HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004 04 15 - Council Vote AgainstSEBASTIAN RIVER AREA
Thursday, April 15, 2004 The Press Journal A7
Council shoots down proposed subdivision
The vote was against the
56 -acre Ashbury
subdivision's site plan
and the rezoning of the
property from agricultural
to planned unit
development residential.
By Tony Judnich
staff writer
SEBASTIAN — Larry and
f Gerry Gangnier couldn't
{ stand it any longer.
IUnable to find seats, the
two brothers stood almost
two hours in a packed coun-
cil chamber at City Hall on
Wednesday night, waiting
for the City Council to get to
the issue they showed up for:
The proposed Ashbury sub-
division.
The issue involved a re-
quested rezoning and site
plan approval for the pro-
posed 195 single-family home
neighborhood, which would
go on 56 acres north of
County Road 512 and Sebas-
tian Elementary and west of
Orange Heights, where the
Gangniers have lived for
seven years.
Tired of waiting, the Gang -
niers went home to sit and
watch the council on Sebas-
tian government Channel 25
vote against the subdivi-
sion's site plan and the re-
zoning of the property from
Indian River County agricul-
tural to the city's planned
unit development residential
category.
The council's rejection
came m a 3-2 vote, with coun-
cil members seeming to
struggle with pros and cons
of the project.
"We live on Tangelo Street,
right next to it," Larry Gang-
nier, 77, said of the 56 -acre
parcel. "It's a wooded area
there now. We like it like
that. We don't like to see Se-
bastian growing so rapidly."
That sentiment seemed to
be shared by many of the
more than 130 people who
overflowed the council cham-
ber, the largest council meet-
ing attendance in the past
several years.
Many protestors said they
worried that development of
the Ashbury subdivision
would mean an end to go-
pher tortoises, scrub jays
and other creatures on the
land.
Tracy Hass, Sebastian's
Growth Management Depart-
ment director, said the devel-
oper has the right to develop
the property. He said the Se-
bastian area does have large
conservation lands, one
north of Main Street and one
west of the St. Sebastian
River.
Orange Heights resident
Andrea Coy, who had
rounded up many of the pro-
testors, gave the council a pe-
tition that contained signa-
tures of more than 500 city
residents who oppose devel-
oping the land.
"It's my privilege to speak
on behalf of the lawn chair
brigade," Coy said, referring
to protestors sitting outside
the chamber.
Besides creatures, the 56
acres include "a pristine wil-
derness," but at Ashbury
subdivision, houses would
"be packed in like sardines,"
Coy said.
The project owner is the
Coy A. Clark Co., of Mel-
bourne. Vero Beach engineer
Joseph Schulke, who is
working on the subdivision
for the project owner, said
more than 60 percent of the
development would be open
space.
Schulke said almost seven
acres of upland vegetation
and more than three acres of
wetlands would be preserved,
and about three acres would
be set aside for recreational
areas, which would include
many trees.
- tonyjudnich@sciipps.com