Understanding the differences between B-1 and B-2 zoning districts
By Ernest A. Burguières
July 31, 2023
Ernest A. Burguières is a Mandeville attorney who formerly served as District III Councilman. Mandeville Daily is honored to publish Mr. Burguières’ column with permission which is a combined reporting of the goings on in Mandeville government with his personal commentary.
I was listening to Larry Grundman and Councilman Jason Zuckerman’s comments about the application of the B-2 zoning designation in the Sucette case. What follows was inspired by them.
Something struck me at the last Council Sucette meeting… Director of Planning and Development Cara Bartholomew stated that with Sucette, it was the applicant that selected the use that it wanted to apply to their project. This in turn caused Planning to identify the zoning designation that would allow these uses.
I guess their thinking was the since planned development is theoretically open with no restrictions they could pick any use that they wanted.
Editor’s Note:
There are two zoning districts that could come into play here:
- B-1 Neighborhood Business District: Businesses that are in a typical neighborhood.
- B-2 Highway Business District: Businesses that are next to or near a highway or major thoroughfare.
What I came to realize from Cara’s comments is that it’s not necessarily the zoning classification they requested, but the uses they requested that could only fall into the classification B-2 for those areas of the property. Since the Planned District classification provides that the development regulations for the zoning classification under which those proposed uses are allowed as a “baseline” to consider departures from those regulations, one must first make the leap to agree that proposed uses under that zoning regulation (in this case B-2, Highway Commercial) are appropriate for that site. They are not.
I don’t recall any real discussion of this particular issue. The applicant in effect gets to select the zoning that they would like to apply and the city must accommodate?
Understanding what B-2 means
The B-2 zoning rules are found in 7.5 of the CLURO:
7.5. – BASE DISTRICT REGULATIONS BY ZONING DISTRICTS.
The regulations of this Article identify the purpose of each of the created zoning districts and shall be considered the minimum requirements, in addition to all other applicable regulations of this Comprehensive Land Use Regulations Ordinance or other laws of the City or state as provided, for the use and development of all land within the separate zoning districts in conjunction with the Table of Permitted Uses By Zoning District included in this Article.
7.5.9.5. Special B-2 Highway Business District Criteria.
- Access. B-2 districts shall be located on lots with street frontage on major arterial or collector streets only and shall not require travel through existing or proposed residential districts to access the B-2 district.
Additionally, I believe B2 provides for the largest limit on a building, 100,000 square feet, more like what you see in the Rouse’s area or Whole Foods area. It should be noted that at 108,000 square feet the Sucette hotel is bigger than permitted even in B2.
Then I looked at the Planned Development regulations. When you drill down on the language certain things pop up.
7.5.15.1. Purpose of the Planned District.
Planned District applications shall contain a statement by the developer as to how the submitted plan departs from the existing requirements of this Land Use Regulations Ordinance and any other regulations applicable to the proposed use or uses for the district in which the proposed use could be established of right and how each departure improves what otherwise would be required under these regulations.
Have we heard how the Sucette departures improves what otherwise would be required under these regulations? I think I will have to check my notes, I would say, no.
7.5.15.2. Planned District Permitted Uses.
The uses permitted in this zoning district, including signage, shall be in accordance with those uses listed under this district in the Table of Permitted Uses By Zoning District found at the end of this Article and shall be subject to all applicable provisions of this Land Use Regulations Ordinance including any supplemental or special use criteria provided in Article 8 and the Sign Code in Article 10.
7.5.15.4. Flexible Site Planning.
When considering a Planned District application, the unique nature of each proposal may require, under proper circumstances, the departure from the strict enforcement of certain present codes and ordinances
And then under Commercial Uses:
B-2 Highway Business District, provided, however, that commercial uses designated on a site plan providing for a mix of commercial uses and residential uses shall comply with the requirements of the B-1 Neighborhood Business District.
B-1 should be used for Sucette
What does all this mean?
This looks like Sucette can use B-2 Highway Business District, however, if commercial uses designated on a site plan providing for a mix of commercial uses and residential uses then it shall comply with the requirements of the B-1 Neighborhood Business District.
Whoa!
Does that mean that we are not supposed to use a B-2 highway Business District mentality when there are a mix of commercial and residential and then you must use the B-1 rules instead?
This is kind of consistent with Rule 7.5.9.5. Special B-2 Highway Business District Criteria wherein B-2 districts shall be located on lots with street frontage on major arterial or collector streets only and shall not require travel through existing or proposed residential districts to access the B-2 district.
If Sucette has a mix of commercial and residential, and it is not located on a major arterial or collector street and access would require travel through existing or proposed residential districts to access the B-2 district, then it must be relegated to a B-1 zoning designation analysis.
If Sucette is relegated to a B-1 zoning designation analysis then the maximum size building would be 15,000 square feet, the same as in the B-3 area of old Mandeville. It is almost like there was a consistency of thought to not dump a huge departure in size, scale and density into a residential neighborhood. Who would have thought?
Sucette appears to have articulated uses to Planning that could be satisfied by B-2, highway business zoning. The problem with highway business is that it contemplates a business on a highway and therefore has much larger limits on the size of the uses and access. A business on a highway would be like West Causeway Approach, Hwy. 22, Causeway Blvd. and really East Causeway Approach before it joins Hwy. 190. A highway business will need more space for vehicles, especially large commercial vehicles, to routinely come in and out. Higher traffic is expected. And,… there is a limitation on B2 that shall be located on lots with street frontage on major arterial or collector streets only and shall not require travel through existing or proposed residential districts to access the B-2 district. Was this limitation considered? Even in the no rules arena of “Planned Development” was it contemplated that Sucette would not be on a major highway? Was it also contemplated that access would have to be through existing (unusually narrow) residential streets? Apparently not.
When you try to shoehorn a 100,000+ square foot structure into a residential area of narrow streets you have obvious density, compatibility and scale problems. Is this what was contemplated by the Mandeville CLURO? Is this what was contemplated by the Comprehensive Plan? Is this what was contemplated by the Planned Development idea? It seems to go against everything else in the CLURO about small town atmosphere, at least in our old town. An interpretation that fosters this B-2 development into a residential area is a perversion of the rule and concept. Are we talking strict enforcement or common sense of trying to put a square peg in a round hole?
The real problem
I realized that in reality, what’s causing all of the heartache is density, scale, proximity to residential and access to the site.
Sucette is proposing uses with development regulations for properties that are meant to be on a major artery (highway commercial) with truck access, no residential adjacency, etc. On top of that, they are requesting additional departures…increase in area, increase height, reductions in parking, etc. Unfortunately, they ignored the safety valve of access and proximity to residential areas. Plus, they quickly, and quietly, with virtually no discussion, seem to be on the verge of dispensing with five (5) mature (centuries old) live oak trees with no discussion.
The whole issue seems to me to be caused by requesting (demanding?) uses that can only be shoe-horned into B2 Highway Commercial zoning on that site and applying Highway Commercial site development criteria. This is viewing the rules through a tunnel.
If this is a “no rules football” scenario then there is no reason why a 30-story tower or a creosote plant could not be built on this 15 acres. The rules were not intended to be perverted by half-clever sophistry that might appear to allow such an aberration. Sucette is employing a perverted interpretation of the rules that absolutely ignores the context of Mandeville. and at the same time ignoring the common sense safety valve of access and proximity to residential neighborhoods. If this project were in Destin or Panama City, Florida they would never try to located it in an older, narrow area. They would locate it near the highway for visibility and access, something they do not have at Sucette Harbor.
It is useful to think of outlandish applications because it helps to drive home the point that if Planning believes that they have no say so except that once uses have been identified (by the applicant) they must go with the zoning designation that (they believe) fits the uses. If this is the case then the tail is wagging the dog. There is no place in the CLURO that anyone envisioned that a very dense, very tall, over-developed application could be placed right in the middle of a narrow residential area. I even doubt that such a dense proposal could fit on West Causeway Approach or Causeway Blvd., both serviced by four lane highways with a median.
If it were this simple why couldn’t anyone request a zoning change to planned development multi use? What is the argument against this? According to the Director of Planning there is none. How can that be? Doesn’t that lose sight of the big picture of what Mandeville is? This is not Destin or Panama City, and if it were, it would never be located on narrow back streets.
Sucette made comparisons to event centers, restaurants and B&B’s in the B-3 district. The B-3 designation is more like a B-1 designation where the absolute size of a structure is limited to 15,000 square feet. The Sucette hotel is 108,000 square feet. This was never intended in the big picture of Mandeville building and zoning regulations. It is the antithesis of what was intended. There is no comparison.
Is the situation we are in the result of some clever lawyer’s sophistry?
I’m simply asking, why? Why would we not first make the judgment as to whether or not B-2 Highway Commercial Uses are even appropriate for that site, rather than just say “well those are the uses the applicant proposed so we’re using that as a baseline as long as they comply with those – box checked,” or “here’s the minor deviation from those B-2 development standards that they propose.”
The intent of the CLURO
Sucette should at least be reviewed under the B-1 guidelines.
When you do this it is obvious what the CLURO was trying to do is not create the “high volume” highway businesses that would need to attract a large volume of customers that would come and go at the same time and therefore could overwhelm narrow neighborhood roads and keep those businesses instead at or adjacent to highways like strip shopping centers on Florida Ave. (Highway 190).
The CLURO certainly didn’t contemplate such 100,000-plus-square-foot commercial structures deeply imbedded on a peninsula, isolated by a single access point from/to a two-way residential street like Monroe and then on to unusually narrow streets, Antibes West and East in the middle of residential zoning and co-located with residential units. Hello?
The Council looked (subconsciously at first, then openly) at CLURO to give guidance on the apartments density question and should do the same for the commercial aspects. When they do, they will see the departure requested is not 9,000 square feet but 90,000-plus square feet.
The Director of Planning keeps telling us: Developers can put most any uses in a multiple use zone.
But this is not an absolute. What they should say is that they could put in any use that fits in the application process.
The Planning Department is abdicating their role as gatekeeper and protector of Old Mandeville.
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