Commissioners approve PUD amendment allowing screened outdoor storage at South Florida Gateway

Martin County commissioners on Tuesday approved the third amendment to the South Florida Gateway planned unit development zoning agreement, allowing outdoor storage as an accessory use in defined loading and service areas with screening requirements and limits on stored materials.

The amendment matters because it changes how tenants in a 216.37-acre industrial PUD can use outdoor space and ties county enforcement to new screening and siting requirements intended to limit visual and environmental impacts.

Growth Management staff described the amendment as narrowly tailored: outdoor storage will be allowed only as an accessory use within loading-bay and service areas shown on the revised master site plan; it will not be permitted as a freestanding principal use. The PUD language explicitly prohibits fabrication or manufacturing in those outdoor areas and bans storage of noxious or hazardous materials. Staff said outdoor storage areas must be located on areas already planned as impervious loading zones and must be individually screened so they are not visible to the public.

Applicant representatives from Lucido and Associates and Foundry Commercial said the change responds to tenant needs. Brian Nolan, speaking for the applicant team, said current tenants asked to store building and tenant-related materials in the service areas; he noted the amendment includes limits on activities within those areas. Ted Elam of Foundry Commercial described two specific tenant needs: granite slabs for a stone fabricator and outdoor equipment for a tenant that manufactures parts for gas engine turbines.

Commissioners focused on screening and height. The PUD already required an opaque fence or wall; commissioners asked whether a 6-foot fence would be adequate if materials could be stacked higher. After discussion among commissioners, staff, and the applicant, the board approved amendment language requiring visible screening by an opaque fence, wall or barrier and setting an agreed minimum fence height of 8 feet. The board also approved staff-proposed language limiting the height of materials and products stored outdoors to the height of the fence or barrier; equipment and permanent utility structures used in operations were explicitly discussed as distinct from stacked materials and would not be limited by the fence-height clause as written. The approved amendment also includes a provision that items within storage areas are subject to additional siting and screening requirements and a 40-foot maximum building height standard remains in the PUD for structures.

Growth management staff and the applicant said the intent is to balance tenant operational needs with the PUD’s “Class A” aesthetic and the neighbors’ interest in preventing un-screened, tall storage from being visible from off-site.

There were no public speakers during the hearing. The board moved, seconded and voted to approve the third amendment to the South Florida Gateway PUD, including the revised master site plan. The motion passed unanimously.

The amendment does not become a site-specific approval of any tenant’s final plan; any tenant build-out or change will still require site plan/master plan review under the county’s normal development-review process.