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Apopka staff begin fixing one-way alley rules after sanitation, safety concerns
Summary
City staff and committee members flagged one-way alleys as a sanitation and safety risk at a Development Review Committee meeting and agreed to pursue short-term 'glitch' amendments and a longer land-development-code rewrite.
Apopka city staff and committee members agreed Thursday to pursue code changes after sanitation and public-safety officials said one-way alleys create operational and liability problems for garbage collection and emergency access. The Development Review Committee discussed a mix of short-term amendments and a planned land development code rewrite to address the issue.
The committee said the immediate concern is sanitation trucks having to travel against one-way traffic or rely on nonstandard maneuvers to access trash receptacles. A public-works representative said sanitation crews require cans to be on the truck’s right side and that some one-way alley layouts force trucks into unsafe patterns. "The trucks need to have the garbage cans on their right side," a public-works representative said during the meeting.
Why it matters: committee members warned the current one-way standard can increase crash and liability risk, require smaller or additional trucks, and impose extra costs on residents or the city. Public-works staff said the comprehensive plan is nearly complete and that changes to the land development code will follow adoption; staff also proposed a short-term "glitch" amendment to require trash placement and alley-flow conventions for new developments.
During discussion, committee members said the usual alley width in recent projects is 18 feet, short of the 20–24 feet generally preferred for two-way vehicle flow. A sanitation-related operational workaround proposed at the meeting was to reverse the direction of one-way alleys so houses fall on the truck's right, or to require homeowners associations to set trash-placement rules in HOA covenants.
Committee members asked planning staff to convene a focused meeting with police, fire, public works and sanitation to draft the interim language and to shepherd broader code changes after the comprehensive plan adoption. Transportation coordinator Bill Wharton was introduced at the meeting and staff said he will be part of implementing the follow-up work.
No ordinance or formal policy was adopted at the meeting; staff described next steps as staff-level meetings to prepare code amendments for future review.
The committee also discussed enforcement and resident communication: staff said any change that reverses alley flow or requires HOA trash rules should include clear notice so residents quickly learn new collection expectations. A public-works representative noted some alley designs save developers two feet of width per lot, which can translate to more buildable lots, and said the city must weigh developer incentives against long-term public costs.
Looking ahead, staff said the comprehensive plan transmittal to the state is nearly complete; once the plan is finalized the land development code rewrite will follow, and staff can insert a 'glitch amendment' sooner if needed. The committee agreed to schedule a staff meeting to draft language and gather sanitation and field-crew input.
Ending: Staff will convene the multi-department meeting and return with proposed interim code language and a timeline for formal amendments; no public hearing or council action occurred at this meeting.
