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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Local Planning Agency_01/13/2011 MINUTES VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA LOCAL PLANNING AGENCY January 13, 2011 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Mayor Pat Watkins at 6:00 p.m. A roll call was taken by Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. Present were: Mayor Pat Watkins, Vice Mayor Tom Paterno, Council Member Vince Arena, Council Member Jim Humpage and Council Member Calvin Tumquest. Also in attendance were: Village Manager Michael R. Couzzo, Jr., Village Attorney Davis, Village Clerk Lori McWilliams and Department Heads. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION Council Member Tumquest motioned approval of the agenda, seconded by Council Member Humpage, motion carried unanimously 5 -0. NEW BUSINESS Public Hearing to consider and make recommendations to the Village Council with regard to the following: 1. Ordinance 1 -11 Amending the Village Code of Ordinances at Chapter 78. Zoning. At Article I. In General. Sec. 78-4. Definitions. By Creating an Entirely New Definition for "Rehabilitation Facility" and by Amending the Definition of "Residential Use "; at Article VI. Schedule of District Regulations. Sec. 78 -180 MU Mixed Use District. By adding "Rehabilitation Facilities" as a Special Exception Use, by Creating Conditions to be met by all Rehabilitation Facilities and by Limiting the Density for such Special Exception Use to 10 Units per Acre; and at Article X. Off - street and On- Street Parking and Loading Regulations. By Adding "Rehabilitation Facilities" as a Category and Requiring .Rehabilitation Facilities to Provide One Off Street Parking Space Per Patient Bed Attorney Keith Davis offered a synopsis of Ordinance 1 -11. Council Member Tumquest referred to a letter received November 11, 2010 and questioned verbiage he felt was vague. Fire Chief Weinand, Acting Director of Community Development responded that Council had added stronger language on December 2, 2010. Attorney Davis noted the specific changes and additions. Council Member Humpage questioned outpatient short term care. Chief Weinand and Village Attorney Davis confirmed that too had been addressed. Local Planning Agency January 13, 2011 Page 2 of 4 Vice Mayor Paterno questioned assessing fines for noncompliance issues and monitoring the facility for conformity within the Village Code. Attorney Davis stated that a monitoring component could be added into the Code and pointed out that Code Compliance could assess fines on violations if need be. Vice Mayor Paterno voiced concern with privacy rulings which could obstruct monitoring. Attorney Davis responded that the medical privacy rules could regulate some enforcement requirements and that all occupancies were regulated by zoning and had the potential for abuse. He pointed out that yearly inspections through Fire and calls through the Police Department would authorize investigations which assisted with monitoring. Vice Mayor Paterno voiced concern with moving too quickly with this, running into problems and remedies becoming too difficult. Mayor Watkins believed the Village could only offer so many restrictions to businesses. Chief Weinand stated that the text amendment to the code should be the focus at present and conditions on the project would be implemented during the special exception process. Manager Couzzo confirmed that the dialogue was not appropriate until a special exception application was submitted. Vice Mayor Paterno responded that penalties and rules should be applied in advance to avoid issues and amendments which would add unwanted chaos in the Village. Mayor Watkins reiterated that the decision at hand was for Council to allow or deny rehabilitation as a use under "special exception use" in the mixed use district and agreed that fine tuning would need to be done. Council Member Humpage felt the Village was well protected through their code and noted any change of ownership must return to Council for approval. He pointed out that there were several hurdles relating to this endeavor which would need to be negotiated following tonight's assessment. Council Member Arena suggested requesting data several times per year from the facility. Attorney Davis responded that information could be obtained without breaking patient/client confidentiality. Manager Couzzo suggested expanding the special exception definition to incorporate additional conditions regarding monitoring and regulations and recommended beginning the process before making a final commitment. Mayor Watkins opened the hearing to the Public for comment. There being none, she brought it back to Council. Local Planning Agency January 13, 2011 Page 3 of 4 Council Member Turnquest questioned privately owned and funded rehab facilities and the receipt or use of grant monies. Attorney Davis responded that the facility could not receive government funding and the enforcement of such was a focus. Council Member Turnquest felt the verbiage offered an option for a non - profit to apply for grant funding and utilize if for research, which he believed was a loop hole and offered his experience with the process. Manager Couzzo stated that a not for profit could not be created for this facility because of its designation. Chief Weinand confirmed that the facility would not be licensed for research. Council Member Turnquest questioned the difference between dwelling units and residential living units. Chief Weinand stated the two were synonymous. Vice Mayor Paterno asked if each dwelling was limited to one person. Chief Weinand responded that the units were defined to one person per bedroom and considered different from patient beds. He noted room minimums and square footage requirements and that there could be more than one bedroom in a unit. Vice Mayor Paterno questioned acreage and persons allowed. Attorney Davis explained what was permissible. Chief Weinand responded that some units were dual occupancy. Vice Mayor Paterno felt the rooms correlated with the number of people allowed and stated his concerns regarding crowding. Nilsa Zacarias, Planning Representative for Tequesta, suggested placing minimums and maximums on room sizes to avoid rooms being too large and overcrowding along with persons allowed in correlation with square footage. Mayor Watkins felt the verbiage now did not preclude the units from an extra bedroom. Manager Couzzo felt it did since he believed the word private meant one. He felt it may need to state single occupant (in parentheses) for clarification and agreed with Ms. Zacarias and listing specifics. Mayor Watkins suggested careful consideration be made when placing restrictions as she believed too many constraints precluded suites and other desirable options. Manager Couzzo recommended a not to exceed number be specified as well. Chief Weinand stated the square footage per occupant could be addressed since rooms would differ in size and noted the limit concern. Mr. Larry Smith, GMH Tequesta Holdings, LLC Attorney, stated he understood Councils concerns and asked that they, while sitting as the Local Planning Agency, they recommend moving forward and felt there was ample time for conditions to be negotiated and Council decisions. Vice Mayor Paterno questioned the maximum number of persons in the group's ultimate model. Mr.