§ 102-20. Planning Commission.

(a)

Creation. There is hereby established a Planning Commission.

(b)

Powers and duties. The Planning Commission shall have the following powers and duties:

(1)

To serve as the Local Planning Agency (LPA), required by F.S. Section 163.3174;

(2)

To prepare or cause to be prepared a comprehensive plan or element thereof and make recommendations to the BOCC regarding the adoption or amendment of such comprehensive plan or element;

(3)

To review and make recommendations to the BOCC in regard to amendment of the future land use map and official land use (zoning) district map;

(4)

To hear, review and approve or disapprove applications for major conditional use permits, and those minor conditional use permits requiring review by the Planning Commission pursuant to Section 110-69;

(5)

To prepare, hear, review and make recommendations to the BOCC on applications for amendment to the text of this Land Development Code, and to the consistency of the proposal with the adopted comprehensive plan;

(6)

To hear, review and recommend approval or disapproval of all plats;

(7)

To hear, consider and act on appeals of administrative actions;

(8)

To act to ensure compliance with major conditional use permits, as approved and issued;

(9)

To make its special knowledge and expertise available upon reasonable written request and authorization of the BOCC to any official, department, board, commission or agency of the county, state or federal government; and

(10)

To adopt such rules of procedure necessary for the administration of its responsibilities not inconsistent with this article to govern the commission's proceedings.

(c)

Qualifications for membership. Members shall be chosen from persons with experience in the areas of planning, environmental science, the business community, the development industry, and other local industries. Members of the Planning Commission shall be qualified electors in the county. In the event that any member is no longer a qualified elector or is convicted of a felony or an offense involving moral turpitude while in office, the BOCC shall terminate the appointment of such person as a member of the Planning Commission.

(d)

Membership: appointment, removal, terms, and vacancies.  

(1)

The Planning Commission shall be composed of five members. Vacancies shall be filled by nomination by the district's county commissioner for the district whose member on the BOCC made the previous appointment for the vacant seat. The county commissioner shall nominate a person qualified as provided in subsection (c) of this section to be approved by the BOCC by a vote of at least three members. The geographical representation of the Keys shall be considered, but not required when making appointments to the Planning Commission. If there is a vacancy on the Planning Commission which remains unfilled for more than 60 days, the County Mayor may appoint a person to hold the office until an appointment is approved by the BOCC.

(2)

Members shall serve at the pleasure of the BOCC. Removal shall be approved by the affirmative vote of at least three members of the BOCC.

(3)

All appointments shall terminate upon replacement by a county commissioner with another person appointed and approved by the BOCC. Confirmation of existing appointments or nominations for new appointments by all county commissioners elected in the fall of each election year shall be made by those commissioners at or before the regular monthly meeting of the BOCC in February of each year following an election year. If such ratification or appointment does not take place, the respective Planning Commission seat shall be deemed vacant. Terms of the Planning Commission appointments shall be from their appointment dates until replaced or terminated. Planning commission members serving as of August 1, 2009 shall be subject to the provision of this subsection and shall serve until replaced as described above, whether filling out the term of a previously appointed member or serving their own terms.

(4)

At an annual organizational meeting, the members of the Planning Commission shall elect one of its members as chair and one as vice-chair. In the absence of the chair, the vice-chair shall act as chair and shall have all powers of the chair. The chair shall serve a term of one year. No member shall serve as chair for more than two consecutive terms.

(5)

The presiding officer of any meeting of the Planning Commission may administer oaths, shall be in charge of all proceedings before the Planning Commission, and shall take such action as shall be necessary to preserve order and the integrity of all proceedings before the Planning Commission.

(6)

If a Planning Commission member desires to be excused from attendance at any commission meeting, he/she shall contact the Planning Commission coordinator prior to the meeting. The Planning Commission coordinator shall report the request to the chair who shall make the determination to grant or deny the request. If any member of the commission shall fail to attend three regular consecutive meetings without prior notice and an excuse sufficient to the Planning Commission, such failure shall constitute sufficient grounds for termination of the member's appointment. The Planning Commission coordinator shall notify the chair or the vice-chair, as the case may be, and he or she shall immediately file a notification of such nonattendance with the County Administrator for placement on the agenda of the BOCC; and the BOCC shall, by appropriate action, terminate the appointment of such person and fill the vacancy thereby created as soon as practicable.

(7)

A representative of the school district shall be appointed by the school board as a non-voting ex-officio member of the Planning Commission and the representative may attend those meetings at which the Planning Commission considers text and map amendments to the Comprehensive Plan or Land Development Code that would, if approved, affect the school district by.

(8)

The base commander of the Naval Air Station Key West or designee shall be a non-voting ex-officio member of the Planning Commission as long as such a requirement for military installation representation is in the Florida Statutes.

(e)

Planning Commission Coordinator/Recording secretary. The Planning Director shall appoint a planning commission coordinator/recording secretary to serve the Planning Commission. The secretary shall keep minutes of all proceedings of the Planning Commission, which minutes shall be a summary of all proceedings before the Planning Commission, attested to by the secretary, and which shall include the vote of each member upon every question. The minutes shall be approved by a majority of the members of the Planning Commission voting. In addition, the secretary shall maintain all records of commission meetings, hearings and proceedings, agendas and minutes.

(f)

Staff. The Planning and Environmental Resources Department shall be the professional staff of the Planning Commission.

(g)

Quorum and necessary vote. No meeting of the Planning Commission may be called to order, nor may any business be transacted by the Planning Commission, without a quorum consisting of at least three members of the Planning Commission being present. The chair shall be considered and counted as a member. The concurring vote of at least three members shall be necessary for the commission to take action on major conditional use permit applications, final plat applications, and text and map amendments to the text of the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code. All other actions shall require the concurring vote of a simple majority of the members of the commission then present and voting.

(h)

Compensation. Planning Commission members shall be compensated as determined by the BOCC.

(i)

Meetings, hearings and procedure.  

(1)

Regular meetings of the Planning Commission shall be scheduled monthly beginning January of every calendar year and special meetings may be scheduled as required by a majority of the BOCC, the chair of the Planning Commission, or a majority of the members of the Planning Commission.

(2)

The regularly scheduled (monthly) meetings shall be held in Marathon. All items which relate to specific properties such as but not limited to major conditional use permits, variances and administrative appeals, shall be held at the regularly scheduled meetings, with the exception of property specific applications that have extenuating circumstances that require such applications to be considered at special meetings in the lower or upper keys. The Planning Commission may, in its discretion, schedule special meetings as required by the demand for such meetings. In cases where an item is postponed due to the lack of a quorum of the Planning Commission, the item shall be continued to a special meeting or to the next available regular meeting. In cases where an item is postponed for any other reason, the item shall be continued to the next regularly scheduled meeting or as otherwise decided by the Planning Commission. Items which are related to specific properties, such as but not limited to text amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code, may be heard in Marathon or the Planning Commission may, in its discretion, schedule such items for the most appropriate subarea or for additional meetings in the lower or upper keys.

(3)

All meetings and hearings of the commission shall be open to the public.

( Ord. No. 006-2016 , § 1(Exh. 1), 4-13-2016)