County approves Hamlin, Waterleigh, Ruby Lake public hearings

The Orange County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a number of agenda items concerning District 1 in West Orange County at its Oct. 8 meeting.

OVERTURE AT HAMLIN

The first will bring 180 age-restricted multi-family units on close to six acres south of New Independence Parkway and west of Hamlin Groves Trail. The project, Hamlin Planned Development-Unified Neighborhood Plan/Overture at Hamlin Development Plan, further requested a waiver to allow a parking ratio of 1.3 spaces per unit.

Occupancy will be restricted to adults 55 years of age and older, and school-age children are prohibited from taking up permanent residency.

WATERLEIGH PHASE 2E

The preliminary subdivision plan for the second phase of a Waterleigh Planned Development calls for subdividing 14.56 acres to build 76 single-family attached and detached homes. The community is south of Flamingo Crossings Boulevard and west of Avalon Road.

The applicant requested a waiver to allow lots to face a mew, park or open space in lieu of the 20-foot access to a dedicated street. Access would be through an ingress/egress easement and/or an alley.

RUBY LAKE

AdventHealth is seeking to construct a 20,000-square-foot, one-story free-standing 24-hour emergency department in the Ruby Lake Planned Development. The development, located southwest of the intersection of Palm Parkway and Daryl Carter Parkway, currently allows for 1,200 timeshare units or villas, 160,834 square feet of office space, 244 single-family homes, 156 townhomes, 780 hotel rooms, 15,538 square feet of commercial space and 100,000 square feet of self-storage space.

The applicant requested reducing the number of townhomes to 20 and increasing the square footage of commercial space to 200,000. Seven waivers also were requested regarding landscaping, access, architectural design concepts, light fixtures and building unit count.

The proposal includes a buffer on the western property line, which is adjacent to residences.

Two Orange County residents living on Citron Oaks Drive — adjacent to the proposed AdventHealth project — spoke against the variance request, citing noise levels, light pollution, additional traffic and an abundance of medical facilities already in the vicinity. They also said they and their neighbors were not notified of this project.

Borron Owen, of GrayRobinson Orlando, spoke on behalf of the applicant and property owner.

“Our mission is health care,” Owen said. “We have been mindful of questions raised by neighbors of the facility. … From our experience in other facilities similar to this, we find that less than 6% of the people visiting our facility will be needing an ambulance.

Ambulances only are used for emergency transport services, so the sirens will not frequently go off, he said. There is no plan for this project to ever expand to a full hospital.

Owen added that a community meeting previously was held for the Comprehensive Plan amendment and a number of residents showed up.