SUBJECT:
Title
Request to Rescind Zoning Case 241210ZP, GPK Ocala One, LLC, Rezoning from General Agriculture (A-1) to Planned Unit Development, and Authorize Staff to Accept a Resubmittal of the Zoning Case Application Waiving the Application Fee
Body
INITIATOR: DEPARTMENT:
Kenneth Weyrauch, Deputy Director Growth Services
DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND:
This agenda item presents to the Board of County Commissioners a basis to rescind zoning case 241210ZP, GPK Ocala One, LLC, rezoning from General Agriculture (A-1) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) on a ±39.36-acre property site, located west of Unit 25 Silver Springs Shores, on Chestnut Rd for the purposes of 158 detached single-family residential units. The subject property is located within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), the Silver Springs Shores urban area, and the Silver Springs Primary Springs Protection Overlay Zone. The Board’s December 17, 2024 approval of the PUD with that density was based upon inaccurate information regarding the underlying land use designation for the parcel. At the time of that hearing, the rezoning application, the staff report, and even the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map showed a designation of High Residential Land Use, when in fact the designation was Medium Residential.
The Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended approval with conditions as was recommended by staff during their regular meeting on November 25, 2024. The item was then heard by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on December 17, 2024 and approved for 158 units with conditions. Following the BCC Public Hearing, Ms. Maureen Merrick, an adjoining property owner, questioned the validity of the land use designation of the subject property. In response, staff researched the issue and it was determined that the parcel has a Medium Residential Land Use instead of the High Residential Land Use that was used during the analysis of the zoning change. The error related back to a prior request for a land use amendment. In 2016, there was a Large-Scale Land Use Amendment request to change the land use from Low Residential to High Residential (16L-02). However, after considering public input, that request was transmitted to the State for a land use amendment from Low Residential to Medium Residential, and at the subsequent adoption hearing, the Board approved the land use amendment to Medium Residential (Ordinance No. 16-22). Following that, when staff prepared updates to the Future Land Use Map, the parcel was incorrectly shown as High Residential. As a result of the research to verify the correct land use designation for the parcel based on Ordinance No. 16-22, the land use designation for the parcel has now been corrected on the Future Land Use Map as Medium Residential.
Because the Board’s deliberations on the application relied on the inaccurate information regarding the land use designation for the parcel, staff is bringing this matter back to the Board so that the Board can decide to rescind its approval of the application that was based on inaccurate information. This will leave the application as though it has not yet been acted on. However, because the applicant may need to modify their application and plan based on the Medium Residential land use designation, staff proposed that if the applicant wants to submit a revised application, that would be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and then to the BCC. In that case, staff would send out new notifications for those hearings. Staff recommends that the application fees for a revised application for a residential zoning project be waived if such application is provided within six months.
BUDGET/IMPACT:
None
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
Motion to rescind the Board’s December 17, 2024 approval of this zoning change application, authorize staff to accept a resubmittal of the zoning change application based on a Medium Residential Land Use designation and waive the application fee.
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