Townhomes coming to the countryside

As Florida’s population grows, more and more people are moving into agricultural areas heretofore mostly untouched by urban expansion.

Osteen is one of those generally rural places whose inhabitants are trying to save their lifestyle, even as developers and investors look to build more urban-style homes for the new settlers. 

“We still have 37 acres, and we want to make sure we keep our way of life,” Rosemary Warner said, adding she fears pollution of a nearby lake. “There’s going to be runoff into that lake, and there are three springs in that lake.”

Warner was part of a determined delegation of Osteenites who showed up at the Volusia County Council’s March 4 meeting to voice their concerns about a proposal to build 80 town houses on a 13-acre parcel surrounded by farms and livestock. The land in question is within the Joint Planning Area (JPA) set by the county and Deltona in 2009, after years of negotiations over the latter’s annexations eastward into the county’s wilderness. 

At the urging of Osteenites who feared their farms and ranches may be absorbed into Deltona, officials of the two local governments talked for four years to hammer out an agreement to limit the future growth and the intensity of development in Osteen. In recent weeks and months, however, some leaders have said the 2009 interlocal pact is obsolete and needs to be revised.

MDJJ LLC, a Sanford company, owns the property at 765 N. State Road 415 now eyed for development. The land, on which is a 720-square-foot mobile home, was formerly used as a tree farm. Before any new development may occur, the land use and the zoning must be changed. The property currently has two different land uses and two zoning classifications. The land uses may be changed only by amending the county’s state-mandated growth-management plan, also known as the comprehensive plan. 

Amending the comprehensive plan requires the County Council’s approval of an ordinance, followed by a review by the Volusia Growth Management Commission and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Changing the land use is the necessary first step toward preparing for development.

The property now has two land uses, both of which were created for the Osteen JPA. The western portion, almost 7 acres, is classified as Osteen Mixed Use Village (OMV). The eastern portion, about 6 acres, has the land use of Osteen Transitional Residential (OTR-1). The owner is asking that the comp plan be amended to designate all of the property as OMV. 

Such a move would set the stage for a rezoning, as noted in a report by the county’s planning staff.

“OTR-1 is intended for typical single-family residential use on individual lots. OMV is for town homes and multifamily housing. OTR requires 10,000-square-foot lots compared to OMV requirement of 2,000-square-foot lots,” the report reads.

“The goal is to provide consistency throughout the site,” the report also notes. “Townhomes are not allowed in the OTR-1 zoning classification.”

The county’s professional planners have recommended that the council approve the land-use amendment, and the county’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission voted 5-0 in favor of the proposed amendment.

In any event, the people from Osteen appealed to the County Council to reject the townhouse proposal.

“If you look at the schools, Osteen Elementary was flooded for how many — six to eight weeks? — where we couldn’t even get into it,” Terry Luise said. “I have a high-school student that takes over an hour to go 3 miles to get to school, and there are students sitting on the floor of the bus, in order to get to Pine Ridge High School. I have a Heritage Middle School student that is in a classroom that averages 40 students. He sits on one side of the room, and the teacher has a second laboratory on the other side, and she goes in between the two rooms to teach between the two, because there are students on both sides … with over 40 students in a classroom.”

Luise also expressed concerns about traffic and speeding on the roads in the area.

Other speakers touched on flooding, which has become a signature issue around the county over the past two-and-a-half years.

“I’ve never seen flooding like this. My home was safe, but my property wasn’t,” Debbie Mulligan told the council.

“Keep in mind that water knows no boundaries,” Suzanne Scheiber, of Ormond Beach, said. 

Scheiber heads an environmental group known as Dream Green Volusia.

“We really need to be smart about this,” Heather Osteen said. “We’re seeing a lot of crime coming into Volusia County.”

The council voted to table, or postpone, a decision on the request to amend the county‘s comprehensive plan for the Osteen proposal until May 20. The council also agreed to schedule a workshop on Osteen issues on April 9. The time and location of that public meeting have not yet been set. In the meantime, council members urged Mark Watts, the developer’s attorney, to confer with the critics of the town house proposal.

“We’ve actually met with some of the leadership of the Osteen Preservation Society,” Watts told the council.

Not least, an additional caveat for the developer is to safeguard wetlands on the parcel.

“Portions of the property contain or abut wetlands,” reads a memorandum from County Forester Keith Abrahamson. “These wetlands have an associated 50-foot upland buffer. Any alteration of a wetland or its associated buffer will require an issued wetland alteration permit from EP [county Environmental Permitting].”

“This property contains gopher tortoise (GT) burrows and suitable habitat for the GT,” the memo continues. “The GT is a state threatened species. … If the GT burrows found on site and their 25-foot buffers cannot be avoided, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission GT relocation permit will be required.”