Fight against plant pays offDeveloper of North Port's Thomas Ranch agrees to move sewage plant after residents object. NORTH PORT -- When Gerry Resnik learned in January that the developer of Thomas Ranch wanted to build a sewer treatment plant within a stone's throw of his home and the Myakka River, he didn't stay quiet.
Resnik and about 100 neighbors spent the last four months calling city commissioners and the developer, speaking out at city meetings and collecting signatures -- all in the hopes of getting the 82-acre sewage plant moved.
It appears the lobbying has paid off.
Thomas Ranch representatives agreed last week to construct the sewer plant in the middle of the 8,000-acre ranch, rather than at the intersection of River and East River roads. The plant will serve the 15,000-home West Villages development, proposed for the ranch in North Port.
Although a definite location has not yet been chosen, the plant will be at least three miles from the Myakka River and existing homes in the Lake Geraldine, Myakka Country Estates and Tarpon Point neighborhoods, district engineer Charles Geer said.
Resnik, a retired engineer who says he doesn't like to get involved in politics unless it's an issue of survival, believes he and his neighbors accomplished something "truly remarkable" by persuading the developer and city to move the plant.
"If you keep beating the drum, miracles do happen," said the 11-year Tarpon Point resident who enjoys boating on the Myakka almost every day.
The residents mobilized in January, after reading an advertisement in the newspaper about the proposed plant. The homeowners accused the city and the developer of a behind-the-scenes deal to build a sewer treatment facility near their homes because the City Commission approved the plant's location in August without alerting them.
With their homes dependent on well water, residents worried that the waste-water treatment plant could lead to ground-water contamination and health problems. They were also concerned that a malfunction at the plant could harm the Myakka River and wildlife living at the adjacent Myakka State Forest.
After nearly 100 homeowners showed up at a meeting in January, the West Villages Improvement District board, an elected body that can finance infrastructure on the Thomas Ranch, began to rethink its plan.
Geer met multiple times with concerned residents at their homes and toured the neighborhoods. But he didn't talk about a new location until City Commissioner Vanessa Carusone weighed in, residents say.
"We made it pretty clear that there was absolutely no reason for this," Carusone said. "You can't impact the current homeowners with plans for future homeowners."
Instead of a sewer treatment plant, the developer now wants to put condos and retail shops on the vacant land, north of East River Road and east of River Road. Residents say they are fine with development as long as it doesn't impact their homes and the quality of the Myakka River.
New plans reflecting the change will be brought to the city's development review board in the next few weeks, Geer said.
"We felt like we wanted to be good neighbors and we were able to do it," Geer said of the location change.
Along with residents, environmentalists cheered the developers' decision to back away from the river.
Jono Miller, chairman of the Myakka River Management Coordinating Council, didn't like the original idea of having a sewer treatment plant in a neighborhood that floods.
"When we have a really severe hurricane (and the river floods), we don't want to be worrying at sewer treatment plant," Miller said. "We want to be worried about citizens, so I think moving it away from the river was a wise idea."
Miller is still concerned, though, that the developer may build homes and shops too close to the river.
"It seems like the sensible thing to do would be to set aside the river area as a common resource for all the people," he said.
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