A controversial mixed-income, multi-family project on Disney-owned property in traffic-challenged Horizon West won approval over objections from future neighbors who contend the affordable-housing development will make their roads more crowded and more dangerous.
Orange County commissioners voted 6-1 Tuesday for the project on Hartzog Road south of Winter Garden after a two-hour discussion.
The lone “no” vote was cast by Commissioner Nicole Wilson, who represents the west Orange district that is home to Disney, Horizon West and the proposed 1,369-unit complex. She sought unsuccessfully to delay the decision, arguing it was unfair to force residents of Horizon West to choose between preparing for Hurricane Milton and driving 30 miles to Orlando to voice their objections.
First proposed in April 2022, the Disney project has been touted as a long-sought contribution from one of the entertainment colossuses that power the Central Florida economy to help solve a housing crisis at least in part of their making. Universal Parks & Resorts executives broke ground in November on a 1,000-unit affordable housing project near the Orange County Convention Center.
As a condition of approval for the Disney project, at least 75% of the apartment homes must be available for rent to residents earning between 50% and 100% of the median family income (AMI) for the Orlando area, a figured calculated to be $90,400 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That means a one-bedroom apartment for a household earning $45,200, or half the median family income, would rent for $823 a month and a two-bedroom unit would rent for $988, according to figures provided to commissioners by county staff.
Households earning 100% of AMI would pay $1,647 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,977 for a two-bedroom apartment.
As a concession, developers trimmed the number of planned units to 1,369 units from 1,410 in the original plan.
Disney project supporters cast the vote as a “bold action” to add to desperately needed affordable-housing options in west Orange.
“Disney is trying to help the teachers, the police officers, the grocery store workers, the hospitality workers and folks who are just starting out in their career, the people who our community depends on every day to make sure they have a safe and affordable place to live,” said Julie Kendig-Schrader, an Orlando land-use lawyer with Greenberg Traurig, representing the entertainment giant and its chosen developer, The Michaels Organization .
She noted the new county budget allocates $16 million for affordable housing, the most ever.
“We’re here to contribute to this effort by bringing forward an innovative and, in this situation, private solution without requesting [public] funding,” Kendig-Schrader said, pointing out the development would not ask to be excused from paying transportation impact fees, as developers of affordable-housing projects routinely do. Those fees are calculated at about $8.1 million for this project.
The project also earned endorsements from Habitat for Humanity and Orlando YIMBY , which opposes urban sprawl.
Disney described the vote as “an important step forward in our efforts to contribute to the [affordable housing] solution.”
“Like other communities across the country, we know there are so many people and families throughout Central Florida in need of more affordable housing, which local leaders have identified as one of the most critical challenges facing our region,” said Disney spokesperson Avery Maehrer.
Only a handful of future neighbors turned out Tuesday to speak against the project, though many objected by email and 400 also signed petitions opposing it. Some opponents had previously attended zoning board hearings and other public meetings with signs that read, “From Pixie dust to concrete: Not the Magic we expected” and “Not the Disney dream, just a corporate scheme.”
Sarah Gibbs, who owns a home near the site, decried the proliferating multi-family complexes springing up around her — listing the names and locations of existing developments or proposed ones that combine to account for nearly 6,000 apartments within a three-mile radius.
“This area is oversaturated with apartments,” she said.
Her children, ages 15 and 12, also took turns at the podium, each telling the board how dangerously congested roads make getting to or from school safely a daily challenge. “Just in the past couple weeks, we’ve had two students get hit by cars,” said the 15-year-old, who rides her bike to school. “One of the kids was found bloody and lying on the sidewalk. I hope that’s never me or any other kid.”
The project expects to break ground in 2025 and the apartments will be available in phases, hopefully completed by the end of 2027, said Adrianna Sekula, representing The Michaels Organization.
shudak@orlandosentinel.com
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