BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
The City of Lake Butler, meeting as the city planning and zoning board, met on Sept. 17, 2024, and considered three resolutions concerning rezoning a parcel of city-owned property. No public comments were made on the issue.
The commission discussed a resolution to change the zoning classification on the parcel of land in the city (the site of the former public works building) and a second resolution to amend the future land use comprehensive land use plan. Both resolutions passed the board unanimously. Also passed after the opportunity was given for public comments on the issue was a resolution changing the city zoning atlas to reflect the results of the previous action. The city hopes that a change in zoning from RSF/MH1 to City Commercial General will make the building more attractive for sale to a business.
Council member wants help with mother’s land and mobile home
Vice-Mayor Rondoll Huggins had asked before the meeting if he could speak to the board on an issue that he stated that he felt might be a conflict of interest as it concerned a problem with a parcel of property owned by his mother. He said he would like to recuse himself before speaking but was told by City Attorney John Maines that that was not the correct process for him to follow. Maines instructed him to declare the conflict on the public record and complete a Form 8B Memorandum of Voting Conflict for County, Municipal, and Other Local Public Officers within ten days.
Huggins said he was confused about a zoning issue on land owned by his mother, Janeva Washington-Huggins, who owns property in the East Sector of Lake Butler. Huggins stated that in the 1990s, the parcel was zoned RSF-1, and his mother had a mobile home on it. She moved away from the property some time ago and has recently returned and purchased a mobile home but cannot place it on the property due to the zoning being changed to RSF (residential single-family home). He asked for the assistance of the board in restoring the RSF-1 zoning to the property so his mother could move the mobile home onto it.
Huggins stated that he had spoken with Sandra Joseph at the North Florida Regional Planning Council about the matter, having been referred to her by City Manager Kimberly Hayes. She told him to speak to the board. Hayes then stated that she did not know about the conversation between Huggins and Joseph, so she did not know how to advise or direct him on how to handle the matter.
Maines instructed Huggins that he needed to go back to Hayes and start the application process. Mayor Melissa Hendricks told Huggins that the zoning had reverted to RSF six months after the mobile home was removed from the property, and another had not been replaced within six months, so a house would have to be built on the property rather than the placement of a mobile home. Maines stated that this situation should never be brought to the planning and zoning board. He said the proper procedure for handling the matter would be through the city manager and the Planning Council – that nothing should come before the board until it had been through the Planning Council. He told Huggins that he needed to go back to Hayes, start the application process, and proceed.
Maines also said he had never been through a meeting situation such as this—the matter was not advertised, was not timely, and had not been through the proper channels. He stated that situations like this are what management is for and that they must be handled properly according to established procedures.
