Okaloosa County BOCC — August 16, 2016 — Ed Cox Motor Company FLUM Amendment & Rezoning — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: August 16, 2016 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Elliot Kampert SUBJECT: Ed Cox Motor Company FLUM Amendment & Rezoning DEPARTMENT: Growth Management BCC DISTRICT: 2 ISSUE: Consideration of a request to change the Future Land Use Map and zoning designations of properties located along Middle Drive between South Avenue and First Avenue in the unincorporated Fort Walton Beach area submitted by CPH, Inc. as agent for Ed Cox Motor Company, Inc. The request is to change the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation for the property from Low Density Residential to Commercial (C), or a more restrictive FLUM designation. If the FLUM amendment is approved, request to rezone the property from Residential - 1 (R-1) district to General Commercial (C-3) district, or a more restrictive zoning district. Property contains 2.67 acres, more or less. BACKGROUND:  The property involved consists of residential lots platted as part of the Bayview residential subdivision which was recorded in 1940. Based on the Parcel ID numbers and deeds provided in the application the subject property consists of Lots 11 through 19, Block 6.  The applicants are requesting the changes for the expressed purpose of building a Wal- Mart Neighborhood Market.  The requested change would enable a broad range of intense commercial uses which would not be limited to the expressed purpose of a neighborhood market.  Attachment E 1990 FLUM shows a commercial FLUM designation for the subject property. Further research indicates this to be incorrect. The Future Land Use Map series apparently adopted as part of the 1990 comprehensive plan (Ord. No. 90-1) clearly shows a public alleyway to be the dividing line between the “Commercial” and “Residential” FLUM categories (Attachment J). This is further reflected in the original zoning map adopted in 1974 (Ord. No. 74-4) as well as the zoning map series from February, 1989 which also shows the alleyway as the dividing line between commercial and residential zoning districts. Thus, the alleyway appears to be the well-established dividing line beginning with the original 1974 zoning ordinance.  The applicant by separate request has asked the County to vacate the public alleyway.  According to the deeds provided with the application Ed Cox Motor Company, Inc. acquired Lots 13 through 19 from Danny and Sylvia Cox in February, 2016. The property  had been zoned “Residential Urban Single” (RUS) from 1974 to 2010 when the RUS category was changed to “Residential-1” (R-1). RUS and R-1 are both single-family dwelling zoning districts. The current owner should have, or could have, been aware of the property’s FLUM designation and zoning district with attendant residential restrictions prior to acquiring the property.  The predominate land use pattern in this area is commercial fronting upon Eglin Parkway (SR 85) in the first tier of lots, then low density residential in the second tier of lots separated by a public alleyway. It is professionally accepted planning practice to designate properties fronting upon a major highway as commercial in a land use plan with separation from other designated uses using a readily identifiable feature such as a road or public alleyway.  As shown aerial photos taken from Google Earth dating back to January, 1994 (Attachment K) very little has changed in the area from 1994 to 2016. Lots 11 through 19 appear to be the same as when originally subdivided into residential lots and are not peculiarly distinguishable or different from the other residential lots in the vicinity. There has been