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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Neighbors crowd city hall to fight proposed condominiums

The Leesburg city commission meeting room was packed Monday night with residents objecting to the proposed Angler’s Cove development.

Ryan Solstice, senior planner from the firm of LPG Urban & Regional Planers, Inc. presented the developer’s plan for the 4.9 acre parcel which called for the construction of 47 condominiums on the property. Solstice explained in detail what the owner of the property, Lake Harris Acquisitions, Inc., plans for the property.

Ten residents of the area surrounding the proposed development addressed the commissioners. The residents urged denial of the annexation of the property into the city, the first step in the implementation of the developer’s plan. They emphasized the limited access to the property which has only one way for the two mobile parks’ residents to exit and enter their parks. The proposed development would share an easement with the owners of a single family residence and the two mobile home parks. The easements go into a Take 5 oil change store parking lot and a five-way star-shaped intersection. The owner of one of the mobile parks had a resident, William Becker, read a letter to the commissioners stating he would not allow a second emergency road and gate over his property, which Lake County recommended if the development was annexed to the city. Other residents said that the proposed development would clash with the neighboring mobile home parks as the parks were started in the 1940s and the proposed condos would be marketed in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.

Screen Shot 2023 02 28 at 12.56.10 PM
This map shows where the condominiums would be built.

The last speaker, attorney Cara Singletary of the Hunt Law Firm, addressed legal arguments against approval including lack of notice to other neighboring property owners.

During the discussion of the annexation Commissioners Allyson Berry and Mike Pederson said that they had examined the traffic problems in the area and would not support annexing the property. When Commissioner Alan Reisman indicated he also would not support the annexation with the traffic problems in the area Solstice asked the commissioners to table the requested annexation. That request was voted down four to one with Commissioner Jay Connell casting the lone vote to table the matter.

The commission then voted on the annexation of the property into the city which was also a four to one vote with Connell voting to approve.

The crowd was extremely happy with the outcome.

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