number is 22Z00062, tax account numbers are 2428002, 2428157, 2428161, and 2428163; it is
located in District 2; during the Planning and Zoning meeting, the request was approved with
seven conditions, with the additional eighth condition to read “a condition of one access to be
provided on Harbor Woods Drive and one access to be provided on Fortenberry Road”; and
since then, the applicant has revised their application to request the correct waivers, one waiver
for the open space, and the other is to reduce the number of access points that are required by
code.
Kim Rezanka, present on behalf of the applicant, stated with her tonight is Ross Abramson, the
contract purchaser and developer with Woodfield Acquisitions, LLC; also with her is Ken Good
with Atkins Global, who will be the engineer of record, and James Taylor, the traffic engineer on
the project; this is a request to change the zoning from BU 1 and BU 2 to PUD with the
recommendation of approval of a preliminary development plan and removal of two BDP’s
which limited the property to just commercial uses; this is a planned luxury apartment complex
of 370 units with related amenities; and they are not seeking to rezone the wetlands, as many
of the public comments seem to think. She continued to say the current zoning map shows
BU 1 and BU 2, and no wetland zoning, which is in the packet; also, the Future Land Use map
is not changing, which is community commercial, so there could be very high intense
commercial uses here at 60 feet tall because it is next to RU 2 30, with 15 foot setbacks; what
is proposed here is a luxury apartment complex with a much less intense use that could be on
this property; it is the site of the old paintball field that also had a store and outdoor skate park;
and looking at the aerial map, the mall is to the north, two banks to the west, a rental property
to the south against Plumosa Street, two story condominiums which have been there since the
80’s, and the Veteran’s Memorial Park to the east. She stated this PUD has been revised
several times and Mr. Abramson will explain that because she has heard some concerns about
being too close to different areas, so everything has been pushed to the center; looking at
those, the setbacks are pretty intense; coming from Plumosa Street, which is on the west side,
there is a wetland that will be preserved with the wetland distance from Plumosa Street to the
first building of 316 feet; looking from the south, the first building is 147 feet, nine inches from
the south boundaries; the middle building has a 95 foot setback from the south boundary; there
is 116 feet from the east, Harbor Woods Boulevard, which is a publicly owned right of way that
used to have an easement for Harbor Woods Boulevard; and they are working with County
staff on that issue, as there is a question of who maintains it, but that is intended to be the
access. She went on to say this is intended to have only two accesses, one directly off of
Fortenberry Road and one off of Harbor Woods Boulevard, which is an existing access for
those condominiums and an access point for parking for the Veteran’s Memorial Park to the
south of Harbor Woods Boulevard; they are seeking two waivers, one is a waiver of 1.1 acre of
open space from the 5.5 acres required pursuant to the County code; applicant is providing
4.45 acres of open space where the requirement is 5.5 acres; this is because the PUD allows
for preservation and to have flexibility, so they are preserving the wetlands, not impacting the
wetlands, and the Veterans Memorial Park is a world class amenity with playgrounds, walking
trails, nature trails, and access to the water; and with that next door, the amenities are not as
necessary at this apartment complex. She stated waiver two is seeking a waiver on one
access point from the three access points; they were unaware of that, as when going above
350, there is supposed to be another access; the only potential access would be to Plumosa
Street, which none of the residents want, as no one wants to increase traffic on Plumosa
Street; they would have to impact that wetland as described earlier and the developer does not
want to impact the wetlands; they had initially asked for a setback waiver, but found out it was
unnecessary and it was withdrawn; and they started with five waiver requests and are now
down to two waivers. She added the Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency (MIRA) board
reviewed this on December 8, 2022, and unanimously recommended approval and that report
and the reason for their approval are in the packet; the Planning and Zoning board reviewed
this on January 9, 2023, and also recommended approval unanimously, asking for an eighth
condition which was only two access points, one on Fortenberry Road and one on Harbor