Is Sanders Beach the sign of movement west?
- May 15, 2015
- / Carlton Proctor
- / economy
Go west indeed.
Developer Bobby Switzer won approval from Pensacola City Council this week in rezoning a parcel in the Sanders Beach neighborhood from residential to commercial. The vote was 5-3.
The vote Thursday evening was precedent-setting in that it signals the council's desire to see the west side of Pensacola — now largely residential — opened up to more mixed-use residential/commercial development.
[caption id="attachment_23342" align="alignright" width="450"]
Developer Bobby Switzer wants to put mixed use residential and retail on this parcel on Cypress Street. Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today[/caption]
But one man’s plans to help the neighborhood “grow together” were not music to every neighbor’s ears. Some 60 neighbors had signed a petition against the change to C-1 zoning, a designation that would allow not only residential, but also professional offices, restaurants, bars, and retail shops.
The 4-acre site at E and Cypress streets previously was occupied by a large apartment complex destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Switzer's plans include construction of multistory residential units along with commercial uses on the ground floor.
"Why are we asking for a C-1?" Jim Veal, Switzer's project architect, asked council members. "Because we feel it would be a good situation for that neighborhood, and help connect it up with the exciting commercial and residential development going on in downtown Pensacola."
Neighbors Louis Baroco and Dan Bowen disagreed.
[caption id="attachment_23345" align="alignleft" width="450"]
Some neighbors felt the rezoning would be detrimental to the quiet nature of their neighborhood. Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today[/caption]
"I don't think the proposed development will fit in this neighborhood," Baroco said.
He noted the recent construction of several large single-family homes that show the neighborhood is redeveloping along residential lines, not commercial.
But Talbot Wilson, who recently built a new home in the neighborhood, spoke in favor of the rezoning.
Bowen said while he was "tired of looking at that vacant lot," he told council members he is among more than 60 residents of the neighborhood who signed the opposition petition.
[sidebar]
How they voted
For the rezoning:
Brian Spencer, Larry Johnson, Andy Terhaar, P.C. Wu, Gerald Wingate.
Against the rezoning:
Charles Bare, Sherry Myers, Jewel Cannada-Wynn.
[/sidebar]
Council member Jewel Cannada-Wynn, whose District 7 seat includes the property in question, said the rezoning request presented her with a difficult decision.
"I like economic development, and I like mixed-use projects," she said. "But I cannot support this rezoning. I see this as 'checkerboard' rezoning and I think it would mess with this neighborhood too much.”
Councilman Brian Spencer asked about height restrictions that the C-1 zoning designation would allow.
Sherry Morris, the city's Planning Services administrator, said C-1 allows building heights up to 100 feet. Veal said plans call for a proposed building height of about 70 feet. Morris said Switzer's plans have been reviewed by the Planning Board at least three times over the past few months.
The Planning Board signed off on the project in February by a vote of 5-2.
The Sanders Beach project is the second recent feather in Switzer’s cap. A group of investors he leads, One Palafox Place LLC, recently bought the Blount and Brent buildings at Garden and Palafox streets.
The $7.5 million deal to buy the full, 4.5-acre block in the heart of downtown Pensacola closed recently. Helping Switzer with plans for that century-old building’s redesign is Chuck Tessier, a noted urban planner and consultant who was involved in the renaissance of downtown Asheville, N.C.
The first step in that project, Switzer said, is to move people into the Blount building from the Brent building so that it can be renovated. The facades of all five of the buildings linked under that umbrella that front Garden Street will be rehabbed, Switzer said.
Switzer hopes to see a mix of residential, restaurant, retail and office tenants in the buildings once they are refreshed.
“We want this thing buzzing 18 hours a day,” he said recently.
Developer Bobby Switzer wants to put mixed use residential and retail on this parcel on Cypress Street. Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today[/caption]
But one man’s plans to help the neighborhood “grow together” were not music to every neighbor’s ears. Some 60 neighbors had signed a petition against the change to C-1 zoning, a designation that would allow not only residential, but also professional offices, restaurants, bars, and retail shops.
The 4-acre site at E and Cypress streets previously was occupied by a large apartment complex destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Switzer's plans include construction of multistory residential units along with commercial uses on the ground floor.
"Why are we asking for a C-1?" Jim Veal, Switzer's project architect, asked council members. "Because we feel it would be a good situation for that neighborhood, and help connect it up with the exciting commercial and residential development going on in downtown Pensacola."
Neighbors Louis Baroco and Dan Bowen disagreed.
[caption id="attachment_23345" align="alignleft" width="450"]
Some neighbors felt the rezoning would be detrimental to the quiet nature of their neighborhood. Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today[/caption]
"I don't think the proposed development will fit in this neighborhood," Baroco said.
He noted the recent construction of several large single-family homes that show the neighborhood is redeveloping along residential lines, not commercial.
But Talbot Wilson, who recently built a new home in the neighborhood, spoke in favor of the rezoning.
Bowen said while he was "tired of looking at that vacant lot," he told council members he is among more than 60 residents of the neighborhood who signed the opposition petition.
[sidebar]
How they voted
For the rezoning:
Brian Spencer, Larry Johnson, Andy Terhaar, P.C. Wu, Gerald Wingate.
Against the rezoning:
Charles Bare, Sherry Myers, Jewel Cannada-Wynn.
[/sidebar]
Council member Jewel Cannada-Wynn, whose District 7 seat includes the property in question, said the rezoning request presented her with a difficult decision.
"I like economic development, and I like mixed-use projects," she said. "But I cannot support this rezoning. I see this as 'checkerboard' rezoning and I think it would mess with this neighborhood too much.”
Councilman Brian Spencer asked about height restrictions that the C-1 zoning designation would allow.
Sherry Morris, the city's Planning Services administrator, said C-1 allows building heights up to 100 feet. Veal said plans call for a proposed building height of about 70 feet. Morris said Switzer's plans have been reviewed by the Planning Board at least three times over the past few months.
The Planning Board signed off on the project in February by a vote of 5-2.
The Sanders Beach project is the second recent feather in Switzer’s cap. A group of investors he leads, One Palafox Place LLC, recently bought the Blount and Brent buildings at Garden and Palafox streets.
The $7.5 million deal to buy the full, 4.5-acre block in the heart of downtown Pensacola closed recently. Helping Switzer with plans for that century-old building’s redesign is Chuck Tessier, a noted urban planner and consultant who was involved in the renaissance of downtown Asheville, N.C.
The first step in that project, Switzer said, is to move people into the Blount building from the Brent building so that it can be renovated. The facades of all five of the buildings linked under that umbrella that front Garden Street will be rehabbed, Switzer said.
Switzer hopes to see a mix of residential, restaurant, retail and office tenants in the buildings once they are refreshed.
“We want this thing buzzing 18 hours a day,” he said recently.
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