Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JENNIFER LIBERTOCommissioners give the green light for the 374-acre Villages at Avalon, the first major development in that area since the Suncoast Parkway opened.
After listening to concerns about schools and roads for about two hours, Hernando County commissioners approved a proposed subdivision west of Anderson Snow Road and north of County Line Road. It would have 650 single-family homes and 219 apartments.
Wednesday's decision means that construction at the 374-acre development could begin within six to eight months, developers said. Villages at Avalon marks the first major development in the southernmost section of the county since the Suncoast Parkway opened.
But two issues, its future impact on schools and traffic on already choked Linden Drive, nearly halted the development.
Commissioners agreed that the county's school overcrowding is worsening each year and new developments exacerbate the problem.
School Board Chairman John Druzbick told commissioners that developers had offered the school district about 30 acres for a school site at the Villages at Avalon several months ago. But the land was rather expensive, and the school district needs to build schools more centrally located to Spring Hill.
"We are always going to be looking for property; it's an ongoing problem," said Druzbick, indicating that the school district would be willing to reopen negotiations with the developers about locating a school there. "But it would not be a site we would be using immediately."
The developers could have given land to the district in return for impact fee credits, or the school district could have tried to work out a deal to purchase the land at a later date.
But when asked if the developers would be willing to consider postponing the rezoning request to reconsider the school issue, project engineer Alan Garman said no.
The other major issue discussed was that of traffic on nearby Linden Drive. About three dozen people, mostly from East Linden Estates, showed up to support those who asked the board not to allow the development to put more cars onto Linden Drive.
Project engineers had designed a collector road that would have connected to Linden Drive via Aladdin Road, Starling Street and Jessica Drive, at the county's request.
"There's nothing but traffic through there all the time," said Jane Ralston who lives on Aladdin.
After county Public Works Director Charles Mixson told commissioners that he couldn't predict what would happen to traffic on Linden Drive if the development was connected to that thoroughfare, commissioners chose to close off such access.
Now, the development will have no access to Linden Drive and will have only two entrances onto Anderson Snow and County Line roads, linked by a public road within the development.
The single family homes will be offered on half-acre, third-acre, and much smaller "villa" lots. Plans for nine apartment complexes, rising three stories, could be scrapped for more villas, said Garman of Civil-Tech Consulting Engineers Inc.
The project also will include space for both office and commercial buildings, which would be built later on.
- Jennifer Liberto covers business and development in Hernando County and can be reached at 848-1434 or liberto@sptimes.com