Council directs staff to draft code amendment requiring mailed notice and signage for site‑plan public hearings

City planning staff asked the Riviera Beach City Council on Wednesday to direct staff to prepare an ordinance requiring enhanced public notice for site‑plan applications that proceed to a public hearing.

Assistant Director Scott Evans said the city’s current code requires mailed notice and posted signage for rezoning, land‑use changes, special exceptions and abandonment applications, but not for stand‑alone site plans. Evans said staff reviewed neighboring jurisdictions (Greenacres, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County) and proposed aligning Riviera Beach with those practices by adding notice requirements for site‑plan public hearings.

Why it matters: The proposed change would expand public notice to more site‑plan applications, increasing mailed notice to nearby property owners and requiring signage on project sites, which staff said improves transparency for residents near large projects.

During the discussion council members confirmed technical details: the notice radius would follow the city’s existing 300‑foot standard used in other sections of the code, and the requirement would be triggered for any site plan that requires a public hearing before Planning & Zoning and City Council — staff estimated about 80% of site plans follow that path. After questions, a council member moved to give staff direction to prepare the ordinance and the council voted unanimously to proceed.

The motion asked staff to prepare the code amendment for future consideration; no ordinance language was adopted at Wednesday’s meeting. Staff said it will draft the ordinance and return it to the council for the required hearings and readings.