Pruitt Family Real Estate Holdings LLC is seeking a zoning amendment for the old post office at 8111 Broadway Ave. E. in Estero for the revision of the architectural elevations, the schedule of deviations and uses and conditions of approval.

The zoning amendment would allow the applicant to retrofit the existing metal building on-site to relocate their business into half of a freestanding commercial building and use the remaining space as office space for other professionals.

“The pattern book will be changing because the original design, which was really nice, nobody has been able or has had the money to make it look as good as we envisioned it would be,” Community Development Director Mary Gibbs said.

TDM Consulting Senior Planner Veronica Martin represented the applicant at the public information meeting Feb.13 at the Estero Planning, Zoning and Design board meeting.

At this point, the plan includes eliminating the nearest driveway to the intersection of U.S. 41, the addition of buffers along all four sides of the property, construction of an ADA compliant pedestrian facility along Broadway Avenue East and the addition of a T-turnaround for a firetruck access to the rear of the building.

The reduction of scheduled uses includes eliminating laundry and dry-cleaning services, restaurant, broadcast studio and outdoor display of merchandise uses.

“This one’s specific to the accounting firm with some other professional uses,” Martin said, as the scheduled uses include medical and office, pharmacy and outpatient facilities. “As you can see it’s very, very limited.”

As for scheduled deviations, the applicant is requesting six deviations pertaining to building setbacks, driveway and parking lot location, buffer width and the elimination of vehicular interconnections to adjacent lots. Fences and walls of different materials, design and color and a decrease in the separation distance to the nearest residential driveway also are part of the deviations requested.

Board member Jim Wallace questioned building around a structure that’s creating challenges and a need for several deviations when the applicant could just demolish and rebuild, to which the development team cited economics.

“We’re looking at skinning this with metal steel structural studs that will be to the outside of the building to create these new facades and parapets so that we can hide that existing low sloped metal roof, so it won’t look like a metal building at all,” architect David Moore said. “Looking at the cost of demolishing the building and completely redeveloping the site, they can enclose this building much more economically.”

Martin said that because they are constructing around a metal building, without being granted some of those deviations, the structure would not meet the village of Estero’s architectural requirements.

Gibbs clarified that each of the deviations will be explained when the item returns for a public hearing but is generally due to having to retrofit the building.

The board ultimately recommended the applicant incorporate more color, bring enhanced renderings and meet with the residential neighbor to discuss concerns before returning for a public hearing.

No vote is taken at public information meetings.