S. O'Brien St. Rezoning Delayed

Thursday evening City Council voted to continue the hearing on New Millenial Homes' request to rezone a portion of the southernmost block of S. O'Brien from IG (Industrial General) to PD (Planned Development). They'll have to try again on May 18th.

Council members Saul-Sena and Dingfelder took the lead in emphasizing that "cookie cutter" development won't pass muster. In other words, New Millenial will not be able to win approval for 5 houses with identical elevations. They also struck a blow against garages with houses attached. (You've seen these houses. The garage is the primary architectural feature facing the street-perhaps with a tiny covered stoop over the hard to find front door.)

Watching the tail end of the hearing being replayed this morning, it appeared to me that New Millennial Homes representative Anthony Galarza was no more prepared for Council than he was for the CAPT meeting in March. The varied pictures he sent to Jill Buford to pass around at the April CAPT meeting were not reflected in the site plan presented to council. When he showed Council the pictures they were not impressed, because they appear to be all garage. Councilman Dingfelder told Galarza that since they were asking for a PD they should look at asking for a waiver of setback requirements to allow building a porte-co-chere beside the houses. This would minimize the need to park cars at the front of the house, or worse yet, on the lawns.

Had to take the husband to the airport this morning so I missed seeing someone who must have spoken in opposition to the rezoning, as council members did refer to citizen opposition. I'll see if I can track that down and will post an addition later.

My personal feeling is that the driveways on the site plan do need to be extended down the side of the houses to at least allow tandem parking that puts two cars beside the house rather than in front. A porte-co-chere would be even better. Also, though I'm glad to see some houses coming in at what is now the lower end of the Port Tampa price range, a few cosmetic changes to building facades makes for a nicer looking neighborhood without increasing costs to the builder and ultimately the buyer. Props to Dingfelder and Saul-Sena for supporting requiring developers to build in a way that enhances the neighborhood.

Bottom line, New Millennial will have to work with City staff to come up with a site plan and elevations that are more acceptable to Council.