Planning and Zoning/ Board of Adjustments/ Historical Preservation - Regular Meeting

Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for this another day. We thank you, God, for how you woke us up this morning, how you ordered our steps all through the day. And Father, now that we come to take care of business for our community, we ask that you give us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thank you.

All right. Can we get a roll call, please?

Ms. McCollum?

Here.

Ms. Wilson? Here. Ms. Douglas?

Here.

Ms. Johnson? Ms. Jones? Mr. Colucci?

Here.

And Ms. Relaitic?

All right. Hopefully everybody's had a chance to review the meetings from last month, or the minutes, excuse me, from last month. Does anybody have any additions, corrections, changes of any kind? Okay.

Move to approve.

Second. All right. Show of hands. Okay. We have no old business before the board. New business. We have resolution number PA slash LPA CPA 26-07S. It's a resolution of the Planning and Zoning Board of the City of Lake City, Florida. serving also as the local planning agency of the City of Lake City, Florida, recommending to the City Council of the City of Lake City, Florida, approval of an amendment of 50 or less acres of land to the future land use plan map of the City of Lake City. Comprehensive plan pursuant to an application by Elizabeth Steele, the property owner of said acreage, under the amendment procedures established in sections 163.3161 through 163.3248, Florida statutes as amended. providing for changing the land use classification from county commercial to city commercial of certain lands within the corporate limits of the city of Lake City, Florida, repealing all resolutions in conflict, providing an effective date. Mr. Angelo?

All right, before you tonight, you have CPA 2607S, which is a comp plan amendment. There we go. All right. So this is for parcel number 02440-003. It has a future land use designation as commercial county currently. This property was recently annexed into the city. So what we are doing now is rezoning and changing the future land use. to go from the county designation to the city designation and as you'll see it's consistent with what was in the county and so the future land use was commercial county and that they're looking to go to commercial city and the zoning around it you have to the north you have commercial county to the east you have residential low county to the south you have commercial county and to the west you have residential low county And this is a picture of the parcel here. And they're in the orange proposed site. And as you can see to the east is the residential low county and then residential low county to the west and then the commercial to the north and the south. Swanee River Water Management, the site does not have any Swanee River Water Management permit history. An environmental resource permit will be required if an impervious surface area exceeds 9,000 square feet or 4,000 square feet subject to vehicular traffic. And a permit would also be required if there are any wetland impacts, which currently I'm not aware of any wetlands on this property. Therefore, staff finds that this petition is consistent with the comp plan and the land development regulations, and therefore we recommend approval of the resolution PZLPA-CPA-2607S. Thank you. Do we have to move that into evidence or anything?

I would like to add my... Thank you.

So, Madam Chair, as a matter of procedure, the applicant would speak next if they're here. I don't see an applicant in the audience. And barring that, then you would move on to public comment.

Okay. Thank you. Do we have any public comments?

on this item no no sir okay uh so next you would move to uh discussion amongst the board and if somebody wanted to offer a motion to adopt the resolution uh as presented then they could do that do we have any discussion amongst the board members i'm good comments nothing no move to approve resolution number pa lpa cpa 26-07s as presented second okay

Do we need a roll call, Robert, or a show of hands? Yes.

Give me a roll call. Okay. So, Ms. McCollum?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Ms. Douglas? Yes. Mr. Gallucci? Yes.

Okay. All right. Passes. All right. Next, we have resolution number PZLPAZ2605S. Okay. Mr. Martin.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You have this next matter as a quasi-judicial matter. It's an application submitted by Elizabeth Steeley to amend the official zoning atlas of the land development regulations by changing the zoning district from county commercial intensive to city commercial intensive of certain lands within the corporate limits of the city of Lake City, Florida. The purpose of the procedure tonight is just to ensure that the applicant provides a complete presentation of their request to the board. Public testimony will be taken under oath. We'll first hear presentations from the city, the applicant, and any party interveners, followed by public comment, then cross-examination. We'll follow that up with any additional response if the chairperson deems it necessary, then proceed to questions from the board. Then final arguments, then I'll advise the board as to law and necessary findings and the board can deliberate and vote. The standard tonight that you're gonna use in evaluating the testimony you're provided is whether your action is supported by competent substantial evidence presented to the board during the hearing on the application. Competent substantial evidence is evidence a reasonable man would accept as adequate to support a conclusion. At this time, I need to inquire of each board member individually if they've received any ex parte communications regarding this particular rezoning, and if so, to disclose them. Mr. Carlucci, have you had any ex parte communications? No. Ms. McCallum? No. Ms. Wilson? No. And Chair Douglas? No. Okay, thank you. Mr. Angelo, if you could raise your right hand. I don't see anybody in the audience that's going to testify, but if you are, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, hold the truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. All right, thank you. The matter before you, board members, is resolution PZLPA Z2605S, which is a resolution that states, a resolution of the Planning and Zoning Board of the City of Lake City, Florida, serving also as the local planning agency of the City of Lake City, Florida, relating to the rezoning of less than 10 contiguous acres of land pursuant to an application Z2605S by Elizabeth Steele, the property owner of said acreage, recommending to the City Council of the City of Lake City, Florida, approval of an application to amend the official zoning atlas of the City of Lake City land development regulations by changes in zoning district from county commercial intensive to city commercial intensive of certain lands within the corporate limits of the City of Lake City, Florida, repealing all resolutions in conflict and providing an effective date. Madam Chair, I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you. Mr. Angelo, you have a presentation?

Yes. All right, so this is the companion application. This is the rezoning for the comp plan amendment. So this is Z2605S. and it is again for parcel number 02440-003 and it's currently zoned commercial intensive county and they are looking to change the zoning to commercial intensive city and so same same designation just changing the jurisdiction the north you'll see is commercial intensive county to and to the south and then to the east and the west it is residential single family two county And there's a picture of the map again, showing where the property is. And then you can see commercial to the north, commercial to the south, and residential to the east and the west. And same comment as before from Swannier Wooden Management. And therefore, the city staff finds that it is compliant with the land development regulations and the comp plan. Therefore, we recommend to approve resolution PZLPAZ2605S. And I would like to introduce my presentation and all the reports into the record. Thank you.

Do we have any representatives for the applicant? No. Any party interveners? Public comment.

Here's the applicant now.

Okay.

Did we make it in the nick of time?

Yes, we did.

Would you like, do you have a presentation, or would you like to speak about the request?

So, bring you up to speak, kind of where we're at right now. We just approved the comp plan amendment for your application, and I just presented the zoning, and if y'all want to get up and speak, you can.

You want to ask your question?

I feel like we're a little behind the eight ball tonight, and I do apologize.

It's okay. Hang on, sir.

If you could raise your right hand and let me swear you in. Oh, sure. You swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. All right, thank you. And if you could state your name for the record, please.

Yes, it's James Todd Steele.

Okay, and you're affiliated with the applicant?

We are the applicant, yeah.

All right, thank you.

I'm a little embarrassed because it's way behind the eight ball, but I'm just curious. We received the email the other day with the invoice for the zoning, which I thought we had already paid when we filed the application for zoning.

Yeah.

And I'm hoping I read it wrong or misunderstood it.

So that was probably a scam. There is a scam going on nationwide right now with planning and zoning departments. So they're imitating the cities.

You're making me feel so much better.

Yes. All your fees have been paid and everything. You're good. That is a scam. Do not do. I'm assuming they're asking you to wire money. Yeah, like $20,000.

Yeah, do not. Because I was sitting there saying, this should have come up. That's all I was thinking to myself. If this really is, it's like, this would have been nice to know four or five months ago.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you're good. And if you get anything else like that, let me know, and I'll make sure we get it right. But the invoice will come directly from me.

Okay. I appreciate that. So that's great news. We feel much better. I just wanted to say that we've been looking forward to this. We're glad to be here. And I feel so much better. I was like, they didn't tell us?

Does another 20,000 do?

So that feels much better. And that's why I wanted to, I was a little surprised when you called me, but I was so glad we got that out of the way and it's done. And we are ready to move forward. We're excited about it. And we appreciate all the time and talents of folks that have helped us along the way.

Well, we appreciate your project.

We're going to do wonderful now.

There you go.

Anything else you want to add? I apologize for being a little late. You're good.

No worries.

Beth, did you want to say something? She never likes to talk. She's always the quiet one.

Lucky you.

Thank you, sir.

Well, you don't know how wonderful you make me feel. I was like, oh, my God, five months and how much more? Especially when you start looking at the project, you say, wow, the fees are $30,000 and the building's $52,000. But thank you so much, and we do appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay. So do we have any party interveners? No. And do we have anybody that would like to comment? Any members of the public that would like to comment? No. Okay. Any group representatives that would like to comment? I'm thinking probably not. Do we have any cross-examine? No. Examination? Anybody have questions? Do you have questions for Mr. Angelo, sir?

No.

Me? Yes, Mr. Steele. Do you have any questions? That's okay. I never know what I'm supposed to do here. It's quite all right.

Do you have any questions for Mr. Angelo?

No, that was the only one I had.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Okay. Do any of the board members have questions for either Mr. Angelo or for the applicant?

No.

Okay. We'll close public comment then. um and move on to any final arguments or comments no mr angelo no okay okay um i guess that's mr martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. The decision of the board should be based only on evidence provided by sworn witnesses. In addition, the board may make its recommendation to the city council after taking into consideration those matters listed in 15.2.2 of the city's land development regulations. At this time, the Planning and Zoning Board may discuss the application and testimony and any findings of fact upon which it wishes to base a decision and vote on your recommendation to the council concerning resolution number PZLPAZ 2605S.

Thank you. Sorry, I dropped it.

Okay. Do we have any discussion amongst the board members? Any comments, anything?

No? Move to approve resolution number PZ-LPAZ 26-05S.

Second.

All right. Roll call.

Ms. McCollum?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Ms. Douglas? Yes. And Mr. Colucci? Yes.

Yes.

Okay. That one passes too. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Okay. So that was our only new business. Apparently we have a workshop item.

Yes.

Okay. Mr. Angelo.

All right, so the workshop we had before you tonight is one that we introduced last week. We did a brief introduction as far as potentially eliminating the parking minimums for the city. So we'll kind of go through that and see what questions you have and kind of discuss kind of what we're thinking about policy-wise and how that would look in the LDR and what the regulations will look like. So the agenda for tonight, what are parking minimums? And I kind of want to go over that. What's the benefit of reducing the parking minimums? And then pictures of existing parking lots. I did not get a chance to go out and get any. I was trying to get some. But hopefully when we have the adoption, I'll have some pictures for the actual presentation for the adoption if we proceed that way. And then we'll kind of go into a little bit of discussion about the policy of it. So parking minimums, this is kind of a picture of kind of what they are. I mean, it's just a minimal amount of parking that is required for a site. And there it is. Parking minimums are zoning laws that mandate developers to build a certain number of off-street parking spots per residential unit or per square foot of commercial industrial space. Parking minimums, they set the minimum standard for the minimum number of parking spaces that are needed for each land use. They mandate spaces or mandating spaces increases construction costs by forcing a business to have a certain number of parking spaces, even though their model may say they need less. They may require more concrete or asphalt causing urban heat islands and may force more stormwater ponds on a site. Off-street parking minimums were implemented in the 1950s to help prevent street congestion but have led to an oversupply of parking and have encouraged urban sprawl according to a study that UCLA did. And you can kind of see that if you go to like Lowe's or Home Depot, a lot of times their parking lots are well over half empty. Most of them have merchandise all through the parking lot and they still have plenty of parking. And that adds to a lot of heat throughout the city because anytime you add that impervious surface in, it heats up. And then you're also limiting the grass and the vegetation, which helps cool the environment down. So economic benefits, small business owners have the flexibility to transform spaces that would not normally be usable for their business. And an example of that was a coffee shop in Dallas, Texas. They tried to go into Dallas and their site would, they were going to be required to put an additional 15 parking spaces on the site and they could not physically put them on that site. So they wind up having to take their business and go to another jurisdiction. and left Dallas and went to somewhere else. You also have business owners can use unused parking spaces and transform them into outside dining and extended retail spaces, similar to what Lowe's and Home Depot have already done. And more sites may be suitable for development that would not have due to parking minimum codes. You can think of some of these restaurants and stuff that are going that would need a lot of parking. By the time they do the parking in a stormwater pond, if it's on a smaller lot, they may not be able to go to that site. So that immediately is passed right over that site, or it may even pass right over our city altogether. And it may reduce the construction cost. And if they truly do bring down the number of parking, it would bring down their construction cost. This is the example I was talking about a minute ago in Dallas, Texas. I got a little ahead of myself there. This is a picture of something that could be converted, some parking that was converted. This is an image created with co-pilot and asked to create an image kind of, you know, transforming some off-street parking into dining. And this is kind of what, you know, that example could look like. It may reduce construction costs, roughly requires, requirements can add roughly $5,000 per parking space on a new site. And according to the National Parking Association. So you take a larger site that may, let's say they can reduce 10 parking spaces. That could potentially be about $50,000 or more. And especially if that pushes them over the threshold of needing a stormwater pond. Environmental benefits of eliminating parking minimums may reduce heat islands. And so the less concrete you put down, the less pavement you put down, you'll cool the environment. May require less impervious surface, just less parking spaces. And you may not create as much stormwater because you have less impervious, so you're not going to have as much stormwater coming off of it. and you would help preserve the ecosystems by adding more vegetation and that into a site. And as far as like the heat islands and stuff go, typically a, what some of the last, I thought I had put the slide in there, but these heat islands, a lot of times if you go to communities and you look where the urban core is, it's usually about five to seven degrees warmer than what it is out in the country area. And so it definitely can add up heat. Or if you go to a shaded area where there's a lot of trees and you walk out into the sun, sometimes there could be a 10 to 15 degree temperature change.

Mm-hmm. Any questions, comments?

I think it's a great idea. Not only I've had business owners talk to me and ask me about it and not being able to do things because of the parking requirements. And like you said, I've driven through this town delivering mail, working for FDOT, and every parking lot is half full. There's not a single parking lot in this town that fills up usually that I can recall. So great idea. Appreciate it.

So I've got the policies written. And so the way the policy will work, we're still going to have some verbiage in there as far as that the sites need to be designed around the IT standards. We don't want a business coming in and say, OK, I put one parking spot in. I met the ADA compliancy and I'm good. And we do want they still need to provide parking. Most businesses going to go there go in. are going to want to provide parking anyways, because that is, if they don't have parking, they're not going to get customers. And so our goal, and it would be to have this possibly in August or September at the latest, and that, you know, back in front of the P&Z, probably in September, It's kind of what I'm thinking would be back in front of the P&Z and that with the actual policy. And the way the policy is written right now is it would have to be designed to the ITE standards. If the applicant feels like they need less parking than what the ITE standards are, then they would just have to have an engineer submit a form, say, and a justification as why they feel like they don't need that amount of parking. Right. So we would have that in there, and we let the developer and engineer decide then how much parking is required. A lot of jurisdictions have done this. Gainesville is the only city in the state that I have found that has completely eliminated the parking minimums. And so we may be like the second one in the state to actually do it if we would eliminate it completely.

What is the minimum requirement now?

So every use is different. And so for a lot of your retail spaces, they're required to put one space for every two to 300 square feet, depending on the type of business. Um, restaurants go by the number of seats for every four seats. They're required to have one parking space. And, and then for the dining, the square footage of the dining area, they're also required to have an additional spaces. And then, um, of course for the employees too. And, um, So these are all requirements that are in place right now and that we feel like are overburdening the parking. And, you know, we feel like a lot of times when we get a business in, we're getting the small version because the sites don't allow them to build the way they need to build.

And so would this apply to all new projects or just projects over a certain size or how would that work?

All new projects. Even when somebody comes in, they're moving into a facility that already is existing, already has parking. It would exist in there too. They still got to, like I said, they still got to make sure that they have enough parking for their business model. And that is going to be their responsibility. And we're going to review each one to the IT standards. And then, but then they would just have to, if they need less than that, they would just need a justification.

Okay.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay.

Thank you all. Thank you very much.

Does anybody else have anything that needs to come before the board or comments or comments?

Move to adjourn.

All right. Getting adjourned. How about that? Moving right along to the Board of Adjustment. Meaning we will call that to order. Same roll call. Everybody's had a chance to look at minutes. I'm hopeful. Any comments, changes, additions, deletions to the minutes?

Move to approve.

Second. Okay. Show of hands. Okay. All right. We have no old business and no new business and no workshop items.

Move to adjourn.

Second. All right. Meeting's closed. All right. Historic Preservation Agency. Let's call this one to order. Same roll call. Everybody's had a chance to review minutes. Any changes, deletions, comments?

Move to approve.

Second. Show of hands. Okay. We also have no old business, no new business, no administratively approved items, and no workshop items. Anybody have anything else?

Move to adjourn. Second.

All right. Meeting's adjourned.