- April 24, 2024
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A quiet stretch of John Anderson highway south of State Road 100 may one day bustle with the traffic of 99 new homes — if the proposal for the 253-acre community can make it past the county’s Planning and Development Board.
“This is a little tricky, complex project in some areas,” said Michael Chiumento, representing Miller Legg and Associates in the application for a preliminary plat for the planned community, to be called Seaside Landings. But, he said, “This is a national, high-quality company that’s going to bring another high quality community to our community.”
The board didn’t vote on whether or not to approve the application for a preliminary plat at its March 8 meeting, instead deciding to hear the issue again at the board’s regular meeting March 22. But county staff recommended the board not approve the plat.
“Unfortunately, our recommendation would be for denial of the preliminary plat,” Planning and Zoning Director Adam Mengel told the board. Staff had several issues with the proposed development, Mengel explained, including lot grading, street grading and water and sewer review issues.
The land on which the community is to be built straddles John Anderson Highway south of S.R. 100, bordering the Intracoastal on the east and Bulow Creek on the west.
The 99 lots themselves sit on 90.87 acres, with the rest of the land set aside for a homeowners association building, recreation, utilities, stormwater draining, and entrances and exits. There would be a kayak launch on Bulow Creek.
The developer planned to leave lot grading to individual homeowners, Mengel said, and county staff was concerned that could create a “checkerboard of completion for shoreline stabilization,” according to a county staff report — and that fill from lots under construction might encroachon neighboring vacant lots.
In addition, Mengel said, the development’s proposed street grading is not consistent with the county’s Land Development Code, and county staff believe the Department of Environmental Protection requirements for sewer system slopes is not being met in the proposed plans.
Chiumento noted that the project’s conceptual plan had received initial approval in July 2015.
“The county has already kind of tacitly approved these things by approving the site plan,” he said. The major issues staff had identified had either been resolved or could be handled through an approval subject to conditions, Chiumento said. The issue has been scheduled for the 6 p.m. March 22 Planning Board meeting.
