Venice plan board OK's Seaboard landscaping rules changes

VENICE — The Planning Commission needed little time Tuesday to vote to recommend City Council approval of two changes to the land-development regulations.

The changes would allow design alternatives requested by Storsafe, a self-storage facility, when it submitted a proposed site-and-development plan for the redevelopment of its facility at 124 and 132 Warfield Ave. in the Seaboard area.

Storsafe had asked to be excused from interior landscaping requirements on the property because of a lack of space, and from landscaping that would have been required along the foundation of the building along the right of way.

Given the more lenient standards the comprehensive plan and LDR impose on the Seaboard area, in anticipation of future redevelopment, staff considered the proposed alternatives reasonable, Planning and Zoning Director Roger Clark told the Commission at the time. However, the LDR didn’t allow them, which he characterized as an oversight.

The plan was approved, with the understanding the landscaping issue would be revisited after staff brought forward an amendment to the LDR.

Planner Josh Law did the presentation Tuesday.

The two proposed changes would permit a zero-percent minimum for interior parking lot landscaping in the Mixed-Use Seaboard area and not require landscaping where a setback of less than 1 foot is proposed along a right of way, he said.

Only foundation plantings would be required for setbacks of 1 foot to less than 5 feet, he said, while all landscaping requirements would apply if the proposed setback is 5 feet or more.

The vote to recommend Council approval was 7-0. The changes will take votes at two Council meetings for adoption.

Afterward, Clark informed the Commission that the city has agreed on a contract with a consultant to prepare a master plan for the Seaboard area.

Staff will be bringing the consultant to a Commission meeting to get its input about the area’s future, probably in June, he said.