History
The ordinance was presented and approved by the Local Planning Agency (LPA) at its October 8th, 2020 meeting. The proposed code amendment has been revised to accommodate a number of clarifications as recommended by the LPA.
The item was presented to City Commission and approved at its meeting of October 26th, 2020 with comments. Staff have received clarification from a number of qualified engineers and have amended the proposed code accordingly.
Summary
The City is experiencing a greater number of single-family and duplex infill projects within existing residential neighborhoods. The majority of neighborhoods were built to what are now outdated stormwater management requirements. The condition is compounded by the existing regulations regarding stormwater management for new single-family and duplex infill lot development.
The issues that occur relate to the fact that new single-family and duplex construction is required to meet existing flood plain elevation standards. The consequence of this requirement is that new homes are built at an elevation which can be significantly higher than neighboring homes and can cause localized stormwater ponding and potential flooding.
As a result, staff are often involved after the construction process has commenced in attempting to correct stormwater flooding issues and negotiating remedial solutions between property owners that are identified after the fact and as far as the code allows.
The purpose of this Land Development amendment is twofold:
1. To provide single-family and duplex residential infill lot builders and staff with standards that will achieve on-site stormwater management.
2. To provide reassurance to neighboring property owners that new infill single-family and duplex construction will be designed to accommodate adequate stormwater management.
This Land Development Code amendment supports the following comprehensive plan objectives and policies:
Objective B1 of the City’s Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Element to discourage urban sprawl by facilitating urban redevelopment and infill development of properties and planning for urban infill and redevelopment of lands located within Stuart in order to achieve a compact urban form.
Policy 7.1 of the City’s Comprehensive Plan Infrastructure Element to encourage residential infill development and redevelopment which will maximize the use of existing facilities and discourage urban sprawl.
Policy 2.5 of the City’s Comprehensive Plan Conservation Element to ensure that stormwater management shall be designed to maximize the quality of water being recharged as well as that being discharged off-site and to require new residential infill development to address off-site watershed issues related to water quality impacts due to on-site stormwater management designs.