Grocery developers apply for rezoning
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — The city of Starke is proceeding with the rezoning of land recently annexed into the city limits.
The land is being brought into compliance with the city’s future land use and zoning maps, but it is also being prepared for future development.
The 180-plus acres at the intersection of State Road 16 and the Starke bypass is the site of a future multiuse development, according to Gerry Dedenbach of CHW Professional Consultants, who represented landowner Osceola Timber Company during the annexation process last year.
On Jan. 16, the commission approved the first reading of an ordinance to change nearly 140 acres on the future land use map from county low-density residential development to city high density residential development. If approved on final reading, the development density at the site would go from two dwelling units per acre to eight to 20 dwelling units per acre.
It was accompanied by an ordinance to convert the zoning from county rural residential to city multifamily, high-density residential. The category allows a variety of multifamily housing types, including townhouses.
At the same time, the other 40 acres was approved on first reading to go from county low-density residential to city commercial, with the zoning category being highway commercial like much of the U.S. 301 corridor through town.
Building and zoning official Kevin Powell told the city commission nothing has been set in stone as far as the development of the property. The portion of the land closest to the highway could be developed commercially, with residential dwellings in the background. A new road network would provide ingress and egress to properties within the development so traffic won’t be turning directly into a commercial property from S.R. 16.
“There again, there’s no talk of what they’re going to develop in there, how they’re going to develop there. This is just trying to establish what the property can be used for in the future,” Powell said.
Any plans will undergo site plan review and approval, but Powell predicted it would be a few years before that happens.
In the meantime, Starke and Bradford County have both pledged million in federal and state funds to extend water and sewer service to serve that area.
Final approval of the land use and zoning changes should take place in February.
Grocery developers apply for rezoning
Starke has also advertised another commercial rezoning that should come before the commission next month.
The application would rezone the 7.8 acres that sits at the corner of S.R. 16 and Weldon Street. It was acquired by R3 Ventures-FL Inc. last October. The applicant has requested the land be changed from single-family residential development to highway commercial.
According to state incorporation records, the three Rs behind R3 are Randy, Ryan and Robert Holihan of Belle Isle, Florida. They make up RH Development Group, which father and son Randy and Ryan formed in 2020.
According to their website, they have helped develop more than 40 grocery-anchored shopping centers and 4.2 million square feet of retail space.
