Sunday, October 07, 2018

PZB rejects new hotel at Dairy Queen site

St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board October 2, 2018 unanimously rejected a proposed rezoning allowing a 75 room hotel on the site of the historic St. Augustine Dairy Queen.

Thank you for doing your jobs without fear or favor of the (unnamed) Limited Liability (LLC) property owners and St. Johns Law Group and James George Whitehouse, who asked for rezoning.

Three cheers for San Marco neighbors for standing up to corporate power.





St. Augustine board recommends denial of hotel request


St Augustine’s Planning and Zoning Board voted against plans for a hotel at the site of a closed Dairy Queen on San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine. [PETER WILLOTT/THE RECORD]

By Sheldon Gardner
Posted Oct 3, 2018 at 8:27 PM
Updated Oct 5, 2018 at 3:33 AM
St. Augustine Record

St Augustine’s Planning and Zoning Board voted against plans for a hotel at the site of a closed Dairy Queen on San Marco Avenue.

Shri Hari Lodging Inc., owner of the 0.68-acre parcel at 100 San Marco Ave., applied via St. Johns Law Group to rezone the land from Commercial Low 2 to Commercial Medium 1 and to change the land use designation from Commercial Low Intensity to Commercial Medium Intensity.

The board voted unanimously to recommend that the City Commission deny the requests.

Board members based their vote in part on opposition from residents who do not want to have intensified commercial uses in the area.

“I never heard a need and a justification for this,” board member Karen Zander said. “I heard a want.”

Current regulations allow for a hotel of up to 50 units at the site, but the changes would remove a maximum number of rooms. Shri Hari Lodging’s plans are for a 75-room hotel at the site, according to application materials.

The developer has until Nov. 1 to file an appeal with the Planning and Building Department, according to David Harrell, senior development review planner for the city. That appeal would go to the City Commission for review.

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