Council transmits text amendment to allow density increases in coastal high-hazard areas; Westminster redevelopment to return for adoption

Bradenton City Council voted 5–0 on first reading to transmit to state review a comprehensive-plan text amendment that would permit, under narrow circumstances, increases in residential density inside the city's Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA). The ordinance (4035) was filed by Westminster Communities as the first step in a three-part request that also includes a future land-use map amendment (ordinance 4036) and a rezoning to T5 Urban Center (ordinance 4037).

The proposed text change would align city policy with Florida statutes that allow CHHA density increases if a development shows specific mitigation measures — chiefly a binding development agreement, a conceptual plan, and an evacuation protocol that preserves an “out-of-county” evacuation time for the site’s most vulnerable residents. Westminster officials and their legal counsel said the amendment is needed to allow redevelopment of the 15.8-acre Point Pleasant campus at densities that preserve the community’s historically built population while replacing aging buildings that the applicant says are nearing the end of useful life.

Westminster presenters (including CEO Hank Keith, counsel Patricia Petraf, and planner Katie LaBarre) told council the campus was built decades ago at higher density than the current Future Land Use designation allows and that without the change many residents could not be returned to the campus after a major disaster. The applicant’s conceptual plan, submitted with the application, calls for phased redevelopment with a first phase of roughly 30 new units and later phases that together would create about 537 “equivalent dwelling units” on 15.8 acres — roughly 34 dwelling units per acre. Westminster said that number is slightly below the historic development density and below the UCBD (Urban Central Business District) maximum of 40 units per acre.

Planning staff and the City Attorney said the text amendment would be citywide (not site-specific) and recommended that the change require a development agreement and a conceptual site plan to be approved concurrently with any future map amendment that increases density. Staff noted the Planning Commission split on the request — a 2–2 vote that resulted in no official Planning Commission recommendation on the map and rezoning items; staff emphasized the high bar in state statute for approving CHHA density increases.

Opposition from Point Pleasant residents focused on construction impacts, traffic on narrow neighborhood streets (First and Third Avenues and Fifteenth Street West), pedestrian safety, wastewater and stormwater capacity, and the prospect of up-to-12-story buildings adjacent to single-family homes. Speakers argued the application should not move forward without detailed infrastructure capacity and traffic analyses and stronger neighborhood protections. Westminster representatives and several supporters said the developer will phase the work, maintain evacuation plans that have been stress-tested, and invest in utility and seawall improvements; they also pointed to the potential $250 million total economic impact and to taxable residential units in future phases.

Council discussion focused on the legal framework and on required safeguards. Councilmembers asked staff and the applicant to prepare a detailed development agreement for second-reading consideration; staff confirmed the development agreement would address mitigation, maximum density, phasing, heights, and infrastructure commitments before any final map amendment or rezoning would be adopted. By unanimous vote the council transmitted Ordinance 4035 to the state for the statutorily required agency review; the other two ordinances will return for second reading after state review with the development agreement attached.

Why it matters: The text amendment — if ultimately adopted — would change how the city treats redevelopment in coastal flood-prone areas, with potential long-term implications for other historically developed parcels in Bradenton. Council members described the vote as a procedural step (transmit for state review) rather than final approval of Westminster’s full redevelopment plan.