(A) Authority for changes to the Plan. The Town Council shall have the authority to adopt changes to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, as provided by law.
(B) Review by Local Planning Agency.
(1) Generally. Applications to amend the town’s Comprehensive Plan shall be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board sitting as the Local Planning Agency for the town as provided by law. The review of the application to amend the Comprehensive Plan shall be the subject of a public hearing and the Local Planning Agency shall forward its recommendations to the Town Council for final action.
(2) Review of the Comprehensive Plan. Applications to amend the town’s Comprehensive Plan, and the review process in connection therewith, shall be conducted by the Local Planning Agency. All meetings of the Local Planning Agency shall be public meetings, and the agency’s records shall be public records. During the procedures required to prepare the Comprehensive Plan, or to review an application for the amendment thereof, the Local Planning Agency shall hold a minimum of one public hearing thereon, with notice to the public. Upon completion of its work, the Local Planning Agency shall forward its recommendations to the Town Council regarding the adoption or amendment of the town’s Comprehensive Plan.
(C) Filing dates, Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan of the town may only be amended two times each year, or as otherwise provided by law. The deadline for filing an application for a plan amendment with the Town Clerk shall be the close of business on the last Fridays in March and September of each year, except if the town is the applicant for such amendment. Applications by the town to amend the Comprehensive Plan may be commenced at any time during the calendar year, but in no event shall the town receive or consider more than two applications to amend the town’s Comprehensive Plan in each calendar year.
(D) Procedure for Comprehensive Plan change. The notice, hearings and other requirements for changing the Comprehensive Plan shall be governed by statutory requirements. The provisions of F.S. §§ 163.3184 and 163.3187, providing for amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, are hereby incorporated into this code by reference and made a part hereof.
(E) Evaluation and appraisal report: relation to amending the Comprehensive Plan. The duties of the Planning and Zoning Board acting as the LPA shall include the preparation of an evaluation and appraisal report, hereafter referred to as the EAR, and to make recommendation to the Town Council for the adoption thereof in conformity with the provisions of F.S. § 163.3191. When completed by the town and approved after review by the Department of Community Affairs, the EAR will form the basis for amendments to update the Comprehensive Plan. The EAR shall assess and evaluate the success or failure of the town’s present Comprehensive Plan, including the validity of the projections, the realization of the goals and objectives, the implementation of the Plan’s policies, and the changes in community conditions since the adoption of the Plan. The findings and recommendations contained in the town’s EAR shall also address the effect those changes have in recommending an update of the Plan to meet the present and the future needs of the community. The scope of review of the present Comprehensive Plan which will be needed to complete the EAR will covers many factors. It is the intention of the town that the work of the LPA can best be done in segments over a series of public meetings where attention is focused separately on each of the individual elements or specific portions of the elements which comprise the entire Comprehensive Plan and the effect they have on the community. After completing its review on each segment the LPA shall make its recommendations to the Town Council for adoption, limited each time to those individual areas it has reviewed. It is the intention of the town that the work of the LPA and the Council be coordinated in a continuous process whereby the several individual elements comprising the EAR are presented, reviewed and made the subject of recommendations by the LPA for adoption by the Town Council in stages and collected until all the work has been completed and the LPA can make its final recommendation to the Town Council for the adoption of a complete and final EAR document.
(Ord. 1-90, passed 1-31-1991; Ord. 1-07, passed 4-26-2007; Ord. 1-08, passed 2-28-2008)