On April 23, 2019, the City Council approved an ordinance creating a 180 day moratorium on car dealerships in the City of New Port Richey.
The moratorium allowed the staff to research and propose amendments to the City’s Land Development Codes to address the substandard appearance and lack of regard for the customer experience at some of the automobile and truck sales locations, and to ensure that new businesses are an enhancement to the city’s primary commercial corridor. The moratorium also provided an opportunity for presentation and discussion with the owners of new and used car dealerships in respect to the proposed standards.
Currently, there are thirteen auto sales businesses in the City of New Port Richey located on U.S. Highway 19. Many of the locations store too much product on their site, have poor landscaping and have inadequately sized sales offices. There are concerns that some dealerships may be affecting the quality of life of surrounding neighborhoods, and that a concentration of these businesses is not beneficial to the economic quality and growth of the city.
Although a detailed presentation will be made to you at your meeting the proposed ordinance includes the following provisions:
1. All new locations must have a minimum of one acre in order to operate the business.
2. All new businesses must have a minimum of a 100 foot lot width (frontage).
3. Outdoor inventory must be parked on a paved surface.
4. Outdoor inventory areas must be landscaped and have trees in at least 15% of all parking and inventory areas.
5. Sales and rental office buildings shall be at least 1,000 gross square feet in size.
6. The use of balloons, decorative flags, banners, streamers, search and beacon lights, and wind-blown or inflatable attention devices are prohibited.
7. Inoperable vehicles, disassembled or partially disassembled vehicles shall not be parked, stored, or displayed in the vehicle display area nor in any buffer areas or landscaped areas. These vehicles must be parked or stored, and screened from the view from outside of the property, or stored or parked within a building.
8. Service areas shall be oriented away from residential areas.
9. Minimum display areas are set for vehicles
10. Parking standards are established for customer and employee parking.
11. There shall be a separation requirement of 1,000 feet between used car dealerships.
These standards will apply to all new automotive businesses. Existing businesses must comply with all requirements (except for the standards for minimum lot size and width, minimum sales office building size, service and repair bay doors, and separation requirements), within one year of the effective date of this Ordinance.
As a response to concern on the part of some existing used car dealerships a provision has been provided for in the ordinance which allows for the City Manager to permit any non-conforming Vehicle Sales Dealership to meet the buffer requirements of this ordinance by providing the equivalent buffer plantings in the interior areas of the subject property. This would occur in the instance of the City Manager finding that strict application of the buffer provisions would create an undue burden on the property owner as a result of existing buildings, site layout. The new buffer provided would be the minimum deviation from the regular buffer requirements and the property must be in harmony with the surrounding properties.
One question came up during First Reading came from a dealer who has a location on Luna Vista Drive. Most of the cars he sells are on-line, and he has limited lot hours. After an investigation of the property, he will have to comply with the regulations of the ordinance, particularly landscaping, buffering, and parking standards for customers and inventory vehicles.