Just a few blocks from the harried intersection of state roads 50 and 436 sits Gale Johnson’s neighborhood, a quiet oasis in an unending sea of traffic. That’s the way her rural hamlet has been for the 51 years she has lived there, and that’s how she wants it to remain. “We’re almost isolated, and I kind of like it,” Johnson said of her cul-de-sac neighborhood. “We don’t want you to bring big development into our community.”
Johnson’s plea to protect her neighborhood was in response to a planned redevelopment aimed at improving the look and feel of a four-square-mile area extending from Goldenrod Road past Semoran Boulevard, and from State Road 408 to north of East Colonial Drive. Currently, these two main commercial corridors are beset by abandoned and graffiti- marked buildings.
Orange County’s plan is to redevelop the business district by revamping older strip-mall centers to create more pedestrian-friendly plazas, transforming these thoroughfares into inviting community gateways. Johnson needn’t worry that new development will intrude into her neighborhood. Indeed, one of the main goals of the State Road 436/50 Area Redevelopment Plan is to protect the community’s strengths, while improving the infrastructure, aesthetics and, of critical importance, the vitality of the commercial corridors.
Residents and business owners offered their ideas for change at the inaugural public meeting held last week to discuss the project. And county officials heard plenty of suggestions regarding the future prospects for the Azalea Park neighborhood. A number of residents expressed safety concerns — on crime, traffic and the homeless.
“There is an abundance of homeless people,” said Johnson, citing the woods along Forsyth Road as a primary hangout. The homeless also can be found panhandling in the middle of East Colonial Drive, residents complained. In response, Orange County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez, who attended the meeting, told the audience not to encourage this solicitation. “Don’t give them money,” she said. “We know from experience that they’re going to use the money to buy drugs.”
Traffic was another topic that surfaced. Ray Morales, vice president of the Azalea Park Safe Neighborhood Association, pointed to numerous accidents along Lake Underhill Road, saying people getting on and off the S.R. 408 ramps near S.R. 436 and at Yucatan Drive create dangerous traffic patterns. Fernandez said she has ordered three different traffic studies along Lake Underhill, but each one showed there is not enough vehicle volume to warrant a traffic light at Yucatan Drive.
Morales also said speeding vehicles on Azalea Park residential streets routinely jump the roundabout islands. “We need to make the roundabouts more visible,” he said. Safety concerns were also voiced on behalf of students traveling to school. Resident Janet Smith would like flashing lights at Dahlia Drive and S.R. 436. Others are worried about Colonial High School students who must wait for their bus along busy S.R. 436, within a few feet of fastmoving vehicles.
CHS students also are at risk when they choose not to use the crosswalks provided at S.R. 436 and Oleander Drive, residents said. Pedestrian safety also was brought up in regard to the planned bridge that will carry S.R. 50 traffic over Semoran Boulevard. Orange County officials said the flyover, which is on schedule for completion by 2010, will not accommodate pedestrians crossing Semoran. Instead, people on foot will be provided a crosswalk at street level, with an island at the midway point.
More general complaints cited construction crews blocking driveways and the need for more code enforcement to control overgrown lots, particularly with the growing number of foreclosure properties. Commissioner Fernandez said she is currently working on a plan that would allow these yards to be maintained when a bank-owned home is up for sale, with the landscape contractor paid at closing. She added this would improve the area and provide needed jobs.
“I’m working very hard on these issues to make sure it’s no different in District 3 than it is in Winter Park,” she said. Discussion then turned to what types of businesses residents would welcome into the area.
This wish-list included a Publix, Panera Bread and a senior center, as well as a couple of eateries missed by locals — Steak and Ale and Dairy Queen — that were closed to make room for the flyover. One such project about to take place is the redevelopment of the long-vacant McInerney Ford location on S.R. 436.
The Oriental shopping mall planned for this 5.1-acre site will include three separate buildings totaling 87,000 square feet, including the existing 54,000-squarefoot building, plus parking for 357 vehicles. This is only the first of what promises to be many redevelopment projects, said Jamie Cochran, a consultant for the State Road 436/50 Area Redevelopment Plan.
Cochran said the redevelopment plan will continue into next year, with public input sought along the way, including a three-day workshop (charrette) planned in August. “We want to make this corridor a vibrant and distinctive place, and make this area even more special,” she said. Commissioner Fernandez said the county would like to undertake more redevelopment, but limited funds make that impossible at this time.
Consequently, the county is looking more toward the private sector to revitalize these older corridors. “The importance of having this study is to get developers to invest in projects that will improve the area,” Fernandez said. Meanwhile, Johnson is concerned about preserving the unique character of her own neighborhood.
“You’ve got a lot of history back there,” she said of her neighbors, many of whom have also lived for 50 years or more in their homes and are connected by more than just the dead-end streets of Delta, Lyle, Century and Claude. “It has a real nice rural feeling, with lots of gardens,” she said. “We all know each other and watch out for one another.”
