ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A developer’s plan to bring a 36-unit attainable senior apartment complex to the Waterford Lakes community has been denied by Orange County’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
More than a dozen Waterford Lakes neighbors spoke against the project moving forward at Thursday’s meeting, concerned about adding even more traffic to an already congested and dangerous intersection.
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The proposal called for building a mix of 2-and 1-bedroom units exclusively for people 55 years old and older on a 1.8-acre site at the intersection of Woodbury Road and Lake Underhill Road, which is just a few hundred feet in front of Discovery Middle School and across the street from Waterford Elementary.
News 6 told you about the proposal, and concerns from residents, in a Boomtown story last month.
Residents also shared safety concerns for the roughly 1,400 students between the two schools.
“Many students walk or bike to school,” Tara Crary told News 6 last month. “There’s grave concern for the children at Waterford Elementary and Discovery Middle.”
The developer was seeking approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone the property from low-medium-density residential to medium-density residential-senior housing.
District 6 representative Camille Marie Evans said out of the 187 emails she received about the proposal, 186 were in opposition.
“I’m disappointed, I will say, because it seems like an ideal plot of land to be helpful for addressing senior housing and attainable housing,” Evans said. “But at the same time, I think the arguments against have been very compelling.”
A similar proposal, which called for building a 63-unit complex on the site, was pulled by the developer in 2020 following community pushback.
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