EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Meeting Date: January

Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Meeting Date: January 9, 2012 Planning Commission Public Hearing

Agenda Item: Tampa: Text Amendment-Seminole Heights Flex

Provision - TA/CPA 11-03

SUMMARY The Planning Commission will be reviewing and making a recommendation

to Tampa City Council on a proposed text amendment that will become part

of the Tampa Comprehensive Building Our Legacy, A Livable City. The

Planning Commission is required to make recommendations to The Tampa City Council on all proposed amendments to the Tampa Comprehensive Plan, pursuant to Florida Statutes..

BACKGROUND The Plan amendment request is specifically a text amendment, in the form of a policy, initiated by the City of Tampa Land Development Coordination Division. The amendment request would recognize existing properties in the Seminole Heights area brought into conformity via the use of the “flex provision” during zoning conformance process conducted in 1987.

During the neighborhood/stakeholder meetings for the Greater Seminole Heights Vision Plan, Community Plan and new Seminole Heights Zoning Districts, staff assured property owners that the development potential on their property would not be reduced as a result of the code changes.

The proposed text amendment will facilitate the implementation of the Greater Seminole Heights Vision Plan via the use of the newly adopted formed based codes for the Greater Seminole Heights Area, consistent with Objective 23.3 of the Tampa Comprehensive Plan.

RECOMMENDATION Staff finds TA/CPA 11-03, Seminole Heights Flex Provision, CONSISTENT with the Tampa Comprehensive Plan: Building Our Legacy A Livable City, and recommends the amendment be furthered to Tampa City Council for adoption consideration.

601 E. Kennedy, 18th Floor Prepared by: T. Garcia, AICP Date Prepared: December 20, 2011 P.O. Box 1110 Tampa, FL 33601-1110 813/272-5940 FAX 813/272-6258 FAX 813/272-6255 [email protected] A consolidated city-county agency serving the cities of Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace and the County of Hillsborough www.theplanningcommission.org An Affirmative Action-Equal Opportunity Employer

RESOLUTION PAGE 2 Tampa: TA/CPA 11-03 August, 2011Cycle January 9, 2012

Policy 23.3.4: The City shall establish specific Seminole Heights zoning districts in conformance with the Vision Plan and Comprehensive Plan. Any property within the Seminole Heights Urban Village that was zoned and considered conforming under the Flex Provision (see Chapter 9), may be rezoned to a specific Seminole Heights zoning district of similar density/intensity, and maintain its conforming status.

WHEREAS, the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission staff has reviewed the proposal, has considered existing and expected future development patterns and community facilities in the respective area, as well as consistency with the adopted goals, objectives and policies of the Tampa Comprehensive Plan Building Our Legacy A Livable City as stated in the staff report as follows:

Objective 23.5: The future of community planning will utilize form based code initiatives to assist in the development of a Vision Plan and creation of a community-specific Form Based Code for each Community Planning area.

Policy 23.2.2: The City shall create area specific Vision Plans, based on the Community Planning method, for the Greater Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, and 40th Street Community Planning Areas by 2015, that clearly document and describe community assets, opportunities and challenges, community, character, conceptual street cross-section designs, and basic building forms for residential, non- residential, and mixed use.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission finds the proposed Plan Amendment TA/CPA11-03, Seminole Heights Flex Provision, CONSISTENT with the Tampa Comprehensive Plan: Building Our Legacy A Livable City and forward this recommendation to Tampa City Council for adoption consideration.

Tampa Comprehensive Plan Building Our Legacy: A Livable City

Comprehensive Plan Amendment Report TA/CPA 11-03 Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment

Plan Amendment Description

The Tampa Comprehensive Plan establishes policies calling for the development of form based community plans and subsequent regulating plans. The proposed TEXT amendment request will further the intent of the Comprehensive Plan by incorporating a policy into the Tampa Comprehensive Plan, Building Our Legacy: A Livable City, for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of the Greater Seminole Heights Area Vision Plan via a form based codes approach.

• See Attachment A for proposed text amendment • See Attachment B for Department and Agency Comments

Tampa Comprehensive Plan Context

Tampa’s Comprehensive Plan Building Our Legacy: A Livable City was adopted in February, 2009. The Plan articulates a vision for how Tampa will accommodate the growth of the city to include 92,000 additional residents and 132,000 new jobs over the next 20 years, while promoting the values of its citizens:

LIVABILITY (Tampa is a place where diverse people find it easy, safe and enjoyable to live.) PROSPERITY (A Tampa that is focused on the quality of life for all its people must be a Tampa that is economically healthy, with a broad mix of good jobs.) RESPECT (The living systems which support us are taken care of and passed on to future generations in better shape.) RESILIENCE (The systems that support our day to day living can deal with uncertainty and cope with the shifts and shocks we face in the future.)

The Plan’s growth management strategy organizes the City into Planning Districts encouraging most new growth to locate in places designated as Business Centers, Urban Villages or Mixed Use Corridor Villages.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 1 Each Business Center and Urban Village has a secondary plan indicating the amount of growth the City is planning in the next 20 years. The Plan includes policies describing how the City intends to serve this growth with mobility options and other infrastructure facilities.

Overall Context:

The “Big Picture” Tampa Vision Map:

The proposed text amendment is consistent with the overall guiding strategies for creating a Livable City as defined in Chapter Two of the Tampa Comprehensive Plan. The strategy calls for redevelopment, infill, and new growth to be targeted into compact, mixed-use, and walkable villages that are connected to a regional transit system.

• Strategy 1: Organizing Planning Districts – Getting Transit Ready • Strategy 2: Strengthening our Diverse Neighborhoods • Strategy 6: Building on our Assets • Strategy 7: Growing Economic Prosperity

Strategy 1: The Districts

Objective 1.1: Designate 5 planning districts: University, Central Tampa, Westshore, New Tampa and South Tampa as an opportunity to build a livable and sustainable city.

Policy 1.1.2: Foster a vibrant urban lifestyle through mixed use development with entertainment and cultural facilities.

Policy 1.1.3: Protect and build upon the heritage assets found in the diverse neighborhoods in the district.

Policy 1.1.11: Encourage transit oriented, pedestrian-friendly mixed-use development in the Westshore, Central Tampa and University planning districts.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 2

Central Planning District

The area represented by the Text Amendment is located within the Central Tampa District

Central District The Central District closely resembles Tampa’s pre-World War II city limits. The District stretches from the Hillsborough River on the north, wraps around the Port of Tampa, to Swann Avenue on the south, Himes Avenue on the west and to the City limits on the eastern edge. The District’s center is the Central Business District/Downtown, which is the economic, governmental and cultural center of the region.

The District also includes significant clusters of historic Urban Village neighborhoods including Tampa Heights, Ybor City, Davis Islands, West Tampa, Seminole Heights and East Tampa. These neighborhoods are ethnically, racially and economically diverse, and are all places of Heritage that add character, appeal and interest to the City. These neighborhoods play a vital role in the Plan’s growth strategy (the Compact City form) by providing diversity of neighborhood choice for residents of the City.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 3 Opportunities within the Central District

• Improving Mobility • Attracting Private Investment • The District’s Historical Character • Providing Needed Infrastructure to Support Redevelopment • Stable single family neighborhoods that enhance the District’s housing choices.

Copies of agency responses are included in Attachment B of this report. Agencies/Departments that responded to the proposed amendment are as follows:

City of Tampa – Land Development Coordination The Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Hillsborough County School Board

Relationship to the Comprehensive Plan

The Greater Seminole Heights area has many properties that were zoned through the Zoning Conformance Process in 1987 utilizing the “flex provision”. During the neighborhood/stakeholder meetings for the Greater Seminole Heights Vision Plan and the new Seminole Heights Zoning Districts, staff assured property owners that the development potential on their property would not be reduced as a result of the code changes. The proposed Plan Amendment will allow development intensities of these properties to be maintained.

Flex Provision The land use category boundaries depicted on the Future Land Use Map are precise lines. However, with the flex provision, the land use category boundaries shall be deemed to extend 150 feet beyond the precise line in two circumstances:

1) Where the existing zoning district is not permitted in the land use category, but lies within 150 feet of a conforming land use category. The flex provision will be deemed to operate to allow the zoning district to be in conformance with the land use designation.

2) Where there is a legally existing non-conforming use which could be made conforming through a rezoning utilizing the 150 foot flex.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 4

The flex provision described herein shall only apply to parcels made conforming by its provisions on, or before, May 24, 1990 (Ordinance #90-133).

The following is the proposed text amendment which will allow rezoning to a lateral intensity Seminole Heights Zoning District for properties consistent with the Flex Provision.

Vision Plans

The Comprehensive Plan calls for the creation of a Greater Seminole Heights Community Vision Plan using Form Based Codes. This Vision Plan meets the Community Planning Method and addresses required aspects of the document.

Policy 23.2.2: The City shall create area specific Vision Plans, based on the Community Planning method, for the Greater Seminole Heights Area, Tampa Heights, and 40th Street Community Planning Areas by 2015, that clearly document and describe community assets, opportunities and challenges, community, character, conceptual street cross-section designs, and basic building forms for residential, non-residential, and mixed use.

The Vision Plan, working as a guide in conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan, will provide a framework for new development. The Vision Plan will provide guidance in creating the regulating plan and associated land development regulations (form based codes) for the area to assure the community’s vision is achieved.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 5 Analysis Conclusion

The proposed text amendment will allow the implementation of the Greater Seminole Heights Vision Plan and further Objective 23 and Policy 23.3.2. The development rights of property owners were not to be reduced as a result of the adoption of the Seminole Height Vision Plan. The new Seminole Heights Zoning Districts are form based and are intended to integrate uses and promote good urban design standards.

Objective 23: Develop objectives and policies that guide reuse, redevelopment and infill development in the Seminole Heights Urban Village that meet the Vision Plan of the community and associated Vision Plan Map.

Policy 23.3.2: The City shall use the Vision Plan Map as the guide to create the Regulating Plan and associated land development regulations (form-based code) for the area to ensure the community’s vision is achieved.

• The Vision Plan furthers Strategy 1: Organizing Planning Districts – Getting Transit Ready • The Vision Plan furthers Strategy 2: Stegthening our Diverse Neighborhoods • The Vision Plan furthers Strategy 6: Building on our Assets • The Vision Plan furthers Strategy 7: Growing Economic Prosperity

Recommendation

Staff recommends that the Planning Commission approve the attached resolution, finding the proposed Plan Amendment TA/CPA11-03, CONSISTENT with the Tampa Comprehensive Plan: Building Our Legacy A Livable City and forward this recommendation to Tampa City Council.

Appendices • Attachment A - Proposed Tampa Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment • Attachment B - Agency Comments

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 6

Attachment A

Proposed Tampa Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment TA/CPA11-03

Greater Seminole Heights Flex Provision Policy

The proposed text shall be inserted on Page 163, after proposed Seminole Heights policies and prior to “Traditional Neighborhood Plans” within Chapter 4 of the Tampa Comprehensive Plan: Building Our Legacy A Livable City.

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 7

Attachment B

Agency Comments

1. Tampa City Staff Recommendations

Land Development Coordination responded and stated that the City has no objections to the proposed text amendment request.

2. Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)

The MPO has no objections

3. Environmental Protection Commission (EPC)

The EPC has no objections

4. Hillsborough County School Board

The School Board had no objections

Seminole Heights Flex Provision Text Amendment Tampa CPA 11-03 – August 2011 Cycle Page 8