The Planning and Zoning Board on Sept. 10 recommended the City Commission approve a city-initiated text amendment to the Land Development Code to align local procedures with the Live Local Act (Senate Bill 1730), which took effect July 1, 2025.

Gerald Strickland, community development director, told the board the city previously adopted an ordinance implementing the Live Local Act and must now modify local code language after the legislature amended the statute. "This item was before you last year," Strickland said, noting that the ordinance will return to the commission for first reading Oct. 6 and second reading Oct. 20.

Strickland summarized the main changes: the Live Local Act preempts certain local zoning limitations for eligible developments (commercial, industrial, mixed-use and certain planned-unit developments) that include an affordable housing component; it allows administrative approval of Live Local Act applications rather than commission action; it clarifies height and density preemptions (municipalities must allow density up to the highest local density, noted in the city as 15 units per acre); and it sets procedural limits including a 30-day applicant response window and a limit of three review cycles unless mutually agreed.

The city ordinance draft also moves and clarifies local standards such as a requirement that mixed-use Live Local developments allocate a minimum residential share and a minimum nonresidential share of building area, and it authorizes the city manager to sign land-use restriction agreements that ensure the required affordable units remain affordable as required by state law.

Board members asked how the city would mitigate impacts from an otherwise preempted project (for example, traffic and stormwater). Strickland and staff said the Live Local Act preempts only zoning height, density and land-use restrictions; it does not preempt other local requirements such as traffic studies, stormwater, street improvements or permit conditions, which may still be imposed through normal administrative review.

Board members expressed general support for the code clean-up and the clarity it provides to staff and applicants. One board member noted a prior pre-application for a Live Local project but said nothing formal had been filed since.

A motion to recommend approval of the city-initiated ordinance passed unanimously; the Planning and Zoning Board’s action will be forwarded to the City Commission for its October readings.

If the Commission adopts the ordinance, the city’s updated administrative procedures will govern Live Local Act developments, including how staff coordinates departmental reviews and manages the timeframes for applicant responses.