The Royal Palm Beach Village Council gave site plan approval last week for a new village-owned recreational vehicle storage lot on almost 14 acres on the north side of Southern Blvd. under the FPL power lines west of Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery.
The lot would replace the current RV storage lot located at the former wastewater treatment plant site, which was sold recently for residential development. The old lot had issues with vehicle thefts.
At the April 2 meeting, Planning & Zoning Director Bradford O’Brien said the site will be surrounded by an 8-foot, vinyl-coated chain-link fence, which will be landscaped with shrubs, except at the gate. The portion along Lamstein Lane will also have a 3-foot berm, as required by code.
The lot will contain 305 RV storage spaces, including some that are 20 feet long and some that are 40 feet long, along with a wash-down area at the southern entrance.
The Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the project on March 24, with direction to staff that special attention be given to the strategic placement of security cameras.
Consultant Donaldson Hearing of Cotleur & Hearing said the lot will be for public use only.
“This facility is for use by the residents of the Village of Royal Palm Beach, and continue all the great things you do with your recreation programs,” Hearing said. “The facility will strictly prohibit any commercial use and parking of commercial trucks. This is not a for-profit driven exercise. This is truly for the benefit of the public.”
Hearing said the hedge material will be clusia, a South Florida native plant that is replacing ficus hedges, which are vulnerable to whiteflies.
Councilman Dave Swift said he has heard that planting hedges adjacent to a fence made it more vulnerable to break-ins, but Hearing said that there will be sufficient separation to eliminate that issue, and that security cameras will be placed to record any illegal activity.
Councilman Fred Pinto pointed out that the village was simply moving its old storage lot to a new location.
“We’re not doing anything new here,” Pinto said. “We’re moving an existing operation from its old location to its new location. The village is not going into any new business activity or anything that we haven’t done in the past. This is for the citizens of the village, and it should be a more comprehensive, capable solution than what we have today.”
Swift made a motion to approve the site plan, which carried 4-0 with Mayor Matty Mattioli absent.
