Developer redesigns temporary-lease project

DR. PHILLIPS — Eric Raasch, Orange County assistant planning administrator, called the July 8 follow-up community meeting at Southwest Middle School in Dr. Phillips about the proposed Buena Vista Cay Planned Development a year in the making, because the first meeting occurred July 9, 2014.

In that time, the applicants seeking a rezoning of the property at 11753 Ruby Lake Road from rural country estate to planned urban development have redesigned plans to have only 14 units, down from the original proposition of 24, said Raasch, who has monitored the project for the county.

Paul Chipok, an attorney representing the applicants, said the activity center mixed-use designation for the site would be incompatible with the current rural country estate zoning. The parcel, which is between Eighth and Ninth streets to the north and south, must have commercial development, not straight mixed-use, he said.

Thus, the applicants have proposed a development of 14 short-term rental units, each a single-family home kind of project, wherein leasers would have a minimum stay of one week and a maximum lease of 180 days, he said. This would mean no impact on the number of students because there would be no permanent residents. Still, the rentals would be like condominiums and have a homeowners association for maintenance and similar provisions, Chipok said.

One possible selling point is to attract buyers of vacation homes, who could emanate from other nations, such as Brazil, Chipok said.

Plans call for access via Ninth Street, with Ruby Lake Road abutting the property to the west.

The applicants seek three waivers: One deals with size restrictions, in which the lot size of 2.5 acres requires a certain waiver. Another is to have perimeter setbacks at 15 feet instead of 25 feet to mesh with the residential feel. A third waiver deals with Orange County right-of-way on the site, where developers want to leave particular trees as they are.

Chipok said each building would be two stories at 35 feet and have four bedrooms, with no option to rent in part. Plans include three parking spaces per unit, a total of 42, although a few spaces could go around the pond area in the middle of the development, Chipok said. Project officials said the fire capacity would be eight, nine or 10 people per unit.

Chipok said that the county would be obligated to change the zoning to future land use, in his opinion.

Some neighboring residents at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with plans.

“We don’t want it — it’s not compatible with the area,” Hidden Valley Homeowners Association President Carla Gregorich said. “I would have wanted residential. Short-term residential is just as bad as commercial. We don’t want another (U.S. Highway) 192 here or more tourism but residential.”

District 1 Orange County Commissioner S. Scott Boyd said the area has been changing a lot, with lots of individual parcels in a desirable community.

“This community will have to look at what it will be as it grows up,” Boyd said.

Boyd asked what concerned these locals most, to which Gregorich responded the short-term leases and the density. Some also said they did not want transients near their neighborhood.

Raasch said a date for the Orange County Development Review Committee to address the proposal had not been set.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].