New 53-unit multi-family proposal near Winter Park Village up for vote
The development, known as Winter Park Commons, has gone through a series of changes leading up to next week’s debate
Oct. 19, 2023
By Beth Kassab
Miami-based developers are seeking approval Wednesday for 53 units of mostly rental townhomes. The proposed location for the units is between Swoope and Webster Avenues, less than a block from Winter Park Village.
The project, known as Winter Park Commons, by Miami real estate developer Carlos Ortiz, underwent significant changes to respond to concerns from city staff about potential flooding, tree preservation, aesthetics and parking.
The City Commission will consider a revised version of the proposal that calls for the demolition of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church that was sold to the developer in 2019. The Planning & Zoning board voted 3-2 to recommend the following conditions:
- The five parcels involved (a combined 4.5 acres) will be combined to one and that the single-family units now included in the plan will be shown as individual lots so they could potentially be sold that way in the future.
- No changes within a 20-foot radius of three live oak trees in the interior of the project.
- The seven single-family homes to be built on Capen Avenue must show architectural diversity and can not be the same in terms of style or color.
- The newly required water retention areas must include new cypress trees as well as perimeter landscaping.
Renderings show architectural inspiration for the proposed seven single-family units included in the Winter Park Commons development.
The developer already agreed to add additional stormwater retention — enough to hold 3 inches of water rather than the 2 inches required by code — to ease concerns about how the development might contribute to the special flood hazard area.
The seven single-family homes in the plans were originally townhome duplexes, but concerns about compatibility with the neighborhood drove the change.
Staff said the development is likely to result in the new residents parking on Capen, Swoope and Callahan avenues.
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I fear adding more multi family structures will detract from the overall feel of Winter Park, becoming more like our overdeveloped neighbors north on 17-92 and adding to the traffic congestion in that area
Townhomes are considered single family residence. This development and its density is nothing like the apartments (multifamily) and associated parking garages in Maitland. Nothing wrong with nice homes on the west side.
We already have too many high density structures in the city, and more will not improve living conditions for the city’s residents. Miami has become a traffic nightmare.
I agree with you, its crowded enough! Plus the storm water retention is way under sized. It’s for holding 3 inches of storm water. Do you remember the flooding in winter Park last year !
I’m guessing this will pass when your judgement allows a hotel still under construction for 3 years on Palmer Avenue
Does anyone seriously think 100+- more people, in a city of 28,000+-, are going to be noticed? .00357 increase. The rentals will be priced sky-high. The few sales will be same. This site is in a block across the street from WP Village and behind a WP Housing Authority site (52) units, Center For Independent Living. A vacant 4.5 acre lot zoned R-3 isn’t going to be a cat park. (too many dog parks, IMO) Let’s welcome the high-income spenders who are going to live here. WP needs them.
The issue is that this infill has been going on for almost two decades, resulting in the parking, traffic, and congestion problems we have today. It’s long-since time to hang out the “No Vacancy” sign for developers, lest we completely ruin WP.
Whoops! That ship has sailed. The Olde Winter Park of charm and community is just a distant memory. And I’m not that old!
How do the nearby homeowners feel about aggressive competition for the available street parking??
How do the owners of Winter Park Village feel about their parking lots doubling as parking when any of the far too many units wants to have a Friday night cocktail party or a holiday family dinner??
If I owned a single family home in this vicinity I’d stonewall to get a variance so I can sell parking space in my yard for $10-20 a pop.
Look at all of the green space in the aerial photo above.
Now superimpose 53 rental units on this lovely green space.
Dense, dense, dense!
But wait, don’t miss the last sentence of the article. Renters are expected to park on the streets.
“Staff said the development is likely to result in the new residents parking on Capen, Swoope and Callahan avenues.”
Do high-income spenders really park their high-priced cars on the street? Don’t kid yourself, you’ll have four to five college kids piling in a rental apartment, all splitting the rent, and more cars on the street than you can imagine.
Will street parking permits be issued like in Los Angeles?
Will cars be moved for regular street cleaning?
Why not build nine lovely, single-family homes in this neighborhood with green yards and garages to keep the cars off the street?
We are Winter Park, not Los Angeles. Can’t we do better to protect and grow the West side?
Re: high income people with fancy cars parking on the street – you bet they will! Have you driven (tried to drive) through Baldwin Park? Even when they have garages, they park in the street!
The perpetual developer led race to the bottom continues. Just further erosion of the historic neighborhood which once was the West Side. As all of our existing churches shrink or exit, this density drama will be on continuous loop. The underlying R-3 zoning allows this. It could have been worse. It isn’t pretty, but it could have been R-4 density like a Paseo or the Calirosa. The parking nightmare is kinda like a tidal wave. It begins at the Alfond on the east and at WP Village on the west. Those in between will be caught in the back wash.
This might go well in Orlando’s Creative Village, but we do not need more density in Winter Park. Consider the traffic on any of our north-south arteries, for example, or the parking or lack of it that we already deal with.
Developers have reduced the quality of life in Winter Park. When they build, they make a mess: litter in the street, loud music while they hammer, trucks blocking driveways, pool hoses draining for weeks, smelly port o potties right next to the sidewalk, cracked curbs and sidewalks from the trucks, dead landscaping on adjoining properties, etc. And they don’t care. I have lost any trust in these developers. The proof is on the site.
It’s a 124,000 sq. ft. project.
At 500 sq. ft. per adult occupant, that’s 250 total adult occupants.
One car per adult occupant = 250 cars
The concern over stormwater and potential flooding is real and should be top of mind for the commission as they weigh this proposal. What do we think is going to happen as we insist on filling up what used to be empty space with concrete, new & bigger dwelling structures, hardscape, and pavement? One additional inch to handle it as was pointed out by someone else. Sure, it’s legal, but it is just as surely against the public interest. Never mind recharging the aquifer.
This has been a Janus Face situation for years. The city Government says they are doing all to save the Historic neighborhood but their other face keeps allowing the selling the homes of the neighborhood to developers. When is the city going to save the historic neighborhood by making real laws to save it?