2020-02-04 Ex 05
Ordinance No. 1205 - Page 1 of 2
Language to be added is underlined.
Language to be deleted is struck through.
ORDINANCE NO. 1205
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA; AMENDING CHAPTER 90
OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS OF THE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE;
AMENDING SECTION 90 -692, REVISING REQUIRED SETBACKS FOR SERVICE
STATIONS AND UNDERGROUND FUEL TANKS ; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT;
PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; AND PROVIDING
FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, has adopted Ordinance Number 716, as amended,
known as the Land Development Regulations; and
WHEREAS, the City of Okeechobee, Florida, has a legitimate interest in periodic review of its Ordinances and Land
Development Regulations in order to address certain inconsistencies or outdated regul ations contained in
the Codes; to make amendments to meet changing community standards, or to accommodate new
development; and to create new ordinance or regulation to better serve the public and to make the Code a
more consistent and easier to understand document; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Board for the City of Okeechobee, Florida, acting as the Local Planning Agency, reviewed
and discussed the proposed amendments, also known as Land Development Regulation Text Amendment
Application No. 19-004-TA, at a duly advertised Public Hearing held on December 19, 2019, and based on
findings of fact by the Planning Staff, hereby recommends certain changes, amendments or modifications
to the Code of Ordinances, to present to the City Council for ordinance adoption and codification; and
WHEREAS, the City Council for the City of Okeechobee, Florida, considered the recommendations by the Planning
Board and concludes that enacting such amendments to be in the best interest of its citizens of said City,
that said amendments are necessary and appropriate to make the Land Development Regulations more
consistent and responsive to the needs of the City and its citizens.
NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained before the City Council of the City of Okeechobee, Florida; presented at a duly
advertised public meeting; and passed by majority vote of the City Council; and properly executed by the
Mayor or designee, as Chief Presiding Officer for the City; that:
SECTION 1: Recitals Adopted. Each of the above stated recitals is true and correct and incorporated herein by
this reference:
SECTION 2: City Code Amended. The City of Okeechobee Land Development Code is hereby revised as
follows:
CHAPTER 90 – ZONING, ARTICLE IV. – SUPPLEMENTARY DISTRICT REGULATIONS, DIVISION 9. –
SPECIAL EXCEPTION AND SUPPLEMENTAL USE REGULATIONS
Section 90-692. – Auto service station requirements.
Auto service station requirements are as follows:
(1) Location Where permitted by district regulations
(2) Minimum lot area Area 20,000 square feet
Width 140 feet, and on each street frontage
(3) Minimum yards
Front 2520 feet
Side 208 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
Rear 2010 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
(4) Maximum lot coverage 25 percent, not including fuel storage tanks
(5) Maximum height 25 feet
(6) SpecialUnderground fuel
tank requirements
Front 20 feet
Side 8 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
Rear 10 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
Fuel storage tanks shall comply with yard requirements
Ordinance No. 1205 - Page 2 of 2
Language to be added is underlined.
Language to be deleted is struck through.
(7) Above ground fuel tank
required setbacks
Front 25 feet
Side 20 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
Rear 20 feet; 50 feet abutting residential zoning district
SECTION 3: Conflict. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
SECTION 4: Severability. If any provision or portion of this ordinance is declared by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be void, unconstitutional, or unenforceable, then all remaining provisions and portions of this
ordinance shall remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 5: Codification. It is the intention of the City Council, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this
Ordinance shall become and be made a part of the Code of the City of Okeechobee.
SECTION 6: Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its passage.
INTRODUCED for First Reading and set for Final Public Hearing on this 21st day of January, 2020.
Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Mayor
ATTEST:
Lane Gamiotea, CMC, City Clerk
PASSED AND ADOPTED after Second and Final Public Hearing this 4th day of February, 2020.
Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Mayor
ATTEST:
Lane Gamiotea, CMC, City Clerk
REVIEWED FOR LEGAL SUFFICIENCY:
John Fumero, City Attorney
Exhibit 4 December 19, 2019
providing planning and management solutions for local governments
1375 Jackson Street, Suite 206 Fort Myers, FL 33901 239-334-3366 www.larueplanning.com
Staff Report
To: Okeechobee Planning Board
From: Ben Smith, AICP
Meeting Date: December 19, 2019
Subject: Ordinances to Revise the Land Development Code- Restaurant Parking,
Auto Service Stations, Single Family Dwelling Minimum Unit Size, and
Reorganization of Housing Standards
Restaurant Parking
City Code Section 90-512 requires that parking be provided for restaurants, nightclubs, and bars at 1
parking space per 75 square feet of floor area. Historically, use of the term ‘floor area’ in this
requirement has sometimes been interpreted to mean all inside and outside customer service areas.
However, the term ‘floor area’ typically refers to the amount of floor area within a building. Staff is
reviewing this parking standard to determine whether additional clarification is necessary and because
it may not provide a sufficient basis for determining the amount of parking needed for some types of
restaurants, including:
• Restaurants which primarily provide take-out services
• Restaurants relying on a significant amount of outdoor seating to serve customers
• Drive-in restaurants
At the October Planning Board meeting, the Board held a workshop and agreed to move forward with
a land development code revision to section 90-512 which bases the restaurant parking standard on
customer service area instead of floor area. The effect of this change is that, regardless what other uses
exist, and regardless where the customer service area is located, the restaurant customer service area
is considered in the calculation. Additionally, it was agreed that a minimum number of 3 parking spaces
should be provided for any restaurant. These changes are depicted in the attached ordinance.
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Auto Service Stations
The City’s land development code contains a definition for ‘auto service station’ as well as supplemental
regulations for auto service stations; which are listed as permitted in the Heavy Commercial (CHV)
District, Central Business (CBD) District, Industrial (IND) District and the Mixed-Use Planned Unit
Development (PUD-M) District.
Section 66-1 provides a definition as follows:
Auto service station means an establishment used for sale of motor fuel, oil, motor vehicle
accessories, and as an accessory use convenience goods to gasoline customers, and which may
include facilities for lubricating, washing, servicing and minor repairs to vehicles, but not including
painting and body repairs.
Any facility which sells gas and convenience goods meets this definition of ‘auto service station’ and
therefore should meet the requirements of Section 90-692, all of which are more restrictive than those
of the CHV and CBD district, and most of which are more restrictive than the IND district. While it may
be appropriate to require a larger lot area, less lot coverage and greater setbacks from residential, it
may not be necessary to require greater setbacks for underground fuel tanks or greater standard
setbacks for all structures.
It is likely that the service station setbacks and regulations were intended to apply to service stations
with above ground fuel tanks. Now that most gas stations utilize underground fuel tanks, this additional
setback could be considered an onerous restriction. Based on staff review of site plans for gas stations,
it has been a difficult requirement to meet for some facilities. At their October meeting, the Planning
Board held a workshop and agreed to reduce the structure and underground fuel tank setback
requirements to match the CHV district setbacks, as depicted in the attached ordinance.
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Single Family Dwelling Minimum Unit Size
Staff was directed to examine increasing the minimum size for single family dwellings. The City’s
currents standard is located in Section 90-169(1) as follows:
Any single-family dwelling located in a RSF-1; RSF-2; RMF; or RMH, zoning district shall comply with the
following appearance and design standards.
Minimum floor area. The minimum floor area shall be 800 -square feet, including the area of an attached garage
(but excluding carport, screened porch or Florida room) except as provided in subsection (10) herein. To be
eligible for calculation as minimum floor area, such square footage shall be contained under a single integrated
roof system. A roof system designed by the manufacturer to be a single structure shall be considered an
integrated roof system under this subsection even if delivered in more than one part and assembled on site
At a previous workshop, the Planning Board agreed that increasing the single family dwelling minimum
unit size is appropriate, with specific standards adopted for each zoning district where single family
dwellings are a permitted use. This allows for the zoning districts with smaller lot sizes (i.e. RMH) to
continue to accommodate smaller dwelling unit sizes and to minimize the number of nonconformities
that would be created by this code revision.
The Board was also not satisfied with the City’s current method of calculating minimum floor area,
pointing out that it is not common to include garage areas and that the language concerning “integrated
roof system” was also not standard. The Board directed staff to propose a revised minimum floor area
calculation that more closely aligns with the current zoning standards and is compatible with the Florida
Building Code.
Additionally, while reviewing the existing codes for this task, staff discovered several sections of code
that are not organized correctly. Article III of Chapter 90 is organized into 15 Divisions. Divisions 2
through 12 and 14 each provide regulations for one specific zoning district. Except that Division 4, which
provides the Residential Mobile Home (RMH) district regulations, also includes several sections of code
which seem to be intended to apply to multiple districts. The Board agreed that it is appropriate to
move these sections to Division 1 of Article III, where they will more clearly apply to other zoning
districts besides just the RMH district.
All of these proposed revisions are included in the attached ordinance.