BOCC to Hear Controversial Beruff Project on Flood Prone Parcel

BRADENTON – Developer Carlos Beruff of Medallion Homes wants to put 315 multifamily apartment units on the northeast and northwest corners of Lockwood Ridge Boulevard and Whitfield Avenue, where flooding already plagues surrounding developments. Manatee County Commissioners will decide the project's fate at Thursday's land use meeting.

Rattlesnake Slough, a waterway that is part of the Braden River Watershed, cuts through the land diagonally. The project site already takes much of the runoff from surrounding developments and the waterway has overflowed several times in recent years, impacting properties as far away as the Tara Golf and Country Club. David Woodhouse, a geologist who is also a retired engineer and has been involved as an activist and expert witness in several local projects, warned Manatee Planning Commissioners that the development–if approved as planned–was certain to cause increased flooding. Nonetheless, the advisory board recommended the project for approval, as has county staff.

Beruff is a major player in Manatee County politics and frequent contributor to both county commission candidates and the political action committees that help them get and stay elected. The developer, who unsuccessfully challenged Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican Senate primary, has rarely seen requests to accommodate his projects go unheeded.

Much of the proposed project area resides within the FEMA 2014 FIRM 100-year floodplain. The project area is partially located within the FEMA floodway associated with Rattlesnake Slough. In addition, 96 percent of the project area is located within the county's 25-year floodplain, and it will impact wetlands. While such projects require an "overriding public benefit" to be considered for approval, according to the county's own rules, no such benefit was presented.

The site consists of two parcels, one zoned A-1 (Agricultural Suburban, 1 unit per acre) the other zoned RMF-6 (Residential Multi-Family- 6 dwelling units per acre), for a total project size of 37.27 acres. If approved, it would be zoned Planned Development Residential/6 units per acre. The smaller tract will have floodplain compensation and wetland mitigation. The zoning change would provide for a 50 percent density credit. The resulting8.45 units per acre density will be much greater than the surrounding developments, which range from2.09 and 4.95 units per acre, and the three and four-story building heights are also out of step with the nearby neighborhoods.

Residents from surrounding communities got together to oppose the project over concerns for flooding, incompatibility with surrounding neighborhoods, and what they saw as dangerous traffic increases. An attorney was hired and negotiations took place as to limitations on the development of the property. However, while some of the agreed-upon stipulations were legally-binding, others that were considered essential to the community members were left as non-binding "commitments" from the developer, which many were not satisfied with.

As a result, some residents of these initial communities have now formed a new opposition group, represented by a new land use attorney, Dan Lobeck, and are considering filing suit if they are unable to convince the county commission to deny approval.