SEMINOLE — The company that wants to replace the Winn-Dixie on Park Boulevard with apartments has dropped its push for a taller building and reduced parking, refiling plans that meet city code exactly. The change ends the public hearing process and leaves the City Council with no further say over the project.
City Manager Ann Toney-Deal told the council April 28 that LIV Development had submitted fully code-compliant plans for the site at 8740 Park Blvd. “There’ll be no public hearings,” she said. “They’re doing it by code, and that’s a good deal.”
The revised version of Livano Park and Park calls for 172 units in a four-story building with two parking spaces per unit. That is down from the 208 units and five stories the Birmingham, Alabama, developer proposed last fall. The earlier plan needed council approval for added height, fewer parking spaces and a density bonus, and it drew opposition from neighbors over height, traffic and parking.
By building to code, LIV no longer needs a development agreement or any deviations. The 172 units match the city’s cap of 24 units per acre on the 7.18-acre lot, and the four-story design stays under the 50-foot height limit. Toney-Deal said the project also satisfies the city’s parking, drainage, landscaping and water-retention rules, all of which apply to the Park Boulevard corridor.
The tradeoff is that the council cannot weigh in on how the complex looks. Toney-Deal said the design might have turned out better with staff input on details such as balconies and landscaping, but the city has no leverage over a compliant project. She said the submitted concept resembles an apartment complex across from the old Wagon Wheel market.