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Live Local approvals: city staff outlines administrative reviews and pending applications

5969292 · September 25, 2025

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Summary

Planning staff summarized Live Local approvals the city has processed under the state program and flagged two denials; staff noted clarifying guidance is needed for Historic District administrative review standards and said they will provide council with additional detail.

City staff reported to council on implementation of Florida’s Live Local program and the city’s administrative review practices for Live Local projects.

Eric Cotton, development coordination, summarized Live Local’s statutory basics — the program requires a specified share of residential floor area to be affordable (40% of the residential portion), sets parking and height considerations and allows certain projects (including some PDs) to pursue Live Local exemptions. Cotton told council the city has processed multiple Live Local applications and maintains a public map of approvals; most applications that met the statute’s criteria were approved administratively, but two recent Live Local requests were denied after local review for statutory or eligibility reasons.

A question from council and a request from staff focused on administrative review within local historic districts: the Live Local statute requires that approvals in a historic district be administrative, but staff said they need to clarify which standards administrators should apply and whether a certificate-of-appropriateness path is required. Council asked staff to return with written guidance describing the applicable review standards and the basis for administrative approval or denial in historic districts.

Public commenters raised concerns about how administrative decisions interact with neighborhood expectations and cited specific local projects where setback or other changes were processed administratively. Staff said they would provide a written explanation of the administrative review path and the standards used to evaluate Live Local projects in historic districts, and they will circulate that guidance to council.