- Target:
- Orange County Board of Commissioners
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.facebook.com
As residents of the south Alafaya corridor of East Orange County, we appreciate the efforts to provide smart growth, connectable communities and assets to our way of life. This community is truly unlike any other in Orange County. Over the past two decades, we have become a vibrant community of more than 50,000 residents, who live, work, learn and play in this area.
In 2008, against opposition from the community and prior to any of the Board of County Commissioner’s current terms, the Morgran Company was granted entitlements for the 500-acre tract at the intersection of Avalon Park Boulevard, Innovation Way and Alafaya Trail. These entitlements were granted on the condition that a 23-acre park would be donated to Orange County.
For eight years, we in the community have looked forward to this park to be built as promised, but we’re still waiting. This park is needed to provide athletic facilities for our youth, who currently use vacant commercial land for practices and competitions.
However, since 2008, the entitlements granted to the Morgran Company have been used. A new apartment complex has already been built and sold and now Eight at East has started construction and sales. We, the citizens of this area, believe Morgran should be held to their agreement and the County should stand its ground. No further certificate of occupancies should be issued by Orange County on this property until the park access is granted as promised in 2008.
Section 15(a) of the Community Park Developer’s Agreement states that the County may take the following remedies: 1. Action for specific performance 2. The withholding of development permits and other approvals or permits in connection with the defaulting owner of the particular Property.
We, the voters of East Orange County, ask that the County reduce said entitlements to no more than a total of 1,000 residential units and 50,000 square feet of total commercial space as the original promise of a park for East Orange County residents has not been fulfilled.
There should be no additional entitlements granted for apartments or townhomes at all. These developments will greatly impact our safety and welfare given the fact that the ratio of apartments to homes would be much higher than comparable surrounding communities. In the existing communities of East Orange County (Avalon Park, Stoneybrook, Waterford and Eastwood), each development ranges between 0% and 30% for multi-family vs. single family development. Morgran Group’s project is at a 70% ratio of multi-family units.
We believe that, based on this unbalanced ratio of development and Morgran Group’s failure to provide timely access to the Regional Park, the County should reduce the entitlements. With this reduction, we will have a development that fits the existing community along the South Alafaya Trail corridor.
We, the community, respectfully request the following:
• Immediate access to the Regional Park land be granted to Orange County by the Morgran Group as promised in 2008.
• The Developer of the Morgran property and the Developer of Avalon Park partner together in a venture for the mutual benefit of our communities consisting of the following:
o The Developer of the Morgran Property donate 5 acres of good land adjacent to the Regional Park site in order to provide a location for a charter school (currently in the planning purposes) to be built. In the ensuing years since Morgan’s original approval, a requirement has been put in place that developers must set aside acreage for a school site, and this development does not have one. A mutually-acceptable good will partnership such as this benefits Morgran Company, in that the Eight at East community will be enhanced by having a school within their site. Note: this is much less land than is required under current development regulations.
o The Developer of Avalon Park commit to building the charter school originally planned for downtown Avalon on the donated 5 acres of land adjacent to the Regional Park site, without encroaching on the 23 acres of the park land.
o We also request that the Developer of Avalon Park commit to build an Olympic-sized swimming pool near the charter school on the same 5 acres of land adjacent to the 23-acre park, for the open enjoyment of the entire community, including Timber Creek High School’s swim team, which currently does not have a nearby facility.
• Orange County Government commit to building the Regional Park within 12 months of receiving access.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Community Compromise for Eight at East petition to Orange County Board of Commissioners was written by Avalon Park - East Orlando and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.