Sasha Heller

Staff Writer

DAPHNE, Ala. — At a special-called work session Wednesday the Planning Commission debated final revisions to the city’s Land Use and Development Ordinance in preparation of a vote this Thursday on whether to send a favorable recommendation to the City Council.

Commissioner Larry Chason requested the document include language that would encourage building applicants to direct their appeals — once a project has been started and voted on by the commission — to the Community Development Department. He said the proposed language is directed toward developers — with firm financial commitments to a project — who receive notice from the commission to alter their plans after development has begun.

“Generally, the applicant has invested thousands of dollars by the time he appears before the (commission) and finds out there is a different interpretation than the one he thought was correct,” Chason said in a letter included in the ordinance packet.

Commissioners also discussed the ordinance’s complexity and length.

“This document has gotten big,” Chason said. “A lot of it is to keep people from getting away with loopholes.”

Commissioner Victoria Phelps said the ordinance has become more complex as a response to the city’s growth.

“Our town has grown from 2,000 to 20,000 in a short amount of time and our policies reflect those changes.”

Chason said he’s found faults with developers either misinterpreting the ordinance or ignoring its regulations.

“People are getting their projects approved and then going and getting their landscaping changed,” he said. “I don’t think they know what the ordinance says. I think we need to add something that allows interpretation for the average person.”

In his letter, Chason wrote that participation levels in community development have diminished due to the challenging task of interpreting the Land Use and Development Ordinance.

“Twenty-five years ago, we had a lot more public participation in those meetings and they’re not here anymore,” he said. “When all municipalities began implementing a land use ordinance, it was considerably less complicated and not as all-encompassing.”

“Landowners represented themselves at Planning Commission meetings. Now, we have an ordinance so large and complicated, only engineering firms with employees dedicated to learning and deciphering the ordinance appear before the (commission) for the most part,” Chason said. “Our ordinance has become like the IRS tax code: too complicated for the ordinary citizen.”

Phelps raised concerns over the commission’s interaction with planned unit developments.

“The most troublesome areas we continually have are PUDs,” she said. PUDs are not currently included in the ordinance but will be added in the next revision.

Chason requested the Board of Zoning Adjustments’ authority be expanded as a means of clearing communication lines.

“Their functions should be increased to help people interpret the ordinance,” he said.

Planning Chairman Ed Kirby said the commission doesn’t have the authority, by law, to increase the BZA’s powers.

However, “I think it’s there already,” he said of the ability to strengthen communications between the Planning Department and building applicants. “I just think it needs to be used.”

Commissioner Cathy Barnette — also a City Council member — agreed.

“We have a staff in place that guides people through the process,” she said, referring to Planning Department employees.

“I think the biggest challenge the Planning Commission has struggled with has been how do we maintain our sense of place and community aesthetic while providing a cooperative environment for our real-estate and business interests,” Barnette said.

Barnette included five typed pages of proposed edits in the ordinance packet that did not make the final revision. She said she expects the commission to review them at its next ordinance revision meeting, which is “at the will of the Planning Commission,” according to Barnette.

Kirby said the commission could not continue discussing new issues if it expected to vote on the ordinance.

Commissioners Joe Lemoine and Frank Martin and Daphne Fire Chief Bo White were absent from the meeting.