Commission authorizes negotiation of development agreement for Phillipe Parkway property, 3‑2 vote

The Safety Harbor City Commission on April 7 authorized the city manager to negotiate terms and conditions for a development agreement for a 1.53‑acre property at 3110 Phillipe Parkway that the applicant proposes to redevelop from an aging motel into 15 attached residential units.

Community Development Director Carol Strickland told the commission that the development agreement request is the first step in a multi‑stage process that would include a future land‑use map amendment (residential low to residential medium), conditional‑use review for attached dwellings and public hearings before the planning board and the commission. “You are not making any decisions here tonight other than authorizing us to start the process of negotiating a development agreement,” Strickland said.

Why the development agreement: the applicant’s agent, Todd Pressman, said the existing motel dates to about 1950 and that redevelopment would modernize the site, raise finished elevations in the coastal high‑hazard area and provide a buffer between Phillipe Parkway and single‑family homes to the rear. The property currently carries a resort facilities overlay that allows transient accommodations as a conditional use; the applicant seeks a future land‑use change to allow attached dwellings at a limited density (the applicant has offered to cap the project at 10 units per acre even though the medium designation allows up to 15 units per acre).

Public input and commission concerns: commissioners asked whether the development agreement process reduces public input; staff said the agreement includes public hearings at both the planning board and commission and does not bind the city to approve future land‑use or conditional‑use applications. Commissioners expressed concern about massing and compatibility with adjacent single‑family homes; one commissioner said the proposed scale felt “too intense” for surrounding lots. The applicant said he would refine plans and has engaged an architect and design team.

Vote: authorization to begin negotiations passed 3‑2. The vote permits staff and the city manager to negotiate and return terms for public hearings; it does not approve any land‑use change, site plan or construction.

What happens next: if negotiations produce terms the city manager recommends, the draft development agreement would be prepared by the city attorney and proceed to the planning board and a subsequent city commission public hearing. Separate, subsequent applications would be required for any future land‑use map amendment and conditional‑use approvals. Any member of the public — neighbors or citywide residents — may comment during those hearings.