Development with 220 town homes, pool gets city rezoning approval
By Ronald Dupont Jr.
Herald Editor

HIGH SPRINGS -- A 220-home development with some of the lowest priced homes the city has seen in years is a step closer to reality.

The developer of Oak Leaves, which would be the first development in the city with a community pool, was given rezoning approval Thursday to build a series of town homes bordered by Southside Terrace on one side and Tillman Acres on the other.

The community will feature town homes in three different price ranges, with the least expensive homes, starting at $149,900, being in the center of the community. The starting price then jumps to $159,000 for the "ring" of town homes surrounding the core and ending at roughly $169,900 for the outer "ring" of homes.

In a new twist since the developer's first presentation to the city commission in late June, the developer agreed to work in concert with Tillman Acres to have roads on both the east and west sides of Oak Leaves extended so that Tillman Acres is connected to Northwest 174th Avenue (formerly known as Palm Avenue).

Rather than taking up the entire 40 acres of land, the town homes are "clustered," leaving a buffer of trees and foliage around the outer edge of the development.

This clustering effect was both praised and questioned by High Springs city commissioners.

Commissioner Jim Gabriel said he regularly hears from residents who want High Springs to keep its rural flavor.

"This type of development is how we preserve it," Gabriel said, speaking of the tree buffer and the way the interior of the development is being designed.

Oak Leaves is being designed so that parking garages are behind each home, with the garages accessed by an alleyway. That leaves the roads with very few parked cars, except by those visiting somebody living there.

"It returns the street to the neighborhood," said the developer's representative, Gerry Dedenbach, of the planning firm of Causseaux & Ellington.

Mayor Kirk Eppenstein said he was pleased with the design of the development and said he was particularly happy with the prices of the homes. He said until Oak Leaves came along, the lowest priced homes in a new development started at $180,000.

"This project will be a first for High Springs," Eppenstein said of the design and price.

But Commissioner Thomas DePeter said he did not understand why the developer was requesting to have so many homes on such small acreage. Under the original zoning, only 40 homes could have been placed on the property.

"This is a drastic change," he said. "...Just because it looks great doesn't mean you have to build 220 homes."

DePeter asked why the developer couldn't have used clustering to build 40 homes, instead of 220.

Dedenbach said that if the developer chose to stay with 40 homes, each home would have to sell for $350,000 or more in order for the developer to make his money back. By putting in more homes, they can be offered at a lower price.

"It's not a decision driven by greed or to pick as many as possible," Dedenbach said.