Lakeland commissioners will consider a developer proposal that could help address the city’s “missing middle” in housing stock.
The City Commission will hold two public hearings Monday for a zoning change and planned unit development change to make way for 87 townhomes in the Northwest District’s Gladys Leggett neighborhood.
The request is for a zoning change on nearly 12 acres from business park to residential medium to accommodate the proposed development of Providence Townhomes at 1250 Providence Road in Lakeland. The development would be built on 9.76 acres immediately west of Providence Road, on vacant land stretching from West 5th Street to West 7th Street and between Kathleen Road and the CSX tracks.
Developer Vasu Persaud said in his plans submitted to the city that the townhomes would be marketed as “environmentally sustainable ‘worker-affordable housing,'” according to city documents. The units would be aimed at middle-income residents, rather than being for low-income or luxury residents.
Chuck Barmby, Lakeland’s planning and transportation manager, said during Friday’s agenda study that the developer has indicated the intent is to build primarily three-bedroom, two-bathroom units with a few four-bedroom, three-bathroom units along the end caps .
The submitted plans show that the town homes will be two stories high with a minimum living area of 1,280 square meters. Each unit will have a one-car garage with a porch or porch.
Commissioner Bill Read said he is concerned about parking in the project, given the one-car garage and the roads in the project.
According to Barmby, future residents will be allowed to use the single-car garages solely for vehicle parking and will not be allowed to use them as additional storage space. He said these rules will be included in future homeowners association documents and will largely be up to the HOA to enforce them.
Each unit will have space to park two to three vehicles, depending on overall size, Barmby said, with an additional 36 on-street parking spaces.
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“We are confident that there is sufficient on-site parking,” he said.
The development will dedicate approximately 14,900 square meters of open space, which will be used by residents for recreational purposes. Part of this, Barmby said, is due to ground clearance requirements for a nearby cell phone antenna, leading to a ban on homes in the zone.
Commissioners will give the second reading on this development Monday at 9 a.m. in the committee rooms of City Hall, 228 S. Massachusetts Ave. All committee meetings are open to the public, who will have the opportunity to comment.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland considers developer’s proposal for 87 townhomes in Northwest
