Orlando board to weigh 616 apartments and Lake Mann rebuild

Orlando’s Municipal Planning Board meets Tuesday, Nov. 17, to consider two of the largest housing proposals the city has seen this fall. City planners recommend approval of both.

• Mosby Lake Conway Apartments: 616 apartments on 51 wooded acres at 5108 S. Semoran Blvd.
• Lake Mann Homes: a rebuild of the Orlando Housing Authority’s 1951 public housing complex at 732 S. Goldwyn Ave., with up to 390 homes in place of today’s 207.

Both sit on the board’s consent agenda for Nov. 17. That means they can pass in a single vote with no discussion unless someone asks for an item to be pulled. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the City Council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 400 S. Orange Ave.

616 apartments on South Semoran Boulevard

The apartments would go on two vacant, wooded parcels on the west side of South Semoran Boulevard (State Road 436), between Gatlin Avenue and Abercorn Drive. The staff report describes a two-phase project:

The owner, Rawjee Holdings LLC, is asking for a master plan and a conditional use permit. The permit would let the four-story buildings reach 48.5 feet, above the 40-foot limit in that zoning. The land has been zoned for apartments since it was annexed in 1973, the report says. A 100-unit affordable housing plan for the site was filed in 2016 and later withdrawn.

Staff named flooding as the main issue. Much of the 51.2 acres lies in the 100-year flood zone. The report says any floodwater the buildings displace must be held on the site so it does not reach the homes, condominiums and church grounds around it. Single-family homes in unincorporated Orange County border the land to the south and west.

Traffic is the other open question. The developer’s traffic study puts the finished project at 2,894 car trips a day, with 261 in the morning peak hour and 233 in the evening peak. On Oct. 26 the city’s transportation planners asked for more detail on the study and its proposed fixes. That information “has yet to be provided,” the report says. Staff added conditions so the case can still go ahead, including:

• both driveways on Semoran Boulevard built during the first phase
• a right-turn lane into each driveway, about 405 feet long
• the southern driveway limited to right turns in and out, plus a left turn in for northbound drivers, subject to the Florida Department of Transportation
• a second emergency and pedestrian link between the two phases

The plan shows 1,038 parking spaces, 120 more than the city’s minimum of 918. The site is in the airport’s aircraft noise overlay, so the plat must warn future residents about aircraft noise.

Staff had received “a few neighborhood inquiries in general opposition” when the report went out. The meeting file holds four written comments on the case, all opposed. The developer has scheduled a community meeting for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, at the Marriott Orlando Airport Lakeside, according to the report.

Lake Mann Homes: 390 homes in place of 207

The Orlando Housing Authority built Lake Mann Homes in 1951. Today it has 207 apartments on about 30 acres between South Goldwyn Avenue and Lake Mann, north of Spaulding Road. The authority and its partner, Orlando Dev Partner LLC, want to rebuild it in four phases over several years, the staff report says.

The amendment to the site’s planned development zoning would allow:

• 300 affordable apartments
• 90 lower-density homes, a mix of affordable and market-rate single-family houses, townhomes and duplexes
• shops and community services under 10,000 square feet
• buildings up to four stories and 60 feet within 600 feet of Goldwyn Avenue, and 45 feet elsewhere

The current zoning, approved in 2010, allows up to 245 homes. The authority is asking for the city’s affordable housing density bonus, which raises the limit to 15 homes an acre. It is also asking for a 20% cut in the parking it must provide for the apartments.

This vote sets the rules for the site, not the buildings. Each phase must come back to the planning board with its own detailed plan, and the density bonus depends on a neighborhood compatibility review at that stage. Staff had received no comments on the case when the report went out.

Also on the agenda

• Track Shack Alley: naming the unnamed alley between Lake Highland Drive and East Marks Street, behind North Mills Avenue, for the running store, which turns 50 in 2027. The staff report says 23 of the 44 property owners along it signed in support.
• A 24-hour gym at 1500 Park Center Drive, east of Hiawassee Road.
• An outdoor sports facility at 2301 S. Division Ave.
• Closing part of South Lee Avenue and two alleys in the Carver Park development.
• Rezoning 5903 Westgate Drive from low- to medium-intensity office and residential use.

What it means for you

The planning board advises; the City Council decides. The agenda says the board’s recommendations should reach the council for approval on Jan. 11, 2027.

• To speak: go to the meeting in person. The agenda says virtual comments are no longer accepted. You can fill out a speaker form at orlando.gov/publiccomments or at the meeting, and you can ask for a consent item to be pulled for discussion.
• To watch: the city’s meeting page has the Zoom link. The webinar ID is 950 5432 5064.
• To appeal: all of these items are quasi-judicial. A request for a new hearing before a city hearing officer is due to the board’s recording secretary by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, with a $500 nonrefundable fee. The secretary is at MPB@orlando.gov or 407-246-3365.