An Ordinance By The Pasco County Board Of County Commissioners Establishing A Temporary Moratorium (180 Days) On The Submission And Acceptance Of Applications For Conditional Uses, Rezonings, And Comprehensive Plan Amendments Proposing To Increase Multi-Family Entitlements Within The Moratorium Area; Providing For Authority; Legislative Findings Of Fact; Definitions; Moratorium Area; Temporary Moratorium Imposed; Duration Of Temporary Moratorium; And Severability.

46:39Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Victorious Pitos Planning and Development Department. Uh item PC six is the PDD twenty-one zero three one six temporary moratorium ordinance. Next slide. This is a proposed ordinance for a temporary moratorium. I'll go ahead and read that title. An ordinance by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners establishing a temporary moratorium, 180 days, on the submission and acceptance of applications for conditional

47:09uses, rezoning, and comprehensive plan amendments, proposing to increase multifamily entitlements within the moratorium area. Providing for authority, legislative findings of fact, definitions, moratorium area, temporary moratorium imposed, duration of temporary moratorium, and severability. The background to this uh project is that there there is a potential of oversaturation of multifamily dwelling units within a certain area of Pasco County. And the Pasco

47:39County Board of County Commissioners uh heard this on February 9th to and directed the staff to draft a temporary moratorium on the submission acceptance of those at of applications for conditional uses, rezoning, and comprehensive plan amendments that are proposing to increase entitlements for multifamily within the moratorium area. The Board of County Commissioners requested the temporary moratorium to provide time for the planning and development department.

48:10Uh So that we can go and uh accurately calculate and determine the true potential for the oversaturation of multifamily dwelling units within the moratorium area. Next slide. On the March twenty on March 9th Board of County Commissioners hearing, the BCC confirmed the proposed boundary and directed the Planning Development Department to conduct the subsequent public hearing on this proposed ordinance for the temporary moratorium. So the temporary moratorium itself will enable PDD to

48:40research the following within the moratorium area. We'll be looking at the current quantity of multifamily dwelling units and entitlements. The current acreage of land is zoned for multifamily dwelling unit uses, including that acreage having the potential for multifamily dwelling units. uh upon approval of a conditional use, as well as the potential number of multifamily dwelling units available through existing land use equivalency matrices. These are the mechanisms typically found within

49:10MPUDs, multi-master plan unit developments. On the overhead, you'll see the moratorium area. This moratorium is not a countywide. Uh ordin it's not an ordinance proposing moratorium countywide. It's only for specific geography within uh Pasco County, generally between uh State Road 52 on the north end, US 41 on the west, State Road 54 on the south. And then Bruce

49:41Bowns up to about Over Pass Road and then if you go west a little bit, you'll get to Old Pasco Road. There at that point you see that the boundary sort of zigzags it's zigzagging along the commission district boundaries between Commission District 2 and Commission District 1. So that's the moratorium area and so this ordinance would apply within that ink zone. Uh on the overhead.

50:13Uh today's recommendation is to find the proposed ordinance consistent with the Pasco County Comprehensive Plan and recommend approval of the ordinance to the Board of County Commissioners. Uh the first reading of this ordinance is proposed for April twentieth. at 1 30 p.m. in Newport Ritchie with a potential adoption hearing taking place on May 4, 2021, at PM here in the Dade City Historicum Courthouse. Thank you, Terry.

50:44Okay.

50:44Any questions? So Terry, would the moratorium go into effect on May fourth? Is that is that when it would have officially go into effect or does it need to be

50:53Yeah, the moratorium would take effect on the first public hearing in this process, which would actually be today. So it'd be a retroactive to April first. Okay.

51:03Thank you.

51:05All right, any other questions?

51:06Yeah, I have one quick question. During this moratorium, would there be uh by staff of Pasco County or contracted to maybe go out and do a survey. Of one, the number of apartments that are in play. And they're um

51:25Some type of information on Whether or not they're uh Sufficiently Well Let me rephrase that. If there if there's sufficient documentation to see how many were vacant or if there's a vacancy requirement or information as to vacancy and the number, compare that to the number that are found out there that are developed in this area that their moratorium is going to impact on.

51:52Right.

51:53I I don't know if that was

51:55Yeah. Yeah, I think I understand. That could be done. We're not going to check the vacancy rate of apartment complexes, but we will go out and see what kind of entitlements are existing within the Moratorium area. uh how many of those entitlements have actually been used, right? Because some of the zoning districts or the MPDs they will establish A maximum uh an or an upper limit. But developments rarely go all the way to the max, they'll they'll find an actual. So we'll

52:25go out and look for the actuals, what was actually built. uh and then what could potentially come about in the future. But a vacancy analysis was not part of the board direction and we're not Going to do that.

52:41All right. I guess Terry, just for clarification, I'm I'm confused on this. I'm probably on me, but the effective date of this ordinance is today. Or is the adoption by the board?

52:55It it would be adopted by the board on May the fourth. But the ordinance would retroactively set the moratorium period to April first.

53:08So

53:08we're like April one October.

53:11Very f or whenever that

53:12Sure that that's what this ordinance says, is it? Right.

53:20We sure are hard for somebody or yeah when you open the ordinance.

53:24Yeah, I'm just looking at the actual ordinance in section eight. It just looks like it says

53:29Cool. The order shall take effect. upon confirmation by the Department of State, Right. I mean that's the duration of the moratorium too, that's a hundred and eighty days from today.

53:40Right. So section six is what establishes. It says the duration of this temporary moratorium shall be one hundred and eighty days from april first, twenty twenty one, which is today, until such time as repealed by the county, whichever occurs first, may be extended by resolution, etcetera. Um and so if the board adopts this proposed ordinance on May fourth. you will be essentially uh at that point you'll be essentially th uh thirty plus days uh thirty three plus

54:10days into the moratorium period.

54:14So Mr. Gerardi, another way of saying it is even though the ordinance may take effect on May 4th, it's retroactive to Today. The board can make governance retroactive if they want to.

54:27Okay. Very good. Yeah, I just didn't know if somebody between

54:30clear, I believe I believe it only applies to applications. Files after today. I mean if you if you had your application in yesterday. I don't believe the more apply to you. Is that correct, Mr. Pitos?

54:44Yes, yesterday was March thirty first. So

54:47Okay.

54:47Um

54:50Right. Also g remember that this is about new applications on conditional uses, rezoning, coverage of plan amendments. So if there's an entitlement that's already in place, that's a different thing.

55:04Yeah, the section eight was just confusing me. So thanks for putting that.

55:08All right. Is there anyone else to speak, Denise?

55:13So

55:14this is

55:15what to speak. Sorry. Go ahead, Dave. I just want

55:17to make one comment before we get public comment. I just want to remind the Planning Commission that on this item you're acting as the local planning agency and you're Duties define the ordinance either. Consistent or inconsistent with a comprehensive plan. The reason I bring that in this particular ordinance is because one could argue that A champion. moratorium doesn't implicate the comprehensive plan at all because it's temporary. In other words There's a big difference between this item and the next item because this is not a permanent change

55:47the helmet code. It's really just a temporary pause. And Your comp plan is really looking at future land use. So Oh I'm Yeah, because one can mark one could argue that any moratorium really doesn't implicate the comprehensive plan at all. So Right. Your public comment.

56:07All right, thanks,

56:08David.

56:12Yes, so we we do have um Mr. Eric Gardunio um who has signed up to speak on this item. Okay.

56:22Good afternoon.

56:24Afternoon.

56:28All right

56:29ahead.

56:29My name is

56:30Mr.

56:30Garjunio, if you would provide your name and address for the record and um and uh uh wait so so the clerk can si uh swear you in.

56:40Sure thing. Eric Arduño with the Bay Area Apartment Association. Our address is PO Box 151958 Tampa. Uh zip code three three six eight four.

56:52And if you could raise your right hand for me. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give is the truth so help you, God?

56:59I do.

57:00Thank you.

57:02All right, go ahead. Sorry about that. Good afternoon, Pasco County Planning Commission. Really appreciate this opportunity to share a few thoughts regarding this proposed ordinance. Point taken that this is a temporary ordinance, but underlying the temporary ordinance is an objective to discourage the growth of apartment communities in our county. The apartment communities are a key ingredient to the future success of the county. Their develop their development should not should be encouraged, not discouraged.

57:34Let me just share a couple of important stats to keep in mind. Going to the question that was raised earlier, the latest information I have regarding vacancy rates for apartment communities in Haskell County is 6.1%, which is really, really low. I'll also note that there are just under 15,000 apartment units across the whole county. By comparison, Hillsboro County has 133,000. That is 11 people for every apartment

58:04in Hillsborough and 36. people for every apartment in Pasco County. Nationally, 45% of rental households are in apartment communities.

58:16Of

58:16five or more units. Only 25% of renters in Pasco County are in apartment communities. As was presented in the market survey from the February BOCC meeting, the county will need close to 1,700 new apartment units every year.

58:341100 of those are in the class A category for apartments. This demand is fueled by young professionals and empty nesters, both of whom want amenities and services in and around their communities. Apartments are a key economic driver for the county. They themselves are employers. This includes on-site teams as well as a whole host of contractors who maintain and fix appliances and amenities throughout apartment communities. More importantly, I think for your consideration, they provide

59:04the rooftops for commercial investment. You need rooftops to support retail. You need rooftops to attract major employers. Apartment communities get you those rooftops in a small footprint that furthers the comp plan. The COP plan objectives around reducing sprawl. reducing environmental impacts, and maximizing efficient use of infrastructure. Train limitations on the development of new apartment communities, like that considered. Like that under consideration here. will

59:35make it harder for the county to achieve a number of the objectives laid out in the comprehensive plan. We ask that you find this ordinance inconsistent with the comm plan. Thank you.

59:47Okay, okay, okay. Thank you very much.

59:50Okay, anyone else, Denise?

59:54There are some folks that are still on the um WebEx, so perhaps they want to speak. Um m Mr. Two or Miss Wilhite?

1:00:13Mr. Chairman, can you hear me?

1:00:16Very low. Ciao.

1:00:18Okay. Is that better? No. No. Nope.

1:00:26So you'll have to scream, Joel.

1:00:28Yeah, I don't know how to do that but I'll try.

1:00:30No, it's perfect now. You you're coming across

1:00:34Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, um Very briefly on this. I've spoken before uh to the point of the both we

1:00:41all know you we all know you really

1:00:42well, but

1:00:43would you please state your name and address for the record and have the clerk swear you in, please?

1:00:56It's not required on this. It's a legislative matter. He doesn't have to swear in.

1:01:01Thank you, David. Um, but I promise to tell you what I believe is the truth. Um This moratorium, in my judgment, is directly inconsistent with your comprehensive plan, and I urge you to find that and and and not recommend it for approval. It is directly inconsistent with virtually all of the South Market area policies. which not only promote but require high density residential development, mixed use areas, multifamily to support employment

1:01:32generation and transportation. uh oriented development in this quarter. So it is directly inconsistent. I also believe that anytime you're imposing a moratorium before you even conduct your study or your analysis, I believe that's intellectually dishonest because it presumes the result or the outcome that you're looking for. Um, it is also contrary to the qualified evidence that already has been presented over the past

1:02:02year. This or this ordinance presumes that no study has been done, when in fact The Planning and Development Department staff over a 12-month period, three or four times, has done a study, reported to the Board of County Commissioners and or to you. And they concluded that there in fact is not a sufficient supply of multifamily in that quarter, that there's nowhere near saturation, that there is a strong market demand. They keep telling the county commission this. Someone is ignoring

1:02:32the facts. They don't like the answers. So now they want to get the end result by moratorium while somebody tries to cook the books. Um I referred you last meeting to a independent market consultant study that established, as the prior speaker said, that you're at almost 95% occupancy. You have a demand for over 6,000 Class A apartments over the next five years, and that is taking into consideration all the existing apartments and the projects coming

1:03:02online now. So here at the peak of unprecedented Uh housing demand, market demand in this country, unprecedented housing inventory shortage in this country, unprecedented number of young professionals and empty nesters and retirees who are wanting apartments and the high-end lifestyle that the current product provides. It is simply a bad message to send to business. Business and industry will ask. What is the next

1:03:32target? Is that my business? Um, we may as well change the name of Pasco County to Hillsboro County North if we're going to start imposing moratoriums at the height of a market boom, when we should be doing exactly the opposite. We should be providing incentives to get product there, to get affordable housing, to get uh apartment options for those who who want to. Live in Pasco County and this whole concept is simply ill-designed. to apply to one commission district

1:04:03for purely political reasons that have nothing to do with the comprehensive plan, that have nothing to do with market data, have nothing to do with market demand. Thank you.

1:04:15All right, thank you very much. Anyone else to speak, Denise?

1:04:21Why don't we poll the folks who are still on the um Ms. Wilhite, would you like to speak on this item?

1:04:37Then that's that's all we have for this item.

1:04:39Terry, uh do you have anything you'd like to respond to?

1:04:45I I'm

1:04:45sorry, I missed your question. I just

1:04:47wondered if you had anything you'd like to respond to with regard to the comments from the public. Uh

1:04:54I don't have anything further to add more than what I've already presented. Thank you, Jerry.

1:05:01All

1:05:01right.

1:05:02Questions? Yeah, So I guess my question is so s what uh you know let's say there's a six month moratorium. What happens after that? What's is there uh proposed? Comment change there uh what happened.

1:05:22So that would depend on the results of the analysis, Mr. Williams. The The whole purpose of the moratorium is to for stuff to get more data on this geographic area to see whether there is What's entitled? um in the area to see if there is an oversaturation or not. If Conclude there's not an oversaturation as Mr. Two believes will be the case. Then Result in any change to the land development code. Um Yeah. If there is an

1:05:53oversaturation, then it would be up to the Board of County Commissioners to direct staff. What to do with that? potential oversaturation in terms of You know Changing zoning, changing the comp plan, changing whatever. Um to deal with but I think it'd be impossible for Mr. Pitos or anybody to predict what would result after the moratorium until they get the data of the that they that they asked to provide.

1:06:21Yeah, David, I guess my thinking is that they're they're saying that this this uh multifamily development is moving so rapidly that in order to make sure we have our arms around it and that we have the right uh regulations and the support that they're we're gonna need for that. They they need some time to review it and make sure they have the the proper uh protocols in place. I think that would be the thing. That's basically what we're trying to do. And

1:06:52it's One area right now. Yeah.

1:06:57I do want to respond to one more thing that Mr. Tu said, which is it is true that Mr. Pitos has done some analysis of of the county. However, when the board Specifically. How many multifamily units are entitled in this geographic area? The planning department answer that question with any level of accuracy. And that was the reason that was the impetus for the moratorium request. And and with all due you know defense to Mr. Pitos.

1:07:28That's partially because a lot of multifamily is kind of hidden. Um And we'll and we'll kinda take this up in the next item as well, but For example You can have property that's zone C2, but yet you can get multifamily through a conditional use. Or You have property that the land use equivalency matrix. Um that's all that allows them to convert. certain entitlements multifamily and that's not always obvious. So It def it is something that just takes staff

1:07:58time to do an accurate and complete evaluation of the number of entitlements out there.

1:08:05Mr. Petos, and you can tell me for more.

1:08:07No, I I I would concur with Mr. Goldstein and and I would just add to that The moratorium applies within the moratorium area that we showed on the map and a good chunk of that area is the central market area. pre a lot of our previous work has been focused on south market area. So there is a little bit of of a geographic distinction. between what we've done in the past and what's being asked now.

1:08:32All right,

1:08:32Terry.

1:08:33Thank you.

1:08:33Just out of curiosity if if we're not including vacancies in the analysis, how do we determine oversaturation?

1:08:43It it's a it's a determination based on the number of actual entitlements. What's been built out there today.

1:08:54And what could potentially be built. That's that's part that's the other part of the analysis.

1:09:01I'm in trouble. correlating the number of units. I mean, say you come back with twenty thousand. Is that some opinion of the planning staff whether that's more than you need, or is that There's some rationale behind that.

1:09:15In terms of making a determination that says we have enough multifamily or

1:09:22I mean, I think what David indicated was that your analysis was gonna determine if the multifamily market was oversaturated or not. And I just didn't understand Most time trouble comprehensive how you're gonna determine oversaturation. We don't know I mean every every place requires a different number of units. Depending on the population and and the demographics of the area.

1:09:46It it's also a community determination on when certain when and where certain land uses can occur. So I think that's a piece of information that we're currently missing. Um I Where the where this goes is based on the direction of the Board of County Commissioners at the end of the moratorium period once we have the data available. Um So I I I it would be premature to come to a conclusion at this hearing on that.

1:10:16Yeah, I I think, you know, based on listening to the to the board workshop on the on the ninth, um what struck me was kind of the disparity between the data that's available out there from industry to uh the data that Commissioner Oakley uh Commissioner Fitzpatrick provided to the data that you provided during during that testimony. So So yeah, that struck me as an absolute reason to need to do to kind of hit the pause button and actually step back and and look at that very issue. Um what also struck me is, you know,

1:10:46really focused on kind of market rate apartments, I think. um Commissioner Starkey brought up a and tried to drive home the and I know that's not the focus of this moratorium, but I think workforce housing has to be a a part of that and the the policies and the incentives to be able to kind of drive that and drive it to where we want that sort of that sort of growth. So that's that's an aside uh completely. But you know, I have a young staffer that works for me, you know, professional services firm. Thankfully I'm able to pay him enough where he's he was able

1:11:16to They get one of those nice new shiny apartments right on the corner of of uh right by the Wawa there, uh fifty four. So, you know, you can't I can't understate the joy of him having home ownership. So I think the rent renting is not what it used to be. There's not the stigma related to that that there used to be for for us wanting to own single family homes and like coming up. So I think that We need to get it right. The data's gotta be right. And, you know, it's it's incumbent upon us to make sure

1:11:46that we get it right for for future generations. So that's that's just my observations. Yeah.

1:11:54Mr. Chairman M Yeah, can I can I add to that? Because Mr. Poole makes a good point. And I think when we get to a discussion of the permanent changes to the land development code that result Once we have this data. Then we can start having dialogue about affordable housing. mixed use, the development, other factors that influence multifamily. And have some of that discussion for the next item because that is in fact a permanent to the land development code. And so It is relevant. I just wanted to

1:12:24point out that there is a big difference between a permanent change to the domain code, which is your next item. And this current item, which is really just a temporary pause to get more data. Right.

1:12:37Uh yeah, I I I I support the personally I support the pause to to get more data. I do but I also do see the relevance of of of considering vacancy factor because I know from my perspective and being in that business

1:12:56You know no no developer goes in to develop uh an apartment project without knowing that what the vacancy rates are. The vacancy rate are fifteen or twenty percent. He's not gonna build a new complex.

1:13:12So Mr. Chair, uh if I can make a recommendation, if if the Planning Commission is inclined to find it consistent with the Comm Plan, but Would like to see vacancy rates studied during the moratorium period. I think that's something you can include. as part of your recommendation. Obviously the board would be f could accept or reject that, but if you wanted to make that Part of your recommendation to the board. Um I think you could do that.

1:13:35All right, David. Thank you. Uh yeah, well whoever makes the motion, I would hope that we would include that. So uh We have a motion.

1:13:45I just need clarification on We looking at vacancy rates or

1:13:50We're looking at the war m approving the moratorium they're requesting for 180 days for that particular area of the county. Right. And uh while they consider many factors in determining, you know, whether how much and whether we need more multifamily development and on what basis we make those decisions. And one of them that I think at least we need to know is on a regular basis is what's going on. When I

1:14:17asked a question about vacancy rates, all I got back was an answer about we're gonna look at entitlements. I concur with that. So here we need more inf this should have more information. entitlement rates.

1:14:31So yeah, that was my point was that Mr. Pito. Answered the question accurately based on what the board directed staff to do. However, if Planning Commission wants During the moratorium period, staff to also look at vacancy rates. You can make that recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners and they can and take that information in and then decide whether they want to instruct staff to do that.

1:14:57Thank you, David. Okay. So that being said, if there's no further discussion, let's have a motion.

1:15:10But I I'll make a motion to approve it um with the addition of uh vacancy as a uh criteria for uh reviewing of the moratorium in addition to the I think there's four specific criteria that are in the moratorium right now. Um yeah, I'd like to see vacancy added to to that as a uh as a study area.

1:15:33All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second?

1:15:36Like in it.

1:15:37Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay.

1:15:50Nay.

1:15:52Okay, I believe it's one A.

1:15:57Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman Mariano.