County OKs plan for 'settlement'

Three months after rejecting a 5,700-home development near Englewood, the Sarasota County Commission gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a 877-home development next door.

Both development proposals called for access from two-lane South River Road, which needs expensive improvements.

But the difference that tipped the commission toward the proposal was better planning, said board Chairwoman Shannon Staub.

"This is planned," Staub said. "This is exactly what we've asked for."

The Fairway Vistas at Myakka Pines development, designed around the existing 27-hole Myakka Pines Golf Club, is the first development to receive preliminary approval under the county's 2050 Plan, said county planning manager Matt Lewis.

The 2050 Plan was hotly debated by developers and slow- growth activists before adoption in 2002 and during subsequent legal challenges.

It is designed to help preserve the character of rural areas by clustering development in densely populated, self-contained villages.

The Fairway Vistas project proposes 8,000 square feet of commercial space for a neighborhood convenience store and 216 apartment units, both of which are not typically found in golf communities.

Fairway Development-Myakka Pines, a firm headed by developers John Cannon and Robert Morey, and Myakka Pines Golf Club are jointly working on the project.

Commissioner Paul Mercier voted against the project.