Hamlin residents oppose apartment proposal

Residents in the Horizon West area voiced disdain for a developer’s plans to build another apartment complex in Hamlin.

The community learned more about the project during a community meeting hosted by Orange County’s Planning Division Wednesday, May 15.

Applicant Kelly, Collins & Gentry Inc., representing Boyd Development, is proposing to construct 373 multi-family dwelling units on 18 acres and assign a second parcel as a future commercial development tract.

The property is located south of New Independence Parkway and east of Avalon Road.

The Horizon West Land Use of the property is Horizon West Town Center — Corporate Campus Mixed Use District, and the current zoning is Hamlin West Planned Development.

Orange County planner Tiffany Chen said a land-use amendment to add the subject property to the Hamlin West PD-UNP was approved by the County Commission on May 2, 2023.

Chen explained the amendment designated the property as an addition to the CCMU district within the PD, with multi-family residential, townhome and non-residential (commercial/office) entitlements.

She said surrounding multi-family and townhome developments within the CCMU district have been approved recently. The current proposal is the remaining CCMU (non-flex) area to be considered.

The Station at Hamlin development plan includes multiple apartment building types, plus a clubhouse designed to look like an old train station.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson spoke to residents at the meeting about private property rights and the entitlements for the property. 

“I know there’s a lot of frustration with development patterns and the way things are coming online, but I want you all to know that every single thing that you tell me I try to relay back to applicants, to property owners, to developers and to our divisions that create the code and the comprehensive plan,” she said. “When the entitlements were given out 12 years ago, this area was then promised for a certain kind of use, which means that when we come back now and try to negotiate or navigate this with what works best for you all; they’re not pulling anything new, but it still does require us to try to make sure we do it in the right way and at the right time. … I will take every chance I can get to utilize what tools I have to negotiate and work with the property owners for what I hear from my residents.”

Residents expressed issues with traffic — noting the infrastructure can’t handle the development that already has been done. Many said they do not want more apartment complexes, specifically. 

“This area feels like it’s overwhelmingly residential,” one resident said. “I understand you’re welcome to do whatever you want to on there as long as it’s been approved, but if you look at the other side of Hamlin, there’s much smaller amounts of multi-family residential and much bigger amounts of commercial space.”

“It’s really disheartening to see,” another resident agreed. “We don’t want to become like MetroWest. … My other concern is the traffic. … None of these people are living in these places yet. So, if we already have traffic problems, I mean, what is the solution to that?”

Scott Gentry, with the applicant team, said he believes once the property is built out that residents will begin to see the commercial contributions.

“Typically, single-family and multi-family come first, and then you have those users so the restaurants and everything else can come,” he said. “You just won’t get the quality users to come that you normally would (if you built the commercial first). … It takes time, but there’s some really cool stuff we’re doing out here that you’ll see as we build it out. … We’re moving as fast as we can.”

The development plan currently is undergoing the county’s Technical Review Group for analysis. The proposal next will go before the Development Review Committee at a date not yet determined. 

“We as residents see all of these individual projects being approved and developers each have their own thing going, and we kind of see a bad thing coming,” another resident said. “We’re worried that at a certain point these things can’t be changed.”