2/18/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Based upon the analysis, staff has determined that 1,924 parcels will need to be administratively rezoned. While that represents only about two percent of all parcels in the County, the acreage amount is more. -substantial. Staff estimates that approximately 210,364 of the County's 318,000 acres will be affected by the administrative rezonings. Most of the acreage and slightly more than half of the parcels involved are situated west of I-95. This occurred because the County's adopted land use plan assigns almost all land west of I-95 to designations with densities of either 1 unit per 10 acres, 1 unit per 20 acres, or no density (conservation areas owned by the St. Johns River Water Management District), whereas the lowest density residential zoning district applied to these areas has been 1 unit per five acres. ALTERNATIVES & ANALYSIS: The County has no alternative except to rezone those properties where the current zoning and land use plan designations are inconsistent. This is required by state law. The County does, however, have alternatives as to the administrative rezoning procedure. Specifically, the County has discretion in the manner in which it notifies affected property owners and the public about these rezonings. According to Florida Statutes Section 125.66 and the County's land development regulations, rezonings which involve more than 5 percent of the land area in the County may be undertaken without individual notification to each affected land owner and surrounding land owner. This option requires quarter page newspaper advertisements with a map, as well as two evening (after 5:00 p.m.) public hearings by the Board of County Commissioners. Alternatively, general rezoning requirements entail newspaper legal advertisements as well as notification, by certified mail, of all landowners and surrounding landowners affected by the rezoning. These requirements would apply to both the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of County Commissioners hearings. Besides the two alternatives referenced above, the County could opt to do the former, but also provide courtesy notification to landowners. This, in essence, provides a compromise between the two extremes. It is staff's position that the third alternative would be the best. The "hard" cost of that alternative would be $2,753.88. That represents the cost of the required newspaper advertisements as well as the postage (non -certified) to notify landowners. It does not include staff time to compile names, addresses, mailing labels, and letters. While the first alternative would be less expensive, only involving the newspaper advertisement expense, it would provide no notification to owners - an issue which has been raised in the past. However, any notice given to owners may well be moot, since the Board is obligated to rezone properties to be consistent with the adopted plan. The second alternative would be considerably more expensive. Just certified mail notification costs for owners for the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board public hearings would total $13,217.88. If surrounding property owners were also notified by certified mail, the cost would increase substantially. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners direct the staff to initiate the administrative rezoning process, utilize the 5 percent exemption criteria, and provide courtesy notification to affected property owners. 27 800K � ,