November 11, 2025
Leesburg Gives Green Light to Major Developments Near Turnpike, Cites Traffic Concerns
By Frank Stanfield
Leesburg Gives Green Light to Major Developments Near Turnpike, Cites Traffic Concerns
City commissioners Monday approved annexing 596 acres near Florida’s Turnpike for the proposed Oak Ridge 910 single-family home development.
It also gave a preliminary nod to the adjoining 103-acre, 294-home Banning Ranch subdivision, which is part of a 1,000-home community.
There was little opposition from the public to either action, but there are concerns about the traffic to come.
“Horrible,” says Commissioner Jay Connell said of traffic already on County Road 48.
Planning and Zoning Director Dan Miller said developers are working together with the county to improve the intersections of County Roads 33, 48 and 470. The county has appropriated $2 million for the project.
Commissioner Connell suggested the city wait to approve the development until the intersection improvements are made. He was the lone dissenting vote.
The Oak Ridge project, created by Dicks Development, has been altered. Under the planned unit development zoning, it will no longer include town homes, a spokesman for the company said.
As for the Banning Ranch property, it is the fifth and last phase of the community, which has 777 existing single-family home sites, says Dan Snyder, a vice president with the Hanover Land Co., which is developing the site.
The timeline for completing the final stage is uncertain. “It is market driven,” Dan says.
It will include what the developer is calling a “spine” road that will connect CR 48 and 33. That will help first responders and make it easier for motorists to get to the turnpike.
It also sparked a lot of talk about who would be responsible for the maintenance of the road and whether the developer should take care of it.
“You’re in the cat bird seat,” says County Commissioner Tim Morris, who sat in the audience. He suggested the city should perhaps turn over control of CR 48 to developers.
Neither idea took hold.
The Banning Ranch project will have to come back for a second and final reading before the City Commission.
The two properties are directly across CR 48 from a 3,700-acre site purchased by The Villages, with plans to build 6,800 homes on 1,400 acres.
Frank Stanfield has been a journalist for more than 40 years, including as an editor and reporter for the Daily Commercial, Orlando Sentinel and Ocala Star-Banner. He has written three books, “Unbroken: The Dorothy Lewis Story,” “Vampires, Gators and Wackos, A Florida Newspaperman’s Story,” and “Cold Blooded, A True Crime Story of a Murderous Teenage Cult.” He has appeared on numerous national and international broadcasts, including Discovery ID, Oxygen and Court TV. He maintains a blog at frankestanfield.com. Stanfield graduated with a political science degree from the University of North Florida and a master’s in journalism at the University of Georgia.
