HOLMES BEACH – Two business owners who submitted site plans for approval by city commissioners didn’t receive good news from commissioners but there’s still hope for approval at a future meeting.
During a July 15 work session, Holmes Beach commissioners heard proposals from the owner of the Shops at Waterline commercial plaza. And while the two-site plan proposals were submitted separately, commissioners had a hard time evaluating one independent of the other, particularly because they involve alterations at the same commercial space.
First up was the proposed site plan from the Shops at Waterline, owned by W.J. Keel Holdings LLC. City Planner Bill Brisson said the minor site plan approval was remanded to commissioners by Building Official Neal Schwartz due to issues with the site plan submittal. Some of the issues, Brisson said, include an incorrect calculation of required onsite parking spaces, lack of dumpster size, screening and placement indicated on the proposed site plan drawings and a mystery spot of a newly enclosed area with an entrance from the adjacent Sunrise Lane that has no usage noted on the plans. Brisson also said that work had been done on the interior of the building without obtaining the proper permits from the city’s building department.
While the proper permits can be obtained from the building department after the fact, those permits will carry a fee three times larger than what would’ve been charged had permits been secured before construction. The permit fees are based on the value of the proposed construction.
As a result of the unpermitted construction, Schwartz said that drywall was removed from three units and electrical and gas lines were unsecured, requiring the gas to be turned off for an extended period. The lack of gas to the shopping plaza caused the tenant restaurant Eat Here to be closed to the public for a few weeks due to a reliance on gas in the kitchen.
Schwartz said that there are too many unknowns in the space for him to approve the minor site plan changes administratively.
Since attorney Aaron Thomas, who represents both the owners of the shopping plaza and The Toy Barn, had contracted COVID-19 and was unable to attend the meeting, his associate Anisley Mena attended and spoke on his behalf.
Mena said that the plaza ownership was awaiting city direction on where to place trash dumpsters and that the changes made were internal only. She asked that the site plan be considered separately from the one proposed by The Toy Barn.
Rather than move the site plan approval to a first reading at a regular meeting, commissioners agreed to allow the applicant to resubmit with additional information and consider the site plan again at a future work session, the same response given to The Toy Barn and owner Travis Lantz.
Lantz said that he plans to work with the city and his attorney to resubmit his site plan for a future location for The Toy Barn at the Shops at Waterline Plaza.
He plans to take up about 3,500 square feet of space in the plaza to house his business’s office and provide a storage facility for his lithium battery-powered vehicles during the off-season when not so many are rented.
The plans submitted to city officials also include the installation of a garage door to allow vehicles to be pulled into the space for storage and maintenance from an access point on Sunrise Lane, something the residents of Sunrise Lane aren’t in favor of as discussed by their attorney during the work session.
During the presentation, Brisson said Lantz also planned to use some of the business’s required parking to store vehicles outside the shop. He said when all of the required parking for the businesses and proposed businesses in the plaza was computed, he came up with a required 66 spaces needed, with 71 total parking spaces located onsite. That means that instead of the 18 spaces indicated in the site plan approval request for parking rental vehicles, Lantz would only have five spaces available for parking rental vehicles. The plans also include a small charging area for golf carts and other vehicles near the proposed garage access.
To allow The Toy Barn to conduct its business in the plaza, Brisson said, requires a special exception because the rental business isn’t covered in uses allowed in the C-3 commercial district. To obtain that approval, the site plan submittal has to meet 12 standards required for a special exception under the city’s land development code, including the production of a traffic study to show how the proposed use will affect traffic in the area.
Lantz said that because his business is primarily a mobile one with vehicles going straight from one rental to another, he doesn’t feel it will negatively impact traffic in the area and that the garage door access on Sunrise Lane would only be used by his employees, not by renters of the vehicles.
Another concern Brisson mentioned is the business negatively affecting nearby residential property values and the quality of life for adjacent residents. Lantz said he’s willing to install an attractive, quiet garage door and that his vehicles are all electrically powered, meaning they make little to no noise to disturb residents.
Lena said she and Thomas would respond in writing to all of the commissioners’ concerns to help move the site plan approval process along.
For his part, Lantz said he plans to continue pursuing the Holmes Beach location for his business and will be attending every meeting where the site plan is discussed to answer any questions from commissioners, city staff and the public.
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