Gotha project gets county transmittal

GOTHA -- For a third community meeting in as many months about the 29-acre Fire Creek at Gotha proposed development, dozens on the evening of July 22 met at Gotha Middle School, less than a week before a Board of County Commissioners transmittal hearing on this project of 53 single-family homes and a small entry park.

Developers seek a change in the zoning of the proposed area -- between Eighth Street and Moore Road to the north and south and between Sutter and Seventh avenues to the east and west -- from rural settlement 1:1 to rural settlement low density, which would enable development of two units per acre, up from the current one unit per acre.

Among updates to the plans of Bob Holston and his development team were two traffic circles, drawing inspiration from Gotha's neighbor to the south.

"At the Moore Road intersection (with Park Ridge Gotha Road), we're proposing a traffic roundabout roughly the size of the ones in downtown Windermere," Holston said. "We're also considering raised crosswalks for kids. The idea is to slow traffic but get traffic to move."

Holston said the roundabouts would be about three feet bigger than Windermere's, with a larger middle median that could have a tree and a tiny monument for Gotha. He alluded to cut-through traffic from other areas of Orange County becoming too fast for Gotha Rural Settlement as the basis for the traffic circle idea.

Regardless of traffic circles, locals at the meeting were not sure their roads had the capacity to support the increased traffic from the cars that would be using the roads of the area if this development were to pass. Renzo Nastasi, Orange County transportation planning manager, said there definitely would be capacity in both the small, immediate area and a broader radius of a few miles, with traffic counts in recent years showing 62 peak-hour trips in that area. Locals insisted the morning rush hour has been the peak hour, but Nastasi said data collected throughout the year has shown the afternoon holding the peak hour.

The second roundabout would be within about a fifth of a mile at Hempel Avenue and Sixth Street, Holston said. Some residents said that would be too close for two traffic circles and that moving one closer to Thornebrooke Elementary would be better. Others said both roundabouts would fail to address the traffic problems at the awkward three-way intersection of Moore and Park Ridge Gotha roads.

As for the architectural themes of the plan, Holston said he wanted to respect the history of Gotha with an elegant European country garden look, heavy landscape as one of few green-designated subdivisions in Orange County and equestrian-style fences, although horses likely would not be allowed on the property. Lots would be no smaller than 105 feet wide, he said.

Residents expressed a dislike for the density of plan, which would be 1.83 homes per acre, although surrounding properties are denser, Holston said. One resident said citizens of Gotha would not want to be like Windermere with roundabouts and parks that were meant to distract people from what the resident called a "bad project of all bells and whistles." Another said the density and roundabouts with a plan affecting about a fortieth of the land in Gotha would fundamentally alter it with a precedent locals would disapprove of.

Locals' concerns with traffic in areas such as Dingens Avenue and Sixth Street led District 1 County Commissioner S. Scott Boyd to suggest a six-month process could lead to speed humps in the area, perhaps with some county funds contributing to the project.

Holston said two years likely would pass before houses would be up for sale on the lot, all more customized and less cookie-cutter.

The Board of County Commissioners transmittal hearing occurred the afternoon of July 28 at the Commission Chambers of the County Administrative Center at 201 S. Rosalind Avenue, Orlando. Mayor Teresa Jacobs estimated 25 public comments with differing opinions. Commissioners unanimously approved transmittal of this project.

The Orange County Planning and Zoning Commission and the Local Planning Agency recommended denial of the project at their June 18 meeting. They expressed concerns of increased density altering the rural character of Gotha.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].