The resort is asking to amend its master plan so it will be able to build 68 condos, more golf amenities, pickleball courts, an expanded conference facility and more.
As part of an agreement with Marriott, all properties will be required to be in the rental pool. Condo owners could only stay in their units a certain number of days, according to attorney Lauren Bolger. She said that number is “significantly less” than 180 days per year.
“We’ll make it so the CC&Rs [HOA bylaws] would not be able to be amended without the city’s consent,” she said. “Those provisions are, obviously, no permanent residents, must be in the rental pool, those types of things.”
Both planning commissioners and residents said they hadn’t been given enough time to respond to the proposal with well-informed opinions Tuesday, March 12.
Patrick Turpin is the HOA president of a neighborhood near the resort.
“The community has only had a few days to digest this, and the scope of the changes are significant enough with the master plan that the community would like… to understand what those impacts are: environmentally and financially and quality of life,” he said.
And planning commissioner Travis Nokes said he and his colleagues were still becoming familiar with some aspects of the proposal.
“It feels like a package is being presented, and there’s parts and pieces of the package that still aren’t really wrapped up and figured out,” he said. “This piece for additional lots of Lime Canyon… I learned about it, like, 5 minutes before the meeting started.”
While the planning commission conferred, resident Mark Austin stood up to join the commissioners’ conversation.
“Since the lawyer was able to come up – if I could,” he said. “Just on behalf of the citizenry, I’m not so sure how we can move forward without sufficient public consultation. This is too significant of an issue.”
Commissioners weren't ready to recommend the proposed changes and wanted to send feedback to the city council. The master plan amendment will be on the council’s agenda April 2 regardless.
The commission opted to continue discussion and listed aspects of the proposal they want to know more about, including protecting the golf course land as permanent open space, clarifying how occupancy numbers will change, ensuring the resort is brought up to dark skies standards and more.
That list will be sent to the Midway City Council as it considers Homestead’s proposal in April.
