By William Michaelis

Today, the Land Use and Zoning Committee of the City of Jacksonville will take up the Planned Unit Development (“PUD”) and San Marco Overlay legislation introduced by Council Member Boyer. The PUD portion of the legislation was discussed in the last blog post. However since that post, there have been revisions to the bill as originally filed.

The portion of the bill that allowed for overlay districts to restrict the use of PUDs has been amended to apply only to the San Marco Overlay. The revised bill now states that a “Planned Unit Development, or any amendment of an existing or future Planned Unit Development, shall not be allowed to authorize the relaxation of any standard set out in the San Marco Overlay Zone Subpart unless such relaxation is specifically allowed in the San Marco Overlay Zone Subpart of the Zoning Code.” This revised version of the bill is more narrowly applicable, in that it only applies to the San Marco Overlay. The other aspects of the PUD legislation are the same as in the original bill.

The bill, as revised, also makes changes to the development standards in the San Marco Overlay. Specifically, the bill requires that “any request for administrative deviation, variance, conventional rezoning, PUD rezoning, PUD administrative modification, PUD minor modification, or PUD major modification shall be limited by these Overlay development standards as well as Section 656.399.6 of this Overlay.” This provision reinforces the prohibition of PUDs deviating from the San Marco Overlay standards.

In addition, the bill amends provisions regarding lot aggregation and parking requirements for multiple-family developments. It also introduces height standards for the “Transportation Corridor.” These standards set height restrictions for certain areas, which may be increased through a PUD pursuant to certain criteria. Generally, these amendments to the San Marco Overlay are more restrictive, especially with regards to PUD rezoning.

The Land Use and Zoning Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. on the 1st floor of City Hall in the Council Chamber for those who wish to attend and learn more about this proposed legislation.