NORTH PORT, Fla. (SNN) – North Port residents voiced overwhelming disapproval toward proposed rezoning changes Monday night during a city hall meeting at Shannon Staub Library.
“It’s ridiculous,” North Port resident Ken Dillons said.
The proposed changes would turn thousands of parcels from single-family residential to non-residential.
According to the latest draft of the map, Dillon’s neighborhood off of Yorkshire Street would be rezoned into Activity Center 10.
“There’s all kinds of other businesses and industrial things that could go in right in our neighborhood,” Dillons said. “And it doesn’t make any sense for our little neighborhood to be included in that.”
Without a downtown, North Port has designated activity centers to be places where people can congregate, eat, and shop.
For anyone in one, it would limit what they can do with their property.
“If they own vacant property, they will not be able to build a home in certain areas that are part of this rezone,” North Port Commissioner Debbie McDowell said. “They will not be allowed.”
McDowell hosted the meeting Monday night, where the possible changes were a hot topic. She explained the area would be reserved for commercial and apartment buildings.
“They’re concerned about how this is going to affect them,” McDowell said. “Not just the developer’s investment, they’ve made an investment already in the city and they’re concerned about what’s going to happen to that.”
She also explained the city does not have to notify property owners directly if this happens where they live because of state statute, which only requires them to have it put in the newspaper.
While Dillon said he understands North Port needs to grow its commercial base, he said it does not have to encroach on smaller residential neighborhoods.
“It’s taking away their rights to their use of their property,” Dillons said.
McDowell said that this project would take 10 to 20 years or more before people would start to see major development in the Activity Center.
Residents are meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Shannon Staub Library to discuss putting a stop to it.