Opa-locka board split on land-use change for contaminated 1700 Service Road; rezoning, site plan and development agreement later approved

The Planning & Zoning Board of the City of Opa-locka split 2–2 on a staff-recommended comprehensive plan amendment to change a 7.58-acre vacant, contaminated parcel at 1700 Service Road from residential to commercial, sending the item to the City Commission without a favorable recommendation. Later in the meeting, the board approved a rezoning to B-3 (commercial intensive), a final site plan for two commercial buildings, and a development agreement that includes job-fair and reporting commitments.

The applicant's land-use counsel, Hope Calhoun, told the board the developer had withdrawn an earlier industrial proposal after hearing neighborhood opposition and held a community meeting. "We heard the community," Calhoun said, and the revised plan moves a furniture showroom to the rear of the site and places smaller commercial suites facing State Road 9 so local entrepreneurs could lease space.

Planning staff described the property as a major brownfield that already has had remediation work and monitoring wells in place. Gerald Lee, Planning & Community Development, said cleanup requirements vary by use and "for commercial use the remediation is less extensive than would be required for residential." He outlined required engineered stormwater controls and the…