Manatee OKs first step in request to expand Lakewood Ranch past urban boundary line
Manatee County commissioners approved the first step in a process that would grant a special exception to expand Lakewood Ranch past the county’s Future Development Area Boundary.
Developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch came before the Manatee Board of County Commissioners on Thursday with a carefully worded plan that would amend the county’s Comprehensive Plan — a set of rules that guide local development. The proposed amendment would bend those rules in the Lakewood Ranch developer’s favor.
The Future Development Area Boundary, also known as the FDAB, is the development boundary in the county. Infrastructure services such as water and sewer connections are not available past the north-south line, which is roughly parallel with the western edge of Lake Manatee in this part of the county.
SMR’s request would modify the Comprehensive Plan to allow a developer to build past the FDAB, as long as the property they’re developing is “contiguous and coterminous” to that boundary line. In Manatee County, that exception only applies to SMR.
If approved, it could let Lakewood Ranch add another 7,000 homes on a parcel of land that SMR owns. The FDAB was established as part of Manatee’s original Comprehensive Plan in 1989. The most recent update to the line came in 2006 when officials shifted it one mile to the east.
In his pitch to the board, Caleb Grimes, a land use attorney working on behalf of SMR, called the amendment a win-win situation. It helps Lakewood Ranch keep building past the line while also paying for the needed infrastructure — roads, sewer and water lines — that the county would typically be responsible for.
“We recognize that it is unfair to have the existing residents fund infrastructure to this new site, so we saw that we had that issue before us,” Grimes explained. “If you just moved the line with nothing else, somebody would come in and would want to develop and (the county would) have to send the infrastructure to them.”
“This language is designed to ensure that with such an expansion, the costs are borne by the new development,” he added, stressing that there would still be a great number of hoops for the developer to jump through before buildings are approved.
Several commissioners said they were wary of approving a measure that would only benefit Lakewood Ranch. Commissioner James Satcher, who voted against the proposal, likened the narrow amendment to “playing favorites.”
“This is a huge decision. In general, things that only favor one party just get under my skin,” Satcher said. “I’ll need to be convinced because somebody else should be able to benefit if we’re going to change the text of our boundary. Somebody besides this particular parcel going out to Myakka should be able to take advantage or at least have the opportunity.”
“We shouldn’t pigeonhole it so much that only the big guys that are planning can take advantage of it,” Satcher continued. “It opens all kinds of questions.”
Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, the commissioner who represents the area, also said she wasn’t a fan of the idea. She urged her fellow commissioners to hold off on moving forward with the proposal. She said she hoped to hold a workshop meeting to discuss the full impacts of the plan with the developers and local residents.
“We’re looking at the possibility of 7,000 homes in this parcel of land,” Baugh said. “Once Myakka is gone, it’s gone. There’s no bringing it back. The people of Myakka are not against growth and they’re willing to make it work.”
SMR’s request infringes upon a part of the community that should be protected, said Commissioner George Kruse.
“I’m looking at this like we’re moving the line, whether we’re paying for it or not,” said Kruse, who also pointed out the expansion would become an ongoing cost to the county, which would be tasked with maintaining the sewer lines and roads in the area after they’re built.
The board voted 4-3 to approve the first step of the process — transmitting the Comprehensive Plan amendment to planning officials within Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Kevin Van Ostenbridge, Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore voted in favor, while commissioners Kruse, Satcher and Baugh voted against it.
The prevailing commissioners said they were happy to move the process forward while continuing to resolve the fine details. Sending the amendment to the state is not a binding agreement to approve SMR’s request, they said. There are still several steps to go through before the amendment would be approved.
“If we move forward from this point, I don’t think that impacts us. I think that gives us the opportunity to hear from the community and put that into the bowl of decisions,” Bellamy said.
“I’d rather have 7,000 homes in a master-planned community than 7,000 homes sprawled out from here to Myakka,” Servia added. “Remember that we have the power here. I don’t see any danger in transmitting today and seeing what the state has to say.”
The county will host another public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan amendment within 6 months of receiving comments from the state. In the meantime, commissioners expect to host a workshop meeting to discuss the proposal.
“The elephant in the room here is are we going to move the line. This project makes it very easy because it doesn’t cost us any money, it directly abuts it. It’s pretty easy to approve this one, but then have we let the horse out of the barn at that point? What comes next? It’s the domino effect that we’re worried about,” Van Ostenbridge said. “We do need to have a workshop and discuss the larger issue at hand. Development in Manatee County has pushed Lakewood Ranch to this line.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 7:40 AM.
