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Zoning

Bright House says new rules are a bad fit

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published February 10, 2006

BRANDON: Out of the way of everything, Paul's Drive must have seemed like the perfect place to put a cable transmission building in 1970. That's what Paragon Cable did, stocking the 19-acre property with antennas and other tools of an expanding trade.

Bright House Networks has since inherited the transmission facility at 607 Paul's Drive. The plant is the only one of its kind in seven counties. It is not open to the public.

The site was zoned as a planned development, but that changed last February when Brandon embraced a state-sponsored Main Street program, which offers tax credits and road improvements, among other benefits, to participating communities.

Bright House even backed the idea.

The Main Street designation came with a zoning change for the affected areas, including Paul's Drive. The new zoning, called Brandon Main Street, asks buildings to face the street with a front door no farther away than 30 feet from the street. The Bright House building sits sideways, secluded from the road.

Main Street rules call for windows interrupting the side of a building that faces the street, with no more than 20 feet of windowless wall allowed. The side of the building facing Paul's Drive has no windows.

Bright House is requesting a variance from Main Street zoning on several counts. Debra Roman, an attorney for the cable provider, said the need to protect sensitive equipment should outweigh the new zoning.

Among other things, Bright House is seeking a variance from the Main Street requirement that 80 percent of the ground floor storefronts be visible from the outside.

"We said, "Wait a second. Our walls are a foot and a half thick,"' Roman said. "I don't think we want them covered in glass," Roman said.

A land use hearing officer heard the case Feb. 3 and will rule by Feb. 24. (PETITION 06-0262)

RUSKIN: Supporters of Manatee Bay Associates, the developer seeking to build subdivisions of 360 and 67 homes near The Inn at Little Harbor, are backing Jim Norman's re-election bid.

Manatee Bay Associates and EarthMark, the parent company based in Fort Myers, have given $7,500 to Norman, whose campaign contributions total $175,020 so far.

The developer wants to rezone residential and agricultural land to a planned development. Commissioners agreed in principle to a land swap with the developer, contingent on the rezoning approval.

Those requests go to the County Commission March 7. (PETITIONS 05-1779, 05-1785 and 05-1926)

- Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 9, 2006, 09:10:11]