Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Comprehensive Plan Transmittal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Alachua County Planning Commission backs transmission of comp-plan amendments and removes ADU residency requirement
Summary
The Planning Commission voted to transmit evaluation-and-appraisal amendments to the County Commission with added items — including interlocal service boundary language and a compact-growth strategy — and separately approved removing homestead/residency requirements for accessory dwelling units in unincorporated areas.
The Alachua County Planning Commission agreed to transmit its evaluation-and-appraisal-based amendments to the Alachua County Comprehensive Plan to the County Commission while adding three items staff did not propose: policies to pursue interlocal service boundary agreements, a strategy favoring compact and mixed-use growth inside the urban cluster, and removing the homestead-exemption and residency requirement for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in unincorporated areas.
Ben Chumley, principal planner with the Alachua County Growth Management Department, reopened the continuation of the Feb. 25 hearing and reminded the commission of the purpose: “At least once every 7 years, every local government in the state must evaluate its comprehensive plan to determine if amendments are necessary…,” and staff asked the commission to recommend transmittal to the State Land Planning Agency for review and comment.
Commissioner Hayes Santos moved to forward the staff packet with additional policy priorities, including interlocal service boundary agreement language and the growth-inside-the-urban-cluster strategy. Commissioner Young read proposed strategy language that the commission added to the transmittal: “The county recognizes that accommodating residential growth through compact and mixed use development patterns within the urban cluster can reduce pressure to convert rural and conservation lands outside the urban cluster.”
The commission also voted separately to remove the homestead-exemption and residency requirement for ADUs in unincorporated areas. The transcript records the chair calling for a separate vote on that portion of the motion; the chair announced the motion passed after the recorded voice vote.
In addition to the items included in the transmittal, commissioners agreed to ask staff to return with further analysis on a set of topics — including gated subdivisions, parking minimums and maximums, a possible mixed-use land-use category, density allowances in the urban cluster (including TND and TOD ideas), and urban tree-canopy and tree-planting priorities — and to notify the County Commission that the Planning Commission has reviewed and will be pursuing those areas.
Next steps: staff will prepare the transmitted package for the Board of County Commissioners and will return to the Planning Commission with follow-up work and additional language where requested; commissioners also directed staff to report back on gated communities within 90 days for additional consideration.
The Planning Commission adjourned after scheduling further discussions and noting the April meeting date.
