CRESTVIEW — Currently, if a house is damaged or destroyed in several developments off P.J. Adams Parkway, a zoning conflict means it can’t be rebuilt.
City GIS mapping analyst and planning technician Teresa Gaillard is identifying wrongly zoned areas to bring these 1990s an early 2000s neighborhoods into compliance. In addition, she's assisting City Clerk Betsy Roy in preparing ordinances to correct the zoning.
The Crestview City Council on Monday passed seven ordinances to rezone a section of affected neighborhoods in Countryview Estates, Eagles Landing Townhomes and Southway Estates.
Seven more ordinances received their first public reading, were accepted and moved to a second reading at the July 14 council meeting. They will correct zoning in Walsh Glen Estates, Northview Estates, and, off John King Road, Shoal Terrace Estates and Beaver Creek at Stonebridge.
Several properties off Live Oak Church Road were also covered by the newly introduced ordinances.
More to come
Together, they and the approved ordinances represent the first and second of an anticipated six cycles of rezoning ordinances, city attorney Jerry Miller said.
In briefs for each ordinance, Roy, who oversees the Administrative Services Department, explained the land was originally zoned for commercial future land use, which allowed for higher-density residential development than residential zoning. Some developments were in an industrial zoned area.
When the neighborhoods were built, developers followed regulations for single- and multi-family dwelling zoning, but the zoning didn’t change. The new ordinances rezone the neighborhoods under the zoning criteria that the homes were constructed under.
“If there were a unit lost to fire or storm, that property could not be constructed presently due to the inconsistency between the zoning and the comprehensive plan,” Miller said.
“So if a house was lost to fire, does that mean that family would be left homeless?” Councilman Tom Gordon asked.
“Yes, it would,” Miller said.
Wild Horse Drive resident Terry Hindall expressed concern that the rezoning might adversely affect his property's value.
"I don't understand why we need to change the zoning,” Hindall said. “Why rezone it now? Why change it now? Why are we standing here wasting our time when it is just fine yesterday and it was just fine today?”
WANT TO GO?
Ordinances rezoning residential areas to conform with the Crestview comprehensive plan will be read and adopted at the next several Crestview City Council meetings. The next meeting is 6 p.m. July 14.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Erroneously zoned residential areas being brought into compliance