‘Smart growth’ or urban sprawl? Lakewood Ranch developer wants OK to build farther east
Schroeder-Manatee Ranch is petitioning the county to amend the Comprehensive Plan, clearing the way for the Lakewood Ranch developer to expand its master-planned community past the future development area boundary.
The boundary is intended to prevent urban sprawl and preserve agriculture as the primary land use. In 2019, SMR’s CEO, Rex Jensen, said his company had acquired a large parcel along Bourneside Boulevard and south of State Road 64. The property is located in an area designated for agriculture.
SMR is also seeking approval for a comp plan change for a 310-acre parcel on the opposite side of the intersection. The smaller piece of property, where 1,039 residential units are planned, is located within the county’s future development area boundary.
One of the goals of the county’s comprehensive plan is to limit urban sprawl by keeping growth west of the development boundary. Land east of the boundary would be reserved primarily for agriculture through 2040. The line has shifted further and further east over the years. The most recent change came in 2006 when the county pushed the line by a mile.
Caleb J. Grimes, a land-use attorney representing SMR, appeared before the Manatee County Planning Commission on March 11 to request an exception to allow the development of their 2,300-acre parcel.
Speaking with the board, he called the request an example of “smart growth,” where the developer is fully responsible for the costs associated with the expansion. If approved, SMR would bear all the cost of infrastructure needed for that project so there would be no burden put on existing infrastructure, Grimes said.
“This would not move the future development area boundary. It is an exception to the boundary and is very limited,” Grimes said.
In his presentation, Grimes made the case that Lakewood Ranch should be able to continue building off the infrastructure that has already been put in place.
“We think we should take advantage of it and we should be able to continue Lakewood Ranch,” he said. “We should be able to continue to provide housing to people moving into this community.”
Planning commissioners voted 4-1 to recommend that Manatee County commissioners approve the change. County commissioners are scheduled to take up the request April 15, and are not bound by the planning commission recommendation.
Carol Felts, a Myakka City activist who ran as a write-in candidate for county commission against incumbent Vanessa Baugh, strongly opposes allowing SMR to develop the 2,300 acres.
“I may not be the sharpest tack in the box, but I’ve been in Manatee County over 30 years, when Lakewood Ranch was still a gleam in SMR’s eyes. The county has geared everything to growth. What we are trying to do is protect an area so we have a buffer and a transition,” Felts said.
In short, she is opposed to changing anything about the development boundary, saying developers have already been allowed to put up too many rooftops.
Felts joined a chorus of residents who spoke out against the development during the March 11 Planning Commission meeting. They said they didn’t believe SMR should be entitled to expand past the county’s development boundary, even if the developer is willing to pay for the cost.
Residents warned that, if approved, this exception could leave the door open for SMR to continue developing further and further into areas that have been reserved for agricultural land in Manatee County. Those residents found an ally in Planning Commissioner Jedd Heap, the only member to cast a vote against the recommendation.
“The county is not built out to the west of that line. Until then, it should be held,” Heap said as he explained his vote.
In 2019, Rex Jensen, president and CEO of SMR, appeared before the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance and said the developer was running out of property to develop.
Only about 1,200 acres of uncommitted land remained, increasingly putting the squeeze on the company’s farm operations, he said.
Jensen announced that his company had entered into a partnership with the Taylor family for four square miles of property south of State Road 64 along Bourneside Road.
Jensen declined in 2019 to forecast when development might be completed. Lakewood Ranch now has a population estimated to be in excess 35,547.
Developer Neal wants to build new homes
While SMR is seeking approvals for developing the 310 acres north of State Road 64, it would be a Neal Communities project. Two of the parcels within the project are the subject of a land exchange between SMR and the Manatee School District.
The school district owns 157 acres off State Road 64 and Dam Road that was envisioned as a high school and kindergarten through eighth-grade school and as a transportation hub, school district spokesman Mike Barber previously said. The district bought the property from SMR before the Great Recession.
In 2017, Jensen said that SMR was seeking to make a land swap with the Manatee School District.
SMR has offered to swap land that it owns next to Premier Sports Campus, located north of State Road 70, for property the school district owns off State Road 64 and Dam Road.
SMR confirmed that it is selling the 310-acre parcel to Neal, after the property exchange with the school board is completed.
Developer Pat Neal did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the project. By some estimates, the soonest Neal might be able to get approvals is in the first quarter of 2022.
The large-scale comprehensive plan amendment for the northwest corner of State Road 64 and Dam Road is being reviewed by staff and a public hearing has not been scheduled at this time, said Charles Andrews, Manatee County’s senior planner for the project.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
