A proposed 374-home neighborhood north of County Road 462 and west of U.S. 301 would harm Camp Wildwood, a Girl Scouts official told a special magistrate Tuesday at a meeting of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board.
Despite the objections, Special Magistrate Lindsay C.T. Holt recommended approval of a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning to allow the development. The City Commission may take action on the project later this month.
Of the 374 homes planned for Highfield at Twisted Oaks, 176 would be built on 40-foot-wide lots. Although future zoning would allow 15 units per acre, plans call for three homes per acre.
Highfield is across CR 462 from the Twisted Oaks development, expected to have up to 1,210 homes on about 387 acres. That project, the largest in Wildwood except for The Villages, was approved by the commission in July.
Mary Pat King, CEO of the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, said the 104-acre Highland project would have a devastating impact on the adjacent 600-acre Camp Wildwood, a camp for a half century and the only equestrian Girl Scout camp in Florida.
King said the project would cause safety and noise issues for the campers.
“This would mean a great deal of expense,” she said because of the need to install surveillance cameras and other security measures. “We don’t want to endanger our girls.”
More traffic is a safety issue, King said, as well as the possibility of predators or sex offenders.
“We have serious concerns,” she said.
A traffic study found that the project would generate 3,396 daily trips and a westbound turn lane may be needed on CR 462 at the neighborhood entrance.
