Planning & Zoning Commission reviews draft land-development uses table, proposes 1,000-sq.-ft. minimum living area

At its Aug. 12 workshop, the Planning & Zoning Commission reviewed a staff draft of the city’s Land Development Code uses table and related zoning changes, including a proposal to keep a 1,000-square-foot minimum living area in traditional neighborhoods and to retain a 650-square-foot per-unit minimum for duplexes.

In the presentation, an unidentified staff presenter (speaker S3) said the 1,000-square-foot figure ‘‘is well above the size for being considered a tiny home, as according to the Florida Building Code,’’ and invited commissioners to raise or lower the number. The presenter also said duplexes would not be a by-right use in traditional neighborhoods but would be allowed by special exception with a standard that keeps each duplex unit at a minimum of about 650 square feet.

Staff walked commissioners through a consolidated approach that maps future land-use categories (mixed use, commercial, public facilities, and various residential density categories) to compatible zoning districts. The intent, staff said, is to avoid an unwieldy, multi-page permissive-use table by grouping similar uses and then defining them in a glossary. "If you're selling a product, it's retail," the presenter said, explaining the move to grouped-use definitions rather than itemizing every possible retail type.

The draft would also codify several use-specific rules: neighborhood-commercial footprints limited to roughly 10,000 square feet to keep scale compatible with nearby residences; larger community-commercial tiers up to about 15,000 square feet; and mixed-residential areas where commercial uses would be smaller (about 5,000 square feet). Staff proposed treating certain uses as restricted or special exceptions — for example, churches and some childcare facilities in sensitive downtown locations — to address traffic and scale concerns raised in earlier downtown planning work.

Commissioners pressed staff to verify past city-commission direction on church siting and asked staff to check whether existing city-commission decisions had already required special-exception treatment for religious uses. Staff said they would review prior city-commission minutes and the comp plan locational criteria and return with clarifying language.

On large-scale project thresholds, staff reported that the current numeric trigger (25,000 square feet for nonresidential and more than 12 dwelling units for residential) was under review. The proposed nonresidential threshold would drop to 10,000 square feet, and staff recommended a parallel policy that any use causing an adverse impact to transportation, utilities, or infrastructure capacity — even if smaller than the numeric threshold — be treated as large scale and referred for hearing. Staff gave examples of small-footprint uses that nevertheless generate heavy trips, such as convenience stores with gas sales and drive-through-only restaurants.

Staff said the city will use the ITE manual and a local controversy-management system to identify uses that create capacity impacts and to require hearings when needed. They also noted that nonconforming-regulation changes are not ready for return to the commission; staff and the city attorney were directed to do additional legal research before bringing those changes back.

Staff invited written feedback and said slide decks and a PDF of the uses table would be circulated so commissioners and the public can submit comments. The presentation closed with an outreach reminder: a community meeting on an upcoming pickleball proposal will be held in chambers the following evening from 6 to 8 p.m.

What happens next: staff will collect written comments, complete definition work with two assigned staff members, and fold that feedback into code drafting for review at a later meeting. The nonconforming-regulation item will return only after additional research by staff and the city attorney.