Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-10-08 regular agenda — reading text

R U LOLO t1') LO lO ll O n A I 1.4  CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 10, 2008 General Public Comments from the General Public on items not otherwise on the agenda Agenda Item Number: 5  CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 10, 2008 Public Hearing Agenda - First Reading Consideration of Ordinance 1756, relating to the adoption of the 2008 Land Development Code as Volume IV of the Code of Ordinances CDS Director) l Council Action 1 St 2nd Vote: Agenda Item Number:  CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA MEMORANDUM DATE: May 25, 2008 TO: Joyce Shanahan, City Manager FROM: Missy McKim, CDS Director SUBJECT: Consideration of Ordinance 1756, an Ordinance Relating to the Adoption of the Land Development Code REQUEST: Consideration of Ordinance 1756 relating to the adoption of the Land Development Code. AUTHORITY: Chapter 163. 3202, F. S. ( 1) Within 1 year after submission of its revised comprehensive plan for review pursuant to s. 163.3167( 2), each county and each municipality shall adopt or amend and enforce land development regulations that are consistent with and implement their adopted comprehensive plan. 2) Local land development regulations shall contain specific and detailed provisions necessary or desirable to implement the adopted comprehensive plan and shall as a minimum: a) Regulate the subdivision of land; b) Regulate the use of land and water for those land use categories included in the land use element and ensure the compatibility of adjacent uses and provide for open space; c) Provide for protection of potable water wellfields; d) Regulate areas subject to seasonal and periodic flooding and provide for drainage and stormwater management; e) Ensure the protection of environmentally sensitive lands designated in the comprehensive plan; f) Regulate signage; g) Provide that public facilities and services meet or exceed the standards established in the capital improvements element required by s. 163. 3177 and are available when needed for the development, or that development orders and permits are conditioned on the availability of these public facilities and services necessary to serve the proposed development. Not later than 1 year after its due date established by the state land planning agency's rule for submission of local comprehensive plans pursuant to s. 163. 3167( 2), a local government shall not issue a development order or permit which results in a reduction in the level of services for the affected public facilities below the level of services provided in the comprehensive plan of the local government. h) Ensure safe and convenient onsite traffic flow, considering needed vehicle parking.  HISTORY: The State Growth Management regulations require local governments to implement their mandated Comprehensive Plans by adopting appropriate land development regulations, familiarly known as zoning and subdivision regulations. Fort Walton Beach adopted its first land development code in 1991 following adopting of first mandated comp plan in 1990. That LDC was a consolidation of existing provisions in the code of ordinances relating to development - zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations, sign ordinance, and building codes put under the same cover. The Comprehensive Plan adopted in 2000 had numerous policies requiring updates and amendments to the Land Development Code be accomplished to implement Directions. In addition, there are numerous sections of the Land Development Code that are outdated due to the fact they were adopted in the 1960 -1985 period and are considered archaic. Many Code provisions are also redundant and conflicting due to the fact the Code has been amended without reflecting on provisions in other LDC sections. The MPB supported the need to complete this revision to the LDC at several of their meetings. The first time the proposals were advertised with a deadline for submittals of January 17, 2006, no proposals were received. A firm who expressed interest was contacted by the Department of Community Development Services ( CDS) and WilsonMiller, a multidiscipline consulting firm, licensed in the State of Florida, submitted a proposal for $ 48, 625. On May 23, 2006, City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract with WilsonMiller to comprehensively review and revise the Land Development Code ( LDC). The City Council f approved a budget amount of $48, 625 for the project in FY 2006 and FY 2007, with the intention of accomplishing the project over two fiscal years. As stated in the Scope of Work ( attached), The text of the LDC is inconsistent, lacks significant information, and dose not completely implement the Comprehensive Plan. The city's Visioning program identified the need to implement development codes consistent with the vision of the community developed in the Plan. The City adopted a new comprehensive plan " Directions" in 20000. The Plan required substantial revisions to the LDC." The consultant began work, met with staff, City Council members, specific stakeholders and started regularly meeting with the Municipal Planning Board ( MPB) in August 2006, meeting with them monthly through June 2007, then again November 2007, January 2008, and February 2008. In addition, the MPB and CRA had a joint meeting on June 15, 2006. The proposed LDC does not implement the recommendations of the CRA Plan, however, CRA will begin this process in the near future. The consultant and staff discussed the LDC at a number of neighborhood meetings, Vision Plan Stewardship meetings, and kept other boards /committees up -to -date on its progress. The draft LDC has been available on the web site since August 2007. A city -wide public meeting was held on September 11, 2007 to receive input on the final draft. Most of the inputs staff receives from contractors and professionals is the desperate need to have the LDC approved. Ray Seip continues to request further public input. DISCUSSION: This project has been on -going since June 2006, almost 2 years. This is a living document which should be constantly reviewed and updated as needed. The current document achieves the goal of the original proposal in that it: specifies the review and permitting processes; updates the administrative procedures to reflect current law; updates the subdivision regulations; K  o clarifies off -street parking and loading requirements; o provides expanded glossary including abbreviations /acronyms; o development standards have been standardized to eliminate inconsistencies; o revises the concurrency management system to be consistent with the comprehensive plan; and o is user friendly with many tables and diagrams to visually explain the requirements. Included in the proposed LDC are the following features: s. 14. 200- Minor Lot Splits — may be recorded by survey after approval by CDS staff without a formal process for platting and recording; Eliminationof archaic zoning districts: DR -4, DR -5, DC -3, DC -4 and P -1. Ordinance 1638, adopted December 13, 2005, rezoned the properties in the CRA with DR -4, DR -5, DC -3 and DC -4 to the Mixed Use zoning districts. Ordinance 1739, adopted November 13, 2007, rezoned the only parcel with P -1 zoning ( old hospital property) from P -2 to CF. All of the land under these zoning districts were rezoned to be consistent with the Future Land Use Map of Directions "; Zoning land use matrix to clearly show where uses are allowed by right or by conditional use; New matrix for intensity and dimensional standards for each zoning district in easy to read format; Each zoning district has separate color coded information provided graphically to illustrate the requirements for setbacks, building height, minimum lot area, etc. New construction site management specifying site cleanliness, parking , material storage, construction fencing, temporary trailers, pile