Trails key to Horizon West development

HORIZON WEST  As the anchor of the Horizon West Town Center, the Hamlin development with State Road 429 to the west and Lake Hancock to the east will be critical to the connectivity of the Horizon West community, both internally among its several villages and externally among Winter Garden, Windermere and even eastern Lake County.

Kevin Meredith, sales and marketing specialist for Boyd Development Corporation, which oversees the progression of Hamlin, said trails would be integral to that connectivity and a sense of community throughout southwest Orange County.

“For the road projects that we do, the trails will coincide with the road construction,” Meredith said. “There's already more than 24 miles of trail network in Horizon West, so there's some gaps in that system that other developers and the county are starting to fill in.”

Boyd Development Corporation had begun building more than two miles of roads immediately after its purchase of the Hamlin property more than two years ago, he said.

“As a part of those road projects, we built I think it was 10-foot-wide trails within the right-of-way there, connecting with the other trail systems out there,” he said.

Existing Hamlin trails connect to the Independence community via New Independence Parkway and to Summerlake Boulevard’s trail via a southward Hamlin Groves Trail, Meredith said.

“We've got another road project that we started construction on that will extend Hamlin Groves Trail north and east over to Tiny Road, and we'll have a 10-foot-wide trail as a part of that, as well,” he said.

With this connectivity come commercial traffic and a better feeling of safe passage for local residents and passersby, he said.

“When we look at our commercial areas that we're starting to construct, we have a very keen interest in bringing the trail system into those commercial areas, so it's easy for folks who live in the area and want to ride their bikes or walk up to the retail areas of Hamlin; that they can do that without having to cross any dangerous intersections,” Meredith said. “We want to make it very easy for folks to get across roadways and ride the trail or walk the trail or run the trail into some of the other commercial areas that we're building.”

For recreation, businesses and residents, this set of trails connecting to the West Orange Trail and others in the burgeoning Florida trails network should bring plenty of benefits.

“It's a pretty big asset for that part of the county, for sure,” Meredith said.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].