NEWS

By BETSY CALVERT Staff Writer

Jun 12, 2019 Updated Jun 14, 2019

The next phase of Babcock Ranch is in the works as Babcock Holdings LLC requested approval for a mile-long new spine road to reach 10 new development tracts.

“As in Babcock, all things are large,” Charlotte County Planner Steven Ellis said to the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board on June 10.

The board voted unanimously to recommend approval for the beginnings of the next 183 acres of development at Babcock. Final approval must come from the Charlotte County Commission.

Babcock Ranch includes 9,000 acres being carved out of land that was predominantly used for gravel mining, agriculture and ranching in the county’s undeveloped interior. The newest Babcock section is immediately to the north of the first phase of Babcock. The first phase began construction in 2018.

In the year and a half since opening, Babcock Ranch has sold more than 2,000 lots and 395 homes with 256 occupied resulting in a current population of about 640, said Babcock Ranch spokesperson Lisa Hall. County zoning has authorized enough lots for a population of up to 19,500.

“Exciting things are going on out there at Babcock Ranch, and this is just continuing the progress,” the developer’s lawyer, Robert Berntsson, told the board.

Babcock plans on calling the new road Greenway Boulevard. The new approval is needed for the developer to install the road and related infrastructure for new housing tracts.

Babcock has its own zoning enacted by the county more than 10 years ago. It is required to provide its own water and sewer systems.