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Committee backs one alternate member for three land-use boards and sends proposal to commission
Summary
The Land Use & Sustainability Committee recommended that the city commission consider an LDR amendment allowing up to one alternate member per the Design Review Board, Historic Preservation Board and Planning Board, to be appointed like regular members. The committee asked staff to bring the ordinance back to the commission.
The Land Use & Sustainability Committee on Friday recommended that the city commission consider an LDR (land development regulations) amendment creating an alternate-member category for three land-use boards and advised staff to prepare ordinance language for commission consideration.
The recommendation would allow up to one alternate member per board — the Design Review Board (DRB), Historic Preservation Board (HPB) and Planning Board — with appointments made by the commission under the same procedures as regular members. Alternate members would be eligible to vote when a regular member is absent or has a conflict, and could temporarily fill a vacancy until the full commission names a replacement.
Planning staff said the proposal was drafted after reviewing practices in comparable Florida cities and limiting the change to boards that do not require voter approval; the Board of Adjustment was excluded because amending its rules would require changes to special acts and a public vote. Tom (Planning Director) told the committee that comparable jurisdictions commonly use two or three alternates but staff narrowed the recommendation to avoid a special-act or voter-approval requirement.
Committee members debated whether one or two alternates would be preferable. Supporters said alternates reduce the number of “short boards” and help ensure enough members to hear variance requests; opponents worried alternates could dilute categorical expertise on boards that require seats with specific qualifications (for example, an attorney or planner seat). One commissioner said the committee should limit the change to one alternate per board and leave appointment authority at the commission level rather than delegating appointments to the boards themselves.
The committee directed staff to bring an ordinance to the commission reflecting the committee’s recommendation of one alternate per board for the Planning Board, DRB and HPB. Because this is an LDR amendment it would require a five-sevenths vote of the commission to adopt.
Staff said the ordinance would require alternate members to be city residents for at least one year and to meet at least one of the membership-criteria for the seat they would fill.
The committee action was a recommendation to forward the drafted LDR amendment to the full city commission for consideration and two-readings as required by the city’s LDR amendment process.
