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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 05-09-1989 .r. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1989 Simmy The meeting was called to order by Chairman Swickerath at 7:30 p.m. PRESENT: Chairman Swickerath; Board members Bello, Switzer, Linebarier, and Weeks; City Manager Shapiro; Director of Planning Behrens; and Deputy Clerk Resnik. ABSENT: Board member Bond and Alternate member Breeze. Chairman Swickerath notified the Board that Board member Bond's father had passed away. He also said that Vice Chairman Smith had resigned. Chairman Swickerath asked all Board members to submit their nominations for a successor for Vice Chairman to the Planning Department by Thursday in order for City Manager Shapiro to place the item on the City Commission meeting agenda. Chairman Swickerath said for the record that he did not think that Alternate Board member Breeze should be considered for a permanent position on the Board since he had not regularly attended meetings and had not attended the last five or six meetings. Chairman Swickerath suggested that a replacement be found for Burton Smith and that the vacant alternate position be tilled. Chairman Swickerath said for the record that he also felt that Mr. Breeze should be replaced as well. There was some %or discussion about alternate members and the importance of these members attending every meeting so they would keep informed on all issues in the event they are called to fill in for a Board member. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Board member Switzer moved to approve the regular meeting minutes of April 11, 1989, Board member Linebarier seconded, and approval was unanimous. OLD BUSINESS Proposed Planning and Zoning Board Bylaws Ordinance Chairman Swickerath asked the Board if they wanted to discuss the bylaws even though some members were not present. Board member Linebarier said the minutes of the last meeting showed that the Board had asked staff to include an additional paragraph on the Board reviewing all plans up to and including the final plans and to make recommendations to the City Commission at each stage of the plan review process. Board member Linebarier asked staff why this was not added to the ordinance. *Noy' 1 Page 2 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 City Manager Shapiro said it was his decision and that at the pleasure of the Board, he would explain further. Chairman Swickerath asked City Manager Shapiro to continue. City Manager Shapiro said there was some question about the particular functions and powers of the Planning and Zoning Board. He said it may very well be that there are some legal rights and obligations due to the Planning and Zoning Board being the LPA (Local Planning Agency). City Manager Shapiro said that certain questions must be answered before the Board moves further with its bylaws discussions. He said he first wanted to have the City Attorney research what legal obligations are tied to the Board being the LPA. He said the City was in the process of adopting the Orange County development review process and that this would entail a review of the current process that the City has and that the Planning and Zoning Board may want to wait to see what happens in these discussions before adopting bylaws. City Manager Shapiro said he did not want the ordinance to be adopted and then have to be changed 30 days later. Board member Switzer said the Board wanted to incorporate the 1 11101,, , review of all plans because one of the things they had experienced was that they would meet and work with developers at the preliminary stage and make recommendations but then never see the Developer again and have to find out what happens by watching the City Commission meeting on television. Board member Switzer asked why the City had a Planning and Zoning Board if developers only have to work out things with the City Commission. He said he was unsure sometimes whether or not the City Commission was even made aware of what the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation was. Chairman Swickerath said there have been instances where staff has diminished the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendations in reports, discussions, etc. He said he was aware of the Board's "advisory" capacity but said in other city and county governments if the Planning and Zoning Board approves something, it would go on the consent agenda at the City Commission level unless it had strong opposition from citizens or the developer. Chairman Swickerath said that this method took some of the heat off of the City Commission and provided "due process" where the City Commission was there for an appeal of any kind. Chairman Swickerath said there had been occasions where the Planning and Zoning Board, staff, and the Developer agreed on something and then that agreement fell through for some 2 Page 3 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 ern reason and the P &Z Board was not made aware of the change until it was too late. Board member Switzer said the Route 50 study was another example. He said it was approved by the City Commission and then someone at City Hall made changes to it. He said the Planning and Zoning Board had discussed the study for two nights and then the change went through and by the time the Planning and Zoning Board found out about it, it was too late. City Manager Shapiro asked for the purpose of discussion, what if the City Commission did not take into consideration the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation even though it was made well aware of it. Board member Linebarier said the Board was not questioning the City Commission's ability to act on the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendations but was questioning whether the City Commission was in tact being told of the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendations and whether staff was accurately portraying these recommendations on the P &Z Board's behalf. Board member Linebarier said there had been several instances where staff either arbitrarily changed or left out the P &Z Board's recommendations in staff reports. He used Plantation urove as an example. Board member Linebarier said the plans originally showed the crash gate as a through street and that was how the Planning and Zoning Board had approved of the plan. He said when it was brought back, it showed a crash gate even though the P &Z Board had let the Developer know that the Board was opposed to such a concept and staff had also not only allowed the change but put on the staff report that it approved of the crash gate. Board member Linebarier said again that the P &Z Board recommended that the crash gate only be a temporary measure and that the street ultimately be a through street. He said this was only one of the recent occurrences when staff had either failed to mention a previous recommendation by the P &Z Board or went against what the Board had approved in the pant. City Manager Shapiro said in most cities, the Planning and Zoning Board meeting minutes are given to the City Commission to read so that they know what occurred. Chairman Swickerath said this was a good idea but that the minutes do not get done for the most part until after the City Commission has met and already discussed what was discussed by the P &Z Board. He said the only way this would work would be to delay the Developer from going right from the P &Z Board to the City Commission. He said if the City waited for the P &Z Board to approve its minutes at the following meeting and 3 Page 4 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 then gave each City Commissioner a copy, it would be about six weeks between the time the Developer went in front of the P &Z Board until the time the Developer went in front of the City Commission. City Manager Shapiro said this was not a probable solution unless the City Commission could be given a brief synopsis of how the P &Z Board voted on certain issues. City Manager Shapiro said that staff should not be editorializing the P &Z Board's recommendations in staff reports. He said staff could include how the Board voted on something but it should not be followed by any staff opinion on that vote. City Manager Shapiro said the time element was important because sometimes staff only has half a day to a day to get the staff report formalized after the P &Z Board meeting to get it into the agenda packet for the next City Commission meeting. He said it was a pipeline problem because the City Commission had a policy of addressing developers only at the second Commission meeting of the month. Director of Planning Behrens said sometimes it would be possible to give the City Commission excerpts from the P &Z Board meetings. He said the P &Z Board had approved minutes tonight that dealt with Plantation Grove West and that these would be included in the packets for the City Commissioners. City Manager Shapiro said if the P &Z Board wants to become more involved, the Board will probably have to start meeting weekly because the Development Review Committee was starting to move projects through the pipeline faster and was meeting more than once a week to get the pipeline unclogged. City Manager Shapiro said the perception from the Developer is that the developers feel that neither staff nor the P &Z Board hold any weight and they have shown this perception by continually bringing several items to the City Commission that should in fact be worked out with staff. City Manager Shapiro said the City Commission is tired of being the ones to decide and that they only want to have to decide policy issues. Everything else, City Manager Shapiro said, should be decided beforehand. Board member Linebarier said the Board had requested the paragraph on reviewing final plans be inserted into the bylaws ordinance to help with this process. City Manager Shapiro said that by having the P &Z Board review plans again, Spe the process would be held up because developers would have to wait another month for a P &Z Board meeting. Hoard member 4 Page 5 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 �I1r�► Switzer asked City Manager Shapiro how else the P &Z Board could make sure that the City Commission knew their recommendations. City Manager Shapiro said in other cities the Chairman of the P &Z Board or one of the members, generally attends the City Commission meetings when something is on the agenda to testify on behalf of the Board. City Manager Shapiro said he thought the City Commission would respect the P &Z Board and allow them to speak at City Commission meetings. Chairman Swickerath said either he would attend or a member would attend the City Commission meetings as a representative of the P &Z Board from now on. Chairman Swickerath said that still did not mean that the P &Z Board did not want to see the second generation of plan. He said personally he did not feel the need to see all plans or even any plans on such projects as strip shopping centers, site plans on single homes, doctor's offices, etc. as long as they met all the criteria and they do not need rezonings or they are not a PUD. But Chairman Swickerath said he might be in the minority since there are Board members who want to `, review everything. City Manager Shapiro said he would oppose such a concept aince the Board only meets once a month. City Manager Shapiro said since the Board was not made up of engineers, he did not know why they would want to or think they should review such things as size of parking spaces, etc. City Manager Shapiro said the City had engineers for that and that unless the Board was willing to meet every week, he would be opposed to any such reviews because it would delay the process. Board member Bello said she agreed with City Manager Shapiro but that she had been on the Board for two years and sometimes precedents were set and if she was going to make a decision or vote on something, it needed to be an educated decision and be supported by staff. She said she had spent many long hours to make sure her decisions were well thought out. Because of this, she felt staff should take her vote as well as other Board members' votes into consideration more so than is normally the case. She also said she would like to be kept informed on all development projects in the City. Director of Planning Behrens said by law that staff was not required to bring Plantation Grove West back before the P &Z Board but it was done as a courtesy review. He said whenever possible, it had been his policy to bring things back before P &Z in order to keep them up to date. 5 Page 6 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 City Manager Shapiro said there was nothing wrong with staff having a different opinion from the P &Z Board. Chairman Swickerath said he did not believe that staff should comment on policy issues, but rather only on technical matters. City Manager Shapiro commented that the crash gate was technical in nature but Chairman Swickerath said he did not agree. City Manager Shapiro said that the P &Z Board at present only gave a recommendation and that if the Board wanted to recommend a policy change, then it would have to ask the City Commission to change the City's policy. City Manager Shapiro said the Board could recommend that the City Commission change the necessary ordinances and development review process in order to give the P &Z Board more authority. Board member Linebarier said that was what they were trying to do when he asked that the paragraph on reviewing all plans be added to the new bylaws ordinance. City Manager Shapiro said the Hoard needed to set up a dialogue with the City Commission to let them know a change is requested. Chairman Swickerath said that was one reason that the P &Z Board was looking to adopt a bylaws ordinance. City Manager Shapiro said he was only trying to start the conversation and not trying to get in the way of the P &Z Board. He said he wanted to clarify what was required of the P &Z Board versus what was being requested of the P &Z Board before this ordinance went before the City Commission. He said the way to do this was to get everything out in the open and not have any underlying questions. Board member Linebarier said City Manager Shapiro got on the wrong side of him by editing out his recommendation that something be put in the bylaws ordinance. City Manager Shapiro said he did not edit anything but rather was attempting to clear up some issues before the P &Z Board went further with its proposed ordinance and this was his way of starting the necessary dialogue. Chairman Swickerath asked City Manager Shapiro to list the items that needed to be discussed and resolved before a final ordinance could be presented to the City Commission. City Manager Shapiro said there were four items: 1. The City needs to change its procedure for home occupational licenses. Currently there is no public hearing process and the process is handled entirely by staff with the Noe City Manager heading up the process. City Manager Shapiro 6 Page 7 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 4 011.0 said if someone lives in a neighborhood and wants a home occupational license, there is no way for others in the neighborhood to become aware of this request or to discuss it before the license is granted. City Manager Shapiro said the P &Z Board in other cities is generally used for this purpose because it does involve land use and he wanted the Board's input as to whether they would want to be involved in this process. 2. The City is in the process of coming up with a Capital Improvement Plan. City Manager Shapiro said many people believe that this is one of the most significant parts of the Comprehensive Plan since it details how the City plans to pay for everything. City Manager Shapiro said because the P &Z Board is the LPA, he wondered if the Board would want to be involved in the Capital improvement Plan and the Capital Budget process. 3. The City needs to have the City Attorney research what obligations the P &Z Board has as LPA. 4. There needs to be discussions between the P &Z Board and the City Commission as to what part the P &Z Board will play in the development review process. Chairman Swickerath asked if the Board members had any comments on Item 1. There was some discussion on home occupations and City Manager Shapiro said that code enforcement could be used to handle cases where business was being conducted improperly or without license. City Manager Shapiro said the P &Z Board could become involved with the occupational licenses if it was interested in doing so. Board member Switzer gave a hypothetical case for an example to illustrate a question he had. He asked if his wife did typing at her home for a doctor, would the neighbors be notified of her request for a home occupational license. City Manager Shapiro said they would not. Board member Switzer asked how long the licenses last and City Manager Shapiro said they were renewed yearly. Board member Switzer asked what would happen to the businesses already established if the City were to start a new procedure. City Manager Shapiro said the businesses up for renewal would have to be grandfathered into the new process but that anyone new would have to go through the public hearing process. Chairman Swickerath asked whether or not under the zoning Ste ordinance, under specific classifications, it delineates what is allowed and any special exceptions. He said as tar as he 7 Page 8 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 was concerned, nothing else should be allowed. He commented that bringing work home from the office and having an "office" or "study" to do it in did not constitute a home occupation. Chairman Swickerath said his point was that if It was legal and allowed under the zoning, then why would the P &Z Board have to get involved or why would a public hearing have to he held? City Manager Shapiro said there was some question in his mind whether or not it was necessarily legal. He said his concern was with the issue of due process. Chairman Swickerath said his point was that if the zoning ordinance permits the occupation and he lives next door to the applicant, why should he have any right to say anything about it if it is legally permissive. After some discussion it was the consensus of the Board that although it may be a good idea to give neighbors a chance to speak on a home occupational license request in their neighborhood, that the Board of Adjustment would be a better avenue and more appropriate for this than the P &2 Board. Chairman Swickerath suggested that all home occupations be considered exceptional uses but Board member Linebarier said such things as letter stuffing, typing, etc. should not be classified as exceptional uses. Chairman Swickerath suggested that City Manager Shapiro take up the matter with the City Attorney for his opinion on how to change the process. Chairman Swickerath asked if the Board was interested in getting involved with the Capital Improvements process. Board member Weeks said he did not want to get involved in it. Chairman Swickerath said he thinks that the issue is if the City says a developer will have services (water, sewer) then the City will have to see it through. City Manager Shapiro said he thought that the City needed the tool as well, meaning the budget itself, and thought it would be a good idea for the Board to be involved. Chairman Swickerath said this may, in fact, be a legal obligation of the LPA. City Manager Shapiro said this was also a way of making the P &Z Board a part of the prioritizing of things. Board member Bello said she personally would like to be involved. Board member Switzer said he wondered what would happen to the Board's recommendation on something like this. City Manage2 Shapiro said the Capital Improvements Budget will show all P &Z Board recommendations. Sir 8 Page 9 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 Nbw City Manager Shapiro said although the staff and the P &Z Board may differ in what they think the P &2 Board should be a part of, he sincerely thinks that the P &Z Hoard is the most important Board of the City and he would like to see the Board involved in several things. City Manager Shapiro said he would consult the City Attorney for a legal opinion on the responsibilities of the LPA regarding what the P &Z Board is required to review. Chairman Swickerath asked if they could have the legal opinion by the next meeting and incorporate the other things that were discussed tonight as well. There was some discussion about limiting the size or scope of projects brought before the P &Z Board. Chairman Swickerath suggested that the Board individually come up with some ideas and present them at the next meeting. Board member Switzer thought as a suggestion that there might be a set limit on commercial acreage and a set limit on the number of residences proposed. Chairman Swickerath said that was a good suggestion and that all Board members should think about this for the next meeting. He said the most important fir► consideration is that the staff be clear as to what the P &Z Board is to be involved with and what the Board does not need to review. City Manager Shapiro said it would be good to have a work session with the P &Z Board and the City Commission to discuss the review process of the P &Z Board. RECESS: 9:15 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 p.m. (Mr. Switzer left before the meeting resumed.) Board member Linebarier moved that the staff take the ordinance back and include the paragraph the Board recommended in April (see minutes of April 11, 1989) and incorporate the three other items discussed: namely the legal responsibilities of the P &Z Board as the LPA, the P &Z Board's involvement in the upcoming capital improvements budgeting process, and to note that the P &Z Board recommended that any home occupational license review be the responsibility of the Board of Adjustment and not the P &Z Board. Board member Bello seconded the motion. 9 Page 10 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 `1rr Director of Planning Behrens pointed out that the ordinance did include mention of the paragraph that Board member Linebarier referred to as being left out. Director Behrens said Section 3, Number 5 contained the added language. Board member Linebarier said he did not receive the revised ordinance. Director of Planning Behrens read the revised ordinance. Board member Linebarier said that the wording in the revised ordinance was not the same paragraph that was in the minutes. He asked that it be incorporated in addition to what was in the revised ordinance. A vote was taken on the motion and Chairman Swickerath and Board members Linebarier and Bello voted in support of the motion and Board member Weeks was opposed. Director of Planning Behrens asked Board member Linebarier to point out for him exactly what part of the minutes he wanted included in the ordinance. NEW BUSINESS Infrastructure Element of the Comprehensive Plan `rr Board member Bello motioned to table the item until the next meeting in view of the length of the document and Board member Weeks seconded. Director of Planning Behrens explained that this was a work product or interim deliverable" due into the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) on May 30, 1989. He reminded the Board that staff gave them the schedule and that this item needed to go to the City Commission next Tuesday. Director Behrens said if it was delayed, it may cost the City some money. Board member Linebarier agreed that staff had given the Board this document in sufficient time for them to review it and that staff had said this was the only item on the schedule that would have to be pushed through the process because of the due date. Board member Bello said in lieu of this discussion, she would withdraw her motion. Director of Planning Behrens said the document was very comprehensive and met all the criteria of a finished element much leas a work product along the state criteria in 93 -5. Director Behrens said Associate Planner Claman and Professional Engineering Consultants had put the document together working with other cities. He said they were open to suggestions, modifications, etc. if the Board had any. Director Behrens said there would be public participation before the final work product was finished. Board member Weeks asked if the DCA would give a critical overview of it Sir 10 Page 11. Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 r and Director Behrens said the courtesy review may or may not happen since the DCA is overloaded with these elements. He said the City may not get a critique from DCA but that the City would have public review before the final submittal. Board member Weeks said in reading it he saw a reference to the ocean and asked if maybe it should be removed. He said he figured that this was standard verbage taken from another element and that maybe before the product was finalized, staff may want to read it over for such things thay may not pertain to the City of Ocoee. Director Behrens said he appreciated these types of notations and wanted to encourage the Board to speak up if they had such comments. Board member Bello and Chairman Swickerath both stated that they were impressed with the document. Board member Linebarier said he read the document and was impressed by it but did not feel qualified to say whether it was good or bad. He said he could not find fault with it as tar as his limited knowledge of it He said if staff felt confident in it, he was satisfied. Chairman Swickerath said that the City should be sure that there is adequate sewer facilities to support these treatment programs (capital improvements) in the event that a subdivision such as Brentwood may eventually need to go on sewer in the future. City Manager Shapiro said the sewer connection scenario may not seem important now but that it will be in the future when the City Commissioners are all from areas in the City that have sewer service and most of their constituents have sewer. Chairman Swickerath said he wanted to he sure that the City had enough capacity to meet the needs of Its citizens, present and future, before the City promised outside developments that it would serve them. He said this was one of the ways to ensure that Ocoee would have the highest quality of growth possible. City Manager Shapiro said the City would review the capacity outlook annually. Board member Linebarier said he thought it would not be too far down the line before septic tanks were outlawed entirely. City Manager Shapiro said they were already outlawed in some coastal regions. Board member Linebarier said the element should take into consideration those people who cannot financially afford to hook up to the system in the future. Nie 11 Page 12 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting May 9, 1989 Sher Board member Linebarier also questioned whether this element took into consideration the separation of garbage and recycling. Director of Planning Behrens said it did not consider those things at this point. City Manager Shapiro said the recycling issue would be decided by the City Commission within the next few months. He said he thought the state would also require certain things and that something may eventually have to be included in the element. Board member Linebarier moved to approve the work product as presented, Board member Weeks seconded, and approval was unanimous. Chairman Swickerath asked if these elements that were being approved were being placed in public places such as City Hall, libraries, schools, etc. in order for the public to have access to them. He said the Board had asked that this be done a few meetings ago. Director of Planning Behrens said it had not been done yet but that staff was working on putting them together. Chairman Swickerath said there were now four elements. Director of Planning Behrens said they would eventually have a display. Chairman Swickerath said to err make it a priority. Board member Linebarier said public participation would be done before the City adopts the elements. Director Behrens said there would be public participation before the final documents were prepared. He said he would get the elements set up at the various locations that Chairman Swickerath had mentioned. Board member Bello motioned to adjourn, Board member Weeks seconded, and approval was unanimous. ADJOURNMENT: 10:10 p.m. • �• CHAI MAN SWIC E'ATH ATTEST: 1 64, 41 'UTY CLERK RESNIK I mre 12