Planning board approves variances and special exceptions for mixed commercial development along Becker Road and Port St. Lucie Boulevard

Port St. Lucie’s Planning & Zoning Board on Dec. 2 approved a package of quasi-judicial permits and variances for a 15.45-acre commercial development at the northwest corner of Becker Road and Port St. Lucie Boulevard, including a concrete plant, fueling station canopy and convenience store/fuel sales, a drive-thru restaurant, and related sign and setback variances.

Daniel Robinson of the Planning & Zoning Department presented staff reports for several related files. The Decorative Concrete Specialist special exception (applicant: Decorative Concrete Specialist of South Florida) was approved after the applicant described planned dust-collection and shaker systems and noise-mitigation measures; staff required an additional 1 inch of asphalt on a specified project road to address truck loading and said landscaping and signage will be handled at site-plan review.

For the larger mixed-use project (applicant references include PSL Land Co LLC and VRE PSL Landco LLC), staff recommended and the board approved: a variance to allow a 154-foot fueling canopy (35 feet longer than the 120-foot standard for the Becker Road overlay) subject to a 3-foot berm and semi-opaque evergreen hedges planted at a minimum of 2 feet and maintained to 3 feet; a special exception for a convenience store with fuel-sales with the same perimeter landscaping and a requirement to widen and retain a 10-foot meandering multiuse sidewalk along Becker Road; and variances and a special exception for a drive-thru restaurant (McDonald’s) including bufferyard conditions and review of queuing (staff reported the given stacking of 13 cars would remain on-site under typical operations).

Board members clarified details including buffer planting heights, whether plantings sit atop berms and the potential for drive-thru queues to reach the street; staff confirmed the conditions and noted that site plans will specify final elevations and landscaping details. The board also approved a monument-sign variance allowing an existing sign to remain six feet from the property line where current code requires 10 feet; staff noted the sign became legal nonconforming after a 2010 code rewrite.

All motions carried by voice vote; approvals were granted with the written staff-recommended conditions recorded in the minutes. Several items were recommended to city council where required by code for final action.