Commercial Development in Florida: How to Tell Proposed, Approved and Deferred Projects Apart

A Florida commercial project is approved only when the body with final authority votes for it. Everything before that vote is a proposal, even after a committee or planning board says yes. A project can also be heard more than once without any vote, and a denial can come after a hearing. Headlines and listing sheets blur these stages. The hearing record does not.

Below are five commercial cases from our Florida record between June 11 and October 31, 2026. Three were approved, by different paths. One is still open. One was denied. Each shows what to check before treating a project as real.

Approved in two steps: OnCue on AC Skinner Parkway, Jacksonville

On October 6, Jacksonville's Land Use and Zoning Committee heard bill 2026-557 for OnCue. The applicant's representative described a mixed-use entertainment venue in part of an existing office park building, with a full-service restaurant and bar and a billiards lounge. The PUD also covers alcohol sales and includes a waiver of the liquor distance rule for a church that sits in a separate building in the same business park. Our record lists the site as 15.41 acres moving from IBP to PUD.

Staff forwarded a recommendation of approval with two conditions and revised Exhibits 3 and 4. The committee approved the amendment with conditions, then voted 6-0 on the bill as amended.

The committee vote was not the end. On October 13 the full City Council took up 2026-557, adopted the amendment and passed the bill as amended 15-0. Only that second vote made the approval final. See the OnCue project page.

Approved after three votes: Raj Properties on Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville

Raj Properties' site at 3747 and 3757 Hendricks Avenue and 3710 Grandy Avenue shows the full path. It needed two bills. Bill 2026-692 is a small-scale land use amendment for about 0.32 acres, from Community General Commercial and Low Density Residential to Residential Professional Institutional. Bill 2026-0693 is the companion rezoning to Commercial Office.

Staff told the Land Use and Zoning Committee on October 20 that the Planning Commission had approved the item unanimously on October 8. The applicant's representative described a two-story medical office of up to 9,000 square feet. The committee approved 2026-692 by 6-0 and 2026-0693 by 5-0. Then, on October 27, the full City Council passed both bills 18-0.

Three bodies voted on this project. Only the last vote made it final. See the project page for the companion rezoning.

Approved with a development agreement: Lake Tarpon restaurant, Pinellas County

On October 27 the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners heard two items for a 3.22-acre site on the east side of U.S. Highway 19 North at the end of Timberlane Road in Palm Harbor. One was a future land use amendment. The other was case ZON2508, a request by Trent Road LLC to rezone from mobile home and family residential zoning to Commercial Parkway. Staff said the site was originally an RV park, then a mobile home park, and has been vacant for years.

The development agreement does most of the work here. As staff and commissioners described it, it limits the property to a restaurant, bar and accessory uses. It caps the impervious surface ratio at 0.26, the floor area ratio at 0.11, building height at 40 feet and maximum occupancy at 465. Asked by a commissioner, the presenter confirmed the applicant had agreed to no amplified music anywhere on the property. Staff said these terms are recorded as deed restrictions at site plan review. Both items passed unanimously.

An approval like this is narrow. Staff compared the caps with the Residential Office Retail land use category, which allows an impervious surface ratio of 0.85, a floor area ratio of 0.55 and 75 feet of height. Read the agreement before you assume what can be built. The project page holds the case.

Still open: the batting cage PUD, Jacksonville

Bill 2026-0657 is a PUD-to-PUD request to expand an existing batting cage at Fort Caroline and Hartsfield. On October 6, a speaker told the committee the item was not up for a vote because it had not come out of the Planning Commission, since the applicant had not appeared there. On October 20, the committee opened the hearing again with no planning department report. The committee was told the bill had been extended until November 4.

An opposition speaker at the October 20 hearing said the one-acre lot has eight parking spaces but proposes outdoor seating for 173, and that the site is within 1,500 feet of a school. In our record the committee heard the bill twice with no committee vote. Until a body votes, the case is open, whatever the listing says.

Denied: LEADERS COMPANIES, LLC at Bellamy and Ehrlich Roads, Hillsborough County

On October 13, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners took up PD 26-0974. The request would have rezoned 3.4 acres at the northwest corner of Bellamy Road and Ehrlich Road from AS-1 to PD for a 4,852 square foot convenience store with gas. Staff did not support it. Staff cited encroachments of buildings and wetland setbacks, a lack of detail on access improvements that could affect county facilities, and found the project too intensive for the site. The Planning Commission found it inconsistent and the hearing officer recommended denial. The board denied the rezoning 7-0. See the project page.

Four questions to ask about any Florida project

Which body voted, and does it have final authority? In Jacksonville, both OnCue and Raj Properties needed a full City Council vote after the committee approved them.

Were there companion bills? A land use amendment without its rezoning, or the reverse, is half a project.

What do the conditions or development agreement limit? The Lake Tarpon agreement sets caps well below what its land use category allows.

Was the hearing continued or extended? A deferral is not a quiet approval.

You can compare more covered cases on the Florida commercial projects page.

Continue the research

The stage label tells you where a project stands. The conditions tell you what it can become. ZoneWire Pro opens the full records and conditions of the Florida meetings we cover, so you can check a development agreement's terms without replaying the whole hearing. Meeting Q&A answers questions such as "what did staff say about access?" straight from the transcript. Research Jacksonville, Pinellas County or Hillsborough County decisions with Pro.