BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — A housing developer in need of a zoning change has a narrow opportunity to convince the City Commission by its deadline to receive state funding.
Starke’s Zoning Board recommended the commission deny the application to rezone just over six acres from residential single family to a category that allows multifamily structures. The city commission narrowly voted to approve the application on first reading by a 3-2 vote on Sept. 20.
The final vote was set for Oct. 4.
Sandcastles Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit housing developer who plans to use an award of state funds from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to construct workforce housing. Twenty-five single-family homes are envisioned as well as a community center. These will be leased properties that the foundation is pledged to maintain for 50 years as part of its funding agreement.
The developer stressed this is not low-income housing. Their definition of the workforce included teachers, firefighters, correctional officers and police officers. The target group earns around 80% of the area’s median household income, which is $37,737, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 6.37-acre vacant parcel sits at the end of North Westmoreland Street and borders the bus barn behind Bradford Middle School as well as the back of North Florida Technical College and several residences.
Robert Williams represented Sandcastles and said staff with the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council reviewed the application and found it compatible with the city’s comprehensive plan. He said the Planning Council “got it right,” and while the Zoning Board asked great questions, its recommendation to deny the application was mistaken.
What has “tripped up” some, he said, is that the requested zoning category allows for multifamily housing and higher density development, which is not in Sandcastles’ plans. Rather, the zoning change accommodates the preferred site plan for the new development. A preliminary plat submitted to the city depicts this layout, he said.
While they could construct 25 four-bedroom homes under the current zoning category, Williams said it’s not ideal given issues with layout and drainage. The plan was engineered to provide higher stormwater retention on the property, which has been permitted by the Suwannee River Water Management District. Lots will be 4,000 square feet versus 7,500, but with an estimated construction cost of $230,000 each, these will be nice homes, Williams said. Sandcastles Board Chairman Christopher Crowder said they have been approved for approximately $7.5 million from the state to construct the development.
Drainage was one of the concerns presented by residents, who pointed out existing issues. There were also objections to additional traffic to and from the development.
Williams said that unlike when most of the homes on Westmoreland were constructed, today property owners must address stormwater runoff so that it doesn’t impact neighboring properties. The proposed retention pond might even improve drainage in the neighborhood, he said.
The project will generate more traffic, but Westmoreland is the only way to access the otherwise landlocked property. The 25-foot road also has no sidewalks for pedestrians to avoid being in the road.
Commissioner Scott Roberts had reservations about allowing multifamily zoning. Even if that is not what is planned, once the zoning is changed, it is allowable, he reasoned. Plans could change even after the city approves a site plan, he said.
Westmoreland resident Terry Qualls shared pictures of flooding in his yard, saying the runoff drains to the west to ditches that are not kept clean, so there is nowhere for the water to go. Even a retention pond can flood and allow water to drain to the natural distributaries, he said, adding it will create more flooding if there is nowhere for the water to go. The water already covers his back stoop; any more water and it will be inside his house, he said.
If Sandcastles walks away from the project after the rezoning, Qualls said the new neighbors could be an apartment complex.
Williams said they would happily agree that conditions of approval include building 25 homes as well as a sidewalk for the neighborhood. The rezoning results in a “better plan,” without which there would be a smaller, “barely adequate” retention pond and more impervious surface from the additional roads required.
A 3-2 vote to move the application to the final hearing. Roberts and Mayor Janice Mortimer cast the dissenting votes.
