BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA

PCT130109 Steep Grades
Staff has also included Table 1 below to help communicate the geographic scope of the requested
change over the entire Urban Service Area. These calculations are based on the same Geographic
Information System data utilized in Figure 1 and 2 above. It is important to note that in this report
the term “steep grade” is utilized to discuss significant grades and severe grades together. These
two types of grades are combined in Figures 1 and 2 in order to make the maps legible. However,
the Comprehensive Plan does treat these two types of grades quite differently, as provided in the
existing policy language in Attachment #1.
Generally, you are allowed to disturb up to 50% of significant grades (10-20% slope) on a
development site and you are not allowed to disturb severe grades (over 20% slope). Table 1
provides the acres for both significant grades and severe grades combined as “steep grades,” and
then provides the breakdown for significant and severe grades separately. This highlights the small
portion of land proposed for deregulation in the more sensitive severe grades category.
Table 1: Land Area Analysis
Analysis Area Impact of
Amendment
and Code
Acres % of the USA
Land Area
Total Land in Urban Service Area (USA) -- 103,257 100.0%
Steep Grades in USA (includes both Significant and Severe Grades) -- 11,918 11.5%
Steep Grades Within 100 feet of ESA Regulated 6,665 6.5%
Steep Grades NOT Within 100 feet of ESA Deregulated 5,252 5.0%
Significant Grades in USA (10-20% Slope) -- 10,290 10%
Significant Grades Within 100 feet of ESA Regulated 5,700 5.5%
Significant Grades NOT Within 100 feet of ESA Deregulated 4,589 4.4%
Severe Grades in USA (Over 20% Slope) -- 1,628 1.6%
Severe Grades Within 100 feet of ESA Regulated 965 0.9%
Severe Grades NOT Within 100 feet of ESA Deregulated 663 0.6%
Lastly, it is important to briefly address the topic of “community character” that has been discussed
in each of the past projects that considered revising the steep grade polices. This is a complicated
matter, as different community members may have different ideas about how various features add
character, or even a sense of place, to the community. This may be an important topic for the public
participation portion of the review for this amendment. This staff report does not fully address this
topic, but rather provides staff observations to consider during the larger community discussion.
Generally, during past reviews of the steep grade policies community members have expressed a
concern that reducing steep grade protections would have a negative impact on the rolling hills that
Tallahassee and Leon County are known for. However, by their very “rolling” nature the tops of
our hills tend not to be steep, unlike in more mountainous regions that have ridge top protection
ordinances. In Figure 3 below you can see that steep grades (depicted in fuchsia) do not generally
occur on our hill tops (dark brown). The steep grades occur on the sides of the hills and ravines.
Allowing construction on steep grades, which are not within 100 feet of other environmental
features, does not appear as though it could have an impact on the larger hilly topography of
Tallahassee. We are not alone in our love of the seven hills we are built upon. Rome, Istanbul,
Moscow, San Francisco, and Seattle are all “seven-hills” cities with intensive urban development on
Page 351 of 622 Posted at 5:00 p.m. on April 1, 2013
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