Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-02-06-038 — LEE CHIRA/continued from 7-5-01

Request: Special Exception in Village Planned Development District for apartments (420 units proposed)

Decision: Approved

Hearing: The Staff Report and Recommendation is located on Pages ____ The applicant is requesting approval to construct 420 apartment units within the Bridgewater Specific Area Plan (SAP). This SAP was approved by the BCC on July 27, 1999. The approved plan designated this parcel as Townhomes/Apartments. However, the Village Code requires a special exception for the apartments. The design standards for this project were reviewed and approved by the County's Development Review Committee on April 24, 2002. Staff presented its findings. Staff informed the applicant that both the apartment and the townhome uses were compatible at this location. The impacts and visual aesthetics were similar as well. The applicant and his consultants provided an historical analysis of his project as it related to the Horizon West concept and objectives. Two (2) area property owners spoke in opposition. They expressed concerns about traffic and school impacts. They felt the request did not comply with the spirit of the Horizon West Plan. The BZA discussed the issue of "mixed uses" vs. "concentration of uses". They felt that from an individual parcel basis, the uses were not mixed. But from a holistic standpoint, the entire Horizon West project has been obtaining approvals for different types of uses and at project buildout, the mixture of land uses will have been achieved. The BZA felt the main issue on this case was the type of ownership. Specifically, owner-occupied ownership vs. non-owner occupied ownership. The BZA felt the type of ownership did not violate the special exception criteria. There were 6 persons in the audience who were opposed to this request.