9/14 3 PM Brevard County Planning and Zoning Hearing in Viera to Oppose Rezoning

Mark your calendars if you have not already: On Monday 9/14 the Brevard County Planning and Zoning Advisory Board will meet starting at 3 p.m. in Viera. The application below is the last one on the agenda.

At this meeting, they will hear the application (26Z00034) Defender Homes Airway Heights, LLC (Kim Rezanka) requests a zoning classification change from RR-1 (Rural Residential) to RU-1-11 (Single-Family Residential) with a BDP (Binding Development Plan), on property described as Tax Parcel 33.01, as recorded in OR Book 9300, Page 518, of the Public Records of Brevard County, Florida. Section 14, Township 27, Range 36 . (14.37 acres) Located on the northwest corner of White Rd. and Turtle Mound Rd, (1800 Turtle Mound Rd, Melbourne).

Defender Airways, LLC, is asking the County to rezone 14.37 acres from RR-1 to RU-1-11. County staff affirms in its report to the Planning and Zoning Board (and County Commissioners) that RR-1 is the predominant zoning in the surrounding area. Staff acknowledges that this request could introduce a new zoning classification into this area.

The applicants proposed Binding Development Plan does not resolve the compatibility issue. Instead, it raises a very basic question: If the applicant is willing to limit this property to one dwelling unit per acre, why change the zoning from RR-1 in the first place?

And the BDP does little to address the most serious concern identified by the County itself: flooding and drainage. County modeling and the LIDAR image submitted in the application indicates significant portions of this property are below Mean Annual, 25-year and 100-year storm flood levels. Staff further reports that development affecting floodplain storage and runoff is expected to exacerbate flooding affecting nearby RR-1 properties and infrastructure.

The BDP contains no specific drainage solution, flood-storage requirement, wetland-preservation commitment or other site-specific mitigation addressing those findings. Administrative Policy 7 requires that development not substantially aggravate existing drainage problems.

If one-acre residential development is truly the applicant's intention, then County officials must preserve the one-acre lot requirement already provided by RR-1.

Please attend in person and help us present a united front to STOP this application from being approved. An approval such as this would set a negative precedent and would be a catalyst to allow many more higher density rezonings across our Lake Washington community.