Escambia judge rules county commission must reconsider zoning request denied on 'opinion'
Escambia's Board of County Commissioners are required to make decisions about rezoning requests based on the county’s land development code, not personal opinions, a judge has ruled.
Escambia Circuit Judge Jennifer J. Frydrychowicz issued that decision, Thursday in a response to a petition filed by Calvary Ridge, LLC for judicial review of the board's decision.
The case stems from a decision made by board members in April of last year, to deny the company’s request to rezone over seven acres of vacant property near Motley Court and Ten Mile Road from Low Density Residential (LDR), which allows four dwelling units per acre, to Medium Density Residential (MDR), which allows 10 dwelling units per acre.
The month before that decision, Escambia’s Planning Board voted unanimously in favor of approving the rezoning application based on recommendation from staff that it’s consistent with the intent and purpose of the county’s land development code. A review by staff found it met the code’s governing criteria including compatibility with existing residential uses in the neighborhood and development patterns.
According to the ruling, 16 people spoke about the request at the planning board meeting, with some saying the addition of potentially 70 more homes would be too much for the neighborhood.
The same people expressed their opinions to commissioners about it during their board meeting. However, Escambia County commissioners did not accept the planning board’s recommendation to approve the rezoning request and instead denied it.
Escambia Commission Chairman Steven Barry, who represents the district where the property is located, was the only board member who commented on the rezoning request saying he was “very familiar with the neighborhood” having grown up in the area and thought it was already built out back in the 1980s. He disagreed with the planning board’s decision that the rezoning request was compatible with surrounding uses and consistent with changing conditions.
“I think an LDR zoning is appropriate for where they are,” Barry said during the April 6, 2023, board meeting. “I think to take it to an MDR with 10 units per acre, that’s a little bit over the top. I think the four units per acre still allows folks to be able to do a project on their property. If there’s not a tremendous amount of comments from my colleagues, I would move to reject the planning board’s recommendation.”
The board passed the motion and denied the request. The petitioner, Calvary Ridge, LLC, was not given an opportunity to respond to Barry’s basis for his decision and the judge said that violated the company’s due process rights because the board’s function is quasi-judicial.
Frydrychowicz also said Barry made the decision with no supporting evidence other than his opinion and did not rely on the criteria of the county’s land development code for determining if a rezoning request should be granted.
“Because the court finds the commissioner’s comment went beyond an analysis of the evidence presented to it, and he was the only one that offered any comment, it cannot be ascertained from the record that the (county’s) decision to deny the application was based on (admissible) competent substantial evidence,” Frydrychowicz wrote in her order granting the company’s petition for writ of certiorari, or judicial review.
She ruled the decision to deny Calvary Ridge LLC’s zoning application is quashed and the matter is remanded to the board of county commissioners for further proceedings.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia judge rules commissioners wrongly denied rezoning request
