Planning staff signs off on Causeway Cove Live Local plan as commissioners raise traffic and scale concerns

Planning director Kev Freeman told the City Commission on Aug. 10 that the Causeway Cove Live Local application — a roughly 40‑acre mixed-use proposal on South Hutchinson Island — meets the eligibility criteria of Florida Statute 166.04151 and includes at least 40% affordable rental units.

"A minimum of 40% of its total residential units need to be affordable rental," Freeman said during the presentation, which detailed a plan with about 913 residential units, a 407-room hotel, roughly 72,600 square feet of retail and 218 marina slips. Staff described an administrative approval signed June 29 that carries 31 conditions tied to external agency permits and traffic mitigation from FDOT.

Commissioners used the public meeting to press staff on practical impacts. "This changes the nature of South Hutchinson Island permanently," Commissioner Broderick said, arguing the scale and traffic generated by the project are incompatible with the island’s existing character. Several commissioners questioned whether the Live Local Act strips local numerical limits for height, density and floor‑area ratio and asked for a clearer, provision‑by‑provision legal analysis.

Freeman and staff said they followed the administrative process required by the statute, ran the application through the city’s technical review committee, coordinated the traffic analysis with county and state experts, and attached conditions designed to address access and safety — among them a proposed westbound right‑turn overlap at US‑1 and Seaway Drive and FDOT access approvals that must be secured before a certificate of occupancy for each phase.

The commission did not hold a legislative vote on the project — the land‑use approval was processed administratively under state law — but members asked staff for additional written clarifications, copies of supporting technical studies and confirmation of the conditions and sequencing for FDOT, water‑management and fire‑district approvals. Next procedural steps noted by staff include completion of external‑agency approvals and enforcement of the 31 conditions before development permits are issued.