Consistent with The Land Development Code.
Whether the proposed amendment is in conflict with any portion of this Code, and is consistent with the stated purpose and intent of this Code.
6.00.01. Legislative intent of residential districts. The residential districts established in this section (AG, RR, SDD, R-1, AMU-1, AMU-2, R-1PK, R-2, R-2PK, R-3, R-3PK, R-4, R-5, R-6, V-1, V-2, V-2A, V-3, V-4, V-5, VR-1, VR-2, VR-3, and residential portions of GMD, VM-1 and VM-2 and PUD/PUD-PK districts) are designed to promote and protect the health, safety, convenience, order, prosperity and other aspects of the general welfare. The general goals include:
D. To protect residential areas against undue congestion, by regulating the density of population, the intensity of activity and the bulk of buildings in relation to the surrounding land and to one another and by providing for off-street parking.
G. To provide appropriate space in accessible locations for public and private educational, religious, recreational and similar facilities and public utilities which serve the needs of nearby residents, generally function more effectively in a residential environment and do not create objectionable influence; and to coordinate the intensity of residential land use with community facilities which are appropriately located and designed.
H. To promote the most desirable use of land as well as the appropriate location and density of development, to promote stability of residential areas by providing for smooth transitions in residential density, to effectuate and maintain adequate levels of public services, to conserve the value of land and buildings, to protect the county's present and future tax revenues and to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan.
6.05.13. R-6 neighborhood commercial and residential district, (cumulative) high density.
A. Intent and purpose of district. This district is intended to provide for a mixed use area of residential, office and professional, and certain types of neighborhood convenience shopping, retail sales and services which permit a reasonable use of property while preventing the development of blight or slum conditions. This district shall be established in areas where the intermixing of such uses has been the custom, where the future uses are uncertain and some redevelopment is probable. The maximum density is 25 dwelling units per acre, except in the low density residential (LDR) future land use category where the maximum density is 18 dwelling units per acre. Refer to article 11 for uses, heights and densities allowed in R-6, neighborhood commercial and residential areas located in the Airport/Airfield Environs. Refer to the overlay districts within section 6.07.00 for additional regulations imposed on individual parcels with R-6 zoning located in the Scenic Highway Overlay District, C-4(OL) Brownsville-Mobile Highway and "T" Street Commercial Overlay District, or RA-1(OL) Barrancas Redevelopment Area Overlay District.
All neighborhood commercial (R-6) development, redevelopment, or expansion must be consistent with the locational criteria in the Comprehensive Plan (Policies FLU 1.1.10) and in article 7.
7.20.00. Locational criteria.
7.20.01. Intent and purpose. It is the intent of this section to establish locational criteria for all new nonresidential uses that are not part of a predominantly residential development or planned unit development (PUD) in order to ensure the appropriate location of commercial and industrial uses and compatibility with adjacent land uses. Locational criteria is necessary to prevent ribbon commercial development, prevent/minimize negative or blighting influences on adjacent residential neighborhoods, and provide for smooth transitions in commercial intensity from major intersections. Further it is the purpose of this section to include the locational criteria required in Comprehensive Plan Policy FLU 1.1.10 and to clarify and add additional criteria necessary to implement those requirements.
7.20.02. Waivers. Waivers to the roadway requirements of the locational criteria may be approved by the development review committee (DRC) and the planning board, as indicated below:
B. The planning board (PB) may waive the roadway requirements when determining consistency with the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code for a rezoning request when unique circumstances exist. In order to determine if unique circumstances exist, a compatibility analysis shall be submitted that provides competent and substantial evidence that the proposed use will be able to achieve long-term compatibility with surrounding uses as described in Comprehensive Plan Policy FLU 1.1.9. Infill development would be an example of when a waiver could be recommended. The (PB) may also waive the roadway requirements if the property is located within one of the county's approved redevelopment areas and the proposed use is consistent with the redevelopment plan adopted by the board of county commissioners and it has been recommended by the community redevelopment agency (CRA).
FINDINGS
The proposed amendment is not consistent with the intent and purpose of the Land Development Code (LDC) regarding the appropriate location of R-6 uses. Within the surrounding R-2 there is no identified custom of intermixing uses apart from the Salvation Army campus, and no evidence of uncertainty about the future uses of most properties; and, with the abundance of nearby commercial zoning, there appears to be a low probability of redevelopment for the non-residential uses for which R-6 is specifically intended. There is instead a distinct, substantial, and long-established residential area of R-2 between the commercial corridors along Pace Boulevard and "T" Street, extending northward with virtually no interruption from the Pensacola City limits just north of Cervantes St. to a half block south of Jordan St.
The subject parcel also does not comply with the roadway requirements of the location criteria for R-6 zoning (LDC 7.20.04). It does not fulfill any conditions for exemption from those requirements (LDC 7.20.03) and no unique circumstances have been demonstrated by a compatibility analysis in support of a waiver. The parcel is also within the Brownsville redevelopment area, but the Community Redevelopment Agency does not support the proposed rezoning. |