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 Highway. The parcel is oddly shaped and only about .78 square 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 Highway and 11th Street.
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 2 square 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.
