Developers Give Up Water Rights

LAKE ALFRED | After feeling the pinch in the housing market, two developers who are proposing to build communities in the city want to give up their reservations of water and sewer capacity.

And one of them, Highland Cassidy has requested a refund of the $300,700 the company prepaid to reserve the capacity.

Highland Cassidy presented its plans to build in the city a year ago.

"Now that the market has totally dropped and plummeted downward, they're coming back to us and asking if there's a way we can work with them," said City Manager Jan Shockley.

Before the city can refund the money, the request must be approved by the state's Department of Community Affairs first. The request also requires an amendment to the developer's agreement.

Commissioners approved the request during their meeting last week.

"We're not looking to change anything else in that developer's agreement and we're not planning on going anywhere," said Rennie Heath, who represents Highland Cassidy.

While his company still plans to build the community, it might be a year or more before construction begins.

The other developer that gave up its utility capacity request, Lake Alfred Preserve, had not prepaid for water and sewer capacity, which guarantees it will be there when building starts.

Neither Lake Alfred Preserve nor Highland Cassidy has broken ground, Shockley said.

However, five other subdivisions are in the works because those developers moved forward with their plans, she said.

And, Shockley said, industrial and commercial developments are under way, and those proposals will have priority for water and sewer capacity because their plans are further along.

With the uncertainty of growth in the city, Shockley was careful not to spend the money Highland Cassidy prepaid.

The city is also sitting on two more piles of cash from other developers.

Lexington Preserve prepaid $229,400 and Lake Alfred Creek has paid $148,800.

City Commissioner Lowell Schmidt said at last week's meeting that was good fiscal management to not spend any of the prepaid water and sewer impact fees.

"It's good that we didn't get carried away with this prepaid money and do any spending of it," Schmidt said.

City Attorney John Murphy also said it was a smart move.

"It's more evidence of the fiscal integrity of this commission and city manager," he said.

[ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-401-6968. ]