Osceola approves Sunbridge rezoning
Osceola County Commissioners this month voted to create a new Sunbridge land use category for the 19,000-acre master-planned development in the former Northeast District and swap out the Mixed-Use zoning for Planned Development to accommodate the developer’s plans to build a 6,000-home gated community.
Tavistock Development Company first made reference to a large-scale active adult community in Sunbridge back in the spring when it filed the Phase 2 Concept plan, which designated five different gate locations for the private streets mostly east and south of Lake Preston. Tavistock officials have not confirmed that Disney is the development and branding partner for the project, but the initial planning occurred while the company was in negotiations with Tavistock to move thousands of jobs from California to a new campus in Lake Nona.
Dave Tomek, Community Development Director for Osceola County, said the size and scale of the gated community simply couldn’t be accommodated within the Mixed-Use zoning restrictions, so they agreed to take a different approach.
The new Sunbridge PD identifies the future neighborhoods in Stage 1, including Weslyn Park (C and D), the Marina District (E), the Northeast neighborhood and the East Side Active Adult neighborhood. (Osceola County)
“I mean, we were able to make the Del Webb piece fit, but we had to really rework the roadway network around it,” Tomek said. “So for this particular one, they really couldn’t meet the intent (of Mixed-Use), and we were beating our head against the wall trying to work with them to meet the standards and do all this. So we all came to the conclusion that OK, maybe we could shift gears and make this more in the form of a Celebration, Poinciana or Harmony kind of thing, where we would give them their own land use and give them their own set of guidelines, because it’s really an important part of the county.”
Consulting Planner Richard Levey said the private streets weren’t the only element that conflicted with the Mixed-Use zoning. “I think with the Mixed-Use District, trying to have the diversity of product type was a big challenge for us,” he noted.
Levey stressed that the active adult community won’t be all detached homes and villas. “There’s still a wide variety of housing product types”, he said. And it has two lakefront community activity centers that allow for higher density uses, retail and commercial development, as well as hospitality uses.
Another benefit of PD zoning is that it allows the flexibility to include neighborhoods with larger lot sizes.
“We wanted to develop some executive housing, which the county has made a priority of for their long-term interests, and the Mixed-Use District just didn’t allow for the larger lot sizes for executive housing,” Levey said. “So we’ve got some components of that in our plan, as well. So yes, the active adult was one of the bigger driving forces, but it wasn’t the only reason.”
The Sunbridge PD moves the entire East Side Active Adult community into the Stage 1 development phase, meaning the construction could run concurrently with the planned Marina District (Neighborhood E.) The sales launch for Weslyn Park, the first non-age restricted neighborhood in Sunbridge, is now scheduled for February, and the county is reviewing the submitted plans for the second phase of Weslyn Park, labeled Neighborhood D in the regulating plan.
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