As Jubilee seeks rezoning to allow 8,000 new homes, data shows heavy toll on Pace roads

The developers of Jubilee, a long-discussed mega-community to be built on agricultural land north of Pace, are scheduled to meet with the Santa Rosa County Planning Board Sept. 9 to discuss rezoning that will allow for the construction of 8,017 new homes.

Those homes, to be built primarily between Luther Fowler and Willard Norris roads , will have an immediate impact on the roadways around the construction area. On Monday, one Planning Board member asked the County Commission to delay consideration of the rezoning until the applicant can come up with a plan to deal with capacity issues.

Planning Board member Alan Isaacson informed the board that he'd found a little known, and apparently seldom enforced, requirement within the county's Land Development Code . It states that any time a developer's traffic impact analysis indicated that a roadway segment was going to exceed capacity, their analysis of the project would include the scope and costs of improvements necessary to accommodate the development.

Jubilee development: 'Retail village' in Pace would allow residents to shop where they live, developers say

Isaacson said following the meeting that Jubilee Development's own analysis showed that seven roads in and around the community will be over capacity as of 2029, five more would exceed capacity by 2039 regardless of whether Jubilee is built and another five or six would be over capacity as of 2043.

He told commissioners that he had worked through county staff to contact the Jubilee developers but had not yet received a response in answer to his concerns from the group. Isaacson asked that the meeting be postponed until an analysis from the developers had been received.

He said without the information requested, he believes the application turned in by Jubilee to obtain a Town Center rezoning on what is presently land zoned for agricultural and rural residential is "incomplete."

"My board is unable to consider something of this magnitude without the required data as outlined in our LDC," Isaacson said. "This is needed to allow my board to analyze the scope and cost against the feasibility of the (development) plan."

Isaacson asked that if the Sept. 9 special meeting couldn't be rescheduled, the meeting focus be modified to allow the Planning Board to collect input about the proposed development from the applicant and the public.

County commission members did not act to either postpone the Sept. 9 meeting or alter the course of its discussion. Isaacson's request could be taken up for consideration at Thursday's regular meeting.

Though Isaacson said he felt like the request he'd made of the County Commission was a pretty straightforward one, he was also aware the county has never enforced the provision in the LDC pertaining to roadway capacity, so there is no precedent to push the Jubilee developers to abide by the requirement.

Commissioner Kerry Smith said he understands the concerns raised by Isaacson, who is his appointee to the Planning Board.

"I stand behind what Alan's saying 100%," Smith said. "We've got to have an effective Zoning Board and for them to be effective they need information."

In May, the commission approved Jubilee's request to rezone 34 acres off of Berryhill Road to allow Jubilee Development Group to create a mixed-use community that will feature shops, restaurants, about 60 townhomes and a grocery store, with all of it being built around a town square and surrounded by ample green space.

Pace town square: 'Retail village' in Pace would allow residents to shop where they live, developers say

Ron Reeser, who heads the development group, has been seeking for 17 years to get a much larger, 2,700 acre parcel rezoned for the same type community as will be seen on the 34 acre plot. In May, when the first zoning change was approved, Jubilee spokesperson Daniel Saba said that contrary to what some opponents of the project had contended, there were no plans to turn the isolated parcel into a "gateway" for the larger development.

Ryan Fowler, whose agricultural property shares a common border with the Jubilee 2,700 acres, was present at Monday's meeting to − as he often does − oppose the development group's latest plans.

"When they approved rezoning the 34 acres from agricultural to town center, Jubilee's representatives said at the last rezoning that it wasn't a preview to them rezoning their property, but here I am again, opposing a Jubilee rezoning," he said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: As Jubilee seeks rezoning to allow 8,000 new homes, data shows heavy toll on Pace roads