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Residents fight homes, condos

A developer seeking rezoning wants to change the name of the development. Some residents allege dishonest marketing.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published January 20, 2006

South Hillsborough residents lined up Tuesday to argue against zoning proposals that would add hundreds of residences to Ruskin.

A zoning hearing master heard proposals from Fort Lauderdale developer Manatee Bay Associates to rezone 180 acres of land for about 420 homes, condominiums and town homes in a development called Riverton.

Part of the project includes 78 acres of environmentally sensitive land north of Shell Point Road, which the developer will give to the county if the project wins approval.

Much of Tuesday's meetings centered on conflicting visions of how honestly developer Manatee Bay Associates has marketed its project and what the rezoning would mean for Ruskin.

In an e-mail Monday, developers announced that they were changing the project's name from the Little Manatee Community to Riverton. Manatee Bay chief executive Richard McGinniss described Riverton as Ruskin's "first traditional neighborhood" with a nostalgic design, lots of front porches and sidewalks.

If the deal goes through, the developer will also install walking trails on the 78 acres of pristine land and clear out exotic species such as Brazilian peppers, which harm the ecology.

By acquiring the land, the county would not have to buy it through the Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Program.

In exchange, the county will give the developer 13 acres now used for a sewage lift station.

Residents argued that the northwestern edge of Ruskin is already overdeveloped by The Inn at Little Harbor, whose development marked the beginning of frayed relations between environmental activists and Manatee Bay Associates.

Manatee Bay Associates is building 1,500 units in The Inn at Little Harbor, a resort just west of the Riverton project.

More than 330 residents have written to the county opposing the Riverton rezoning request. About 50 residents of Ruskin, Apollo Beach and Sun City Center stood when asked how many people had come to oppose the rezonings.

On the other side was the developer and a single supporter: Anne Madden, a Ruskin resident hired one week earlier to be a spokeswoman for Manatee Bay Associates. Before that, Madden had served on the Planning Commission.

The developer and residents each accused the other side of misstating the facts.

Mariella Smith, who heads southern Hillsborough Sierra Club, recalled a 2004 meeting with Dave Clark, then the chief executive of Manatee Bay Associates. At the time, the company wanted residents to support a request for a building height increase. Clark assured her that the company would not build beyond the 1,500 units now under construction in Little Harbor.

As a result, Smith lent her conditional support to earlier versions of the project. When the developer announced plans for more residential communities, Smith said she felt betrayed.

"The understanding was that they would never ask for more density," Smith said. "I feel they have broken the promise they made to us."

Anita Jimenez, who attended an open house by the developer in October, reported that she and neighbors received phone calls after that meeting by "telemarketers." The callers, Jimenez said, asked residents whether they favored the idea of a nature preserve in Ruskin but never alluded to any housing developments.

John Crislip, the developer's attorney, said that "professional interviewers," not telemarketers, had telephoned residents. Crislip bristled at the suggestion that Manatee Bay Associates had engaged in deceptive marketing.

"Alleging that we have fabricated support without documentary or testimonial evidence substantiating that fact is slander," Crislip said to loud groans from the crowd. "And I'm cautioning you folks in the audience: Be careful what you say."

Other areas of contention centered on overcrowding and flooding, threats to wildlife, and the development's compatibility with Ruskin's community plan, which calls for houses only and 6,000-square-foot lots.

"Please do not argue that you have gone to great lengths to consider community interests," said Wade Clark, a resident leading a drive for Ruskin to create its own city, "when clearly in this instance, the opposite is the case."

The zoning hearing master will make a recommendation by Feb. 7 to the County Commission, which hears the requests on March 7.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431, or ameacham@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 19, 2006, 08:52:06]