More affordable housing could be on the way to Manatee County

Manatee County could soon see some additional affordable housing be developed.

On Thursday, the Manatee County Planning Commission unanimously recommended for approval a preliminary site plan for 86 residential multifamily units, with 25 percent of the units being affordable housing. The proposal for the apartments to be located at 5410 14th St. W., Bradenton, behind the RaceTrac, will go before the county commission June 1.

“My client identified a need for affordable housing in the community,” said John Cavoli, an engineer who spoke on behalf of the applicant, SMT Auto LLC. “It’s an ideal infill example.”

But many neighboring residents spoke out against the proposal during Thursday’s meeting. Traffic, flooding and increased crime with affordable housing were among the residents’ concerns.

Pointing to the residents living in the affordable single-family homes and duplexes currently in the neighborhood, William Hilton Sr. raised concerns with the affordable units.

“The ones that we had were not good neighbors,” he said. “That concerns me.”

For neighbor Kelly Boyce, affordable housing “creates a problem sometime.”

“It brings in the riff raff,” she said. “A housing development like that should not be in a residential development.”

Manatee County resident Nancy O’Connor said the roads in the neighborhood were built years ago and can’t handle major traffic.

“It’s not appropriate for the neighborhood,” she said.

To address some of the concerns, Cavoli agreed to adding a stipulation that there would be no access to adjacent 16th Street West to either pedestrians or vehicles, as well as having a perimeter fence around the entire project.

As far as the concerns with the affordable housing, Cavoli said while it has the potential to attract “undesirables,” there is a need for affordable housing in Manatee County.

“You can’t control who moves in, but you at least have to give people the opportunity,” he said.

Planning commission member Matt Bower said every time there’s an affordable housing proposal there are groups that come forward to say “we are for it, just not here.”

“I think it’s great that you are doing affordable housing,” he said. “At the end of the day, you are adding some really great people to a great community.”

The project fits “perfectly” with what the county’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee is discussing, said Mike Rahn, who is a planning commission member as well as a committee member.

“This is not Section 8 housing,” he said. “There is a difference between Section 8 housing and affordable housing.”

Also on Thursday, the planning commission:

▪  Recommended for approval a rezone request to planned development residential of a 61.4-acre portion of a 120.1-acre project located on the south side of Rye Road and north of Waterline Road as well as a general development plan for the total project area with a maximum density of 360 single-family detached and single-family semi-detached homes.

▪  Recommended for approval of the 2017 Water Supply Facilities Work Plan update.

▪  Recommended for approval adding the definition of a “Boatel” to the Land Development Code. “The proposed amendments, to allow boatel as a land use, will enable the expansion of lodging opportunities available for development within the county using a new approach to waterfront utilization,” according to agenda materials.

▪  Recommended for approval a rezone to general commercial of approximately 3.95 acres located on the south side of 53rd Avenue West and approximately 700 feet east of the intersection of U.S. 41 and 53rd Avenue East.

▪  Recommended for approval a rezone to neighborhood commercial-medium for a 1.51-acre site located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Moccasin Wallow Road and Ellenton-Gillette Road.

▪  Recommended for approval a small scale map amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan for Centerstone of Florida LLC. “There is a need for expansion of the existing behavioral health hospital facility in order to continue to serve Manatee County and Southwest Florida in an effective manner, specially to attend psychiatric illnesses and response to drug addiction problems that are affecting the area,” agenda materials state.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 5:15 PM with the headline "More affordable housing could be on the way to Manatee County."