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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-01-21 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC �c ..:,. 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue �ZR`QP Phone (305) 722-5900 Tamarac, Florida 33321-2401 Fax (305) 722-4509 January 20, 1992 NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Workshop Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, January 21, 1992, at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Room #1, Tamarac City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. This meeting is a continuation from January 20, 1992 to discuss all pending Ordinances and Resolutions. The City Council may consider such other business as may come before it. In the event this agenda must be revised, such revised copies will be available to the public at the City Council meeting. Pursuant to Chapter 286.0105, Florida Statutes, if a person decides to appeal any decision made by the City Council with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based. Carol A. Evans City Clerk CAE/kj THE CITY OF TAMARAC IS AN EQUAL. OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DI SCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1992 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz RECONVENED this meeting on Tuesday, January 21, 1992, at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of Tamarac City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida from the Workshop meeting of January 20, 1992. Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilwoman Diane Glasser Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Irving Katz ALSO PRESENT Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Kelly Carpenter, Director of Community Development Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary Mayor Abramowitz said this meeting is a continuation from January 20, 1992 to discuss all pending Ordinances and Resolutions. Mayor Abramowitz read the memo dated January 3, 1992 from Kelly Carpenter, Director of Community Development to City Manager Kelly. (See Attachment 1) 1. Amendments to Chapter 24 of the Code. These amendments include major revisions to the master business list, consolidation of the commercial districts, the addition of a residential and a non-residential PUD and revisions to parking requirements. Ms. Carpenter said the Planning Commission has met to review these proposed amendments and is scheduled to meet again for additional review. Ms. Carpenter said when Chapter 163 of the Florida Statute amendments were passed in 1985, the Staff of the Department of Community Affairs set out to develop a rule that would implement the State Law, which is Rule 9J5. She said part of 9J5 requires that local governments prepare a Land Development Code. She said Tamarac already had most of the required land development regulations on the books. Ms. Carpenter said the City is required to regulate the development of land and water, signage, protection of the environment and other such activities. She said the State invisions the Land Development Code as one document. Ms. Carpenter said Tamarac updated its Sign Ordinance in 1989; therefore, no attempt has been made to review it. She said the Comprehensive Plan requires the City to review approximately 80 items. She said the need for some of these items to be corrected is known. Ms. Carpenter said the City has hired a consultant with the State Grant money received who is almost finished with his work. Ms. Carpenter said the City's master business list has been in place since 1969 with revisions throughout. She used an example of printers and the provisions of the Code involving printers. She said there are many portions of the Code that are old and no City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 2 longer meet the needs of modernization; therefore, Staff needs to utilize interpretations of the Code. Ms. Carpenter said Staff has prepared a list of general permitted uses and then refers to an appendix which gives a detailed list of uses. She said there is an attempt to make this list and the list of the Occupational License Department uses similar to avoid mixed interpretations. Ms. Carpenter said Staff incorporated a proposal to combine the business districts. She explained the differences between these zoning categories and the proposed changes. Mayor Abramowitz asked if this presentation is going to include residential building and Ms. Carpenter said, yes. Mayor Abramowitz said there are many things in the Code which discourage people from coming into the City of Tamarac. Discussion was held regarding these situations. C/M Katz referred to occupational licensing and permitting. Discussion was held regarding the various procedures and limitations. V/M Bender asked if there is a State or Federal standard set for the various zoning designations and Ms. Carpenter said, no, but there are state of the art definitions that are used within the planning community. V/M Bender asked how good Tamarac is in setting the City's standards as compared to the State or National standards and will they hold up in the future. Ms. Carpenter said there are no National standards for zoning categories or signage. She said there are model ordinances that have been prepared by various agencies. Ms. Carpenter said Tamarac's ordinance has not been amended since 1969 and the City does not have a PUD ordinance. C/W Glasser asked if Ms. Carpenter wants to combine B-1, B-2 and B-3 and Ms. Carpenter said she wants to combine B-3 into B-2 and eliminate B-3. Mayor Abramowitz said Staff is required to comply with the Code and make their recommendations accordingly. C/M Katz said there was a Community Development meeting held and the consensus regarding a special exception for a restaurant was why it had to come back before Council for approval. Mayor Abramowitz said bringing it back before Council is due to offensive odors and other such reasons. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Abramowitz requested information be given regarding PUD. Ms. Carpenter said the restrictions being addressed are those of procedure and not of substance in the Code. She said developers do not complain about setbacks being too stringent or other such situations but the problem is that the City's engineering fees are a little high and the procedures are antiquated. She said some of the things that she will mention will remove government from the Council and place it in the hands of the technician. F� City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 3 2. Amendments to Chapter 10 of the Code. These amendments include major revisions to procedures for site plan approval. Ms. Carpenter said for site plan amendments, when someone comes in and they are not single-family and they want to add a fence to their property, they must request a site plan review from the City, for which there is a lead time of two weeks. She said once this has been reviewed, an application for a building permit can be submitted. She said Staff has recommended that when pools, fences and patios are requested, these types of amendments be done in the Building Department where there would be a place for the sign -off by the Building Department, Community Development and Engineering, in order to continue the processing of the permit. 3. Amendments to Chapter 21 of the Code. These amendments include major revisions to procedures for plat approval. May include amendments to the definition of subdivision. Ms. Carpenter said another type of amendment would be where minor square footage is being added and other minor changes to be done at Staff level in order not to hold the applicant up for six weeks for the process to be completed. C/M Katz said the determination as to what is major and what is minor is the problem. He said minor situations can remain in Community Development and major situations must go through the Planning Commission process. He said this needs to be clearly defined. Discussion was held regarding the difference between major and minor projects. Ms. Carpenter said the definitions are as follows: minor -additions to awnings, canopies, ornamental structures, redesign in different locations, pools, parking spaces, drives and driveways, modifications to stairs or elevations, decks, porches, terraces and fencing or similar types of improvements and addition to parking spaces not to exceed 25% of the total or 20 new spaces, whichever is less, addition to the existing buildings which do not increase the floor area more than 10%, construction of new structures having less than 5,000 square feet of floor area and their related site improvements and any of the above conditions that constitute a change or amendment to a previously approved site plan. Ms. Carpenter said if any of these minor amendments are so controversial, then it should be subjected to the more public process. She said the Director will have the right to send them through the process if necessary. Ms. Carpenter said the Planning Commission has not yet discussed this proposal other than in concept and will be discussing it on Thursday, January 23, 1992, at which time, they will probably take an extremely conservative position regarding this. Ms. Carpenter said she is trying to distinguish between changes in procedures and fees versus the substantive changes in the Code. She said developers are upset with the amount of time it takes to process applications and the fees charged for the processing. She said the City's engineering fees are a little higher than neighboring cities and the planning fees are equal. She said at the end of this review, the City may not want to change or amend anything. C/M Katz said developers are not upset with the requirements but the procedures involved. TAPE 2 Ms. Carpenter said after the Planning Commission holds their workshop on this it will be ready to bring to Council. City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 4 Ms. McDermott requested that Council note their comments and changes and return them to Ms. Carpenter. Mayor Abramowitz requested an explanation of the PUD. Ms. Carpenter said Task 5 is the discussion on street widths. Ms. Carpenter said PUD means Planned Unit Development and is a concept in zoning that has been in existence for 30 years. She said it means that when someone wants to put in a residential use, which does not meet any zoning category on the books, the applicant would apply for a rezoning to PUD. She said at the same time this has been applied for, the equivalent of a site plan is submitted to the City with the equivalent of a set of zoning regulations for their project which will govern their project from that point on. She said the rest of the Zoning Code would not apply to them. Ms. Carpenter said Tamarac has some strange residential districts; therefore, this is important. She said Tamarac has the inability to do the small single-family lot development that exists in Plantation. Ms. Carpenter said PUD will allow for minimum setbacks of 25 feet from any arterial street, minimum widths of street, proposals up to four stories or any other proposals that the developer feels the market will bear at that time. She said this would first be submitted to Staff, who would do the negotiating, then it would go before the Planning Commission and finally, the City Council. She used the example of Bon Aire. Ms. Carpenter said there is also a non-residential PUD which allows the developer to make a proposal about all of the regulations and ties his or her'zoning to a site plan. C/M Katz said the problem with this is that there no longer is a zoning and a Code. He said this allows for the developer to negotiate with the City the zoning and the changes in the Code, specifically so that he can have a viable project. Mayor Abramowitz said a special exception and a PUD amendment must come before Council for final approval. Discussion was held regarding this. Ms. Carpenter said in the State of Florida, municipalities do not give variances to the envelope requirements of the Zoning Code, in other than a Board of Adjustment setting. She said special exceptions in Florida are clearly reserved for use interpretations, not envelope interpretations. She said in a case where a builder needs a change in setback, in height or in street width, this involves either a text amendment, a variance that goes to the Board of Adjustment or a PUD, which Tamarac does not currently have. She said special exceptions involve uses and are granted for restaurants, laundromats or other things that may be offensive or traffic generating. Further descriptions were discussed. Ms. Carpenter said it is very difficult for a developer to prove a hardship. Mayor Abramowitz said the PUD will be a very controversial subject in Tamarac and Ms. Carpenter said the Motion for PUD in Tamarac died in 1984. V/M Bender said there are many shopping centers in the City that have vacant stores and the City needs to do something to entice the builder to get these stores filled. He asked how much land Tamarac has left and how much time there is before Tamarac reaches build out. He said priorities need to be established. City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 5 Ms. Carpenter said she does not want to mislead Council into thinking that the substantive changes to the Zoning Code are going to make these vacant shopping centers fill up. She said every Code has glitches which cause problems for various situations. She said the changes to the Code will cost the City $1,000 each every time they are advertised. Discussion was held regarding various situations. Mayor Abramowitz asked when Council can hold workshops to discuss these situations and Ms. Carpenter recommended that the Planning Commission hold their workshop prior to Council in order to hear their recommendations. She said there is a possibility that this will go on the Planning Commission agenda for February for public hearings, which would place this in March or April for Council. Ms. Carpenter said there is a major proposal to change the parking waiver procedure. She said this is set up the same as a variance procedure. She said Staff proposes that the parking waivers go through the Board of Adjustment instead of going before Council. Mayor Abramowitz said he would object to this going to the Board of Adjustment; however, he would withdraw his objections if it were to go through Staff. He said Council has the overall view and Staff generally has the acquiescence of Council. C/M Katz said there are different aspects of parking. He said he does not have a problem with this going to a variance. Mayor Abramowitz said he feels Staff has more communication with Council than the Planning Commission or the Board of Adjustment. Ms. Carpenter said the Law is going to tell the City that it needs to set forth very detailed criteria when allowing Staff to make these types of decisions, unless holding it to Council or the Board of Adjustment. She said Staff would not want to have these types of responsibilities without strict criteria. Ms. Carpenter said amendments to the platting provisions need to be considered. Discussion and examples were given regarding this. She said the Engineering Department is reviewing this. 4. Amendments to Chapter 11 of the Code. This is a major rewrite of the entire landscape ordinance to incorporate xeriscape principles and to bring it up to date. Ms. Carpenter said Council set forth pruning standards for the City, which will be in place in March, 1992. She said Chapter 11 of the Code is on the installation end of this and requires a xeriscape principle that will look closely at the conflict between landscaping and utility poles and other such lines. She said it will be more specific as to where things can be placed and what kind of things can be placed. C/M Katz said he would like to see the restoration of a Beautification Committee. Mayor Abramowitz asked what a Beautification Committee would give to the process. Ms. McDermott said Council recently established an Urban Forestry Committee which will be responsible for a lot of detailed information. She said there have been two Staff members and two residents appointed to this Committee. C/W Glasser asked if the Urban Forestry Committee will be involved with the landscaping of developments and Ms. McDermott said, no. Ms. McDermott said they will not be reviewing plans from developers. City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 6 Ms. Carpenter said the plans are sent to the Planning Commission and the review of them is treated the same as for water and sewer, building height, setbacks, signage and other such technicalities. Further discussion was held regarding this. C/W Glasser asked if the previous Beautification Committee went above and beyond the criteria and Ms. Carpenter said in the time she has been with the City, it has always been under the Planning Commission. Discussion was held regarding the history of this process. Ms. Carpenter said Staff makes zoning decisions in accordance with a zoning map and a Land Use Plan. She said there is a set of policies in existence which guides Staff in making zoning decisions and there is nothing in comparison for landscaping. She said the idea of the Urban Forestry Committee was to set forth a master landscaping plan for the City. She said the Committee would look at how the City treats its major arterials. She said the standards would be adopted and Staff would look at these standards and the Planning Commission would make recommendations to Council accordingly. C/W Glasser asked if consideration is given to the encompassing area if there are homes or condos affronting these areas and Ms. Carpenter said Staff would look at an individual development with respect to the criteria that would be in the Code and are proposed in Chapter 11. Ms. Carpenter said if this is in respect to how the arterial street relates to the condominium, it would be an issue for the Urban Forestry Committee. Discussion was held regarding this. C/W Glasser said her concerns are that in Tamarac, there was no set plan in the development of the City as to what was going to be commercial. She said she is trying to protect the residents as well as bring commercial industry into the City. Mayor Abramowitz said when Nob Hill Road was built, Broward County removed the sidewalks along the canal and Broward County told the City they were not going to clean it up; therefore, the City did so. He said Broward County was also supposed to put beautification along Nob Hill Road but did not do it. He said the City had to access a one foot easement from the golf course in order to plant landscaping. He said this is his objection to beautification. C/W Glasser asked if there are restrictions in the main entranceway to put up a menu board indicating what is in the shopping center and Ms. Carpenter said a menu board is not permitted within 50 feet of the property line; therefore, in most cases, they are not allowed. Mayor Abramowitz said the City has issued three variances. He said Tamarac is trying to emulate Coral Springs which does not permit menu boards. C/W Glasser said she feels that part of the problem with people not being successful in their business is due to the public not knowing what is in the various shopping centers. TAPE 3 Discussion was held regarding the berm in front of the Tamarac Square West shopping center. Ms. McDermott expressed her appreciation to Ms. Carpenter for presenting these items on such short notice. Ms. McDermott said Mr. Kelly received a fax from the Joint Group of Cities regarding the contract for the recycling program for single-family homes to expand to clear glass and aluminum and for multi -family homes to begin recycling. She requested Council review the fax and make their recommendations and comments to the L City Council Workshop Meeting 1/21/92/KJ Page 7 City Manager's office regarding this. She said this document will be taken back to the Joint Group on Monday, January 27, 1992 with additional comments. Mayor Abramowitz said the City of North Lauderdale is in agreeance, Margate has problems but has indicated they are in. Ms. McDermott said there is an option for plastics in the contract. Further discussion was held regarding the recycling efforts. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:15 a.m. CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK �W,Le / 1pil - TAM�� MEMORANDUM TAMARAC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT TO: John P. Kelly, City Manager FROM: Kelly Carpenter, Director of Community Develo e DATE: January 3, 1992 RE: Pending Ordinances COPIES: Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager The Community Development offers the following list of pending ordinances. This list is for your use in the workshop to be scheduled with the council to discuss pending ordinances: 1. Amendments to Chapter 24 of the code. These amendments include major revisions to the master business list, consolidation of the commercial districts, the addition of a residential and a non-residential PUD, and revisions to parking requirements. 2. Amendments to Chapter 10 of the code. These amendments include major revisions to procedures for site plan approval. 3. Amendments to Chapter 21 of the code. These amendments include major reivisons to procedures for plat approval. May include amendments to the definition of subdivision. 4. Amendments to Chapter 11 of the code. This is a major rewrite of the entire landscape ordinance to incorporate xeriscape principles and to bring it up to date. Chapters 10, 11, 20, 21, 24 and probably 5 and 8 should be put into one Chapter entitled Land Development Code. We have scheduled a workshop with the Planning Commission on these amendments for January 15, 1992. I