Affordable housing solution elusive
South Lake has a need, but issue faces big challenges
The Green Swamp includes more than a half million acres that the state describes as the “hydrologic heart” of Florida, where rainwater seeps through the sandy soil to replenish to aquifer, our primary source of drinking water in Central Florida.
But last week, the spotlight was on a sliver of four acres tucked behind a Wawa and a storage facility near busy U.S. Highway 27 in South Lake. It is land no one would mistake for the swamps, wilderness and woods that the state has sought to protect since the 1970s, not long after Walt Disney World opened to the east setting off a new development boom in Central Florida.
The land in an area known as Four Corners was proposed as the site for “workforce housing,” so called because lower rents make them affordable for workers like new teachers, law enforcement officers or those who work in the many service sector businesses in South Lake.
Although the Lake County Commission has identified such housing as a critical need, it faced
policies about what could be built in the Green Swamp as well as opposition from some neighbors in the Greater Groves subdivision, who raised concerns about traffic, crime and lower property values.
“I've stood there and looked at it, and it doesn't feel like you are in the Green Swamp,” said Commissioner Doug Shields, who was elected last year in part on a platform to protect the environment, including the part of swamp in his district. “But I've seen this board set precedents before for the Green Swamp, and then the next board that came in took those precedents and got more done in the Green Swamp than I hoped they would accomplish.”
Shields, like several commissioners at last Tuesday's meeting, opposed the plan as proposed but expressed support for the need for more affordable housing in rapidly growing Lake County.
Steve Smith, whose not-for-profit company has built such housing for workers and seniors in South Lake, Polk and Volusia, asked the commission to approve a plan for 72 apartments that would rent on average for about 60 percent less than market rate — from $740 a month for one bedroom to $1,001 a month for a three bedrooms. Apartments in a complex across U.S. 27 from the proposed site rent for about $500 a month more.
The financing would come from a state fund that is targeted to help build affordable housing.
“You can tell the demand is growing and growing,” Smith said. “It's the people who are working people … your law enforcement, your teachers” and others in the service industry like restaurants.
The County Commission approved a workforce housing strategic plan last October designed to close the gap between low-income subsidized housing and apartments that rent and homes that sell for prices many new workers or those in certain jobs can't afford.
But several commissioners struggled with their decision last week. They mentioned concerns over the project's density, which would be about 19 units per acre. The current land-use regulation only calls for four units per acre, so Smith needed the commission to amend its regulations to allow construction of the estimated $15 million project.
The four acres, which is less than a quarter mile west of U.S. 27 on Ruby Red Boulevard, was originally part of the Greater Groves development, which began in the 1990s and has more than 400 homes as well as commercial land along U.S. 27 and some side streets. Orlando Health South Lake Hospital owns the site and had planned medical offices, but those were build down the highway at 27 and U.S. Highway 192, Smith said.
Smith, who is working with Turnstone Development, a national not-for-profit corporation that builds affordable housing, said he looked with real estate companies for three years to find a site that would work in Four Corners. The area gets is name because it sits at the intersection of the Lake, Orange, Polk and Osceola counties.
It has grown over the past 20 years, with many new businesses, apartments and homes.
But Smith said many workers can't afford to live close to where they work.
“I've talked with business owners in the area, and they all say their workers have trouble finding a place, or have to drive a long distance to find something they can afford,” Smith said.
Another of Smith's projects, Woodwinds in Clermont, has a three-year waiting list for its workforce housing, which includes 96 apartments.
Commissioners all agree that it is a problem — but the majority balked at putting the complex in the Green Swamp, which is listed as an area of critical state concern. The county's land use regulations call for low-density housing, passive parks or agriculture, although past development in parts of the Green Swamp are packed with large stores, apartments and subdivisions.
“Some poor planning was done that happened long before us,” Commission Chairman Sean Parks said. “I still don't know why this parcel was craved out like that … it is very difficult to work with.”
Commercial development would be allowed on the four-acre site, as would fewer apartments — no more than 16 — under current regulations.
Parks said perhaps it is time for commissioners to work with people like Smith to find options for affordable housing.
“Maybe there is another site, and maybe it is finally incumbent on us to help you do that if we are going to try to address the issue itself of attainable housing,” Parks said at the meeting.
In the end, the commission agreed with Smith to table to proposal for 60 days.
Smith said he plans to use the time to continue meeting with neighbors to give them an even clearer idea of the kind of buffering — walls and landscaping — that will be between their homes and the apartments. He has statistics from similar projects that show they do not increase crime or decrease property values.
He also want to be sure all commissioners and the residents see the kind of apartments he wants to build.
“These are not what people imagine when they think of low-income housing,” he said. “They are well-designed and people have to be working to have the income to get into the apartment. Many who live here more on to become homeowners.”
He also said he thinks the county needs to acknowledge that its limits on how many apartments per acre is outdated. Nearby counties allow as many as twice the number as Lake.
“I'm really torn about this,” he said. “There is a such a need and we've been reaching for a solution for years.”