About 30 Acreage residents attended a public input meeting Monday led by the Palm Beach County Planning & Zoning Division regarding a request for a land use amendment for an 11.25-acre piece of property at the southeast corner of Coconut and Northlake boulevards.
The applicant is asking for an amendment from agricultural-residential land use to low-density commercial for the property.
The parcel, which would be called Coconut Palm Plaza, would include a 2,300-square-foot convenience store and gas station with 12 pumps and 24 fueling positions, a 3,100-square-foot fast-food restaurant with a drive-through, a 3,500-square-foot bank and a 15,000-square-foot pharmacy with a drive-through, as well as 13,000 square feet of other uses, for a total of 12 tenants with almost 38,000 square feet of commercial use. The site had previously received approval for a post office.
In April, the applicants gave a presentation to the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors, which strongly opposed the plan, and sent a letter to the county asking the Palm Beach County Commission not to approve the plan. The Acreage Landowners’ Association also sent a letter opposing the plan.
On Monday, Planning Director Lorenzo Aghemo had some of his staff give an overview of the land use amendment and planning process. Senior Planner Bryce Van Horn said the county comprehensive plan would allow for a little over 40,000 square feet of commercial use. The county also considers uses for the area in the Acreage Neighborhood Plan and the Northlake Corridor Plan.
Although the applicants had presented more specific plans to the ITID board and the ALA, no zoning application had been submitted to the county as of yet, Van Horn said.
To the south of the property are residential lots ranging from 1.25 to 2.5 acres. To the north is the Vavrus Ranch property in Palm Beach Gardens. To the west is 30 acres previously amended from rural residential to commercial low. The developer of that parcel has submitted a zoning application for the Shoppes at Indian Trails, which has approvals for up to 106,000 square feet of commercial use, including a gas station, restaurant, grocery store and bank. To the east is a conservation area.
The next public hearing on the application is at the Palm Beach County Planning Commission meeting June 14. The Palm Beach County Commission is slated to hear it at a transmittal hearing July 24.
Yes thankfully they stopped Scripps to have a gun range. Yes thankfully they stopped the high paying jobs that would have led to increased local universities teaching more about BioTech instead of hospitality management, which is way overdone in S. Florida. Yes thankfully they stopped Scripps to promote a false use of land.
I love how people run with their first emotional response rather than actually LEARN about projects.
Comment: Instead of hissy fitting about these Plazas why don’t you wake up and realize that under your noses a major OUTDOOR GUN RANGE is being planned for Mecca Farms right NOW under the guise of “restoring” the Lox river flow. If you don’t own an AR15 might as well get one now, because you are going to be listening to rounds being fired day in and day out. In fact having a Plaza next to you home may be a salvation in that it will drown out the gunfire.
Yep, good thing they stopped that ole Scripps thing…
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-05-22/news/fl-mecca-farms-sale-shooting-20130521_1_mecca-farms-gun-range-shooting-range