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VENICE – The City Council agreed Tuesday to proposed more changes in Venice’s development rules designed to alleviate concerns raised by the citizens group Venice Unites.
The city and the citizens came to terms on three of four issues previously raised, following a Jan. 6 special meeting, but left three aspects of the city’s regulations for planned-unit developments unresolved.
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The residents group collected more than 2,228 signatures from registered voters on a petition that, without a compromise, would have initiated a referendum on whether to rescind the entire 600-plus pages of new development rules the council approved last year.
“This proposal does represent a complete settlement of the” citizens group’s concerns, Assistant City Manager James Clinch told the council.
The changes include:
• Reinserting wording from the city’s growth plan noting the non-residential portion of a planned unit development is to meet the needs of the local neighborhood, not the broader region.
• Removal of a reference to a 65,000-square-foot cap on a structure and reverting back to one where the size would be dictated by floor area ratios allowed in the growth plan.
• Reinserting language from a growth plan policy about compatibility that protects single-family neighborhoods “from the intrusion of incompatible uses,” and prevents locating commercial and industrial uses where they are incompatible with what’s already there.
The changes, as well as previously agreed upon issues related to building heights downtown and creation environmental protection plans for parcels smaller than five acres, must still be reviewed by the Venice Planning Commission and subject to two public hearings before the City Council prior to formal adoption.
Attorney Ron Smith, who was empowered to negotiate for Venice Unites, said that once those changes become law, the five-member Venice Unites board can officially end its effort and vote to dissolve.
