Much bigger than a bread box

Took a drive Tuesday out C.R. 491 north of Beverly Hills, trying to envision Tuscany Ranch.

Over 7,000 homes and apartments. Shops, professional offices, and restaurants. Cool parks and walking trails. Exquisite landscaping. And, of course, the lagoon.

I’m not the only one wondering how this mega-development looks down the line.

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Chuck Dixon, the school district’s planning director and one of the three or four people who know the true history of Citrus County development in the last 40 years, is on it. 

Chuck is a non-voting member of the county Planning and Development Commission, and he wrote an extensive report explaining the short- and long-term impact Tuscany Ranch will have on county schools.

Then there’s Fairview Estates, a community of 361 homes on 1-acre lots. It’s adjacent to Tuscany Ranch to the east and is sounding a commonly heard alarm: Tuscany Ranch’s higher density will kill property values and way of life.

Plus, there’s the stuff no one is talking about yet — 491 widening, impacts to wildlife, and yet another developer wanting to upzone.

And the lagoon. What’s up with that?

We’re going to be hearing much about Tuscany Ranch in the coming weeks. The developer had a trial run before the PDC in December, getting a continuance when there were more questions than answers.

It comes back to the PDC next Thursday, March 7, and depending on how that goes, eventually to the County Commission for a final vote.

I have a gazillion questions about this thing (question 1: Lagoon? Explain, please), but I’m going to take a more ground floor approach today.

Now. You know I’m a process guy. Governments with tight, streamlined processes tend to run smoothly. Making rules up to fit specific circumstances is never a good idea.

If there’s an exception to every rule, this is it. Tuscany Ranch has no business being a part of the routine.

Tuscany Ranch’s buildout is the size of Inverness, with a type of development we have never seen before. It’s next to this county’s oldest residential community on a highway that screams for widening, in the largest growth region of the county. The School District has nothing in the works to handle the influx of kids from a development of this size.

In the old days, we’d call this a Development of Regional Impact (part of Tuscany Ranch is in the 1981 Beverly Hills DRI). Those things went through months of public review, workshops, and public hearings. Structured, yes, but with lots of public participation. DRIs died with the dinosaurs.

The planned-unit development, or PUD, is meant as a mini-DRI for Citrus County. The county rarely approves a zoning change without a PUD, which is detailed and allows some flexibility from traditional zoning for both developer and county.

They do NOT, however, emphasize anything more than routine public participation. A few public hearings with the PDC and County Commission, and that’s it.

Tuscany Ranch deserves so much more.

It needs a thorough public vetting. Just off the top of my head:

— Before commissioners say yes to whatever this turns out to be, I hope there is a plan IN PLACE for the widening of C.R. 491 between Pine Ridge Boulevard and U.S. 41.

— This is obvious, but we could probably have a day-long workshop on the lagoon alone. I’m very curious about how that works.

— Beverly Hills. That community has long needed a shot in the arm. Is this it? Putting the 491 widening issue aside, is a fancy development right next door just the thing to get it going? Or, is Beverly Hills worse off? I don’t know, but I think we should have some conversations with those folks.

— Commissioner Ruthie Davis Schlabach often says she has the only district with no tourism. Tuscany Ranch would potentially change that. How do we feel about it?

— This development will likely either necessitate a new elementary school or speed up the need for one. And it most certainly will push the numbers for a high school.

See where I’m going with this? Squeezing a development the size and scope of Tuscany Ranch into a few public hearings is a disservice to everyone involved.

Trying to picture it. Tuscany Ranch could join the ranks of Citrus Hills and Black Diamond as threshold-crossing communities. It certainly has that potential.

But we have questions. Lots of questions.

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