| | | | | | | |  | Committee Assignments - C4 B
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM |
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| | | | | | | | | TO: | Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission | | | FROM: | Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager | | | DATE: | October 17, 2018 | | | |
| | SUBJECT: | REFERRAL TO THE PLANNING BOARD - ORDINANCE AMENDMENT PERTAINING TO INTERIOR SIDE SETBACK AND PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR CD-2 PROPERTIES ON WASHINGTON AVENUE. |
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| | | | | | | | RECOMMENDATION
| | Refer the proposed Ordinance Amendment to the Planning Board for consideration and recommendation. |
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| | | | | | | | ANALYSIS
| HISTORY
On July 25, 2018, at the request of Commissioner Michael Gongora, the City Commission referred the item to the Land Use and Development Committee (Item C4L).
On September 28, 2018 the Land Use Committee discussed the item and recommended that a draft ordinance be prepared by staff, for consideration as a referral to the Planning Board by the City Commission.
PLANNING ANALYSIS
Under Section 142-309 of the City Code, minimum setback requirements have been established for residential uses within the Washington Avenue overlay, from 6th to 17th Streets. A proposal has been put forward to amend the interior side setback requirements for residential uses along the Washington Avenue Corridor.
The existing interior side setback regulations were designed for broader, water or beachside properties, as they set forth a large sum of the side yard requirement, particularly for aggregated lots. As development sites with larger numbers of individual lots are aggregated, the sum of the side yard requirement increases significantly for residential and hotel uses.
These larger interior side setback requirements are not consistent with the denser, more compact urban environment that defines Washington Avenue from 5th to 17th Street. Additionally, as this stretch of Washington Avenue is within a locally designated historic district, the strategic placement of limited infill construction consisting of residential or hotel uses is made more challenging by the current interior setback regulations.
SUMMARY
The Land Use Committee was supportive of the proposal, but recommended that the reduced interior side setback requirement for residential or hotel projects only apply in those instances where the subject property is abutting a non-residential or non-hotel use. The Land Use Committee also recommended that Parking District No. 7, which is specific to Washington Avenue in the CD-2 district, be amended so that ‘hostels’ have the same off-street parking requirements as hotels. Both of these recommendations have been incorporated into the attached draft Ordinance.
The draft Ordinance maintains a baseline minimum of 7.5 feet for interior side setbacks of residential or hotel projects that have a frontage greater than 100 feet in this corridor. However, the requirement for a minimum interior side setback of 8% of the lot width has been stricken for those properties that abut a commercial use, as this percentage threshold is impacting larger lot aggregations (those in excess of 100 feet of frontage). The minimum sum of the side yard setback requirement of 16% is maintained, so as to ensure adequate light and air on very wide sites for the upper levels. Also, most projects will have commercial uses on the first level, thus allowing the continuous street wall at a zero side setback, which would not be affected.
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| | | | | | | | CONCLUSION
| | Pursuant to the recommendation of the Land Use and Development Committee, the Administration recommends that the Mayor and the City Commission refer the attached draft ordinance to the Planning Board. |
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| | | | | | | | Legislative Tracking
Planning |
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| | | | | | | | Sponsor
Commissioner Michael Gongora |
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