The Lake County Board of County Commissioners last week approved a residential project that would help redesign a deadly stretch of road in unincorporated Clermont.
Lakeshore Preserve is a proposed 149-home subdivision designated for 94.56 acres south of Lakeshore Drive and west of Autumn Avenue. The project’s site plan calls for lots ranging in size from 65 feet to 120 feet wide, including six lots on Lake Nellie.
Given its proximity to Lakeshore Drive and CR 561, significant safety improvements were included with the potential development of Lakeshore Preserve, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.
“The county had been looking to develop to improve that intersection with a roundabout, but lacked the funding,” said Bill Ray, a consultant to Winter Park developer Integrative Development Group. “We’re coming forward to assist with the funding of that, to get these transportation improvements completed concurrent with construction of the project and not at some ambiguous time in the future when the county gets the funding to move forward.”
The Lakeshore Drive corridor has been the site of several traffic accidents and a few fatalities over the years due to high speeds, sharp-angled intersections, winding curves, and inadequate planning measures.
According to research from Orlando-based Traffic & Mobility Consultants, which did traffic analysis for the project, Lakeshore Drive has 64% more crashes than the statewide average for similar roads. The corridor experienced 37 crashes in five years from 2018 to 2022, and 21% resulted in incapacitating or fatal injuries.
The subdivision is planned on 154 acres just off Lakeshore Drive south of Clermont. (Map by Appian Engineering)
In December 2015, 26-year-old Clermont resident Aaron Zacharias was fatally struck while crossing Lakeshore Drive. Another man, a 44-year-old from Clermont, was struck and killed by an SUV on Lakeshore Drive in August 2018.
The PUD site plan would realign the road in front of Lakeshore Preserve and create a new traffic circle, according to Ray, with the roundabout at the entrance to the subdivision acting as a traffic calming measure, forcing motorists to slow down. A second roundabout at the Y-shaped intersection of Lakeshore and C.R. 561 has been planned since 2024 and will also be built by developers.
The future land use map calls for at least 40% of the development to remain as open space, with up to 50% committed to open space should the PUD be adopted. As part of the PUD rezoning, about 59 acres within the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern would remain undeveloped in perpetuity.
Lakeshore Preserve consists of four undeveloped parcels that were historically citrus groves, two currently designated Rural and two designated Green Swamp Rural Conservation. All four parcels are zoned Urban Residential and are seeking Planned Unit Development, or PUD, zoning.
The two undeveloped parcels within the Green Swamp would be included in the project’s open space and consist of undisturbed wetland, wetland buffers, passive open space and an existing dirt ramp for water access. Using the dirt ramp, residents will be allowed an access point for launching canoes, kayaks and paddleboards.
Lakeshore Preserve is a proposed 149-unit development set for 94 acres in unincorporated Clermont along Lakeshore Drive and adjacent to the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern. (Lake County Property Appraiser)
Commission Chair Leslie Campione confirmed that the homes in Lakeshore Preserve would not be issued a certificate of occupancy, which would allow residents to move in, until the roundabouts are completed.
“Those are my big issues on this one, addressing the conflict between the old zoning and the comp plan, fixing it with this and getting those two major improvements that will help improve the safety tremendously in that area,” she said. “…I’m anxious to be down there once those roundabouts are in and see how this all comes together.”
Commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of approving the project, with Commissioner Anthony Sabatini as the sole ‘no’ vote.
“I think this is trying to make the best out of a problematic, difficult situation with the lack of planning along the Lakeshore Corridor in the past and then some of the zoning entitlements being handed out the way they were,” Commissioner Sean Parks said. “I think this is the best that we could get out of this.”
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
