Downtown developer seeks land-use changes

It’s not clear what’s going to get built at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Fruitville Road, but if the city approves a proposed zoning change, it could be big.

Already, the western portion of the 1.85-acre site is zoned to allow an 18-story building. But an application filed Nov. 13 seeks to reclassify the eastern segment of the property from downtown edge to downtown core. Those changes would allow for a height increase from five to 10 stories and a residential density increase from 25 units per acre to 50.

Right now, the developer doesn’t have an actual project proposed for the site. Bill Merrill, a land-use attorney with Icard Merrill, is representing property owner Palsar Developments Inc. He said Palsar is filing for the changes now because the property in question is part of a land swap deal with the city.

In 2016, the city agreed to give a portion of land at U.S. 41 and Fruitville Road to Palsar. In exchange, Palsar would give the city an adjacent piece of land, which the city needed to build a roundabout at U.S. 41 and Fruitville.

The city hopes to begin work on that roundabout in the first half of 2018. The land swap is contingent on Palsar gaining approval for a rezoning at that property, which explains the timing of the application, Merrill said.

“They don’t have any specific plans,” Merrill said. “A lot of this is being driven by the urgency of the roundabout.”

.However, planning staff is concerned about the lack of information included with the developer’s preliminary application. In materials prepared for a Dec. 6 Development Review Committee meeting, staff said Palsar would have to include a site plan along with its request for a rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment.

Palsar’s initial application listed residential, hotel, retail and restaurant as possible uses for the property. Merrill said the eventual proposal for the property would likely include a mixed-use development, possibly focused primarily on condominiums.

When the commission approved the land-swap agreement in 2016, the property owner planned to develop an 18-story, 80-unit condominium. At the time, a development partner said the development would only take advantage of the density increase offered under the downtown core zoning, not the height increase.

That development partner has since split with the property owner. Merrill said Palsar is no longer committed to the five-story limit on the eastern segment of the site, though he said the developer would try to smoothly transition the property from U.S. 41 into the Fruitville Road corridor.

“They do have a commitment to transition it to the heights in the nearby neighborhoods," Merrill said.

The developer is scheduled to hold a community workshop on the proposed changes on Monday, Dec. 18. In addition to the site plan requirement, Chief Planner Lucia Panica said the city could ask the developer to include conditions for approval designed to address any community questions.

“They can proffer things related to height, density, intensity — certain things the neighborhood’s concerned about,” Panica said.