MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A long-established community in Brevard County faces a potential change as a proposal for a new apartment complex emerges, stirring concerns among residents already frustrated by local traffic conditions.

The proposed development, which includes 222 units spread across eight buildings, would be the first new apartment project on Merritt Island in 35 years. However, the plan has raised alarms among locals who are worried about the increased traffic it might bring to the already busy area around Courtenay Parkway and Pioneer Road.

Local resident Ben Adams shared his thoughts with our Merritt Island Community Correspondent, James Sparvero. Adams expressed the community’s reluctance to replace the area’s natural woods and wetlands with a new apartment complex.

“We don’t want it,” said Adams, who lives in the Raintree by the Lake neighborhood. “We don’t want all these people, and I know that sounds bad, but this area’s not built to be overcrowded.”

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Last week, before Brevard County’s planning and zoning board, the developer, RangeWater Real Estate, said to compromise with neighbors like Adams, the apartment buildings would only be three stories tall, and the apartments would be 100 feet away from the neighborhood.

That way, there would still be trees in neighbors’ backyards.

“To accommodate and to be the best neighbor that we can possibly be,” said Michael Oliver, RangeWater’s director of development in Florida.

RangeWater also wants to extend the right turning lane from Pioneer onto Courtenay to help with traffic, and it said it will preserve about an acre of wetlands.

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“We’ll bring new apartments,” the developer’s attorney, Kim Rezanka said. “They’ll be new opportunities for people to move into the area, to work in this area.”

The final say comes down to a county commission meeting on Feb. 5.

If rezoning is approved, the apartments could be built within the next two years.

Stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com for updates on the commission’s decision.