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Tab 10
Daily Commercial, The (Leesburg, FL)
May 19, 2010
Commission reduces Rural Protection Area in South Lake
Author: LARRY ELL
TAVARES -- Lake County commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to reduce the size of the South
Lake Rural Protection Area, a move that gave Clermont officials half of the compromise they
had sought.
After weighing arguments from environmentalists, builders, property owners and each other,
commissioners decided to reduce the size of the South Lake Rural Protection Area by nearly
2,000 acres.
The debate centers on a segment of the Comprehensive Plan that would establish a land-use
policy for the next 20 years.
The decision to lessen the restrictions on the land between Clermont and the Orange County line
didn't come without strong opinions from both sides about whose interests should prevail -- the
city's or the county's.
"This is our comp plan in terms of where the county should be putting growth and seeing growth
and I just don't see it in that area," Commissioner Elaine Renick said of the Rural Protection
Area. "I see this as not doing our duty in protecting an environmentally sensitive area."
Renick cast the lone vote against the compromise.
"This is like having a divorce over not cutting the grass or the eggs being burned -- it's
ridiculous," Commissioner Jimmy Conner said. "I think that area is going to be protected
whether you have an overlay on it or not."
According to Growth Management Director Amye King, the initial area covered by the RPA
overlay involved 10 parcels of land about 640 acres each. The city of Clermont wanted the
overlay lifted from six parcels and the commission decided on three.
While the compromise gives city officials more flexibility to expand, it also gave the impression
they were being greedy and careless.
"A lot of people were trying to paint that picture," Clermont City Manager Wayne Saunders
said. "But all we were trying to do was remove a roadblock for something good that may happen
in the future."
Supporters believe the compromise will balance the interests of preservationists and developers.
"This is rural sprawl," Commissioner Jennifer Hill said. "That's why we should remove the
overlay and really have a planning process that is meaningful."
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