CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Clay County just had a meeting over an application to build a new neighborhood in Fleming Island after county commissioners unanimously denied it in December.
The property owner filed a petition to the county after its proposal had been denied, arguing there is “competent” and “substantial” evidence to support arguments to have it built.
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Those like John Stangle, whose neighborhood is right next to where they’re looking to build, would tell you otherwise.
“This just is not going to work,” Stangle said. “The area is overwhelmed, there are other problems that need to be addressed first.”
Stangle has been living in Fleming Island for almost 20 years. He has a soft spot for Old Hard Road, where a property owner wants to build a new, 156-home neighborhood, and doesn’t think the area would be able to handle the extra traffic from more people living there.
“This just isn’t fair to the people around us, the way we moved in, the way the nature, the way the community was, we want to keep it the way it was,” Stangle said.
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The land the property owner wants to develop on has an “agricultural residential” zoning, which, at most, allows one home (or residential unit) to be built for every five acres of land. The property owner wants the county to allow the land to have a “planned unit development” zoning, using a land development code called “rural fringe” to allow three units for every acre, instead.
Angela Mallory lives even closer to the neighborhood site than Stangle does. She thinks changing the property in this way would create too many homes there.
“There simply isn’t the infrastructure to support more traffic and safely allow that to happen,” Mallory said.
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In the original application turned in by the property owner, the county did add a comment that there is a high demand for housing in this area of Fleming Island, even recommending a full approval.
When county commissioners unanimously denied the proposal, the property owner argued they were relying too much on “personal beliefs” about what fit for the area versus actual “evidence” supporting the project.
The county magistrate is the one now hearing arguments for the neighborhood. If the magistrate agrees with the property owner, the decision to allow it could fall back on county commissioners who, as Florida law says, would need to make their decision in the next 30 days.
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