City Commission approves ordinance that lets property owners build homes on ~800 non-conforming lots across the city
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At today’s Gainesville City Commission meeting, an ordinance that makes it easier to build on small lots across the city passed 4-3 on second reading.
The ordinance stemmed from a request from Andrew Coffey to reduce side setbacks (the amount of required space between a home and the edge of a lot) from 7.5 feet to 5 feet in properties located in RSF-4 zones and to also allow front porches to be built up to 5 feet within the front setback. The ordinance also changed the definition of “nonconforming lots” to allow “substandard” lots to be deemed “conforming” so homes can be built “by right.” The change is predicted to affect about 800 lots.
Public comment
During public comment on the ordinance, Monica Frazier objected that the owners of lots affected by this were not notified about the proposed change: “I’m not opposed to what [Andrew Coffey] wants to do on his own land, but what he wants to do should not affect 800 other people without those people being engaged.”
Casey Fitzgerald from Gainesville Neighborhood Voices said it “seems a little bit less than prudent” to make a “sweeping” change to that many lots. He suggested limiting the number of lots that can be changed at a time and establishing mechanisms to ensure proper notice.
Robert Mounts and Aaron Green both expressed concern that Coffey has, in the past, built student housing designed to rent by the room. Mounts said Coffey has said he intends to build “affordable housing under $300,000” on the lots, but “there’s no mechanism to hold him to that.”
Change affects “less than 1% of the overall land mass of Gainesville”
Commissioner Bryan Eastman said the real question was whether an owner should be able to put “some kind of building” on a lot or plat that was previously approved by the City. He also said the RSF-4 zoning district is “by far our smallest residential single-family zoning district, less than 1% of the overall land mass of Gainesville.” Eastman admitted that the City “is unsure exactly how many lots this covers” but made a motion to approve the ordinance on second reading. Commissioner Reina Saco, who attended in person for the first time in three months, seconded the motion.
Chestnut: “We must stop this attack on black neighborhoods in this city”
Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said she wanted to offer a different motion: “The black community has been destroyed over and over again… It must stop. He comes in with 16 lots now… That allows 800 other lots across the city, to destroy the city.” She agreed with the suggestion to limit the number of lots that can be changed at any one time and establish mechanisms for notification.
Chestnut’s motion was to “add this in the text: monitor and report semi-annually to the Commission the number of subjects lots developed, to how many and what types of structures were built, [and] how many applications are pending, and how many and what types of structures are proposed in said applications.” She wanted to include “a two-year sunset clause in the ordinance, such that the Commission can review the required report to determine if the [ordinance] should be continued or eliminated. And then develop an enhanced notification process for notifying citizens when you’re coming into their neighborhood… We must stop this attack on black neighborhoods in this city. The Commission cannot allow this to go on. You’re destroying us.” She said she hoped Eastman’s motion would be defeated.
Commissioner Ed Book said he favored making the change for Coffey’s lots, but the issue he had with it is “when builders’ actions are going to cut across our entire community, in communities where our speed of action didn’t allow them the chance to have input. And that’s really problematic.”
Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she agreed with Chestnut “whole-heartedly.” She asked staff for an update on the status of the City’s Equitable Development framework and policy and said she was prepared to second Chestnut’s motion, “but I want to also add… that this Equitable Development plan/framework become ingrained in what we do across the board.”
Willits: “If we’re talking about the character of neighborhoods, this is character”
Commissioner Casey Willits said people often find out their lots are non-conforming when they start making plans to build something: “The reason why they’re non-conforming is because previous Commissions made them non-conforming–because a lot, by itself, is not by God non-conforming; they were created at some point, and then other rules later made them non-conforming… And so when we talk about equity, I want to be clear that the reason why we got [here] is from decisions way in the past.”
Willits said that, historically, the only way to build on one of these lots is to buy the lot next door, tear down the house on that lot, and then build on the combined lots… [When these lots were declared non-conforming], we can’t fill in behind with what is literally Gainesville traditional-type housing. If we’re talking about the character of neighborhoods, this is character… For me, this is about infill.”
Willits didn’t favor creating a system where people petition for a variance for individual lots or small groups of lots because “what I have heard… is that it’s who’s got the most power, who’s got, you know, the most connections, and that’s how you’re gonna get a variance through… If we want local developers, we need policies that make it easier so that the barriers aren’t so high that only large firms… can come in.” He said the ordinance will allow for “a diversity of housing types, for different types of people in different stages of their life, in every neighborhood.”
Chestnut: “To let 800 lots come online, that is not preserving neighborhoods”
Chestnut said, “And what I ran on was preserving neighborhoods… This whole ordinance needs to go back to staff, staff needs to get back with the citizens, sit down and see where we go, but to let 800 lots come online, that is not preserving neighborhoods.”
Ward: “It’s people who can’t fight the system who end up with non-conforming lots”
Mayor Harvey Ward said he agreed with members of the public who had complained to the Commission that “it’s too easy to get a variance… Here’s why: If you have some money and you know who to hire, you can work the system and get your variance. If you are Joe Blow and you own a lot and want to build something on that lot, but you’re not connected to the right people and you don’t have money in your pocket, but you’ve got a little land and then you want to build something on that property–good luck.”
Ward said “it’s a good day” when the process is made “more predictable.” He said people with resources can get a lot changed from non-conforming to conforming, so “it’s people who can’t fight the system who end up with non-conforming lots… I bet you will find–could be wrong, but I bet you will find that most of the non-conforming lots ended up being lots that are owned by black folks, or at least a higher percentage than normal… This helps them… It does not allow big apartment buildings to be built… This is going to primarily affect smallish homes… What this does, is fixes non-conforming lots, which we ought to have fixed at some point, anyway, and makes your buildable space on a lot a little bigger… five feet… So we’re not talking about huge changes.” Ward agreed they should be tracking where things are being built and that he’s been told those dashboards are coming.
Ward concluded, “I feel positive about the motion. I don’t feel like this is going to destroy the fabric of Gainesville. I think it adds value to a whole spectrum of Gainesville owners.”
Folston: “Decisions like this are always tricky for us from an equity standpoint“
City Manager Cynthia Curry said the Equitable Development framework is projected to be ready by March 2024, and Interim Director of Equity and Inclusion Zeriah Folston said it’s going to take time because they have to rewrite sections of the Comprehensive Plan to incorporate “the things that this Commission wants to see come back… Decisions like this are always tricky for us from an equity standpoint, as it pertains to the culture of the climate that we want to see in our communities, simply because homeownership is one of the major ways that minority groups gain generational wealth… City-wide decisions like this are always tricky.” He said it may take longer than March 2024 to train his staff and re-write “large swaths of the Comp Plan.”
Duncan-Walker said she ran on Equitable Development “because I understood that there would need to be in place a mechanism… about how black communities begin to receive the type of attention that, frankly, they’ve never gotten. So it does bring into its fold a whole lot more than just race, but race is a major part of this… I’m very sorry to hear that it will be March of 2024 when this actually comes back to us because a lot can happen in that timeframe.”
Eastman’s motion passed 4-3, with Book, Chestnut, and Duncan-Walker in dissent.
Commission agrees to review ordinance in two years
Following the vote, Chestnut persuaded the Commission to agree to put the ordinance on their calendar in two years and review the effects of the ordinance to decide whether any changes should be made at that time.
Love to see the chronicle reporting on Saco’s consistent absenteeism. What an embarrassment to such an already disgraceful commission.
Saco’s not been present for many meetings in person. If she decides to attend it is usually by video chat with her mask on. Citizens are paying her for nothing.
She/it is a certifiable lunatic.
She’s not present when she’s there. No wonder she’s not a practicing attorney.
Seriously?? Did not know that.
They’re finding out how previous politics prevented urban renewal and hurt black neighborhoods. But it’s too late, now we have to deal with construction costs and Bidenomics. Let freedom ring, something has to give. Small lots are a good start.
Anyone do the math?
Less than $300,000 home…given the “norm,” let’s say $290,000.
$290,000 home costs $362.50 per sq ft. How many people actually consider that an “affordable home?” By the way, the city will not be lowering the taxes based on the size of the home.
Democrats, you people are so gullible and apparently, just as stupid as the commissioners want you to be.
Good points.
The language manipulation hasn’t stopped with pronouns. Now the adjectives are being fuzzed up to construct the lies.
Goebbels would be proud.
I live in another county and read this site every day for the comic strips called The Gainesville City Commission
You Got That Right, Between the C hitty Commission of Gainesville , The thiefing County Commisions that forces taxpayers to pay County Commisioners illegaly Elected, County Comission accepting and paying for Gainesville and GRU Debts and a totally financially WOKE School Board this county is as Broke as GRU and Gville. Heading you way ASAP.
No matter what the commission wants to call these small homes and the advertised cost, they’re still pens and shacks for keeping people in their place on the plantations the commissioners are running. Those that can’t afford them will go the way of others who preceded them in neighborhoods such as Porters and Seminary Lane areas. They’ll still be looking for an affordable home, affordable utilities and listening to the empty promises of those they voted for.
Why is it most within the black community keep voting for these people?
Because we on the right do a pi$$ poor job extending an olive branch to them.
We have more in common than all realize. Why we don’t come together is a question that deserves an answer.
1500 say average property tax bill on each lot, times 800 = 1,200,000 more dollars to waste on useless initiatives.
On Ward’s complaint on people “buying” variances, that is in within the ability of the commission to fix that problem if it is a fact. In my limited experience, staff in the planning department are accommodating and helpful with citizens trying to fix their needs within the rules. It may be different for commercial situations requiring engineering and other technical requirements to jumb over hoops using hired professionals, but small residential lots should be and are often different.
If the Gainesville City Commission is in favor of something, it’s generally safe to assume that it will have a negative effect on citizens and our quality of life.
In this case, if you own a piece of land in a residential area I feel that you should be able to build a single-family home on it.
If you live next to one of these vacant lots then I could see it would not be appealing to suddenly have a house crammed close to your own, but in all honesty you never owned that land and benefitted from the extra space all this time. What am I missing?
So ward is a friend of joe blow?
It is very irresponsible to make a decision like this without even knowing the quantity and exact locations of all affected properties. This is once again nothing more than a money grab by increasing the city’s taxable property base at the expense of single family neighborhoods.
Additionally, all of you in government who push equity over equality are bigots by definition. Unfortunately, I expect racists and bigots in the general public, but to hear local representatives speak like that is absolutely insane.
Great example of the hypocrisy of the modern Florida conservatard. “Florida is all about Freedom! Unless private landowners want to use their private property how they wish, then we’re against freedom!!!!’
We have zoning and building codes for a reason buddy. Land codes are known when you buy the property. How is this a political issue? Nobody wants their neighbor to build a new home five feet from the property line that could not have legally been built initially.
Ah yes Comrade! If you actually believe it’s private landowners looking to do this you’re a bigger idiot than most of us know you to be.
Chestnut: “We must stop this attack on black neighborhoods in this city”
Really??? I think the only black neighborhood ‘attacks’ I’m aware of are from their own gangbanging thug members?
Bring on the gentrification! Push em back push em back push em WAY back! away from the civilized members of society.
It would appear that you, lou, are not among the “civilized members of society.”
This is really scary – “City-wide decisions like this are always tricky.” He said it may take longer than March 2024 to train his staff and re-write “large swaths of the Comp Plan.” Harvey wants to pay him$180k a year to be the DEI director, when did he become a qualified planner? Train his staff in planning? I hope City and County Planners express how outrageous and dangerous this is.
City needs every taxable parcels built on, to get more tax revenues. It’s no coincidence that most cities are Blue, the chicken vs. egg of big spenders need more taxes to pay for more gov’t per square mile, so they need more redevelopment infill to house more residents.