CCP 09-25-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1111 "The planning and partnerships which have brought us to this day will carry us through to the day when we can celebrate youngsters riding their bicycles on community sidewalks, families picnicking in one of the community's parks and grandparents watching their grand- children thrive in a true neighborhood." Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood, at an event celebrating the start of construct!Qn at Baldwin Park. june 5, 2001xix . The developer reconnected the former base to the surrounding neigh- borhoods by taking down the fence that had surrounded the property and extending the neighborhood streets through Baldwin Park. To fe-create the look and feel of traditional neighborhoods, Baldwin Park includes narrow, tree-lined streets with wide sidewalks; homes designed in the architectural style of pre-1940s central Florida, with front porches and garages in the rear; and a blend of uses close together so people can walk from their homes or offices to parks, restaurants, shops, school, or church. The development has more than 15 different housing styles, ranging from rental apartments to townhouses and high-end custom houses. It features more than 50 miles of walking trails and sidewalks_ The developer had to almost completely rebuild the base's infrastructure, dismantling 200 miles of underground utilities and 25 miles of roads and demolishing all but 5 of the 261 existing structures. The developer recycled as much of this material as possible to build new roads and other projects, such as stormwater fittration systems and parkland. Audubon of Florida worked with the developer to help create viable ecosystems in Baldwin Park by restoring natural features that had been displaced when the base was built 50 years earlier. The developer also preserved the base's mature trees as much as possible and planted 4,000 new street trees_ . The city anticipates that when Baldwin Park is completely built and oc- cupied sorlletime in 2006, the deveiopment wiii house 8,000 residents,. sup- port 6,000 permanent jobs, and generate more than $15 billion in property tax value, more than $30 million in annual properly tax revenue, and more than $180 million in payroll.x.n The development began spurring investment in surrounding neighborhoods even before most of its residents had moved in; nearby,. two shopping centers are being redeveloped and a medical building is under construction.xvii As David Pace, managing director of the development company, points out, other benefits to the surrounding community include "the addi- tion of hundreds of acres of parks the public gets to use, grocery stores they don't have to go out on Highway 50 for anymore, and property appreciation. ">:vii; Baldwin Park Includes a variety of housing types. 28 .