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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 01 30 Regular 300 Issues Raised by Tuskawilla Trails Residents CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page I of 7 COMMISSION WORKSHOP ITEM 300 Consent Informational Public Hearin~ Re2ular X January 30, 2007 Workshop MGR. IV IDEPT. Authorization REQUEST: City Manager requesting the City Commission to review information related to issues raised by Tuskawilla Trails residents regarding buffering along the boundary between Jesup's Reserve and Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. PURPOSE: This agenda item is needed for the Commission to follow through on a previous Commission decision of January 8, 2007 to hold a Workshop with Tuskawilla Trails residents and owners to discuss the buffer Issue. ISSUE: I. On October 20, 2006 and October 25, 2006, the City received letters from Fred J. Barone stating that he participated in the original planning group that resulted in the original concept plan for the Town Center. He further explained that his endorsement of the concept plan was based upon two assurances from City officials as follows: I) That there would be no streets constructed through Tuskawilla Trails 2) That a security fence would be constructed between the new Town Center development and Tuskawilla Trails to help maintain the character of their mobile home neighborhood. 2. Jesup's Reserve is an II acre town home development comprised of ]6] town homes located on property lying between SR 434 and Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. 3. Between July 26, 2004 and April 10, 2006 the City Commission took numerous land use actions related to the annexation of property on which Jesup's Reserve is located, and development agreements associated with the development of Jesup's Reserve. 4. Related to Mr. Barone's complaint, no streets have been allowed to pass through Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. In regards to the construction of a security wall, land development actions on the part of the City Commission did not require a security wall. However, the Commission did maintain an existing 30 foot right-of-way which separates Tuskawilla Trails from Jesup's Reserve. Further, the Commission also required a landscape buffer between the vertical construction on Jesup's Reserve and the northern property line of Tuskawilla Trails. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 2 of 7 RELEVANT QUESTION: There are two relevant questions related to this issue: I. As a Matter of Law, are the residents and owners of Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park entitled to a security wall between their mobile home park and the Jesup's Reserve town home development? 2. As a Matter of the Public Interest, is there a compelling reason for the City Commission to find that a sufficient public purpose exists to warrant the expenditure of public funds to construct, in part or whole, a security wall between Jesup's Reserve and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park? RELEV ANT FACTS AND FINDINGS: I. As a Matter of Law, are the residents and owners of TuskawilIa Trails Mobile Home Park entitled to a security wall between their mobile home park and Jesup's Reserve town home development? a. City Ordinance #51, adopted August 3, 1970, created the R-T Mobile Home Park District including land development regulations controlling the construction of Mobile Home Parks. Section 20-318(f) of the Code section regulating buffers provides the following: "A landscaped buffer strip not less than twenty-five (25) feet in width shall be provided along all park boundaries and at other appropriate locations. Buffer strips shall contain a suitable plant or structural sight screen. The buffer strip shall be separate from mobile home sites, recreation areas, street rights-of-way, etc., but may be utilized for drainage structures, and utilities systems." This section clearly places the burden upon the owner of R-T Mobile Home Park to provide the residents of the mobile home park adequate protection from current and future development, as well as social and other impacts upon the residents of the mobile home park. b. On June 24, 1980, the City Commission approved plans for the construction of Mohawk Mobile Home Park, doing business today under the corporate name of Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. The minutes of the City Commission meeting dated June 4, 1980 states: "the developer be required to comply with R-T Trailer Park Regulations 51." It could not be more clear that the intent of the City Commission was to compel Mohawk Mobile Home Park to protect the quality of life of the residents from current and future impacts arising from outside its boundaries by the installation of a 25 foot landscaped buffer screen of plant material sufficient to accomplish the function and purpose of the buffer, or a structural screen sufficient to accomplish the function and purpose of the buffer. A recent visual inspection of the area in question clearly demonstrates that the owner of Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park is not in compliance with his obligations under the law. c. Section 20-417 of the City Zoning Code addresses buffer walls outside the Town Center District and buffer walls inside the Town Center District separately as follows: "Any developer or property owner proposing a commercial or multi-family development or redevelopment adjacent to a single family zoning district or use CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 3 of7 shall construct, at the developer's expense, an opaque wall of six (6) feet in height along the full length of the property line between such development or redevelopment and the adjacent single family zoning district or use. A wall shall also be required for a proposed commercial development or redevelopment adjacent to a multi-family zoning district or use, as required above. The wall shall be constructed of concrete block, brick or other durable material (wood not allowed) which is compatible with the surrounding area, and acceptable to the development review committee as to compatibility, design, and compliance with this section and the City Code. The wall requirements of this section shall apply internally within the boundaries of the Town Center, but only to buffer loading docks, service areas, and trash disposal facilities from adjacent single-family or multi-family residential uses. If a wall is required internally within the Town Center, the wall requirement may be waived or varied by the development review committee and City Commission pursuant to the special exception criteria and procedure set forth in the Town Center District Code. The wall requirements of this section shall also apply along the boundary of the property that also constitutes the outer perimeter of the existing area zoned Town Center." In areas outside the Town Center, this section requires a developer constructing a new or redevelopment commercial or multi-family project adjacent to a single family district or a single family use to construct a six (6) foot wall of concrete block, brick, or other durable material. Wood is specifically prohibited. This section is applicable only in the case where the Town Center is adjacent to a single family zone or single family use. The construction of a wall between the Town Center and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park is clearly not required by this code section since the Town Center is not adjacent to the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. The Town Center is adjacent to a 30 foot platted road right-of-way located between the Town Center and the Mobile Home Park. d. Section 321 (d) of the City Zoning Code provides: 'The City may enter into a site development agreement with the user or developer of a property relating to the development of a particular parcel or tract of land, and such agreement may address such issues as impact fee credits, a specialized or negotiated concept of design or site plan in development authorized or sanctioned by this division... " This section of the City Code authorizes the City Commission to enter into a development agreement which adopts a specialized or negotiated concept of design or site plan. This provision complements the intent of the Town Center Master Plan by allowing flexibility in designing projects on a case-by-case basis. Like most development projects approved so far in the Town Center, Jesup's Reserve was a negotiated development project lawfully approved by development agreement. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 4 of7 e. Section 20-321 (c)(1) provides: The City Commission may by special exemption waive strict compliance with provisions of this code. This section of Zoning code gives the City Commission authority to grant waivers of design requirements of the Town Center Code, including various aspects of a site planning. FINDINGS The residents and owners of the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park are not entitled by law to a security wall between the Mobile Home Park and Jesup' s Reserve town home project by virtue of the fact that Jesup's Reserve is adjacent to a right-of-way and the City Commission adopted a development agreement that provides for a specialized or negotiated concept of design or site plan that actually mitigated the impacts of a potential collector road adjacent to Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park. Conversely, the owners of Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park are required to provide a 25 foot buffer made of plant material or structural material sufficient to protect the residents of the park from the impacts of activities going on adjacent to its border. Additionally, it is only common sense to conclude that owners of property adjacent to the Mobile Home Park, by law, have a right to compel the owners of the Mobile Home Park to buffer their property from the Mobile Home Park as provided in Section 20-3I8(f) of the City's Zoning Ordinance. Additionally, the Commission has clear authority to waive requirements of the zoning code as provided in Section 20-32 (c) (1) and clear authority to approve site plans, designs, and standards by development agreement. Based upon these facts the Commission chose to waive the wall provision and to approve the design of the Jesup Reserve site plan by development agreement. 2. As a Matter of the Public Interest, is there a compelling reason for the City Commission to find that a public purpose exists sufficient to warrant the expenditure of public funds to construct, in part or whole, a security wall between Jesup's Reserve and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park? a. On August 23, 2004, the City Commission approved a concept plan with Highlander, Inc. to construct Jesup's Reserve. The concept plan provided for a vegetative plant buffer between Jesup's Reserve and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. The City's Town Center consultants remarked that a vegetative buffer would be satisfactory for two reasons as follows: 1. Walls between uses in the Town Center are discouraged since they are inconsistent with the mixed use design principles of new urbanism, and 2. That there were no apparent front to back uses, meaning that as depicted on the concept plan, there were not fronts facing the backs of buildings and thus no need for extreme measures to cure conflicts between two types of residential uses. b. On September 20, 2004, the City Commission approved a development agreement for the purpose of finalizing the development rights of Highlander, Inc. to construct Jesup's Reserve. The development agreement established the following development rights relative to the buffer area: I. It waived any claim or desire the City would have to require Highlander, Inc. to construct a masonry buffer wall between the two properties, acknowledging that the code did not require it, and that the City would not demand it. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 5 of 7 2. It granted Highlander, Inc. the right to utilize the existing 30 foot road right of way located immediately adjacent to the northern border of the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park to use as an alley way for the non-exclusive use of town home residents. In return, Highlander, Inc. agreed to two important provisions as follows: 1. Rather than utilizing the 30 foot right-of-way as part of the collector road connecting Tuskawilla Road to State Road 434, Highlander agreed to construct the road in front of the town homes located adjacent to the northern border of Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. This action moved the planned collector road some 75 feet farther away from the mobile home park and created a residential buffer between the street and the mobile home park. 2. It required Highlander, Inc. to install a plant buffer along the entire length of the alley and to maintain the alley and the plant buffer in good condition. It is important to re-emphasize that prior to the agreement with Highlander, Inc.; a public road could have been built adjacent to the mobile home park with no buffering requirement. Instead, the public collector road was moved 75 feet farther away from the mobile home park, and screened by a line of town homes. Further, the existing 30 foot right-of-way was used as a far less intensive rear alleyway and landscaping buffer. The before and after lineal sequence of development from the Mobile Home Park is as follows: BEFORE Town Homes Public Road 25 foot Mobile Home Plant or Structural Buffer Mobile Homes AFTER Public Street Town Homes 30 foot Alley With Plant Screen 25 foot Plant or Structural Buffer Mobile Home FINDINGS There were no legal requirements for Highlander, Inc. to build a buffer wall between Jesup's Reserve and Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park. Secondly, there will be some minimal light impacts from the town home owners utilizing the alley. These impacts would be easily mitigated by plant buffers. Thirdly, the movement of the public road 75 feet farther north of the mobile home park border, the town home buffer and the 30 foot alley way and plant buffer will have the effect of substantially reducing the noise, light, and traffic impacts that the mobile home park would have sustained if the existing public right-of-way was used to build a collector road immediately adjacent to the mobile home park as provided in the original plat. These buffers added additional buffering to the buffer that was supposed to be provided by the 25 foot mobile home park had it been built and maintained according to law. Furthermore, the plant buffer was more consistent with Town Center design principles than a masonry wall which is highly discouraged by the Town Center Code as indicated in Victor Dover's memorandum. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 6 of 7 The owners of Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park made a conscious decision not to design and construct Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park to the level of a gated walled community, In consideration of the facts it appears that the site plan lawfully approved by the Commission in a development agreement between the City and Highlander Inc, represents a well thought out strategy for balancing the desires of the owners and residents of Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park to have their mobile home park protected from the impacts of light, noise, and traffic through principles of good planning and design to reasonably sustain the level of security originally chosen by the park owners, and requirements of the City to implement the plan of development of the City as provided for in the City's Comprehensive Plan, CONCLUSION In consideration of all the relevant facts and findings there does not appear to be a compelling reason to conclude that the expenditure of public funds to construct in whole or in part a wall between Jesup Reserve and Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park is necessary to protect the best interest of the public, As a matter of goodwill, Levitt and Sons, the current owners of Jesup's Reserve, has agreed to construct a six foot vinyl fence the length of the border between Jesup's Reserve and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park, in lieu of the vegetative buffer if the City and the Tuskawilla Trails Mobile Home Park are in agreement They would not agree to construct a masonry wall of any type. RECOMMENDA nON: I. It is recommended that the City demand the owners of Tuskawilla Trails to bring the park into compl iance with section 20-417 of the City Code within six months. 2. It is recommended that consideration be given to the merits of Levitt and Sons donating the amount of money that it would have cost them to construct the vinyl wall, which the City estimates to be approximately $25,000, to the Tuskawilla Trails Home Owners Association to be utilized as they see fit to improve the 25 foot buffer between the mobile home park and Jesup's Reserve. There are two reasons for this approach as follows: I. Although the light and noise impacts of the residents of the town homes will be only a fraction of that which would be created by a public collector road, there will be minimal light impacts. Due to the narrow width of the alley, the turning movements of cars in the alley may impact the vinyl wall. If the vinyl wall were built inside the 25 foot mobile home park buffer, the wall would not be impacted by cars while provided the same degree of light screening. 2. If cash is given to the homeowners association of the park, the homeowners could decide how they want to spend the money to improve the buffer. For example, they could intensify plant material, or use the money to offset the cost of a more expensive wall system. 3. After reviewing this report and considering the testimony that may be provided to the Commission by the owners and residents of Tuskawilla Mobile Home Park, it is recommended the Commission consider any additional actions it deems prudent relative to this matter. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JANUARY 30, 2007 Agenda\07\Tuskawilla Trails Special Meeting Regular Agenda Item 300 Page 7 of7 ATTACHMENTS: COMMISSION ACTION: