100 Horizon West acres rezoned

ORANGE COUNTY  At the March 15 Board of County Commissioners meeting in Orlando, commissioners approved the rezoning of 100.2 gross acres matching the Reams Road Property Planned Development/Land Use Plan of HCI Planning & Land Development Consultants. Four parcels along the southern side of Reams Road were rezoned from agricultural and rural to planned development.

Developers intend to build 47 single-family detached homes and 114 attached town homes and use 18 transferable development rights credits.

Two residents of Abbotsbury Drive – across Reams Road from this proposed development – asked for wetlands and traffic to be considered. One recommended a particular piece of wetlands remain protected and said the vision for Horizon West has been lost in terms of controlling growth instead of allowing piecemeal development. Both addressed the impact on the area's water table and wildlife corridor, with the latter noting adverse flooding effects to the 100-year flood plain in the area.

The latter recommended five conditions of approval: wetlands remain in conservation for storm water and wildlife concerns; detached homes converted to town homes to increase the unit number and lessen environmental impacts; all development meeting low-impact design criteria to limit impervious surfaces, protect water quality and avoid floods; upland and wetland buffers of at least 150 feet to protect waterways; and conservation easements on the remaining parcel.

The applicant team said culverts could be used to minimize impacts on water and continue the natural flow in a specific area of wetland that would be part of the development.

“The concerns on the environmental component of it are legitimate, and I want to make sure when this comes back in some finer detail that little crossing (is) addressed,” District 1 Commissioner S. Scott Boyd said.

In tandem, the BCC approved and executed an agreement with Mattamy Orlando to convey 1.75 acres of adequate public facilities land providing $39,375 in transportation impact fee credits and for the satisfaction of an APF deficit fee of $79,879.82. The site plan for Reams Road Property will determine further details and be addressed at a later BCC meeting.

BERKSHIRE PLACE UPDATE

Some complaints from the Berkshire Place neighborhood in Horizon West against builder Pulte Homes have been proved well-founded.

Inspectors of a particular home in that community have confirmed cracked stucco, water intrusion, floor system damage and damage to structural wood members.

Among the 140 town home units built between 2008 and 2011 in Berkshire Place, owners of 88 units (62.86%) have complained of improper stucco installation.

Pulte Homes officials have said they would send a survey to the whole community to determine where to conduct destructive testing and then continue mediation processes.

Boyd said at the March 1 BCC meeting he had been in a similar position as these residents from 2001 to 2004, and he and his family were able to remedy the home but had to settle instead of continuing lengthy litigation with various subcontractors and insurance providers.

“It's a big issue,” he said. “There are people that put everything they have and own into this place, and it is not something people can just go and fix on their own.”

IN OTHER NEWS

• For substantial change to the 56.56-acre Savona PD/LUP abutting South Apopka-Vineland Road to the West and Florida's Turnpike to the east, applicant Christopher J. Allen, of Dewberry, requested three waivers from Orange County Code. The waivers, which commissioners approved, allow a 50-foot expressway setback instead of 75 feet, a wall with a maximum height of 14 feet instead of eight feet only against Florida's Turnpike and five feet of side-yard setback instead of a 7-foot-6 setback.
• The BCC approved a petition to rename a portion of Seidel Road as Lake Huckleberry Lane.
• Boyd represented the BCC on a committee recommending a ranking of three design services for a fire station prototype. The BCC passed Boyd's motion to select Architects Design Group, with C.T. HSU & Associates as the primary alternate and Bentley Architects & Engineers as the secondary alternate.
• Commissioners passed approval and execution of a second amendment to Town Center East Road Network Agreement with SLF IV/Boyd Horizon West JV and Orlando Health Central Inc. for the area of Hamlin Groves Trail and Porter Road. The agreement adjusts performance thresholds needed for vested trips to be allocated and the timing of awarding transportation impact fee credits.
• Continued to the 2 p.m. April 5 BCC meeting were the Boyd Horizon West LLC, Hamlin PD Preliminary Subdivision Plan and BHW's Lakewalk at Hamlin Preliminary Subdivision Plan/Development Plan.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].