Community Pushback Helps Halt 628-Home Development on Abbey Golf Course Near San Antonio, Florida

A proposal to replace the longtime Abbey Golf Course with hundreds of new homes was turned down last week after a standing-room-only hearing in St. Leo — a rare pause in the wave of subdivisions reshaping east Pasco County.

Just across State Road 52 from the western edge of San Antonio, Florida, the St. Leo Town Commission voted on Wednesday, May 13 to deny the rezoning request that would have cleared the way for Mohr’s Crossing, a 628-home subdivision proposed by national builder Ryan Homes. The decision keeps roughly 289 acres of the Abbey Golf Course property in its current open-space designation, at least for now.

What Was on the Table

The plan called for 440 single-family homes and 188 townhomes on land that has functioned as a golf course for more than six decades. The property is owned by St. Leo Abbey, the Benedictine monastery that founded the surrounding community in the late 1800s, and the sale to Ryan Homes was contingent on the town signing off on the rezoning. The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and a buffer around it were carved out of the application, and the developer had also proposed placing wetlands and forested tracts into a perpetual conservation easement.

None of that was enough to overcome the opposition that filled The Abbey Carpenter’s Shop the night of the hearing.

A Packed Room and a Clear Vote

More than 300 people crowded into the meeting space, with some unable to get inside at all. Attendees traveled from across the region, including Dade City, San Antonio, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes, Hudson, and New Port Richey, according to coverage of the meeting. Many spoke during public comment, and the audience was active throughout the proceedings.

When commissioners cast their votes, the outcome was decisive:

Why Residents Pushed Back

The objections raised at the hearing followed a familiar pattern for east Pasco. Neighbors warned that adding 628 households to a town with fewer than 50 residential households and an overall population of roughly 2,000 — most of them Saint Leo University students — would fundamentally reshape the area. Traffic on County Road 52, already a sore subject, came up repeatedly, as did concerns about losing one of the last large stretches of open green space in the immediate area.

Saint Leo University, whose campus sits directly across the highway from the course, formally opposed the rezoning. In a public statement, the university said the Abbey land was always intended to remain open space as part of its Benedictine heritage. University President Jim Burkee had publicly urged students and area residents to attend the hearing in the days leading up to the vote.

San Antonio City Commissioner Blaze Drinkwine, who spoke publicly about the proposal in the run-up to the vote, framed the issue as part of a much bigger pattern across the state. Drinkwine pointed to past efforts that successfully moved the new SR-52 alignment away from the heart of the historic district as evidence that organized community input can change outcomes.

The Bigger Picture: Pasco Is Building Fast

The Mohr’s Crossing denial stands out because it goes against the dominant trend in this part of Florida. Pasco County has been one of the fastest-growing counties in the state for years, and the pace shows no sign of slowing.

According to U.S. Census Bureau analyses, Pasco’s population grew by roughly 15 percent between the 2014–2018 average and the 2019–2023 average, placing the county behind only St. Johns County among Florida’s major growth leaders. As of late September 2025, county records reflected more than 660 active construction projects and another roughly 200 in review, according to public reporting on Pasco growth data.

Most of that construction is concentrated farther south in the Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes, and Odessa corridors, but east Pasco has felt steady pressure as well. Zephyrhills enacted a temporary development moratorium in 2023 over water-supply concerns, and large master-planned communities continue to rise along the SR-52 corridor heading west toward the Suncoast Parkway.

Why San Antonio Should Care

The town of San Antonio, Florida — not to be confused with the much larger Texas city of the same name — is the immediate western neighbor of the Abbey Golf Course site. Many San Antonio residents drive past the course daily, and several attended the St. Leo hearing in person. The proximity is why local leaders, including Drinkwine, treated the proposal as a San Antonio issue as much as a St. Leo one.

What Happens Next

The denial is significant, but it may not be the final word. St. Leo Abbey and Ryan Homes still have the option to pursue an appeal, and developers across Pasco have at times returned with revised, smaller plans after an initial rejection. As of last week, town officials had not indicated whether they expect a reworked application to come forward.

For now, the Abbey Golf Course remains an active course, and the 289-acre stretch of green space between the university and Lake Jovita keeps the look and feel that has defined the area for generations. For a community that has spent years watching subdivisions replace pastures and woodlots up and down the county, the May 13 vote is being treated less as the end of a fight and more as a reminder that local meetings still matter.

The takeaway from neighbors who packed The Carpenter’s Shop is simple: show up, speak up, and the outcome is not predetermined.

For more local news and coverage of growth, development, and community issues across east Pasco, visit San-Antonio-Community.com.