Florence staff present rezoning plan for 2.06-acre hotel site on Cavalier Boulevard

Florence planning staff on Monday described a proposal to rezone a 2.06-acre site at 56–58 Cavalier Boulevard from suburban residential to an Office-2 planned development to permit a four-story hotel.

Todd Morgan, a city staff member who presented the project, said the revised concept plan approved by the county planning commission calls for a 50,645-square-foot, four-story hotel with 22 rooms, a shared driveway with the adjacent Hough Realty building, a 25-space parking lot, and sidewalk connections to Cavalier Boulevard. Morgan said the eastern portion of the lot is already zoned Office-2 planned development and the request would rezone the western portion to match.

The Boone County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval with one condition requiring relocation of the existing sign to the opposite side of the driveway. Florence’s Planning & Zoning committee added three conditions for council consideration: construct the hotel using the revised elevations submitted May 20; build the gazebo’s pillars from the same brick used on the hotel; and screen any rooftop mechanical equipment from public roadways with a parapet wall or elevator shaft.

Morgan said the May 20 elevations increased masonry on the front and rear facades to about 39–40 percent and to more than 41 percent and 47 percent on the side elevations, changes the committee found acceptable for the planned development’s masonry requirements.

City staff noted the project is consistent with the Florence 2040 future land-use map, which forecasts commercial uses at the site. There was no council vote Monday; Mayor and council members agreed to place the rezoning request and related materials on next week’s meeting agenda for formal consideration.

If approved by council as a planned development, staff said no separate conditional-use approval for a hotel would be necessary because the planned development would allow the proposed use.