BAKER COUNTY -- While the rest of Northeast Florida has spent the past six years earning a reputation as a hotbed for residential development, Baker County is still a rural area populated largely by pine trees.
Two separate applications for developments of regional impact propose to change that by adding 15,200 residential units and more than doubling the county's 25,000 population. But some predict that might just be the beginning of Baker County's development boom.
"It's already spilled over into Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties," Baker County Manager Joe Cone said of Jacksonville's boom, "and they can't go east. The only other logical place to go is west into Baker County."
The seeds of development were first sown in 2000, when Baker County officials approved the county's first planned unit development. Since then two South Florida developers, Miami-based Adar Developers LLP and Adrian Development Group of Coral Gables, have started the DRI permitting process for two large-scale, mixed-use developments.
If they are approved, which is not expected until summer 2007 at the earliest, they will be the first in 20 years. The last one was an industrial DRI.
Founded in 1861, Baker County was the site of the largest battle fought in Florida during the Civil War, is part of the Osceola National Forest and today remains primarily and proudly agricultural, said Baker County Planning and Zoning Director Ed Preston. Residents have mixed feelings about the impending development that would forever alter the landscape.
"On the upside, they see it as a way to get roads paved and utilities to rural areas," Preston said. "On the downside, they fear losing the rural character of the community."
Both developers who have applied for DRI permitting in Baker said they are empathetic to the residents' concerns and intend to develop their projects with that in mind.
Adar's Navona Creek includes 8,200 residential units, a 195-acre business park and an 18-hole golf course. But the proposal also includes land for a hospital, several schools and a new roadway that will loop around the entire county.
Those amenities were developed out of a long-term and cooperative relationship between the developer and county officials, said Amram Adar, Adar founder and CEO.
"I believe we are sharing with the community," he said.
And he intends to share much more. Adar has three other large-scale projects in various stages of design in Baker County.
Osceola Trails, which abuts the Osceola National Forest, is an equestrian community with 211 estate-sized lots averaging five acres. Enterprise Village is a mixed-use site composed of 100,000 square feet of retail and office space, 1,500 residential units and a 161-acre, 7 million-square-foot business park. And the 10,000-acre Barber Bay includes 16,157 residential units, a 300-acre town center, 50 acres of commercial space and 2,428 acres of open space.
Adar declined to comment on how much land his company owns in Baker County, but he said it is enough to continue developing in the future.
"I like to make sure first that we do what's good for the community," Adar said.
Adrian Development Group Chief Operating Officer Brian May said his company found the 3,224-acre site that will be called Cedar Creek by chance while searching in vain eight months ago for property in Jacksonville that didn't have an inflated price tag. The money the company saved by buying the less expensive land in Baker County will go toward even more amenities in the development, which includes 6,000 senior living residential units, 1,000 apartments, 300,000 square feet of commercial space, 100,000 square feet of office space, a 120-bed adult living facility, an 800-seat movie theater and a 27-hole golf course.
"We saw just a great opportunity to develop out there," May said. "We thought it was natural to get out there before others did."
Adrian does not own any other property in Baker County and does not intend to buy more any time soon, May said, in order to focus on Cedar Creek. "It's an exciting project."
ICI Homes Inc. also owns 1,300 acres in Baker County, but David Haas, senior vice president-corporate land management, said the company has no immediate plans to develop the land because part of it is being mined for titanium. Until that operation is complete, which could be in 2015, the land will be used to harvest pine trees.
Daytona Beach-based ICI might not be the only developer ready and waiting. Preston said 10 to 12 large-scale landowners are negotiating with developers.
None of those plans are official yet, Preston said, but at 1,000 acres or more each, they have the potential to significantly impact Baker County further.
In response to the recent and accelerated interest in Baker County, officials there are preparing for the possible boom now, Preston said, by developing a water and sewer master plan and commissioning a countywide traffic study.
"It's going to be a major challenge," Preston said. "We watched the rest of the state do it badly, and we're not going to do that."
Cone said county officials will negotiate with all developers to set aside land for fire protection, police services, schools, hospitals, work force housing and senior living facilities.
"This is a challenge and an opportunity," Cone said. "This is an opportunity to really make a difference."
In fact, Baker County Commission Chairman Alex Robertson, who has lived in the county since 1970, said he's looking forward to the changes in the not-so-distant future.
"If we have everything in order, there's no need to fight it," he said.
But development proposals aren't official until both the county and the Northeast Florida Regional Council approve them.
"I don't think it will be a building boom if we can't figure out a way to pay for the infrastructure," said Ed Lehman, director of planning and development at the regional council. "It's going to be interesting to work."
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