Lake Flores public airing shows uncertainty among West Bradenton residents

BRADENTON -- The landowner of what could be the second-largest master-planned community in Manatee County had some questions to answer Thursday morning.

Taking commentary on his proposed 1,300-acre Lake Flores project from about 150 county residents at a meeting he hosted at the Bradenton Country Club, Whiting Preston didn't have all the answers attendees were seeking. Between Preston and a panel of hired consultants, the crowd did see the curtain pulled back a little more on West Bradenton's future.

Traffic, the environment and beach access were top concerns cited at the 10th and largest meeting in a series of gatherings Preston held over the past year to discuss the project.

Preston, president of Lake Flores and the owner of Manatee Fruit Co., said construction on the fruit company's farmland could begin with

in two to three years.

More than 20 questions came from people who generally expressed support or neutrality toward the proposed 6,500-home community.

Promised as a walkable community with its own commercial district, hundreds of acres of lakes and a travel corridor for bikes, walkers, trolleys and golf carts, Lake Flores garnered positive comments for a publicized preliminary design.

Throughout the two-hour question-and-answer session, however, attendees voiced repeated concerns about the sheer size of the development and its impact on everything else around it.

Robert Longworth, a Holmes Beach resident, said he is horrified by the pressure thousands of new households would put on island beaches.

"It'll be a nightmare," he said. "They're going to want to go to the beach."

His comment was one of many showing a range of trepidation about Lake Flores, most centered on traffic. One supporter urged Preston to work with transportation officials to solve traffic issues before the first homes are built.

"I like everything I see about the interior of this project, but I think the biggest stumbling block is going to be the exterior," said Stuart Smith, who lives in Wild Oak Bay, a nearby development.

Preston said the development will generate enough property tax revenue to make some improvements needed to accommodate extra traffic, increase drinking water use and pay for additional public services needed for the influx of residents during a 20-year construction cycle.

Addressing congested roads around the project site, Preston said the county will have to come up with solutions and pay to widen nearby roads and bridges to alleviate gridlock. Lake Flores will help but it won't carry the entire burden, he said.

"We're going to take care of Lake Flores traffic," Preston said. "We're going to more than pay for some of the issues out there."

One attendee asked whether developing farmland would increase fertilizer-laden storm runoff flowing into Sarasota Bay. William Hamilton, an environmental consultant working on the Lake Flores project, said more than 300 acres of stormwater retention will prevent direct discharge to the bay.

"It will fully handle all the drainage that now goes out to Sarasota Bay," he said.

Preston's team said the development would eventually create 11,000 new jobs, add more than $17 million in tax revenue to county coffers annually and generate new property value of nearly $2 billion. In addition to homes, the development is tentatively planned to include about 500 hotel rooms and 3 million square feet of commercial space.

Preston was asked why he is pursuing a master planned community rather than selling off his company's farmland piecemeal for smaller developments.

He said his preference is to create "something very special."

"We could have cut it up," Preston said. "Frankly, that would have been an easier way to go."

The general development plan will go before the Manatee County Planning Commission on July 9 and then to the Manatee County Commission on Aug. 6.

Lake Flores is one of two huge residential development projects now in the works roughly bordered by El Conquistador Parkway and Sarasota Bay.

Long Bar Pointe, a proposed 522-acre development on the shores of the bay, received county approval in January to form a community development district to cover $31 million in estimated development costs. The project drew the ire of the public in 2013 when initial plans called for more than 3,500 dwelling units. The proposal has since been pared down to 1,400 homes.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published June 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Lake Flores public airing shows uncertainty among West Bradenton residents ."