Betz Farm Update

I was browsing through BOCC emails the past week and came across an email from Chuck Pigeon, who is the person helping James Dicks design and build Betz Farm. This email was a submission of the updated Betz Farm plan that was submitted to staff. This is the process before it heads to the PDC.

The Dix group has it under contract for $6m going back to 2023. You can read all about it here. Basically, the BOCC accepted his offer and then in April 2024, accepted an amendment to the contract allowing him to close on the property ONLY when he gets his approvals for the development.

The Kinnard brought this amendment to the board and at the time said "Developers want to develop". The thought was that this would go to closing pretty quick because time was money.

Only if someone was there to tell them that the puts the county over a barrel and it was a bad idea as he would only close whenever he gets what he wants. If he doesn't, he does not go to closing.

Oh wait... That was me... Sigh.

Oh well.. Here we are. I still think the county should try to get out of the contract. I presented them a way in the article linked above, but to date, only Janet Barek has called on the BOCC to review it.

At a time when we keep hearing that roughly 35% of the county is conservation, we tend to forget that most of that is state controlled land that the county has no say in. Remember the State Forest that the Governor was considering giving to Cabot? Or the campground at Chassahowitzka. We have no say in any of that.

I am trying to find out how much conservation land the county actually controls, but it is no where near 35%.

Betz Farm was donated to us by the Tamposi's to use as conservation or park lands. I still think that is the best use of that property. It gives the county something that we can control, regardless of what the state might do down the road with other conservation lands.

I can think of a lot of uses for it... Nature/hiking trails/riding trails.... atvs.... sports fields/athletic complex... dog park... leave it as it is... a combination of the above... lots of potential there.

But $6 million is $6 million. The original idea back in 2023 was to use the proceeds for this to put towards the shelter. While that still may happen, I doubt that this goes to the board and closes before February when the BOCC votes on the animal shelter bids and funding. So they should not count on these funds to go towards that. Besides, if they do not approve of the project, it never closes.

Now... the project.

Here is the overview of the most recent plan.

One thing to note... All that light green color is "natural wetlands" according to the graphic. There is A LOT there. I presume the blue is water of some sort.. Again.. a lot there.

Just seeing those wetland areas should give pause to the BOCC on this... but knowing this group, at least the majority... not sure that will matter. Although they did deny a plan last week for Brentwood, but it was a developer not really known to them. This is different. They know James Dicks very well and have had several meetings with him.

None of that should matter of course as each project should be voted on based on its merits and not who is doing the project, but as the BOCC has said before.... "We like good developers"... and by all appearances, Dicks is a good developer.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Dicks has only had one denial on projects that have come to the BOCC. That was Pine Ridge in 2024, but none of them were going to vote for that during an election year, certainly not 2 of the 3 up for re-election. The 3rd would have done it but pinched her nose to deny it.

It then passed 3-2 earlier this year.

But aside from that, I do not think that the BOCC has denied a single Dicks project. The PDC has, or would have had he not asked for a continuance to address concerns, but not the BOCC.

Worth noting.

That said, this project will be 1,466 dwelling units. 189.6 acres will be cluster housing, single family detached with a density of 6 units per acre. 41.2 acres will be cluster housing, attached townhouses at a density of 8 units per acre. 10 acres will be recreation and 84.88 acres will be open space, natural areas, or buffers... mostly all those wetlands areas.

This is in line with what was approved as part of the DRI from decades ago and what Tamposi proposed to build back then, but abandoned it and donated the land to the county.

Dicks also bought the 40 acres at the corner of Citrus Ave and Turkey Oak seen in the Orange rectangle on this picture. He made this purchase for $1.5 million in November. I presume he will purchase some of the parcels between the Betz (Purple) and this lot at some point to connect them, if he hasn't already.

So there you have it. Betz Farm is coming together and will be at the PDC here in the near future. Depending on how that goes, it will then head to the BOCC. I do not know what is planned for that orange section. Maybe they will piece it together for the PDC, but not sure.

One thing to note. I spoke with James a few months ago and also heard his comments a couple of weeks ago at the stakeholder meeting for the comp plan. One thing he made a point to mention is that just because 1400+ homes (or however many in other projects) are approved does not mean all 1400 will be built. These have 20+ year build outs. A lot of things can change between now and 20 years from now. These do not get build tomorrow.

This is why these areas, like Tuscany Ranch, have not been built out yet. They have been zoned for 1000s of homes for decades, but still sit vacant. So just because a project is approved does not mean all those homes will be built.

However, developers make money developing... or doing the work to get it zoned and then selling to other developers for more than they paid for it.

So time will tell. But.. if you do not want to see this one developed, you still have time to reach out to your favorite BOCC member and let them know!