The plan calls for a redesigned 7-Eleven store in keeping with the city's entry corridor guidelines, but with 12 gas pumps not envisioned when the city's zoning code was established in 1975.
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| City manager at neighborhood session |
At a session with City Manager John Regan last week, residents pointed out the inconsistency of a modern gas station on a site zoned for another era.
Residents, led by the Nelmar Terrace Neighborhood Association, can be expected to voice objections to additional traffic congestion and deterioration of a major intersection along entry corridors the guidelines were enacted to protect.
The test: Will the commission accept zoning put in place in 1975, an era of corner stores and light traffic, to allow a modern 12-pump gas station at a congested intersection, or uphold the appeal and leave 7-Eleven to decide whether to go to court for its property rights or accede to the will of the community and enhance its international reputation.
450 commemoration
A commission workshop beginning at 8:30 am September 26 will focus on the commemoration. Public input is generally not included, but can be by vote of the commission.
Mayor Joe Boles designed the current planning and management of the 450th commemoration - to be managed by city government and organized from the top down: funding first, then programs.
Today the management is in the hands of three city staffers - two of them newcomers to the city, and top-down organization - getting money first, then creating programs for it, which has resulted in little outside support and local businesses waiting for programs or projects to select for support.
Missing are a 501.c.3, which major corporations and foundations expect when asked to contribute, and more direct community involvement to coordinate programs and projects with funding opportunities.
The test: Will the commission simply hear an update of the current strategic plan, or open discussion on establishing a 501.c.3 and getting community organizations more directly involved?
Flagler classrooms
Flagler College goes before the City Commission October 8 with an expected revision of its plan to build a classroom complex at Cuna and Cordova streets. Protesting neighbors can be expected as well, opposing the campus invasion of a historic preservation district.
City Attorney Ron Brown says it will be presented as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance "on second reading, as amended, which will require a public hearing."
The original design of a 20,000 square foot complex, approved by both the city's Planning and Zoning and Historic Architectural Review boards, was sent back to HARB for further review, and resulting modifications went to PZB, where the modified plan was rejected in July.
PZB members Jerry Dixon and John Valdes, leading the dissent, argued PUDs were not intended for new construction, nor classrooms for historic preservation districts.
The test: Will the commission accept a toned-down version if presented, and will it be acceptable to neighbors concerned about the integrity of the city's most sensitive Historic Preservation District? Or, under PUD provisions, will the commission order a conference between the college and neighbors to work out a compromise?
