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Commission approves Pulte Cornerstone rezoning for 250-home plan near Jenkins Road
Summary
The commission granted first-step approval to rezone about 49.92 acres at 2721 S. Jenkins Road to a Pulte plan development for roughly 250 single-family homes, approving 14 conditions including a required FDOT-aligned noise study and a 12-foot berm-plus-wall noise buffer.
The Fort Pierce City Commission on Jan. 20 approved a quasi-judicial rezoning that clears the way for a Pulte Cornerstone master-planned community of about 250 single-family homes on roughly 49.92 acres near the Jenkins Road/I-95 interchange.
Planning staff summarized earlier planning-board review, conditions and technical requirements; staff and the applicant said the project reduces potential development intensity compared with earlier commercial approvals and includes a linear park, bioswales and a public-art pocket park visible from I-95.
Venice Gilmore, historic-preservation senior planner, told the commission the applicant had provided a new phasing plan, cross-access and a proposed bus-stop location in phase 1 and that the planning board recommended approval with 14 conditions.
Leslie Olsen of District Planning Group, representing Pulte, described design features intended to mitigate noise and site impacts next to the I-95 off-ramp: an approximately 95-foot linear park with bioswales and a 4-foot berm topped by an 8-foot wall (12 feet total), a generous landscape buffer and home orientations that face lakes rather than the highway. Olsen said the team had coordinated with St. Lucie County engineering and the school district on access and the bus stop.
The commission pressed for clarity on noise abatement. Commissioner Gaines noted the risk of later resident complaints about traffic noise from I-95; planning director Kevin Freeman and applicant representatives said a required FDOT-style noise study will be submitted with the final plan and abatement measures (for example, construction techniques or glazing) would be applied if the study shows exceedances.
Staff recommended approval with the 14 conditions the planning board had set, which cover minimum open-space percentages, maximum density (5 dwelling units per acre), stormwater and drainage requirements, a required gopher tortoise survey, final-phasing details, a sound study and recorded access-easement documentation. The commission approved the rezoning and master-plan framework on a recorded vote.
The approval is a land-use and zoning decision; the applicant must return with final PD site plans and satisfy the conditions, including the noise study and final engineering, before development activity can begin.
