OUC digs deep for power
3-acre site of former landmark power plant near Lake Highland will be substation
Orlando Utilities Commission has returned to the nowvacant site of what had been a landmark power plant and is excavating a mountain of soil and rubble from that old plant’s foundation to prepare the tract to once again help provide power to the city.
It’s a 3-acre wedge of cityowned property between Lake Highland just to the east, Lake
Ivanhoe to the north and bordered by the city’s Urban Trail and tracks used by the SunRail commuter train.
The bulldozing and stacking of dirt is part of $20 million initiative to route an OUC highvoltage transmission line to the city’s north-downtown area and to expand an existing substation on Weber Street, where electricity is reduced to a lower voltage and distributed to homes and businesses.
The planned industrial use of the long-vacant property, owned by the city from the early 1900s, is a switch from previous efforts of more than a decade ago by Lake Highland Preparatory School to acquire the land for a parking garage and office building.
For joggers and cyclists passing on the Urban Trail, the earthworks may be a mystery; there is no sign indicating what’s happening.
Michael Rizzo, president of the Lake Formosa Neighborhood Association, which comes within a few block from the site, thinks the city and utility missed a critical opportunity.
“It was a done deal from the beginning, but we would have preferred if OUC had further explored other options for that land, including redeveloping it as a high density residential hub to support an additional downtown SunRail stop,” Rizzo said.
He said the station for the stop could have been a former power plant, a historic build that was rebuilt and opened in 1992 as an arts center. It was used by Orlando Ballet until 2013 when