FORT PIERCE \u2014 The Fort Pierce City Commission unanimously approved on first reading June 15 the voluntary annexation of a 10.5-acre property near the intersection of Glades Cut Off and Selvitz roads, along with assigning the site a Heavy Industrial future land-use designation and compatible zoning.<\/p>\n
Assistant Planning Director Chris Suneson presented the requests in the absence of Planning Director Kevin Freeman.<\/p>\n
The property, owned by HEC Selvitz LLC, consists of two parcels totaling 10.53 acres southwest of the intersection. The land is currently designated industrial and zoned heavy industrial by St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n
Suneson said the annexation met state requirements for contiguity, compactness and enclave prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parcel is contiguous to the municipal boundary of the city limits and is completely enclosed,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an infill-type annexation that would close up an enclave that currently exists.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the city\u2019s Planning Board recommended approval in May and that city land-use and zoning designations would remain consistent with those already assigned by the county.<\/p>\n
Applicant representative Dennis Murphy, a land planner, described the request as a straightforward annexation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing a voluntary annexation to basically fill in a gap that was left over, I believe, from utility annexations in the area,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cOur clients are interested in becoming members of the City of Fort Pierce.\u201d<\/p>\n
During commission discussion, Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky raised broader concerns about the financial impact of future annexations. He distributed documents to fellow commissioners and said he would like to see more detailed fiscal analyses accompany annexation requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important we do a financial review as to the cost to the city,\u201d Dzadovsky said, citing uncertainty surrounding a proposed state referendum that could reduce local property tax revenues by increasing the homestead exemption.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust getting tax revenue on the books doesn\u2019t always mean we\u2019re able to cover the cost of the services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Linda Hudson responded that the city already has an annexation strategy in place.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Arnold Gaines agreed that Dzadovsky\u2019s concerns warranted discussion but asked that supporting materials be provided before commission meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get it to us earlier, I think you\u2019ll get the dialogue you are desiring,\u201d Gaines said.<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky agreed to do so.<\/p>\n
The commission then unanimously approved the annexation.<\/p>\n
Suneson next presented the future land-use amendment and rezoning requests. He noted the property sits within an established industrial corridor along Selvitz Road and that the city\u2019s heavy industrial designation would actually permit slightly less development intensity than the county\u2019s current designation.<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky questioned whether environmental issues could be addressed later because the applicant has discussed plans for an asphalt plant on the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a site plan, it\u2019s hard to ask questions about environmental concerns, drainage, water usage and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Suneson said those issues would be evaluated during the site-plan review process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really get into the details at site plan,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are reviewed by technical staff for drainage, environmental concerns, tree preservation and mitigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy echoed that response, describing the land-use and zoning changes as an \u201capple-to-apple\u201d transition from county to city regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis area has historically been zoned and land-planned for heavy industrial uses,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we bring forward our specific development plans, we can address your concerns about stormwater and any other issue you may have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commission then unanimously approved both the future land-use amendment and rezoning request.<\/p>\n
One resident, South Indian River Drive resident Svetlana Lena, spoke during the rezoning hearing. She asked whether products manufactured at the site would primarily benefit Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County or be shipped elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the City of Fort Pierce to benefit,\u201d Lena said.<\/p>\n
Following the vote, Gaines noted that residents unfamiliar with the city\u2019s development review process may not realize many project-specific questions are addressed later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they bring back their site plan, all those questions will be answered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2014 The Fort Pierce City Commission unanimously approved on first reading June 15 the voluntary annexation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-316493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}