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Planning staff outlines 2024 milestones, 2025 work plan; board approves annual report with minor edit
Summary
Planning staff presented the board's 2024 milestones and a 2025 work plan, including updates to the land development code, 3 Corners implementation, downtown master plan, workforce housing, and floodplain substantial-damage assessments. The board approved the annual report with a wording edit.
Planning staff presented the Planning and Zoning Board’s draft annual report to City Council, reviewed 2024 milestones and the board’s work plan for 2025, and described staff capacity and scheduling impacts tied to recent storm recovery. After a brief wording correction, the board voted to approve the annual report and forward it to City Council.
Staff told the board the 2024 milestones included approval of seven major site plans (three involving conditional-use approvals), two variance applications (one approved, one denied), two comprehensive plan amendments (including a future land use map amendment and a text amendment), five zoning map amendments and review of one redevelopment area plan (the downtown master plan). Staff said it has completed an accessory-use chapter (new chapter 67) and revised conditional-use criteria; work remains on a use matrix and updates to residential and industrial zoning chapters.
Staff discussed several longer-term priorities: implementing the 3 Corners zoning and rezoning once land-development regulations for the district are finalized, advancing downtown master-plan implementation (City Council workshop scheduled Jan. 28 at 6:00 p.m.), workforce-housing policy work, and coordination with the airport on its master plan and potential comprehensive-plan updates. Staff said roughly 70–80% of planning office time is consumed by routine reviews (site plans, code compliance, plats, annexations and board staffing), limiting time available for longer-term LDC (land development code) updates.
Staff also described recovery work after a recent storm (referred to as Milton) that requires substantial-damage assessments for properties in the floodplain. Staff said the county provided field data this week and the planning office must process the data using FEMA-provided software and then notify affected property owners; staff estimated roughly 30 properties may require letters but said the timeline depends on how much manual analysis the software requires.
Board members questioned the RCLO zoning district (an older district used historically for group homes and similar uses), and staff explained state law requires some residential group homes to be treated like multifamily uses and that some concentrations are grandfathered. Staff said long-term work includes cleaning up legacy districts such as RCLO and updating residential districts (chapter 61) and the multifamily regulations. Members discussed neighborhood-protection policies, accessory dwelling units and how rezoning and updated multifamily standards could work together to encourage reinvestment.
A board member moved to approve the annual report to City Council with a single wording correction (change “incentive” to “incentivize”); the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board scheduled a Planning Board meeting for Feb. 6 to consider a site plan and other items.
No formal parallel actions (ordinances or rezones) were adopted at this meeting; staff indicated several items will return for hearings or council workshops.
