BRADENTON — Manatee County Commissioners unanimously upheld a staff determination that the 1,204-acre Pomelo Bluff property in Myakka does not qualify as “contiguous and conterminous” under Comprehensive Plan Policy 2.1.2.8. The denial blocks a likely future proposal to build 3,611 residential units east of the county’s Future Development Area Boundary and within the Lake Manatee Watershed Protection Overlay District.
Policy 2.1.2.8 was adopted in 2021; its provisions allow development east of the FDAB under certain conditions, provided the applicant can show the proposed development is “contiguous and coterminous” with an existing master development. However, commissioners and staff have at times struggled to make determinations under 2.1.2.8 as development applicants push for loose interpretations.
At the time of its adoption, the policy was strongly opposed by members of the public, who argued that adopting such provisions would effectively push the FDAB line further east…