Commission considers ordinances for east Winter Garden

The Winter Garden City Commission unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance adding two new future land-use categories to the comprehensive plan and two ordinances applying those categories to two areas of the Historic East Winter Garden Neighborhood.

“The city has been working for years with the residents of the historic east Winter Garden to help revitalize the area and achieve the community’s vision for the future,” Planning Director Kelly Carson said. 

The city’s initial efforts culminated in the East Winter Garden Plan, adopted in 2018 and updated in 2022. The plan has guided the city in the redevelopment of the neighborhood and included five big ideas drawn from community input, Carson said. 

“One of those big ideas was to increase homeownership and housing options and improve housing quality while respecting the scale of the existing community,” Carson said. “The neighborhood’s current future land-use and zoning categories are not conducive to fully meeting these goals. Increasing homeownership and housing opportunities that are affordable for existing residents will require greater regulatory flexibility to develop more types of housing units, and this can be done in a way that does not fundamentally change the character of the community.”

The ordinances were unanimously approved during a first reading at the Winter Garden City Commission meeting Thursday, Feb. 27. 

Pending a second reading and public hearing after state review, the comprehensive plan amendment will add two policies regarding new future land designations. The policies establish a Neighborhood Residential designation and a Neighborhood Mixed-Use designation. 

Approving the first reading of the amendment of the additional two policies regarding new future land designations allowed the commission to unanimously approve ordinances applying those new future land designations to two properties. The ordinances will become effective pending a second reading and public hearing at a commission meeting after state review.

One ordinance would change about 100.5 acres located south of East Plant Street, east of 11th Street, west of State Road 429 and north of East Maple Street from Low Density Residential and Residential Neighborhood Commercial to Neighborhood Residential. 

According to the proposed policy on Neighborhood Residential, “properties designated with the Neighborhood Residential land-use category are required to be developed at a gross residential density between two (and) six dwelling units per gross acre and up to 10 dwelling units per gross acre if awarded a development bonus for creating affordable/workforce housing and/or neighborhood-oriented architecture and site design.”

“This bonus system will be spelled out in detail in that forthcoming overlay code and will be based on creating attractive, affordable housing opportunities that are harmonious with the character of the community, and any bonuses will have to be approved by the city commission,” Carson said. 

She said housing units in the Neighborhood Residential category mostly will be detached, single-family structures and other housing types that supplement the neighborhood’s housing supply.

The second ordinance will change about 22.8 acres south of North Street, east of Ninth Street, west of 11th Street and north of East Maple Street from Residential Neighborhood Commercial and Institutional to Neighborhood Mixed-Use.

According to the proposed policy regarding Neighborhood Mixed-Use, properties with this designation are “required to be developed at a floor area ratio not greater than .75 and up to a floor area ratio of three by development bonus. Gross residential density shall not be greater than 10 dwelling units per acre and up to 20 dweling units per acre by development bonuses. Development bonuses may be awarded for creating affordable/workforce housing, locally owned commercial spaces and/or neighborhood-oriented architecture and site design.” 

Allowing mixed uses will allow development oriented toward the roads, with on-street parking, street-oriented retail storefronts, street trees and furnishings, and trail connections to create a multi-modal and pedestrian-friendly area, according to the policy. 

Carson said the new designation will include “protections for existing residents against development pressures and gentrification.”

“The focus here will also be fostering affordable-housing opportunities and age-in-place solutions,” Carson said. “Smaller neighborhood scale mixed-use development will allow building in a more traditional neighborhood form.”