BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners considered four temporary use parking permits at the March 21 commission meeting and after much discussion, approved three with stipulations, denying one.
Permit applications were submitted by developer Shawn Kaleta for temporary parking lots at 102 Third St. N., 207 Church Ave. and 206 Bay Drive N.
Businessman Joshua LaRose submitted a temporary use permit application for the parking lot at 109 Third St. N., which is owned by local restaurateur Ed Chiles.
Commissioners discussed each application individually with the parking lot discussion taking more than two hours for the property at 102 Third St. N., as it is in a designated R-3 residential zone.
“Each application will be addressed individually to protect the existing areas,” Mayor John Chappie said.
Evelyn Stob, a neighbor of the Third Street property, spoke in opposition to the application for a parking lot 102 Third St. N.
“Why are we allowing anyone and everyone to purchase a piece of property, demolish what it is and then say, ‘I need to make it temporary parking because I don’t know what I’m going to do with this lot,’ ” Stob said. “Now my residence is turning into a giant parking lot. It was purchased under R-3 zoning. I feel you have the right to say no.”
“In a way, you’re increasing heavily the traffic that’s going to be going through that neighborhood,” Commissioner Ralph Cole said. “We’ve got four or five of these and we’re changing the whole look. It’s not my vision of Bradenton Beach.”
“A temporary use may be just a little bit outside of what was anticipated in the zoning, but you do have criteria on what must be met. It can’t be obnoxious to the neighborhood. It can’t create a public health/safety/welfare issue,” City Attorney Ricinda Perry said.
Referring to the city’s Land Development Code (LDC), City Attorney Ricinda Perry said, “I believe parking is contemplated for special permit uses because it talks about coffee shops, restaurants, cocktail lounges, retail shops and services and other similar accessory use, well parking is absolutely an accessory to a shop so I believe you can say parking could be contemplated as a special permit use here. You as a legislative body can say that’s not what that means, but then you have to explain why.”
“If we don’t think we have an allowable use, we have to build a case,” Chappie said. “We have to go by the LDC.”
Perry said the commission may add stipulations that will protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.
“The longer the day goes on, that’s all I can see now is parking lots. This is a beautiful place. Do we want parking lots all over the place?” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh asked, voicing concern that if a temporary use permit is approved for one year, the applicant may then ask for an extension.
Sam Negrin, who represented applicant Kaleta, spoke to the commission to alleviate those concerns and said the parking lot will be temporary.
“The properties were bought with the intention of building,” Negrin said. “This is a way to generate revenue in the meantime.”
A motion to approve the temporary use parking permit for 102 Third St. N. for temporary paid parking was passed unanimously with stipulations that include a limit to the number of motor vehicles to be approved by the building official, with no trailers, RVs, campers, buses, overnight parking or tailgating. The property owner will be required to submit a building permit application or land development approval request within eight months of approval of the temporary use permit and a requirement that insurance must be carried by the property owner.
The temporary use permit is valid one year from March 21 or upon the issuance of a building permit, whichever occurs sooner. Landscape buffering is planned along Third Street North via a landscape plan to be approved by the building official, and a privacy fence is planned along the east and west property lines. The installation of a sidewalk is also planned. A site plan is to be submitted to the building official.
The temporary use permit for paid parking was approved unanimously for 207 Church Ave. with similar stipulations for 102 Third St. N., including landscape buffering along Church Avenue and a privacy fence to be installed along the north and south property lines. The applicant may combine parking with 206 Bay Drive N. for purposes of parking, ingress and egress.
The temporary use permit application for 206 Bay Drive N. was approved unanimously with similar stipulations to 102 Third St. N. Hours of paid parking shall be from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
An application for temporary paid parking at 205 First St. N. was withdrawn by Negrin.
The application by Joshua LaRose for a temporary use permit for paid parking at a parking lot owned by Ed Chiles at 109 Third St. N. was denied unanimously by the commission after LaRose indicated that the parking lot may become permanent.
Chappie noted that the lot is in the emergency evacuation route for the south end of Bradenton Beach.
