Plant City Insider

We had the opportunity to ask Camryn Henry, candidate for Plant City Commission Group 2, 10 questions about her goals and pertinent issues facing Plant City.

Plant City Insider reached out to all candidates for Plant City Commission Election using their publicly listed email addresses (Nate Kilton, Camryn Henry, and Jason Jones) but have not received a response from Nate Kilton or Jason Jones. If Nate Kilton or Jason Jones send us their answers to the questions, Plant City Insider will add those responses to this article.

1. What motivated you to run for Plant City Commissioner, and what is your long-term vision for the city?

Camryn Henry- My family has been my biggest motivator for running for Plant City Commissioner. I want to aid the development and growth of bettering our community and having a safe and welcoming place for my children to grow in. My long-term vision for the City includes a stronger and more-supported school system, a more functional downtown district, and well-maintained infrastructure to keep the surrounding neighborhoods a place people desire to live. 

2. How will you balance economic growth with preserving Plant City’s agricultural heritage and small-town charm?

Camryn Henry- Balancing these pillars of our community will require intentional planning and policies that encourage development while preserving unique character. Encouraging a mixed-use development style with locally-owned businesses will likely continue the economic growth and maintain that small-town charm. To maintain our agricultural heritage, we must listen to our farmers and coordinate the best options for agritourism throughout the year. My goal is to always represent the constituents that may not always be considered, and ask the questions about these impacts – including how developments will impact neighboring areas and local business success. 

3. What strategies will you propose to improve road infrastructure and reduce traffic congestion, especially with new housing projects?

Camryn Henry- Impact studies are ongoing; however, with a little over 170 miles of roadway in Plant City and a booming population, our road maintenance and improvement plans need to be reviewed for a new projected growth. As developments are proposed, I will ask the essential questions to ensure traffic studies occur, road-widening improvements are considered, and our City-owned roadways are maintained. 

One specific strategy that I’d like to propose includes implementing “smart traffic signals” that adapt to traffic flow and reduce wait times at intersections. These will be crucial where new residential developments are built and on key commuter routes. Furthermore, encouraging mixed-use development zoning will result in shops and restaurants are within walking distance to housing and further reduce traffic congestion. 

4. How do you plan to address environmental concerns like flooding, pollution, and water resource management?

Camryn Henry- As the Plant City population continues to grow, it will be essential for new developments to consider the impacts to surrounding areas, including the offset of flood waters, polluted water-runoff, and the capacity of our water management infrastructure. Examples that can be recommended or required for new developments include the incorporation of “buffer zones” in a development to prevent the offset of flood waters. Furthermore, we need to ensure that our City staff have the capacity to implement and enforce pollution restrictions, for example, installing and maintaining drain filters similar to Orlando’s “Green Streets”, and encouraging “cover crops” and “buffer strips” in agricultural areas to prevent an excess of fertilizers and pesticides from reaching our waterways. These topics are actions that I plan to push to ensure the public health and safety of our community.  

5. What is your approach to engaging residents and ensuring their voices shape city decisions?

Camryn Henry-  I fully believe in the power and importance of transparency, and that the best way to grow a community is to involve the community. It is my goal to provide public updates, where possible, and encourage our City to hold opportunities for public comment on key topics for our community. An educated analysis of comments in this form can help shape decisions and involve key front-line individuals.  

6. How will you improve the wellbeing of Plant City residents through city policies and resources? 

Camryn Henry- I believe this ties into question #5 – the best way to grow a community is to involve the community. Building, re-developing, and implementing policies that have had feedback considered from our constituents will directly correlate with the wellbeing of our residents. The feeling of being heard and appreciated is essential for having a happy and healthy community. Hearing from our community will also allow us to gather key data to identify where critical gaps are, and formulate plans to provide additional resources – whether it relates to dependent care support, public transportation, or the health and safety of the community. 

7. What are your plans for tackling stalled projects like the Midtown Development and Walden Lake Golf Course Redevelopment?

Camryn Henry- The first step to tackling our community’s stalled projects is learning the internal roadblocks that the City is facing. As a resident and friend of multiple local business owners, these projects have consistently been topics of conversation. To my understanding, the Midtown Development Project is in its later stages where the proposition of development remains in question (the current developer, IDP, taking multiple years to fully develop a proposal and then raising concerns regarding the cost of construction and waiting until beneficial). While our City Commission has asked pertinent questions for IDP, a solid timeframe or construction estimate has yet to be declared. For both the Midtown Development and the Walden Lake Golf Course Redevelopment projects, I plan to continue to educate myself on the construction and zoning guidelines of the City, and push resolutions rather than continuous questions. 

8. How would you ensure that housing developments consider wildlife, traffic, school capacity, and quality, addressing past resident concerns?

Camryn Henry- With my education in Public Health, and a minor in environmental policy, the social-ecological model for community development and health is essential to me. This model requires the consideration of all populations within a community – including all levels of government, business, and the environment. There are plentiful best-practices for housing developments that consider these factors, and need to be pushed onto developers coming into Plant City to make our community a desirable place to live and thrive. When implemented, these best practices may include setting expectations for developers to present impact studies and their plans on how to include these considerations in their developments. For example, this includes how developers plan to invest in our community, not just build for profit. 

9. Do you support moving Plant City Commissioner Election days to the same day as the November General elections?

Camryn Henry- I believe having election days that align may be more beneficial time-constrained citizens and may also result in higher voter turnout. I would be interested to hear more from citizens regarding their perspective on this topic. 

10. What is your number one priority above all else, and what can residents expect from you in your first 100 days in office? How will you measure success?

Camryn Henry- Within my first 100 days, my largest priority will be ensuring that our citizens feel heard. My goal is to address the burning topics that continue to arise in conversation – traffic and roadways, development projects, and public safety to name a few. While I do not expect resolutions to these topics within 100 days, I aim to have a clearer picture of the path forward and be able to confidently tell the community where we are headed. In terms of these topics, success may be measured by the amount of times good and progressive conversations occur. While this is qualitative, and difficult to measure, this sets the foundation for gathering hard and quantitative data where timelines and objectives can be developed. 

Plant City Insider would like to thank Camryn Henry for sending us her answers and we look forward to watching as the campaign for Plant City Commission enters its final weeks!