St. Pete Beach historic board recommends conditional approval for driveway variance at 702 Passagrille Way

The Historic Preservation Board on Jan. 27 recommended that the Board of Adjustment permit the owner of 702 Passagrille Way to retain the property’s existing driveway connection to Passagrille Way, subject to five conditions designed to limit traffic and preserve neighborhood character.

Staff described the application as Board of Adjustment case 25142 and said the request is made under Land Development Code section 40.11 and the general-variance criteria in section 3.12. Planner Bridal Berry told the board the property currently has a 17-foot curb cut at the property line and the applicant seeks to retain that access — and had discussed a 3-foot widening to 20 feet in technical review. Staff reported the property retains a platted 10-foot alley to the west but that alley is encumbered and, in places, only about 9 to 10.5 feet wide.

Owner and applicant representative Brandon Tecklenburg told the board his group has restored multiple historic properties in Passagrille and said the alley is not reliably passable. “There’s not just one power pole in the alley. There’s four,” Tecklenburg said while showing video of junction boxes, utility poles and fences that, he said, reduce the alley’s usable width and emergency-vehicle turn radius.

Residents who spoke at the meeting described split priorities. Some urged the board to focus on historic design and aesthetics because the property is tied to a proposed redevelopment plan; others said the alley’s current condition creates a practical hardship. Melinda Pletcher, a longtime local planning participant, urged the board to separate the narrow legal question about the curb cut from broader efforts to strengthen design guidance in the CRD overlay.

Board members, staff and the applicant debated what conditions could legally attach to a recommendation. Staff clarified that the Historic Preservation Board’s recommendation goes to the Board of Adjustment, which will have final authority on the variance. City counsel and staff advised that mandatory design approval by the HPB would exceed the advisory role unless the Board of Adjustment agreed to a condition; the board can, however, recommend that architectural renderings be presented to the HPB for design review prior to site-plan approval.

Member Young moved — and the board ultimately approved by roll call — a recommendation that the Board of Adjustment permit retention of the existing driveway connection only if the following conditions are included in any approval: 1) acquisition of additional property or a change in primary use associated with redevelopment shall render the variance null and void; 2) a right-turn-only sign shall be installed at the property egress to Passagrille Way; 3) a three-foot-wide landscape buffer containing shrubs, hedges and trees, or a fence or wall compatible with the development’s architecture, shall be installed along the entire southern side of the retained driveway (the buffer/fence to be at least five feet in height except where visibility standards apply); 4) while the driveway access to Passagrille Way remains in use, the lodging development shall forfeit on-street parking hang tags otherwise authorized by code; and 5) architectural renderings shall be provided for HPB design review prior to site-plan approval.

Aboard roll call after the motion, Member Hurley, Member Daschle, Member Young and Mayor Lowry voted yes; the chair declared the motion carried and staff said it will prepare the written recommendation for the Board of Adjustment meeting scheduled for the following day.

The recommendation is advisory: the Board of Adjustment will consider the variance and the proposed conditions at its meeting, and could alter or reject the HPB’s recommendation. The HPB’s action does not authorize construction; staff noted the variance conditions related to landscaping and design would be enforced at site-plan review or certificate-of-occupancy upon redevelopment.