Planning board approves site plan for 290‑room hotel at The Commons with staff conditions

The Planning Advisory Board on March 11 approved site plan petition 25SP1 for a 290‑room hotel proposed for Lot 2 of The Commons Professional Park at 870 Goodlet Frank Road, adopting staff‑recommended conditions including required traffic and pedestrian improvements.

Francesca Passadomo, attorney for the applicant, told the board the hotel is consistent with long‑standing entitlements for The Commons, a planned unit development and development‑of‑regional‑impact (DRI) with rights affirmed in prior court rulings. The project team described a two‑level parking structure with a six‑story hotel above, an internal courtyard, an elevated pool deck and on‑site amenities. “This is a site plan petition for a 290‑unit hotel with on‑site parking, landscaping, a linear park and pathway,” Passadomo said in opening remarks.

Architect Mark McLain (MHK Architecture) walked members through elevations and massing, explaining the C‑shaped plan, internal garage access, and screening of roof‑top equipment. Landscape architect Christian Andrea (Architectural Land Design) described a planting palette that preserves mature perimeter mahogany trees and adds palms, oaks and hedges to screen service areas. Civil engineer Andrew Rath (Davidson Engineering) said the plan provides 290 parking spaces (1 per room) and 0.287 acre‑feet of on‑site water‑quality storage to meet city and South Florida Water Management District standards.

Traffic consultant Norman Trebelcock summarized the trip‑generation analysis and recommended mitigations. He said the hotel’s projected PM peak‑hour trips are well under the DRI cap for The Commons; as part of mitigation the petitioner will lengthen the southbound left‑turn lane at the nearby signal to improve queueing and pay required impact fees. Trebelcock said the traffic study used conservative ITE hotel trip rates that include internal restaurant and meeting space, and that some internal circulation within The Commons can help reduce external turning movements.

Erica Martin, Planning Director, reviewed the staff report and called out key conditions the board required in the resolution: coordination with Collier County on traffic matters and the petitioner’s responsibility to fund required improvements (including the southbound left‑turn lane extension), an 8‑foot sidewalk along Goodlet Frank Road to be permitted and coordinated with the county, further evaluation of the internal sidewalk separation from the roadway, and arborist review to preserve mature street trees where feasible. Martin said the petitioner mailed 215 notices to nearby property owners.

Board members asked detailed questions about right‑of‑way limitations, the lack of an external access off Goodlet Frank (the county did not allow a direct connection), the northbound right‑turn condition at Goodlet Frank North, and how conference facilities and staff trips were accounted for. The project team said the hotel must use internal Commons circulation and that the traffic analysis intentionally erred on the conservative side. Landscape staff and the applicant confirmed they will preserve mature perimeter trees to the greatest extent practicable and coordinate with the city arborist.

A board member moved to approve the site plan with the staff conditions. The motion was seconded and passed on roll call: Member Verone (yes), Alternate member Cooper (yes), Member Fowler (yes), Member Crease (reluctantly yes), Vice Chair Kapler (absent), Member Mayor (yes), Chair Coughlin (yes). The board did not impose variances; the approval reflects the applicant’s assertion that the project conforms to PUD/DRI entitlements and the staff recommendation that the conditions mitigate foreseeable neighborhood and transportation impacts.

The board’s approval will be subject to final administrative review and the applicant’s implementation of the traffic, sidewalk and landscaping conditions in the staff resolution. The staff packet and the resolution list required permit coordination with Collier County for the county‑controlled frontage along Goodlet Frank Road.