Gardens planners endorse 104 homes
More houses proposed for Avenir development
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Another new neighborhood in the sprawling Avenir development received a nod of approval from a city board this week.
The Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that the City Council approve the site plan for a 104-lot single-family home community in Avenir, on the western side of Palm Beach Gardens.
The latest Avenir neighborhood to work its way through the city’s approval process sits on about 50 acres southwest of the intersection of Avenir Drive and Panther National Boulevard, toward the southwest side of Avenir’s 4,750-acre property. Panther National is the extension of 140th Avenue North, north of Northlake Boulevard.
As with other residential Avenir site plans that have come before Palm Beach Gardens’ boards for approval, a developer has not been named and there are no renderings of the homes. An agent for Avenir’s projects previously described the site plan as a horizontal approval, with the “vertical approvals” of the homes’ appearances coming to the city later.
The site plan for the new neighborhood includes the 104 lots, with 72 lots that are 80 feet wide and 140 feet long, and 32 lots that are 80 feet wide and 130 feet long. Because of the somewhat awkward shape of the neighborhood — like an upside down dog’s leg — quite a few of the lots are not the usual rectangles seen in many newer neighborhoods.
At the main gated entrance to the neighborhood, there would be a small park with a shaded playground and swings surrounded by a 4-foot aluminum fence; and a trellis swing overlooking the neighborhood’s central 4-acre lake, which will have two fountains, the plans show.
Another smaller open area at the southwest tip of the neighborhood will offer guest parking spaces and connections to the network of sidewalks that will run throughout the neighborhood, the plans show.
North of the main entrance, there will be yet another open space, with trellis swings, benches and guest parking, records show. There will be a central location for mailboxes, toward the west side of the project.
Because Avenir’s western conservation area surrounds the neighborhood on its west, north and south sides, there is a 25-foot conservation buffer and a 10-foot fire break along that boundary, the plans show.
While there will be two access points to the new neighborhood from Panther National Boulevard, the northern entrance will only be for emergency vehicles and residents, the plans show.
The Avenir parcel to the south is approved for agricultural use, and a previous discussion indicated Avenir’s planners are working on a farm-to-table restaurant concept. With the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board’s recommendation, the project next will go to the City Council for final site plan approval at a future meeting.
Over the next five years, projects being completed in the luxury community will include:
● A small hospital and medical offices that are being built by Jupiter Medical Center and UF Health.
● A town center with a supermarket with a drive-thru pharmacy, a drug store with a drive-thru window, 55,000 square feet of restaurant space and 250 townhomes, plus 120,000 square feet of office space.
● A 18-hole golf course and training facility designed by Jack Nicklaus and Justin Thomas.
● A 16,000-square-foot clubhouse on the west side of Avenir that will have two pools, cabanas, pavilions, a fitness center, eight tennis courts, six pickleball courts, a spa and a kids’ zone.
● A 60-acre site that could have up to 1 million square feet of office space.
● A 600-student elementary charter school operated by Somerset Academy.