Rashid A. Khatib holds a site plan showing current zoning on the vacant school site as fellow developer Joseph N. Schuemann looks on.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            After nearly two hours of vigorous debate, the Williston Planning and Zoning Commission voted 3-2 Monday to recommend rezoning the former Williston High School property to intensive commercial.

            City Planner Jackie Gorman fought to convince commission members that the 12.69 acre property should remain in mixed use zoning, but the developers said keeping the current zoning would kill their project.

            Commissioners also recommended changing the future land use in the comprehensive plan from mixed use/public to intensive commercial.

            The planning commission’s recommendations will be sent to the city council for final approval.

            Joseph N. Schuemann and Rashid A. Khatib of Orlando said their current plan is to bring a Twistee Treat soft serve ice cream restaurant and a Popeye’s chicken restaurant to the site and a third unnamed fast food place if they can find a company willing to locate at the site.

            Schuemann said his original plan to bring Publix to the site fell through. He said he had a signed letter from Publix indicating they wanted to build a store at the former school site but Publix backed out.

            “Publix told us no because they did not see the growth here,” Schuemann said.

            When Publix pulled out, Schuemann said he and Khatib decided to establish three fast food restaurants to develop customer traffic before they moved to the second phase, which could be a grocery store or a clothing store. He said they hope the fast food restaurants generate customer traffic, foster momentum and attract larger companies that currently have no interest in Williston.

            Schuemann said he also contacted Wendy’s about opening a restaurant in Williston but the company turned thumbs down. He said the big chain restaurants don’t want to come to Williston and he said mixed use would literally handcuff the company by forcing it to set aside 30 percent of the property for something other than commercial.

            “It seems we would be handcuffed because we don’t have the demand,” he said.

            Mayor Jerry Robinson asked Schuemann if he knew the property was zoned mixed use when he bought it. Schuemann said he knew it was mixed use but he said City Manager Scott Lippmann convinced him that Williston would do whatever was needed to bring development to the site.

            “I got with Scott Lippmann and he said anything you want we’ll do. I have all the studies in the world. He gave me all his reports on motels that wanted to be here. I called them all and they wanted me to contribute the land and they would build their hotel,” he said. Lippmann wasn’t present for the commission meeting.

            Robinson and his wife, City Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson participated in the discussion from the audience. Councilman Charles Goodman was present.

            Cookie King, the Williston realtor who was instrumental in selling the property to Blurock Development said early discussions with Jodie Lauder, the former city planner, touched on mixed use zoning for the property but it wasn’t the focus.

            “It was her trying to help us sell the property. That’s all I know about,” King said.

            King added that as a realtor, she believes the best use for the school site is commercial.

            “To me this 12 acre parcel on this road that has a high traffic count; as a realtor the highest and best use is commercial for that site,” she said.

            Commission Chairwoman Debra Jones said she was aware of what city staff wanted to do with the property, but she was also aware that denying the company’s zoning request could leave the former school property vacant.

            Commissioner Albert Fuller said he was worried about the same thing.

            It’s a hard decision. We need to see something here. We don’t need to see those buildings decaying anymore,” he said.

            Gorman said the city’s land development code and comprehensive plan call for the establishment of a mixed use development at the vacant school property rather than straight commercial.

            In her staff report, she said the city’s comprehensive plan is aimed at “sustainable development (3 pillars of sustainability, economic, environmental & social),” and to achieve that, mixed use makes better sense.

            “Mixed-use promotes sustainability and the best neighborhoods house a healthy mix of restaurants, shops, offices and residences, creating an area for residents to routinely walk, bike, or use public transportation to reach their destinations for a vibrant downtown,” she said.

            She added the city’s comprehensive plan goals and objectives, the Economic Development Strategy and the Community Redevelopment Agency Plan have steered the city toward good planning, but she said the developers of Williston Shopping Center Partners, Inc. (the school site developers) are moving in the opposite direction.

            “Based on the analysis of the adopted plans, staff recommends denial of the proposed amendment,” she wrote.

            Dr. Ken Schweibert, chairman of the Community Development Agency, wrote a letter advocating denial of the developers’ zoning request. Schweibert, who was unable to attend, said the CRA included the school site in its future plans for mixed zoning in downtown Williston when the CRA was created in 1998. He said CRA believed then and now that mixed use would give the city more control over what was developed at the school site and would prevent what he called “Generica” from happening, which he described as the use of conventional land use practices without regard to what it looked like or how it functioned.

            “The developers knew or should have known the land use when they purchased the property. I believe changing that designation now is not in Williston’s best interest,” he wrote. “Simply caving into this request and accepting whatever we get in the way of development and not considering what it means for the future would be a mistake in my opinion.”

            Schuemann said if the city refused to rezone the property, his company would probably keep the former school cafeteria at the school site. They would build a small park behind it and they would open two fast food restaurants, but they would hold on to the rest of the site or sell it.

            “It’s going to stonewall our project. It won’t devalue it, but because of the constraints and the narrowness (of the property) I can’t get the demand. I can’t find an office user that wants to be here, I can’t find retailers; I have two, the first is Twistee Treat that Rashid owns and the other is Popeye’s. Wendy’s I couldn’t lure to come. There won’t be a whole row of fast foods. Sorry.”

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Williston Planning Board Meeting December 30, 2019; Posted December 31, 2019