HORIZON WEST 14
It's All Happening B
The boom continues in West Orange's bustling planned community.
efore the 28,000-acre Horizon West community was home to thousands of families, the land was home to thousands of acres of robust citrus groves. In the 1980s, a series of freezes devastated the groves, forcing much of the citrus production to relocate to a warmer climate in South Florida. As a result, conversations to develop the area where the former orange groves were located began. However, this enhanced concerns about urban sprawl, because the existing land-use regulations in the rural area only allowed one house to be built per 10 acres. So, landowners met to devise a plan. This led to them working with Orange County leaders to begin developing a master plan for the area in 1993. The owners — Horizon West Inc. — hired VHB MillerSellen to prepare the Horizon West sector plan, which included the project concept, design standards and a planning overlay. The county approved this framework on June 5, 1995. The objective of the plan for Horizon West was to avoid suburban sprawl through the creation of a more sustainable growth management approach. The community reflects the principles of garden cities and new urbanism, ensuring new development will contribute to maintaining a sense of place, environmental protection, excellent architectural design and quality pedestrian environments and community spaces. Early on, the influence of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities model led to the preliminary design of independent, self-sustaining villages. At buildout, the goal of Horizon
LOCAL MOTION 2022
