Planning Commission upholds future Linger Lodge connection plans

The Manatee County Planning Commission on June 8 supported plans to keep a future extension of Clubhouse Drive on Manatee County transportation maps.

Myara Property Joint Venture LLC has requested a Comprehensive Plan amendment to remove a future roadway connection that would link Clubhouse Drive across the Braden River to Linger Lodge Road. 

Myara Property Joint Venture representatives argued the site is ripe with wetlands that would be negatively impacted by a roadway, the road would be expensive to build with a price tag of more than $5 million and that it would negatively impact the existing neighborhoods.

Planning commissioners, however, in a 4-2 vote said they could not predict the future or justify removing the roadway.

There is development application on a 33-acre parcel at the western end of Clubhouse Drive that the roadway would bisect. Developers prefer to develop the project without a future roadway connection. A conservation group also is working to potentially purchase the property for a preserve.