https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com


Performance zoning helps key city’s comeback

Performance zoning helps key city’s comeback

Havana, Fla., was once a thriving tobacco town. Twelve miles north of Tallahassee, the town sat at the junction of the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroads
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 1st June 1997

Havana, Fla., was once a thriving tobacco town. Twelve miles north of Tallahassee, the town sat at the junction of the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroads and was a center for the production of shade tobacco, which is used to wrap cigars.

But when the railroad branch that joined Havana to the main line was abandoned and the labor-intensive tobacco industry fell prey to foreign competition, the town began a quick decline.

Now, thanks to antiques stores and a new zoning ordinance, Havana is back. It all started in the mid-1980’s, when a couple of entrepreneurs opened an antiques shop in an old brick building in downtown Havana. Business built slowly, and they began to encourage others to open shops. A few years later, art galleries began to open.

Today, Havana is home to 40 antiques stores and specialty shops, two art galleries and an art education center. Additionally, National Research & Technology (NRT) has relocated to the town from Tallahassee, bringing with it 130 jobs. What was once a decaying downtown is now a vibrant and optimistic place that is becoming known as “The Antiques Capital of the Southeast.”

Part of the credit for the turnaround can be traced to the adoption in 1990 of a performance-based zoning ordinance that has directed development in the town.

State legislation mandated that the town adopt land use controls, and the town chose to go with performance-based zoning for several reasons; it offered greater flexibility and did not require the rezoning and public hearings necessary with traditional zoning.

Lane Kendig, known as the “Father of Performance Zoning,” explains that the concept was developed to address areas of regulation where conventional zoning had failed. “Unlike the traditional approach,” he wrote, “[performance zoning] does not organize uses into a hierarchy which is then used to protect ‘higher’ uses from ‘lower’ ones. Rather, it imposes minimum levels of performance by setting standards that must be met by each land use.”

The firm of Barr, Dunlop and Associates (now part of Tallahassee-based Kimley-Horn and Associates) prepared the town’s comprehensive plan. According to the plan, Havana has four zoning districts, two of which – neighborhood conservation and industrial – severely restrict the land uses allowed. The neighborhood conservation district, for instance, allows only single family dwellings built on minimum lot sizes.

The industrial district recognizes that some land uses must be segregated from others due to noise, glare and other factors that cannot be mitigated by buffering from adjacent land uses.

The two other districts, the urban core and development districts, allow a wide range of land uses (except heavy industrial) provided they meet performance standards governing such things as drainage controls, density, floor area ratios and bufferyards between uses.

The numerical standards are greatly influenced by the type of adjacent development. For example, an intense use next to a much less intense use requires substantially more bufferyard than would adjacent developments of equal intensity. The number of dwelling units or the floor area ratio of commercial structures that may be placed on a site is determined using a series of simple calculations. A developer can know what may be placed on any site with a minimum of cost or time by “running the numbers.” Consequently, uncertainty over the politics of a project is not a factor.

Because of the inherent flexibility of performance zoning and rationally derived density/intensity allowed on any site, variances or changes in zoning districts are seldom justified, so the governing body does not have to get involved in typical day-to-day zoning or land development issues.

Seven years after its adoption, the ordinance appears to be working well. Seventy-one applications have been processed thus far, and only one has been denied for failing to meet all the required performance criteria.

Advantages of performance zoning include:

* time savings. It takes three days to obtain a development order, as opposed to as many as 90 days with traditional zoning;

* lack of political input. No town council time must be devoted to dealing with specific development permits;

* increased economic development. Developers can find out with certainty what they can do with a parcel within a few hours and with the expenditure of little more than the cost of a survey and a few hours of a planner’s time. NRT’s president noted that the firm’s decision to relocate was strongly influenced by the ease of dealing with development regulations and the rapidity with which approvals were obtained; and

* few citizen complaints. The ordinance includes vegetation planting requirements to maintain the town’s attractiveness.

This article was written by Havana Town Manager Susan Freiden and Richard Winters, a Tallahassee-based planning consultant.

Tags:

Most Recent


  • Supreme Court ruling on EPA greenhouse gas regulation will impact cities
    On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court handcuffed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s regulation power by ruling that the federal government cannot use the 1970 Clean Air Act to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. By a 6-3 decision, the decision is notable for city and county administrators because greenhouse gas emissions aren’t contained within […]
  • sustainability
    Sustainability initiatives take center stage in Florida county
    Palm Beach County, Fla. (2022 estimated population: 1,538,450), is the second largest county in Florida by land area and the third largest by population. County leaders have been implementing resiliency and sustainability initiatives for more than a decade, says Melissa McKinlay, commissioner of Palm Beach County District 6. “However, a few years ago, the Board […]
  • July fourth
    10 best cities for July Fourth celebrations
    Happy 247th birthday, America! Across the country, people will be gathering for parades, picnics and, of course, fireworks. According to WalletHub’s 4th of July facts, 47.9 million people will travel 50+ miles from home for the holiday weekend. They will spend $7.7 billion on food, and eat 150 million hot dogs, maybe trying to beat […]
  • The Missing Link in Cloud Security
    Why End-of-Life Destruction is Critical to a Successful Cloud Security Policy Recently, there has been a hyper-focus on cloud security — and with good reason. According to a report by McAfee, cloud services are now a regular component of IT operations, utilized by more than 90% of organizations globally. In fact, 80% of all IT […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • NLC releases State of Cities 2021 report
  • How governments can keep employees safe as they return to work
  • Lessons from your friendly neighborhood public service employees
  • North Texas alliance partners with Marketplace.city on smart government solutions

White papers


How to Assemble a Rockstar Website Redesign Steering Committee

7th June 2022

Hand Hygiene: Compliance Matters

23rd May 2022

What it Takes to Build a Winning Esports Program

23rd May 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Supreme Court ruling on EPA greenhouse gas regulation will impact cities dlvr.it/STBwkw

1st July 2022
AmerCityCounty

Sustainability initiatives take center stage in Florida county dlvr.it/STBvwN

1st July 2022
AmerCityCounty

10 best cities for July Fourth celebrations dlvr.it/STBfHt

1st July 2022
AmerCityCounty

The Missing Link in Cloud Security dlvr.it/STBXNL

1st July 2022
AmerCityCounty

Improving Productivity with Employee Engagement | Aug. 4, 2022 at 2 PM ET dlvr.it/STBCD5

1st July 2022
AmerCityCounty

We want to hear from you! Please take this brief survey and let us know how your organization is managing your budg… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

30th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Reforming emergency dispatch won’t be easy, but it’s necessary dlvr.it/ST7kQ5

30th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Three U.S. cities to adopt Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge-winning project to combat climate change dlvr.it/ST4bjk

29th June 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X