Amid new plans to build 423 homes, Polk Commission will consider a Grenelefe CDD
The Polk County Commission will hold a hearing Tuesday for a proposed Community Development District on land approved decades ago for 423 single-family homes south of the former Grenelefe Golf and Tennis Resort in unincorporated Haines City.
"Tomorrow is just the beginning," said Erik Peterson, county planning administrator by email Monday. Following a hearing on Tuesday, the commission could vote on the smaller CDD.
"They initially submitted a Community Development District (CDD) application for the entire project, but we could not approve it if it was inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan," he said. "So, they scaled it back for just the portion where their CDD Petition matched their development approval.
"They plan to expand the CDD once the rest of their property is changed to match their development plans," Peterson said.
In Tuesday's commission agenda packet, a staff report shows the landowner, Smokey Groves Development LLC, wants to establish Grenelefe Community Development District for the new subdivision. A CDD will establish its boundaries, functions and powers and designate its board of supervisors.
The subdivision on 132.68 acres would be located west of the bend in Lake Marion Drive and south of Coventry Lane and Stratford Court, the staff report said. The project is south and east of Haines City and north and east of Dundee.
Staff said the land is within a utility enclave area and the proposed project will preserve 30-plus acres. The county staff has recommended approval of the CDD.
At the Tuesday commission meeting, the ordinance to create the CDD will be given a first reading and would need to be approved by a vote at a later date. A presentation on the project was first seen by the commissioners at their Friday agenda review.
“This development is not going to give any development rights that were not already there,” said Ben Ziskal, land development director for Polk County. He added that the CDD is more of an organizational and financial structure.
The 102.68 acres of uplands slated for single-family detached homes would be at a density of 4.12 dwelling units per acre, the report said. The lots will vary from 50 to 70 feet wide.
A small portion of the property had been previously approved by the County Commission as a planned development in April 2009. That was a modification of the original Grenelefe Golf & Tennis Resort planned unit development approved by the board in 1979, also known as the Arrowhead Development of Regional Impact.
The proposed density for the CDD would be less intense than the 2009 approval.
The County Engineer’s Office has reviewed the applicant’s estimates for the installation of infrastructure, but it could not confirm their complete accuracy, the staff report said. The report added, “However, the cost estimates appear to be reasonable relative to other CDDs approved in the County ....”
In other county staff findings:
The estimated cost the CDD can fund is $16.4 million or roughly $38,819 per unit for offsite improvements, earthwork, roadways, stormwater management, hardscape, landscape and irrigation, streetlighting, professional services and contingency accounts.
Past CDD estimates have been between $7,350 and $68,625 per unit, putting the proposed CDD in the middle range of per-unit cost historically.
The establishment of a CDD on the subject property is consistent with the state and Polk County comprehensive plans.
At about 132.68 acres, it is sufficiently compact and it is sufficiently contiguous for development of a functional interrelated community.
“The proposed CDD is one alternative available for delivering its needed community development services and facilities without the additional burden to taxpayers outside of the CDD,” the staff report said. “Another alternative available is for the developer to pay for all the infrastructure improvements up front.”
The advantage of the CDD compared to alternatives is similar to a municipality that can issue bonds that are then funded by future revenue collections included with individual property tax bills.
“The debt of the CDD runs with the properties created within the CDD, which lessens the chance that it will fall upon public responsibility,” the report said.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk Commission to discuss a Grenelefe Community Development District
