Work resumes on bridge over Butler Chain canal

Following the installation of a new bridge frame between Pocket and Fish lakes, neighbors are sharing concerns regarding its height and searching for more details regarding the properties it will service.

The bridge is located on the south end of the Butler Chain of Lakes canal between the two lakes in Dr. Phillips, right near Pocket Lane. 

Catherine Murphy and her husband, Bill, have lived on Pocket Lane in between the two lakes for 25 years. Murphy said she noticed the bridge frame was installed on Jan. 7. 

County documents show the bridge is designed to span the distance from the uplands on the Pocket Lane side to the upland portion of the applicant’s property. The bridge lies within the public right-of-way, according to the county, and will serve and allow access to two single-family residential lots on the opposite side of the canal. 

However, the installation of the bridge and proposed plans have surrounding neighbors confused. Catherine Murphy said they bought their home in 1995 under the impression the area west of them couldn’t be developed because of wetlands. In September 2018, however, they noticed survey stakes going up.

“We found survey stakes down at the end of Pocket Lane near the canal,” she said. “We were concerned about what was happening in front of our house and … the fact that someone was planning to purchase and build across the canal on the other side, which was considered — when we bought this property — as wetlands and you couldn’t develop it. Of course, all the neighbors got involved when they started to see the fencing go up for construction purposes.”

According to county documents, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners approved May 22, 2018, a license agreement with Hark Associates LLC. This agreement permitted the installation of a bridge over the Pocket Lake canal and related improvements, subject to specific terms and conditions. 

Catherine Murphy said she and her neighbors noticed the construction fencing, Dumpsters and a portable toilet being brought into the Pocket Lane area in early September 2018. However, she said she and her neighbors were not notified by the county in writing of the project. The contractor and Orange County Public Works sent representatives to discuss the project with neighbors in September 2018, she said.

The County Commission was not required by Part IV of Chapter 33 of the Orange County Code — the Windermere Water and Navigation Control District regulations — to hold a public hearing or to send notices to owners of property within 500 feet before approving the license agreement to allow the bridge to be constructed.

In an October 2019 letter to the presidents of the nearby Turtle Creek and Bella Isles homeowners associations, Deputy County Administrator Chris Testerman stated the BCC was not required by Orange County Code to hold a public hearing or send notices. 

He added in the letter there are five other bridges or crossings extending over canals in various parts of the Butler Chain of Lakes, and a public hearing was neither required nor held for any to them. The bridge in question lies within public right-of-way.

District 1 Commissioner Betsy VanderLey said the bridge is being privately constructed by the owner of the property. She said the property has entitlements to allow for three single-family residences, but the owner has expressed intents to build just two.

"Anytime there is construction it can be disruptive to nearby neighbors," VanderLey said. "Understandably, the county has received concerns along those lines as the project commenced and progressed. ...If the property owner sought to build more than what is currently allowable on this property, that would require a land use change request, which is a public process that would include community engagement and a Board of County Commissioners hearing."

Thus, site work commenced in October 2018 and ceased for a few months between December 2018 and June. It began again in August, and the bridge frame was installed earlier this month. 

The neighbors said they are concerned the bridge’s height — just more than 10 feet above the water — could impact vessel navigation. County documents state the information submitted determined the bridge spans over the width of the canal at a sufficient clearance height.

“The construction plans approved for the bridge indicate a navigation clearance of 10.1 feet, which is higher than four of the five existing bridges/crossings on the lake chain,” District 1 Commissioner Betsy VanderLey wrote in a Sept. 9 email to the Murphys.

“I think the biggest (concern) is going to be what’s going to happen across the way and how that’s going to affect our filtration system,” Catherine Murphy said.

VanderLey added the South Florida Water Management District has found the Pocket Lane improvements — including the widening, bridge installation and cul-de-sac construction — comply with water quality standards and are consistent with Florida’s coastal management program.

"In addition to providing access to the property owner, completion of this project is expected to result in enhanced road conditions and improve the surrounding drainage," VanderLey said.