June 7, 2005

Farmer plans more migrant housing
Mobile homes for farmworkers sit vacant for one year

LISA MARIE LENTZ
Herald Staff Writer

EAST MANATEE - Farmworker housing set up last year still sits vacant, but agriculturist and land baron John Falkner is working on placing even more units on his property.

A land development application has been filed with the county to place 15 mobile homes on Falkner's farm, according to county planner Laurie Suess. The application states that the homes will be installed 500 feet south of State Road 64, somewhere east of Verna Bethany Road.

Falkner is still seeking permits to allow the permanent placement of 10 manufactured homes on approximately 590 acres of his property, on the west side of Verna Bethany Road, which is zoned for general agriculture. The homes have been on the property for more than a year but cannot be occupied until approvals have been granted.

Suess said there have been problems with incomplete information on the permit applications for the 10 units on the west side of Verna Bethany.

Hugh McGuire, Falkner's attorney, said delays have come from Peace River Electric Cooperative Inc., which has been slow to bring power to the enclave in the wake of months of unplanned work caused by last summer's rough hurricane season.

But McGuire said the delays have been a result of bad circumstances and said everyone has been working quite cooperatively. He hopes the permitting process will be finished in the next week.

"We hope to be able to move people into the homes in the next couple of weeks," McGuire said.

The units, all of which are new, are 66 feet long, 14 feet wide - totaling 924 square feet - and contain three bedrooms, two baths, a utility room, a dining room and a kitchen.

County code dictates a minimum square footage for bedrooms ranging from 70 square feet for one occupant to 200 square feet for four occupants. At a community meeting last year, Falkner assured nearby residents that there would only be one family per home and that the homes would be given to his permanent workers.

Suess was unable to determine many specifics from the land development application filed with the county at the end of May, other than the length of the 15 proposed mobile homes - 66 feet, like the original 10.

The Manatee County Land Development Code states that farmworker housing must located on land actively being used for farming, on at least 250 acres, with no more than 15 units.

The permit for the 15 homes requires only administrative review for compliance with the county's land development code. No public hearings will be held on the application.