PORT CHARLOTTE — After years of waiting for commercial development, a Duncan Road property east of Punta Gorda has been rezoned for high-density residential.
Charlotte County commissioners voted unanimously to approve the rezoning Tuesday afternoon, despite a handful of neighboring residents criticizing the move in public comment.
One local resident, Michael Griffon, expressed concerns that high-density housing would negatively affect neighboring areas in terms of traffic, stormwater systems and crime.
“How high are they going to go there? Three stories high? … It’s going to take our properties down with it,” Griffon said during public comment.
While some commissioners expressed skepticism about the future use, they commented that residential zoning would bring less traffic than a commercial project.
Commissioner Joe Tiseo compared the possible development at Duncan Road near Interstate 75 to Spring Apartments at Peachland and Loveland Boulevards, citing the latter as an ideal to strive toward.
“There’s a lot of fear of the unknown, (of) what things may look like,” he said after the vote.
The county commission fielded several related applications that were recommended by the Planning Board earlier in the month.
The rezoning application was put forward by Mivon Development Group, focused on a parcel between Duncan Road and Riverside Drive near I-75.
The proposal would see nearly 20 acres of commercial zoned land and 2 acres of low-density residential converted into high-density residential. This would be combined with less than an acre of existing high-density residential.
The company also proposed a transfer of 320 housing units onto the property, allowing for a build out maximum of 338 units, which was also approved on Tuesday.
A related proposal from Seventeen and Seventy-Five LLC would see roughly 3.7 acres vacated near Rosemary Drive, near the Mivon parcel.
During the presentation, Vice Chair Christopher Constance asked why the map of the vacated lots included property separated from the rest of the parcel.
“(It’s) kind of sandwiched,” he noted.
Rob Berntsson, a lawyer representing the developers, replied that the plan was for the area near the property be left as “open space” away from the high-density homes. As such, it was not anticipated to affect other property-owners access to their land.
Berntsson also said that while Mivon is looking to develop “market-rate” housing on the site, attempts to build affordable housing may become more prevalent in the area.
Mivon representatives also confirmed that the maximum height allowed would be 60 feet above base flood elevation.
Constance said later in the meeting that he had “some reservations” about rezoning — noting that a rezoning to allow a railroad intermodal had been rejected in 2020 — but agreed that the possible residential plans could fit with the county’s development guidelines.
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