The Fort Pierce City Commission approved a major site plan amendment earlier this month that will lead to the construction of a 1.1 million-square-foot refrigerated Amazon warehouse and office building.
The project, which is located at 2300 S. Kings Highway on a parcel owned by Scannell Properties, is considered an Economical Development Project. It is expected to provide 745 permanent jobs.
The 70-acre parcel is bound by S. Kings Highway on the west, White Road on the north and Peter Road on the east. The property was rezoned to its current status in August 2021.
“The site is very large; about 35.6 percent of the site will be entirely comprised of building,” said Fort Pierce Assistant Planning Director Chris Suneson, who presented the project to the commission.
The project site includes three large lakes as well as a bio-retention area that counts as open space and represents 29.4 percent of the property.
“It’s a great project,” said Commissioner Michael Broderick at the May 4 city commission meeting.
Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. had questions about traffic and the maneuvering of semi-trucks. “How are they going to navigate getting into this space? Part of my concern is semis making U-turns on Kings Highway,” he said.
“It will greatly help this city,” Johnson said of the projected job creation and the fact that the structure will become part of the Fort Pierce tax roll. “But what I don’t want is a vehicle running into a semi-truck that makes a U-turn.”
Scannell representative Jeff Iravani allayed Johnson’s concerns, saying, “You cannot make a left turn out. We have gone to DOT, and they have approved our plan. That median is going to come out. It’s going to be a full access.”
Vehicles at the site will include semis and the transportation used by warehouse staff, with the two types of vehicles having separate entrances and exits. Warehouse workers will work in shifts and their entry and exit times will be during low traffic hours. Van traffic for deliveries will not be a part of the facility.
Traffic will be monitored by a required FDOT permit, and once the traffic warrants it, signals will be put in. Currently signals are not required.
After clarifying the traffic issues, commissioners unanimously approved the project with five conditions that were already included in the resolution.
The conditions include having all signage reviewed and permitted separately through building permits; a final review of the tree survey and tree mitigation calculations; a gopher tortoise survey to be provided a minimum of 90 prior to a land clearing permit is issued; all required state and federal agency permits to be issued before a land development permit is issued; and a St. Lucie County right-of-away permit finalized prior to getting a building permit for the vertical construction of the building.