BRADENTON BEACH – It’s all in the hands of city commissioners now.
Following a unanimous recommendation for approval from the city Planning and Zoning Board, the future of a 106-room hotel/restaurant/retail project on Bridge Street and Gulf Drive will be decided by the city commission.
The application for the yet-unnamed Bridge Street hotel project includes the hotel, a 60-seat restaurant, 2,485 square feet of retail and 99 on-site parking spaces. Property owners Shawn Kaleta, a local developer, and Jacob Spooner, business owner and Bradenton Beach city commissioner, made the application on Dec. 2, 2022.
After a 6.5-hour public hearing on Nov. 13, P&Z board members John Burns, Fred Bartizal, Ken McDonough, Dan Morhaus and Bill Morrow voted in favor of two separate motions, with conditions attached to their approval. One motion approved the establishment of a Planned Development Overlay District in the C-1 and C-2 district and the second approved the Major Development Plan Application.
The following conditions were recommended for both motions:
- City commission approval of the major development plan/site plan accompanying the application;
- Development of the property shall be consistent with the major development plan;
- Consensus by the commission that the use of the hotel top deck is limited to hotel staff and guests and will not offer food or beverage service;
- Consensus by the commission that live entertainment, food and beverages would only be allowed or permitted through a special event permit, approved by the city commission;
- Guest drop-off, check-in and check-out shall be accommodated within the first level of the parking garage;
- Applicant shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the building official that the loading area can accommodate deliveries from a semi-trailer in order to receive a building permit;
- Applicant cannot use any parking spaces wholly or partially on public rights of way to meet parking requirements;
- To the extent that the applicant cannot accommodate or seeks to reduce the number of parking spaces, the applicant shall use the special use permit process;
- The applicant shall provide landscaping and physical barriers to the existing landscape easement along Gulf Drive.
City staff had also recommended that the hotel be furnished with blackout curtains and educational materials about the protection of sea turtles and prevention of lighting from rooms facing the beach and that the applicants provide an easement for access to the trash receptacles at Daiquiri Deck at 107 Bridge St.
Density vs. Floor area ratio
A disagreement between land use experts on allowable criteria – density versus floor area ratio – for the hotel was put to rest from the city’s perspective by City Planner Luis Serna.
Misty Servia, former Manatee County commissioner and a certified land use planner with 34 years of experience, said on Nov. 1 that the city’s comprehensive plan limits hotel density to just 18 units per acre.
Servia read from the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
“This policy states that hotel/motel/transient units are limited to 18 units per gross acre,” Servia said. “That’s very important because that’s also transcribed in your zoning and Land Development Code. The Comp Plan cannot be modified with the PUD zoning, and your comp plan limits the density to 18 hotel units per acre.”
The proposed 106-room project on 1.61 acres is clearly inconsistent with the comprehensive plan, she said.
“The number of units should be decreased to 28 hotel rooms,” Servia said.
Susan Swift, AICE certified planner, representing the project applicants, disputed Servia’s claim that 18 units per acre applies to hotels.
“That density is meant for residential,” Swift said. “We don’t use units per acre, we use Floor Area Ratio for commercial use.”
Serna said that because the hotel is commercial, the floor area ratio standard applies.
“It is my opinion that the application as proposed is within the PD (planned development) guidelines of the code and the comp plan specifically with regard to density,” Serna said. “As a PD, they can request more density.”
Serna noted the city has taken that position with other planned developments approved recently.
“There’s language in the comp plan that states a hotel is commercial and therefore is subject to floor area ratio rather than density,” Serna said. “Based on that, it’s our opinion they can proceed with the requested density as part of the PD.”
Morhaus questioned the guidelines in the comprehensive plan that allow for just 18 units per acre.
“They can vary setbacks as part of a planned development and density is part of that,” Serna said. “They amend or present their own standards of development and that’s what the PD drawings are for. It’ll be to approve this specific plan of development. That’s within the bounds of the comp plan and the code.”
Applicant rebuttal
The applicants were represented by Bradenton land use attorney Stephen Thompson of the Najmy-Thompson law firm, architect Shaun Luttrell, traffic engineer Jay Calhoun and Swift.
Luttrell presented a Nov. 9 memorandum summarizing the applicant’s response to planning and zoning concerns and questions from the Nov. 1 meeting.
In that memorandum, Luttrell proposed that 17 parking spaces along Third Street be counted toward the off-street parking tabulation, offered free public parking in nine of the 17 parking spots with direct access from Third Street and offered that the applicant open the hotel parking lot to the public as paid valet parking.
In the parking tabulation, there were 140 parking spaces required for the hotel, open-air restaurant, putt-putt golf and retail. Applicants requested a 29.1% parking exception, lowering the number of provided spots to 99. Luttrell also said that in an attempt to limit the number of hotel guests with cars, a credit voucher toward local retail will be provided to those who use rideshare services or taxi to and from the airport.
Board members expressed concerns about parking, particularly the use of public spaces on Third Street and hotel check-in spaces on Bridge Street, noise from the rooftop deck, traffic and delivery and garbage truck clearances.
A public hearing in front of the city commission on the hotel project is scheduled on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Katie Pierola Commission Chambers, 107 Gulf Drive.
Related coverage:
Commissioners review hotel project
