OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL

 

CHERYL L. BROWN                                                                                                                     117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE 425

            DIRECTOR                                                                                                                                                                                                 4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL

   OFFICE (904) 630-1452                                                                                                                                                                                  JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA  32202

     FAX (904) 630-2906                                                                                                                                                                                                               

  E-MAIL: CLBROWN@coj.net

 

JOINT LUZ COMMITTEE/ PLANNING COMMISSION

MEETING MINUTES

 

June 4, 2013

4:00 p.m.

 

Location:  City Council Chamber, 1st floor, City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street

    

In attendance: 

LUZ Committee: Council Members Lori Boyer (Chair), Matt Schellenberg, Doyle Carter, Bill Gulliford, Warren Jones, Don Redman

Planning Commission: Nate Day (Chair), Tony Robbins, Jerry Friley, Chris Hagan, Marvin Hill, Lisa King

Also: Council Member Jim Love; Calvin Burney, Folks Huxford, Bruce Lewis, Joel McEachin and Mike Koerner – Planning and Development Department; Cindy Laquidara, Paige Johnston, Dylan Reingold and Jason Gabriel – Office of General Counsel; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division; Phillip Zamarron – Legislative Services Division; Kim Scott – Code Enforcement Division

 

 

Meeting Convened: 4:01 p.m.

 

1)      Zoning enforcement issues: Folks Huxford explained that once a bill is passed by City Council approving a PUD, or upon approval of an exception or administrative deviation, the matter goes back to the Planning Department for permitting.  The planner who worked on the application reviews the subsequent plans and eventually visits the site after construction to see if any conditions attached to the bill were met.  If there is a violation then either the Planning Department can send out its zoning inspector or Municipal Code Compliance can send an inspector to take action.  Council Member Jones felt that the City has been lax in following up on conditions such as the erection of a fence, installation of landscaping, etc., relying on citizen complaints to identify defaults rather than doing proactive inspections.  Planning and Development Director Calvin Burney said that the department has recently started a more rigorous follow-up process to check on compliance with permits and conditions.  Council Member Boyer asked several questions about the City’s capacity to inspect and take enforcement action on permit conditions such as hours of operation at night and on weekends when enforcement officers typically are not on duty.

2)      Building enforcement issues: In response to a question about how the City can respond to historic preservation Certificate of Appopriateness violations before irreparable damage is done to historic structures or materials, Joel McEachin of the Planning Department said that the department has one historic preservation inspector who follows up on the construction of all building permits that are pulled for work for which a COA was issued, but catching unpermitted work is very difficult with little manpower.  Once a COA violation is identified the usual remedy is a settlement agreement for irreversible conditions.  In his opinion the settlement amounts approved by special magistrates are usually too low to be an effective deterrent, and many violators are willing to pay the settlement amount to avoid the cost of following COA conditions.  Nate Day of the Planning Commission suggested that the City may need to emphasize to COA holders that violations of the COA are a serious matter and the City is serious about enforcing compliance.

3)      Update on revision of the PUD ordinance: Council Member Boyer stated that she is working with the General Counsel’s Office on a proposal to establish two separate PUD rezonings. One would require developers to have refined site plans approved by the Planning Commission when development begins to take place if the original PUD ordinance was broad and general in its authorizations.  Exact locations of various features, details of design elements, landscaping plans, etc. should be submitted and approved as they are designed and ready for construction.  The other PUD rezoning would be more specific and detailed and would include a more streamlined process for PUD rezonings that involve pre-existing buildings. The process for those PUDs can be considerably different from the process for a new, from scratch PUD development.

4)      Revise PUD transmittal letter: Council Member Boyer feels that the LUZ Committee needs to know in more detail which items the Planning Commission recommends should be in the site plan and written description for a development versus a specific condition in the ordinance.  Items that were controversial or were agreed to by an applicant after a negotiation process with a neighborhood, the Planning Department or the Planning Commission should be reported to the LUZ Committee as such so that the committee knows that these items were contentious and should be strictly conditioned for enforcement purposes.

5)      “Conventional limited” zoning categories: Council Member Boyer suggested that one way to reduce the number of PUD rezonings and to make overall zoning enforcement easier would be to adopt a set of “conventional limited” zoning categories which would be the same as the existing zoning classifications, but would specifically exclude certain typically controversial uses (i.e. pawn shops, tattoo parlors, liquor stores) and would include some typical conditions that are usually incorporated into PUD ordinances (lighting, landscaping, hours of operation, etc.).  If a developer is not interested in having a controversial use and is willing to meet normal operational conditions, then the new category of “conventional limited” zoning categories could preclude the need to go through an expensive and time consuming PUD application process.

6)      Zoning overlays: Council Member Boyer said that she would schedule a workshop in late August or September to discuss the City’s zoning overlays and what effect they are having.

 

Planning Commissioner Day thanked the LUZ committee for the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, and welcomed the committee’s feedback on the Planning Commission’s work and the results of appeals from the commission to the LUZ Committee.

 

General Counsel Cindy Laquidara noted that Dylan Reingold will be leaving the General Counsel’s Office in the next few weeks to take up the post of County Attorney for Indian River County.  She announced that Jason Gabriel will be taking his place as attorney to the LUZ Committee and that Paige Johnston will be taking up the duties of attorney to the Planning Commission.

 

Meeting adjourned:  4:51 p.m.

 

 

Minutes:           Jeff Clements, Council Research Division

            6.6.13     Posted: 5:00 p.m.

 

Tape:               Joint LUZ Committee/Planning Commission meeting 6.4.13

                        Legislative Services Division