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ITEM: ORDINANCE NO. 2024-08 (PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIREMENTS ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT)
AN ORDINANCE OF WELLINGTON, FLORIDA’S COUNCIL, AMENDING WELLINGTON’S LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS, MORE SPECIFICALLY, A ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT TO MODIFY SECTION 5.2.3 AND 5.2.4 RELATED TO PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIREMENTS, AS MORE SPECIFICALLY CONTAINED HEREIN TO PROVIDE FOR ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS OF REQUIRED NOTICES AND ADVERTISEMENTS ON A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE, IN ACCORDANCE WITH WELLINGTON’S CODE OF ORDINANCES AND WITH SECTION 50.0311, FLORIDA STATUTES; ESTABLISHING ANNUAL NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR RECEIVING NOTICES BY MAIL OR EMAIL; PROVIDING A CONFLICTS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
REQUEST: To amend Article 5 related to Public Notice Requirements and the use of electronic notification as permitted by Florida State Statute.
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EXPLANATION: Florida statutes have recently changed to permit electronic publications of required notices and advertisements if certain conditions/requirements are met. Governmental agencies have the option to publish such legally required items on a publicly accessible website of the county in which the municipality lies. Palm Beach County has provided the website accessibility and Wellington has determined that all statutory requirements have been met.
The cost-benefit associated with utilized the website rather than a general circulation newspaper is extremely appealing since the cost of legal ads and notifications has almost doubled over the last 10 years. Additionally, a legal notice or ad runs one time and, in some cases, two times. By using the website, legal ads/notices will be available for viewing for the entire 15-day period before the public hearing. Not only will this be a cost savings for private applications, but it will be a cost savings to Wellington for all in-house initiated items that require legal notice.
BUDGET AMENDMENT REQUIRED: NO
PUBLIC HEARING: YES QUASI-JUDICIAL: NO
FIRST READING: SECOND READING: YES
LEGAL SUFFICIENCY: YES
FISCAL IMPACT: N/A
WELLINGTON FUNDAMENTAL: Responsive Government
RECOMMENDATION: To amend Article 5 related to Public Notice Requirements and the use of electronic notification as permitted by Florida State Statute.