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STATEMENT OF ISSUE
This item seeks ratification of the Board actions taken at the March 23, 2021 Joint County/City Comprehensive Plan Workshop and seeks direction from the City and County Commissions on Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item has a fiscal impact. Adequate funds are available in the County and City’s respective budgets to hire a consultant for the Land Use and Mobility Element. The option to issue a revised Request for Proposals for the Land Use and Mobility Elements and the review of the entire Comprehensive Plan for consistency (Option #1) would rely on the previously budgeted funding ($300,000 divided evenly between the County and the City). Based on the future revisions of these elements, additional funding may be needed in FY 2023 to update the County and City land development regulations. No funds have been budgeted to date for the update to the land development regulations that will result from the planning work.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Option 1: Ratify the actions taken during the March 23, 2021 Joint County/City Comprehensive Plan Workshop on the Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements and 1) direct staff to issue a revised Request for Proposals for the Land Use and Mobility Elements to include: a) review for consistency of proposed changes with the entire Comprehensive Plan with an option for expansion to other Elements if needed, and b) any other targeted clean-up amendments necessary to comply with the upcoming Evaluation and Appraisal Review (EAR) process; and 2) accept the Summary of Public Input on Draft Land Use and Mobility Objectives. (City and County)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On March 23, 2021, the County and City Commissions held a joint workshop on the Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements. This item seeks ratification of the Board actions taken at the March 23, 2021 Joint County/City Comprehensive Plan Workshop and seeks direction from the City and County Commissions on Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
For Workshop Item #2 providing a Report on Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements, the Board approved Option #1 and Option #2 as presented:
The Board also requested that the agenda materials address concerns from the public expressed for the workshop, explore options for including students from Florida A&M University and Florida State University in the process, and clarify citizen engagement.
The City Commission did not take formal action at the workshop but discussed the same points as the County Commission.
Citizen Concerns
Several citizens expressed a concern that staff seeks to apply dense land uses within low-density downtown neighborhoods and bypass the public participation process by sending the draft Land Use & Mobility Element to a consultant to be finalized. This is not correct.
Neither the workshop nor this item includes any changes in land use density or intensity for existing in-town neighborhoods. Instead, this item seeks direction on hiring a consultant to update the Land Use and Mobility Elements of the Comprehensive Plan. The consultant would conduct public engagement and data analysis to do this. The consultant may review the public engagement conducted to date and, to the extent that it is helpful in the process, may review the work completed by staff. The consultant would not be expected to use the draft materials as a starting point for updating the Land Use and Mobility Elements but may use portions of the draft materials if they determine them to be beneficial.
There was a specific concern that the workshop item recommended an increase of density from 6 to 26 units per acre with the addition of office buildings in some low-density residential neighborhoods. This is not being proposed and any new categories in neighborhood areas would be reflective of character of those areas. Staff suspects this misunderstanding arose from the similar terminology between the mixed use and residential categories around Downtown. The draft materials refer to General Urban Neighborhood, General Urban Corridor, and General Urban land use categories. Each of these land uses are separate and distinctive (and are three different colors on the map). Each of these categories would fall in the C-4 context classification for FDOT purposes, but that is related to transportation, not land use or density. The General Urban land use was included in the working draft, but the General Urban Neighborhood has not been written yet. The Alliance of Tallahassee Neighborhoods (ATN) had requested specific analyses and City Growth Management was working with ATN directly on neighborhood compatibility standards. The General Urban Neighborhood land use category would be written once these were completed so it could incorporate consistent language about the compatibility standards.
Staff conducted extensive public engagement on the Land Use and Mobility Elements, but more engagement is needed before any policies are ready for adoption. Not only do Florida Statutes require certain public input opportunities, but staff anticipates and expects the public engagement to be significantly more robust than the minimum required by Statutes. This expectation will be incorporated into the Request for Proposals.
Engaging Students
At the March 23, 2021 Joint Comprehensive Plan Workshop, the County and City Commissions expressed a desire to include students from Florida A&M University and Florida State University in the process of updating the Land Use and Mobility Elements. Each year, the Planning Department hires interns from Florida A&M University and/or Florida State University. Current and future interns will have significant roles in assisting with the Land Use and Mobility Element updates and the Evaluation and Appraisal Review. Additionally, staff will coordinate with the Florida A&M University School of Architecture and Engineering Technology and Florida State University Department of Urban and Regional Planning to explore opportunities for students to be engaged in the process. The Request for Proposals to hire a consultant for the Land Use and Mobility Elements will request that respondents identify opportunities to engage students in the process.
Public Participation
Public Participation will continue to be a cornerstone of the Land Use and Mobility Element update. Letters received from community groups and citizens indicated that the community has a keen interest in remaining involved and being engaged in the process of updating the Land Use and Mobility Elements. The Request for Proposals to hire a consultant will specifically request that the respondents explain their proposals for community engagement. Respondents will be asked to explain their approach to providing opportunities for the public to both learn about a variety of topics (such as infill, urban design, walkability, etc.) relevant to the Comprehensive Plan from professionals and experts and opportunities to provide input into the development of Land Use and Mobility goals, objectives, and policies. Respondents will be asked to explain how their approach to outreach and education opportunities include strategies for reaching traditionally under-represented groups in the community and how they will ensure that a wide variety of citizens have an equal opportunity for providing input. The approaches proposed by the respondents will be part of the evaluation criteria used by a selection community to score the proposals.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommendation is to ratify actions taken by the Board at the March 23, 2021 Joint Comprehensive Plan Workshop for the City and County Commissions to direct staff to issue a revised Request for Proposals for the Land Use and Mobility Elements and accept the Summary of Public Input (Option #1). This action would provide consistent direction from the Board and City Commission to staff. Following the Request for Proposals process, the recommendation from the selection committee will be brought to the Board and City Commission for approval.
The scope of services with the approved consultant will include data analysis, public engagement (including the engagement of students at Florida A&M University and Florida State University), production of a draft Land Use and Mobility Element, and a consistency review to ensure that the goals, objectives, and policies developed by the consultant are internally consistent with the other Comprehensive Plan Elements. The contract with the selected consultant will also include the option to update additional Comprehensive Plan Elements if directed by the County and City Commissions and budgeted at a future date. The summaries of previous public engagement and work previously completed by staff will be provided to the selected consultant to use as informational resources. Also, through the Evaluation and Appraisal review process, staff will work with the consultant to identify any references, dates and milestones that have passed, and any other minor corrections to the other Comprehensive Plan Elements that are needed. Finally, changes recommended by the consultant will be brought back to the County and City Commissions through the formal Comprehensive Plan Amendment process.
OPTIONS
Option 1: Ratify the actions taken during the March 23, 2021 Joint County/City Comprehensive Plan Workshop on the Consultant Services for the Land Use and Mobility Elements and 1) direct staff to issue a revised Request for Proposals for the Land Use and Mobility Elements to include: a) review for consistency of proposed changes with the entire Comprehensive Plan with an option for expansion to other Elements if needed, and b) any other targeted clean-up amendments necessary to comply with the upcoming Evaluation and Appraisal Review (EAR) process; and 2) accept the Summary of Public Input on Draft Land Use and Mobility Objectives. (City and County)
Option 2: Board Direction. (County only)
Option 3: City Commission Direction. (City only)
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
Option #1.
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