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Board conditions approval of use variance for proposed Spring Hill boutique hotel on successful rezoning
Summary
The board approved a use variance to allow a hospitality use at 720 Museum Drive but made the approval explicitly subject to a successful rezoning from R-1 to B-2 and standard staff conditions including lot subdivision and Spring Hill overlay compliance.
The Board of Adjustment approved a use variance on April 7 to allow a proposed boutique hotel at 720 Museum Drive, but the approval is explicitly conditioned on the applicant securing a separate rezoning from R-1 to B-2 and meeting staff recommendations.
Developer Philip Burton of Burton Property Group told the board he plans an approximately 87-room boutique hotel and said the site is currently city-owned and surrounded by B-2 and B-3 zoning. "We would humbly ask that it would be conditioned on a successful rezoning because it's not our intent to get the use variance without a successful rezoning," Burton said.
Planning staff recommended that any approval be conditioned on completion of a two-lot subdivision to alter interior lot lines between the subject site and an adjacent fire station, and on either revising the site plan to fully comply with the Spring Hill overlay or submitting separate site-variance requests for any nonconforming elements. The chair and board members reiterated that the approved use variance would not let the developer proceed without the rezoning: the motion approving the variance included an explicit condition tying it to successful rezoning to B-2.
Supporters spoke in favor at the hearing, including representatives of the Village of Spring Hill, the Mobile Chamber economic development staff (who cited local economic-impact estimates for a project of the scale proposed), and nearby property owners who said the hotel would be an upgrade and bring visitors closer to area amenities. Some neighbors urged a postponement so area residents could better evaluate the rezoning impacts; board members responded that the applicant had presented the use-variance request as contingent on the rezoning and that site-plan and overlay issues would be addressed during the rezoning and subsequent site-review processes.
The board approved the use variance subject to findings of fact, the staff-recommended conditions (two-lot subdivision and Spring Hill overlay compliance or variance), full municipal-code compliance, and explicit conditioning on the successful rezoning from R-1 to B-2. The board recorded the motion as carried.
