City Commission Supports Zoning Change at Kerry Forest and Thomasville Road

On Wednesday, December 11, the Tallahassee City Commission voted 3-2 to support a proposed zoning amendment related to land near Kerry Forest Parkway. City Commissioners Matlow and Porter voted no.

Residents in the area spoke out against to the change.

Supporters of the rezone which included the Lutheran Church. Officials with the church say the change will allow them to pay off their mortgage, build a new sanctuary and turn their current building into a fellowship hall.

Proposed Amendment

The proposed amendment to the Northampton Planned Unit Development (PUD) Concept Plan, is located on the East side of Thomasville Road, along Kerry Forest Parkway and the North side of Velda Dairy Road.

The application proposes amending the existing PUD to allow a commercial node at the northeast corner of the intersection of Thomasville Road and Velda Dairy Road, while retaining the church’s use at the intersection of Thomasville Road and Kerry Forest Parkway.

The affected portion is approximately 10.7-acres of the 260-acre Northampton PUD.

The amendment also updates the concept plan to remove the PUD’s self-titled Canopy Protection Zone along Thomasville Road (Thomasville Road is not a designated Canopy Road), which extends 150 feet from the centerline of Thomasville Road. This was included in the PUD in 1987 when Thomasville Road was a two-lane road. The updated concept plan replaces this with a standard 20-foot-wide Type B landscape buffer along the Thomasville Road frontage (Type B buffer as described in Tallahassee Land Development Code Section 10-177).

The concept plan also provides a 30-foot-wide Type D buffer (which is the most intense buffer standard provided in code) along all areas that are adjacent to existing residential development. 

Residents in the area oppose the change and have started a petition urging the “Tallahassee City Commission to Reject the Northampton PUD Amendment.”

The petition, in part, notes “This amendment threatens a conservation easement and canopy preservation area that has been in place for 40 years, protecting our residential section of Thomasville Road from highway commercial development. The application was not sufficiently declared to the community, and it ignores a directive from the city to address any changes to the canopy preservation area.”

The Planning Commission, at its meeting on August 6, 2024, voted 5-0 to find Ordinance 24-Z-29 consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and recommend the City Commission adopt it.

At its meeting on July 8, 2024, the Development Review Committee (DRC) reviewed the proposed PUD amendment and voted 5-0 to recommend approval with conditions.