OFFICE OF
THE CITY COUNCIL
117 WEST DUVAL STREET,
SUITE 425
4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32202
904-630-1377
LUZ Special Committee Meeting Minutes
September 20, 2016
4:45 p.m.
Topic:
System processes for zoning and land use matters
Location:
City Council Chamber, 1st floor, City Hall – St. James Building, 117
West Duval Street
In attendance:
Council Members Danny Becton (Chair), Jim Love, Doyle Carter, Al Ferraro,
Reggie Gaffney, Joyce Morgan
Also:
Folks Huxford, Kristen Reed and Bruce Lewis – Planning & Development
Department; Susan Grandin – Office of General Counsel; Jessica Matthews –
Legislative Services Division; Dan MacDonald – ECA Dist. 11; Yvonne P. Mitchell
– Research Division
Meeting Convened:
4:50 p.m.
Chairman Becton called the meeting to order.
Chairman Becton stated the Planning and Development
Department (PDD) would complete its presentation on the timeline of applications
for all types of zonings and land use matters. Mr. Huxford began on page 5 of
the original handout discussing Conventional Rezoning & Planned Unit Development
(PUD) processes. Applications are completed online through the LUZAP (LUZ
Application Portal). New applications are reviewed by PDD through an internal
round table within the first and second week of the process. PUDs require an
additional step outside of the conventional rezoning process. The PDD
distributes a routing sheet to sister agencies to retrieve evidence and/or pertinent
information such as transportation and traffic impact in a
certain area. The cost of a conventional rezoning is approximately $2000.00,
and a PUD is $2330.00.
In response to inquiry by CM Gaffney, Mr. Huxford commented
that the Planning Commission (PC) has the discretion to make determinations
opposite of the PDD’s and/or Council Member. Per Mr. Huxford, the PC Bylaws
require a request for deferral to be received by the Monday preceding the PC
meeting. Therefore, if a request does not arrive on time, the PC may proceed as
they deem appropriate. Additionally, it should be noted that the PC is
restricted to 63 days to take action on an item; otherwise, it will be
automatically discharged with a recommendation of denial to the LUZ committee.
Mr. Huxford agreed to Chairman Becton’s request and will provide a matrix sheet
of the actual time spent on applications received by the PDD.
Mr. Huxford provided background on the excessive
applications for variances which setup the establishment of additional
processes to better handle the request for various types of relief. The systems
created were applications for administrative deviations, sign waivers, wavier
of liquor distance, and wavier of road frontage. It should be noted that the
sign waivers and waivers of road frontage are not heard before the PC. Chairman
Becton shared he submitted a document to Ms. Grandin for her review which
covers the various criteria for waivers. Ms. Grandin will add the rezoning
criteria to document prior to distributing document to the committee.
Mr. Huxford provided a brief review of the different hearing
levels:
- Zoning Administrator serves as
the hearing officer for administrative deviations. The hearings are held
Friday of committee week;
- Planning Commission hear cases
such as exceptions, variances, minor modifications, and appeals of the Zoning
Administrator; and serves as an advisory board to LUZ on forward
recommendation on items such as land use amendments and rezonings.
- Downtown Design Review Board
(DDRB) serve in place of the Planning Commission as it relates any applications
impacting the downtown area.
It should be noted that if a project requires hearing from a
lower level and higher level hearing, the applications are placed together and
heard by the highest hearing authority.
A zoning exception is not a rezoning of the property. It is
use that is permissible by request, if granted. The activity must be listed
under the current zoning. Otherwise, if a request use not sufficient, an
applicant should apply for a rezoning. The variance and exception process are
identical. A variance is used to seek relief from the Zoning Code that is not a
self-imposed hardship.
Administrative deviations are used to lessen certain
requirements standards for parking standards, landscaping, height of fence, lot
coverage, etc. This application is an internal process in regards to the
calendar, staff report, and mailing notifications. The Zoning Administrator has
21 days to render a decision after the hearing.
Chairman Becton thanked the PDD for a thorough report. There
being no further business, meeting was adjourned.
Meeting Adjourned: 5:25 p.m.
Minutes: Yvonne P. Mitchell, Council Research
09.23.16
Posted 2:00 p.m.
Tapes: LUZ special
meeting– LSD
09.20.16
Materials: Community and Current Planning Process Charts
handout
09.20.16
*
The written minutes
for this meeting are an overview of what was discussed. Please review the audio
to hear the actual dialogue from this meeting.