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Staff outlines broad EAR-based comprehensive-plan updates; commission to forward recommendation to BOCC
Summary
Planning staff summarized proposed EAR-based amendments to the Indian River County comprehensive plan — reallocating many regulatory details into the LDRs, adjusting future land-use policies, and updating sanitary sewer, potable water, stormwater and conservation elements. The commission voted to forward staff recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners for transmittal to the state.
Planning staff presented a section-by-section overview of the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) amendments that will be transmitted to the Florida Department of Commerce for review. Patrick Murphy, chief of long-range planning, said many changes are intended to meet statutory requirements, consolidate scattered policies, and move technical implementation rules into the county’s land development regulations (LDRs) rather than the comprehensive plan.
Murphy reviewed proposed changes including: expanding the RC (regional commercial) future land-use category to allow multifamily (up to eight units per acre), hotels and institutional uses; striking several policies now duplicated in the LDRs; adjustments in sanitary sewer policy to require connection when septic fails and sewer is available; a potable-water concurrency policy keyed to available supplies; and conservation and coastal management updates including strengthened shoreline stabilization requirements and coordination with the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. Staff recommended that the commission identify needed changes and recommend that the BOCC transmit the amendments to the state for review. “Staff's recommendation is for the Planning and Zoning Commission to review the comprehensive plan EAR-based amendments, identify any additional needed changes, and recommend that the Board of County Commissioners transmit the county's comprehensive plan EAR-based amendments to Florida Department of Commerce for its review,” Murphy said.
