PARRISH — The Parrish Town Center commercial development moved another step forward — without a cell tower — at a Sept. 3 Manatee County Land Use meeting.
On Aug. 13, the Manatee County Planning Commission voted 5-1 to deny a request by Belleair Capital Group to add a cellphone tower at the southeast corner of S.R. 62 and U.S. Highway 301, which county commissioners agreed with on Sept. 3 when they approved other requested modifications.
Neighboring residents who signed a petition opposed the cell tower, citing health and other concerns.
The modification request included a proposal to rezone 9.65 acres from “village” to “planned development mixed use,” removing 83,000 square feet of office space and increasing commercial space from 116,000 to 174,000 square feet in the commercial development, according to attorney Kyle Grimes, of Grimes Galvano, representing the developer.
A 20-foot buffer will be built between the commercial development and the residential neighborhood of Crosswind Point, where 488 residential units have been completed, he said.
After seeing the reconfigured development layout, Commission Chairman Tal Siddique said, “You’re preserving the look and feel of Parrish.”
Commissioner George Kruse asked for assurance that the outparcel buildings will actually be built, and that the developer would not stop after building three “massive big box stores” that would use most of the requested 174,000 square feet of commercial space.
The developer stipulates that those three parcels will be limited to 100,000 square feet total, Grimes said, adding that early interest is high in the outparcels.
The commercial development will include a grocery store anchor with retail, banking, automotive, medical, fast food restaurant, coffee shop and gas station, according to plans. Grimes did not identify the businesses that would have stores in the center.