Those apartments in 4s you speak of are what is called “mitigation housing.” It was always part of the 4s plan from the beginning and was required to get approval of the master plan. In the past they would put senior citizen housing to satisfy that requirement but I’m not sure they can get away with that now. The new Sheriff’s station is adjacent to that mitigation complex, which should comfort the community a little.
As far as developers being able to change directions and build smaller or cheaper homes, they certainly can. It all depends how far along they are and if it makes any sense. If the road and utils are already in, it will cost too much to change the lot size, plus there is a cost and hassle to get the county to modify the original plan and the screaming owners at public hearings, but make no mistake, it is never set in stone, especially if it is still raw land. In 1992 I lived across the street from finished lots and finished streets that sat empty for years (and I was fearful of what might end up there) but ultimately another company bought the land and actually built bigger houses, it’s whatever makes sense to the builder and what they think will sell, not the existing owners in a development. Understand that a bunch of small houses or a bunch of “non granite counter” houses pay more in property tax than vacant land and it makes a noisy segment of the population happy because it is affordable housing. NIMBY doesn’t work as well when the builders are losing money and the county is not collecting taxes while the schools are half empty. If it makes sense to change course, then change it will.
I agree with the other posters that the first tactic they use is to sell off to a different builder who will build out with lower quality but only if it makes financial sense to them. Want to know exactly what will happen, buy the last house built.
