Our View: The next Publix plan is a good one

As development goes on Longboat Key, a developer and property owner’s first drawings and plans never make it to the finish line unscathed or without modification.

The results are always matters of to what degree and additional costs will the plans be modified. That’s a given.

And so it will be with the plans Publix Super Markets Inc.’s representatives submitted last month to the town to redevelop the withered Avenue of the Flowers shopping center.

The first sense of what is likely to be modified emerged Aug. 4, when Longboat Key Planning, Building and Zoning Director Monica Simpson issued her first decree on the plans.

As expected, Simpson fulfilled her official persona as the town Grinch. In the opening paragraph of her assessment of Publix’s plans, she delivered the standard management line: “We like it, but …,” proceeding to follow the “but” with 26 pages of “concerns.”

We get it. That’s Simpson’s job — to analyze Publix’s plans line by line to determine whether they comply with the town’s multitudinous pre-application requirements, application requirements, zoning codes, development regulations and comprehensive plan. That job in itself is enough to make anyone a Grinch.
But what always hackles are the opinions:

“Staff is concerned that the proposed design, location and massing of the proposed Publix-retail strip and CVS will adversely impact the surrounding development. The visual impact to Gulf of Mexico Drive, Bay Isles Parkway and Bay Isles Road is of concern.”

Take those as not well-disguised code for Simpson doesn’t like the size of the building(s) or the architectural design.

Sorry, but those are her judgments and opinions, and if we were looking over Simpson’s shoulder as her boss, we would say what we say to reporters: Leave the opinions to others; just give us the facts.

One benefit of “only the facts” would be quite helpful. It would deflate some of the antagonistic and defensive postures that typically arise in the applicants toward the town and planning director.

We always wish it were otherwise — more of a tone that says: This is a good start; with a few modifications we would like to suggest to help you, this project will comply with the town’s codes.

We’re dreaming, of course.

Nonetheless, in this case it is true: With a few modifications, the Publix project is likely to sail through the approval process.

The most obvious of those changes likely to occur is depicted above. The aerial photograph shows the islands in the parking lot full of mature trees. The drawing of the proposed lots — as originally proposed — looks not to have as much vegetation.

Indeed, one of the better pieces of Simpson’s analysis showed that Publix’s initial plans include 242 more parking spaces than required by town code.

That may be because of Publix and its developers thinking the Key’s population may one day grow again, creating more shoppers. But the Key is all but built out in terms of density. What’s more, over the past 25 years, finding a parking place at Publix is only difficult two days out of the year: the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas.

As Simpson noted: “At this time staff will not be able to recommend approval of the requested departure from Section 158.128(I)(4), to allow more than 12 off-street parking spaces in a row without a landscape island.” The town codes say: “The atmosphere within a parking area is intended to be parklike … The landscaping shall include the placement of a mature replacement tree at intervals of approximately each five parking spaces … Interior portions of the parking area shall be broken up by the provision of landscaped islands.”

As we hear it, Publix’s developers and representatives are making this store “a prototype” for Publix, not to mention a showcase for Longboat Key and members of the family that founded Publix, some of whom live on the Key. So you can bet the results will befitting Longboat’s standards.

Beyond that, the overall design of the site is bound to be an improvement of what is there now. While Simpson has concerns about the mass of the store, a vibrant, attractive and enlarged Publix will be a welcome improvement over the dark arcade of empty store fronts that exist today.

And while it’s likely to seem uncomfortable having the front of Publix face Bay Isles Parkway, added landscaping in the parking lot is likely to mute the shifting of the store’s front.

That shift apparently resulted in two features that are out of character for the typical Publix. It will have an eating area for customers to gather outside of the delicatessen, which also will have door access to the outside (see illustration). It also will have a people-generating, gathering area next to the small retail shops on the west side of the complex.

Simpson takes issue with the back of the new Publix store facing Bank of America. But to compensate and create more connectivity between Bay Isles Parkway and Bay Isles Road, the new design opens a throughway that now dead-ends at the Publix dumpsters behind the stores. The street is expected to create a pedestrian friendly feel that also will connect the property to the public tennis courts and the undeveloped residential site adjacent to the courts. You can imagine tennis center patrons walking over to the Publix deli for a sub and a drink after a three-set match.

Altogether, in spite of Simpson’s 26 pages of concerns and 16 specific items she urges be addressed, compared to other projects on which she has opined (i.e. the Longboat Key Club and Resort), this one looks like the proverbial cake walk. Oh, there will be the usual drawn-out, laborious hearings before the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board and Town Commission.

And for good reason. The details count. And Simpson will see that they do.

Meantime, Longboaters should be optimistic. If you drive to Sarasota and look at the facades of the new Publix next to Sarasota Ford or the remodeled Publix on Bee Ridge Road, you should have comfort that Publix will deliver on its promise — to make its new store “where shopping is a pleasure” … inside and out.