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Board recommends approval, with condition, of Royal Palm Place hotel and 7‑story parking structure amendment
Summary
The Planning and Zoning Board recommended 7‑0 (with a board condition) that the CRA approve an amendment to the Royal Palm Place IDA to eliminate below‑grade parking, reduce hotel rooms to 137, add a seven‑story parking structure with ground‑floor retail/restaurant, and seek two technical deviations for shared‑parking calculations and drive‑aisle widths; applicant agreed to start the garage construction concurrent with the hotel.
The Planning and Zoning Board on Feb. 19 recommended approval, 7‑0 with an added condition, of an amendment to the Royal Palm Place Individual Development Approval that revises a previously approved hotel and adds a seven‑story parking structure and ground‑floor retail on a roughly 15.4‑acre site.
Senior planner Susan Lesser reviewed the amendment and noted the applicant seeks to remove below‑grade parking and reduce the hotel from 144 to 137 rooms, increase retail area modestly, and replace a 24‑space plaza with a seven‑story garage (206,980 square feet) that would include 501 parking spaces and ground‑floor restaurant/retail. She said the application requests two technical deviations under the DDRI development order: (1) use of an alternative/shared parking calculation reducing the required off‑street spaces from 1,905 to 1,417 (a 488‑space reduction) and (2) a reduction of certain drive aisle widths from 26 feet to 24 feet (traffic division reviewed and did not object for constrained areas).
The applicant’s representative, Ellie Zacharias, said rising construction costs made the previously approved below‑grade parking economically infeasible and that the proposal is intended to preserve the hotel approval by substituting above‑ground structured parking. Zacharias said the project would provide a total of 706 spaces across the hotel and new garage and more than 10,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Public commenters who spoke near the project—Monique Rambo and Mary Anne Hallas—expressed conditional support, noting concerns about keeping green space and clarifying how driveway/entrance changes would affect nearby condo access. Zacharias acknowledged the fountain and some surface parking would be removed to create a new landscaped plaza and said ownership would work with residents on circulation details.
During motion, a board member proposed adding a condition requiring construction of the parking garage to begin at the same time as the hotel to ensure parking is available when hotel units are occupied; the applicant agreed the garage would be started before the hotel. The board voted 7‑0 in favor of the recommendation with that added condition.
Staff noted the project increases open space by approximately 7,100 square feet compared with the previous approval and that the urban design consultant found the revised project consistent with ordinance 40‑35. The application will proceed to the Community Redevelopment Agency for final action.
