OKEECHOBEE – Okeechobee County Commissioners voted 4-1 to amend the Planned Development for Midtown Village to allow up to 1,320 residential units on 317 acres.

The property is on the north and south sides of Southeast 28^th Street (Charles Harvey Memorial Highway).

The development was approved in 2023 allowing for 609 residential units and 27 acres of commercial development. The amendment more than doubles the number of residential units and decreases the commercial area to less than 4 acres.

Two residents spoke out against the change.

“My concern is the density,” said Michael Myers. “I travel Charles Harvey Highway every day. My concern is 1,300 homes. We’re going to have a lot of traffic. The schools are already at capacity. Adding these additional homes is just too much.”

Myers said he was not opposed to the original plan for 600 homes but he is opposed to the density in the amended plan.

Lance Power also spoke out about traffic concerns. “We know U.S. 441 is an evacuation route,” he said. He said for this additional density, U.S. 441 should be six lanes and U.S. 441 S.E. should be four lanes to CR 15A.

Steve Dobbs, representing the developer, said there is a housing shortage in Okeechobee County. He said he has recently had difficulty finding workers because the workers can’t find housing here.

“I never thought we would be in the situation we are in today with a lack of qualified labor,” said Dobbs.

 “Unless we have housing, we’re not going to get our economy to grow or our tax base to grow,” said Commissioner Terry Burroughs.

 “It’s commonly held belief that residential growth doesn’t add a lot to the tax base, with homestead exemptions,” said Commissioner Brad Goodbread. “Commercial pays the lion’s share of the taxes.” He said more residential growth will mean more commercial growth. “For commercial growth, you have to have people working and shopping and eating here,” he said. “One thousand people a day move to Florida. Some of them are going to end up here.”

 He said the county needs population growth to support commercial growth.

Commissioner Kelly Owens, who cast the lone “nay” vote on the amendment, said she supported the project when it was proposed with a lower density.

“The school issue is my biggest concern,” said Owens. “The school district is going to be at capacity when the new high school is completed,” she said.

“South Elementary will be at capacity,” she said. A 1,300-home project would mean a large influx of students, she explained. “They’ll either have to redistrict or start putting up portables.”

The project for applying for state funding for new schools is very complicated, Owens continued. It took four years to even be considered for capital outlay funding for the new high school. Once that project is completed, the district will have to wait at least three years to apply for more funding. She said it will be at least 10 years before the school district can get any additional capital outlay without having to levy additional local taxes, which would have to go through a referendum.

While Owens said while it’s good the developer has offered to pay for an additional ambulance, the county will still have to staff it. She said she is concerned the additional tax revenue generated by the project will not cover the cost of the additional county services required.

Owens said the school board and school district administration should be included earlier in the process in discussions about approval of housing developments.