Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial Meeting Minutes 01-06-2005 St. Lucie County Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes SPECIAL MEETING January 6, 2005 rd Commission Chambers, 3 Floor, Roger Poitras Annex 6:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Russell Akins, Charles Grande, Vice-Chairman, Bill Hearn, Pamela Hammer, Kathryn Hensley, Stephanie Morgan, Ramon Trias, and Carson McCurdy, Chairman. MEMBERS ABSENT: Ed Lounds and John Knapp with notice. OTHERS PRESENT: Mr. Ed Cox, Growth Management Director; Mr. Randy Stevenson, Assistant Growth Management Director; Mr. David Kelly, Planning Manager; Ms. Heather Young, Assistant County Attorney; Ms. Faith Simpson, Administrative Secretary. CALL TO ORDER Chairman McCurdy called to order the meeting of the St. Lucie County Planning and Zoning Commission at 6 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL ANNOUNCEMENTS Chairman McCurdy meeting. The Planning and Zoning Commission is an agency that makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on land use matters. These recommendations are made after consideration of staff recommendation and information gathered at a public hearing, such as those we will hold tonight. The meeting will progress in the following manner: P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 1 The Chairman will call each item. Staff will make a brief presentation on the facts of the request. The petitioner will explain his or her request to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Members of the public will be allowed to present information regarding the request. The public portion of the meeting will be closed and the Planning and Zoning Commission will discuss the request. Further public comment will not be accepted unless the Planning and Zoning Commission has specific questions. The Planning and Zoning Commission will vote on its recommendation after its discussion. For legal reasons, the motion may be chosen and read from a script provided by staff. Motions both for and against are provided to the Planning and Zoning Commission members. The recommendation is then forwarded to the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners for their consideration and vote, usually within the next month. Once again the Planning and Zoning Commission acts only in an advisory capacity for the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners. If you are not happy with the outcome of this hearing you will have the opportunity to speak at the public hearing in front of the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners. AGENDA ITEM 1: MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 21, 2004 Motion to approve the Minutes of October 21 as corrected by Ms. Hammer. Seconded by Mr. Grande. Mr. Hearn pointed out that it would be a lot clearer to the public about zoning designation, future zoning designation, and land designation, and how many dwelling units per acre, if it could be consistent all the time in the presentation on the cover staff report. Mr. Kelly responded that they could add some explanatory things there and would be more careful about that. Minutes of October 21 approved unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 2: MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 18, 2004 P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 2 Mr. Hearn stated that on Page 22 there was some discussion about the 1.67 credits at the Bluefield Ranch Mitigation Bank and he had asked for some information about what those credits, how big were they, how much acreage did that involved and what the cost was and had asked for it to be available at this meeting. Ms. Young apologized for not having the information available, but would have it at the next meeting in January. Ms. Hammer requested clarification on Page 8 the fourth paragraph. She had asked if they changed the future land use, so it was increasing density and they wanted to take that density away, could they do so without paying for it. Ms. Young had responded that they probably would. She thought that what Ms. Young said was that they probably would have to pay for the density, if they were going to take it away. In the minutes it just said we probably would. If that could be changed to Ms. Young said would listen to the tape and get a better understanding of what she intended at that time as it was important whether she said they would pay for it or not. Motion to approve the Minutes of November 18, 2004 by Mr. Hearn. Seconded by Mr. Grande. Approved unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 3: MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 9, 2004 Mr. Hearn said that on Page 15 there was discussion that took place about when this applicant applied for his rezoning of that property and there was some discussion about him applying for it because he was damaged by the hurricanes. When he asked the question, staff had said that the applicant had applied for the rezoning before the hurricanes. He felt that it was really important that that be in the minutes so that the Commissioners could understand some of the questions asked. He had also made a comment about when a business was moving next to a habitable structure, that they needed to be sensitive to the use of the home next door. Motion to approve the Minutes of December 9, 2004 as amended by Mr. Hearn. Seconded by Mr. Grande. Approved unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 4: FRANK W. & SANDRA F. LAGANA FILE #RZ-04-027 David Kelly reasons were, but the P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 3 generally at the northern end of Port St. Lucie. East at US Highway 1 and north of the Prima Vista corridor. The parcel is an IX (Industrial, Extraction) parcel that is a remnant parcel from an earlier sand mine operation. You can see the small sand mine here in the middle. To give you a better description of where it is, this is the Vista St. Lucie Project which is just to the east of US Highway 1 at Scotts Curve on US Highway 1. The surrounding property is generally RM-5 (Residential, Multi-Family 5 du/acre) and the request is to change this IX parcel from IX to RM- 5 in order to make it consistent and allow for the development of a site plan on the property. We had some discussion at the time, because we opened a hearing in order to continue it and there were a couple of people who wished to speak. I characterized the one to the south as an apartment complex. I have checked it, it is a condominium project as this will be. I would like but get them in the record again and I believe the appli able to speak to all these issues this evening. This is the application of Frank W. and Sandra F. Lagana for a Change in Zoning from the IX (Industrial, Extraction) Zoning District to the RM -5 (Residential, Multi-Family 5 du/acre) Zoning District. East side of the extension of Lennard Road, approximately ¼ mile north of Prima Vista Boulevard, again Lennard Road there and we talked about that last time. It because there is no right-of-way at this time. The parcel size is 4.92 acres. The proposed use of the parcel is a change in zoning to allow the development of a residential community which will be known as Lennard Trails; with its entrance and a portion actually of one building on this just under 5 acre parcel. Staff has looked at all of the issues and finds that it is consistent with the zoning in the area and the uses in the area and has recommended approval. Ms. Hammer asked if the subdivision to the east was already approved. Mr. Kelly responded that it was not approved. It was in the office as a major site plan. Mr. Grande asked if he looked at the single building with 3 stories, 10 units per floor and 30 units per building. Was that correct? Mr. Kelly responded that regardless of what the numbers were, if it were to be approved as RM- 5, it would then be considered a part of the larger parcel and the density on the overall parcel is what the calculation would be. Mr. Grande asked if there was an agreement with Prima Vista Commons or was there a relationship between the developers regarding the temporary access to this property through Prima Vista Commons. Mr. Trias asked if the northern most entrance that was labeled emergency access, was it emergency access only, was it closed to regular everyday access. Mr. Kelly said it would be closed to everyday access until Lennard Road was completed, at which time it might be the permanent access into the project. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 4 Mark Warner, with Boyer, Singleton Engineers out of West Palm Beach introduced Mr. Frank Lagana, the property owner, Mr. Eddie Zeidwerg with Southeast Development, and Mariel Lueza, also with Boyer Singleton. He stated that the five acre parcel in question was originally zoned RM-5 and that Mr. Lagana had requested it to go to a mining designation for some of his construction activities when he owned a construction company. He had used the fill out of the mine to help maintain the access along that western boundary and also to maintain some of Tilton Road. The request was simply to revert back to that RM-5 designation to assist with the development of the rest of the project. Mr. Trias asked him to explain the fact that there is no access from any road. Mr. Warner responded that the project to the south was Prima Vista Commons. At a previous County Commission meeting a road agreement was reached between the developer and the County to improve or construct the access from Prima Vista Boulevard, from that point to Lennard Road and then sweeping around to the west and then to the north to a point just north of the proposed entrance for Prima Vista Commons. The developer would be responsible for constructing that segment of roadway from that driveway to his driveway, so he would have access. There was a possibility of a shared access with a connection to the driveway into Prima Vista and that was dependent on the future home builders of those projects. If the project for Lennard Trail ended up being acquired by the same builder as Prima Vista Commons, then that had a better likelihood. From his position knowing that the road agreement had been approved by the County and that the site plan approval was going ahead with this project that lined up the access for the next project to the north. Mr. Grande asked if they were planning to hold off development of the project until they could get far enough up Lennard to have their own access, or did they have an existing agreement with Prima Vista Commons that said no matter what status their project was, their construction vehicles and trucks were going to go through that to build their project. Ed Zeidwerg, Southeast Development stated that the Lennard Road agreement that had been funded and agreed upon by the developer of Prima Vista Commons. In order for them to start their project, they had to have that road constructed, they could of the wetland concerns. So before even Prima Vista Commons could be built, the road had to be constructed and that road was also going east. It developer of Prima Vista Commons had agreed to and so once that road got started, they would have access from their entrance and they would construct approximately a 450 foot road. They would also have an agreement with the County. Ms. Hammer stated that with the new plan that they had uld be going through Prima Vista Commons at all. Mr. Grande asked if McQuillan Road was an existing road, and was there a reason why that entrance was termed as an emergency rather than a second entrance to the community. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 5 Mr. Zeidwerg responded that as of today McQuillan Road was an unimproved roadway, so any access to that would be emergency access. Chairman McCurdy opened the public portion of the hearing. Seeing no one, Chairman McCurdy closed the public portion of the hearing. Ms. Hammer requested to be notified when the site plan committee was going to meet on this project so she could attend. Mr. Grande - After considering the testimony presented during the public hearing, Lucie County Land Development Code I hereby move that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommend that the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners grant approval to the application of Frank W. and Sandra F. Lagana, for a Change in Zoning from the IX (Industrial Extraction) Zoning District to the RM-5 (Residential Multiple- Family 5 du/acre) Zoning District because it is consistent with the rest of the area and is the expected normal development. Motion seconded by Ms. Morgan. Upon a roll call vote the motion to approve passed unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 5: COVENANT INVESTMENT PROPERTIES, LLC FILE #RZ-04- 049 Mr. David Kelly that Covenant Investment Properties with Laura L. Sivalia, Agent had requested a rezoning from the existing CN (Commercial Neighborhood) to CO (Commercial Office) for a parcel at 1205 Midway Road. The parcel size was 0.29 acre and was located on the south side of Midway Road, just a couple of parcels west of where Sunrise crosses. This was the old Fiddlesticks Gift Shop which was a Commercial Neighborhood use. The intent was to place a bookkeeping, tax, and financial service business in that existing structure. Staff had reviewed the petition, determined that it conformed to the standards of review as set forth in the codes. It is not in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan and recommended that you forwarded it to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation of approval. Mr. Hearn stated that they had reviewed a similar petition several years ago and they had a discussion that it seemed appropriate to have this type of business as part of the Commercial Neighborhood Zoning District without going through this process and expense to the petitioner. He wanted to see that happen sometime in the near future; it d public go through the process and expense of a petition like this. Mr. Kelly responded that staff had considered those comments and wanted to create some kind of a limited commercial zoning that had both CN and CO in it which would keep them from P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 6 flipping back and forth. He also stated that he would be happy to discuss the changes with any board member who wanted to at a later date. Laura Sivalia, 4700 Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Pierce, the petitioner stated that she just purchased the building and in order to operate her business she needed to go through with the zoning change. She was surprised that she had to change the zoning as she felt that her type of business supported the surrounding community. Chairman McCurdy opened the public portion of the hearing. Seeing no one else, Chairman McCurdy closed the public portion of the hearing. Mr. Hearn - After considering the testimony presented during the public hearing, including Land Development Code I hereby move that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommend that the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners grant approval to the application of Covenant Investment Properties, LLC (Laura Sivalia, Agent) for a Change in Zoning from the CN (Commercial, Neighborhood) Zoning District to the CO (Commercial, Office) Zoning District because it seems like a very appropriate business and will fit in perfectly in that neighborhood. Motion seconded by Mr. Grande. Upon a roll call vote the motion passed unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 6: LENNAR COMMUNITIES FILE #RZ-04-050/PUD-04-042 Mr. David Kelly provithis is the petition of Lennar Communities for a rezoning and preliminary and final PUD (Planned Unit Development) approval for a project to be known as Silver Oaks PUD. The Silver Oaks PUD is the proposed zoning, the existing zoning is a combination of PUD and RM-5 (Residential, Multi-Family 5 du/acre). The PUD there is a remnant PUD from many years ago that was approved at a much higher density and was never developed. For clarification there is a zoning from PUD to PUD, but as you know PUDs rely on site plans and the site plan for the two are different. The original site plan has expired. The location is east of US Highway 1 at the southeast corner of Tilton Road and Silver Oak Drive. The parcel size is 155.78 acres, the proposed use is a 325 unit multi-family project. The density is 2.09 units per acre. The project is surrounded by several things, the major thing that you see is Spanish Lakes and Savannah Club to the south and southeast and scattered one unit and larger home sites are to the north and northeast; additional scattered land, RM-5 Zoning to the west. Future land use designation for surrounding properties and essentially all of themare RU (Residential Urban), there is some RE (Residential Estate) up into the north and northeast. Staff has reviewed the submitted PUD plan and determined that it satisfies the minimum Code subject to the following conditions: Prior to the issuance of the Building Permit for any lot in the project, the P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 7 developer is required to improve Tilton Road to County standards including construction of right ntrance. The area to the west of the wetland is the remnant PUD. Late last month the County Commission approved a site plan on this portion of the parcel. Because at least one commissioner believed that the RM-5 Zoning was an inappropriate zoning in this area, the developer decided to take the RM-5 off the map by including that very new see half of the project tonight that was approved by the County Commission as a major site plan, but it was done by the developer because there was some discomfort with RM-5 Zoning and they would rather see a zoning PUD at a much lesser density. Mr. Kelly commented on the six recommended conditions. The petitioner has indicated that they as required by condition one, if the Department of Transportation (DOT) chose to the southern alignment because there would be no road to the east and there would be nobody coming from that way, so there would be no left turn lane and lanes. Number two, for any lot in the project, the applicant shall provide a Conservation Easement in favor of St. Lucie County for the entire preserve area. Conservation Easement shall be in a form acceptable to the County Attorney. The public would not have access to that easement. Number three, prior to the issuance of a building permit for any lot in the project, the applicant or his assigned shall provide a monitoring management program for the same preserved areas. Number four we want verification from the school board that they are happy with everything. Number five requires a weather shelter, a similar structure at the main project entrance for central pickup and drop-off of school bus and other things, response transit and like activities. Number six requires that the gated control access points be accessible essentially for emergency services. Mr. Hearn asked what determined the size of the weather shelters, was there any criteria for that, or was that left up to the developer. Mr. Kelly replied that a a standard, and that might be something staff could look at later on. Chair McCurdy requested the staff have the board review the language of the Conservation Easement, a standard covenant that would be something that the County Attorney may provide. Gary Hunter, with the law firm Hoppin, Green and Sams, 123 South Calhoun Street, Tallahassee represented Lennar Communities. They never intended to develop this parcel at the density permitted by RM- to five units per acre. Their major site plan approved by the County Commission allowed 3.11 units per acre on that Phase I development which is almost 50 acres, it is the portion to the east P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 8 and will be a town-home development. The overall density of the site, both the portion to the east of the line that is now RM-ould be 2.09 units per acre for the entire 150± acres. Phase II for example, the part to the west is 106.39 acres, 34 acres of wetlands would be preserved in that phase, or enhanced. The invasive species, non-native species there would be removed. The wetlands would be improved and .3 acres of that entire tract of wetland would be disturbed. Of the entire 155 acre parcel, 83% will remain pervious, so only 17% of the entire 155 acres will be impervious surface constructed upon or roads. They have agreed to pay an additional impact fee with the fire department of $154 per unit, and to the school board $490 additional impact fee per unit which are above and beyond what they would be required to do. The developer agreed, and it was a condition on their major site plan approval with the Board of County Commissioners to dedicate right-of-way for Lennard Road extension either to the north or to the south at whichever alignment was selected by DOT. Neither alignment will impact the site plan because theythey can dedicate the right-of-way regardless of the southern or northern alignment selected by the DOT. Mr. Grande asked if there would be a clubhouse or recreation facility on the property, and where the entrances to the property were. Greg Boggs responded that there would be two recreation facilities, one for the eastern and one for the western. There would be three entrances, two along the north and then the single entry on the west line. There would also be an emergency entrance for an EMT or a fire truck. Mr. Grande stated that Mr. Hunter had indicated .3 acres of wetland was disturbed, which was the connector between the extreme west end and the central part of the layout. He asked if there was some reason that they had connected Phase I and Phase II. Mr. Boggs environmental impact and the cost. Mr. Hearn questioned if the recreation areas would have building on them, or open space. He also asked what was meant when Mr. Hunter mentioned improving the wetlands. Mr. Boggs responded that to date they had not designed the actual site plan for those recreation areas, they would return as a minor adjustment at which point there would be a pool, a cabana, a tot lot, a full recreation facilities for each of those sites. He introduced Mr. Toby Overdorff to speak to the environmental issues. Toby Overdorff of Crossroads Environmental, said that the improvements on the wetlands would be the eradication of the exotics, primarily taking them out of the wetlands and removing them from the site. The seed source would be treated on a semi-annual basis until it under control. They had a five year monitoring of plants associated with that. Additionally, they would also go back in and plant where necessary in order to achieve a 80% coverage of native vegetation. As far as hydrology associated with that they didnt hydrology associated with those wetlands. Chair McCurdy asked what the price point and square footage was on the units. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 9 Mr. Hunter responded that the town-homes would run the $175-225K range, the homes the $250- 300K range. Rhett Waldman with Lennar Homes, responded that the single-family home sites would be 75x135, the home sites would probably be between 2,400 square feet under air to 3,500 square feet under air depending upon the model selected. There would be 12 different homes that prospective homeowners could choose from. Chairman McCurdy opened the public portion of the hearing. Frank Knott, 7474 Shanas Trail, disagreed that there were primarily vacant lands surrounding the property and pointed out several. His second concern was that Shanas Trail was an unimproved access easement and he wanted to know what kind of impact would there be on the road. They understood that it was vacant property, as a neighborhood they were not opposed to the project, but were opposed to the town-homes being there. There was all AR-1 on the east and they were going to be looking at town-homesa very good job of buffering their town-homes from the single-family residence on the east. He hoped that the County looked at off-site improvements for Shanas Trail. The last meeting they had with the DOT, they were leaning more towards the southern access, southern route of Lennard Road. Their neighborhood was against the northern alignment, because that road cuts through their neighborhood. He was concerned about all the traffic on the north side of the project, which was Tilton Road, and the impact that the project would have on Shanas Trail which was the road on the east. Mr. Hearn asked if he would be more comfortable if the developer moved the access further to the west, on the western portion of the eastern section. Mr. Knott responded that he personally, would benefit the most, but he knew there were neighbors over there, so be selfish; if Lennard Road was going to the south, they should go to the south and they should go to the west where their access was there now. They were not opposed to this density at all. It was logical to him that the townhouses should be over where the main road was going to be. Mr. Hearn stated that he heard the concerns raised regarding the citing of the town-homes, if the problems out on Emerson Avenue were similar he wanted to address them and avoid problems if they could, ahead of time. Mr. Kelly said that there were parallels between the two issues. Two things may be different, the town-homes had been moved away from Shanas Trail and separated by lakes and there were be. The major difference and it was one that the County Commission recognized, was that at least for the eastern portion of this property, was zoned RM-5 and in the RM-5 zoning there were standards and rights and the Commission recognized it; although they -5 zoning, it came in at 3.11 per acre, it met all the standards. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 10 Mr. Trias felt it made more sense to have some connectivity among the two sides and to have a better internal street layout that took some of the traffic towards the west. Wally Saitta, owned a parcel of land on Meehan, just the end of Tilton. He currently lived at 551 SE Evergreen Terrace, Port St. Lucie. The area is developed in one, two, four, five, 10, and 20 acre parcels which are ranches and family farms. There was very little available out there. What was still available, the County owned, because it was going to be right-of-way or still may be right-of-way. All of those homes were accessed through Dyer Road at this time. Lennard Road would be built anywhere from five to ten years out. His concern was regarding the traffic. Chair McCurdy replied that the project could not be built until the roads had been improved, including Lennard Road. Mr. Kelly supposed there would be another option, Dyer Road was a connector and if the entire Lennard Road issue fell apart completely and was not to be, the developer could use Dyer Road to get in. But he could not build the development until he had paved access to the development. It was not the ideal access, but it was a potential access, improvements would need to be made to it in order to get Dyer as the primary access. Mr. Saitta responded that Dyer Road was paved, it was the only entrance into the area, and a right turn only on to US Highway 1. Chair McCurdy asked if they could make that a condition. Mr. Kelly said that they had done, there would have to be a modification to the agreement as it was. The development could not be constructed without paved access Mr. Grande asked if the was the same as wasthe southern or western route, or was the County favoring the eastern route. Mr. Kelly responded that the decision was with the Public Works Department, it was his understanding that they were generally in agreement to the southern route, but couldn sure. Martin McCabe III of 7424 Shanas Trail believed the road was probabl property, they had been using it for 20 years. Chair McCurdy responded that if indeed that was the case, there was probably an Easement by Prescription. Ms. Young responded that was true, on most of those lots back in there, most of them did have road frontage, per se, the roads out there were all basi what Shanas Trail was, in which case whatever title you have that gave you right to use it, which would carry forward. attorney before he left. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 11 Ron Reith, 7574 Bobcat Run, reinforced that it wa have access, he would be driving across Mr. Knott Robert Baum, 7200 Shanas Trail, said his concerns were for the children and horses that would be out on the weekends and evenings. Daily there were kids, horses, folks on horse-drawn carriages; on the weekends it was a whole lot worse. He wanted to know how much impact and safety for the people opposite the development on Tilton Road which were all horse farms would there be with the exits that will exit north on Tilton Road. He asked how they could exit that amount of traffic to the north and still protect what was there, and had been there for the last 20- 30 years. He stated that the Board of County Commissioners in some of the meetings prior had requested that horse trails be erected for the folks that would almost be a mandatory item that the County would have to look at. He didnand if that could still be done. He wanted Lennar to look at the overall site plan again, change some of those entrances, especially if Lennard Road was going to the south to eliminate any roadway or any exits to the north or to the east and put them to the west and south. He also agreed with putting the townhouses on to the west side, to the south side and put the houses on the north side, so there would be houses abutting other houses, rather than two-story townhouses. He also wanted the buffer to be possibly, thicker, and fuller. He wanted alleviate possible problems in the future, especially with the entrances to the north. Chair McCurdy responded that the County had already approved the eastern PUD, t think this board could change it. Linda Dawson, 2565 Forgotten Lane asked if the developers were talking about preserving the wetlands and the aquifer and water flow and planning those big giant ponds out there, wa going to impact the natural flow of the way it was already now. oing that why couldwent through that way. She voiced the same concerns about the traffic, horses, and the townhouses being moved to the southern and western side. Elizabeth McCabe, 7424 Shanas Trail, stated that her concern was the market value of the town- homes and what effect it was going to have on her property value. Ben Permuy, 1820 Tilton Road asked the developer to consider ranch homes instead, maybe one house per acre. They were not opposed to the development there, but just wanted something to be compatible with the neighborhood. Kathleen Baum, 7200 Shanas Trail, asked for clarification regarding the prices the homes would go for. She had attended several of the DOT meetings and there were three options; to put the road on the north or south side and one option that was recommended on the recorded was possibly no road at all. She thought they were a little early here for having the approval for a PUD at this point, if sure what was going to happen with the road. She wanted clarification where it had been mentioned that regardless of what the DOT decided, something was said about an easement I think going through the Prima Vista crossway. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 12 Mr. Kelly clarified that the developer had the ability to improve Tilton regardless of what DOT did with Lennard overall. The developer could improve Tilton and provide access to the project. Seeing no one, Chairman McCurdy closed the public portion of the hearing. Mr. Hunter returned to address the concerns of the residents. Many of their parcels, traverseda portion of the Lennar parcel and they would have a Prescriptive Easement to access their homes, they could not land lock someone away from their parcels. They had no intention of doing that. They had no intentions, nor obligations to make any improvements to that road to the east which was their private access road, running down that entire eastern portion of our property. To the contrary, most of that eastern border was remaining a buffer for several he didncall the exact footage, but 30 feet or so into the property, a natural screen to the development that had been approved by the County Commission. They would not impact the easement, by law impact the right to access their property and there never was any intention of doing so. They were leaving that in its current, existing, natural state. Lennard Road was important to Lennar for multiple reasons, one because it provided a nice roadway access to their property and onto the areas where people were going to shop, to school, to work, to do the things we did in life. Also and maybe more importantly and most of that was particularly long roads and the second portion wa the utilities which would service this property would be extended to the development and without those utilities there would be no development. By law, they had a right to access that property, they may have to make improvements to meet County road standards. Regarding the Phase I development, that development was done, they came here as a courtesy to get RM-5 off the zoning map and they could remove it from the request tonight and they had an approved site plan for the town-homes on that eastern portion of the tract. They because there was an extensive wetland system to the south including a canal which was prohibitive for them to come in with fill and exit in that area, regardless of whether Lennard Road went to the south or north. They thought the more compatible entrance to their development was to the north because of the mobile home park to the south. The neighboring large tracts were nice properties and very attractive to drive-by. It was a better way of entry to their development than to the south, but the biggest concern was the wetland system down there, they hadnconnected the Phase I and Phase II parcels, because of the extensive wetland system in the middle. They preserved that, to be in compliance with County policies, and State Water Management District regulations would have been difficult to deal with as well. Their density was two units per acre for the entire tract that was zoned RM-5, they were coming in with 325 units, which was substantially less than what had been visioned for the site, back when the comprehensive planning process and the zoning maps and the PUD approvals were originally granted to the existing current owner of the site; they got the site under an option and the authority of the owner to come here and request these approvals. They were here in June where the big concern was that they wanted RM-5 for the whole site so they could come in without a site plan and get density up to what was permitted in an RM-5 and they did exactly what everybody was concerned about. They addressed that by coming back with a site plan, PUD which is what was asked for, with the preservation of the natural features on that property up to 83% of those natural features and commitments to do financing as far as road and P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 13 infrastructure improvements were required as was necessary to provide adequate egress and ingress to and from the development. Mr. Trias stated that it was a great idea to have a PUD because a PUD allowed for clear opportunity to do a good design. He thought the issues of incompatibility with the neighbors, the issues with the lack of clarity as far as the roads, the facts that the very basic layout, it might really belong to the past. The fact that there had PUD provided, was more serious than whether or not this should be RM-5 or PUD or whatever. In his view that hadhe could not support it for design reasons. Mr. Grande felt the same about the design. He felt that planning for this, connectivity within the design would be a plus; looking at the design as a PUD; also the plan would be significantly improved if it was simply flipped east to west. Mr. Hearn stated that Mr. Hunter had not addressed amount of horseback riding that took place in the area. He hoped that the developers would really take a hard look at that in order to have their lifestyle protected as much as possible. It was a tough job to sit up here and listen to the concerns of the neighborhood and also to appreciate the d said over and over and over again, it didhoped that in the future they could address that concern. Ms. Hammer asked if they approved the rezoning and the preliminary PUD approval, was it possible to try to flip the development before the final approval. Mr. Kelly responded that it was possible, if everything came out within the parameters and staff felt that it was substantially the same project. , when the site plan was flipped, lots of things would change. The town-homes were approved to a point where they could go forward. In reality the board could not impose a flipping. Lennar could hear what was said and begin to work on that. Mr. Waldman added that by including the eastern portion as part of the PUD, they were also adding those number of home sites to both the Fire District and School Board agreements that Ms. Hammer stated that she was very pleased with the reduction, they could have had 775 units and now they were down to 325 units. She sat for almost two years at every County Commission meeting regarding Emerson Estates. They had recommended to the developers of Emerson Estates to flip the layout. Put the single-family homes next to single-family and move aggravation and the residents ready to sue the developer. She asked them to please learn from the mistakes of the other developer. Look at how you can make the residents happy, and make an overall improvement to the plan by putting the single-families in that northeast corner. She also agreed with Mr. Trias in that there needed to be a connection between communities, so that everyone waThey needed to strive for something more in this county, strive for the best; not what met the minimum standard; this was the future of the cLennar would leave to that section of the community. She P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 14 strongly recommended that they took the advice that Mr. Grande gave and looked at what Mr. Trias had suggested and makes it not just a good plan, but the best plan. Mr. Hearn stated that after considering the testimony presented during the Public Hearing, including staff comments, and the Standards of Review as set forth in Section 11.06.03, St. Lucie County Land Development Code, I hereby move that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommend that the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners grant approval to the application of Lennar Communities, for a Change in Zoning Preliminary and Final PUD approval for the project to be known as Silver Oaks PUD within the PUD (Planned Unit Development) and RM-5 (Residential, Multiple-Family 5 du/acre) Zoning Districts because I think it is a tremendous compromise from what we originally started out with here on this property several months ago, and because I think, and I ask that the Board of County Commissioners will require Lennar Communities to make the very best possible project for the neighborhood and for their own interest; and I think it will fit in the neighborhood, with the conditions cited by staff. Motion seconded by Mr. Akins. Mr. Grande felt another advantage to marketing the community would be if they switched the town-homes and the single-families, they would be connecting town-home area to town-home area with their recreation facilities and in the northeast corner they would, which was pretty much a segregated area, if they didnthey would have their single- families not mixed. Upon a roll call vote the motion passed (with a vote of 6-1) with Mr. Trias voting against. Mr. Grande stated that a very strong recommendation that they consider changing the plan before the final goes to the County Commission. Ms. Hammer, yes, with the same conditions. Chair McCurdy, yes with the same conditions. Other Business Mr. Hearn asked staff to show on screen a land use change for the subject property. It was a combination change involving Conservation Public and a small portion with RS. He requested that a mark be placed on the en a member of the public would know what they were talking about. Ms. Hammer reminded the board of the upcoming Growth Management Conference at the end of the month. If anyone wanted to go, they needed to register by tomorrow or there was a $50 late thth fee. It was in Miami, Thursday the 27, through Saturday the 29. The County had agreed to cover the cost. Mr. Trias was one of the panelists along with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Kelly reminded the board that at the first regular meeting of each year, this was a special meeting, they held election of officers for the board and that would occur at the next meeting. Chair McCurdy stated that he had asked staff to provide them with a copy of what their duties were. P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 15 Mr. Trias stated he was going to make some recommendations to the Commissioners, regarding additional things that they should be doing. Mr. Kelly responded that they could review Sections 12.02 and 12.03 in their Land Development Code Book as that was what he would be providing. Ms. Hensley suggested that when they got the pages from Mr. Kelly regarding their true obligations and their legal parameters that they had with the suggestions from Mr. Trias, potentially on things that they may need to consider. She thought they should have a workshop or at least an informal meeting where they went through it, so they would all have the same understanding of the written word that was in front of them. Next scheduled meeting will be the regular meeting on January 20, 2005. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Hammer made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Approved by: _____________________________ _______________________________ Faith Simpson, Secretary Carson McCurdy, Chairman P & Z Meeting January 6, 2005 Page 16