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Planning board endorses City Place PD changes that modify active-use liners and facade breaks
Summary
Roger Ramdeen, agent for the applicant, presented a planned-development amendment for the City Place project on Oct. 21 seeking changes to previously approved waivers for planar breaks and active-use frontage after the switch from automated stacker parking to standard parking.
Roger Ramdeen, agent for the applicant, presented a major planned-development amendment for the City Place project (10 City Place and 15 City Place) on Oct. 21, asking the planning board to amend several previously approved waivers related to building facade planar breaks and ground-floor active-use requirements.
The amendment asks to eliminate certain indentations in the west tower floor plate on Levels 3–5 (raising continuous facade percentage from 60% to about 77% in those areas) while retaining vertical fins to create the visual effect of planar breaks. The applicant also requested reductions in required active-use frontage on Hibiscus Street and Gardenia Street after the project moved from automated stacker parking to standard parking, which altered floor-plate depths and the ability to achieve the 20-foot active-use depth required by code.
Principal planner Eric Schneider and other staff members walked the board through the design and explained that the proposed curtain-wall treatment and fins preserve the visual intent of planar breaks even if the three-foot deep interruptions in the curtain wall are removed. Staff concluded the amendment meets the applicable standards and recommended approval with a single condition requiring coordination to update DRI (development/parking) conversion charts and plan sheets prior to City Commission action.
Board members asked about visibility at the pedestrian level and confirmed there are no changes proposed for the ground-level pedestrian frontage; staff noted the screening and glass curtain walls along the levels will read from the exterior like typical active frontage even where parking is behind the curtain wall. The changes were prompted, staff and the applicant said, by a required switch from automated parking lifts to conventional parking that necessitated changes to parking layouts and reduced the depth available for active uses on some floors.
The planning board recommended approval subject to the condition described in staff materials. The board’s recommendation will be transmitted to the City Commission for final action.
