Heritage Harbor DRI development plan amendment moves forward

It took hours of discussion, a denial and a reconsideration, but Manatee County planning commissioners ultimately recommended approval for a DRI development plan amendment during today’s meeting. 

The amendment would alter the Heritage Harbour DRI (development of regional impact) for a specific parcel along Upper Manatee River Road, just south of the Waterlefe community.

The site is currently approved for about 700 homes. Scott Rudacille, representing Medallion homes, the applicant, asked the county to expand the property for up to about 1,400 homes, but anticipates there won’t be that many: commercial uses, another requested addition, will cut down on residential units. 

The request is not an increase of homes allowed in the Heritage Harbour DRI; it’s a reallocation of unbuilt homes this parcel.

Misty Servia, planning manager for the engineering firm working with the applicant, explained to the commissioners that the commercial uses would be the types of businesses that those in the neighborhood would be using on a daily basis, not a larger retail or service that would be drawing in regional customers. She gave an example of a Walgreens rather than a Super Walmart. 

The project will also extend Port Harbour Parkway to connect with Upper Manatee River Road. 

The application was at first denied in a 4-to-3 vote because the commissioners wanted more specific information about what commercial uses could be included.

“It could end up begin something inconsistent, without more specifics,” said Commissioner Paul Rutledge. “It could end up with something incompatible.”

When the application was denied, Rudacille offered to give the commissioners a copy of an agreement Medallion Homes had made with the Waterlefe Community Development District in 2014 that went into specific detail about what the CDD would accept in a commercial development to the south — even how tall light poles could be, Rudacille said. 

The board voted to reconsider the application, took a 15 minute break to look over the agreement, and reopened the item before ultimately approving the DRI amendment in a 5-to-1 vote. 

Several Waterlefe and Stoneybrook residents attended the meeting to voice concerns about the application.

Eugene Zeiner, a Stoneybrook resident and director on the Stoneybrook Homeowners Association, expressed his concern about the increased density to that area that the approval of the DRI amendment could bring to Upper Manatee River Road. He also didn’t agree that there would be a need for a commercial area, because there is already a commercial area south of the proposed parcel at the intersection of Lakewood Ranch Blvd. and State Road 64. 

“They may build it but it won’t survive,” he said. 

The application must be presented to the Manatee County Board of Commissioners for final approval.