Beacon Woods East MPUD PC8 modification with silviculture conditions
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The county’s agenda for Planning Commission, Feb 22, 2024
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The county’s minutes for Planning Commission, Feb 22, 2024
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 30m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 69% of 110 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Okay, now we'll move on to the regular portion of the agenda.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Nictorios Pitos, Planning and Economic Growth Department. Um this next item on the agenda.
is a zoning amendment for Beacon Woods East M P U D. Um which is a modification to the MPVD master plan and it and the conditions of approval uh accordingly. Um
So the amendment uh is to rezone essentially because it's a substantial modification to the MPUD from an MPUD to an MPUD, essentially updating the conditions of approval associated with the Beacon Woods East MPUD, uh, in order to uh set forth passive uses that may occur in specific specific golf course.
Um so this item was previously uh heard and recommended by the Planning Commission on Octo recommended for approval to the BCC uh on October nineteenth. And the project went to the December fifth Board of County Commissioners meeting. At that meeting, uh a number of uh concerns were raised associated with the Silv Sylvic cultural aspects of the of the MPUD. And the board recommended
or remanded rather the project back to Planning Commission in order to handle the Silva Silvicultural aspects and to update the conditions of approval associated with that.
Remanding it back to the Planning Commission. So here we are today, essentially Uh Updating the Planning Commission on what took place since the the December 5th board meeting. Uh as a brief overview, this is where it is in the county, uh northwest part of Pasco County. Um here is an outline of the Beacon Woods. uh development area where the MPUD uh is the zoning district.
Um Here shows the zoning district itself with the subject property. And the various zonings that have been uh incorporated in the area. Uh in particular we we are Can't see from here.
My eyes are not as good as they used to be. Um this is the area in question for the for the Beacon Woods uh modification.
Here's the future land use for the area. Again, I'm rolling through this because this has been previously presented. Um The one thousand foot buffer around the the subject area. And this is the master plan uh and the affected areas in terms of the golf course areas that that we were referring to.
So the conditions of approval, the COAs, they were revised to include specific uses in the golf course areas. Initially, uh it included uh walking trails, uh open play areas, top lots, playgrounds, recreational courts. It included the ability to put an entrance road. uh through the the golf course area including utilities, floodplain compensation areas, drainage. And then since the December 5th Board of County Commissioners meeting, which remanded the project back to the Planning Commission, additional
conditions of approval were conditions of approval were added for controlled plantings, gardens, trees, palms, or silviculture so that if uh certain areas were dedicated to HOAs uh in the area they could reframe they could retain some of the growth that had taken place uh since the golf course was closed.
So with that, we bring the project back to you with a recommendation for approval following the October recommendation of approval with the inclusion of the silvicultural conditions of approval.
Okay, any anything up here for Terry?
Uh I I believe the property is still owned by Mr. Loman. Um the applicant's representative is here so they could better speak to that. Okay. That's all I wanna know.
Good afternoon. Barbara Wilheite, sixty three twenty seven Grand Boulevard, New Port Richey. This is the gift that keeps on giving. I am back again. I think we have all the paperwork in order. To answer your question, Mr. Tanello, it's the property is owned by Loman Lynx, the Loman family. I don't represent the Loman family. I represent the contract purchaser for a portion of the property, which is NVR Holmes, Ryan Holmes. So basically as we went along this journey
There's been multiple people involved other than just my client wanting to develop two hundred and eighteen lots on an R four portion of the pot. portion of property, there's property zoned R for that my client's buying Next to the golf course. My clients doing 218 homes there under R4 60 by 100 lots. And as part of that development, they're purchasing a portion of the golf course and gonna put floodplain drainage and neighborhood parks in there. Got all that. But
what I didn't get was that there's Other property, there's trees, there's HOAs, and so I've been working for a year or so to try to get everything else, the paperwork, written properly for all these other issues. Um but I think I've finally achieved with work with the County Attorney's Office, Mr. Goldstein, working with the estates that are represented here, Homeowners Association, working with the Lowman and their representatives of property owners. I think we finally got the paperwork. all in order, we had to remand um much to
the disappointment of the of the estate uh homeowners association because one of the things that we did in connection with my client buying a portion of the property in connection with their development of the R four property was We my client was able to to bring all of the property, the golf course property under their contract so that they could commit if the hOAs want the respective property that they would the property be conveyed to them, the other golf course property. Coming up with a solution, right? Because you got a defunct golf
course, you've got these areas behind people's homes. And so We've worked with the estates which are our actual neighbors. There's the estates that are our neighbors to our project and then across Little Road there's Fairway the golf course went across the road, there's Fairway Oaks. I Fairway Oaks have not worked with with us. Um I had a question this week, they wanted environmental reports. Somebody from that uh organization wanted environmental reports. We had given those environmental
reports a year ago. My client was actually asked by the HOA or at least one of the HOAs to do environmental reports on the golf course. This is outside of where they're purchasing and developing, so for the benefit of those HOAs, so that there would be they could look at them and make sure there wasn't an issue. Issue with taking golf course property. So that work was done, the states reviewed it, the states went through all the procedures, and they they have representatives here. They are They were disappointed at the board meeting 'cause they were ready to be done with this so that they can have the property
conveyed to them so they can start maintaining the property as an HOA that R is behind a lot of people's homes. Um so with that we have The conditions thirty five through thirty eight. The other thing that happened was we were requested to agree to remove trees um in ponds outside of where my clients gonna develop. So this is going again going well and beyond um anything that I contemplated when I was representing
what I represent as developers. But we added condition thirty eight that says if the if the HOA requests that if HOA is going to be conveyed to the property and the HOA requests that trees and ponds be removed. There's a process in thirty eight for that to occur. The estates were on record when we were here before and before the board that they don't want any trees removed. Um they've got it, they're they're set up, they are ready to take the property and they know and they know how to maintain it. So but we did add the condition in here,
if it is requested, um my client will go uh beyond what uh they're developing and remove trees from ponds. So that's kind of what brings us back. I think the I know the estates are are satisfied with how the conditions are reading. I know that Mr. Loman, the underlying property owner, is satisfied. My clients more than satisfied county attorney staff. We've really worked hard hard at this so If we have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. We're just looking forward to moving this forward so that
my client can actually develop the property and that's the facilitation of it's through my client sticking in all this time. on this contract that they're gonna facilitate this property going to the to the HOAs if they want 'em. So my clients the solution to this long ongoing saga with a defunct golf course and and what happens to it. So thank you.
Thank you, Barbara.
Hmm. Is there anybody here to speak to this item?
Mr. Chairman have some folks signed up to speak on this item. I've got Jack Brummet, followed by Joe Sears, then Jeff Baumgartner, and Phil Roderick.
Okay, when when you come up again, I I I guess we're not going to be able to do If you're next in line, please try to come up to the front so we can keep this moving. And also when you come up, please make sure you state your your name and address and then just acknowledge that you've been sworn, please.
My name is Jack Brummett. I live at 8845, excuse me, [address removed]. where I've resided for the last twenty-five years. I'm also the president of the Homeowners Association for the States and Reserve of Beacon Woods. This is the second time I've appeared before this group. Uh The faces look familiar from last
October. And I I'm here to say that We offer more than lip service about our desire to. uh receive the conveyance of this property. since our last uh appearance before you Uh we have h we have purchased a seventeen thousand dollar commercial lawnmower. We have had three volunteer work days on the golf course. The first one we had forty eight people volunteer. The
second we had thirty and the s third we had thirty, about about thirty people. at the conclusion of each of these work days I had two questions. When can we do this again? And when are we going to own the property? Beginning in ha in November. Oh. because of the delays in in getting this property. We reached an agreement with Mr. Loman to lease The twenty five ekers were
eventually going to receive. uh from him for one dollar uh a month. and uh our people are working vigorously to keep this uh the fairways looking nice uh th and they do look beautiful. Uh The only problem we have is We have too many people wanting to volunteer to work and and to do this. I say all this to you to just let you know that we are We've got skin
in this. And where people want this to happen. This this resolves an issue that's been uh plaguing us for the last four years since the closure. of the golf course. And uh We're ready to move on. And my My encouragement to you is to vote approval for this amendment today. Okay. Thank you so much. And thanks for coming out.
Mr. Joe Sears?
Thank you. My name is Joe Sears. I'm a property owner at [address removed]. uh which is in the reserve and the estates. We're lucky to have a guy like Jack Brumman as our president. Um I'm here to talk to you about um Conditions for approval rezoning petition seven seven four two. Uh this is re f this is proposed by NBR Incorporated Ryan Holmes and it's referred to as the
Enclave. of Beacon Woods on county um county maps. I first appeared. In front of you on october nineteenth, twenty twenty three. Uh during that meeting I observed approval by Planning Commission members. It's very frustrating to appear before you again And again express my support for this project. Thank you again for what you do. in preserving and improving the quality of life for all of us. I assure you that R HOA
wants nothing more than that. for the four hundred and eighty homes in which we represent. And we appreciate your efforts. Our current home is ninth across five states, two of which are located in Pasco County. Uh we are in support of this project moving forward. and the road modification requested by NVR. The modification will architecturally complement The existing homes in the area. And we also we have worked very, very
close with uh the um proper current property owner um who has worked very, very close with us in working with Ryan Holmes. So it's been this has not been just a one and done type of project and we've been working on this for for up to four years as Jack mentioned. We also believe this is the best option for easing congestion and optimizing traffic flow in this part of the county. More importantly, it is the best option for
emergency response vehicles And personnel. As a community, we have seen change coming when sadly the golf course closed April 22, 2019. Unlike other golf cour course closure in the in the county, however, over fifty thousand evergreen trees were planted on the property by the responsible owner in twenty twenty. We took an active role in that. and this was followed up by an additional five hundred
trees planted by H. O. Ray residents in early twenty twenty one, including yours truly. Since twenty twenty our community has embraced the change from a golf course to a tree farm by spending hundreds, if not thousands, of sweat equity hours cleaning up the fairways. I want to add that we did this at no cost to Pasco County taxpayers. This was all in our dime. This was all using our trucks, our fuel, and our sweat
equity. Um where we remove dog fennel and other weed plants. The result is both an aesthetics and neighborhood morale boost. As Jack mentioned, people are excited about doing something with this. I would s I would dare say I'd stand up the estates and reserve to any other HOA in the county as far as where we are now with with community pride and morale and it really centers
around this project. The um our community has worked hard and the owner to maintain trees, which now four years later served to uh as a vehicle traffic sound and site barrier to Hudson Avenue. I should add too that if you take a look at the property maps and you take a look at the uh property appraiser, you'd be amazed at how much how much more in taxes the county actually is benefited by homes.
People want to buy these homes. I mean they're along Hudson Avenue, but with with those trees, the the sound is uh reduction is amazing. And and the way it it looks. Um we we accepted this gift on January 23 21st last year. The property was enthusiastically approved by 87% of the residents. So You know, there's a lot of rare pluses there. In closing,
we urge you to approve this change. The road modification is the best traffic option for safe access. into and out of the homes. And you enthusiastically approved that last time. Um and those are to be built adjacent to our neighborhood as well as Um uh as well and also as this uh amendment as written will allow us to maintain the future gifted property as we see fit. Um
I encourage you if if you ever get a chance to come down there, give me a call. I'll be happy to take you around the property, although Joe Jack would probably beat me to it. Um thank you again for your time and service to Pasco County residents. Or
can I ask you a quick question? So Um Have you heard about what's going on with Ferry Oaks and Um you know, and the master association about whether they'll take the other track in the event Fairway Oak's I have. Could you elaborate on that just so we know what the status is?
I have. You know, when we first took a look at this, um one of the things we wanted to do was we took it to the residents and we asked the residents, what do you want us to do? And again, Um we so we we asked people and we took a vote. You know, you want to know what people really think. And like I said, for us, it was 87% of the people who voted wanted this. Um I'm not sure exactly what happened
with Fairway Oaks or how that was handled. uh that probably would be better served by their uh president. They have a different HOA structure. I know in order to approve things like this it's quite onerous. I think as much as a hundred percent of the homes have to approve when they accept property like that, I think that's a a real stumbling block for them. You know, for us it's fifty percent. So um I'm pretty pretty well aware of
that. I know regardless of that, I know that uh Mr. Loman has held up his end of the bargain in maintaining that property over there. uh as agricultural with a Um there's a fire break that's required. It's on our side too. But I am familiar with that and I can't really speak speak to that. I can only tell you that we took a very deliberate process to go through to accept what what we would like.
Let me ask the question a different way. Does the Master Association have the same rules as Fairway where They need a hundred percent vote. I mean, is your is your association part of the Master Association?
It is, and the Master Association is not an HOA. It is it is uh it comes under administrative code f s uh statute six seventeen. It is It is a corporation, but it's a a little different structure. I I'm real familiar with it because I also was the uh Covenant revision chair for the revision of our covenant uh two years ago. So I'm very familiar with it. It's it's a different It's a corporation, it's comprised of the HOAs
and they have representative
My my question is has the Master Association determine whether they would if Fair Weeks declines to take the property Have there been any discussions with the Master Association about taking The Fairway Oak's property.
I don't believe so. I'm pretty sh I'm ninety nine percent sure that the answer to that is no. Okay.
But we are very happy with with uh twelve, seventeen, eleven, three and four. Those are the fairways. And uh we're excited about that and we have supported that for four years now.
Okay.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Jeff Baum Baumgardner is next.
Good afternoon. I'm just here quick, sir, before you start
before you start, just name and address, please.
Okay, Jeff Baumgartner, [address removed].
And you have been sworn? You have been sworn?
Yes, I have been.
Very good. Thank you.
Uh I just want to back up what Jack and Joe just said about this whole community coming together. I've been involved in that area almost every day. uh with the residents, talking to people there about uh what these people have done. It's almost like kind of reminds me back where I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where the Amish all get together. And we're gonna build a barn today. These people just have
such a good work ethic where they just show up They don't get paid, they bring their own tools, they bring their own equipment, and they just clean it up because they have pride in this place. When this place first Closed down, a lot of animosity, and that's of course that's expected because they have a golf course and look how it's pretty and green and everything. Uh the animosity has seemed to go away in this neighborhood. I've been around every day in that neighborhood for the past whatever it was when it closed uh july tenth of twenty nineteen.
uh and got to know a lot of the neighbors, heard I I ha I seemed to be a sounding board where everybody would come to complain and I would say, look, th good things are gonna happen here, good things are gonna happen. Obviously. It's there. It's gonna probably be one of the nicest neighborhoods in all of Hudson. With instituting the parks and the recreation, we we just aren't building developments like this. It's gonna be beautiful. So Thank you for your time. I think that they they really, really
did Uh work hard to appreciate your vote to vote and move this forward finally. Thank you.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Make
I do.
The last person signed up to speak is Phil Roderick.
Good afternoon.
My name is Phil Roderick. I reside at uh [address removed]. And I've been sworn in. Um my property does border the rezoned area, which I understand is already zoned uh R4. So it's a this technical thing about getting it approved to another zoning is something beyond me. But I'm I'm very happy about this because for number one Um, the everything has been presented very professionally. And I would like to thank Mr. Lowman, who I've not met. I couldn't point him out in this room. for
working with our HOA, which also I'm very proud of. Um I have one caveat though, um, at at at the end of this because I think it'd be a very beautiful thing. But I I feel that I wasn't there when it was built as a golf course and I'm sure it was very dismaying for some people. That were always looking out, seeing groomed land, beautiful land that was safe, uh, safe and not just a whole lot of ruckus. Um We don't have that now. Of course Mr. Luman had every right to plant a cash
crop of trees, which was a brilliant idea. I hope those trees can be replanted if if needed. That's that's beyond me. But my final caveat is that Uh I in that community am very concerned about the wild coyotes that run havoc there. There was uh yapping the other night. I didn't see them, but I've seen enough western movies to know what coyotes sound like. And uh I have a puppy, you know, nine ten months old and And even though it's not a fifty five plus community and and people don't
have fences, which is great 'cause it's beautiful. Fences are very ugly. Um Then I'm concerned about my puppy and perhaps grandchildren and small children, I don't even know what I'd do if if I'm uh we are have to keep our dogs on a leash of course, and I do. But if a coyote a pack of coyotes approached me, I I'd pick up my dog and I'd take the bites because I could probably take it better than my puppy could or any children. So just to prevent any future lawsuits about who's responsible for
not doing anything, perhaps the Department of Natural Resources can re relocate the coyotes to Starkey wilderness or there's probably a lot more to eat out there for the coyotes than there is in our old golf course. So uh I'm very much in favor and I'm I I plead with this board to approve it so it moves on to the next step. Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you.
And
anybody else up here have anything?
Just to answer the c the comment, it would really be up to the property owner Whether it's Mr. Loman, the HOA Whoever ends up owning the property it would be their responsibility to maintain the property in accordance the only standard under this these conditions would be in accordance with agricultural standards. So Sometimes in agricultural operation or Wild animals there, but it would be up to the property owner to
the the property's kept up. We w the request that was made by the HOA was that they be required to live with an agricultural level of maintenance. So That's different than a well groomed Manicured Golf course. Um so Ultimately it would be up to the HOA or Mr. Loman or whoever the owner is to ensure the maintenance that you're you're asking for.
Okay.
Thank you.
I just wanna ask if I recall the lady in the back, you spoke last time on this case for Fairway Oaks.
Yes. Yes, ma'am. Did you want to speak? Okay.
Mm. Okay.
Okay.
Very good. So nobody else here to speak. I don't know, Barbara, did you want to come back up for anything?
Any rebuttal? Rebuttal to uh everybody in favor.
Can
we mark this down? All the speakers in favor. When I did take on this project, I said, you know, I really wanted to try to come up with help come up with a solution and and my client as well. And to hear people speaking in favor of it like they are um really makes me feel good. We sent out seven hundred and forty-five odd no notices. For this hearing we did it before as well, so this has been done twice. So to to think that we touched seven hundred and forty-five homeowners with our notices two times and we had um all the speaking in in favor
of it, I think we've accomplished something here. So thank you.
In the event the other homeowner association does not accept the gift of property, does that in any way affect the developer moving forward would uh
It does not
I was gonna ask the same question. Hopefully they're not going to be able to do that are able to work it out on that side too, 'cause that'd be great for them
too. I I know a lot of work's going on up there obviously. Um So thank you to everybody that's been involved and and Coming to this conclusion. I know Chuck will have fun when he hears that we spent 30 minutes talking about something that everybody was in favor of.
Well so Barring any additional discussion I'd move approval for P eight.
Okay,
we have a motion. Motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? All in favor?
Aye. Aye.
Opposed? Motion carries.
And Denise this goes back to the board win.
Um this goes back to the board on, if I'm not mistaken, March twenty sixth at one thirty in Newport Ritchie. Okay. Thank you.
Give everybody a minute to clear out.
Any bets on whether all the rest of the folks are in favor of the next project?
Uh probably