Manatee OKs turning potato farm along northern border into 1,800-home community
The Manatee County Commission has voted to approve a request to turn a 635-acre potato farm into a community of more than 1,800 homes along the county’s northern border.
Following the Parrish trend of turning farms into neighborhoods, developers presented their vision for turning a portion of Jones Potato Farm’s property into a walkable community during Thursday’s public Land Use Meeting. The project stretches from Buckeye Road north to Hillsborough County.
“You’re seeing a lot of development come online in this part of the county,” said Rachel Layton, a planner representing Neal Land and Neighborhoods, pointing to other major projects that are ongoing.
Just south of the Jones property, Neal’s development company has already begun building and selling homes in the North River Ranch community. The Jones property will have a similar feel, developers said, promoting a walkable community where residents can live, work and play.
“One of the elements we talked about is the idea of multi-modal transportation. We’ve talked about this to individual commissioners over the years, but this is something that’s become a hallmark of Neal Land and Neighborhoods and our development process. It’s something we intend to bring forward to the Jones Farm and also Parrish at large.”
The project will provide a mixture of single-family units to bring 1,833 more homes to the area. Developers also say they plan to build 300,000 square feet of commercial space. The planned community also looks toward the future by reserving a 20-acre parcel for an elementary school, a 15-acre county park and an extension of Fort Hamer Road runs through the center of the project.
“I’m looking at this at the 30,000-foot level of planning. Fort Hamer goes literally from this project to Fruitville in Sarasota,” Whitmore said. “There are plans to work with Hillsborough County and make it another thoroughfare going north, so that’s good 30,000-foot level planning.”
“Manatee County has done an excellent job with regional planning, but it’s mostly been done with Sarasota County. I’m sure the same will be true with this project as it goes forward with Hillsborough County,” Commissioner Misty Servia added.
Neal representatives say they’ve been in contact with the Florida Department of Transportation to discuss plans regarding another Interstate 75 exit in southern Hillsborough. If that exit is constructed, Ft. Hamer Road could serve as a regional thoroughfare that relieves north-south traffic on the highway.
The board had little trouble approving the project’s request to rezone the agricultural land and approve the general development plan, despite protest from residents of the Sundance community that borders the property to the north.
Speaking during public comment, Sundance homeowners urged Manatee officials to deny the developer’s request in order to protect their rural lifestyles. Neal representatives contested that the communities will be separated by over 400 feet of “heavily wooded” areas.
“We’re not making distinctions about county line. The county residents of Hillsborough have a right to be here and speak,” said Ed Vogler, a land use attorney representing the developer. “The project and its impact on Hillsborough is something to be reviewed by this board, but there’s 420 feet of separation between any near residence and here. Anywhere solely in Manatee County, that would be seen as a very large buffer.”
Developers hit another snag in their request by asking for longer cul-de-sacs than the county’s Land Development Code allows. In order to reduce wetland impacts on the property, Neal proposed cul-de-sacs that are 1,300 feet long, with a mid-block turnaround for emergency vehicles.
“What I’ve heard from EMS is that a mid-block turnaround is not something that is beneficial for them. Their primary concern when it comes to cul-de-sac length is the response time,” said Jake Bibler, a planner in the county’s Public Safety Department, who noted that emergency vehicles aim to respond to a call within about nine minutes.
“In the off-chance that a cul-de-sac was blocked at the beginning of the cul-de-sac and they had to proceed with emergency services where they have to walk to the end of the cul-de-sac, then anything in excess of 800 feet would have a high response time. That’s one of the concerns with this project.”
The developer’s legal team offered a stipulation that would force any plans for a long cul-de-sac to be reviewed by county staff earlier in the process, which gave Public Safety more confidence in the possibility to resolve potential issues. County Administrator Scott Hopes added that Manatee’s budget includes funding for three new EMS stations in the area that would also help reduce response times.
The board voted unanimously in support of the project, citing Neal’s previous experience and attention to detail in planning large communities.
“If we’re going to have change, I do prefer a large more, more managed project rather than the small project where a developer is trying to get the most they can out of a 40-acre parcel or an 80-acre parcel,” Commissioner James Satcher said. “I understand that’s the free market at work, but when you have a bigger parcel, they can make better decisions overall and I do like seeing that.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 3:26 PM.
