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New Port Richey Amends Downtown District Uses Code

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: January 10, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - If you're looking to make bail, get a tattoo or buy a crack pipe, downtown New Port Richey isn't the place to do it.

And the City Council wants it to stay that way.

Council took a step in that direction Tuesday night by approving on final reading amendments to an existing city code that specifies what kinds of businesses are and are not permitted in the downtown district.

The city first adopted land development regulations in 1990, in compliance with the state's Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land Development Act. The city added more specificity in 2005 by creating lists of permitted and prohibited uses of property in the downtown district.

The intent in 2005 was to recognize the economic and historical importance of downtown and to promote and regulate its redevelopment as a focal point of community pride and interest.

The code includes two lists: one for types of businesses that are permitted, another for types of businesses specifically not permitted from opening downtown.

In most cases the ban is based either on the nature of the business or the aesthetic impact it would have on the district.

"I think it's just generally things that are not compatible with downtown," Lisa Fierce, city planning and zoning manager and planner, said of the banned business types. "It's things that just don't mesh with what you're trying to do with your downtown."

The code only applies to businesses looking to open in the downtown district in the future. It has no bearing on existing downtown businesses or on what can open in other areas of the city.

There is a place in the city for many of these businesses, just not downtown, Fierce said. They are better suited for more industrial zones, or along U.S. 19 or other thoroughfares in the city, she said.

Although the amendments council approved Tuesday will not bring about wholesale changes to the personality of downtown, they do represent months of discussion in exactly how to tweak both lists.

Proposed businesses that are not addressed on either list are considered by a review committee on a case-by-case basis. The committee then sends its recommendation to City Council for final action.

The move to amend the code was prompted by pubic requests to broaden the list of permitted uses so people trying to open a downtown business could avoid the conditional use process. Many of the changes came on recommendations arrived at a Nov. 18 meeting of the city's land use review board and from a City Council work session in October.

While widening the range of permissible downtown businesses, the amendments also sought to stave off potential ambiguities in the rules. In some cases, wording was changed on existing-business categories to broaden or tighten their scope.

"In 'apparel stores' we added the words 'including consignment' but we took out 'new merchandise only,' " Fierce said.

Other listings draw distinct lines between establishments of a similar nature. For example, boarding houses and rooming houses are not allowed, but a bed and breakfast inn would be. Massage parlors of the adult entertainment variety are not permitted, but a state licensed massage therapy business is OK.

One type of business under the "not permitted" list was repair shops of motorized equipment. As worded in 2005, the listing simply said "repair shops."

An initial attempt to amend the listing would have more narrowly banned "repair shops of motorized equipment." While there was a general understanding of the spirit of this alternative, there was concern about how to define "motorized equipment" in writing.

As Councilman Rob Marlowe noted Tuesday, there is a downtown store that sells scooters used by people with mobility problems. Would this listing, he wondered, prohibit businesses that service them?

After several options were considered, council accepted a suggestion from City Attorney Thomas Morrison. It added to the permitted-uses list repairs on "electrical equipment sold at medical supply stores."

Another potentially more problematic addition to the amendments was wording prohibiting future downtown businesses from selling drug paraphernalia. As Police Chief Martin Rickus explained, that's a tough thing to enforce.

"They're not going to put up a sign saying, 'Get your crack pipes here,' " Rickus said. They call it a "vase" or "glass art," he said. Legally speaking, he explained, an item doesn't become illegal drug paraphernalia until it's used to ingest illegal drugs.

Mayor Scott McPherson had been pushing to get the drug paraphernalia language into the ordinance overhaul. McPherson, an attorney, conceded to a degree the point Rickus raised about enforcing laws against drug paraphernalia sales.

The mayor, however, added he is dismayed that stores get away with selling such items under those various guises. Some of them appear to be aimed at children, McPherson said. Like the rest of the downtown business ordinance, McPherson said, the section on drug paraphernalia would be a tool to help gradually shape the identity of downtown.

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