Members of the Winter Garden City Commission have moved forward consideration of the proposed Johns Lake Urban Village Planned Development, or UVPUD, with a final decision on the project scheduled for next week.
Located near the Lake-Orange county line, north of Amber Sweet Lane and west along Williams Road, the Johns Lake UVPUD is set to contain a maximum of 613 attached and detached single-family homes on just over 337 acres.
McKinnon Corp. — a family company owned and operated by former Orange County Commissioner Scott Boyd — has filed plans with the City of Winter Garden to rezone the former citrus groves along Johns Lake into a mixed-use development with housing, parks and a boutique hotel with an event barn and wedding chapel. The property currently has an Urban Village future land use, but is not appropriately zoned.
Boyd and McKinnon Corp. will serve as developers on the project and will retain 3.36 acres of lakefront property where Boyd currently resides.
Preliminary development plans initially indicated the community would include an OCPS school site, but concerns from residents about school traffic led Boyd to agree on a recent change dedicating the 13.65-acre site to the City of Winter Garden for a future city park.
“This is significant because, for a long time, that area had been shown and had been presented at the community meeting as an elementary school site,” Winter Garden Planning Director Kelly Carson said. “At the community meeting, the number one comment that we kept hearing were concerns from the neighbors about school traffic, especially peak hour school traffic.”
A potential city park is one of two ‘special districts’ planned for the community, the other is a proposed 31.6-acre resort district containing amenities such as a bed and breakfast hotel with a maximum of 40 rooms.
As part of the Wekiva Study Area, the resort district would need to meet open space design standards and maintain a 75-foot continuous buffer between the district boundary and adjacent residential lots, with walking paths, trails, and trail amenities permitted within the buffer.
“The developer was trying to think of a use for that area that maintained a lot of that canopy cover, but also could be a viable and productive economic use for that area,” Carson said. “What they’re proposing a a bed and breakfast, which would include a main building as well as at least six cottages nestled in and amongst the trees in an organic manner.”
Among other amenities, Carson said the resort district would also include a restaurant available by reservation only, an event space, event buildings and a dock for residents.
Traffic on nearby roadways have been a major source of unease for local residents since the project’s inception.
Over 30 residents filed letters or emails in opposition to the Johns Lake UVPUD between December and April, with most citing traffic on Marsh Road — the two-lane road bordering the proposed project’s southern edge — and potential impacts from other nearby developments as their main points of concern.
Developers are dedicating land for the extension of Amber Sweet Lane to the Lake County line, which Boyd previously said will allow for an additional north-south connections should Winter Garden pursue those opportunities with future development.
A roundabout at the intersection of Williams Road and Marsh Road will also be 100% funded by developers and completed long before the rest of the Johns Lake UVPUD, Carson said, easing traffic congestion leading into and around the project area.
There will be two access points leading into the development, according to Carson, one through Williams Road and another up through the Viscaya Cove Boulevard within the Waterside community.
Boyd and developers have previously maintained that nearby roadway projects unrelated to the Johns Lake development — New Independence Parkway extension, Central Florida Expressway Authority widening State Road 429, construction of State Road 516, etc. — will curb traffic impacts generated by the project through constructed roadway improvements and road impact fees.
For a long time, Carson said, Marsh Road was the only alternative to State Road 50 for drivers attempting to go east-west from U.S. Highway 27 in Lake County to State Road 429 in Orange County. New Independence Parkway will aim to rectify that beginning next year.
“Probably the most significant upcoming project, which will be finished by 2027, is the New Independence Parkway which will connect Wellness Way on the Orange County side to Avalon Road and ultimately [State Road] 429,” she said. “Once that’s complete, we think that’s going to have a significant impact.”
Carson noted that a Traffic Impact Analysis for the project, prepared by developers, indicated the improvements “will successfully mitigate” traffic concerns related to the Johns Lake UVPUD.
Commissioners approved the first reading of project ordinances unanimously, identifying Boyd’s plans for living within the development as a bonus toward consideration.
“I don’t think I remember another development where the owner was going to live on-site and would dedicate a park and do roadwork,” Winter Garden Commissioner Lisa Bennett said. “I guess some of that is typical for developers, but it’s very nice that there’s a vested interested and they’re only doing 1.8 [units] instead of four per acre.”
The second reading of ordinances, where a decision on the development is expected to take place, is set for the next Winter Garden City Commission meeting on May 28.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
