Planning board reviews new round of ‘quick fixes’ to the zoning code

• The proposal presented by staff represent a number of “quick fixes” the town can incorporate before the incorporation of the town’s revamped zoning code.

Palm Beach planning staff are working with the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach on a list of proposals that would make it easier to maintain and renovate landmarked homes.

The proposed changes to the town’s zoning code, presented during the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Sept. 3 meeting, would remove pesky bureaucratic red tape and give the owners of landmarked homes a better process for deviating from the zoning code to preserve their historic properties, town staff said.

Those measures include removing a regulation that classifies any landmark renovation costing more than $2,000 as a major project, said James Murphy, assistant director for the Planning, Zoning and Building Department.

They also include updating a “dimensional waiver” system so that minor renovations at landmark single-family homes could avoid going through the arduous process of requesting a variance to the zoning code, Murphy told commissioners

It’s part of the town’s recent effort to tackle a range of “quick fixes” to the zoning code that could be implemented while staff continue to draft a new code.

Unlike the previous round of quick fixes, Murphy emphasized that a majority of the changes proposed during the Sept. 3 meeting were still being reviewed by staff, and would be ready for a vote during the commission’s upcoming meetings. Once the commission votes to recommend one of the policies, the Town Council will have the final say on whether to implement it.

The suggested changes reviewed during the Sept. 3 meeting also included a proposal to require the town and new residential development projects to plant a certain amount of shade trees.

“If you’re designing a new home right now you have the native (plants) requirement, and we have all of these categories, but we don’t have shade trees” as a required category, Murphy said. The trees would shade pedestrians from the scorching Florida sun and help to counteract the heat absorbed by buildings, streets and other town facilities, he said.

But one proposal that was ready for a vote and did receive the commission’s unanimous recommendation to the Town Council would remove a requirement that condos and apartments in the town’s RD-2 zoning districts, which are located along sections of Midtown’s coastlines and the South End, have a front yard that is equal to the building’s height multiplied by the number of streets it neighbors, Murphy said. 

Not only does that create a disjointed streetscape, but it also means projects surrounded by three streets would be pushed back so far it would be impossible to construct, Murphy said. 

The Planning and Zoning Commission will continue its review of the second group of quick fixes during its Oct. 7 meeting. 

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.