MULBERRY — The owners of the ImperiaLakes Golf Course are seeking a zoning change that could allow more than 900 homes.

ECON South LLC, a Lakeland-based company, has applied on behalf of the owners of the golf course to rezone the property to RL-1, the least intense residential zoning. The golf course and country club located at Country Club Lane consists of 188 acres, 40 of which have been set aside under a conservation easement, said owner John Lennon.

Under that zoning, a future owner or developer would be entitled to one home per acre, totaling 188 homes. However, multiple processes would be available to a new owner to expand the potential number of homes to five houses per acre, creating a maximum of 940 new homes on the golf course property.

Lennon said that is not his intention.

A tee box marker on the ImperiaLakes golf course in Lakeland. Local residents oppose rezoning of ImperiaLakes Golf Course and Country Club that could allow hundreds of homes to be built by a developer.

"We've had people trying to apply for the property for a number of years and anyone that came in and said they wanted to have 400, 500 homes, we've told them go away, we're not interested," Lennon said. "There's no intention of doing 900 homes."

Chanda Bennett, comprehensive planning administrator for Polk County, said she doubts any new owner would be able to maximize the number of houses allowed on the space because of the existence of floodplains and wetlands on the property. Even if they did get zoning for five homes per acre, taking out the land dedicated to conservation would leave the total at 740.

Still, residents from the ImperiaLakes area are concerned about the rezoning and potential number of houses.

Donnie Arbeau, president of the Imperial Lakes Estates Homeowners Association, said property values are an immediate concern should the course get rezoned.

"Depending on the densities, if you put in a bunch of like duplexes and some of those small quad apartments and stuff like that, I mean obviously the county would benefit from the taxable income but we would also lose our green space, some of that open space that we enjoy now," Arbeau said. "I can't see that having a positive impact on our property values."

The owners of ImperiaLakes Golf Course are seeking a zoning change that could potentially allow hundreds of new homes if a developer bought the course. But golf course owner John Lennon says he's turned away developers already who want to build 400 or 500 homes.

But Lennon, who represents the other golf course owners, argued that the number of houses he's looking for would increase property values, not decimate them.

"If anybody wants to, you know, put in 400, 500 homes, they can go look somewhere else. I'm not tolerating it. We're only going to do what's best for the community," Lennon said. "I don't have any interest in talking to people who are looking to flood this area with homes."

Arbeau added that new homes would be incompatible with the area's original intentions.

"This community was designed and implemented to work with the golf course ... our homes and our streets are literally built in and around this golf course," Arbeau said. "The thought that you're going to treat this as a private piece of property and just let it get sold and hope that redevelopment will help with the county's bottom line in terms of their tax base? I don't know. That doesn't leave a real good taste in my mouth."

Local residents are also concerned about the risk to wildlife. Lennon said that the area's animals — he cited coyotes, bobcats, otters and snakes — all congregate near the property's 14th, 15th and 16th holes, which are protected under a conservation easement that prohibits development.

But that hasn't satisfied some. Dawn Puffer and her husband Aaron moved to Mulberry from Lakeland in October. She said if they knew this rezoning was going to take place, they may not have purchased their home. And she added that locals have spotted far more protected species, such as the Florida panther, roaming the course.

"None of us want this," Puffer said. "We don't want traffic, we don't want buildings, we don't want all of these animals to be displaced."

Golfers play a round on the ImperiaLakes golf course on Tuesday. The property has a deed restriction that requires it be used as a golf course until August 2022.

The golf course in question has fallen into disarray over the years, a fact Lennon freely admits. But he said it's not worth pouring money into maintaining the golf course as a business, adding that he's faced $100,000 in vandalism damages in the past two years.

"Nobody supports it; all they do is vandalize it. Why would I continue to put money into something that the people here do not support?" Lennon said. "Nobody wants a golf course. We've tried that route. Nobody really wants to do anything in this area other than build houses because you get no support."

Lennon said he's offered to let local homeowners associations buy the property, but he hasn't gotten any bites. Arbeau said all of the local associations would have to have the money to purchase the property and agree on the price with Lennon, making it a far-fetched solution.

When is this happening?

Though no advertising has been published yet, Bennett said the rezoning application is set to go before the Polk County Planning Commission on June 2. From there, the application undergoes a series of reviews as a large-scale comprehensive plan amendment.

The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, though the commission cannot kill the project at its June meeting. On Aug. 3, the proposal will move before the commissioners for a transmittal hearing, where the board will decide whether to pass the request along to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, where the state will have 30 days to review the proposal and submit any concerns or potential impacts.

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If the board chooses not to transmit the application, the proposal dies. If the board does transmit the proposal, it will return before the board on Oct. 5 for an adoption hearing, where the board will decide whether to rezone the parcel.

Bennett said the meetings before the Planning Commission and both board meetings will all be public hearings, giving concerned residents ample opportunities to present their case against the rezoning.

Lennon said the reason he's pushing for a rezone is because there's no longer any zoning on the property, so he felt the rezone was necessary to keep him in compliance with the county's land development code. But Bennett said that's not the case.

The golf course has fallen into disarray over the years. But owner John Lennon says it's not worth pouring money into maintaining the golf course as a business, adding that he's faced $100,000 in vandalism damages in the past two years.

Bennett said that there's a deed restriction on the property that requires it be used as a golf course until August 2022. But she said that deed in no way restricts the property from staying a golf course forever.
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"What they're wanting to do is set that up to get a land use change so they have an option in terms of changing it to something else other than a golf course," Bennett said.

Bennett added that if the property were rezoned and a developer wanted to start putting up houses before August 2022, the violation of the deed would be a private matter to resolve, not one that requires county intervention.

Lennon said that four different entities are looking at the golf course for purchase, though he would not disclose who they are. But he did make one thing clear: If the rezoning passes, he's selling. Immediately.

"We're not locals. As soon as we sell the place, I'm going back to New York," Lennon said. "Why would we put another $20,000 into rebuilding the green that is just going to get vandalized at some point? It just doesn't make any sense."