Planning board recommends Port of Fort Pierce overlay zoning, adds seaport as conditional use

The Fort Pierce Planning Board voted 6–1 on a motion to forward a zoning text amendment creating a Port of Fort Pierce overlay district to the City Commission, adding a condition to list a seaport as a conditional use.

Staff said the overlay is intended to implement elements of the Port of Fort Pierce master plan and to make it easier for waterfront properties to develop by clarifying allowable uses and application procedures. Kevin Freeman, a planning staff member, told the board the overlay would lie atop existing future land use and zoning and would not, at this stage, strip property owners of existing development rights.

The draft ordinance splits the port into a north port and south port and proposes categories of permitted, conditional and minor-site-plan uses. Freeman said the draft…