ORLANDO, Fla. — On Monday, Orlando leaders approved an age-friendly plan — spurred on by a results from a 2-year study — aimed at helping the city’s senior population. The study has 25 goals and 89 action items.

Multiple goals relate to outdoor spaces and buildings for older people.

“We want to make sure that this is a place, that if you’ve grown up here, you can live out your life here and enjoy it,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. said.

City leaders said they want to make sure the City Beautiful is a place where people can enjoy all stages of their life, from childhood to retirement.

During Monday's City Council meeting, the “Livable Orlando: An Age‐Friendly Initiative Action Plan” — which would allow work to begin on the action items — was approved by council members.

“There is a lot of senior housing right in our downtown area that was built in the 70s and 80s, five or six senior towers,” said Dyer. “Downtown is their backyard — it is the place they are going to recreate.”

He said he believes this plan will look at things that may not always be thought of but will make life easy and fun for seniors.

One of the goals is to ensure that the needs and opinions of older adults are considered in park open space planning and designing. Another goal focuses on encouraging the application of universal design principles to create an accessible and equitable built environment.

“We like to say that everybody is equally valued, that includes our seniors," Dyer said. "So, we wanted to have specific goals to meet the needs of people living in their senior perhaps retirement years."

Leaders said they hope to intersect this plan with other initiatives, including the Vision Zero Orlando Action Plan, Regional Affordable Housing Initiative, and Orange County Housing For All.

 Dyer said that despite the city’s younger median age, officials want to ensure every community is being served

“We are a younger population, but we want to make sure we are serving the needs for our older population as well,” he said. 

The accepted plan will now be shared with the World Health Organization and AARP. This is a 4-year plan that starts this year in 2022 and continues into 2025.