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Hernando County zoning panel denies project

The county Planning and Zoning Commission votes 4-0 against rezoning acreage described as a flood-prone area where a developer would put 307 attached homes.

By DAN DEWITT
Published October 11, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - The 121 acres where a Miami developer wanted to build 307 attached houses was in a rural area on Mondon Hill Road, across State Road 50 from the entrance of Spring Lake Highway.

Further, the development, bordering a large retention pond dug for SR 50, would be partly submerged by a large flood, according to a new floodplain study.

For both of those reasons, the county planning department recommended denying a rezoning request from the developer, James Kern. The Planning and Zoning Commission backed that recommendation Monday, voting 4-0 against the rezoning. One commissioner, Ken Smith, abstained.

Attorney Joe Mason, who represented the developer, said the land was designated for residential development in the county's comprehensive plan and that Kern had reduced the number of units he planned to build from 462.

The county's chief planner, Jerry Greif, said he wasn't convinced by those arguments.

"Smoke screen aside, the development is not consistent with surrounding uses," Greif said.

Planning director Ron Pianta said the county comprehensive plan calls for low-density development in flood-prone areas. Kern's project "would be more appropriate for an urban area, and there's not transition" to the larger lots surrounding the land.

But Alan Garman of Brooksville's Civil-Tech Consulting Engineers said residents often complain that developers attempt to change the comprehensive plan to allow development.

Kern, on the other hand, "found a parcel that allows residential development on the comp plan, and it's not approved," Garman, who helped design the subdivision, said after the vote.

The county planners said in their report that the county and the Southwest Florida Water Management District are updating flood maps for the county.

"Any development would have to comply with the new mapping," the planning recommendation said; the new maps show that the southwest corner of the property would be submerged by a large flood.

If his developers must rethink the development, Garman said, the state has larger concerns: The new maps show that the flood would also inundate some nearby stretches of SR 50.

Smith said he withheld his vote because he is not opposed to developing the parcel, which is across the street from a cluster of stores.

He encouraged Garman to resubmit a plan "with less density, something we could go with."

Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6116.

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 06:21:33]