Miami Corp. previews Farmton development

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
The scene — A peer review panel, an audience composed of planners, land-use specialists, members of the community and local-government officials came to hear or take part in discussion of development planning for the huge Farmton Tract June 2.

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Addressing the panel – Daytona Beach attorney Glenn Storch, representing the Miami Corp., addresses the panel and public about development and conservation plans extending 50 years into the future for the 59,000-acre Farmton Tract.

IMAGE COURTESY VOLUSIA GROWTH MANAGEMENT
Farmton Tract – Staged development is planned for the roughly 59,000 acres in southeast Volusia and northern Brevard Counties known as the Farmton Tract. Owner the Miami Corp. said half the property will be a greenprint for permanent conservation. The plan calls for up to 29,500 housing units and four million square feet of non-residential development.

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jun 6, 2009 - 4:15:52pm

Farmton is a massive tract of land, 59,000 acres worth, stretching south of Edgewater down along the east side of Deltona and Osteen, all the way into Brevard County.

Now used as timberland, hunting grounds and conservation land, at least part of it will be developed if a comprehensive-plan amendment now before Volusia County is approved.

Comprehensive plans are state-required blueprints for how land is to be used in a community. Developing Farmton will require a change to both Volusia's and Brevard's comprehensive plans, because the giant parcel is now designated mostly as agriculture and conservation lands. Farmton's owner, the Miami Corp., is also seeking a land-use change from Brevard County.

But it is in Volusia where the bulk of development would occur.

Attorney Glenn Storch, representing property-owner the Miami Corp., said the family-owned company doesn't have any particular development plans in mind.

He called the Farmton project a vision for smart growth, one that would preserve conservation corridors and green spaces.

Storch noted the property would be allowed to develop 1,600 to 4,692 housing units under Farmton's current land-use designation. Under the proposed designation, 50 percent of the land would be reserved for permanent conservation, while up to 29,500 housing units and 4 million square feet of business and commercial space would be allowed.

The bulk of the initial development — nonresidential and residential — would form a gateway area in the northern sector of the tract, between Maytown Road and Edgewater. No additional development or increase in allowable density would happen until 2025, Storch said. Later, a dozen residential tracts or hamlets would be developed.

Sufficient population density will be needed to support the planned business development on Farmton, he noted.

Storch's comments came as he and associate attorney Clay Henderson, both representing Miami Corp., convened a peer-review panel June 2. The purpose of the panel was to review the requested land-use amendment, and give planning experts a chance to offer suggestions. The all-day session was held at the New Smyrna Beach branch campus of Daytona State College.

The panel, led by former Florida Department of Community Affairs heads Jim Murley and Steve Seibert, consisted of eight academic experts in green design, green infrastructure, and conservation and environmental planning.

They questioned, if the land-use change is granted, whether it would be permanent. If a different developer took over, could the plan be changed again as development occurred over 15 to 50 year? Why seek the plan now?

Storch said the comprehensive plan will have to be followed. As for the request that the land-use designation be changed now, when no particular development is planned, Storch explained that if the Hometown Democracy measure passes, giving the public the right to vote on large land-use changes, "then we're stuck with ranchettes," and that's not what everyone wants.

There's an ongoing campaign to put Hometown Democracy on the ballot this fall. If it passes, local voters would have the final say on comprehensive-plan changes like the one proposed for Farmton.

Richard Hilsenbeck, a Florida ecology expert and director of conservation projects for the Florida chapter of the Nature Conservancy, was on the panel. He said many Farmton parcels are in wetlands, where no building can take place. He said the developers shouldn't be allowed to count the wetlands acreage to calculate population density figures.

Hilsenbeck also wanted to see more a scientific peer review.

While applauding the planned conservation efforts, Hilsenbeck and other panel members said they have concerns about wildlife corridors being too narrow, too wet for creatures like bears, and crossed by roads.

Other comments and concerns included:

• Developments within the property could be too small and isolated for utilities service to be provided.

• Plans for water and wastewater facilities are sketchy.

• Future needs may not be known. More agricultural uses may be desired in the future, with the current movement toward local farming.

• There's no clear vision of what kind of communities should be developed, or what kind of population will be sought, or what kind of work the residents will need or find.

• Questions remain about what kind of facilities will be needed to provide electric service, and to what extent will green buildings – with solar panels, for example – be required?

• What kind of transportation will be required? What changes in transportation will be in place by the time construction might begin? Will the density allow easy use of bicycles for transportation?

• There is no plan for schools in the tract, and no money to build any, Saralee Morrissey, director for site acquisiton for Volusia Schools noted. Morrissey was not on the panel, but in the audience.

Storch said there's no provision for schools in the proposed comprehensive plan until 2025. Population densities will not increase before then, he said.

• Audience members asked: Do we need this community, bringing additional population and need for services?

Storch replied, development won't take place "until the need becomes evident."

In August, the comprehensive-plan proposal will go to local planning agencies and the Volusia Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission (PLDRC).

If the project stays on track, the request will go before the Volusia County Council and Brevard County Commission in September, and, if approved, to the Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for state review.

Another project adjoining the east side of Edgewater is currently stymied by DCA objections. The state agency criticized the plan's vagueness and failure to show how water will be provided to the new community, called "Restoration."

Hammock Creek Green's plans for Restoration include 8,500 housing units and 3.3 million square feet of nonresidential use on the 5,181-acre tract.

Full occupancy of Restoration would double Edgewater's 20,000 population.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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