…title
ITEM: ORDINANCE NO. 2023-08 (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: Approval of Ordinance No. 2023-08 amending Article 5 related to public notice requirements and the use of electronic notification as permitted by Florida Statute.
…body
EXPLANATION: Florida Statutes recently changed to permit electronic publication of required legal notices and advertisements if certain conditions/requirements are met. Governmental agencies now have the option to publish legally required notices on a publicly accessible website of the county in which the municipality lies. Palm Beach County has created the website and Wellington has determined that all statutory requirements have been met to begin using the website for legal notices.
There is a cost savings associated with utilizing the website rather than a general circulation newspaper as the costs for legal notifications have almost doubled over the last 10 years. This is a cost savings for privately-initiated development applications and a cost savings for Wellington-initiated comprehensive plan and land development regulation amendments. Additionally, a legal notice is only published in a newspaper once before a public hearing. By using the website, legal ads/notices will be available for viewing for the entire 15-day period before the public hearing.
The Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board voted of 4-0 on July 17, to recommend approval.
BUDGET AMENDMENT REQUIRED: NO
PUBLIC HEARING: YES QUASI-JUDICIAL: NO (Legislative)
FIRST READING: YES SECOND READING:
LEGAL SUFFICIENCY: YES
FISCAL IMPACT: Legal advertisements using the website will save the cost of newspaper advertisements, which continue to rise.
WELLINGTON FUNDAMENTAL: Responsive Government
RECOMMENDATION: Approval of Ordinance No. 2023-08 amending Article 5 related to Public Notice Requirements and the use of electronic notification as permitted by Florida Statute.