ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County commissioners heard from the Horizon West community Tuesday evening about a Disney affordable housing project located on Hartzog Road in Orlando, and the meeting created a lot of tense moments.
But eventually, the commissioners voted in favor to send the plan to the state for review.
The Walt Disney World-backed affordable housing project could have around 1,400 units, and the Michaels Organization will develop, build, own and manage it.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted 4-2 in favor of transmitting the housing project to the state for review.
The two commissioners who were not in favor told Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings that the board should hold off on a vote to review the proposal further.
District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson voted not to transmit, saying “there are a lot of unanswered questions,” such as safety and welfare questions, factors that District 5 Commissioner Emily Bonilla echoed. and said the project should be postponed until the issues that were brought up could be resolved.
The Florida Department of Commerce and other agencies in Tallahassee will have to review the plan county commissioners passed before it can move forward.
Before the vote and public speaking portion of the meeting, applicant for the project Kathy Hattaway of Walt Disney Imagineering, said that Disney agrees with a staff report to have the application for the proposal transmitted to the state for review.
At the public hearing, 54 people spoke.
“It’s been a really good turnout. The folks from Horizon West came out in droves," Horizon West resident Carl Pfeiffer said.
Pfeiffer loves his community. Over the years, he has seen it change. He lives close to the proposed development. He said he is for affordable housing, but not for plans that he said are rushed.
"What needs to happen is first, we need to pause the current developments and look at our public works system, look at the traffic, look at the sewage, look at the electricity and water system and say if it's enough to handle of the bandwidth of what’s already being built," Pfeiffer said.
Alex Cabrera of Winter Garden said during the public speaking part of the hearing that the proposed development will bring more people to the area that will result in more traffic, crowding of schools and more use of resources.
“All the communication we have gotten from Michaels and Disney has all been one-sided. That’s not communication," he said. "That’s just telling us what they want to do to us. What they want to burden us with. What they want put a yoke on with.”
On Wednesday morning, a Disney representative reached out to Spectrum News 13 to say the company held two community meetings and that they networked with residents and spoke to them about the project ahead of Tuesday's vote.
According to The National Low Income Housing Coalition, more than 500,000 Floridians are low-income renter households.
Rev. Mary Lee Downey is the chief executive officer for Hope Partnership, which works with the homeless population and those facing poverty.
She said the opportunity for a fresh start is a welcome one.
"To bring real change, sometimes we have to push forward and do the things that matter," Downey said.
Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka Chief Executive Officer Penny Seater said it is important to advocate for all types of housing.
In a statement from Director of External Affairs at Walt Disney World Resort Tajiana Ancora-Brown, she said, "We are responding to Orange County leadership's call to bring more positive change to our community and have a plan that will make a meaningful impact. We are pleased with tonight's vote and look forward to continuing our efforts to bring affordable housing to Central Florida."
If the plan gets the go-ahead from Tallahassee, Walt Disney World Imagineers will have to go back to the board for final adoption of the project in the near future.