DRAFT Zoning Map based upon Master Plan

This is a preliminary and rough draft of the revised Zoning Map based upon the information gathered during the Master Plan process. That effort has spanned three years and cost the City upwards of $1,000,000. The Planning and Zoning Board is in the process of wrapping up review of the changes to the Comprehensive Plan. At their November 14th workshop, they will be looking at the Future Land Use map (which is part of the Comprehensive Plan) and checking with the existing version, along with a similar analysis of the current and proposed Zoning Maps.

I hesitated posting these here due to their preliminary nature and some glaring (at least I think so) errors. But there are some themes here that are important to get to know and how these will reflect the City's development pattern in the future. The new Land Development Regulations (LDRs) will replace the City's current Zoning Code. Those new regulations are under review by staff and the consultants are providing code language to support the new provisions that are reflected in the Zoning Map. Remember, you can click on these images to see more detail and you can also save them on your computer by selecting "File" in your browser. Select "Save as..." and select a place on your hard drive to store them.

As future versions of this Zoning Map emerge, I will do my best to post them. Remember, if you have questions, you can post them under this entry by clicking on "Comments".

To make things a little more readable, I cut the original image into five segments. Above is the legend which shows the various zoning districts.

Here's the northeast part of the City, along with part of the downtown area. One of the most obvious errors here is that the Courtyards property is still shown as Commercial when it is zoned MF 30. The Arbor Plaza area across the street, by the canal, really should be the MU (Mixed-use) district that the other areas of Dixie Hwy. are. It would make an ideal mixed-use location for a redevelopment project. The mixed-use district will be more permissive than the current High Intensity Commercial in the provision of residential and office uses. Also, per the Master Plan process, more sensitivity is given for the areas surrounding the commercial areas and their transitions to adjacent residentially zoned areas.

Also note the Downtown East (red) and the Downtown Central areas - both are roughly based on our existing Central Area Commercial districts - done to better reflect the uniqueness of each area and their own and adjacent land use characteristics.

Finally, conservation zoning is being designed and will be applied to the Snook Islands which are the newly placed mangrove islands in the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Above is the southeast part of the City. One item that is being explored is the establishment of vesting procedures for property owners in the area north and south of the downtown - in roughly the same areas that were covered by the Zoning-in-Progress (ZIP). The ZIP was done to prevent the speculative accumulation of our historic cottage housing stock - part of our thumbprint that makes Lake Worth, Lake Worth. It may be possible, using this process, to actually return the density to better reflect the built environment there than the current density - yes, down-zoning. Stay tuned for this. Another glaring omission, and this is on our current zoning map as well, is the area in the extreme southeastern part of the City where we have built mulitfamily structures along the Intracoastal - but both the land use and zoning show a single family designation. Also note that the Federal Hwy corridor will be getting its own mixed use district (similar on the north side of town as well).


This the northwest part of the City. Not too many changes here other than accounting for recent annexations. Note that the Gateway area is reflected on the draft proposed Zoning Map, where it has not been reflected yet on an official map. That is another important point. The City, no surprise, has done a poor job at keeping and maintaining its official zoning map. The current version that is being distributed as the official Zoning Map has a date of 1990! So, it is hoped that since we are in a digital age, we will have a way to easily maintain an accurate copy of the future land use and zoning maps of the City.


Finally, the southwest part of the City. The most important changes here are the addition and creation of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zones - both an east and west version. The west version coincides with the area around the Tri-Rail tracks where the current station is and west of there. Treasure Coast Regional Planning Congress' suggestion is to extend that area as a "transit corridor" all the way to the Palm Beach Community College - which is right in tune with what I have been saying all along. Remember, this area will be the subject of a charrette to be held on 10/31 as part of the national Rail-Volution conference that will be held in Miami, but will make a special trip to Lake Worth. The eastern TOD area will be the likely home of the future transit passenger station on the FEC tracks. Its area extends south from Lake Avenue along H street and the idea there is to introduce more of an arts and entertainment focus there. More on that later.

We also need to update this area in relation to recent annexations - dare I remind anyone of Sunset Drive?