View Agenda '20'

Leon County
Board of County Commissioners
Agenda Item#20

June 11, 2024

To:	Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board

From:	Vincent S. Long, County Administrator

Title:	First and Only Public Hearing to Consider an Amendment to the Southwood Development of Regional Impact Integrated Development Order

Review and Approval:	Vincent S. Long, County Administrator
Department/Division Review and Approval:	Ken Morris, Assistant County Administrator Ben Pingree, Assistant County Administrator Barry Wilcox, Director, Development Support and Environmental Management
Lead Staff/ Project Team:	Ryan Culpepper, Director, Development Services Ryan Guffey, Concurrency Management Planner

Statement of Issue:

This item requests the Board conduct the first and only public hearing to consider approval of an amendment to the Southwood Development of Regional Impact Integrated Development Order (Southwood DRI-DO), which requires approval from both County and City Commissions. This amendment, if approved, would allow multiple changes to the Master Plan Map (Map H), update the land use conversion tables for transportation impacts, revise the mitigation options for affordable housing, update statutory references in the DRI-DO to ensure consistency with current Florida Statutes and update the master stormwater facilities plan.

Fiscal Impact:

This item has no fiscal impact.

Staff Recommendation:

Option #1: Conduct the first and only public hearing and approve the tenth amendment to the Southwood Development of Regional Impact Integrated Development Order (Attachment #1).

Report and Discussion

Background:

This item seeks Board approval of an amendment to the Southwood Integrated Development Order (DRI-DO). On January 22, 2024, DesignWest Group, on behalf of St. Joe Corporation, submitted an application to amend the Southwood DRI-DO (Attachment #1). The application includes multiple map amendments to the master plan, updates to associated land use conversion tables for transportation impacts, updates to affordable housing mitigation options, updates to the statutory references in the DRI-DO to ensure consistency with current Florida Statutes and updates to the master stormwater facilities plan. At its May 14, 2024, meeting, the Board scheduled the public hearing for this amendment for June 11, 2024.

This public hearing is quasi-judicial in nature. Legal considerations for quasi-judicial hearings are provided in more detail in the following Analysis section.

Southwood is a 3,222-acre mixed-use development located in the City of Tallahassee. Due to the size and scope of the Southwood development, it was originally approved as a DRI in accordance with Chapter 380, Florida Statutes. The Southwood DRI-DO was adopted by the City and County in 1999 due to the DRI being located within both jurisdictions. Although a majority of the DRI has been annexed into the City, there are three (3) parcels within the Southwood DRI that remain in unincorporated Leon County. The DRI-DO, which includes both the City and County, governs the Southwood DRI. A DRI-DO outlines the development program for the project and identifies required improvements intended to mitigate the development’s regional impacts.

In 2018, Section 380.06, Florida Statutes, was amended to eliminate the DRI review process. Amendments to DRI’s are no longer reviewed by the State of Florida or the Apalachee Regional Planning Council. Amendments to DRI’s are strictly within the purview of the local governments in which a DRI is located. DRI’s typically evolve over many years due to the extent of the development which impacts a large area. Market conditions during the promulgation of a DRI-DO are typically much different at the time of its initial development and require amendments over time to reflect more modern development practices and engineering standards as well as to address market conditions. Amendments to the Southwood DRI-DO continue to require approval by both the County and the City.

This is the tenth amendment to the Southwood DRI-DO. The previous amendments are as follows:

The first amendment was for the Independence Landing Project to serve adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities and was approved by the Board on October 23, 2018.
The second amendment allowed a proposed 82,000 square foot addition to the Florida State University School and was approved by the Board on March 12, 2019.
A third amendment, which consisted of a proposed 9,000 square foot addition to Creative Day Care, an additional fifteen (15) beds for Pruitt Healthcare, and a change to the DRI transportation conversion table was approved by the Board on May 14, 2019.
The fourth amendment to redesignate a 17-acre Mixed Use Office Commercial parcel to Medium Density Residential was approved by the Board on June 18, 2019.
The fifth amendment revised the master plan of the DRI DO to redesignate a portion of property from MUI-1 to MUEI-5 to provide for the future home of the Tallahassee Classical School and was approved by the Board on September 17, 2019.
A prior proposed sixth amendment by the St. Joe Corporation was withdrawn in March 2020.
A proposed sixth amendment which would have allowed a ½ acre of golf course property to be designated to allow a single-family residence, was denied by both the City and County Commissions in November 2020.
A proposed seventh amendment submitted in August 2020 included multiple changes to the Southwood DRI-DO that also required the approval of an updated stormwater master plan. The applicant decided to withdraw this amendment due to the amount of time the stormwater master plan update required. A newly updated stormwater master plan was subsequently approved by the City on June 30, 2023.
The eighth amendment to the Southwood DRI-DO was approved with conditions by the Board and City Commissions on December 12 and 13, 2023, respectively. This change included a re-designation of allowable uses in the Town Center and to designate it as a “Pedestrian Primary Area”, to provide the option to not construct the Merchants Row Boulevard extension and allow stormwater facilities to be placed within the Town Center properties (PID #’s 31-15-31-000-0020, 31-15-31-000-0010, 31-22-20-002-0000, and 31-15-27 E-0190).
The ninth amendment was approved by the Board on January 23, 2024, and by the City on February 21, 2024, which allowed the conversion of MUI-2 (Research and Development) and MUOC-8 (Office/Commercial) to MDR-18 (Medium Density Residential). This change allowed 252 multi-family units on Parcel Identification Number 31-20-20-003-0000, which is located entirely within the City.

Analysis:

The proposed tenth amendment consists of seven changes to the Southwood DRI-DO (Master Plan Map, Exhibit C), which are outlined below. The proposed amendment, if approved, would allow the following master plan map changes:

Redesignate 37 acres of a portion of PID #31-10-20-012-0000 from Large-Lot Single Family (LSF-1) and Medium-Density Residential (MDR-1) to Low-Density Residential (LDR-17). The subject parcel surrounds Conley Elementary School (2400 Orange Avenue), located on the north side of the intersection of Four Oaks Boulevard and Orange Avenue. There are some existing overhead power lines that render the design of the site more challenging with regard to the higher density entitlements. The LDR-17 land use will allow flexibility in site design and is consistent with adjacent uses. This parcel is located within the City of Tallahassee (City).
Redesignate 40 acres of a portion of PID #31-10-20-012-0000 from Large-Lot Single Family and Medium-Density Residential to Mixed Use Educational and Institutional (MUEI-7). This is part of the same parcel identified in the previous paragraph. The Leon County School Board has decided to expand Conley Elementary School (2400 Orange Avenue) instead of using the site next to John Paul II High School. This parcel is within the City.
Redesignate seven acres of Medium-Density Residential (MDR-6) to Open Space (OS). The parcel is located on the west side of the intersection of Baringer Hill Drive and Four Oaks Boulevard (PID #31-15-20-002-0000). This change will allow greater protection of a significant archeological area. The parcel is located within the City.
Redesignate eight acres of PID #31-16-21-D-0040 from Mixed-Use Office and Commercial (MUOC – 6) to Town Center (TC-3). This parcel is located at the intersection of Merchants Row Boulevard and Capital Circle. The new town center would create a new commercial core that has not been provided by the existing town center. The proposed town center will allow multimodal access and will contain approximately 75,000 to 90,000 square feet of commercial development. In addition, the developer will construct approximately fifty (50) hotel rooms and twelve (12) apartments above the commercial uses. This parcel is located within the City.
Redesignate 44 acres of Mixed-Use Educational and Institutional (MUEI-3) to Large-Lot Single Family (LSF-11). The subject parcel (PID #31-22-20-023-0000) is located immediately to the east of John Paul II Catholic High School and northwest of the intersection of Schoolhouse Road and Biltmore Avenue. The originally intended use for the property was for a school adjacent to John Paul II High School. As noted previously, the Leon County School Board is no longer interested in utilizing this parcel. Therefore, the applicant is requesting that the subject property be utilized for single-family development, similar to the adjacent parcels. This parcel is located within the City.
Redesignate 57 acres of PID #31-21-20-004-0000 of Mixed Use Institutional (MUI-3) to Medium-Density Residential (MDR-20) to change the use from institutional/industrial uses to single family. The subject parcel is located immediately to the south of Merchants Row Boulevard and Tram Road. According to the applicant, there is no market for industrial uses in this location. This parcel is located within the City.
Redesignate 111 acres of PID #31-20-20-002-0010 of Mixed Use Institutional (MUI-1 and MUI-2) to Medium-Density Residential (MDR-21). This property is located to the immediate east of the intersection of Artemis Way and Tram Road. This change will allow greater flexibility in housing opportunities. According to the applicant, there is no market for industrial uses in this location. This parcel is located within the City.

In summary, the aforementioned changes to the Master Plan Map will change the mix of the units and commercial square footage allocation within the DRI-DO. These changes would allow for an increase of 416 single-family dwelling units and an increase of 710 multifamily dwelling units, while simultaneously decreasing approximately 15,000 square feet of office and commercial uses each, and a decrease of 2.3 million square feet of industrial uses.

The applicant is also proposing additional text changes to the DRI-DO that are not part of the proposed updates to Exhibit C. Some of these text changes are necessary to process and evaluate future map amendments. These text changes also include updates to outdated statutory provisions in the DRI-DO. Lastly, the applicant is required to update the master stormwater facilities plan in accordance with the requested amendments. The following is a summary of these text changes:

The applicant is proposing to update the Land Use Conversion Table to better evaluate transportation impacts that are necessitated by land use changes. An updated Land Use Conversion Table is required to convert one land use to another and determine the number of trips generated by proposed amendments to Exhibit C for purposes of evaluating transportation concurrency impacts. Both City and County staff reviewed the conversion table and determined that it is accurate.
Another change relates to affordable/workforce housing. In 1999, St. Joe paid the City an initial $150,000 towards affordable housing and agreed to pay an additional $160 per dwelling unit. At the time of the approval of the original DRI-DO, the State of Florida required all DRI’s to use the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council model to determine whether a proposed development would impact affordable/workforce housing. This model is no longer utilized as it is significantly out of date. The outcome of that analysis established the mitigation amounts for affordable housing for the DRI-DO. According to the most recent Southwood Annual Report, the affordable housing escrow account has a balance of $311,759.90. The money is collected by the City and can be used anywhere inside the City limits to construct affordable housing units, make rental units more affordable, or be utilized for master planning. The application proposes to include an option to provide affordable housing units in lieu of paying the voluntary $160 fee per unit, which would require the City and the developer to enter into an agreement that identifies the specifics of that option. Construction of affordable units would satisfy an immediate need rather than contributing a small amount to an escrow account over a long period of time.
The applicant is seeking to delete the requirement to conduct an air quality study. This requirement was found in former DRI statutes that have since been repealed. The air quality study would be important for industrial land uses; however, St. Joe is seeking to remove industrial uses based on the aforementioned revisions. Deletion of the requirement for an air quality study is no longer relevant to the Southwood DRI.
The applicant wishes to remove the state and regional agencies from the list of agencies that receive the DRI annual report. This language is outdated as state and regional review has been removed under state law. The proposed map amendments are not impacted by the agency notification requirement.
The applicant is proposing a change to the schedule of Internal Road Improvements (Exhibit G) and seeking to delay some roadway construction, both within and outside of the Southwood DRI. The original deadline for all the road improvements was December 31, 2025. The proposed changes would revise the dates that the construction of certain segments, located within the Southwood DRI, would begin and end. These roadway improvements are designed to provide a more grid like pattern in the immediate area east of Capital Circle Southeast and south of Apalachee Parkway. This grid pattern will provide more options and allow the preservation of roadway capacity on two principal arterial roadways (CCSE and Apalachee Parkway). The revised schedule is being timed to coincide with new development “pods” that will be constructed in Southwood in the coming years. A summary of the construction deadline changes in Exhibit G is provided in Table 1:
The applicant is also requesting to update the payment deadlines in the Schedule of Pro-rata Share Contribution for transportation concurrency mitigation found in Exhibit “H” of Attachment #1. The applicant is not requesting any change to the amounts owed. The DRI required a traffic study which identified deficient roadways and established a pro-rata share to be paid as part of the mitigation for these deficiencies. These original payment deadlines which would have expired starting in 2018 have been extended over the years due to multiple extensions afforded by the Governor’s Emergency declarations from various natural disasters and documented by the City and County in accordance with F.S. The Governor’s Emergency declarations extend the deadlines for all development orders for the time period that the emergency declaration is valid anywhere in the State. For example, if an emergency declaration is issued for a period of six months, then a development order deadline would be extended for a period of six months. As a result, each of these payment deadlines have already been extended to the maximum allowed per F.S. due to these emergency declarations and are not eligible for any further extension. The updates to Exhibit H are needed in order to officially incorporate these updated payment deadlines into the DRI-DO. A summary of the payment deadline changes for each amount owed is listed in Table 2:

Table 1: Summary of Construction Deadline Changes in Exhibit G
Roadway Name	Segment	Current Construction End Deadline	Proposed Construction End Deadline
Merchants Row	Tram Road to Artemis Way	December 31, 2025	June 30, 2028
Artemis Way	Capital Circle Southeast to Tram Rd	December 31, 2025	December 31, 2028
Esplanade Way	Current Terminus to Medium Density Residential (MDR-3)	December 31, 2025	December 31, 2028
Southwood Plantation Road/Biltmore Avenue	Current Terminus to Apalachee Parkway as aligned with Sutor Road	December 31, 2025	December 31, 2026

Table 2: Pro-rata Share Contribution Changes for Transportation Concurrency in Exhibit H
Current Payment Deadline	Proposed Payment Deadline	Payment Amount
December 31, 2018	January 22, 2025	$500,000
December 31, 2019	January 22, 2026	$500,000
December 31, 2020	January 22, 2027	$685,982
December 31, 2021	January 22, 2028	$1,000,000
December 31, 2022	January 22, 2029	$1,000,000
December 31, 2023	January 22, 2030	$1,000,000
	Grand Total:	$4,685,982

The above noted changes also require the approval of an updated stormwater master facilities plan by both Commissions. Leon County Environmental Services is requesting an additional update to the plan when new Federal Emergency Management Agency data becomes available. At its public hearing on May 7, 2024, the Planning Commission added this recommendation as a condition of approval.

Consistency with the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan:

The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department has determined that the proposed change is consistent with the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan (Attachment #2) and staff recommends approval of the proposed Southwood DRI-DO amendment. Section 10-6.697 of the Leon County Land Development Code requires a recommendation by the Planning Commission on whether a change constitutes a substantial deviation, and whether it is applicable with all relevant local codes.

At its May 7, 2024, public hearing, the Planning Commission made a recommendation to find that the proposed amendment did not qualify as a substantial deviation. The Planning Commission also determined that the proposed amendment is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, meets all applicable local codes at this time, and recommended unanimous approval of the proposed tenth amendment to both the City and County Commissions. The Planning Commission also recommended to include, as a condition of approval, the following:

That the current/reflected flood elevations shown in the DRI-DO be updated upon the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) formal adoption of their revised maps.

Legal Considerations

This public hearing is a quasi-judicial proceeding; therefore, members of the Board shall not initiate or knowingly engage in ex parte communications regarding this item. Ex parte communications are verbal or written communications made to a member of the Board on a matter to come before the Board by, or on behalf of, a party outside of a Board meeting, and without notice to the other parties. All ex parte communications received by a Commissioner should be forwarded to the County Attorney’s Office for inclusion in the agenda materials. If a communication is not included in the agenda materials or occurs after agenda materials are distributed to the Board, the Commissioner must disclose the details of the communication at the Board meeting before the Board takes action on the matter.

Quasi-judicial hearings require due process (notice and an opportunity to be heard and cross-examine), must comport with the essential requirements of the law (consideration of the correct criteria), and require that the decision of the Board be supported by competent, substantial evidence placed on the record before the Board. “Competent substantial evidence” is that which is “sufficiently relevant and material that a reasonable mind would accept it as adequate to support the conclusion reached.” De Groot v. Sheffield, 95 So. 2d 912, 916 (Fla. 1957). Further, evidence relied upon must be fact-based, real, material, pertinent and relevant.

The public hearing has been publicly noticed consistent with Florida Statutes (Attachment #3).

Summary

This item recommends Option #1 to conduct the first and only public hearing and approve an amendment to the Southwood DRI-DO which includes the condition recommended by the Planning Commission regarding the FEMA map updates. The requested amendments will have a net neutral impact to the transportation concurrency system, will enable a re-allocation of land use entitlements to address current market conditions, provide an additional option addressing affordable housing, update internal roadway improvement schedules, update references to Florida Statutes and update the master stormwater facility plan. These updates will enable the DRI-DO to continue to develop as intended with the flexibility to adapt to changes in the market. The City Commission will conduct a public hearing to consider this amendment on June 19, 2024.

Options:

Conduct the first and only public hearing and approve the tenth amendment to the Southwood Development of Regional Impact Integrated Development Order (Attachment #1).
Conduct the first and only public hearing and do not approve the tenth amendment to the Southwood Development of Regional Impact Integrated Development Order.
Board direction.

Recommendation:

Option #1

Attachments: