Video: Vote On 4-Story Elysian Apartments Continued To Next BCC Meeting

Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted for a continuance on the proposed Elysian apartment complex in Horizon West. Discussion will continue at the next meeting on April 5.

District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson, who represents Horizon West, had multiple questions for the developer and expressed concern that there were changes compared to the staff report they received. The staff report and information coming into the meeting indicated a waiver of Orange County code was being requested, however, that request was never made. The developer indicated that not needing the waiver shouldn’t impact the vote, and that they received concurrency approvals for both school and traffic. Commissioner Wilson brought up other inconsistencies made between the staff report and the request, such as school overcapacity and residential density.

For example, the staff report states:

All three schools zoned for this project do not have capacity available, however, relief for all three will be available by the year 2022. As such, it has been determined by OCPS that capacity is available for this project.

The developer representing Elysian at the meeting was Chuck Whittall, President of Unicorp National Developments. Unicorp has other experience in Horizon West and is the developer for Westside Shoppes and The Mark. He also mentioned that while the apartments will be 4 stories, the actual height of the building correlates to a 3-story building. The design of Elysian features a flat roof instead of a traditional sloped roof that is seen throughout Horizon West.

With other Commissioners also having questions over the development and the Staff Report, and Commissioner Wilson’s concern over the consistency requirement, the BCC voted for continuance. The topic will be brought up again at the BCC meeting on April 5.