§ 360. Certificate of Level of Service Compliance.

360.1.   Purpose.

This section is intended to prevent the issuance of Development Orders which result in a reduction in the adopted level of service standards for public facilities below the level required by the Comprehensive Plan.

360.2.   Applicability.

The following development order requests shall not be issued unless the applicant has obtained a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance. All development shall obtain a certificate. If proposed development qualifies as a special exception to the Comprehensive Plan, the certificate will be issued indicating the exception.

A.

Approval to commence development.

B.

Construction drawing approval.

C.

Final site plan.

D.

Final subdivision plat.

E.

Administrative permit with a Final Site Plan.

F.

Earthmoving permit, minor or major.

G.

Off-street parking plan.

H.

Building permits for the following:

1.

More than one thousand (1,000) square feet of non-residential floor area as either a new building or an addition.

2.

Dwelling unit as a whole unit but not an addition to a unit.

3.

Other use that would increase parking spaces, traffic generation, potable water use, wastewater generation, or solid waste generation beyond that of a dwelling unit or an office with one thousand (1,000) square feet of floor area.

4.

Installation of drainage, water, sewer or roadway improvements.

5.

Request for public water or wastewater service. (Comprehensive Plan special exception status does not give applicant automatic approval for water or wastewater service.)

I.

Construction approval for required improvements (except as performed by Manatee County) to a site, such as the installation of drainage, water, sewer, parking or roadway improvements.

360.3.   Optional Certification.

A.

Concurrent Approvals. An applicant may apply for and receive a certificate concurrently with the approval of the following Development Orders or approvals:

1.

Development of regional impact or Florida Quality Development.

2.

General Development Plan meeting Large Projects Standards.

3.

Preliminary site plan.

4.

Preliminary subdivision plat.

5.

Special permit with a preliminary site plan.

B.

Exceptions. The optional certification provided in this section shall not be available for the wastewater, potable water and educational facilities components of concurrency. In the event an applicant does not apply for and receive a certificate concurrently with any of the forgoing Development Orders and approvals, such Development Orders and approvals shall not grant any rights or entitlements to a certificate, shall not exempt the proposed development from eventual requirements for a certificate, and shall not grant any rights to commence development without a certificate.

C.

Review Deferral. All applicants for a development order, or authorized representatives thereof, who are not applying for simultaneous review for issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance shall fill out, sign and submit a form to be provided by the County indicating that the applicant (or representative) recognizes and acknowledges that any approval of the development order application would not exempt a party seeking development order approvals on the subject parcel from review for, and receipt of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance.

(Ord. No. 16-24 , § 3(Exh. A-3), 11-15-16; Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

360.4.   Special Permits, Rezonings and Site Plan Approvals.

A.

Certificate Not Required.  

1.

A certificate shall not be required in connection with a Special Permit, rezoning or approval of a General Development Plan or Preliminary Site Plan. However, the County may consider the availability of public services and facilities when evaluating the appropriateness of any such approval, and may deny a request for any such approval if public facilities and services are not expected to be available as required pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan.

2.

The issuance of a development order for the construction of one single family dwelling unit on a legal lot of record existing prior to adoption of this Comprehensive Plan is exempt from review for compliance with adopted level of service standards. Nothing in this provision shall exempt any such proposed development from other applicable regulations.

B.

Recommendation for Denial. In the case where there is a recommendation of denial of the requested future land use map, comprehensive policy plan, rezoning, or site plan application, the applicant is not precluded from applying for a development agreement in accordance with this Code, or otherwise proposing conditions of approval that would achieve consistency with the requirements of the Comprehensive Plan.

(Ord. No. 16-24 , § 3(Exh. A-3), 11-15-16)

360.5.   Application Review Procedures.

A.

Staff Review. All applications for certificates shall be reviewed and processed for completeness and sufficiency pursuant to Sections 312.4 and 312.5. Within a reasonable time after receipt of the sufficiency review comments, the Department Director shall act upon the application.

B.

Standards of Review and Approval. All proposed certificates shall be reviewed under, and shall only be approved if found to be in compliance with, the following standards:

1.

The standards for concurrency and level of service set forth in the Comprehensive Plan;

2.

Any professionally accepted techniques for measuring level of service in order to assure compliance with the Comprehensive Plan and applicable law; and

3.

The procedures established for concurrency review.

C.

Action by Department Director. Upon receipt of all comments from reviewing departments and agencies, the Department Director shall:

1.

Approve the application and issue the certificate with conditions; or

2.

Issue to the applicant a Notice of Intent to deny the application; and:

a.

If the applicant fails to respond within thirty (30) days of the date of such notice requesting to undertake proportionate fair share mitigation, the application shall be deemed denied without further notice to the applicant.

b.

If the applicant responds and requests to undertake proportionate fair share mitigation pursuant to F.S. § 163.3180, the certificate shall be issued if and when the requirements of that section are satisfied.

D.

Conditions of Approval. The Department Director may attach such conditions to the approval of a certificate as are necessary to assure compliance with this Section, which may include, but shall not be limited to, development phasing, facility phasing, and capital improvements programming, and may be required to be secured by land development agreements, construction contracts, and/or posting of performance security.

E.

Effect of Approval. Issuance of a certificate shall satisfy the concurrency requirements of the Comprehensive Plan, subject to all conditions imposed pursuant to the certificate, and any other conditions or requirements imposed pursuant to any other applicable Development Order or approval, this Code or the Comprehensive Plan.

F.

Succession. If a proposed development requires subsequent development orders, e.g., a preliminary site plan followed by a Final Site Plan followed by a Building Permit, the original certificate will serve all such subsequent development orders, unless and until such certificate expires.

G.

Modification. Requests for modifications to certificates shall be reviewed and approved in the same manner as applications for new certificates. An applicant that has received approval of a certificate may request approval of a modification to such certificate, and the Department Director may approve such request, so long as such modification:

1.

Does not result in a reservation of additional infrastructure capacity over and above capacity reserved in the original certificate, unless there are no complete applications for certificates pending before the County that would require such additional capacity; and

2.

Does not result in the release of the applicant from any obligation to construct public improvements, or provide payment in lieu thereof, for impacts to public facilities.

H.

Appeals. Appeals of decisions to approve and issue, or deny, certificates shall be heard by a Hearing Officer pursuant to Part X of this Chapter.

360.6.   Expiration.

All certificates shall expire three (3) years from the date of issuance except as otherwise provided in this Section. If a certificate is issued for transportation concurrency, a subsequent certificate for potable water, sanitary sewer and educational facilities shall be given the same expiration date as the original certificate for transportation. The issuance of a certificate for potable water at the final development stage shall not operate to extend the expiration of a prior certificate for other concurrency requirements. Certificates valid for more than three (3) years may be issued in connection with a development order for a development of regional impact, Florida quality development, a General Development Plan meeting Large Project Standards or a development agreement.

The certificate for Educational Facilities may be valid a maximum of five (5) years unless a development agreement, a DRI development order or extension by a local government when the term of the extension is agreed to through written authorization from the School Board or its designee; provided, however, in no instance shall the term of the certificate for Educational Facilities exceed the Certificate of Level of Service issued by Manatee County for other public facility infrastructure except where a Local Development Agreement has been entered into and executed. If the related authorization for Horizontal Construction or Vertical Construction expires, or is otherwise terminated, then the educational facilities concurrency certificate shall be terminated.

A.

Building Permits. Building permits shall be obtained prior to the expiration of a certificate. Construction may continue to completion after the certificate's expiration if the Building Permits remain valid and do not expire.

B.

Subdivisions. Building permits for single family and duplex dwelling units on individual lots within a residential subdivision, which previously received a certificate, shall not be required to obtain a new certificate if:

1.

Said subdivision received final subdivision plat approval;

2.

Such Final Plat was recorded in the public records before its certificate expired; and

3.

All necessary conditions of the certificate have been met.

(Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

360.7.   Extensions.

No later than thirty (30) days before the expiration date of a certificate originally issued for three (3) years, the applicant may request one (1) extension, not to exceed two (2) additional years. Such extension shall be reviewed and approved administratively. In connection with any requested extension, a limit may be placed on the amount of capacity which may be carried forward and allocated to the two-year extension term, and a limit may be placed upon the timeframe for which the extension is granted. The Department Director shall determine whether the extension is warranted, based on criteria including, but not limited to, the following:

A.

Size of the project;

B.

Amount of capacity requested;

C.

Phasing;

D.

Location of the project;

E.

Capacity availability within the service area;

F.

Reasons for requesting the reservation time period extension;

G.

Whether the developer exercised good faith in attempting to secure issuance of a Building Permit;

H.

Whether the applicant has substantially completed all required improvements to public facilities or provided the County with payment in lieu of such improvements; and

I.

Whether the applicant has applied for or has made a proportionate fair-share contribution for the provision of transportation facilities or pre-paid estimated transportation impact fees.

The residential certificate extension requested per this Section (360.7) shall be sent to the School District to identify impacts to educational facilities. The School Board shall provide a School Report to the Department Director. The Department Director shall consider the school report in determining if the extension satisfies the requirements of the Interlocal Agreement for Public Schools Facility Planning.

(Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

360.8.   Extensions by Operation of Law.

In the event the term of validity of the Certificate of Level of Service Compliance is extended by operation of law, the applicant may request an extension of the term of the validity of the final site plan to coincide with the Certificate of Level of Service valid expiration date. A new site plan is not required to be submitted for the overall project or subdivision, unless the applicant proposes changes inconsistent with the original approval.

(Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), adopted Aug. 3, 2017, renumbered the former 360.8 as 360.10 and enacted new §§ 360.8 and 360.9 as set our herein. The historical notation has been retained with the amended provisions for reference purposes.

360.9.   Procedure.

The procedure to request an extension of the Certificate of Level of Service Compliance, as described in Sections 360.06 and 360.8 shall be set forth in the administrative regulations.

(Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

360.10.   Roadway Level of Service Review Process.

A.

Each project shall submit to Manatee County a transportation analysis (for each phase at time of detailed approval of that phase, if applicable) describing and analyzing total project traffic and the impact of that traffic on at least those roadways shown on the current Roadway Functional Classification Map. For DRI or FQD projects, the analysis required by Manatee County for purposes of review for Level of Service Compliance to the transportation impact area agreed on for preparing the Application for Development approval required by 380.06(10), F.S., otherwise the required transportation analysis must address all such roadways on which project traffic is projected to be equal to or greater than 5% of the adopted p.m. peak hour two-way Level of Service "Standard" capacity of the roadway ("Study Area"). The Level of Service Standard for a roadway shall be that level of service set forth in Table 5-1 of the Comprehensive Plan. The most recent version of the Link Sheets on file at the Manatee County Public Works Department shall be utilized in the Traffic Study to determine operational levels.

B.

For DRI or FQD projects entirely within or having equal to or greater than 75% of their total area within a Regional Activity Center, the required transportation analysis must address all such roadways once project traffic is projected to be equal to or greater than 10% of the peak hour Level of Service "D" capacity of the roadway.

C.

Where a project's transportation impact is such that all roadways within the Study Area are impacted at less than the 5% p.m. peak hour two-way level of service, then the impact of the project traffic on the first Major Roadway of Access and both end node intersections as identified in the most recent version of the Link Sheets on file at the Manatee County Public Works Department shall be evaluated for ensuring the maintenance of the adopted Level of Service Standard on that roadway.

D.

Level of Service Standard capacity shall be determined using professionally accepted methodology. The professionally accepted methodology shall be specified in the County's adopted concurrency methodology for performing traffic studies as detailed in amendments to the Land Development Code and Administrative Procedures. The peak hour two-way volume on the functionally classified roadways available from the most recent version of the Link Sheets on file at the Manatee County Public Works Department shall be utilized to conduct required transportation analyses, unless the project applicant conducts alternative traffic counts using accepted methodologies, and if such counts are accepted by the Manatee County Public Works Department in the Study Area.

E.

For purposes of the transportation analysis, project traffic may be distributed only on those roadways or improvements either:

1.

Shown on the Existing Roadways Functional Classification Map.

2.

Scheduled for construction completion in the current or following year of FDOT's five-year work program (subject to limitations contained in policy 10.1.4.2).

3.

Scheduled for construction completion in the adopted capital improvement program for the current or following fiscal year (subject to limitations contained in policy 10.1.4.2).

4.

Scheduled for construction completion prior to the initial date of project impact on the roadway, if such roadway or improvement is to be completed pursuant to a local government development agreement recorded pursuant to § 163.3239, F.S. (e.g, see policy 5.2.3.2). Where an improvement based on a local government development agreement is relied on to achieve acceptable levels of service, default on any such agreement by any party shall be identified (within any development order issued) as a basis for reconsideration and, if necessary, invalidation of the development order.

F.

Upon satisfactory completion of the required transportation analysis the following actions will be taken:

WHERE:

1.

Project traffic is projected to maintain adopted peak hour Level of Service Standards on all roadways shown on the Roadway Functional Classification Map and within the Study Area of the proposed project or project phase [as defined above], and

2.

Project traffic is projected to maintain peak hour Level of Service Standard as defined by the most recent version of Link Sheets on file at the Manatee County Public Works Department on any other roadways utilized for distributing project traffic or to be constructed pursuant to a local government development agreement.

Manatee County may consider the issuance of Certificate of Level of Service Compliance, or issue a development order for the proposed project or project phase, if compliance with other goals, objectives, and policies in the Comprehensive Plan is achieved.

However, Where:

1.

Project traffic is projected to cause violations of adopted peak hour levels of service on one or more roadways shown on the Roadway Functional Classification Map, or

2.

Project traffic is projected to cause a violation of adopted peak hour Level of Service "D" Standard on any other roadway utilized for distributing project traffic or to be constructed pursuant to a local government development agreement.

Manatee County shall only consider the issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance if:

1.

The Certificate of Level of Service Compliance is conditioned on construction of improvements necessary to meet Level of Service, or

2.

Remedial actions to facilitate the issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance have been approved by the County through the appropriate process.

The Board may also consider such violation(s) of adopted peak hour level of service standards in determining whether or not to approve a development project.

The conditions, pursuant to (1) above, set forth in the Certificate of Level of Service Compliance may be satisfied through one or more of the following:

• Construction of the required improvement(s).

• Approval of a local development agreement pursuant to the County's proportionate share provisions to construct one or more improvements to the transportation network.

• In those situations in which construction of a required improvement, not safety or operationally related, would result in its limited life due to a future improvement funded and scheduled for construction, and upon approval of Manatee County, payment to the County of the full construction costs of such improvement for the County's use to make appropriate transportation system improvements.

Such remedial actions pursuant to (2) above are subject to the Board's authority to schedule and fund improvements pursuant to applicable law and may include, but not necessarily be limited to, one or more of the following:

1.

Change in proposed project access and implementation of assurances to achieve preferred access.

2.

Change in permitted land uses, density/intensity, or magnitude of the proposed development.

3.

Approval of a local government development agreement to ensure the provision of additional roadways or roadway improvements by the applicant, the County, or both parties to alleviate any level of service exceedances.

4.

Phasing of the proposed project and implementing a phased development order approval process contingent on roadway improvements.

5.

Reduction in the adopted level of service standard for the roadway(s) on which an exceedance was projected, through the plan amendment process.

A generic example indicating "First Major Roadway(s) of Access" is shown below:

Roadways A, B, C, D, E, and F are all shown on the Functional Classification Map. Subscripts indicate segments, or links, comprising parts of each functionally-classified roadway. Extent of each link (e.g., B2) is determined by defining points of intersection of two or more functionally-classified roadways indicated by a square (□).

Roadways not in bold are local roads (i.e., not shown on the adopted Roadway Functional Classification Map). Arrows on these roads indicate potential paths of travel to "First Major Roadway(s) of Access" for this hypothetical proposed project. Points of Potential project access to the functionally-classified road network are indicated by a circle (○) on the graphic.

G.

Special Consideration of Level of Service "F". Where any functionally-classified First Major Roadway(s) of Access being considered during review of a proposed project is operating at a peak hour Level of Service "F" the following review process shall be utilized:

1.

If the roadway which is operating at peak hour Level of Service "F" has an adopted "current year" Level of Service Standard of "E" or better, no issuance of any Certificate of Level of Service Compliance shall be considered.

2.

If the roadway which is operating at peak hour Level of Service "F" has an adopted "current year" Level of Service Standard of "F", the following determinations shall be made in order to determine whether consideration of issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance can occur:

a.

If Manatee County has not identified, pursuant to Policy 5.1.2.5, one or more parallel facilities suitable for traffic diversion from the roadway for which a Level of Service Standards of "F" has been adopted, no issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance shall be considered.

b.

If one or more parallel facilities have been identified by Manatee County at time of adoption of Level of Service standard of "F" on the subject roadway (pursuant to Policy 5.1.2.5 above), and if all such parallel facilities have existing capacity to maintain adopted Level(s) of Service, with 100% of traffic from the proposed project assumed to impact each such parallel facility, then issuance of a Certificate of Level of Service Compliance may be considered.

(Ord. No. 16-24 , § 3(Exh. A-3), 11-15-16; Ord. No. 17-19 , § 3(Exh. A), 8-3-17)

Editor's note

See the editor's note to § 360.8.