PALM BAY, Fla. – A major new development cleared a major hurdle towards construction, even though some locals don’t like the massive plan.
In south Brevard County, west of Babcock Street between Willowbrook Street and Micco Road, more than 3,000 new homes could replace more than 1,000 acres of woods in the proposed SunTerra Lakes community.
In one of the county’s most remote areas, some people don’t like how many homes are being proposed.
At a county commission meeting Thursday night, the SunTerra Lakes development team said the project is so big the school district would have to redistrict the area to serve the new families that would be moving in. Other local concerns include traffic and flooding.
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Commission chair Jason Steele responded that all the new people moving in would help pay for infrastructure improvements.
“I completely stand behind this project because it’s the only way I can see that we’re going to be able to get impact fees to do additional things, to improve the roads, to improve the flooding, and to move forward with making Brevard County a safe, better place to live,” Steele said.
Steele then sounded like he felt he was being heckled by the project’s critics.
“I’m not looking for any comments from anybody out there, please,” he told the audience. “I do not need anything from you people out there now, and please, just let me finish because this has to happen.”
At the close by Deer Run neighborhood, Jim Young doesn’t think the development has to happen. Deer Run homeowners have a couple of acres.
SunTerra Lakes homes would be built much closer.
”As many as four houses per acre, which in contrast to what exists here is extreme,” Young said.
The new development would also bring a new fire station to area.
The closest fire station to Deer Run right now is 9 miles away.
”We needed a fire station anyway,” Young said. “Expansion is coming this direction, but it’s our sentiment that we’re not ready.”
Now that commissioners have approved the rezoning that the developer needed, the county said there’s still a lot more to be done before construction can begin.
That would include permitting and a traffic study.
The developer has said it would like to break ground next year.
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