RV park proposal stirs local opposition

By Steve Estes

Residents of Sugarloaf Shores are concerned that Sugarloaf Lodge owner Lloyd Good may have plans to develop a 35-unit RV park on the land he owns connected to the lodge.

Good lost more than a dozen rooms at the hotel as a result of damage sustained in Hurricane Wilma in 2005. He has also lost the gas station and small grocery store that were located there and the postal station inside the grocery store.

Good recently applied for a zone change on a portion of the lodge property from its current Destination Resort to Mixed Use Commercial. He said the impetus for that request was so that historical uses of the property, such as the grocery store that used to be there and the auto repair shop there now would no longer be non-conforming uses and could be rebuilt after a storm.

Residents and county staff were concerned that the MU zoning allowed a much higher density and intensity of use than was compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.

So county staff suggested instead that they develop a city-center overlay district that would take into account the historical uses of the property, but also allow for less expansion in the future.

The prospect of 35 RV spaces is included in that overlay.

Local residents say that an RV park, with three others in close proximity, would not be in keeping with the character of the area.

Good has said he has been unable to finance the replacement of his lost hotel units and that the cheaper route of establishing RV spaces would allow him to generate cash flow from the property he needs to make long-term re-development possible.

The county was to have acted on the request this month, but the issue was set aside until county staff and Good can meet with concerned residents of the area to try and iron out a compromise solution.

That meeting is now tentatively set for August, but with no firm date.