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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994 05 04 City Commission Workshop Minutes . WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COMMISSION MAY 4, 1994 The Workshop Meeting of the City Commission of the City of Winter Springs, Florida was called to order by Mayor John Bush at 3:30 p.m. Roll Call: Mayor John F. Bush, present Deputy Mayor John V. Torcaso, present City Manager John Govoruhk, present City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher, present Commissioners: John Ferring, present John Lange11otti, present Cindy Genne11, present David McLeod, present Presentation of Duda Property: Mr. Jack Malloy, corporate vice president of A. Duda & Sons, also an officer of their real estate subsidiary named the Viera Company gave the presentation. He explained their company is a family owned farming company and have been in possession of this land since the 1920's. He pointed to an aerial taken in late 1988 showing their old air strip. He said their company farms in nine counties in Florida and this has always been their headquarters. He said the aerial shows what the property looked like when they began to get involved in the future of this piece of property. He said at one time they had 600 acres of land and it had been planned for a residen- tial community. At the same time Tuscawi11a was expanding to the east. He said it was obvious if there was going to be a Seminole County Expressway something had to happen. As a result of that they participated with several other property owners in this corridor to work with Seminole County Commission to make land available for the Seminole County Expressway. He said from our Company's perspective they donated the right of way through this area and the reason it does not appear on any map is that is where the expressway is now, right on top of their old airfield. Mr. Malloy said they donated the land for the Expressway and also for the Red Bug interchange and contributed a million dollars in cash to the realignment of Red Bug Lake Road as it tied in with Mitchell Hammock. He spoke about their previous Development of Regional Impact and he said they have an approved development order from Seminole County which they received in late 1991. He said as a courtesy they made a presentation to the City of Winter Springs and there was a proposed connection to Winter Springs Boulevard on that original DRI. There were apartments, office warehouses and offices and retail commercial. The final action by Seminole County the connection to Winter Springs Boulevard was deleted from the approved plan. Mr. Malloy said as he is speaking today, they do not have an approved connection to Winter Springs Boulevard under their present DRI. He explained basically the other changes to this property was a piece of this property was sold for the Target Store and there is a Chili's which is under construction now; they are about to close on a 30 acre piece to Winter Park Hospital. He said those land uses are approved under this development order they are presently operating under. . 1:i.~----~Yl1":r;.L.;Lno ,,"v 5.1..V- .........-..... r--------- --~----.-- is willing to allow them to connect to Winter Springs Boulevard. Mr. Malloy said the geometry of that connection does not allow traffic that is leaving the mall site and going north to turn left, it only allows it to turn right, and it provides an entrance for traffic coming this way west on Winter Springs Boulevard to . . . Workshop Meeting, May 4, 1994 Page 2 Mr. Malloy went on to explain the fact that they would like to have a regional retail center here it became important to look at this from a planning perspective. First to determine if that original transportation plan was sufficient and secondly if not, what would be important in terms of providing the proper transportation access to the site. Then the issue of Winter Springs Boulevard and the connection to it came up again. He explained the majority of the people that would come to a retail regional center would be coming from the south and east. He said it was also important for the people coming from the northeast and exiting back to the northeast to have some kind of an alternate access instead of coming along this Red Bug connection. So again they proposed to raise the issue of the connection to winter Springs Boulevard only allowing a right turn out for traffic leaving the mall site and only allowing a left turn into the mall site from this traffic that would travel from the east side of the Expressway. He showed some photos what this 90 acre piece of property that is being proposed for the mall site. He explained the green line is a proposed access into and away from the mall that connects to Winter Springs Boulevard and then travers this mall site and come back out to Red Bug Road. That is the present transportation plan. He said they are aware of the concerns of the Winter Springs residents about access to Winter springs Boulevard and potential traffic on winter Springs Boulevard. He said that was the major bone of contention for the last approval. He said at the present time they do not own this property (he pointed to a map) but they do have it under contract. They have under contract a piece of land that stretches from just east of the Winter Springs Oviedo line all the way to 426. Mr. Malloy said they must exercise their option to close on a portion of that piece of property by May 11th. They have a little longer to close on the other property. When they did the title search on that piece of property they discovered that the City of Winter Springs has a conservation easement along the south 10 feet of that entire tract all the way out to 426. So they approached the City about the possibility of granting them permission to cross that conservation easement. He said as they wind up their presentation and summary later they will speak specifically to the kind of approval they are asking for. He said if this retail regional shopping center is to occur this is not the only issue that they have to deal with but it is primary. They must gain permission to cross this conservation easement from the City of Winter Springs and in addition to that they must gain permission from the city of Oviedo to make a connection to Winter Springs Boulevard because that portion of Winter Springs Boulevard is in the City of Oviedo. If they are able to accomplish those two issues, then they will go to Seminole County and process a change to the Land Use through the DRI process. Only after those 3 steps have been concluded will there be a regional retail center constructed. Normally the process takes six to nine months, so it does not make any sense for them to begin to deal with Seminole County on making land use changes unless the City is willing to give them permission to cross that easement and the City of Oviedo is willing to allow them to connect to Winter Springs Boulevard. Mr. Malloy said the geometry of that connection does not allow traffic that is leaving the mall site and going north to turn left, it only allows it to turn right, and it provides an entrance for traffic coming this way west on Winter Springs Boulevard to Workshop Meeting, May 4, 1994 Page 3 . turn into the mall. It provides a small turnout for people who live in the Tuscawilla area to gain access to the mall site but it does not allow them to make a left turn as they come back out. He said they are very sensitive to that issue as a result of discussions that were held during the previous DRI process. Mr. Malloy explained they have a contract with the Rouse Company for this land, and their contract is contingent on their ability to get the City to allow them to cross the easement and Oviedo to allow A. Duda & Sons to connect to Winter Springs Boulevard, and Seminole County to approve the change in land use. Only at that point in time will Rouse exercise this contract and acquire this property to construct this retail center. Mr. Malloy said in summary there have been a lot of changes on this property since that original photograph. They now have theTarget Store which is scheduled to open in July on a 12 acre site; a Chili's on the corner and the 30 acre campus style potential hospital. There is also a 12 acre parcel that was promised to the Veterans Administration for an out patient clinic. The remainder of this property, about 90 acres is proposed for the mall site, and will be separated by a major road and the remainder of this property or what they call the adjacent property is approved for office warehouse. Until they get into the DRI change they are not certain whether they will leave that in its present land use or make a change. . He explained between the residences on the east side of Duncan and south side of Northern Way there is a natural buffer of 60 feet high trees which will remain and then there is the canal which is dug in as a buffer and in addition their development order required they construct a wall along that property. He said those are all in the existing order and if nothing occurs, even if the City does not approve their request, that wall will still be built, as part of their development order, they are committed to do that. Commissioner Langellotti asked how wide is the buffer from Duncan Drive and Northern Way and Mr. Malloy answered about 200 feet. Tim Jackson, with the firm of Glatting, Jackson spoke about the transportation aspects of this project. He said they looked' at this proposed mall site here at Red Bug and the Greeneway, the Altamonte Mall, Fashion Square and Seminole Mall. He said to get an understanding of what is the market area for the mall, if you look at 434 about the intersection of 419, that is about equidistant from the Altamonte Mall to this proposed mall. If you are in the Edgemon/Moss Road area choosing to go to this mall when you get to 434 and Tuskawilla Road, you have a decision to make, are you going to continue on to the Greeneway and go south or turn right on Winter Springs Boulevard. He said they looked at non Tuscawilla traffic the Oak Forest area. About 800 to 1000 homes right there, about 1% to and from the mall. He said the mall generates about 37,000 vehicles per day; approximately 750 of those trips would be non- Tuscawilla trips that would choose to use Winter Springs Boulevard. Mike Bryan, explained the primary market for the mall is to the south and in the long term to the east. . . Workshop Meeting, May 4, 1994 Page 4 Commissioner Ferring asked if they have considered no entranceway whatsoever on Winter Springs Boulevard coming from the west. Mr. Malloy said if you look at the City of Winter Springs requirements you will see that to access a major retail center from one site only is really not in the best interest of public safety. Mr. Malloy said if they are successful in doing all the things Duda needs to do before Rouse undertakes the purchase of the property and the construction of the mall he said they are talking about a mall that will be open in about three years and a mall of 1.2 million square feet of retail space. A mall that is designed to serve this region over the next 20 years so their transportation planning has to deal with the ultimate buildout of the property. That is what the DRI process is about and the ultimate development of this property from a sound transportation planning and public safety point of view dictates that there be another access to the property. Commissioner Ferring said you know what Winter springs Boulevard means to the Tuscawilla community; there are many children, joggers, bicyclists. He said it would seem they would have to make some type of analysis as to what impact it will have on these people. These are the things we are concerned about. Mr. Malloy pointed to a visual showing the property presently under contract. He again explained their proposal if granted permission from the city of Winter Springs to cross this easement and the City of Oviedo to connect to Winter Springs Boulevard is to keep that road right against the Expressway right of way and go out that way and for that purpose they have placed this piece of property under option. In order to make this request possible they had to put this property under contract. . Jerry Smalley for the Rouse Company spoke to the Commission. He said the Rouse Company takes a great deal of concern in the relationship it develops with the communities its projects serve. He said the matter before you, that of providing the proposed mallproperty with a connection back to 426 is of considerable importance to them. He said they feel there are available traffic measures that would signifi- cantly diminish if not eliminate what you would call cross through traffic through your community. Mr. Monk Askew, Director of Design for the Rouse Company showed slides of their other projects. He explained this mall site is approximately 90 acres and 1,200,000 square feet. they are proposing to cover the shopping center with plant materials and the only building you would see would be the department stores and the entry points. The road would be split road with a planted median. Mr. Malloy said they are not asking to use that easement unconditionally. If the City is concerned about traffic coming out of the mall and going left on Winter Springs Boulevard, he said they are perfectly willing to accept permission to use that easement on the contingent basis that the geometry of that intersection is as they propose it and that there be no left turn allowed. He said if the Commission or their successors some time down the road decide that they want some changes, they will be talking to the same two people they are talking to today. He said they recognize the sense of the community on this issue and so what their proposal is to ask the City for its conceptual approval and if we have some contingencies . to attach to that they are open to that. He said we all have the same concerns. . . . Workshop Meeting, May 4, 1994 Page 5 He said they would like to have that connection, they think that connection is critical over the 20 year economic life of this project. He said they have concerns how that connection will impact our community. He said they are willing to negotiate that issue, and if it is we might be willing to grant them the easement contingent on the geometry being established, they are willing to accept that. Mr. Malloy said they would like some idea when the City might consider their request. Mayor Bush said the Commission is aware they need an answer but also the Commission needs some time to look over all this information. Meeting was adjourned 5:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Mary T. Norton