The Countywide Rules are contained in another document, also created with input from the 24 municipalities, the unincorporated county, and the Pinellas County School Board. They establish more specific standards for land use, such as the maximum number of homes or apartments that can be built on a residential parcel, or how much of a commercial lot can be covered with pavement. The Countywide Rules do not tell local governments how their communities should look or exactly how they should be developed, but they do provide guidelines that may not be exceeded. This process ensures that consistent development standards are maintained throughout the county, while allowing local community character to be preserved. An online, searchable version of this document is available on the Countywide Rules information page.
Meetings are open to the public.
New agendas are posted as they become available, at least two to three days before each meeting. The following documents contain more detailed information about PPC activities. They are in .pdf format, and require the free program Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or download. When it was first established as a county in 1912, Pinellas County consisted mainly of citrus orchards, which used the local railroad to ship fruit to the rest of the nation. The county's few residents lived in small, isolated towns along the tracks.