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Council grants special-use permit for Manatee Avenue event center, caps occupancy at 42 and requires change-of-use steps
Summary
The City of Bradenton approved a special-use permit May 14 to allow a reception/event center at 1710 Manatee Avenue East but limited occupancy to 42 guests, required a formal change-of-occupancy and prohibited residential occupancy of the property once change-of-occupancy is issued.
The City of Bradenton City Council approved a special-use permit on May 14 to allow a club/reception/event center at 1710 Manatee Avenue East, but set conditions intended to address neighborhood concerns about parking, safety and prior unauthorised use.
Planning staff informed council the property was originally permitted and occupied as a single-family residence; a code-enforcement complaint filed in February 2024 alleged the home was being used for events. Greg DeLong, assistant director of planning and community development, summarized the history and said the form-based T4O zoning district allows the requested club use only by special permit. DeLong told council the application included a submitted occupancy calculation that could reach 96 but that on-site parking supports a maximum of 42 visitors under current code-based parking calculations.
Attorney representation for the applicants said the owners sought to regularize the property’s use and had previously discussed private events with former planning staff. Neighbors, including Don and Angie Power, submitted letters and asked the city to protect surrounding parcels from overflow parking and noise. Forrest Jackson, co-owner and on-site representative, said the family intends to keep events small and to provide community services, including scholarships and noncommercial gatherings.
Council questioned access from Manatee Avenue (which has a median in the vicinity), parking counts and whether the structure would remain a residence after approval. Staff and the building department advised that a formal change-of-occupancy application and final inspections would be required before any interior events could take place. City staff also emphasized that a warming-kitchen conversion would be required (or removal of commercial cooking appliances) so the building would meet building and fire safety standards for assembly use.
After deliberation council amended staff stipulation D to set a hard cap: “the club/event center use shall be limited to a maximum 42 guests” (eliminating the prior language that would have allowed increases based on off-site parking arrangements), and added a new stipulation I: “Once a change of occupancy has been issued for the event space, the property shall no longer be used for residential occupancy.” The council’s motion to approve the special-use permit with the amended stipulations passed 4-1 (Ward 2 voted no). The Planning Commission had previously recommended approval 5-0.
Staff listed required follow-up steps: a change-of-occupancy approval with life-safety plan and seating layout; compliance with Florida Building Code and fire inspections; submittal of a site-improvement plan to address the expanded parking surface (the packet showed crushed concrete/asphalt placed without a site-improvement permit); a tree survey and engineered stormwater work if impervious surface changes remain; an ADA-compliant accessible parking stall in solid pavement (not crushed material); and a recorded fence/hedge along specified property lines to define on-site parking.
Council and staff emphasized that the special-use permit carries stipulations that run with the land; future violations would be addressed through code enforcement, and any request to increase occupancy would require additional approvals.
