Commissioners approve SRQ AutoPort garage-condo plan and related comprehensive-plan amendment

Manatee County commissioners unanimously approved a comprehensive-plan text amendment and a companion General Development Plan for the SRQ AutoPort — a proposal to increase permitted commercial square footage on a small US-41 parcel and to permit ‘garage condominium’ units (private vehicle-storage units often built with mezzanine owner spaces).

Applicant counsel and project consultants described the site as an urban-infill parcel suitable for redevelopment. The GDP had been reviewed by staff and the Planning Commission, and it includes stipulations preserving healthy native trees in buffers and other conditions requested by nearby neighborhood groups. Staff noted no jurisdictional wetland impacts and that the project exceeds minimum open-space requirements for its overlays and airport/whitfield protections.

Public comment was split; some residents worried about the character and traffic implications of a high-end garage project, while others supported the redevelopment of a blighted former drive-in site. The board and staff emphasized that the units are not permitted for residential use and that the development will require the standard FWC gopher-tortoise relocation permitting when construction is imminent.

Outcome and next steps: Both the comprehensive-plan amendment and the PDC/GDP were approved unanimously; the project will proceed into PSP and permitting, where final engineering, stormwater and species-permitting details will be vetted by county staff.