The Charlotte County Planning & Zoning Board Monday unanimously endorsed a proposed 106-acre addition to an already approved project along Interstate 75 near Harbour Heights.

If county commissioners follow the board's recommendation, Benderson Development Co.'s Harborview Development of Regional Impact will be expanded from 406 acres to 514 acres.

Although county planners have concerns about saltwater marsh buffering and the prospects of a marina on the parcel's southern end, they offered no objection to the proposal because it does not involve a specific development plan.

Benderson, the nation's largest corporate builder, was merely seeking to incorporate the triangular-shaped parcel between Harborview Road and the Peace River, into its DRI.

The Buffalo, N.Y.-based builder is also seeking to change land-use designations on the parcel from low-density residential, commercial center, and preservation to the same mixed-use classification in its DRI.

Benderson plans to build 207 single-family homes, 1,020 apartment units, 936,000 square feet of retail development, and nearly 70,000 square feet of retail space in the DRI, which spans both sides of Harborview Road east of I-75 east near Harbour Heights.

Construction on the three-phase development is set to begin late this year and be completed by 2011.

The DRI has been on the books since 1992. It has been updated twice -- most recently, April 2004 -- since being purchased by Benderson.

However, Benderson attorney Geri Waksler said, the addition of the 106-acre parcel is a "substantial deviation -- which reopens the DRI for review."

DRIs are not only subject to county scrutiny, but to examination by planners at the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council.

Any issues regarding saltwater marsh buffering and marinas will be studied once the DRI is altered to include specific proposals, she said.

The Harborview DRI is one of two significant developments Benderson has in Charlotte County.

The corporate builder also owns the 365-acre Victoria Estates DRI in Deep Creek.

That three-phased project, initially approved in 1989, calls for building 1,312 homes, 117,210 square feet of commercial development, and

99,000 square feet of office space by 2010 within the DRI east of Kings Highway along Rampart Boulevard.

By JOHN HAUGHEY

Staff Writer

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