March 10, 2022 GCS City Council fortifies its downtown designation
Full story here
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The City Council better defined businesses that will need to apply for temporary permits or for special exemptions during its meeting Tuesday night to enhance the downtown area ahead of its ambitious 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
Outdoor storage, trade contractors with fleet parking, laundromats, brewpubs, vape, cigar and smoke shops and pawn shops all will operate with special exemptions, which means it can operate without zoning restrictions as long as it promotes the public health, safety, welfare, morals, order, comfort, convenience, appearance, prosperity or general welfare of the location, according to the city’s planning and zoning director, Mike Daniels. Exemptions are granted by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Multi-family units will operate with a permit, which requires approval by elected or appointed officials.
The change to the downtown business district also allows some to do business on the sidewalk, as long as they allow for at least five feet of unobstructed pathway for pedestrians. The purpose was to make the downtown area livelier and to enhance business.
Councilman Van Royal said he’d like to see an easier way for residents and vendors to get permits during special events like Food Truck Fridays and Third Saturday Market in the Park.
“Have a rule is great,” he said. “I don’t like the idea where we have to get a permit for every event. If we make it easier, it encourages them to come out and do something.”
Daniels said permits allows the city to “know what’s going on.”
The changes to the Downtown Business District ordinance passed, 5-0. Revisions to the Future Land Use Districts, which better defines the area, also passed, 5-0, to make a better fit with the proposed Comprehensive Plan.
In other business. The council approved a waiver of its $25,000 bond requirement and allowed for a smaller permit fee for the 2022 Winter Rally and Swap Meet at Reynolds Industrial Park as part of the city’s Military Vehicle Preservation Association rally.