From Ranch to Village: Another big development coming to Clark Road

A report on 3HRanch - a large planned development on Clark Road (more about the explosion of housing on Clark Road here):

 

Dear Area Residents,

 

I participated in yesterday's Neighborhood Workshop regarding the rezoning of 3HRANCH rural land to Village Planned Development (VPD). The photo below shows the Village Concept Plan. 

 

 

Here's a recap of the meeting:

• This Neighborhood Workshop was the official one, as there was County staff participation.
• The proposed VPD will consist of 2,733 acres.
• It will have 12 neighborhoods and one Village Center. 
• There will be 6,576 residential dwelling units in the 12 neighborhoods.  
• A minimum of six different housing types will be built consisting of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments.
• Due to a recent change to the County's Uniform Development Code, no affordable housing is planned to be built.
• A 250,000-square-foot commercial/retail center will be built to provide services for Village residents.  The plan is to build it either on Clark Road near the Village entrance road or near the south end of the Village. 
• A new school (marked in purple) for K-8 will be built on 57 acres.  A 36-acre recreational park will be located adjacent to the new school. 
• A new road for access to the Village will be built off of Clark Road (see small black arrow on the photo above). 
• The team working on the Concept Plan for the VPD is representing the multi-generational owners of 3HRANCH.  They have not selected any builder or builders yet.
• The Concept Plan team hopes to submit the application to the County Staff in late September or early October timeframe.  Since the number of dwelling units exceeds 1,000, a Development of Critical Concerns (DOCC) list must also be included with the application to the County. 
• It will take 12 to 18 months for the County to process the application.  
• If approval is obtained, additional time will be needed to construct the infrastructure (internal roads, water & sewer, electric, and other utilities) before the building of dwelling units could begin.
• The projection is that the home building would begin in 2025 and the Village would be built-out in 2040.

During the meeting, I made two requests on behalf of existing residents:

1. We don't want any access to the new Village via Ibis Street, as there is already too much traffic on it.
2. We want a 500-foot Greenway established on the 3HRANCH property (east side of Ibis Street)  across from the north point of Serenoa running south to the southern end of the Serenoa Lakes property line.  The Greenway must consist of dense, tall trees to mitigate the noise and shield the view of new homes in the Village.

I hope you find the above information helpful.  I plan to closely follow this land development project as it evolves.

 

David

 

David Anderson

External Affairs, Serenoa Lakes Community Association

Phone: 941-921-9302

Cell: 941-228-0309

Email: mdanderson4@verizon.net

Website: www.serenoalakes.org

Court hearing in Citizen suit against Sarasota County Tuesday Dec. 4

Citizens sued Sarasota County with respect to the Grand Lakes development. The court has scheduled an Administrative hearing for Tuesday Dec. 4, 9 a.m.:

The suit, David Anderson vs Sarasota County and Ibis Rd. Investors LLC, argues that the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners violated terms of its own Comprehensive Plan in approving Pat Neal's proposed 1,000-home development without including a commercial component. Background on the lawsuit here.

Pat Neal, developer of Grand Lakes

The Dec. 4 hearing details:

David Anderson vs Sarasota County and Ibis Rd. Investors LLC

Tuesday 9 a.m. Justice Center 2071 Ringling Blvd. (NW corner of Ringling Blvd and East Ave little doorway) 

Courtroom #2 6th floor Judge Ffolks

The hearing go two days, more or less.

At stake, in the county's own words, is a core principle of 2050: integrating uses to avoid sprawl:

"the provision for non-residential uses through the establishment of mixed use Village and Neighborhood Centers is central to the concept of Villages as an alternative to urban sprawl. … Without the non-residential uses in close proximity and integrated into the residential uses, the Villages resemble other suburban residential development typical of Sarasota County and other communities.”  (SNL 8.16.18)

The homeowners contend that if Pat Neal is allowed to proceed under the proposed changes to the rules, the development of Grand Lakes

will promote sprawl and encourage disjointed patchwork development—exactly the things the 2050 plan is meant to discourage.

 The county is ignoring its own rules, the citizens say. Future developments could take the County's approval in Pat Neal's case as precedent for coming large-scale developments:

. . . relaxation of the core 2050 principles would open the way for future, large-scale developments such as 12,000-unit Hi Hat Ranch to sprawl rather than conform to contained village templates that link residential and commercial use in a constructive and meaningful manner. (Press release of plaintiffs).

In essence, without public sector stewardship, the business models for single family development could very well lead to sprawl.

Sprawl

Millennials Shunning Malls Speeds Web Shopping Revolution

This story from Bloomberg was noticed by David Brain of New College on the page entitled 2050 Comprehensive Plan sor Sarasota Citizens.

By Matt Townsend Jun 25, 2014 9:42 AM ET

Facebook

CJ Chu is a retailer’s nightmare.

The 24-year-old associate for a private-equity firm does “99 percent” of his shopping online -- even toothpaste. He’d rather buy groceries on the Web than walk to the supermarket.

“Convenience and free time is something I value,” said Chu, who works for Bridge Growth Partners LLC in New York. “Ordering online just makes more sense.”

Chu is an extreme case. Yet millions of Americans like him are abandoning stores faster than executives predicted, pushing the industry to a precipice. Traditional retailers, for the first time ever in 2014, will generate half their sales growth on the Web, according to Stifel Financial Corp. That means about $18 billion in new revenue generated this year will come from online purchases, an analysis of U.S. Census data shows.

The stampede online will only accelerate as 80 million U.S. millennials start families, buying homes and filling them with stuff. Mobile shopping is giving e-commerce another boost. Next month, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) will start selling a smartphone that will allow shoppers to scan a product in a mall and purchase it from the company’s online store, giving retailers another reason to fear their most potent Web rival.