Ordinance would restrict commercial property use

Local news reporters will watch as a proposed ordinance goes before the St. Augustine City Commission Monday night; to regulate the height and allowed operating time for commercial, recreational, and entertainment facilities.

The ordinance limits such businesses as ferris wheels and tethered balloons to 35 feet and 30 days.

An applicant seeking a permanent “use by exception” to sell tethered balloon rides on the former Bozard Ford lot on US-1 was denied by both the Planning and Zoning Board and City Commission. The applicant has reapplied for a 90-day “seasonal” use by exception.

“The PZB felt this time frame creates virtually a fulltime business,” Planning and Building Director Mark Knight says. “It could open the door to all sorts of longer term carnival-type uses.”

The proposed ordinance, which as a zoning change faces public hearings Monday and at a later meeting, would limit “all use by exceptions for such facilities … to 30 days maximum in the future,” Knight says.

Among affected uses: “museums, carnival or circus, shooting gallery, skating rink, pony ride, go-cart track, athletic complexes, arena, auditorium, convention center, dance hall, indoor theater and similar uses.”

The commission meeting begins at 5:00 p.m. in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.