by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
The Planning Commission on Tuesday, March 26 granted an application from Carmella Cioffi of MHK Architecture, the owner of 2365 Periwinkle Way, formerly Gene’s Books, to have one fewer parking spaces than required by the Land Development Code. The owner made this request because there will be an increase in intensity of use due to the creation of an additional commercial unit to be occupied by an interior design business, Island Style Sanibel, to complement architectural services provided by MHK Architecture, the property owner.
The change will help avoid turning movement conflicts and over-congestion of the expanded parking area behind the building.
The applicant referenced “narrowness of the parcel” as the basis of a hardship to comply with both parking design and landscape buffers. City staff concurred that the lot width of 65 feet at the adjacent right-of-way is an unusual condition. There are only four other similarly situated commercial parcels with a roadway frontage of less than 100 feet within the district and just one as narrow as this parcel.
“It’s an incredibly tight spot. There’s not a lot of room there,” said City Deputy Planning Director Craig Chandler.
The City’s Natural Resources Department reviewed the proposed landscape plan and performed a site inspection to assess compliance and found that limitations within the buffers do exist due to the nonconforming aspects of the existing development, and that full compliance is not feasible. The city further found that the applicant has achieved compliance to the greatest extent possible, and therefore found a waiver to location and size of buffers is necessary.
As it relates to the applicant’s proposal for one fewer than required parking spaces, the applicant stated there will be no more than four employees for MHK Architecture and no more than one employee for Island Style Sanibel. Both businesses intend to serve their customers by appointment and do not anticipate more than two visitors at a time. The application also proposed to maintain existing bicycle parking facilities with spaces for up to six bicycles.
The City staff determined that the applicant provided relevant anecdotal information about the operation of each land use in support of the request for one fewer than required parking spaces, and further that it is not reasonably necessary to provide 10 total spaces at this time. That is subject to a condition that open space is reserved for an additional space if deemed necessary in the future. That would have to go before the Planning Commission with a recommendation.