Affordable, workforce housing to come to Palmetto

MANATEE -- With a limited supply of affordable housing in Manatee County, some relief is on its way to Palmetto.

A development, which will include affordable and workforce housing at the southwest corner of Ellenton-Gillette Road and 29th Street East in Palmetto, was approved by the commission during Thursday's Land Use meeting.

"This is a very nice project for people who are looking to live like they are in a home but are not actually in a home," said Larry Lieberman, who spoke on behalf of the applicant.

Bringing 136 multifamily units in 14 buildings to Palmetto, the Ellenton Landings project is comparable to the Carolina Landings project off University Parkway. The commission approved the preliminary site plan, which designates at least 25 percent of the units as affordable housing and another 25 percent as workforce housing.

"These are people with jobs. These are people that are good citizens," Lieberman said of the residents who will be living in the project. "This is the type of housing that we have all been looking for a segment of Manatee."

Former county Commissioner Ron Getman spoke in favor of the project at Thursday's meeting.

"It's not only needed," he said. "Our community is almost desperate for projects such as this."

Also on Thursday, the commission:

Approved a preliminary site plan for an 82,600-sqaure-foot shopping center at the northeast corner of the intersection of State Road 70 and Lorraine Road. The approval also included a rezone of 16.94 acres to planned development commercial/watershed protection/special treatment overlay district. According to the plans submitted by Schroeder Manatee Ranch Inc., a 52,600-square-foot main store is planned for the north-central portion of the site. Four outparcels totaling 30,000 square feet are also planned for the site, with three built along Lorraine Road and one along State Road 70.

Approved a resolution granting Special Approval for expansion of the DaySpring Episcopal Conference Center in Parrish. A special permit calls for a 58,900-square-foot expansion, which includes the addition of a program center, meeting center, two adult lodges and new amenities, according to agenda documents.

Adopted a Manatee County Comprehensive Plan amendment removing the "minimum square footage requirement for industrial development and the removal of the number of housing units to square footage of nonresidential development requirement," for a 6,595-acre Schroeder-Manatee Ranch property east of Lorraine Road and north of State Road 70 known as the Northeast Quadrant, according to county documents.

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter@Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Affordable, workforce housing to come to Palmetto ."