Okaloosa County BOCC — January 20, 2015 — Sandcastle Construction FLUM & Rezoning — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: January 20, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Elliot Kampert SUBJECT: Sandcastle Construction FLUM & Rezoning DEPARTMENT: Growth Management BCC DISTRICT: District 5 - Commissioner Windes PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of a request changing the use of land submitted by Sandcastle Construction, LLC relating to property located at 1456 Pine Street, Niceville. The request is to change the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation for the property from Low Density Residential (LDR) 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 (See Planning Commission recommendation). Property contains .5 acres, more or less STAFF FINDINGS: • According to the applicant the change is being requested so as to build an office for his construction business. • The property is adjacent to other existing commercial or institutional uses. • The property was designated as “Commercial” on the 1990 FLUM. • The property was zoned “Agriculture” (AG) prior to May, 2010. • The property was subsequently designated as Low Density Residential (LDR) when the FLUM was revised in 2003. • The AG zoning district remained undisturbed until May, 2010 at which time the zoning map was changed to reflect the FLUM. The property was then changed to R-1 so as to comport with the LDR FLUM designation.. • The property is adjacent to other parcels with Commercial FLUM designation and C-3 zoning district. PUBLIC COMMENT/OPPOSITION: Lisa Bolton, who resides across the street at 1457 Pine Street, expressed concern that if the C-3 zoning is approved a wide variety of commercial uses would be allowed other than the office use put forward by the applicant. PLANNING COMMISSION: Upon hearing from Lisa Bolton the Planning Commission voted unanimously at a public hearing held December 11, 2014 to recommend rezoning the property to the C-1 Business Office district rather than C-3 General Commercial district. The purpose of the C-1 district is to provide areas for light commercial and office-type uses where business is conducted indoors and hours of operation are limited to regular working hours (7 AM - 7 PM) with limited potential for excessive traffic, noise, odor, glare, dirt, etc. This district is further intended to provide transitional zoning between residential areas and more intense commercial uses. The applicant was agreeable to this recommendation. MILITARY REPRESENTATIVE: No comment. STAFF POSITION: Staff has no objection to the proposed FLUM amendment and rezoning.  RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board consider the facts presented herein, the Planning Commission recommendation, as well as any facts that may be presented at the public hearing, and then decide whether or not to adopt the requested FLUM amendment and rezoning by separate ordinances. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator