The Pinellas County Board of Adjustment and Appeals unanimously approved Sept. 3 a Type 2 use for an event venue at 1850 County Road 193 and granted an after‑the‑fact variance to allow a 6-foot chain‑link fence topped with 12 inches of barbed wire to remain where a three‑foot non‑decorative fence is normally the maximum in the front setback.

Katie Cole, an attorney representing property owner Sylvan Abbey, told the board the building on the approximately 26‑acre parcel had been under a long‑term ground lease until 2022 and that the applicant seeks to reuse the existing 14,500‑square‑foot home and outbuildings for community assembly and celebration‑of‑life events. Cole said the barbed‑wire fence was constructed by a prior tenant in the 1980s and that the applicant is seeking after‑the‑fact approvals rather than new construction.

Transportation consultant Becca Bond, who the board accepted as an expert witness, presented a traffic analysis based on a maximum guest occupancy of 200 people. Bond said a 200‑person event translates to a projected maximum of roughly 130 vehicles and that counts collected Aug. 29–31 were adjusted to peak‑season conditions; the analysis concluded that County Road 193 has capacity, under Pinellas County’s level‑of‑service standard, to absorb the added trips without falling below adopted thresholds.

Neighbors opposed the request, citing traffic queuing on County Road 193 during church services and school events, noise from outdoor bands and DJs, septic and sanitary‑waste concerns, and after‑hours events already occurring without approvals. Multiple residents described narrow roads without sidewalks and said queued traffic from events can reach the school and church, creating safety risks.

In response, the applicant agreed to several operational restrictions. The record reflects the applicant’s contractual event packages currently require events to conclude by 10 p.m. and that vendors and guests should be off site shortly thereafter; during the hearing the applicant accepted a board condition to prohibit permanent overnight accommodations and agreed to remove overnight‑stay advertising. The applicant also agreed to require off‑duty law enforcement or other traffic control at the Sunset Point Road/County Road 193 intersection for events exceeding 100 attendees and to place on‑site personnel to direct exiting traffic onto Sunset Point rather than into adjacent neighborhoods.

Staff noted additional regulatory steps remain: site‑plan review will verify parking, drainage, photometric lighting plans, and septic/bathroom capacity for the proposed change of use; temporary‑use and alcohol permits must demonstrate compliance with the county’s distance limit from schools (approximately 500 feet) and other requirements; and building‑code and septic‑system adequacy will be examined at plan review.

The board voted unanimously to approve the Type 2 use with the conditions described and unanimously approved the variance for the existing fence in the County Road 193 front setback. Both approvals are conditioned on permits, site‑plan approval and compliance with the county’s screening, noise and temporary‑use requirements.