On Monday, Nov. 22, the Plant City City Commission gave the green light for a new subdivision to be built off West Grant Street in Plant City.
The Parkside Planned Development District will have 73 single-family attached townhomes on the south end of Grant Street and west of its intersection with Hunter Street.
This comes after being approved by the Plant City Planning Board and returning before the city commission with updated proposals
The neighborhood will have two-story townhomes, each consisting of either four, five, or six attached residencies, sitting on 11.94 acres of land.
It will also be incorporated with several bodies of water, including a large stormwater management pond on the west end.
A recreational amenity, a mail kiosk, and a playground will be provided, with a potential trail connecting the subdivision with the adjacent Dr. Hal and Lynn Brewer Park. It will be within the vicinity of several daycares, an academy, and an assisted living facility.
And the property is directly across from Tyler Street – which is on the north end of Grant Street.
The highly controversial project has faced scrutiny from homeowners living within close proximity to the property.
Those in the community came out to the meeting protesting what they view as negative impacts to property value, privacy, safety, and traffic – should the subdivision be built.
The recent approval was changed from initial plans, after taking into consideration the issues addressed by the public.
Based on that, 85 single-family attached homes were reduced to 73 homes, decreasing the density of the neighborhood.
The roadway will extend 1,650 feet in lieu of 1,590 feet – the first proposed length. The new stretch is also 150 feet longer than the limit typically is. One modification that is still ongoing is changing the buffer zone along the west side of the subdivision.
The proposed 8-foot buffer zone was shortened from 10 feet to accommodate the eastside with a 10-foot buffer.
However, the west-end of the new neighborhood will be built along a wetland.
Plant City Commissioner Bill Dodson saw the wetland as a safety hazard, leaving those homes vulnerable.
As a result, it was decided that the developer will have to redesign the buffering along the westside. A dead-end cul-de-sac will stop the corridor short of intersecting with Mendonsa Road, which runs parallel to, and south of Grant Street.
The original schematics showed a townhome building situated between the cul-de-sac and Mendonsa Road.
To create a longer distance from the street, the structure will be reduced from a six-family building to a four-family building. Also, it will be built 130 feet further toward the northeast.
The cul-de-sac will have a 20-foot buffer away from Mendonsa Road.
What’s more, fencing aligned with trees will divide the property from the street. Tara Tedrow is the developer’s representative and was present at the meeting to explain the modifications.
“If you were walking down Mendonsa, you would only see our tree lines,” she stated. “We wouldn’t have any rooftops right there. With the amount of planting that we’re going to have as well as…fencing along the entire perimeter of the property, I would argue that the visual impact is minimal if anything.”
City code typically allows developers to add any new entrances or exits from their property without consent from the commission or informing homeowners close to the site. However, the developer for the Parkside subdivision agreed to return to the commission and undergo another public hearing if there were future plans to create another opening.
“This was an important addition to the site plan,” said Robyn Baker, senior planner of the Plant City Planning and Zoning Department. “I asked them to add it to the plan so this way it’s a condition of approval if they ever decide to add access to Mendonsa. They have to come back before the city commission as well as notify the neighbors.”
However, some homeowners feel that it will still cause issues to, what they say, is an already unsafe Mendonsa Road.
“Our neighborhood has seen a resurgence of families with children,” Dennis Carroll said to the city commission. “It’s nice seeing children in the area, but danger lurks on Mendonsa. Traffic has increased significantly on Mendonsa because of the upgrade and the poor conditions on Grant Street.”
Carroll went on to state that aside from him and fellow neighbors, delivery trucks and city vehicles have had to use other detours to get onto Alexander Street and Collins Street, while avoiding Grant Street.
Children’s safety along Mendonsa Road was another common concern.
“The drivers are horrible,” Chris Thomas said. “I’m deathly afraid to let my kids go out to the road, or even play in the front yard without having to keep an eagle eye on them.”
Jodie Peace expressed concerns for her children’s safety too, as well as the property value of her home.
At the meeting, she pointed to the power point slide and noted that she lives directly across from the future cul-de-sac.
Peace stated that she plans to sell her home in the next 10 to 15 years, but the subdivision would be a geographical disadvantage for her.
“I don’t really think these townhouses are going to help my house appreciate overtime, and I love living in Plant City,” she said. “I love living on Mendonsa. Over time, I’m afraid that it’s going to become an exit to alleviate some of the traffic on Grant [Street] so people have an exit. I don’t want that.”
Although, Baker tried to reassure the commission that safety measures have already been set in place, stating that “They’ve also gone above and beyond with the buffering and the screening to help try to protect those residents.”
Mary Buzza has lived most of her life on Pinedale Drive, off Hunter Street.
She already deals with heightened noise levels such as the Plant City High School band performance during football games.
There has also been a growing frustration for the backed-up traffic near Advantage Academy of Hillsborough, on Prosser Drive.
With the use of a video camera, a traffic study was conducted in August near the surrounding intersections of the development and its entrance.
The analysis concluded that no changes needed to be made based on morning and afternoon traffic peak hours.
“This is your consultant who analyzed our study and rendered the conclusion that given the minimal amount of traffic that actually comes out of this project, no improvements to the roadways are necessary,” Tedrow said.
However, Buzza pushed back stating that the study was inaccurate due to poor timing.
“There’s no way it should have been done this summer when school is not in,” she argued. “There’s too many schools surrounding this area.”
Dodson echoed Buzza’s sentiment and objected to the study.
“I can understand the residents’ views at certain times, how they’d have such trouble getting in, getting out and have to deal with it on a daily basis,” he said. “I wouldn’t imagine any of us living on Mendonsa would want to deal with that type of daily activity.”
While Dodson objected to certain aspects of the project, the rest of the commission reasoned that new developments and traffic buildup are inevitable in an already expanding Plant City.
The commission approved the proposal by 4-1.