Leesburg planning board OKs thousands of acres for The Villages

Frank Stanfield
·1 min read
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LEESBURG — The city's Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday unanimously recommended approval of a large-scale comprehensive land-use change of 3,700 acres for The Villages, which will add 6,800 homes to the growing retirement community.

The plan tentatively goes before the City Commission for the first of two readings around the first of February. The commission will have the final say.

The scope of development in Leesburg is illustrated in this city-provided map, which shows major developments to the south including No. 30 Villages of West Lake (3,500 units), No. 32 Secret Promise (6,800 units) and No. 31 Denham Village/Drew Meadows (1,999 units.)
The scope of development in Leesburg is illustrated in this city-provided map, which shows major developments to the south including No. 30 Villages of West Lake (3,500 units), No. 32 Secret Promise (6,800 units) and No. 31 Denham Village/Drew Meadows (1,999 units.)

The Villages purchased 4,100 acres from a holding company on the property known as Secret Promise Ltd., earlier this year. The vacant land is on the Sumter County border south of County Road 470 and Florida’s Turnpike.

The city sold 1,200 acres of a former wastewater treatment spray field at CR 470 and the turnpike to The Villages in 2017 for development. The latest purchase brings the total of proposed Villages homes in Leesburg to 14,000.

The Villages has been turning thousands of acres in Sumter from pastures to rooftop from Wildwood to the Lake County border

Also on Thursday, the board recommended by a vote of 5-2 changing the comp plan from neighborhood mixed use to estate residential for 464 acres west of County Road 33 and south of the turnpike and east of County Road 48.

It is for phases three and four of the Banning Ranch project with 530 single-family homes, according to Dan Miller, the city’s planning director.

That plan is scheduled to go to the City Commission for first reading on Jan. 22. It is near the Secret Promise site.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Leesburg planning board weighs in on major request from The Villages