City, Developer Agree to Review Firmenich Property Proposal

Following Monday night's city commission meeting, in which Mayor Andy Steingold and others expressed reservations about the current parameters of the Firmenich property proposal, the city and the developer have agreed to address the concerns at a workshop in the near future, according to officials.

After taking the concerns to the developer, the Richman Group of Florida, City Manager Matt Spoor said they decided to explore how amendments to the current proposal would affect the viability of the deal.

"(The developer) authorized the third party traffic study and have begun exploring how a three story product would change the site layout, future land use plan, building footprint, setbacks, preservation area, etc...," Spoor said via email. 

"(City) Staff suggested (and Richman agreed) scheduling a City Commission Workshop to review and discuss any alternate plan which limits the building height to three stories," he added.

Mayor Steingold admitted Monday night that negative feedback he has been receiving from the community forced him to address the issue now, rather than wait for the next time it was scheduled to go before the commission in November.

He said the main problems as he understood them were with the traffic on SR590, the height of the buildings, which residents would like to see lower than the proposed four-story units, and the number of units in the residential complex, which currently calls for 296 units.

"We’ve got an obligation based upon the sentiments in the community ... to convey any changes we wish to be made to the agreement," Steingold said. "Then they can decide to either agree with the changes or decide not to move forward.”

Community Development Director Matt McLachlan said he had been told on numerous occasions that the developer was firm on the height of the buildings and the number of units.

But after reaching a consensus from the commission on revisiting the building height, Spoor said he would take the information to the developer.

After speaking with representatives of the Richman Group on Tuesday, they came to the agreement to look into the traffic and building height issues and further review the proposal.

"Once we receive more information, including the traffic study time frame and completion, we will look to schedule a City Commission workshop, likely in November," Spoor said.

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