Project:
Land Development Regulations and
Design Guidelines
Recent
Updates
Please also check the
City Manager's "blog"
(an online chronological log),
at http://lakelandcitymgr.blogspot.com/
(external link) periodically for meeting
announcements, since postings to the
blog sometimes happen more quickly. From time to time, information is also sent to
Qnet, and information is sometimes announced on the agendas of various Boards and Commissions of the City of Lakeland.
Background
In 2006, after a lengthy public process, the Planning Department, with the assistance of Dugan & Assoc., updated the Comprehensive Plan. The new plan addresses a variety of new forms of development, lot sizes and products; maintains our unique and long-standing emphasis on natural resources protection; allows better neighborhoods and commercial centers; and encourages best development practices.
In late 2006, Farr and Assoc., of Chicago, was chosen to lead a project to rewrite our Land Development Regulations and Design Guidelines to generally follow the new Comprehensive Plan. Farr was chosen for this project, because of their expertise in architecture, urban design, sustainable development, planning and land development regulations.
In mid-March 2007, Farr & Assoc. kicked off the project in Lakeland, conducting various meetings, including a public meeting at City Hall, where citizens, landowners,
developers and City representatives participated in exercises aimed at expressing opinions about land development, particularly emphasizing the location of development.
Another public meeting, held in early May 2007, focused on an image preference survey. Participants viewed and rated photographs illustrating layouts, buildings, etc., for different development types. The images included photographs from Lakeland, metro-Memphis and communities around the country. The survey results will be used to create regulations that will guide future development.
Since May
2007, the Advisory Committee has met several times, with Farr & Assoc., Farr visited in
September 2007, December 2007, and
March 2008. Separately, a number of follow-up meetings occurred with City staff. The coding process began in earnest during this period, and is perhaps as much as 40% complete as of March 25, 2008. Please see the links above to
CityWatch articles, for a general indication of the work that has been transpiring.
At this time, the majority of the proposed new regulations have not been completely drafted. Drafts for some of the early sections which have had substantial work are posted above. Please check back from time to time for new documents, which we will add links for. Documents will be posted at such time as the Advisory Committee has been able to have significant discussion, and new drafts can be coded and released. Unless indicated on this page, these documents are only drafts, and have not been docketed for any action (i.e., adoption). All of the documents are under review and will change before any docketing could occur. At this time, staff believes that docketing with the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners of any portion of the proposed regulations would be no sooner than Late Summer 2008, and most likely later than that. Additional public meetings will be scheduled between now and then.
The
month of April 2008 is a special month for this project, in that numerous public meetings have been scheduled with Boards and Commissions to present a project status, while staff and the Advisory Committee continue to work on the proposals from Farr & Assoc. In addition, the Planning Department began “Planner Q & A” in late
March 2008, providing approximately 4 additional times per month when staff will be available to talk to interested parties about this project. Note the schedule that has a link near the top of this page.
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