Orange County to host Horizon West Town Hall

HORIZON WEST – Residents will be able to learn about the continued growth — as well as speak with county officials — at Orange County District 1 Commissioner Betsy VanderLey’s Horizon West Town Hall.

The meeting, which will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, at Lifebridge Church, will allow Horizon West residents to learn more about what is planned for the area.

Officials from the county’s planning and transportation divisions, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Orange County Fire Rescue and Orange County Public Schools will be in attendance to give people a sense of what the county is doing to handle the rapid growth, improve the transportation network, relieve overcrowded schools and increase public safety in the community, VanderLey said.

“That’s the reason we do these — because there’s so much going on, particularly in our area,” VanderLey said. “If we don’t come out as a body every once in a while to fill people in, they might think nothing’s happening or we’re not paying attention. And it also affords them a chance to ask questions, meet their sector captains, School Board representatives and ask questions.”

Speakers will give a brief history of Horizon West for any potential newcomers and then speak about each individual department’s efforts and ongoing projects aimed at handling the rapid pace of growth in District 1.

VanderLey said the questions her office receives most frequently pertain to school overcrowding and congested roads. At the meeting, residents will have a chance to hear about the strategies the Sheriff’s Office is employing to reduce the number of car break-ins that occur over the summer when school’s out.

“I know the fire chief will likely talk about the new fire station they’re planning in the area, so he’ll likely talk about that and what that timeline looks like,” she said. “And typically, the Sheriff’s Office comes out and shares some of the statistics and what their strategies are to handle them, like the increase in car break-ins we usually see in the summer. So it’ll just be kind of a general overview of what we’ve done this year and what we’re doing to tackle the problems that we’re aware of.”

Attendees also will learn about the lengthy process required to complete a traffic improvement project and the methods being considered to accelerate the process, which she said usually takes about eight years.

“My biggest challenge in this office is that there are roughly 250,000 people in District 1 and one of me,” VanderLey said. “So I’m trying to get people to come to these because the questions that we get on a daily basis via email and phone calls are the very questions that we’re hoping to answer for folks at the venue. And so, if people come, they’ll have an opportunity to interact with all of us.”