City delays decision on North Trail health spa

North Trail residents believe the city mistakenly changed the land use classification for two parcels near Hampton Road, but officials still aren’t ready to weigh in on a controversial development proposal near the Tahiti Park neighborhood.

At Monday’s City Commission meeting, the city revisited a long-standing dispute regarding the property at 1174 and 1186 Hampton Road. In 2012, property owner Steven Bedi filed an application to change the zoning of the properties from residential multifamily to the North Trail zone district, which would allow commercial uses. Bedi purchased the land in 2011 for $150,000.

Bedi said the plan was to allow his daughter, Monica Bedi, to construct a 26-suite medical resort for dermatological treatments. As the Bedis sought a zoning change to permit the commercial business, residents spoke out, stating they were never notified about a 2008 comprehensive land use change that set the stage for the potential rezone.

On Monday, City Attorney Robert Fournier said although the city regretted not informing residents, the state process that triggered the new land use classification did not require the city to notify neighbors. But Tahiti Park Neighborhood Association President Jennifer Ahearn-Koch believes the 2008 changes were the result of human error, and residents are asking the city to return the land to its pre-2008 classification.

Before Monday, the matter hadn’t been discussed since September 2013. At that time, the property owners said they would submit a site plan to go along with the rezone application in an effort to make residents more comfortable with the proposed medical resort. In the past three years, the Bedis have not submitted that site plan.

Because three years have passed, North Trail residents were hopeful the city would move on from the Bedis’ proposal and consider reverting the land use classification to prohibit commercial development. On Monday, however, Steven Bedi said he still intended to develop the property and a site plan could be ready within the next 90 days.

“With the way business goes and the intense amount of money it takes to develop a piece of property like this in a manner that we wanted, it’s not something that happens quickly and not something we wanted to take lightly,” said Inita Bedi, who was speaking on behalf of Monica Bedi. “We do intend to move forward with the project.”

As a result, the City Commission voted to postpone any action on the land use classification of the Hampton Road property for 90 days. 

Also at Monday’s City Commission meeting:

• In a 3-2 vote, the board rejected staff’s proposed changes to the city’s traffic study requirements for new developments. Staff said the changes would have expedited the process for projects that would not have generated additional traffic concurrency fees anyway. Residents criticized the proposal, arguing the city needed to increase the level of scrutiny given to new developments as the city grapples with growth-related issues.
  
  Staff will revise its proposals and return to the commission for further consideration in November.
• The commission voted to ask Sarasota County for a 30th year of downtown Community Redevelopment Area tax-increment financing payments. Because the county has rejected the city’s claims to an extra year of CRA money in the past, the city also passed a resolution seeking to initiate a conflict resolution process between the two governments.
• The board passed a one-year moratorium on the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries within the city.  

The full meeting can be viewed on the city website.