Manatee County Commissioners unanimously denied a housing project in Lakewood Ranch on Thursday to prevent setting a high-density precedent.
The project included 232 multifamily units, and at least 58 of them would have been designated affordable housing. Commissioners’ main concern was the dramatic increase in density proposed, which would have jumped the future land use from one dwelling unit per acre to nearly 12 units per acre.
Real estate firm Penler proposed the project near Lorraine Road, just south of Nate’s Honor Rescue near the Lorraine Lakes neighborhood. The 19.5-acre site along Lorraine Road houses a commercial nursery and single-family home owned by Ralph Taylor Nursery…