The Plant City City Commission offered recommendations on how to redesign a proposed development at a workshop on March 14.
At city hall, the Plant City Planning and Zoning Department gave a presentation on the Mixed-Use Gateway. This project considers the construction of buildings used for civic, commercial, single and multi-family housing, and workplace purposes, off of James L. Redman Parkway.
The proposal falls under the Plant City Comprehensive Plan – city standards that need to be met when developing property. This requires the development to have a multi-purpose use.However, there are no specific zoning regulations that are required to be followed.
A new sewage system that runs within the vicinity of James L. Redman Parkway’s intersection with Charlie Griffin Road to its intersection with Colson Road and Holloway Road, now helps to push the project to the next step. The proposed development would run along that short stretch of James L. Redman Pkwy. Julie Hamm is the manager for the planning and zoning department who sees the potential.
“It’s been slow developing, but now that their running water and sewer down James L. Redman Parkway,” she said, “we’ve got a lot more interest in developing now, and so we needed to convert these land use requirements into the zoning code.”
The project is required to have at least two uses and one cannot exceed 80% over the other. The proposal also asks that a single entrance to one business may also grant access to other businesses, as opposed to there being multiple entryways into a plaza.
“We definitely want the interconnectivity,” she said. “The land use definition talks about that access to the other areas.”
The city commission also noted that they would like the buildings to not be too diverse but have uniformity in terms of design and architecture.
Parking lots would be placed to the side or rear of the buildings.
“We are going to come up with some landscaping design features,” Hamm said. “We want something a little bit more definite.”
There wasn’t any buffering in the initial plan, but based on the city commission’s feedback, the planning and zoning department will come back with a new presentation that will include it. This will at least give an indication of how much green space could separate Redman Parkway from the property line.
“They do want some kind of buffering,” Hamm said. “Your build-to line has to be at least 30 feet from the property line. We’re still drafting that language.”
Should it remain for multi-purpose use, some structures will need to have a larger buffer zone from Redman Parkway. The city commission recommended pushing back any residences further away from the major corridor.
“If someone wants to do single-family development, single-family homes, then they need to be back off the road,” Hamm noted. “We don’t want the residential single-family [homes] along Redman. We’re making that a provision in there.”
At this point, the city commission doesn’t want to mandate it as mixed-use development, Hamm said.
“The city commission wants to see the developments being proposed and make sure that’s what they envision,” she added.
It’s also recommended that any future plazas will have monument store signs as opposed to those placed on poles.
The planning and zoning department has an attorney that is creating another draft that will be brought before the city commission for review.
It will also be reviewed by the Plant City Planning Board which will recommend the proposal to the city commission if they approve it.
While a specific date has not yet been determined for the next workshop, it could be as early as April 11, Hamm said.