The Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the modification of an existing access driveway at the Lowe’s Home Improvement shopping plaza at 103 S. State Road 7 on Tuesday, June 9.
At a meeting held virtually, Planning Director Bradford O’Brien said that Lowe’s consultant Urban Design Kilday Studios requested a site design modification on the easternmost section of Erica Blvd. to increase accessibility for the Tuttle Royale development’s master plan, as well as the Lowe’s store and commercial properties to the south. The ingress/egress to be modified is at the southernmost portion of the Lowe’s plaza.
The modified entrance would serve as an eastern entrance to the Tuttle Royale development, providing a through connection to the recently constructed bridge on Southern Blvd. that serves as the new neighborhood’s main entrance. That complete, interconnecting roadway has not yet received village approval.
“The modification is also designed to align with the proposed new signalized intersection at the southernmost entrance,” O’Brien said. “The access point would line up with the Home Depot/El Dorado plaza on the east side of State Road 7, providing for a light at the main entrance of the Home Depot shopping center.”
He said the application complies with the village’s zoning code pertaining to general commercial zoning districts, and village staff recommended approval.
Vice Chair Ross Shillingford asked exactly what the commission was approving, and O’Brien said the application is to line up the intersection, which would encroach on the Lowe’s shopping plaza.
“We’re approving that configuration on the Lowe’s property, the configuration of the roadway and the intersection alignment that encroaches on the Lowe’s property,” he said. “This has nothing to do with the intersection geometry. This is just the encroachment of the westbound lane of Erica Blvd. into the development.”
Commissioner Ray Nazareth asked applicant representative Jeff Evans if any neighbors expressed concern about the alteration, and Evans said he had not heard anything, although anyone with concerns generally contacts the village and not the applicant.
O’Brien said all affected property owners had given consent to the application.
“They are fully aware of this new configuration,” he said. “If at sometime this configuration were to come to fruition, we would agree to it when it comes to fruition.”
There were no comments from the public.
Nazareth made a motion to recommend approval of the application, which carried 5-0 with Chair David Leland, Shillingford, Nazareth and commissioners June Perrin and Philip Marquis in support.
