Commissioners approve North Park PUD amendment tied to proposed justice center; residents raise access and gender-safety concerns

Monroe County commissioners on May 29 approved Ordinance 20 25-13, an outline amendment to the North Park planned unit development that consolidates land‑use subdistricts and allows a county parcel within the PUD to be sold for a potential Monroe County Justice Center. The roll-call vote was 3-0.

The amendment reduces the PUD’s 19 subdistricts to five—regional services, neighborhood, government center, conservation development, and open space/parks—consolidates permitted uses to align with the county Consolidated Development Ordinance, and requires that a comprehensive open-space plan be submitted with the first development plan for the conservation development district.

Planning staff said the change modernizes a 21-year-old PUD, shortens and clarifies standards for use and design, and keeps a required PUD open-space minimum by allowing open-space obligations to be met between the conservation-development and open-space/parks districts. The amendment also alters the PUD’s transportation plan: a previously required bicycle/pedestrian overpass or underpass across State Road 46 was removed for…