DISCLAIMER: Just FYI stuff - not an attempt to hodge in on Mike's excellent BCC meeting reviews.
The Highlands DRI Comprehensive Plan Amendment request was heard at last night's Zoning Meeting. As a long time resident of Clay Hill and an active member of our Community Association, I am very interested in how this progresses. Just to get it out of the way, it's no secret I pay my bills by building homes. It would be naive to think people will not be suspect of my motives, but I've lived in Clay Hill for nearly 25 years, and the good Lord willing, I'll be here another 25 (at least). My heart is with my community - just like the people who cried for Creighton Road. I'll be able to build houses all over Northeast Florida, and it would not bother me one bit if not one of them is in Clay Hill. On to the facts.
The question before the BCC last night was - should the Comp Plan Amendment request be transmitted to Florida's Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for their Objections, Recommendations and Comments (ORC Report). The DRI process is a long and winding road - as it should be - and as the Developer's spokesman said, they're "about halfway there." So, this was not the final yea or nay, but rather a mid-point analysis of the proposed development.
Briefly, the Highlands DRI is proposed to be located near the US-301 & CR-218 intersection in nothwest Clay County. It is a 2,800 acre parcel of an 8,000 acre purchase that a group of local north Florida residents made. At build out, it proposes 5,000 residential units - mix of single family, multi-family, and active adult; 2.5 million sq. ft. of industrial development; lots of commercial; etc. Think Eagle Harbor in Clay Hill. I know, the two don't exactly go together, but try.
The big difference here is that one of the major selling points of the DRI is the huge, as in HUGE, amount of industrial development. There are already several hundred acres of heavy industrial land in the area, there is a saw mill, an asphalt plant, a double-track CSX rail line, and a federal highway that is currently less than 50% of capacity (US-301). The hope (and prayer?) is that this industrial development will bring lots of the jobs to the neighborhood; will direct future growth away from US-17 & SR-21 corridors.
The DRI - as is typical for DRI's - is donating land for 3 school sites, parks, etc. Their transportation mitigation has been calculated to be $75 million dollars (for anyone following the transportation impact fee, that works out to $15,000 per unit - 6 times the impact fee). The county is expecting them to 4-lane CR-218 from the 21 & 218 intersection to the entrance of the DRI - 9 miles. The developer is balking and counter offered 6 miles of 4-laning. Those who are looking for a County Government to take a strong stand with development paying its own way should take heart. The 6-mile counter offer doesn't seem to be panning out. The county is standing firm - 9 miles or no DRI.
After some of the most informed and earnest debate I've seen in a long time, the BCC voted 2-3 to deny the transmittal, then re-motioned, and re-voted 3-2 to approve transmittal. The 3 yea's all stated that if this were the Final approval, they would have voted NO. CR-218 West must be 4-laned for 9 miles - somehow, someway, or this DRI will not be getting on the tracks.
The Clay Hill community is split on whether "we" want this or not - about 60 - 40 in favor, best I can tell. I'll say that the DRI offers a lot of exciting opportunities - water and sewer to an area that needs said infrastructure for any serious industrial development. Danita Andrews told of a Target Regional Distribution Center that was seriously looking at the area to locate a site, but due to no water & sewer, they ended up near Lake City. A loss of over 200 jobs.
Op-ed: Some say they want jobs in Clay County. The fact is that there will have to be industrial development of some kind to bring any significant job growth here. I hope that some mechanism can be used to require the industrial development to happen ahead of the residential. We need industrial development - not more residential without accompanying jobs. I'm as concerned as anyone about how this DRI will change Clay Hill, but accept it as a fact of life that the area will continue to grow. It's best that we start with a well thought out DRI that can be forced to 4-lane a road that already needs to be 4-laned, and help create a new industrial region near existing transportation that has capacity. If the developer complies with the County's demands, I am in favor of this DRI.