Tiny path a big deal near Lake Mabel, Thornhill

HORIZON WEST  KB Homes officials and the couple who sold them 7.52 gross acres to develop 14 lots are in Orange County’s review process to settle where a path about 20 feet wide and 150 feet long should be for the owners to access property they still own on the edge of the county-approved development site.

This led to a community meeting Orange County staff and District 1 Commissioner S. Scott Boyd hosted Jan. 7 at West Orange High, where neighbors from the Thornhill Homeowners Association in particular voiced concerns with intentions behind the proposal and possible further development.

Owner Kinsey Craichy said the contract between him and KB Homes to sell the 7.52 acres abutting the eastern edge of Wakeworth Street and Brightstowe Way included a condition of area being available for the Craichys to access their property near the southern end of the development. This is because the Craichy house, east of the southern tip of Lake Mabel Drive, is separated from that wooded area by a swamp in the middle, Craichy said.

But Craichy and KB Homes officials did not specify until recently where that access point would be, so KB Homes personnel have offered the aforementioned path at the southern endpoint of their 7.52 acres, where their plans would have a cul-de-sac ending. Craichy said KB Homes staff had failed to insert the condition in the contract up front, so he had to just before signing. KB Homes official Dan Edwards said the best location was not determined until after county approval, which was many months ago.

Craichy, KB Homes representatives, residents and even Boyd agreed the matter is mainly between Craichy and KB Homes, but that did not stop the neighbors from asking what the use in that area would be and whether developers would try to build even more in their area.

Orange County Environmental Protection Division official John Geiger said the remaining area contains no uplands, so it would not be developable without massive mitigation and development fees for disturbing such a habitat. Geiger said the only feasible legal use would be walking to observe nature.

But resident Joe Berry said he had learned Walt Disney World officials had been seeking about 500 acres of swamp to fill for development near Magic Kingdom, which he said would fit the description of this area.

Based on what Thornhill HOA President Vernon Bliven and neighbors referred to as not holding true to its word, they said they did not trust KB Homes to avoid developing in that vicinity, either. They all wondered whether this would increase traffic from cars driving to the access point, but Craichy reiterated it would just be for his family to go through their locked gate to observe nature.

“This (development) has been nothing but a nightmare for us, because we deal with the traffic flying down our streets with kids out,” Bliven said. “And you guys haven’t done one thing that you agreed to — not one.”

County staff said construction to simply clear an earthen path as an access easement could start in three to six months.

For more information, contact Pedro Medina, case planner, at [email protected] or (407) 836-7904.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].