Planning board forwards small‑scale land‑use amendment for 3797 South Access Road to commissioners

CHARLOTTE COUNTY — The Charlotte County Planning and Zoning Board voted to forward a small‑scale plan amendment, PAS‑25‑01, to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation of approval and conditions A–K.

Staff presenter Jay Shao of the Community Development Department told the board that the applicant seeks to change Lots 19 and 20 from medium‑density residential (MDR) to commercial (COM) and pursue a companion planned development rezoning (PD‑25‑06). "The applicant is requesting applications PS‑25‑01 and PD‑25‑06," Shao said, and noted an adoption hearing for the items is scheduled for July 22.

Shao said the two lots together are roughly 0.45 acres and that the overall plan property contains about 0.675 acres. Under the PD concept plan staff presented, the site would be limited to specified contractor and general commercial uses, capped at 8,290 square feet of total building area and a maximum building height of 30 feet — lower than the 60 feet potentially allowed under the current General Commercial (CG) and RMF‑10 zoning. Shao told the board the PD also requires a Type D buffer with a 6‑foot opaque fence or wall along the southern boundary and an enhanced Type D buffer to the east to protect adjacent multifamily lots. "The proposed PD rezoning will create no negative impact to the surrounding existing, multifamily users and the vacant residential lots," Shao said.

Applicant representative Rob Burton of BW Law, who said he had been sworn, accepted Shao as an expert witness and confirmed the applicant's agreement with the recommended conditions. "We accept Miss Shao as an expert, and we agree to all the proposed conditions," Burton said, describing the request as an "expansion backwards" of an existing business. When a board member asked whether the street‑side buffering would include planting as well as a wall, Burton replied, "That's part of the Type D buffer: the wall and then landscaping on the outside of the wall."

After brief discussion and no public speakers, an unidentified board member moved to forward PAS‑25‑01 to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation of approval "based on the findings and analysis and the staff's report dated 05/31/2025," and another unidentified member seconded. The board voted in favor; the motion carried with three affirmative votes, and the Planning and Zoning Board will transmit its recommendation and conditions A–K to the county commissioners.

The staff report notes that notices for the hearing were mailed to the property owner and adjacent property owners within 1,000 feet of the site at 3797 South Access Road in the Inglewood area. The PD concept plan presented to the board caps total building square footage, limits uses, and reduces certain setbacks — staff cited examples of reduced setbacks to 14 and 15 feet in locations where 25 feet is typical — while requiring the enhanced Type D buffers described above.

Next steps: PAS‑25‑01 (the small‑scale plan amendment) will be considered by the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners at its adoption hearing scheduled for July 22; the PD rezoning (PD‑25‑06) was discussed at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting and may be acted on at the commissioners' hearing. The board adjourned following the vote.