Town discusses law of the landscape

The law of landscaping requirements could soon have a slightly different look. The Longboat Key Town Commission reached consensus at its Dec. 15 regular workshop to forward two ordinances related to landscaping for first reading and public hearing.

The first ordinance allowed for alternatives, such as fences or walls, to the 10-foot vegetation buffer that town code currently requires between commercial and residential properties.

“As you know, we have some unique, longstanding commercial properties on the island that, as you know, are not large,” Town Planner Ric Hartman told the commission. “The code now requires that if they are adjacent to a residential property that a 10-foot landscaping buffer be installed. That’s a fairly large chunk on some of these smaller commercial properties.”

Commissioners debated who should be responsible for erecting the buffer. Current town code requires that if a commercial property changes its zoning to residential, its neighboring commercial property could ultimately be responsible for installing the buffer.

“If I’m changing from commercial to residential,” Commissioner Jack Duncan said, “I would think that should be my burden then to put up the barrier and pay for it.”

Commissioners reached consensus to amend the ordinance so that the change applicant would bear responsibility for installing the buffer. The commission reached consensus to ease setback requirements for the barrier from 6 feet to 3 feet.

The second ordinance moved forward amends requirements to include a six-month window for property owners whose required landscaping was involuntarily damaged or destroyed to bring their landscaping into compliance with town code.

Hartman said that six months would give property owners a grace period, particularly in cases where there could be significant structural damage to homes.

Brown asked about the six-month time frame and asked if it could be amended to a “reasonable amount of time.” But Town Attorney David Persson said that the town aimed to objectify the requirement through the ordinance. Commissioner Phill Younger agreed.

“Laws tend to fail because of lack of specificity,” he said. “What’s reasonable to one person may not be reasonable to another.”