Lakewood Ranch residents are known to generally show little interest in county issues that extend west of the interstate. Recently, they showed up en masse to oppose a 7-story residential development in their East County enclave but were slapped down by the BOCC. Smart growth advocates who regularly watchdog the commission let out a little collective chuckle at the scene. It seemed to say, Welcome to Manatee County. In case you haven't noticed, you live (and vote) here.

The issue came up at a Nov. 6 BOCC Land Use meeting. Residents of the award-winning master-planned community showed up in force – chartering two buses to state their opposition to a project they say is not in line with the character of the community they love.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears. Welcome to democracy in Manatee County.

The plan had previously stalled, falling to a deadlocked 3-3 vote before the Manatee County Planning Commission – an advisorial body that rarely fails to recommend development approval – on the heels of county staff recommending against it.

At some point, the ship turned around. Staff changed their mind, saying that because someone else has the right to build a 10-story hotel or office complex nearby the “visual impact” suddenly did not seem prohibitive.

Residents argued that there are no plans to build the other project, which is not believed to be financially viable, and it was therefore irrelevant.

The rest of the argument hinges on the residents' contention that being significantly higher than other residential structures in LWR, it will irrevocably change the community character vs. the developer, Homes by Towne's argument that it's a needed addition to an up-and-coming, walkable, mixed use town center.

It would seem that this might become a familiar concern. Thus far, LWR has been the gold standard in developing pastoral, ecologically-sensitive lands, while preserving green space, wetlands and the natural habitat of animals. Not perfect, but far better than nearly all of the others. 

However, this has been the easy part – the build it and they will come portion, if you will. With the first third filled out and demand for such residential real estate returning, there's going to be the temptation to squeeze every bit of milk and honey from the udders. That means at least as much density as already approved and quite likely, a push for significantly more.

Lakewood Ranch was planned to be a community of 50,000. They're currently at around 18,000 with big plans for the southern corridor, which will eventually fill out all the way to Fruitville Road in Sarasota.

It's common at such stages for every new resident to demand that they build a wall as soon as they've closed on their new home. Mine's done, don't build anymore. We're big enough now.

That's not the way it works Ace.

For those who make their duckets in the development game, building is their business and business is about to pick up. With the completion of a new, ultra-upscale mega-mall nearby, property values are on the rise. That means a 1,500 square foot house on a quarter acre will soon go for what a 2,100 square foot unit on a third had been bringing in.

Once a place gets to a certain level of demand, the spread between a small homestead and a slightly bigger one will never justify low density. Pack them in like sardines and count the cabbage. Sure, there's a comp plan to consider, which is exactly why developers are the biggest money-men in county commission races.

I'm not saying it's not a fight worth waging, I'm just saying they might be a little bit late to the game. As the residents who protested the 7-story structure quickly found out, such decisions are made by a board, most of whom have never seen a development proposal or comp plan amendment request they didn't like.

LWR is deep red and tends to go straight ticket Republican, helping to ensure a developer-friendly board. It was more than a little ironic that the November 6 meeting came just two days after the Ranch helped propel Countywide Commissioner Carol Whitmore to a 19-point victory over an opponent who would have almost certainly been their biggest advocate on the issue.

As far as their District 5 Commissioner, Vanessa Baugh, all they have to do is check out her 2012 campaign finance reports to guess which way the wind will likely blow when development issues come up. Baugh was displaying enthusiastic optimism at the Nov. 6 meeting, and I'd be very surprised if her enthusiasm were to wane going forward for this or other similar projects.

As TBT's John Rehill likes to say, democracy is a high-maintenance enterprise and it likes to be touched; meaning you don't want to wait until you find that something isn't working to plan a fix. You've got to keep up with it along the way. LWR residents have two more years before they can do anything about the BOCC beyond showing up to vent. Meanwhile, let's see if they stay in the game.

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Kicking the Post Election Blues