Plant City residents gathered in the Sadye Gibbs Martin Auditorium at City Hall Monday, March 13, to give input to the City Commission about a proposed development adjacent to the Walden Pointe subdivision.
The resident testimonies encouraged commissioners to ponder an important question regarding the city’s future: how much housing development is too much?
The evening’s hearing was designed to get opinions from residents so that city commissioners could determine if they should forward a rezoning proposal of the land to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity for review before making a final determination on the ruling.
The commission voted to forward the proposal, allowing it to progress to the next stage.
The property—almost 15.5 acres along Johnson Road, west of Sam Astin Road—is currently zoned as a Residential-1 (R-1) property, meaning it can have one dwelling unit per gross acre. The developer, Mike Lawrence, of Riverview, has asked the land be rezoned to allow for six dwelling units per acre, an R-6 designation.
Plant City residents, most of them home owners in Walden Pointe, largely opposed the R-6 designation, but not development all together.
Dianne Silliman, one of the Walden Pointe residents who spoke at the meeting, asked fellow attendees to stand if they were in opposition to the R-6 designation, but supported an R-4 designation. Many residents stood in concurrence.
Many residents who offered testimony were concerned with trying to squeeze too much use out of the property.
While the proposed R-6 designation would allow 92 homes to be built, only 70 have been proposed for the property. The proposal is the equivalent of about 4.6 dwelling units per acre, a number members of the Walden Pointe Home Owners Association believes is still too high.
Residents reflected their concerns in a February letter read to the city’s Planning Commission.
“Walden Pointe has 137 homes on 65 acres,” Leanda Byron, of the Walden Pointe HOA, wrote in the letter. “Designating a density of 92 homes, which nets about 70 homes after the infrastructure space is accounted for, is more than double the density of Walden Pointe.”
While the city conducted multiple studies determining that the surrounding areas have the infrastructure to support an R-6 development, residents expressed that the development would have too many adverse effects.
Pam Smith moved to Walden Pointe from Fish Hawk Trails in Lithia. She told commissioners that she moved after overdevelopment caused traffic to become out of control.
“I watched over those 18 years what happens when you start making the lots smaller and (adding) more homes,” Smith said. “You can’t even drive in and out of that neighborhood, that whole area, to go to work without bumper to bumper traffic. You open R-6 and it’s Pandora’s Box. Once you open it, you can’t close it.”
Plant City, she worries, could wind up with similar traffic conditions.
But some residents believed the new development could raise property values. Walden Pointe resident Gary LeFevere said he believes the HOA was sending out intentionally false and misleading information to spread fear among home owners.
“They stated that I will feel like I am surrounded by high urban density, and feel the impact will be negative on my home value,” LeFevere said. “So, they’re spreading this fear. I came from Detroit. I experienced what White Flight can do to a city based on fear.”
Resident Kathy LeFevere agreed. She said she felt the town needed more homes, and that turning down the development would be a loss.
For Vice-Mayor Bill Dodson, the issue of development was a question of quality versus quantity.
“This question now keeps coming up,” Dodson said. “It seems to be repetitive in nature within several of the projects that have come before us in the last number of months, all of which have favorable outlook. My fear is, lately, the drive is toward having more density where it’s contrary … to the value this community likes, which is a bit more open space.”
The commission, Dodson said, must consider how much quantity can be given without impacting the quality of those in surrounding developments.
The commission voted to send the proposal to the Florida DEO with the understanding that before any final approval is given, Lawrence would be required to show commissioners a plan for his development. From there, they would then decide to approve rezoning for R-4 or R-6.
Mayor Rick Lott said that the willingness to under develop allows the city to have more control in aligning the new development with current subdivisions, something he said the city could lose the power to do if they ended the process at the transmittal.
Pulling out of the transmittal could give Lawrence the ability to develop with fewer restrictions from the city. Voting yes, Lott continued, insures that the city could play more of a direct role in monitoring current development without the promise of commitment.
“He’s right,” Silliman said.
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@plantcityobserver.com