Connected City multifamily entitlements review

1:04:29Mr. Whiteman? Thank you, Chair. Back to P sixty uh seven, the Connected city. project.

1:04:38Yeah.

1:04:39The remaining my understanding is, and Mr. Two's here, Is all the the uh single family Uh entitlement. Entitlements are gone. Gone. And what's left is just strictly multifamily.

1:04:52Yeah.

1:04:52I think it's time. And after talking with some of the stakeholders that we take a look at the overlay and understand how much property is left. And then how many exact what's exactly the multifamily entitlements that are remaining and if they're appropriate to be in those spaces where the land is left. Well

1:05:09if

1:05:09Mr. I think because we're too far we're so far down the line and talking to Mr.

1:05:17that we open this back up and take a look at it and as we finish out this project that we make sure that the the balance is there. and uh make sure we have the product that that folks want and this wanna sell and it's not oversaturated. with rental in the area. So I I Thought it'd be a nice discussion to have and get some ex you know, somebody who's had long standing history and get his take on it and uh see what what's the

1:05:42You know, I I just had a little meeting with them quickly before because I just wanted confirmation on the There was some confusion on that on that trail and path. Um And they showed a conceptual design and it's just very conceptual of six hundred twenty-eight multifamily units on there. But And and I've been asking this when I've been in meetings and maybe you have too Just because it's multifamily doesn't have mean it has to be standard Brandon style Apartments. Multifamily

1:06:13is brownstones, duplexes, quadruplexes W I mean they c they c they can be owned. They d you know that it's just a garden apartment, garden I don't know, villas. There's so much product that's in multifamily that w I in my opinion we're not seeing. Um and and better layouts, especially when you're in a in an area that's supposed to be a village concept and walkable and we're getting big parking lots with three story, four story

1:06:44apartment complexes and and that's really old style and I just think we can do better. I think were you trying to say something? Our develop no. Okay.

1:06:55Brad.

1:06:58I was involved with Connected City from the beginning. I don't know if uh David Goldstein would like to speak to this piece as well, but uh the design of this uh it's not so much village oriented uh like Pasina Hills is this is this is a very Specific design that is very high density along I-75 in this area. The intent is vertical. There's the urban core. That intent is vertical. So multifamily units of a vertical nature are really necessary here to achieve those

1:07:28densities and get that pattern. The lower density piece is the piece over towards Curly Road as you go out towards V OPH. Towards that more village concept area. The intent was to blend it across and have the business core, the urban core, all of those pieces be the higher density, higher intensity areas. The second piece of that puzzle is that Connected City is its own special dependent district. It's actually based on its own financial plan. And

1:07:58that financial plan requires these types of units and this level of density to actually be able to achieve the different things that it is obligated to pay for in the financial plan. So that's one of the hurdles that we would have to find a way to overcome to consider that. It's also a little bit of a design issue in that the intent is for this to be high density. So if you start reading reducing that, doing things like duplexes, you lose a lot of that density, you start having some compatibility issues with other things that

1:08:28are around it in that area.

1:08:30Uh how many year how old is this plan? When was this done? Six, eight, yeah.

1:08:34Twenty it started we started talking through it in twenty fourteen, twenty seventeen I believe was the approvals. Well, Twenty seventeen.

1:08:44A lot's changed.

1:08:45Yeah.

1:08:45Yeah.

1:08:47Yeah. the

1:08:47original Connected City. Um Started when I came on board. Yeah. Seven years ago.

1:08:55That's that's what I'm gonna do. The vision is supposed to look like that. Is that right? That's the cover of of the connected city. Documents. Comprehensive plan. Is that what we're getting?

1:09:09I can't quite see that from here. But the in the intention is that I see vertical mixed use. There's vertical mixed use. The urban core was supposed to be kind of like a mini downtown style with vertical, um, lots of different uses, and then business core stretching out from there. The multifamily is is a necessary component to have the the rooftops to be able to generate employees, both to work in the businesses and also to keep those. Businesses alive that are in there. It was a heavy lift as far as planning goes. There's a lot of different things that were involved

1:09:39in kind of making all those factors come together. But the most important consideration I believe personally is related to the financial plan and the way that it is set up. That if we were to uh reduce this to allow more single-family units, uh we would We would reduce the density to such an extreme that it would be very difficult to meet the financial plan obligations.

1:10:04And the quality of the product. That's there. We're a good portion of way through this. I think I think it would be wise that we take a look at the land that's left and understand the makeup of it. And if s what product is appropriate where within this within this project to ensure uh the quality of this of this project doesn't erode away as we come across the finish line. I've heard from stakeholders in the private sector that probably think that might be a good idea to take a look at it. It can't hurt to take

1:10:34time. But I think we there's some learning lessons we c that can come out of this exercise. And uh trust but verify. So

1:10:44maybe we could have a regular item to discuss this one day.

1:10:48Uh we could we could do it as a workshop. It has been a long time since Connected City came through. Uh been seven years.

1:11:01Yeah.

1:11:01If everybody's okay with that we could see about that.

1:11:04Any of the stakeholders care to Have their thoughts on it, the see their side of it too.

1:11:11Here's one. I haven't been on a pick on him in a long time. He he calls himself retired.

1:11:16Partially retired.

1:11:20Since since

1:11:21the Chairman ordered me to appear today and not to wear my golf shorts, um Joel too uh Land use consultant. Of course, I I worked with uh your staff and Mr. Gassaway at the outset helping formulate the plan. Now I'm still in Palm Harbor, Florida, on the lake, if you need to come see me. I did have a one-on-one discussion with Mr. Weightman yesterday about this subject, and just for what it's worth, I do think it's worth at this

1:11:51point, if the commission can make time to have a work session and give the staff time. As I mentioned to the commissioner, you know, we we adopt these plans and we all have a grand vision, but sometimes we run so fast that we never kind of stop. and say, okay, how's it playing out? Where are we? And does it need to be tweaked? Because when we obviously did this, we had the concepts and and we've hit a home run in some areas with Pasco Town Center, what's coming at Wildcat Bells with

1:12:21Johns Hopkins and all those things. Um and I think you're going to see that downtown core and that density truly come to fruition along the interstate. But with that said, uh there were some broad-based assumptions made as to total units and what part of that would make sense to be single family and what part of that was necessary at higher multifamily density to make the financial plan infrastructure work. And I don't want to downplay that financial plan infrastructure cost. So

1:12:52we do have to stay sensitive to the critical density necessary because the retail office doesn't pay for that. The only impact fee and the only thing you can credit against infrastructures structures residential. But with that said, I have had one or two parcels that I was contacted on. Um who wanted to do single family And we're told no, the single family units have been exhausted. You can only do multifamily. And in that particular location, Multifamily

1:13:23didn't seem to make a lot of sense. Uh and in some cases those owners actually elected not to opt into connected city. so that they could go outside a connected city and do single family. And I don't think that's necessarily the result, you know, that we want to achieve. So my suggestion to the commissioner, and I think it would be a good idea, is if Whether it's staff or whether you engage a consultant, it shouldn't take much time. If someone could overlay the actual

1:13:53projects that are approved in Connected City, With the density and unit mix that they've been awarded. I would encourage you to ask them to go ahead and also overlay the pending applications because in all fairness, as I discussed with Commissioner Weightman, you have quite a few pending applications that haven't made their way to you yet. But where those buyers, those those developers either bought land or have contracted to buy land and spent a lot of money. they certainly should be entitled

1:14:23to rely upon that plan at the point they apply. So I think you need to kind of see where you are and and that will tell you I think how many undeveloped vacant parcels that are a size that they likely will get developed. Uh what do you have left? And how many multifamily units do you have left? And does it make sense, given where those locations are, should you consider reallocating some density? to potential single family units. if there are locations where it makes

1:14:53sense and if you can be comfortable that you aren't jeopardizing your financial plan. That relies on the density. So ground truthing this thing before you're finished is probably never a bad idea. to see where we've come and where we're headed. So I I support that. Uh and I know Clark Hobby's mentioned to me he's also had a couple situations where they really wanted and probably needed to do single family, but they couldn't. uh because units got absorbed. And in terms

1:15:23of single family versus multifamily on the financial plan, it it it has to do with traffic obviously, but you know, we have exchange matrix make matrix between single family and multifamily trips. I mean all of that could probably be worked out. without blowing up the road network, you know, which would be another concern. So anyway, for what it's worth, it's never a bad idea, I don't think, to review your plan and where are we? Ground truth and on the ground. and see where where have we actually gotten.

1:15:53I'd I'd like that, but I I want to read something to all of you that I'm reading in the policies. Um It says ensure the economic resiliency and vitality of the connected city overlay by providing housing of different types. density, sizes, costs, and locations that accommodate the needs and preferences and financial capabilities of current and future households And it says that it should be a goal to strive for livable mixed income neighborhoods throughout the connected city overlay that collectively support

1:16:24a diversity of housing types and income levels by allowing a mix of housing types, rental, and ownership options, including houses on smaller lots, small houses, duplexes, attached housing, accessory dwelling units, multi-housing, multi-dwelling housing, or mixed use developments. I haven't had do we have any ADUs that have come through?

1:16:53I am actually Brad Tippen. I'm actually not sure if we have any ADUs that have come in there. There is an allowance for ADUs. They come in as part of the building permit process, not necessarily the site plan review because we don't require any additional review for them. The the mix of uses, I will say I I completely agree that we are looking for a mix of different types of residential housing there. There's obviously different types of multifamily uh by the definition that we use in in connected city. Uh

1:17:23the only issue is that the single family detached home uh has spread fairly largely in that area. And with that amount of lower density that's there from the single family homes that were originally allowed. to then make an exchange becomes difficult to to retain the ultimate density needed. The high density would have to be extra high to allow some of those mid densities to go a little bit further down. Um it's not

1:17:53something that we can't do. And that's because that's what pays for the roads to be built? That pays for the roads, it pays for the infrastructure.

1:18:00Well I don't want to e I don't want to have us pay for that. We're not going to pay for it. Um but I just as as far as I'm concerned though, we've eaten up well, I'd l I'd love to see what we've done because it seems like it's apartment after apartment after apartment. And have we already allotted all the apartments that need to be in Connected City and let's look at some other housing. Mul I'm for the density. I don't wanna say uh 'cause I uh but I but l there's other kinds of ways to get density.

1:18:28Okay, we can we can uh schedule something, uh workshop or something to go into that in detail. We would need some time to put that together if if the county is going to do that, we would probably need to have some authorization for a consultant because I don't that's a that's a little bit of a lift. um to do some of that work um as our team is already strained as you're very well aware. Um but we could certainly put some of that together. We can have some of the folks that were involved in it to to speak to it um and and discuss some of the issues and

1:18:55we'll give you time a couple of weeks.

1:18:56Are you saying you want to stop accepting tomorrow by lunch? Yeah. Did you want to stop accepting applications while we go through this or do we want the applications to come Continue while we're looking at what we've done.

1:19:09Oh right. I don't want to stop things. I w I wanna keep moving. I didn't know.

1:19:15When you have a moratorium you're only the reason you're having a moratorium is because you can't decide what to do. I think we can decide what to do.

1:19:22Okay. But

1:19:23go ahead.

1:19:23This is this I think is more of a tweak than than a massive overhaul of of something going wrong. It's clearly not something going wrong, but But we can certainly look at that. I I appreciate the commissioners' comments we can we can consider. I'd like to find ways to get more

1:19:37AD. Yeah, I just wanted to add just the logistical scheduling thing. We we have a board meeting in Janu I'm sorry, in in November as well as December. Um we have workshops on the new schedule starting in January. We were gonna have bud Budget is one of those items we'd like to discuss the connected city at at that point in time. Right,

1:19:55that'd be good. That may be with the financial plan issue. It might be a good time to have everybody in a similar mindset.

1:20:01We'd have to see a map of what we've done too.

1:20:03Yeah, we're gonna have to put that together. Yeah, okay.

1:20:05Wouldn't take long.

1:20:06We don't have those cool tools like ask somebody to figure that out for us, but we can drop something together.

1:20:11Right. Okay. All right.

1:20:16What else are we doing here?