Wildwood commissioners have endorsed the rezoning of 85 acres near the southwest corner of State Road 44 and County Road 468 to agriculture for the Villages Grown project.
The action was among several involving the Villages of Southern Oaks at the commission’s Monday morning meeting.
The Villages Grown land currently is zoned for age-restricted development. The rezoning petition must be submitted to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity for approval because it is part of a development of regional impact. Then it will come back to the city commission for final approval.
The Villages Grown project, announced last week at the annual “Evening with the Developer” event, involves growing vegetables in greenhouses and using hydroponic methods. The vegetables may be sold to restaurants, grocery stores and directly to the public.
“It’s going to be a really unique project,” said Mayor Ed Wolf. “They’re going to grow vertically instead of as we would on the ground.”
In other action:
• Community Development District 13 will be created after commissioners voted to authorize it. The district will be on both sides of the Florida Turnpike east of U.S. 301 and northeast of the intersection of CR 468 and the turnpike.
• Commissioners approved a master plan for a 204-acre portion of the Villages of Southern Oaks on an irregularly shaped parcel across CR 468 from the Continental Country Club development. The area will be mostly residential with a multi-modal trail, a recreation center and drainage basins, according to the plan.
• The commission also enacted an amendment to Wildwood’s development agreement with The Villages. The agreement removes a proposed turnpike interchange on CR 468, relieves the Florida Department of Transportation of responsibility for developing more intersections and recognizes that The Villages has fully mitigated for most impacts in the Wildwood development area.
