Eatonville, OCPS staff outline master plan ideas for Hungerford property; board agrees to continued collaboration

Eatonville officials and planners presented a community-led master plan for the Hungerford property Tuesday and asked Orange County Public Schools staff to keep working with the town to refine details, including education uses and financing. Board members did not take formal action at the work session, but the superintendent said staff would continue collaborative feasibility work and report back to the board.

The plan shown to the board envisions a mixed-use campus with an educational continuum (early learning through higher education), a large central linear park linked to the waterfront, community gardens and food-production space, workforce and attainable housing, a new town hall and a health-and-wellness campus across Kennedy Avenue on OCPS’s West property. Tim Baker of BakerBarrios, the architecture firm leading the master plan, said the proposal aims to create “a cradle to career” pathway connecting local students to jobs across the street in a corporate/industry zone.

Why it matters: the Hungerford property is the largest undeveloped parcel within Eatonville’s town limits and has been the subject of litigation and prior sales efforts. Any change in use or transfer of school district property touches legal statutes governing disposition of school land, potential historic restrictions that were litigated, and the district’s interest in directing educational benefits to OCPS students.

Town leaders presented process and community input. William Jefferson of BakerBarrios’ Thrive group said the team held four workshops over the last year to gather resident priorities, which they summarized as preserving history and culture, improving Main Street and transportation connectivity, creating meaningful open space, developing a continuum of education and improving health and wellness and housing. Mayor Angie Gardner described Eatonville’s history and urged collaboration: “After 137 years of existence, the fact that we are still here is in itself a model of cultural preservation and sustainability,” she said.

Project scale and financing details provided during the session included multiple figures the town and consultants cited: planners described roughly 15 acres for the school building footprint and about 40 acres for an associated farm component; Mayor Gardner and town staff said the town expects approximately $34,000,000 in current water and sewer infrastructure improvements in the area and reported a separate U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (CDBG) disaster-recovery award of about $8,300,000 for stormwater planning and mitigation.

Legal and fiscal limits explained. Orange County School Board legal counsel explained the district’s constraints: a 2015 court-approved settlement removed an early 1951 consent-decree restriction that had, historically, limited the property’s use to school purposes, but statutes govern disposal and lease-purchase of district land. Counsel told the board the sale statute (recorded in discussion as section 1013.28) requires declaring property surplus and returning proceeds to capital accounts; the lease-purchase statute (discussed as 1013.15) allows lease-purchase arrangements but requires terms that reflect “full and fair consideration” and not an effective donation. Counsel said the specifics of any proposal will determine whether it complies with law and Department of Education expectations: “The details are going to be essential as to what we can do and whether or not we would have any statutory issues with doing what’s being proposed,” he said.

Board members pressed on specifics. Members asked whether proposed schools would be OCPS magnets, charters or some hybrid, and whether a new school would draw students away from nearby schools such as Edgewater. The design team said the community repeatedly requested a magnet-style option and that the plan leaves room for multiple approaches; town and OCPS staff said further feasibility and enrollment analysis would be needed before any binding decisions. Member comments repeatedly emphasized two linked goals: preserve Eatonville’s history and culture, and ensure any use provides demonstrable educational benefit for district students without undermining nearby school enrollments.

Background on prior transactions and district holdings was discussed. Board members and staff reviewed past acreage and sales: members noted the district originally acquired roughly 342 acres many decades ago for about $16,000; over time roughly 200 acres have been sold, with receipts of about $9.6 million (district counsel confirmed approximately $9.6 million in proceeds, with $6.4 million attributable to an FDOT taking for a retention pond). Staff also noted the district previously invested in the property, including roughly $24,000,000 to renovate Hungerford Elementary and a $1,150,000 payment to the Hungerford Trust to resolve prior restrictions.

Direction to staff. Superintendent John Vasquez asked to continue the district’s participation and to have district staff work with the town on feasibility, legal review and educational parameters, then return to the board with refined proposals. “I’m proposing … allow me and my staff to work with the town of Eatonville to fine tune some of the ideas that have been presented today, look at feasibility, and then be able to come back to the board in a relatively short period of time,” Vasquez said. Board members indicated support for that approach; no formal vote occurred because the meeting was a work session and no action was on the agenda.

What remains: the master plan team said it expects another round of community workshops and anticipates roughly six more months of work before a final draft community action plan and master plan that would be presented for formal adoption. Town presenters said the plan is still evolving, with program elements generally supported by residents but with placement and scale to be refined. The district will analyze statutory constraints, enrollment impacts, potential partnerships (the presentation named interested partners including Dr. Phillips Foundation, AdventHealth/Orlando Health, Winter Park Health Foundation and Orange Technical College) and funding/feasibility before any formal district action.

Votes/Actions at this meeting: none. The board treated the session as informational and directed staff to continue joint work with Eatonville officials on feasibility and education options.