North Park Isles was approved for residential development back in 2005, but developers faced challenges with the project due to wetland restrictions and a market crash. On Thursday, March 17, an update to the long-planned development will be presented to the City of Plant City's Planning Board.
When it was first approved, North Park Isles was zoned for single-family homes and multi-family townhouses. The development was approved for larger lots with standard residential setbacks. Typically, these setbacks are 20 feet in front of a lot, 10 feet on each side of a lot and 30 feet on the back of a lot. The approved lot sizes varied from 60 feet to 90 feet.
"What the developer wants to do now is maximize the land," Phillip Scearce, principal planner with the City of of Plant City, said.
The new developer, Kolter Homes, wants to add more lots to the land by increasing the number of lots from 947 to about 1200. Located on 397 acres, North Park Isles has 291 acres of floodplains, 134 acres of which are jurisdictional wetlands.
In the past, Scearce said, planning the development around these wetlands was a challenge.
At the March 17 meeting, the Planning Board also will review Kolter's plans for lesser setbacks than what was originally approved in 2005. Last year, the City of Plant City's Planning and Zoning department changed the zoning code to allow for reduced setbacks.
"We lowered the threshold for larger projects to qualify for setbacks," Scearce said.
The threshold went down from 500 acres to 350 acres, making North Park Isles eligible for the reduced setbacks.
The Planning Board meeting will be held at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 17, at City Hall, 302 W. Reynolds St. The meeting is open to the public.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.