Subject:
Title
Case No. LDR-21-01
An Ordinance of Pinellas County, Florida, providing for the amendment of Chapters 138 - Zoning and 154 - Site Development, Right-of-Way Improvements, Subdivisions, and Platting of the Pinellas County Land Development Code and providing for the adoption of the Transportation Design Manual.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Receive public comment on Case No. LDR-21-01: An Ordinance amending Chapters 138 - Zoning and 154 - Site Development, Right-of-Way Improvements, Subdivisions, and Platting of the Pinellas County Land Development Code and adopting the Transportation Design Manual.
• This is the first of two required public hearings.
• This Ordinance is part of the overall Building and Development Review Services system improvement.
• The Board approved a major update to the Land Development Code in 2018.
• The proposed amendments will provide clarification and additional flexibility, and address redundancies and internal consistency issues that have been discovered since the implementation of the updated Code. Examples of changes include:
a.) Additional staff review flexibility for minor site plan changes and landscaping standards.
b.) Infill development flexibility for legal lots of record.
c.) Additional flexibility for setback and parking requirements.
d.) Enhancements to outdoor lighting standards.
• The proposed amendments were reviewed by interdepartmental County staff, the Development Customer Advisory Group and Forward Pinellas. The changes include ideas and suggestions from these groups.
• The Local Planning Agency unanimously recommended approval of the Ordinance (vote 6-0). No one appeared in support or opposition.
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Strategic Plan:
Foster Continual Economic Growth and Vitality
4.3 Catalyze redevelopment through planning and regulatory programs
Deliver First Class Services to the Public and our Customers
5.2 Be responsible stewards of the public’s resources
Summary:
Summary
In October of 2018 the Board of County Commissioners adopted a major update to the Pinellas County Land Development Code that became effective on January 1, 2019. Prior to that, the last major update to the Code occurred in 1990. The updated Code responds to and reflects the changing conditions and character of County and establishes the necessary regulatory framework to incent economic development, promote responsible growth, and improve the urban design quality throughout unincorporated Pinellas County. The update changed the overall Code to better provide for redevelopment and infill development, enhanced development flexibility, modernized regulations, reduced redundancies, and streamlined and consolidated regulations.
Over the past two years since its implementation, staff has noted certain sections and components of the updated Code where additional clarification and flexibilities would be beneficial. A few redundancies and internal inconsistency issues were also discovered. The purpose of these proposed amendments is to address and correct these issues, and to enhance the Code even further. Such modifications and enhancements are typical and expected following large Code updates.
In addition, this Ordinance proposes the adoption of the Transportation Design Manual, which provides the County’s design requirements related to transportation and traffic facilities. The January 2019 Code update transferred two sections from Chapter 154 to the Transportation Design Manual. This current Ordinance transfers several more sections of Chapters 154 and 138 to the Transportation Design Manual with the intent that the dimensional design requirements are contained in the Transportation Design Manual, with the appropriate references in the Code.
The proposed Code amendments and the Transportation Design Manual were reviewed by both internal and external stakeholders. They were also vetted by Forward Pinellas staff for consistency with the Countywide Rules.
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Background Information:
The Local Planning Agency (LPA) recommended approval of the Ordinance during its January 14, 2021 public hearing with an amendment to Section 138-3509(c) (1), and the renumbering of subsequent subsections as necessary (Vote 6-0).
Fiscal Impact:
N/A
Staff Member Responsible:
Carol Stricklin, Director, Housing and Community Development
Partners:
N/A
Attachments:
LPA Report
Consistency Letter from Forward Pinellas
Ordinance with Transportation Design Manual - Exhibit A
Chapter 138 Amendments Strikethrough/Underline
Chapter 154 Amendments Strikethrough/Underline
Power Point Presentation
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