ASTATULA, Fla. – The mayor of Astatula is set to discuss a moratorium on residential development at Tuesday’s town council meeting.
Astatula has had an explosion of new development, and in the coming years, the small town can expect even more.
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Hundreds of homes are expected to be built within its 3-square-mile radius, but Mayor Zane Teeters wants to put a pause on large-scale development.
Teeters said it’s because the town’s infrastructure can’t keep up, specifically water.
Right now, the town’s reserve tank only holds 10,000 gallons.
“We’re running into problems where currently we have 350 homes on our water system, about 844 residents, and we’re running at capacity,” Teeters said. “Our ordinance states that we have to supply town water to these new developments. But without improvements, we can’t do that.”
Teeters said it would cost the town $1.8 million to upgrade its current system, which he said they do not have the funding for.
In 2024, Teeters said they put in an appropriations request with the state legislature for $1.5 million to upgrade the water infrastructure but didn’t get approved.
This year, Teeters said they put in a request for $1.8 million due to inflation, but said it didn’t get picked up by the committee and was dead on day one of the legislative session.
He said without the funding, he’s not sure how they can support new development.
“We just recently had our first boil water alert where we actually ran out of water in our tank,” Teeters said. “Still don’t know the reason why, but it happened. This is going to happen more frequently unless we improve our infrastructure that we have and I don’t know how I’m going to do that without the funds. Especially with the state government talking about getting rid of property taxes. They do that, all bets are off.”
There are several developments currently underway in Astatula that Teeters said would be exempt from the proposed moratorium including:
- 175 homes in Tula Parc
- 34 homes in Stillwater Cove
- 241 homes in Astatula Reserve
But for Astatula Reserve, Teeters said they can only guarantee water to 80 of those homes.
Teeters said one project, Cypress Glenn, is hoping for a 200-acre annexation into the town of Astatula to build more than 292 homes. He said this development would not be exempt from the moratorium.
“The 292, I have no idea how — if it was built today, there was absolutely no way I’d be able to provide them a drop of water without pulling it from everyone else,” Teeters said.
Some residents are already experiencing water issues.
Bradley Wenke owns All Out ATV and said after recently working a 14-hour day, he wasn’t able to use his water.
“I went to wash my hands in the sink in the kitchen, and there was no water pressure, and it just kept getting less and less,” Wenke said. “So I tried calling, you know, the town, and all the local staff, nobody would answer, leave voicemail. So I was able to reach out to my mayor because I have him on a private contact and he was able to get it going, but it took a couple hours.”
Wenke said he wasn’t able to shower until 2:00 in the morning. He said he would be in favor of the proposed moratorium.
“I think there should be a stop,” Wenke said. “I don’t think our town has the structure to handle the people. I mean, not just our water, but everything here, our roadways, everything, our schools. I mean, we have one traffic light.”
Tuesday’s town meeting is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. At the town hall.