The city of St. Augustine is reviewing plans to rezone the Sebastian Inland Harbor planned unit development adopted in 2004 to decrease the commercial use and increase the residential units.
The proposed 13.5-acre mixed-use development will add the San Sebastian Winery at 157 King St., along King Street between the San Sebastian River and Riberia Street to the PUD.
Property owners Lake Mary-based SA Marina Holdings LLC and Clermont-based Seavin Inc., the San Sebastian Winery site owner, want to revise the existing PUD to adjust uses to current market conditions and demands.
SA Marina Holdings Manager Abbas Abdulhussein told the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board on Feb. 4 that the project addresses changes that benefit the city with “less hotel rooms, less retail, less traffic and what we need, the one thing we need more of is residential, more livability in Downtown.”
The city allowed the PUD in 2007 to change uses and in 2016 to extend phasing dates.
The existing PUD zoning allows the developers to build 225 hotel rooms with associated facilities, 85 condominium units, 36,060 square feet of retail space and 65 marina slips. The 2007 approved plans include two towers of 75 feet and 90 feet in height.
The marina is the only development to date in the existing PUD.
Proposed changes increase the residential density while reducing the commercial uses. Fewer hotel rooms and retail uses reduce the intensity, including reduced traffic impacts to the area.
The proposed changes reduce the number of hotel rooms from 225 to 167, reduce retail and commercial space from 36,060 to 26,050 square feet, increase multifamily units from 85 to 165 and reduce the maximum height of buildings to 50 feet plus 15 feet for accessory elements.
The existing 65 marina wet slips remain and the existing 24,068-square-foot San Sebastian Winery will be added to the PUD.
Two parking structures instead of one are planned, with one for residents and another for nonresidential uses.
Plans include an upgrade east and west of Sebastian Harbor Drive with road resurfacing, on-street parking and additional landscaping and street lighting for improved pedestrian and bicycle access on the project side of the development.
Developers plan to start a single 10-year phase within three years after City Commission approval.
The proposed site plan indicates:
The proposed site plan is similar to the existing plan with the exception of swapping the location of the apartments and hotel and adding a second parking structure near the hotel location.
City Planning and Building Department staff considered the PUD changes as a better balance of uses by decreasing commercial and “increasing the focus on residential housing.”
The Planning and Zoning Board will continue the review at 2 p.m. April 7 in City Hall.
The board requested more information for the next meeting, including clarifying the housing element to avoid short-term rentals and defining the type of multifamily housing.
The City Commission will review the board’s recommendations.
