Council approves height exception for Flagship medical building on Curry Lane

The Venice City Council unanimously approved a height exception Tuesday allowing a three‑story Flagship medical office building and ambulatory surgery center at 2695 Curry Lane to exceed the 35‑foot by‑right limit and reach 43 feet 4 inches.

Nicole Trumbly, senior planner for the city of Venice, told the council the project — petition 2543HE — is in the Office Institutional Professional (OPI) zoning district and that the code permits exceptions up to 46 feet if the council finds the decision criteria met.

“The petition has been processed with the procedural requirements to consider a height exception,” Trumbly said, adding the planning commission recommended approval 6–0 with one member absent.

Martie Black and Sydney Thornton, representing the applicant (BHB on behalf of Flagship Health Care Property), said the taller first floor is needed to accommodate ambulatory surgery center floor‑to‑ceiling and interstitial mechanical space. They emphasized the building footprint had been pushed more than 300 feet from Curry Lane, that the design keeps the overall floor area well below the allowable density, and that rooftop mechanical equipment will be screened.

“Medical office, in particular surgery centers, have specific requirements for clear ceilings and interstitial space,” Thornton said in the presentation.

Council members questioned compatibility with the multifamily residential development to the south and asked what measures would protect residents from visual intrusion from the third floor. Trumbly said the code requires a Type 2 buffer between OPI and RMF‑3 — a minimum 10‑foot width, three trees and 40 shrubs per 100 linear feet, and a six‑foot fence — and that the council could condition approval to require a more intensive buffer such as a Type 3 (15‑foot width, additional understory trees and shrubs).

The applicant said the site plan will place most parking and access at the extremes of the parcel so that views down drive aisles do not frame the building, and that the final site development plan will address screening, landscaping, lighting and other compatibility measures.

After public testimony was closed and no members of the public had signed up to speak, the council voted to approve Development Order No. 25‑43HE. The motion was seconded by Council Member Rick Howard; the recorded vote was unanimous.

The approval grants Flagship the requested height exception but the applicant must next obtain site development plan approval and comply with all land development code requirements, including landscaping, buffering and lighting standards.

Details from the record show the proposed building would be roughly 54,000 square feet on a roughly 5‑acre parcel, with an expressed floor‑area ratio of 0.248 (the OPI maximum is 0.5). Staff noted the project’s proposed impervious lot coverage was about 78 percent (the cited maximum in presentation materials was 80 percent). The parcel sits north of Curry Lane with Sarasota Memorial Hospital to the north and multifamily residential to the south.