Changes to Oakland Park proposal please residents

It was a sense of deja vu at the Sept. 27 Oakland Town Commission meeting as Oakland Park developers again presented changes to their plans for the community's next phases in a continued effort to appease the surrounding neighbors and Oakland officials.

Another standing-room-only crowd of residents converged upon the town's meeting hall last week to see the latest alterations to the plan.

The new design directs vehicles away from established roads such as Starr Street, Demens and Vandermeer avenues to the west of the development and Macchi Avenue to the south. Main arteries now run north and south, and the easternmost north-south roadway filters to the current entrance off Oakland Avenue that is in the Winter Garden city limits. The city of Winter Garden is also planning a traffic light at that intersection.

Hoping for more visual impact, developers replaced a north-end cul-de-sac with a small park with trails. Homes along Starr Street will also be built facing west so current Starr residents will look at front porches instead of rear garages. A 100-foot buffer along Starr will include green space, low vegetation and trees.

Developers said they looked for any opportunities for urban parks and green space as a way to create micro-communities within Oakland Park.

Several other key changes were presented; most of the residents who spoke were in favor of them.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• Oakland commissioners approved the first reading of an ordinance prohibiting the growth, cultivation, processing and sale of marijuana.

• The commission OK’d the first reading of an annexation, map amendment and rezoning of 10 acres just east of the Lake County border for 20 single-family lots. The applicant also proposes an adjacent 60-acre single-family subdivision of 102 lots in Lake County; access to this project will be through the 10-acre Oakland project.

• Commissioners passed the first reading of a Comprehensive Plan amendment that changes the future land-use designation of 58 acres from Agriculture, Low Density Residential and Commercial to Mixed Use Activity Center. The land is north of West Colonial Drive, south of Oakland Avenue, west of Jefferson Street and east of Florida’s Turnpike.

• The Rev. Joseph Reeves was granted a special exception for a daycare center in the annex of Anointed Ground Church, 304 E. Oakland Ave. Because of drop-off and pick-up queuing issues at the nearby Oakland Avenue Charter School, however, the daycare must coordinate its morning and afternoon schedules so they don't conflict with those of the charter school and create additional traffic backups. The church expects about 45 children and seven or eight employees.

• The commission set the ad valorem property tax millage rate at 6.75 and adopted the budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17, which began Oct. 1.

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].