FORT PIERCE \u2013 The St. Lucie County Commission voted unanimously July 21 to approve the final major site plan for the P-1 Motor Club while also agreeing to the developer\u2019s request to modify a few of the 33 staff conditions of approval.<\/p>\n
Senior Planner Thad Crowe presented the request that evening for the 626.3-acre property located on the south side of Okeechobee Road near Summerlin Road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a final site plan for the P-1 Motor Club on Okeechobee Road, [about] 3.8 miles outside the Urban Service Boundary,\u201d he said. \u201cFirst, a little history: In 2023, the original comprehensive plan amendment was passed to establish the special district for the P-1 Motor Club. That was followed by a second comprehensive plan amendment in 2025, specifically allowing for public or private provision of potable water. The planned mixed use development was approved in 2025 as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crowe then provided specific details of the plan as he pointed to a map on the overhead screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the right-hand side is one of the tracks,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the left-hand side, is the second track, the Treasure Coast Circuit and the P-1 Circuit. A lot of this stuff \u2013 the garagemajals, the residences, the R&D park \u2013 is way into the future. Right now, the applicant is focusing on these two tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crowe also touched on the applicant\u2019s preliminary landscape plan for the property, which no longer has any native vegetation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe applicant did have a conceptual landscape plan they submitted with this application,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s their intent to work with their landscape firm to develop comprehensive landscaping across the whole site, establishing ecosystems such as native oasis with palms and shade. This is a blank slate and an opportunity to establish reforestation and reintroduce native communities to the site.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senior planner provided his own recommendations on that aspect before reading through the conditions of approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are recommending that the northern and eastern buffer at a minimum should be required in this first phase,\u201d he said. \u201cThe landscaping is a work in progress; the applicant has not provided complete details and the Environment Resources Department has been working with us. Their stance on this is that a finalized landscape plan be required prior to development and required landscaping in place prior to the site-development permit. With the recommended conditions, we believe the major site plan is consistent with the adopted P1MC Special District, the PMUD site plan [and] landscape plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
When no members of the Board had questions, the developer Ari Strauss came to the podium to request relief from a few of those conditions of approval, some actually related to the landscaping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a handful of really minor conditions that we would like to ask the Board to consider modifying,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of delays [and] we\u2019re still working through some water agreements. While it\u2019s in discussion, it\u2019s really critical that we demonstrate some progress. We\u2019re anxious to get the first circuit up and running hopefully in several months for our members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strauss then enumerated conditions, 6, 7, 27, 31 and 32 for modification. The sixth condition was the only one unrelated to landscaping, but rather required the developer to separate the bicycle or walking lanes from internal roadways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe intend to build the cross-sections that are included in the PMUD plans, which actually has a seven-foot travel lane on both sides of the road,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would adhere to these cross-sections unless we provide an alternate travel path that pulls members or guests away from the travel lanes. In some of our landscape renderings, we show areas where a pedestrian or bike could actually leave the travel lane and then go through unpaved sections.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seventh condition required him to plant shade trees along the roadways 30 feet apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking if we can change it from shade trees to native trees,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe idea is give us flexibility with an average of 30 feet for it to not look like a cookie-cutter project. Instead, we want it to appear more like native plantings.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Conditions 31 and 32 were related to his desire to preserve native trees along the Summerlin Road right of way, Strauss\u2019 requested relief from number 27 eventually got pushback from county staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would ask for \u2013 rather than prior to commencement of development \u2013 that we would provide the finalized landscape plan within 12 months of the commencement of development,\u201d he said. \u201cThen within 24 months of commencement, we will complete all the landscaping plans for Okeechobee Road, the entrance, all the completed interior roads and the littoral plantings around the stormwater ponds and lakes. As we get the first track running, we\u2019ll have a lot of work around the site with earth-moving equipment and ponds being dug. It would be difficult to have all of the landscaping done and in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
District 1 Commissioner James Clasby immediately asked Planning Manager Kori Benton to confirm that his staff had no objections to the applicant\u2019s modifications.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have concerns or conflicts with the provision of time, as long as we have a plan or goal,\u201d Benton replied.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Clasby then admitting to having met with ERD staff in his office and expressed his support for the modifications.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind delaying when they are compliant with their landscaping requirements, only that they eventually do [comply],\u201d he said. \u201cThat portion on number 27\u2026 seems like a reasonable timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Environmental Regulations Manager Aimee Cooper, however, still wasn\u2019t convinced, asking Strauss to reiterate that timeframe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin 12 months of commencement, the applicant shall provide all the way to the landscape typicals plan,\u201d he explained. \u201cWithin 24 months of commencement, we will complete the landscaping plans for Okeechobee Road, the entrance, all of the completed interior roads and all of the littoral plantings. If that modification is approved, I believe that eliminates number 28.\u201d<\/p>\n
His last comment on a separate condition concerned Environmental Planner Brian Ingram, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think ERD\u2019s okay with deferring some of it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut by eliminating Condition 28, they would be authorized to use the track without the code-required landscaping.\u201d<\/p>\n
After back-and-forth clarification questions between commissioners and Strauss, Cooper posed her own question directly to the developer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need some details here on what minimum landscaping would be installed for the first track so that we have a better understanding,\u201d she said. \u201cThen for the second track, would it be possible to have a majority of the landscaping installed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could commit to that,\u201d Strauss answered. \u201cFor clarification, within 12 months of commencing development, we\u2019ll provide the finalized landscape plan. And where I suggested within 24 months of commencement, we will complete the plans for Okeechobee Road entrance and littoral plantings around the ponds. We could commit to having that done before the second track, the P-1 Circuit, is open, since we believe it will be roughly a year and a half instead of the two years we asked for. If that is amenable to you, we would be amenable to that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Cooper found that acceptable, the County Commission voted unanimously to approve the major final site with the modifications to the conditions of approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2013 The St. Lucie County Commission voted unanimously July 21 to approve the final major site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-360482","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\/360482","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=360482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}