With political headwinds and county staff opposed to his plan for a Villages-like retirement community in Yeehaw Junction, Richard Jerman of Sun Terra Communities told GrowthSpotter he would withdraw the proposal.
Sun Terra was seeking a statement of no opposition from Osceola County for local legislation to create a special district that would have governed the massive project. Osceola staff strongly opposed the application because the property lies outside of the county’s Urban Growth Boundary.
“I’m very disappointed,” Jerman said. “I still believe this is a great project, but it is not approvable at this time.”
Sun Terra, which developed master-planned communities like Harmony and Hills of Minneola, was under contract to buy the 14,212-acre Rohde Ranch at State Road 60 and Florida’s Turnpike.
Last year the developer applied for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the land use of the cattle ranch from Rural Agricultural to Low Density Residential. Jerman envisioned Sun Terra Lakes as a destination retirement community with a dozen golf courses, heliports and 15 distinct neighborhoods with nearly 34,000 homes.
The Rohde cattle ranch sprawls across 22 square miles on State Road 60 in south Osceola County. It was part of the doomed Destiny project, a proposed city in the heart of the Kissimmee River Valley that fizzled among a series of lawsuits, criminal convictions and economic recession.
Jerman said staff was initially receptive to the concept but ultimately concluded it would conflict with the county’s existing comprehensive plan, which prohibits the type of densities and commercial uses in the master plan outside of the urban service boundary.
The staff pointed out that the county’s comprehensive plan prohibits urban sprawl and expansion of water and sewer utilities outside of the UGB, but the project could be developed as a Conservation Subdivision with much lower density.
“There are opportunities for utilization of the subject property, consistent with current our Comprehensive Plan policies which would not necessitate the large infrastructure and development needs that this district is proposing to serve,” a staff report said.
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