The City of Orlando’s Community Planning Studio joined the Washington Shores Vision Task Force in 2009/2010 to shape a vision for the west Orlando neighborhood. The Task Force held monthly meetings, open to the public, and sponsored several workshops, including a community planning day on a Saturday morning in early September 2009.
The work of the Task Force was an outgrowth of the Town Center Plan - Phase One Study Area report that was prepared for a portion of the Washington Shores area. The Phase One study, completed in August 1995, identified the need to continue improvements into the Columbia Street and Bruton Boulevard corridors and set in motion incremental changes and policies to improve these areas. The vision plan developed appropriate guidelines for private development and public improvements in the Washington Shores Neighborhood while adding flexibility via a form-based zoning approach. The guidelines promote better decisions regarding master plans, conditional use permits, planned developments, re-zonings, and density/intensity bonuses. The guidelines also help to minimize intrusion of office and commercial uses into the surrounding residential neighborhoods and focus future redevelopment efforts on areas where they are most appropriate.
In addition to the guidelines provided in this document, Growth Management Plan subarea policy changes and Land Development Code amendments were processed. It is hoped that this work will yield greater predictability by establishing regulatory authority over future development proposals, while better focusing the city’s efforts to improve the infrastructure of the area.