A proposed plat layout for Fernanda Place.
Deltona’s Planning and Zoning Board opposes the expansion of a subdivision adjacent to Pine Ridge High School.
With a 4-3 vote, the board May 15 stood against rezoning 43.55 acres to permit more homes to be built and combined with the neighborhood known as Fernanda Place. The Planning and Zoning Board heard concerns about traffic, especially during rush hours, and trespassing on rural property nearby, before giving a negative review of the request.
“I am proposing that we vote no because I think the area is overburdened,” Dr. Allen Pfeffer said to his colleagues on the board.
An Orlando developer, Poulos & Bennett LLC, had asked to change the zoning of the property on the east side of the school from Agriculture (A) to Single Family Residential (R-1). The rezoned tract would thus become Phase 3 of Fernanda Place, whose two built-out phases now have 252 homes on the north side of Pine Ridge High. The rezoning request calls for a maximum of 101 new homes on the east side of the school.
“That is a lot less homes with this request,” Jesse Anderson, a planner with Poulos & Bennett, told the panel.
The latest refined rezoning request for the land is a reduction in the number of homes that is lower than the firm’s previous proposals for a planned-unit development (PUD) of 167 homes, and later 150 dwellings. The lots proposed for Phase 3 would also be larger than the lots in the older parts of Fernanda Place.
Despite the reduction in the density of Phase 3, the Planning and Zoning Board would not compromise and endorse the revised proposal.
The limited access into and out of the addition, as presented, raised concerns for P & Z Board Member Rachel Amoroso.
“I just can’t understand how one way in and one way out is reasonable,” she said.
One question was whether emergency vehicles such as firetrucks would be able to move quickly to and from the scene of a life-threatening situation, if Fernanda Drive is the only ingress/egress with Howland Boulevard.
“I can’t see the benefit it is to the city,” Amoroso added.
Changes in the layout are possible, Anderson said, to address the concerns.
“This is not by any means a final plan,” he told the board.
“I think this area is overwhelmed,” Pfeffer said.
The board’s decision against expanding Fernanda Place is not binding. Rather, it is a recommendation to the Deltona City Commission to deny the zoning change. The commission will have the final say on the matter at a later date.
The motion to deny the rezoning effectively meant that a yes vote for the motion was a vote against the change, while a no vote on the motion meant the board member favors the change.
The motion to recommend that the City Commission deny the rezoning was supported by Board Members Amoroso, Pfeffer, Andrea Cardo and Manny Rodriguez. The minority included Board Chair Susan Berk and Members Eric Alexander and Ron Gonzalez.
Finally!! We need to say no to this more often!!