HomeMy WebLinkAbout20030815 - Newspaper Article - Land UseCO U NTY/SE BASTIAN RIVER AREA
Density issue stalls Sebastian development
By Tony Judnich
staff writer
SEBASTIAN — The Sebas-
tian City Council Wednesday
gave preliminary approval of
an ordinance that would
change the land use for a
63 -acre parcel proposed to be-
come a part of the city.
But the council members
tabled rezoning the property
until a later date, saying they
don't like the developer's
proposed density of 3.4
homes per acre.
The land could serve as the
south section of the future
Sebastian River Landings
neighborhood, on the south-
east corner of County Road
512 and County Road 510. Of-
ficials
fficials from Melbourne's
Forte Macaulay Development
Consultants Inc. are plan-
ning to get 421 single-family
homes built in the neighbor-
hood.
The council already has
approved the design and land
use and zoning changes for
the neighborhood's 72 -acre,
209 -home north section,
which was annexed into the
city from unincorporated In-
dian River County earlier
this year and has a density of
about three units per acre.
Wednesday, the council ap-
proved changing the land -use
designation for the 63 acres
from county low-density resi-
dential to city low-density
residential. The city's desig-
nation allows up to five units
per acre while the county's
allows three.
Company officials propose
building 212 homes on the 63
acres, which would equal a
density of about 3.4 homes
per acre.
But the council called for a
density of three units per
acre and tabled the rezoning
with hopes that Forte Macau-
lay officials would decrease
the density.
"Our low-density residen-
tial category allows up to five
units per acre, but the appli-
cant isn't guaranteed he'll re-
ceive that in the zoning,"
city Growth Management Di-
rector Tracy Hass said
Thursday.
Forte Macaulay officials
could not be reached for com-
ment Thursday.
The state Department of
Community Affairs, and
other state and local govern-
mental and planning agen-
cies will review the land -use
change to see if it follows the
city's comprehensive plan.
If it is found that it follows
the plan — and if Forte Ma-
caulay officials lower the
density of the south section
— then land use, zoning
changes and annexation of
the 63 acres would go to the
council for adoption, possi-
bly in November, said city of-
ficials.
fficials.
- tonyfudnich0scrlpps.com
Friday, August 15, 2003 The Press Journal A7
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