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Planning board backs citys land-use map amendment for 34-acre 'Village in the Park' site
Summary
The Planning & Zoning Board unanimously approved a transmittal to amend the City of Parkland comprehensive plan and request Broward County land-use map recertification to designate 34 acres as commercial for the Village in the Park project; the item will proceed to county review and a second local reading.
The City of Parkland Planning & Zoning Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a city-initiated land-use map amendment that would change 34 acres (a 25.32-acre portion already inside Parkland plus an 8.68-acre parcel annexed from Coral Springs) to a City of Parkland commercial designation as part of the "Village in the Park" project.
Why it matters: the action transmits the proposed amendment to Broward County for a corresponding land-use map change and clears the way for the city to pursue developer selection and future site-plan and rezoning steps consistent with the city's vision for a mixed-use commercial node adjacent to existing hotel and office uses.
Caitlin Forbes of the planning department told the board the application bundles the previously considered 25.32 acres with the annexed 8.68 acres so the city and county maps are consistent. "We now are able to move with the application," Forbes said, describing the parcel as a continuation of the commercial corridor south of the site and noting FDOT interchange improvements anticipated to carry capacity north toward the property.
Forbes said the city's adopted vision and design guidelines for the site contemplate roughly 170,000 square feet of commercial uses in the conceptual plan; she noted the county uses a standard 10,000-square-feet-per-acre conversion that would overstate the city's anticipated intensity. She also said service providers had issued capacity-to-serve responses during the original review.
Board members asked about timeline, permitted uses and mechanisms for limiting intensity. Forbes and city staff explained that the comprehensive-plan amendment is broader in scope and that specific uses and development intensity would be set later in the rezoning, master plan and site-plan processes; the city can also limit development through contractual terms in purchase-and-sale or developer agreements and through zoning conditions when the rezoning is considered.
Public comment: two nearby homeowners spoke in opposition or with concerns about impacts on privacy and property values. Peter Hegedus and Bob Tancus, both residents of nearby Heron Bay, asked the city to consider a 150-foot buffer along the north edge of the commercial designation. City counsel and staff replied that the city had entered an agreement with the Heron Bay HOA at the time of purchase that provides for recorded buffer and berm commitments and that additional public hearings and project-level site-plan review will provide future opportunities for comment.
Motion and vote: Fabio Rodriguez moved to approve the land-use map amendment for transmittal to Broward County; Jordana Goldstein seconded. The board voted unanimously in favor (Jordana Goldstein, Todd Rogers, Alex Sejovitz, Joe/Joel [recorded as Joe Kaplan], Fabio Rodriguez and Chair Marie Zweig voting yes). The motion carried.
Next steps: staff expects to submit the corresponding land-use amendment to Broward County, await the county review and then return to the City Commission for second reading and final local action. The city also plans a broker selection process to identify a developer for the site; rezoning, master plan, plat and site-plan applications would follow once a developer is selected.
