Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I would call the December 1st, 2025 meeting of the city Winter Haven Planning Commission uh to order. Jordan, if you would please take role. Kevin Tyson here. Mario Mano. Bob Lander here. Lorena Cado here. Wendy Venttor. Colin Wells here. Ed Smith I think I'm here. Tina Summerland here and Craig Fuller here. We have a quorum. All right. If you would please stand for the invocation and pledge. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this time together and the opportunity to serve the city of Winter Haven. We ask that you be with us and help guide us. We ask these things in your name. Amen.

Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] All right. Has anybody had a chance to review the previous minutes? If so, we will entertain a motion in a vote. I make a motion we approve the minutes. Second. All right. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I I All oppose same sign.

All right. I will move into a brief explanation brief explanation of how the hearing will will go. Um cases will be read into the record. City staff will provide a presentation. After that, commissioners will have an uh opportunity to ask questions of staff. Uh once they have asked their questions, we will close the planning planning portion of the hearing and open the public portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to speak for or against a case may do so. Um, starting with the applicant, we ask that you limit your comments to five minutes. Um, after everyone has had an opportunity to ask their questions or speak, we will close the public portion of the hearing and reopen the planning portion of the hearing. At that time, we can ask additional questions or entertain a motion and a vote. Um, if there's anyone here that thinks they may speak for or against a case, if you would please stand and Jordan will swear you in. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give in this case shall be the truth?

All right, moving into old business. Right, Heather? Yes. Okay. Uh, with case number P-25-07-S, request by Cypress 3 LLC for a standalone parking lot in the commercial downtown C1 zoning district. General location 129 Bates Avenue Southwest. The area covered by this request is 66 plus or minus acres.

All right, Heather Reutder, senior planner for the record. Uh before you is the zoning map. This is located in the C1 zoning district and is completely surrounded um by that zoning designation. As you look at the aerial, you can see there is an existing um paved portion of this property that um consists of parking and then also the unimproved area. This is a view looking at the subject property to the north on Bates Avenue as you look to the east, to the south, and to the west. Cypress 3 LLC is the petitioner and they do request special use approval for a standalone parking lot located in the commercial downtown C1 zoning district. The property subject to this request is located at 129 Bates Avenue Southwest. The subject property consists of 43 existing paved parking spaces and the petitioner intends to create 38 additional paved spaces for a total of 81 parking spaces. The standalone parking lot is being used to support the new Millennium Physician Group's medical office located to the south across Bates Avenue Southwest. Standalone parking lots in the C1 zoning district require special use approval by the planning commission as the unimproved portions of the subject property have been used for parking prior to receiving special use approval. The property is subject to a code compliance case started April 4th, 2025. Additionally, if special use approval is granted, the property will require site plan approval prior to construction of the required improvements. Staff's review of this request yields the following conclusion. Based on the petitioner's request, an additional 38 parking spaces would be added to an existing 43 space parking lot. The demand for additional parking is to accommodate the new Millennium Physician Group's medical office. The location of the standalone parking lot to support the medical office is in the city's downtown and is consistent with long-term goals to grow the business core of the city. Therefore, staff does

recommend that the planning commission recommend approval of this request subject to the conditions that are in your agenda packet and before you. This is a different conceptual plan that was in the agenda packet. um the applicant um redesigned it to meet one of the proposed um conditions to allow for interconnectivity. So I'm presenting this conceptual plan before you this evening. Stand for any questions that you may have any questions? No.

All right, we will close the planning portion of the hearing and open the public portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to speak for or against this case? All right. Seeing none, we will close the public portion of the hearing and reopen the planning portion. Um, I will go ahead and make a motion to in favor of case number P-25-07-S. Request by Cypress 3 LLC for a standalone parking lot in the commercial downtown C1 zoning district. General location 129 Bates Avenue Southwest. The area covered by this request is 66 plus or minus acres as presented in the fact sheet with the word I'm looking for. [laughter] The conditions in the agenda, the conditions included in the in the packet.

Second. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. All right. Moving on to new business. Case number P-25-10-S request by 610 LLC for a standalone parking lot in the commercial downtown C1 zoning district. General location, the subject property is generally located on the south side of Bates Avenue Southwest, approximately 115 ft west of First Street South. The area covered by this request is 23 plus or minus acres.

All right, this will look a little familiar because it's just to [clears throat] the east of the previous. So again, it is located in the C1 zoning district. Um here is the aerial. There is um a paved um parking area that's been used for a parking lot. Um but it has never received special use approval or went through site plan to create um legal parking. As you look at the subject property, um this is looking to the south. [clears throat] This is as you look to the west down um Bates to the north across Bates and to the east and that back there is First Street. Again, 610 LLC is the petitioner and they are requesting special use approval for a standalone parking lot located in the C1 zoning district. Property is subject to this request is located on the south side of Bates Avenue approximately 115 ft west of First Street South. The subject property consists of unstriped hard surface lot. The standalone parking lot is being used to support the new Millennium Physicians Group Medical Office located approximately 155 ft to the west along Bates Avenue Southwest. Standalone parking lots again in the C1 zoning district require special use approval by the planning commission. As the subject property has been used for parking prior to receiving special use approval, the property is subject to a code compliance case that was started April 4th, 2025. Additionally, if special use approval is granted, the property will require site plan approval prior to construction of the required improvements. Um, staff recommends that the planning commission recommend approval of this case subject to the conditions that are in your agenda packet. And this is the conceptual plan that was submitted. I stand for any questions that you may have.

Heather, I have one question. Are they going to repave and like redo this parking lot? So it'll it'll require it to go through site plan and elevations and and be lined and striped um and any storm water. Well, not a C1, so probably not, but any storm water any requirements that would be needed for lining and striping. Additionally, one of the conditions is to require 5 foot wide sidewalk to be installed along the frontage and to the west to connect down to the property that is providing parking for. Um this the only reason I ask is this one. familiar with this and it there's there's a drain right in the middle but it holds a lot of water. So yeah, they'll have to that all be addressed during site plan process. Okay, any additional questions?

No. All right, we will close the planning portion of the hearing and open the public portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to speak for or against? If you would please state your name and address for the record. I know the drill. Thank the old [laughter] old pro

Elizabeth Davis for the purposes of this hearing 114 Bates Avenue Southwest the property in between [laughter] um I did see from the agenda an intention to put a a driveway [clears throat] through I'm sorry a sidewalk in and while that will get people out of my yard and out of my car part and outside of my conference room so I like the concept my main concern that I wanted to figured it was better to do it here. Uh, and I know it's Miss Reutder who's going to have to answer it. I use every bit of that driveway for my parking for my business and have for the last 10 years and prior to that 15 to 20 years of the business before it putting a sidewalk through it will the cars or any visitors, any customers p uh sorry, clients visiting me will end up parking in the sidewalk.

That's the concern I have. It's been a parking lot for many, many years. It is more of a parking lake anytime there's rain. I think everybody knows that. Um, it actually will seep up to my property line, but I am concerned of the impact of what it does to my parking. And I'm asking for clarification on the record, what that is going to do for me if we put a sidewalk in. Can we go back to that just so I can see it on the Well, so the aerial Yeah. So, let's see. Here's the aerial.

Okay. You can roughly obviously aerials can be off five feet either direction, but you can see where the property lines. The majority of the driveway that Miss Davis is referring to is located within our rideway. The sidewalk will be created within the rideway. So, um, you know, [clears throat] it's currently driveway that's extending out over the rideway. It's not going to be impacting anything that was with on her property. Okay? because it's not going to be extended past that driveway. Correct. Just in front of the the park.

It'll cross it all the way to the west. Um as of you know, as you can see on the the north house sidewalk stops about halfway, but it'll go across the driveway aprons and it'll be within our right of way. It won't So, it will cross across part of her driveway apron that is in our rightway, not on her property. Oh yeah. So they're not just adding sidewalk in front of this lot. They're going all the way down. Yes. Because for safe pedestrian travel, we need to have a sidewalk that connects them all the way to the west to This is the main the businesses that will be utilized from this parking. Okay.

But as with any redevelopment of sites, one of the requirements is for infill sidewalks in front of the frontage of your property. And obviously with a special use when it's a condition for pedestrian safety, we you know are going to require it to extend in our rightway to the west to connect it would be but that's what she say. I can add the sidewalk's really a safety issue. This is the we can have the the pedestrians using the street. Right. I I understand. I'm just trying to answer her question of what kind of impact that's going to have to parking. So, if you look to the if you look to the north of Bates Avenue and you see where how the sidewalk traverses across the driveway aprons, it looks similar to that,

right? And just just as a clarification, are we talking about all the way to the main I'll call it campus where like not just to the imaging because I want to say that's the imaging. Yeah. No, it'll go all the way to that main parking lot there on the further west part of your screen. Got it. Okay. Like four lots over. I'm the only owner between the lot and the others. So,

right. May I can add a point looking at the uh this is a very irregular rideway that runs through here with lots of little jogs in it in all likelihood because of the geometry of this rideway. Sidewalk usually is at the back of the rideway up against the property line. This one will probably pushed out closer to the street just simply due to the geometry of this rideway. This would make things somewhat Is it curb and gutter or is it I can't remember what the profile looks like? No, there's no curb there. Oh, it's it's just grass. There you go. That would be the view of

I mean you and it'll have to be closer to the edge of payment as you see the poles as well that are along the property. So it it it's going to hug closer to to the edge of payment to the street. right away and she's going. So, just if somebody parks in her driveway and they're on the sidewalk, is what's the likelihood that that anything will happen to that person who parks there? It's technically a code violation to overhang a sidewalk with park.

They're there for half an hour, 45 minutes. Okay. Could they flare it out so [laughter] get to the heartscape? I mean, that's the real issue, right? Is just providing continuity so they can get around. I mean, even if you look at this imagery, you can see the the shrub. So, you can see her vehicle is parked under the carport. If a car is parked behind it, it would probably be about the length of those bushes and end before the pole. The sidewalk's going to be after the pole. So unless I know it's Poke County, unless it's large pickup trucks, it should be able to still stack within there without being on the sidewalk. Yeah. Miss Davis, how many cars can you park there? Currently,

four. Uh, two under the carport. And And this will eliminate two of those. Correct. So there's only enough for me and my staff, which is a problem to create a code violation for me to solve problem for someone else who didn't pre-plan when they rent it out to tenants. Um, this has been there. I when I purchased the property a decade ago, I confirmed with the city that this has been acceptable parking for that business for decades before me. I have some problems being told now that [clears throat] I'm now going to be have code violations and no parking for clients to visit my office. Will this new will this new lot be by parking permit? Is it a public lot? It's a it'll be a private lot.

Private lot. Okay. Is there a possibility that 610 will grant you two spaces in that lot? They have said that my clients can park there, but they've also made it clear they intend to until they develop it into something else. So, my concern is down the road when they do con develop it into something else, they have made it clear that that is their plan. Right. So, can that be under contract? They've stopped talking to me, so I proceeded with this. So, I'm here. looking for a solution. I don't want to lose my parking for my clients. [clears throat] Before the sidewalk would be I agree.

The frontage of your building, is it possible to make parking spaces there? No. The property line goes straight to it.

Not unless it was like a double wide uh That's not good. Not without getting permission to basically pave the whole front yard and great expense to me. Correct. That's what it looks like. Right. It's not really feasible for a small law firm in downtown. And there's no other access point to your property except for the front. Correct.

Where do we go from here? [laughter] any suggestions? I mean, I I still say from the the image here, like there there still will be adequate room to be able to park because the sidewalk will have to be on the other side of that pole. So, from the pole and you can see where the the rear of her car is. So, the entire width of those Yeah. length of those hedges will be able to be parked there. Yeah. To be clear, we're not elim we're not taking away any of her parking access. Yes. Right. But it's

or or eliminating your parking because again that's her driveway apron from the rideway and now just a a sidewalk for pedestrian safety which you know that is one of the goals of the city is to put sidewalks where there are gaps throughout. Um, so it's not just it's at this point it's because yes, the special use is coming through for for parking lots. So there's going to be immediate need for it, but you know that is a goal of the city is to put sidewalks in or right away where there are gaps. Is parking allowed on the street there in front of the property?

Yeah, there's no proho prohibition of on street parking. now could not park up over to the sidewalk depending on how close it is to the pavement, but there is no prohibition. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Anyone else from the public? No. All right. We will close the public portion of the hearing and reopen the planning portion of the hearing. Any additional questions? There's no Yeah, it's roughly about 22 feet. That's not our property. Did you measure?

Yeah, it's almost 22 ft. That's not on the property lane. Any any questions? No. Any anything else to add?

All right. I will go ahead and make a um motion in favor of case number P-25-10-S request by 610 LLC for a standalone parking lot in the commercial downtown C1 zoning district. General location, the subject property is generally located on the south side of [clears throat] Bates Avenue Southwest, approximately 115 ft west of First Street South. The area covered by this request is 0.23 plus or minus acres as presented in the fact sheet and with conditions recommended by staff. Second. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. Same sign.

All right. Moving on to case number P-26-1. Request by Lake Ashton 2 CDD to amend a portion of planned unit development. Ordinance [clears throat] O dash 07-78. General location. The subject property is generally located in Lake Ashton 2, generally located east of County Road 653 and west of Rattlesnake Lake and consists of the common area parcels contained containing the amenity center and right ofway for Lake Ashton 2 CDD. The area covered by this request is 54.18 plus or minus acres.

All right. Uh before you is the future land use map. the um developed or the high area of this is neighborhood suburban. There is some conservation designations within the property as well where there are wetlands. As you look at the zoning, it is a plan unit development and again the request is to amend that PUD ordinance on the subject area. So as you look it is um on the arrow you can see it is all of the the rights way because they are connected as the parcel that then include the the amenity center. Um, and that's really where the focus of the amendment for use is to change to, but it does cover all of those parcels. Um, this is a few from 653 at the entrance of Lake Ashton. As you head in, um, I just I took photos of the prevalent areas where this will apply. This is their, um, community center uh, building and then they also there's some ancillary u recreation facility as well. Again, Lake Ashton 2 CDD is the petitioner and they request the city to amend a portion of plan unit development ordinance 0708. And the property is subject to this request as the common area parcels containing the amenity center and rights of way for the lake ashen to generally located east of County Road 653 and west of Rattlesnake Lake. The petitioner's only proposed amendment is to add mobile food vending as a permitted use on the subject property. Community events are scheduled at the amenity center for Lake Ashen 2 residents and they intend to include mobile food vendors as a part of these events. Section 2198 of the Winter Haven code of ordinances regulates mobile food vending activity and if adopted any mobile food vending on the subject property would be subject to these provisions. Uh staff's review um yields the following conclusion. The addition of mobile food vending as a permitted use on the common area parcel subject to this request does not represent a significant amendment to the PUD. As this request is an amendment to

add mobile food vending as a permitted use to the already developed property, no additional impacts to public infrastructure are expected. Therefore, staff does recommend that the planning commission recommend approval of this case subject to the PUD conditions in the agenda packet and its forwarding to the city commission for final action. Stand for any questions that you may have. Any questions? No. All right. We will close the planning portion and open the public portion of the hearing. Anybody wishing to speak for or against? All right. Seeing none, we will reopen the planning portion of the hearing. I'll make a f motion in favor of case number P-26-01, a request by Lake Ashton to CDD to amend a portion of the PUD ordinance 0-07-78, the general location. uh being the subject property located in Lake Ashton 2, generally located east of County Road 653 and west of Rattlesnake Lake and consists of the common area parcels containing the amenity center and rights of way for the Lake Gaston 2 CDD area covered by this request is 54.18 [clears throat] more or less acres as presented in the fact sheet and by staff.

Second. All in favor say I. I I all oppose. Same sign.

Okay. Moving on. Case number P-26-02. [clears throat] Administrative request to amend the capital improvements element of the comprehensive plan to update the five-year schedule of capital improvements and to revise capital improvements element policies 1.1.7 and 1.1.8 eight relating to the adoption of the Florida Department of Transportations and Pulk County's 2025 2026 through 2029 2030 transportation improvements programs and the Pulk County School Board's 2025 2026 through 2029 2030 facilities work program by reference.

I apologize. That's that's our lengthiest agenda item we have for a title all year. [laughter] We have to do it every year. But uh uh moving into the presentation, this is an annual um called housekeeping item where we have to update the comp plan's 5-year capital improvement schedule. Um Florida statutes require all governments to adopt a 5-year schedule capital improvements as part of the comp plan. Uh this update includes fiscal years 2025, 2026 through 2029, and 2030. and it's basically derived from the city's uh 2025 2026 operating budget that was adopted by the city commission uh September 22nd uh 2025. Uh the 5-year schedule of capital improvements consists of items identified in the capital improvements program of the city's budget that implement specific objectives and policies contained in the comprehensive plan and those future projects for which grant funding will be pursued. for capital improvements element policy 1.1.3. Only those projects with a minimum cost of $25,000 and a minimum service life of five years are included for this upcoming 5-year schedule capital improvements. The uh the funding is or the cost of the of the proposed projects is $391.1 million. funding does come from a combination of general and enterprise funds, impact fees, grants, bond revenues, loans, uh state and county revenue sharing, and private contributions. Uh, additionally, to uh fully implement the city's concurrency management system, we have to formally adopt by reference FDOT, PK counties, and PK County school boards 5-year work programs as well. Those are the uh two policies uh in the capital improvements element we're updating. Uh for the record, all public notification requirements have been met and staff does recommend approval of this request. Any questions?

No. All right, we will close the planning portion of the hearing and open the public portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this case? All right, seeing none, we will reopen the planning portion of the hearing. Motion to approve.

Case number P26 02, administrative request to amend the capital improvements element of the comprehensive plan to update the 5-year schedule of capital improvements and to revise capital improvements element policies 1.1.7 and 1.1.8 eight relating to the adoption of the Florida Department of Transportations and Pole counties 2025 2026 through 2029 20 2030 transportation improvement programs and the Pulk County School Board's 2025 2026 through 2029 2030 facilities work program by reference. Second.

All right, we have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose same sign. All right, moving on. Case number P-26-03, administrative request to amend the Winter Haven, [clears throat] excuse me, code of ordinances, chapter 21, article 7, division 5, subdivision regulations for the purpose of revising the city's subdivision regulations to comply with the with changes in state law.

Okay. I'm also going to present this item as well. And just kind of before I really dive into this one, uh the next couple items on the agenda are direct results of changes in state law that were approved earlier this year came u law July 1st. So these are just uh uh text changes to the uh land development regulations to implement those changes. Uh specifically, um case number P26-03. This one's addressing subdivision plat uh during the 2025 Florida legislative session. Senate Bill 784 was passed by the legislature and became law effective July 1st, 2025. Senate Bill 784 revises chapter 177.071 of Florida statutes by addressing the process oops governing the uh review and approval of final subdivision plats by local governments. The most significant change is the approval of final subdivision plat is now required to be administrative through city staff as opposed to the city commission. um other changes u to uh chapter 21 article 7 division 5 as a result of this um these are the significant changes we're making uh we're creating what's known as a city administrative authority and that's actually spelled out in state statute now um is a to approve plat this is opposed to the city commission and the case of Winter Haven the economic opportunity and community investment director will be designated as the city administrative authority. Uh second major change is the requirement for a formal acceptance letter for all applications to be provided from the city to the applicant upon receipt of the complete subdivision plat application. We have a maximum 180day review period for applications for a final subdivision plat. That's for us to review and

approve it. Approve of conditions or deny the plat application. And then finally, u the city administrative authority will have the power to accept improvements to be dedicated to the city and release subdivision performance bonds. Um other than these changes, all other requirements for planning a subdivision of city is going to remain unchanged. So it's really just addressing the formal approval process and not the standards for a subdivision. So um for the record, all public notification requirements were met and staff does recommend approval of this request. Any questions? Lots. But I don't know. [laughter]

So, does it still have to go through the city commission? No. Okay. It doesn't at all. Not at all. Okay. I mean, it's just kind of curious, it seems. So, it would it would still come through us and then it would go straight to that doesn't come to it cannot go to any appointed or elected body for approval. Just for clarification, this is specific to plat. So any any zoning process any future lang correct it's just the plat

right right which is generally done by like a surveyor and it's already been predefined but I'll say is it is the intent to kind of correct I'll I'll call it scrier's errors or errors where they you know what I mean because sometimes they'll put it together and it'll be wrong and then it'll get approved and then the intent I [clears throat] believe is some jurisdictions remember this is statewide, right, require public hearings to approve plat. And sometimes it's slow and sometimes it's slow. Yes. Um in reality, a plat is a legal document that you're just reviewing it for compliance with chapter 177.

Um there are some jurisdictions in the state that try to use the platting process for more than what's actually in statute. I see. And this is likely a result of that taking place. Okay. So, Any other questions? No. No. All right. We will close the planning portion and open the public portion of the hearing. Anyone wishing to speak for or against?

All right. We will reopen the planning portion of the hearing. I'll make a motion to approve case number P-26-03, administrative request to amend this Winter Haven Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21, Article 7, Division 5, Subdivision Regulations for the purpose of revising the city's subdivision regulations to comply with changes in the state law as prevented as presented in the fact sheet. Second. All right, we have a second. All those in favor say I.

I. All oppose, same sign. Okay, moving on. Case number P-26-04, administrative request to amend the Winter Haven Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21, Article 2, Division 3, Chapter 21, Article 2, table 21 through 32A, table of land uses in chapter 21, article 9, section 21- 531 to address certified recovery residences in winter in the city. Okay, this is another one of these legislative items that came out of this past session [clears throat] and to the best my understanding is this is something that originated down south Florida and is kind of spread throughout the state. But um a little background um the 2025 Florida legislative session Senate Bill 954 was passed by the legislature became effective July 1st, 2025. Senate Bill 954 revises chapter 397.487 487 of Florida statutes by requiring local governments to amend their land development regulations to provide reasonable accommodation for certified recovery residences by January 1st, 2026. Certified recovery residences are a type of residential facility which provide individuals with addiction treatment a place for re-entering society after completion of an addiction treatment program. To address these changes in state law, the following changes to the city's code are proposed. Uh we're adding language addressing certified recovery residences in section 21-64. Uh this will require the existing language in that section to be moved to another section of the code. It was the most appropriate place to place this language. That's why we we chose to do that. Um next major change is it permits the submitt of an application to the city seeking reasonable accommodation for certified recovery residents. It

shall be reviewed and approved. Approved with conditions or denied with evidence-based uh reasons for denial. [clears throat] Uh third, we're adding a definition uh for certified recovery residence to section 21-531. And then finally, we're revising table 21-32A. Uh the table of land uses to add certified recovery residences of special use in the AG, RE, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, RM, MX, C2, C3, and I2 zoning districts and as a permitted use in the PI zoning district. Lastly, um there is a table. It's in your fact sheet that I included. But essentially what we're doing with all the sections in this division of uh chapter 21 article 2 is we're just shifting all the sections forward. Um so basically the existing 2164 which deals with nursing homes is going to become the new 2165 and so forth all the way through uh section 2170 which is waterfront properties. That will become the new section 2171. So that's all we're doing. We're just shifting all the sections forward to accommodate this new language. Uh for the record, all public notifications were met and staff does recommend approval of this request and it's forwarding to the city commission for final action. Any questions? No. All right. We will close the planning portion of the hearing and open the public portion. Anyone wishing to speak for or against? All right. We will reopen the planning portion of the hearing. I will go ahead and make a motion in favor of case number P-26-04, administrative request to amend the Winter Haven Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21, Article 2, Division 3, Chapter 21,

Article 2, Table 21-32A, Table of Land Uses, and Chapter 21, Article 9, Section 21 through 531 to address certified recovery residences in the city as presented in the fact sheet. Second. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose, same sign. All right, moving on. Comments from staff.

Uh, not too much to add. U summarizing from our November meeting. Um, the reasonzoning for the uh property out there. It uh used to be phase eight of VMAR is moving forward to the city commission this month and should be finalized um by the end of uh by next week. Uh other than that, nothing new to report. Other than I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season because we next time we'll meet will be in January. It's true. Comments from commissioners comments from the public. Okay, we