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North Port adopts amended Central Park buffer plan over environmental objections
Summary
The commission approved changes to the Central Park development master plan that grant waivers to buffer planting requirements along several lakes; the 3–2 vote split commissioners over preserving prior commitments to tree protections versus honoring neighbors’ requests to keep lake views.
The North Port City Commission narrowly approved an amendment to the Central Park at Northport development master plan that revises the required landscape buffers and grants two waivers sought by the developer and neighbors.
Applicant Peter Van Buskirk, a licensed civil engineer and certified planner, told the commission the revised plan responds to requests from nearby residents while keeping substantial plantings elsewhere, saying, “We would add 70 trees required, 1,168 shrubs in that 3,505 feet.” Staff cautioned the commission that adopting the applicant’s option would reduce the number of canopy trees by about 48 and 225 shrubs compared with staff’s recommendation and emphasized trees’ stormwater and heat-island mitigation benefits.
Public comment split along neighborhood lines. Speakers from The Colony and some Sable Trace communities urged the commission not to require plantings that would block long-standing lake views; other residents and an association president said they supported the amended plan and preserved trees in some locations.
During deliberations commissioners weighed the developer’s and neighbors’ requests against environmental concerns and the city’s Unified Land Development Code. Commissioner Duval and Commissioner Petro said they opposed changing buffers after prior agreements; Commissioner Langdon, Vice Mayor Emmerich and Mayor Stokes supported the amended option and framed it as a compromise reflecting neighborhood preferences.
Vice Mayor Emmerich moved to adopt a version of the applicant’s plan that included increased shrubs, a type 2 buffer along the north side of Lake 13 and the addition of six live oaks in open space near Lake 6; Commissioner Langdon seconded. The motion passed 3–2.
The commission’s readback of the motion described the adoption as approval of an alternate buffer plan with waivers and specific planting revisions. The change amends the pattern plan provisions in the Unified Land Development Code and will be codified following the ordinance adoption.
The commission closed the hearing and moved on to subsequent agenda items.
