Conditional use permits — Sebastian, Florida

A Sebastian conditional use permit approves a use that its zoning district lists as conditional, such as a church in RS-10 or a bar in CG, only after the Planning and Zoning Commission finds the site can absorb it.

Article VI of the Sebastian Land Development Code explains the idea. Its purpose section states that a conditional use shall only be permitted on specific sites where the proposed use may be adequately accommodated without generating adverse impacts on properties and land uses within the immediate vicinity. Each Sebastian zoning district section, such as the RE-40 district in section 54-2-5.2.1, lists its uses permitted separately from its conditional uses, which are decided case by case under these rules.

That makes a conditional use different from both a variance and a rezoning. A variance relaxes a dimension on one lot and is decided by the City Council as the Board of Adjustment. A rezoning changes the district itself. A conditional use leaves the district and its dimensions alone, and asks whether one listed use fits one Sebastian site. The Sebastian Community Development department posts two application forms for it: Conditional Use Permit (Commercial) and Conditional Use Permit (Model Homes). The Community Development Department lists its physical address as 1225 Main Street, Sebastian, FL 32958, with phone 772-589-5330 and hours of 8 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, closed for lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm, and it provides staff support to boards that include the Board of Adjustment, the Local Planning Agency and the Planning Commission.

The list changes by ordinance. Ordinance O-25-06, posted on the city's ordinances page, amended section 54-2-6.4 by deleting conditional use criteria for guest houses and removed guest houses as conditional uses from the RE-40 and RS-20 districts, in the same ordinance that set new Sebastian standards for accessory dwelling units.

Section 54-2-6.4 of the Sebastian code sets specific criteria for dozens of conditional uses, from child care and churches in residential districts to bars, pawn shops, mini-storage and boat storage in commercial and riverfront districts.

Many of the specific criteria pin uses to Sebastian geography. Bed and breakfast facilities shall only be located on property lying on or east of U.S. 1, and no required parking may sit east of Indian River Drive. A child care facility in the RS-10 district must sit on a major collector street or larger as designated on the city's adopted thoroughfare map. Outdoor storage facilities, where automobiles, trucks and recreational vehicles may be stored in designated areas, are a conditional use in CG and IN only within the Sebastian Triangle Overlay District, behind a minimum 20 foot-wide opaque vegetative buffer.

Other Sebastian criteria are about distance and scale. A bar or lounge in CG may not be closer than 100 feet to any residential district and 450 feet to any church or school. A church needs a minimum lot area of 20,000 square feet, and no church building may stand closer than 30 feet to a residential property line. Model homes run on a permit issued for a period not to exceed one year, with business hours limited to 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and pawn shops must keep all sales activity and storage in an enclosed structure.

The Sebastian Planning and Zoning Commission holds a public hearing on each conditional use and may approve it only after finding it protects public health, safety and welfare and meets six findings in section 54-2-6.2.

The Sebastian review procedure runs in a fixed order. The application is filed with the department of planning and growth management on the department's form, and five copies of the application and supporting information shall be included. The planning and growth management director circulates it to staff and sends a written recommendation, with any suggested conditions, to the commission. The commission then holds a public hearing with mailed notice under the city's hearing rules, except that the newspaper notice is not required, and shall approve, approve with conditions or deny the request.

Approval requires six Sebastian findings: the use is designed, located and operated so the public health, safety and welfare will be protected; it does not present an unduly adverse effect upon other properties in the impacted area; its scale and operation will not generate unreasonable noise, traffic, congestion or other potential nuisances or hazards to contiguous residential properties; it conforms to the district; it satisfies the specific criteria for that use; and it is consistent with the Code of Ordinances and comprehensive plan. A written record of the conditions and the findings is kept for every decision.

Neighbors learn of a Sebastian conditional use hearing by letter rather than by legal ad. Under section 54-1-2.8, a copy of the notice is mailed to every owner of property within 300 feet of the outer boundary of the site, as shown in the records of the county property appraiser; if the property in the application is a condominium, the notice goes by certified mail to the condominium association and by regular mail to the individual owners. The applicant provides that owner list to the department at least 20 days before the hearing and pays the mailing costs.

The board itself is set up in section 54-1-2.4, which makes the Sebastian Planning and Zoning Commission the city's local planning agency, with seven members and two alternates, and lists among its duties to review conditional uses, which may be part of an administrative or major site plan. The city's commission page lists meetings at 6 pm on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.

A Sebastian commission decision on a conditional use is final unless appealed to the City Council within ten days, and an approval expires after 12 months if construction has not started.

Appeals follow section 54-2-6.3, which lets the applicant or any other aggrieved person ask the Sebastian City Council to review the commission's action under the procedures of section 54-1-2.4(g). That section requires a written appeal filed with the planning and growth management director within ten days of the decision, a council hearing set no less than 30 nor more than 60 days after filing, and review limited to the record made before the commission. It shall require four affirmative votes of the city council to override the planning and zoning commission decision.

An approval has a clock and travels with the property. A conditional use shall expire if construction has not commenced within 12 months of approval, and may be extended only one time for 12 months, on a petition filed at least 30 days before expiration that shows reasonable cause. Except for home occupation licenses, a Sebastian conditional use approval shall run with the land and transfers to later owners, who remain bound by any conditions attached to it.

Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.