Gulf Gate residents take swings at golf course plans

If Medallion Home representatives get their wish, a gated, 109-home community will someday stand on what is now the Gulf Gate Golf Course.

But so far, that proposal has landed in the rough.

Representatives of Medallion Home heard from more than 100 residents of nearby Gulf Gate neighborhoods for two-and- a-half hours Oct. 20, at a public workshop that it was required to hold, per the county’s application process.

Though a few among the overflowing crowd spoke in favor of the proposed project, the majority who asked questions pleaded with the developer to reconsider the proposed density.

Medallion seeks to have the golf course’s 49 acres rezoned to allow 2.23 units per acre, up from the current allowable density of 0.5 units per acre. Residences would resemble the homes Medallion built at Riva Trace, on Honore Avenue, north of University Parkway.

Bo Medred, planner at Genesis Planning and Development Inc.; Pete Logan, president of Medallion Home; and John Cavoli, civil engineer with Cavoli Engineering Inc. tried to assuage concerns, saying they would account for stormwater and flooding. They said that neighboring property values are unlikely to decrease, and the neighborhood would not be built too close to homes outside the existing golf course property.

Missy Guley asked Logan why Medallion isn’t interested in building at the current zoning levels.

“I know people who want a big home on a big lot,” Guley said, “there is a market for that.”

“We think the buyer wants less property to maintain,” Logan said, describing the typical Medallion buyer as affluent and interested in purchasing a second home or retirement home.

The sale of the property would be a cash deal, Logan said, and is contingent on the rezone approval.

Development won’t happen anytime soon. If nothing went wrong in the process, Logan said, plans would require six to 12 months before they could go before the Sarasota County Commission. Construction planning would take another six to 12 months. The first home construction completion would not occur for at least two-an- a-half years.

Current owner Leslie Gray previously sought to rezone the golf course, most recently in 2010, when agent Joel Freedman filed a request to allow for construction of 104 homes. The commission denied the request; the Sarasota County Planning Commission had also recommended denial.

Medallion has not yet filed its application with the county.

Working to avoid the pitfalls of previous developers, Cavoli and Medallion designed a development that would include buffers, either by water or vegetation, between the development and surrounding homes. But they didn’t significantly change the number of homes proposed, which was what many in the crowd wanted.

Ultimately, Logan called the disagreement about density “philosophical.”

“The only option that I’ve heard here tonight is the suggestion that we reduce the number of lots down to 28 or 50 or something like that and build something along those lines,” Logan said.

Resident Barbara Day said during the meeting that a tightly packed, gated community wasn’t compatible with the surrounding area.

“We are a working-class neighborhood. I don’t know how everybody else feels, but when I go walking, I enjoy seeing the wildlife, I enjoy seeing the greenspace,” Day said. “I don’t want to look at an area with a bunch of snobs.”