County planners present structured growth overlay options; commissioners debate 50% open‑space set‑aside

Consultants from Kimley‑Horn reviewed proposed comprehensive‑plan amendments that would create two new overlay strategies to guide where higher‑density development could occur in Okeechobee County’s southern third. The board received the presentation and engaged in a lengthy policy discussion; no ordinance or map changes were adopted at the meeting.

What staff proposed: The package combines two approaches. The first, “Economic Opportunity Centers,” would expand allowed workplace and industrial uses in existing industrial overlay areas and allow a limited share of those areas to also develop with residential or retail uses that support employment. The second, a “Structured Growth” overlay, would create two pathways for compact communities: (1) compact communities tied to sewer or package‑plant capacity and arterial/collector roadway access, with a stated…