Plantation council denies RaceTrac conditional use for Pine Island and Sunrise after months of debate

Plantation City Council on Wednesday night denied a request to add a 24‑hour RaceTrac gasoline filling station and a 6,008‑square‑foot convenience market at 1790 North Pine Island Road, at the southeast corner of Pine Island Road and Sunrise Boulevard. The vote followed a lengthy presentation by city staff, detailed testimony from the applicant’s engineering, traffic, acoustical and planning experts, and more than two dozen public comments, mostly opposed.

Planning staff recommended denial, saying the auto‑oriented use would be out of step with the evolving Sunrise Boulevard corridor and could undermine the city’s longer‑term transit‑oriented goals. “We did not feel that the applicant met the conditional‑use criteria,” Planning Director Dan Holmes said, highlighting compatibility with planned street‑level, mixed‑use redevelopment and county transit plans as central concerns.

City staff’s analysis noted that the B7Q planned commercial district that covers the site was designed to limit higher‑intensity commercial uses and to protect nearby residential areas. Holmes told the council that the Sunrise corridor is seeing new higher‑density, mixed‑use projects, and that adding an “auto‑centric” gas and convenience use at the corner would conflict with that direction.

The applicant, represented by attorney Jan Alota and a team of technical consultants, said the intersection and the surrounding market warrant a new convenience station. Racetrack’s representatives described a corporate‑owned prototype: an 8‑pump canopy with a 6,008‑square‑foot market, new landscaping, and roof screening for mechanical equipment. “We believe the evidence that has been presented to you tonight more than demonstrates that the application complies with all of the relevant requirements and criteria for granting of the approval of a conditional use,” Alota told the council.

Traffic and market analyses were central to the applicant’s case. The developer’s traffic engineer, Juan Ortega, said most trips to a gas/convenience site are already “pass‑by” trips by vehicles on the road rather than new trips created by the business; he said the site’s added turning lane and access geometry would keep intersection congestion increases below thresholds used by the state and county. A market consultant used FDOT vehicle counts and industry dispenser‑usage metrics to estimate local fuel demand; the applicant argued the site would capture riders traveling eastbound on Sunrise who currently lack a convenient eastbound fueling option.

City and independent experts pressed that the same FDOT traffic volumes and the applicant’s own numbers did not adequately address longer‑range land use goals, pedestrian safety and the changing form of development along Sunrise. Planning consultant Brian Terry, working for the applicant, conceded the corridor is shifting but said the project would serve neighborhood needs and met the city’s conditional‑use criteria. Planning Director Holmes said staff remained unconvinced that the use would harmonize with the corridor’s anticipated transit‑oriented evolution.

Safety, noise and environmental concerns were also raised. The applicant’s noise consultant, Bernard Kinney, said post‑construction sound levels from canopies, rooftop equipment and deliveries should meet Plantation’s noise ordinance, and that significant attenuation would occur at distances to adjacent residential areas. An environmental engineer described standard fuel‑system controls and spill‑response protocols typical in the industry; Racetrack officials said staff training, 24‑hour video surveillance and other security measures would be implemented.

Public comment was overwhelmingly opposed. Speakers from neighborhoods including Lauderdale West and Jacaranda Lakes, and other residents, said a 24‑hour gas station with a large canopy and convenience store would be incompatible with the nearby residential character, would increase traffic near senior communities and mid‑rise projects, and could reduce property values. “I don’t want that in my city,” resident Lori Bernardi said. “I want my city to be where my kids and my grandkids can live.” Several residents also questioned the market‑need analysis and raised concerns about spills and benzene vapors.

Council members debated whether the project would hinder the long‑term vision for Sunrise Boulevard. Some members noted the applicant had significantly revised building materials, lowered canopy profiles and added landscape buffers during review, but concluded the land‑use and compatibility issues were decisive. A motion to approve the conditional use failed on a roll call vote (no: Fadgen, Horland, Anderson, Andrew, Reinstein). Following that outcome the council voted to deny the related zoning/landscape waiver and the site plan applications, as they were contingent on the primary conditional‑use approval.

Outcome: the conditional‑use application was denied (motion to approve failed), and companion waiver and site‑plan requests were denied. The council did not set a date certain to reconsider the matter; city attorneys noted statutory and procedural constraints that would affect any re‑submittal.

What happens next: With the conditional use denied, any future application that proposes the same uses would need to address the council’s compatibility and corridor‑planning concerns; city staff pointed to the site’s small (about 1.89‑acre) footprint and proximity to residential neighborhoods as recurring issues. The project team said it would evaluate options but noted the property has been vacant for several years and that the site’s bank building and drive‑through configuration constrain redevelopment choices.

Quotes

• “We did not feel that the applicant met the conditional‑use criteria,” Dan Holmes, Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Director, said during the staff presentation.

• “We believe the evidence that has been presented to you tonight more than demonstrates that the application complies with all of the relevant requirements and criteria,” attorney Jan Alota said for the applicant team.

• “I don’t want that in my city,” resident Lori Bernardi said during public comment. “I want my city to be where my kids and my grandkids can live.”

Ending

The council’s denials leave the corner zoned for low‑intensity commercial uses under the City’s B7Q planned commercial district. City staff and the applicant will now consider next steps; council members emphasized that any future proposal should be aligned with the long‑term vision for Sunrise Boulevard and address the compatibility concerns voiced by residents and staff.