Manatee County Commission approves new general development plan for Twin River in Parrish

MANATEE -- A Parrish subdivision will have an additional 156 lots after the Manatee County Commission approved a new general development plan Thursday at a land use meeting.

After Twin River residents debated the change for several hours, the commission approved the new general development plan for Twin River, which calls for 706 total lots, an increase from the 550 lots originally approved. The vote was 6-1 with Commissioner Robin DiSabatino dissenting.

"It's different than every other neighborhood already and that's what I would expect with this change as well," Twin River resident Luke Jimenez said.

Following the Planning Commission's recommendation to deny the proposal to increase the number of lots to 880 in March, the applicant revised the plan before it came to the county commission.

"The whole idea is to maintain the vision that was there from the beginning and then add a neighborhood that would add to that," said Caleb Grimes, who represents Gamble Creek LC.

Developer Larry D'Urso said the market changes.

"We designed it for what we thought would work," he said. "Times have changed. ... We had to come with something else that could work."

Some Twin River residents, who wore red Thursday, said they moved into the development for the larger lots and homes. The smaller lots would change that, they said.

Jesse Tilden, on behalf of Medallion Homes, which built some Twin River homes, said they have $5 million invested in the development to date.

"This is working in this community," Tilden said of the large-lot, large-home subdivision. "These lots are selling. ... There is a real market for what Twin River has to offer the community. If it's not broken, don't fix it."

Alex Beasley, who lives in Twin River and works for Medallion Homes, said he was not in favor of the smaller home sites.

"From the very beginning, the message was always handed down that this neighborhood was going to be large estate homes," he said. "That vision was so closely protected and so widely promoted from the beginning. I would like to see that continued."

Peter Maroon, who has lived in Twin River for almost 10 years, said he was in full support of the new plan.

D'Urso "is not going to do anything to make this neighborhood not successful," he said, adding a smaller lot will be a perfect place for him in a few years.

The commission also:

Authorized sending a letter to Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the state acquisition and management of the Linger Lodge property for a conservation purposes.

Took no action on a request from developer Carlos Beruff for Riva Trace to delete the existing emergency access onto Meeting Street after the applicant withdrew all three items related to the request during Thursday's meeting. Scott Rudacille, project attorney, asked the commission to "create some type of provision that would allow for local emergency service providers to approve an alternative." County staff will now look at the ordinance and bring it back to the commission.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said a lot of residents are concerned about the gate situation.

"This is something we need to look at for the whole county," she said.

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter@Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Manatee County Commission approves new general development plan for Twin River in Parrish ."