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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.21.69M I N U T E S ZONING AND PLANNING COMMISSION CITY OF SANFORD August 21, 1969 Present Clifford W. McKibbin, Jr., Chairman Jefferson R. Davis John Daniels, Jr. B. C. Conklin Robert E. Karns Garnett White City Planning Consultant Gerald Dake City Manager W. E. Knowles Building Official Linvel J. Risner Building Inspector Kermit Wallstedt Absent Arthur H. Harris G. Donald Bishop Phillip H. Logan - - (incapacitated due to auto -train accident around 7/21/69) The Chairman called the meeting to order. The Chairman announced that the first item of business was the holding of a Public Hearing to consider the rezoning from M -1, Light Industrial, to that of C -2, General Commercial, that area known as the "tank farm area" and more particularly described as: Bounded on the south by Fulton Street; on the west by French Avenue; on the north by Seminole Boulevard; and on the east by Myrtle Avenue. Twenty -three property owners within 300 feet of the property were mailed individual notices and said public hearing was published in the Sanford Herald on August 11, 1969. It was noted from a sketch submitted to the Board that the following property owners were within the immediate area of the above described property: Lillian Rhame City of Sanford T. 0. Brown, Jr. Eastern Seaboard Petroleum Company, Inc. Z & P minutes 8/21/69 -2- Murphy Oil Company (prior property owned by Sanford Pipeline Company) Cities Services Oil Company C. E. Harrell Realty Trust Company Standard Oil. Company The Chairman announced that he would be glad to hear from anyone for or against the rezoning. C. Vernon Mize, Attorney at Law, appeared to represent the officials of Standard Oil Company, namely: James L. Anderson, Plant Foreman of Sanford facility; Mr. Anthony Seano, Assistant Manager; and Mr. W. Jy Puckett, Assistant to Mr. Seano and Traveling Manager. Mr. Mize stated that the Standard Oil Company was objecting due to the proposed change in the zoning would put the facility out of business wherein storage tanks are not permitted in a C -2 zoning. Mr. Mize then apprised the Board of what the Standard Oil facility has done for the community and the hardship created if the rezoning should take place. He outlined, as follows: Facility opened in June, 1934. Additional property was purchased in 1945 - 1953 -1965. Continuously operated local facility until 1942 and closed for a period of one year. Opened in 1943 and continuously operated until June, 1969. The facility is now on a stand -by basis and not closed down. In the year 1968, over forty -one million gallons of their product came through the local facility. In January, 1969, 19 barges came into this particular terminal. All these years Standard Oil has been paying taxes to the City of Sanford. The property is presently assessed on the City tax rolls at $103,920,000.- and the real property tax on facility last year was $1,596.21. The stand -by status was outlined as follows: The tanks are maintained; the grounds are maintained; to the extent that on a 24 -hour notice the facility could be ready to operate. The fuel is now being shipped into Tampa on i&ifferidnt type of operations being tried and the company has not made any decision Z & P Minutes 8/21/69 -3- to close the local facility. They do have a full - time caretaker for the local facility. ,, tanks have been de- gased, lines cleaned, and ed with water wherein they are not a hazard. Mr. Mize referred to a letter of December 4, 1933, from the City welcoming this facility, and further stated that the company has every intention of maintaining the local facility as it would cost approximately 10 -15 million dollars to relocate. On question of Mr. White, it was confirmed that should the facility cease to operate for a period of six months as a non- conforming use under the proposed zoning of C -2, it would not be allowed to re -open and operate in its present capacity. The Building Official stated that the ordinance specifically states "vacated or abandoned" for a period of six months. It was also pointed out that under a non - conforming use the property could be re -sold and the present use continued but not expanded; this being applicable if the use has not been vacated or abandoned for a period of 6 months. Mr. Mize stated that Standard Oil is taking the position that the property has not been vacated or abandoned because of the stand -by status. The City Manager observed that caretaking does not fill the letter of the law and the property must be occupied by the use. Mr. Puckett stated that in regards to long range plans, he felt that the facility would remain at this particular location under future plans of their operation. He further stated that when the facility was in operation it served Daytona, DeLand, Cocoa, Apopka, Orland and as far as Melbourne. The officials stated that their company is presently seeking to bring the customer the finished product at the cheapest possible price and presently this is being done through trial and error based on transporting and distribution. It was felt that not only would the company be hurt by the proposed rezoning but it would be hurting those local customers who consume their product. Appearing next regarding the proposed rezoning was Mr. Don Waller, representative of Murphy Oil Company and A. D. Lucus, Area Manager, Tampa, stating that their company has just purchased property within the last 90 days in this particular area with plans to expand in this area, but are not as of today in operation. The gentlemen pointed out that they could not Z & P minutes 8/21/69 -4- sell their product if they do not have the storage tanks and have recently expended $40,000 along with the purchase of the property. In addition to the use of the terminal they have definite plans for expansion of service stations in the city; being that of Spur stations; and they will truck their product out of Tampa; plans call for using the facility within the next six months; they do not plan on using the pipeline owned by the City and located on City ROW; will add two additional storage tanks on the property and have warehousing for motor fuel oil and grease. The Chairman announced that John Krider, Executive Sager, Seminole Chamber of Commerce, talked with him personallypwas upset regarding the request for rezoning of the property as his organization was instrumental in bringing the facility to Sanford many years ago in good faith. Also, the pro-tem. Director of the Port of Sanford called to say that he was certain that his board has no intentions of backing a move that would eliminate the moving of the tank farms from Sanford to get them into the Port Authority property. However, they would welcome the move if the officials of the tank farms felt that it was feasible. A. B. Peterson, Chairman of the City's Scenic Improvement Board and said board making the official recommendation for the Z & P to consider upgradii3g the zoning in the particular area under question, appeared to state that is board was not trying to work a hardship on anyone but their foremost thought was the long range plans for Sanford and basically it would be very beneficial to the City to clear this area of any industrial use. Further, the beautification board had given consideration that the tank farms should not be allowed to lay dormant and impair the frontage along the lakefront which the city is proud of; however, times and areas do change and this area is now a potential area that could be utilized as commercial and could be a large producer of taxes; tank operations can be a dangerous operation to the downtown area due to pipeline breaks; other locations are available for the tanks such as the Port Authority property and the industrial area at the Sanford Airport; and felt that this area should go into a normal development state of commercial. Therefore, Mr. Peterson stated that the Scenic Improvement Board wholeheartedly endorses the rezoning from M -1 (Light Industrial) to C -2, General Commercial. Mr. Conklin discussed with the Standard Oil officials the matter of upgrading the appearance of their tank farms. The Planner made several observations and did state that the lakefront is one of the City's greatest assets and this area should be given a closer look as to how it will fit into the urban pattern and what is the best use of it as far as our total Z & P minutes 8/21/69 -5- community growth is concerned based on its strategic location to the heart of our downtown area. After discussion, Mr. Karns moved that it not be recom- mended to the City Commission that the rezoning of the respective area as outlined be changed from that of M -1 to C -2; therefore, the request be denied. Seconded by Mr. Daniels and carried. The Planner again pointed out that the Board should con- sider appointing a committee to discuss the lakefront property with the owners regarding the existing and potential utilization of the area and to decide how this particular area will fit into the future planning; and on motion of Mr. White, seconded by Mr. Conklin and carried, the suggestion of appointing such a committee was approved. A discussion was next held with the Building Official relating to the proposed parking layout for the Lakeview Junior High School addition of a gym, cafeteria, and auditorium con- sisting of 79,144 square feet with reference to Chapter XVII, Section 2, Article 6 and 16 of the Off- Street Parking Require- ments. The plan showed a number of 53 spaces with the building official pointing out that 168 parking spaces would be required for the g}m alone or a total of 320 spaces required, for the addition alone. On motion of Mr. Conklin, seconded by Mr. Davis and carried, it was recommended that the architect be advised that the parking plan as submitted for said school is deficient and that the Building Official and other persons involved meet with the respective Architect John A. Burton, ISM, to explore the matter and that saif information be reported back to the Zoning and Planning Board. The Planner next submitted a preliminary agenda to be considered for the proposed meeting between the City, County, and Tri- County on September 17, 1969, as follows: Introduction by Chairman of the Z &P Presentation by all three groups re- garding programs they are now involved in. Discussion of interests: a) Consolidation of a zoning ordinance /to include Airport Zoning. b) Consolidation of a beautification program and -or community appearance. Z & P minutes 8/21/69 c) Capital Improvements d) Coordinated Planning Efforts c) Problem of Utilities Proposed "airport zoning" was discussed as to feasibility of establishing a third board to implement same. No action taken. Adequate landscaping and proposed requirements was next discussed to some length. No action taken. The Building Official recommended that problems such as shopping centers and sub - divisions, requirements there of, and which are inherited by the City under annexation be discussed at the joint, cooperative meeting. The meetings of the Tri- County Planning Commission and the regular attendance by a City representative to keep the board members informed of "where the action is" was discussed. No action taken. On motion of Mr. Conklin, seconded by Mr. Karns and carried, the above outlined agenda was approved to be presented at the September 17, 1969, meeting of the three boards at the Police Benevolent Building. A discussion was next given to the subject of "Urban Renewal" and which, as the planner outlined, is very broad and big and also relates to the program of "capital improve- ments". He outlined the new state legislative general enabling act for urban renewal. He then gave the basic steps for urban renewal: -- is The City prepares an application; this /out of City pocket expense; the application goes to HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development); it is either approved or disapproved on the merits of it; if they approve it, they then give us a grant which is a survey and planning grant; we prepare the survey and planning application on a particular project of the city's selection; HUD gives the city a grant of say $40,000 to prepare our study and our program on this particular project. Once they approve this, survey and planning application, then we proceed into the area of acquiring properties. If our program says we are to completely tear down all houses, we have to purchase all the houses; they give us the dollars in which to operate at this point in time. If our program says that we aren't going to tear down all of these house, that we instead are going to actually re -hatch some of them, then we proceed along Z & P Minutes 8/21/69 -7- those lines; at the end of all of the improvements we total up all the dollars and the federal government pays the tab of somewhere between 75 and 90% of the cost of undertaking this effort. If we lose money on it, they pick up 75 to 90% of the difference. The other 10% or 25 %, dppending on our particular program, is paid for by the City either in cash or by credits that can be applied to our cost. So, in essence the program will cost the City some money. After consideration and on recommendation of the Planner, Mr. White moved to request that a representative of the Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development, regional office of Atlanta, Georgia, be requested to appear before the Z & P Board sometime around the 4th of September if to enlighten the members pertaining to urban renewal programs and procedures. Seconded by Mr. Daniels and carried. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.