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Public commenters and commissioners flag LDC ambiguity on zoning-board continuances; staff to consider amendment
Summary
Members of the public and the county's zoning board sought clarification about whether the zoning board may continue (table) cases without the applicant's consent; the county attorney said the Land Development Code is silent and the board asked staff and the LDC task force to consider clarifying language.
Public commenters at the March 10 Santa Rosa County committee meeting asked commissioners to clarify whether the county Zoning Board may continue (table) an agenda item without the petitioner's consent. The exchange prompted county staff and commissioners to say the Land Development Code (LDC) is silent on continuances and that they would consider adding clear rules during the LDC task force's revision work.
Alan Isaacson, a member of the zoning board, described a case where a petitioner (Sea Gallery Stores) sought to eliminate stormwater requirements for a building pad in an existing commercial park; Isaacson said staff and board members disagreed about whether the zoning board could table the matter without the petitioner's consent. "For clarification ... can the zoning board table an issue requesting additional information without the petitioner having to approve of that tabling?" Isaacson asked.
The county attorney answered that the LDC is silent on continuances and that the board could insert a clear rule in upcoming LDC changes: "If the Board wants to implement a clear answer, we could address that in the next LDC changes," the county attorney said. Commissioners and speakers debated the trade-offs: an unconditional right to continue could be used to delay matters, but denying the ability to continue might force appeals and additional expense.
Other public commenters raised related land-development concerns. Ryan Fowler urged the county to remove the "Alternative Subdivision" provision from the land-development code, saying it had produced denser developments such as Wild Heron in Navarre that relied on counted easements and small park strips to meet open-space calculations. Chris Curb and John Simoniac described flood-related and wildfire/wildland-urban interface risks in parts of the county and said the LDC task force should consider resilience and stormwater-pond uses.
Several commissioners urged engagement from board-appointed citizens on the LDC task force. Commissioner Burkett said he would support allowing the zoning board a single continuance to gather information and recommended task-force consideration of formalizing a time-limited continuance. Commissioners noted the appeal path remains: a zoning-board variance decision may be appealed to the commission for review.
County staff agreed to bring up clarifying LDC language for the task force and future amendments; no formal ordinance change was made Monday.
