Palm Bay P&Z Recommends Emerald Lakes East Phase I, Extra Wawa Wall Sign

Palm Bay's Planning and Zoning Board voted Wednesday night, Oct. 7, to recommend that City Council approve the final development plan for Emerald Lakes East Phase I, the next piece of the Emerald Lakes Regional Activity Center east of Interstate 95 along St. Johns Heritage Parkway SE.

The phase, case FD26-00001 filed by Excess Land Investment, LLC, calls for 652 multifamily units and more than 1.1 million square feet of nonresidential space. City staff told the board that improvements would be built in four sub-phases, including extensions of St. Johns Heritage Parkway and Workforce Boulevard with a proposed roundabout, on a timeline running from the second quarter of 2027 into the first quarter of 2031. The recommendation now goes to City Council, which will hold its own public hearing before making a final decision.

The board also took up a variance request for a planned Wawa near Malabar Road and St. Johns Heritage Parkway. City code allows one wall sign per street frontage, and the applicant asked for a third, 51.32-square-foot sign on the store's west wall, which faces a driveway rather than a street. Staff recommended denial because it did not find a hardship, but said it is considering a code change to allow more wall signs off street frontages.