Ocoee Middle School renovation draws resident concern over drainage, privacy and traffic

Ocoee officials and project contractors outlined a comprehensive renovation of Ocoee Middle School at the Feb. 17 City Commission meeting, describing interior and exterior upgrades, new site amenities and a construction timeline that aims for substantial completion in 2028.

Tom Wanen, project manager with Hunt Brady Architects, said the work would include upgraded building entries, replacement of movable classroom walls with permanent partitions, a new administration entry, new kitchen and music facilities, a repurposed art building for an agriculture lab, new courts and a district-standard 400-meter track, and broader life-safety and accessibility upgrades. Wanen said the project is being designed to achieve two Green Globes certifications to meet district sustainability goals.

Freddy Torres, senior project manager for Williams Company, told the commission the construction budget is roughly $62.5 million. He said site work will begin with installation of 26 portables to allow phased renovation; portables are expected to be delivered in March and the contractor aims to use summer breaks to minimize student disruption. Torres described staging to keep most construction activity on the south side of campus and to limit traffic impacts.

Neighbors who live along South Lake Shore Drive and in the nearby Marion Park area told the commission the school’s historic runoff has damaged yards, eroded foundations and saturated drain fields. Patricia Robertson, who said her parents built their home in 1976, told the commission: “We did not have a water issue until the middle school was rebuilt,” and said the prior retention pond repeatedly overflowed into yards and homes.

Residents pressed the project team for technical answers — for example, how much additional impervious area the renovation will add, where stormwater outfalls will discharge, and whether the new design will prevent seepage to adjacent septic drain fields. Wanen and district communications staff said the team submitted plans to the St. Johns River Water Management District and to reviewers for the Wekiva recharge zone; they told residents the submitted stormwater-retention design was reviewed and approved and that engineered ponds, retaining walls and new piping are intended to capture on-site runoff and reduce off-site flows.

The project team also said the civil engineer analyzed potential interactions with neighboring septic systems and concluded the proposed stormwater system would not negatively affect those systems and would improve drainage versus existing conditions. Torres added the Lakeshore Drive gate will remain closed to general traffic after construction, except for emergencies, and that the contractor will work to keep community impacts minimal while maintaining open lines for residents to contact the project team.

Commissioners acknowledged the strength of residents’ concerns and urged the project team to provide more detailed engineering documentation at an in-person meeting. Commissioner Kennedy and others asked that civil-engineering reports and quantitative watershed analyses be shared with the public so residents can verify claims about runoff and pond capacity. The project team apologized for not bringing the civil engineer to the update meeting and committed to a future meeting where engineers would answer technical questions.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the renovation at the Feb. 17 meeting; the presentation served as an update and a public Q&A. The project’s timeline remains phased with portables installed first, major classroom work prioritized to allow re-occupancy before athletic-field construction, and final kitchen and gym work continuing into 2028.