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Azure Shores ordinance headed to city commission

Azure Shores ordinance headed to city commission

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – An ordinance that will fix existing zoning map and future land use map inconsistencies for 23 properties in the Azure Shores subdivision is ready for city commission review and approval.

The city’s zoning map and future land use map designations determine how a property can be developed or developed. The Azure Shores properties are the first of many properties in Bradenton Beach with map inconsistencies the city wants to cure. The map inconsistencies could result in land use disputes or legal challenges that question whether the zoning map or the future land use map prevails when the two are inconsistent.

On Sept. 6, the Bradenton Beach Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended city commission approval of Ordinance 23-550. The ordinance contains new text amendments that would make the zoning map and future land use map designations for 23 Azure Shores properties consistent with each other.

The ordinance adds R-3 (multiple-family dwelling) as an implementing zoning district for the retail/office/residential (R/O/R) future land use category in the land development code. It also adds bed and breakfasts and hotels/motels as permitted uses in the R-3 district if the underlying future land use category is high-density residential.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Building Official Steve Gilbert said the text amendments also clarify that commercial uses for a bed and breakfast, a hotel, or a motel would only be allowed where the underlying land use is high-density residential.

“The underlying land use here is ROR, so bed and breakfast, hotels/motels will not be allowed in this section of Azure Shores,” Gilbert said.

Third Street North resident Evelyn Stob was the only potentially impacted property owner to attend Wednesday’s meeting. During public input, she sought clarification on the potential impacts for affected property owners.

In response, Gilbert said, “The zoning map will not change. It will stay R-3 high-density residential. The future land use map will not change. It will stay ROR (retail/office/residential). We’re not changing the maps at all. What we are doing is by text saying that the R-3 high-density residential zone district will partially implement the underlying ROR land use.”

Gilbert said there would be no financial impacts for the affected Azure Shores property owners regarding property taxes, assessed property values and fire district assessments.

Stob asked why a small section of the Azure Shores subdivision, south of Third Street North, is excluded from the area being addressed by the ordinance.

Gilbert said the Azure Shores subdivision extends from First Street North to the Cortez Bridge, and from the Gulf of Mexico to Sarasota Bay. The proposed text amendments would not apply to some properties along Second Street North.

“We had one applicant that wanted the zoning designation to change to remove that 25-foot setback requirement that only applies to the R-3 zone district. That’s a separate issue for the Planning and Zoning Board to address at some point,” Gilbert said. “The R-1 district front yard setbacks are 20 feet. The R-2 front yard setbacks are 20 feet. Commercial can be as low as zero and typically it’s 20 feet and R-3 is 25 for some reason.”

After the meeting ended, Gilbert explained that a property owner on Second Street North wanted to build a small deck above his swimming pool, and the current 25-foot setback requirement would only allow for a very small deck.

“Eventually we’ll do the rest of Azure Shores as well,” Gilbert said. “At that point, it behooves these folks to say we’ll keep it R-3 but we’ll give you a 20-foot front yard setback.”

Several months ago, a representative of the Chiles Hospitality group expressed the group’s desire to create a designated parking lot at the corner of Highland Avenue and Third Street North. That property is located in the Azure Shores subdivision and carries the R-3 zoning designation that prohibits standalone parking lots. Gilbert said Chiles Hospitality can accomplish their goal by initiating a comprehensive plan change and/or rezoning the property.

Alternative to Azure Shores rezoning proposed

Old documents provide new Azure Shores solution

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Building Official Steve Gilbert’s review of the city’s 1989 comprehensive plan and 1990 land development code (LDC) may help resolve an existing land use concern.

The residential properties in the Azure Shores subdivision are located between Bridge Street and the Cortez Bridge, and Highland Avenue and Gulf Drive South. The properties carry R-3 (multiple-family dwelling district) zoning designations and retail/office/residential (ROR) future land use designations. Until recently, Gilbert and Serna felt the R-3 zoning and the ROR future land use designations were not consistent with one another according to city code.

In 2019, the city commission directed Gilbert and then-City Planner Alan Garrett to resolve citywide inconsistencies that exist between the city’s zoning map and the city’s future land use map – and the zoning and land use designations that accompany those maps.

The inconsistencies date back to 2008 when the city commission amended the future land use map but didn’t amend the corresponding zoning map. Gilbert and City Attorney Ricinda Perry have stated the existing inconsistencies create conflicts that could expose the city to legal challenges from developers and/or neighboring property owners.

In 2021, Gilbert, City Planner Luis Serna and the planning and zoning board began discussing the map inconsistencies that exist throughout the city. In 2022, they began focusing solely on the Azure Shores subdivision as the first of many areas to be addressed.

Alternative to Azure Shores rezoning proposed
The areas highlighted in light purple/lavender represent the Azure Shores properties. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

In October 2022, the city commission rejected Gilbert and Serna’s recommendation to apply a mixed-use district (MXD) zoning designation to the Azure Shores properties while maintaining the ROR land use designation. The mixed-used designation would have allowed ground-level retail and commercial activities to take place on those residentially-zoned properties and the commission rejected that idea.

During that same meeting, the commission also rejected the planning and zoning board’s contrasting recommendation to instead rezone those properties to R-2 (two family dwelling) and change the future land use map designation to medium density residential. City Attorney Ricinda Perry told the commission that downzoning those properties from R-3 to R-2 could subject the city to legal challenges from those property owners.

New solution proposed

On May 3, Gilbert and Serna presented the planning board with an alternative means of curing the Azure Shores map inconsistencies. The proposed solution was included in the staff memo the board members received before the meeting.

Alternative to Azure Shores rezoning proposed
Building Official Steve Gilbert and City Planner Luis Serna suggested an alternative solution to the previously proposed rezoning of the Azure Shores subdivision. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The memo included the following recommendation: “Revise the text of the comprehensive plan and land development code so the existing R-3 zoning district would be consistent within the existing ROR future land use category. This option would address the current inconsistency but would allow rezonings to R-3 in the ROR category. The advantage of this option is that it would not result in any changes to the character of Azure Shores by rezoning the property and would not expose the city to any potential takings claims.”

During the May 3 meeting, Gilbert said the Azure Shores map inconsistencies could be cured simply by amending the text in the land development code and the comprehensive plan in a manner that states the existing R-3 zoning designation can be implemented in the city’s only ROR zoning district.

“We don’t change future land use; we don’t change the zoning. We just add text in the comp plan and LDC so that R-3 is an implementing use in the ROR land use category,” Gilbert said.

He said the city’s future land use and zoning summary table would also have to be modified in a corresponding manner by moving the R-3 implementing zoning out of the high-density residential future land use category and into the ROR future land use category instead.

Gilbert said this potential solution emerged from his recent research of the 1989 comprehensive plan adopted in 1989 and the 1990 land development code.

“What I discovered is that what we thought was a new land use assignment in 2008 on the future land use map indicating ROR for Azure Shores was not in fact a newly-designated land use. For Azure Shores, the land use did not change in 2008.” Gilbert told the planning board.

Old documents provide new Azure Shores solution

Planning and Zoning Board members Fred Bartizal, John Burns, Bill Morrow and Dan Morhaus participated in the May 3 meeting. – Joe Hendricks | SunIn response to questions posed by the planning board members, Gilbert and Serna said the proposed text amendments would maintain the current 35% lot coverage and 40% impervious surface requirements for those residential properties and would not allow the 90% lot coverage allowed in the nearby Bridge Street Commercial Overlay District. He also said the proposed change would still not allow a hotel or motel to be built or operated in the Azure Shores subdivision.

The planning board unanimously supports the proposed solution and asked Gilbert and Serna to draft the proposed text amendments to be discussed at the board’s June 7 meeting, or soon thereafter.

Past actions could impact Azure Shores land use designations

Past actions could impact Azure Shores land use designations

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – The city’s efforts to rezone and/or amend the future land use map designations for several residential properties in the Azure Shores subdivision may not be needed after all.

The Azure Shores subdivision includes 23 properties located north of Bridge Street, south of the Cortez Bridge and east of Gulf Drive South.

During the Nov. 16 Planning and Zoning Board meeting, Building Official Steve Gilbert shared some recent discoveries he made when reviewing past city commission actions from the 1980s and the 2000s.

Gilbert’s discoveries may impact how the commission proceeds with its efforts to make the Azure Shores zoning designations and future land use map designations consistent with one another.

The Azure Shores discussions are part of the city’s ongoing ef- forts to address numerous inconsistencies that exist between the various zoning designations and future land use map designations that apply to numerous properties throughout the city. If left unaddressed, the existing inconsistencies could potentially subject the city to permitting challenges and/ or legal action.

The zoning and future land use map designations determine what kind of development is allowed on a specific property. Changes to those designations could negatively or positively impact the ability to develop a property and/or the value of a property.

Past actions

On Oct. 20, the city commission rejected the proposed rezoning ordinance that contained Gilbert and City Planner Luis Serna’s recommendation to rezone the Azure Shores properties from their current Multiple Family Dwelling District (R-3) zoning designation to a Mixed-Use District (MXD) zoning designation, while maintaining the Retail/Office/Residential (ROR) future land use map designation adopted by a previous city commission in 2008.

City staff’s proposed rezoning would have allowed ground-level retail and office space with residential units above, but the commission has demonstrated its desire to protect that area’s exist- ing residential character.

The commission also rejected the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation to instead rezone those properties to R-2 (two-family dwelling) and change the future land use map designation to Medium Density Residential.

City Attorney Ricinda Perry advised the commission that downzoning those properties from R-3 to R-2 could negatively impact allowed uses and property values for those properties.

The commission directed Gilbert and Serna to continue working with the Planning and Zoning Board and the potentially impacted property owners to find a way to cure the existing inconsistencies.

During the Oct. 20 meeting, Chiles Hospitality Facilities Director Brooks O’Hara mentioned the BeachHouse restaurant ownership group’s desire to create a designated parking lot on the Chiles Hospitality-owned vacant lot at the corner of Third Street North and Highland Avenue.

Depending on how the existing zoning and land use designations are interpreted, the R-3 zoning designation may not allow for a standalone parking lot on a residentially zoned property that’s not physically contiguous to the other Chiles Hospitality-owned properties in that vicinity.

Recent discoveries

During the Nov. 16 Planning and Zoning Board meeting, Gilbert said he reviewed a copy of the city’s 1989 comprehensive plan. At that time, the Azure Shores sub-division had the ROR future land use map designation with the R-3 zoning designation that remains in effect today. Going back farther, Gilbert said the zoning code that existed in 1983 allowed hotels, motels, coffee shops and restaurants in R-3 zoned districts.

“Somebody, in 1989, intention- ally said ROR and R-3 high-density residential are consistent. At least from ‘83 to ‘89, the argument would be reasonably consistent,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said the ROR future land use designation does not have an assigned dwelling unit density limit, whereas the R-1, R-2 and R-3 zoning designations do have density limits.

“You could make the argument today that R-3 zoning on top of ROR land use could be considered consistent. At the end of the day, it comes down to what the city commission wants,” Gilbert said.

“It’s 2022. The 2020 comprehensive plan was adopted in 2008 and directed to run to 2020. The city’s different now than it was in 2008. Maybe there is no longer any intention to build up this area as mixed-use development. Realistically what we’re seeing is a single-family house with 10 bedrooms. It’s all about rental income. Maybe we don’t need mixed-use at all. Maybe we don’t need ROR land use at all,” Gilbert said.

“We’ll talk to the residents and find out what their feelings are. If that translates into a change to the future land use map and/or changing the zoning designation then so be it. The property belongs to the people that live here. If we’ve got stuff that was adopted 18 years ago that’s no longer relevant, then why are we still trying to do something?” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said he needs to confer with Perry as to how to move forward with the efforts that may require some revisions as to what is and isn’t allowed in an R-3 zone district or the ROR future land use designation.

Regarding the Chiles Hospitality group’s desired parking lot, Gilbert said it’s possible that an R-3 zoned property with a ROR future land use map designation could possibly be used as a parking lot.

Gilbert said he would ask the city commission to schedule some town hall meetings that provide potentially impacted property owners with additional opportunities to share their opinions on any potential zoning or future land use map revisions.