To loud applause, the Brevard County Commission on Tuesday, July 21, unanimously rejected a developer’s appeal to use Florida’s Live Local Act to reverse the county’s unanimous rejection of a proposed apartment complex on Merritt Island.
The Live Local Act encourages more affordable housing, and came into play involving the controversial multi-family housing development proposed for just north of Hampton Manor and Pioneer Road, west of Raintree by the Lake. The initial law took effect in 2023 but updates to clarify how it’s applied took effect July 1.
“Speaking here isn’t easy for many of us but the precedents that this case sets is too dangerous for any of us to stay silent,” Pamela Steel, who lives in Sykes Cove, told commissioners before Tuesday’s vote. “If you approve this appeal today you’re effectively telling every developer in Florida that our local zoning maps do not matter.”
“If this argument succeeds, it creates a playbook,” Steel added. “Any developer will be able to buy cheap agricultural, rural land anywhere in Brevard County, find an old administrative permit in the archives, and strip you our elected officials who speak for the people of your power to say ‘no.’ “
The developer’s representatives have argued that plan follows the law, the county’s comprehensive plan and that they’ve made concessions to try to address neighbor’s concerns, such as deeper setbacks from existing homes.
Local opponents of the project cite preexisting urban problems as reasons to deny the rezoning: among them, traffic, pedestrian safety, school crowding, flooding, sewage overflows and power failures.
What was in proposal before commission?
The July 21 public hearing considered Merritt Bidco SPV LLC’s appeal of the county’s denial of a rezoning for the proposed apartment complex. The developer initially proposed 222-unit apartment complex. But another related proposal, attempting to tap into the Live Local Act, would have allowed for up to 337 units (30 units per acre), 50% more than the previous proposal.
“This is not an appeal of the denial of the rezoning,” Kim Rezanka, the attorney representing the developer, told commissioners.
“The Live Local act does not care about character or the intent of a zoning classification.”
The property is owned by Merritt Bidco SPV LLC, a New York–based special purpose vehicle or stand-alone legal entity usually established for a defined purpose. The property had a market value $1.7 million in 2025, according to the county’s property appraiser website.
The property is currently zoned Agricultural Residential and the developer wants it rezoned Medium-Density Multiple-Family Residential.
Nearby residents created a petition at Change.org that has garnered more than 3,400 signatures.
On May 7, after two hours of residents’ pleas, Brevard County Commission unanimously denied a rezoning that would have allowed the apartment complex.
But the developer makes the case that the Live Local Act (House Bill 1389) and a past conditional use permit allows commercial uses, including residential and commercial uses.
Under the act, counties and cities generally must allow certain multifamily affordable-housing developments on land zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed-use uses. The law was intended to overcome local zoning barriers to affordable housing.
In this case, the property is zoned agricultural residential, not commercial or industrial. To get around that, the developer is arguing that an old conditional use permit granted decades ago allowed commercial-type uses on the property. Based on that historic permit, they say the land should qualify as a site where Live Local applies, overriding the county’s previous rezoning denial. That is the legal theory behind the appeal.
In the agenda summary for the July 21 meeting, county staff said that the conditional use permit shouldn’t guarantee the zoning change:
“Staff maintains that the overall purpose and character of the AU zoning classification remains agricultural-residential; that individual commercial or commercial-type uses permitted within the zoning classification do not alter its fundamental character; and, that a Conditional Use Permit (which requires a public hearing and is not guaranteed as a matter of right) does not change the underlying zoning classification of a property,” county officials said in the summary.
“Staff further concludes that the legislative clarifications adopted in House Bill 1389 reinforce the distinction between agricultural uses and commercial uses for purposes of determining eligibility under the Live Local Act.”
Before the May 7 rezoning denial vote, the developer’s representatives said the plan follows the law and the county’s comprehensive plan and that concessions already have been made to try to ease neighborhood concerns.
“We have listened carefully to the surrounding neighborhood,” said Michael Oliver, managing director of development-Florida at RangeWater Real Estate. Concessions include a 100-foot setback from nearby homes, five times wider than required, Oliver said. The development represents a $55 million investment in the community, he added. “We are preserving most wetlands.”
Kim Rezanka, the attorney representing the developer, told commissioners before the May 7 vote: “Your primary responsibility is to follow the law, not to listen to petitions, not to look at red shirts,” she said to boos and hisses from the crowd, “and the law is very clear that the objections of a large number of residents from the affected neighborhood area are not a sound basis for the denial of a permit.”
Past votes on much-debated issue
A timeline of votes on the development proposal:
Waymer covers environment and government. Contact him at (321) 261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County denies ‘Live Local’ housing appeal in unanimous vote
Reporting by Jim Waymer, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Waymer, Florida Today | USA TODAY Network
