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04-10-1979 - Workshop , v u " 4;: ~1, , 'i~~} , ,/.,#t.. ~ , /''.-:'. J.;' f.~ ., :t>~ '/J,#/ !,~.r{1J~ ',1:.'.":1>,' ,. w:! ,..51 l{ f.S):/,":;g} i1 ~.y CITY OF EDGEWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP April 10, 1979 Mayor Christy called the Council Workshop to order at 6:30 P.M. in the Shuffleboard Clubroo~. ROLL CALL Mayor Robert H. Christy Councilman Louis J. Rotundo Councilman David C. Ledbetter Councilman Walter B. Sikes Councilman Neil J. Asting City Attorney Judson Woods Deputy City Clerk Cornelia Kinsey Police Chief Earl Baugh Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Mayor Christy said zoning ordinance. Planning Board and changes that could that this was a workshop to discuss the present The Council had invited the Zonin~ Board, the the Board of Adjustment to discuss possible be made to improve the zoning in the City. Zoning Board t., r. t.1 a c k i e Mr. Siciliano Mr. Bowser Mr. Opal Mr. Wheeler Planning Board ~, r. S chi 1 1 i n g Mr. Grollemund Mrs. Webber Mr. Lodico Mr. Ladhoff r~r. Gri ffi th Mr. Brown Mr. Nolan Board of Adjustment Mr. Millard Mr. Poland Mr. Glaser Mayor Christy said that he believed the city should eliminate all the numbers in the commercial and industrial zones and have possibly two business districts, highway business and neighborhood business and two industrial zones, light industry and heavy industry. Mr. Mackie, Chairman of the Zoning Board, said that he did not really understand why the Council was holding this meeting. The Zoning Board has been working very hard to make some necessary changes to the ordinance. These changes take time and need a lot of study and review. It appears as if there are certain people who would like to see the city go back to ordinance 219. That ordinance would allow just about any type of business into the city with very few restrictions. The Zoning Board is interested in increasing business and industry within the city but these changes should be done in an orderly way. Mr. Siciliano said that he could not agree with eliminating all the numbers. Perhaps we should eliminate the B-1 (Central Business Zone) and make it all B-3 along the highway. The Zoning Board has already sent that recommenation to the Council. He also believes that we should keep our Industrial Park and then have other areas that allow light u o and some heavy industry. The purpose and intent of the different numbers is to separate these areas so that we can have an orderly growth in our city. Councilman Sikes said that some of the businesses that have been in Edgewater for years became non-conforming when Ordinance 880 was passed. The Council needs to do something about making these businesses legal. Another area where there are problems is in the mobile parks. Most of the parks are still non-conforming according to our ordinance. He added that Ordinance 880 is a big improvement over what the city had before but it does need to be corrected and updated in certain areas so that it will not be necessary to have so many meetings and so many changes. Mr. Siciliano said that the Zoning Board is still working on the problem of the mobile parks. It may be possible to come up with a special category for the existing parks. Maybe we could make them MH-1S for special and allow them to, for example, move out a trailer and put a new trailer in. Under the present zoning they cannot make these changes to existing parks that are non-conforming. Councilman Ledbetter said that he still did not believe that Ordinance 880 was worth the paper it was written on. When the town was rezoned, the businesses in the north end of town that had been here for years were, for the most Dart, made non-conforminq while the businesses in the south end of town, most of which were new businesses,were zoned in legally. Mr. Siciliano said that this was certainly not done deliberately. It would be impossible for a board to include everything in a zoning ordinance. Mr. Mackie said that the businesses that were in existance before Ord. 880 had to be zoned in as non-conforming because they were in operation before zoning ordinances were passed. We have had to amend the zoning ordinance over the years to make corrections. Mayor Christy said that we should make these businesses conforming and then go on from there. Mr. Mackie said that the new zoning ordinance defined certain setbacks, certain lot sizes, certain building sizes, to create a more orderly growth in the city. The businesses already in operation were not established according to these regulations so they automatically became non-conforming but that didn't mean that they were illegal. These businesses can operate indefinately, as they are, because they were grandfathered in when the ordinance was passed. When they worked on the ordinance back in 1972 they were not able to get cooperation from the city. They were not even able to get the services of the city attorney at that time and therefore it was left up to a group of people to make this ordinance. Public hearings were held and nobody came to them. After the ordinance was passed people started to complain but nothing was said during the public hearings or all the meetings that were held when the Zoning Board was drawing up the zoning ordinance. In the past year, we have had cooperation from the city and the Zoning Board has been working very hard to make changes in the ordinance. Mr. Schilling, Chairman of Planning Board, said that he also was confused as to what the Council had in mind. The fact that some businesses are non-conformina does not mean that they are outlawed, it merely means that in the ultimate planning that type of business may not be the most desirable for the city and when the business is no longer in operation then a new type of business that would conform with the zoning ordinance and permitted uses would be able to operate at that location. If we spend a lot of time before we finish the comprehensive plan, it will only mean that a lot of work will have to be done over again. Unless someone is seriously injured by being non-conforming but being allowed to continue indefinately, we should postpone action on this until the comprehensive plan is finished and then we will be able to see what we have to work with. Councilman Sikes said that when the comprehensive plan is finished there will be a lot of zoning changes to be made. 2 o o There was a lengthy discussion about non-conforming and conforming businesses and what should be done about them. Mr. Glaser, Board of Adjustment, said that he believed the original intent of the zoning ordinance was that sometime, in the future, all the businesses in the city would be able to conform with the zoning regulations to give us an orderly pattern of growth and expansion instead of a mixture of different size lots, different size buildings, etc. They certainly tried to make it possible for existing businesses to continue but they also were trying to look ahead to the future. Mrs. Webber, Planning Board, said that she did not think they should eliminate B-1. We should have a central business district. Mr. Mackie said that the biggest central area will probably end up around Indian River Blvd. because that is where shopping centers will be built. Councilman Sikes said that probably the first area to check out was the various permitted uses. We need to add some permitted uses for desirable businesses to help bring more business into Edgewater. Mr. Nolan, Planning Board, said that there would be changes when the comprehensive plan was finished and some business areas will be changed. Mr. Woods said that there are certain procedures that must be followed. The City cannot haphazardously change the zoning ordinance. Mr. Schilling said that the Planning Board had discussed the issuance of a booklet that would clearly show the necessary steps in getting a permit, a license, the various permitted uses, procedures for subdivision development, variances and special exceptions, etc. That way someone would know ahead of time what steps would be necessary to take, what the cost would be and the approximate length of time to complete all the necessary procedures. Mr. Siciliano said that the Zoning Board has already drawn up an unofficial list of steps necessary to obtaining a final approval of a subdivision. Councilman Asting asked if the Zoning Board was also going to review the industrial areas? Mr. Mackie said that they had already recommended, at the Council's suggestion, rezoning Lone Star Concrete business to make it conforming. They are also reviewing .oermitted uses in the industrial areas to find out what changes could be made. Mr. Ladhoff said that we should be very careful that any industry coming into the city is preplanned for the benefit of the entire city. The new comprehensive plan must be taken into consideration when any plans are made for new industry or businesses in the city. There was a discussion about the lack of interest until after zoning changes are made. Mr. Schilling said that they will have the same problem with the compre- hensive plan because so few people are attending the meetings and the public hearings that have been held. Unless a lot more people start attending these meetings, the comprehensive plan will be passed and::very few residents will know anything about it. Mr. Woods said that he believed the Zoning Board was trying to make some very good changes in the ordinance and they were working very hard. The Council might consider giving the Zoning Board more time to come up with recommendations so that we could continue an orderly change and follow the proper procedures for amending the ordinance. The Council agreed that this would be the best procedure to follow at this time. The meeting was adjourned. 3 Minutes submitted by: N. Blazi