HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 11 Approval of Resolution of Pending Legislation
City of Ocoee ▪ 1 N. Bluford Avenue ▪ Ocoee, Florida 34761
Phone: (407) 905-3100 ▪ www.ocoee.org
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: March 4, 2025
Item #: 11
Contact Name: Anoch Whitfield Department Director: Ginger Corless
Contact Number: Ext. 1016 City Manager: Craig Shadrix
Subject: Approval of Resolution of Pending Legislation to Provide for New Governing Policy
Framework and Land Development Regulations. (Zoning Manager Whitfield)
Background Summary:
Chapter 163, Part II, Florida Statutes, requires that local governments adopt a comprehensive plan that
establishes the principles, guidelines, standards, and strategies for the orderly and balanced economic, social,
physical, environmental and fiscal development of the City. Section 163.3177(5)(a), F.S., requires that the
Comprehensive Plan includes at least two planning periods, one covering at least the first 10-year period
occurring after the plan’s adoption and one covering at least a 20-year period.
The current Comprehensive Plan, adopted on October 1, 2002, has reached its long-term planning horizon of
2022. Therefore, "The Comprehensive Plan must be updated to include the statutorily required ten-year and
twenty-year planning horizons." Additionally, Section 163.3177(6), F.S., requires the Comprehensive Plan to
be based on relevant and appropriate data and an analysis by the City that may include, but not be limited to,
surveys, studies, community goals and vision, and other data available at the time of the preparation and
adoption of the plan.
To maintain compliance with Chapter 163, Part II, Florida Statutes, the City is moving forward with and is
actively preparing its Comprehensive Plan, entitled "Envision 2045 Ocoee Comprehensive Plan" ("Envision
2045"), which shall be the governing policy framework to direct growth and development in the city over the
next twenty years. Envision 2045 shall establish Goals, Objectives, and Policies to achieve its vision of Ocoee
becoming “a vibrant, attractive and economically sustainable community where businesses thrive and
neighborhoods flourish through diverse, compact, and complementary land uses that produce quality
developments, enhanced and active public realms, and safe and efficient mobility systems while
simultaneously preserving environmental systems and creating parks, trails and open spaces to promote
social engagement, community health and overall well-being of the City."
Envision 2045 and its supporting Data, Inventory and Analysis (DIA) document are being prepared in-house
by a multi-department Comprehensive Planning Team comprised of staff from Development Services, Public
Works, Utilities, and Parks and Leisure Services, with technical assistance from the City's transportation
consultant firm regarding the Transportation Element (which will be renamed the Mobility Element). The DIA
document, upon completion, will contain an evaluation of historical growth and development trends. It will also
include the development of the City's 2045 population projections based on several methodologies (including
those listed in Florida Statutes), an evaluation of anticipated demands, and an assessment of the City's ability
to accommodate these demands on public infrastructure and municipal services, including completion of the
10-Year Water Supply Plan. The Comprehensive Planning Team has prepared a Vision Statement for
Envision 2045 and drafted Goals and Objectives for each of the required Elements. Team members continue
Page 217 of 251
City of Ocoee ▪ 1 N. Bluford Avenue ▪ Ocoee, Florida 34761
Phone: (407) 905-3100 ▪ www.ocoee.org
to work diligently on developing the implementing policies for Envision 2045 and finalizing the DIA document,
in addition to performing their regular duties and responsibilities.
Concurrently with Envision 2045's preparation, Development Services staff, with technical assistance from the
Comprehensive Planning Team, is updating the Land Development Code to create zoning districts, urban
design and architectural standards, development policies and procedures, and other regulations to implement
the Goals, Objectives, and Policies of Envision 2045. The LDC Update is an 18-month contract with a
Planning Consulting Firm that kicked off in February 2024. The first LDC Draft Deliverable, received on
December 31, 2024, was rejected by the City for incompleteness, and Development Services staff have met
with the Consultant on several occasions to develop an acceptable First Draft. Staff anticipates that
completion of the LDC Update will occur after the completion of Envision 2045 Comprehensive Plan. Based
on current tracking, the completion of Envision 2045 Comprehensive Plan is as follows:
Planning and Zoning Commission Workshop - March 20, 2025
Planning and Zoning Commission Hearing - April 8, 2025
City Commission 1st Reading Transmittal - April 15, 2025
State Agencies 45-Day Commenting Period - May 30, 2025
City Commission 2nd Reading/Adoption - June 17, 2025
Therefore, the completion of the new Land Development Code update will have both the 1st and second
reading/adoption in July 2025.
The attached Resolution puts the public and all parties on notice that the City is actively preparing its new
governing policy framework embodied within Envision 2045 and new and updated Land Development Code to
bring nonconformities into compliance, to govern real properties, including buildings, structures and premises,
as necessary, to protect the health, safety and welfare of existing and future residents and property owners
within the City’s jurisdictional limits, and to foster development patterns and designs that not only protect but
also enhance the public realm with beautiful peacemaking standards, that promote the efficient use of
municipal investments and infrastructure, that achieve infill, redevelopment and adaptive reuse, and that add
to the quality, character, economic vitality, and sustainability of the City, and includes provisions for the City's
enforcement.
The City wishes to give notice that it is implementing the Pending Legislation Doctrine (also known as the
Pending Ordinance Doctrine) concerning Envision 2045 and updated Land Development Code governing real
properties within the City limits. Any land development applications submitted after the moratorium on
processing expires on March 17, 2025, shall be subject to Envision 2045 and the new Land Development
Code. Such submissions may include applications: (a) to amend the Comprehensive Plan text or Future Land
Use Map; or (b) to rezone land in the City; or (c) to obtain special exception allowing certain use(s) on land in
the City; or (d) for preliminary or final site plan or subdivision approval.
Issue:
Should the Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners approve a Resolution which declares and implements
the Pending Legislation Doctrine to provide for a new governing policy framework and land development
regulations?
Recommendations:
Staff recommends that the Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners approve the Resolution which declares
and implements the Pending Legislation Doctrine to provide for a new governing policy framework and land
development regulations.
Attachments:
1. Resolution of Pending Legislation
Page 218 of 251
City of Ocoee ▪ 1 N. Bluford Avenue ▪ Ocoee, Florida 34761
Phone: (407) 905-3100 ▪ www.ocoee.org
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Type of Item: Consent
Page 219 of 251
RESOLUTION NO. ______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
OCOEE, FLORIDA, PROVIDING NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF
PENDING LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE FOR THE CITY’S NEW
GOVERNING POLICY FRAMEWORK AND LAND DEVELOPMENT
REGULATIONS THAT SHALL DIRECT AND MANAGE GROWTH AND
DEVELOPMENT, ELIMINATE NON-CONFORMITIES, PRIORITIZE
INFILL, REDEVELOPMENT AND ADAPTIVE REUSE,
ACCOMMODATE A MIX OF HOUSING TYPOLOGY, URBANIZE
DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS THROUGH SOUND URBAN DESIGN
PRINCIPLES, FOSTER RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
SOUND ENVIRONMENTALLY-CONSCIOUS PRACTICES, REQUIRE
AESTHETICALLY PLEASING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
ELEMENTS, AND PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE PUBLIC REALM
THROUGH THE ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CITY’S
2045 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND NEW LAND DEVELOPMENT
CODE, AND PROVISIONS FOR ENFORCEMENT THEREOF.
WHEREAS, Chapter 163, Part II, Florida Statutes, sets requirements for local
governments to adopt a comprehensive plan covering at least two planning periods, one covering
at least the first 10-year period occurring after the plan’s adoption and one covering at least a 20-
year period; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Ocoee (the “Ocoee City Commission”)
adopted the City’s Comprehensive Plan (the “Ocoee Comprehensive Plan”) by Ordinance No. 91-
28 on September 18, 1991, pursuant to Chapter 163, Part II, Florida Statutes, the Growth Policy
Act (the “Act”), as amended from time to time; and
WHEREAS, the current Comprehensive Plan was adopted on October 1, 2002, has
reached its long-term planning horizon of 2022, and, therefore, must be updated to include the
statutorily required ten-year and twenty-year planning horizons; and
WHEREAS, the City wishes to place the public and all parties on notice that the City is
actively preparing the 2045 Comprehensive Plan, which shall be the governing policy framework
Page 220 of 251
2
to provide for the orderly and balanced economic, social, physical, environmental, and fiscal
development of the City over the next ten-year and twenty-year planning horizons; and
WHEREAS, the 2045 Comprehensive Plan shall establish Goals, Objectives and Policies
to achieve its vision of Ocoee becoming “a vibrant, attractive and economically sustainable
community where businesses thrive and neighborhoods flourish through diverse, compact, and
complementary land uses that produce quality developments, enhanced and active public realms,
and safe and efficient mobility systems while simultaneously preserving environmental systems
and creating parks, trails and open spaces to promote social engagement, community health and
overall wellbeing of the City”; and
WHEREAS, the City further wishes to place the public and all parties on notice that the
City is concurrently updating the Ocoee Land Development Code to create zoning districts, urban
design and architectural standards, development policies and procedures, and other regulations to
implement the Goals, Objectives and Policies of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan; and
WHEREAS, the City declares and hereby implements the Pending Legislation Doctrine
(or Pending Ordinance Doctrine) set forth in Smith v. City of Clearwater, 383 So. 2d 681 (Fla. 2d
DCA 1980), to give notice of a new policy framework embodied within the 2045 Comprehensive
Plan and new land development regulations embodied within the updated Land Development Code
to bring nonconformities into compliance, to govern real properties, including buildings, structures
and premises, as necessary, to protect the health, safety and welfare of existing and future residents
and property owners within the City’s jurisdictional limits, and to foster development patterns and
designs that not only protect but also enhance the public realm with beautiful placemaking
standards, that promote the efficient use of municipal investments and infrastructure, that achieve
infill, redevelopment and adaptive reuse, and that add to the quality, character, economic vitality,
and sustainability of the City; and
Page 221 of 251
3
WHEREAS, property owners and developers should be aware that provisions of pending
ordinances not yet adopted by the City shall be applied to any proposed development or to any
development application submitted to the City after the six-month moratorium on the processing
of development applications expires on March 17, 2025, as adopted by Ordinance 2024-26 on
September 17, 2024, and until the passage of the pending ordinances. Such applications may
include those: (a) to amend the Comprehensive Plan text or Future Land Use Map; or (b) to rezone
land in the City; or (c) to obtain a special exception allowing certain use(s) on land in the City; or
(d) for preliminary or final site plan or subdivision approval; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission in good faith determines that this Resolution is in the
best interest of the City and its residents and promotes the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the City Commission of the City of Ocoee,
Florida that:
SECTION 1. The foregoing recitals are re-incorporated herein as if set forth at length.
SECTION 2. That the City Commission of the City of Ocoee hereby gives notice of
planning staff’s active pursuit of pending legislation in the normal course of municipal action, and
directs staff to advertise for public hearing, respectively, the consideration and adoption of the
2045 Comprehensive Plan and updated Land Development Code, upon their respective
completions, to govern real properties and direct and manage growth and development, as necessary,
to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents and property owners within the City’s
jurisdictional limits, and to provide for the City’s enforcement of the ordinances.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Commission of the City of
Ocoee held in City Hall, Ocoee on this ______day of ____________________ 2025.
[space intentionally left blank]
Page 222 of 251
4
APPROVED:
ATTEST: CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA
_________________________________
Melanie Sibbitt, City Clerk Rusty Johnson, Mayor
(SEAL)
APPROVED BY THE OCOEE CITY
COMMISSION ON ______________,
2025
UNDER AGENDA ITEM NO._________
FOR USE AND RELIANCE ONLY
BY THE CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA;
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
this ______ day of ____________________, 2025.
FISHBACK DOMINICK
By: ____________________________________
Richard S. Geller
City Attorney
Page 223 of 251