12 Oaks Modifications
The TMA 12 Oaks Advisory Team meets on most Thursdays, at 1:00 p.m. in the conference room at Tara Golf & Country Club. Member observers are welcome to attend.
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated September 2010
Note: If you are already informed about the issue and want to know how you can help, go to the end of this document. Otherwise, please read on:
- Why should Tara Preserve and Tara Golf & County Club residents be concerned about requests for modifications to the 12 Oaks Plaza area when it is already zoned commercial property?
- Is there any part of the plan that you support?
- Why can't we negotiate a satisfactory solution?
- What are the biggest concerns of the residents?
- Won’t the County do a traffic study to ensure that our safety is not further impaired?
- Why is the requested Land Use Equivalency Matrix (LUEM) objectionable?
- One of the requested modifications had been is for a monopole cell tower to be erected. What happened to this proposal?
- How will the proposed changes impact the environment, if at all?
- Why did the TMA Board authorize spending up to $20 per home to oppose the developer‘s modifications?
- Is this just the beginning of an endless effort that would require TMA to pay much more to challenge these changes?
- Why wouldn’t TMA just hire an attorney to handle all of this work?
- I support this effort to protect our home values and keep our community safe. What can I do to help?
Why should Tara Preserve and Tara Golf & County Club residents be concerned about requests for modifications to the 12 Oaks Plaza area when it is already zoned commercial property?
First of all, the SW corner of SR 70 and Tara Blvd. is NOT currently zoned commercial NOR was it ever “entitled” with an allotment of square footage. As for the commercial parcels within 12 Oaks Plaza, the TMA believes that the 80+_ current number of approved uses is sufficient and need not be modified. We do not oppose the addition of the Assisted Living Facility (ALF) as a listed use. The primary concern is the types of land uses approved and the appearance of the corner once the parcels are all developed. The primary goal, a well planned, attractive and safe commercial center that offers a variety of shopping choices and services, is in the best interests of both residents and the developer.
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Is there any part of the plan that you support?
Yes. Specifically we support the proposal for an assisted living facility. Our residents, families and friends may have need for such a facility. Its proximity to their primary residences would be an asset, enhancing the quality of their lives and the appeal of Tara as a residential location.
Why can't we negotiate a satisfactory solution?
We had two meetings with the developer and his lawyer. Lake Lincoln's request to the Manatee County Planning Department was open ended, requesting permission to exchange each un-built residential unit for square feet. Plus the commercial zoning, plus adding different commercial uses within the plaza area. Lake Lincoln continues, and has added, multiple use requests for development.
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What are the biggest concerns of the residents?
One of the nine present requests for modifications would include transferring 19,500 sq. ft. to the SW corner of Tara Boulevard and SR 70; this is just east of the Fairway Gardens II complex. Commercial development on this corner would require a “right in” curb cut on SR 70 and a “right in – right out acess on Tara Blvd, just opposite the Regions Bank driveway. Given the configuration and traffic volume of this intersection, this would require all traffic leaving any new store to exit southbound on Tara Blvd. Cars intending to return onto SR 70 east or west would have to go to the stop light at Stone River Road and make a U-turn to proceed north on Tara Blvd. This traffic pattern presents serious operational safety concerns. Going eastbound on SR 70 would require crossing two lanes of traffic, a bicycle lane, plus the exit from Regions Bank. The only alternative, cutting through the plaza to exit onto SR 70 between the Circle K station and Bank of America parcels, presents a different but no less undesirable solution. The SR 70/Tara intersection is already graded "D" on a scale where A is best and F is failed. One tragic death and numerous accidents have occurred there--this is the 9 th most dangerous traffic intersection in Manatee County and one of the top 20 for injuries in the County. The plan as proposed by the developer calls for making a “cut” into the land at Stone River Road, in the Ashley Oaks area, in order to give more room for vehicles to turn The proposed changes would make it extremely difficult for an emergency service vehicle to turn and would make this intersection even more hazardous. Service delivery trucks, such as the type of trucks that would deliver to a pharmacy, would require and even greater turning radius.
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Won’t the County do a traffic study to ensure that our safety is not further impaired?
No. The County will only require the applicant to mitigate the operational safety issues when they submit a site plan for approval, even though the last traffic impact study was done years ago. The County requires applicants to provide their own traffic study.
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Why is the requested Land Use Equivalency Matrix (LUEM) objectionable?
Lake Lincoln already has the right to build approximately another 180,000 square feet in the 12 Oaks Plaza area (DRI #11, Phase III). We estimate they have built less than one half of the currently permitted 436,000 square feet. Can you envision the traffic on this corner if the current commercial square footage is doubled? Now imagine if this modification could permit another 140,000 SF. The traffic pattern will be totally unsafe. We are simply asking that the developer to complete the building of the currently approved space before seeking extra square footage.
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One of the requested modifications had been is for a monopole cell tower to be erected. What happened to this proposal?
The developer has withdrawn the request to be permitted to erect a communications tower. Note: Cell phone towers are now known as communication towers. This more generic naming allows for expansion of equipment such as television dishes, wireless internet, paging, two-way radio and amateur radio in addition to cell phone transmission. Removing the request for a tower at this time does not preclude a new request at a future date.
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How will the proposed changes impact the environment, if at all?
The developer proposes to use and then“mitigate” one acre of existing 8.83 acres of wetland. This means that one acre just beyond the Fairway Gardens complex, would be built on and, in return, the developer would make a $100,000 contribution to the County plus give the County 45 acres of landlocked wetlands behind Plantations and adjacent to the Evers Reservoir. While this seems like a good deal for the County and the residents it is not. The wetlands and the adjacent native uplands serve all of Tara as permeable surface. The proposed 3.32 acres for the new building, parking lot, drives and buffering would mean giving up permeable surface for asphalt. This is land that currently holds nearly one million gallons of water during a heavy rain event. That water would have to go into the already overburdened catch basins in Tara. This plan does decreases the wetlands at Tara and that reduces the wild life in the area.
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Why did the TMA Board authorize spending up to $20 per home to oppose the developer‘s modifications?
This is the developer’s ninth request for modifications to our community over the last 30 years. Lake Lincoln's request for changes at 12 Oaks Plaza has been the subject of four open community forums. At each of these meetings, residents strongly opposed the proposed changes. The TMA Board, which is charged with “promoting the health, safety and welfare of the owners and residents of Tara," determined it had the right and the responsibility to take this action on behalf of members and to protect home values.. Over 1,200 Phase I and Phase II residents signed petitions supporting the opposition to the development changes that have been requested.
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Is this just the beginning of an endless effort that would require TMA to pay much more to challenge these changes?
This effort is not endless. Its purpose is to persuade the County Commissioners to reject the developer's proposal once and for all. Your 12 Oaks Committee members (half from Phase I and half from Phase II) presented our objections and rationale arguments to the County Planning Commission on September 9, 2010. A group of approximately 150 Tara residents also attended that meeting to show their support of the community’s objections. The County Planning Commission voted 6 to 1 to recommend the Board of Commissioners (BOCC) deny the October 2009 Lake Lincoln (TMI) applications to modify the SW. corner of SR-70 and Tara Boulevard. Specifically they did not approve rezoning 3.32 acres of the corner parcel for commercial OR even resident use. The Planning Board also recommended denying the 19,500 square foot entitlement for that same parcel. They DID approve the remaining seven modifications. The County Planning Commission recommendation has been sent to the Manatee County Board of Commissioners who will make the final decision on these matters at their meeting on October 7, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. We hope the Board will agree with the Planners but that is not a certainty as they can act independently of the recommendation.
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Why wouldn’t TMA just hire an attorney to handle all of this work?
A great deal of background work and research has been conducted by committee members, and more leg-work will continue until the BOCC meeting. TMA does not want to spend any money if volunteer members could do the work themselves. Committee members represent a broad spectrum of expertise from engineering, real estate planning, cell tower knowledge, commercial real estate building, property appraisals, traffic, etc. Committee members have already invested hundreds of hours of their own time and some of their own money for this effort. Committee members have met with County and State officials, as well as the developer, and will continue to dialogue with those who are integral to this project. TMA has engaged an attorney and professional planner to guide the presentation before the Board of County Commissioners.
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I support this effort to protect our home values and keep our community safe. What can I do to help?
1. Immediately WRITE TO, OR E-MAIL, the Board of County Commissioners and the local press (addresses at the end) expressing your concern about the requested development changes and their approval of the requested modifications (rezoning, entitlement and the LUEM). Remember this developer has requested changes 8 times before and this has been on-going since 1980.
2. TALK to neighbors and encourage them to write to the Commissioners and/or the local press to voice your opposition.
3. WATCH AND READ taramasterassociation.com and TMA’s limited access TV channels (795 and 796 for televisions with digital boxes & 117 and 118 for all others) for updates on information and activities related to the 12 Oaks Plaza effort.
4. SIGN UP NOW AND ATTEND - the final vote by the Manatee County Board of Commissioners will be taken on October 7, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. We have requested and been assured a 1:30 “time certain” for this agenda item. But bring a newspaper or book in case the agenda is delayed a bit Please wear a bright red shirt and take a nice bus ride to this meeting with your neighbors. Phone (941) 756-7775 Ext. 221, or e-mail jmastrangelo@taragcc.com, to make your bus reservation. The buses will leave Tara Golf and County Club main entrance at 12:30. For those who wish to drive on their own, there is metered parking behind the County Administration building as well just to the east of the Bradenton Post Office. You will need quarters for the meters.
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EMAIL-
John McClash , John Chappie, Donna Hayes, Carol Whitmore, Ron Getman, Gwen Brown, Larry Bustle, Kaycee Ellis
USPS-
The Honorable County Commissioners Getman, Brown, Hayes, Whitmore, McClash, Chappie and Bustle, Board of County Commissioners, ATTN: Kaycee Ellis, P.O. Box 1000, Bradenton, FL 34206-1000
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PROPOSED CHANGED TO TARA DRI – COMMERCIAL LAND@ On November 13, 1980, Manatee County granted a Development Order to Tara, Ltd., for the above referenced DRI, a 1,137 acre, multi-use development located southwest of the State Road 70/I-75 intersection in Manatee County. The development was originally approved to contain 4,040 dwelling units; a 54,000 sq.ft. service center; a 125,000 sq.ft. community shopping mall; a 50,000 sq.ft. commercial service plaza; an 18 hole golf course; a restaurant; an auto service station; and a 150-unit motel. Buildout of the three phases was schedule to occur in 1985, 1990, and 1995, respectively. The Development Order has been amended eight times, most recently on May 9, 2006 (Ordinance No.906-35).
CURRENT NOPC DESCRIPTION The applicant has requested the following modification to the Development Order:
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