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Home My WebLink About01.19.67r_ bi s� ZONING AND PLANNING COMMISSION "Minutes" Thursday, January 19, 1967 8:00 P.M. - City Commission Room - City Hall Members present: Clifford W. McKibbin, Jefferson R. Davis Donald Bishop, Jr. Arthur Harris A. W. Lee, Jr. Phillip Logan Brooke Smith Jr., Chairman Absent: City Manager W. E. Knowles Building Official Linvel Risner Robert E. Karns Mason Wharton Chairman McKibbin called the meeting to order. x µ� e� The City Manager submitted a letter from George T. Papageorge, Acting Director, Workable Program Branch, De- partment of Housing and Urban Development, Atlanta, Georgia, concerning several letters and a telephone call to James Duncan, same office, regarding the possibility of obtaining recertification of the City of Sanford's Workable Program; this being a prerequisite for participation in the federal programs. He stated that prior to receiving the above mentioned letter, he had talked with Mr. Duncan and that Mr. Duncan was unable to come to Sanford until February or sometime in March, due to travel funds being curtailed by the Vietnam war; at the present time there are no funds available for planning under the 701 program and this would probably hold true for approximately twelve months with a possible change on July 1, 1967, when the new federal fiscal year commences. In light of these developments, the City Commission had asked him to obtain a recommendation from the Zoning and Planning Commission as to the next step that they may wish to pursue. The following su gestions were next submitted for a discussion period: 15 Wait and see; 2) Interviewing other planners and obtaining competitive cost figures; 3) The City going ahead on a comprehensive revaluation without federal funds and paid for totally by the City; 4) or the City to attempt to work up the recertification by itself and without funds if this would be possible and acceptable with the At- lanta officials. Z & P Minutes January 19, 1967 -2- The City Manager injected that he felt that this program was important enough, and if this were the only alternative, the idea be further pursued of the City itself, with various City key personnel, undertaking the 3 to 4 months task to bring the present City Plan up to date and formulate a Workable Program if this were to be acceptable by HUD. The neighborhood analysis was questioned as to how exten- sive HUD's requirement might be. Mr. Harris recommended that a brief history of "what has been done" be written as a pos- sible "home- grown" approach on the updating and presented to HUD. After lengthy discussion and on motion of Mr. Harris, seconded by Mr. Bishop and carried, it was recommended to the City Commission that two or three City employees take a trip to Atlanta, after proper preparations have been made in bringing the City Plan up to date and discuss with the HUD people what, in their opinion, is necessary to put Sanford in a position for recertification besides the paper work; and the City Manager be allowed to hire, if necessary, on a part - time basis, the services of the Seminole County Professional Planner to help bring the City's Plan up to date and possibly a future retainer type agreement for keeping the continuing plan current. The Zoning and Planning Commission felt that some attempt should be made to try and spearhead some type of downtown improvement. Several of the Board members had attended an informative Planning Meeting in Orange County. Other City officials had felt they too had a Comprehensive Long Range Planning Program and questioned just how obsolete it might be relative to HUD requirements. Discussions with several planners as to an approach to the downtown problems and im- provements relative to businesses moving out to shopping cen- ters was held. After lengthy discussion, the Board submitted the fol- lowing proposals for the City Commission's consideration, which they felt had merit: 1. Best thing for the downtown to do is "just forget about the shopping centers ", and like a lot of the cities across America, the size of Sanford, are forming an organization, just like a shopping center by: Setting up guidelines, rules for advertising, advertising together as a body like a shopping center. They are forming a tax district and taking money from the tax district, from the merchants, and buying land and old buildings behind, (say like on First Street), tearing them down and making parking lots out of them and dressing up the back of their store and then emphasizing the merchants have to sell "service" instead of trying to compete with the shopping centers. Downtown areas never Z & P Minutes January 19, 1967 -3- come back as far as competiting in price with the shopping center. Again emphasizing the downtown merchants have to give real good service; otherwise they will die on the vine. 2 . All merchants deed their property into a corporation and then stocks are issued on the basis of the square footage that the merchant had; go in and clean out the block; re -do it; set up the square footage according to what the need is; rejust so that there is complimentary businesses grouped to- gether; and re -do the back of the properties. When the merchants fix up the fronts of their stores, the entire row of buildings on that street follow a certain motif, whatever it might be such as early american, modern, conventional, provincial, etc. 4. Possibility of taxing the land and buildings separately downtown, up the valuation on the land to the maximum that would hold and bring it down on the buildings. 5. A new building is taxed nothing and the older a building gets, the more it is taxed with the idea being that the more dilapidated it gets you can't aford to kee it so you tear it down. (Might be considered radical. In order to make some of the suggested proposals work out, suggestion was made to closing a street, such as Second Street in the downtown area, to work in as part of the parking area. This would create a large parking lot right at the downtown stores and on the same order as the "mall" with new stores along the opposite side of the parking lot; thus having a big shopping center complex right in the middle of downtown Sanford. It was suggested that the City Commission give consideration to some tax concession if the merchants make themselves a special tax district and do this work. To make these proposals more concrete, it was recommended that local architects be given an opportunity to sketch illus- trations showing First Street as a mall with the buildings in one particular motif and the parking idea. The Board Members felt that it is just as easy to get to the downtown area to shop as it is to drive out to a shopping center if you can be assured that the downtown area has the particular merchandise you wish to purchase. The Building Official next presented for discussion a request of Mr. Burmaster, Fort Lauderdale, as to an approach either of permitting or a change in zoning which would allow his company to utilize, through leasing, the north end of the Z & P Minutes January 19, 1967 -4- old downtown Atlantic Coast Line freight station building for a product of a concrete additive. It was pointed out that this would require the placement of six (6) 5,000 gallon storage tanks immediately north of the building in the downtown area between First and Commercial Street west of Oak Avenue. Such utilization would require a zoning of M -1, light industry. Present zoning of the site is C -2, general commercial. It was noted that there are ten lots in the particular area from First Street to Commercial Street with only two lots on the west side of Myrtle Avenue within an M -1 zoning district and owned by the Atlantic Coast Line. After and on motion of Mr. Logan, seconded by Mr. Harris and carried, it was recommended that the request be denied on the basis that (1) that rezoning would constitute "spot zoning" and (2) industrial zoning would be an encroachment on the down- town business area, in particular with the placement of six 5,000 gallon storage tanks. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned. Chairman Secretary