Board recommends Commercial Intensive zoning for SR 16 parcel with added buffer after residents raise safety and environmental concerns

Zach Miller and Lindsey Hager presented an application to rezone an 8-acre parcel on State Road 16 to Commercial Intensive, describing the site as a conventional rezoning that aligns an undeveloped parcel with an existing commercial corridor and recent rezonings nearby.

Hager said the site contains roughly three acres of wetlands that the project team intends to preserve and that the constrained developable area likely leads to low-trip uses — for example, a convenience store or small neighborhood retail. Traffic engineer Thomas Hatcher told the board a typical convenience-store/gas-station scenario would be largely pass-by traffic (about 75 percent) and that the parcel would add roughly 67 new weekday peak-hour trips in a worst-case convenience/gas scenario, which would amount to under 1 percent of capacity on SR 16 east of the site.

Residents at the hearing said the SR 16 corridor already experiences heavy congestion and safety problems. Deborah Cox, a Greenacres resident, said local residents sometimes wait 20 minutes to enter Greenacres from SR 16 and warned that increased driveway turning movements would put pedestrians and bicyclists at risk. Gary Howell, a Harvest Lane property owner, urged safeguards for children who catch school buses along internal roads and questioned whether proposed pavement widths and pedestrian facilities would be adequate.

In response the applicant offered mitigation commitments: widening the eastern buffer from 20 to 40 feet (with screening consistent with the county’s B standard) and providing pedestrian connectivity where required by code. Planning staff confirmed the site would follow land development code buffer and wetland protections and noted FDOT permitting would apply for SR 16 access. Assistant director **** D’Souza said sidewalks are typically not required along older local roads unless the road meets collector standards, but the county would expect internal pedestrian connectivity on the new development.

Board member Matovina moved to recommend approval with an added condition that the eastern buffer (parallel to Harvest Lane but outside wetlands) increase from 20 to 40 feet; the motion carried 5–1.