Developer withdraws plan for 45 homes on Bird Bay Village golf course in Venice

VENICE – The developer seeking to build 45 villas on the Bird Bay Village golf course has pulled his application – for now.

Jason Picciano, owner of the 33.3-acre Haw’s Run Golf Course, notified the city via an email Monday afternoon that he was withdrawing his proposal.

Picciano had wanted to build up to 45 villas in Bird Bay, an otherwise closed-out planned unit development from the mid-1970s. The Venice Planning Commission recommended against the proposal last November.

Related:Plan for 45 homes on Bird Bay golf course in Venice rejected by advisory board

Last Friday, attorney Jeffrey Boone notified the city that he was no longer the agent for Hawks Run Development LLC on this particular application.

Picciano purchased Hawks Run Golf Course in February 2022 for $1.1 million.

What we know

Picciano had several visions on how he could develop the languishing golf course. In December 2021, when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were in place, residents of Bird Bay – a 1,026-home resort style development – were pitched a proposal that featured the construction of as many as 70 homes on the golf course.

Those residents, who believe that the planned-unit development was built out in the 1990s, consider the open space of the golf course off limits.

But the 1992 development master plan suggested that as many as 1,198 units could be built, even though the only available space was the golf course.

Picciano cut his vision back to 50 homes and eventually submitted plans for a 45-home development on about 5.85-acres of the golf course. That would have cut the number of holes from 18 to 12, while Picciano would have also built a new clubhouse and amenity center for his residents.

What the Planning Commission recommended

In November, the Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council reject the project.

The planning board cited a neighborhood open space protection strategy from the city’s 2017 Venice growth plan that pertained to the Pinebrook Neighborhood.

That strategy calls for protection of open space within an existing residential development from redevelopment and infill development, and also notes that “reduction or elimination of open spaces developed consistent with the underlying" zoning "shall not be supported by the city.”

What’s next?

Picciano did not return two voicemails and an email Monday.

Dan McBride, president of the Bird Bay Community Association noted that immediately after the November decision by the planning board, Picciano reached out to have a meeting and the association responded three days later seeking more details, but never heard back.

News of Picciano’s decision to withdraw the petition for land use changes to allow for the development came to McBride through the residents’ attorney, Robert Lincoln.

“We’re at a point right now of waiting to see exactly what happens,” McBride said.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Developer withdraws petition for approval to build 45 Venice homes