Planning commission advances Thomasville, Ox Bottom road development change amid pushback

A controversial zoning change will go before city commissioners next month after members of the Planning Commission approved the property owner's request for a land use amendment.

It was the last thing several speakers wanted to see move forward. Impacted residents came out in droves for Tuesday's Planning Commission meeting in hopes of convincing the commission to reject the amendment that would permit several "allowable uses," including fast-food restaurants and gas stations to the Ox Bottom Meadows Planned Unit Development.

Passersby watched the corner of Thomasville and Ox Bottom roads go from a lush, untouched swath of land to a cleared canvas being prepped for something. What's coming, even though no plans have been set, has some residents on edge.

Raymond Marsh said the site is roughly 25 feet from his home near Ox Bottom Road and Hollystone Lane that he purchased nine years ago. At the time, he asked his Realtor what could be built on the corner. The answer: commercial activity.

"Don't worry about it," Marsh said he was told. "It will be something nice. There won't be any fast food. There won't be gas stations."

Several years later, when a developer wanted to changed signage impacting the area, Marsh said he again asked about plans for the site and was told there were no plans for it yet. He and others feel it's only a matter of time before plans are revealed; many fearing the worse.

"This was a shock to us and, frankly, it irritated us," Marsh said. "There's no shortage of gas stations anywhere around there."

More than 430 notices were mailed to property owners and tenants within 1,000 feet of the area. Notified homeowner associations include Bull Run Unit V, Ox Bottom Crest HOA, Ox Bottom Reserve and Mint Hill HOA. Dozens of pages of public comments were submitted prior to the meeting, all representing a mix of support and opposition.

Larry Dodd, another speaker opposing the amendment, said there appears to be "an accepted pattern for developers" to obtain property, ask for a minor rezoning and later come back and request more rezoning changes.

"It feel like the residents of this area are nothing more than that frog in a pot," Dodd said. "Basically what's happening is they slowly just turn up that heat. We don't want that in our area. We don't want a fueling station. We don't want fast food in that area. We really don't even want commercial but we accept the fact that that's already the case."

What's known and not known

In a 4-1 vote, the Planning Commission approved the requested land use changes and made room for the item to be introduced as a proposed ordinance the next day at the City Commission meeting.

City commissioners are already divided based on the 3-2 vote to introduce the ordinance and set a first and only public hearing for Dec. 13. City Commissioners Jack Porter and Jeremy Matlow, who said "until I get all my questions answers, I can't support this," were in dissent.

Mayor John Dailey said the motion to introduce the ordinance was "ceremonial at best" and there would be ample time to have a "nice, healthy conversation at the December meeting."

In addition to fast food and gas stations, the land use amendment calls for apartments and an additional 99 homes.

The plans also include a "realignment of the Ox Bottom roadway, a Velda Dairy Road extension and a future traffic signal at the intersection. A site plan hasn't been submitted so it's not yet clear what is proposed for the area.

The property is owned by Ox Bottom Holdings Mortgage LLC and tied to Steve Ghazvini, one of Tallahassee's biggest residential and commercial real estate developers. Ghazvini, who attended the Planning Commission meeting, downplayed future plans.

"This is just a zoning document right now. This is not saying that a gas station is going there. This is not going to fast forward," Ghazvini said, to the Tallahassee Democrat after the meeting. "There's going through the process to get the zoning done, or the PUD done, that is cumbersome."

The project has been in the works for almost two decades, but burst into the headlines when trees were clear cut and a retention pond filled in earlier this year along one of the city's most traveled thoroughfares.

The major development plan was originally approved by the City Commission in 2004 as mixed-use project that included an 86-unit residential development, 20,000 square feet of office, and 3,500 square feet of commercial development.

The plan was revised in 2009 to include a 122-unit residential development, a 150-bed Assisted Living / Nursing Home Facility, 40,000 square feet of office development, 2,500 square feet/acre of commercial and 12 acres of open space/conservation.

For the latest iteration of the project, Ghazvini said it can take five to six months to obtain approval for land use changes. The zoning request, he said, allows for land uses to be known on the front end instead of waiting for approval.

"The (Planning) Commission did the right thing," he said. "Their job is not to analyze the traffic ... Their job is to see if this PUD is in compliance and consistent with the (Comprehensive) Plan."

Contact Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com. Follow @TaMarynWaters on X.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Zoning change on Thomasville, Ox Bottom project draw resident pushback