Neal Communities allowed multiple exceptions to county regulations in its design of development
It took approximately two-and-a-half hours — with 34 people offering public comments — before the Sarasota County Commission voted 4-1 on Aug. 27 to approve the latest proposed development of Neal Communities, 3H Ranch.
Commissioner Mark Smith cast the solitary “No” vote, expressing objections to a number of the company’s requests for modifications of the county’s requirements for new communities proposed under the guidelines of the 2050 Plan.
“Basically,” Smith pointed out, “we’re putting 50 pounds of building in a 5-pound piece of land.”
“I think we do have to look very hard at the entitlements that we’ve given to folks,” Smith said, “and make sure we still protect the rural nature of out east.”
Although county Planner Ana Messina had provided details about the 2050 Plan exceptions for the project in the staff report included in the agenda packet, she did not enumerate all of them during her presentation.
The 2050 Plan was established in 2002 to guide residential growth in the county east of Interstate 75. As approved, 3H Ranch will comprise up to 6,576 dwelling units, 120,000 square feet of office space and 250,000 square feet of commercial/retail uses on approximately 2,727 acres south of Clark Road and east of I-75.
Among the objections he mentioned, Commissioner Smith cited Neal Communities’ request for a reduction in open space from 50% of the development site to 33%, even though members of the project team contended that the proposal met the criteria for the board members to grant that change. Smith pointed out that, usually, when a developer plans on some structures to stand as tall as 85 feet — which is one facet of the 3H Ranch development — “You’re going to have more green area, not less.”
He also talked about the fact that the plans call for the side setbacks for the houses to be only 5 feet, “and we’re going to allow the mechanical equipment to be located within 18 inches of the property line. … To mow your yard,” Smith said, “it’s going to be tough.”
Further, he continued, the drainage easements had been reduced from 5 feet to 18 inches on either side of each house. He repeated that point to emphasize it.
The 3H Ranch hearing came late in the day of the commission’s first regular meeting following its four-week summer break. The hearing also came after nearly 90 minutes of county staff remarks that morning that focused on the 18-plus inches of rainfall that some areas of the county received as Tropical Storm Debby made its way up the Gulf Coast in early August. That rainfall produced flooding in numerous neighborhoods, the board members acknowledged.
Public Works Department Director Spencer Anderson stressed his staff’s efforts to determine why those communities suffered so much damage.
Countering Smith’s remarks during the 3H Ranch hearing, Commissioner Ron Cutsinger — who seconded Commissioner Neil Rainford’s motion to approve the project — and Chair Michael Moran emphasized the fact that the new development will be the product of master planning.
The board members know that “urban sprawl is a problem,” Cutsinger pointed out. If the 3H Ranch property were to be cut into pieces, he continued, all of the benefits of a master-planned community would be lost, including the detailed design of a stormwater system that would result in attenuated runoff before it reached either Little Sarasota Bay or Dona Bay, the two water bodies into which stormwater from the site flows.
Further, Cutsinger stressed the project team’s assertion that the habitat on the site will be enhanced.
The county staff report prepared for the hearing explained that the plans would preserve approximately 378 acres of the existing 438 acres of native habitat and would create about 294.74 acres of habitat on site, “for a total of ±672.35 acres of protected habitat, which results in an increase of ±234.35 acres of habitat over what already exists.”
When residential sites comprising 5 to 10 acres are developed, a lot of the habitat ends up getting filled in, Cutsinger pointed out.
The development also will have about 170 acres of parks, he added.
“This is the way to move forward with growth,” Cutsinger said.
“I’m super glad you touched on the master planning of this,” Moran told Cutsinger. During his nearly eight years on the commission, Moran continued, the board’s goal has been to have “long-term, thoughtful, comprehensive, master-planned communities, and that’s exactly what’s before us here today.”
Yet, Merri Mann of the Rivo Lakes community, who was among the speakers who addressed the flooding issues associated with Tropical Storm Debby, told the commissioners, “I think there comes a time when you have to say, ‘How much is too much?’ ” in terms of more development proposals.
Commissioner Joe Neunder, who noted that the development will be within his District 4 territory, acknowledged that he shared some of Commissioner Smith’s concerns. However, Neunder said that his biggest worry regarded residents’ comments about the dangerous conditions on Ibis Street, which has no sidewalks or bike lanes. Several of the speakers during the hearing described the volume of construction traffic that uses Ibis to reach another Neal Communities project, Grand Park, which is south of the Serenoa and Serenoa Lakes neighborhoods.
Before the end of the hearing, former state Sen. Pat Neal, the founder of Neal Communities, proffered a new stipulation to ease those residents’ concerns. That proffer said, “During the period of project site development and construction, the property owner shall maintain not less than three options for construction traffic, including Lorraine Road and Dove Avenue. The property owner shall instruct vendors to direct construction traffic to Lorraine Road and Dove Avenue.”
In her remarks to the board that day, Kimberly Binkley Seyer, president of the Serenoa Homeowners Association, formally had made the request for Neal Communities to keep construction traffic for 3H Ranch off Ibis Street. When the county Planning Commission conducted its hearing on the proposed development, she said, county Transportation Planning Manager Paula Wiggins testified that no plans were in place to widen Ibis.
Yet, Seyer continued, the people living in the 107 homes in the Rivo Lakes community, the residents on the 192 lots in Serenoa, those on the 92 lots in Serenoa Lakes — plus the eventual residents of the 1,097 dwelling units in Neal’s Grand Park community, and the future residents of the Strazzera development planned to the south of Grand Lake, with 1,021 lots — all have to rely on Ibis Street for their primary ingress and egress.
Seyer showed the commissioners a video depicting the traffic on Ibis over a 24-hour period in early May. Numerous construction-related vehicles were visible. The traffic counts the Serenoa HOA found in that video, she pointed out, were 25% higher than the figures that Neal had provided the Serenoa residents during an HOA meeting on May 29, regarding the 3H Ranch plans.
Between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Ibis, she continued, the average number of vehicles with six wheels or more each hour was 31. “Some hours,” she added, “there are as many as 40 or 41 …”
“With nothing but a ditch on either side of the road,” Seyer stressed, “this puts the bicyclist or pedestrian in the most precarious and dangerous circumstance.”
Commissioner Neunder did indicate that he plans to check regularly with his affected constituents as the development proceeds. His expectation, he added, is “Do the right thing.”
The greenbelts and buffer issues
Several speakers alluded to the fact that the county staff report indicated county planners did not agree with a number of the exceptions that Neal Communities was seeking.
During the hearing, Planner Messina did use a graphic to show the planned reductions in the greenbelt requirements. For example, no greenbelt will be provided on the eastern boundary of the property, where the development will abut Skye Ranch. The 2050 Plan calls for 500 feet, she noted.
The county staff report explained that a Village development, such as the 3H Ranch proposal, is “required to provide a Greenbelt buffer around the entire perimeter [which defines] the development as a compact community. Aside from serving as mitigation with potential incompatible land uses the Greenbelt also serves to preserve native habitats, protect wildlife, and supplement Open Space. As part of the rezone process for a [Village Planned Development], the Applicant can request approval from the Board for exceptions to the Greenbelt requirement if the project demonstrates compliance with specific conditions.”
Further, Neal Communities proposed no greenbelt bordering its commercial center adjacent to Clark Road; only the standard 10-foot roadway buffer will be created, the staff report said.
The greenbelt also will be eliminated along the southern boundary.
A 50-foot greenbelt buffer will be created along both the northern boundary abutting neighborhoods that are classified as Rural Heritage Estate, Messina told the board members during the hearing.
Additionally, a 50-foot greenbelt will border both Neal’s Grand Park and the Strazzera development on the western boundary, Messina said.
Lee Edgerley, a resident of Rivo Lakes, which is located northwest of the site, told the commissioners that the residents of his community would like to see their concerns about the buffer next to their development resolved before any vote was taken on the 3H Ranch plans. “We’ve been told to be quiet, not raise any objections, or we won’t get anything,” he stressed.
“We work with the people who work with us,” Edgerly added. “I don’t like being bullied by anybody.”
During the project team’s rebuttal, developer Neal said, “We apparently had a misunderstanding with Rivo [Lakes].” The plan, he continued, was for Neal Communities to enhance the existing buffer between that community and the 3H Ranch property. “They have a very nice existing buffer with lots of plants and trees on it. We think it’s a waste,” Neal added, “to build a separate buffer.
Before the project team members left that day, he added, they would work with the Rivo Lakes residents “to make sure there’s a clear understanding [about that buffer].”
No documented flooding of Neal Communities homes
At the beginning of the project team’s presentation, Neal appeared first at the podium within the chambers of the R.L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice.
“About 55,000 people live in homes that my company’s built over the past 54 years in Sarasota and Manatee counties,” he told the board members. “No home built by Neal has ever flooded by reasons of rising water,” he added.
Then, referring to the 3H Ranch site, Neal stressed, “This property is a muchdifferent property” from those discussed earlier that day, where flooding was documented as a result of Tropical Storm Debby.
The 3H Ranch land, Neal continued, “has 20 feet of elevation. It’s in no restricted basin.” Most of it, he added, is located on the middle fork of South Creek. “It’s new and virgin property,” he emphasized.
Then Neal pointed out, “Our firm employes about 400 people in this community,” and it has 900 trade partners.
By count of The Sarasota News Leader, 14 of the speakers during the hearing work in real estate or are associated with companies that provide services for Neal Communities.
Moreover, Neal told the commissioners, “We add about a billion dollars a year to the local tax rolls … and we add about $15 million of property tax valuation in Sarasota and Manatee counties every year.”
Neal then introduced John Hales, whose family owns 3H Ranch.
Hales explained to the commissioners that his father bought the property about 61 years ago. Hales is in the beef cattle business, he added, joined by his son and daughter.
When he decided to pursue development of the land, Hales continued, he “was very particular” about finding a firm to handle that. Pat Neal visited him and his family multiple times at their home in Okeechobee, Hales said. “We were very big on wildlife corridors; very big on open space. Most of all, [we] wanted a beautiful development.”
He and his family chose to work with Neal Communities, he added.
Among the project team members, Alec Hoffner, an environmental consultant with the Kimley-Horn consulting firm in Sarasota, explained that the property remains “an active cattle ranch.” The majority of the land was cleared to serve as pastures, he said. “The native habitat remaining is sparse.”
Counting the greenways, greenbelts and wildlife corridors, he continued, the 33% of open space in the development will add up to about 900 acres.
Next up at the podium was Jeremy Arnold, vice president of Atwell, which has an office in Sarasota. (Atwell says on its website that it is “a full-service consulting, engineering, and construction services firm.”)
He explained that the project team was required to use the county’s stormwater models — which date to 1992 — to determine that the new development would not cause adverse effects on the neighboring communities. (Public Works Director Anderson told the commissioners during his Aug. 28 presentation that a proposed new community must not increase stormwater runoff more than one-hundredth of a foot “anywhere outside of [the boundaries of the new development].”
Further, Arnold explained that the property is part of two watershed models. Most of the stormwater drains eventually into Dona Bay, he said, but part of it flows to Little Sarasota Bay.
He estimated that the project team spent thousands of hours running the models to create the development in accord with the county regulations.
“We’re required to maintain the existing or historical drainage patterns,” he continued.
In response to a question from Chair Moran, Arnold explained, that the design will include “a system of lakes that basically daisy-chain on themselves,” from the higher ground on the site to the lower elevations. That design, he added, results in “redundant efficiency for attenuation of stormwater.”
The site stretches about 4 miles from north to south, he noted. “It will operate like its own watershed.”