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Highlands Today

Lake Damon Project Moving Along

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: September 17, 2007

AVON PARK — The ground work on an upscale subdivision on Lake Damon should be completed in two weeks, according to a spokeswoman for Berry USA, the contractor developing the Grand Oaks subdivision.

Although the actual houses will be built by other developers as the lots are sold, all the underground pipe work was finished for the 126-lot housing development. Work remains on the community pool, the landscaping and the development's recreation area, "and then we're done.

"At this point we're moving along pretty good," said Kate Morris, the Vice President of Land Development and Construction with Berry USA.

Morris said that Berry USA sold 20 lots so far, and it's clustering 50 of the remaining lots together for a bulk sale.

Describing it as an "upscale community," Morris said the gated Grand Oaks development will have a boat ramp, a boat dock with five slips, the swimming pool and the recreation area. She anticipated most of the lots holding three-bedroom homes, fitting into a setting that blends Mediterranean and Florida Cracker aesthetics.

The lots are priced from $45,000 to about $200,000. Morris expected the lots to hold three-bedroom homes, several of them on the lake front.

Outdated Comp Plan Blocks Other Projects

The Grand Oaks is the only substantial housing development in the works in Avon Park, and the weakening housing market isn't the only thing keeping other residential developers out of work in the city.

Gary Thompson, Avon Park's City Planner, said that the city cannot legally permit any other large residential development right now.

The reason? He said the city's comprehensive plan has been two updates behind. In layman's standards, that amounts to several years, although Thompson didn't know how long it has been since it was last done.

"A lot of our development is currently on hold," Thompson said, in part because of this. Then again, he said the weak housing market would have kept many of the developers from approaching him, anyway.

By law, each city and town in the state needs to lay out how it would manage its own growth in such a plan, which includes zoning, future road layouts and several other technical details. Every few years, with new legislation and changes in the state law, the plan needs to be updated.

A development larger than 10 acres requires an amendment to the city's "comp plan," and Tallahassee requires it to be up to date before they can make such amendments.

Thompson did not know why the plan has not been updated since he has been the planner only since February, and it was out of date before he took his office. He hoped he could finish updating the plan by the end of the year.

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