##VIDEO ID:zUlhlq95VvA## [Music] up [Music] [Music] [Music] 4th 2024 seal County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pled algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay this board is a seven member board appointed by the board of County Commissioners a quorum has been established to hold tonight's meeting public hearing items acted upon by this board are refer to the board of County Commissioners for further consideration board members present tonight are from my left lordis air commissioner Carissa laern commissioner Mike lorence myself chairman Dan Lopez commissioner Richard German and commissioner Brandy aapo sta present tonight are Geor GES principal planner Jose Gomez County manager's office chief chief administrator nisso borer Deputy County attorney Vladimir simonovski development review engineering manager and Tammy Brushwood the pnz board clerk staff uh tonight's meeting will go as follows staff will introduce the item the applicant will present the item audience members wishing to speak will then be heard please complete a comment card and give it to the clerk if you wish to speak comment cards are located in the Lobby speakers should restrict their comments to information directly related to the item being heard audience speakers will have three minutes to speak or 6 minutes if representing a group when called speakers should approach the microphone providing their name and address for the record the board may ask questions of the speaker after all speakers have been heard public comment will be closed the applicant will be given a chance for rebuttal any items shown such as videos presentations pictures or Maps must be left with the clerk for the public record items shown from electronic devices should be emailed to the clerk a motion will be made and seconded board discussion may occur and conclude with the vote I will request a roll call vote for any split votes the first item on the agenda is the approval of the proof of publication do I have a motion so move second we have a motion to approve and a second all in favor next which one did I do did I do the minutes or I do do public hearing I did I skipped over all right so next is going to be the approval of the minutes do I have a motion so move I have a second I are you seconding we second we have a motion to approve and a second all in favor I I yeah I have it all right the next public next we go into public hearing items uh item on the agenda is going to be the expedited building permits SB 812 Joy GES presenting good evening Joy Giles principal planner for the Planning and Development Division uh this item is the is the expedited building permit Senate Bill 812 this is a request for consideration of an ordinance creating a process for Expediting the issuance of building permits for residential subdivisions before a plat pardon me before a plat is approved and recorded uh currently simal County allows for up to five Model Homes to be constructed prior to the approval and recording of a plat um the criteria for the model homes is that the final engineering of the subdivision must be completed and approximately 90% of the development must be completed including stabilized roads temporary street signs and water service providing for excuse me providing for fire protection during the 2024 legislative SE session the Florida legislature passed Senate Bill 812 which requires the county to initiate a program no later than October 1st of 2024 to expedite building permits um allowing up to 50% of the Lots within the subdivision to obtain permits prior to the approval and recording of the final plat let's see that uh simal County must issue the expedited permits providing uh for the following provided that the following conditions are met the preliminary subdivision plan and the final engineering plans must be approved all app applicable utility companies um must review the subdivision plan and the applicant must provide proof of such review uh permits must be in accordance with the Florida building code and emergency access and water supply and a water supply plan must be approved by the fire marshall and street signs must be installed and the applicant um must provide a performance bond for up to 130% of the necessary improve improvements the staff has determined that the associated as ordinance uh amending chapter 35 of the Land Development code complies with the requirements of Senate Bill 812 and some of those changes you can see on the slide uh there were some corrections to the code um there were some additional there was some additional uh language and definitions added as well joy can I add something here please um so I uh reviewed this statute this bill once it went through and have been helping um Planning and Zoning staff with implementation of what's required under the Florida Statutes so part of the review criteria um I I should say approval criteria that applicants have to meet before they can be approved for this and and the the real world effect is before the final plat is recorded applicants can come in and ask that 50% of the building permits for the 50% of the Lots be issued by the county so if you you all understand how the plotting process works you come in with a preliminary plat you put in all your infrastructure you you make sure everything's in place you go to final plat and then you start selling off Lots afterwards and and typically with the exception of model homes uh houses are not constructed on those lots this changes that substantially to allow for a developer to come in and get building permits for 50% of the Lots so what what we did was made sure that you have the preliminary site plan approval the engineering final the engineering approval in addressing you have a emergency access and water source plan pre- addressing so that uh Emergency Services can get to you can get to the construction site where the home being built um that's why the maintenance bonds at 130% because there's more risk involved here and another requirement of Statute is anyone that comes in with this application has to sign a hold harmless and the language is in the statute of the hold harmless holding the county harmless for any um anything that may occur any liabilities that may occur by issuing these building permits prior to final plat um one thing that it it it there are restrictions and those are in the ordinance too and the restrictions in the ordinance mirror the restrictions in the statute um and those are you can't transfer ownership of the Lots till the final plot's recorded so you can build all these spec homes is really like well maybe not spec you can come in with a contract and say yeah but you can't actually transfer ownership until after the final plot's recorded um you can't obtain a CO until after the final plats recorded and um you can't allow occupancy of the structure until the final plot is recorded So the hold harmless and these three restrictions are what we have with the statute with the legislature has given the county to be able to um mitigate some of the risk involved in this process but we are required to implement it and um we have integrated into our code and set standards for requirements we also added a new requirement that applicants submit a plot plan for each lot showing where the structures are going to be so we have those beforehand before we issue the building permit to them um so we can make sure step step backs are complied with and you know we know where things are on the property they also have to provide a final engineered site plan for that for that lot um once it's complete so I just wanted to kind of give you a little more of an overview and get into the nuts and bolts of the Ord thank you thank you for that okay so staff has determined that the associated ordinance amending chapter 35 of the lane development code complies with the requirements of Senate Bill 812 therefore staff requests that the bard of County Commissioners approve the ordinance amending part two of chapter 35 of section 35.6 of the Land Development code of seal County to establish an expedited residential subdivision building permit issuance process pursuant to to section 173.04 Florida Statutes and section 3544 of the lane development code to require ASB built engineering plans for expedited building permits providing for conflicts providing for the codification in the lane development code of simal County and providing for seever severability that's a hard word for me to say and providing an effective date and this concludes my presentation all right thank you any questions from the board I I have some okay go right ahead Richard um was this rushed this is not I think there's a lot of holes in this ordinance the way it's written I mean I I think it's fine but trying to get it done but can I just ask a few questions absolutely okay on page five uh 6A the final engineering plans must be approved what does that mean by who utilities public works both I mean don't you think you ought to Define approve by who if I'm trying to conform and get some building permits I don't know what you mean there uh well the Land Development code the subdivision regulations require uh the development Review Committee to approve the plans but final not final engineering plans final engineering plans are are approved after the the facilities are built correct no final engineering are approved prior well then that's where I'm trying to get approved by who the county approved by the development Review Committee of the why don't you say that in here then I think does that need to be I mean we could put it in here it's in the portion of the code that talks about who approves the final engineering plan it doesn't say so here I mean just make it clear when somebody's trying to if I was trying to do this I don't know what I and I'm in the business I'm not sure what you mean here what I could do you probably tell me but why not make the ordinance a little clear sure we can reference back to that section of the code that's all okay um then on the the next page e uh installation of street signs in accordance with and you cite the all that why don't you say in accordance with the approved engineering plans because the street signs are contained on those plans um the street signs are approved by addressing they're not approved at time of the final engineering plan review they're approved separately from addressing but I got to install them so correct addressing doesn't improve approve my the installation well they do go out and visit the site to ensure that the street signs are installed correctly with a correct name once again I wouldn't know what to do here I mean I I you know it just you guys do whatever you want but I I don't I don't think you wrote them very well um in in F it says uh for 130% completion of the uncompleted necessary improvements um I don't not sure the definition necessary I think you're meaning the required improvements pursuant to the engineering plans aren't you that's a reference to the section in the Florida Statutes which def defines what the uh necessary improvements are if you go back to subsection four you don't reference the for statute I do so if you says as described above if you go under Section four which states bonds the applicant that's on page four the applicant is required to submit a valid performance bond to guarantee the installation of necessary improvements as per section 17703 subsection 9 Fara statutes okay okay and and the next per part four required submittal required submittal for what to get the permit to build a house is that what you mean in in part four it just says required submittals for What on page six yeah on page six uh well it defines required submittals for the final plat uh let's see yeah but is that required to get my permits but I'm I'm confused where are we P page six page six six of the uh ordinance page six line item 132 it just says required submittals what does that mean for what oh no that's that's referencing part four of the code so those dots mean we haven't changed anything else in that section and then we move to part four of the code and then those dots mean we haven't changed anything in that part of the section and then it goes to section 35 do I have to submit all this to get my building permit no this is just a reference this is nothing's changing here this is just a reference to that portion of the code but if it if you read it in the context of the ordinance I don't well in the context of the ordinance the required submittal are on page three I understand that but but this says required submittal I I understand what it says I mean you're just it's not clear I mean so so this is just a reference to what part we're changing next in the code so for example we're in chapter 35 part two if you go back to page two chapter 35 part two procedures for securing approval of plats then we change section number 35.6 then the next change that's made is for part four required submittals and then under required submittals we're changing in section 3544 we're changing subsection e so this is just a way so that this is how we have to draft an ordinance so that we show where the changes are being done within the code itself so is there I'm back to the same thing if I read this a required submitt to get my building permit are these items here no this is the required submittal for a final plat so as part of the final it never talks about a final PL well it says 3544 okay but is that the way this reads in the ordinance it's like it must be required for me to get my building permit it's not clear uh you listen I'm am I the only one missing this is anybody else kind of well I kind of feel like uh what they're showing us here is just a changes that are being made right that's correct right so this isn't well this is a final ordinance and that some of the definitions you're looking for might be list might appear in other parts that there another sections of the code yeah that's we're missing sections here this isn't the final which are the dot dot dot right those are sections that are missing in the dot dot dots I mean it's seems like it would be a little easier to present it like like a red line or something but um but yeah my understanding from what she's saying is that these dots are there are some definitions in there that we just don't see so this is out of the code already is that what you're saying yes the underl portions are brand new pardon me the underlined portions are brand new and the asteris haven't changed and the asterisks haven't changed and nothing else has changed other than the strike through which the only strike or to change the subsection numbers okay I give I don't have any more comments okay I have a question um so I obvious you know there is certainly an eagerness to expedite the permitting process uh it's my understanding that um the the developer can start selling off or entering into contracts individual plats um prior to the final approval of the plat right but they cannot transfer ownership of those individual plats um of those platted Lots there platted Lots right um there is no standard contract and new development so what protection if any is there to the consumer should a final plat never be approved you know worst case scenario right so you know I would assume that in the private contract between the developer and the subsequent property owner you know the buyer um there would be some Provisions in there I mean there's a risk involved but that risk is to the developer not to the county as far as you know the County's done everything it needs to do to comply with the statute and allow for this um but as far as the consumer goes so really it's in you know they can sell the this lot but they can't have a deed that references the lot because a deed will when it describes the lot itself it references a recorded plat so they could enter into a contract and then the home could never get built or it'd be like in any other instance where you enter when a developer enter enters into a contract with a buyer and doesn't do what they're supposed to under the contract a actually I could close by meets and Bounds I don't have to have the plat noted on the deed I can close by meets and Bounds sure yeah you can which which is by the way not proper I mean it says in here you can't convey property prior to Plat so it does say that in here well it says um on page what is this page four of the laws of Florida an applicant May contract to sell but may not transfer ownership of a residential structure or Building located in the residential subdivision and so my understanding is that that can be done up to 50% of the potential plats in the in the community I I guess I'm in business of real estate so I guess I'm just looking at this from the consumer standpoint you know guess it's becomes more of a caveat mtor right of uh uh certainly the county isn't at risk but uh perhaps the the consumer might be but are you just concerned with respect to like the escro deposit the return of that well because with new construction it's usually a higher amount you know so that's that's that's just my my thoughts on it any other questions from the board what difference would it be that in a in a development that you're putting your 20 or 15% down and still you're not closing until the cuz with those um prior to this the the uh final plat has been approved in this case it is not so the Builder is actually able to go out and start selling up to 50% of the plats without a final plat approval so I'm just thinking worst case scenario what if that doesn't happen I guess it wouldn't be any a different then if they don't have the funds to finish the construction sure but that but that would be the fault of the consumer right but not the there's definitely risk involved here I am not um I am I saw this when it came through and I was like oh just had to put my hands in on my head cuz but you know we've we've tried to take we we've tried to require as much as we can to protect the County and the ultimate purchaser without requiring more that than the statute allows us to we've we've really tried to do that with this ordinance let me go back to this part four if I could are you you told me part four is lifted out of another ordinance and just put in here as written is this out of another ordinance this whole section part four or was it written for this ordinance no this part four exists now is what it exists now the as written yes yep the only thing that was added here is the subsection e the underlined portion on the next page on page seven at the top I do agree that it it if if all of it would have been included more like a red line it would make a little more sense to understand right and I mean we can we can we can do that it's just for the sake of length these sections were very very long and sometimes it's hard to go through and see where the changes are being made then then the changes get lost so um this is typically how ordinances are done sometimes when there's substantial revisions we will include a strike through an underline that's not the ordinance just for the reference point but in this case in addition just to what's in here we would have to we would provide all the other sections of the code as they pertain to a preliminary site plan final engineering plans all those other sections of the code too um I can't provide you section e if I'm plating and I haven't finished the improvements if I Bond the improvements I can record my plat I don't have as builts because I haven't finished building yet right this is for the final plat for the final plat I can Bond my improvements and and record a final plat if my improvements are only half done I can Bond the rest and record a plat I can Bond all my 130% of my improvements remaining certified by my engineer and record a plat so I don't have any asps that's correct but for the expedited only this only applies if you look at the last sentence this only applies when the developer is US utilizing the expedited residential subdivision permit process it doesn't apply generally to the normal platting process but if he h if he's doing an expit expedited permitting process he hasn't platted yet so he doesn't have any as builts I don't I'm sorry I'm really slow tonight I don't see how this dovetails together hello Jose Gomez Chief administrator uh the requirement for the as built will only be when the final plat is recorded that's why it's in the section for the final plats and the reason for it is that the county there's a risk in allowing the building permit to go forward before the plat is recorded because of those lines change the setbacks might be off that sort of thing so with the final plat recording that's one that's why it's in this section to require that with the final plat recording to make sure that the that the structures are meet the requirements but you'll allow me to record a final plat if I Bond it absolutely yes and then my my improvements are not completed how do I have as buils this would be once I'll have them later you have you'll have as buils for the lot if if it doesn't say that but I I mean I you this is a post construction surve before I get my bond back and before I get engineering and Public Works to sign off mhm I have to provide as buils but I can plant without as builts that's correct but that but you got it in here as a requirement of only if you're using the expedited building permit but then I can't use the expedited building permit because I'm Expediting my building permit without planting so the the what we're trying to avoid is you come in you build 50 houses out of a 100 lot subdivision yeah you don't get a final plat first all those houses are built 5T off the property line than you that you originally established in your preliminary plat if we don't have an ASU of where that structure is on the lot if we before we record the final plat we can fix it they can move they can move the lines and correct it but after the final plats recorded if all those are 5 foot into the setback 100% we have 100% all these is you say here is as built engineering plants that's totally different than the as builts for the the structures that have been built as build engineering plans are for where I put my sewer where I put my water where I put my drainage you're now saying something totally different which I understand what you're saying you want you want an as built uh survey if you will for the lot of what's been built on that lot yeah but that's not what this says well it says submitt of an asilt engineering plan herein defined as a post construction survey signed and sealed by a registered land survey in the State of Florida identifying all property lines and locations of all utility easements and construction improvements shall be required for each lot within a residential subdivision not really an engineering plan but I it's okay what would you suggest a better name for it let go the next question um let me think about that that's um it's it's an as built survey for the structure uh that's been constructed that's what you're after no I guess it's not engineering you can think about it I mean I I'm I'm I'm I'm not being flipping at all want to our job in bringing this to you and your job which we'll go through in the workshop is to bring out things like this so if you think there's a a better name to call it or or something that's more appropriate for what we're asking for we're happy to listen we want that feedback I mean it's an ASU construction survey uh of the existing uh residential improvements or the houses built just within the lot that's what you're after not the engineering plans yeah that's correct oh boy I got one thing corre see we'll admit it we got there did you want to make that an official recomendation we cross out engineering the well I think what what we can do is take this feedback and go back to staff and staff can think about it a little more we'll also need to look through the code to make sure whatever we decide on is not referenced in other places you know you have to be careful there when you're defining things so I don't we don't have to decide it today the name because whatever or you can suggest the name and we can go back and look to see if it's referenced anywhere else in the code to make sure we're consistent um or and we'll we'll do that afterwards anyway if you don't have a suggestion but um we can take that as notes definitely so then what do we do with this tonight like table it till the next meeting that would be at the will of the board I actually no I'm sorry you can't do that just in this case it has to be done by October 1 so we're coming up against a hard deadline so what I would that state law now it is state law yeah we can do as a recommendation sure yeah you're you're recommending to approve with the you know the comments as provided by the board we have those in the minutes and the staff can go back and you know and look at it further before it goes to the board it goes to the board on September 24th but we have to meet that date or we'll be out of compliance with the statute the process won't change it's just it's just um the verbage on how you explain how the process is complete clarify yeah yeah to clarify so that makes sense yeah oh just one other clarification back on page three I missed I'm sorry on page three under um the submittal requirements um down in B application fee as per adopted fee schedule now once again not clear to me does that mean they need to pay the impact fees too don't they at this point of time I'm getting I'm getting a building perm are yeah um so yeah those are paid when the building permits issued a building permit issue it so so that this is this this is the application fee for the expedited building permit application but you're issuing a permit so do you collect the impact fees then or when do you collect them no we'll collect them at the time the building permits issued so this is just the application I got it okay this is just the application so when the building permitt that'll be the same okay and the adopted fee schedule is done by resolution by the right board so we'll have to set a new fee make a new fee for this application any other questions commissioner sorry oh no this is very good that's all fine any other questions from the board all right see none guess we we should give an opportunity for public comment see none we'll go ahead and close public comment uh at this point um what is it that you're looking for from us it's do we need to approve this or a recommendation to the board for approval with um a direction to staff to look at the items that were discussed by the board okay looking to entertain a motion from a member of the board I will make a motion yeah to to have the the clarification and the recommendations to the staff so that we can approve that the recommendation yeah so I think the I'm I'm not telling you what to how to put your motion but um I think if you recommend approval if you don't have if other than what we discussed tonight as you see is needing clarification I would say it's a recommendation for approval with your asked to staff being to clarify those items we discussed before it goes in front of the board so I do make a motion to um approve recommend approval recommend approve and to have the staff look at the recommendations by the board yep for all right we have a motion do we have a second all second right we have a second all in favor I I the eyes have it all right going into closing business um manager director's report Dale no not here has nothing does the board have anything to discuss all right so next we'll begin the workshop presentations by Joy meeting first or no uh doesn't say here let's just consider part of the meeting of part of the meeting is it okay question so presentation by Joy Giles and Nissa borer the workshop okay so we are now moving into planning 10 one okay we're just going to give a brief overview of the comprehensive plan and the Land Development code and how they work together so the comprehensive plan is a long range planning document that provides a framework and policy direction to guide the development of land economic growth natural resource protection and cation within simal County uh the uh esta Lish by Flores Statute in chapter 163 part two the first the comprehensive plan excuse me was first adopted by the board of accounting Commissioners in 1977 there are 15 comprehensive plan elements each element contains goals objectives and policies the feature land use element of the comprehensive plan defines the maximum density and and uh intensity of a development here are those comprehensive plan elements that I me mentioned you see we have the future land use housing implementation Solid Waste uh property rights and so on a Florida Statutes chapter 163 requires all local governments to evaluate the comprehensive plan every 7 years based on findings from an evaluation and appraisal report also known as the ear um other other reasons to update the comprehensive plan are changes in state law changes in local conditions such as major a new Regional facility such as a SunRail or small area studies in response to locally identified needs a future land use Amendment applications requested by private property owners are also a reason to amend the um future land use element the county must transmit proposed comprehensive plan amendments to the state and land planning agency based on the type of amendment any one second here uh small scale feature land use amendments um less than 50 acres uh have one adoption hearing that go before the board expedited State review future land use Amendments of 50 acres or greater have a transmittal hearing they're reviewed by state reviewing agencies which have 30 days to review the request and provide objections recommendations and comments and then there's an adoption hearing um and also the see excuse me um I need to back up a little bit for the U 50 acres or more the large scale there's actually two adoption or excuse me a transmittal hearing and an adoption hearing so there are two hearings for the board of accounting Commissioners it only comes to this board once though uh State coordinated review process limited to ear amendments and large projects there's a transmittal hearing reviewed by state agency uh State reviewing agencies excuse me for a period of 60 days for the state agencies to provide objections recommendations and comments and then there is an adoption hearing [Applause] okay the purpose of future Lane use categories is to guide growth and development of a community by planning the location and character of mixed use developments neighborhoods commercial office and industrial areas Public Services infrastructure and environmental assets by planning how land is used future land use policies ensure compatibility between adjacent land uses provides for anticipated growth ensures the availability of public facilities and services and protects en enal resources the feature land use element of the comprehensive plan defines 15 land use categories each category has a maximum density and intensity defined by either a floor area ratio for office commercial and Industrial categories or by a maximum density of of dwelling units for residential categories each future L use category defines a set list of possible classifications and those are shown here as well as in your packet so these are all of the possible zoning classifications under each land use however that does not mean that all of these zoning classifications are are are the best fit for the land use we also take into consideration compatibility and surrounding trend of development our uh land use is captured on our official future land use map and it's updated uh through our GIS department and also shown on the property appraisers website future land use Amendment standards of review the future L use Amendment of the comprehensive plan policy flu 1.6 establishes criteria to be used in the evaluation of proposed future land use amendments consistent with the requirements of state law and including individual site compatibility analysis these criteria include whether the character of the surrounding area has changed enough to Warrant a different land use designation whether public facilities and services will be available concurrent with the impacts of the development at adopted levels of service whether the site will be able to comply with the flood flood prone regulations Wetland regulations and all other adopted development policies and regulations whether the proposal adheres to other special provisions of Law and Simo County comprehensive plan whether the proposed future land use is compatible with the existing surrounding development and the future land uses in accordance with flu exhibit compatible transitional land uses and whether the proposed future lanus designation furthers the public interest so I'll just um butt in a little bit right here Joy so you know I'm always hammering criteria look at the criteria this is your criteria you may want to mark this page for every land use when somebody comes in for a future land use map change um for that request this is what you have to look at as it pertains to that request so this is very a very important thing to Mark and and something to review and think about when you're looking at these requests as they come come to you uh the future land use element provides a compatibility chart showing compatibility between various land use design ations um it shows some land uses that have a transitional compatibility and other land uses that may have compatibility based on additional buffering or um you know other types of uh maybe larger Lots things of that nature a zoning districts and development standards are defined in the simal County Land Development code zoning District boundaries are captured in the official zoning map future land use policies and zoning regulations work in tandem to create a full picture of how land will be used while future land use categories help guide the growth and development of a community zoning regulations Define the specific standards for how land is to be developed zoning standards establish establish regulatory requirements pertaining to specific uses unit types such as single family or multif family a building height lot size architectural design buffering and Landscaping open space requirements Transportation utilities signage lighting and phasing there are currently 35 zoning categories in the S County Land Development code and this is our official zoning map which again is updated by our GIS Department um when an ordinance is approved and recorded and also shown on the property praisers website rezoning when a property owner wants to develop a property in a manner that does not conform to the current zoning regulations they have the opportunity to apply for a rezone to obtain staff report staff support of a rezone proposal for conventional zoning the applicant must demonstrate that the pro that the proposed rezoning is consistent with the comprehensive plan and is compatible with the overall development in the area and benefits the community as a whole to obtain staff report of reone to PD plan development the applicant must demonstrate that the request is consistent with the comprehensive plan implements uh any performance criteria and would result in Greater benefits to the county than development under conventional zoning District reg regulations further the requests must meet or exceed Arbor requirements and minimize traffic impacts some applications may require a future land use Amendment which is typically processed concurr currently with the rezone application and I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to you now yeah so this is another under the rezoning page this is these are the other two criteria for when you have rezones these are the other important things that um this is your threshold for what you look at when these come to you whether it's for a conventional rezoning um C1 to C3 or whether it's for a plan development you know A1 to p or whatever it is these are the criteria that you'll use for resoning um so for both land use amendments and rezonings they require a public hearing as you know first these come to the Planning and Zoning Board and you make a recommendation to the board of County Commissioners and then it goes before the um Board of County Commissioners and joy talked about how many um hearings are needed Bas based upon for comp plans which is like the size of the development if it's 50 or more Acres you're going to have two hearings in front of the board um and for some rezonings and you need to have two hearings in front of the board but we don't have to get into that here you all thankfully just have to have one meeting before before you in considering these requests um also I'll point out that um 20 days prior to the first public hearing as you know Joy always comes in or whoever is presenting the case and talks about there's been a community meeting all um developments that are requesting these are required to go through a community meeting before it comes to you so um next slide please Joy so the public hearing process okay the public hearing process for planning for Planning and Zoning decisions fall into two categories a legislative action or a quasi judicial action legislative actions are for your purposes going to be um adoption or amendment of a comprehensive plan policy objective or goal future land use map amendments um adoption of impact fees but I don't think those come to you and all other exercises of General policy power of local government so in legislative actions these are very broad they're usually at the whim of the governing body as to whether or not they're correct or not and they're usually upheld on appeal if there's some rational basis for the reason why you adopted these policies um and in legislative actions it's still a public hearing you still have to provide for citizen comment all right so when you're looking at these there's not the Quasi judicial aspect that there is with rezonings comp plain amendments are just that you're writing the rule for this and that's a legislative action next slide please on the flip side there's the Quasi judicial process and that requires a number of other things quasi judicial decisions are made by applying the existing law to facts of a situation to determine a result quasi judicial processes are similar to court hearings where evidence presented and you all or the board as the decision makers applies the law to the evidence that's been presented so the requirements of a quasi judicial hearing are particular and this is for for your purposes this will only be as to rezones although on the next page we'll go through some of the other examples that are also quasa judicial hearings so you know what they are um number one you have to provide notice of the hearing that's set forth in the Florida Statutes depending on the request as far as how you have to do it publish it in the newspaper send out letters um you have to afford procedural due process and what that means is that the applicant has to be given an opportunity to be heard that's why you all always say okay let's hear from the applicant now um the applicate the applicant must be able to present evidence and cross-examine Witnesses so what that means is if the applicant disagrees with for example Joy's determination on a rezoning and she's saying oh you should deny this because of X Y and Z the applicant has the right to ask Joy questions to cross-examine her to try to figure out why she's why she's making is of the opinion that she is um and the the applicant also has to be informed of all the facts being used to make the decision and what that means is that's a owed to exp parte Communications with which is if you're have and we'll talk about this later you should not be considering any evidence outside of the hearing on what's being asked of you so talking getting information from a neighboring property owner about a request that's coming to you and they talk to you outside of a hearing or um reading something in the newspaper all those things are outside of the quas judicial hearing and should shouldn't be used to make your decision your decision has to be made from what is presented to you at the hearing what is provided by the applicant and staff um and that's to ensure the applicant's rights to a fair hearing to make sure that they know why you're making the decision that you're making and it's based on what you're being provided here and not outside influences um another requirement of quasa judicial hearing is to observe the essential requirements of the law that's just making sure that we're checking all the boxes on the things that we're talking about um and that you're making your decision on the criteria that's established which we Mark the two criterias that you have to worry about complant amendments rezonings and um resoning to plan development um and then as far as your decisions go and when you're looking at that criteria you have to make sure that that criteria is competent substantial evidence and that competent substantial evidence is what's presented to you at the hearing what's in your staff report um what's in all the attachments to the staff report what the applicant submits during the hearing all that is competent substantial evidence um the public when the public testifies um as to factual matters on a case in front of you the factual matters are competent substantial evidence you know they can say Okay um this I live in this neighborhood and all the houses are green and you're building a development next door and and you're going to build all the houses pink and and that's not compatible those two colors aren't compatible they can talk about factually they know their neighborhood they know how their neighborhood is but when they start to get into opinion testimony such as this is going to be a huge traffic problem unless it's a traffic engineer that's testifying they that's not compant substantial evidence that's an opinion of a person that there's going to be traffic problems um so opinion testimony is not competent substantial evidence unless it's an expert opinion and you can rely on professional reports testimony by Planning and Zoning staff expert test Tony all that is considered competent substantial evidence so when you're going through the criteria and you're listening to what's being presented in front of you just be mindful of what is what is considered evidence that you can base your decision on and and what is considered not competent substantial evidence so as I said before just to kind of wrap up on this portion your public hearing falls into two type of proceedings legislative proceedings and judicial proceedings legislative proceedings as I told you is comprehensive plan amendments and future land use map amendments those are policy decisions they don't require a quasi judicial hearing um you can you know utilize the criteria and the presentation and make a decision a public hearing for a quasi judicial proceeding are things um such as special exceptions Varian s plans rezone preliminary subdivision plans and final pots all those um are quasa judicial so you have to follow you know you have to make sure you're looking at the criteria competence substantial evidence all those kind of things um does anybody have any questions on that portion okay all right so board responsibilities you are you you sit in a dual appointment I'll call it you're the Planning and Zoning commission and you're the local planning agency and this chart lays out um each one of the establishing laws that sets forth how what what your responsibilities are um as the Planning and cing Zoning commission that's established by the seminal county code and you're appointed as you know by The Bard of County Commissioners and you're the recommending body to the bard of count Commissioners for review of Land Development code changes um zoning classifications real property and you also um make recommendation on as I said rezonings special exceptions and preliminary subdivision plans for technical review that's as the Planning and Zoning commission your duties as a local planning agency is are that you're appointed by the BCC um per the Land Development code but also as required re ired by the Florida Statutes because the planning the local planning agency is required by the Florida Statutes again you act the same as the recommending body but your duties under as a local planning agency are a little bit different you review and make recommendation on text changes to the comprehensive plan and propose changes to the Future land use designations on real property so you know F your land use map amendments and you also determine consistency between the Land Development code and the comprehensive plan and that would also be if you were making changes to um the Land Development code you would get those changes here and then you would decide whether those Land Development code changes are consistent with what the comp plan says okay and just to kind of summarize to Be an Effective board member um you know consider all the information that you're provided in the staff report and the staff present in the staff presentation consider the applicants presentation allow the public to address the commission with concerns which you always do that or support um look at the comprehensive plan or Land Development code requirements and and uh utilize the correct criteria for those reviews um during the board meeting discuss the matter to you know make sure you get out any questions or have discussions amongst yourself and then vote on the recommendation now I'll hand it back over to Joy okay thank you so now we're just going to touch on the county review process staff review and development Review Committee process the process of obtaining development entitlements begins with a pre-application inquiry by the property owner or a potential applicant a preapplication is a an informal inquiry to gather information and to gather information and process requirements about a proposed development if the applicant decides to move forward in the process a formal application for development is submitted the application is reviewed by the front staff for sufficiency then routed to all necessary staff members staff members for review a de a development review committee meeting is scheduled with the applicant to discuss the comments so they can move forward to either resubmitting if required or you know what the next step is once staff has fully reviewed and approved the application proposal which may take several review Cycles the requests is then scheduled for the next available Planning and Zoning commission meeting followed by the board of County Commissioners meeting and this is just a quick who's who in the Planning and Development Division these are the people that you see on a regular basis at the commission meetings of course Rebecca hammock is our director Dale Hall is the division manager um myself as a current planning principal planner Kathy Hamill is a principal planner for the board of adjustment you do see her um on occasion as well presenting uh special exception request Tammy Brushwood of course is the clerk and shaunette Williams is our staff supervisor and then of course our legal team as well and that is going to be it for me this is where we take a break but I'm not sure if anybody need a break or you just want to push through I think we'll push through thank you which way oh you know what actually um why while Joy's um pulling up the next PowerPoint for portion of the presentation I just want to note that I forgot to mention when I was talking about the Border responsibilities in your binder under um under section three are the bylaws of the Planning and Zoning commission and the local planning agency the bylaws um outline how you operate we went through a number um of items that are ins in here but this goes through much more it it establishes the Quorum it establishes how the chair and vice chair are chosen and when they're chosen um it talks about voting requirements which I'm going to get into now but there's there's other things in here but this is really um the document that dictates how you're going to operate as a board okay for the record nesa borker Deputy County attorney um I am going to present to you today uh the Florida Florida's government and the Sunshine Law and public records law and ethics these are three things that um all of you need to be aware of some of these don't really are not don't really um matter to what you do or you may not ever have to come in contact with it but you should know that it's out there you should know what your responsibilities are um under the ethics rules because it's really important that you follow them and we'll get into why okay government and the Sunshine Law the Sunshine Law is what it sounds to be government must be done in the sunshine it can't be done in the dark behind the shades making backdoor deals it has to be done in the sunshine so Florida has one of the most stringent open government laws in the nation um and so the sunshine law was established to ensure that government work is done in the public and so to do that it requires that meetings must be open to the public the public must have reasonable notice of meetings minutes must be taken and properly recorded Ed and the public has a right to speak on all matters that come before you except for emergency matters or just ministerial matters um you guys that's all already taken care of for you because the chairman nicely lets everybody speak for three minutes and uh Tammy sends out all the notices and we record these and and provide minutes so that's already done um so since everything that comes before has to be done in the sunshine that means there's some things that you can't do because it has to be done in the sunshine so what the Sunshine Law um says is that elected and appointed public boards um sorry the Sunshine Law applies to elected and appointed public boards you are one of those and has been applied to any Gathering of two or more members of the same board to discuss some matter which may foreseeably come before that board for Action in other words if it is conceivable that the board will consider a matter it should not be discussed outside of a public meeting now conceivable is a could mean anything um for your purposes talking to each other about the vacation that you just went on or how well your um children are doing in school your grandchildren all those things are open but when we start talking about hey I heard there may be a Walmart that's coming in over here you know off wherever Ronald Reagan Boulevard um that is not something that is something that conceivably could come before you and not something that should be discussed outside of a public meeting um and this just doesn't apply to oral discussions it applies to all forms of communication um in-person Telephone written communication emails text messages conduit individuals social media or any other means the device that you use to communicate doesn't matter it only matters if what you're discussing could conceivably come before you or is coming before you or has come before you that's another thing you have to be aware of say you leave her today say we had a you know a a rezoning request or a PD rezoning request on the agenda um and you all recommended approval that is going to come back to you through a preliminary site plan approval maybe maybe they'll have to come back and get a special exception because they forgot to add something you know just because you've approved something here and it's moved on doesn't mean it it won't come back to you cuz it absolutely could I mean the board could get it and be like no we don't want this we want these changes made and it could be sent back to you the applicant could make changes and it may have to come back to you I mean that's not out of the realm of possibilities it's happened um so you have to be very careful about when you're speaking about these things and um how you're talking about them okay if you remember on the last page talked about using a conduit a conduit is the use of a non-member um to circulate information of thoughts or thoughts of an individual members to other members of the board this is considered using a conduit um a good example of that is if one of you had a question on an upcoming case and you called joy to talk about it and you said hey like I'm not I'm not okay with this portion of the requests and I really don't think I'm going to agree to it and then you wanted joy to let the other members know Joy can't do that she'd be acting as a conduit or you getting information through another person is considered use of the com of a as a conduit that's also prohibited um just in the same line um County staff and other non-members should refrain from asking members their position on a on a specific matter um that could be considered uh polling when you're trying to figure out if something's going to get approved or not and you're passing that information that's also prohibited for staff members and and nor should you be trying to obtain that information um also um you know when reports are circulated among members um and comments can be seen by other members if other members have made comments say for example you get a land develop a draft Land Development code provision and you make some comments on it and uh reply all to an email or something and everybody sees it you violated the Sunshine Law um another one that a lot of people got really hung up with um more recently is the use of social media something innocuous you make a comment on a post about a matter that may come before you and another member makes a comment too and it's your position I agree or I don't agree or this is a bad idea that is considered a meeting a meeting out of the sunshine if it's a matter that may foreseeably come before you there have been you know with you guys it's not as much of a a risk I think cuz but with as you can imagine being on the board of County Commissioners that's a huge risk you're engaging with the public you're seeing in support you're trying to get elected you know but just be mindful of this that you're just I always advise my board members just keep social media for the for your personal you know if and if you're going to get don't get into anything that may put you in a position where someone could see your position on a matter that may come before you I think she's try to just none of us are friends on Facebook keep it that way no so just some general things that you should uh keep in mind don't talk about matters before the meeting starts during recesses or after the meeting that's not technically between the meeting so coming in and saying hey we got this matter on the agenda today and talking about it you have to save of all discussion till the meeting you know opens and adjourns um do not whisper to another member or pass notes during a meeting um don't talk about public matters and social settings and uh do not talk about votes hearings or actions after the public meeting as these as this as these matters may come back in different context and I already um touched on that before so I'll give you this terrible example because the example I'm going to give you is of course like the most throw the book at you violation um back in 20 and this was a real occurrence back in 2011 a member of the Florida Keys mosquito control board pleaded guilty to a non-criminal violation of the open meetings Sunshine Law Joan Lord papy a five-term commissioner was ordered to pay a $250 fine along with $270 in court cost because she responded to an email from fellow Commissioners discussing interview dates for their District director applicants um the original email sent by commissioner Jack Bridges included a warning warning that other Commissioners should not reply to all to avoid violating the open meetings law so basically he sent something out and said hey we need meeting dates but only you know respond back to the clerk or you know the assistant whoever was going to set up the meeting and they she replied all with her dates and that was discussion outside of a meeting so even that small little um something that you wouldn't even think about got her tag so that's all to say don't reply all the emails that Tammy send you even to say thank you just you know just reply back to tamy um so as I said there are penalties for violating um the government and the Sunshine Law civil penalties can be up to $500 um and knowing or an intentional Act is not required so accidentally can get you in trouble um criminal penalties including incarceration and fines for any board member who knowingly attends such a meeting or has prohibited contact and violation of the statute and also um reasonable attorneys fees against the local government if you found to have violated the sunshine so that would mean the um we have the county would have to pay for your attorney's fees of the person that caught you or that that that of of the state in Defending Your Action um also any action taken in meeting is Tainted by the sunshine is void which you guys make recommendations so it's not as um it applies more towards the board although if you did there's a chance that if the project moved forward to the board and they approved it and the applicant found out about meetings occurring outside the sunshine or you guys discussing the case outside the sunshine they could say that since it was void you they never got a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Board that could happen so um uh in addition a violation may require the board member to hire private councel for private suits or for State Attorney actions so and suits that wouldn't be covered um because you're acting outside of your official board duties okay let's move on from all that nasty stuff um so government in law so voting is required you are required to vote no matter how much you don't want to sometimes on these cases you are required to vote um you cannot abstain from voting unless there's two instances where you can abstain from voting if you have a conflict of interest pursuant to section 1123 43 which I'll get into more specifically and we'll discuss what that is and in quasi judicial proceedings so this is only going to be for rezonings plan developments special exceptions um you may abstain from voting on such matters if the abstention is to assure a fair proceeding free from potential bias or Prejudice I've seen this used in an instance for example where there was a big box store going into very close to a neighborhood and one of the board members lived in that neighborhood very very close to this it was going to not just a big big box store was a huge commercial development and they were going to live very close and they felt as though they could not uh make a decision free from any Prejudice because they were just too close to the request so they abstained from voting in that instance so that would be an example of an allowable exstension from voting all right voting conflicts um no board member can vote in an official capacity on any measure which would iner to his or her special private gain or loss or the special private gain or loss of um an employer a parent organization or subsidiary um of a corporate principle by which the officer is is retained a relative or business associate of the officer and relatives are list the the the relatives that and and there this is crazy there's actually a list of which relatives you you know there's further away relatives that it's fine they can get a little bit of something but there's this is like the actual list um mother father son daughter husband wife brother sister father-in-law mother-in-law son-in-law daughter-in-law but may extend broader to other relatives such as brother-in-law if the benefit would impact a relative such as a sister so maybe not a cousin I I mean that's cousins aren't on here um not a fiance huh no no no and that is you know that has come up there are actually um ethics opinions for like a person that lives with you yeah and they said no and I should also I'll also note that special private gain or loss is specifically economic benefit or harm so only money um I had an instance on a board once where uh one of the board members it was a CDD board board very much wanted to vote to have his ex-wife removed as the district manager um and I called the commission on ethics and said isn't this a conflict I mean it would it would it would benefit him from a per because he wants to get back as an ex-wife he was just really mad at her and they're like no sorry I mean it's a terrible thing that he's doing but it's only economic harm or benefit so but that's just a nasty thing to do to someone just G okay so if you have um a voting conflict but before the vote is taken you should publicly state to the board the nature of the conflict you know oh this is my brother's property I shouldn't vote on this um and name the matter and then within 15 days after the votes occurs disclose the nature of an interest as a public record and there is a form in your um book it's the it's the last page I believe the book that you were giving that is the um voting conflict disclosure form you fill that out and you provide it to Tammy because she's in charge of the minutes um you cannot so you you can participate in the matter if you disclose at the beginning of the hearing but you cannot vote that means you could participate in the discussion but you could not vote and that's long as long as you disclose it that hey I have a conflict here um and yeah that's the memorandum must be filed 14 days afterwards so we already went all through that so you you can participate you know um it's probably not advisable to say hey I have a conflict this is my brother sister's property and then engage in the discussion and try to convince other board members to vote positively for it um but you know I guess technically you could all right public records I'm just going to Breeze through you should know that public records means everything essentially um documents papers text messaging um voicemail messages anything that is transmitted made or received in connection with the transaction of official business by the agent agency so if um commissioner chairman Lopez um calls commissioner laan or texts her and says hey um listen I I have this rental property do you know anybody that may be interested in it okay that's that's fine that's not transacting official business of the county that's that has nothing to do with this so the public records only apply to when we're talking about your job as a board member and those matters that may come up those matters that are going to be before you all the things that we talked about that the sunshine law covers anything that comes out of that that's a document or a text or or really anything that's tangible um is considered a public record and if it's considered a public record that means if somebody asks for it you have to provide it um and this is just in the document is prepared in connection with official business of a public agency and is to perpetuate communicate or formalized knowledge then it's a public record regardless of the final form as we talked about before can be a taped voicemail message it can be a text it can be an email it can be anything these are all the things I just talked about that are examples of public records that must be provided a absent of an exception there are exceptions um um they're rare but there are some these are all the different sources of electronic records you should know in a strange way like you know social media posts those have been deemed public records so now the county has to track all those for their social media site because they're considered public records and if it's considered a public forum um they can also be on your personal cell phone as I said if it's made in the transaction of City business um and there are also a number of penalties involved with the violation of public records those are um you can be prosecuted civil or criminally too and the county can be assessed attorney's fees for failure to comply um if you get I don't know if any of you have ever gotten a public records request but you should try to comply with it as soon as possible because the county can really get tagged if there's lag time in providing those but that's really all I'll mention on those this is my last slide so I expect some Smiles um this is these are the ethics rules um that there's a number of Ethics rules but these are the ones that are May sometime um actually apply given the positions that you hold on this board so you cannot um solicit or accept gifts for from someone um if that gift is being given to influence you in a ma and in some manner For an upcoming decision that you have um you cannot do business with one agency that doesn't really apply here um you cannot accept unauthorized compensation um M misuse of your position you cannot say to someone oh yeah I'm I'm going to I will totally uh vote positively for your request if you let me borrow your Lamborghini you know that's you can't do that um you can't hold conflicting employment um obviously that's kind of what we talked about before about you know something if an employer one of you know if one of you were employed by an engineering firm and they were coming up and it's not it actually conflicting appointment doesn't really apply cuz you guys don't hire um consultants for the county um so that one would be hard to actually violate and then disclosure of certain information that's um could be used by someone to benefit their case before you you can't disclose that information for for any information you may get um but I doubt that would really happen either so um just be mindful of these they're kind of self-explanatory just do your job fairly you know and that's it any questions yes okay when we respond all when I've responded all to Tammy on meetings is that you know when when we're asked if we're going to have more if you're going to or not is yeah you should just reply back to Tammy directly okay yeah and then Tammy will send another email and say yes we have a quorum or no we don't okay regarding public records do we have any obligation on storing items like our communication emails or social media posts period of time so any any Communications that come from the county that um comes from any County staff those are all retained in accordance with it's called a gs1 schedule that establishes how long a public record needs to be retained depending on what type of record it is um records such as hey I'm not going to make it to the meeting like if one of you send an email to Tammy I'm not going to make it to the re meeting that's just called a transitory record that doesn't have to be retained because it's not it's just giving a heads up you know just like if Tammy calls you and says and leaves on your voicemail hey give me a call back I I need to talk to you to see if you're going to be at the meeting that doesn't have to be retained um so and the county you know and and as far as like social media posts or something that you see you don't have to retain those um if you keep keep your social media account private to to your friends and family and you're not um if you're not discussing it with another um board member it's not a Sunshine Law violation um if you're for some reason on social media discussing it you know I don't know that we have a policy that you have to retain that or or or make a copy of that um but I think if yeah if somebody saw it and then they like if you said I'll never vote for this and a developer saw it they would use it in other ways if they knew that you said that so if requested and if we have it we have an obligation to turn it over but we don't but we have no obligation to make sure we have anything yeah I mean you you should you know if you are if you are doing some County Business for your board outside of your connection with the staff where already re being maintained you should keep a hold of that in case anybody asks but I don't really can't really think of any instances where that would be pertinent and if and if you do have it typically what happens is if you do get something okay a good example is this this is a good example say that somebody finds out you're on the Planning and Zoning Board and is a concerned Citizen and they email you about an upcoming um case that comes up on your on your they send it to your personal email and they're like we don't agree with this case if you get something like that you should immediately forward it to Tammy and then that's obtained in the record and then we hold it so if you do have something like that that comes to you or you have a discussion with somebody instead of retaining it yourself you should just forward it to Tammy so that the county can retain it pursuant to the schedule and that that gets you off the hook that that's that's in that case you know that you've done that every time so if you a public records request does come in you can say oh I don't have anything because everything I've had I've forwarded it to the clerk and so we we have it already in our files any other questions sorry it took me a minute to get there Richard nothing what I love it all question down huh all right anything else then that's it that's everything I have well you did a great job I think this is this is this is outstanding so thank you for that this is for us to keep yeah and if you have any questions like about any of these things you can all feel free to email me I'm here to support the board and or call me if you don't want to put make it a public record just give me a call and I can help you navigate through it I mean both Tammy has my contact information um or call the county attorney's office and I can assist you excellent thank you very much any any further business from anybody on the board nope seeing none meeting is adjourned do we get a certificate of completion [Music]