Okeechobee County Commissioners voted to give themselves the authority to approve special exception requests on parcels larger than 10 acres, a power that had previously rested with the Board of Adjustments.
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OKEECHOBEE – Okeechobee County Commissioners voted to give themselves the authority to approve special exception requests on parcels larger than 10 acres, a power that had previously rested with the appointed Board of Adjustments and Appeals.
The decision came three weeks after the county's own Planning Board voted against recommending the change, telling staff it believed the existing regulations were sufficient.
The proposed ordinance amends two sections of the county's Land Development Regulations to divide special exceptions into two classes. Requests involving parcels smaller than 10 acres are now "minor" special exceptions and continue to go before the Board of Adjustments and Appeals. But requests involving parcels larger than 10 acres are now "major" special exceptions and will be heard directly by the Okeechobee Board of County Commissioners.
A special exception is a use that a county's zoning code does not permit outright in a given district but allows in a case by case basis.
Back on July 28, the Okeechobee County Planning Board first heard the recommendation to change the special exemption process. And one question kept coming up in that meeting. Why was the change needed?
“What problem are we solving,” asked Planning Board member Melinda Wherrell. “Is there a bottleneck of projects? Why are we trying to change it? There has to be some motivation.”
The answer from Okeechobee County Attorney Zackery Good centered on the commissioners wanting more control.
“The Board of County Commissioners expressed that for what they consider major special exceptions they would like a higher level of oversight and control,” explained Good.
“So, they would like to remove this board from the process on larger projects,” asked Planning Board member Wherrell.
“They would like to have a larger degree of oversight and control,” replied Good.
Ultimately, the members of the Planning Board agreed that if there was nothing was broke with the way the special exception process had been done, there was no reason to change.
But at the Aug. 20 Board of County Commissioners meeting, the change to special exemption was approved unanimously. There was little mention of the Planning Board’s concerns or recommendation beyond the initial reading of the proposal by Community Development Director Bill Royce, who stated that while Planning Board voted against the change, county staff recommended Commissioners to approve it.
