St. Lucie County commissioners approve land-use changes and permits to advance Project Orchid manufacturing campus

St. Lucie CountyBoard of County Commissioners on May 5 approved a package of land-use changes and permits to enable Project Orchid, a proposed vertically integrated window-and-glass manufacturing campus north of Rock Road that staff said could ultimately total about 1,400,000 square feet and employ about 1,000 people.

Corey Benton, the countyplanning and zoning manager, told the board that staff recommended approval of a small-scale future land-use map amendment (affecting 20.85 acres), rezoning roughly 20.25 acres from industrial light to industrial heavy, and a conditional use permit for a roughly 76,200-square-foot aluminum foundry as part of the larger site plan. Benton said notice and outreach complied with county rules and the Planning and Zoning Commission had unanimously recommended approval of the presented items.

The applicantteam described the development as a modern, fully enclosed manufacturing operation designed to limit noise, dust and odor. Patty Tobin, the applicantplanner, said the design keeps production inside the building and that the company expects roughly 6 percent of the structure will need an 80-foot height for racking and production equipment. "Everything is enclosed," Tobin said. "There will be no noticeable odors and no visible emissions." (Patty Tobin)

Why it matters: The approvals change regulatory limits that previously capped building height in parts of the Lucy Rock MXD and allow the county and developer to move toward a development agreement that commits the applicant to off-site road improvements, stormwater work and other mitigation. Staff said full build-out could generate more than 6,000 daily vehicle trips and listed specific intersection and lane improvements tied to the project.

Environmental and monitoring conditions: Several commissioners pressed the applicant on air quality, noise and monitoring. The chair asked the board to require 90 days of baseline air-quality monitoring before operations begin so the county and residents would have a pre-operation benchmark; the board attached conditions to the CUP that require the applicant to obtain appropriate federal and state air permits, implement site-specific control measures, provide monitoring reports and employ enclosed handling methods (no dry sweeping) where applicable. The applicant said state permitting (FDES/FDOT referenced in staff slides) includes testing and annual/semiannual reporting and agreed to share permit records with the county.

Traffic and timing of improvements: Staff and the applicant said many intersection and lane improvements are documented in the development agreement and that certain improvements or contributions are required prior to a first certificate of occupancy; signalization would be implemented based on warrant evaluations after operations begin.

Board action and next steps: The board approved the future land-use amendment (10a1), the rezoning (10a2), and the conditional use permit for the foundry (10a3) by voice vote; the site plan (11a1) was approved on a regular-agenda motion. The board also heard a first reading of an amendment to the St. Lucie Commerce Center development agreement (10a4) that would trim and reconfigure acreage, extend the agreement term and raise the square-foot cap to align the agreement with Project Orchid; a second reading was scheduled for May 19, 2026. The approvals were voice votes and the transcript records "aye" votes and motions but does not record a roll-call tally in the public record provided.

The county will continue design review, permitting and the scheduled second reading of the development-agreement amendment; staff said construction could take 18 to 24 months and that phasing, traffic mitigation and right-of-way acquisition will be part of the development-agreement and permitting process.