After work-shopping the attached amendments to the Land Development Code at three regularly scheduled Planning and Zoning Board meetings and conducting a noticed Public Hearing on August 1, 2017, the Planning and Zoning Board of Nassau County has recommended the Board of County Commissioners approve the referenced amendments. Below is a narrative describing the catalysis of the proposed amendment.
Nassau County’s Land Development Code is modeled after a zoning format/methodology known as Euclidean Zoning, sometimes referred to as Single-use Zoning. In essence, the County is divided into districts/zones in which there are defined permitted, prohibited and conditional uses along with standardized characteristics of development such as building setbacks, building height and Lot coverage.
In an attempt to incentivize superior design, flexibility was built into the Nassau County Land Development Code via the Planned Unit Development (PUD) district which is defined in Article 25 LDC. The intent of the district is described as;
The application of flexible land use controls to the development of land is often difficult or impossible within traditional zoning district regulations. …The objective of a PUD is to encourage ingenuity, imagination and design efforts on the part of builders, architects, site planners and developers, by allowing for departure from the strict application of use, setback, height, and minimum lot size requirements of conventional zoning districts. In order to justify allowing these departures, a PUD must produce developments which can achieve desirable goals such as preserving open space, protecting historic or community character, providing alternative transportation modes, or providing for the efficient expansion of public infrastructure. The intent of this district is to permit such flexibility and provide performance criteria for planned unit development…
It was never the intent of the PUD zoning district to be utilized as a means of circumventing the minimum standards of the Land Development Code (straight zoning). However, it is common for individuals seeking to develop a single family detached product to request PUD zoning for no other reason than allowing smaller lot sizes, reduced setbacks and increased lot coverage.
It is acknowledged that the Nassau County Land Development Code must be revised from time-to-time to account for societal demands such as the increase in multi-generational households and local market demands such as single story 'resort homes' in 3,500 - 5,000sf range.
The proposed amendment to the Residential Single Family -Two (RS-2) zoning district is a means to incentivize the preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, provide for recreational lands, allow the LDC to evolve with societal shifts and meet current market demands while maintaining the validity and integrity of the PUD district.
The proposed amendment DOES NOT allow for a reduction in Lot width or area. The minimum Lot width will remain at 75'. The proposed amendment only reduces building setbacks and increases lot coverage.
To qualify for the incentive (reduced setbacks and increased lot coverage) a development must preserve at least 30% of the gross pre-development site as natural areas or recreation lands located outside of any building site (Lot), storm water management facility, perimeter landscape area, utility area or right-of-way.
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