Lake Helen/Cassadaga, D.R.I. but not D.O.A.!

Finally, the development onslaughts that might effect our quiet rural lifestyle in the Lake Helen/Cassadaga area are upon us – meetings, proposals, traffic impact studies, shiny-shoed lawyers and briefcase toting bureaucrats.

Everywhere we look, there’s radical change proposed in areas now wooded or at least still covered with grass.

Today (3/26/02), the MPO Board (Metropolitan Planning Organization), of which Lake Helen is one of some twenty-four members, voted to have the Florida Department of Transportation study the possibility of a toll expressway from Highway 417 in Sanford to parallel Highway 415 in Osteen up to near Samsula and on to connect to I-95 near Daytona.

Just to the east of our town, this expressway could provide an alternative to the overloaded Interstate 4, but it must be severely “limited access” or it will be quickly crowded with commercial development on nearby access roads and become worthless as a speedy traffic artery.

In addition, environmental wetlands and recharge areas will be impacted, and fragile wildlife habitat threatened, unless planners are extremely careful to include animal travel corridors and thru-tunnels.

To the north, Volusia County plans an economic development initiative which includes an “industrial park” near the fairgrounds on Highway 44 near Prevatt Avenue.

At our western border at Exit 55 near I-4, developers have contacted City Hall regarding large supermarket complexes and convenience store locations.

Is this something we really need at the entrance to our community – traffic lights, huge parking lots lit up all night, litter, speeding traffic, and noise?

Let’s drive a few miles down Orange Camp Road to patronize two existing shopping centers and keep some green trees and quiet here.
Our Planning and Land Development Regulatory Commission (PLDRC) is struggling now to update our Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Map to direct development toward a traditional downtown village center with family businesses.

Show up at the countless hours of meetings these local citizen volunteers are investing on your behalf for the better of Lake Helen and surroundings. Tell them you appreciate their efforts to protect our community.

To the south is Deltona, the sprawling community of 71,000 population whose mayor says they want to add about 50,000 more in population within fifteen years.

Deltona is in a partnership with Volusia County, and recently newly annexing City of DeLand, to develop eighteen hundred acres into a “Development of Regional Impact” (a “DRI”). This proposed development at I-4 and Hwy 472 (Exit 54) will feature about seven million (7,000,000) square feet of “light industrial” space, five million (5,000,000) square feet of “office/corporate”, three million (3,000,000) square feet of shopping center and retail sales, and several multi-family apartment complexes.

Supposedly 15-20,000 jobs will be created within this development instead of the same job-seekers going to Seminole County each day for their employment.

The “economic development” rational makes some sense. The traffic impact to surrounding communities does not.

The initial “DRI Pre-Application Synopsis” contains an access/traffic dispersal road leading north out of the Deltona side of the I-4 development up to Cassadaga Road and then even further north to presently non-existing roads and east into the Cassadaga community!
The small quiet Cassadaga community and even Lake Helen along County Road 4139 could be inundated with thousands of cars daily using the Cassadaga Road-4139-Main Street to I-4 or Kicklighter to Prevatt Avenue and 44 or Lake Helen/Osteen Road route to Deltona to access and leave this huge work and shopping complex.

Our City Commission wisely has geared up to defend our interests.

We have a very capable City Administrator in Don Findell and seasoned land development attorney in Lonnie Groot, both with experience working in fast developing Seminole County. Both have recommended and the City Commission concurred, that we hire a traffic studies consultant to protect our traffic impact concerns.

Just today I was informed that the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp shares our concerns and has voted to contribute financially toward costs of consultants to vigorously advocate for the defense of our rural village lifestyle.

We will carefully monitor the required traffic, environmental and historic district impact studies.

We will sign petitions and protest at meetings.

We will delay, confuse, and drag out.

We will sue.