Hearing examiner approves special exception for coffee roastery at Pine Island with odor-control condition

The hearing examiner granted a special exception Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2024, allowing a coffee-roasting operation (SPX25-000005) at the Pine Island Commercial Center, subject to six conditions including a requirement that all coffee roasters be equipped with afterburners or comparable odor-control equipment.

The decision affects a proposed building on Lot 2 of a four-parcel site between Pine Island Road and Cedis Parkway, within the Pine Island Road District. The applicant, represented by Linda Miller of Avalon Engineering, sought a special-exception approval to permit a light-industrial use (coffee roasting) in the city’s Commercial Corridor (CC) zoning district.

The hearing matter matters because the project places light-industrial operations near nonconforming residential parcels north of the site and raises odor, lighting, traffic and public-safety questions. Planning staff recommended approval with five conditions; after a brief recess the applicant and staff agreed to add a sixth condition requiring odor-control equipment, and the hearing examiner adopted that approach.

Candace Ford, a planner with the Cape Coral City planning division, told the hearing examiner that the city properly advertised the case: “the signs were placed on-site, mailers were sent out to all residents within 500 feet, and a newspaper ad was placed in the local newspaper.” Ford’s staff…