Providing attainable housing, preserving Florida on today’s agenda
No matter how you feel about growth management and land preservation, there are big decisions looming Tuesday that will affect local residents for decades to come.
The first is a significant — though not final — local vote on a massive affordable housing project Disney is asking the Orange County Commission to forward to the state for its review. This is a complicated win. The plan, which would put more than 1,400 apartments on a parcel in Horizon West, is gathering criticism from nearby residents who fear it will overwhelm an already-crowded area. But we’d like to see local leaders make it work, for the sake of area workers who desperately need access to affordable housing.
The second and third are far easier to be enthusiastic about: Massive Florida Forever purchases that will protect two of the state’s most iconic ranches — one of which was snatched from the imminent jaws of development just a few months ago. They’re on the agenda for Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting and should bring easy “yes” votes.
Thousands of new homes
For decades, we’ve urged local theme parks and other tourism draws to help provide for the tens of thousands of employees who can’t find affordable, available housing anywhere near their workplaces.
Tuesday, the County Commission will review a plan put forward by Disney to fill 80 acres of land in MetroWest with 1,410 new apartments. It’s a lot: if every apartment has only two occupants, that could put thousands of cars on the roads, thousands of new kids in local schools, thousands of people who will need water and electricity, police and fire protection — and everything else, from libraries to laundromats.
The plan, which is traveling under the decidedly non-magical name “Hartzog Road Attainable Housing,” has yet to enchant local residents. That’s no surprise: While Orange County residents often identify affordable housing as a top priority for the county, they often change their minds about big developments proposed for land near their own homes. It’s easy to understand why. Many of these MetroWest families fear that, in addition to added congestion, being adjacent to big apartment complexes will affect their property values and way of life.
It might be worth reminding those residents that in the 1980s, many locals objected strongly to the construction of the homes they now occupy, with many of the same arguments they make today.
But with careful planning and obligations for developers to chip in toward needed infrastructure, modern apartments filled with young working families headed by teachers, public-safety employees, theme park workers and others can boost vibrant, diverse, collaborative communities. With rents starting at about $900, these apartments could be a haven for the high percentage of local workers who now spend half their incomes just to keep roofs over their heads.
What’s needed here: Tough negotiation, plenty of opportunity for public input and thoughtful planning to ensure this new proposal provides a net benefit to the community. There’s a lot of that baked into this proposal, starting with a pledge that the developers won’t seek a break on impact fees. That should translate into plenty of cash to improve roads, add more police and firefighters and the other amenities, like parks, that MetroWest residents complain are in short supply. And this project won’t be seeking help from the county’s attainable funding trust fund.
County commissioners should make it clear that those commitments represent promises they expect to be kept. But they should also credit Disney for stepping forward with solutions to problems it helped create.
Saving natural Florida
Two proposals on today’s Cabinet meeting agenda offer a different kind of promise: A guarantee that two iconic Florida ranches won’t be plowed under to create more urban sprawl. Both will fill holes in clusters of conservation land, erasing the potential for plopping housing amidst property that has already been preserved by taxpayer dollars.
The first, the 1,361-acre Yarborough Ranch in Seminole County, represents an overwhelming victory for residents who sought to preserve the land. Its sale price of $34.5 million may be steep, but there’s good reason for the state to move fast: Before an agreement to sell the property was struck, development was imminent — with little chance that local or state officials could stop it.
The purchase of development rights over the historic Heart Bar Ranch in Osceola County is a much easier deal to swallow. and it keeps this generations-old family operation, roamed by Brahmin cattle descended from the original herd Hugh Partin brought to Florida in the mid-1800s, as a working ranch. For $12.6 million, the family will sell any future rights to more extensive development to the state, in effect preserving its agricultural use while blocking its conversion into sprawling suburbs.
Both of these bargains should count as significant victories in the quest to save natural Florida — and easy yes votes for Cabinet members.