Construction of an A-1 Shelters storage facility OK’d
Construction of a proposed A-1 Shelters neighborhood storage facility on Chiquita Boulevard was given the green light to proceed at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
The Kirby family, which operates other A-1 Shelter facilities in the Cape, can now close on the 4.6-acre assemblage of six vacant parcels and follow through on its Planned Development Project request with a zoning change, a special exception and deviations for its five buildings that will provide 78,300 square feet of storage space in southwest Cape.
The site extends from the city’s Fire Station No. 6 on the west side of Chiquita north to Southwest 44th Street. The property has frontage on both Chiquita and Southwest 16th Place to the west. It will have a main entrance to the facility on Chiquita with a second exit driveway on Southwest 16th.
The development proposes upgraded landscape buffers with a minimum 8-foot wall screening the residential neighborhood along the west property line. There are limits on lighting and a deviation from non-residential design standards for interior walls not visible to the public.
Councilmember Jim Burch thanked staff and the applicant for their presentations showing the artist renderings and for upgrades.
“Going bigger and better with the trees makes it easier to approve this,” said Burch, who expressed a concern about getting multiple owners to agree on something.
That was before the Kirby family assured council they still must close on the assemblage to make it one owner of the property.
In other business before council Mon-day night, approval was given to amend a land use element of the comprehensive plan to provide more development flexibility in the commercial activity center classification that also removes the PDP requirement.
Council allowed a zoning change from residential to commercial for a 10,000-square-foot parcel at 401 S.W. 7th Place that has no current development plan. It is located next to a gymnastics facility behind the plaza in the Pine Island corridor that contains Foster’s Grill and other commercial entities.
A request was approved for vacation of platted alley right-of-way and underlying easements for vacant commercially zoned property on Chiquita Boulevard north of Veterans Parkway in order to consolidate the assemblage of several parcels into one large parcel. The city retains a 20-foot drainage easement and a 6-foot public utility easement around the perimeter of the property.
A similar vacation request made for city-owned property on Burnt Store Road south of Yucatan Parkway destined to become Fire Station 11 was approved.
The proposal gives the Fire Station a main access on Old Burnt Store Road, which is being widened in the area. Fire trucks will return to the station using Northwest 11th Street at the rear of the station.
The city owns four parcels that abutted the unimproved alley that was vacated. It also served one single-family home along the alley. The city will provide a new easement along the western property lines.
City Council called two public meetings this week held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday jointly in workshops with the Budget Review Committee in Council Chambers.
The next regular council meeting is not until Monday, Aug. 21.