Clearwater Planning Commission Postpones Review of Cabana Club ProjectPreliminary city staff report recommends approval of site code deviationsBy Bill LopezSAND KEY - The Clearwater Planning Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 19 for review of the Cabaña Club project on Sand Key was postponed until September 16. But a staff report was released indicating the proposed code deviations requested by the developer be granted by the commission. The Cabana Club project is a proposed 38-room high end hotel resort at 1590 Gulf Boulevard in the Sand Key area of Clearwater to be operated in conjunction with the $125 million refurbishment of the Belleair Biltmore Hotel. The Cabana Club portion of the project is budgeted at $25 million and will take about 16 months to complete. Several building code deviations requested by developers Legg Mason Real Estate Investors, Inc. have been reviewed by the Clearwater Planning Department. Residents of Sand Key and local associations have communicated objections to these code deviations and the project in general to the Clearwater Planning Commission, which has the responsibility of overseeing building codes for such projects. They object to the code deviations and feel the property is too commercial for the area. Nevertheless, the city staff report drafted by Clearwater City Planner Wayne Wells, AICP, and released for the meeting recommends approval with several conditions including project approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection concerning construction of the beach cabanas. With respect to parking, the report indicates peak parking demand would occur at 9 p.m. on a weekend (Saturday) with a need for 38 parking spaces and states that the planned 56 parking spaces would adequately support the parking demand at the Cabana Club given the assumptions reviewed. In part the report states, "… the Planning Department recommends APPROVAL of the Flexible Development application to permit a 38-unit overnight accommodation use with a 125-seat accessory restaurant in the Commercial (C) District with a reduction to the required lot width from 200 to 88.41 feet; a reduction to the front (east) setback from 25 to five feet (to pavement); a reduction to the side (north) setback from 10 to zero feet (to building); a reduction to the rear (west) setback from the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) from 20 to zero feet; to allow proposed temporary cabanas up to 25 feet west of the CCCL and an increase to building height from 25 to 67 feet, as a Comprehensive Infill Redevelopment Project, under the provisions of Section 2-704.C; and a reduction to the front (east) perimeter buffer from 15 to five feet (to pavement), a reduction to the side (north) perimeter buffer from 10 to zero feet (to building and pavement) and a reduction to the width of interior landscape islands from eight to 4.6 feet inside curbing, as a Comprehensive Landscape Program, under the provisions of Section 3-1202.G, with the following conditions…" The complete report is available from the Clearwater City Planning Department. Contact Bill Lopez at blopezmmm@aol.com.
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