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Neighbors raise easement and buffer concerns as Blue Heron commercial project proceeds; staff says plan approved
Summary
Residents near the Blue Heron commercial site told council the approved project encroaches on a five-foot utility easement and reduces their quality of life; city staff said it reviewed plats, met with the developer, found no code violations and will continue to facilitate discussions and potential concessions.
Residents of a neighborhood near Blue Heron Boulevard pressed the Riviera Beach City Council on Aug. 20 over what they say is an overly close commercial project and loss of a five-foot easement behind their homes.
Lynn Hubbard, a nearby resident, told the council the project “is impeding the quality of life for us” and said homeowners believed a five-foot easement behind their properties had been removed or altered. "You can't make up different ways to take people's property to give it to someone else," Hubbard said.
Development-services Director Clarence Sarmans and City Manager Jonathan Evans responded that staff reviewed plats, met with the developer and did not find violations of the approved site plan. Sarmans told the council the city will provide additional information to residents and facilitate a meeting between parties.
City staff said the site plan for the Blue Heron Commercial Project was approved Sept. 21, 2022, and that the residential lots retain a five-foot utility easement that dates to the neighborhood's original platting. Staff said the five-foot easement remains on the residential properties and that the developer says it is building to the approved plan.
City staff described a series of outreach steps that preceded approval: early planning-and-zoning meetings, developer-conducted door-to-door outreach after a planning board postponement, follow-up community meetings (Lindsey Davis Center meetings on July 19 and Aug. 8, 2022 were cited), mailed notices and newspaper posting as required for land-use and zone changes. The city manager and staff said they had met the developer and attempted good-faith negotiations on potential concessions but cautioned the council that the project has a council-approved development order and that both sides have attorneys involved.
Council members questioned whether additional compromises were possible. Staff committed to circulate plats and related documents and to facilitate further meetings to explore buffers, landscaping or other concessions that might reduce neighbor impacts.
Speakers during the public-comment period also raised related concerns about city communication and the water utility, tying the neighborhood issue to broader trust and messaging problems the mayor addressed earlier in the meeting.
