Apopka staff and Wild Oaks developer preview town-center overlay, higher open-space and density standards

Apopka planning staff and the Wild Oaks developer presented a draft Town Center Overlay for the Kelly Park interchange area at a city workshop, outlining new open-space minimums, density bonuses, a 10-year buildout plan and required master plans intended to implement the Kelly Park form-based code’s town-center vision.

The Town Center Overlay, as explained by Bobby Howe, Apopka planning manager, and consultants, would apply to large tracts (a proposed minimum of 170 acres) that include all five underlying KPI character zones and would replace several existing KPI provisions with a single, more detailed regulating plan for blocks, streets, open space and development standards. Jim Constantine, principal of planning at LRK, said the overlay would raise the required minimum open space from the current 10–20% per underlying district to a 20% minimum across the gross tract and would provide a bonus if the project achieves 25% open space.

Why it matters: The overlay is intended to concentrate mixed-use development and public open space around the State Road 429/Kelly Park Road interchange and to enable a contiguous, master-planned town-center pattern rather than piecemeal parcel-by-parcel development. Proponents said the approach mirrors prior overlays such as the medtech campus appendix in the KPI code and aims to produce more walkable streets, a larger network of parks and varied street types than the base KPI provisions.

Details of the proposal and developer plans

- Applicability and controls: The overlay would be added as an appendix to the KPI form-based code and would only apply to sites meeting the large-tract threshold (presented as 170 acres in the current draft). Constantine said the overlay requires a…