The Monroe County Board of Commissioners approved a zoning text amendment on June 5 that revises how the County Development Ordinance (CDO) measures and applies maximum impervious cover across multiple residential and rural zone districts and creates exemptions for certain existing driveways.

"We are going to grandfather, if you will, prior driveways that were built before 03/11/2024," said Ms. Nestor Jallen, Director of Planning, describing an exemption that will exclude existing driveways visible in March 2024 flyover imagery or driveways with proper approval before Dec. 19, 2024, from the impervious calculation. She said the change responds to a high number of preexisting nonconformities that forced property owners to seek variances for small additions such as sheds or garages.

The amendment adjusts maximum impervious percentages and square‑foot thresholds by zone and by lot size (for example, the agricultural residential district breaks thresholds into multiple acreage bands). Planning staff said the new standards also include separate, lower thresholds where a parcel lies in a mapped critical watershed and that agricultural buildings are excluded from the impervious calculation.

Planning staff presented aerial examples showing parcels that would be able to comply under the new rules (marked green) and others that still would not (marked yellow), and said the amendment aims to encourage more compact development while recognizing existing conditions. Staff and the stormwater program manager worked on the figures, and the county’s stormwater program supports the change.

Surveyor Enright Randolph, speaking in favor, said serving on the Stormwater Management Board and Plan Commission, he supported the amendment as an incremental improvement and urged approval.

The Plan Commission forwarded a favorable recommendation on May 20 by a 6–0 vote; the Board of Commissioners approved the ordinance by roll call vote 3–0.