SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Repeal the Clearwater Comprehensive Plan and adopt a new Comprehensive Plan entitled Clearwater 2045 to replace it and pass Ordinance 9721-24 on first reading. (CPA2023-06001)
Body
SUMMARY:
Florida law requires all local governments to prepare, adopt, and enforce long-range comprehensive plans through the “Local Government Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulation Act”. Chapter 163, Florida Statutes (F.S.), is part of the State’s growth management laws that govern comprehensive plans requiring jurisdictions to include elements on future land use; housing; transportation; recreation and open space; conservation; coastal management; general sanitary sewer, solid waste, drainage, potable water, and natural groundwater (public utilities); intergovernmental coordination; private property rights; and capital improvements.
Proposed Ordinance 9721-24 repeals the current Clearwater Comprehensive Plan that was adopted May 18, 2000, and subsequently amended, and replaces it with a new plan, Clearwater 2045. Clearwater 2045 is an extensive rewrite of the Comprehensive Plan with significant restructuring and moves away from the current use of elements by dividing the plan into six chapters: Quality Places, Mobility, Parks & Public Places, Conservation & Coastal Management, Support Services, and Plan Implementation. Individual elements are identified within each chapter and are interrelated and consistent with the requirements of Chapter 163, F.S.
Clearwater 2045 is formatted to include goals, objectives, and policies in each chapter where goals are high level statements of what is desired to be achieved, objectives set the specific direction towards accomplishing the goal, and the policies are the steps taken to meet the objective. The current Comprehensive Plan was used as a guide and starting point in developing Clearwater 2045 so many of the goals, objectives, and policies have been carried over from the current plan and updated to better address today’s needs. New goals, objectives, and policies have been created to address changes in the City of Clearwater to focus more on infill development and redevelopment, equity, housing opportunities, emerging trends and technologies, active transportation, and sustainability and resiliency. Some of these topics are interconnected and are covered in more than one chapter of the plan. Further detail on the proposed amendment and a brief overview of each chapter is provided in the staff report and Ordinance No. 9721-24.
The Planning and Development Department has determined that the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment is consistent with and furthers the goals, objectives, and policies of the Comprehensive Plan as outlined in the staff report. The Community Development Board will review the proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan at a special meeting on October 3, 2023. Staff will report its recommendation at the City Council meeting.
Clearwater 2045 also provides support for many of the objectives in the city’s Strategic Plan. The Quality Places and Support Services Chapters provide goals, objectives, and policies to achieve a High Performing Government through embracing arts and culture, providing safe and healthy communities, and maintaining infrastructure, mobility systems, historic resources, and the natural environment and its features. The Quality Places Chapter provides support to achieve Economic & Housing Opportunity by creating and supporting economic development and housing programs and opportunities. The Quality Places and Conservation and Coastal Management Chapters provide provisions for Community Well-Being through supporting neighborhood identity, preserving community livability, and creating and expanding community engagement, education, and volunteerism. The Mobility, Conservation and Coastal Management, and Support Services Chapters provide support to create Environmental Stewardship through supporting resiliency and sustainability, encouraging use of renewable resources and waste reduction, protecting green spaces, and developing active transportation options to reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions.
As this is a text amendment to the Clearwater Comprehensive Plan, review and approval by the Florida Department of Commerce (DOC), formerly the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), is required. As part of the state review, the proposed amendment will be transmitted to the various state agencies and Pinellas County for review prior to second reading (adoption) by City Council, which is anticipated to occur in January of 2024.