Medallion Home seeks commercial, multifamily use for Upper Manatee River Road property

Manatee County, Planning Commission approves expanded uses of Medallion Home land between Waterlefe and The Links.

By Jessica Salmond
| 5:00 a.m. April 20, 2016

Eugene Zeiner, a Stoneybrook resident and HOA director, listens to the presentation about the potential commercial uses on Parcel 35, which is almost his back yard.

East County
News

Eugene Zeiner said he knew the inevitable when he built his house in Stoneybrook in 2011.

Those cows he watched from his backyard would go away.

“I knew they would eventually become houses,” he said.

Now he’s more concerned about how many houses, and/or businesses, might fill the 289-acre parcel between his home and Upper Manatee River Road.

The former site of Moore's Dairy on Upper Manatee River Road, just south of the Waterlefe community, is currently still home to a few cows.

Parcel 35 is the former home of Moore’s Dairy, and it lies between the Waterlefe Golf & River Club and The Links at Greenfield Plantation. The parcel will be developed by Medallion Home.

The site, part of the Heritage Harbour Development of Regional Impact, was originally approved for 735 homes. However, the developer requested an approval for additional uses for the property at the Manatee County Planning Commission meeting April 14.

Medallion Home requested a revision to the Development of Regional Impact that would allow multifamily and neighborhood

commercial use for the property.

The request must still go before the Manatee County commissioners for final approval, but the multifamily use would increase the number of units allowed in Parcel 35 to around 1,400.

An “atypical” approval

The quest for approval from the planning commission didn’t quite follow its usual pattern.
After three hours of back-and-forth with the developer’s staff, planning commissioners voted 4-3 to deny the request to change the DRI planned uses for Parcel 35, the four voting for denial expressing concern about the lack of specific details about what kinds of commercial businesses could be put into the property.
However, the developer’s representative, attorney Scott Rudacille, proffered a solution to their worries after the vote. He had an agreement between the Waterlefe Community Development District and the developer, signed in 2014, which specified what businesses would be prohibited.
The commissioners voted to reconsider the request at the meeting, took a 15 minute break to look over the agreement, and ultimately approved the request.
“It was definitely atypical,” Chairman William Conerly said after the meeting.
Commissioner Matthew Bower voted against both the reconsideration and the approval of the request.
“Would you be doing the same thing if a citizen had a problem, after you voted on a motion, would you be considering the same deliberation we’re having now for them?” he asked of his board members.

Multifamily use could include apartments, condos or villas.

Planning commissioners expressed concern about approving the commercial aspect.

“We’re building a box, but we don’t know what’s in it yet,” said Chairman William Conerly.

The commissioners, who originally voted 4-3 against the request, were swayed to change their vote when Medallion attorney Scott Rudacille produced a 2014 agreement with the developer at the Waterlefe Community Development District, which was signed in 2014. The agreement stated the CDD would support the development of Parcel 35 under certain stipulations.

The CDD stated it would not support fast food restaurants, gas stations, tattoo or massage parlors, stand-alone bars or nightclubs or any 24-hour business, adjacent to Waterlefe’s southern boundary.