Frisbie Group: P&Z meeting led us to drop PUD request for Wells Fargo site

Frisbie Group says its decision to end the pursuit of a controversial zoning tool for the redevelopment of a prominent bank site in Palm Beach was related to Tuesday's meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission, which saw a unanimous vote against recommending that the Palm Beach Town Council approve the four ordinances the developer sought for the project.

Word of the decision came late Friday and was confirmed by Rob Frisbie Jr., a project manager for the Palm Beach-based developer, who declined further comment. In a statement released Saturday, Frisbie Group addressed the reason behind its decision to reverse course and use "alternate zoning designations to revitalize the site."

The company wants to build a major residential redevelopment project on land east of the landmarked Wells Fargo Bank buildings at South County Road and Royal Palm Way. The four ordinances would have been the first of several steps needed to get the town to designate the land as a planned unit development, or PUD, and rezone the 5.8-acre property.

In its release Saturday, Frisbie Group said: "After thoughtfully considering all community, leadership, and key stakeholder feedback from the initial presentation to Town Council in January 2024, Frisbie Group worked diligently over the subsequent two months to revise plans, and made the decision after meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission."

The statement continued with a statement attributed to Frisbie Jr: “Despite the Town Council’s direction in January to continue working on our PUD application, the Planning and Zoning Commission made it clear that they were unwilling to consider it, regardless of the many merits of the newly revised plan.”

At the end of the January's informal review of the project by the Town Council, officials appeared to agree that some of the buildings proposed for the site were too large and too tall. And the layout, they said, needed more breathing room. Some officials also said any rezoning for the project should not be pursued until the town completes a long-planned reform of its zoning code.

Frisbie Group's statement Saturday also said that at last week's zoning board meeting, "defamatory and discourteous remarks were interjected before Frisbie (Jr.) could even begin his presentation, prohibiting any meaningful discussion or review."

On Tuesday, Frisbie had presented a proposed site plan for the project during the contentious zoning-board meeting, in which resident after resident objected to the redevelopment proposal. Officials and residents also appeared to be caught off guard Tuesday by Frisbie Group's presentation of its new site plan.

The plan for the “East Plaza” project reflected the feedback the company received from officials and residents during January's Town Council meeting, Frisbie Jr. told the zoning commission. In the updated plan presented to the commission, the number of residences had dropped from 37 to 19. The main access for traffic had been moved from Royal Palm Way to South Ocean Boulevard, and the underground parking structure had been significantly reduced.

Frisbie Group previously said the PUD zoning tool — rare in Palm Beach — would have allowed the Town Council to sign off on nearly every aspect of the development, which could then have proceeded without any zone code variance requests. The PUD would have changed the Wells Fargo property's three existing zoning districts — one for residential and two for commercial use — to a single residential district.

"No PUD in town will have this level of detail that we already have drafted as part of this process," Frisbie Group's Joshua Martin, a former director of the town's Planning, Zoning and Building Department, said in his presentation to the commission.

A PUD was the best means of ensuring that the area would only be used for residential development, said Martin, who also is an alternate member of the Palm Beach Architectural Commission.

The company's Saturday statement noted that "while significant support for the PUD application was expressed through more than 100 letters to the town, Frisbie Group respects town leadership, and will follow the advice to use alternate zoning designations to revitalize the site."

On Friday, Frisbie Jr. told the Palm Beach Daily News the company would no longer present the four PUD-related ordinances to the Town Council at its meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. The ordinances were included on the agendas for the meetings released by the town.

Carol Rose is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at crose@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

Staff writers Darrell Hofheinz and Diego Diaz Lasa contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach developer says it nixed PUD request in wake of P&Z meeting