CCPC Minutes 09/21/2005 S
September 21, 2005
COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE
CONTINUATION MEETING
September 21, 2005, Naples, Florida
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Collier County
Planning Commission in and for the County of Collier, having
conducted business herein, met on this date at 2:00 p.m. in
continuation of the August 17, 2005 meeting at the Board of
County Commissioners' Board Room, 3301 Tamiami Trail East,
Naples, Florida, with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN: Mark Strain
Robert Murray
Brad Schiffer
Paul Midney
Robert Vigliotti
Donna Reed Caron
Kenneth Abernathy
Lindy Adelstein
Russell Budd (absent)
ALSO PRESENT:
Patrick White, Assistant County Attorney
Joseph Schmitt, Administrator Community Development Services
Catherine Fabacher, Principal Planner
David C. Weeks, Planning Manager
Susan Murray, Department of Zoning Development Review
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Call the meeting to order. Thank you.
We are going to take role call.
Mr. Murray?
MR. MURRAY: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Midney is not here at this time, is
he?
MR. MURRAY: He's here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, when we gets up here we'll clarify
it.
Mr. Schiffer?
MR. SCHIFFER: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Adelstein?
MR. ADELSTEIN: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Strain is here.
Mr. Abernathy?
MR. ABERNATHY: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Vigliotti?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Ms. Caron?
MS. CARON: Here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Bud is absent. Mr. Midney just
walked in. Joe, who from your side is going to be controlling this
today, as far as presentations go?
MR. SCHMITT: Today we have --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't know where you want to start.
Do you have a preference?
MR. SCHMITT: It depends. We have Susan and Catherine here,
who are going to be controlling the LDC issues, and I think -- I have
no one that has actually submitted a public speaking request. Is
anybody --
MS. FABACHER: I have one here.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Our preference would be to go in order,
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September 21, 2005
unless you had a reason not to.
MR. SCHMITT: We may as well just go in order. Probably the
lengthiest issue is going to be the issue regarding the Bayshore
gateway and the final overlay. I would expect those two to be the
most lengthy in regards to discussion.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, they're not too far in order, so if
we want to start with Item Number -- page^ 1.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: Before we get started, can we set an ending
time tonight? I have to leave like shortly before 6:00 myself, or are
we going to --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I thought when we set this up --
by the way, this is a continuation of a meeting that started on August
18th, I believe. Is that right, Mr. White?
MR. WHITE: Assistant County Attorney Patrick White. This is
a continuation of the first and only public hearing of these LDC
amendments by the CCPC. It is the second meeting, and as I
mentioned, it is a continuation of the prior meeting, and certainly if
you do not conclude matters this evening, you're free to continue them
to another meeting date and time and place, sir.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Thank you, sir. Okay.
MR. ABERNATHY: I have a question, Mr. Chairman. Would it
be possible before each item that -- if we could identify whether it's
from the August 10th or August 17th or September 16th or some yet
another submittal of these things?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN:
MR. SCHMITT: Let me turn to Catherine in that, so you all
know basically --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Before you get into that, there's a
question on the table from Mr. Vigliotti about the timing of this
meeting. At the last one, we discussed we normally stop at 8:00, but I
think that maybe around 5 o'clock, if it's okay with this panel, we'll see
where we're at and decide what we want to do. Because if we're going
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September 21, 2005
to go until 8:00, we may want a short dinner break. We may just want
to stop at 6:00 and re-continue at another time, so that -- does that
work for you, Bob?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: I have to leave at 6:00. We'll have a quorum,
so --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But at 5 o'clock, we'll discuss if we're
going to take it 'til 6:00 or take it 'til 8:00, if that's okay.
Now, Mr. Schmitt?
MR. SCHMITT: Yeah. I would ask Catherine to go over, just so
that the board members know which packet you're working from.
There have been -- there actually is only one packet in regards to
the LDC items, but there have been several follow on additions,
specifically noted with the Bayshore gateway. Catherine?
MS. F ABACHER: Catherine Fabacher with land development
review. As I indicated to you, we are working from our original
packet that was sent out August 10th.
I have redone the summary sheet. You should have all received a
summary sheet with comments from our last meeting and items that
were brought back to DSAC.
We also have -- have given everybody the latest August 17th
dated Bayshore Drive overlay and gateway triangle overlay in color.
They're extra copies over there, and then there was also another
amendment packet that was handed out at the last meeting, which was
probably the straw that broke the camel's back, and that just has a few
revisions to -- we're still working with that. If you don't have that
copy, I have that on the table over there. That was the revisions we
handed out last meeting.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Catherine, one thing I noticed, the Land
Development Code Amendments Summary Sheet that you e-mailed?
MS. FABACHER: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: its 21 pages. Did you provide hard
copies to any of the members?
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September 21, 2005
MS. FABACHER: I think it was just e-mail. I do have more
hard copies up here if you need --
MR. MURRAY: I would like to verify --
MS. FABACHER: All right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The reason I'm asking, it's kind of hard
to print some of these for some of the members.
MS. FABACHER: I understand.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So we're probably going to need hard
copies of everything that you send out.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: I had said 21 pages. I have 20.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I've got 21.
MS. CARON: One is--
MR. WHITE: What that points out obviously is that everybody's
printer sees that document slightly different in terms of how it formats,
so I would encourage all CCPC and staff members to utilize the
section numbers we're referring to.
I understand that the summary sheets help us -- keep us generally
on task in navigating through this, but the section numbers are key.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Thank you, Patrick, and what I think--
Catherine, what we can do is start on page one, and as you start each
presentation, if you could make a note of the version date for each
LDC amendment so that we're all reading from the same page, that
probably will resolve the issue.
MS. FABACHER: I certainly will. Okay. Now, I'm going to be
working from the new summary sheet that we received. If you have
the correct one, it has 20 pages, and my apologies.
I did sent hard copies to everybody but Mr. Schiffer and Mr.
Strain, so -- you will get hard copies, also.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, I kind of --
MS. F ABACHER: Yeah. Okay. All right. We're on page one
of the summary sheet, and we are in block one, the definition of
adjacent, which appears on page one of your packet dated August
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10th.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Last time, we had a discussion on this
about the verbiage of the waterway being included in this.
MS. FABACHER: Correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And actually, it works out that where it's
applied in the balance of the code is more concerning than the
inclusion of it in this definition, at least from the point of view that I
raised last time.
MS. FABACHER: Okay.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If there's any other questions from the
board. Ron, actually page one and two of the packet.
MR. SCHIFFER: Aren't we waiting for a new definition?
MS. FABACHER: Well, we looked at it, and we thought that we
needed to put more study time into it than we had, that we should look
at abutting and adjacent and adjoining in all the definitions and give
you a real comprehensive review of it.
MR. MURRAY: So you're withdrawing it?
MS. FABACHER: Unless you have a recommendation.
MR. SCHIFFER: Yeah, use the old definition.
MS. FABACHER: Well, that's what will happen. We fall back
on the old definition. So we'll withdraw this.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Do we need a separate motion on each
one of these?
MS. FABACHER: Patrick?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There he is.
MR. SCHIFFER: Then we can move them faster. So move.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. You make a motion to withdraw
this?
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Seconded by Mr. Adelstein. Any other
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discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?
This motion by Mr. Schiffer, second by Mr. Adelstein.
MS. FABACHER: The next item on page one of your summary
sheet and on page three of your August 10th packet is the FAR
language, and I believe this is where I am to make my public apology
because I represented it as being returned exactly from the old code,
and the old code read, the gross floor area of a building clearly
designed for a parking facility shall not be included in the floor area
ratio calculation.
I had put in the your packet, the gross floor area of a building or
any portion thereof designed and designated for a parking facility shall
not be included in the calculation of floor area ratio, so I'd like to
apologize for that error and read into the record that we would like to
add the sentence -- add back the end of the sentence from your old
code that reads, the gross floor area of a building clearly designed for
a parking facility shall not be included in the floor area ratio
calculation.
MR. ABERNATHY: We are deleting this -- the new sentence?
MS. FABACHER: Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: But I'm not -- I like the part, and any portion
thereof. In a building that has mixed uses, you would want -- the
building is not clearly designed for a parking facility.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN : Well, first of all, this is being presented
as a glitch amendment, and I'm concerned that the public thinking it
was a glitch amendment as I did at first, that it's part of the old code.
The language you see here is not part of the old code, and it would
work to radically increase densities throughout the commercial and
even residential areas.
I went through the websites and pulled up floor area ratios in 19
other definitions. Eighteen of the 19 used gross, including the parking
areas, except one. The one that didn't only excluded the parking areas
for single family residential.
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September 21, 2005
So if you start using -- excluding all those parking areas, your
FAR ratio, usable for saleable square feet and leasable square feet is
going to escalate, density-wise, on every site.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, we don't use FAR for --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We've got FAR calculations in hotels
that are in residential.
MS. MURRAY: Susan Murray for the record. You have some
PUDs that will use FAR for hotels or adult congregate living facilities,
as well as the code, so they are used, just not as much as most of your
other --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Doesn't the stewardship area around
Ave Maria use them, extensively out there, as well?
MS. MURRAY : Yes, they use them out there.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think the intent that this county has
worked with what's been in the old code and what's to be followed
through in the new code, certainly not eliminating all this parking
space and opening it up to more density for commercial without dually
advertising it and airing it out in the open, I certainly think that would
be fair to do.
MR. SCHIFFER: I mean, I like the part that you don't punish
somebody for putting up a parking garage. I mean, whether they just
put it out on a level area or encourage parking garages.
Would the suggestion be just -- we live with the existing
wording, or is the existing wording omitted from the new code?
MS. FABACHER: The existing wording was omitted from the
new code.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You want to put that back in, which
does protect the issue you just said, which clearly if it's for a parking
facility, it's exempt from FAR, but not every portion of a building is
exempt, only if it's a parking facility.
MR. SCHIFFER: Standalone parking facility?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
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MR. SCHIFFER: I mean, I like the portion. That's my opinion.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Is there any discussion among the
members?
MR. ABERNATHY: Well, I liked the original, but I'm really
dismayed by the fact that it was changed under the guise of a glitch
amendment of just bringing it forward because it does make a
substantial change. It's a whole new, different ball game.
MR. SCHIFFER: But in the proposal, doesn't it show underlined
words? My impression would be, while you're bringing the whole
definition back in and the underlined wording would be new, so I don't
think there is any confusion there. I mean --
MS. MURRAY: The confusion was probably in the explanation,
and you're right, it wasn't intentional. We just -- I think Catherine
being a little new --
MS. FABACHER: Inexperience. Wanted to make it better for
you.
MS. MURRAY: -- with the terminology, so what is represented
as an underline is a change.
MR. ABERNATHY: Where did it come from? Why?
MS. MURRAY: Actually, we had gotten -- I want to say
indirectly input from the development community about the
possibility of eliminating the parking structures in the calculation
because of their size. They tend to eat up a lot of FAR requirements, if
you're including them in the calculation.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And that's exactly what we don't want to
do.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, when you did your little study, what
was that that you're referring to? You looked at other zoning
ordinances in other communities?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I just went to different websites for
different areas all over the country. I ran a GO OGLE search on it.
Burlington is one of them, Seattle, WCEL, Chatsford, Calgory,
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Westlake, Fairfax, Brooklyn, Beaverton, all different places, and they
did -- came back real quick with 19 of them, and of those 19, they rely
on gross square footage, with the exception of the one I spoke about
earlier.
MR. SCHIFFER: But none of which -- I mean, we live in a flood
plain. A lot of our parking structures are not even habitable space.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: All you're going to do is increase
density on these projects. We've got enough problems with density
now. I don't know why we want to go there.
MR. MURRAY: If it's to be a valid amendment, couldn't it be
brought back with the intent to change it, rather than what we're
attempting to do here now? Would that make sense?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Could be.
MS. MURRAY: Well, I think what we'd like to do is -- we need
to, I guess, really, is at least keep the old definition, and so if you want
to recommend that we just stay with the old one, you know, we'll
carry that forward with a recommendation.
MR. MURRAY: I would make a motion that we would retain
the old wording, and then if the development industry wishes to have
it changed, they can subject it to these vetting processes.
MR. ABERNATHY: Let me take one last crack at this.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, there's a motion. Did you make--
MR. MURRAY: I made a motion.
MR. MIDNEY: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let's just get into discussion.
MR. ABERNATHY: Discussion of the motion? I notice under
reason, the statement, this exclusion, which refers to the parking
facility, was part of the LDC prior to recodification.
Now, from all I can gather, from what's been said here today,
that's just simply not true.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
MS. MURRAY: I already clarified that, so I'm not -- again, it
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wasn't intentional. I think it was just a little bit of misunderstanding
on Catherine's part, and I think, just to kind of follow up on what I
said before, Commissioner Schiffer, I think the reason we're seeing
more of this being questioned is for the obvious reason of cost of land,
and people are trying to maximize their site, so in order to not use a lot
of their site for parking, they're building up, obviously, instead of out,
and so the parking garages are eating up their square footage.
It hasn't really been an issue before, but lately --
MR. MURRAY: That may very well be a good argument and
should be subjected to the question, but for the moment, we're being --
we're looking at what this language was intended to cover, which
doesn't cover it, or we should go back, as I made my motion, to go
back to the original language.
MR. SCHIFFER: Let me just say one thing. Our code use very
little. I mean, most codes use it for all the commercial. We hardly use
it. It's only in some residential. We encourage parking garages in
other parts of the code. We allow people extra height to encourage
people to put their parking in parking garages, so I don't think this
would improve the community, to discourage them.
MS. MURRAY: Generally, your commercial zoning districts
and your commercial PUDs for the most part aren't going to use FAR.
It's more the exception than the rule, so what -- they're going to have
the ability to use their site to the extent that they can meet all the land
developing code regulations with landscaping, water management,
parking, and everything else that's required, and that's going to
maximize their site.
MR. SCHIFFER: And, Mark, we don't use FAR to create
density, so essentially by not allowing this, people will be discouraged
from the use of parking garages, which will cause more sprawl across
the land with open parking lots, which I think is a negative. We set the
density in the PUD in other methods. We don't use FAR like those
other codes do.
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CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If they use a net building for calculation
of usable square footage, then they've got to put that parking
somewhere, so they'll end up putting more of it outside, as well.
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. I mean -- and I think we want to evolve
the town from the tall condo with the sea of parking.
We want to start putting the parking in the parking garages
underneath the condos.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think the FAR, though, as Susan said,
is used a few times in commercial and maybe some PUDs.
MR. SCHIFFER: I don't -- it's not used on any of the --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't see the harm in leaving the
language like it was advertised to be. I think it's used in the current --
MR. SCHIFFER: Because it will encourage people to use
surface parking, versus --
MR. MURRAY: I ask that we call the question.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's a motion on the floor.
Discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor?
Anybody opposed?
MR. SCHIFFER: Me.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The motion was to replace the language
with the old language as it is in the old code. We're on page four.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. We're still on summary sheet one,
page four, the definitions of lot depth and width measurements.
You asked that we bring it back this meeting to clarify lot widths
on cuI de sacs and five-sided lots. Unfortunately, we have not had the
staff or the resources to put on this in the short time line, so what is
your recommendation? Would you like it withdraw it?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think this meeting's going to be
continued until October for at least one other, that's the Golden Gate
master planning review. We're going to have some discussion on that
I would assume today, but I know it needs to be continued, as well.
MS. FABACHER: All right.
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CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So would that give the staff more time
to come back with language?
MS. FABACHER: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That okay with the rest of the panel?
MR. SCHIFFER: Remember I volunteered to help.
MS. FABACHER: Right, to help. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, if we're ready, we're going to move to page two of
the summary sheet, and the definitions of the four types of restaurants
which were taken verbatim from the old code.
MR. MURRAY: And I have a question, if I may.
MS. FABACHER: Yes.
MR. MURRAY: We speak of restaurant drive through, then we
speak of restaurant fast food, but when we read the definitions, it
seems to exclude -- if I go to a Burger King, I can park my car and I
can go inside, or I can drive around and I can pick up food. According
to my understanding of these definitions, that doesn't seem to be
allowable here.
MS. F ABACHER: Right. Right. I understand.
MR. MURRAY: So they didn't modify it?
MS. F ABACHER: We didn't modify for the same reason that I
gave on the lot with the depth. We just haven't had time. We worked
on other amendments, but --
MS. MURRAY: Well, actually, I think--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yeah. Doesn't fast food restaurant fill
what you just said?
MR. MURRAY: Yeah, but if you read this, you find out that it's
not covered the way it should be covered to allow for that.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: For what? I'm trying to understand. It
says an establishment where food is prepared to be served to
customers in a ready-to-consume state for consumption, either within
the restaurant building or outside of the building. Isn't that what
Burger King does?
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MR. MURRAY: Restaurant drive through, a fast food facility
with one or more drive through lanes where food is ordered through a
speaker phone and menu located in the drive through lane. This type
of facility has no indoor seating or food ordering. Now it's a different
feature. What do we do for a place like Burger King and McDonald's
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Slow down a little bit. She's trying to--
MR. MURRAY: Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There are two definitions on the page.
MR. MURRAY: I know. If you look at the next definition of
fast food, it doesn't allow for the vehicles, doesn't allow for the drive
through.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You're saying you want a definition for
a combination --
MR. MURRAY: It should be there.
MS. MURRAY: We're talking about primary or principal uses
here, so I guess the best way to explain it is to look at the two different
restaurant types. Like if you have Checker's versus a McDonald's.
Checker's, you're primarily driving through the pick up. I mean,
you're not stopping to park and eat or go inside or walk inside and
order, pick up, sit at a table, et cetera. You're pretty much 98 percent
of the time driving through the pick up. There may be a few parking
stalls where somebody walks up to a window, but everything is
outside, the pick up, or there may be one or two seats outside, but
that's the primary principal use issue.
Now, with a drive through window like on a McDonald's, that's
considered more of an accessory type of --
MR. MURRAY: It doesn't say so here, and I can only read and
understand what my mind allows me to, so if I understand it, you're
saying that that's covered, that would have no problem with anybody
MS. MURRAY: Correct.
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September 21, 2005
MR. MURRAY: -- then I'm fine, but it didn't read that way for
me.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If there's no other discussion, is there
any reason we don't want to move this then forward?
MR. ADELSTEIN: I'll make a motion.
MR. SCHIFFER: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Motion made by Commissioner
Adelstein, second by Commissioner Schiffer. Now, is there any
discussion?
MR. MURRAY: Well, do we want to move it forward?
MR. SCHIFFER: Aren't we waiting for the staffs response in
reply?
MS . MURRAY: Well, the conversation that I had in my notes
that we talked about last time was -- I think it was Commissioner
Strain, asked about in the restaurant drive through definition where it
says speakerphone.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
MS. MURRAY: And I think he asked for some clarifications,
what if you just drove up to a window, would that be the same, and,
you know, we indicated yes, and we could certainly clarify that if
that's still the planning commission's wishes, but that was my
recollection.
MR. SCHIFFER: But there was other stuff. For example, B, I
noted was not a -- you know, it says it was not a characteristic.
MS . MURRAY: Right. You asked that that be taken out. I was
just focusing on those first two. Then I think there was a question on
B about table service, self service rather than table service, and some
clarification, I think, was asked for, like, you know, table service
would be a waiter, rather than self service, where, like, you would
walk up and order your stuff.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Susan, it's my understanding right now
the code doesn't have these definitions in it. So these are being
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September 21, 2005
brought back in.
MS. MURRAY: These are the old definitions, right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And they're being brought in to kind of
help with the situation right now. I think if we at least bring them in,
it's better than not having them at all. If they need to be tweaked, we
can always do that in a cycle next year for varying nuances like we're
talking about.
MR. SCHIFFER: We can bring them in perfectly now.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, we can, but staff has indicated
they haven't had time to address the issues we brought up last time.
That's why I'm mentioning it.
MR. SCHIFFER: But there'll be others, so let's let staff clean it
up?
MS. MURRAY: Well, I think we didn't understand your
complete direction. I had notes about removing E. You said it's not a
MR. SCHIFFER: -- characteristic.
MS . MURRAY: Yeah. Please eliminate, and that's fine, but the
other notes I just have were just clarification, which I don't have a
problem with trying to do that now if you want. Whatever the board
wants to do.
MR. MURRAY: Mark, are we clear that since they were
admitted during recodification that the definitions that we have here
are those from the original code?
MS. FABACHER: Yes, they are.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I didn't notice any blatant changes.
MR. MURRAY: They are the same?
MS. MURRAY: And we've been using them without difficulty
for years, so other than when we found out they were missing.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There is a motion made and seconded--
MR. MURRAY: -- to retain them.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: -- to retain them, right. All those in
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favor? Anybody opposed? That one goes through.
MR. SCHIFFER: Just for clari -- that's retained and kind of
tweaked a little bit? I mean, you're going to fix them?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think retain--
MS. FABACHER: We'll retain them and you can tweak them
for the next cycle if that's your direction.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let's just get them back in the code.
We're on page seven.
MS. FABACHER: Yes, we're on page two of the summary sheet
and page seven of your packets, sporting and recreation camps, and
that is exactly the same issue. It is brought back verbatim because it
was requested by staff because of -- an applicant has come in with this
type of project, and we noted that it had been omitted from the table of
permitted uses, so --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MS. FABACHER: I'm sorry, not permitted, conditional and
accessory uses. They'll still have to go through conditional approval
process. .
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: During that process we can pare down
any concerns we have.
MS. FABACHER: Absolutely.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Any comments from the Planning
Commission?
MR. SCHIFFER: So move.
MR. MURRAY: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Moved by Commissioner Schiffer,
seconded by Commissioner Murray. All those -- any discussion?
Hearing none, all those in favor? Anybody opposed?
MS. FABACHER: Okay. We're going to go--
MR. ADELSTEIN: I have a slight question, actually. It's got
sections 2.03.07 and that's the Golden Gate Parkway. On the one we
got August 18th, we also have a section 2.03.07, and that's TDR
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September 21, 2005
credits.
MS. F ABACHER: Oh, well, that's from Special Cycle -- that
was from Special Cycle 2A, the TDR credits.
MR. ADELSTEIN: The point I'm making is, how do we get the
same numbers? We have Section 2.03.07, and you have a Section
2.03.07 on two separate issues.
MS. FABACHER: Oh, correct, Commissioner, but there are
different numbers like I and Nand L. There are subsections.
MR. ADELSTEIN: There's an N and I, then there's one with
absolutely nothing else but 2.03.07. I just want to know if it's
typographical or where the situation is.
MR. WHITE: It may be an omission that in the future we all
would be well advised to make sure we're at least giving those capital
letter subsections in the amendments.
MR. ADELSTEIN: On page seven, the 2.03.07 has no caption
number, and page one on August 18th has the same thing, 2.03.07,
with no other caption.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're jumping ahead, now. We're on
page three.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Yeah. Well, this was on page one, so I'm
just trying to --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That is the special cycle that we're
already finished with, right? This one?
MR. ADELSTEIN: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It said page one of the special cycle
involving the TDR process is -- shows a discrepancy in the numbers
between page seven and today, so let staff look at that and see what
the problem is.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Right. All I wanted to do is bring it out.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Sure. Let's go back to page three of our
summary sheet and page nine of the LDC amendments.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. All right. That would be the
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September 21, 2005
definition of the waterfront yard, and that again was brought back
verbatim from the old code, and same -- you asked for more
clarification, but we worked on other amendments extensively and
didn't have time to go back and revise this one.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But this is the exact language in the old
code?
MS. FABACHER: This is the exact language.
MR. MURRAY: Motion to approve.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Motion -- okay, let's take it a
little slower. Mr. Murray, did you that motion?
MR. MURRAY: Motion? I did.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Second by Mr. Adelstein. Is there any
discussion?
MR. ABERNATHY: What is the motion?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Motion to approve the language under
yard waterfront LDC.
MR. ABERNATHY: Not wait for the clarification?
MR. SCHIFFER: The issue was over measuring over the access
easement, which I'm not sure -- we have situations I know where we
have access easements along the waterfront, and we're not measuring
from the edge of that access.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, you've got to measure to the legal
line. This one references property line, bulkhead, shoreline, seawall,
or high water mark, whichever is the most restricted.
MR. SCHIFFER: Or accesses.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But I don't think -- does it list accesses
on there?
MR. SCHIFFER: Third sentence in. The access is a big concern
tome.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. Excuse me. I said it was brought
back without changes, however, I did change the citation at the end to
40203A, table four, whereas before it referenced the old numbers from
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September 21, 2005
the old code, so I just updated the citation to our new numbering
system.
MR. ABERNATHY: Well, let me renew my question. Last time
we saw this, we said it needs further clarification. Are we now
waiving that notation of ours.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're either going to waive it--
MS. FABACHER: -- or are we going to bring it back next
cycle?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: -- or bring it back next cycle or put this
in place so they have something to work with and bring back a
correction next cycle.
MR. ABERNATHY: Funny way to run a railroad.
MR. SCHIFFER: Yeah, and ultimately, they're just throwing
work til tomorrow. Why don't we just solve it today while we have it
in front of us? I mean, we've got enough to do up here now.
MR. MURRAY: Is there plausibility we can solve it?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I mean, staffs still going to have
to take our comments, come back in summary form for next meeting
for us to review what the final draft is, unless we come up with the
final language, but I'm not sure by doing so at this meeting, it's going
to have the appropriate research.
MS. FABACHER: Exactly. Might I suggest that we do work on
it in the interim and consult you bye-mail because you know we do
download other codes and look at what other codes have?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If there's any question on the panel that
we ought to bring it back in October when we continue this meeting.
MR. MURRAY: I withdraw my motion.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The motion's been withdrawn, and we're
going to ask to continue it until the next meeting.
MR. ABERNATHY: I just have a feeling if we approve these
things.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
Page 20
September 21, 2005
MR. ABERNATHY: We'll never see it again.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
MR. SCHIFFER: It's a good feeling, Ken.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, the next one you're going to be
real happy with. Its pages of signed ordinances.
MS. FABACHER: Well, actually, no. Let me get my paper
here. It's not as -- it's not as bad as you think.
You directed us -- at the last meeting we discussed the fact that
you directed us to go out, go through and search out and see where --
it was suggested we use the -- search the code and see where these
definitions were referenced in the code and if any of them were not
referenced in the code. So -- which we have done, and we found that
there are three definitions that are not referenced and used in the code,
and that would be -- I'm on page 13 of your packet. That would be the
top of the page, sign combination, a sign which is made up or two or
more signs, inclusive of billboards. That did not appear anywhere in
the code, so we may strike that one. It's your preference.
The next definition, sign combination, farm, a temporary sign
placed in advance of issuance of a certificate of occupancy of a
building or structure, indicating the name of the building or structure,
the architects, contractors, and other similar information regarding the
building or structure. Construction signs do not contain any
promotional or sales material. That one did not appear to be
referenced in the code.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You've got to talk a little slower. This
lady's fingers are just burning up.
MS. FABACHER: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Do you need me to
repeat that?
COURT REPORTER: No.
MR. WHITE: Oh, please don't.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Just read the header.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. The last definition that did not appear
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September 21, 2005
in the code is on the top of page 14, and that is sign, farm,
organization, so --
MR. ABERNATHY: Is anybody claiming that these have been
put in here in anticipation of something that's about to happen?
MS. FABACHER: No. I met with sign review staff. No.
MR. ABERNATHY: So there's no really rational basis for them
staying in?
MS. FABACHER: Right. At one time, they may have had--
been germain to some of our previous records, you know, regulations,
but as you suggested, we ran it on the union code, and these were the
only ones that were not referred to in our regulations.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So then to meet the consistency with the
idea of a glitch amendment, we have to accept all this except for those
three?
MS. FABACHER: Right.
MR. ADELSTEIN: So moved.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: Second.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Moved by Commissioner Adelstein,
seconded by Commissioner Vigliotti. Discussion?
MR. SCHIFFER: I'd like to talk about some of these. Some of
them are confusing. On page 14, there's a ground sign which is aka
monument sign. There's a monument sign, there's a pole sign. I mean,
do we need all these definitions, and what do they really mean?
MR. MURRAY: Why aren't they part of the code?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's a glitch amendment issue on this
one.
MS. FABACHER: They were all part of the code, and the
reason they came back was that the sign -- people in the sign review
department have problems with -- they're using a Xerox copy of these
from the old one because when applicants come in, there's some--
always some discussion or argument over what constitutes a certain
Page 22
September 21,2005
type of sign.
Therefore, that's why they asked us to put it back in, so that they
could point to it. Instead of a Xeroxed sheet, they could point to it in
the code and say, this is what the definition is, and there's no argument
because people can interpret a certain type of sign any way they see fit
and argue that, so the review staff needs to have the ability to point to
our Land Development Code and say, this by law is what the
definition is.
MR. MURRAY : Well, I'm certainly in favor of clear definitions.
Go ahead.
MR. SCHIFFER: The concern was that a lot of the definitions
were taken out of the code, the reasoning for it, and Patrick would
know better than anybody, is because the definitions were actually
putting requirements on signs, and it was something that was taken
care of in the sign ordinance, not in the definitions --
MS. F ABACHER: Well, we had planned, since this had gone
before DSAC and everything as is. They have made up revisions to
take that out, but we thought, just to get something in for now, we
would present that to you at the next cycle, to remove the operational
prOVISIons.
MR. SCHIFFER: But has the staff, I mean, reviewed the signed
ordinance? In other words, it's hard for me to believe that with the
volume of signs we're talking about, it's not in the sign ordinance, that
portion of it, so therefore it didn't need to be in the definition. Is that
the case, or -- because this is a lot of stuff taken out. I don't think it
would have been taken out frivolously.
MS. MURRAY: Susan Murray, for the record. I think you're
kind of asking me to know what was in the head of our consultant at
the time, and I'm not sure I can really answer that. The intent behind
the recodification was not to change any of the regulatory rules. I
mean, you know, we talked about that, but I think from what I
understand from some of Diana's problems, and I've talked to her
Page 23
September 21, 2005
about this, too, is that that is actually kind of what happened when
some of these definitions were removed, right or wrong, and I agree
our intent also was to remove regulatory provisions out of the
definitions, but to kind of solve the issue now, we thought we would
just put them back in with a plan later to come back and actually clean
them up, and I've talked to Diana about, too, some other changes to
the sign code, as well, for government buildings and things like that,
so we didn't really plan in our work schedule to do a wholesale review
of the definitions, only to just try to stick them in now with a plan later
to come back, and that's why they're here before you again.
MR. MURRAY: I -- go ahead.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, what the staff is saying is that without
these definitions, the sign ordinance part of the LDC is not working?
Is that what they're saying?
MS. FABACHER: What we're saying is is that there are disputes
with all the applicants over what a certain -- what constitutes a certain
kind of sign, and so currently they're working with a Xerox copy of
the old definitions.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's no harm done, Brad, in putting
this in.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, I want to make sure there's no harm
done. I mean, I'd hate to have something here conflict with the
regulatory language.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think that's why they did the search
from our comments last time, in order to discover that.
MR. SCHIFFER: And you don't find any grief?
MS. FABACHER: No, we did not.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: They found three items that needed to
be extracted from this in order to be consistent.
MR. SCHIFFER: I thought the search was just to see if the
words were used in our regulations.
MS. FABACHER: That's what it was.
Page 24
..·..~.'.D_..· R
September 21, 2005
MR. WHITE: That's correct. However, what the staff has told
you is that based upon their analysis in comparison of those
definitions to the operative provisions, that they believe a wholistic,
comprehensive review of the definitions and that portion of the LDC
is warranted, and that in the interim, solely to allow those discussions
by various applicants to be resolved through the addition of the prior
definitions, that they believe that is the more appropriate course of
action at this time, and if you so direct as a favorable motion on this
particular matter, that they bring those things back as this promised to
you in the spring, then I think that would resolve the matter.
MR. SCHIFFER: I like that.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Now, the motion that was made was to
recommend moving this forward. Mr. Murray, you have another
question?
MR. MURRAY : Yeah, I have. It may be farfetched, but I
thought I remembered that we have a 4- H Club out by the grounds, the
fairgrounds, and I just wondered if we wouldn't create a problem if
they ever wanted to put up a sign out there. I don't know how
significant this is, certainly, and if it wasn't in the code originally,
probably it's inappropriate to try and put it in there.
MR. SCHIFFER: We have a farm sign that will take care of it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: They've got five pages of signs to pick
from. They can find one.
MR. MURRAY: Okay. So we're comfortable with that? All
right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Now the motion was made, I'm
assuming, to exclude the three definitions that were not part the old
code?
MR. MURRAY: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Having finally discussed this, all
those in favor of the motion? Anybody opposed?
MR. WHITE: I'm assuming for clarification purposes, Mr.
Page 25
_'_"'"'4""'__,_",-;,_",",,~"
September 21, 2005
Chairman, that the form of the motion included direction to staff to
bring the matter back as they so indicated.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If that needs to be a motion. I would
assume that was part of it. I know that they were going to --
MS. MURRAY: I'm noting -- and I think maybe what we could
do is follow up with you in the memo and one of your packets after
this, just outlining everything that we talked about bringing back for
next cycle, so you can match it up with your notes, and then we're all
on the same page. Okay?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Now, do you want -- are you saying that
should be in the form of a motion?
MR. WHITE: No, sir. I'm saying if that's what the form of the
motion was. I just wanted it clearly expressed. I'm comfortable with
your direction as explained in the motion.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let's move on to page four of the
summary sheet.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. This is the Conservation Collier lands
amendment to the essential services provision, and we have -- Alex
Sulecki's here, director of the Conservation Collier lands, and we do
have a handout for you because we had some input in the interim over
some legal issues with the -- some of the oil and gas industry
personnel over the fear of losing some of their permitted rights under
the existing zoning, underlying zoning districts.
So Alex is going to give you an overview, and then I think we'll
discuss the changes with you, if that's okay.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's fine.
MS. SULECKI: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and
Commissioners. For the record, my name is Alexander Sulecki. I
wish I was a director of something, but I'm not. I'm just the
coordinator of the Conservation Collier program. You have in your
packets a copy of the proposed LDC amendment for Sections 1.08.02,
adding a definition for Conservation Collier lands, and 2.01.03, adding
Page 26
September 21, 2005
Conservation Collier lands as an essential service permitted by right in
all zoning districts and identifying the minor improvements and
conditional us improvements, and I've handed you some minor
changes to that, and I'd like to give you an overview and identify what
changes were made.
As you know, the Conservation Collier program is the county's
land acquisition program authorized by voters in a 2002 county-wide
referendum. The goals are to acquire, protect, restore and manage
environmentally sensitive lands in Collier County for the benefit of
present and future generations.
One of our primary goals because these lands have been
purchased wholly or in part through ad valorem assessments is to
provide reasonable public access for citizens to partake and enjoy
various outdoor activities in environmentally friendly manner.
As we began to buy land and plan for this public access, we
realized that under many of the zonings, we could not do so without
individually rezoning each property as we purchased it, which was
very time consuming and expensive. So after some staff discussions,
it was determined that the best way to accomplish our public access
goals was to make the changes in the LDC that you see before you.
So we've added Conservation Collier specifically as an essential
service and defined a minimal provision for public access that would
allowed by right, while still going through the permitting process for
anything that requires a permit, and these include a walking trail with
a section that's in compliance with ADA requirements, a parking area
for less than 20 cars, a rest room under 500 square feet in size, an
informational kiosk and one ground light.
For major improvements, anything more than this, we'll go
through a conditional use process, and the changes that you see are to
add the word "passive" to describe minimal uses. It's in red, and this
may already be in your book because that was a change made by the
development services advisory committee.
Page 27
September 21,2005
The other changes to correctly identify that hiking trails are a use
allowed by right and to add language that applies these allowed uses
to conservation easements, as well as fee simple acquired lands, and
these were changes that were recommended by the Conservation
Collier advisory committee at our last meetings.
And then also, we wanted to clarify that this change that we're
making neither reduces nor expands current gas and mineral rights as
they exist, and that was a suggestion from Barron Collier companies.
Mr. Brian MacKenzie, who represents them, is here today and may
want to speak with you about that, and that's what I have for you. If
you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Midney.
MR. MIDNEY: If we're buying these lands through
Conservation Collier, why are we worried about retaining oil and gas
exploration rights? Is the county planning on exploring these lands, or
are we not buying the mineral rights?
MS. SULECKI: I'm going to ask, maybe, Patrick to answer that
one, but my quick understanding is that we cannot buy the rights.
They are not for sale. So on some properties, these rights exist. There
have been agreements made, and that we are simply sticking by those
agreements that were made previously.
MR. WHITE: Those are the facts. I have no legal opinion about
them.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: When this came up, this situation, a lot
of times they can directionally bore from off site, and they need the
right to pull the minerals out from under the site, but by directional
boring, they still have the right to do that without disturbing the site
itself.
Brian, I know nothing gets by with oil and gas in Collier County
without Brian's comments.
MR. MACKENZIE: Actually, it was -- Brian MacKenzie
representing Collier Resources Company. When I read the initial
Page 28
September 21, 2005
proposed amendment, I was -- my concern actually was less direct
than that. My concern was that in areas where we would already be
allowed to do this, which is primarily conservation and rural ag, that
by installing Conservation Collier lands, we may have changed the
zoning and exclude our ability to access our separate mineral estate.
What we've changed the language to accommodate here is that --
not just for oil and gas, but for all land uses -- the zoning, the
underlying zoning, wherever the Conservation Collier lands are
established is not changed. It's not made greater or not made less.
And then we just made an affirmative statement about the
permitting conditional uses relative to oil and gas over our separate
estate.
MR. MIDNEY: So you're saying that if the taxpayers buy some
land to be used for conservation, that Collier still has, Baron Collier
still has the right to drill for oil and gas there because that is not for
sale?
MR. MACKENZIE: Only if they own the mineral rights.
MR. WHITE: If I may interrupt just to help clarify? There is an
absolute distinction between the ownership of the oil and the gas
mineral rights, which are a property right, and regulatory permission
by rules in the LDC or elsewhere to perform either exploration
activities, extraction activities, processing activities. So when we're
discussing the matter, I'm just hoping we can be all clear about the
difference between property rights and the regulations of how you
may access and use those property rights.
The government is free to regulate how you use those property
rights, the same way we do your property rights of ownership, of the
fee for residential, commercial, industrial, and so on.
MR. MIDNEY: But I thought if you bought something that you
were the one that had the rights.
MR. WHITE: I think you'd have to look to the scope of each of
those contracts. My understanding is, from what Brian is saying and
Page 29
September 21, 2005
what I'm hearing from Alex and others is that the intent of the
program, the Conservation Collier program, is not to buy those
necessarily ownership rights. They may not even be for sale.
MS. SULECKI: That's correct.
MR. MIDNEY: They're an easement, then?
MR. WHITE: They are a species of easement, I believe, yes.
They're subsurface rights.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Adelstein?
MR. ADELSTEIN: There's a complete difference between the
property, ground, and what's under it. You can buy -- I own a piece of
property. I sold the mineral rights to XYZ company. They have the
mineral rights. I own the land. This is the same thing they're doing.
Its two separate purchases, and I think that's the way it would work,
absolutely the way it should be.
MR. WHITE: In general, when you buy land as fee simple,
which is kind of a lawyerly word, you own all of those rights, from the
center of the core of the earth out to the ends of the universe.
However, here we're only buying, essentially, sounds like surface
rights, which include that part of the land, the fee, that is regulated by
the Land Development Code as we're proposing today, and is intended
to leave unchanged how we otherwise were previously regulating
access to, exploration of, development and extraction for the
underlying subsurface oil, gas and mineral rights.
We didn't want to change any of how that operated before. We
simply wanted to facilitate being able to use surface rights that were
being acquired by the Conservation Collier lands program, so that they
were able to be developed, consistent with the Conservation purpose,
allowing passive and other kinds of recreational uses.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Schiffer, did you have something
you wanted to add?
MS. SULECKI: May I add something quickly to that, which we
would buy them if they were for sale, but they are not for sale. That's
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September 21, 2005
on what they call a hundred year event.
MR. MURRAY: Hundred year -- right. So an extraordinary
event such as Katrina would just basically wipe everything away, if
they were below the line to begin with, so the higher we go, the better
off we are?
MR. SCHMITT: Absolutely. The higher you go. You at least
want -- you have to be above the FEMA flood elevation or you have
to flood-proof, or you can't get a building permit.
MR. MURRAY: Okay. It seems the decision, then -- I think I
understood your decision process was to try and accommodate those
who're already established, but maybe the redevelopment should be to
a higher level to allow -- if we're going to people -- put people in a
flood zone, we want to protect them as best we can and their property.
MR. JACKSON: Again, I don't have an argument. This wasn't
asked for. To get it passed through the DSAC, we put it in.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Joe, to get a better rating from FEMA
and to get better points, if we required one foot of freeboard --
MR. SCHMITT: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Would that give us a better FEMA
rating countywide? If we started doing it as a --
MR. SCHMITT: Yes, and that is being proposed at the Board of
County Commissioners of one foot above the bas one elevation, what
they call one foot of freeboard. That would be in the building
department. It would be above and beyond -- it would be part of the
building department, building committee issue. We would certainly
want to reference it in the LDC, if they want to define it here, but
that's a policy decision the Board's going to have to address, and it
does add to our overall community rating system, point system, for
Collier County.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: After all that's happened, it seems ironic
that we're looking to go backwards instead of forwards. It costs less to
go up than it does to go down like this is being proposed unless the
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September 21, 2005
flood prevention --
MR. SCHMITT: Just as a sidebar, the flood ordinance that is
going to be heard by the Board on Tuesday was overwhelming
rej ected by the DSAC in regards to many of the proposals for
improving the overall community rating.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The CRA? For?
MR. SCHMITT: Development Services Advisory Committee.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And they're made up of? I rest my case,
and I think the new court reporter is here, and with this point, I'm
going to take a 10-minute break, and we can exchange personnel.
(Court reporter change at 5:00 p.m.)
Page 103
September 21, 2005
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If everybody would come
back to their seats, please.
Where's Mr. Midney -- Mr. Adelstein, Mr. Abernathy and --
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Mr. Schiffer's here.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Oh, somebody -- there's a
group of you that are leaving at 6: 00.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: All of us.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: One or two -- okay -- well,
somebody -- yeah, but I mean -- somebody had to leave a little bit
early. I wanted to give that person the benefit of discussion.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Midney said a quarter of.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, then before a quarter of,
I wanted to at least reschedule the next meeting at a convenient time
so I know that he can be here.
So, since he's not here now, let's just go right into the agenda,
continue on with the issues.
FEMA. I think your understanding that the way it's written now
isn't one that we like, even though DSAC may like it. I hope that
you'll come back with something that's -- and I would suggest looking
at some freeboard to actually instead of hinder, help our FEMA rating,
so --
MR. JACKSON: Mr. Schmitt and I talked offline, and we'll
discuss it and come back with something.
MR. SCHMITT: Yeah, I'll give -- he and I and Bob Wiley will
look at this. Because I want to make sure we're on the same
wavelength in regards to the guidance to the rest of the county as well.
So I understand. And I think David's agreeable to complying with the
requirements as specified.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Under the minimum --
MR. EHARDT: Excuse me, could I just ask a question?
What would be not acceptable as far as the height above the
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September 21, 2005
existing sidewalk? Because most of the -- on Bayshore they spent a
lot of money putting in this new sidewalk and landscaping.
But what would be -- I'm just asking. I'm not holding you to it,
but, I mean, are we talking about five feet is not acceptable, two feet is
acceptable?
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: What I'd like to do is look at the
data and then let's see what it is. I mean, it's going to base on that.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: See, where some of us are
thinking, with all the hurricane activity and the fact that it's going to
get worse, not better, whatever buffer you can provide is actually an
improvement over what we have, rather than go below what we've
already got.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Absolutely. Besides, anything
that would diminish the pedestrian aspect of it would be unacceptable,
too.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Now, the next issue is the
minimum floor area that I had. 700 square foot gross floor area for
each building on the ground floor? You mean each unit, don't you?
MR. EHARDT: What page are we on? I'm sorry.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Page 36. Same page.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: What's wrong with a bunch of
little buildings, Mark?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, that's fine, if that's what
you --
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I was facetious.
MR. JACKSON: That's minimum.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's minimum, okay.
MR. JACKSON: It says minimum floor area.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: And I'll call to your attention
that in --
MR. JACKSON: And that's already in the LDC for a lot of
property, you know, they have a minimum size so you don't end up
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September 21, 2005
with too many small boxes.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's an awful small
building. I just thought it meant unit, and I wanted to ask.
Building height, you have --
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I would like to comment. And
there's 750 feet is the minimum in the other document. So you need to
look at that.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. That could be scrivener again. It's
could have been my typing.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Under your building height,
you have 14 feet building height equals one story. Are you talking
zoned height or actual height?
MR. JACKSON: That's actual height. And that happens to be in
the Compo Plan.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's actual height?
MR. JACKSON: Yeah. I mean, for determining the height of
the building. You don't have to build to 14 feet, but it gives you --
there's a lot of commercial people would like to have a higher ceiling
on the first floor for the mechanicals or for the ambience or whatever
the store may be.
And that's spelled out here: For the purpose of the overlay, each
14 feet of building height shall be considered one story.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well, then let's jump
to the top of the next page then to follow this question.
Top of the next page -- and I'm going to get back to this other
page yet -- but it says that the first floor ceiling height at the sidewalk
level should be no less than 12 feet and no more than 18 feet. So that
means you could have an 18- foot high first floor but it's actually
one-and-a-third stories, or something like that?
MR. EHARDT: Yeah, the 14 feet in the Compo Plan, I believe,
was just to determine the overall height of the building, the overall
height dimension, if you had so many floors -- to get -- because that's
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September 21, 2005
how we arrived at the 42 and 56 for three stories and four stories.
But inside you can vary the ceiling heights and so forth.
MR. JACKSON: Like a bank would want a very large room
anteroom at 18 feet. But to determine the height of the building, okay,
that's just from the base floor to the eave, that's -- 14 foot was a
measurement tool. What you do inside the building here, we try to
give some lines between 12 and 18.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: But your statement here says
42 feet in height but four additional feet for the parapets.
MR. EHARDT: Yes.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: So it's not going to be 42
actually, it's going to be 46.
MR. EHARDT: Well, the dimension is to the eave of the
building, the way we're measuring height.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: But we asked was it actual
height or --
MR. EHARDT: Okay, I'm sorry, it's to the eave of the building.
This is the actual height of the -- it's to the eave of the building, how
we're measuring height. You could have a hip roof would take it up
another 10 feet or you could have a parapet four feet high that went
around it that would make it -- I'm sorry. Or you could have a
parapet, which you get another four feet above there.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let's kind of work on the
same page. We have two definitions of height now in the code. One
is called zoned height and one is called actual height.
I need -- from my understanding of what you're trying to say, is
which one are you referencing when you say three stories or 42 feet?
Is it the zoned height or the actual height?
MR. EHARDT: The zoned height to the eave of the building.
If you're talking the absolute top, tip of the building, we're not
measuring that.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So you don't have a statement
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for actual height in here, you've just got zoned height?
MR. EHARDT: No. We assume if it's a parapet, it's another
four feet. If it's a hip roof or some other type of, you know, sloping
roof on it, it could be more than that. It just depends on the pitch and
so forth of designing that.
MR. SCHMITT: I think your point -- Mr. Chairman, excuse me
for interrupting, but you're right, you're on the right track, and I think
we need to make sure, because we do measure height differently based
on -- well, we measure height the same, but it's -- the point of
reference is different based on the type of roof line. And I think both
need to be the same.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I agree. And I want to
somehow by next -- by the time this is brought back, figure out where
these heights are in relationship to the definitions in the code.
MR. JACKSON: Well, we did that with DSAC. We had -- we
initially put some height and put some diagrams in there, and all of a
sudden everybody got confused, because it was referencing what they
have in the LDC, that it went from the first habitable floor to some
mid-range between the eave and the peak of the roof, whatever the
definition was.
The DSAC was adamant: Go from the first habitable floor to the
eave. And he said that's something that everybody can measure. They
referenced Duwaney, Zeider, Plyaburg (phonetic). They referenced a
whole bunch of different things, that it was easy and based. Because
the thing that varies out of all these measurements is the roof, what
type of roof, you know, a very steep -- I mean, how -- if it was a
church, you know, the steeple goes way up there. So, I mean, there's
different kinds of shapes of roofs. They said something that is always
the same is the eave.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But Dave, you're measuring it
from the sidewalk, which is not the same. I would rather go from the
habitable floor, especially with the conversation we just had.
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September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: Well, the sidewalk came about back from the
NFIP elevation for commercial buildings again. So we're trying to be
consistent in talking about what was what. They wanted us to build
down at the sidewalk level. That was the level of the first habitable
floor, so we referred to it.
Now, if we go back and change the elevation to be with FEMA,
whatever, then we'll have to change that definition too.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Dave, would you have a
problem eliminating the stories concept and just go with feet? In other
words, is the 14 foot in there to prevent somebody from having a
larger than 14- foot story?
MR. EHARDT: I don't know, because that's -- 14 foot's in the
Compo Plan, and that's when they talk about stories, with the 14 feet,
that's how they --
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: My suggestion is, why don't we
eliminate the story concept at all and just stay with the --
MR. EHARDT: Well, you may have to change the Compo Plan,
I don't know. The measurement you may have to -- you have to live
with that.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let David Weeks possibly
comment on that.
David?
MR. WEEKS: I think we need to keep that reference to the 14
feet to ensure consistency with the Comprehensive Plan.
As they've already stated, it specifically states that one story will
equal 14 feet.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: And David, is that to prevent
taller than 14- foot stories, or just give you a rule of thumb on a height
what a story is?
MR. WEEKS: My recollection is, is that it was to account for
the varying heights. Reference was made earlier to a bank. We
recognize that some buildings want to have a taller story than others.
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September 21, 2005
That 10- foot rule of thumb doesn't work for all types of development.
So the 14 feet was to allow for that variation.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Well, but this regulation
requires greater than 14 feet as a minimum. In other words, to have a
14-foot finished ceiling in your first floor, I've got to put a couple feet
of structure above that. So I'm --
MR. JACKSON: Mr. Schiffer, we use 12 feet as a minimum and
18 as a maximum. And that's interior. Fourteen feet was nothing
more than a ruler to figure how tall the building was, so that buildings
had somewhat of a uniform height. The only thing that would vary
would be the roof line, how the builder decided to put -- where he put
a mansard, where he put a parapet, where he put a hip.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I like the way you're measuring
to the eave. I mean, that gives people a lot of design freedom on the
roo f.
MR. JACKSON: Well, what it does, it keeps the front face of all
the buildings, the maximum buildings in the same type of height so
you don't end -- you end up kind of being kind of homogenous.
But there's a lot of people that aren't going to build four stories,
because they don't have enough area, they can't handle the parking,
they can't do the landscaping.
MR. EHARDT: As David mentioned before, we originally had it
the way you see here. Then there was some staff comments that they
didn't want to change the way they measured heights of buildings, and
we changed it.
Then it went to the DSAC and they asked us to change it back,
and that's what we brought here.
So we've been around a couple of times, I guess is what I'm
saYIng.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: One other question, David.
Could you add to the definitions, or at least the abbreviations,
NFIP? I'm not sure everybody will know that. Anybody who's
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September 21, 2005
reading it should, but --
MR. JACKSON: Yes, we can.
MS. FABACHER: If I just may input a comment, because I was
involved in the staff comments to Mr. Jackson initially.
Under the LDC, we measure the zoned height of the building, the
vertical distance from the finished floor to the highest point of the roof
surface of a flat or Bermuda roof, to the decline of a mansard roof and
to the mean height level between eaves and ridge of gable, hip and
gambrel roofs.
The problem that we said was staff has to review, and now all of
a sudden we're measuring different in different districts.
Inspection personnel. That was our comment on that, that it just
made it very difficult when we all of a sudden are measuring things a
different way in different areas --
MR. JACKSON: Well, you gave -- just as an example, you
gave three -- yes, ma'am. You gave three definitions, three ways to
measure the height of a building. In your own code you have three
different ways. We're giving one way.
MS. FABACHER: No, I'm sorry, that's for three different roof
styles.
MR. JACKSON: Correct. We don't care about the roof. We
give one way to measure the height of the building. Roof style has
nothing to do with it.
MS. FABACHER: My comment just was that it would be a lot
harder to review if we keep changing the way we measure.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're not there yet. We're
not signing off on this yet.
And I have a question of David Weeks, if he could, maybe
between his comment and solution, we can -- David, it says 14 feet of
building height equals one story, from what I understand in the Compo
Plan. Is that what you're saying?
MR. WEEKS: That is correct.
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September 21, 2005
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: How does the Compo Plan
figure where that 14 feet is measured from?
MR. WEEKS: It's silent.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's silent. So that means the
LDC, it follows the LDC.
MR. WEEKS: Correct. You have the latitude to measure it any
way you choose.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Which means 14 feet,
depending on how you measure it, could be a lot more than 14 feet.
MR. WEEKS: That's possible.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Does it say whether it's zoned
or actual? It doesn't get into that either?
MR. WEEKS: No reference. In fact, it predated all of that.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't -- and thank you,
David.
I'm not -- don't understand the reasoning of what other people
would have said to you, but I know that since I've been on this panel
we've struggled with height. And we've resolved it by having height
defined both in zoned height and actual height.
And if you would simply be able to supply us with those two
numbers for these categories, I think all the problems in that regard
would go away. Because everybody knows what that is, it's well
defined and we've worked with it for some time now.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But Mark, one thing, let me
chime in. That's really -- and you know, kind of like the new
urbanists, people are really worrying about the facades of the building
and, therefore, measurements to roofs is kind of getting to be passé.
So I think what they really want to do is lock in the height of the
street facade, not inhibit the design of the roof. Or in some cases
actually encourage flat roofs.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But their own language here,
they're locking it in in relationship to the roof, Brad.
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September 21, 2005
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: They're locking it into the eave,
which is that part of the roof that touches the building facade.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Or top of a flat built-up roof.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: If it's a flat roof, then it's
actually the top of the flat roof. In case there is -- a flat roof doesn't
have an eave.
MR. EHARDT: Just a clarification. The height is to the eave, or
the top of a flat roof. And then the parapet can be four feet beyond
that. So you could have 56 feet plus four feet if you had a parapet.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: All right. So you're saying
you can have 60 feet actual height, but 56 feet zoned height.
MR. EHARDT: If you have a parapet of four feet high.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's fine.
MR. EHARDT: Now, if it's a hip roof or a gable or some other
type of roof, I can't tell you what it is because I didn't design it --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But if you had a 56-foot high
building zoned, would you need 70 -- you want 75 feet for the various
articulation that would be on top?
I'm just saying let's get to numbers --
MR. EHARDT: I could think about that. I don't want to answer
tonight. I guess I could think, you know.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But I don't think that's fair,
because what they're designing is different than our suburban Land
Development Code is designed. They're designing the downtown
urban street. And what they want to do is they want to lock in the
facade height. And that's done by measuring from the eave. The roof
is an irrelevant factor at the -- of the height of that --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But then they build it into
their definition, Brad. Now we can use the same definition.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I don't see how you would. As
a designer, I mean, what would you do, you would try to squeeze
more building by flattening the roof down?
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September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: The intent for us is not to have a semi -- you
know, to define every article of a building. You know, there's got to
be some kind of designing creativity in the part of it. And the only
thing that we're trying to control is the face of the building and above
the roof -- the roof line above. That's where your architectural features
can come in. And so what if one building has maybe got a 10- foot hip
roof and another one's got a IS-foot hip roof? That will provide an
interesting skyline and give a chance for architectural features.
What if they want to do the old Florida look, which is what you
were trying to recommend as a guideline, and they want to put a
cupola on there? Okay, the cupola may be 15,20 feet tall, because it's
a feature that has to do with the old style. We'd end up writing pages
and pages and pages of code on just trying to tell them how to write a
roof. We're just concerned about the face. Let the roof ride.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm not objecting to anything
you just said. But tell us, if you want a 70- foot cupola on a 30- foot
building, tell us you want an actual height of 100 feet. Just tell us.
And then it's in the code and everybody knows what to expect.
MR. JACKSON: You want a not-to-exceed height.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's exactly what I'm
saying. What is your maximum actual height and what is your
maximum zoned height. That's all we're looking to find out. And
whatever way you fit that in is strictly up to the way you guys design
it. But I think that would be consistent then with what we have as the
code.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Mr. Jackson, I'd like to interrupt
for a second here, if I may, please.
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: You've stipulated -- you said
you recommended, but in this document you've stipulated in cracker
style.
MR. JACKSON: It's recommended as a guideline. It--
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September 21, 2005
my understanding.
MR. MIDNEY: Not all the lands that you're thinking of buying
have these separate mineral rights. It's just certain ones?
MS. SULECKI: That's correct.
MR. MIDNEY: Okay. That clarifies it for me.
MR. SCHIFFER: Paul, to be comfortable, you wouldn't want --
without this, there might be lands that would not go into the program
because they would not want to have a problem over that. Growing
up in a part of the country with coal mining under us, I find this is
something I'm used to.
The zoning that you're referring to, it's not just to get the mineral
rights, is it? So Conservation has control of a piece of property, you
could, let's say, have commercial zoning on it. What this is saying is
that that commercial zoning would not be removed, it would be held
essentially in place so that there wouldn't be any confusion with the
oil.
Isn't there -- I mean, what would protect that? Obviously
Conservation Collier owns it, so they certainly wouldn't allow a
7 - Eleven to be built on it, but what would -- why do we need that
protection? Why can't we remove the zoning?
MS. SULECKI: We could remove the zoning. It was just
considered that that would be very time consuming and expensive to
do on each property, and the problem was, for example, in industrial
zoning where we purchased a property. There is no use for a park,
passive use of a park, so we could not put a parking lot and a trail on,
and we couldn't get the public on there.
In the estates, you can't put a parking lot without having a
primary structure, so these were the issues that we faced as we looked
at the zoning and the problems, so we would not be changing the
underlying zoning. The property is protected because it's identified
through the deed as Conservation Collier, and the ordinance identifies
that we cannot use those for anything other than conservation
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September 21, 2005
purposes. We may in the future decide to change the zoning.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay. So what you're saying is the protection
is going to come from your ownership --
MS. SULECKI: That's right.
MR. SCHIFFER: -- and your goals, and not -- couldn't we come
up with a -- have the zoning that you can come, you can do whatever
you want to do with your passive -- and make that a zoning
classification that would --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We'd still have to change it, though.
MS. SULECKI: We could, but we'd still have to change each
property as we acquired it. That's the problem.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay. All right.
MR. MURRAY: Just putting the nail, if I may, in the coffin on
that one, the acquisition by whatever means, whatever, a warranty
deed, fee simple, that is in perpetuity? These lands are being placed in
perpetuity for this function. Correct?
THE WITNESS: Yes, they are.
MR. MURRAY: So that basically cinches it, if I understand it
correctly.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Patrick, did you have a comment?
MR. WHITE: No.
MS. FABACHER: I have a--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Thought you raised your hand.
MS. F ABACHER: Yeah, thank you. Just to answer something
that you had asked about directional drilling, and I've discussed this
with both Patrick and Brian, in most of the -- okay, oil and gas
exploration is a permitted use in the rural agricultural and the
conservation district.
However, the rural agricultural has -- it says, subject to state
drilling permits and Collier County site development plan review
procedures, and what we have done, what Stan Litzinger and Marti
Chumbler did in all of the sending lands, the RFMU, they had put in
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September 21, 2005
this operational provision for oil and gas exploration, which says, you
know, it's subject to state drilling permits in Collier County,
non-environmental site development plan review procedures.
Directional drilling and/or previously cleared or disturbed areas
shall be utilized in order to minimize impacts to native habitats where
determined to be practicable.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I was going to bring that up, and I thank
you for bringing it up, and that's exact language. I remember we went
through this two or three years ago in detail.
MS. F ABACHER: And we worked out this language, so --
MR. MACKENZIE: The references are exactly to that provision.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I realize it.
MS. FABACHER: Right. So we -- I had spoken to Brian and
with his new language, he had no problem, you know, putting in
pursuant to this operational provision, which will just cite the section
reference and not write it again.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I have one question about the language
that you've inserted, Alex. It's not the new stuff, it's the old stuff. It
says, Conservation Collier lands which provide for permitted
non-destructive, in other words passive natural resource based
activities, and it goes into saying they can be less than 20 parking
spaces, et cetera. The word "non-destructive" I don't believe is a
defined term, and in a lot of peoples' minds, a trail is destructive to a
natural environment. With the word "passive" in there, do you really
need the word "non-destructive" in all these definitions?
MS. SULECKI: Well, we had some conversations about that,
and my understanding is that the word passive appears in other areas
of the LDC, and that staff plans to add a specific definition to the
definition section in the next LDC cycle, identifying exactly what that
means. We may not need non-destructive at that point, but what we --
our idea of passive or non-destructive was non-motorized use of trails
except where for the purposes of management or environmental
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September 21, 2005
maintenance or management by the county.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But see, Alex, for a natural area, which
Conservation Collier seems to believe it's -- a lot of people think that's
natural. A parking area less than 20 spaces is not natural. A kiosk of
100 square feet is not natural. A public restaurant is not natural. In
order to create those, you're doing some destructive process on the
environment to do that, no matter how small it might be.
For that reason, I'm thinking non-destructive might be a bad term
to have in there because some people may take it as meaning no
disturbance.
MR. WHITE: There's some confusion, I think, between what the
operative provision pertains to and what the lands are that this
regulation is talking about because what it's saying is, those lands
which provide for permitted non-destructive passive natural resource,
blah, blah, blah, activities.
It isn't saying that the things that are otherwise going to be
allowed later on in the provision themselves must be in all instances
non-destructive. It's talking about the overall aggregate purpose and
use of Conservation Collier lands.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So it's not referring to the parking lots
or the damages that those would cause?
MR. WHITE: No.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Then I have no other issues.
MR. WHITE: I had that same initial kind of scratching of head.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Any other discussion on this item?
Brad?
MR. SCHIFFER: I move for approval.
MR. MURRAY: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Motion was made by Commissioner
Schiffer, second by Commissioner Adelstein.
MR. WHITE: Could we just be clear about which version it is
that we're --
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September 21,2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The latest version that's in red ink,
Patrick, that you gave us today.
MR. MURRAY: Is that completely inclusive of that which was
in the packet?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No. And then some.
MR. MURRAY: And then some?
MS. FABACHER: Right. Then the provision that I had asked be
added for the oil and gas provision that provides for directional
drilling and using already cleared land where practicable.
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Quiet for a minute, please. Let me get
this on the table. The motion needs to include the language that was
passed out in the supplement that was given to us today, with the
provision that Catherine referenced in regards to the oil techniques.
MR. WHITE: And if I could just interject, that section is 2.03.05
B1c(1). Thank you.
MS. FABACHER: I. It's an I, not a one, but that's it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So, would that be in the motion? This
package today that we changed, is that your motion?
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. Isn't that the one dated June 22, 2005,
which is the version date on mine?
MR. ADELSTEIN: Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: Catherine, is that the version date, June 22,
2005?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The one that was passed out today is the
MS. F ABACHER: The one that was passed out today is dated --
where's your date?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Down the bottom, June 22,2005.
MS. FABACHER: Yes. Yes. The one passed out today with
the new language in red. That's the only other version aside from
what was in your package originally.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right. You're making a motion to
approve that supplement?
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes, it is.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: With the correction -- with the
additional language that Catherine noted. Correct?
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Second.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The second accepts that. All those in
favor? Thank you.
MS. SULECKI: Thank you.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, let me make a comment because I don't
think -- when we do revisions, we really should update that date
because the date is the same date as the old version.
MR. WHITE: I think that's an oversight on the part of perhaps
the drafters, and we'll be more diligent about those, especially if you
duly note those.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. We're on to page 24.
MS. F ABACHER: We're on to page 24 in the packet, and that is
the clarification of the parking and storage of vehicles, and if you'll
note on page 24, there's -- they're simply renumbering, changing the
numbering system, from capital -- from numbers to capital letters.
MR. MURRAY: Move for approval.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Motion has been made by
Commissioner Murray, seconded by Commissioner Schiffer.
Discussion? All those in favor? Opposed?
MS. F ABACHER: Now, the next item we've already covered.
It's on page 18, but when I had divided the definition out from the
Conservation Collier, so we just passed that one.
All right. So I'm turning to page five of the summary sheet.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Catherine, you said page 18. We're on
page 27.
MR. MURRAY: You've confused the devil out of me.
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September 21, 2005
MS. F ABACHER: I'm sorry.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: On page 27, on page five of the
summary sheet.
MS. FABACHER: All right. Okay. Sorry. All right. We're
talking about the amendment for staggered setbacks in the estates.
The BCC had directed, asked, that this be brought because at a public
meeting, some of the residents were concerned about the ability of
emergency vehicles to be able to access homes in the estates, which
you know on these lots, particularly the 75-foot wide by -- can 660
feet long?
MR. SCHIFFER: Right.
MS. FABACHER: They had requested that it be staggered, so--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But see--
MS. FABACHER: The front setback. I understand your
concern, Mr. Strain.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's a big concern here because first
of all, the Golden Gate master plan committee went into a lot of depth
on this issue. This is not what we recommended. In fact, this would
not even close to accomplish the goal that the citizens were asking for.
MS. F ABACHER: Exactly. I think that was in staff comments
because David Weeks brought that point up to us, that you did not
want it, but I was asked it bring it back.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I've spoken to some people who have
been involved with this, and they realize now, after laying it out on a
piece of paper, that it doesn't work, and if you want me to, I can show
you how that fits.
MR. SCHMITT: It would be very, very problematic even if --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You have to be careful because you
could force people onto someone else's property to get access to their
back yard. We can't do that.
MR. ADELSTEIN: I move that this section not be approved,
rather than going through this.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, we need to have discussion, but if
there's a motion --
MR. MIDNEY: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The motion's been seconded by
Commissioner Midney.
N ow you all understand what we're trying to do is stagger the
75-foot wide lots, but they still retain seven-and-a-half-foot setbacks.
Well, if you do that, a vehicle's got to go on a neighboring lot to get to
the back of the yard, which legally they can't do.
MR. SCHIFFER: The question is, Mark, why push the front of
the neighboring house back 15 feet. What's that going to help?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: How you would want to look at
someone else's back yard or you want to force someone to have a
deeper and longer driveway than the other -- it goes against
everything. I'm sure this wasn't the intent.
MR. SCHMITT: The question, frankly, it was brought up during
a public meeting, at a Town Hall meeting. It was requested by a
resident, and the Board directed us to development an amendment and
bring it forward, so as far as the rationale for it, you would have to ask
the person who made the recommendation.
MR. SCHIFFER: But essentially what we're doing is we're
trying to get access to the rear of these so that people could store
vehicles behind there, not be visible to the street?
MR. SCHMITT: I'm not sure what the real issue was. I think
Mark is probably aware of some of the issues. Some of it was access
to the rear years.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think since it's come up, though, I
think the issue is somewhat resolved. That's why this does not really
need to go forward.
MR. SCHIFFER: Where is it resolved, in some other
amendment?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No, just in discussions. I don't think -- I
Page 38
September 21, 2005
think nobody understood that this isn't going to help. I think now that
various people understand that if you only leave a
seven-and-a-half-foot side yard, you still can't get around the house
legally, especially if someone wants to put a fence up or a hedge up at
their property line. You can't drive by it.
MR. SCHIFFER: If there's an issue, why don't we increase the
side setback?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That is the solution that would--
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. Something like 12 feet, so you have
size for a fire truck or something to drive through it in an emergency.
MR. SCHMITT: You're dealing with issues I think need to be
brought up through the Golden Gate area master plan, especially with
75-foot lots. You begin to restrict the developable area.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You'd be taking what, 20 feet off.
MR. SCHIFFER: They're 600 feet long, I mean, my God, you
can design a lot of nice stuff.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Commissioner Vigliotti?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: In addition, if you're going to change the front
setbacks, the piece of property has to go through mitigation, and they
have to buy wetlands. The further back you bring it, the more
wetlands they have to purchase. That's going to cause a problem, too.
MR. SCHIFFER: If this wasn't an issue, they shouldn't be
storing trucks back there, either.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's a forum at the end of October
that you may want to attend and you'd have an earful there.
There's a motion made to reject this, and there's been a second. I
think we've had discussion. I'll call for the vote. All these in favor of
the motion to reject? Anybody oppose that motion? No.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. Next we're on the same page five of
the summary sheet, and we are on to Section 2.03.071, Bayshore Drive
overlay. It's on page -- well, it was --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're on page six of the summary sheet,
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September 21, 2005
at least the one that you e-mailed out to us.
MS. FABACHER: It must have--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Here's a six. I'm sorry. Six came off
the internet. Sorry, Catherine.
MS. F ABACHER: I'm sorry. I'll give everyone a printed one.
Weare talking about the Bayshore Drive overlay. It is the additional
handout that you got at the last meeting with the different colors in it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
MS. FABACHER: Okay, and I believe that David Jackson is
here, director of the CRA advisory board, and also Mr. Joe Ehardt
from HDR to answer any questions that you may have.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Before we go too far, we're going to
take a break at 2:30 for the court reporter, so no matter what happens
and where we're at, I'm going to stop at that time and let her have --
her fingers a rest.
MS. FABACHER: All right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I know this one could take the rest of
the day in itself, based on the number of questions that I'm going to
have, so anyway --
MR. ABERNATHY: Take a whack at it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, the first thing I want to do, there
was an interesting editorial in today's paper. I know we shouldn't
bank on editorials, I never will, but the editorial indicated that the
neighborhood is going to be consulted about this.
I don't know who was in charge, but why are we seeing all these
recommended changes to move forward and consuming a lot of time
today if the neighborhood hasn't been consulted to begin with, and I
know the paper indicates that before the money is spent, I believe
there's been already a lot of money spent.
MR. SCHMITT: Two different issues.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MR. SCHMITT: This is an issue from almost a year and a half
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September 21, 2005
ago. That was a proposal to the Board of County Commissioners for a
contractor to develop streetscape proposals, which is a different issue.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, there are streetscapes in here. Are
those not the same?
MR. SCHMITT: You're completely correct. It's related to that,
and I probably would have to ask Dave Jackson to clarify.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, as long as it's not -- as long as this
has been vented in the public, then we should look forward to it. I was
just questioning the issue whether or not we were doing something
that hasn't even been, you know, released in the public.
MR. SCHMITT: You may have public here that may comment
whether or not it's been vetted, and I won't make that determination.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, may I ask a little history question here?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Go for it.
MR. SCHIFFER: I'm not certain you can answer this, but I
mean, this Bayshore was written -- essentially the first version of it
which has been in the code for a couple years was written by the staff,
and prior to the CRA. Correct? And there was a Bayshore overlay
district that was prepared?
MS. MURRAY: Commissioner, I may defer to David on that,
only because the whole thing came out of the comprehensive planning
department, and honestly, this is kind of my first bite at the whole --
dealing with it other than implementing it through the LDC. I don't
have a lot of the background on it or the relationships between various
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, maybe even prior to coming --
MR. SCHMITT: This was almost six years ago.
MS. MURRAY: Yeah. It was 2000 the Bayshore was adopted
portion was adopted.
MR. SCHIFFER: Right, and then maybe two years ago, a year
and a half ago, there was a small amendment to it, and this will be the
second time that we're -- second real time we're looking at the overall
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September 21, 2005
overlay. Is that right?
MS. MURRAY: Correct.
MR. SCHIFFER: That's all the history I need.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Is there -- who's going to be answering
questions that this panel may have?
MS. MURRAY: Well, actually, it's David Jackson and his
consultant are the applicants in this case, and a couple things just to
clarify. There's two amendments here. One is to the Bayshore Drive
overlay, which is an amendment to existing text, and the other is a
new amendment, which is the Bayshore triangle. So even as staff,
when we're talking about them, we tend to start talking about both at
the same time, so I just caution you on that.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're starting out with the Gateway
triangle, if I'm not --
MR. SCHIFFER: No, we're on Bayshore.
MS. MURRAY: Which would you like first?
MR. SCHIFFER: Bayshore.
MR. SCHMITT: Commissioner Strain, if I could take a minute
just so the other commissioners understand the relationship, is there --
are there any questions of those who understand the CRA and the
staff, they are two separate and distinct entities.
Mr. Jackson works directly for the CRA board, which is in fact,
the same members on that board is our Board of County
Commissioners. He is the staff element for the CRA. He's the
executive director of the CRA, reporting directly to that board, and
though it's a -- we work in concert in regards to the issues, it is two
separate and distinct staffs, so I just want you to understand when
Susan says that David is the petitioner, he is the petitioner because he
is representing the Bayshore gateway. He is not part of the county
manager staff at all, so you understand that relationship.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Thank you for that clarification.
Does the board want to start out, or do you want me to walk through?
Page 42
_·"__·'_·"""N_'··"··'·''''~'''~''
""""-~ .J~
September 21, 2005
MR. SCHIFFER: Could we just go page by page?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's all I was going to do.
MR. SCHIFFER: You can lead, and we'll all pile on.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Jackson, did you have a preference
for any kind of introduction, or did you just want us to start peppering
you with questions?
MR. JACKSON: I have my flak jacket on. You can start any
time.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I hope it will be constructive, so--
MR. JACKSON: That's fine. David Jackson, executive director
of the Bayshore Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment
Agency. And true, we are a separate and distinct entity. The only
reason the overlay has come about is because the comprehensive plan
of 2000 mandated that these overlays be finalized to BOT (phonetic)
form.
They should have been completed twelve months ago. We are
two years into the process, and yes, we've had community meetings,
numerous ones, over the last two years that have been invited and
publicly advertised, and we've also had a tremendous amount of
county staff input into it, as well.
The -- I'd like to confirm that the document you are looking at,
and that I can reference with you, too, at the top of it says, Final
Bayshore Overlay Amendment No.3 8/17/05. Is that correct? And it
should be colorized with red and blue.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Anybody else? Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: Paul doesn't have that. Hey, could you grab
one on the table up there. Oh, Paul has it, never mind.
MR. ABERNATHY: Somebody had a lot of temerity to call it
final, but --
MR. SCHMITT: Who needs a copy?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think we've all got them. Thank you.
Yes, I think that's the version we all have. Thank you.
Page 43
September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: Okay. Just want to make sure we're all on the
same page and I can dance with you in step.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. The first question you may have
already touched on. Has the public in this -- or these properties, the
property owners both adjacent to and within the triangle or within the
overlay been notified? They are aware of what's going on here today?
MR. JACKSON: They have not been notified with certified,
return address mail, they've been notified through public meetings,
e-mail contact, and my going into the community and talking with the
community groups, residential groups, professional groups, and we
still get comments from day do day, either bye-mail or people calling
or coming into the office about the content of these two overlays.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. White stepped out again, but when
he gets back, I want to make sure that's a sufficient notification for
changing the zoning. That was one of my questions.
MR. ADELSTEIN: Was there any notice in the newspaper?
MR. JACKSON: Yes. It was publicly noticed through the
county commissioners' office. He's talking about the meetings we had
in March, May.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You guys -- yeah. Having conversation
with the audience is going to be hard for the court reporter.
MR. JACKSON: Sorry. It was just a background question, if
you're talking about this meeting, or you're talking about the public
meetings we had this year that I would know about.
MR. MURRAY: This meeting is a continuation of a prior
meeting where it was properly advertised, I believe, so I think we may
be covered in that area.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: Let me ask David, in this question about land
use, is there -- as far as I know, other than the addition of the artist
community, I forget the actual designation, there's no changes in the
land use map, is there? In other words, the neighborhood commercial
Page 44
September 21,2005
designation, is that the same, or is there any changes to the map?
MR. JACKSON: No. Well, yes, there are. There are some areas
that are. Specifically one that would be that was the home
occupations R&C. There was some questions there from staff about
that. Some land was designated that was not being used as that, so we
tried to correct it and call it what it was.
Some of the designations for a couple of the mobile home parks
that were previously -- zoning versus mobile home, we either can
categorize them as an R-2 or an R-3. The residents in the area said
they wanted to be R-3, so we changed some of that, so there's some
numerical changes on some of the designations.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, when Patrick gets back, I'm going
ask to --
MR. EHARDT: Sir, Joe Ehardt, and I'm with HDR consulting
firm that's been working on this. One of the things we did was we
expanded the overlay at Bayshore to cover other parcels of land that
wasn't previously covered in the original overlay. Okay? Besides the
changes that David -- there's some other ones, like he said, mobile
homes and some other single family areas that we put in within the
overlay designation.
MR. SCHIFFER: Again, Lindy's question. That doesn't
essentially change the zoning of people's land, what that does is add to
them a different zoning option?
MR. JACKSON: Correct. What it does is it captures and gives it
maybe a different nomenclature, BMUD, R-1, whereas before it was
mobile home, where it was R-3. It's changing it so that it all has the
similar, same type of nomenclature, and true, the initial overlay only
covered a few acres of land around Bayshore and Becca Avenue, and
so because the -- looking at the comp plan, it says the entire area -- the
future land use maps, is that we will -- the overlay will cover and
address all the properties, and it only makes sense that everything
within the area should be addressed, rather than piece meal part of it,
Page 45
September 21, 2005
where you have two different completely things happening across the
boundary line.
MR. EHARDT: If I may just clarify one thing, too. There is an
area --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Every time you speak, you have to
identify yourself so she knows who you are.
MR. EHARDT: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Joseph Ehardt, Junion.
There was an area south of Thomasson that was in one of the original
overlays, and working with David Weeks and looking at some
information he showed to me, that area had to be eliminated from this
overlay because it didn't fit within the comprehensive plan definition
of where this overlay should go. It was a mobile home park down
South of Thomasson, and I think there were some other areas. I think
that was the only one that was down there.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. The next question I'm concerned
about is really -- Mr. Schmitt's back. I think he could address
something for me. Joe, in reading -- and I've read these documents
very thoroughly, several versions of them, and of course this final
version. I have notes on every single page, but I notice in many
instances, it's referring back to processes that are going to be intensive
for county staff, that are going to require county maintenance in areas
that we're not currently not maintaining, and items like that, review
processes, items that will all be put on county staff, yet under the
fiscal and operational impacts, the word is none.
So you can implement this without any need for any additional
personnel or any county maintenance -- costs won't go up?
MR. SCHMITT: It has to go up. I mean, there's going to be
costs associated with implementing this. At the -- even at the counter,
just simple zoning requests and zoning letters, other type of issues,
tracking, the opt in, opt out policy, all those kind of things. I have not
even sat down and figured out what it is going to cost in regards to
man hours in implementation of this. But the second piece of it is a
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September 21, 2005
transportation issue with Norm Feder, and of course the landscape
beautification and all the other issues associated with it, there's
certainly going to be a cost to the county in regards to those additional
items or maintaining proper entities.
That will be a board decision which will be handled in a budget
cycle. Whether or not they pass that off to the taxpayers under the
general fund or decide that it will be the -- an MSTU or the CRA or
some other entity to pay for that, that will have to be policy decision
of the Board, but that's a long winded answer. We have not really
done an economic analysis, but there will certainly be an economic
analysis. Now, as you well know, I charge for services provided. I
would have to charge some kind of an application fee associated with
some of these activities, which would be the way I would recoup some
of my costs.
MR. SCHIFFER: But Joe, it would be the applicant that pays all
these costs.
MR. SCHMITT: Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: You're self-sustaining, so the issue then is not
with Joe's department with the cost to the development community.
MR. SCHMITT: In some cases, some of this may be a general
fund type activity. There are certain things we do at the front counter
that are passed off to the general fund and are identified during the
budget cycle.
MR. MURRAY: This document requires that maintenance to
sidewalks and other activities be done -- passed on to the county, and
so that's a real cost. That's clearly understandable, as opposed to some
of the costs which you may have that are folded in.
MR. SCHMITT: Yes.
MR. MURRAY: There's two factors running there.
MR. SCHMITT: Yes, but there would be an incremental cost
based on -- as development takes place. There would have to be
decisions made by the Board of County Commissioners on how
Page 47
September 21, 2005
they're going to fund the maintenance of some of the -- the streetscape
and other things associated with it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The reason I ask, Joe, it's kind of
relevant.
MR. SCHMITT: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Especially with what Commissioner
Caron pointed out at our last meeting, when we talked about density,
that if you had 12 communities times 79,000, we're going to spend a
million bucks and get virtually little.
MR. SCHMITT: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think the reason that we have a
question on the staff summaries for fiscal and operation impact is we
need the information, so I think -- for my part, at some point, whether
this is continued or how we handle it today, that question has got to be
answered.
MR. SCHMITT: We will try to come up with an estimate of
what we think this will cost to implement. Appreciate you pointing
that out. I'm going to need that for the Board to understand, as well.
Part of it will be application fees, some of it maybe ad valorem.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm sorry, both of you at the same time.
Mr. Adelstein?
MR. ADELSTEIN: As long as we're in that predicament of not
having the figures now, why don't we just continue this until another
time and let's get whatever you can and go forward then. Right now
we're not going to accomplish much of anything.
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, Lindy, there's a lot of stuff here that has
nothing to do with how much of a fiscal impact.
MR. ADELSTEIN: We certainly can't approve it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Here's what I think is going to happen.
I have an issue with so many things that are -- this is more of a draft
than a document. I'm sorry to say that, but I read this, and I was
waiting for it to be completed, and there's so many questions here, I
Page 48
---....'~.__ 10.
September 21, 2005
can't see this going through here today, but at least maybe we can
provide enough questions so that you and your consultant realize that
there's a lot of holes here that need to be addressed.
There's a lot of ambiguous language. There's a lot of issues that
aren't even answered, maintenance being one, water management on a
master plan being another, connection piece mealing of sidewalks, the
staff dollars, how this connects with the FLUE, the maintenance of --
Collier County's right to maintain the easements that they need,
coordination with the DOT, utility easements that aren't accounted for,
intrusions into right of way for awnings and things like that.
I've got all that laid out, sentence by sentence, page by page, and
at the board's call, we can go through this, start it today, but I don't see
us getting completed.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, I have comments for every page, too,
but they're -- I don't see any of them being fatal. They're all like
clarification issues.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I mean, that's--
THE WITNESS:
MR. JACKSON: If I may, Commissioner Strain?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes, sir.
MR. JACKSON: For you and for county staff Mr. Joe Schmitt,
in my defense, it's like you winking in the dark, only you know what
you're doing. If you don't tell me what your concerns are, if you don't
sit down with me and as meeting after meeting we are available 40
hours a week or even after hours to talk about these things.
We have addressed every concern that's been put in writing and
given to us, and we have addressed it as best we could. We have
changed things that were in error, and we're not perfect, we know that,
and we've discussed those things that we may have a difference of
opinion and try to come to some kind of a compromise or decided who
was more in the right.
I am willing to take all nine of your comments, if you'll put them
Page 49
September 21,2005
in writing, send them to us e-mail, somehow get them to us, and I
again offer one more time to the county staff, this was delivered to
them in December of 2004. It was again delivered to them as
documented on June 10th. I've yet to have a meeting with them.
They've had it for 100 plus days. So I would like to know what
your concerns are. Staff did give us a 19-page report, and we
addressed I'd say 95 percent of those things that we found that we
were either in error, was the documentation not consistent, you know,
those type of things, and we corrected those. And that's why you see
on the front page we have documented every time that we get an
input, we change it, modify to move it on. And we did that with the
DSAC. We've done that with every board, and we're willing to do
that, and we react fast, and that's kind of why we came out of the
DSAC and the board staff comments that were given to us back on
those dates, that's why you received this red and blue document at the
last meeting was because we responded to a 19-page document, made
the corrections and delivered it to you.
We operate on now, not the future, so I'm more than willing to
take your comments, if you want to give me what you've got right
there, pen in hand, and any other of the commissioners, and I offer
again to the staff, please don't wink in the dark. Please tell me what
your concerns are, and let's sit down and talk about it and come to an
agreement, and then you will have a good, solid, final document.
MR. MURRAY: Mark, I would like to just say, I worked with
Mr. Jackson briefly, and we had nice conversations. We didn't get
into the depth, but as you may remember, I wrote a critique on the last
submission.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I know you did.
MR. MURRAY: And the differences between that and the
corrects that have been made is phenomenal. Mark, I have a whole
bunch of questions myself, no question about it, but it is, I think, a
good work in progress, and I do think he needs some time. I would be
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September 21, 2005
willing to work with him on it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I have no problem. We're here today.
MR. SCHMITT: I just want to make sure for the record to
clarify with Mr. Jackson, since staff has spent a lot of time with Mr.
Jackson and his consultant on this product, as well, so I'm not sure
what David was referring to when he said we hadn't replied because
we spent a lot of time on this.
I think we're at some point in this process where we are at an
agree to disagree because of some of the criteria involved or some of
the processes involved in implementation.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well, I think enough said. Let's
move forward with it now.
MS. FABACHER: Well--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Catherine?
MS. F ABACHER: Can I just say one thing as the LDC
coordinator? When I began circulating it for this cycle, during the two
years when I was being prepared, none of the other departments like
transportation or anyone had been consulted or worked with, so over
the two years that they were working on the document, when we
finally transmitted it to the different divisions, transportation,
environmental, landscaping, it was the first time that they had seen it,
and we had to scramble to put together huge amounts of comments. In
our defense, this is such a big project, it's just impossible to do it once
the cycles began, and we would have appreciated it if we had the
ability in the two years previous, when it was being worked on, to be
consulted, and I don't want to say that that is Mr. Jackson's fault
because he hasn't been here through the whole process. I think we've
had several directors and so forth, but there was not enough working
with the staff to -- we'd see to hone something before it was brought to
you.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I understand, and you and Joe have
made things very clear for the record. We're here today to get through
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September 21, 2005
as much of it as we can. So let's just pick up --
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, let's take a break now, rather than in
seven minutes, and we'll come back -- let's just start down the trail.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't have a problem with that. We'll
break until 3: 30.
(A break was taken.)
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The court reporter has indicated she's
anxious to get started again, so -- okay. So why don't we just start
with the questions on the overlay, and I'll just go ahead and start in on
it.
My first question may be more of staff than Mr. Jackson. There's
a series of definitions here, Susan or Joe. Would those definitions be
added to the LDC in the definition section, and if se, since they differ
from the definitions already there, I'm wondering why we need
multiple definitions for the same thing in the LDC?
MR. SCHMITT: I'd defer to Susan on this.
MS. MURRAY: Susan Murray, for the record. Yes. I mean, this
is part of the LDC, and I think if I understand where you're getting at.
You would maybe rather see them incorporated into the definitions for
the whole LDC.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Because if anybody's looking for a
definition, they're going to flip to the definition section of the LDC.
MS. MURRAY: Correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well then the accessory unit definition
here -- I didn't have time to check. Do we have already an accessory
unit definition in the LDC, and if so, does it conflict?
MS. FABACHER: I can comment on that. We have accessory
use of structure currently in the definitions. Okay?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MS. FABACHER: And I would think if Mr. White were here, he
usually says operational provisions such as library, studio, work,
playroom, guesthouse, would be identified as accessory uses, you
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September 21,2005
know, in the table for accessory uses, so -- still an accessory use or
structure. I don't know if it's needed, and to say also that it does say --
Mr. Jackson had put 1.08.02 at the top of that, so it does indicate that
they intend to put it into our general definitions.
MR. MURRAY: And Mark, there was another question I had
raised. There was a question on accessory uses where there would be
a workshop and a kiln was the question that I raised, for somebody
doing pottery, and that has not been resolved in this that I can see.
If someone is going to make pottery, and they're going to have a
kiln, what kind of a permitted and what kind of a zoning does that fall
under?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think that's -- it's not addressed in your
overlay that I've seen.
MR. EHARDT: No, it was taken out. That was when we were
talking about the artist village being residents that might have a home
use that would be that, but we've taken that out now, and we just have
-- the artist village is basically a commercial type of use.
MR. MURRAY: Okay. That solves that part of it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Ms. Court Reporter, are you
comfortable with this gentleman's name?
COURT REPORTER: Yes, thank you.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: As long as these are being incorporated
in the LDC, that was my issue. They're not duplicated in what exists
already there, and I'm sure that staff will make sure that doesn't
happen.
Under street \yalk, you have a word in there, it says semi-opaque
freestanding wall lined with a facade of an adjacent building for the
purpose of masking parking from the street. What -- how would
anybody know what the word "masking" means in the context that it's
written here? Is there a definition for that? I couldn't find one.
MR. EHARDT: No. I don't have a definition for masking. It's
basically a wall that would extend like a facade of a building, kind of a
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September 21, 2005
continuation of a theme of a building that would hide the parking,
mask it from public view.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Could you suggest a wall that doesn't
need definition. Like a wall is defined, so could we say wall?
MR. EHARDT: Sure.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm going to -- I think the way we're
approaching this today is to make a lot of suggestions to you. I think
this is going to have to come back, and that was another question that I
had.
MR. MURRAY: And I would like to add to that, too, if I may.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: What?
MR. MURRAY: To the wall issue.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes, but before we go too far, I was
asked during the break if it was the panel's consensus that this is going
to be not finalized today but brought back at another date.
I would think so from my review, though we're not done yet, I
would think the exercise today is to go through this, critique it, so that
they have some input, and we'll come back another time around. Is
that --
MR. MURRAY: It's my guess.
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
MR. ADELSTEIN: Joe's figures aren't going to be available
until then.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. So then, for those in the
audience that asked the question, this will come back again, as I
expected for the month, or whatever month we reconvene.
MR. MURRAY: If I can continue on my question?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Go ahead.
MR. MURRAY: I note on the final Bayshore overlay
amendment and then also on the gateway triangle, if you compare
them, the definition for street wall is different. In the triangle, delete
semi-opaque, and it speaks of a freestanding wall, as the other one
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September 21, 2005
speaks of the semi-opaque freestanding wall. Was that intended?
MR. EHARDT: No. We'll correct that. It's just that going back
and forth in between --
MR. MURRAY: Okay.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. My next questions will be on--
oh, Commissioner Caron, I'm sorry.
MS. CARON: I just wanted to make a comment that on page 39,
there is a picture of what they mean by a street wall, so I think it
shouldn't be difficult for people to figure out what is meant by it. The
picture somehow relates to --
MR. JACKSON: Correct, and masking would be whatever term
they use in landscaping to hide something. You know, that's what the
landscaping is for, is to buffer, to hide, similar to opaque, so if
masking is not a landscaping term, then we can use landscaping terms
to make that word work for you.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay, maybe the word hide.
MR. MACKENZIE: Hide? If that's --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, we're using percentages of opacity
in our landscaping buffers, and you may want to take a look at that so
someone knows clearly what they have to do there.
I'm on to page four, if the rest of us are.
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: My first issue would be the red item
number two, in about the middle, it says the documents must be
recorded by the applicant in Collier County's official records. Now,
these are the documents in referencing to subj ecting the area to the
overlay. That changes its zoning from its base zoning to the overlay
zoning, and my question would be of David Weeks. I know he's
probably sitting back there dying for a question.
MR. EHARDT: The operative word, sir, is maybe not change
because I don't think it changes anything, so that's where the language
further down that comes in and says, opt, and opt in. When you want
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September 21,2005
to use the land for something else than what it was initially zoned or
made for.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: David, could you tell me how we would
address these areas that opt in or opt out of this particular overlay if it
needs to? How you would see that coordinating?
MR. WEEKS: For the record, David Weeks, planning manager
in the comprehensive planning department. What the future land use
element provides for in this future land use overlay for this area is that
mixed use development is allowed, commercial development is
allowed, residential development is allowed.
For mixed use development, uses are limited to C-1 through C-3.
There are some existing C-4 and C-S zoning there. Therefore, there
needs to be some way to limit the uses to C-l through C-3 on those
properties that are presently zoned C-4 and C-5, and the mechanism
that they're proposing, and I don't know of another way to do it is to
provide the ability for a property owner to opt in, to decide yes, I do
want to do mixed use, and because I'm doing that, I understand that
I'm limited to C-1 through C-3 commercial uses.
Otherwise, how is it that we the county are able to prevent an
applicant from developing C-4 and C-S uses as part of a mixed use
development? They need some way of distinguishing. Now certainly
another choice would be to require a down zoning of that property
from C-4 or 5 to C-3, 2, or 1, but that adds additional costs and time,
and after all, we are trying to promote mixed use development here,
and certainly the time and cost delay is an impediment, not an
inducement.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: How do you see -- will staffbe able to
keep track of the changes? How do you -- I mean, what's your
mechanism for that internally?
MR. WEEKS: Well, I'm going to defer to Patrick probably in
part to answer this because I think he helped draft this language, but --
I'll stop right there.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's as safe as it gets.
MR. MURRAY: The major parts.
MR. WHITE: You know, I don't know if the word is blamed, or
-- I'm not sure how I can help the process. I mean, I don't know what
David's suggestion would be for me to add at this point.
MR. WEEKS: Well, let me say this, then. I may need to defer to
Susan. I have a comment, but I'll let you slog through it.
MS. MURRAY: Well, actually, I think what I was just going to
do is to clarify what I think your question is, and that is how we -- the
staff would develop an opt in, opt out process, but how is that
officially recorded or recognized?
MR. MURRAY: What's the mechanism?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: If someone is doing a title search or due
diligence on a piece of property, they're going to pull it open, and
they're going to see that it's -- the activities there are C-3, C-4, C-5.
How will they know that someone opted out to go to this lesser zoning
and the impacts that that may have on their purchase?
MR. WHITE: That is because what's anticipated, and I think -- I
don't know which version you're looking at, but there is one that I did
not draft that I did review I think last evening that suggests that it be
recorded with the Clerk of Courts, and the point of that is simply to
create, just as you indicated, Commissioner Strain, a record, an
official record that would show up in a title search, indicating what
that property owner's preference is, and it would be essentially binding
in perpetuity until some point in time potentially, they might come
back and do something different, but that obviously is something that
you'd have to look very carefully at being able to allow someone to
do. As always, there's a tension between flexibility and fixed choices.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I think it would be important for
this panel to understand that there's a process that's going to happen
that's going to make this work, so the public is protected, the
purchasing public or the buying public.
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September 21, 2005
A title policy, I agree would show it. A lot of times, though, I'm
not sure, that's quite a ways along in the due diligence process. That's
where it was intended to be, not -- so FLUE would be out -- FLUE
would be contradicting with the recorded documents at this point.
MR. WHITE: I don't think the future land use element is
something that's going to come in to the title search, and a title policy
may be very late in the process, but anyone who's doing due diligence
is going do start with some type of a record search.
Certainly if they have any question about what uses have been
elected by the property owner as to a specific lot or parcel, that OR
page search is being to come up very quickly.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Schiffer?
MR. SCHIFFER: Dave, if you could put a notation on here, land
use as to what parcels have opted in? I was actually speaking to
David Jackson.
MR. WHITE: Oh. Maybe I can clarify that. What you're calling
the FLUE may be in fact the official zoning map. Is that what we're
talking about?
MR. SCHIFFER: Can't we put a -- come up with a character that
we put on there to show which people have opted in?
MR. WHITE: Well, I think one way that it could be done by our
graphics department is to do just that. There are any number of not
only designating letters, but also some kind of footnotes that can be
attached, and then you have to look and see what that cross reference
is. I mean, arguably, if there's a large enough database and a way to
graphically depict it on a page, you could theoretically put the OR
book and page where the recorded election, the option of the property
owner, has been put into the clerk's public record.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think -- the point of my question was
that I think the process needs to be further defined, and then, since
we're going to be coming back with this, between now and then, if that
could happen, that would help clarify.
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September 21,2005
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir. That has always been the intent.
There have been discussions with the legal community within Collier
County to talk about how to do this, and that has not been fully
solidified, and again, this point is a contentious discussion point for
the property owners that own C-4 and C-S, and in all those public
meetings that you had asked me about prior, they explicitly said, if I
have C-4, C-S, I do not want to be mandated that I have to down zone
or change my zoning, and they wanted the option, and what we put in
here, there's the word, I believe I put in here that -- is that during the
submission of the SDP, site development plan, to change the use, to
redevelop it into the mixed use category or uses, whatever it would be,
would be the intense paperwork, whatever the county legal system
feels comfortable with, whatever that document looks like, that's when
it would be submitted, and then it would be solidified somewhere
down in the process, but the property owners are very keen on don't
down zone me. Give me the option, and if I do, when I do it, it's in
perpetuity, and I can never go back.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think that needs to be ironed out for
the next time.
MR. JACKSON: Absolutely. Sure.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And you brought up -- Bob, did you
have a question?
MR. MURRAY: No, it was resolved in the conversation with
Mr. White.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's another issue on the same
sentence, just below that. It says that.
MR. SCHMITT: Commissioner Strain, just for the record, I just
want to make sure you understand. I doubt by the next time we come
back I will have a solidified process of implementation on this. We
could maybe have a scheme, but the implementation itself will not be
part of the LDC. Eventually, that will be part of an administrative
code, but I don't think I'm going to have the specificity that you're
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September 21, 2005
looking for in regards to how we could do it. We've got to set up
some kind of an administrative process, but I think what I need David
to work -- as you suggested, that we at least define the legal
mechanism on how --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I just want to make sure it can be done.
That's all.
MR. JACKSON: And yes, sir, I'm recommending the reason that
you don't put those legal documents in here because they'd be a living
document, and they may want to change, as laws and things change.
Just that you cite in here that there is a process, and that process lies
somewhere else, and it is something can be changed with ease without
having to come back through the six-month cycle to change.
MR. WHITE: And just as a hopefully pleasant reminder, what's
been envisioned is that those kinds of processes would be located in
the administration code, and I think that once we have a structure for
citation, we could in fact even make a reference at this point for
example in that regulation to that administrative code provision.
MS. MURRAY: Mr. Chairman, while I'm thinking of it, I may
make a recommendation for you all to think about is those processes
take time to develop and are dependent upon the actual language that
is finally adopted as a result of these amendments, and I know we had
a similar situation last amendment cycle, and it was extremely helpful
for us to have a delayed implementation date of these to give us time
to develop all of those processes.
Again, they are dependent upon what actually ends up being
adopted by about Board of County Commissioners, and that worked
out quite well because while it sounds very simple and, yes, we have
solutions to all this, the matter of coordinating, putting it down on
paper, making sure everything's legal, making sure we don't have to
make any other changes to the Land Development Code as a result of
what happened takes quite a bit of time, and I would just offer that as a
suggestion for you.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: As this gels up, and we get further
along, if you'd keep us remindful of that as we make whatever
decisions we make, that would be helpful.
The next item that follows in that sentence, it says, first of all, the
individual acknowledges buying into the plan. These mixed use sub
districts runs with the land in perpetuity. The next sentence that I
need some clarification, as long as the property utilizes the mixed use
sub district regulations, it legitimizes existing point of development.
Compliance with those regulations would be continued to be required.
What does that mean?
MR. EHARDT: I've got to read it again.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: In one sentence you're saying it runs in
perpetuity, but then it seems to be conditional on this last sentence, but
I'm not sure the last sentence is even referring to that. I just couldn't
follow it.
MR. MURRAY: No, I don't think it is. I don't think it is.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Just a point to clarify. How's that? If
we don't figure it out here today, it needs to be -- I think it needs to be
clarified.
MR. MURRAY: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The next paragraph says, individual
land owners may choose to follow existing Collier County commercial
zoning. I would suggest that individual land owners shall follow
existing Collier County commercial zoning regulations related to uses
when they build or rebuild through the underlying zoning or at their
sole option they can go into this. If they don't choose to go into it, they
don't "may" follow it, they have to follow it. Wouldn't that be the
operative word?
MR. JACKSON: You're right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. The next sentence, next bullet
point, has in bold a discussion of the architectural -- or let's see, a
conformance with existing regulations applicable to zoning districts
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September 21, 2005
except for certain design standards found in Chapter 4 of this LDC.
This chapter that you're talking about as Chapter 4, does that mean
you're opting out -- they would be opting out of the commercial
criteria, and the commercial criteria that will be utilized is just what's
in Chapter 4?
MR. EHARDT: Certain elements, setbacks and things like that
that are in Chapter 4 would be applied to the new commercial C-4,
C- 5, if they decide to redevelop with something new. If there's a new
building built that was a C-4 use for example --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: An existing C-3 use?
MR. EHARDT: Yeah. The property is zoned C-4.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
MR. EHARDT: He wants to tear down what he's got there, buys
and tears it down, builds a new building, then the setbacks and certain
other things described in Chapter 4 would apply to that new building.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Then where the Chapter 4 would
be silent on an issue, would it fall back to the Land Development
Code?
MR. EHARDT: Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, I have some on page four.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Go ahead. I'm done with page four.
MR. SCHIFFER: Up at the top there, you eliminated, you
crossed out, shared parking facilities. Is there a reason why you're not
thinking that as a way to go? You see where it's crossed off, four
sentences down, on-street parking, shared parking facilities?
MR. EHARDT: That was -- that's in the original--
MR. SCHIFFER: You have to go to the --
MR. JACKSON: That's language that was in the original. We've
moved that back into the parking section, and we did --
MR. SCHIFFER: It's back in?
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir, it is, and we did it both for gateway
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September 21, 2005
and Bayshore. It was -- it just didn't seem to fit in that location, so we
moved it back into the section where it was most applicable, and we
put in the shared parking.
MR. EHARDT: There were certain items in the existing
Bayshore overlay, certain tables, setbacks, different things that were in
Chapter 2 that we felt were better in Chapter 4. That's why we moved
some of these things.
MR. SCHIFFER: In paragraph two, there's a thing in there
where this landowner's decision and recording should be done usually
at the time of site plan submission. Wouldn't -- could we do that so
that maybe it's done prior to the approval of site plan? In other words,
someone could go in for site plan approval, not get it, and not want to
do this, so --
MR. JACKSON: Ifit makes more logical sense to do it
somewhere else, somebody tell me where, and we'll put it in there.
MR. SCHIFFER: I mean, the word "usually" doesn't pin it down,
anyway.
MR. JACKSON: Well, when we wrote this, you know, we didn't
have a definitive response from the attorneys or from the land --
zoning and land use, so if it makes sense somewhere, then we'll put
that, you know, that -- where it is that paperwork is applied for.
MR. SCHIFFER: In my opinion, it would be prior to -- you
know, it could be one of the things pending for the approval of a site
plan because that way, the person knows what it is he can and cannot
do, and he doesn't make a mistake of opting in and then wishing he
hadn't, to find out that he needs a site plan approval.
MR. JACKSON: Could he submit it with his intent -- obviously
at his preapp meeting, he's going to have to say, I'm going to mixed
use, and he's going to show his plans and go through the whole
process, but it won't be approved until the whole project --
MR. SCHIFFER: But I think the site plan, the SDP, could be
approved pending, you know, proof of that letter.
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September 21,2005
MS. MURRAY: This could be a whole separate process. I
mean, it's not part of the SDP process. You can certainly imagine
doing this simultaneously, if you wish to take that risk.
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. My thinking is, in other words, rather
than having them come in prior to, he can go through the site
development plan process, find out that he can't do what he wanted to
do, and then in the meantime, get opted in.
MS. MURRAY: Yeah, that makes sense. Unfortunately, a lot of
people come in and want to do everything at once, and I'm just telling
you from professional experience, and normally they'll ask if they can
do it simultaneously, and they're willing to take the risk. I just would
encourage you not to limit if you find that appropriate, but just to try
and give you a real life example of what really happens in reality now.
MR. SCHIFFER: Maybe prior to site plan approval.
MR. MURRAY: Would you be speaking more for their welfare
by not letting them get into a trap?
MR. SCHIFFER: That's what I'm trying to avoid.
MS. MURRAY: I understand, but they often are willing to take
that risk.
MR. MURRAY: Well, that might be true for developers, but for
moderate income business people, it seems to be something I wouldn't
want to open up.
MS. MURRAY: It makes no difference to us. We can operate it
either way. I'm just trying to explain to you what --
MR. MURRAY: I'd rather see -- they're not familiar,
necessarily, with the -- I wouldn't want to see them get burned.
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir, Mr. Murray, and some of the business
owners that have discussed with me that they may take advantage of
this, they are small businesses. They've got less than an acre of land,
they may want to do something in the mixed use category, they just
wanted to be able to know that they could apply for the process, and if
their proj ect is approved, then they are the mixed use at that point, so
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September 21, 2005
obviously they always want to fall back to what they used to be
without -- if they can't get their project approved, they don't want to be
stuck with a land use that they don't want to use.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. We're done with page four, we
only have 49 pages to go. Page five, Item A, Mr. Jackson, you
reference will be a small-scale, pedestrian-oriented. Is there a
definition that could be provided for that, or something -- or a
different word that's --
MR. EHARDT: That is the language that was in the original
ordinance, and we didn't change it. There's some things in the existing
ordinance we didn't change, some things we moved from Chapter 2 to
Chapter 4, and some things were new.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You have an idea what your mindset
would be in regards to what small-scale is? Because if you do, you
could put something in that's more descriptive so there's no question if
it is or is not small-scale?
MR. EHARDT: I would let the development standards dictate
that. It has certain, you know, heights and areas and things like that.
I'd rather let those dictate it than try to give some other words here. I
think the regulations kind of dictate the shape and size of parcels or
buildings that are allowed, and I think that would be more appropriate
way of defining it, in my estimation.
MR. JACKSON: I believe, though, it was not here that that
language was put there trying to describe what the end product would
be, knowing that the comprehensive plan put a height limit on all the
buildings of three to four stories and 56 feet, and that they were trying
-- they were trying to go to pedestrian scale, i.e. Fifth Avenue South,
Third Street, Clematis over on the east coast, something along those
lines, so if somebody tried to pick a couple words that gave a visual
description of what the build out was going to look like.
So if you have problems with it, like I said, that was original
language put in in 2000.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right, and if we're going to -- things
need to be clarified and you all have a better word for it, use it. If not,
we'll make sure as we go through this it fits.
MR. SCHIFFER: On that point.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Go ahead.
MR. SCHIFFER: So David, if someone has a large piece of land
and does something that appears to be large, would anybody ever say
to you, hey, that's not small-scale?
MR. JACKSON: I'm thinking.
MR. SCHIFFER: I mean, you limit the size of buildings,
commercial buildings, that max out at 20,000 gross, if they don't have
residential. Other than that, is there anything?
MR. JACKSON: I can't read into the writer's mind because I
wasn't here, but I think when they talk about small-scale, they're
talking about height, not in mass of building.
MR. EHARDT: And I think, at least in the Bayshore option,
most of the commercial development that fits this NC category is
along Bayshore Drive and only goes back a couple hundred feet or so.
It's not like a, you know, 30 acre piece of land there's all commercial,
at least in the Bayshore case.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think what it boils down to is that
you're literally rewriting everything for this area. If this is something
that should be clarified and something that could get out of hand, by
all means by next meeting, try to suggest a clarification.
Under Item B, Waterfront Subdistrict -- it says the purpose of this
subdistrict is to allow maximum use of the waterfront for
entertainment while enhancing the area for use by the general public.
Does that mean recreational uses in the waterfront subdistrict would
be prohibited?
MR. EHARDT: I thin they are in the table.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm asking. I don't know.
MR. EHARDT: Yes.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, you need to -- okay.
MR. JACKSON: Again, that's original language.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well--
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I'd just as soon clean it all up if
we're going to go over this. Under residential subdistrict one, R-1, the
last sentence, the intent is to create a row or residential units with
uniform front yard setbacks. If you look under subdistrict R-3-E,
continues on the following page, it says, the intent is to create a row of
residential units with consistent front yard setbacks.
Are you meaning anything different? One is uniform, and one is
consistent.
MR. EHARDT: I think it means the same.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You have to use the mike, sir.
MR. JACKSON: He said he believes they mean the same.
Would you prefer we use the same words so we are consistent?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Let's be consistent.
MR. MURRAY: Couldn't be the worst thing that you ever do.
MR. EHARDT: Excuse me. One clarification. I need to talk to
Mr. Jackson because we changed some things in this district related to
setbacks. Some of them were to be built to lines, and we opted now to
just have a new setback where people can set further back than that, so
I may need to reclarify this definition.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Work it out by next time around.
That same page, where we started with residential subdistrict 3,
the purpose of this district is to allow a development of mobile home,
townhouses, and single family residences. Mobile home is a concern,
and I want to make sure that you realize we can't do mobile homes in
the coastal high hazard area, and part of your overlay is in that area.
I'm not sure that this --
MR. JACKSON: The majority of the area is in coastal high
hazard zone.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's my understanding that mobile
homes aren't allowed.
MR. JACKSON : Well, I understand for conditional uses -- and
Ms. Murray will have to chime in on this one, but if somebody has a
mobile home on a lot, its own mobile home, and they want to replace
it, they can.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Susan, in a coastal high hazard, can you
clarify?
MS. MURRAY: I'm not sure I can answer that question with
respect to coastal high hazard area.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: This says to allow the development of
mobile home. I think that that's where my concern was. If it's
existing, we can certainly look at that, but I don't believe -- I didn't
know you could develop any new mobile homes in a coastal high
hazard area. I think that's addressed in the GMP.
MS. MURRAY: There are different rules for replacing versus
new, so that might be something we need to answer for you next time,
if I can't come up with something.
MR. WEEKS: Mr. Chairman, you're correct. The future land
use element prohibits new mobile homes within a coastal high hazard
area. This entire Bayshore overlay is within the coastal high hazard
area, with the exception of that portion lying both north of U.S. 41 and
east of Airport Pulling Road.
All of the existing mobile home zoning and VR zoning that
allows mobile homes lies within the coastal high hazard areas. We
just need to clarify the language. This is referring to redevelopment,
not new mobile home zoning and development.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right. So that issue needs to get struck
and rewritten, and in preparing for whatever you have to do, it needs
to be consistent.
MR. JACKSON: We will clarify that off what Mr. Weeks said.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Before I go to page six, does
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September 21, 2005
anybody else have an item on page five?
MR. SCHIFFER: No, thank you.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Page six, the same item, top of the page
-- oh, no, I already addressed the consistency.
I guess number three on the bottom of the page, until the property
owner -- it says, sub districts will remain under current LDC
commercial regulations until the property owner decides to rezone to
the BMUD-NC or BMUD A V sub districts.
Now, maybe it's a clarification from staff that I need. I thought
what we're -- what this overlay does is essentially rezone it. Basically,
they'd be opting into one of the sub districts or instead of rezoning it
because that's what an overlay would do, I believe. It's a rezone
already. David's standing there, David Weeks, so maybe he could --
MR. WEEKS: I had that -- Mr. Chairman, I had that comment,
as well. This, I think, reflects the earlier language in the earlier draft.
I think what we need to do is make the same reference to opting in,
and I made a note that we probably should reference that section at the
beginning, section 2.03.07.5.2 that explains how you opt in.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. As long as that's noted the for
next time.
Gentlemen, I'm done with six, I'm done with seven. I did not
dwell on the uses that carry us all the way to page 33. Any of you
have any questions on the uses?
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes, I do, Mark.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Brad?
MR. SCHIFFER: David, on page nine, there's a description of
artist studios, and first of all -- I mean, I'm not sure -- the SIC code is
actually for theatrical production and miscellaneous theatrical
services, so I don't think that's an appropriate SIC code, but why
wouldn't we want artist studios in the commercial district? Why
wouldn't we want artist studios in all the districts? Aren't we building
an artist community here? In other words, for example, the
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September 21, 2005
neighborhood commercial should allow artist studios.
MR. JACKSON: As a commercial use in a C-1 to C-3 or a
neighborhood commercial?
MR. SCHIFFER: I mean a place where a person could go and
just --
MR. JACKSON: I don't have any argument on that.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay, so do you agree that killing the -- your
intention wasn't to not have theatrical services. Correct?
MR. JACKSON: Well, we did have one theatrical services in the
arts -- arts village area. This is one of those things that either you list
everything or you list nothing because there's so many art forms, and
everybody has a definition of what art is.
Building metal boats for some people will be art, and you don't
want a boat factory, you know, so we'll look at the SIC code. We can
put the permitted in the NC area there and see if we can find some
other --
MR. SCHIFFER: Why not for the waterfront? I mean, an artist
might want to look out at the water.
MR. EHARDT: We -- the intent was to create this artist village
and try to spell out the types of activities we'd see in that artist village.
It was a distinct area within the Bayshore area. It has a lot of the
same requirements as the NC category does.
I believe staff wanted us to put something in related to the IC
code. I know -- there's no real definitions that I could find for some of
these uses that we're talking about here, so I just had to list them out as
best I could of the types of things we got from some of the people that
were interested in doing this type of development in the area, and --
but, yeah, I've got no problem showing it in the NC area to the
waterfront area.
MR. SCHIFFER: I'd like to see it in the NC, the -- I mean, the
commercial zoning, somebody within that commercial project could
build -- could be a group of artists, an art studio. I know you can't just
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September 21, 2005
throw them all into that --
MR. JACKSON: That's fine. I don't have any difficulty with
that.
MR. SCHIFFER: And this comes up. This is going to be all
over the place, but go down to the footnotes, and Patrick, help me with
this one. The intent of that phrase, let's take five, for example. You
use this throughout the thing. It says, only allowed on residentially
zoned property as part of a mixed use development. Does that mean --
in other words, if I have a use, does that mean that I can only do it on
residential property, or are you saying it is only allowed on
residential? I mean, can you get rid of the word "only" and then say,
allowed on residential properties? Wouldn't that be the same thing?
MR. JACKSON: Okay, so you're trying to stay away from --
(Two people speaking at the same time.)
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, I mean, if you read this carefully, what it
says is, it's only allowed on residential property, which is --
MR. JACKSON: As part of a mixed use development.
MR. SCHIFFER: As part, so if I have a commercial piece of
land, I want to put this use on, and you're telling me I can't do it
because it's only allowed on residential property.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. Maybe we'll clarify it. We'll have some
people that will capture a piece ofNC property, like on Bayshore, for
instance, where it's not very deep. It's only maybe a hundred feet
deep, and they want to capture some of the residential zoned land
there and make it part of a mixed use project, and so you're taking the
residential and turning it into a commercial use is only allowed if it's
part of a larger mixed use project.
MR. SCHIFFER: But when you say to me that a use is
permitted, but it's only allowed -- in other words, if you get rid of the
word "only", I think you say what you mean.
MR. EHARDT: Okay. This is something that David had us put
in there as clarification. There were some sections in the overlay that
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we designated for the artist village that are residential right now.
They're part of a mobile home community. I forget the name of the
street now. Xxx Vanburen Street. On the south side of Vanburen
Street, it's residential, and on the north side, it's C-5. C-5 is not a
problem in doing what we want to do in NC categories.
MR. SCHIFFER: But I would argue that if it goes to this
footnote --
MR. EHARDT: Wait, let me -- let me -- let's continue on, and
maybe David can explain it further. What the FLUE says is that you
cannot expand the commercial property in the Bayshore, in the
overlay district, into the residential area, unless it's immediately
adjacent to a commercial property. Am I saying that right? I think
that's why this language --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You'll have to talk into the speaker, sir.
MR. SCHIFFER: Let me say, I understand that.
MR. EHARDT: Okay.
MR. SCHIFFER: And I understand what the intent of this is, but
the way you've worded it, you're not allowing me to do it on the
commercial property. What you're telling me is that it's only allowed
on the residential property.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. Well, in reality, you could not make the
residential mixed use by itself. It would have to be attached to some
kind of a commercial property, so we'll take the word "only" out and
MR. SCHIFFER: And it's intent -- I'm not understanding the
intent.
MR. WEEKS: I would suggest something to the effect of, for
residentially zoned property, this use is only allowed if it's part of a
mixed use development. I think we understand the idea. You're
reading it to mean that if you're zoned commercial, you can't do this
use.
MR. MURRAY: That's what it says.
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September 21, 2005
MR. SCHIFFER: Because you're telling me it's only allowed on
-- I have a couple more.
MR. MURRAY: Okay. Go ahead. I just have one question on
the artist thing again. I want to beat a dead horse, if I may. We're
coming back up to that artist studios, painting and so forth, and we get
down to ceramics, pottery, and it's permitted, and hand in glove, if
you're going to have pottery, you're going to have ceramics, you're
going to have to have a kiln, so I just want you to be very cognizant of
that, if you don't want to be putting a business, allow a business in
there that can't function, so I just call that to your attention, and that's
the end of that for me.
MR. SCHIFFER: My next question is on page -- never mind --
page 15, the marina is not allowed on neighborhood commercial, but
there is some neighborhood commercial that's alongside Haldeman
Creek and everything, wouldn't that be allowed on that? We actually
have some --
MR. JACKSON: Back in the section back here where it talks
about waterfront properties, we put in there that neighborhood
commercial could be used for a marina property, as long as it was
adjacent to, directly in the same ownership. It's further back.
MR. SCHIFFER: In other words, the reason you don't have
marina in there is because you don't want it on neighborhood
commercial that is not on the water or something?
MR. JACKSON: Right.
MR. SCHIFFER: Could you put in that footnote to explain that?
MR. JACKSON: Which page was that, sir.
MR. SCHIFFER: Page 15, marinas.
MR. JACKSON: And you want to put P in the BMUD section?
MR. SCHIFFER: And then you want a footnote to explain that it
has to be alongside the water.
MR. JACKSON: Okay.
MR. EHARDT: You're talking about in the NC category?
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September 21,2005
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. Another question, just out of curiosity
on the footnotes, you have a lot of ibid situations. Why don't we just
have less footnotes. In other words, why -- I mean, in other words,
we're footnoting -- let's just make it simple -- say number one, and
then the next five are going to be the same as number one, so we do
five ibids. Why wouldn't we just always refer to number one?
MR. WHITE: In other words, in the table box, you'd put the
same number?
MR. SCHIFFER: Right. Why have -- you know, we have a
couple hundred numbers here.
MR. EHARDT: I think I was trying to follow the format that's in
the new code, and I think they were numbered consecutively, if I
remember right. I may not.
MR. WHITE: They are consecutive, as they are distinctly
separate footnotes, but those that are similar, if you look through the
table boxes, you'll see there's essentially a repetition of that same
footnote.
MR. JACKSON: We'll correct that.
MR. SCHIFFER: Page 20, I note dwelling units are allowed in
neighborhood commercial and waterfront sub districts, but for down
here, we're not saying that residential uses are permitted, and I wonder
-- I mean, I wouldn't want a problem with somebody saying you can't
put a residence, and they could say, well, I can put a dwelling unit. Is
there a problem with --
MR. EHARDT: That can go in there.
MR. JACKSON: I think we missed it.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay. And again, it can be in mixed use,
which would be the intent.
MR. JACKSON: Right.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay. On page 24 is accessory uses, the boat
rental down to the boat yards, wouldn't that be available on
neighborhood commercial, if it's alongside the water? Put in
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September 21, 2005
allowable, but footnoted that it -- I mean, it has to be on waterfront?
MR. JACKSON: You are talking about the boat rental in the
residential?
MR. SCHIFFER: In the neighborhood commercial. There's some
neighborhood commercial, I know, that's on Haldeman Creek.
MR. JACKSON: Sure.
MR. SCHIFFER: I think the footnote that states it has to be on
water. You don't want a land-locked boat rental.
MR. JACKSON: Got it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's called portage.
MR. EHARDT: Just a point of clarification. I'm trying to think
where there's -- the NC property that's on -- is that on the north side of
Haldeman Creek?
MR. SCHIFFER: North side of Haldeman Creek.
MR. MURRAY: You may have something in the future where
you get some additional pieces into your --
MR. EHARDT: Right.
MR. SCHIFFER: A little thing, on page 26, we have
garage-residential. Would that always be your understanding for
either a garage alongside a residence, not a parking garage serving
multiple residents?
MR. JACKSON: Right.
MR. SCHIFFER: Page 27, has an accessory use -- I think
marinas are allowed as a primary use, but could they not be an
accessory use in the neighborhood, commercial, and waterfront also,
or you think the fact that they're allowed as a primary use, that would
never be a problem?
MR. EHARDT: I don't think I'd duplicate indicate it.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay, as long as there would never be --
MR. EHARDT: If they're on the other one there wouldn't.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay. I'm done with uses. That lands me on
page 31.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Go to page 33 in paragraph A,
last sentence. It seems to indicate that if you have an underlying
RMF -6, you're allowed to have commercial uses as long as they're
part of the mixed use development, so that means you take the density
of an RMF -6 and you can add to it some amount of commercial use,
so that your density on that piece of property would be much greater
than what it simply would be as RMF-6. Is that the correct
interpretation?
MR. EHARDT: You can increase it if you use the -- it would
probably get to the 388 draw down that they have. You could. If that
388 units is used up, then you couldn't use it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I mean, I was going to -- I've
certainly got a --
MR. EHARDT: David, is that right?
MR. JACKSON: When you mean density, you mean by just
mass of commercial, or more residential?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right now, if it's RMF-6, all you can
put there is six units per acre.
MR. JACKSON: Correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Now you're saying you can have
the six units per acre plus whatever commercial you want to fit on the
property .
MR. JACKSON: Provided it is attached to a mixed use piece of
property, neighborhood commercial and expand it. Then it could, yes.
It could take what is remaining or up to what -- 12 units per acres --
that's left in the density bonus pool.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And I will have -- I have a lot of
questions about the density bonus pool, but I guess --
MR. JACKSON: We have an expert -- we have an expert today
that could answer that for you.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. I don't know if anybody from
transportation is here, but I would ask that -- and Ross Miller is
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September 21, 2005
shaking his head no, even though he works in transportation, but --
you know, with some of your decisions, Ross, I'd have to agree with
you, but -- just kidding.
I would like to find out if in the TCMA that was created, that I
believe this area is a part of, or TCME, whatever which one it is, did
they count this additional commercial being in that area when they did
the TCME? It regulates or converts the program.
MR. SCHIFFER: Mark, that's an existing situation. I mean, the
code now says that in mixed use, you're allowed 12 units per acre.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But does the RMF-6 in this overlay
allow additional commercial if you're in neighborhood commercial?
MR. SCHIFFER: If you're in neighborhood commercial, you're
allowed mixed use, therefore, you're allowed the 12 units per acre
now.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. I can't speak to --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't get that.
MR. JACKSON: I'm going to try to look into your brain here
and figure out if I'm going to answer the question that I think you're
asking, is that the bonus density pool was taken out of Botanical
Gardens for the effect of the increased transportation impact. The
density in the entire area will not be any greater than what the
underlying land use allowed.
It just may be in a different place along Bayshore or along the
triangle area, so, I mean, we'll get into that. I don't know if we really
need to bog down here. When we get down to the footnotes to talk
about that, but the 388 density bonus pool came out of Botanical
Gardens and its underlying -- its land use ofRMF-6, it was 388 units,
it was allowed by the comprehensive plan, to be dispersed throughout
the overlay district, and without any written rule, so -- and a rule could
be written, but -- so instead of it all being down at the intersection of
Thomasson Drive and Bayshore, those 388 units, they could be spread
out throughout the rest of the area along Bayshore or anywhere in the
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September 21, 2005
residential area where it is attached to a mixed use development.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: David Weeks, could you -- I'm--
haven't heard of transferring development density in other places,
other than the TDR program. Do we have a transfer development or
some transfer density from the Botanical throughout this area? Is that
how it's been set up?
MR. WEEKS: Yes, sir. And in effect, we would create a special
TDR provision here. Back in 2000 when the future land use element
overlay was adopted for this area, and as David Jackson just
explained, that that's the nuts and bolts of it.
The Botanical Gardens was forthcoming. We knew that. We
wanted to encourage mixed use development here. The incentive in
part for that is to provide additional density. However, because the
vast majority of this overlay lies within the coastal high hazard areas,
providing for increased density through a rezoning was not enough.
That's like a line in the sand that the Department of Community
Affairs does not want to cross, so our means of increasing that density
was to take those units away from the Botanical Garden site after
rezone, and creating this pool, as he referred to it, of 388 units, and up
to the point that that's used up, this density incentive is applicable.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So in the coastal high hazard area in this
particular case, on individual parcels, you could increase the densities,
but only because you're using the gross density calculation left over
from another project that didn't use it. Is that --
MR. WEEKS: That's correct. The overall fact is a reallocation
or redistribution of, at that time, existing, approved density, as
opposed to, at the end of the day, increasing the number of units that
could be in the coastal high hazard area.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The issue of taking the RFM-6 and
allowing it to be used with the mixed use development and adding
commercial now to the RFM-6, is that also addressed in the GMP?
MR. WEEKS: It is just in the general sense that it says mixed
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September 21, 2005
use development is allowed, and what we're doing here, which is
allowed under a zoning of the land, just as we're taking lands that are
presently zoned commercial, and we're going to allow residential
development to occur there as part of a mixed use development, we
have the option scenario where a piece of property zoned residential is
going to be allowed to have commercial development, and in this case,
also, more density than the underlying zoning would indicate.
That's the real difference here with the zoning overlay . You
cannot go by your underlying zoning to the greatest -- well, I would
say completely it becomes irrelevant because the zoning overlay, if
you opt in, dictates what your uses are going to be and what your
density is going to be.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I understand now that the 388, then, is
somewhat regulated. Basically, it comes from a formula derived from
the maximum that could have been there anyway.
MR. WEEKS: Correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: How is the additional commercial that
seems to be implied could be created in all these areas, how has that
been accounted for grossly over the entire overlay project or the
properties in that area, versus what would have been there under the
existing zoning?
MR. WEEKS: That has not been accounted for. Now most of
the properties that are in the overlay that allow commercial uses, most
of the neighborhood commercial, most of the waterfront, if not all, is
presently zoned commercial, so there's not the increase, but there are
some RMF -6 zoned properties that would allow for commercial
development, and there has been no similar accounting for that
increase, as there was with the 388 residential units.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So you -- where I was going with my
original question was trying to find out if transportation, then, has
some way of -- because when they did this TCMA or TEM, or
whatever it's called, at that time, they had to show the State how they
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September 21, 2005
figured all the traffic counts in the area were going to be and they
relied on certain formulas. Then this new commercial wouldn't have
been in that initial formula, so I'm wondering how that's going to
affect the overall TCME. You may not be able to answer that
question.
MR. WEEKS: I can't -- certainly I cannot answer the specifics of
how many trips would be generated additionally. I can say that laying
this down in an overlay which allows for this zoning overlay that
we're discussing existed since 2000, so when the TCEA was adopted
about a year ago, this future land use provision was already there, and
we're taking a step now to implement what was already in the future
land use element.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well, maybe you can let me
know next time. Mr. Abernathy?
MR. ABERNATHY: I think you could use the word cow patty
in the transfer of the Botanical Garden, surrender of the Botanical
Garden units --
MR. WEEKS: Yes, sir.
MR. ABERNATHY: -- some years ago. Is the 388, are those all
derived from Botanical Garden properties along Bayshore, I guess it
was?
MR. WEEKS: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Vigliotti?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: The 388 units that go into a pool, how are
they going to be distributed?
MR. WEEKS: First come, first served until they're used up, and
our department has specifically mentioned if you're in the overlay, it's
always been our intent that we will track those units.
Initially, it was presumed because such a process that we've
discussed today did not exist, we presumed that it would be through a
rezone action. In this case we're coming up with an administrative
process. Either way it doesn't matter. We will track those number of
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September 21, 2005
units with each approval until that 388 has been used up.
MR. MURRAY: And I would have a question, really, more for
Mr. Jackson is, is there a waiting list currently for such application?
MR. JACKSON: They're lined up at the door.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Brad?
MR. SCHIFFER: And David -- I'm sorry, David Weeks, it exists
today. I mean, we're not adding that to the overlay at this point?
You're defining the pool a little better, but the 12 units was in there
prior to today?
MR. WEEKS: The 12 units was in the future land use element.
That's correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But the conditional commercial that can
now be put in RFM-6 was not? That's what I'm trying to get at.
MR. WEEKS: No, sir, if you're going back to the notion we
have this pool of residential, did we have some pool of commercial?
No, we did not.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's what I was getting at.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: Going back to the units again, They're being
given away for free?
MR. JACKSON: That's not been discussed with any part of us.
MR. WEEKS: No, there is no independent development right
that exists. It's a -- if you will, you could say the county controls
those, as opposed to a private entity. The county has that pool of 388
units. Each time an applicant walks in the door requesting this density
increase, if they qualify and it's approved, and we take that off the
books.
MR. ABERNATHY: The Botanical Garden could use the
money.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: So could the county. So could the county to
fund this. Couldn't we attach a dollar value like other areas of parking
spaces? It's a thought.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It is interesting because the first
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September 21, 2005
developer who can move the fastest and acquire the most is going to
walk in there and try to get as many free densities as he can, where
elsewhere in the county, they'd have to pay a fortune for that.
MR. WEEKS: But the incentive here is to try to get a mixed use
of the property gratis. That's the basis here. You may be correct. We
had not thought of this before, but the notion of charging for those, I
would question whether that's -- is that still incentive, or is it now
becoming a disincentive?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: I believe if you put a dollar figure to it that
they'll still do it, depending on the right dollar figure. It might be hard
to find a number that works for everybody, but there is a dollar figure
that everybody's leaving on the table.
MR. MURRAY: As long as we're discussing that, take into
consideration this is intended as a neighborhood redevelopment, and
as I understood it, it was to benefit the residents, and primarily the
residents, and not make it open season for all the developers.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Brad, did you have another?
MR. SCHIFFER: Yes, and I'm sorry to go back, but this will be
quick. David, on page 31 -- David Jackson. You know, we used the
BMUD abbreviation a lot, and in Chapter 4, the first place it kind of
shows up, could we put in the abbreviations these BMUD things? In
other words, there's no way you can define it in the LDC abbreviations
COURT REPORTER: Excuse me, what is that?
MR. SCHIFFER: Pardon me?
COURT REPORTER: What is that?
MR. SCHIFFER: The word, the BMUD. It's capital B --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: B-M-U-D.
COURT REPORTER: Thank you.
MR. SCHIFFER: Where we have our abbreviations? Could we
put these in there?
MR. JACKSON: Sure.
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September 21, 2005
MR. SCHIFFER: Somebody could come across Chapter 4, and
they really wouldn't know that that's the Bayshore thing unless they
read that, or spell out Bayshore.
MR. EHARDT: Have this in the definitions?
MR. SCHIFFER: Well, prior to the definitions, we have
abbreviations. I think it should be in there.
MR. EHARDT: Oh, okay.
MR. SCHIFFER: And we highlighted it like it's an abbreviation.
In other words, our standard now if we have a bolded.
MR. JACKSON: Right. We'll define it a little better and put it in
the definitions.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Mr. Vigliotti?
MR. VIGLIOTTI: I want to get back to the units again and the
dollar value. David, couldn't you work on a program that might make
sense to generate some kind of revenue, instead of just --
MR. JACKSON: The community redevelopment agency, that's
one of its purposes, is to provide incentives for redevelopment of
blighted areas, and redevelopment of spaces. Usually the incentives
are something that is a gift to the person that is going to create
something new, make it better, larger, or will comply with whatever
our zones, codes, and designs are.
I agree with the comment made that it may become a
disincentive, but then again, it's a gamble, it's a risk, but our job is to
provide the incentive that this bonus pool is a definite incentive to
bring this whole area back to life, and I would hate to put a cork in the
top of the bottle.
However, that doesn't mean that your suggestion can't be taken
up with the community redevelopment agency board at their next
meeting and discuss with them if they have a desire to attach a dollar
figure to it, but right now, I don't see any administrative or any
language or legal stuff that says that we can, we should, or we
couldn't.
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September 21, 2005
MR. VIGLIOTTI: I'd like to see it at least investigated. I know
the other CRE people pay for parking spaces. It's common, and it still
works.
MR. JACKSON: Okay.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Isn't your board made up of people that
live in the area, business owners?
MR. JACKSON: That's just an advisory board.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
MR. JACKSON: Which is just advisory in only capacity. The
CRA board is --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's the BCC.
MR. JACKSON: No, it's not the BCC. It's the people that sit as
the BCC. It's separate and distinct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. The five bodies--
MR. JACKSON: No, they are separate and distinct. They are not
the same. They're the same people that sit there, that's the thing we
have to keep separated here. They have different legal actions, and
they don't mingle.
MR. MURRAY: I watch the transfiguration occur every time.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: They don't look like themselves, let me
tell you that.
MR. SCHIFFER: Government schizophrenia.
MR. MURRAY: I've got 33, but we went back to 31.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Can't go back. We're on page 33.
Under C(3)a, just a question about the outdoor displays. Merchandise
is limited to the sale of comparable items sold on the premises, and as
indicated on the proprietors' occupational license.
They don't tell -- on the occupational license, they don't tell a guy
what merchandize he's going to sell.
MR. JACKSON: This is original language. I have difficulty
with it, too, but I didn't know what to do with it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, let's clean it up.
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September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: Well, I'd just as soon take it out. This -- what
this means is somebody can't -- I mean, somebody sells boats, he puts
boats out there in his front yard, or somebody sells benches or art, that
he can't take his art out and put it out in his -- if he has a front yard
area, that's his private property.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Maybe it needs to be reworded in a
better manner, so --
MR. JACKSON: Sure.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It would be a good time to do it.
Page 35 is the rest of the commission there?
MR. SCHIFFER: But wait a minute, Mark, one thing. I kind of
understood that what it's saying is that if a guy gets an occupational
license to be an outdoor vender, he can only sell those things that he
has a license for. I mean, you're saying that an outdoor vender could
sell food, and he starts to sell cars. I mean, wouldn't that be --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No. It doesn't say on his license what
his merchandize is. That's all I'm saying.
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
MR. JACKSON: Well, it says sold on premises which intends
that he has a fixed site. He's not a cart vendor --
MR. SCHIFFER: Right.
MR. JACKSON: -- pushing somewhere. He's got a building.
He's got a rental space -- I mean, he's in a space. It's on his premises
that he is leasing, so --
MR. EHARDT: Couldn't we just put a period after premises, or
strike the last part?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. I can go do 35. The first thing
on 35 is your front build-to-line. In the C-1 through C-5 zoning
districts which underlay the BMUD, that's where it's to apply. What if
someone wants to use the underlying zoning setback? Does that mean
that they're not allowed to, that they have to use the front
build-to-line?
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September 21, 2005
MR. EHARDT: The way we're written it now, that is correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So even if you don't opt in, you've still
got to --
MR. EHARDT: -- use that criteria, but you can do a more
intense use if you have C-5 or C-4 which you couldn't do with the opt
In.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So the only thing you're not buying into
when you opt in is the change of use?
MR. EHARDT: Basically the use, yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. I your want to make sure it's
understood that way.
MR. JACKSON: A little bit of a more uniformed setback, it'll
bring it a little bit closer to the road. It's a little bit more uniform type
of setback when somebody redevelops a property.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I've got -- there's a lot of
questions about the build-to-line to understand it better, but I guess
we'll work our way through the pages to get to them.
Under number two in the next column, in-fill projects will match
front yard setbacks of existing -- adjacent existing structures. Well, if
they didn't have a build-to-line before, is this assuming all the
structures are built to some imaginary line? What if they're staggered?
What if you got different --
MR. EHARDT: Let me think about this. I forgot what I wrote
here. That probably needs to come out and stick with the
build-to-line.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MR. JACKSON: Yes. And in redevelopment, that does -- I
think you're exactly right, Mr. Strain, is that in redevelopment, you're
going to have, when there were no codes, buildings built at different
settings, and then when there was takings on roads, and so the line
moves around, and we may have buildings -- and we do have many of
those -- there's no -- it looks like a snake crawling on the ground.
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September 21, 2005
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right. The maximum density at the
bottom lists 12 units per acre. I just wanted to make sure that
whatever that is, it doesn't exceed the current density allowed by the
coastal high hazard area because I think you have a base density of
four with a traffic congestion, I think you're dropping it down to
maybe three. I'm not sure how that works, and maybe David Weeks,
who's standing behind you, can tell me if this fits with the --
MR. JACKSON: Well, yeah. This is a mixed use neighborhood
commercial, so the 12 units is correct, if they bring residential in with
the commercial component.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: As long as it doesn't increase the density
that we currently have for the coastal -- we can't -- I don't believe we
can bring any more density in to a coastal high hazard area.
MR. JACKSON: It comes out of the pool.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right.
MR. EHARDT: That's all. That's the word.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: David Weeks, is that worded in a
manner that will work for your understanding of it?
MR. WEEKS: I'd have a couple of minor changes. I would
recommend -- the first one would be to add the phrase, this applies to
mixed use proj ects only. Because that is the only means by which
these will qualify for that, and secondly, in the second sentence of the
footnote 105, replace the word "since" with "if'. If the underlying
zoning is commercial because there are, again, some RFM-6
properties within the neighborhood commercial, but those are minor
adjustments, but otherwise, back to your question, yes, sir.
MR. MURRAY: Would you repeat that last piece again, replace
the word --
MR. WEEKS: In the second sentence, it begins with the word
since. It's stating that since the underlying zoning is commercial. I
would replace the word "since" with the word "if'.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. While we're into that paragraph,
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September 21, 2005
and Mr. Jackson, I guess this is more of a question for you. I
understand your first sentence now about the 388 density. Then it
says, this bonus is allocated on a first come basis and is recommended
by the CRA local advisory board as developments are planned.
Now, is that the board that was appointed by the five bodies that
sit up there?
MR. JACKSON: No. It's a nine-member appointed board,
advisory board.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Appointed by the BCC or the CRA,
whatever you want to call them?
MR. JACKSON: Correct.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
MR. JACKSON: It's appointed by them, it's advisory in nature.
Their objective in their bylaws, their scope of work is to give
community input into anything that happens within the boundaries of
the CRA.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I feel pretty uncomfortable with
allowing a private group to award density. I think that's at the
discretion of the BCC or the government process. I also don't believe
that your board, the advisory board, has the right to do that anyway,
by their own establishment. When they were created by the BCC, the
most they could do, according to Item D of their creating documents
was review and comment on any redevelopment proj ects proposed in
the advisory board's component redevelopment area, and I think that
that's going quite a bit further than that process. I would suggest that
that sentence be struck.
MR. MURRAY: I would agree with you, Mark. That was one
of the issues that I had, was the concern for decision making.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think review and comment would be
weighed, appropriately so, by staff, since staff are the professionals
that we rely upon to make sure all the consistency is there and all the
other elements of discretion are used, so that would be a suggestion.
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September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: You're talking about page 35, sir?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: In your footnote. It does occur in other
parts of these overlays.
MR. JACKSON: Correct. I'm just trying--
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: 105, and you have the same language
throughout this document in other paragraphs we'll be getting to that
reference approval authority of your advisory board --
MR. JACKSON: I think the operative word is "recommended"
because they know they don't have any statutory authority. The
reason it's in here, sir, is to make sure that any person that is a
developer or redeveloper in the area, that they come to the community
and talk to the community and lay the cards on the table and get input,
and the input would be for design, architectural review, density, the
likelihood that the project with be a benefit to the entire area, and it is
a recommendation which can be overturned when it gets into the
county planning process or up into the planning commission because
you will see all these projects, and then it has to go to the BCC.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well--
MR. JACKSON: The recommendation is to provide a tool
because right now, we do not want an end run around the community,
and you'll end up with something you don't want. It's too late, it's
already through the process, and you have to swallow it, and that is
happening now, and we're just trying to circumvent that and put them
back through the process to don't forget that we are a community
redevelopment area. The community needs to be involved, and they
need to know what's going on in their neighborhood, and you have
people standing in front of you in the planning commission all the
time saying, when did this happen? How did this happen? Nobody
has input, and you have to backfill. We're just trying to put the
language in there to allow the community to provide recommended
input, recommended, and then the people that have the legal side of
the house can continue from there.M
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September 21, 2005
I mean, I didn't mean to be terse. I'm just trying to convey the
people that are in this area, how they feel about it.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I understand. I've got more to say.
David, do you have a comment?
MR. WEEKS: Just a quick comment. If I understood Mr.
Jackson correctly, he mentioned staff, but he also mentioned planning
commission and board, and as this is structured, this is going to be an
administrative process with staff, only.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I know, and that's why I'm still getting
into it, David. But I disagree with the way it's written on those bases,
but Mr. Jackson, to go back to what you said, you talked about
recommendation. Again, I've got to go back to the documents that
formed the advisory committee that were signed by the chairman of
the county commission, and it says specifically they will review and
comment. It doesn't say recommend, doesn't say approve, but review
and comment.
Now, I don't know what the protocol is legally, but I would think
that you need to stick to what your allocation was, just like this panel
has to stick to what we're allowed to do. So I would have problem
with language in there that says review and comment, but I can't see
recommending an approval at this point, as it being inconsistent with
the other documents that formed that group. So those are my
comments for next time.
MR. MURRAY: I would also add to that. If it is truly to be a
fair system, if it's going to be first come, first served, it has to be really
noted as first come, first serve, and the recommendations that come
from your advisory board, who knows these recommendations? This
information has been passed on to the county? Is public knowledge?
So those are the considerations you must make, sir.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm on page 35.
MR. SCHIFFER: Just a matter of format. Don't we now, instead
of calling the county comprehensive planning director, don't we say
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September 21, 2005
county manager or his designee everywhere?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
MR. SCHIFFER: That comes up in a couple places. It comes up
there on footnote --
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Just after 105.
MR. JACKSON: Yeah. The county manager designee was
original language from zoning, planning staff. They always ask who is
this and what does it mean, so what I tried to do was take it out and try
to, you know, put in something that is a known entity to qualify the
county manager or his designee.
MR. MURRAY: We can do it parenthetically, I suppose.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Would you comment on this issue
because we've gone to great lengths to change into the UDC from the
LDC. We changed all that language over to the county manager and
his designee, and we've done that in the PUDs that we've put forward,
so are we now reverting, going back to this?
MR. SCHMITT: Should be county manager or designee. That's
been pretty consistent.
MR. JACKSON: All I comment to that is, I get staff
recommendations that says take it out, who is this, so I'm in a --
MR. WHITE: That's fine. You need the information, but that
doesn't mean the provision has to read that way. Once they know that,
then they will know how to apply it in whatever procedural rules they
develop.
MR. JACKSON: Then I should put back in here county manager
or his designee?
MR. WHITE: Or designee.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Or designee. Right.
MR. WHITE: Yes. Leave out the pronoun.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: In that same sentence, I want to follow
up on your question, once the 388 unit density bonus is allocated, only
the affordable housing density bonuses can be used to increase
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September 21, 2005
density.
Now, Mr. Schmitt, what are we at with the affordable housing
and the CHHA? There were some changes coming down from the
BCC. Where are we at with that?
MR. SCHMITT: David could talk about this, but part of this
depends on where we were in a zoning reevaluation of what density
was available there, but the bottom line was going to be a four units an
acre in a coastal high hazard area for affordable housing.
That's what the EAR based amendment was going to offer.
David?
MR. WEEKS: Further, even if the EAR based amendments are
approved that caps density to four units per acre in a coastal high
hazard area, that would still provide the opportunity to rezone from
three units per acre up to that cap of four, so there's still some validity
to that statement.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Just wanted to make sure.
MR. MURRAY: David -- and you said if. Has that not yet come
back from DCA?
MR. WEEKS: Only the report itself.
MR. MURRAY: With no comment, right?
MR. WEEKS: Correct. The next step is to actually prepare the
amendments to the growth management plan and go through that
adoption process.
MR. MURRAY: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, I'm -- Susan?
MS. MURRAY: May I make a brief comment? Because we've
discussed this before and things, but I don't see any changes in here.
One of the things that staff has difficulty with, when you start talking
about redevelopment versus new is what constitutes redevelopment
and what constitutes new, and the way I read this is new buildings,
meaning taking a raw, vacant piece of land and constructing a new
structure versus either adding onto an existing structure or
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September 21, 2005
demolishing a portion of and rebuilding of, and it's -- I think it's -- the
way this is drafted, anything new would probably be interpreted to
mean vacant land to brand new, completely new structure, and I'm
curious if the intent is to try to apply some of these rules, when
somebody comes in to redevelop, and then what does that -- what
constitutes new in that case?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, you're now in the regular areas of
the county. Do we have a way -- I think it's called a 50 percent rule.
If you renovate over 50 percent of either value or square footage or
something like that --
MS. MURRAY: We have in the architectural standards some
clarification that where you do make a certain percentage change or
certain types of changes, you would then apply certain rules, and
yeah, for other provisions of the code, we also have regulations that
spell out what constitutes redevelopment or new development or a
change.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Do you see any reason why what's in
the existing code wouldn't be able to work here? I mean, I'm just
talking it out.
MS. MURRAY: Possibly. I guess my concern is, I'm not sure if
that would meet their intent. I guess that's what I'm asking.
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: They're also--
MR. EHARDT: I think they were intending for -- they're
structures, they're buildings. The existing building on the site gets
torn down, you build something new because you couldn't ask a
person in an existing building to build his facade that's set back 30
feet, build it up to the build-to-line. That's just, you know, it doesn't
make any sense.
MS. MURRAY: Well, it may be that you want them to comply
with other regulations that they possibly could do -- and maybe not. I
guess that's what I'm asking because the way it's written now, it would
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September 21, 2005
strictly apply to brand new buildings.
MR. EHARDT: Yes. Yes.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: See, what that means is that someone
will come in with a -- that has a currently existing 25,000 square foot
building, demolish everything but the bathroom, and build around it
and say it's not a new building it's an existing building modified, and I
think limitations in the LDC would say no, you're 50 percent of either
the square footage or the value. Therefore, you come into the new
development.
MR. JACKSON: That's the intent.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think that's the missing items that
Susan is saying need to be implemented somewhere in here, and I
would recommend that that happen.
MS. MURRAY: That problem --
MR. SCHMITT: I would just point out that is the trigger also for
the FEMA regulations, so in the building department, it would be, as
Brad knows, that would trigger the requirement to bring everything up
to code, regardless.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Bob?
MR. MURRAY: So the 50 percent rule is based on what, square
footage, dollars?
MR. SCHMITT: 50 percent of the assessed value of the
building, itself, the appraised value.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: 50 percent of the appraisal?
MR. SCHMITT: Either/or, but presently it's the appraised value
so you can actually certainly have a higher measurement in regards to
the 50 percent rule.
MR. VIGLIOTTI: 50 percent of cost, construction cost?
MR. SCHMITT: The structure itself, not the property it's on, the
actual replacement value of this structure.
MR. MURRAY: The improvement.
MR. SCHMITT: The improvement. It's the improvement versus
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September 21, 2005
the replacement value of the entire structure.
MR. SCHIFFER: And also, Bob, there are the costs of the new
work. There's some things that don't necessarily have to be included.
MR. SCHMITT: That's correct. Some work sheet FEMA uses
that's fairly similar to the zoning department.
MR. SCHIFFER: Susan, let me ask you a question on this. For
example, there are some conflicts in other parts of the code. Which
would prevail, the 80 percent of the structure located on the property
line? We have architectural standards that require 60 percent of a side
broken out. I mean, we have landscape buffer requirements that are in
excess of five feet, so would not this prevail in that case?
MS. MURRAY: Yes. This is an overlay, so it's going to overlay
the existing set of rules.
MR. SCHIFFER: Okay.
MR. EHARDT: Just for clarification, are we saying that we need
some language here on this 50 percent thing, or the existing
regulations cover that?
MR. MURRAY: The existing regulations cover it.
MR. SCHMITT: I think you'd want to reference the existing
criteria in the LDC for build back policy.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The court reporter has to change out at 5
o'clock, which will be time for another break, but anyway, before she
leaves, we need to know for her replacement how we're going to move
forward. We have several choices. Mr. Vigliotti has to leave at 6:00.
We still have a quorum if he leaves. We could continue to whatever
time of the night you all feel like it. I'm game, or we could break for
lunch -- break for dinner for an hour at 5:00 and come back at 6:00
and start up again, or we can stay working until 6:00 or 7:00. What's
the preference?
MR. MIDNEY: I've got to leave at quarter to six.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: A quarter to six? Okay. So one, two,
three, we'll still have a quorum.
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September 21, 2005
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
MR. SCHIFFER: I'm here. I'm in the quorum.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You're here. What about you, Ken?
You're kind of the deal breaker here.
MR. ABERNATHY: I'm here, but I'm ready to quit for the day
around 6 :00.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well then, I think the consensus
is that at 6:00, we're going to have to quit because that leave four
instead of five. If that's the case, we'll break at 5 :00 when the court
reporter comes in to change, and we'll stay until 6:00 for the new court
reporter, we'll break at that time, and at the rate we're going, for those
of you that are trying to stay for other matters, I don't think we're
going to get through the overlay, through the first overlay, before 6:00
at this speed. Yes?
MS. FABACHER: Mr. Chairman, I have a question. There are
some people who came to speak on this, and they've been very patient.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: After the break, I was going to ask that
they stay long enough to be part of this. In fact --
MR. MURRAY: We can do it now.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yeah, we can do it now, if that's okay.
Any problem breaking in the middle, Pat?
MS. FABACHER: I have the speakers list. For the Bayshore
overlay, I have Mr. Thomas Sbrocco. Is he still here? Okay.
Mr. Michael Fernandez?
MR. ABERNATHY: He left.
MS. FABACHER: Then I have for the triangle district, Mr.
Michael Carradi. Does anyone else wish to speak?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Patrick -- Pat, I got one question. Ifwe
leave at 6:00 today, we're not going to get into the balance of the
amendments. Do we need to provide an opportunity for those people
who are speaking on something else besides the overlays, to offer their
discussion today?
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September 21, 2005
MR. WHITE: I don't know if we have any other speakers.
MS. FABACHER: We had one speak -- well, it was Brian. I
don't have any other speakers.
MR. WHITE: Certainly if there are other matters that members
present would like to speak to, I don't believe it would be
inappropriate to afford them that opportunity today and just advise
them if they do decide to speak, they have to fill out a speaker
permission form and turn it in to Catherine, please.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: All of those -- all of you here that may
want to talk on any subj ect that's on today's agenda, we will break and
we will end today at 6:00 and continue to another date, but if your
only opportunity to speak on that matter is today, feel free to do so,
just fill out a speaker slip and turn it in to Catherine, and we'll address
you before 6 o'clock. So thank you.
MS. F ABACHER: Excuse me, Mr. Chair, so that means that
county staff can go ahead and leave, that are here for other
amendments?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't see us getting through Bayshore
before 6:00, at this rate.
MS. FABACHER: All right.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're on page 36, we've got 52 or 53 to
go through, and we've still got Gateway to go through.
MS. FABACHER: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We'll never get through it. Let's
continue on page 36, talking about the building standards, and it says,
locations on Bayshore Drive, first floor elevation with the sidewalk for
commercial and mixed use building.
How does that interact with FEMA, and maybe staff would have
to answer this because I know FEMA has a minimum height, and
we're forcing people to be below that height by standard, are we
allowed to do that?
MR. SCHMITT: Yes. You can have a low FEMA height
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September 21, 2005
mandate in a certain area, but all the buildings would have to meet all
the flood-proofing requirements, and that would happen through the
building code -- would have to meet the flood-proofing requirements,
and I'm sure Brad can certainly -- define that more in regards to it, but
it has to be a defined area as a -- in our zoning as an area -- just like
Fifth Avenue, Fifth Avenue in downtown Naples is a flood zone.
Every building down there is flood-proof because it's at street level,
rather than the flood elevation.
MR. SCHIFFER: David, the elevation of FEMA is about a foot
over grade, though, isn't it? Do you have any experience with this?
MR. JACKSON: No, I don't have any experience. This input
came from the DSAC, the two meetings we had with them. That was
the recommendation, and they voted on it and asked us to put this in
there. They cited Marco Island and they cited Fifth Avenue South,
and they said that it is allowable because they permitted buildings
without it, and that as long as it meets the flood-proofing
requirements.
The objective there was to prevent an undulating sidewalk that
looked like a hill-over-dale type of thing where you have an existing
series of fronts of buildings that are all at -- you know, below grade
from a long time ago, and somebody knocks down a building and
builds, now you've got to go up, you either have stairs, you have
handicap walks, or the sidewalk has to move up and down.
It's to keep it on a level plane type of scenario, so that was their
recommendation put in there and we accepted that and put it in here
because it was -- you could do it legally.
MR. SCHMITT: But the concern I have for you is that I think
it's very close to the street, and I don't think, for example, that if it's up
a foot or something, that would be a problem to obtain, and it wouldn't
give you that up and down sidewalk stuff, and I think the other thing,
too, is that you're doing traffic analysis on that street, this street, while
some of us picture it as a cute little downtown street, is going to be a
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September 21, 2005
major thoroughfare to a lot of development, so there might be even
some safety of having patios and stuff like that a little bit high off the
street, so this is really locking everybody down low, locking
everybody at the sidewalk.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Joe, did you have--
MR. SCHMITT: Yeah. This still will not meet the requirement
to meet the mandate of five-and-a-half feet for elevation of parking or
some of the storm water runoff issues, so you still have to meet all the
South Florida Water Management District issues.
I think by recollection, and I could pull up the map, the FEMA
flood map, but I believe we're about eight-and-a-half feet down there
for FEMA elevation, and I'd guess this is probably a little bit higher
than the issue we'll be dealing with in the triangle.
The triangle has low areas that don't even meet the
five-and-a-half foot elevation, but just to make sure everybody
understands, there are going to be mandated requirements, regardless
of what the LDC says. You've got the building code requirements, and
you've got your FEMA flood map and your South Florida Water
Management District requirements that are going to be the
overarching factor to be mandated, to be met, regardless of what the
LDC says.
MR. MURRAY: That doesn't permit it, that doesn't solve the
problem?
MR. SCHMITT: That's the option.
MR. MURRAY: In this document I read, it's not an option, it's a
requirement.
MR. SCHIFFER: But my point, David, is that we're very close
to it. Couldn't we come up with some design considerations that
would allow people to -- while Joe is correct, there are ways to build
below the FEMA. I don't think they're encouraged ways, but --
MR. SCHMITT: They're expensive.
MR. SCHIFFER: And they're expensive, and, you know, some
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September 21, 2005
of them, some question, well, we really haven't put them to the test
yet. Damming up openings is not exactly what--
MR. JACKSON: What is your recommendation?
MR. SCHIFFER: We look at it when we come back, and I think
if it's within -- I think it's going to be within a foot at the highest, that
we might allow people to build at FEMA and therefore ramp up, slope
up, patio up, to get to that setback, I mean to get to the elevation. In
other words, to force somebody to be eight inches below FEMA, I
don't think we're doing anybody a favor.
MR. JACKSON: You won't get an argument out of me. I'mjust
asking what is this board's recommendation? This is what was put in
as --
(Several people speaking at the same time.)
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There are some other factors we need to
consider. Number one is that generally we use the crown of the road
as the benchmark for elevation. The sidewalk can be all over the
place, up and down, which way . You're going to have buildings
running all over the place if this exact language has to be followed,
which I think would be pretty difficult.
Also, I'm worried about -- Joe, you've been dealing with this
issue recently. How will providing a mandatory position of buildings
below FEMA affect the overall FEMA rating for the entire county?
Because that means everybody's going to end up having to deal with
that.
MR. SCHMITT: If you have -- again, this is an area where you
say you're going to build below the flood elevation. Everything would
have to be flood-proofed in order to not impact the community ratings
system. In the flood ordinance we're working on right now, you are
allowed to build below flood elevations, if in fact the building is
certified as being flood-proof, so -- but it's discouraged. Quite
honestly, I would discourage it. I would be more in alliance with what
Commissioner Schiffer said. Let's look at what's required there and at
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September 21, 2005
least to the minimum as defined by south Florida Water Management,
which is, I believe, five-and-a-half feet minimum of where you want it
be, and then of course you would have your building elevated, which
is really not part of the LDC. That's more the building code, but I
think what you're asking about is the streetscape itself, what elevation
that can be.
MR. SCHIFFER: Joe, could you do this? Because your staff can
provide it. Could you provide David with the aerials that show
elevation? What do you call them, lindar?
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Xxx Ihop. It's all on line, by the way.
MR. SCHIFFER: And then let's -- I'll hop down, Dave, and visit
you. Let's look and see. Next time we meet, we'll report whether it's
an inches issue or a foot issue. Because inches I think we can work
around.
MR. JACKSON: The footnote gives kind of an opt out here. It
says, if NFIP standards are not used, the buildings must meet
flood-proofing, so you have a little bit of -- well, yeah, there's kind of
an option there.
The way I read it, the way it's written now, we're asking them to
go there, but if they go there, then they have to do the NFIP things, but
if they don't do it, then they can go back up to, you know, to FEMA
elevation.
MR. SCHIFFER: You're saying it has to be sidewalk level, so at
sidewalk level and below, you're pushing it a little, but let's see. Let's
look at it. It may not be an issue at all.
MR. MURRAY: I have a question for you relevant to when we
talked about flood levels. Now, we learned from Katrina about storm
surge.
CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes.
MR. MURRAY : We're not talking about storm surge when we're
talking about flood level, or are we?
MR. SCHMITT: We're talking -- FEMA flood maps are based
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September 21, 2005
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I read it as a word that was very
clear that that was cracker style. But okay.
MR. JACKSON: Well, whatever the term is, there's -- we don't
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Either old Florida or cracker
style. But it was a stipulate that I understood it as, not as a
recommendation. It was a lot stronger than that.
My point would have been then, if it is true that what I've just
said is true, that you should be able -- I mean, how much variation is
there when you're dealing with that? We're not talking about mansard
roofs, we're not talking about that. So I wonder if we're not chasing a
chicken.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Or a rooster.
Guys, we have a court reporter trying to record eight of us talking
here.
MR. EHARDT: Mr. Chairman, may I ask for clarification?
You're considering -- and what we have here, the zoned height be to
the eave and then the actual height is whatever we come up with
beyond that. Is that what you're saying?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I can't remember how it's
termed in the code. It'll tell you. But you'll see different for different
types of roofs.
All I'm saying is give us a number that -- maximum for your
zoned height pursuant to the code and maximum for your actual height
pursuant to the code so that we can reasonably put something in the
new document that everybody can read and understand what their
limitations are.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Mark, let me object to that,
because that's not what they're trying to do here. In other words, the
way we do height in the code is good. But it's a suburban code.
What they're building is an urban downtown street. And they
don't want -- for example, our actual height is dependent on different
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September 21, 2005
roof shapes. They don't want that. They want the height of that wall
locked in. They don't want me to be lowering my eave height as I put
a larger sloped roof on it, because I'm measuring to the midspan of
that slope.
You know, what they want is to lock in the cornice height or the
eave height of all these facades. And that's --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: He just said that they want to
be able to have roofs with different pitches and different heights.
Now, how could they lock it in to one? Just the opposite of what you
just said.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I'm not saying roof, I'm saying
facade. That's the difference. I think what they're designing is not the
roof, which our code does. What they're designing is the facade of the
wall of the street, which an urban code does.
Remember, this is an urban area, this is not a suburban area like
our Land Development Code.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, Brad, I know we have a
code that's worked everywhere else, and I think it can work here.
These guys have gotten some input from us today. I suggest you
come back with something, because I personally will not accept it like
this. I'm only one vote of nine. So you can take that for what it's
worth.
MR. EHARDT: I'd just like to clarify so I understand the
question.
Ifwe had what was measured here, this 42 and 56 to the eave,
and we said that the overall height of a three-story building can't be
any more than 75 feet or something like that, is that acceptable?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You'd be working in the right
direction. I just want to make sure --
MR. EHARDT: Or do you want us -- excuse me. Do you want
us to go back to the way the county measures heights of roofs?
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I think that would be the answer.
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September 21, 2005
MR. JACKSON: That's all I want to know.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I want the definition on which
you put the number to be for the zoned height definition in the county.
You need to see if that's going to fit with what you have to do. I can't
tell you offhand.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: If the Land Development Code
that you reference, it gives you a calculation, then that should give you
a max. That's where you get back to us.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Gentlemen, Mr. Midney has
got to leave in 15 minutes. I want to take this opportunity while he's
still here to schedule the next meeting, in which we will continue this
meeting to the next meeting.
So, Catherine?
MS. FABACHER: Okay, Mr. Chair. I looked at from 5:00 to
8:00, when we usually meet, not 2:00. But anyhow, I have Monday,
September 26th, Tuesday, September 27th, Wednesday the 28th,
Thursday, the 29th --
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: Wait a minute, wait a
minute.
MS. FABACHER: I'm sorry.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: First of all, you said 5:00 to
8:00. We've been trying to meet during the daytimes to get a jump on
this. And I think that's -- we're going to have double this amount of
time needed to finish this cycle. So why don't we look at a daytime.
MS. FABACHER: Okay. I will verify. But I do have
availability at one building or another.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: What dates again?
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Twenty-six, 27, 28, 29.
MS. FABACHER: And then October 4th--
MR. SCHMITT: Twenty-seventh is the Board of County
Commissioners meeting.
MR. JACKSON: Mr. Chairman, as a recommendation, because
Page 11 7
September 21,2005
we have so much here, why don't we just set a date and time certain
and the only thing to be discussed would be the Bayshore and
Gateway. And so all the people that come and hang around, they don't
get just turned away, they know that they have a time certain on
another day.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: This is a continuation.
Patrick, can that be done with a continuation?
MR. WHITE: I think you're free to set the scope of your agenda.
It is the idea of where and when precisely you're going to have that
meeting that matters most.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Would we have to precisely
know where and when the balance of the issues would be discussed,
since it's this --
MR. WHITE: Not necessarily so, so long as you had an
adequate period of time between that next meeting and the one that
would follow, which I would consider to be at least a minimum of
seven days.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So this meeting from tonight
to the next one has to be a minimum of seven days as well?
MR. WHITE: I'm suggesting that if you can do so, that's fine.
But it is not mandatory at this point in time. What I'm talking about is
jumping the next time.
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: If they're going to
reconsider all this, they need seven days, don't they?
MS. FABACHER: Patrick, would they have to announce a
location at this meeting --
MR. WHITE: Yes.
MS. FABACHER: -- because I think that's going to be
problematic if they want to meet during the day, because we didn't
have verification during the day. I can assure you we will have a
place to meet. I can't assure you that it will be here.
MR. WHITE: The continuation from today's meeting to the next
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September 21, 2005
must be date, time, place certain. If you want to limit the scope,
which was your question, of that meeting and advise the potential
public that want to attend, as well as the staff, that is appropriate to do
so.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Next week is now up
for grabs.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I'm good on the 29th and the 4th
only.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's Thursday.
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: Thursdays are no good for me.
I can do Mondays or Tuesdays.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Tuesday is the BCC, which
means staff would be difficult possibly for them to be there.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Could we please use the
numbers?
MS. FABACHER: Well, the 27th is gone. The -- I don't indicate
that the 29th is BCC.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Twenty-ninth is a Wednesday
-- Thursday, I'm sorry.
MS. FABACHER: I'm sorry. Yeah, 29th is a Thursday.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You're not good on Thursday?
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: That won't work. Thursdays
are no good for me.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The 28th?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: The 28th would be a week
from today.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You were here today. Can
you be here next week?
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: During the day? At night.
Thursday nights. During the day I'm fine.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We're talking daytime.
MR. WHITE: Daytime; 2:00 to 6:00?
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September 21, 2005
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: I'm good 2:00 to 6:00.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Any day? Okay.
So that leaves Wednesday or Thursday then.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Why don't we take both. We
may need them both.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The staffs not going to be
available.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Why don't we take both days. I
mean, we're not going to get it done in the next one day.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Oh, I know we're not.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: So why don't we just pile them
__ I mean, we should really have run the rest of this week out just to
get it done.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I have no problem with any of
it, you guys. If you want to do next Wednesday and Thursday.
MR. WHITE: If you wanted to do both that Wednesday and
Thursday and you made that announcement for both of them today,
that would be sufficient.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I think we could do that. Let's
just get it done.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Wednesday and Thursday
next week, starting at 2:00.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Next week, Thursday, we
have a meeting.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I can't make it -- I cannot make
the 28th.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We have a meeting?
MS. FABACHER: No, you don't have anything.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Next Tuesday isn't the --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No, it's still September.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Oh, right, they took an extra
week.
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September 21, 2005
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: There's five paychecks in this
week -- this month. This is one of those big months. This is one you
can go out and buy something extra.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: That's okay with me.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Twenty-eighth and 29th.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Twenty-nine and the 4th is my
availability.
MS. F ABACHER: I recommend the 29th, if at all possible.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But we're going to need at
least two meetings probably to finish up Bayshore, and one more to
finish up the rest of the cycle. Because we still have Golden Gate to
go through yet.
MR. SCHMITT: And other amendments.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: It would be useful if we could be
consistent, though, and be here all of us as --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I'm not saying we shouldn't.
But I'm just --
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Next Thursday then is a good
day. Why don't we start that at 2:00.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Everybody can make it
Thursday?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: At 2:00.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: That's the 29th, right? Yes, can
I do that.
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: 2:00 to 6:00 I can do.
MS. FABACHER: So may I suggest that we meet 609 and 610,
since I only checked from 5:00 to 8:00. But I know we can probably
clear the 609 and 610 conference rooms at the community
development building.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I'm not a fan of meeting over
there. I don't -- it just buries us.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: It's a wretched place to meet.
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September 21, 2005
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: We can't hear what's going on
and it buries us from the public.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well, can -- Patrick,
can we suggest that we're going to meet here again next Thursday at
2:00, unless it's not available. Then we'll meet at CDS?
MR. WHITE: You can certainly suggest that, but my distinct
preference would be that you make it specific. We have, on occasion,
when we've found out, for example, on the day of a meeting that a
particular room was otherwise needed for an emergency purpose, gone
ahead and posted a guard, if you will, at the door and sent people to
where the new location was, as well as sending out faxes, e-mails and
every other way we could to provide reasonable notice.
But I think there's really no way to know for certain, but the
room can be split, just as it was today. So I think that you've got a
very strong probability that it will be appropriate here to start.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay, well, let's set it up that
way. Next Thursday, 2:00, this meeting room is where this meeting
will be continued to when we finish today at 6:00. Okay?
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: And why aren't we doing
Wednesday and Thursday?
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: That's what I was going to
ask.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: We've got a lot of work to do,
and the only way you get work done is meet and work.
MS. F ABACHER: Your staff availability is going to be limited
on real short notice.
COMMISSIONER CARON: What about 5:30 on Friday?
MS. FABACHER: That's a possibility, sure.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Which day, the 30th? I could
make it.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, if it's Friday, we could
make our mind up on Thursday of next week, because we'll know by
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September 21, 2005
then. So why don't we just plan on Thursday.
MS. FABACHER: Maybe take it one -- I'm sorry -- one day at a
time.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: It's set up for next Thursday,
2:00, this room.
And if that needs to have another meeting, which we probably
will, on that day we'll decide where and when the next one will be.
And it might be the Friday after --
MR. WHITE: There's nothing that theoretically says you can't,
but it is just not a healthy practice.
We did it when we got under the extreme circumstances. We
were doing the Vanderbilt overlay a year ago in January, and -- if for
example we find out during the week that it's possible.
I don't know what the concern is about staff availability, but
there's nothing wrong with going ahead and saying, for example, that
you're going to do Wednesday or Thursday or Thursday and Friday.
And it's far preferable to cancel one of those and announce on either of
the days that you may actually meet when the next continued day
would be.
If you're following my suggesting.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I would be in favor of what Mr.
White is suggesting and we pattern in the two days.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Mark, let me ask a question.
Why are we starting at 2:00? Why don't we start in the morning and
all day Thursday?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, 2:00 is what we started
for today, and -- if you all want to meet for the whole day, it's up to
this panel. I certainly have no problem with it.
Why don't we just leave it at -- you know, if this doesn't get
passed next week and the week after, the week after, I'm not sure it
makes that much of a difference, as long as it's done right.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: As long as we have plenty of
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September 21, 2005
time to finish it.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Why don't we just leave it at
2:00.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: All right. Then let's go back to
work.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: Let's get out of this.
MR. SCHMITT: I'm looking at the board's schedule. After all
that discussion, I finally got the schedule.
It appears that this room will be tied up the entire day on the
29th, 8:00 to 1 :00, for new employee orientation. Then I believe IT is
doing some electronics work for the rest of the afternoon. It appears
that Friday is open all day on the 30th.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Let's go to Friday.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: 2:00 on Friday.
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: 2:00 Friday.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: How about 9:00 Friday?
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: No, I can't. You can do it, I
can't.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Either 2:00 or maybe bring it
up to 1 :00, right after lunch.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: 1 :00 is okay for me, too.
COMMISSIONER VIGLIOTTI: 1 :OO's okay for me.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That gives us an extra hour to
fill a little more in. We may actually get through this one next Friday
then.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I'm up for the most time.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Okay. Well, let's put it at
1 :00 next Friday at this room.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: I'll be there as close to 1 :00 as
I can.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Patrick, we all set then? Is
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September 21, 2005
that --
MR. WHITE: If you just -- before we break today, we'll
specifically announce the date and time again.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I wasn't planning to do that.
Yes, sir.
MS. F ABACHER: May I ask if -- you're not expecting revisions
at that meeting?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No, ma'am. We still got to
get through the first round.
MS. F ABACHER: That's what I thought, but I wanted to make
sure.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We haven't even --let's go
back to page -- I can get to 37, if the rest of you can.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: I think so.
MR. JACKSON: We left off on 37.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: And Mark, let me just go back
to the height.
I know you directed them, and I know you strongly want to word
this back into the old wording, but I do -- there is a validity, there is,
you know, design movements that do discuss eave heights not roof
heights.
So can their mandate be to come up with a comparative system?
Because I don't want them to go away and throwaway what some of
us, I personally feel, is the appropriate or at least the modern way of
doing the new urbanism design.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I wasn't suggesting that they
dismiss your comments. I just suggest to them that they listen to all
the concerns that they've heard on this issue and try to come back with
something they feel will resolve it, whatever that is.
I can tell you right now, I strongly believe in the code and the
language in the code. And until it changes I'm reluctant to see
something else change in regards to it.
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September 21, 2005
So we've got to keep it simple, if we can. And that's my issue,
Brad. But let's see what happens.
On to Page 37. Parking standards. Number three: Outdoor cafe
seating shall be exempt from parking calculations.
Is that -- if they have an outdoor cafe and their kitchen and back
rooms, back rooms, say they have some take-out counters, kind of like
Larry's Lunch Box. They have outdoor and indoor. Their indoor has
to be calculated under standard parking. Is that -- that's what you're
assuming?
MR. JACKSON: That's correct. Yes. Inside the building is
calculated. Outside is a bonus.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So the whole facility isn't
exempted, just the outside.
MR. JACKSON: Yes, sir.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: The -- on No.6, the last
sentence, the property owner must agree to maintain that portion of
the public right-of-way where the parking is located.
I'm just wondering, how does that happen? Do we have an
agreement with the property owner? It's in the public right-of-way,
isn't it, or would it be?
MR. JACKSON: I don't know. But there's a lot of residential
areas that they have to take care of the swales in front of their yards
that is county right-of-way. So I don't know how that's done, but
people do it.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I don't know. They do it
because they're obligated more than they probably don't like the way
the county takes care of it.
MR. JACKSON: When I went house shopping, the owner told
me, he says, in disclosure, you have to maintain it.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Or it just doesn't get
maintained, it looks bad.
MR. JACKSON: No, you have to maintain it. So somewhere
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September 21, 2005
there's something.
But anyway it's part of the thing, you know, pride in your
community. And we found that pretty much in the area where you get
things like this going, people come sweep up, clean up, and they take
care of their property. And they help out. Especially if they've got
parking out there and they know it's yours, because, you know, it's one
of those things, now you can take it away from them because it's in the
right-of-way.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Susan or Joe, is there a
provision that if someone was not taking care of this particular area,
that they would have some avenue for the county to enforce them to
take care of it?
I'm reading Item 6, E-6 on Page 37, the last sentence, on-street
parking on local streets, they're making the resident or the person in
front of -- using that parking take care of that area. I'm just wondering
how that gets enforced.
MR. SCHMITT: There's no way. I mean, you can ask it from
the community perspective. But it's public right-of-way, they can say,
hey, that's the county's business or that's --
MS. FABACHER: I'm not sure the county would even want the
public taking care of their right-of-way.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, the liability for
someone out there pushing a broom getting run over by a car might be
kind of dangerous.
So I'm wondering, even though this is the old code, I know you're
not responsible for it, Mr. Jackson, maybe we ought to drop that last
sentence.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: You almost have to, because
you doesn't know who's parking in that particular spot. It may not be
the owner in front of, it may be somebody that -- three doors down.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So, anyway, that last sentence
then --
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September 21, 2005
,.~-
COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY: What about the first
sentence? It requires an agreement with the county.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: You know who's responsible for
it.
COMMISSIONER ADELSTEIN: You are.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: The person who's using it as
parking.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You're right. The first
sentence and the last sentence should be struck.
No.7, I know this is accessory parking zone. Is that defined in
the code, Susan? I know Mr. Jackson didn't write that, so it must be a
-- it's capitalized, that's what made me wonder.
MS. MURRAY: The accessory parking zone. I haven't--
MR. JACKSON: What page and paragraph?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Page 37, paragraph 7, third
line down. It's old language. Might as well clean up everything while
we're working on it.
MS. MURRAY: I've not come across that at all.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I haven't either. Well, if it's
capitalized, it should be defined somewhere.
MR. EHARDT: It's the -- the commercial property along
Bayshore owns residential property adjacent or behind it. He owns
that parcel. He can't use that parcel for commercial, but he can use it
for parking next to the residential. That's the intent.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: So parking is a permitted use
in a residential zoned area?
MR. EHARDT: In that case. If the -- the person on Bayshore
owns the parcel behind. That was in the original overlay.
MR. JACKSON: Correct. And there's an existing application
that is the Gulf Shores Marina. They purchased two residential lots on
either side. One is Lakeview, one is Riverview. They purchased them
and turned them into parking lots so they could handle the parking that
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September 21, 2005
they required for their building. And they are residential lots and
they'll always be zoned residential, but he's using them for that use.
And that was written in the original overlay. And it was a way to
find parking for challenged properties that were built a long time ago
when they didn't have the parking to meet the requirements for what
they have now or what the code requires.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Well, since this is old
language maybe staff could kind of verify that this is -- whenever the
rewrite comes back, which may be some time, who knows when.
MR. SCHMITT: Interesting to know it does show accessory
parking zone in the little diagram.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I highlighted that, too. I can't
figure out what designates it as an accessory parking zone. You're just
using the bathrooms, that's the only way you can park, or--
MS. MURRAY: And the code has processes for allowing what
is described, so I'm not sure if this is something to be different than
existing process, or -- I guess it's just not clear enough.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think we ought to--
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: And there's another question,
too. Is that parking -- do they charge for that parking?
MR. JACKSON: No, I mean -- like you said, on Bayshore,
there's only one application, and it was either for employee parking,
customer parking, or storage of boats and other things that were
parked in that area. That's how the only application that I know that's
existing now.
But there are several other property owners that have restaurants
that are parking challenged because they're such a good restaurant that
they have overflow and they don't want people parking on the swales
of the residential party behind them. They're trying to acquire the
residential properties behind them and turn them into parking lots so
that they can service their clients.
MR. EHARDT: Without rezoning the property to commercial
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September 21, 2005
use, which would -- you know, you could build a building back there.
We don't want that. The building we would want to stay up in front
and just allow parking in the rear.
MS. MURRAY: Right, there's a provision in the code that will
allow that now.
I think, you know, the staff probably hasn't done much of the
significant commercial down there, so we haven't opportunity to use
this provision.
But I think maybe what we'll do is look at it and just provide a
recommendation to you consistent with the existing code so that
everybody can be on the same page.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: For the court reporter, the
previous lady got to know who these two gentlemen were. I just
remembered.
Could you state your name for the record, please.
MR. EHARDT: Joseph Ehardt, E-H-A-R-D-T.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We got into that last time.
I'm done on Page 37. Is there any other questions on the panel of
this gentleman?
Maybe we can get through page 38 yet tonight.
Item 8 on page 38, again brings the SRA local advisory board
into recommendations of approval or denial.
Again, I'm falling back on what the documentation that
implemented that group relies upon, which is review and comment.
And the same would apply to No.9.
No.9 though brings up a different issue. The director can
administratively approve reduced parking requirements to a maximum
of 25 percent.
First of all, there's no criteria listed for that administrative review
or approval. And that kind of a parking issue, Joe or Susan, is that
typically allowed for the director or is that something that goes
through a procedure?
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September 21, 2005
MS. MURRAY: Yeah. Right now in the Land Development
Code we have an administrative process where you can reduce
parking, and under very unique circumstances. And I won't elaborate
on that. But it is administrative. It is approved by the director.
Normally we don't appeal things to the administrator. I mean, the
director is given the authority in the LDC to interpret the code. So
appeals are normally brought before the BZA.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: And I would agree that's how
it's been happening. But it says site conditions that do not allow for
required parking to be physically feasible. I mean, anybody can come
up with that.
So I would think that in order for this to even be considered
administratively, they would have to have some criteria to apply to the
administrative request. And then of course, if it's got to be appealed, it
should go through the process that the rest of the county has to go
through.
MS. MURRAY: And they would have to prove to us based on
that criteria they couldn't apply. Just saying that the site doesn't allow,
not being a professional engineer, we would -- I mean, anybody could
come in with an engineer plan to me and say look, this doesn't fit.
That's one of the reasons we have to have the criteria, but also to treat
everybody fairly.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: You have a 20,000-square
foot building and you run out of parking, you could make the building
10,000 square feet and you will have plenty of parking.
MS. MURRAY: That's a possibility.
COMMISSIONER CARON: I guarantee you've got to have
criteria on this one.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Sir, you were going to say
something?
MR. EHARDT: Would it be feasible that the applicant would
have to submit some type of a site plan to demonstrate how much
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parking he has on that parcel? I mean, anybody can look at a site plan
and see that he can't get any more parking on there, if he doesn't
reduce his building.
Now I understand if he reduced the building obviously he can get
more parking. But if he didn't do that, if he had the existing structure
and was going to do that --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I would suggest that you find
out what criteria is currently used to obtain administrative approval
and incorporate that same language into this, and we'd be off in a,
probably a good start.
MR. SCHMITT: Or just reference the section in the code.
MS. MURRAY: The section in the code.
MR. JACKSON: The intent, and although it is not specifically
stated in here, that this provision was to be for an existing,
nonconforming site that has a building already on it. That is -- now, it
doesn't have the square footage, it was built in the Fifties, Sixties,
Seventies, 41 or Airport Road did a taking, and they do not have
enough space. You physically cannot put that code requirement on
that land. And that was the intent for this, was instead of taking and
delaying the development process -- and you can physically see it, he
can see it, his engineers can see it, that they can't put it on there, let
him administratively do it instead of taking it through the hoopla up
and down the chain, costing money, every time you show up you've
got a check in your hand. It's one of those logical no-brainers.
Now, I agree with you that if you're developing a clean site,
there's not a building on it, and he wants to put 20,000 square feet on it
and can't put the land, well, yes, then he reduces the building.
We're talking about pre-existing buildings. This is a
redevelopment area, and we've got 20 or 30 of those cases right now,
of which I have three buildings I know that have tried to develop it
and they couldn't because they could not meet some part of the code.
So for the next six years it sits fallow. A couple of gas stations and
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September 21, 2005
whatever. I've got a couple mini-marts that have happened in that
case.
So that was the intent there. Maybe if we put some language in
there that it had to do with preexisting sites that couldn't do it?
COMMISSIONER CARON: I was going to say, you need to
clarify that language and then maybe you've got something, but right
now --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's what we're trying to
say.
On that same page, if you go down to 3-A. The wall shall be
constructed of the same or complimentary materials as the primary
buildings.
How does the word complimentary come into play? Joe?
(Commissioner Midney has left the meeting.)
MR. SCHMITT: Mr. Chairman, I do apologize, but I need to go
back to nine, because I'm -- I think what I heard Mr. Jackson state, I
just want to make sure we understand where we're going with this
because we have an administrative process, but beyond that, it is a
policy decision that the board withholds themselves as the BZA.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Right, we're not objecting to
that.
MR. SCHMITT: I think what Dave is looking for is some kind
of administrative process that without the criteria and above and
beyond what currently exists in the code. He was talking about
redevelopment sites that have a building on there that right now can't
meet the parking requirement, so therefore, he ought to have some
capability to allow for an administrative variance.
And we only have one process, or two processes. One, it meets
administrative criteria; two, you come in and apply to the board for a
vanance.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: But if the conditions under
which the special criteria applies to the building that he's referenced or
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whatever number building aren't ones that you can accept
administratively, then he goes through the variance process.
MR. SCHMITT: I just wanted to make sure he heard your
guidance on that because I think he was --
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: That's how I was intending it.
MR. SCHMITT: Okay. Because I believe he was looking for,
again, some kind of administrative process that would truncate that
and allow the zoning director to --
MR. JACKSON: Yes, I am. Mr. Schmitt, you're right on. Is that
the -- because this is going to go before the BCC, and they're the ones
who are -- work, as I believe, as the BZA. They will see that. And if
they want to delegate authority downhill to the most acceptable level
for something that meets all criteria, then why not put responsibility at
the lowest level for it to be happening there.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Aquaport was one. Bayshore
project up in Vanderbilt Beach was another. There's a lot of issues in
the old days where that staff administratively did that were
unacceptable to the community. And as a result we've gotten away
from that and we've gone through a public process to get some
abnormalities reviewed. Through no fault of the current staff, by the
way.
MR. SCHMITT: I have no problem if we want to increase the
threshold, but we just need to define it and define the criteria so that
we can apply it equally, no matter where the issue is brought to the
zoning director. Because it can't -- just saying I can't fit the parking
because the building's in the way and it's too big may not be the
answer. Then by all means, you may have to raze the building and
start all over again.
And I'm not being that draconian, but I need to make sure we --
that Dave understands where you guys are coming from. Because
what I heard you say was make sure there's criteria that is definitive
and can be applied equitably across the board. It's not an arbitrary
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September 21, 2005
process. Because if it's arbitrary, that's where we get -- I don't think
we get in trouble, we get accused of making sort of capricious --
arbitrary and capricious decisions. And I want to make sure Dave
understands that.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: What is the concern about not
going through the public process? Is there --
MR. SCHMITT: I think time.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: And money.
MR. SCHMITT: And money.
MR. JACKSON: Incentive. That's what our job is, to provide
incentives. And this is an incentive.
MS. MURRAY: There are multiple ways to address parking, not
just a variance and not just an administrative deviation, which by the
way doesn't take that long, probably two weeks at the most, $500 cost.
MR. JACKSON: And that's an incentive. Less than two weeks,
if it's $500.
MS. MURRAY: Well, any administrative process that you go
through in our building is going to cost you something because we're a
fee for service organization. So that point's kind of moot.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But Dave, that's a bargain, I'll
vote for that.
MS. MURRAY: But there's also shared parking and that sort of
thing. I would suggest if the cri -- if you want to for some reason
reduce the required parking in this overlay, that that is also spelled
out, as well as perhaps an administrative reduction. Because I think
that's what I'm hearing Dave say is the problem, is they've got old sites
that just aren't going to meet it and they may not even meet the
existing criteria in the code for administrative reduction, which would
then bump somebody up through a public hearing process.
So that's an option as well, is to reduce your own parking
standards here, and then allow for some administrative deviation, with
criteria as well.
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ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Is that enough guidance for
you to cogitate about?
MR. SCHMITT: I'm willing to look at expanding the
administrative criteria. And I think that's what we need -- Dave and I
and probably Susan need to talk about.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: I think that would be a good
idea.
MR. JACKSON: Right. And I would request this board task the
staff to talk with us.
MR. SCHMITT: No, this board can't task.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Yes, we can. Now, don't--
let's not get into that again.
MR. SCHMITT: You can ask to us come back. I have to take it
back to the board -- okay, I won't argue. You're right, you can.
MS. MURRAY: We have been talking, so we can continue our
discussions. That's not an issue. That's not a problem.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Mark, I have some page 38
questions. Are you done with 38?
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: No, I'm not done with 38, but
let's --
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Well, go ahead.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: We've only got about three
minutes left before we agreed to stop, so why don't we just take yours.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Up on eight, remember earlier I
asked that you had a phrase in there that encourages on-street parking
and shared parking and everybody said it's in the code. Is this what
you were referring to as it being in the code?
MR. JACKSON: Shared parking requirements, to the existing--
with the current LDC.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But there's nothing that really
encourages it. What you're saying is that the existing code, you can
do what the existing code says you can do. Because I think for the
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September 21, 2005
success of this downtown, we're going to have to have shared parking.
MR. JACKSON: Correct. And the only reason -- we took it out
at one time and we put it back in at the request of staff -- is that if
when somebody reads this code, at least it's there and it says that this
is the option. Because if it's not there, then they think they don't have
the option. It's whatever the existing code is.
It ends up being kind of redundant, but it kind of in black and
white tells the person when they read it that there is a shared parking
option.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But when I asked earlier why
did you take out encourage on -street parking and shared parking
facilities, this is where everybody said it was. Because this doesn't do
any encouragement, this just allows to you do what you can normally
can do.
Is there any other place that has shared parking referenced?
MR. JACKSON: Yes, it's in the Gateway.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Okay, but not in this. Okay.
MR. EHARDT: This is the section. This is what I referred to
when we took it out of the two and put it in four.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Right, but I mean it's not
encouraging, it's allowing what's allowed.
Again, the county manager or his designee, I think, should be in
eight and nine.
On street walls, we have a requirement where driveways come up
the sidewalks. It's a site triangle. It's a 10-foot by 10-foot. It's in the
landscape code. The concern I have is would this -- can we reference
in there -- that it's -- I mean, the impression I get is a street wall has to
actually come out further than that site triangle will allow. That's a
very unsafe condition to create.
So could we reference that as a -- or would this in any way
override their requirement? You know what I mean? When a
sidewalk and a street abut, there's a 10-foot by 10-foot, and then
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triangle that creates -- we don't want any walls or anything greater
than 30 inches in that. Because it looks like it would.
MR. EHARDT: Let me do some measurements to see.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: And what does it mean that no
street wall shall adjoin on a common property line? If you have two
property lines that have parking lots on both sides, you want some
stagger of that wall, or?
MR. EHARDT: What I was looking for -- that if you had
Building A and Building B, and Site A and B, that you wouldn't want
two parking lots right next to each other.
COMMISSIONER MURRAY: Why?
MR. EHARDT: I wanted to keep the facade of the street a little
more consistent with buildings.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: But then why don't you word
that -- I mean, the way you're causing that design is by the placement
of these street walls. Maybe you should put -- I mean --
MR. EHARDT: I'm just saying there can't be any two adjacent
properties that have the same street wall, and that it's limited to 65
feet. Only one parking bay is what I'm saying.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Okay, so then maybe what you
should say somewhere in the parking, that we can't have more -- two
parking bays on adjoining property can't be -- and then, because the
street walls is the result of the parking. You're using the street wall to
cause parking, to cause building, when, you know -- do it the other
way around, I think.
MR. EHARDT: Let me see if I -- I'm just trying to clarify what
you said or what you're trying -- let's say we have a building, and next
to it it's parking lot, let's say. You know, a row --
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: Alongside the building.
MR. EHARDT: Right, and there's a street wall there. What I'm
saying is that I don't want another street wall with its parking and then
the building. I want another building, then the street wall. I don't
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want two parking lots but against -- then you're going to have a
continuous long low wall. I would prefer to have that broken up, I
guess is what I'm saying, by buildings.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: And I think that's okay, but -- in
other words, you're controlling the design of that site via the street
wall, not via a comment like no two parking lots can be adjoined or
buildings stagger -- you know. In other words, you're using a very
low element.
Because I could interpreted that to mean I could offset them and
achieve that too. And that's not what you're describing.
MR. EHARDT: Maybe a common property line.
COMMISSIONER SCHIFFER: I think we're --
COMMISSIONER CARON: In other words, you don't want it to
look like the picture that's provided here.
MR. EHARDT: No, I do. I do want it to look like that, because
that's one bay of parking. I mean, that's two bays of parking, that's
about 65 feet. You figure 60 feet of parking on both sides. I wouldn't
want two of those together and then another building. That's what I
was trying to get at.
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: Ladies and gentlemen, we are
past our deadline date. We will pick up at our next meeting next
Friday at 1 :00 in this room. We'll pick up on page 38.
That meeting next Friday will be dedicated solely to the finishing
up of the Bayshore and the Gateway Triangle if we can get that far for
the meeting.
Patrick, is that sufficient notification?
MR. WHITE: Yes, sir, I believe it is. Just to indicate that those
are the Cycle 2 amendments for the CCPC in its first hearing but a
continued meeting. Thank you.
MR. JACKSON: And the Gateway will go faster because there's
a lot of duplicity here. What you've commented on is duplicated. It is
duplicated. We can correct it twice.
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September 21, 2005
ACTING CHAIRMAN STRAIN: This meeting is over. Thank
you.
There being no further business for the good of the County,
the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 6:02 p.m.
COLLIER COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
MARK STRAIN, Acting Chairman
ATTEST:
DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK
These minutes approved by the Board on
, as presented
or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY
COURT
REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE'
NOTTINGHAM and
TONI SHEARER.
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