Commission approves variance to allow utility easement overlap at Palm Beach Park of Commerce

The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted to approve a Type 2 variance for a parcel in the Palm Beach Park of Commerce that would permit additional utility easement overlap into the right‑of‑way buffer.

Joni Brinkman of Urban Design Studio, speaking for the applicant, described the property as slightly over 5.5 acres internal to the Palm Beach Park of Commerce and said a survey recorded after initial site plan approval identified an FP&L easement impacting the approved layout. "This is basically a housekeeping task to cure that situation," Brinkman told the commission.

Brinkman said the variance request would allow a 10‑foot encroachment of a utility easement into a 15‑foot right‑of‑way buffer along Corporate Road North where typically only 5 feet is permitted, which reduces the available planting area to 5 feet; required plantings will be relocated into unencumbered portions of the buffer and a condition in the staff report triggers installation of landscape material by a date certain. The proposed development program discussed in the presentation included a repair and maintenance building of about 7,800 square feet and a second building of about 5,800 square feet.

A commissioner noted there are often hidden easements in the Park of Commerce and moved to adopt a resolution approving item 4(a). The motion was seconded (second credited on the record to Commissioner Caliendo) and the commission voted to pass the motion.

The approval is conditioned as described in the staff report, including the requirement to install specified landscape material within the timeframe required by the condition. The action resolves a post‑approval easement encroachment identified by an updated survey and allows the applicant to proceed with the concurrent administrative site plan amendment process.

No public opposition was recorded on the item during the hearing.