Winter Park City Commission denies memory care facility project

A proposed memory-care facility planned near a Winter Park neighborhood has been voted down once again by Winter Park city commissioners, but it may not be the last time the city hears of the project.

This second denial came during the City Commission’s Monday, Oct. 9 meeting. The 29,801-square-foot, two-story memory care facility is proposed for 1298 Howell Branch Road.

The City Commission already had denied the project at the March 27, 2017 meeting because of its size. A previous version of the project proposed in October 2016 was even bigger, standing at 34,986 square feet and three stories.

City commissioners voted down the smaller version of the project Monday and once again cited code issues.

That was after a mediated settlement process was conducted between developer Villa Tuscany Holdings LLC and the city. The developer still requested multiple variances, including one related to the building’s distance from the nearby wetlands — hoping to move it closer to the lake area to move it farther away from nearby neighbors.

Residents also raised concerns about the project. They believe it is still too large and would cause potential flooding issues due to how close it is to the wetland — especially in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

“The project would right now be underwater,” Winter Park resident Nancy Freeman said. “This is not a 100-year event. We’ve experienced this with Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Charley and in previous tropical storms.”

Despite lowering the project to two stories, developers lowered the new building’s height by only four feet when including the various features on the roof. 

It’s still too big, said Freeman, adding that a survey of nearby residents shows they concur.

“We had 129 neighbors respond,” she said. “Almost 100% of the neighbors believe the project should not be built under its current size.”

“Had we been able to get a code-compliant project from the applicant, I feel certain we could have moved forward,” Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said.

Attorney Rebecca Rhoden, representing the developer, responded to the comments of the building’s size by noting that the footprint has decreased.

“There are many other buildings in this city that have a much higher building footprint than this for this size of property,” Rhoden said, adding that the St. Johns River Water Management District have assured there will be no adverse effects if the project moves closer to the wetlands area.

Rhoden said the developer will go back to the special magistrate to continue the mediation process and that it would be reverting back to the larger, original project presented in March.