Recently Adopted Ordinances

City of Greenacres Noise Ordinance

Effective immediately, the City Council has amended its noise ordinance to include the following new restrictions:

• Machinery and construction activity hours are prohibited from 8:00pm to 7:00am Monday through Saturday and prohibited on Sunday and Federal Hours.  Property owners are permitted to perform home repairs and maintenance on their property from 9:00am to 6:00pm.
• Commercial Sanitation operations are prohibited from 10:00pm to 7:00am daily when operations are conducted on property within 250 feet of a residential use.
• HVAC equipment can be operated higher than 8 dBA from 10:00pm to 7:00am daily.
• Landscaping and yard maintenance power tools or motorized equipment are prohibited Monday through Friday before 7:00am or after 8:00pm and before 8:00am or after 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday.

Stand Alone Car Wash

This Zoning Text Amendment includes three (3) changes to the Zoning Code: to provide a definition of “Stand Alone Car Wash Facility”, to incorporate Stand Alone Car Wash Facilities into the Commercial Intensive (CI) zoning district as a Special Exception use, and to provide for off-street parking and loading requirements for this use.  The proposed amendments maintain consistency between the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code by providing for appropriate commercial development and will allow the provision of additional amenities for the residents of the City.  In comparison to the Palm Beach County ULDC regulations, the proposed City criteria will provide greater protection for neighboring uses by increasing the separation requirement between the same two uses by an additional 500 feet, providing a minimum one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet between the same two uses and providing for a requirement of adjacency to an existing service station.  In addition, the City will require City Council approval through the Special Exception process and thus must meet a higher review threshold.

See ordinance below.

Business Tax Receipt Ordinance

See ordinance below.

New Plat Process

Platting is used to subdivide a property into smaller tracts of land.  This process can be used for any number of lots but is required to create 4 or more lots.  The subdivision process allows the lots being created and any associated easements and rights-of-way to be dedicated through a plat map.  Following the platting process the smaller parcels of land can then be referenced by a lot and block number rather than requiring a metes and bounds legal description.  The platting process has two steps: Preliminary Plat, and Final Plat. The processes for each are as follows:

• Preliminary Plat - The preliminary plat is the early design phase where the street network, lot sizes, and common areas are developed.  Preliminary plats are reviewed by staff, recommended for approved/approval with conditions/denied by the City Council giving the public an opportunity to comment.
• Final Plat - Following approval of the preliminary plat, the developer can submit documents for final plat approval. The final plat documents are compared to the preliminary plat documents. This step in the process is handled administratively by staff if there are no changes in the plans or the changes are minor in nature.  If substantial changes are being requested, the petitioner will need to proceed through the original approvals.    Before lots can be sold, the final plat needs to be approved by the City Council and recorded in the county clerk's office. 

See ordinance below.

Art in Public Places

On June 17, 2019, the City Council adopted Ordinance 2019-18 in order to institute regulations for public spaces that provided criteria for monuments and memorials within the City’s limits. The intent was to also to provide a location for the creating of an art in public places program for the City. The proposed code section will provide regulations for allowing public art projects within the City, creating an art impact fund, setting a requirement for development project to provide art on site or contribute to the city funds, as well as set up the process for reviewing and approving public and private art in the City. 

See ordinance below.

Yard Setbacks

After reviewing the City’s current standards, staff determined that there was a need to revise the current yards language of the Zoning Code by providing regulations to address architectural and mechanical appurtenances that are permitted to encroach into the setback area.  Additionally, it has been determined that the size limitations accessory structures are not adequate for lot greater than 0.5 acres.

See ordinance below.

Right-of-Way Permit

Sometimes called a driveway permit, culvert permit or utility permit, a right-of-way permit is required when a person, corporation, agency or entity disturbs, excavates, blocks, obstructs, tampers with, or places any construction or other material on or in a city road, right of way or easement.  The right of way is owned by the City so for work to occur in this area, the City requires a permit .  Although the City has been authorizing right-of-way work, it has done so under a general building permit.  The new ordinance clarifies the process including the requirements, documentation and approvals needed to obtain a specific right-of-way permit. 

See ordinance below.

Engineering Permit Process

Engineering permits are issued when work is performed on-site for such activities as excavation, dredging, earthwork, grading, lot clearing, drainage, utility work, sealcoating, striping, and paving. Please note that this permit does not apply to work in the within the Right-of-Way since that is covered by the newly created Right of Way permit.  Presently the City issues a building permit to review this type of work.  City Staff is proposing a specific section of the code to outline the requirements for such a permit, so the process is clear and concise for a permittee. 

See ordinance below.

Adult Entertainment

A City-initiated request for a text amendment to repeal the City's Adult Entertainment regulations and formally adopt Palm Beach County's Adult Entertainment with some opt-out provisions.

See ordinance below.

Tree Removal

The State of Florida adopted new regulations regarding tree removal permits.  The approved legislation amends s. 163.045, F.S., which prohibits a local government from requiring a notice, application, approval, permit, fee, or mitigation for the pruning, trimming, or removal of a tree on residential property if the property owner obtains documentation from a certified arborist or a licensed landscape architect, that the tree “poses an unacceptable risk” to persons or property. Under the bill, a tree poses an unacceptable risk if removal is the only means of practically mitigating its risk below moderate as outlined in Best Management Practices – Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017).  The bill defines "documentation" to mean an onsite tree risk assessment performed in accordance with the tree risk assessment procedures outlined in Best Management Practices - Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017). Documentation must be signed by an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) or Florida licensed landscape architect. The bill also defines the term "residential property" as a single-family detached building located on an existing lot, actively used for single-family residential purposes, and which is either an existing conforming use or a legally recognized nonconforming use following the local jurisdiction's applicable land development regulations.

See ordinance below.

Sign Code

This Zoning Text Amendment is at the request of the City's Development and Neighborhood Services Department due to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert. With Reed, the new standard is that any law or regulation of speech is based on the content of the speech is presumptively unconstitutional and subject to "strict scrutiny," which is the most rigorous standard for First Amendment review.  Strict scrutiny requires a challenged regulation to be "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest," with legal experts stating that such scrutiny is almost always fatal to the regulation in question.

The primary takeaways of the Reed case are that local sign regulations must be content-neutral and that a sign code will be subject to "strict scrutiny" judicial review if it applies different standards based on:

• a sign's content (i.e., what is written or portrayed on the sign);
• the purpose of the sign; or
• who is putting up the sign.

In other words, if you have to differentiate the type of sign being regulated by reading the sign's content or knowing the sign message's author, then the regulation is probably unconstitutional.  Before Reed, most regulations, if challenged, would have been subjected to a "lesser" scrutiny test.

Even though it raises a lot of unanswered questions, the Reed case makes it clear that local governments need to review their sign codes and update them in response to a changing legal landscape.  It is important for cities, counties, and towns to heed that advice, and embark upon the significant work of regulating signs in a manner that both meets local expectations and passes constitutional muster.  The purpose of the proposed language is to accomplish just that.

See ordinance below.

Drainage Between Properties

The principal intent of these proposed text amendments to the Zoning Code is to address stormwater impacts upon a neighbor's property when work is conducted on a property that may impact grading.  It is not uncommon for government to regulate such activities especially if complaints are received from the residents impacted.  The proposed zoning code modifications are to establish regulations to avoid stormwater runoff issues, which are harmful and otherwise detrimental to neighbors in the enjoyment of their life.

See ordinance below.

Supplemental Regulations

The city has regulations relative to outdoor sales in different areas of the code but is pursuing these changes to centralize the regulations within Chapter 16, Article IV.  Supplemental Regulations.  Some of the changes are simple reactions to new types of businesses, such as storage pods, which drop the containers on lots and leave them there for a period of time for loading and unloading.  Regulations managing timing and location were needed.  In addition, retail stores were placing items on the sidewalk for sale, which is not permitted.  The code amendment will further clarify that is prohibited in all zoning districts.

Many changes have occurred in the past year in how business is conducted and code changes are needed to address the impacts.  Some restaurants in the city are closing their kitchens at 10:30pm and bringing in live music, including DJs, to change the venue into a night club, which is not permitted in the zoning district.  While live entertainment has been considered an accessory use within restaurants and bars, the changing of the nature of the business with the music is an issue that has to be addressed.  It has caused public safety issues for police and assembly issues for Fire Rescue.  These businesses have not been inspected to do business in that manner, nor would it be permitted by Code.  The safety of the customers is an area of concern for the city's public safety providers.

Finally, outdoor seating has become an issue after the pandemic.  When restaurants were limited to 50% capacity, many reached out to the city to add outdoor areas for service.  Under the State Governor's Emergency Order, the city allowed for temporary outdoor seating through a temporary use permit.  In addition, there have been limited approvals for non-service outdoor seating through the site plan approval process, but some restaurants have put our chairs and seating without approval.  While this has been addressed through code enforcement, it was determined that some regulations needed to be added to the code.

See ordinance below.

Property Maintenance

The proposed code amendment is a city-initiated request to codify and update property maintenance regulations.  A property maintenance code deals with the conditions of existing housing and non-residential property.  It moves the maintenance of an existing building and the surrounding property from an option to a legal requirement for a responsible property owner.  City staff initiated this code change proactively to provide property owners, tenants, and property managers with objective and specific maintenance standards for structures and hardscape.  The desired result is to keep all properties state of repair; thereby maintaining property values.

See ordinance below.