City planners to review Conch House Resort plan

City planners to review Conch House Resort plan



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/04/08

St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board members plan to determine Tuesday whether to approve a proposed redevelopment of the Conch House Resort on Comares Avenue, and they want to hear from the public on the issue.

The board has tabled the project twice, and at its last meeting board members wanted more feedback from the public and they hope to see that Tuesday.

Conch House Builders LLC wants the board to grant a Planned Unit Development for a resort, marina, condominiums, hotel, restaurant and bar.

The board has had concerns about some of the buildings' height up to 55 feet and about parking. It has asked the developer to consider an underground parking garage.

The board spent hours discussing the redevelopment proposal in early June and late July, but only a few residents spoke on the issue. At both meetings the board asked the developer to return with more information.

The developers want to put a trio of three-story condominium buildings of 32, 20 and 12 rooms staggered along Comares Avenue. The middle one will serve as both a condo and hotel. The project also includes a three-story beacon lighthouse building, from 35 to 55 feet high, that will serve as a dock master facility.

Board members and neighbors have a problem with the lighthouse idea, especially its size. And property owner David Ponce said at the July meeting that he would look at taking it out of the design.

Also slated for the project is the refurbishing of the existing Conch House Restaurant, a new marina restaurant and bar with 177 seats and a 6,700-square-foot conference center. Ponce anticipates that events at the conference center will bring in enough revenue for to him stop Reggae Sunday, a popular weekly dining and drinking event.

The board's decision will then be heard by the City Commission, which makes the final decision on the project.

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