The long-discussed Wilton Hotel & Pool Club benefitted from a pair of important votes by the Planning & Zoning Board. At their Feb. 12 meeting, they unanimously approved rezoning the plot of land to commercial use (from Wilton Drive Arts & Entertainment District) and received site plan approval.
However, don’t make any reservations just yet.
Developers will seek plat approval later. The city commission must also approve all above steps plus future requirements.
The hotel will go on the site of the old funeral home on Dixie Hwy. The parcel is oddly shaped and only about .78sq acres. It will be eight stories, feature 123 rooms and suites, street level convenience store, and a rooftop pool and bar and ten murals.
Parking will be 100% valet and there will be access from Dixie Hwy. and 11th.
Rezoning to commercial use required requests for 15 exceptions. Technocratic idiosyncrasies aside, exceptions are akin to “variances,” but are more likely to be approved. In this case, one is reducing the required land used, which is normally 2sq acres.
Board members recognized finding that much vacant land anywhere in the city is next to impossible.
Other requests include allowing smaller and fewer parking spaces.
Too Tall & Too Small
Nearly every seat in the meeting was filled with community members waiting to see what would happen. Most concerns revolved around the hotel’s height and its effect on area traffic.
Dixie Hwy. just south of Five Points backs up quickly during peak hours. It can take several light cycles to even out after a freight train comes through. People are concerned traffic flow will go from inconvenience to downright unbearable.
Plans call for a rideshare drop off site, as well as no left turn or U-turn access onto Dixie. Traffic will be required to exit onto 11th, where cars could turn north onto Dixie. Eleventh would also be where trucks, service vehicles, and emergency vehicles would go.
Developers say they don’t need as much parking as code calls for because many, if not most guests, won’t have cars. They also appeared to rescind and earlier plan to allow public access to the rooftop amenities.
Some board members remain skeptical that all plans will end up just as they look now. One member of the public even said as much. Still, they all decided to let the process proceed.
There is still a long way to go before anyone dives into the pool.
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