CR 309 may see a major change

Development moves closer to reality in Georgetown

By Brad Buck

Georgetown residents may have to get ready for a major townhouse development on County Road 309.

A proposed 200-unit residential and retail development will now go to the state for approval after Putnam County commissioners agreed to change their land-use map.

Commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday to amend their land-use map for 54 acres on both sides of County Road 309 for LandMar LLC from rural residential to rural center.

A rural center allows up to 35 percent of the structures to be retail, said county Senior Planner Jim Burnett. The remaining would be townhouses, said Jim Cullis, the Palm Coast-based regional manager of LandMar.

Commission chambers were packed with proponents and opponents of the planned development.

Butch Miller, a county commission candidate last year and owner of Georgetown Marina, espoused the virtues of the proposed new development.

"It amazes me the people who move here and want to slam the door behind them," he said of retirees who don't want to see continued growth.

On the other side were people such as Georgetown resident Daniel Imbs.

"The people who live there should not have to pay for the services" required if and when the townhouse/retail center is built, he said. That includes more sheriff's deputies and fire services, among other things, Imbs said.

Herb Glenn, chief of the Georgetown-Fruitland Volunteer Fire Department, wrote in a letter to commissioners that it would take another fire truck, at a cost of $750,000, to handle the new development. In addition, Glenn said he doesn't have ladders tall enough to reach the three-story town homes that LandMar hopes to build.

About a year ago, commissioners agreed to change their land-use map for LandMar to build condominiums at a former fish camp in Fruitland. Developers are buying land to build other small-scale developments in South Putnam.

Commissioner Nancy Harris dissented in Tuesday's vote, saying the infrastructure is not there to support another development in South Putnam, the area she represents.

"Georgetown is, of course, going to grow," she said. "I'm getting a little worried with all these developments coming down that we're not prepared to pay. Now is not a good time for this."

The county is only prepared to pay for new roads, Harris said.

Even with that said, residents wondered why CR 309 has not been resurfaced from Welaka to Georgetown, as commissioners pledged last year.

The road has not been resurfaced because the county ran out of money, and the resurfacing started at Satsuma because that's where the most accidents were happening, Harris said.

Planning commissioners voted 5-1 in June in favor of the land-use change. T.C. Miller, who dissented at the planning commission meeting but spoke as a citizen of Georgetown on Tuesday, said LandMar is a good company.

"What isn't OK is the density," he said. "That's the big deal, in one word."

LandMar wants to build up to four units per acre, and that would be allowed in a rural center.

While commissioners kept emphasizing that the land-use change allows up to four units, Joseph Van Rooy, an attorney representing LandMar said in an interview that the company plans to build about 200 units.

Some residents argued the proposed development will bring more traffic and environmental problems. They also do not want to hook up to the water and sewer service LandMar wants to install. They do not have to do so, but county officials are encouraging them to.

If the state approves LandMar's proposal, it comes back to the county commission later this year as a planned unit development. That's when commissioners and the developer will try to work out an agreement to try to address residents' concerns.

bbuck@palatkadailynews.com