Board approves taller fencing along El Centro at Don Cesar to screen service lot

The St. Pete Beach Board of Adjustment approved a variance allowing fences up to 8 feet tall along portions of El Centro Street at 3400 Gulf Boulevard, the Don Cesar Hotel, saying the applicant and staff have addressed traffic and pedestrian-safety concerns raised during technical review.

City planner Brandon Berry described the request as a variance under Land Development Code section 6.15 and a modification to development order 21073, which originally limited the fence to 4 feet. Berry said the application would allow fences to the west and east of El Centro Street near the northern property boundary to exceed the standard 4-foot height and match the modified development order condition.

Berry told the board the proposal had been reviewed by the technical review committee; the applicant agreed to reduce an originally all-8-foot south side run to a 6-foot segment near a landscaping buffer to avoid creating a blind corner where trucks might back out. Berry also said the applicant agreed to replace damaged fencing on the east side and to stripe a crosswalk from the service-lot sidewalk to the nearby beach walk, per the city’s public services department direction.

Jeff Connell, the architect representing the Don Cesar, said the taller fences are intended to screen pedestrians on the beach walk and service-lot users from adjacent residential areas and to improve safety where vehicular access now exists. “We agreed with the adjacent neighborhood to provide these fences for additional screening,” Connell said.

Board members asked whether similar 8-foot fences exist on other rights of way and whether the design would unduly block views; staff replied this property’s mix of frontages and its unique layout make the proposal atypical but not unprecedented for the neighborhood. After public comment closed without speakers and no ex parte disclosures that required recusal, a board member moved to approve the case "with the conditions as outlined by staff today," including amending condition 8 of development order 21073 to match the variance outcome. The motion passed unanimously.

The board attached conditions from staff’s technical-review comments: (1) affix pedestrian-crossing warnings to any freestanding signage or fence facing north on El Centro; (2) construct and maintain the crosswalk in the direction of the public services department; and (3) modify condition 8 of development order 21073 so the earlier 4-foot requirement coincides with the approved fence heights.

The decision clears the applicant to replace dilapidated fencing and install new screening where shown in the application, subject to the city’s building permits and the conditions adopted by the board.