Council approves Grovestown Center hotel swap after debate over oak hammock and B Road traffic

The Town of Loxahatchee Groves on Feb. 4 approved a package of land-use changes and site plans that swap an assisted-living facility for a three-story, 81-room hotel and shift the planned Town Commons to a different parcel within the Grovestown Center planned unit development (PUD).

The council approved a comprehensive-plan text amendment (Ordinance 2024-09), a master-plan amendment (Ordinance 2024-10) and two site-plan resolutions for the hotel and the Town Commons (Resolutions 2025-06 and 2025-07). Each measure passed on a 3-2 vote after extended public comment and a lengthy quasi-judicial hearing that focused on tree preservation and traffic on B Road and Southern Boulevard.

The vote follows months of revision by the applicant and staff. Planning staff said the hotel was reduced from an earlier 95-room, four-story proposal to a 3‑story, 81‑room design; the applicant removed most waiver requests and revised architecture and lighting to better match the town’s rural aesthetic. Planning staff advised that the changes do not increase the overall approved PUD square footage or trip generation.

Applicant attorney Brian Seymour told the council the developer responded to prior council direction by reducing building height and room count and by funding traffic improvements already underway on B Road. "Developers shouldn't just get everything they ask for," Seymour said during the presentation, adding that the current proposal represented a negotiated compromise.

The debate centered on an oak hammock on the hotel parcel and on…