SR 64 grocery store, storage facility denied by Manatee commission

While 4-3 votes have become commonplace during Manatee County Commission meetings, commissioners Bob McCann, Carol Felts and Jason Bearden are usually on the losing side of the vote. 

Commissioner Amanda Ballard changed the tide at the Dec. 4 land use meeting by voting with McCann, Felts and Bearden to deny a commercial development on the north side of State Road 64 across from Uihlein road. 

The applicants, Albatros 64 Partners and Casto Net Lease Properties, asked to rezone 15 acres of a 37-acre property from agricultural to planned development commercial.

The plan was to build out a maximum of 195,000 square feet of commercial space, which would have included a grocery store up to 30,000 square feet and a self storage facility up to 120,000 square feet.

Courtesy image

As the district’s commissioner, Felts gave an impassioned speech asking the board to trust her word that the area’s stormwater system cannot handle one more development.

She also accused builders of worsening the situation. 

“We’ve been going through this for the last five years,” she said. “(Builders) bring a pump in. They pump the water off their property into somebody else's, and then as soon as it’s reported, they pick up the pump and they move it someplace else.” 

Felts said instead of looking to data, people should trust what they see with their eyes. She contends that since development began between Zipperer Road and Lake Manatee State Park, the ditches are filled with water even during droughts. 

East County resident Julie Spicer questioned how the development could contain its water without a retention pond. She’s concerned that the development will worsen flooding on her property when the site is dewatered because they’ll be pumping and channeling the water through a manmade ditch that runs behind her home.

“It floods out there if you spit in the street,” McCann said. “We’re not taking care of our watersheds. Our storm drainage is terrible.”

He said the county is at a crossroads and needs to stop the urban sprawl to allow the utilities, street and stormwater infrastructure to catch up. 

The condition of State Road 64 was another hurdle the applicants couldn’t get past. 

The traffic study showed that while State Road 64 currently operates at a B service level, once all the approved development in the area is built out, that level of service will drop to an F. 

Yuri Bykau, the traffic consultant for the applicants, said if the proposed commercial project was built today, State Road 64 would still operate at an acceptable level of service (by Florida Department of Transportation standards), although it would drop from a B to a C.

Bykau also noted that the roundabout at State Road 64 and Uihlein Road is anticipated to be completed in March 2026, which would have served as one of the main ingress and egress points. 

“By providing neighborhood commercial uses in closer proximity to the surrounding area, which is predominantly residential, that reduces the vehicle miles traveled on the surrounding roadway network,” he said. “Those folks, who are going to be living at (Palm Grove), they can take a short walk or drive their golf carts and go to this site without having to travel on State Road 64 to get their commercial goods and services."

However, a Publix already is slated for the southwest corner of State Road 64 and Uihlein Road. The size was limited to a 30,000-square-foot grocery store in the proposal in anticipation of a specialty grocery store occupying the space. 

Commission Chair George Kruse argued the closest Publix to Palm Grove and Star Farms right now is the Publix on State Road 64 and White Eagle Boulevard, and the closest restaurant is the nearby Panda Express at the same location.

"You claimed (State Road 64) is a death trap, but now you want them to drive on it to get to the retail and shopping that they need," he said. "If I can capture traffic, then I can help that F road. I can help that over congestion by keeping people where they should be."

With only Kruse and commissioners Mike Rahn and Tal Siddique in favor of approval, the project was denied.