- May 1, 2024
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Despite the 2,791 citizens who signed a petition that opposed D.R. Horton building 99 town homes off Linger Lodge Road, the project was approved 5-2 by the Manatee County Commission.
“It seems that you’re siding many times with the developers instead of listening to all the people who are showing up here,” said Lisa Pring, President of the Braden Woods Homeowners Association (Phases 1-4).
Pring added, “There’s got to be a number where we all say, ‘We have enough homes right now. We’re doing enough building. Why don’t we pause for a while and absorb the homes we’ve got, and listen to the constituents who are here, who will listen to this on TV and who can’t be here to represent themselves, but did sign a petition.’”
Commissioner Ray Turner countered by saying that Manatee County has been behind in housing starts, the number of new residential construction, since 2008.
“It’s not build it, and they will come. We’re behind the 8-ball, and we need to look to the future,” Turner said. “We need to accommodate this new population, the fastest growing area in the whole country last year. We need to be thinking about that.”
The petition to stop the project was started by Braden Woods resident Gary Hebert, who also spoke at the land use meeting on Sept. 7.
Hebert said the project is too close to the Manatee River and poses a threat to water quality, in addition to impacting eagles, gopher tortoises and migratory birds. He said the design replaces vegetation with retention ponds that breed mosquitoes and can accumulate toxic metals that will further harm wildlife. Hebert also questioned the safety of adding more residents to an already flood prone area with a shortage of evacuation routes.
Attorney Kyle Grimes, who spoke on behalf of D.R. Horton, said an environmental study was done and more will be done as the project moves forward. Then, he championed the cluster aspect of the project’s design.
“We are asking for removal of some trees on the eastern portion, and part of that is to do this cluster development,” Grimes said, “When you’re in a watershed, in your Comprehensive Plan, cluster development is something that is encouraged. It allows you to have larger tracts of open space, and then you still have all your code provisions that ensure that this development doesn’t have those adverse effects, and that’s having the stormwater facilities to reduce runoff reduction and stormwater treatment.”
The cluster design will leave 75% of the 34.5-acre site as open space.
That was of no conciliation to Melody Reedy, who became emotional at the podium. Not only was she late after stopping for a bobcat that got hit by a car, but she bought her home on Linger Lodge Road 20 years ago believing it would be protected from high-density developments.
“(The bobcat) was a baby, and we’re going to take out all the rest of them. Where are they going to go?” Reedy asked.
Reedy said she worries about water quality and flooding impacts, too. Her dock was underwater for four days due to Hurricane Idalia and she fears it will only get worse following D.R. Horton’s construction.
Commissioners George Kruse and Jason Bearden were the dissenting votes. Kruse questioned the way the density was being presented.
“We’re saying, ‘Oh, well, they can build 144. They’re only building 99. They literally can’t come up with another square inch of this to go more than 99,” Kruse said. “They’re asking for a stipulation to basically gut the trees to create whatever little land they can possibly cram a town home onto.”
He argued that most of the 34.5 acres is unusable and that cramming 99 homes onto 10.8 acres equates to 9.2 homes per acre, which doesn’t conform to any of the zoning because it’s too intense.
The property is located on the southeast corner of Interstate 75 and Linger Lodge Road. With the motion approved, seven acres that were zoned Planned Development Mixed Use and 10.8 acres that were zoned Agricultural use will now both be rezoned into Planned Development Residential.
