P&Z Board debates Bedner Farms amendment | St. Lucie County

FORT PIERCE – The majority of the St. Lucie County Planning & Zoning Commission recommended the Board of County Commissioners approve an amendment to the commercial component of the planned Bedner Farms development near I-95 and Indrio Road after nearly getting bogged down by the requirements of the Towns, Villages & Countryside Land Use.

Senior Planner Irene Szedlmayer provided P&Z commissioners a comprehensive overview of the request on March 19.

“This public hearing is on the Madden Commercial Bedner Farms request to amend the official zoning and a preliminary regulating plan,” she said. “The site is at the northeast corner of Indrio Road and I-95. It was rezoned to Planned Retail Workplace in April of 2024 along with an approved preliminary development plan. The approved plan allows for up to 420,000 square feet of commercial [uses] in that area.”

Szedlmayer reminded the Board that the TVC form-based code was crafted to encourage a walkable live/work lifestyle in which both businesses and residences were planned close to urban-style streets with parking primarily located to the rear of the buildings.

The owners of the 47-acre parcel are now asking for modifications to the approved regulating plan, which are allowed under TVC Code after both P&Z and County Commission approval.

“On first glance, what they’re asking for looks similar,” she acknowledged. “The difference is the lots. The previously approved application anticipated the more traditional downtown small lots. In what’s proposed now, we have one highway service lot in the southeast corner; a warehouse/retail lot on the northwest side; a warehouse/retail lot in the north-central part; and then a new lot type, outparcel, along the south. The warehouse retail building isn’t required to be brought up to the front property line, but parking is still encouraged in the rear.”

Szedlmayer admitted the applicant’s proposed changes to place sidewalks on only one side of most internal streets, reduce the height of her recommended 10-foot wall along along Spanish Lakes Boulevard – also referred to as Koblegard Road – and other changes led to her inclusion of 10 conditions of approval. She read through all of them before turning the floor over to the applicant’s contracted Land Planner Brad Currie.

“The applicant has agreed to a couple, but mostly the applicant does not agree with staff’s recommended conditions,” she concluded. “In the Towns, Villages & Countryside, the emphasis is on walkability. Staff is suggesting that all internal roadways have sidewalks on both sides.”

Currie then provided his own presentation.

“I’m here tonight because we are trying to deviate from the code when it comes to lot and street types,” he said. “When we originally planned this project, we didn’t really any users for this property. Since that time, we do have users and have been able to lay out a detailed site plan. We had to pick up a little bit more space, so we decided to reduce the buffer in the front and maintain that buffer in the back where the residential is. We still maintain that 12-foot multiuse path.”

Currie also responded to all of Szedlmayer’s recommended conditions, particularly referring to her request for more sidewalks, additional landscaping on the north side of the outparcels and opaque buffering along Indrio and Koblegard roads.

“We would be willing to keep Avenue 1 and 5 with sidewalks on both sides and then remove the requirement for sidewalks on both sides of the street from Avenue 2, Avenue 4 and Avenue 5,” he said. “Staff asked for additional landscaping, but we already have two six-foot areas of landscaping, one on the north side and one on the south within that accessway. Staff would like to have a third six-foot area, [but] every foot that we have going north to south is very, very important to us. We don’t have the space. Another condition says more opaque screening of the outparcel lots from Indrio Road, but being able to see the facility as you drive down the road is pretty important.”

Chairman Ryan Binner was the first to pose clarification questions afterward.

“I understand you can suggest alternatives as long as it keeps the character of the TVC,” he said. “Would you agree that cutting 50 percent of the sidewalks would not keep the intent of the TVC that wants sidewalks on both sides?”

In response, Currie admitted he didn’t have a perfect answer for that question.

“I live right across the street from an elementary school that doesn’t have sidewalks,” he replied. “I would love to have sidewalks, but I think in a commercial shopping center like this, having them on one side of the street is plenty and would be my recommendation.”

When the conversation turned to additional buffering, Currie claimed staff was really asking too much.

“When you’re adjacent to a right of way, a residential project, you’re supposed to have a 15-foot buffer between where your house is and where the right of way is,” he said. “What staff just stated is they want me to apply to that plus they want me to do the TVC [requirements]. In reality, I would need 42 feet of landscaping if it was a strict interpretation of the code.”

Most of the subsequent Board debate centered on the sidewalks, which Vice-Chairman Lawrence “Beau” Slay referred to on more than one instance as “retarded.”

‘For me, I hate TVC,” he said. “When you think about it, it’s a retail parking lot. So, we’re going to build sidewalks through the middle of these things to cross a road that’s not really a road? If you look at Publix at Sabal Palm Plaza, there’s no sidewalks leading from Publix out to the main road. It’s a parking lot, and you walk through the parking lot. This is five outparcels and another building, and we’ve turned it into The Avenues.”

For his part, Board Member Joshua Bradley wondered whether the project was even ready to go to the Board of County Commissioners, but Vice-Chairman Slay balked at further delay.

“The main project has already been approved, [so] we’re talking about this one section,” he said. “Let’s throw this back to the BOCC with recommendations from the staff. The BOCC and the staff and Mr. Currie can all go at it. It’s nothing we’re going to solve here.”

After further discussion, the P&Z Commission voted 5-1 for approval, with Board Member Bradley dissenting.