Avon Park residents oppose duplex rental plans

Residents of an Avon Park neighborhood spoke against a developer's proposed 76-unit duplex rental community, at an Avon Park Planning and Zoning Board meeting Tuesday night.

"You're not helping the properties that are there now. If you're going to build something there, why not something where people can move into something better?" Jim Windsor said.

"I've been living in that house for 20 years and I don't want no rentals in there," Shirley Ashe said.

Edward Moses, who has owned his home on Lacey Street for 30 years, said "These properties are going to drop the value of my house. Why don't you build single-family homes?"

Linda Coleman, who has also owned her home for nearly 30 years, said, "We have paid for our homes because it was something we wanted. I don't want the values to drop."

Avon Park Development Group 1 LLC requested the board approve the zoning change from low density to medium density to accommodate their 76-unit duplex project.

These residents and about 10 others at the meeting objected to the request.

Martha Mitchell, who bought her home 32 years ago, said the rental community would lead to congestion, heavy traffic and would drop the property values.

If the zoning is changed, it would allow the developers to have up to 16 units per acre. But Carl Cool, representative for the developers, said that is not their intention.

Their plan consists of 38 buildings with 76 units on an 8.68-acre site. Each unit would have two parking spaces, and maintenance issues would be handled by an on-site manager.

"We believe that this would be a good thing, and it would not bring down the values of your homes," Cool said.

Deputy Mayor Brenda Gray spoke as a resident, saying residents want to upgrade, not move into something smaller.

"This would be a potential problem...the zoning is there for a reason, and if they want to build apartments or duplexes, let them do it where it is zoned for that," Gray said.

The board voted 4 to 2 against the zoning changes for this project but the item will be presented to city council at the Dec. 28 meeting. The council would have final say on the proposed changes.

Do rentals lower property values?

It's difficult to tell whether a rental community in a neighborhood of single-family homes would decrease the property values. But state certified residential property appraiser Tina Brumwell of Highlands Appraisers Inc. said it can have a disruptive effect to a neighborhood because renters are transient.

"Tenants have less incentive to maintain the property that an owner would. They don't have the roots in that neighborhood that the owner does," Brumwell said.

However, a neighborhood of single-family homes can fall under the same predicament if rented out.

In similar situations as the development site of Lake Tulane Estates Brumwell said a market analysis is typically conducted to obtain factual information on how a rental community would affect the homeowners.