To keep pace with rapid growth, Wildwood has suspended approval of residential comprehensive plan and zoning amendments, likely until the end of the year.
During the suspension, city staff will gather data on transportation impacts, apartment occupancy rates and other development concerns through a contract with an outside provider.
Commissioners voted 3-2 to implement the suspension at a special meeting Monday. Business and commercial projects will not be affected.
Home construction in the Villages of Southern Oaks would be affected only if The Villages wants to add more property to the area defined by its master plan and development agreements.
The suspension also will not affect 8,400 units under construction or review outside The Villages.
Commissioners also approved a contract with PC Construction to upgrade the city’s existing wastewater treatment plant and build a new plant next to it.
Wildwood is projected to have 130,000 residents by 2050.
Development Director Melanie Peavy said the city’s 20 percent annual growth rate is faster than anticipated in a 2020 master plan and Wildwood will have 38,000 residents by 2025.
“Everybody wants to develop here,” Peavy told commissioners. “The question is not whether the growth will happen, but whether you’re comfortable with the rate that it’s happening.”
Mayor Ed Wolf voted for the suspension along with commissioners Pamala Harrison-Bivens and Joe Elliott. Julian Green and Marcos Flores voted against it.
“Before we build an equal number of apartments, I’d to see that we fill the apartments that we’ve got,” Wolf said, especially those constructed under the new “build to rent” concept.
But Peavy said the first phase of one apartment project was fully rented before construction began and the second phase has a waiting list.
“They’re going to fill up,” she said. “We have no shortage of people coming here.”
The pandemic slowed residential construction, but generated an influx of northerners fleeing restrictions. At least 1,000 people move to Florida daily.
Peavy said other communities in Lake County and elsewhere in central Florida are facing similar development pressure.
Green said he opposed the suspension because he wants the city to have more apartments than the market requires so rents will come down and become more affordable. Flores said he opposed it because property owners should not be restricted from developing their land.
Wastewater treatment capacity is Wildwood’s greatest concern in keeping up with development.
Growth is pushing the 40-year-old wastewater treatment plant toward its 2.8-million gallon daily maximum capacity.
The contract with PC Construction, founded in Vermont but with a regional office in West Palm Beach, authorizes the firm to expand the existing plant’s capacity while building a new treatment plant on city-owned property next to it. The company will collaborate with Sawcross Contractors and Engineers of Jacksonville.
The two plants would be capable of handling six million gallons daily.
Commissioners approved a $2.3-million contract last fall with CPH Engineers that covers pre-construction phases of the project.
Wildwood is seeking $4 million in state funding to help pay for it.