A proposed 85-townhome development near SE 55th Avenue Road hit a considerably larger roadblock Tuesday night than the potholes residents have been complaining about.
The Belleview City Commission voted unanimously Aug. 18 to deny the rezoning request for The Grove at Belleview, siding with residents who had packed recent meetings to raise concerns about traffic, flooding and the impact of squeezing additional homes onto the approximately eight-acre property.
The vote came during the first City Commission hearing on the project and marked a dramatic turnaround from earlier when the Belleview Planning and Zoning Board voted 3-1 to recommend approval.
That recommendation, however, was just that: a recommendation. The elected City Commission had the final say on whether to grant the requested zoning change.
At issue was not whether homes could be built on the property near SE 115th Street and SE 55th Avenue Road. The property is already zoned R-3, which allows residential development at up to eight units per acre, or roughly 64 homes on the site.
The developer, Ocala Housing Solutions, was seeking Residential Planned Development zoning that would have allowed greater density. The proposed master plan called for 85 townhomes. The higher density was being sought under provisions allowing up to 11 units per acre because the property is within a half-mile of Belleview’s Central Business District and the proposal included a connection to the city’s sidewalk system.
Residents weren’t exactly lining up to welcome the extra density.
During the hearing, neighbors repeatedly raised concerns about SE 55th Avenue Road, describing its condition and existing traffic as problems before another large residential development was added to the equation. Flooding was another major concern, with the city’s own staff report acknowledging that portions of the property are located within a flood zone.
Commissioners made a motion to deny the rezoning during Tuesday’s hearing, and the motion passed unanimously. For opponents who left the previous hearing facing a recommendation in favor of the project, the Commission vote was about as complete a reversal as they could have hoped for.
The existing R-3 zoning remains important. Denial of the requested change does not mean the eight-acre property can never be developed. Residential construction is already permitted under its current zoning, but at the lower density allowed by R-3 rather than the 85-townhome plan proposed through the Residential Planned Development rezoning.
The Grove may have had a site plan, a promised sidewalk connection and proximity to a downtown residents have questioned whether really exists, but Tuesday night it lost the one thing every development actually needs: a green light.
