Zoning fight par for the course

It’s a pleasant Sunday when my wife tells me she enjoys talking about Pine Ridge zoning.

“I’m really interested in this,” she says, as I stare back as if she’s insane.

Good thing, because that’s today’s topic.

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Pine Ridge, as expected, is stepping up its opposition to a planned 85-home development on what is now the closed Pine Ridge Golf Club.

The emails are starting to flood the inboxes of county commissioners from residents who said they signed up for a golf course, not houses, in their collective backyards. 

They’re also more than a little concerned that the developer of “Pine Ridge Reserve” also wants a rezoning to residential mixed-use, suggesting something other than standard houses are on the way.

It’s the latest in what is becoming a series of zoning requests in neighborhoods to accommodate development that the locals, in most cases, don’t want.

Large-scale zoning changes are expected in a county undergoing such a flux of residential and commercial growth. What made sense on a zoning map 20 years ago now faces a new economy and it’s logical that we’re scrambling to meet those changes.

The public, particularly those in established communities, is more than a little nervous. 

It’s more than NIMBY — not in my backyard. I mentioned this about the Sugarmill Woods and, to an extent, Meadowcrest, zoning cases that involved bringing apartments into a community of houses and condos. It’s more than simply whether the new zoning is compatible with neighboring properties.

Today’s opponents are saying the proposed zoning would damage the very foundation of their community. 

That was the argument in both Sugarmill Woods and Meadowcrest. It worked in Sugarmill, not in Meadowcrest (though the Chronicle reported that the affordable apartments at Meadowcrest are now off the table). It’s the argument opponents to the Sunshine RV Glampground are using in Ozello.

And it’s the argument Pine Ridge residents have against rezoning the golf course property. For example:

— The Pine Ridge master plan calls for a golf course and it should remain that way. People pay a premium to live on a golf course and just because it’s out of business doesn’t remove the greenspace benefit.

— This would be a development within Pine Ridge but not a part of Pine Ridge, so it wouldn’t have to conform to local deed restrictions.

— Mixed-use zoning sounds a lot like apartments and we’ve been hearing for over a year that Pine Ridge residents are solidly against that for the golf course. Apartments are simply going to be a hard sell in this county no matter where they are.

The Planning and Development Commission (PDC) hears the case July 20, then county commissioners sometime after that.

An organization has started up called Save the Golf Course Property Committee and it’s encouraging an email-writing campaign. 

Its website says golf and equestrian go hand-in-hand in Pine Ridge.

“Many of us built or purchased existing homes inside what we believed was BOTH a horse and golf culture lifestyle,” it reads. “They were quality of life decisions.”

It's not so much that residents don’t want the additional housing — though that’s true as well — it’s that houses don’t belong on the golf course.

That leads to a whole other issue: The golf course is closed. Right now it’s not making a dime for anyone. If it can’t be used for anything other than recreation and businesses can’t do it profitably, how is that fair?

I’ve read in some of these emails that there is talk within the community of the property owners association buying the golf course and preserving it. 

The current owner paid $850,000 for the property and is investing funds in having it developed. County commissioners hear it from zoning proponents who point out the investment property owners have made. The message being we shouldn’t turn them down because of that investment.

Sorry, but that’s not how this is supposed to work. The zoning change lives or dies on its merit alone, and right now zoning applications are facing an uphill battle.

The company bought a closed golf course, not a housing development. It’s a golf course unless Citrus County commissioners decide otherwise.

Tee times are coming.


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