Planning board approves Joey's Pizza variance for roof structure at 257 North Collier Boulevard

The City of Marco Island Planning Board approved a resolution granting a variance for Joey's Pizza, allowing encroachments into front and side-yard setbacks at 257 North Collier Boulevard.

Sherry Kerr of Growth Management read the resolution into the record describing an allowance for encroachments (the resolution text reads to allow a 9.7-foot front-yard encroachment and side-yard relief as shown in the attachment). Mary Holden, the planning manager, told the board staff reviewed the request against the code and recommended denial, saying staff did not find the special circumstances or unnecessary hardship required to justify the front-yard request.

Zach, the applicant's representative, argued the building predates the county's later land-development code, outlined prior variances granted for the site in 2004 and 2012, and said the proposal replaces a retractable awning with a permanent roof structure without adding seating. "This is a roof structure, that extends off the building... Currently, this is a retractable awning, not a roof structure," he said, and asked the board to correct the resolution language to reflect the permanent roof. The board also noted requested editorial corrections in the resolution, including a spelling correction to 'Island.'

After discussion about practical difficulty tied to site orientation and traffic flow through the row of buildings, a motion to approve the resolution (with the conditions and corrections referenced in the resolution) passed on a roll call vote: yes — Farringer, Jensen, Finkel, Feininger, Hogan. The item was approved.