Hillsborough County Proposes Significant Updates to Comprehensive Plan

NEWS UPDATE: July 14, 2022

LAND DEVELOPMENT, ZONING & ENVIRONMENTAL | GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Hillsborough County Proposes

Significant Updates to Comprehensive Plan

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (“BOCC”) is proposing significant changes to the Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan that will likely affect landowners and developers’ rights and options for their properties. This alert provides a recap of several important recent meetings.

Some proposals could provide significant density increases for certain projects, while others could significantly limit the ability to develop commercial intensity. These proposals are moving forward quickly and could be implemented as soon as this fall. For that reason, landowners and developers need to be involved in upcoming stakeholder meetings and public hearings.

JUNE 22, 2022 MEETING

On June 22, 2022, the BOCC held a workshop that covered two important policy updates to the Comp Plan: HC/CPA 22-08, which updates the Housing Section to provide density incentives for increased affordable housing; and HC/CPA 22-11, which provides density bonuses to developments within a Bus Emphasis Corridor overlay. A third policy update, HC/CPA 22-14, which covers Transfers of Development Rights, was not discussed as scheduled and has been pushed back to the August 10, 2022 public hearing.

HC/CPA 22-08: Housing Section Update

The first policy item, the Housing Section Update, incentivizes developers and homebuilders to include more affordable housing units in their projects by supporting a range of new affordable housing stock and utilizing density bonuses.

Under the proposed policy, a minimum of 20% of the total units must be affordable housing to qualify for the density bonuses but there was discussion of increasing this percentage further. The proposal also allows residents in higher Area Median Income ranges (“AMI”) to qualify for affordable housing. The proposal raises the maximum AMI from 80% to 120% (in the Hillsborough market, a 120% AMI for a household of 4 is $88,560). The proposal includes set asides so that residents in different income brackets have dedicated affordable units within their respective AMI. The proposed density bonuses are further increased if the development is within ¼ mile of a Bus Emphasis Corridor, further defined below.

Overall, this item significantly improves the affordable housing bonuses in the Comprehensive Plan, which are rarely used because they are currently impractical and historically complex and difficult to implement. Improvements could still be made, especially to supply affordable housing in rural areas.

This item will go before the Planning Commission on August 8 and will go before the BOCC for transmittal on August 11. Its final adoption is currently scheduled for October 13.

HC/CPA 22-11: Bus Emphasis Corridors

The second policy item, the Bus Emphasis Corridor (“BEC”) is an overlay that allows for greater densities in developments that fall within “a subset of corridors with headways less than 30 minutes” and/or high ridership—or, in other words, those areas with 2+ buses per hour along their route. This item also includes “Future BECs,” which are areas with existing bus services every 60 minutes. The Future BECs are only for planning purposes to prepare for connections that could be made in the future; as of now, there are no plans to provide density incentives to these areas.

There was lengthy discussion over whether the density bonuses should instead be placed within a certain radius of qualified bus stops rather than along the entire corridor. There was concern that, as written, the proposed density bonuses along the corridor could be in places that are miles away from an actual bus stop, thereby defeating one of the primary objectives of BECs. There was additional concern over creating unwanted high density along the Coastal High Hazard Area. In the more recent July 7, 2022 public meeting, the BEC overlay has been removed from all Coastal High Hazard Areas.

This item could provide a powerful tool to support transit and affordable housing. However, as written, the actual opportunities it could provide are extremely limited and should be expanded.

The draft language and overlay map for this item is open to public comment until July 22, 2022, all of which can be found at the Hillsborough County Project Overview page. This item is going before the Planning Commission on August 8 and is going before the BOCC for transmittal on August 11. Its final adoption is currently scheduled for October 13.

MAY 11, 2022 MEETING

HC/CPA 21-14: Transfer of Development Rights

The Transfer of Development Rights (“TDR”) item is a proposed pilot program that would allow landowners in certain “Sending Zones” to voluntarily transfer their development rights to “Receiving Zones” in exchange for credits. During the May 11, 2022 workshop, County staff suggested credit exchange ratios for land that is transferred from a Sending Zone: 1.75 credits per acre in a Coastal High Hazard Area; 1.5 credits per acre of land with ecological/environmental value; 1.25 credits per acre of land with agricultural value, and so on. While all the exchange ratios are subject to further discussion and adjustment, there were specific requests to increase the ratio for agricultural lands.

There were additional requests to remove areas with substandard roads from consideration as potential Receiving Zones—this is because one of the primary purposes of the TDR program is to transfer development rights to areas that can support the added densities, such as areas along a Bus Emphasis Corridor. Those landowners who may eventually qualify for the TDR program should note that it is purely voluntary, and they are not required to participate and transfer their rights.

This item may help a small number of landowners who do not intend to develop their properties in the long term. As currently proposed, however, this program may not provide enough incentives to encourage density transfers.

This item was scheduled to be addressed at the June 22, 2022 briefing, but has been pushed back to the public hearing on August 10, 2022.

JUNE 2, 2022 MEETING

HC/CPA 22-01: Commercial Locational Criteria

On June 2, 2022, the Planning Commission held its third community meeting on its Commercial Locational Criteria (“CLC”) policies in the Future Land Use Element. The Planning Commission retained S&ME, an engineering firm, to propose updates to the CLC, which allows for neighborhood commercial uses in residential areas.

The first proposed update was to limit the uses that are eligible in residential areas to “neighborhood-serving uses,” which would exclude auto-oriented uses such as drive-through facilities and gas stations. S&ME also recommended a size limitation of 20,000 square feet for individual tenants and 50,000 square feet for grocery stores. S&ME further proposed that waivers be prohibited in all cases except as to “minimum separation between nodes.” Instead of waivers, the proposed objective would rely on the County and FDOT Context Classification Map to determine uses, square footages, and distance from the intersection. Lastly, S&ME proposed the inclusion of urban form principles to provide development design standards that are specific to the neighborhood commercial uses permitted under the CLC.

This item significantly restricts landowners’ rights to develop commercial uses. Not only are the potential locations for commercial uses reduced, the size of those uses are decreased. Further, the BOCC would be given much less discretion in determining the appropriateness of neighborhood commercial.

The fourth virtual community meeting for this item is scheduled for July 14; public hearings are currently scheduled for August.

JUNE 13, 2022 MEETING

Plan Amendment Procedures Manual Update

Hillsborough County has also been working to overhaul its Comp Plan amendment procedure. On June 13, 2022, the Planning Commission held a briefing on some of the proposed changes to the process. Among various other changes, the most notable include an expansion of the mail notification requirement to property owners within 500 feet of the amendment site (instead of 250 feet); implementation of a citizen-initiated neighborhood meeting process in response to a Plan Amendment; and a resizing of the threshold for Small Scale Plan Amendments and expedited Plan Amendments from 10 to 50 acres. A Planning Commission meeting on this update was held on July 11, 2022, and this item was continued to August 8, 2022 to allow time to refine community meeting timing and scheduling requirements. The BOCC land use meeting is tentatively scheduled for August 25, 2022.

Landowners should take note of these procedural updates. Further refinements are needed to notice procedures and timelines.

We encourage attendance at the upcoming workshops and public hearings. Our Land Development, Zoning & Environmental team has been involved since the beginning of this process and is continuing to monitor the effects that changing land use and development policies will have on ongoing, proposed, and future projects in Hillsborough County. Please contact us should you have any questions.

MEET THE AUTHORS

S. Elise Batsel

Tampa

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Jacob Cremer

Tampa

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Vinette Godelia

Tampa

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Jessica Icerman

Tampa

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Nicole Neugebauer

Tampa

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Special thanks to Nicholas Sanders who assisted in drafting this alert. Nicholas is a second year Juris Doctor Candidate at Stetson University College of Law.

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