North Port Commission zones 262 acres north of I-75 for multifamily development
NORTH PORT – North Port city commissioners cleared the way for multifamily housing to be built on 262.3 acres annexed in 1999 by a 3-2 vote Tuesday, despite concerns raised by neighbors over the number of homes and loss of wetlands.
Known as Toledo Blade 320 Residential Multi-Family, the tract is owned by Deluxeton Homes of Dunwoody, Georgia, and located about a mile north of Interstate 75.
It previously carried no zoning designation because the owners did not have a plan for the property after a project called Isles of Athena fell through and the Great Recession hit. The board designated the property as appropriate for residential multifamily development, which matched the site's designation in the city's long-range growth plan.
Development in that portion of the city has been jump-started by North Port's decision to extend water and sewer lines north of the Interstate, using federal American Rescue Plan funding.
Attorney Jeff Boone noted that plans for the site will call for about 880 units on the parcel, with a large percentage of the wetlands preserved.
“There’s a high degree of wetlands and environmental features that goes with our proposal," Boone said.
The parcel is just north of, but not connected to Star Farms Village, once known as Toledo Village, a 3,000-plus home development mothballed by the Great Recession.
Star Farms Village was approved last spring.
Many residents who voiced concern about Toledo 320 cited the pending traffic impact of Star Farms Village and commercial development farther south off of Toledo Blade.
In Tallahassee, House Bill 1117, which would create the Star Farms Village of Florida Stewardship District that could then fund infrastructure, passed the House on a 114-0 vote and was sent to the Senate.
The Toledo Blade 320 parcel is on land designated for high-density residential development, with a maximum of 15 units per acre.
Public speakers asked the commission to maintain single-family zoning on the property and preserve wetlands rather than allow developers to fill them in and pay to conserve wetlands elsewhere.
“The fragmentation of our wetlands, which is continuing not just this development proposal for rezoning, we have seen consistently plans approved and property resold,” Chuck English said, adding he feared a subsequent purchaser could just mitigate the wetlands on the existing master plan in exchange for more development.
“You can’t keep fragmenting the environment for the sale of economic development when we have no idea what the impact will be down the road.”
Commissioner Debbie McDowell, who along with Pete Emrich in dissent, agreed with the residents.
“We are making ourselves overcrowded and this is one of the last areas that I believe – and this is my opinion – that needs to be developed out.”
McDowell, who voted to give preliminary approval to the project earlier, said she changed her vote because she did not see a legal basis to deny it, but ultimately could not “in good conscience,” rezone more environmentally sensitive land for development.
Mayor Alice White – who recalled when the land was annexed along with the property planned to become the Isles of Athena development – noted that it was never meant to be conserved, though as much as 72% of the land may not be developed.
“That’s remarkable, quite frankly, for a property of this size,” Boone said of that possibility.
Boone stressed that before the project can go forward it must be approved by the Southwest Florida Water Management District,
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port board approves zoning change for 262-acre tract near I-75
