- December 4, 2025
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Lindsey Leigh and Eddie Engquist bought “an untouched sanctuary” in Myakka City seven years ago.
The couple has since created an organic, regenerative food forest on the 7-acre property that backs up to the Myakka River State Park. Leigh said it feels somewhat like living off the grid, until recently, as that way of life has felt threatened by development in the surrounding area.
“I know growth is inevitable, but we never expected it to come to sleepy old Myakka,” Leigh said. “It’s frustrating because, in our minds, this was our forever home. Now, we question if we should move.”
Leigh has been fearing contamination to the Myakka River and aquifer because of runoff from two golf courses being built along its banks — Soleta Golf Club and Miakka Golf Club.
The latter is being built by the same owners of the TerraNova Equestrian Center: Founder Steve Herrig, along with his wife Natalee Herrig, daughter Hannah Herrig-Ketelboeter and son-in-law Zach Ketelboeter.
Herrig is also developing the Estates at TerraNova, a luxury equestrian community with lots ranging from 5 to 28 acres. Now, he’s proposing a second residential development that would require rezoning 1,391 acres of the family’s overall 4,500-acre property from 5-acre minimum lots to 1-acre minimum lots.
Leigh started a petition on Change.org to urge Manatee County commissioners to deny Herrig’s request.
The application has been filed with Manatee County, and a neighborhood meeting was held by Zoom on July 23, but a date for commissioners to review the request has not yet been set.
The petition, signed by over 600 residents, lays out five major concerns. The petition claims that approving the request to rezone would violate the Future Development Area Boundary and that the area lacks the infrasctructure (sewer, water and roads) to support the project's density. It also claims that such rezoning would worsen flooding, threaten the Myakka River and aquifer, and set a precedent to allow further “inappropriate development throughout rural Manatee County."
Herrig said residents have misunderstood his plan. Yes, the allowable lot sizes would be a minimum of 1 acre, however, the average lot size would be 2.5 acres.
“If you take the property as a whole, the average (density) is over 10 acres,” he said. “This isn’t some mass density issue out here. There’s 100 and something homes we’re talking about.”
Rob Brown, Myakka City resident and a former 34-year employee of Manatee County Natural Resources, called Herrig’s argument a “shell game.”
“He’s diluting the density using open space that he knows he’s not going to develop,” Brown said. “Cut off the golf course and take out the wetlands, and see what viable land you have left to build on. Then tell me what the density is there.”
Leigh and Brown reported that since construction on the golf courses have begun, areas that didn’t historically flood near their Mossy Hammock neighborhood, flooded last year. They believe further construction will only make matters worse.
Herrig argued that he’s making environmental improvements to the property by restoring hundreds of acres of wetlands and engineering the golf course with little to no runoff to the river. The water is being captured on the property, as to not affect the surrounding areas.
The development TerraNova is proposing would be between 120 to 150 single family homes clustered within the 1,391 acres. Herrig said that combined with the Estates, it’s about 300 homes on 3,000 acres, which is half the allowable density.
Leigh said MJ Road and Clay Gully Road, both two-lane roads, aren’t equipped to handle the traffic the equestrian center attracts now between workers, semis, horse trailers and construction vehicles.
“The semis literally drive you off the side of the road,” she said. “The amount of houses going up for sale along MJ Road is kind of sad, but people are trying to get out while they can. It’s just a horrible fit.”
Both Leigh and Brown noted that when it comes time for commissioners to vote on this project, they’ll be voting for or against more than just 100-plus more homes. They’ll be setting a precedent for the area.
Leigh said other property owners will be watching to see if this rezone goes through so they can follow suit and do the same thing.
“People come out here and just want to live a quiet life,” Brown said. “We moved here knowing that the density was one unit for five acres with large, open space. That’s what we elected to move into, and when (Herrig) bought all of his property, he knew exactly what it was, too, so he should be able to live within that.”
