was very special. We invested a year and a half of professional effort (including a lot of personal time meeting with the public) into the update, and we are very proud of the outcome. We are looking forward to exploring what is next for that area as we develop land development regulations for the economic opportunity overlay that came out of the update.”
City Manager Bill McDaniel approached the Planning & Zoning Department to ask them to explore projects that could be entered. “I jumped at the chance to enter the Police Department and Utilities Department because I really believe in their community engagement programs and what they are doing to not only educate, but also build the bridge we need to better engage with our citizens,” Baker said.
