Lakewood Ranch Clears Hurdles In Its Eastward Push In Sarasota County
A new phase of Lakewood Ranch has cleared two major hurdles after Sarasota County commissioners gave their stamp of approval to the community's continued expansion, while the developer scored a legal win in a two-year fight over the growth.
Last Tuesday the 5,000-home project on 4,100 acres west of Verna Road and north of Fruitville Road in rural Sarasota County received approval to rezone more than 2,200 acres to a special category called Village Transition Zone that only applies to Lakewood Ranch Southeast.
The creation of that special zoning for the Lakewood Ranch project triggered the legal challenge in 2022 after former Sarasota County Commission candidate Mike Hutchinson and his wife Eileen Fitzgerald objected to the increase in the number of homes allowed in what has historically been farm country.
Before the county rezoned the property last Tuesday, only one residence per 10 acres was allowed, with restrictions as low as one unit per acre 160 acres.
But county commissioners approved a change to allow Lakewood Ranch to build up to 3.5 units per acre in east Sarasota County.
The first ruling in the legal challenge came in June 2023, with the couple appealing the decision in favor of the developers. Last month, Florida's Second District Court of Appeal sided with Lakewood Ranch, ending the rural residents' effort to limit growth in the area.
A phone call to the attorney representing Fitzgerald and Hutchinson was not immediately returned.
However, Lakewood Ranch celebrated the legal victory, noting it viewed the effort to stop its project as unreasonable.
"Florida and our region will continue to grow, and that growth must be met with responsible, well-executed planning," said Rex Jensen, president and CEO of SMR. "Lakewood Ranch has always set the standard for thoughtful, high-quality community development — delivering infrastructure amenities, and neighborhoods that enhance quality of life while supporting the broader region."
“When our rights and proven approach are unreasonably challenged, we will stand firm in defending our track record, and our commitment to building a community that serves both present and future generations,” Jensen continued in the statement.
Two Sarasota County commissioners vote against Lakewood Ranch requests
The Lakewood Ranch statement said the developer will invest $200 million in infrastructure for the project, including construction of a 4.8-mile four-lane roadway extension at Bourneside Boulevard to Fruitville Road, a 2.8-mile expansion of University Parkway to four lanes between Lorraine Road and Bourneside Boulevard and connections to the Florida Gulf Coast Trail throughout Lakewood Ranch Southeast.
The more than 33,000-acre Lakewood Ranch currently has more than 72,000 residents in eastern Manatee and Sarasota counties. The master-planned project routinely ranks high on an annual list of fastest selling master-planned communities in the country, typically placing behind only the age-restricted property in Central Florida called The Villages.
Its success has won it plenty of fans, including County Commissioner Tom Knight, who voted against the project's four rezone petitions last week, and Commissioner Mark Smith, who also voted against the project.
"One thing about Lakewood Ranch — it is beautiful," Knight said before voting against the rezoning.
He said that in many ways Lakewood Ranch does an amazing job developing property, but that the county hasn't done as well at readying the areas surrounding Lakewood Ranch for the coming development.
"My concern, for us, is maybe we should learn from them," he said, "because we sit her today trying to protect us from ourselves, and we continue on with saying everything's going to be okay, but we really don't have the answer."
Smith also had reservations about the ability for east Sarasota County infrastructure to keep up while at the same time admiring the large, city-scale development.
"Lakewood Ranch, beautiful," Smith said, before adding that he couldn't support the property's development intensification due to unresolved issues with a conservation easement held between the land owner and the oldest environmental group in the region — Manasota 88.
Manasota 88 contends that Lakewood Ranch has violated terms of the easement, while Lakewood Ranch disagrees.
Opponents of the project also raised concerns about the lack of a lining of some of the retention ponds in the Lakewood Ranch Southeast project that will use reclaimed wastewater to keep them full.
"If those preliminary designs on storm water don't work out, then there's going to be issues," he said. "So, I can't support it because of the fact it's too early."
However, other board members disagreed, with commissioners Joe Neunder, Teresa Mast and Ron Cutsinger voting in support.
Mast noted that while change can be challenging, Lakewood Ranch Southeast would benefit the region as it develops.
"I've lived in this area my entire life and I think that when there are premier projects, I'm very supportive of them even when there are challenges that go with them."
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune | By Derek Gilliam)
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