Orange Park planning board delays design-review hearing after attorney flags 300-foot notice requirement

The Town of Orange Park Planning & Zoning Board on Jan. 9 voted to defer consideration of design-review application DRB-9-2024 after the town attorney said the zoning code requires new mailed or hand-delivered notice to all property owners within 300 feet before a design-review hearing.

Town Attorney Hodges told the board she interpreted Section 2.0809 of the town zoning code to require that “notice of the time and place of any required public meeting with respect to the review of an application before the design review board shall be given by the economic and community development department at least 10 days in advance of any such hearing by the design review board via United States mail or hand delivery to all owners of real property within 300 feet of the boundaries of the land that’s the subject of the design review.” That, she said, meant staff had to issue fresh notices before the board could act.

The requirement matters because the applicant for DRB-9-2024 — represented at the meeting by Joe Williams of Wiggins Construction — had been prepared to proceed but staff had not mailed the 300-foot notices. Williams said the delay was costly because his client has been waiting and is ready to begin construction. Town staff and the board discussed options including a special meeting and the issuance of a conditional building permit that would let permitting proceed “at the applicant’s risk,” a staff member said.

Board members and staff also discussed technical concerns raised during the review. Board member Hawkins, a licensed professional engineer, said the site is in a known flood area and that the addition will increase impervious surface by roughly 800 square feet. Hawkins said the application’s drainage submission was limited and did not constitute a full drainage design, noting the town’s permitting review addresses flood-plain and stormwater requirements.

Chair moved to defer consideration of DRB-9-2024 to the earliest possible date that allowed the required notices to be mailed; a second followed and the board voted to postpone the item. The motion carried on a 5-0 voice vote.

Staff told the board it would coordinate with members and the applicant to identify the earliest date when a quorum could meet and would issue the 10-day notices required by the code. The chair said the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Feb. 13 if a special meeting cannot be arranged.

The applicant and his representatives remained in the room during the exchange; staff said it could pursue a conditional building permit subject to later design-review approval but warned the applicant that any work would proceed at the applicant’s risk.

The board recorded no formal changes to the application. The item will return after staff issues the 10-day notices and confirms a meeting date.