Lake Butler residents oppose Roper Cove project

Residents living near Lake Butler Road off County Road 535 attended a community meeting Wednesday, July 24, to gather information on — and, ultimately, express their opposition to — a project proposed near their homes west of Windermere. Orange County Planning Division hosted the information-only meeting at Windermere Elementary School.

The applicant, Inspire Placemaking Collective, is requesting a rezoning of 19.8 acres from Residential-Country Estate to Planned Development District to construct 16 single-family homes on 16 buildable acres. The remaining acreage is wetlands and cannot be built on.

The property is located at 5067 Lake Butler Blvd., south of Lake Butler Boulevard and west of Lake Butler.

The rezoning request is required to allow for a reduction in lot size for each unit; current zoning requires one single-family dwelling per acre.

Most of the properties along Lake Butler already are developed; this is one of the last remaining pieces of land with access to the lake.

Mike Rosso, county project manager, said the applicant is not proposing to change the density; Eric Raasch, the applicant, is requesting the rezoning because he can negotiate construction details such as setbacks and minimum lot sizes.

George Kramer, planner and president of Inspire, gave a presentation on behalf of the L.F. Roper Trust, which owns the property.

“They don’t want to just sell and build 16 homesites,” Kramer said. “They want to be more thoughtful about it.”

Three site concepts were presented, with Plan B getting the most positive response. It would have three traditional lakefront lots, each one acre in size, and the remaining 13 sites would measure 160 feet by more than 100 feet and front green space in the center of the property.

Questions arose regarding community gates, amenities, a public vs. private boat ramp and road improvements, but those questions cannot be answered at this stage in the process, Kramer said. A traffic study was not warranted because 16 acres already have been approved for the property, and there is no change in traffic.

Another resident worried the developer would build “a bunch of townhouses and three big houses on the lake,” but Kramer said that won’t happen.

“Here’s the economic reality; expensive homes are going to be built here whether they’re on one-acre lots or lots that are shown here,” Kramer said of Concept B. “That’s just the economics of it. … No one is going to put a 2,000-square-foot house on it. … These are actually very large lots.”

One concerned resident said the narrow Summerport Lane was not built to withstand heavy traffic and vehicles pulling heavy trailers and boats.

Jay and Patty Williams, who live on Summerport Lane, said their road and Summer Beach Lane were built in the 1940s, and the houses in that area originally were fish camps. He expressed concern about the impact of the homes currently sitting on the lake. Because of the slope of the land, he said, the entire Roper Cove neighborhood would drain into these homes and into Lake Butler.

“Most of us knew this would not remain an abandoned orange grove,” one resident said. “I think the emotion in the room is that we chose this area because of its rural character. … We’ve been in many meetings with Orange County before, and we’ve heard a lot of promises from the developer, and then we’re stuck with whatever the developer puts in.”

Kramer reiterated that this meeting was part of the process to get community feedback.

“We submit an application so we can start the communication process,” he said. “The PD advantage is that all those discussions can be documented. If you don’t want community access and a public park, we will take that into consideration. … that’s part of the process to have that conversation.”

One woman stood up and asked the audience who was in favor of the project. One person raised his hand. Most of the people raised their hand in opposition.

Rosso reminded residents the project is in the land-use application stage currently and still must go through several rounds of county staff review before it goes to the Development Review Committee for recommendation. Then it will be scheduled for the Planning & Zoning Board, where it will get another recommendation before going to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners for a final decision.