Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 10-14-08 regular minutes — reading text

originally and part was zoned commercial and pointed out the original plat recorded has commercial for only those lots and said that is part of the restrictive covenants of the plat that was recorded, and the City cannot change that. He said he did not ask nor did he know that in 2000 his property had been redesignated as Mixed Use Residential. He noted the memo states the zoning or re- zoning must be adopted in accordance with the Plan but there was never any move by the City to change the zoning. He said the zoning on that property today is still commercial and he would never have agreed to rezone the property. He stated his dilemma is that if he wanted to build medium density residential he cannot do it because his property is still zoned commercial, and he cannot build anything commercial because the plan in place in 2000 states mixed-use residential. He said he has property that is useless because the City did not follow through with their responsibility to rezone the property after the use was redesignated. He said all he wants is for his property put back the way it was. He stated his other parcel is zoned light industrial and the plan redesignated it as heavy industrial, which he recently rezoned. He said all he is asking from Council is to straighten out his property and put it back the way it was designated on the original plat. Council received confirmation from Mr. Qualls that the amendment is to mixed- use community commercial. Samantha Abell, Senior Planner, went over the Findings of Fact that the request does meet the criteria for a small scale amendment, reported the Municipal Planning Board recommended approval, and submitted the staff report into the record. She went over the land use history, stated that general commercial is in conflict with the Future Land Use Map and clarified there is no heavy industrial designation. She explained the MUCC designation is not intended to be a regional draw for heavy commercial and is intended to be small scale commercial with a mix of 12 residential dwelling units per acre; and the Comprehensive Plan establishes that it is an acceptable buffer between single family and more intensive uses. She said staff is confident the MUCC designation would allow the owner some commercial use of his land and also allow the potential for residential use. The question was asked on the procedure followed when evaluating the land use for an area. Ms. Abell explained for a small scale amendment they post the property, advertise, and in this case staff also met with the neighborhood and mailed notice to property owners.  Regular Council 10- 14- 08 22 ORD. 1763 cont. It was questioned how the residents would be impacted by the request and whether they would incur any cost for paving Wildwood. Ms. Abell explained the applicant will have to have an environmental site assessment done for the property and depending on the assessment, will also have to provide a stormwater management plan and a traffic analysis, and the applicant will have to address concurrency. She said whatever improvements are made to the road would be assessed during a concurrency determination, that the would need to provide a applicant transportation analysis for concurrency and adjacent property owners along the undeveloped Wildwood Avenue could potentially be assessed. It was questioned what kind of comments were received from the neighborhood, and what the 1,'.:,. Municipal Planning Board recommended. Ms. Abell replied the comments from the neighborhood were mainly dissatisfaction with the applicant for not meeting with residents. She said the Municipal Planning Board was unanimous on the mixed use designation. She mentioned she had a citizen information list and if anyone speaks she will need their name. The Mayor opened the public hearing. Barry Gray submitted a letter on behalf of the community in response to the ordinance and the would like to keep it the way it is now. community It was confirmed that if the applicant were to develop the property that he would have to satisfy the stormwater requirements. Ms. Abell mentioned based on the meeting with the Sylvania Heights neighborhood that they did not want it to move forward with the changes and were wait until next year when the hoping the City would Comprehensive Plan is revised. Helen Richardson, 730 Butler Road, expressed they want their neighborhood to stay residential and not get saturated with commercial, and they would like to see better drainage in the area. The City Attorney gave the oath to Debbie Riley Broadnax. Debbie Riley Broadnax, speaking on behalf of the Burnett Hollywood Center, described the efforts to improve the neighborhood and expressed they do not want commercial property mixed in with residential property. Al Qualls stated he had no desire to do anything detrimental to the neighborhood and is only asking to put his property back the way it was. He said anything he did out there would be first class according to code. As there was no one further from the public who wished to speak the public hearing was closed. Dr. Pullen moved to adopt Ord. 1763 on second reading. Mr. Minich seconded motion. Discussion included a cordial exchange of views on the impact to the neighborhood with those in favor and those against the change from medium density residential to mixed use community commercial. The Mayor called for the vote on the motion and it carried by a vote of 4 to 2 with Holmes, Reeves, Pullen, and Minich in favor and Garvie and Hartwell opposed (Miller absent). PUBLIC HEARING - ORD. 1762: SOUNDSIDE Pun The City Attorney read the ordinance title. by AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA REGARDING A 13.39+/- ACRE PARCEL IN THE VICINITY OF CARSON DRIVE AND METHODIST AVENUE, FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA; AUTHORIZING CURRENT PLAT TO BE VACATED BY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION; REZONING THE SUBJECT PROPERTY TO THE SOUND SIDE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT; APPROVING THE PLAT OF SOUND SIDE; APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND ORDER FOR SOUND SIDE, A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. iT rr  Regular Council 10- 14- 08 23 ORD. 1762: cont. The City Attorney gave the oath to all individuals who expected to speak. Lloyd Strickland, HomeCorp, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama, requested Council approval. Dr. Pullen asked Mr. Strickland if he was aware that the Development Review Committee meeting was not held in the Sunshine and asked if he was satisfied with the report. Mr. Strickland stated he is satisfied. r Samantha Abell, Senior Planner, stated the Soundside is an affordable housing development, went over the findings of fact on the appropriateness of the request and submitted the staff report into the record. The L applicant had no objection. It was questioned if there is any assurance that the money is there for the project. Mr. Strickland gave assurance that if they do not have the money they will not tear down the units that are currently there. The City Attorney addressed the Development Review Committee ( DRC) issue and stated when this matter came before the Municipal Planning