BRADENTON — A controversial land development application seeking a rezone of roughly 217 acres along CR 765 (Rutland Road) in Parrish was unanimously denied by Manatee County Commissioners during a land use meeting on Thursday.
After being granted multiple continuances before both the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners, the board’s final vote on the proposed development project—known as Pope Ranch—was held in a brief hearing that lasted less than ten minutes.
Pope Ranch’s applicant, Simply Dwell Homes, an independent subsidiary of Neal Communities, sought the board’s approval for a rezone of 217.36 acres from general agriculture, coastal evacuation area, and coastal planning area, to planned development residential.
Simply Dwell provides new construction residential homes at “attainable” prices.
The associated General Development Plan proposed the construction of 440 single-family units in a region of the county that experienced significant flooding during the last hurricane season. The county staff report noted the proposed location was a designated Coastal High Hazard Area in the FEMA FIRM 100-year floodplain and floodway.
The application first went before the Planning Commission in February, where it received unanimous approval for continuance to provide the applicant and public more time for information gathering.
Though the proposed density was less than the maximum allowable for the site, residents of the area who provided public comment—and some planning commissioners—expressed reservations about the timing and location of the Pope Ranch development.
In April, the application returned to the Planning Commission, and the applicant’s updated presentation made an effort to address some of the concerns raised by the public and some members of the Planning Commission in February.
Moved to a vote, the Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend the project’s approval by the county commission. However, members Matt Bower and Scott Ziegler voted against the recommendation due to incompatibility and timing—member Lorraine Prosser was absent.
The item was heard before the BOCC on May 8.
Roughly a dozen citizens provided public comment before the commissioners, offering compelling and emotional testimony about the flooding the surrounding areas experienced during last hurricane season.
Additional written public comment in opposition to approval was attached to the meeting’s agenda.
During commissioner deliberations, the application request appeared destined to be denied, with three commissioners strongly expressing concerns regarding the timing and location of the proposed development. However, ahead of the vote, the board was down to just six commissioners.
As the vote was about to be taken, a representative of the applicant requested that the application item be continued for hearing before a full board.
Given the board’s long-standing courtesy of supporting the requests of any applicants preferring to have their requests voted on by all seven members, the request was approved 5-1, and the item was rescheduled to return to the commissioners last week.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, additional written public comments were submitted into the record, and multiple residents waited in chambers for their opportunity to speak on the item.
However, no one from the public ever approached the podium to speak. Nearly as soon as the item was opened, it was moved to a vote.
Following Commission Chair George Kruse's confirmation with the applicant that there was no new information or details to be presented, Commissioner Bob McCann made a motion to deny the request.
Without any board deliberations or discussion, the motion moved to a vote, where its denial was affirmed in a 7-0 vote. Quiet applause was heard from the chamber’s audience after the final vote was read.
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cusickr
Kudos to the BOCC for finally denying a rezone. We have seen too many agricultural and residential acreage rezoned to accommodate the builders. Clear cutting, flooding, traffic and infrastructure seem to be a builders afterthought if at all.
Let’s not rezone anything until wetland setbacks have been restored and impact fees increased to match 100% of current costs!
Sunday, June 22 Report this
David Daniels
The fact that developer puppets Mike Rahn and Amanda Ballard voted (for the first time?) against Pat Neal shows that we, as informed voters, truly have the power over our own governing. We need to send the same message to our so-called "representatives" in Tallahassee that continue to vote against our interest. State Senator Jim Boyd - who votes time and time again to protect insurance industry profits (he owns an insurance company) and also votes time and time again to pre-empt local control of development, and votes time and time again to weaken public records laws - he needs to be voted out. William Conerly, who also voted to strip local control of development, needs to be voted out.
Sunday, June 22 Report this
writerlynn9717
What a humongous breath of relief that the board voted against the development for all of us in Manatee County who were flooded during the hurricanes and still displaced from our homes 8 months later. A serious potential flood hazard that I have witnessed is along 75th street and the SeaFlower development. During recent rainstorms, SeaFlower portion of 75th was flooded by turbid run-off, which caused much traffic delays. Obviously, SeaFlower has not been given appropriate protocols when developing the property to stop run-off from their property. The traffic delays can't possibly be good during hurricanes here when people are trying to evacuate, as well. So keep up the good work for Manatee County, because we are not nearly done with the flooding issues and how to fix them.
Sunday, June 22 Report this