Different interpretations of sprawl may cause problems for the developer of the proposed Southern Hills Plantation.
By DAN DeWITT
Published October 6, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - In July, the state sent a letter to the city of Brooksville that defined, in seemingly absolute terms, Southern Hills Plantation as sprawl.
"It promotes ... significant amounts of urban development in rural areas at substantial distances from existing urban areas while leaping over undeveloped lands," the letter said.
The 999-home subdivision "disproportionately increases ... time, money and energy of providing and maintaining facilities and services."
But now, the city and the developer think they have satisfied the state's concerns. They did so not by changing the project, which is proposed for south of downtown Brooksville just east of U.S. 41, but by offering more information about traffic, population and utilities.
And the state Department of Community Affairs would be right to agree with their analysis, said Bill Geiger, the city's Community Development Director.
"In this case, we have adequate roads, we have utility services that are not that far away," Geiger said. "(Southern Hills) is contiguous to the city's boundaries. Where else is the city going to expand?"
DCA may yet be convinced, though by last week, it had not reached a decision on Southern Hills, which includes a golf course and commercial area.
At a meeting Thursday, the County Commission and the Brooksville City Council were scheduled to address these issues. It was postponed until later this month, however, to give city, county and state staffers more time to meet.
If the DCA changes its mind on Southern Hills, it may be partly because, even on the state level, sprawl is hard to define.
If Florida's growth management law has one overriding purpose, it is to limit sprawl, said several professional planners.
But almost everyone involved with growth decisions - elected officials, planners and developers - complain they are frustrated by vague and conflicting definitions of the term.
"I need someone to help me and define for me, "What is sprawl,"' said Brooksville developer and real estate broker Gary Schraut.
"Until both sides agree, it will be nothing but a bunch of words that both sides use to get what they want."
"I've asked it of the staff. I've asked it of my fellow commissioners: "Will you define sprawl to me?"' said Al Sevier, a county Planning and Zoning Commissioner. "And no one can give me a good answer."
"(Sprawl) is basically used to mean anything you are against," said Larry Jennings, the director of the county's planning department.
The term sprawl originally described a basic concept - the spreading of American cities, said Grant Thrall, a professor of business geography at the University of Florida.
This began with the advent of good mass transportation and then the widespread availability of cars in the early part of the 20th century, Thrall said. It accelerated after World War II, when freeways made it easier to commute longer distances.
Urban planning theorists, including Mary Jacobs and Lewis Mumford, popularized the term sprawl, he said. But coming up with a definition specific enough to apply to planning decisions is far more complicated, Thrall said.
"Sprawl can mean many things to many different people," he said.
That is clear from recent discussions about developments in and around Brooksville.
Last month, Schraut proposed building 381 housing units on 110 acres of land east of Brooksville near State Road 50. The development, called Chastain, would offer commercial space, 250 villas and 131 single-family houses.
The main argument against the development from nearby residents, most of whom live on tracts larger than 21/2 acres, was that Chastain promoted sprawl.
Under their definition, sprawl is dense development surrounded by mostly rural areas. Chastain would have been several miles from the Brooksville's main commercial strip south of downtown, placing more traffic on SR 50. Sewer and water lines would have been run from the city to serve the development.
Also, the critics said, the developer bypassed several undeveloped parcels closer to the city that should be developed first.
Schraut and Don Lacey, of Coastal Engineering & Associates, Inc., who presented the plans to the county, said sprawl is actually just the kind of development the opponents said they would prefer for the Chastain property - large, rural lots.
Schraut, who has developed several such large-lot developments, told commissioners that county planners discouraged him from continuing to do so.
If the commission rejected Schraut's proposal, Lacey said, "there will be a bunch of 5- and 10-acre lots sitting next to an urbanized area, which is what, I think, they call urban sprawl."
In a way, both are right, according to both Thrall and the state's definition.
"Urban sprawl means urban development or uses which are located in predominantly rural areas or rural areas interspersed with generally low-intensity or low-density urban areas," states the Florida Administrative Code.
And County Commissioner Diane Rowden said this "leapfrog" pattern of development was the main factor in her vote against Chastain.
But vast areas covered with large residential lots is also a form of sprawl, Thrall said.
Residents of such areas do need fewer urban services, he said; their water is typically provided by wells rather than water lines, for example.
"But everybody needs public infrastructure," he said.
It is more expensive and kless efficient to supply police and fire protection or school bus service when the population is scattered across the countryside, Thrall said.
"If you have a heart attack, that first three minutes is important," he said.
It is also bad for businesses. Low-density development means fewer customers within an easy drive of stores or restaurants, Thrall said.
The way to combat this form of sprawl, he said, is not to allow conventional subdivisions in the middle of these areas. It is to keep this land rural by having larger lots that have minimum impact.
Jennings said that is generally accomplished by the county's current zoning laws, which generally limit lots in rural areas to 10 acres, but provide for some as small as 21/2-acres.
For this reason, he has not discouraged rural residential development, he said.
But he has considered adjusting impact fees to account for the various expenses associated with different kinds of development. People on large, rural lots, for example, would pay less for facilities they are unlikely to use. They would pay more for transportation or fire and police protection that are more expensive to provide.
To charge different rates, though, would require extensive study.
"It takes a lot of data to understand it and make it stick," Jennings said.
Some of the differences about sprawl are due less to a different overall definition than degree. That seems to be the case with Southern Hills.
Those who favor the development argue, like Geiger, say it is not sprawl because it is near a six-lane highway, contiguous to the city and across from an existing development of considerable size.
Jake Varn, the lawyer representing the developer, LandMar Group LLC of Jacksonville, said he is convinced the DCA officials will eventually find the project in compliance.
That is especially true, he said, because they recently toured the site and saw how close it was to the city and Hernando Oaks.
"I think they thought it was out in the middle of nowhere," Varn said.
Those who say Southern Hills promotes sprawl counter that it is several miles south of the city, and that it will require either a new sewer plant to serve it or a long pipeline to connect it with the nearest county plant.
Also, Southern Hills' proximity to the highway is meaningless because growth management laws are intended to limit strip development.
"To me, sprawl is what happens every time - and this is throughout the U.S. - that you build a large new road," said Ray Stanbro, of Brooksville, who has criticized Southern Hills and other developments in and around the city.
"As soon as the new road comes in, a la the Suncoast Parkway, then the developers come in to put in their homes. Then come the strip malls. And then come the office complexes."
