Submitted by shawn on 22 October 2009 - 5:58pm
There is a new company working the CVS plans. The new company has compiled a set of elevations that are basically the same as the prior company. This process is still basically at square one. The new set of elevations are much clearer looking than the last. You can download a PDF copy of them by clicking on the image below.
What to take from this is just that there's a new engineering firm and they've rendered their own copy of the default CVS urban-style plans. Which means, essentially, the project has not moved forward since OSHNA's public meeting at the church with CVS representatives. If something new does come up, we'll post it here as soone as we can.
All,
I attended a design review meeting on Wed Nov 4th at the city's zoning department regarding the proposed development for the CVS at Sligh/Nebraska. I have posted some of the notes taken at the meeting.
We need to stay on top of this issue if we expect the pending form based zoning efforts we have worked on for over 2 years to be effective for this proposed development. This development is currently a typical suburban site plan with the parking wrapping the build at the street and the bldg sitting back on the site - much like any other recently built CVS (see MLK/N Blvd loction)
At the design review (held by city staff and the applicant – not a meeting typically open to the public) it was strongly suggested by city staff that because of the efforts of the city and the neighborhood and the guidelines in the Hillsborough Co Comprehensive Plan that the proposed location of the building would be an issue. The developers were told that the plan was inconsistent and that under the comp plan Sligh/Nebraska are considered a gateway into the neighborhood and that SH is classified as an urban village and that the proposed location does not meet goal #9 of the greater SH vision plan and goal # 13 (livable cities) and goal #16 (mixed-use pedestrian core) of the comp plan.
The urban planner on staff showed a picture of the CVS on 4th street (bldg to sidewalk) in St Pete and suggested they look to this building for guidance for site placement.
Current code requires 53 parking spots for this store size and it is currently proposed with 74.
There are also many trees that have to come out and issues with grand trees. That will be the case for any development on this site not just CVS.
Overall, the developers have quite a list of waivers/exceptions that they have to work through (from the city’s perspective) to make this a viable project. The developers were advised that SH is a very strong neighborhood and very active with the city staff and at city council. They were told city council has final say but to keep in mind that it is an election year and some of city council are considering running for mayor so decisions that are popular with voters may be decided in that direction.
City staff also noted that they are not anti-development but that development needed to be in the neighborhood's best interest because this building will be there for 20-30 years.
The design review meetings are typically 15 -20 minutes and this meeting had 14 people (all city dept reps – stormwater, transportation, zoning, parks/rec, etc) and lasted for 1 1/2 hours.
I was also in attendance and my presence surprised the Holland/Knight atty as there is not typically someone present from the neighborhood at a design review.
All this info is from my hand-written notes so I tried to keep up with discussion but write it down as I did not have a packet of the wavier issues. They should be fairly accurate but give us a picture of what is going on currently.
If the developers want to stay on track with the 1/28 city council hearing they need to return with corrections to zoning by 12/4.
Thanks for the update, Greg. I was surprised to learn that you had gotten into the meeting. As you say, they are not open to the public. How did you gain entry as a private citizen to a closed meeting? Maybe the answer to that will get more OSHNA residents to attend these meetings.
Shawn,
I have been following the process for this project very closely.
I inquired of zoning if I would be able to be present for the design review. As it is a private "public" meeting with city departments with the applicant, I was able to attend but was advised that I could not participate in the meeting that I would only be able to observe and not comment unless the applicant ask for my input during the meeting.
The reps for CVS have been very open in their discussions and willingness to interact and obtain information/input from the neighborhood. I spoke with them after the meeting again, also.
Let me know if there are questions or concerns that we as a neighborhood want to forward to the developers. As stated earlier, the deadline for review and resolution with the city staff will be Dec 4 if they wish to go to city council on Jan 28 as currently planned.
Thanks for the post of the notes Shawn.
Greg