Okaloosa County BOCC — December 1, 2015 — Public Hearing for Excessive Vegetation Ordinance — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: December 1, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Elliot Kampert SUBJECT: Public Hearing for Excessive Vegetation Ordinance DEPARTMENT: Growth Management BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Board of County Commissioners to conduct a public hearing of the proposed Excessive Vegetation Ordinance. BACKGROUND: During its regular meeting of September 15, the Board of County Commissioners conducted a workshop to discuss a variety of issues pertaining to code enforcement, including complaints regarding excessive vegetative growth. At the conclusion of the portion of the workshop concerning excessive vegetation, the Board directed staff to develop an amendment to the County Code that would address excessive vegetation in the MU-1 and MU-2 zoning districts (attached map shows subject areas). Staff has completed the ordinance, and during its regular meeting of November 3, 2015 the Board set a public hearing for its regular meeting of December 1, 2015. As discussed during the prior meetings, the proposed ordinance will, if adopted, require that herbaceous vegetation on improved properties be maintained at a height of 18 inches or less. As provided in the proposed ordinance, an improved property is "any lot, parcel, or area of land that has been deliberately altered from its natural condition through human action for an identifiable purpose in support of a lawful use or activity including, but not limited to, residential or commercial development, storm water management, recreation and agriculture. Abandonment, disuse, or foreclosure shall not remove such property from classification as 'improved.' Excluded from the definition are all federally-owned lands as well as all other public right-of-ways, publicly owned stormwater facilities, publicly owned landfills, and all publicly owned parks and/or natural land areas designated for passive recreational purposes. Property that does not fall within the scope of the proceeding description shall be considered 'unimproved.' " Enforcement action is triggered when 25% or more of the subject property is determined to have excessive growth. It should be noted that, notwithstanding the definition of Improved Property, for purposes of enforcement the proposed ordinance specifically provides that, if "the Property Owner has exerted any dominion or control over the adjoining public right-of-way between the Improved Parcel and the roadway, regardless of whether that roadway is paved, then that portion of the public right-of-way shall be included in the calculation." In short, if the property owner has used the right-of-way adjacent to his or her land, the area within the subject right-of-way is considered in the 25% calculation. While the provisions of the ordinance will be enforced by the Code Enforcement Division, the ordinance specifically states that the Board of County Commissioners will decide whether the lien process or nuisance abatement assessment process will be used to recover costs. OPTIONS: The Board may adopt, adopt with revisions, reject, or table the proposed ordinance. RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners conduct the public hearing and, after consideration of the proposed ordinance and any testimony received, that the Board adopt the proposed ordinance. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator