Controversial development OK’d
176-acre development near Park and Brookforest subdivisions.
The 176-acre tract, above, with an extra parcel that residents worry is for access to Appaloosa Road. The circular lots at bottom are the Park subdivision.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
County commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a comp plan change on 176 acres from agricultural to Rural 2 zoning, which would allow one home per acre with central water and sewer.
At the commission meeting on Monday, neighbors were voiceferous in their objections to the change, expressing concerns about pollution impacts on the aquifer and Wakulla Springs, traffic, wildlife – and especially the loss of their rural lifestyle.
Developer Robby Miller, president of Golden Construction, which is developing the project, has not indicated his intentions or the specifics of the project. But it’s early in the process for Miller to show his plan.
As Commission Chair Ralph Thomas expressed to the residents in the audience before the meeting, what was before the commission to vote on was a very specific change of comp plan zoning. And Thomas checked off what the vote was not about: it’s not about trees, it’s not about the number of homes on the property, it’s not about septic tanks or sewer, not about how the land will be accessed or if it’s going through another neighborhood.
Commissioner Chuck Hess offered his own clarification, saying it’s about the right to develop this piece of property. He stressed: “We can always turn this down.”
Thomas answered that the question boiled down to a farm or homes.
A dozen residents spoke on the issue, most speaking adamantly against the change. Unusually, two of the speakers were sitting members of the planning commission – Andrew Riddle and Chad Hanson. The planning commission voted against the comp plan change earlier in the process.
Hanson urged commissioners to consider the impact on additional nitrates from the development on the aquifer.
Riddle, who chairs the planning commission and voted against the measure there, commented that “This is a travesty” – saying that it wasn’t clear what Miller’s plans are since there has yet to be a site plan. “It could be 170 homes, it could be 90,” he said. “There is a process. We need to follow the process.”
One objection heard repeatedly is that a 2-acre parcel on Appaloosa Road would be used as an access point to the new development – which residents of that area complained would change their rural area into a “suburb.”
One resident, Cliff Hancock, who lives in that area, said he would remove all objections if the commission could tell him there was no possibility of that happening. (Miller has not presented his site or plat plans, so there is not yet any indication of how the land will be accessed.)
Ultimately, Hess and Commissioner Mike Kemp voted against the change. Kemp noted he supported an earlier version that would have seen one home per two acres – but the state rejected that because the development would have been on septic tanks – and the state is spending tens of millions of dollars in Wakulla County to remove septic tanks. Miller then came back with the current proposal to commit to water and sewer and paved roads in exchange for the higher density.
Kemp drew the line at the higher density, though. “I just cannot support this particular issue,” he said, which drew applause from the crowd.
Hess checked off a list of eight reasons not to vote for the change including that neighbors oppose it because they would lose their rural lifestyle; the number of cars it would add to neighborhood streets; and the planning commission turned it down.
Thomas and commissioners Fred Nichols and Quincee Messersmith voted for it, which seemed to stun some in the crowd.
A subsequent item, to approve a developer’s agreement in which Miller agreed to provide central water and sewer for the project also passed 3-2.
Hess complained about the project and access to the property, and Messersmith asked Hess if he had asked Miller about his plans for the property.
“No,” Hess said.
“Thank you,” Messersmith answered.
