Commission Meeting Agenda Item

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, the Town of Lady Lake received a New Major Site Plan application for Rolling Acres Reserve Apartments proposing a 92-unit Multi-family Apartment Complex spread out amongst six buildings and featuring 183 parking spaces including six ADA Florida Accessible parking spaces, Lift Station, Trash Compactor, and Landscaping Buffers. The property was annexed into the Town of Lady Lake in August 2011. At that time, the property owner/developer rezoned the property from Lake County Agriculture to Lady Lake Light Commercial. The apartment complex is a permitted land use under Light Commercial (LC).

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Examination of existing site conditions within the environmental assessment report revealed that the subject property consists primarily of undeveloped land with a vacant single-family home in the central portion of the site. According to onsite observations, the site consists of two Florida Land Use Cover and Forms Classification Systems (FLUCCS): Cropland and Pastureland. These areas are better defined as undeveloped land featuring diverse canopy trees such as American Sycamore, Longleaf Pine, Black Cherry, Live Oak and Red Cedar.

The site has Candler Sand (100 percent of the site) which consists of very deep, excessively drained, very rapidly to rapidly permeable soils on uplands, primarily with 0-5 percent slopes. There are no special flood hazard areas nor wetlands within this parcel.

An Environmental Assessment Report was conducted on September 20, 2021, to evaluate the occurrence of wildlife and plant species listed as threatened, which observed that the Site does have habitat capable of supporting gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and their commensals. No gopher tortoises or their burrows were observed during the preliminary gopher tortoise survey. However, because of the presence of suitable habitat, a 100 percent gopher tortoise survey is recommended prior to development of the Site to assure the absence of gopher tortoises or their burrows. Town Staff will be including a requirement within the Development Order to have a copy of the updated survey prior to commencing site work.

PROPOSAL

The development proposal consists of constructing a 92-unit Multi-family Apartment Complex amongst six buildings and featuring 183 parking spaces, Lift Station, Trash Compactor and Landscaping Buffers.

The apartment complex will feature:

Four studio units,

Sixty 1-bedroom units, and

Twenty-eight 2-bedroom units

In order to be serviced by Town Utilities, the applicant is connecting to an existing 8-inch water main, an existing 8-inch Sanitary Sewer Forcemain, and an existing 10-inch reclaim water main along the north side of Highway 466.

TRAFFIC

The developer has been requested to establish access to the site via a cross-access easement on the neighboring property to the east to connect to the Rolling Acres Apartments.

The multi-family complex is projected to generate a total of 522 daily trips with 43 PM peak hour trips (26 entering the site and 17 exiting the site) and 35 AM peak hour trips (9 entering and 26 exiting the site). Overall, the traffic impact analysis for the complex has been found to be de minimis since the PM peak hour trip is lesser than 100 trips; only having a small impact on the following roadway segments: Rolling Acres Road between US Hwy 27/441 and County Road 466 since the proposed development does not cause this roadway segment to exceed its capacity.

STORMWATER

The applicant’s engineer of record, William Zeh, has submitted an Environmental Resource Permit application, civil plans, and drainage report to the St. John’s River Water Management District Environmental Resource Permit No. 188781-1 has been issued as of October 3, 2022.

The onsite stormwater management system includes one dry retention pond designed to serve the proposed buildings and associated paved parking areas. Stormwater runoff will be collected via inlets and conveyed to the dry retention pond for treatment. This project will result in the placement of 2.99-acres of impervious area. The system will discharge to the north to an existing ditch alongside CR-466 and ultimately to a landlocked pond permitted under ERP No. 40-069-109078-1 owned by Lake County BBC.

COMMERCIAL DESIGN STANDARDS

In accordance with the Land Development Regulations, Chapter 20, Section 20-3C).3).A)., new buildings should adopt and must closely follow one of the four recommended architectural styles: Frame Vernacular, Craftsman/Bungalow, Mediterranean, or Mission. The applicant will incorporate the Craftsman/Bungalow Design Style on the proposed buildings.

The elevations feature exterior building materials and elements that can be linked to the Craftsman Architectural Style including front partial porches, square columns, seam metal roofing, exposed roof rafters on raised towers, fiber cement siding, board, and trim to simulate siding wall finishes, typical and multiple-pane windows, glass doors, exterior paint colors, etc. Please see elevations enclosed.

LANDSCAPING WAIVERS

In review of the Land Development Regulations, it was found that the landscaping buffer along the north elevation (Buffer 4) only provided understory trees instead of the required number of canopy trees. It was stated that power lines would make it difficult for canopy trees to grow and develop at their full potential along these buffers.

Required: 20-foot buffer with 26 canopy trees, 19 understory trees, and hedge

Provided: 20-foot buffer with 0 canopy trees, 45 understory trees, and hedge

Waiver: Plant material exchange due to overhead power lines.

TREE REQUIREMENTS

In accordance with Chapter 10-Landscape and Tree Protection, the site is required to provide approximately 1,299.2 tree caliper inches based on the 8.12-acre site development area (160”x 8.12). The applicant is providing 961 tree caliper inches to be planted, 294 tree caliper inches from existing trees to be preserved, and 47 tree caliper inches saved specimen credit.

The applicant is providing approximately 640 tree caliper inches in canopy trees and 321 tree caliper inches in proposed understory trees. The following number of trees are being provided:

• 61 Live Oak trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 12 Florida Red Flame Maples trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 12 Winged Elm trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 28 Bald Cypress trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 35 Brodie Juniper trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 12 Densa Slash Pine trees at four tree caliper inches each minimum
• 25 Eagleston Holly trees at three tree caliper inches each minimum
• 19 Yaupon Holly trees at tree caliper inches each minimum
• 15 Japanese Blueberry trees at tree caliper inches each minimum
• 30 Wax Myrtle trees at three caliper inches each minimum
• Walter and Sweet Viburnum shrubs at a minimum of 36” with three feet over center

It was found that the applicant has designed location and planting of landscaping in accordance with the Town’s landscaping code as it refers to spacing, native vegetation, water use requirements, while taking into consideration site visibility and overcrowding of plant material.

In accordance with Chapter 10, Section 10-3).b).B).2).a), the Landscaping Buffer Class “B” width requirement along the North elevation is twenty feet in width.

Town staff is in favor of approval because the requests are compatible with approved land uses in the vicinity to the east, south and west of the subject parcels. Also, the site will provide sufficient landscaping buffers and screenings as required by the Town’s Land Development Regulations and Open Space FLU Policies as well as on-site storm water retention for future drainage needs. The proposal is consistent in how the Town would like to see infill development take place to promote economic development within our downtown areas.

REVIEWS CONDUCTED

The site plan was reviewed to determine if it is in compliance with the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) including drainage, grading and erosion control. The application was determined to be in compliance with the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) and the Comprehensive Plan.

The civil engineering plans, consisting of 25 sheets, have been submitted on 24" x 36"sheets and certified by William Henry Zeh, Professional Engineer with Madden Moorehead and Stokes, LLC Civil Engineers, drawn on April 6, 2022, with final revisions drawn and signed and sealed on December 15, 2022. Landscaping and Irrigation plans consisting of six sheets have been submitted on 24" x 36"sheets and certified by Richard R. Conant with Foster Conant and Associates with final revised plans dated December 15, 2022. Sight Lighting and Photometric Plan consisting of two sheets are drawn by Richard R. Conant with Foster Conant and Associates with final revised plans dated December 15, 2022. Architectural Elevation Renderings consisting of four sheets are drawn by Slocumplatts Architects, P.A. dated July 15, 2022.

Town staff, Neel-Schaffer Engineering, and the Fire Inspector completed reviews. The following items are included in the packet:

Review Number 3 for the general site development completed by Neel-Schaffer Engineering, dated November 16, 2022 (Satisfied).

Review by Fire Inspector Kerry Barnett dated October 27, 2022 (Satisfied).

Review by Lady Lake Building Official Bill Golberg with Charles Abbott Associates, Inc., dated October 31, 2022 (Satisfied).

Review by Lady Lake Public Works Utility Supervisor Butch Goodman dated January 4, 2023 (Satisfied).

Lake County Public Works Comments dated January 5, 2023 (Satisfied).

SJRWMD Permit No. Environmental Resource Permit No. 188781-1 has been issued as of October 3, 2022.

Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection Self-Certification Stormwater Management Permit No. 0426544001EG dated September 19, 2022.