St. Augustine Beach commissioners discuss charter fixes, preserve 35-foot height limit

The City Commission spent significant time on Jan. 5 reviewing proposed changes to the municipal charter that staff said could be separated into items handled by ordinance and items requiring a referendum.

City legal staff and the charter-review consultant advised commissioners that many technical items (spelling, gender-neutral language, internal references) could be moved from the charter into the Land Development Regulations and handled by ordinance, while changes affecting property rights, elections, or employee protections would require a referendum.

A central policy issue was the 35-foot building-height limit and an existing 10-foot exception used historically for commercial properties. Commissioners repeatedly said they wanted to preserve the height limit as a durable voter-protected policy and to avoid language changes that could be read to weaken the restriction. Staff said moving technical definitions to the code would simplify administration and decrease conflicts between the charter and the LDRs, especially in recovery scenarios after storm damage, and would still require public hearings under the code.

Residents and some commissioners urged that any substantive change to the 35-foot limit go to voters. Staff will return with consolidated ordinance language and recommendations that distinguish what can be done by ordinance from what must go to referendum.

Next steps: staff will prepare drafts that group ordinance-eligible cleanups together and identify items that should be reserved for referendum.