Thomas A. Brown
2892 Indian River Road
February 10, 2021 — Planning Commission Meeting
I imagine the builder wrote this since he hasn’t the slightest idea what struggles the existing property owners are facing. “It is not the intent of this Plan for this area to become part of the urban area north of the Green Line” — yet, it is attached to Courthouse Estates, but lacks City services so pulling resources from everyone else.
August 20, 2020
Thomas A. Brown purchased 2892 Indian River Road (1493334650 a single residential structure on 1.2 acres)
** May 2020 receives PPP loan for $54,357
March 5, 2018
Thomas A. Brown purchased 2.1 acres of forested AG-zoned property 1493335697 paying $20,000 over land value for a lot that was unbuildable (unless you have played this game for decades and you can do whatever you want).
Did I mention he is marketing the properties at a ‘premium’ since they are “farmettes”? Sufficiently screwing people on both sides of the line by flooding below and stealing their resources, and marketing above the neighborhoods because of the increased lot size and ability to have farm animals not allowed in residential.
This area is already a drainage nightmare. The 2015 flood-zone mapping is inaccurate and does not account for the additional building below the Green Line wherein the City did not ensure that builders’ stormwater plans had sufficient downstream load capacity all of the way to the river–causing water to gather at the lowest point wherein structures have existed since the 60’s. You can raise your land, you cannot raise your structures.
This particular builder is of concern since he has been flipping subdivisions for the City since the 80’s. It takes him less than a day to clear acres of trees which have existed for nearly a century. And not a single City employee will assist the existing property owners struggling.
So what is going on?
The Zoning Department has decided there is a, “right to build,” a single-family dwelling on any AG-zoned lot so long as it meets the dimensional requirements of one acre. If that isn’t bad enough, they have also decided that the, “undue hardship,” provision that applied to owners when the density restrictions were enacted back in 1994 now apply to any and all subsequent purchasers. This means that anyone can buy any property out here over an acre and build a single-family dwelling, or ten, so long as they have ten acres.
Does that sound absurd? Because it should.
The City has sufficiently taken the laws intended to protect existing property owners and applied that protection to builders and developers.
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