Commission approves site plan for 1142–1144 East Plant Street; owner raises impervious-area clarification

City planning staff presented a site-plan application for 1144 East Plant Street to allow a single-story 1,831-square-foot commercial building and a two-story 1,840-square-foot live/work building, with cross-access and a Plant Street driveway to serve both parcels. Staff said the proposal complies with the property’s CAPUD zoning ordinance, the city comprehensive plan and the East Plant Street character-area overlay and recommended approval subject to standard staff conditions.

Staff explained the overlay limits the amount of parking above code minimum and that the project provides eight parking spaces (six surface spaces, one in a garage and one just outside the garage), which meets the overlay’s minimum requirements. Commissioners asked about parking sufficiency and constraints imposed by the St. Johns River Water Management District on impervious surface; staff noted both parcels are subject to the district’s impervious-area limits.

A motion to approve the site plan with staff recommendations was made and seconded and carried unanimously. Immediately after that vote, property owner George Douglas Layman (1150 East Plant Street) addressed the commission during public comment to state that the St. Johns River Water Management District treats each parcel individually, limiting impervious area to 70% per parcel, and noted an existing cross-parking agreement with the adjacent Seventh-day Adventist Church that provides parking when the church is not holding services.