Exceptions to the rules: How PUDs, administrative deviations change landscape

Exceptions to the rules: How PUDs, administrative deviations change landscape

By Steve DiMattia

The triangular structure quickly taking shape on the corners of Margaret and Oak streets in Five Points made extensive use of one. Goozlepipe & Guttyworks on King Street in Riverside did not. Mellow Mushroom in Avondale was going to, but decided against it. Without it, San Marco Station may have taken a completely different form. And the one from 1661 Riverside has people confused.

The Planned Unit Development (PUD) is one tool developers can access when seeking modifications to regular zoning laws and the Riverside/Avondale Overlay. Administrative deviations (ADs), waivers, variances and exceptions also are at their disposal.

“The PUD format sometimes makes it a lot easier to make better use of a unique space,” said Allan DeVault, co-developer of the “triangle,” now, officially, the Black Sheep Restaurant. “Some restrictions of the Overlay would have made it challenging to develop that property without a PUD. It provides you a lot more give-and-take than an AD.”

But officials with Riverside Avondale Preservation have a different perspective — a PUD is a way for developers to skirt restrictions outlined in the overlay and other citywide zoning regulations.

“PUDs are not good for our city,” said Carmen Godwin, executive director of RAP. “The kind of spot zoning where you write your own story overrides the planned zoning for the area. The Overlay should have eliminated the need for deviations. They shouldn’t be granted unless there’s a good reason. They really should be the exception to the rule and not something common throughout the district.”

A PUD is a type of rezoning that provides flexibility in planning, design, development and innovative approaches to the design of community environments, said Bruce Lewis, city planning supervisor. This often goes down to very specific details, such as dogs being prohibited in the Villas of St. Johns in Riverside.

“Their purpose is to allow for a mix of uses that you can’t find in a conventional zoning district. For example, residential and commercial adjacent to each other,” Lewis said. They are specific to a particular property and stay with that property even through an ownership change. Unlike ADs, waivers, exceptions and variances – all of which target one specific rezoning request – PUDs cover multiple deviations and categories and they are all vetted through the City Council rather than just the planning commission.

The perfectly developed PUD is actually a collaborative effort, according to local experts.

“The PUD is an opportunity for all stakeholders – city, neighborhood, preservationists and developer – to get together and write specific zoning rules for that property for a specific use that meets everyone’s needs,” said Doug Skiles from San Marco-based Envision Design and Engineering.

In Black Sheep’s case, one collaborative example is the PUD’s restricting amplified music on the roof top terrace to no later than 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and after midnight Friday and Saturday.

“That was a condition the residents wanted,” Godwin noted.

Other conditions were not as easy to come by, she said.

“We didn’t want as big a building and we wanted more set back,” Godwin said, though she acknowledged that, because Five Points is in an Urban Transitional zoning area, the 45-foot building height complies with standards and the restaurant did not have to provide any set back. “We also wanted their building to lineup with Mossfire [the adjacent restaurant] to make it more pedestrian friendly. We would have liked to have seen a five-foot setback instead of the one-foot that the PUD allowed.”

Black Sheep nonetheless made many provisions for the Overlay, according to the planning department’s Lewis.

“The footprint stayed the same, but they modified a number of architectural designs such as window moldings, cornices and decorative trim,” he said.

Be that as it may, Godwin feels that the planning department often works against the best interest of the Overlay.

“It starts with the planning staff and they take their cue from the government leadership,” she said. “We feel they sometimes ‘give away the farm.’”

Regardless of the planning department’s role, another notable sign of collaboration from Black Sheep involved parking: The Urban Traditional parking requirement for a 45-foot or less building is 25 percent of regular zoning, so, in their case, 21 spots. They have met that requirement and have elected to include an additional 11 spots not actually in the PUD. They also will provide three bike racks  — two for the public and one for employees.

“They proved that they could be trusted outside of the scope of the PUD,” Godwin said. “We still would have liked to have seen it as a condition of the PUD, but it was a good faith effort. They are a great restaurant group and are going to be good neighbors and positive for the neighborhood.”

Godwin feels that what would also be good for the neighborhood is developers using ADs, waivers, exceptions and variances rather than PUDs.

“With PUDs sometimes it feels like it’s, ‘give me the world, then we will negotiate down from there,’” Godwin said. “The AD makes it easier for the community to understand what is being requested. They’re just far less confusing.”

That was the case with Goozlepipe & Guttyworks, which used an AD to allow off-site parking, an exception for outside sale of alcohol and a variance for landscaping.

“A PUD just wasn’t appropriate in our case because we weren’t using mixed-zoning categories,” said Ed Salem, Goozlepipe’s co-developer.

That was the conclusion recently reached by developer John Valentino regarding Mellow Mushroom. They recently withdrew their submission for a PUD and will instead proceed via ADs and exceptions.

“We are optimistic that we can address the neighbors’ concerns regarding parking or anything else without having to do a PUD,” said Mellow Mushroom’s attorney, Steve Diebenow.

Parking concerns are one thing that 1661 Riverside thought it had addressed in its PUD, but the wording has some people confused.

The issue is with their garage parking and whether it is open to the public or just to customers/tenants of the mixed-use development. The PUD states, in part, “The parking garage will be open to the public and on street parking…will be available. Free parking will be available to commercial tenants and customers on the ground floor of the parking garage.” The garage has clearly marked signs prohibiting non-customers.

Godwin and others’ interpretation is that the garage is open to the public, but they can charge; if you are doing business in the building, it is free. But a visit to the site provided proof that 1661 does not charge. City planning’s Lewis has concluded that the development is in compliance, but said that the city could send out investigators if they receive complaints.

Another 1661 PUD issue revolves around a pedestrian throughway from Margaret to May streets.  As per the PUD, it is identified with a sign, but it is too small to see from the street. Also, the gate, which should only be locked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., is often secured at other times. These are easy fixes, but they do lead to confusion and accusations of non-compliance.

“This is exactly why PUDs are so dicey,” Godwin said.

Even without the Overlay, the PUD process can present challenges that may need cooperation to overcome.

“The San Marco Station/Panera project is an example where we were able to use the PUD process to trade off items with the developer,” Doug Skiles said. Code permitted a parking lot in front of a historic building, but preservationists sold the developer on the idea of a public plaza instead. Parking still had to be found behind the building. After some “intense negations” the city relaxed the buffer and interior landscape requirements. “Thankfully we were able to reach an agreement that worked for everyone and will result in a much desired development in that part of our neighborhood,” Skiles said.

A solution around PUDs that San Marco is trying to implement is form-based code.

“The premise is that we should be more concerned with the shape and placement of the building than what happens inside,” Skiles explained. “The market does a good job of encouraging complimentary uses if we would just get out of the way. Conventional zoning leads to isolated uses, which we now realize to be the enemy of good urban neighborhoods. Of course, what comes along with that for the neighborhood is they need to give up some control. It is hard to do, but can lead to better long term results in many cases.”

And ultimately, that is what the Overlay, City Code and various deviations are attempting to accomplish.

Link to City of Jacksonville deviations application page: http://www.coj.net/departments/planning-and-development/applications.aspx

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