Pembroke Pines rezones site for 50-unit Lennar townhouse project

Lennar narrowly won approval of a rezoning to allow a gated development with 50 townhouses in Pembroke Pines, next door to another of the homebuilder’s projects.

The Pembroke Pines City Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday night to rezone the development site near the intersection of Pines Boulevard and Southwest 184th Avenue from “general business” (B-3) to “townhouse residential” (R-TH).

The 6.7-acre site is next to an existing, 58-unit Lennar townhouse development called Tuscan Pines, where prices start in the low $600,000s, according to Zillow. 

A Lennar spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Miami-based Lennar has a contract to buy the vacant site from Sky Rise Plaza LLC, which is controlled by a Miramar-based company managed by Marcelo Herskovitz, according to state records.

Sky Rise Plaza LLC, the rezoning applicant, acquired the site in 2006 for $4.4 million, according to Broward County property records.

In addition to rezoning the site, the city commission also set the density of the Lennar townhouse development by allocating 50 so-called flexibility units to the site and amending the plat for the site to allow for 50 townhouses there.

The plat for the Pembroke Pines property previously allowed the development of as much as 77,500 square feet of office space and 2,500 square feet of restaurant space.

Several city commissioners expressed concern that, under a new state law, a developer could build as many as 175 residential units on the site without extensive city reviews if at least 40 percent of the units were designated as affordable housing.

The statewide Live Local Act, enacted July 1, is intended to streamline municipal approval of affordable housing developments. But several city commissioners complained that the state law usurps local leadership in planning and development.

“We are stuck with this siege on home-rule authority,” said city commissioner Jay D. Schwartz.

“The general impetus of the bill is, they want to get government out of the way,” Michael Stamm, Pembroke Pines assistant city manager and director of planning and economic development, said at the commission meeting. “Developers can submit a site plan for just administrative approval — no public hearings, no rezonings … just staff approval.”

Iris Siple, vice mayor of Pembroke Pines, voted against the rezoning for the Lennar project on first reading. She said she decided to vote for the rezoning on second and final reading Wednesday night because the Live Local Act took effect in the interim, raising the possibility of a denser residential development on the site with less local oversight. 

“We would have no control over any of that happening,” Siple said. “We have no control. They would just come and put what they want there.”

Siple exercised some control over the Lennar development during the city commission meeting by asking Dennis Mele, an attorney representing the homebuilder, if Lennar could reduce the number of townhouses from the 54 originally planned. 

In a quick response, Mele said the number would drop to 50 if the commission would vote on the rezoning proposal Wednesday, not defer action to a later date.