Title
Strategic Ecosystems (B)
This item is a referral from the Community Development Committee recommending an alternative approach for protecting significant ecological communities and features with reference to annexation of strategic ecosystems.
Explanation
In October, 2007, the manner in which the City handles the protection of significant ecological communities, particularly in regards to annexation of Alachua County designated Strategic Ecosystems, was referred to the Community Development Committee.
Over the past year, an internal staff team has worked to analyze the existing mechanism in the City's Land Development Code that is utilized to protect significant ecological communities and how it relates to the Commission's expressed desire to ensure protection of Alachua County's defined Strategic Ecosystems once annexed into the City's limits. This effort has included input from the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department and affected stakeholders in the context of several Community Development Committee and staff meetings.
As background, in 2004, the City Commission adopted a section within the City of Gainesville Land Development Code (Sec. 30-309 of Gainesville Land Development Code) to create a Significant Ecological Communities (SEC) Overlay District, which requires additional environmental review and setbacks on High or Outstanding parcels (identified in a prior study) that are rezoned into the district. However, to date, only a handful of parcels have been rezoned into the District, and the City's methodology has come under legal challenge. The SEC Overlay District is not successfully achieving the Commissions' goal of protecting sensitive environmental communities and features.
Therefore, staff has recommended an approach that focuses on the preservation of significant ecological communities and features through the normal development review process rather than the existing overlay approach. The proposed approach ...
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