By Marvin G. Cortner

Editor

The conversion of a daycare center off Boggy Creek Road into an 88-student private Christian school received the green light Monday evening from Osceola County commissioners despite opposition from nearby residents.

Commissioners on a 3-0 vote approved the request for a conditional use permit to operate the kindergarten through eighth-grade school, which will be operated by the property’s owner, Christian Church Disciples of Christ in Florida, at 2440 Boggy Creek Road, which is between Derby Drive and Winners Circle. The conditional use is needed because the site is in an area zoned for single family homes.

Nearby residents say the conversion will mean more congestion and less safety on local streets – especially Boggy Creek Road – due to school traffic and more noise in the neighborhood from school activities. Proponents say the Christian school will provide an educational alternative that parents want, will generate jobs for educators and that the school will save taxpayers money by relieving some burden on the Osceola County School District to educate students.

According to county staff, the change from a defunct day care to a school would reduce traffic in and out of the site from what was previously approved, since day cares typically have nearly twice the traffic. In addition, the size of the congregation allowed by the new conditional use would be reduced from 675 people down to 450. The day care, which was approved in 2001 for 75 students, has not operated for more than a year and a half, according to church representatives.

Jim Jimenez, attorney for the church, said there would be no new buildings constructed and that the change will reduce the overall number of trips to and from the site.

The entrance to the school would be off Boggy Creek Road.

“There’s going to be noise from the school, but the question is whether it reaches the level of a nuisance,” Jimenez said, also dispelling a rumor by saying there is no drug rehabilitation program operating at the site.

Local resident Sherry Harley said she was the person who circulated a petition against the change, and that the majority of the 60 people who signed it live on Winners Circle, which is south of the church site.

“This issue affects more than the property owners within 300 feet who had to be notified (of the change),” Harley said. “It’s a business operation in a residential neighborhood.”

County Commissioner John Quiñones, before voting to approve the conditional use, said it is hard to say no to something that would decrease traffic overall, adding that the permit has a limited purpose in that it would allow the church to have a school instead of a daycare.

Commissioners Brandon Arrington and Fred Hawkins Jr. also supported the change; Commissioners Frank Attkisson and Michael Harford did not attend the meeting.

Special conditions imposed on the site include fences must be maintained, a landscape buffer must be established between the school and homes and the school needs to employ an off-duty law enforcement officer to help with traffic for six months once school starts until the county has a chance to complete a study to determine whether any additional traffic control is needed because of the school.

 Park improvements approved

Taking its cue from the Tourist Development Council, which voted to recommend the work last week, the commissioners approved spending of $171,300 in tourist development taxes to improve the softball fields at Oren Brown Community Park.

The funding for the facility, which is off Hoagland Boulevard in south Kissimmee, will be used to bring the outfields up to softball tournament standards as well as to install an irrigation line that would give the county in the future the capability to convert one soccer field in the park into two additional softball fields. The improvements would allow additional Rebel Spring Games tournaments to be played at the facility.

The park now includes two large soccer fields and three softball fields. The soccer field that is now lighted would remain if a conversion of one of the fields were to occur.

Making the improvements, county staff said, would allow the county to renew the Rebel contract for use of the softball fields for another 10 years. The improvements also would allow  the USSSA to expand its summer tournaments to the park.

More specifically, the money will be used to install the irrigation line, grade the outfields and infields, replace Bahia grass with Bermuda sod on three fields, and repair fences.

County staff said the improvements and additional games would not negatively impact youth softball schedules at the park. In addition, staff reported that the overflow of Rebel games from the Osceola County Softball Complex and the city of Kissimmee’s Fortune Road Complex allowed 23 additional teams to participate in the spring Rebel games, with each team brining in $72,000 worth of economic impact, with the impact from games at Oren Brown Park estimated at about $1.56 million a year.

Tourist development funds are generated by a 6 percent tax collected on all lodging of 180 days or less. The funding is earmarked for purposes that will generate overnight stays in the county.

 Redistricting

The commission Monday also recommended the new commission district map based on the 2010 census. A committee over the last two months met five times to consider the boundary changes.

Populations in the new districts are: district 1, 54,102; district 2, 53,931; district 3, 54,044; district 4, 53,778; and district 5, 52,830. The target population per district was 53,737, for a total county population of 268,685.

The goal of the redistricting was to ensure that all five districts remain contiguous territories, as nearly equal in population as practicable while taking into consideration the demographics of the county, the geography of the neighborhoods, existing precinct lines and the best interest of the community.

 Airboat business conditional use

The request for a conditional use permit from Jim Passmore to operate a commercial airboat business from a marina he would build on a 4.5-acre site he owns on Lake Tohopekaliga was continued until the July 18 meeting.

Nearby property owners say the business would create traffic safety issues on Cherokee Road and disturb the quiet nature of their neighborhood, which is zoned for residential estates and is why the conditional use permit is needed.

Staff has recommended approval with a number of conditions, such as limited operating hours, restrictions on the size and number of airboats and that passengers must be shuttled to the site from an office in St. Cloud.

 Other action

The commission on June 6 approved a property purchase agreement with Deseme Guillaume for 2597 Boggy Creek Road in Buenaventura Lakes using $222,700 in federal Community Development Block Grant Entitlement funds.

The commission last August approved its 2010 community action plan that included funding for this property, which will be used for an after hours health clinic.

According to county documents, county staff researched the Buenaventura Lakes area for eligible and available properties to purchase and rehabilitate with grant funds but 2597 Boggy Creek Road was the only property available that met the criteria for a health clinic.

The clinic, when opened, will be operated by the Osceola County Health Department using Community Development Block Grant funds.

The commission also extended the lease agreement with the U.S. Postal Service for the post office substation in the Robert Guevara Community Center in Buenaventura Lakes. The cost of the lease is $3,300 annually.

The current lease was approved by amendment through January 2011. The term of the latest amendment is from January 2012 to December 2016. The area leased is approximately 490 square feet.

 Upcoming meetings

Upcoming county meetings include:

• Commission budget workshop Monday at 1:30 p.m., in the Commission Chamber.

• District 1 neighborhood meeting with Commissioner Harford, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at the Arrow Ridge Complex, 4100 Arrow Ridge Place, Kissimmee.

• District 3 town hall meeting on Thursday, June 30, at 5:30 p.m., at the Poinciana Community Center, 395 Marigold Ave., Poinciana; Commissioner Arrington with School Board Chair Cindy Hartig.

• Charter Review Advisory Commission, Tuesday, July 5, beginning at 7 p.m., in Conference Room 4727, County Administration Building, 1 Courthouse Square.