Port St. Lucie Council Rezones 9.5-Acre Tradition Parcel for Commercial Use Over Neighbor Objections

Heritage Oaks residents who drove to City Hall on Tuesday to fight a rezoning vote left empty-handed. The Port St. Lucie City Council unanimously approved converting 9.48 acres at the southwest corner of Cross Town Parkway and Fair Green Drive from residential to commercial use.

The parcel, previously mapped for 106 townhomes as Phase C of the Heritage Oaks development, will now become Parcel 11A within the Tradition master planned community. Under the approved mixed-use zoning, the land could host retail, restaurants with drive-thrus, office space, gas stations, banks, daycares and other commercial tenants — a shift that drew opponents who cited worries about traffic, noise, light spillover and the loss of what they described as green space along their neighborhood's edge.

City Planning Director Bridget Keane pushed back firmly on that last point. "This property was always intended for development as identified in the PUD," Keane told the council. She noted the land has been cleared since the early 2000s and was never designated as conservation property.

The council did not give developers a blank check. Approval came with conditions: a 10-foot enhanced landscape buffer and architectural wall along the parcel's eastern and southern boundaries, trees planted every 20 feet rather than the standard 30, shielded lighting to contain glare, and — critically for residents — elimination of a planned road connection from Glenbrook Drive into Heritage Oaks.

Even among council members, one commercial use drew skepticism. Vice Mayor Carbala said she would not support a gas station at the location, pointing to a Circle K and 7-Eleven already operating nearby.

Applicant representative David Bagot offered data to counter the traffic argument. A commercial build-out would actually generate less traffic than the 106 residential units previously approved for the site, he told the council. He also noted that intersection improvements at Cross Town Parkway and Fair Green Drive are already in the pipeline under a recent Tradition development rights amendment.

Living Faith Church, a nonprofit congregation, raised separate concerns about a city art ordinance that would cost the group roughly $32,000. Council members suggested that religious architectural features might satisfy the requirement — a question the city will need to resolve before construction moves forward.

The council also approved five other ordinances Tuesday, including land conveyances to St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity and utility easements for Florida Power & Light.

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