Agenda Package - 04-16-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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E MEMORANDUM TO: City of Sanford City Council and Planning Board "town of Broadway Board of Commissioners and Planning Board Lee County Board of Commissioners and Planning Board Leonard Barefoot, Sanford City Manager Bob Stevens, Broadway Town Nlanager Lisa Minter, Lee County Interim Manager FROM: Marshall Downey. Assistant Director of Community Development 1 t DATE: April 6, 2007 REF: Public hearing on two amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) ® In February of this year, the Joint Planning Commission met and considered two amendments to the UDO as presented by staff. Amendment # 1 - Consider amending Section 5.1 to allow accessory buildings to be located on separate parcels in the unincorporated areas of Lee County's zoning jurisdiction. Section 5.1.2.1 of the UDO currently states, "Accessory buildings or uses shall not be constructed or established on a lot until construction of the principal building has commenced or the primary use is established. Accessory buildings shall not be used for dwelling purposes, except where permitted in this Ordinance." In effect, this rule prohibits the splitting of a residential tract of land wherein the resultant new lot would contain only an accessory structure (a typical accessory structure being a smaller structure located on the same lot as the principal dwelling and used for personal, non-commercial use). However, staff has received complaints from a couple of property owners in the County who claim this rule is a hardship. Because of the size of the tracts involved, these are situations wherein an accessory shed or shop is located quite a distance from the main home. Under the current rules, a new lot cannot be created which would contain only the shop or shed. As applied, this rule works well in the municipalities, because the tracts to be subdivided are generally small (less than two acres). As an example, property owner X is within the city's zoning and has 1.5 acres which contains his house and a detached garage. He decides he wants to split the 1.5 acres in two tracts. Under the rules as stated above he can subdivide so ® long as the house and the detached garage remain on the same tract. Again, this works well in the municipalities as the acreages involved are generally small.