Palm Beach's zoning code is getting an overhaul: Here are the 5 main areas of concern

As a team of consultants continues to work on an overhaul of Palm Beach's nearly 50-year-old zoning code, residents and business owners gathered at the town's recreation center this week to learn more about their plans.

Designing our Palm Beach Week, a four-day event that ended Thursday at the Mandel Recreation Center, included presentations by the town's consulting team; charrettes where visitors could view engagement boards, collect literature, and meet with consultants Sean Suder of ZoneCo, Joe Corradino of The Corradino Group and Joe Nickol of Yard & Co; and opening and closing events that drew more than 300 people.

The event was organized to invite public comment that will help lead to the development of a new zoning code that is clear, efficient and more user-friendly, said Anne Fairfax, a partner with Fairfax & Sammons Architects. Fairfax & Sammons was tasked with interpreting the comments of visitors to the event and drawing up renderings of buildings that the new codes may allow.

"The current code was written in the 1970s, and much of what we love about Palm Beach is unable to be built under the current code, and requires onerous variances," Fairfax said. "Our current code has numerous conflicting concepts, and has over time been so constrictive that as it may prevent the worst development, it also has hampered good development."

Suder, Corradino and Nickol are working on a total tear-down and ground-up rebuild of the town's commercial and residential zoning codes that govern land use and growth patterns.

The last time the town's zoning code received a major overhaul was in 1974, when the town was experiencing explosive growth and a push was made to control intensity, density and height, Suder told the Daily News in an interview Tuesday.

Building heights were a particular concern then because of development pressures, especially in the South End, Suder added.

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"In other parts of Florida and coastal communities, everyone was clamoring for waterfront property and going higher and higher," he said. "Palm Beach did not want to be a typical beachfront community like Fort Lauderdale, and other places. So the code they adopted in 1974 was very limiting, anti-intensity, anti-density, single-use, single-story."

The zoning code did its job then, Suder said, but the status quo no longer is an option because of environmental and economic changes; aging infrastructure; new demands on retail, dining, office and entertainment; and the high demand for Palm Beach real estate.

"You have a situation where it's almost a perfect storm," Suder said. "You have economic pressures, you have environmental pressures, and you have other global economic issues. There's a lot of stuff coming together at once."

Suder said he and his team plan to craft a custom-tailored, consistent and user-friendly zoning code that advances the community’s vision.

It will be the first comprehensive update of the town's code in nearly 50 years. Since 1974, town officials have addressed issues one-by-one with amendments and variances.

"There have been hundreds of piecemeal updates of the code," Suder said. 'That's telling us that the code no longer is responding to what people want to do on their properties. There also have been a lot of variances granted, and what that tells us as zoning professionals is the code is not addressing, by right, what people want to do."

Suder and his team have met with residents, business owners and town officials during the past year to hear concerns and gather input for their code rewrite.

Here are the five main issues that Suder and his partners will address as they work to revise the town's zoning code:

North End modifications

Changes could include:

• Creating new bulk, massing, scale and height standards; varying height lines

• Screening utility equipment

• Defining location and size for pools and pool houses

• Creating new ways to measure height that are proportionate and context sensitive

• Varying roof lines

• Regulating side windows

• Addressing parking in a 'less dominant' way

South End modifications

Suder and his team will look at:

• Creating a system of paths and drives that promote vehicular and pedestrian mobility and safety

• Instilling a comprehensive and development approach that responds and interacts with rising water levels

• Getting ahead of inevitable future redevelopment that is uniquely Palm Beach in scale and intensity

Midtown modifications

Changes could include:

• Creating standards that could allow Addison Mizner designs to be built today

• Considering a refreshed mix of uses and residential options

• Focusing on how buildings interact with the street and sidewalks

• Aligning indoor/outdoor dining regulations

Size of new homes

• The confusion and lack of specificity in the town's zoning laws have allowed some builders to erect massive homes that, while built to modern FEMA standards to be above sea level, tower over nearby smaller homes.

• Suder said he and his team will work to balance the property rights of new residents coming in to Palm Beach with the property rights of existing residents.

Aging infrastructure and buildings

• The South End, in particular, is home to many aging, oceanfront buildings. As a result, assessments and HOA fees are rising, and probably will continue to so, Suder said

• Last year, the Florida Legislature passed a bill requiring milestone inspections of condominiums three stories in height and within three miles of the coast when the buildings reach 25 years of age. Many South End condo buildings are, or will be, included in that category and will be inspected, Suder said

• Suder said he expects to see redevelopment in the South End in the future

Mayor Danielle Moore said zoning code reform is an important issue for the town, and its consulting team is working carefully to craft a new code that meets the town where it is today.

"We have to be able to figure out how to make this work for today's reality," she said. "Not the reality of the late '70s or early '80s. This is how we do it."

For information on Palm Beach's Zoning Code Review, visit https://pbzoning.org/.

Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: A zoning code overhaul is underway in Palm Beach. Here are the 5 main issues