City of Tallahassee Proposes “Glitch” Revisions to Land Development Code

NEWS UPDATE: September 30, 2021

LAND DEVELOPMENT, ZONING & ENVIRONMENTAL | GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

City of Tallahassee Proposes “Glitch” Revisions to Land Development Code

The City of Tallahassee (“City”) recently released a draft Glitch Ordinance aimed at revising portions of its Land Development Code (“Code”). The City has indicated that the Glitch Ordinance has three goals: (1) identify parts of the Code that are not working as intended and propose ways to fix them; (2) ensure the desired outcome of the Code is achieved, but recognize that there are multiple paths to achieving that outcome; and (3) add common sense flexibility to reduce the number of future variance requests. According to the City, the Glitch Ordinance is not intended to address the current Code provisions for variances and deviations. Rather, staff is working on a separate ordinance addressing these processes, which the City expects to release for public feedback in the coming weeks.

As proposed, the Glitch Ordinance has three components: (1) Compensating Enhancements; (2) Modified Development Standards for Special Circumstances; and (3) revisions to the Multi-Modal Transportation District. The concept of Compensating Enhancements is designed to provide optional flexibility in the application of certain Code requirements in exchange for the applicant agreeing to enhance one or more design components of the project. The Modified Standards component allows flexibility from specified Code requirements based on site specific circumstances. These modified Code standards apply automatically when special circumstances arise, and there is no required compensation component associated with utilizing the modified standard. Finally, the Glitch Ordinance contains global revisions to the Multi-Modal Transportation District standards, specifically dealing with street tree placement, special standards for multiple-frontage lots, pedestrian connectivity, transparency design components, and multi-building developments.

Since releasing the draft Glitch Ordinance, the City has conducted a series of virtual community meetings. The final meeting, focused on changes to the Multi-Modal Transportation District, is scheduled for October 4, 2021. Prior to that meeting, the City also plans to release a revised version of the Glitch Ordinance taking into account feedback received from the public to date. Public hearings on the final version are planned for November (Planning Commission) and December (City Commission). However, the City has indicated that these timeframes will be extended as necessary to accommodate additional stakeholder meetings.

If you have development interests in Tallahassee, now is the time to engage with the City to ensure that the final Glitch Ordinance does not adversely impact your current or future projects. Our Land Development, Zoning & Environmental team can assist in providing the City with comments on your behalf. For more information, please contact us.

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*Manuel Agosto-Matos, Ken Metcalf, Yuliya Olvy, Chris Smith, David Smith and Cynthia Spidell are not attorneys and are not authorized to practice law.

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