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Commission recommends height exception for 3‑story Flagship medical office building at 2695 Curry Lane
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Summary
The Planning Commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of height exception petition 25-43 HE to permit a 43 ft 4 in building height for a three‑story outpatient medical office building with an ambulatory surgery center at 2695 Curry Lane.
The Venice Planning Commission on Sept. 2 recommended City Council approve height exception petition 25-43 HE to allow a maximum building height of 43 feet, 4 inches for a proposed three‑story Flagship medical office building at 2695 Curry Lane.
Senior planner Nicole Tremblay explained the parcel is about 5 acres, zoned OPI with a future land use of Institutional/Professional, and is in the Pine Brook neighborhood adjacent to Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH). Tremblay said the OPI district allows 35 feet by right and up to 46 feet with a height exception; the applicant limited its request to 43 feet, 4 inches, which falls within the code's allowable range. Tremblay noted the height-exception review focuses only on height and that separate site and development plan approval is still required.
Applicant representatives said the additional height is driven by the technical requirements of an ambulatory surgery center and related medical uses. Marty Black, representing Flagship Healthcare Properties, said recommended surgery-room ceiling heights (12–16 feet) and interstitial space (about 2.5–3 feet) for services and mechanical systems make a total three‑story height between roughly 42 and 49 feet typical for modern ambulatory surgery centers. Sydney Thornton, the project civil engineer, said the proposed building is pushed back about 314 feet from Curry Lane to reduce visual impacts and that finished floor elevations reflect base flood elevation requirements; the design sets the finished floor at 17.5 feet above datum to meet federal and local flood-elevation guidelines.
Tremblay told commissioners the site plan provides required landscaping buffers (10-foot Type 2 buffer along Curry Lane, 15-foot Type 3 buffer in the rear) and that the Technical Review Committee found no code conflicts. The applicant said the building would contain outpatient services on the second and third floors and an ambulatory surgery center on the ground floor, and estimated the project would generate roughly 100 health care jobs.
No members of the public signed up to speak. Commissioner Pam Sherberg moved to recommend approval; the motion was seconded and the commission voted 6-0 (Hale — yes; Sherberg — yes; Young — yes; Wilson — yes; Jasper — yes; Chair Snyder — yes).
The recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for final action, and the project will still require site and development plan review.
