More Crestview areas rezoned to prevent homelessness

CRESTVIEW — The City Council unanimously approved 12 ordinances to correctly zone several neighborhoods and residential properties.

Before Monday's vote, if a house were damaged or destroyed in several developments off P.J. Adams Parkway, a zoning conflict meant it couldn't be rebuilt and a family in such a house would be homeless, City Clerk Betsy Roy has said.

The ordinances ensure this doesn't happen for residents in several neighborhoods, including Walsh Glen Estates, the Ridge Crest subdivision, Crystal Lake condominiums and Chestnut Ridge townhomes, among others.

This is the latest round of ordinances that Teresa Gaillard, the city’s GIS mapping analyst and planning technician, presented to the council with Roy's assistance.

City leaders in June approved seven ordinances to rezone a section of affected neighborhoods in Countryview Estates, Eagles Landing Townhomes and Southway Estates.

Fourteen more ordinances will be presented to the council at future meetings, Gaillard said.

Roy, who oversees the Administrative Services Department, has said affected properties originally were zoned for future commercial 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.

City attorney Jerry Miller — who has said that the council would likely move through six cycles, in all, of such ordinances — thanked city leaders and staffers for ensuring each area complies with city zoning.

“Those are basic municipal functions that should always be simultaneously maintained,” he said.    

Staff Writer Brian Hughes contributed to this report.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: More Crestview areas rezoned to prevent homelessness