Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sebring council gives conceptual OK to 30-unit 'Freedom Lake' workforce apartments amid traffic concerns
Summary
Developers received conceptual approval to pursue a 30-unit workforce housing planned development at 2511 State Road 17 North, proposing two-bedroom units at about $1,375/month. Residents raised safety and traffic worries over narrow Simpson Avenue and access points; developers said FDOT discourages new entrances on SR 17 and will refine plans.
A developer presentation and extended public comment period on Dec. 23 led the City of Sebring to give conceptual approval to a planned-development proposal for 30 rental workforce units at 2511 State Road 17 North.
Stonehenge Land Development consultant Dana Riddell and partner Jeff Kennedy told council the project would deliver six buildings of five two-bedroom units each — about 10 dwelling units per acre — with monthly rents estimated at $1,375 if financing aligns. The proposal calls for access off Simpson Avenue, hammerhead turnarounds for emergency vehicles, on-site parking (nearly three spaces per unit) and a small private park and fitness trail for residents.
The nut of the debate was traffic and safety. Several nearby residents, including Joanne Taylor of Faith and Family Life Worship Center and homeowner Alicia Mejia Chavez, said Simpson is a narrow, dead-end street used by school buses and children who play outdoors. “I have five kids … this road is very narrow,” Alicia Mejia Chavez said, adding the proposal “really messed up my whole entire Christmas vibe” upon learning of the plan. Residents said two-way emergency vehicles and school buses already struggle to turn on Simpson.
Developers replied that the property’s current zoning and future-land-use designations are inconsistent and that a rezoning and planned development are required before construction. Riddell said the developer would pay to construct the planned stub-road connection from Simpson to the site and that drive aisles would be 22–24 feet to accommodate emergency vehicles. She also said FDOT had “strongly discouraged” creating a new entrance on State Road 17, which is why the team proposes the Simpson access and would seek to write landscaped buffers and fencing into the PD to ensure long-term maintenance.
Council members asked that landscape buffers, fencing and maintenance obligations be codified in the PD; one councilmember emphasized fire-turnaround standards and suggested the developer include those details in the formal PD application. Council signaled support for concept approval — not a final vote — asking the applicants to return with more details, including traffic/access alternatives, formalized buffer language and follow-up checks on FDOT and county acceptance of the proposed connections. The mayor and a majority of councilmembers said they were conceptually supportive and requested a more detailed plan before any formal zoning vote.
The council’s endorsement was procedural: staff and developers will return with a formal PD application and engineered traffic/access plans for public review and formal council action.
