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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem A3 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: June 29. 2010 Division: Growth Management 10:00AM PUBLIC HEARING Bulk Item: Yes - No X Department: Planning & Environmental Resources Staff Contact PersonlPhone #: Joseph Haberman /289-2532 AGENDA ITEM WORDING: A public hearing to consider an Ordinance by the BOCC amending Monroe County Code Sec. 138-23, Moratorium on New Transient Units, to revise the date on which the moratorium shall expire to 12/31/2011. ITEM BACKGROUND: Since the last extension of the transient unit moratorium within the Comprehensive Plan to July 31, 2010 (Ordinance #035-2009), staff has reviewed data relating to the need for additional transient units and formulated several options on how the County could permit new transient units if a need for additional transient units is demonstrated. However additional time is required for staff to complete the review of data, sufficiently analyze said data and fmalize the options for presentation to the public, Planning Commission and the BOCC. The moratorium was initiated when the County's ability to issue building permits was substantially limited by the designation of Area of Critical State Concern. With the limited number of residential ROGO allocations available each year, allocating units for transient development has not been feasible. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: In 1996, the moratorium was enacted by the BOCC with the adoption of the Year 2010 Comprehensive Plan and Policy 101.2.6. This policy required the adoption of a land development regulation by 01/04/1996 prohibiting new transient residential units until 12/31/2001. Policy 101.2.6 also required the County to either extend the prohibition until 12/2006 or revise the ROGO to allocate a percentage of residential growth to transient units. In order to fulfill the requirement of Policy 101.2.6 to adopt a land development regulation prohibiting new transient units, in 1999, the BOCC adopted Ordinance #047-1999, thus establishing Monroe County Code Sec. 9.5-120.5 (now Sec. 138-23). The section was amended to extend the moratorium in 2002 (Ordinance #001-2002), 2007 (Ordinance #001-2007) and 2008 (Ordinance #003-2008) to 12/31/2008. In 2009, Ordinance #035-2009 amended Policy 101.2.6 to extend the moratorium until 07/31/2010. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: n/a STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends approval to extend the transient moratorium within the Land Development Code to 12/31/2011. TOTAL COST: INDIRECT COST: BUDGETED: Yes _No - DIFFERENTIAL OF LOCAL PREFERENCE: COST TO COUNTY: SOURCE OF FUNDS: REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes - No AMOUNT PER MONTH_ Year - APPROVED BY: County Atty _ OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management _ DOCUMENTATION: Included X Not Required_ DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM # I MEMORANDUM MONROE COUNTY PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT We strive to be caring, professional and fair To: Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Through: Christine Hurley, AICP, Director of Growth Management Townsley Schwab, Senior Director of Planning & Environmental Resources From: Joseph Haberman, AICP, Principal Planner Date: June 16,2010 Subject: Proposed Ordinance to the Board of County Commissioners to amend Section 138-23 of the Monroe County Code, Moratorium on new transient units Meeting: June 29, 2010 1 2 I REQUEST 3 4 The Planning & Environmental Resources Department is proposing an amendment to the text 5 of ~ 13 8-23 of the Monroe County Code, which concerns the County's moratorium on new 6 transient residential units. 7 8 II RELEVANT PRIOR COUNTY ACTIONS AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 9 10 Language concerning the moratorium on new transient residential units exists in both the 11 Monroe County Year 2010 Comprehensive Plan and the Monroe County Land Development 12 Code. 13 14 In 1996, the moratorium was enacted by the BOCC with the adoption of the Monroe County 15 Year 2010 Comprehensive Plan and Policy 101.2.6 therein. Policy 101.2.6 required the 16 County to adopt a land development regulation by January 4, 1996 prohibiting new transient 17 residential units until December 31,2001. Policy 101.2.6 also required the County to either 18 extend the prohibition until December 2006 or revise the Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO) 19 permit allocation system to allocate a percentage of residential growth to transient residential 20 units. In 2009, Ordinance #035-2009 amended Policy 101.2.6 to extend the moratorium until 21 July 31, 2010. 22 23 In order to fulfill the requirement of Policy 101.2.6 to adopt a land development regulation 24 prohibiting new transient residential units, in 1999, the BOCC adopted Ordinance #047- 25 1999, thus establishing Monroe County Code ~9.5-120.5, which stated: New transient 26 residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel 27 trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until January 1, 2002. 28 Page 1 of5 1 In 2002, Ordinance #001-2002 amended ~9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, 2 such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, 3 shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2006. 4 5 In 2007, Ordinance #001-2007 amended ~9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, 6 such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, 7 shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2007 or until new 8 Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new transient units. 9 10 In 2008, Ordinance #003-2008 amended ~9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, 11 such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, 12 shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2008 or until new 13 Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new transient units. 14 15 The Monroe County Planning Commission reviewed the proposed amendment and 16 recommended approval to the HOCC at a public hearing on May 26,2010. 17 18 III REVIEW 19 20 New transient residential units require residential ROGO allocations. Currently, there are a 21 predetermined number of ROGO allocations that may be allocated in a given year. These 22 allocations are separated into two pools: 80 percent market-rate permanent residential and 20 23 percent affordable permanent residential. If new transient residential units are permitted, 24 their allocations would have to be derived from the market-rate permanent residential pool; 25 thus allowing less market-rate permanent residential units to be allocated. Since the ROGO's 26 inception, there has been an abundance of market-rate applications and it has been 27 competitive within the permit allocation system between those applications for those limited 28 allocations. 29 30 Occupancy data provided by the Tourist Development Council indicates that there is not an 31 urgent need to expand the available amount of transient residential units in Monroe County. 32 Staff therefore is recommending that Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 be amended to 33 continue the moratorium until December 31, 2011. This will allow staff to conduct a study of 34 transient residential unit needs and trends as part of the Comprehensive Plan Update process. 35 36 Further, the development of new transient residential units will have an impact on a number 37 of health, safety and quality of life issues such as: hurricane evacuation, workforce/employee 38 housing, wastewater treatment (water quality), traffic volumes and increased demand on the 39 natural environment through increased use of the reefs and the waters off the Florida Keys. 40 One of the main objectives of creating an ordinance to promote redevelopment and/or permit 41 new transient residential units is to mitigate and if possible eliminate the negative impacts. 42 43 Employee/Workforce Housing 44 45 The current cost of housing (for rent or sale) in the Florida Keys have led hotels/motels and 46 other service employers to hire workers who have to commute anywhere from 1 to 3 hours Page 2 of 5 1 from the mainland. With the creation of new transient residential units, this demand for more 2 affordable employee/workforce housing will increase. 3 4 It should be the goal of any ordinance that allows new transient residential units to also 5 mitigate the demand for affordable employee\workforce housing. This is to be accomplished 6 by requiring the redevelopment/development of new transient residential units to provide 7 employee/workforce housing by providing residential units as part of their project (on-site or 8 off-site) or by payment into an affordable housing fund. 9 10 Wastewater Treatment 11 12 Monroe County is under a state mandate to have a central wastewater system. The 13 development of new transient residential units should not be permitted unless the 14 development can meet the standards and requirement of the mandate. Therefore, new 15 development of transient residential units should be directed and only encouraged in those 16 areas with central wastewater systems or to areas that will have central wastewater systems in 17 operation when the project is completed. 18 19 Traffic Volumes 20 21 The addition of new transient residential units may result in the addition of new traffic 22 impacts. New transient residential unit developments should be designed to minimize 23 traffic impacts by including onsite amenities that would limit the need to drive to restaurants, 24 retail stores, or other attractions. Furthermore, new transient residential unit developments 25 should be encouraged to locate adjacent to existing amenities such as restaurants, or retail 26 stores. 27 28 Another strategy would be to encourage visitors to use other modes of transportation such as 29 walking, bicycling, or bus service. New transient residential units are encouraged to include 30 bicycle and pedestrian facilities that provide a connection to surrounding amenities, provide 31 bus service for guests, or provide transit amenities such as bus shelters. 32 33 Existing Transient Uses 34 35 The Monroe County Tourist Development Council (TDC) gets its lodging counts from the 36 Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation license database. According to 37 the TDC, in 2009, there were 11,358 actively licensed hotels, motels, B&Bs and condo 38 hotels. In addition there were 1,913 vacation rentals, resulting in a total of 13,271 transient 39 rental units. In addition, there are about 2,700 Campground/RV park units for a grand total of 40 just under 16,000 transient accommodations in Monroe County. 41 42 Hotel Occupancy Rates 43 44 Occupancy rates are a travel industry standard for assessing the ability of available beds to 45 meet existing and anticipated demands. The TDC maintains a database for occupancy rates 46 which is prepared by Smith Travel Research. Between 1999 and 2009, the average annual Page 3 of 5 1 county-wide occupancy rate for Monroe County has varied from 66.4% (2001) to 72.2% 2 (2003). This does not indicate a pressing need for new transient residential units. 3 4 Monroe County has contracted with the firm Keith & Schnars to prepare an update of the 5 Monroe County Comprehensive Plan and Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). As part of 6 this process, Keith & Schnars will be preparing an economic base analysis, with updated 7 economic and population projections, that will more precisely determine the need for 8 expanding Monroe County's tourist based economy. This update will serve as the data and 9 analysis to justify any lifting of the transient use moratoriwn that could result in the creation 10 of a transient unit pool as part of the County's annual ROGO allocation. 11 12 Existing/Proposed Language in the Land Development Code 13 14 The language of ~9.5-120.5 (since renwnbered to ~138-23 in 2009) remains in the Monroe 15 County Code as last revised via Ordinance #003-2008 with a moratoriwn expiration date of 16 December 31, 2008 or until new Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new 17 transient units. However, Ordinance #035-2009 amended Policy 101.2.6 to extend the 18 moratoriwn until July 31, 2010. As policies within the comprehensive plan supersede 19 regulations with the Monroe County Code, the moratoriwn remains in effect. 20 21 Policy 101.2.6 currently reads: Monroe County shall prohibit new transient residential units 22 including hotel or motel rooms, campground spaces, or spaces for parking a recreational 23 vehicle or travel trailer until July 31, 2010. 24 25 As docwnented in the previous section, the moratoriwn has been extended since 1996 by 26 several ordinances. However, Policy 101.2.6 and ~138-23 (previously nwnbered ~9.5-120.5) 27 were never amended at the same time to provide the same expiration date. In order to 28 alleviate confusion in the future, Planning & Environmental Resources Department staff are 29 concurrently amending both Policy 101.2.6 and ~138-23 in order to provide the same 30 expiration date. This report and the recommended text amendment contained wherein only 31 pertains to the modification of the now-defunct expiration date of December 31, 2008 within 32 ~138-23 of the Monroe County Code. 33 34 Since the last extension of the moratoriwn in the comprehensive plan, via Ordinance #035- 35 2009, staff has reviewed data relating to the need for additional transient units and 36 formulated several options on how the County could permit new transient units if a need for 37 additional transient units is demonstrated. However, additional time is required for staff to 38 complete the review of data, sufficiently analyze said data and finalize the options for 39 presentation to the public, Planning Commission and the BOCC. 40 41 Therefore, staff recommends the following changes (deletions are striekeB. through and 42 additions are underlined): 43 44 New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, 45 recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential 46 ROGO allocations until December 31, ~ 2011. Page 4 015 1 2 IV RECOMMENDATION 3 4 Staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners amend the Monroe 5 County Code as stated in the text of this staff report. Page 5 of5 MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ORDINANCE NO. - 2010 - AN ORDINANCE BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AMENDING MONROE COUNTY CODE SECTION 138-23, MORATORIUM ON NEW TRANSIENT UNITS, TO REVISE THE DATE ON WHICH THE MORATORIUM SHALL EXPIRE; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL OF CONFLICTING PROVISIONS; PROVIDING FOR TRANSMITTAL TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, language concerning the moratorium on new transient units exists in both the Monroe County 2010 Comprehensive Plan and the Monroe County Code; and WHEREAS, in 1996, a moratorium on new transient units was enacted by the Board of County Commissioners with the adoption of the Monroe County Year 2010 Comprehensive Plan and Policy 101.2.6 therein. Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 required the County to adopt a land development regulation by January 4, 1996 prohibiting new transient residential units until December 31, 2001 and also required the County to either extend the prohibition until December 2006 or revise the Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO) permit allocation system to allocate a percentage of residential growth to transient units. In 2009, Ordinance #035-2009 amended Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 to extend the moratorium until July 31, 2010; and WHEREAS, in order fulfill the requirement of Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 to adopt a land development regulation prohibiting new transient units, in 1999, the Board of County Commissioners adopted Ordinance #047-1999, thus establishing Monroe County Code Sec. 9.5-120.5, which stated: New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until January 1,2002; and Page 1 of 4 WHEREAS, in 2002, Ordinance #001-2002 amended Sec. 9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2006; and WHEREAS, in 2007, Ordinance #001-2007 amended Sec. 9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2007 or until new Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new transient units; and WHEREAS, in 2008, Ordinance #003-2008 amended Sec. 9.5-120.5 to read: New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, 2008 or until new Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new transient units; and WHEREAS, in 2009, Sec. 9.5-120.5 was renumbered to Sec. 138-23; and WHEREAS, as last revised by Ordinance #003-2008, Sec. 138-23 provides a moratorium expiration date of December 31, 2008 or until new Land Development Regulations are adopted to permit new transient units; and WHEREAS, Ordinance #035-2009 had already amended Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 to extend the moratorium until July 31, 2010, as policies within the comprehensive plan supersede regulations with the Monroe County Code, the moratorium remains in effect; and WHEREAS, since the last extension of the moratorium by Ordinance #035-2009, staff has reviewed data relating to the need for additional transient units and formulated several options on how the County could permit new transient units if a need for additional transient units is demonstrated; however additional time is required for staff to complete the review of data, sufficiently analyze said data and finalize the options for presentation to the public, Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners; and WHEREAS, Comprehensive Plan Policy 101.2.6 and Monroe County Code Sec. 138-23 have never been amended at the same time to provide the same expiration date, and in order alleviate confusion, staff is concurrently amending both Policy 101.2.6 and Sec. 138-23 to provide the same new expiration date of December 31, 2011; and Page 2 of4 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: Section 1. Sec. 138-23 shall be amended as follows (deletions are strieken through and additions are underlined): Sec. 138-23. Moratorium on new transient units. New transient residential units, such as hotel or motel rooms, or campground, recreational vehicle or travel trailer spaces, shall not be eligible for residential ROGO allocations until December 31, ~ 2011. Section 2. Severabilitv. If any section, paragraph, subdivision, clause, sentence or provision of this ordinance shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, invalidate, or nullify the remainder of this ordinance, but the effect thereof shall be confmed to the section, paragraph, subdivision, clause, sentence, or provision immediately involved in the controversy in which such judgment or decree shall be rendered. Section 3. Conflictine: Provisions. In the case of direct conflict between any provision of this ordinance and a portion or provision of any appropriate federal, state, or County law, rule code or regulation, the more restrictive shall apply. Section 4. Transmittal. This ordinance shall be transmitted by the Planning and Environmental Resources Department to the Florida Department of Community Affairs as required by F.S. 380.05 (11) and F.S. 380.0552(9). Section 5. Filine:. This ordinance shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of the State of Florida but shall not become effective until a notice is issued by the Department of Community Affairs or Administration Commission approving the ordinance. Section 6. Inclusion in the Monroe Countv Code. The provisions of this Ordinance shall be included and incorporated in the Code of Ordinances of the County of Monroe, Florida, as an addition to amendment thereto. Section 7. Effective Date. Page 3 of 4 This ordinance shall become effective as provided by law and stated above. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida at a regular meeting held on the _ day of ,2010. Mayor Sylvia Murphy Mayor pro tern Heather Carruthers Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro Commissioner George Neugent Commissioner Kim Wigington MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Attest: DANNY L. KOLHAGE, CLERK By By Deputy Clerk Mayor Sylvia Murphy Page 4 of 4