Neighbors didn’t want this affordable housing project. Will Manatee OK updated plan?
A developer is back with an updated plan after the Manatee County Commission shot down an affordable housing project in the Elwood Park neighborhood last year.
Last August, commissioners sided with residents who said a townhome project was incompatible with their neighborhood. The board voted 6-1 to deny Eastwind Development’s request to build Townhomes at Westbridge, a 220-unit townhome community on the northeast corner of 44th Avenue East and 45th Street East.
Eastwind Development, a Palm Beach Gardens-based developer of apartments across the Southeast, however, has not given up on developing the property.
The project, since renamed Villas at Elwood Park, has been extensively changed in response to concerns by residents and county officials, Stephen Novacki, Eastwind’s vice president of acquisitions and development, said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Among those changes:
▪ Less acreage, down to 23.8 acres from the previously proposed 26.4 acres
▪ Fewer housing units. The 202 is 18 fewer than what Eastwind originally proposed
▪ The elimination of all 20,000 square feet of commercial space
▪ Increased setbacks and reorientation of the development away from existing houses and closer to 44th Avenue East.
An updated affordable housing plan
Those changes will help reduce new traffic by 50%, Novacki said.
“In addition to that, we changed the mix. Before it was all townhomes. Now there are 158 townhomes and 44 one-bedroom garden villas,” he said.
Previously, Eastwind pledged that at least 10% of units would be affordable. That has been increased to 25% with the revamped plan, Novacki said.
Eastwind has also increased setbacks to 65 feet on the north and 90 feet on the west. The code requires 15 feet, he said.
“We’re listening, getting feedback from residents and officials and trying to compromise. We feel like the project is significantly different,” Novacki said.
Elwood Park neighbors still hesitant
John Rachide, 63, an Elwood Park resident, said he and his neighbors are happy with changes made to the project by Eastwind, but that the changes don’t go far enough.
The density of nine housing units per acre is too much, he said.
“We’re not against the development. We’re against the density. The density would be incompatible with the neighborhood,” Rachide said.
“It’s sort of like putting lipstick on a pig,” he said.
On Thursday, the Manatee County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider Eastwind’s request to change zoning from agricultural suburban to planned development residential.
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The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the Patricia M. Glass Chambers on the first floor of the County Administrative Center at 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.
Expected to attend the meeting to share their concerns are a couple of dozen residents from Elwood Park, as well as residents from nearby neighborhoods Sabal Harbour, Fairfax and Peridia, Rachide said.
The planning commission makes recommendations to the Manatee County Commission, which has the deciding vote.
Jack Weir, president and chief executive officer of Eastwind Development, last year told Manatee County Commissioners that there is often neighborhood opposition to housing projects.
“What really varies is the ability of the local elected officials to balance that type of NIMBY pressure with the larger needs of the community,” Weir said.
NIMBY is an acronym that stands for “not in my backyard.”
Due to Manatee County’s housing crisis, local government officials give projects with an affordable or workforce housing component expedited processing.
