Posted on Wed, Oct. 13, 2004
Summerfield decision delayed
Commissioners debate for 5 hours
By Jeff Burlew
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Leon County commissioners are delaying final decision on whether to allow a zone change for a proposed development near Lake Jackson.
Commissioners on Tuesday voted to revisit the zone-change request during their Oct. 26 meeting and to seek outside legal advice about it. The decision came after about five hours of discussion and after the commission's self-imposed 11 p.m. curfew.
At the center of the debate was the proposed 107-acre Summerfield development, which is located between North Monroe Street and Old Bainbridge Road near Lake Jackson. The Planning Commission and county staff recommended approval.
The current lake-protection zoning would limit the number of homes and apartments and wouldn't allow commercial or office space, according to city/county planning staff. Arbor Properties, the developer, asked the commission to change the zoning to allow a mix of 175 single-family homes, 13 apartment buildings and more than 100,000 square feet of office and commercial space.
Commissioner Dan Winchester, who represents the Lake Jackson area, urged commissioners to vote against the zone change. He said the development's three-story apartment buildings would ruin the character of the area.
"I think what's important here tonight is for all of us to realize that this is a good project in the wrong location," Winchester said.
People on both sides of the issue crammed into the courthouse for the commission meeting. An overflow crowd sat in the lobby outside chambers to watch the discussion on a large-screen TV.
Supporters, including a number of students, said the development was badly needed in northwest Leon County. They said Summerfield would be an ideal place to live because of its proximity to the lake and its high-quality homes and apartments.
"It's going to be very attractive," said Gordon Thames, president of Arbor Properties. "It's unfortunate it has become so controversial."
Opponents, who wore pale blue ribbons, said the project would bring too much development too close to the lake, which the county spent millions of dollars to clean up in recent years. They said it also would harm the canopy oaks on Old Bainbridge.
Matt Aresco, president of Friends of Lake Jackson, urged commissioners to vote against the zone change. He said stormwater from the development would run into the lake.
"They're not going to be able to hold their stormwater on site the way they say they're going to," he said. "The claim that all polluted stormwater can be held in closed basins is not true."
Thames said the development would hold all of its stormwater.
The land consists of several closed basins, which proponents say will help keep stormwater out of Lake Jackson. One area became a closed basin after the property owner, Mary Sellers, had a berm built over a ditch last year.
County officials said there was no permit to build the earthen dam. And County Attorney Herb Thiele said he has learned from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the agency plans to order its removal.
Stacey Bodiford was among those cheering the development, saying she would love to move there.
"I think it's a great idea," she said. "What more to make a home a home than a beautiful surrounding area."
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Contact reporter Jeff Burlew at (850) 599-2180 or jburlew@tallahassee.com.
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