TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Brevard County commissioners voted to approve a controversial plan to develop a former golf course into a site for hundreds of homes.
During a meeting on Thursday, commissioners decided that the closed Sherwood Golf Club should be rezoned to allow for the proposed development.
The application passed the zoning board last month and includes plans for 187 single-family units and 408 multi-family units.
Thursday’s vote was 4-1 with Commissioner Rob Feltner, District 4, dissenting.
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Several neighbors, such as Jerry Hartman, have opposed the development and planned to speak out against it at the meeting.
“I think they’re overdoing it and it’s going to cause more problems,” Hartman said. “Add all these houses, more concrete, blacktops, more sidewalks. It’s going to affect everybody in this neighborhood.”
Hartman said he has concerns about traffic and flooding problems that could be made worse if hundreds of homes are built on the golf course.
“I just don’t think the water is going to have anywhere to go,” Hartman said. “It’s going to be a mess.”
The developer, the Ballarena Group out of South Florida, said it will build a stormwater park to flood when it rains, so there’s less flooding everywhere else.
During last month’s zoning meeting, an engineer said it was a chance for the development to uplift the neighborhood.
“Our desire here is to improve the drainage situation in this area because to do nothing just means they’re going to have to live with the flooding problems forever,” Bruce Moia said.
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