Orlando says parks will match growth
Population boom adds pressure to find land
As Orlando’s population grows, city leaders face the challenge of making sure there are enough parks for all the new residents, especially in the southeast part of the city.
Lake Nona and nearby neighborhoods are projected to grow by about 77,000 residents by 2045. Even so, city leaders say there are enough parks planned for the area, including two that broke ground last month, to meet the growing demand for places to play.
To keep up, Orlando has required the region’s biggest developers to build park space and imposed an impact fee on new homes throughout the city, which rankled some builders.
“It is a challenge because obviously right now, with the growth, property values are very high so while there’s some land available it’s very expensive,” said District 1 City Commissioner Jim Gray,
who represents southeast Orlando.
Managing the city’s growth has emerged as an issue in the upcoming City Council elections. At a candidate forum last week, Gray’s opponents for reelection, Tom Keen and Sunshine Grund, accused him of being too deferential to developers at the expense of residents.
Louise Booth, 57, a recent transplant to Lake Nona who attended the forum, said she’s happy with the community’s parks. But she said making sure they keep up with the influx of new residents is “a quality of life issue.”
“I believe recreation is an important amenity, as a taxpayer, so I never have any problem paying for parks,” she said. “I feel like exercise and health really contribute to a good society, so we need to have good parks, good recreational opportunities.”
Finding space and funding for parks is a challenge throughout the city. Orlando’s growth management plan calls for 3.25 acres of park for every 1,000 residents. With the population expected to grow by 110,000 by 2045 to more than 376,000, that would mean adding nearly 360 acres of parks.
About 70 percent of those new residents are expected to settle in the Lake Nona area. The city has plans to add more than 120 acres of park space to the community.City leaders turned dirt Sept. 7 on two parks expected to debut next year: Laureate City Community Park, south of Laureate Boulevard near the Orlando VA Medical Center; and East Airfield Community Park, off Dowden Road west of Narcoossee Road.
The 20-acre Laureate City park is expected to feature four multi-purpose fields, while the East Airfield park, at about 25 acres, will include four softball fields and link with Lake Nona’s trail system.
The parks were the product of a decade-long negotiation between the city and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which owns the East Airfield park land as part of a larger tract it plans to develop into new Orlando International Airport facilities.
The airport project prompted noise concerns from residents in the nearby NorthLake Park neighborhood, and GOAA eventually agreed to several concessions, including carving out the park space, which is being built out by Tavistock Development Co.
Last year, the City Council unanimously approved an impact fee on new homes to boost its park funding, despite the Greater Orlando Builders Association warning the cost would be passed on to homebuyers, making housing in Orlando less affordable.
But the city’s primary tool for creating new park space in southeast Orlando has been through large-scale developments, in which city planners can require builders to include parks and other recreation amenities as a condition for zoning approvals.
“That is the good news for us in District 1,” Gray said. “The annexations that we’ve undertaken are large tracts of land, so those developers recognize that they’re in it for the long haul… They’re not building 200 homes and getting out of town.”
The recently approved Vista Park and Starwood communities, which will add more than 10,000 homes to southeast Orlando, are expected to include two 30-acre community parks, according to the city.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure if we’re doing large projects that we be that sort of anchor for the city to be able to get those facilities that they need,” said Jay Thompson, developer for both projects. “We think it makes our communities a lot better.”
Frank Sebestyen, a resident of nearby Vista Lakes who has led local opposition to the Vista Park project — due in part to its land’s prior use as a bombing range — said the availability of park space is “the least of our concerns from that development.”
However, the burdens of the Lake Nona area’s rapid growth — on local roads, schools and the environment, among other areas of concern — remain a major worry for Sebestyen and others.
“It is so frustrating trying to deal with a city that’s so committed to pure development and the lack of concern for the existing residents,” he said.