County approves Eagle Trace

MANATEE COUNTY — Growth is continuing in the East County.

The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners in a 5-2 vote on Feb. 3 approved a rezone and a preliminary site plan for Eagle Trace, a 131-unit private gated community at 1808 John Taylor Road. The project sits on a roughly 60-acre parcel just south of State Road 64 and a half-mile west of Pope Road.

Insignia Bank, which took possession of the property in May 2010 after foreclosing on its previous owner, Ashton Associates of Sarasota, plans to sell the property with its new entitlements in hand.

David Berner, who represented the applicant, said his client was actively marketing the property, and it already has received interest from developers.

“We’ve had a number of contracts that have been submitted to the owner, but the property is still available,” he said.

As approved last week, Eagle Trace will include 131 single-family homes with lot sizes ranging from 7,500 to 8,800 square feet. Plans provide space for recreation, including an option for clubhouse and pool amenities, which will be determined by the developer at a later date.

“I think it’s unique in the sense there are very few (private) gated communities in that immediate area,” Berner said. “We have a lot of open space and fairly large-sized lots. It’s a nice plan.”

The project will take its main access through an entrance that runs from State Road 64 south to the property and will have a temporary emergency-only access at its southeastern-most corner, where the developer will improve a shell road that connects with Pope Road to the east.

Manatee County code requires that developments of more than 100 homes have two means of access, therefore the developer of Eagle Trace will be required to hold off on construction of the final 31 homes until the roadway along its southernmost boundary — the future 22nd Avenue East — is constructed, and provides a secondary means of access, as proposed.

A stub-out to that roadway is proposed for the southwestern-most corner of the property, and once that is built, the temporary emergency access would be removed and replaced with a home site. A gate accessible only to emergency service workers will prevent future residents from utilizing the emergency-only access until 22nd Avenue East is constructed, Berner said.

Commissioner Joe McClash, who dissented along with Commissioner Michael Gallen, had asked that the developer extend 22nd Avenue East to Eagle Trace’s proposed stub-out rather than to the emergency-only access as a way to ensure future residents would not be surprised when the roadway was constructed.
Instead, the developer will install appropriate signage at the stub-out and include the information in documents for homeowners to notify homeowners.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].
 

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IN OTHER BUSINESS
The commission voted to have transportation policies, particularly the county’s policy on dead-end roadways, be presented to board members and later discussed at a work session.