Tampa's development chief looks for consistency, clarity in rewritten land code

The city of Tampa is amid a two-year review aimed at rewriting its land development code to make it more useful to residents and to address needs brought about by growth.

The city says the process, which began April 2023, will update the current set of regulations that governs land use, growth and development. 

A big part of the push is to get input from residents and that will start Sept. 16, with the first of several public events to discuss potential changes. The city has also posted an online survey for residents.

Abbye Feeley, the city’s interim administrator for development and economic opportunity, says getting the public’s input is “vital” to the process.

This is especially true since the last time it was updated was in the 1980s.

Feeley says the land code affects everything from protecting buildings to improving walkability. Because of that, the code should be easier to read and understand.

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“When you open the land development code you should be able to know, as a regular resident, what that means,” she says. “And unfortunately, over the years, our code has gotten so amorphous in such a way that right now, things are in a couple different sections or things aren't consistent.”

The public’s take is just one step in the process to update the development code. There is a 12-member cross-disciplinary advisory team that will work on the document and the Tampa City Council will make the final call.

The goal, says Feeley, “is to create this code or update this code in a way that it does create conditions for growth in the right places. And that means protection and resiliency.”

Feeley, who has worked for the city 24 years, spoke with the Business Observer about the land development code and the need to update it. Edited excerpts:

Why did the city decide a change was needed and why now?

The city's code really hasn't had a comprehensive update since the late 1980s. So one of the priorities when Mayor (Jane) Castor took office was really to look at the code to make it more understandable, to make it more user friendly. People, I think, talk a lot about zoning and land development regulations, and don't even know that's what they're talking about.

I think what has happened over the years is that we have had piecemeal updates to certain sections. But trends have definitely changed — our approach to parking, our approach to transit, our approach to affordable housing. There are things that have happened in the land planning arena that our code is not necessarily reflective of.

The other thing is, we found that we have some internal inconsistencies in the document. But given the amount, the volume, that our staff processes from a permit and a land development rezoning standpoint, it's not something we could do in house. So, we needed Mayor Castor's vision and support in order to really take this on more holistically and do one big lift versus trying to spread it out. And even with this lift, it's still a two-year process.

What is the objective?

I think we have a couple different goals. The first one is to really have the code be more organized, which includes making it easier to navigate, easier to read. Just simpler language. When the city's zoning code was first published it was one page in the Tampa Tribune back in the 50s. Clearly, we've come a long way since then.

But it's also to make the application and review process more predictable, more streamlined. We see people having to rezone to do projects in the city. And as we've seen those rezonings come in over the years, you start to look at your code because if City Council considers these projects good and wants to approve them, why is the code not promoting those types of projects?

The last is to create this code or update this code in a way that it does create conditions for growth in the right places. I know we're really looking forward to creating mixed-use zoning categories that we don't currently have. But we know that those are the types of developments that support transit, those are the types of developments that support having affordable housing, those are the types of developments that need to be located near each other on corridors. But our code doesn't currently do that, so I think that is a definitely an expectation.

What do residents bring to the conversation?

Our citizens have a lot of great ideas on what our city should be and how the code should do that. But like I said to the beginning, I don't know that they know that's actually called the code. When you tell someone that there's regulations on their property they're not always aware of that. Be it tree regulations or impervious surface regulations. I think part of the engagement is really public education. I didn't want to show up at the adoption hearing and not have had the residents as my partner because I know that their viewpoints are important to us as a city and they're important to City Council. And really, we all need to be in this together.

Any particular changes you and the administration would like to see in the update?

I think consistency is big, providing that consistency in the code. Because lately we've taken criticism from neighborhoods or residents that it's not clear how the city is making decisions or under what criteria. 

I'm a resident of the city, so I think when you open the land development code you should be able to know as a regular resident what that means. And unfortunately, over the years our code has gotten so amorphous that right now things are in a couple different sections or things aren't consistent.

It should be easy to understand and give that level of predictability. If you're buying a piece of property, you should be able to look next door and be like, 'Okay, this is zoned commercial. This allows this, this, this, and this and that' and be able to direct growth in a good way. Our code does not do that right now.