If approved, the growth development change would allow large land owners to mix and match two or three different zonings on their property into one mixed-use tract.

LPG chief planner Gregg Beliveau has told Lake County manager Bill Neron his company wants to discuss the land law change first with area property owners in the environmentally fragile Green Swamp and Wekiva River basin areas before coming to the county again in early 2003.

"Absolutely insane," a supporter of the Sierra Club of Central Florida tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity. "If passed, you might as well give developers the key to the county seat because they would own it soon enough with a mountain of new development activity."

LPG's concept would allow a developer to allocate residential units from the dense portions of a property into less-congested pockets.

"Broken down into plain ol' Lake County English, what this concept means is that developers in rural or suburban areas would be allowed to build more homes than the original master land plan called for," an independent private planner not associated with LPG tells GlobeSt.com."It's a great end run for the developer if he can pull it off," he says.

Environmental groups are massing forces to kill the concept even before it lands on the Lake County commission agenda in January.

County manager Neron, meanwhile, is striving to reposition the county's growth development department after he orchestrated the firing of growth management director Sharon Ferrell last week.

Ferrell was in North Carolina and couldn't be reached. She recommended the LPG concept be trashed.

Neron has said in published accounts he was not impressed with the direction Ferrell was giving to the growth management department over the past five years.

Instant Insights /

Lake County Developer Pulls Back Land-Law Change Request

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