Local News

City Attorney David Coffey presented commissioners with a way to potentially strengthen building code laws. By forming of committee of knowledgeable and industry-specialized residents to create a Form Based Code (FBC) system, Coffey said, it could ensure future development stays consistent with current property usage and desire.

The Form Based Code would incorporate some and replace all of the current Land Development Regulations and building codes.

 Eco-based Tourism, for all intents and purposes, is a relatively new concept.

Built around the idea of a ‘traveler’, not a ‘tourist’, Eco-based Tourism (or EBT) focuses less on the man-made attractions of an area and more on the beauty offered by nature.

In 2006, more than 4.2 million Florida Residents chose not to spend their summer vacation money at a theme park, but rather on one of the thousands of nature-based attractions throughout the state.

Central Florida Community College will explore the business of nature in a free symposium on Monday, Feb. 2 in Chiefland. Business owners and prospective entrepreneurs are invited to “Nature-Based Tourism and Your Business” from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the CFCC Levy Center, 114 Rogers Blvd., Chiefland.

When people think of Red Cross volunteers and disaster support, what usually comes to mind are hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes, said Ian Dyar, Emergency Services Director of the American Red Cross North Central Florida Chapter.

“But single family house fires are disasters, too,” he said.

The Red Cross takes individual disasters seriously and responds just as actively to them as it does to large scale disasters.