Thursday, April 27, 2006
SIETE GRANDES PROYECTOS PARA OSCEOLA COUNTY FUERON DISCUTIDOS EN JUNTA DE PLANES
A CONTINUACION LES MOSTRAMOS EL TEXTO SOBRE LOS PLANES DE LOS 7 GRANDES PROYECTOS PENDIENTES EN EL AREA DE LA FLORIDA CENTRAL DISCUTIDOS EN LA JUNTA DE PLANES DEL OSCEOLA COUNTY.
KISSIMMEE -- Developers are drawing up plans for seven major projects in Osceola County that would add at least 16,000 homes and 4,300 hotel rooms during the next 10 years, their representatives told regional planners this week.
The plans would transform 4,850 acres of pasture into five neo-traditional communities scattered across the northern third of the county, stretching from Poinciana to East Lake Tohopekaliga.
LocalLinks
Two companies will build hotels near Walt Disney World, including a 3,600-unit resort and spa on the site of the former Hyatt hotel at Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192.
Word of the projects came from the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council as the agency continued to review plans for five other mega-developments totaling about 35,000 homes on the east side of Lake Tohopekaliga, providing further evidence that Osceola is on track to become Central Florida's next suburban frontier.
There are even more large projects to come, said Bob Whidden, the development consultant working on the seven projects.
As county leaders brace for the next population explosion that is predicted to swell Osceola's population from 235,000 to 550,000 by 2025, they say they are determined that the rapid development will not result in higher taxes, longer commutes or more crowded schools.
The County Commission recently hired three engineering firms to speed up road construction, agreed to impose new fees on builders to fund parks and fire equipment, and is getting ready to choose a planning firm that will help steer development.
County officials say they are following advice that a panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute, a research organization, gave when invited to visit Osceola earlier this year and recommended more master planning of development.
"We're going to make sure that when growth does come, that everything is going to be better than it was before. We're going to have better schools, better roads, better parks and recreational facilities," Commission Chairman Paul Owen said Thursday.
"It gives us an opportunity to look at the counties around us that have tremendous growth but have not managed it well. We can profit from their mistakes."
Along with creating the need for more roads, utility service and public-safety workers, the new developments will put pressure on the Osceola public-school system.
By the end of 2008, school districts throughout Florida are supposed to reach agreement with their local governments on how to ensure that classrooms are built before new students arrive.
Estimates of how many students the new projects may generate are not available.
Data from plans for one of the developments unveiled last year -- the 7,000-home Edgewater subdivision on the east side of Lake Tohopekaliga -- show how great the impact can be.
Planners say that when Edgewater is built out, an estimated 3,071 students will need classrooms.
Plans for the project include sites for two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
Stopping the influx of new residents is not an option, Whidden said.
The biggest project currently on the drawing board in Osceola is the proposed city of Destiny near Yeehaw Junction, which could have as many as 100,000 residents, stores, schools, office parks and research facilities on 27,400 acres.
"If you just stopped everything . . . where are they going to go? You think there's some magical place in the country where all the roads are already built and all the schools are already built?" Whidden said. "No place like that exists. So every place has to be figured out and managed."
Because of their size and location, the seven projects will be classified by the planning council as developments of regional impact and scrutinized by dozens of regulatory agencies and interest groups
KISSIMMEE -- Developers are drawing up plans for seven major projects in Osceola County that would add at least 16,000 homes and 4,300 hotel rooms during the next 10 years, their representatives told regional planners this week.
The plans would transform 4,850 acres of pasture into five neo-traditional communities scattered across the northern third of the county, stretching from Poinciana to East Lake Tohopekaliga.
LocalLinks
Two companies will build hotels near Walt Disney World, including a 3,600-unit resort and spa on the site of the former Hyatt hotel at Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192.
Word of the projects came from the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council as the agency continued to review plans for five other mega-developments totaling about 35,000 homes on the east side of Lake Tohopekaliga, providing further evidence that Osceola is on track to become Central Florida's next suburban frontier.
There are even more large projects to come, said Bob Whidden, the development consultant working on the seven projects.
As county leaders brace for the next population explosion that is predicted to swell Osceola's population from 235,000 to 550,000 by 2025, they say they are determined that the rapid development will not result in higher taxes, longer commutes or more crowded schools.
The County Commission recently hired three engineering firms to speed up road construction, agreed to impose new fees on builders to fund parks and fire equipment, and is getting ready to choose a planning firm that will help steer development.
County officials say they are following advice that a panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute, a research organization, gave when invited to visit Osceola earlier this year and recommended more master planning of development.
"We're going to make sure that when growth does come, that everything is going to be better than it was before. We're going to have better schools, better roads, better parks and recreational facilities," Commission Chairman Paul Owen said Thursday.
"It gives us an opportunity to look at the counties around us that have tremendous growth but have not managed it well. We can profit from their mistakes."
Along with creating the need for more roads, utility service and public-safety workers, the new developments will put pressure on the Osceola public-school system.
By the end of 2008, school districts throughout Florida are supposed to reach agreement with their local governments on how to ensure that classrooms are built before new students arrive.
Estimates of how many students the new projects may generate are not available.
Data from plans for one of the developments unveiled last year -- the 7,000-home Edgewater subdivision on the east side of Lake Tohopekaliga -- show how great the impact can be.
Planners say that when Edgewater is built out, an estimated 3,071 students will need classrooms.
Plans for the project include sites for two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
Stopping the influx of new residents is not an option, Whidden said.
The biggest project currently on the drawing board in Osceola is the proposed city of Destiny near Yeehaw Junction, which could have as many as 100,000 residents, stores, schools, office parks and research facilities on 27,400 acres.
"If you just stopped everything . . . where are they going to go? You think there's some magical place in the country where all the roads are already built and all the schools are already built?" Whidden said. "No place like that exists. So every place has to be figured out and managed."
Because of their size and location, the seven projects will be classified by the planning council as developments of regional impact and scrutinized by dozens of regulatory agencies and interest groups
