Chaine du Lac will be annexed into Windermere

Chaine du Lac will be annexed into Windermere. 

Chaine du Lac registered voters mailed in ballots for the Tuesday, Feb. 4 election.  

The referendum passed with 51 out of the 68 returned ballots voting in favor, or 75% of the vote. The referendum needed 50% plus one vote to pass. There were 68 ballots returned out of 113 registered voters. 

"I'm very pleased that the referendum passed," Mayor Jim O'Brien said. "I think Chaine du Lac is a great fit for our town, and I'm proud of all the work that staff did to present why coming into the town for Chaine du Lac was a great move for both Chaine du Lac and our town as well."

O'Brien said Chaine du Lac officially will be annexed into Windermere 10 days after voter approval, according to the town's annexation ordinance. 

The referendum came after Windermere Town Council approved 4-1 during its Dec. 10 meeting an ordinance regarding the annexation of Chaine du Lac into the town's corporate limits. Council member Brandi Hanes dissented. 

Chaine du Lac is located on approximately 102 acres south of Lake Butler Boulevard and abuts the town limits to the west. The annexation includes the community's entire area, including the community's homeowners association. 

The community adds approximately one-third of a square mile to the Windermere proper town limit of 2.2 square miles. 

Windermere currently has approximately 3,038 residents. After build-out, Windermere is estimated to have about 3,250 residents. Chaine du Lac adds about 212 residents. 

O'Brien said Chaine du Lac fits into the town's strategic overall plan Windermere Town Council approved a decade ago that outlined the types of communities the town would be interested in annexing. 

The annexation has numerous benefits, O'Brien said. 

"It allows us to continue to protect the lakes as Chaine du Lac is a lakefront community," he said. "It allows some additional tax revenues that help us to pay for police services, administrative services and public works without raising taxes to the overall community. It provides much quicker response times for emergency services to the residents of Chaine du Lac. I think the overall takeaway is that we've always kind of felt that Chaine du Lac was already in town. This is more of a formalization of that."