Visions Golf LLC, owner of Walden Lake Golf & Country Club, filed last week its request for a rezone part of the community’s two golf courses for residential development.
Filed Feb. 19 at Plant City Hall, the request, titled the Villages of Walden Lake Polo and Country Club, offers some details regarding Visions Golf’s plan for the property. The accompanying map details four separate areas for development. In a 35-acre parcel between Clubhouse Drive and Sydney Road, the request calls for a maximum of 425 multi-family units. Across Clubhouse Drive, the proposal shows an assisted-living facility on about 10 acres. Directly south from there is a 13-acre parcel with a maximum of 156 multi-family units.
The largest parcel within the proposal, 75 acres, is reserved for up to 187 single-family lots. It stretches from Clubhouse Drive southeast to Griffin Boulevard and around the Forest Club community.
For the multi-family units, the proposal includes 20-foot front and rear setbacks and 10-foot side yards. The maximum building heights for both parcels is 45 feet, and both also will include 1.8 parking spaces per unit.
The single-family homes show 25-foot front and 30-foot rear setbacks, with 10-foot side yards. Maximum building height will be 28 feet.
Although the paperwork has been filed, city staff indicated the application was missing several pieces.
“Our attorney filed the initial package on Feb. 21, and the city supplied us with some additional information (it) will need to process the application,” Visions Golf Managing Partner Steve Mercer said. “It was not unexpected, but we felt it was important to file and present the scope of the project officially to show our intent is what we have stated all along — develop a portion of the property and not the whole property.
“The additional information will be completed over the next couple of months; it includes some engineering and traffic analysis (which is part of the process after filing),” he said. “Our legal, engineering, environmental and other consultants are confident we can provide the information the city has requested in a timely manner.”
Mercer said he plans to mail information about the project to the community in the near future and also host outreach meetings to provide details and address concerns.
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.