927 Tennessee Avenue-Hubbell

Issue:

Dr. Hubbell owns his commercial eye clinic property on S. Florida Ave., adjacent to 927 Tennessee Ave. The commercial property and the residential property are separated by the alley.

Dr. Hubbell purchased the house from a flipper who had gutted the interior with the intent of remodeling and selling. They instead sold to Dr. Hubbell. His intent was to tear the house down and use the vacant lot for parking. When he was told by the city he could not demolition this contributing structure to the Lake Morton Historic District, he instead used it for file storage and a break room for his employees – both a commercial use and not the proper zoning. The LMNA letter touches on the history of his ownership, so it won’t be repeated here.

Today, Dr. Hubbell is proposing a portion of the backyard be allowed for commercial parking by conditional use. He still owns the house and, I am told, has no desire to sell it. It is still gutted inside and used for file storage. Until recently the exterior was also in disrepair after a decade of his neglect.

LMNA Board of Directors opposes Dr. Hubbell’s proposal to use the backyard of this historic home as a parking lot for his eye clinic. We absolutely do not want to see residential backyards turned into parking lots for the Dixieland commercial corridor.  Allowing this would be a slippery slope to other commercial property building owner trying to buy adjacent residences and turned play space into parking.

The city owns several parking lots and, like Downtown Lakeland, property owners who do not own parking lots of their own or feel they need more, should work with the city to lease spaces. We also feel that, in the letter, we prove that other nearby alternatives exist that he has not considered.

Please take the time to review the application and maps found on the Planning Zoning agenda link below. Then also read the LMNA letter.

IF you agree with us, please let your voices be heard and email the planning and zoning staff at planning@lakelandgov.net.

Here is the P & Z Agenda for December 17,2019:

http://www.lakelandgov.net/media/10708/p-and-z-agenda_12-17-19.pdf

See the LMNA letter here:

http://lakemorton.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Hubbell-Letter-LMNA.pdf